Delaware gazette. (Wilmington, Del.) 1837-1883, 1863-10-23


and raiment we should be Herewith content
that We must avoid strife, contention and rail
ing accusations, and follow peace, charity, and
good will, remembering that the service Of Christ
is the only perfect freedom, and that our true
happiness depends not on The measure Of our
earthly wealth, on social equality, on honor, or
on our relative position 10 the community, but
on the ful6llment of our personal duty accord
ing.to our lot, in reliance on His blessngf
j have no more to add, with respect TO this
most popular dogma of human equality, and
shall therefore dismiss, as fsllaoious in itself,
and only misohevous in its tendency. As is
the stronghold of the ultra aboltionist, l have
devoted large space to its examination, and
trust that the conclusion is sufficiently plain.
Happily it forms no part Of our Constitution or
our laws. 1t never was intended to apply 10
the question Of negro slavery And il never
can be so applied without total perveralon of
its historical meaning, and an absolute contra
riety to all the facts of humanity, and the clear
instruction of the Word of God.
The next objection to the slavery of the South
ern States, Is its presumed cruelty, because the
refractory slave Is punished with corporal cor
rection. But our Northern law allows the same
10 the case Of children and apprentices. Such
was the established system In the army and the
navy, until very lately The whipping-post
was a fixed institution in England and Massa-
chusetts, and its discipline was administered
even 10 free citizens during the last century,
Stripes, not exceeding forty, were appointed to
offenders in Israel by divine authority. The
| Saviour himself used a scourge of small cords
when he drove the mOney-changers from the
temple Are our modern philanthropists more
merciful than Christ, aud wiser than the AL
mighty?
But it is said that the poor slsvss arc treated
with barbarily, and doubtless il may sometimes be
| true, just as soldiers and sailors, and oven wives
i and ahur afu11 abtroa
selves, in many instances. II 10 evident however,
that the systom of slavery not be specially liza
bio TO reproach on this score because every motive
| Of interest as we'll as moral duty must DO opposed
| to ii. The owner of tho horse and the OK rarely
treats his brutes with severity. Why should he
| The animals are his property, and no knows that
they must be kindly and carefully used, II he would
derive advantage from thoir labor Much more
must the master of tho slave be expected to treat
him with all fairness and affection, because hero
and thore are human feelings TO bs Influenced, and
IL tho servant be not contented aud attached, not
only will he work unwillingly, but he may be con-
vofted into an enemy and an avengor When the
master is Christian, tho principles of the Gospel
us laid down by ST. Paul, will operate, of course,
| in favor of tho slave. But even when these are
waiting, the motives Of interest and prudence re-
main. And hence l can not doubt that the exam
| Piles of barbarity must be exceedingly few, and
ought to be regarded, not as the general rule but
as the raro exceptions. On the whole, indeed, I
see no reason to deny the statement of our South
err friends, that their slaves the happiest la
borers in the world Their wants are all provided
for by their masters. Their families 0ro sure of
home and maintenance for life. 10 sickness they
are kindly nursed, In old ago they aifoctonats-
| ly supported. They relieved from all anxiety
for the future. Their religious privileges are gen.
erousy accorded to them. Their work is light
| Their holidays are numerous. And hence the
strong affection which they usually manifest toward
their master, and the earnest longing which many,
who were persuaded to become fugitiver, have been
known to express, that they might be able to re-
turn,
Tho third objection Is, that slavery must 10
sin, because II leads TO immortality. But where Ia
the evidence Of ths9 I dispute not against tho
probability and the certainty that there arc
instances of licentiOusness enough among slave
holders, iast as there are amongst those who Willy
them 1t would be difficult, ii not an impossible
i task, however, to prove that thete Ia more im-
morality amongst the slaves themselves, than
exists amongst the lower class Of freemen. Ia
Sabbath breaking, profane cursing and swearing,
gambling, drunkenness and quarrelling-in brutal
abuse Of wives aud children, 10 rowdyism and OBJ
scenity, in tho vest excuses Of shameless proat-
tution-tO say nothing Of organized bands Of oouu-
terleiters, thieves and burglers-I doubt whether
, there are not more ofsnses against Christian
morality committed 10 tho single city Of New York
! than can be fonnl amongst tho elRve population
Of all the fifteen States together. The fact would
rather aeem tO le that tbs wholesome restraints Of
slavery, as general rule, must be, to great ex
|
, immortality. And therefore this charge, 80 often
: brought against H. stands entirely unsupported
either by positive proof by rational probability.
