Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1855-01-13
A CARD.

n CAkDs
few days since my attention was called to
speech of the Hon. Joshua r. Giddings, de-
livered in the Presbyterian church, Galesburg,
Illinois, on the 26th Of October, 1854, and pub
lisbed in the "Galesburg Free Democrat" from
which extract the following paragraph
"And now must say word about the min.
istry. l thank them for the devotion they have
shown to the cause Of the slave. Their words
and prayers have cheered me in the discharge
OF my duties. For seventeen years / have not
heard prayer for the slave from chaplain in
Congress. Anti-slavery members of Congress
have had to do all the praying for the slave
which has been done there. When DR.. Wylie,
Of the Scottish church, visited the churches of
this country, he entered the hall of the House
one day while i was speaking on bill affect.
ing the right Of the slave; and as Brother Tus-
tin, chaplain of the Senate, afterwards intro
duced us, DR.. Wylie was pleased to compli-
ment me on my efforts. | felt like taking O
little revenge on Brother Tustin, and told the
Doctor that when ministers in Washington
dared not pray for the slave, laymen were com
pelledt to use their poor abilities in his defense.
In establishment, the Doctor turned to Brother
Tusti1J and asked him if it was so. Brother
Tustin hung his head, and replied, We do not
think It prudent"
Courtesy and propriety forbid me to impeach
the vetacity of Mr.. Giddings, for he is a vene-
rable and distinguished citizen; yet justice to
myselfrequires me to say that, after taxing my
recollection to the utmost, cannot recall the
most remote shadow of any one circumstance
specified in the above statement. 1t is cheer
fully confessed (without however, any refer
ence to the prudential considerations alluded
to by Mr.. Giddings, and so discreditable to my
Christian and ministerial integrity that in the
discharge of my official duty as chaplain of
the Senate, l may not have considered it ne
cessary to utter abolition speeches to the Deity
in order to make my supplications acceptable
to Him. In the model prayer taught by our
Blessed Redeemer to his disciples, the spirit,
| if not the language of which, was intended to
be initiated by all succeeding generations, noe
find no specific reference TO that class of per
sons as such, albeit slavery existed in it's har-
dest form at that very time, and of necessity
under the immediate inspection Of the Om-
niscient Saviour. In the omission, therefore,
of which Mr.. Giddings complains, l am will
ing to stand in the shadow of Him whose
heart was perennial fountain Of all that was
good and just, and whose heavenly lessons,
when strictly obeyed, will lead us to the faith
full discharge of all our relative duties whether
we be in authority or subsection. My venerable
friend (for | am still inclined so to regard him,
| aside from these unnecessary assaults upon my
Christian and ministerial character) will excuse
me for intimating to him that there are other
methods of exhibiting oar sympathy for the
slace beside political speeches and official
prayers. The position in which l am involun-
tarily placed will justify me in making public
little incident in my own history, which, until
now has been scarcely known beyond the limits
of my own freside. Some years ago, without
any agency of mine in the way of purchase, /
became, like Philemon Of the Nep Testament,
the owner OF a man slave, 1.-THE only one ever
possessed whose services would have contri-
buted largely to the comfort and convenience
Of my family. Instead of preaching and pray
ing to secure his emancipation, / went to the
proper authority and directed his free papers
to be prepared in due form and presented to
him, by the execution of which act my exche-
quer, never suffering from plethora, was re-
duced to the extent of eight hundred dollars,
or, perhaps, one thousand dollars. Whilst far
removed from Mr.. Giddings's peculiar views
on this interesting and exciting subject, new
ertheless was impeed by motives which need
not disclose to make this voluntary offering on
| the altar of freedom, and thus evnce, by so
much, Ia small amount, to be sure, in the est.
nation of some,) that true and substantial
sympathy for the slave does not belong exclu-
sively to the north side Of the line.
| The nnllow prefr which Mr.. Giddings has
| attached to my name does not diminish the
severity Of the assault The honey which he
s'placed at the end of the spoon does not
| make the dose at all less nauseatinp. He is
too well acquainted with the Scriptures not to
know that there is one case, at least, recorded
upon inspired authority, in which that gentle
appellation is connected with All action not en-
tirely .frdte1nal in its character or result /
may be permitted to add, that if did not, in
my public prayers as chaplain to Congress,
specify particularly the class of persons which
seems to monopoize so largely the sympathy
of Mr.. Giddings, there is one petition which, in
sentiment, if not in words, he and others will
recognise as holding prominent place in my
daily prisons it was, as it is now, and ever
shall be, "hat our precious and priceless Union
may be preserved against the Vaccinations of
its foes, srhether foreign or domestic, and be
transmitted unimpaired 10 orr children's chill
dren throughout all generations; and that the
North and The South may nerer forget, eren in
hours Of aoildest ercitement, that
Whilst distinct as the biHoa1s,
They are one the sea-
! am grieved to be thus brought into pub
lie collision with Mr.. Giddings; for, apart from
the obliquity Of feeling engendered by his mis-
taken views of slavery and the best means of
improving the condition of the slave, believe
he would recoil from inhicting an injury upon
tho character Of a Christian minister who, by
his principles and Office, in the opinion Of
many, is deprived alike of the right or priv
lege Of selfdefense My reputation, however.
secured by thirty years Of hard and exhausting
service in the cause Of humanity and religion,
is too precious to myself and family to allow
me to stand by and witness with accomplishing
acquiescence its mutilaton and dismember.
ment, for the useless purpose Of rounding off
an apocryphal period or furnishing material
| for Buncombe paragraph.
In conclusion, / beg leave to add, that /
would not for various reasons have felt myself
at liberty TO obtrude this card" upon the pub
lie eye if the case referred to in the above ex.
tract were the only one in which Mr.. Giddings
has used my name disparagingly; but am