The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-04-07
To THE EpIToR OF TIE COURIER

II To THE EDIToR OF TIE COURIER:
ra .u,4fr5e.a SIR Il have to tender you
my sincere thanks for indulgence in giving
my communications place in your columns.
The only apology l can offer for troubling
you so much, will be found in the fact that
the question of Slavery is pregnant with i'm
portance to the human race, and doubly
pregnant with issues of good or i'll to the fu-
ture destinies of the republic. No sane man
will deny or doubt that it is tie great pro-
blem before the people ofthe United States
for solution; and as such, cannot be too
thoroughly investigated. The eyes of the
civilized world are upon us. their moral
sense, as evinced in their political actions on
Slavery, is against us. Our missionaries
whom we send to distant lands to convert
the heathen, complain that these heathens re-
proach them and say, "you hold three mil
lion Of your inhabitants in bondage for no
crime, but that their skin is darker than your
owa ours too is darker than yours and
if the color Of skin is the pretext, how do we
know that you have no evil designs on us ~
Thus our peculiar institution" here, is a
serious bar to the spreading of .he Gospel
there. With these fetters upon us, it is to
be feared that our future missionary efforts
will be hopeless, as the past have been com
paratively fruitless. rn ~ r. i ""-~
For these and and other reasons, in the
hope ofinducins Mr. Fowler to withdraw
his candle from under the bushel in which
he hides it, I shall continue my review and
inquiries. Mr.. Fowler justified the enslave-
ment Of the Negro on the ground of ''inferi-
ority of race This was met by an extract
from letter of Henry Clay's, 'if this areu-
ment (nferiority of race) be founded on fact,
it proves entirely too much. 1t proves that
any white Nation which has made greater
advances. in civilization and wisdom, than
another white Nation, would have right to
reduce the latter to bondage. Nay further,
if the principle of subjection faundel on in
tellectual superiority be true, what is to pre-
vent its being applied to individuals? And
then the wisest man in the world would
have the right to make slaves of all the rest
Of mankind Instead of showing any fal-
lacy in this reasoning, about an hour was
spent in reading political speeches of Mr.
Clay's tending to show that he had at some
other time expressed a different opinion
AT present shall only say that the reason
inc in the extract appears to me to biological
and conclusive, and viii require no ordinary
amount of ingenuity to shake it,
| now come to the pro-slavery defense
drawn from the New Testament. 1t is
much to be regretted that by previous ar
rangement limiting the time of the speakers
to one hour alternately, Mr.. Taunton was cut
off from much of his argument in this new
field. Various possagcs were cited to prove
the existence Of slavery in the apostolic time.
Instructions to servants for their conduct
were quoted the Inference drawn that Slave
~ had the sanction Of the Gospel, and Mr.
Taunton was invited to prove that there was
any where direct interdct against it.
To this Mr. Taunton replied that it seem
ed to have formed no part of the plan which
Christ intended for himself and his Apostles
that they should butt themselves against the
national preiudices, and legal institutions OF
the whole world Martvrdom came fast
enough without it. In dealing with those
legal giants, Slavery and Polygamy. he found
it wiser ana better quietly TO draw the
cart from beneath their found ,tions, and LET
them gradually sink and disappear. Meth.
er Christ nor his Apostles connselled resis-
tance to the civil law, or the contrary, obedi-
ence. To have commanded the Polygamist
to put away all his wives but one, would
have violated the prccept which Christ HIM
self inculcated, for he enioius that man
shall not put away his wife at his mere will,
but only for sufficient cause. Thus Polyga-
my naturally passed away, not suddenly and
violently, but with the then existing gener-
alton. SO with Slavery, he did not CON-
mand the master to free the Slave, for he
was bought in good faith in accordance with
the civil law. But after conversion to chris
tauity he could not buy another slave
The golden rule forebade it. Who can tell
the upheaval and downfall. of the social fab
ric would have followed the opposite cause (!
As it was, they were accused OF. turning the
world upside down." and most of them suf-
fered violent death for their faith. 1t is
not for us to dictate how our Saviour should
act. he knew his mission, knew our nature
and choose his plans. Be it ours to recog.
nize their magnificence admire and adore.
To some persons it may seem strange
that instructions should be given by the
Apostles in the various parts Of the heathen
world, wherever churches were established,
and in all cases advising obedience; but il
must he remembered, the Apostles never
counselled obedience on the ground thai
Slavery was in harmony with the Gospel, but
because they regarded the servant, whether
1 =. I =.