The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-30
baettigeneer, occurring under the Fugitive Slave
act, but we reserve il until next week.
SLAVERY AS A MISSIONARY ENTER
PRISE.

We had supposed that the champions o
Slavery, discarding al sinister and selfish views
firmly planted themselves upon the Christian
platform, and insisted that Slavery was insti
tuted and upheld with view to the reclama
ton of idolaters from the error of their ways
We are not now prepared to controvert thu
assumption; but from a practical treatise OF
the subject of /" Schooling for Negroes which
we find in the Southern Citizen, we confess oul
inability to perceive clearly the entire adapta
bility of the means to the end. In the afore
said treatise the proposition is laid down, tina
"All reasonable and humane persons are il
favor of instructing little negroes in all the &C
complishments and useful arts that negroe;
ought to know-namely to hoe corn, to picE
and gin cotton, to understand practically the
treatment of sugar cane and tobacco, to obey
their masters and overseers-together with
such other branches Of liberal education as
will readily suggest themselves to persons who
have had to deal with niggers."
Our Irish apostle thus briefly sums up the
"whole duty" of little niggers, and he proceeds
to ridicule the idea of communicating to them
any notion of Mr.. Buchanan's God" Whether
the editor intends by this form of expression
to intimate doubt of the orthodox soundness
of the Presidents faith we are unable to say
1t certainly looks that way. He says:
"What theory the President, or Hon. Howell
Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury, may have
formed with respect to the scholastic require
ments of our colored brethren, we do not ae-
curately know. We only know that about the
meeting of the last session of Congress-, our
philanthropic Administration was full of glow
ing and cheering hope, touching the good
which might be done by sending the young
Echo piccaninnies to college, and then letting
them go forth over Africa, carrying the light
of-sO-dnd-SO.
Two especial ends were to be gained-one
1.-THE principal one, of course) was to do good
and make the piratical enterprise of the Echo
an occasion-under the blessing of Mr.. Blu
chanan's God--to diffuse the aforesaid light
of soand-so; the other was to get as much
money as possible out of Congress"
If the editor of the Southern Citizen were
known to the world as a scofing infdel, we
could understand the above language; but as
an advocate and apostle of the great mission,
airy scheme for converting the heather to
Christianity, we have no right to question his
piety. We must therefore understand him, in
the excess of his zeal for the faith, as imputing
to the President and Secretary of the Treasury
the wicked purpose of attempting to ruin the
piccaninnies," body and soul, by infusing into
their innocent minds heretical or idolatrous no.
tons of God.
But, with all Difference to the editor of the
Citizen, we must be permitted to say, that his
very simple scheme for the civilization and re
demption of the negroes seems to our minds
inadequate to the purpose. To know the mys
teries of hoeing corn, killing tobacco, and gin
ming cotton, is highly proper for little negroes
and we are aware that the editor has Scripture
authority for intoxicating " obedience to mas
ters." But is this all Is it not necessary that
the negroes should also be taught to obey God
and even to obey God rather than man2 How,
then can they arrive at that state of Christian
development in which they can choose wisely
to obey God, and obey Him rather than their
masters, without the ability to read the Bible
and other good books? In word, without a
study of the Scriptures and of ethics2 We
submit these questions to our neighbor of the
Citizen, and ask him to ponder, and answer
them on his responsibility as Christian phi
lanthropist, anxious for the salvation of poor
heather Africa.