The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1856-08-21
From the Knoxville (Tenn Presbyterian Witness
LETTER FROM DIR. ROSS.
HUNrsvrLLE, Ala, July IA, 1856.


HUNrsvILLE, Ala, July IA, 1856.
BRorHER BLAcKBURN: affirmed, in my
New York speech, that the slavery agita.
tion has done and will accomplish good.
Your very kind and courteous disagree
ment on that point will make the occa
sion to say something more thereon, with
out wishing you, my dear friend, to regard
what write as inviting any discussion.
said that agitation has brought out,
and would reveal still more fully, the Bible,
in its relation to slavery aud liber:y-also.
the in6delity which long has been, and is
now, leavcning, with death the whole North
ern mind, and that it would result i'm the
triumph of the true Southern Interpretation
of the Bible; to the honor Of God, and to
the good Of the master, the slave, the sta
bility of the Union, and be Il blessing to the
world. To accomplish this, the sin per Sc
doctrine will be utteily demolished. That
doctrine is the difficulty, in every Northern
mind, (where there is any difficulty about
slavery,) whether they confess it or not.
Yes, the difficulty with every Northern man
is, that the relation Of master and slave is
felt to be sin. kow that to be the fact
have talked with all grades of Northern
men, and come in contact with all varieties
of Northern mild on this subject. And
know that the man who says, and tries to
believe, and does. partially in sober judg
ment, believe, that slavery is not sin, yet
in has teelings-in his educated pr9udices-
he feels that slavery is sin.
Yes, that is the difficulty, and that is the
whole of the difficulty, bef,0een The North
and the South, so far rs the question is one
Of the Bible and morals. Now. again say,
that sin per Sc decitine will, in this agta-
ton, be utter demolished. And when that
is done, when the North will know. and
feel, fully, perfectly. that the relation Of
master and slave is not sin, but sanctioned
Of Cod, then, and not Till then, the North
and South II. and will, without anger,
consider the following questions: Whether
slavery, Ra i, exists in the United States,
all things considered, Le or he not great
good. aud the greatest good for lime, not
Withstanding its admitted evils! Again:
whether these evils can, or cannot be, modi.
sfei and removedl Lastly, whether slavery
itself can or cannot pass away from this
land and the RIO ldl Now, sir, the moment
the sin question is settled, then all is peace.
For these other questions belong entirely
to another category ofmorais. They belong
entirely TO the category of tchdt is wise to
,valize good. This agitation will bring this
great result. And, therefore, / affirm tie
agitation TO be good.
There is another fact, also the result, in
great measure, of this agitation, which in
my view proves the agitation to have been,
and 10 be Of great go d: mean the aston
ishing rise and present stability Of the slave
power Of the United States. This fact,
when examined, is undeniable. And il is
equally undeniable, that il has baen caused
in great part 10y the slavery agitation in
all its bearings. 1t is wonderful develop
ment made by CID. And | must believe
he intends thereby eifherto destroy or bless
this great Union. But as believe he in.
tends TO bless, therefore am fortified in
affirming The good there has been, and is,
in this agitation. Let me bring out TO view
this astonishing fact:
/. Twenty live years ago, and previous
ly, the whole slaveholding South and West
had a strong tendency TO emancipation in
some form. But the abolition then began,
and arrested that Southern and Western
leaning to emancipation. Many people have
said, and do say, that that arrest was, and
is, n great evil. | say it was, and is, great
good. Whyl Answer: 1t was, and would
now be, Premature. Had it been carried
out it would have been, and would now be,
evil, immense, inconceivable-to master,
slave, America, Africa, and the world; be-
cause neither master, slave, America, Africa,
the world, were, or are, ready for emancipa-
lion. God has great deal to do before he
is ready for emancipation. lie tells us so
by this arrest put upon that tendency to
emancipation years ago. For He put into
the hearts of abolitionists to make tie ar
rest. And lie stopped the Southern move
ment, all the more perfectly, by permitting
Great Britain to omancipate Jamaica, and
letting that experiment prove, as it has, a
perfect failure, and terrible warning.
JAMAICA is DESTROYED. And now,
whatever be done for its negroes, must be
done with the full admission that what has
been attempted was in violation ofthe duty
Britain owed to those negroes. Blu! her fail.
ure in seeing and doing her duty, God has
given TO us TO teach us knowledge; and,
through us, to instruct the world, in the de.
monstration Of the problem of slavery.
2. God put it into the heads of Northern
men-espscially abolitionists-to give Tex.
as to the South. Texas-a territory SO vast
that bird, as Webster said, can't fly over
it in week. Many in the South did not
want Texas. But many longer.headed ones
did want it. And Northern men voted,
aud gave to the South, exactly what these
longer headed Southern statesmen wanted.
This, grant, was Northern anti-slavery ia,
tuity, utterly unaccounlable, but that God
made them do IT,