Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-02-14
BAYARD TAYLOR BEFORE THE INouIsI-
TON

itself too early in the rude world and gets de-
filed The wise flowers, and the sagacious
you tn, take equal warning from the fate of
their sad companions, and let the wickedness
of the world alone till they have grown great
nd strong. Shy and fearful of all unpropi-
tious influences, they grow up into patterns Of
miraculous beauty, which the rest of their
stunted, frostbidden, and early-depraved con-
nections can only envy and admire
There is a city in the state of Virginia,
which, even in these piping times of peace
thinks itself Jerusalem threatened by an in
Vulnerable cloud of Saracens. In that Jeru-
salem exists an association of young men, who
have cultivated very finely touched perceptions
of piety, and kept themselves unspotted from
the world. 1t isn't difficult to imagine them,
before their present tribulation begun, acting
in most common things very differently from
o Their men, pursuing their usual avocations ito
the Dorian mood of flutes and soft recorders, +"
hearing at the slave auctions and at the whip
ping posts the applause of Heaven, for prepar-
ing the heather for its inheritance, finding in
fact, sermons in stones, and good in every
thing.
Some months ago these young men extend
ed to Bayard Taylor an invitation to lecture
before the Christian Association of Richmond.
He accepted the invitation, and the time of his
engagement was fixed. In the meantime
LIQUIDS descended upon that horizon, and the
young men were depressed in spirit. John
Brown questioned the efficacy of their methods
of Outstanding the unconyerted, and Mt
tempted to introduce his own. The state was
converted into military arsenal, and the
young knights of the cross became soldiers OF
the church militant. Wonder-struck by their
intrepid ZEAL no foe approached to put their
vaor to the test. And after many days and
nights Of courageous watching, they returned
ONE TO put themselves in order for concert
ed attack Their institutions looked more
beautiful to them than ever before; they EN-
braced the women hippers, and baby stealers
with more ardent affection; and the veins of
many slave woman, the next day, blushed
with another tinge of Caucasian blood.
One of the first precautions to be taken,
was, of course, to resist the circulation of sen.
timents suspected to be different from their
own. Persons who could influence or control
any of the avenues of public opinion, were
m ade officers of the new inquisition. Post
masters broke open and rified the mails. Ruff
f ans attacked travellers on the highway, and
compelled them to choose between Punishment
md such personal indignities as they might
d esire to inffict. The "young Christians"
re vised their lecture lists, and informed those
VIII were suspected that their services would
not be wanted. OF those who were thus sum-
m ariiy prescribed, Bayard Taylor was one.
He had sometime written letters to the Tri-
bune, and had somewhere defended the char
cter of Humboldt against the imputation of
irreligion. These two circumstances burdened
the minds of the saints, till they cried with
Apollo's priest in Chrysostom, 0, celum o,
terra unde hosts hic? Heavens and earth
W hat enemy is here? and broke the engage
ent-writing to Mr.. Taylor that he could
not be allowed to speak, because he had not
in Dictated complete faith in the Divine inspir-
alton and authority of the sacred Scriptures
q belief firmly held by the Christians of the
So uthern States, and which they consider an
indispensable safeguard against Abolitionism,
Spiritualism, Free-loveism, and all the other
forms of fanaticism so prevalent at the
North |"
The genial traveller, unaccustomed to play
the character of Turk, questioned the pro-
priety of such treatment even at the hands of
the saints of that city, and expressed his judg-
IN ent as follows:-'I have travelled in all the
principal portions of the earth; know all
70 rms of government and all religious creeds,
fir ON personal observation and study but no
W here in any of the lands or races, most bitter
ly hostile to republicansm and Christianity,
have ever been subjected to a narrower or
more insulting censorship" Mr.. Taylor does
not see what is admirable in the young knights
by whom he has been condemned, and has not
been accustomed to the delicate and peculiar
Sc ryice which inspires their devotion. If any
word were to have fallen from his lips which
would have awakened the profoundest graft
tude of Humboldt or touched the sympathy
of his audiences in any other section of the
world, it is not certain but that his employers
would have committed some offence against
discretion, or some violation of their noisy
faith
L he original slave population has been los
ing its distinctive characteristics for the last
fifty years, slowly whitening into likeness
with the Ango-Saxon, and assimilating some
thing of its intelligence with its blood What
safety would there be if anybody had the pow
er to suggest to them a better condition for
themselves and for mankind than that of per-
petual bondage What would become of that
missionary field, of which the saints pride
themselves, if any fanatic were to have the
power to hasten the civilization of its subjects,
beyond the operation of the causes peculiar to
slave-breeding states, or faster than it could
be replenished from the muItitudes of those
who are forsaken of God and shareholders on
the coast of Africa
A secular inquisition is as essential TO slave
ry as a religious inquisition was to the ancient
church. Light is its greatest enemy. Let nc
man who has light to dispense think of tolera.
ton in slave state. There can be none
minds TO think or hearts to feel. Leave that
neld for the amiable and plant orators, who
MARBLE as sweetly in flash newspapers as in
DOCKS that claim to be immortal who can
look with equal complacency upon that condi-
uon Oh society where every third child is born
aslaVe' and on that in which every man is free
ana accountable directly to his God. Such