Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-02-19
.gbeObio 6tatesnram
TERMs. .
The South as Seen By Rsv. Or. Bangs.

Weekly, per yea ..........s.........'.s''.' W
The South as Seen by Rev. Or. Bangs.
We cannot refrain from placing before our
readers the following extracts from letter OF
Rev. Dr.. Bangs, a New York Methodist preach.
or, who is on visit South, which we mud in the
Methodist, truly Christian newspaper;
LOUISIANA CONFERENCE.
Before I left New York, some Of my friends
expressed fears (though had none myself that
| might meet with hard usage at the South.
But their fears were groundless. The Louisi-
ana Conference assembled the week after my
ARRIVAL Bishop Early and the preachers re-
ceived me az Christian minister and Christ
ian brother, and In every place, and by all the
people with whom / associated, | was treated
with as much kindness and warm-hearted friend.
ship as ever before In my life.
The Conference issmall, about seventy preach.
ers, mostly young men, full of zeal and activity
Some had TO 70 seven or eight hundred miles
TO their fields of labor, at an expense Of one or
two hundred dollars, but they seemed to go to
their work cheerfully. A beautiful brick Meth.
odist Episcopal church has just been erected in
Baton Rouge; IL was dedicated the Sabbath
after our arrival Rev. G. X. Marshall, Of the
Mississippi Conference, preached the dedicatory
sermon-an eloquent aud glorious discourse IL
was, from the words "Worship God.n They
invited me TO preach In the evening. did the
best could, with my head rolling and pitching
like the ship l had just left. Though the mem.
bers of this church are comparatively few, they
raised, on the day of dedication, the sum Of
81, ,730 towards defraying the expense of its
erection. Was not that noble for feeble so
ciety2 a.,
Iseemed to have arrived, however, In the
season of dedicatlons. The Presbyterian
church of this place was consecrated on the 18th
BY the Rev. DR.. Breckinridge, President Of
Oakland College, Mississippi. His sermon and
prayer for the Union did me good. felt like
giving good Methodist shout, and told him
so. Hearing that was in town, one of their
deacons waited upon me with polite request
that would preach for them in the evening, Ia
which cheerfully consented. The Lord help.
ed me to speak the truth in love-the sermon
was loud and long enough to have been good
one. On the afternoon Of the same Sabbath,
preached to the blacks In the Methodist Epis-
copal church. enjoyed 1t much, and they
seemed to feel "mighty" well, too-before ser
vice closed they began 10 walk around ant
shake hands with "old massa." Some Of them
believe, thought "old massa" did not use big
words enough, but talked to them too much as
! If they were little children. One Of them had
his hymn book, started the tunes and closed with
prayer.
SLAVERY.
The relation of master and slave has never
to my satisfaction, been proved sin. Tha
there are great evils connected with 1t, or tina
may grow out of It, have no doubt. So ar,
there evils that may result from the marriage
relation, or the relation of parent and child
but this does not prove the relation itself to b'
o sin. A great change has come over the polit-
ical feeling both North and South, within the
last twenty-five years. Ono extreme beget
another. The extreme measures Of the Nortl
upon this subject, have driven the South int
the opposite extreme. Heretofore there wer,
thousands at the South who considered SLAYER,
an evil, but o necessary evil, which they knew
not how to remove; but now, so far as coult
learn, they have come to the conclusion tha
the "institution" Ia right and scriptural, and
the best state possible for the blacks. will
not stop to argue the point at all, merely state
the fact As TO the physical condition Of the
slaves at the South, believe then are far better
off than The free blacks Of the North-better fed,
better clothed, better housed, and do less work
They appear the happiest set of people to be
found-their masters and mistresses have all
the care and expense. am told that the laws
Of Louisiana and Mississippi are very severe 10
protecting the slave. The Methodists are do
ing o great work among them. Many mis-
sionaries are employed on the plantations-some
of them are paid by the planters themselves,
some by the Missionary Society, and some con-
gregations of blacks in New Orleans support
themselves. converssd with brother preach
or, who is constantly laboring among this peo-
pie, and he gave a thrilling account of his mis-
sion.
The movements of the abolitonlsts of the
North haue been productive Of euil and only coil,
to The masters andsLapss; exasperating the for
| mer and causing tnem to restrict the privileges
of the latter. Or, when shall this wicked strife
come to an end, and brotherly love and frater-
nal intercourse return1
Let Us give the South their just claims, and
let their institutions alone. Cease this unchrs'
tian strie-there is worse evil shan slavery
brother warning against brother! love my
Southern brethren. There are as warm and
true hearted christians here as any place on the
face of the earth and they are ss honest In theiI
rash Judgment. God will Judge us all In the
last day. Oh; that my head were waters, and
mine eyes fountain Of tears, that might weeI
day and night for my church and my country
Shall live to see this beautiful structure which
nv father assisted to raise with his blood, scat
tered to the winds1 pray you ye men Of fstrif'
and contention, stop-hands of! I repeat, IN
do, as far as you can, the mischief you have al
ready done. As long as live will pray TO-
the peace of jerusalem and the union OF thes,
United States. o God, the Lord Of hosts, aris
and save thy heritage, for vain Is the help o
man. II. BANGS.