Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1856-04-04
For The Eagvirer.
BISHOP MEADE ON SLAVERY.

To BIsHoP MEADE OF VIRGINIA:
1t appears that you have expressed opinion, in a
publication Intended hereafter To be embodied in Il
book, tut the "reigious, agricultural and political i'll
terests Of Virginia have all been injured by the exist
ence among us of domestic slavery"
Public opinion throughout christondoln, by means
of the press and the mail is fast becoming well nigh
oInnipOtent. To exercise wisely and prudeutly It's
mighty power It should, near practicable, be
made oiinscent. Ii slavery be mn evil and begets
an inferior form OF society, 1t will eventually be abo-
ished and slave holders should be admOnished and
instructed beforehand III order to prepare them for
the event. The opinions which you hold are at va
riunce with those generally entertained at the South.
The mere weight of your authority will not change or
even affect Southern opinion, whilst II will give
mighty impulse aud assistance to Northern abolition.
Ii is yuu duty as patriot. christian aud man, To
give to the public the reasons and the proofs on which
YOU found your charges. We differ 50 widely with
you that we think religion, agriculture and gov
ernment can only maintain sckly and lingering tx
iseuce in the absence of domestic slavery We be-
lieve slavery to be one OF the main pillars of the etl
flee of society," almost indispensable it's two other
great pillars marriage and religion. II you will read
the twenty.ffth chapter Of Leviticus, you will find
we hnve Divine authority for our doctrine If you
will then read Aristotle 8 Politics mud Economics, you
will see that the greatest OF the heathens concurred
with MOaes-most probably derived his theory lndl-
rcctly from the same source.
lufdelity WAS little known III England till the days
of Cromwell shortly after the abolition of venage.
In France and in Western Europe generally, feudal
slavery WIS not abolished until the end Of the
last century Atheism and intidelity in every form
burst in as slavery departed. And now, sir, live
in an age of nldelty, the first the world has known.
Religion is natural to man. and he only becomes ir
religious when he is placed III unnatural relations 10
wards his fellow men. Slavery begets ORDER subor-
dinaon and adaptation, and lifts the soul to Ruler
of the Universe, the author of It's harmonious rela-
tions. Universal liberty generates selfish, greedy
coInpeton, antHgUnlsln and anarchy, and suggests
| a ~ IA Al.
Iufidety prevails, but only prevails in free society.
Ii is co extensive in time and space with such socie
ty A few infdels lived in and about the Augustan
age but the Romans, and all the nations of antiquity
were elrinently religious. 1t reserved for our
day, for France and Germany, TO abolish slavery
and religion, aud inGuguratc anarchy, nidelty aud
licentlousness. The streets of Paris ran blood,
and Vienna gorying in licentiUusncss, gives birth tv
as many bastards as Legitimate children. In Eng
land the clergy, even in the church TO which you
belong, have very generally become tainted with
ciasln and socialism is the least refined, the most
sensual and animal form Of infdelity. But uidelty
in the pulpit has crossed the Atlantic and il quite
common at our North as in Europe. The "higher
classes" at the North may listen every day in the
week to a lecture against the Bible from male
or female orator, and hear the lecture repeated from
the pulpit on the Sabbath.
Now, sir, there Is IL" inidelity, any scept-
cism among native Suu.herners, high low, rich ur
poor, slaves freemen. II Virginia had no slaves
il she saw the toling million uncared for, unpro-
tected producing everything and enjoying nothing,
in Western Europe, she too would be ready to chal-
ledge the justice of Providence, and to deny the ex
stence of God. She would have her thousand nil-
del isms disturbing and defornng society. The Ia
boring class, the poor, have in all other ages been
more religious than the rich. But now. the Charsts
of England, the Prnlearal of France, and the labor
ers at our North, have imbibed Atheism in its most
disgusting and loathsome form. Their papers, their
books, and their spPeches show that they Owen
ties Fouriertes, Mormons, or followers of some vile
creed which teaches that the highest aim of human
~ is TO make man well-frd animal, with no restric
tons on his passions but those which stately imposes
1t the religious interests of Virginia have been in
iured by slavery, pray what sort of religion should
we have had in s ABSENCE Would il have been
that of Paris or Vienna, of Boston or New York. or
that of the Utah Valley! Should We have been
followers Of EmmersOn or Parker, Of Joe Smith or
parsou Miller! Would German RatiOnalism or Pan
theisn, the most fashionable creed in free society
have prevailed among us Would the Episcopal
clergy have become, as i'll England Socialists Pa
seyites And how long would each have lasted =
for in free society, change their religion almost
as often as the fashion OF their dress. On the oter
hand slave society is clnineny conservative and re-
entive of the opinions and usages of the past.
There are no established truths where there IS no
slavery. The children in the streets discuss the rght 10
private property, the proprety parental authority
the rights of women, The nquity of the marriage re-
ation the beauties OF Free Love and the tr"th oi the