Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-01-04
fProm the EreninC Post.I
UBenISnity and Benehcence.~

From the Evening Post.
GBenISnity and Benehcence."
Our readers have not, perhaps, forgot
ten Mr.. Charles O'Conors euIogy, pro-
nounced at the late Union meeting. on
that. "just, benign and beneficcnt institu-
| ton" slavery. \ remarkable example of
the kindly and humanizing~ effect of this
benign and beneicent institution has Just
been given, the history OF which we copy,
| in another part OF this sheet, under the
title of AN Irishmau's Sullerings in South
| Carolina" Mr.. 0'Conor will see that the
person to whom the adventure happened
was one Of his own kindred, and will not
| fail, we hope, when he next repeats his
oration, to adducc it as q convincing eX-.
ample of the effect of slavery in softcaifig
the manners and heighteniug lbe~Civiliza-
tion of those regions whi~h are blessed
with its influences. -
| An Irish mechanic named james Power,
who had ahayS been II good democrat
| and votelwith the pro-Slaverv party. went
! TO South Carolina, and was employed rs Il
i stone-cutter on the State Eousc, a magniii-
cent building, the pride of the State, now
| going up in Columbia. where there is a
| college and professors, and Il population
not rIore barbnrized, we suppose, than is
to be found in other towns OF its size at
the South. This man made the discovery
! that white labCrer ut the South, in COR
sequence of slavery, which makes labor
Gisgrncc:u!, is looked upon as belonging
to Il degraded class. He said so. For
this offence his apprehension was ordered
( by q Vigilance Committee: he attempted
to make his escape, WAS pursued aud
scizet! two miles from town, was iTpr!s-
oned for three days, withod: liberty 10
+ communicate with any of his friends, was
} then hroGSht before the Mayor, where the
remark he had made was proved, on which
I he was rcmHnded to jail, kept there six
/ days longer aAdHhalf-staFved.
I A, the end of this period two marshals
took the Irishman ont of his cell, and
made two negroes drag the poor man
through all the muddy puddles on the way
to the State House yard. where a crowd ~
several persons were assembled, headed
ty Il troop Of horse. They marched him
in procession to place three miles ont
OF the city, where, amidst brutal cries of
vengeance from the crowd. he received
thirty-nne lIshcs from II cowhide, drawing
blood Mt every stroke; his lacerated body
was then daubed with tar from the head To
/ the waist, and next covered with feathers.
In this half naked state he was taken 10
tho railway. and put on board the negroes
car. Here the crowd detained the train.
made u fresh application of tar. and stuck
it over with cotton. The train took him
TO Charleston, but at every stopping-rlacc
on the way a mob gathered 10 int!ict fresh
insults. At Charleston he was Kept in Jail
for week. and visited hy . physician.
who ccmtnrted him by Informing him that
his case was a mild one. since there WAS
another man then lying in the City Hospi-
tai, who had received ave hundred laSEeS
instead of thirtv-nipe, aud was nearly Kill
led by the intiiction.
i Last Saturday the poor IrishnIIu was
taken out Of Jail, being supposed ROW able
10 travel. and put on board a steamer for
New York, where he arrived on Monday,
and is here trying to get we'll and looking
Ter work. The particulars VIC have given,
it will be seen. are parts Of Powers own
story. hut the Charleston NcreUrp had al
ready informed the public that this man
had been publicly whipped and then tar
red and feathered, and that his crime was
that he entertained ..aEti-slavcry opiu-
iOnS.''aS white mechanic at the South
naturally would. The principle facts are
admitted. and the minor circumstances are
probably true. The remarkable feature Of
the case is the revolving brutality of the
southern population which it diScloscs. II
seems 70 be one of the effects OF the "hc
nign ana beneficent institution, that ii
nOuIlSHGS IL NOluS.l lSTbEitN All NhC tis-NH-
and makes men indiiferen; to human suf-
fering. The narrative of James Powers is
made probable by the examples which we
have Of the atrocities committed on other
pcrsonS-such as the tarrinS and fcathcring
and riding on 7 rail two poor Italian organ
grinders IN Alabama. Oh suspicion cf being
abo!itionists: the :arring and fcaIhering Of
nan in Clayton, in the same state, fer the
sIrse rcaScD-thc tGrring aml fcethering Of
Sandy Tate. 4 SCotchmar, at Salisbury, in
North Carolina; and we might add 10
these the iniiEuity 10 which two gentle
n,cn who arrived in the steamer Hunts
willie from Savannah on the l9th instant
had been subjected: mob having seized
them, shaved their heads an ope side, and
sent them out OF South Carolina.
/ The institution which has these blessed
effects is the ono which Mr.. Buchanan tells
us is established and legalized by the
Dred Scott decision in all the territories OF
the United States. until they become states
and arc allowed to legislate for themselves.
We are sure that the single case of James
Power is enough to make every right
minded man pray that 1ninstitution which
encourages such LorFid bTutalities may
never be extended single rood beyond
the space it now occupies, and exert him
self to exclude it at a:iy sacrifice. from the
territories. Wherever It goes, neither the
personal liberty nor the personal safety of
: the whites can co-exist with it; not oni:
the black but the white population are
the slaves OF the oligarcby.