Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-03-14


position Of our country this day before 6oa' Low
different would have been the privileges ei!e5 q
the Door black mans scs which, in TINS Dl.sct -
test has been too much neglected. aa1 e-sf- -
Then there would have been no need " 1870 ss,.-
verted our churches into military Darracks i9r ~.
lsct;,,sr 5,,esrn,s 10 carry on war upon distant
frontier No need for sovereign c,4.e ~ s1ecees
~, r, ypnalss az the lsH upon tne INVADER lef
doing no more than honestly to carry ol Ipe seAeh-
inc Of abolion preachers, VINO 9l.1 oaEteI'.'
.e :, ;.,ces to be borne. and lay them on mems
-uo ~ ,b;ls bey touch them not with Of
49, .s.s No need for the widow and the Or
ss,. +sar In anguish ef heart over those cold
-es for whose dishonor and desoaton God win
Rold the real authors Responsible Nc occasion On
,-fext fer sayeholding States 70 pass such stri
st Il KS for the punishment Of tie secret ncen
diary and the prevention Of serTile war.
r shall not attempt to show what viii be the con
d;tion of the African race in this country when the
Gospel shall have brought all classes under ID
complete dominion. What civil and social relations
men will sustain IN the times Of the nlileDia glot3
do not know. cordially embrace the current
opinion of our church that slavery is permitted and
regulated by the divine law under both the Jewish
and Christian diapensaticns. not as the final destiny
of the enslaved, but as important and necessary
process in their from heathenism christ
ianity---a wheel in the great machinery Of Proyi
dence by which the final redemption is to be aeon
plished. However this may be. one thing know
and every aboiiiionist might know it if be would
that there are christian families a the south IN
which patriarchal fidelity and Affection subslst De
tween the bond and the free, and where slaves are
better fed and clothed and instructed, and nave
better opportunity for salvation than the majority OF
laboring people in the city Of New York IL the
tongue Of abolitionism had only kept silence THESE
twenty years past, the number OF snca lamilea
would be tenf0id as great. Fanatlcism Sc he Ncrtn
Is one chief stumbling block in the way Of the Cos.
pei at the South This Is one great grievance that
presses 70 day upon the hearts Of our christian
brethren at the South This, in measure, explains
why such men as DIR. Thornwen, OF Suuth Carolina
and Dr. Palmer. of New Orlesps-nlen whose genius
and learning and piety would adorn any state o.
station-are willing to secede from the Cuon. They
feel that the influence Of the christian ministry
Kindred and their power to do good to both master
and slave crippled By the constant agfations OF alb
olitionism in our national councils and the incessan
turmoil excited by the inscriptural dogma thai
slayehoiding is sin. s t
1.-THE PRINCIPLES OF ABoLITIoNIsM HAVE Been
PRoPAaATED CHIEFLY By MISREPRESENTATION
AND ABUSE ~ SO .sa,s
Having no foundation in Scripture, it does moi
carry on its warfare By scripture weapons It's
prevailing spirit is fierce and proud and full
Of wrath and bitterness. Let me prove this
by testimony from its own lips. quote DR..
Claiming, Of Boston, whose name Is soWer Of
ssrength to the abolition cause, and whose memory
is their continual boast In o work published in
the year 1880, 1DQ the IoifcHlnS Wulu5.
ssrhe abelilionists have done wrong, l believe
nor is their wrong to be winked at because done
fanatically or with good intentions; for how much
mischief may be wrought Nth good designs! They
have fallen into the common error OF enthusiasts,
that of exaggersing their object, of feeling as II
evil existed but tkat which they opposed ana IS II
no guilt could be compared with that Of counte-
nancing and uphOlding it. The toneof their news
papers, SO far as have seen them, has often been
fierce. bitter, and abusive. They have sent forth
their orators, some Of them transported vita fiery
zeal to sound the alarm against slavery through
the land to gather together young and old, pupils
from schools, females hardly arrived at years
Of discretion, the ignorant, the excitable, the
impetuous, and Go organize these into associations
for the battle against oppression. very unaaP,
PLY they preached their doctrine to the colored
people and collected them into societies. To this
mixed and excitable multitude minute hsart-reDd-
ing descriptions Of slavery given in piercing
tones of passion, and Shareholders were held up as
monsters of cruelty and crime. The Aboiitionist,
indeed, proposed to convert Shareholders, and Tor
this end be approached them with vituperaion, AID
exhausted on them the vocabulary OF ABUSE Ana
he has reaped as be sowed.
