The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-06-21


older and more experienced members of the
church take part in instructing them in the
work of life. They act upon the principle thai
the command, Search the Scriptures is as
applicable to the black man as to the white
man and therefore they take pains to teach
them to read Gods holy word. They meet IN
one part of the church, and their lessons are
recited simultaneously with the rest OF the
school, Their department was orderly and
quiet and some of them make very good pro-
gress in knowledge. Would it not be well for
our churches to follow this example? Ii we
believe Presbyterian Christian training is best
for the white man, is it not for the colored
man If the child Of the one needs the preach
ing of the Gospel, and Sabbath school intiu-
ences, to lead him to fulfil faithfully the duties
that grow out of his relations m life, does not
the child of the other? Wisdom and discre-
ton may in some places modify the practice,
but the principle would lead US to labor zeal,
ously for the salvation Of the servant as well as
the master, that they might both become the
servants of Christ"
The Old School Presbytery of Newcastle,
which embraces portion of Pennsylvania, Del
aware, and Maryland, have established high
school, called the Ashmun Institute, concerning
which the late General Assembly adopted the
following resolutions, which passed without op-
position, to wit
"Resolred, That this General Assembly has
heard with pleasure of the design and practi
cal effort, on the part of the Presbytery of New
castle, to establish school in which colored
young men of piety may receive a thorough
classical and theological education, fitting them
for the work of the ministry, and for teaching
among the destitute thousands of this country
and the millions Of Africa.
"Resolred, That we regard this work as an
important preliminary work, aiming at the
highest good of the African race, wherever
found and hereby express our cordial appro-
baton Of it, and recommend our churches
cheerfully and literally to cooperate in this
work of faith and labot of love-"
These are few Of the signs of the times.
AS ONE INCREASES THE OTHER DECREASES.
From the Wheeling (Va) Gazette, May 3lst.
Mr.. Wise says truly that our hills are full of
power in coal, and that the water from our
mountain ranges runs waste to the ocean. No
busy huns of mills are heard; no men, women,
and children, are engaged in product. Our val
leys and ravines are not the arenas of busy life,
but silence and death pervade all except where
here and there the power of nature has com.
PEELED, and is compelling, predominance over
the institution and bringing in men from the
North to manufacture. Compare the census of
1910 with that of 1850, and you find the decrease
of Slavery in certain counties bears Just pro-
portion to the increase of the products of
agriculture, manufactures, mining, commerce,
churches, schools, intelligence, and happiness.
1t is as plain as that the absence of the sun
produces night. Manufactures, mining, and
ipko 10
ly 40. for the negroes have little capacity and
the fact that their existence as class takes
from labor its dignity and honor instils idleness
or want of practical application on the part of
whites who have them, and prevents those COM
ing in who have them not.
In agriculture, Mr. Wise Justly declared the
great power that Virginia possessed was abused.
The soil and climate of Virginia are among the
richest and finest in the world; and is there any
other reason why it should not be the most pro.
ductive, than that it is mainly farmed by slaves
who have no interest in the soil, and wear it
out without remunerative product Hancock,
Brooke, and Ohio counties are not of better soil
than other counties in the State, nor have they
any other advantages over them, except in having
comparatively no slaves and yet they produce
on the same amount of land more than any
other counties in the State, as will be seen by
An examination of the census. They are better
farmed, for they are farmed with white labor.
They would be still better farmed could they
have an entire population who regarded labor
as honorable, healthy, and wise.
Take the four counties of Brooke, Hancock,
Ohio, and Marshall, and if the State would al
low them to purchase and pay from the county
treasury fair price for every slave in them.
and enact that no more should be brought in
in five years the actual wealth of these counties
would be increased S50,000,000, or 81 $40 for
every present white inhabitant in 1850. Besides
doing this it would produce republicanism
and universal education that can never exist in
a sparse population, and where one portion are
slaveholde-S-and another not.
Not one of these facts can be gainsayed; vet
shall the mouths of men be sealed, who view
the subject thus, candidly, honestly, and practi
cally, by the senseless cry Of abolitonsm,"
the most puerile of all folly, and the most con-
temptible of all tinkling cymbals and baubles
that ever idiots played with? We have never
approached with the idea of violating or oppo-
sing law of Virginia, we have never discussed
and never expect to discuss Slavery in its
moral sense. We leave that to the owners of
them. 1t is a matter for them to settle between
themselves and their God. We do not interfere
with their opinions upon the effect to them
selves. We discuss only its bearing upon those
sections of the State and those people in the
State who have none, and the progress and
development of the State and its capacities for
improvement and yet that public sIanderer,
the Richmond Enquirer, accuses us of aboli-
tionism, or more bitter hatred Of Slavery than
that manifested by the New York Tribune.
We leave the reader to Judge from the facts
who are the truest citizens of Virginia-they
who see its glory crumbling day by day under
the pressure of an imbecile misnamed Democ-
racy, complaining of its degeneracy, but giving
no reason for it, and furnishing no prescription
or they who, like ourselves, frankly state the
reason for decay that is manifest to all, and
propose the practical mode of colonization on
State account, or the provision for prospective
emancipation.
From the National Intelligence, June 3h
AUTHORIZATION OF SLAVERY.
The Port Gibson (Mississippi) RcpeiHe says
"The project now being agitated by the PEG.
pie of North Carolina, and soon to be carried
before the Legislature of that State, is one
which, we think, to say the least of it, will Gre
ate sensation. 1t is, LIST, to render legal the
institution of marriage among slaves; I'd, to
preserve sacred the relations between parents
and their young children; and, Sd, to repeal the
laws prohibiting the education of slaves. i
this modification in the laws is made in North
Carolina, as we are informed it probably will
other States will no doubt take the matter into
consideration. The main features of the move
ment have been adopted in practice, or at least
improved in theory, by nearly all our planters
so far as circumstances would allow; and We
cannot but think the modification is well worth
the serious consideration of every Southern
man. Should the Southern people think prop
er, after due investigation, to adopt the regula