The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1860-02-09
Letter from Professor ]. N Mcdowell,
HENRY WARD BEECHER.


SIR This is the morning of the ami
versary OF the crossing of the Delaware
by George Washington, and the battle of
Trenton. The Governor of Mississippi has
appointed to day day of thanksgiving in
memory of the achievements Of the Faith
er of his Country And l keep it with a
two.fod feeling Of ilial duty, for George
Washington and my own father, who was
with him on that dreadful night and the
two succeeding days. l do most heartily
thank God, my Father in Heaven, for their
deliverance in that most perilous adventure.
thank Him that He parted the ice as He
did the Red Sea, to safely land on that
stormy night that small but heroic band to
battle with the enemies of liberty, and made
them successful against FIVE times their
number. / thank Him for the freedom and
prosperity of our common country, both
North and South; and thank Him for the
preservation of our Union beneath the hol-
low of His hand. But above all things
have | thanked Him that He has not made
me such man as Henry Ward Beecher,
with heart full of black ingratitude for
the achievement of human liberty by that
heroic band. l thank Him that not one
drop of blood flows in my veins, or the
veins of my family for disunion; and there
still lives the same love of liberty in my
humble bosom that impelled them to battle
and to cross the Delaware, and would i'm
pei me TO cross the Mississippi to battle
with the foes of this Unon-the only hope
for civil and religious liberty for the hu
man race. Sir, let me reason with you.
and carefully read what l write you, that
you NAV "see yourself as others see you"
You profess to be Christian. yet in no
wise do yon follow in the footsteps of your
Master. or are actuated by the spirit of
His religion. His was of peace, yours of
the sword. His was forbearance, yours as
sault. even unto death, upon your friends
and your country. He purchased no wea-
pons even. to be turned upon His enemies,
while yours is the religion of the bowie
knife and rifle. His was mercy. yours is
murder. You would turn the brutal ne
gro upon the unsuspecting white man and
the defenceess white woman, and see them
eloat on murder and rapine. He would
gather little children to his bosom. while
you would consign innocent white girls Of
your own race to the brutal embrace Of the
African. | therefore cannot address you
rs r minister of the Christian religion, or
a follower of Jesus; but as hearlless, un-
feeling. uncompromising khave, too wise
to act without deadly purpose, too little
religion to be bigot or fanatic, but pos
sessirg the power to make fools and fanat-
les of others. In your Church but recent
ly YOU have raised money to excite insur-
rection in my native country, and when the
damning need is done. say with hypocrit-
cal cant, Il did not do it; that no force
should be used except moral suasion.'--
You send men to apply the torch to your
reighbor's dwelling, and excite black men
to murder white men, then say you only
wish 10 liberate the STARE. Such conduct
no reason can justify, no honest Christian
can approve. Jesus Christ lived in a pro
vince Of the Roman Empire and never ex
cited feelings of anger in man against his
fellow man, and never plotted treason
against the Government under which he
lived, but said. render unto Caesar what
is Caesars, servants be obedient unto your
naster's,' and that. too. when there were
sixty three millions Of white slaves in the
Empire.
If, sir, your excuse for the conduct is,
that you wish to confer loon upon the
human race, why prefer the black and in
ferior race to the white--why spare the one
and butcher the other? Why in blood in
stead Of peace and mercy? Or, if your
philanthropy must be exercised. why not
begin with your moral suasion,' your
bowie knives, Sharpe's rifles and bloodshed
in Africa, the parent country, where the
field is wider and the harvest is ripe? But.
sir, turn in at home and look upon your
self--cleanse first the Lazar house of your
great Eastern cities before you begin the
work of reform in kentucky and Virginia;
and when your work is finished at home.
if not partial to color, we would invite
your philanthropic efforts to Asia where
there are four millions more degraded than
the African of your own country. Why
excite men to fanatical deeds which must
destroy both their country and themselves?
Why press the Southern States to disnn-
ion, when destruction will fall alike on
both North and South? II this Union is
dissolve we must Of necessity be engulfed
in the malestrom of European politics and
European wars, and go down forever as a
nation or a republic.
The South can in six weeks make an al.
lance with either England or France, COM
mercial or political, offensive and defensive,
and in either case it will be utter ruin to
New England and the manufacturing States.
If with England your tariff system. which
has ever been oppressive to the South, will
be broken as a rope Of sand and scattered
to the four winds. and you come in collis
ion with your ancient competitor without
protection. and your manufactures must be
destroyed. And far worse would it be for
you. for us. and the whole civilized world,
iftha: alliance should be made with France;
for then the cotton. the sugar, and all the
products of the Sou her States would be
landed at Havre and purchased at much
higher rate, and Old Epgland and New
England would see the handwriting on the