4 The fourth objection u advanced by multitude
of excellent people, who are shocked at the insi.
tuition Of slavery, because Il involves the principle
+. of property in man. Yet have never been abba
to understand what II Is that so diegusts thom.-
No slnvoholder proends that this property extends
any farther than the right to the labor of tho slayo
II is obvious to the slightest that slavery
can mot bind the intellect or the soul These, which
properly constitute the man, are free, 10 their own
1 nature, from all human restraint. But TO have a
1 property in human labor, under some form, is an
essential element in all the work Of civilized sooio
ty. The toll Of one Ia pledged for the service OF
another In every rank Of life and to The extent
thus pledged, both parties have property In each
other. The parent especially has an established
, property in the labor of his child to the ago of
twenty-onei and has the further power Of trans
fsrring this property to another, by articles Of ap,
premiership. But this, il may be said, ends when
q the child is of age. True because tho law pre-.
: aumes him to be then fitted for freedom. Suppose
however, that he belonged to an inferior race which
the law did not presume to be tted for freedom at
any age, what good reason could DO assig,ed
q against tho continuance Of the property Suc,,
under the rule of the Scriptures and the Oonstitn
y ton Of the United States, is the Of the negro.
U God, in his wisdom and providence, caused the pa
trarch Noah to predict that he should be the SER
n want OF servants to the posterity of Japhet And
o the zane almighty Ruler, who alone possesses tho
power, has wonderfully adapted the race to their
+ condition. For every candid observer agrees that
the negro is happier and better as slave than as
d Tree man, and no individual belonging to the
: Anglo-saxon stock would acknowledge that tho
|, intellect Of the negro is equal to his own.
y fhere nave been philosophers and Psychologists
= VINO contended that the African race were not
n strictly entitled to be called men at ALL but were
i sort OF intermediate link between the baboon and
II the human being. And this notion is still maiu
n talned by some at the present day For myself,
If however, oan only say that reppiiste the doc.
/. trne with my whole heart. The Scriptures show
n me that the negro, like all other races, descends
u from Noah, and hold him to be man and a bro
ther' But though he be my brother, Il does mot
Il iolow mat no Is my equal. Equality can not he
ioun1 on earth between tho brothers even 10 one
10 ilttle family. In tho same house, one brother
usually obtains mastery tho rest and some
n times rules them with perfect deapotism. In
England, the elder brother inheris tho estate and
The younger brothers take lower rank, by tho
10 slavery OF circumstances. The eldest Of the
royal family Is In due time tho king, and hi, bro
J., thers forthwith become his suhjecte Why should
NOT the same principle obtain in the races Of man
!, kind, If the Almighty has SO wiled Il2 The An
gloSaxon race Is king why should net the African
raeo DC subject and subject In that way for which
Is i is best adapted, and in which II may DO moro
II safe, more useful and more happy than IN any
of other which has yet been opened to It, in the an
p mails Of the wUrld2
"a know that there may be exceptions, now and
y then, to this Intellectual inferiOrity of the negro
race, though believe il would be very difficult to
y fhd one unless the ntermixture Of superior blood
y has operated to change the mental constitution OF
u the individual For all such cases the master may
u provide by voluntary emancipation, and it is no.
IT torious that this ancpatOn has been cheerfullv
given in thousands upon thousands of instances,
In the majority Of which the gilt Of liberty has
a failed to heneAt tho negro, and has, on the con,
trary, sunk him far lower in his social POSITION
!. But no rejecting man can believe that the great
mi nf e.