Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-09-22
Anti-Slavery in the South.

AeA SAe~sSAy - eA~S ~~>>S'
Mr.. H. R. Helper. the author Of the I'm
pending Crisis in the South" has address
ed to The Anti. Slavery Standard letter in
which he gives numbe, of instances Of the
gradual spread of Anti-Slavery views, even
| in the very home of the "peculiar institu-
ton" Among them he cites the case of q
Methods. clergyman, native of North
Carolina, who, after thirty 1--we years. res
idence in the West, has returned to that
State, and is now boldly preaching Anti
Slavery in the pulpit This clergyman says
that, though various threats of meb violence
have been made against him, he has as yet
sustained no personal injury. This, he
thinks is partially owing to the influence
of his relatives in the vicinity and 10 his
Southern birth.
A residest of Roietour. county, Virginia,
makes the following strong remarks:
ain Virginia, such is our loyalty to slav-
cry that if an ultra Abolitionist, who con-
tends for amalgamation, were to come
among US and advocate his theory. he wo'd
certainly, to say the least, get coat Of tar
and feathers; but, when we look at the face
Of society, it is demonstrable, beyond the
possibility of doubt, that we have practi-
cal amslgamationists by the score. la
some of our towns and villages, more than
half the colored population are of mixed
blood; and such is the state of things, to a
greater or less extent, throughout toe entire
South, as Ear as have travelled. Thus, in
this respect, truth compels me to AXE the
humiliating concession that Virginia prac-
lice is worse than Massachusetts, Me,ry. =
"You see, then, how we are cursed with
an i!legitimate, adulterous population-the
offspring of free men born in Slavery
from whom the privileges of education and
legal matrimnny are Withheld.
Thousands of the slaves Of this State are
of mixed race, the sons and daughters of
white fathers. To remedy the
sad consequences of this leprous sore upon
the body polite. the exertions of the wise
and good should at once be called forth.
"In material point of view, we are also
most disadvantageously affected BY African
Slavery. In proof of this, we need only look
at the idleness of large portion of our
white population, the cherries condition
of our wasted lands, the very low price Of
real estate, the unimportance Of our COM
merce, and our absolute dependence on the
North for manufactured fabrics"
In the State Universi,y of North Caro-
lima, at Chapel Hill, all the students arc
taught that Slavery is of Divine origin, and
that it is their duty as citizens, Christians
and patriots to defend K Yet even in that
State, Mr. Helpers "Impending Crisis" has
been extensively circulated, and with good
results.
1t Is in Virginia particularly that the
movement is beginning to be felt. Cit
izen Of Richmond, Virginia, writes to Mr..
He elpsr:s
at is to Slavery alone that Virginia owes
the sad misfortune of having within her
borders more grown Den and women who
cannot read than any other State in the
Union. Eastern Virginia, where most of
our uneducated people live, is, by having a
halt million of slaves, so sparsely popula-
ted by whites that but few can attend any
school, unless parents can afford to keep a
Lorse for the sole purpose of taking their
children to and from the school-house.
This is the chief impediment. but there is
another. The good land in Eastern Va
in fact, all the land bordering on the rivers
lis ia possession of the shareholders, while
the great mass Of the white population. the
non.slaveho holders, live on lands that give
but meager returns for the labor bestowed
upon them. You are aware OF the beautiful
rivers that flow through our section of the
State from the mountains to the Chesapeake,
and of the magnificent harbors which linden,
our sea-coast; and yet, Sir, it is but truth
to say. that these wear the almost desoate
appearance that they did in the day when
the Creator first bade them ebb and flow"