The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-04-10
BISHOP ELLIOTS OPINION.

The following is an extract of letter
written by Bishop Elliot, of Georgia, to
Miss Murray, the Maid of Honor" who
recently published book concerning the
United States:
"It is well for christians and plilanthrop.
lists to consider whether, by their ntcrfcr.
cncc with this institution, they may not he
checking and impeding q work which is
maniiestly providential.
"For nearly hundred years the EnrlisL
and American Churches have been striyinn
to civilize and christianizc Western Africa
and with what rcsulta Around Sierra
Leone, and in the nighborllood of Cape
Palmas, few natives have been made
christians, and some natives have been par.
tall y civilized ; but what u small number
i'll comparison with the thousands nav. |
may say millions, who have learned the way
to Heaven, and who have been made TO
know their Saviour through the means of
African Slavery! At this very moment
there are from three to four millions of Az
ricans, educating for earth and for Heaven
i'll the so viliii,:d Southern States-educa-
ting in thousand ways Of whicl, the world
knows nothing-educating in our nurseries,
in our chambers, i'll our parlors, in our
workshops, and in our fields, as well as in
our misunderstanding the very best les
sons for scmi-barbarous pcoplc-lcssons
of sclf-control, of obedience, of pcrscycr-
ance, of adaptation of means to ends learn
ing, above all, where their weakness lies,
and how they may acquire strength for the
battle of life. These considerations satisfy
me with their condition and assure me that
1t is the best condition they can, for the
present, be made to occupy. As a race,
the are steadily improving So far from
the institution being guilty Of degrading
the negro, and keeping him in degradation,
1t has elevated him in the scale of being
much above his nature and race, and il Is
continuing to do SO. Place an mportcd
African (of whom Il few still rcmain) side
by side with one of the third or fourtl, Cell
Grafton, and the difference is SO marked that
they look almost like distinct raccs-not
only i'll mind and knowledge, but in phvs
Ical structure. That monkey face, the ,c
suit of IN excessively ollusc facial ANGLE.
has become, without any admixturc of
blood, almost us human as that we are ac-
customcd to see i'll the white race, and it
has Il facial angle as distinctly IL right angle
as that which belongs to the Caucasian
family. The thick lips have become more
,hin-thc dull eye is beaming with cunning,
if not with Intelligence, the understanding
is more acute ANA ingenious, their knowl-
edge more respectable.
"a man has been made out of a barba
rian, an intelligent and useful Iaborcr out
ot IN Ignorant s;vagc-a christian and Il
child Of God out of /; heather; and this is
called degrading the African race by hold
ing them in slavery! Such language is
only of a piece with that miserable false
scntimcntalsm which is prevailing the
worid-suci scnlimcniaiisln as thinks it
cruel that a child should be disciplined;
which looks So tcntlcrly upon the means as
quite to overlook the great end those means
riay be working out. Gods ways are not
discordant with the way Of slavery. lie
who sees everything in its aspects, will,
whom Il thousand years are as one day
in whose 81 ght the light affections of this
life, which is but for Il moment, is far out
w;ighcd Ivy the glory that is to follow
cares very little for the present means
through which His will is working. What
is it that II man should be a slave if through
that means he may become a christian
What is that one, or even ten, generations
should nc slaves, if through that arrange
men: Il race be trained! for fn'urc glory and
sel;-'lcpcn,lcncc? What arc the suifcrinss
Quitting them at the worsl,) which the in
humanity and sclf-intcrcst, and the re-
strains of law can inlict for a few genera
tions compared with the blessings which
may thus be wrought out for countless ma
ti"ns inhabitng II contincnt9 What is to
hr the course and what the end of this re-
Iation, God only knows.
MY feeling just now, is that would de-
fend it against all interference, just as
should defend my children from any one
who would tempt them to an improper in
dependence; just as [ should defend any
relation of life which man was attempting
to break or to violate, ere the purpose of
God in it had been worked out."-Lciters
of tie Hon. /luc{iu NJ Nur,UU =, AL