Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-01-17

race lives, or ever did live, more intolerant Of
the principles and the rights Of others, or more
vain glorious Of every act furnishing IN oppor-
t,,ni,y fSr se!r:pmise. 1t is not under the do
ninion Of such race that desire to live, any
more than do hundreds of thousands Of others,
all over the North and West-nor niW they
consent to do SO, shouM the issue come to that.
1t is the race to which may be traced the orr
gin, in this country, Of every ism that has de-
lnoraizcd, and continues to demoralize and
disgrace it not Abolitionism merely, but Nor.
monisln, Spirtualisni, Free-loveism, and every
other beastly contrivance Of sensualism to
crafty its lustful appetites To New York
and her people is frequently attributed, by the
ignorant or unthinking, the origin of many Of
these debasing sects; and it may be that their
founders, or some Of them, were born upon the
soil of That State; yet, trace back their geneal-
osies through one or two generations in New
York, and thence to the fountain head and it
.Eill be found, alpays, at plymouth Rock. "
So it was with Joe Smith, the mormon Pro-
phct," and the mass Of his followers, until the
norc recent European accessions; so, too, with
John Brown and nine-tenths of his sympa-
thsers as well; so again with the "strong.
minded" female slattcrns who 90 about the
country leetHring figuring in the public prints,
performing as ''model artists" and gaining a
subsistence By some such means, be they "iair
or FOUL and so, in short, with the whole tribe
Of restless, rabble.rousing, in6del brawlers and
brutal scnSualists, both he and she, who have
done so much within few years past TO up
root and overthrow society, as it formerly ex-
sted, throughout most Of the North.
Doubtless there continue to be, as hereto
fore, in most portions Of it, people Of as much
purity and Of as tpie nobility Of soul as any
that exist anywhere; but, while this is true, it
is no less undeniable that in those localities
where the i$ms alluded to have made lodg-
ment, wretchcd degeneracy on the score of
morals has taken place Not that there may
not be as much, or even more pretension than
formerly, in the way Of the outrard observance
of moral and religious forms and ceremonies
but it is, alas! much TOO generally the husk
and the chatf;-without the grain! The
Jesus Christ is gone into, it is seriously
to be feared, much more frequently than
otherwise, by this people, in the same spirit
with that OF speculation in town lots, the
trading Of horses or the shaving of notes not
for the saving Of souls, but with the purpose Of
making it "puy" in peeuniary or worldly
point Of view.
This cant phrase, "wiil it pay" with the
words dollar" "Stocks and 'lots," is heard
daily and thousand times day on their
street corners, in the shops or counting houses,
at public meetings and in the social circle, even
until one sickens Of the slang The God they
actually worship, before whose throne they
bow i'll daily supplication, and make every
thing, literally erery thing subservient, is
MAMNoS! And thus it happens, that with in
sect$, constantly wrangling with
eacA other, and each one 1cithin itseit with
venom and rancor more worthy of the
heather or the Turk, than the Christian; and
with a greater number Of places Of public wor-
ship than perhaps any other. people, where civil
lization exists, it may well be doubted
whether any other has less of true religion.
acterized Puritanism in Massachusetts and
Connecticut in the days Of Paris and Cotton
Mathcr; that hung witches, (0 and prosecuted
Quakers: and hunted down, and drove out
from their midst, those even of English birth
OF parcntage, not OF the same faith with itself,
though it may have been better Jred, and Of
thrice more innate worth; that same accursed
spirit deSpj!a, +" anung"d ainsaI''seeea astts,,
ss,iI continues to exist, "scotchcd, but not
killed" Its present special antipathy is the
s.ayeholding population of the South, and woe
unto them, had it the power to deal with them
AS its frenzied hatred dictates
But did not take up my pen at this time to
write an essay upon the religion and morals of
the New England Puritan race, as they arc
now, any more than as they were in former
DAYS. To do that would Till volumes for IL
lustration, with proper examples of that in
ner life," about which we hear SO much from
their magazine scribblers and pulpit slang
whangers. What picture it would make,
portrayed from Il proper "stand point t"-an-
other Of their can't phrases-by one competent
to the task, who, viewing it unmasked, should
exhibit the actual condition of morals as they
exist, not merely in those monstrous reservoirs
of vice, Boston and New York, as shown up
daily by the newspapers published within their
own limits, but in the smaller towns and
throughout the country as well. Why, good
sized volume would hare to be devoted to the
peccadillos of the clergy alone, within the
last half dozen years. undertake to say
that, had one gone to the trouble Of clip
ping from the newspapers devoted to
that subject, the articles that have ap.
pcarcd there since, say 1854, he could make
scrap.book Of filth that would astound the
public +! Never week passes any
more that that sort of miscellany does not
meet the public eye from some source or other,
and with all the minute details glaringly ex-
posed. Children even, of both sexes. may be-
come as familiar with it as their text books in
school. Parents, whose puritanical notions
prevent their chldren's perusal OF SCOTS nov.
els or even the works Of Charles Dickens, re-
ccivc into their houses, apparently without the
slightest shock to their sensibilities, nay, with
evident gusto, the New York Tribune" and
other kindred prints, filled with nauseating &C
counts Of Grim. con-. brutal pugilstic encoun-
tres, or whatever will make the paper sell. ="
Somewhat more noise was made, perhaps,
over the case Of kalloch (since, believe, idol
lied and, doubtless, in due time, to be martyr
cd like 'uld Brown" by portion Of his loving
hock,) than any other, but it is only one out
OF innumcrablc others Of an equally. disgusting
character. Yet these are your puristS-these
the fruits of their teachings and their preach
ings.
As before remarked, however, my pen was
not taken up to elaborate upon the question OF
the relative merits, as to morality, OF the Yam
kee Puritan and other races. truly hope
this may be done by some abler hand. Let
cant and hypocrisy be stripped naked before
the world, and shown up as they deserve to
be! Were that dono thoroughly, and the 40
tuai "inner life" of universal iankeedom
boldly exhibited to the public gaze, less might
he heard hereafter from the ranting phlloso-
phcrs and philanthropists ~ of that region.
Prolific in its n6del writers-its Emersons,
Parkers, Phillips, Becchcrs, Cheevers, &C., &c.
AS France was prior to 1855, the present
LAYERS Of the groundwork Of anarchy or
"bicher law" who docs not see, in the same un.
scrupuous race, suitable and abundant material
ont Of which TO shape the Robesperres, Dan,
tons, Marats and St. Justs Of our future histo'
ry. should the opportunity occur? '"The Ven
geance" even, would speedily find more than
one faithful representative among the brutal
lied "strong minded of her sex. They arr
in prnctice. .far it n5u; for every few months
one NAV read an account, in the public prints
of some mot or other of these 'ladies," y re