New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-01-10

n nj. eor..tuepts-not by bic own Judgment OF Mr..
papkss fitness or unftness fOr the post-not by tho
,rof-,ons or pledges which secured his eectsn-bnt
bv nv structures on bis course in newspaper Letters
much harsher thing than should wish 20 say OF HIM,
vet I do rot know that il i not true.
And now, Mr.. Thompson! you. propose that l
should take up your speech Of some sixty pages and
review il in detail pointing out all its sophstres and
s.,ri.fasehoods. cannot trespass at such enormous
length on the space which belongs TO the readers OF
Tuy TRIBusr, and which can be filed very much
more 10 their satisfaction and profit. Judge that by
,b. time thew upderstand you pretty well and have had
mite enough Of you. Bnefy-your speech and your
letter are very much alike and both are eharae'ers"
Of their author If any reader believes that your let
ter herewith given a candid, truthful statesnanhke
production. then tell him that your speech was as
much like il as one pea If like another
Pm, Won insist on redscusson of your scriptural
Thesis. and consent You argued in your speech
how consistently with your votes in Congress leave
others to judge-that Slavery could not De unmofal,
because many of the old Hebrew Patrarchs held
slaves, and the Bible does not condemn but impLedy
sanctions their so doing To this replied that those
same Patriarchs practced Polygamy with equal lmmu'
,;tv from direct Biblical censure; that your argu-
that Of Slavery and yet your speech Justlhes the re-
lection of Utah az a State because OF Polygamy'
quoted You fairly, and let one of your positions de-
molish the other. But you now plead that long AFTER
the Patrarchs were dead Christ did condemn Polyg-
any and did not condemn Slavery wherefore the for
mer is immoral while the latter is not
deny all your premises and of course your conelu
sion. The Gospels contain no evidence that slavery
existed in Judca in the days of the Savior, and De-
lieve il had bat a shadowy and nominal lie there IL
any. And hold that Christ did condemn Slavery IN
ever so many sayings" Thou shalt love thy neghbor
A. thyself"" DO unto others as you would that they
should do unto you the Parable of the Good "a
maritan-ard nearly everything else He uttered. he
said much more that bears directly against Slavery
than he ever uttered against Poygamy. lie con-
demned both by enunciating principles aud rules OF
conduct that inevitably forbid them lie did not frame
a CODE he ncucated spirit and showed forth life
with which all moral evil-all that degrades ana iH-
brutes our weaker or more benighted fellow beings-s
incompatible. lie certainly condemned PoIygamy
but the passage you cite to that end does not prove IT,
His sayings that really do prove are equally recon-
ciable with Slavery.
But the Roman Empire was slaveholdng, and the
Anosles 10 the Gentes were brought into daily con-
tact with it. Watched as they were by the jealous
and bitterly hostile Jews-hunted by accusations OF
conspiracy implacable hOstityto the existing sway,
and of setting up another king whose name is Jesus
they were constrained to great circumspecton, espe-
pecially in their published writings Yet he who can
read the Acts and Epistles and not feel the intense
nyncble hostility of the Apostolic writers AMI preach
err to every form Of oppression or degradation OF man
by man, must be blind indeed The case OF Onesimu'
IaaE aald N G
ter not in chains but in freedom-no slave but az
brother Suppose were to send Mr.. Scott home TO
Won with letter urging you not to make him the blind
ruppet of your apostacy and malgnty, but leave him
al liberty to act so that honest men could respect and
INTELLIGENT constituencies trust him-would that be an
Endorsement of Slavery
Richard. | am sorry COR you. Ifyou were younger
reprobate, might have hopes of you If you Were a
more formidable demagogue might even dlssect your
long speech and expose its sophistres and perversons
But tie People whom you seeking to mislead
know YOU; they will your point of departure ndis
putably located in this letter; they know where you
now are: and they can that you are drifting
RAPIDLY down into the ranks of that great Slavery Ex
tension party which you formerly seemed stouty Ia
oppose. You are smart pettifogger, and have an
infinite fund of words but no dexterous use of them
can suffice to convince one intelligent candid man,
that you are not now laborng desperately to over
throw the cause which you voted in 1919 to affirm and
uphold If you were in the straight path, all that
could say would affect you very little; rs il, you
vince under my structures because you know you have
deserved them No public man who IL walking
straightforward in the path of duty and fidelity either
feels or fears the criticisms of the Press but the false
and the renegade do feel them even while they affect
TO defy them. If The TRIBUNE has any such intu-
ence with "a great many You assert, it is because
they have found it, not by any means infaible but
honest and fathful-not parasite of Power, or Ma
ortes or Wealth. but constant in its devotion to JUS
tice, Freedom, and Humanity. commend to you the
fact and its moral. HORACE GREELEY.
Has,iHston, ID. c. Jan. 6, 1896.