Such is the testimony Of DR.. Claiming, given IN
the year 1886 What would he have thought and
said if he had lived until the year 1860, and seen
this little stream, over whose infant violence ne la
mented, swelling into torrent and flooding the
Misrepresentation Of the legal principles involved in
the reatian between master and slave. They reite-
rate, in a thousand exciting forms, the assertion
that the idea of property in man blos cut his man
hood and degrades him to the level Of brute or
stone, e D nestle slavery" says Dr.. Wsylsnd in
his work on Moral Science, "suPpOses at best that
the relation between master and slave is not that
which exists between man and man, but Is modi-
6cation at least Of that which exists between man
and the brutes" Do not these Aboltionist philoso-
piers know that according to the laws Of every
ciyiled country On earth o man has pro-
perty in his children and woman has pro-
perty in her husband? The statutes of the
State of New York aud Of every other Northern
State recognize anu protect this property Snd our
courts of justice have repeatedly assessed its value
Ii man is killed on railroad, his wife may bring
suit and recover damages fer the pecuniary loss
she has suffered. II one man entice away the
daughter OF another, and marry her while she is
still under age the father may bring civil suit for
damages for the loss of that childs services, and
tee pecIniary compensation IS the only redress the
Law provides. Thus the common law Of Christen-
dom and he statutes of our own State recognizes
properly in msn.a In what does that property con-
sistf Simply in such service as q man or 6 child
may properly be required to render. This 10 all
that the Levitical law, or any other law, means
when il says your bonamen shall be your posses
sion or property and an inheritance for your chill
drSn,' Inc properly couslotc nOb Az tnC "
trea. the slave like brute, but simply in legal
claim for sucn service as 9 man in that position
NAV pronerly he required to render. And Jet abo-
ltfonists in the face of the divine law, persist in
denouncing the very relation between master and
slave las modification, ct least, of that which ex
lists between man and the brutes." This, however,
lie not the worst or most prevalent form ghich their
abusive spirit assumes. Their mode Of arguing the
question of slsyeholding, by pretended appeal to
facts is tissue of Misrepresentation from begin
ming TO end Let NE illustrate my meaning by
parallel case. Suppose ] undertake to prove the
wickeduess of marriage as it exists IN the city Of
New York In this discussion suppose the
Bible is excluded, or at least that it is not
recognized as having exclusive jurisdiction in the
decision of the question. ay first appeal is to the
statute law Of the State
show there enactments which npllify the lay of
God and make divorce q marketable and cheap COM
modify. ] collect the advertisements OF your daily
papers in which lawyers offer TO procure the legal
separation of man and wife for stipulated price, TO
say nothing in this sacred place of other advertise
ments which decency forbids me to quote. Then
turn to the records of oar criminal courts and find
that every day some cruel husband beats his wife
or some unnatural parent muF lers his child, or,
some disconnected wife or HUSBAND seeks the disso
jution of the marriage bond. IL the next place,
turn to the orphan asylums and hospitals and show
there the miserable wrecks of domestic tyranny in
wives deserted and children manned by DRUNKEN
parents. In the last place go through our streets
and into our tenement houses, and count the thous
ands of ragged children, who, amid ignorance and
fifth are training for the prison and galiows. Sum-
ming all these facts together, put them forth as
the fruits of marriage in the city Of New York, and
proof that the relation itself is sinful If were
Novelist, ind had written book to illustrate this
same doctrine, would cal this array Of facts a
key" In this Key say nothing about the sweet
charities andlafections that flourish in Ten thousand
homes, not a word about the Eultitudes Of
loving kndnesses that characterize the daily
ifs of honest people, about the Instruction and
discipline that are training children at ten
resides for usefulness here and glory here
lfter; all this igEore and quote only the statute
book the newspapers, the records Of criminal
courts and the miseries of the abodes of poverty.
Now. what have done? | have not misstated or
single fact. And yet am not falsi
ier and slsnderer of the deepest dye Is there
rirtuous woman or an honest man in this city whose
cheeks would not burn with indignation at my one
ided and injurious statements! Now, this is just
what abolitionism has done In regard TO slsvehold
ng 1t has undertaken TO illustrate its cardinal doc
rne in words of fiction, and then, to sustain the
tion of its fancy has attempted TO underpin with
Iccumuistion Of FACTS. These facts are collected |