Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-06-14
[COADIUNICATED.l ]

/ M ESSRS. EDITORS:
The term ''rights' which is now so of
/ ten coupled with the cOlOred race is it
self suggestive of what we now owe
them, and also, of how long they have
/ gone unpaid. The sublime struggle for
| the rights Of 4, 900, 900 human beings inn
/ plies that hitherto they have had only
/ the wrongs of existence at the hand of
1 a superior race, and that now for the
/ first time they plead at the bar of God.
! and mankind. The fact that it is a new
/ and strange claim to admit this plea for
/ their rights, in this court, only shows
! how the sentiment of justice has been
/ corrupted by us, and perverted towards
I them. ANY other claimant could have
/ been heard hitherto at the bar of pub
] lie conscience but the slave, and we
/ atOned for our extinction of his claims
/ by more furious zeal to hear and ad-
/ Just those of all other sufferers. We
did not allow his suit to be brought in
the name of that common nature and
! blood which God Almighty made
/ spokesman for them, and then to be
| tried upon its merits, in contest with
wrong, begOtten of cupidity, and nulli-
| fy every noble sentiment Of our nature,
| and every law human and Divine, de-
vised for its protection. But we cum
nIuglV charged upon Divine Providence
not only the burden of their existence
as a race, but of our now unnatural and
Illegal treatment, and thus extended
the fatherhOOd of God and the family of
mankind. These were born to serve
those who might themselves either rule
or serve. They were born under the
yoke, and it was their comfort that while
others might 90 under it they were to
stay. It needed no Divine Providence
to find born rulers, but it was a peculiar
boon to send -tlss- born 81 saEs===-Ahls pre-
destination to bondage, that inwoves it
self with the ineradicable natural affBc-
tiOns, and encircled the born and un-
born with its legal drag-net, pGFtlts Sc
qtgitltT' Ue7ItFeDJ, was exalted into the sum
and test of piety and patriotism. Who
sOever believed this was more than
subject of Divine authority-he was an
advocate and patron. He might be a
little loose in lust, and anger, and even
murdered in hot blood, but he was not
guilty of thinking or plotting treason
against God and the State in an infrac-
tiOn of Divine order. He thought that
God thought the negro ought to be born
and stay under the yoke, and he would
stand by this wholesome Divine Ordi-
nance. What if he did occasionally
cripple a slave in his wrath, or crop of
his ear, or thrust out his eye, or beat him
to death with the lash, as no English
groom would dare to beat a horse or
dog, this was only an infirmity. 1t was
indeed an excellence, as it was the vol
canic flash of that pent-up chIYalrlc au-
thOrity which was 1nWTought with his
being. Better this than a tame, craven
spirit, and better that the hre-eaterS
should occasionally devOur negro than
to quench this lOrdly sacred flame. But
this cOnsecrated master and guardian OF
this anomalous race which bG6 BODIES
and souls that other men O5V9Ied, was
quicker to scent danger IN the disturb
ance of the Divine order OF serVlGude
than was ever InquisitOr or Tyrant else
where, He. never allowed a rowing or
vagrant imagination to fit through his
mind, even Questioning the wisdom or
| durability of slavery. It was a part
| of Gods architecture-the God that
! built the sky, and set bounds to the sea,
/ and stretched the North over the emp
1 ty space" He would as soon have sug-
/ gested another form to the round earth,
or the jagged thunderbolt, or the heecy
/ cloud. He neither questioned the order
4 of Providence in society, in himself, nor
l would he abet it in others. He wisely
/ Judged that if q man with his fingers in
| a vice or his foot in a steel-trap, could
/ think it did not hurt, it might not hurt
4 at all, or much less than though he
! thought SO-and thought OF nothing else.
/ So the habit Of thinking was discOur-
/ aged in the slave until it had become a
/ question whether he had either habit or
/ capacity. Meanwhile care was taken
/ that the master, who had nothing else
to do but think, should not himself
think too much, or more than would
run the machinery of slavery. Com
munity curbed the thinking of the mas
ter, the master thought for the slave,
and Divine Providence was above all,
and if il failed it could be helped by
the special providence of Judge Lynch.
! More men have been hung 9DttbOgCt law
in the South than have been executed
lgitb it in all the States of Europe
Whatever swelled the bosom of man
kind and made it to chafe- under the
yoke was lnCendlary, and nence self
preservation became the selfish mob
Fire is innocent, and yet in powder
/ magazine it is deadly, and either the
one or the other must give the place.
So the Bible, the schOol-bool1, the church
and the school teacher are excellent, but
it is foolish to let a man look 9tp who is
I IO1D7l in birth, and must stay under tho
yoke. Better shrink the soul to its prls
a on-house than taunt it with the visions
I of liberty. So cried the Pulpit of the
South; so echoed the Forum; and tn,
- Ministry, to prove its submission, hunt
e ed the most lOathsOme filth and piOusly
rolled therein its priestly garments. I
: did not ask the common people to be a.
dirty as they were, but It did ask tina
they should not doubt that they were al
-. abOminable as the abOminatiOn Of sla
y very, and that both were Divine,
Meanwhile the poor slave was taugh
that it was as piOus for him to serve az
i | for the master to rule, and that hl
n would be guilty of all criminality il
: any rebellion against God, or the allot
e ment of His Providence. His right {,
It plead for himself was wrested, and thi
e and every other disability was ftlIsel,
8 cast upon Divine Providence, ant
. their relation as slaves, and ours a
masters, was remanded to that spher
of inexplicable questions which canno
be invaded by the intellect of mankind
- They could plead in no Court of earth
they could appeal to no tribunal such a
the church, or the family, and thei
? yoke was thus riveted and sealed witt
] the signet of God. Only His ear wa
open to the cry of the poor down-trod
Is den slave, or the painting fugitive.
!, As God was the sole attorney for thi
n race he entered the Judgment apaips
a their oppressOrs in the arbitrament q
81 war. and He will guard the resT1lts r
le this war as he did It's process.
z The freedman is now the own child
B. end y,y,v.Ifr,os of T0royyf5 av,ce ~ -