Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-11-14

Keepers OF respectable hotels, and wealthy
planter choose to patronize them. In The
North If black man were rich enonpi
to purchase the Astor House hc would
have no white guests. All these things
should have been forseen and Looked tn
by philanthropists before attempting to
inanguraie a second massacre like that oi
ot. Domingo. Now, before concluding,
one general word about slavery. We
know from sacred writ that Abraham
possessed slaves that Job, in his plain
tive mood, pleaded before the Almighty
his kindness to his slaves that Moses
did not strike at the root Of slavery, but
only mitigated the hardships to which the
bondsman was otherwise subjected that
our divine Savior did not teach or pre-
scribe any law in reference to that es.
pecial topic that the Church, in the ex-
else OF her influence, employed only re.
ligious and moral suasion to remove the
dangers which surrounded both masters
and the slaves in their mutual relations
to each other. Now, not to speak Of other
legislators, the Catholics Of this country,
and perhaps the Catholics of Christen
dom at large, have made it a rule to imi-
tate the example Of our Lord, and to
avoil--except in the way Of the church,
as above referred-al interference with
slavery where it is once established, and
constitutes an element in social and civil
life. For this the Catholics have been
praised, and no article in DR.. Brownson' S
Quarterly Review can induce them to
forsake the wise and good old paths Of
our Divine Master and His Church.
The author whose works the writer
in Brownson's Review processes to criti-
else, vix : Augnstin Cochin, knows
nothing of what slavery is in the United
States. No European, unless he shall
have lived long time in this country,
is qualified to write on this subject
as it is known here. There is no analo-
gy between the slavery known among
the pagan nations, whether Of Greece or
Rome, and that which is recognized in
our Southern States. In the former cases
the slaves were, if not altogether, at
least generally Of the Caucasian race
They were oftentimes the countrymen Of
their masters, speaking the same langu-
age. and not unfrequently by far the supe.
rior of their masters in education and re-
finement OF manners. For them the
transition from bondage to freedom, un.
der the auspices of the Church, was an
easy and almost imperceptible transition
Slavery is derivable from the earliest
annals of the human race. The fist ne
cessity ofa man, not being himself the
head Of apowerful family, was to cline
for protection to some such head. II,
became slave voluntarily, but on condi
ton that he should be protected; for i
he strayed from the family. he becam
Immediately an outcast and foreigner
and liable to be seized and brought int
servitude by those who choose to tax
advantage of his unprotected condition
AS time went on families, especially un
der the Mosaic dispensation, were aggre
gated into communities, civil rights be
came -eorganized, and the whole socia
system, including the rights of slave,
and masters, were surrounded and pro
tected by laws, human we should cal
them, but in the case of the Jewish peo,
pie, laws of divine origin. Nations
must always precede the legislation; and
the laws of Nations could be nothing
more, at any given time, than either a
mutual agreement among themselves or
reciprocal understanding among them.
Now, down to recent period, the Law
of conquest in war gave to the victor the
right of life and death in reference to
his captive. In modern times the prog
ress of civilization has mitigated, even in
war, this stern rule. Civilized nations
no longer turn their prisoners into
slaves. ...
We wish to remark, however, that
there is no analogy bettceen ancient slaverg
and that which prevails in this country
When the Spaniards obtained afooting il
South America they began by buryine
whole nations of living Indians in the
deep caverns of their gold and silver
mines, to dig out for them the precious
metals there hidden. Their bishop re
manstrated-they appealed to the Pope
the practice was condemned, anathema
| tized--because the Indians vera natura: ly
free men, and it was a crime against the
Lord and His Christ for avarice to bring
them down into the Bondage of slavery
Then attention was drawn to the condi
tion of the negroes in Southwestern AT
rica as likely to supply the want of labo
that was experienced by the invader. Th'
Holy See never approved of this nor tn
other system. But the Holy See has on
! ly voice, and no armies to regulate the
inter penetration of justice and injustice
even among Catholic nations, round the
globe. The African slave trade commen
ced, and the existence of slaves in the
Southern States is its actual consequence
We can not go so far as to agree with al
eminent Catholic jurist and lawyer, il
saying that slavery is Divine institu
ton. The rest of his eloquent disserta
ton on that is far from being ont of har
mony with the principles of the Catholi
Church. 1t is at least a Divine permis
sion of Gods providence. And now lie
us look at the matter from beginning t
end.
Africa, it is well known, is q countr
of savages. not having the slightest gleal
of hope as to prospective civilization
We say that, in all the southweSter
section of Africa. there is no such know
as the idea of natural freeman. III
tribes in the interior are in perpetu'
war, and the laws of war among ther
are, that prisoner may be executed oi
4ho ..oA a.. III o., . Il L. /. Lnt ID