New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-07-13

"A .a,arn, than Mr.. Garrison nphsen' Az tno
'" .;,r. he distinctly recognises and expressly
49,. rom these censures small class Of 4" re-
s.,.h,e .layeholders," by which no states himself
- mean " any stakeholder who admits the injus-
,;ce and nhumaD,ty Of Slavery, aud who is not
sver,e 10 the discussion Of measures for Its
sneedv and total extinction" Such Shareholders
he claims as virtually on his side, that is, on the
side Of the on.slavebolding whites, with whom
they may very well be classed; and he regards
them as standing on totally different ground from
:" the Pro.Slavery proprietor who engages IN the
traffic and becomes an alder and abettOr of the in.
sti,ution from sheer ;urptude of heart" In REFER
ence TO this subject he thus explains who he means
by
GENTLEMEN Of THE SOUTH.
And here, by the way, We may rs well explain
whom VIC refer 20 when We speak OF gentlemen oil tue
South We say, therefore, that deeply impressed
with the conviction that Slavery is great social anu
political evi-a SIN and CRIME IN the fullest sense[
whenever we speak of gentlemen Of the South or OF
gentlemen any where at whatever time, or III wha!
Ever connection we may speak of gentlemen, we sell
dem ade to Shareholders, for the simple reason tha'
with few exceptions, we cannot coDsclent,ouSly reccg-
nize them as gentlemen. 1t is only IN those rare IN
stances where the crime s mitgG!cd by circumstances
where he himself convinced Of the improperly, the
folly and he wickedness Of the institution, Is anxious
to abolish it, that can sincerely apply to hun the
sacred appellation in quest0n-an 8ppellaton when
we wouid no sooner think of applying TO Pro- Stare
~ stakeholder or any other Pro-Slavery man, than
we would think of applying II to Border Kuinan,
thief or q murderer Let it be understood, however,
that the rare instances OF which we speak are less
rare than many persons may suppose. we are per-
sonally acquainted with several Shareholders IN North
Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia
who have assured us that they were s-
gused with the institution, and some OF them went so
Tar as 10 say they would be glad to acquesce in the
proyison Of statute which would make it obligatory
ON them all to manuDit their slaves, without inc
smallest shadow or substance OF compensation
These We believe, tue sentiments OF all the re-
speetabe and patriotic Shareholders who have eyes 10
see and see-ears to hear, and hear who, percelV-
ing the mpovershng and degrading effects OF Slave
who on account of their undertaking adherence 10
truth ard Justice are, like the more nteigcnt nom
Shareholders worthy Of being regarded as gentlemen
in every sense of the term. Such savshoiaers were
Washington Jefferson Madhon and other iliusti1ous
Virainans, who, in the language OF the great shlef
himself declared it among Aleir "frst ~asheS TO see
some plan adopted by which Slavery in this country
may be abolished by law" The words embraced
within this quotation were used by Washington in a
letter to John f. Mercer, dated September 9, l7so-a
letter from which shall quote more freely here
after and we think his emphatic use OF the partcPe
Abolish, at that early day. is proof positive that the
glorious Father Of his Country is entitled to the
rst place in the calendar of primitive American Abo
itOnists.
Of the great mass of the shareholders, ofwhom he
speaks as ga body who have shocked the civilized
world by their barbarous conduct, and from whose
conceited and presumptuous ranks are selected the
officers who do all the legislation, town, county,
State and National, for (against) five millions OF
Door outraged whites, and three millions of en-
shaved negroes" be expresses the following explicit
opinion:
SHAREHOLDERS no BETTER THAN THIEVES AND
MURDERERs.
We mean precisely what our words express, when
we soy we believe thieves are as general rule less
amenabe to the moral law than Shareholders; and
here is the basis Of our opinion: ordinarily, Heves
wait until we acquire considerable amount OF prop
erty and then they steal dspensable part OF IT, put
they deprive NO one Of physical liberty nor do they
fetter the mind; shareholders, on the contrary, ny
slingng the barbarous relic Of the most bar
bar0us age bring disgrace on themselves their neigh
bora and their cOuntry depreciste the value OF their
| own and others lands, degrade labor, discourage
energy and progress prevent non-slavehodeis from
accommodating wealth. curtail their natural nights ana
privileges doom their children to Ignorance and al us
attendant evils rob the negroes OF he freeaom throm
damper every species OF manual ana lntenectusl
enterprise that is projected under their own roon
and for their own advantage, and, by other means
equally at variance with the principles OF justice,
tlOuph but lnelgDlfCant lfactOnh part PoPu
laon, they constitute themselves the sole arbters and
legislators for the entire South. Not merely so the
thief rarely steals from more than one man out OF an
hundred; the STAKEHOLDER defrauds ninety ana nine,
| and the hundredth does not escape him. AGAIN,
thieves steal tries from rich men, slsvehoders op.
press poor men, and enact laws tor the perpetuaon OF
their poverty. Thieves practice deceit on the wise:
| Shareholders take advantage of the ignorant
We contend, moreover, that Shareholders are mere
| criminal than common murderers. We know al
SHAREHOLDERS would not wifuly Undue their hands in
the blood of their fenownen but it is fact never
theess that all Shareholders under the shield OF
perpetual license to murder. This License they nave
issued to themselves. According to their own infa
nous statutes if the slave raises his hand to ward on
| an uuraered blow they permitted to take his life
| with IMMUNITY. We are personally acquainted win
three rufians who have become actual murdrers un,
der circumstances Of this nature One of them killed
two negroes on one OCCASION the other two have muir
dered but one each. Neither Of them has ever been
subjected to the premnaries Of tral not one OF
them has ever been arrested; their own private eX.
plantations of the homicides e1culpated them from all
| manner of blame in the premises They had done
uotbpg wrong in the eyes Of the community The ne
c1oes made an effort to shield themselves from the
.ortures Of mercess aggelaton, and were shot dead
on the spot Their murderers still live and are treated
as honorable members Of society! No MISTER how
many slaves free negroes may witness the perpetra
tjcn Il these atrOcious homcides not one OF them
ever allowed 10 lift up his voice in behalf OF his muir
dered bother In the South negroes, whether bond
or free are never under any circumstances, permhteu
10 utes syllable under OATH except for or against
perons Of their own color; their testimony against
white PEI Sons is OF consequence than the idle
zephyr OF the Summer.
Il is to enlghten the ignorance not merely OF the
pon cLoders but Of the shareholders themselves,
| as to The comparative position Of the North and
South in respect TO agriculture, that the efforts OF
the author are first directed. For this purpose he
-. 49,