, 1857-08-14
ReY. Dr. ROS ON NegrO oSIaYery., !,

We have been much interested in read
I ing the discussion in the Presbyterian
General Assembly, (now schooll held al
Cleveland Ohio. This discussion is the
more interesting because the southern clor
Igymen have at length forsaken their ole
lapologetic standpoint and come out boldly
1 in the defense of the relation of master anC
Slave" as existing at the South Theil
arguments take their Abolition brethren
all aback, and after losing their aStonish
meut on seeing venerable Christian min
listers stand up and defend slavery" they
begin to look into the subject, and do moi
find it so horrible otter ALL The southern
ministers, too, have the advantage Of the
northern ones in courtesy and Christian
gentleness. For instance, what can be
imagined more genial than the following,
from the opening of the Rev. Dr. Ross Of
Ala? E....r. .,
Brethren, my object is not to make q
speech, but if may by the grace of God
throw some oil on the troubled wave that
is before me, shall have attained my ob-
feet, which is peace. Some brother said
yesterday, when remarked that l wanted
to throw oil on the water, that he suppo-
sed it Youtd be the oil Of vtriol? (Laugh,
ter) No, my brethren, it viii be sweet
oil-( (Laughter) ottar of roScs-on one
point. had no desire to come to this
General Assembly. L had within very
few brief weeks consigned to the grave the
good, and the brilliant, and the beautiful
my only daughter; and my beloved
people told mo to go away from that green
grave-green in its freshness and not in
the flowers and in the yerdure Of grass; to
go away and find in travel some withdraw
al Of mind from the buried dead. And
you can well appreciate that am in no
mood for painful strife. But let that pass,
| have no right to thrust too much Of this
feeling upon you. ....
My brethren, speak all in love 10 you
on this subject, and always have done so:
and when go away from this beautiful
city | do not apprehend that shall go
away with a single unkind feeling to-
ward me. The great fact ofmy life is that
everybody loves me, the men love me, the
women love me, the boys love me, the
girls love me, and the SlaueS love me; and
many persons have told me again and
again that they loved me because l had
given them this Bible view Of slavery. One
brother whom / met bere in this General
Assembly said, "Brother Ross, your heart
is much better than your tonghe" And
another brother--one of your most bitter
and uncompromising abolitionisls--took me
10y tile hand and said, "WeIl brother Ross,
| am astonished that love you so muchp'
Now, my brethren, L shall not mako a
speech, but ! shall only endeavor to take
a man Of straw out of your way ..1
In course Of his speech, DIR. Ross. read
the following extract from a letter he had
written to Rev Albert Barnes, Of Phila-
delphia:-- g., s1 s41l r.
MANY of your most pious men, soundest
scholars, and sagacious observers Of provi-
dence, have been led to study the Bible
more faithfully in the light Of tie times
And they are reading it more and in harl
mony with the views which have been
reached by the highest southern minds to
wit: That the relation of master and
slave is sanctioned BY the Bible; that It is
q relation belonging to the same category
as those of husband and wife, parent and
child, master and apprentice. master md
hirelng; that the relations of husband and
wife, parent and child, were ordained in
Eden, for man as man, and modified after
the fall; while the relation of slavery, as a
system of labor is only one form of the gov
ernmept ordained of God over fallen and
degraded man that the evils in the system
are the same evils or oppression we see in
the relation Of husband aud wife, and all
other forms of government; that slavery
as relation suited to the more degraded,
or the more ignorant or helpless types Of a
sunken humanity, is like all government
intended as the proof Of the curse of such
degradation and at the same time to ele-
vate aud bless; that the relation Of husband
and wife, being for man, as man, will ever
be over him; while slavery will remain SO
long as God sees it best, as a controlling
power over the ignorant, the more degra-
ded and helpless; and that, when he sees
it for the good of the country, he will
cause it to pas away, if the slave can be
elevated to liberty and equality, political
and social, with his master, inthat country
or out of that country, if such elevation
can not be given therein, but may be real
lied in some other, land; all which result
must be left to the unloldings Of the Divine
will, in harmony with the Bible, and net
to newly discovered dispensation. These
facts are vindicatcd in the Bible and ProVi-
deneeY y, a,eaoi.-.e-. ,.1' 80 gi 9la%.
If DR.. Ross had been little more ex-
plicit in his remarks and shown that this
slavery" only applied to the negro race
his defnition as above would have been
perfect. Though Or, Ross does not ex
actly tell Us whether he thinks this Unequal
ity, yet we infer from subsequent part Oi
his speech that he considers it natural OIL
created. He says;-- I. s.. .a.
What does God say to tue negro slavei
Does he tell him to ask to be sent back
to heather Africa? No. Does he give
him authority to claim a credted qaaittl
and unali.nable right, to be on leve
with the white man in civil and social re
I 10 NJ NJ osl- tho fret Uould n,