Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-10-21
vi.


The question whether slavery IS right Is
one upon which mankind have differed with
out apparently much prospect of coming to
an agreement. They among whom it exists
usually claim that it is right; they among
whom it does not exist are almost equally
unanimous that it is wrong while neither
party seems able to give any very conclusive
reasons for its opinion. None of the popular |
urged either for or against itupon |
moral grounds are satisfactory upon q rigid |
examination. 1t is as easy, in the case of
slavery of the African, to prove that the
negroes are descended from the same primi-
tive ancestors with ourselves, as to prove that
they were descended from different ones. 1t
requires no stronger historical faith to be-
lieve that they are the children Of Melchi-
zedec than that they are the children Of Ham,
and even if we should attempt to show that
they are of a race inferior to ours, they could
probably bring an equal number of witnesses
to prove that they are of superior.
Slavery is a part of African civilization, as
it is of American. If we are permitted to
call it an institution, it is one of the institu-
tiors which we have borrowed from our AZ
rican brethren. The African magnate or
warrior msrries as many wives as possible,
in order that he may have an abundance of
children to barter for whisky or gunpowder;
and when he has grown old and poor, la
ments the too hssty expenditure of his off
spring in the days of his strength, and
mourns over his senile incapacity to pro
duce a fresh supply of the merchantable
commodity.
1t is question which men are in general
willing to submit to their spiritual advisers,
whether given thing is sinful or otherwise;
and, under the impression that they are more
conversant with the counsel, Of God, and in
more intimate communication with his chan
Gerry, to abide by their decision. But, in re-
spect to slavery, even infallibility ceases to
be infallible. They OF the clergy who are in
contact with it, pronounce it to be right, and
are among its most Jealous defenders; while
they who are distant from, and perhaps have
never seen it, are of all others the most bit.
ter in its condemnation. Thus the Kingdom
of Heaven, as well as the nation of the
United States of America has become rent
with divisions upon this point of difficulty;
the one being, to all appearance, as likely to
be restored by mutual surrender of opin-
| ions as the other. .5lq..
Efforts are being made by some who are
withoat and others who are within its COM
munion, to present the Catholic Church in a
new aspect--as having abolition antecedents
and proclivities. The recent able and elabo-
rate essay Of Mr.. Brownson, in the October
number of his RevieiV, looks in this direction
and other articles to the same intent have
made their appearance in Eastern journals o
| extensive circulation. Eminent as Mr.
Brownson undoubtedly is as writer and {
Christian philosopher, there are few whose
! minds are more prone than his to feel tht
effects of temporary excitements, a. whC
more readily yield their judgments to thu
control of the imagination, under their inf1u
ence. Vigorous and efficient as it must b.
confessed he is as an advocate of the Church
he is by no means its safest counselor. Al
excellent soldier, but doubtful leader, tn
Church has, on more than one occasion, fel
itself constrained to repudiate his teachings
and give the world to understand that the.
were not delivered with the sanction of it
authority.
The Catholic Church has never interests
itself directly in the abolition of slavery. Il
matters not ecclesiastical, it has permitted
both to the clergy and the laity, large de
gree of freedom of opinion. Many of bot
have, in past ages, and in the present, ex
pressed feelings of hatred for every specie
of servitude and oppression, and have bee
active in the work of manumission; but thes
things are to be looked upon as individu'
acts, and not as authoritative indications {
the will of the Church. ....,
The Catholic Church has always accepte
the domestic relations and civil institution
of the people among whom it sought an e
tablishment as it found them; never strivin
to become social inuovstor, nor politics
revolutionist-contentt to rely upon the il
fuence of its doctrines and its facts, to wor
those changes in the manners and custom
of the people which should bring them int
conformity with its rules Of conduct.
adopted the principle that social condition
are not, in themselves, sins-that howev
much they may be lamented as misfortune
| they are not to be visited as Offenses; ar
+, the expression of st. Augustine-Qu
: mos erdt, eri,nsn non erat-that which exis
as a custom can not be considered as Grim
& was the governing maxim of the Church
0 its treatment of the servile relation.
1t took slavery as it found it. relying n
upon the direct application of its authori
for its eradication, but upon the efficacy
that Gospel of which it was the messengt
: to work out, in its own mysterious way, t
: mitigation and abandonment of all wrol
q and oppression. A
p Had the church assumed to prescribe t
i character of the domestic relations of
}. communicapts, or TO employ its influence
the political field, to put down one instit
ton or to build up another, its claim
: catholicity would long since have departe
|, 1t is to its care to abstain from such interp
: sition that has, in the United States, say
it from the fate Of nearly all the other eccle
: astieal bodies, and enabled it to present
. undivided front, in happy contrast with
t broken ranks and jarring sections whi
NJ they exhibit, and which are SO ominous
4I,air fnfura infuanca aud ,safnInaas