Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-25


be approached by onel Pity he should
have spoiled this beautiful picture of mutual
affection between master and slave, by for
getting IL in the later assertion that the slave
owners "believe that these denunciations,
coming as they often do to the ears of their
servants, do them great injury, and compel
grea'er severity of restraint than would
otherwise be needed" This would suggest
that the links of affection, all along supposed
to be somewhat golden, are fast becoming
iron. Neither, says an interpreter, is the
election of Mr. Lincoln the cause of this
disturbance; "as we'll might you suppose
that the broken fragments tossed about by
whirlwiDd are the cause of the storm" No,
the keynote Of the bowling storm is for the
first time touched "wben we point to the
denunciation Of slavery as Sin This deadly
blow" he adds, "aimed at the conscience
and heart, is What threatens TO break asduder
this Union" Here We pause for a moment,
refreshed by a breath of truth. This is the
seat of the matter. We admit it without
going through any of the pages in which our
author seeks to prove that this charge
against slavery as a Elm, comes down mot
from few voices pulpits, presses or pens,
but from large and small guns in thunders
and whispers, from pulpits," &c, &c.
will quote in public only what must of
this pamphlet; for really have no ILL will to
its author Therefore we admit that the ul-
innate cause of disunOn in America is the
voice Of the civilized world Numbered down
from hundred centuries declaring human
slavery a sin against God and mau.
This spirit" says our pamphlet (which
delights in accusing the slaveholding people
OF this country, has grown up from a small
beginning, grown rapidly, and attained huge
dimensions. II has fierce eyes aud long
arms, large ears on Que side and none on the
other, and walks up and down through the
land like giant. II has found its way into
the halls of our National Assembly, and by
some magic process, opened avenues to the
regions below. Through the opening thus
made large numbers of the people down
there have come up to take hand in manag-
ing the affairs of this nation" You under
stand what "regions below" means2 1t
means the bells, the order of infernals-a
metaphor taken from the Museum on Syca-
more. e.street. 1t hints that Satan is now a
member of the Cabinet. Sumner, we find,
has theorized, and Beecher exhorted and
John Brown executed; and these three are a
kind of unholy trinity, under whose inspira
tion an anti.slavery demon is enthroned in
America. Whereupon the angelic South Sc
cedes
The writer then grapples with the root of
the trouble at once, taking the ground that
slavery is not an evil at all, but on the con-
trary a good Christian Institution. The
statements made in this direction will
classify under the heads-irst untruths
second, fatuities.
l. Untruths.-" Every conceivable expert
ment, designed to better their condition, in
a state of release from direct supervision aud
control, has been tried, and thus far proved
failure. In every instance, they have dete-
riorated, and gone backward toward their
former savage condition. OF course, we refer
to general, not to specific or individual ex-
amples. A few, perhaps one in ten, of the
American slaves, in the state now attained,
might be safely trusted to provide for them
selves and families, but even in these cases
there would be danger, amounting to a
strong probability, that the most Of their
children, after one or two generations, would
60 back to a condition much worse than
servitude."
This is simply untrue. colored beggar,
except for help to get himself or his house
hold free, is extremely rare. In this city
twenty suffering white families can be
shown for one Colored-allow for the dis
proportion in numbers. There are several
colored families here that | can show any
one, who came from the same place that |
did in Virginia, and who are doing very
well here-much better than there, where
their homes were among the very best in
the State. Some years ago | myself visited
the chief cities of Canada, and their negro.
quarters, and learned from their own lips,
and those of the Mayors and the Governor,
and from my own eyes, the utter falslty of the
reports that the negroes were a suffering or
reirOgressive people in Canada-even there,
where the climate might Justify it. Let this
writer go to the colored schools of this city,
and the Sunday. y.schools, to see his own
slander of this race, and the effects of free
dom on a second or third generation refuted.
Again;
"The institution called slavery has been
the means of developing the resources of the
Southern country, and pouring into the
treasures Of wealth and comfort larger aud
more abundant contributions than have
been yielded from the soil of any other por-
ton of the globe, and while doing this, the
moral and physical condition OF the negroes
aswell as their numbers, have been rapidly
increasing"
The untruth of this is self evident. One
hundred millions of unmined metals in Vir-
ginia; dozen long falling rivers with not
so many factories; half State undraned
and sickly-these tell how slavery, garden
spot being given, develops its resources"
Again;
alt ought to be mentioned that there is
with many persons an absurd misapprehen-
sion as to the real meaning of the legal
terms which recognize slaves as property.
lDO utdsIeT OWHS Oul1 Iu6 ldoOE VI MS aorf-
ant, and that on rigid conditions, which
the civil magistrate, who is his master, is not
reluctant TO enforce. The slave must have
food and clothing, and, within certain pre-
scribed limits, other things needed for his
comfort, and must not be inhumanly treated.
If sickness or misfortune befall them, and
he becomes unable to labor, he has still
provision for life not in the poor-house, but
from his masters estate, till that is exhausted.
IL. L. -, arA 10, 10 mat ttar
after making allowance for many abuses and
disorders that exist but are rapidly diminish.
ing, is, that the master owns, controls, and
directs the labor of his servant, and gives
him in return, as a general rule, larger
and better reward than he would obtain
under any other conditions of life"
In noticing this it is hard to refrain from
using q much harsher term than "untruth."
The cold blooded and deliberate character
of this misstatement can only be mitigated
by presupposing an ignorance almost brutal.
The Slave Codes are plain and publici they
! make, and must Of necessity make, the slave
acbattel. That is not my own property, which
/ can not buy and sell and use as please.
True, man can not kill his slave with i'm
punity, neither can he set his own house on
! FIRE; but the house can testify against him
/ in Court as much, as the slave. Five hun
! dred slaves on plantation seeing a man
maltreat, violate, or murder one of their
number, would, in court room, by the laws
| of all the States, be no more than 30 many
| oxen which had witnessed the deed.
2. Fatt6hes-These are, for the most part
religious. In attempting TO prove the
divinity of slavery, our editor says;
"The relation of master and servant has
existed from the most remote periods OF
history. We mean just that relation IN
which service for life is owned, controlled,
and perpetuated. The abuses incidental to
this relation, and the evils done in its name
were a hundred fold greater than now
during the entire period in which the sacred
Scriptures were written, and yet we find nc
command forbidding the relation itself
Many precepts recognize it. aad guard
sgainst its abuses, or indicate what classes o.
persons may be held as servants, but no one