The Yazoo Democrat., 1859-04-16
Inspiration and BY Divine command, forssold


inspiration and by Divine command, forstold
the slavery of the children Of, Ham, you
give him some very hard thrusts, and leave
HIM on the pages of your speech with a
charastes by no means SO fair as that given
him by Sthe sacred historian. Was Noah
in the way of your theory, that you strike
at him so vigorously, as though you would
hew him down? You say he lnistook Ca
naan for Ham. Suppose he did, the predic.
tion and the curse rest somewhere-on some
nation. The principle is the same in the
Divine administration. Who are the chill,
dren of Canaan? Tradition and history
unite in the belief that they inhabit the
continent of Africa. Their condition fulfls
with remarkable fidelity, the prophecy Of
that righteous man and preacher of rights
eousness," Noah. I" A servant of servants"
was the double curse, which has rested on
that continent and race for many centuries.
1t is covered with o network of double
slaveiy-every chief having his retinue of
slaves while he pays tribute to some higher
chief or petty king.
You seem tolay great stress upon the fact
that the Canaantes were not black. How
do you know ? DR.. Thompson, who has
written, perhaps, the most thorough work
on Syria and Palestine that has ever been
published, says the ancient inhabitants of
that country came from Africa. The great
painting Of Samson grinding in the mill
shows his Philistine drivers very dark, if
not black But you miss the point of the
Scriptural precedent and example for slavery.
You prove, as you think, that the Canaan
ties were not black, and then jump at once
to the conclusion that, if they were not
black, they must have been enslaved because
they were laboring men. This does very
we'll to stir up prejudice at the North but
is it the truth? The Israelites were per-
mitted to enslave the Canaanites not because
they were laboring men, but because they
were heathen, and thereby so degraded that
a transfer to the Hebrew Commonwealth,
where the true God was worshippcd, was a
privilege and blessing.
This furnishes the parallel point on which
American slave holders rely with great con-
fdence. The Africans were taken from the
most degraded heathenism; and are here
taught to worship the true God; and, in the
opinion Of every Bible man, more of them
have been fitted for and gone to heaven from,
the thousands in America than from the
millions in Africa Dr. Dwight said, after
long experience and wide observation, that
he never knew but one lazy man converted.
Aud as God had some chosen people in Af-
rica, it was necessary that they should be
taught to work in order to their conversion.
But in the South they are not allowed to
read the Bible Well, in Africa, they neith-
sr read it, hear of it, nor from it. Faith
,ometh by hearing and is it not better to
lear the truth than to live entirely destitute
If it?
You quote the eigth commandment as a
of slavery. This is singular
We're your ancestors thieves ? They brought
II assented to the bringing of slaves to this
ountry. 1t is singular fact that while
We boast of our Puritan ancestry, the laws
f the present day would hang half the men
hat lived a hundred years ago, as engaged /
n the slave traffic, directly or Indirectly
nd another law would imprson all the men
Who lived forty years since. The eighth
commandment was given on the way out of
Egypt. 1t was the charter, the constitution
f the Hebrew nation. All their other laws
lere controlled by the Decalogue. Well,
ow what2 Why, they had slaves by Di-
inc permission under this charter. How
ould they, if the eighth commandment
orbids it But are the slaves stolen
Certainly not by Americans. They buy
hem, pay for them, transfer them, and pro-
ide for them, in the only and most benevo
ent manner in which it can be done. As to
he metaphysical abstraction, that man can
ot have property in man, it has been con,
radicted from the foundation of the world
o the present time Holding, use, aud
ransfer, are the elements of property and
his has been done by men to men in all
ges, and yet you say that there is no word
a the good old Hebrew tongue that conveys
he idea Of property in man. When a man
inadvertently killed his slave, no blood was
0 be shed, for "he WdS his money" Does
ot that mean property?
Concluded nert ,ceek)