North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1866-01-10

and mallce, hateful and hating one anOtner'
| ask you whether this nation as a whole,
nay, even that portion of it who profess and
call themselves Chsistians, are living in the
state of mind so beautifully describedby the
! Apostle in the first two verses which /
have read, or whether, alas, the condition
to VIII ch he refers as being 10 the past with
him is not in the present with us J? Is it
not an undeniable fact that, in many instan-
ces, even the ministers of religion have not
the politeness of the publications spoken of
by our divine Master in st. Matt, 5th
chap. verses 4-6 Al? Is that the spirit
of gentleuess, meekness and .torbearance
which the Apostle enjoins in his letter to
Titus characteristic of those who call the
same Lord, Master, and who declare pub
licly by their own act and word thai henc-
forth they will walk togethnr according to
His commandment On the contrary, is
not the spirit of intolerance and persecution
rampant in the land ? What does our
Lord say, John, 18th chap. 35 verse, "By
this shall all men know that ye are my dis
ciples if We havs love one to another" Rem
ember what St. Paul tells us, Glove work
eth no i'll to his eighbor-therefore love
is the fulfilling Of the law. By their traits
you shall know them" Is it true that ace,
as Christian Church, ARE carrying out the
principals of the good Samaritan We
have, at this day thrown out upon the
world some four millions of human beings
who never before had any care about the fu
ture, and what is being done.to render
them comfortable or provide them with the
means of an honest, honorable selfsupporti
| acknowledge there is any quantity of bla-
tant oratory on this subject, but that I'M
| fortunately neither feeds nor clothes, nor
shelters the miserable and unhappy crea-
| lures whose present condition, if we may be
| lieve one half even of what we are told in
the public prints, is horrible in the ex-
treme We are told upon the best author
ity that they are dying by the hundreds
yea, by the thousands. The public jour
nails of the day inform Us that hospitals and
almshouscs are being prepared for them.
These are both new inventions so far as
the negro is concerned, and never were
needed for him before. Aid not only are
we told that the physical condition is de-
plorable, almost beyond their description,
but that the hot breath of moral pestilence
is sweeping over them like the sirocco of
the desert. Moral disease, moral death is
worse than any temporal calamity. To
rescue them from human servitude, only to
leave them to the bondage ofSatan, is a
poor compensation Ther efore, hold it IS
the duty of those who took these people
from their former condition, and through
whose agency they now occupy their pres
ent one, to provide amply for them, espec-
ial!v that portion Of the American people
whose ancestors were chiefly concerned in
bringing them to these shores. and whose
childern's children are now living on the
princcly fortunes made in the African slave
trade 1t is well-known fact that the
principal part of that trade was carried on
by men of Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Why. then, do not the men who have filled
our land with confusion and miserey, with
out delay import into those taOo States al
least one million of these homeless desti-
tute creatures, in order that they may be
cared for by those who ought to consider
themselves their natural protectors under
existing circumstances
F=Another fearful sign Of the times is the
general Generalization which wefnd meet
ing us on every side. 1t may, indeed, be
said that "iniqnity abounds," and yet what
indifference there is to the increase oi
crime. The press teens with murders
frauds, defalcations. robberies, bIasphemy
and general lawlessness. Some tell us
that this is the necessary result of increase
of population, but that cannot be. We
have lost more men blythe war than we
have gained by emigration. Not is ir
great measure owing to the four years O
blishting, desolating hostilities through
which we have passed, in which all tht
evil passions of men, and blush to saw, o
women, too, have been called into actor
and kept in constant play, and which have
so completely gained the mastery over u
as to refuse now to be allayed. Thi
alarming decentralization runs through al
grades OF society. Who does not know
tina. in our legislative halls we are lsrgel,