The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-06-03

ourselves, hespecIiuiy, your HEHus,
... --.f - .,t JOSIAH FOSTER, rtsr
..f......I ...... JOHN HODGKIN, ;,nt e
r,ser .-r..r---..s j. B. BRAITHWAITE,
.ra.s ..1- JOSEPH CROSFIELD.
sr. London, I'd month 9th, 1868. l.. ..ue.
TO THE LANDED PRoPRIEToRS IN THE SOUTH
ERN STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, AND
MORE ESPECIALLY THOSE WHOSE NEGROES
WERE EMANCIPATED BY THE LATE WAR.
The respectful Christian address of the Society
Of Friends in Great Britain. q. 9.9.E
1t is very generally known that the mem
bcrs of our Religious Society OH both sides
of the Atlantic have, for about a century,
borne a firm but peaceable testimony against
Slavery; and having first cleared themselves
by manumitting their own slaves. they have
been enabled to plead with others, both in
Europe and in America, to do likewise
Our course of action. however, as friends of
Freedom and enemies of Slavery the world
over, has been wholly clear of any political
motive; and we have, moreover, been as
conscientiously opposed to War as to Slave
ry. Hence we can truly, and with no sense
of inconsistency, acknowledge that We feel q
strong Christian interest for the best welfare
of those who were, by law, regarded as the
owners nf the slaves, and who have suffered
heavy pecuniary loss through the late contest,
and the Emancipation which was effected
by it. 1t is with this feeling that we ask
permission to address to you IL few faithful,
but we trust courteous, words on this great
subject. .i--'1g &. 10 l-....... ...l A r-,...aI
Whilst we deeply deplored the existence
of your Civil War and the desolations which
it made in your land we cannot but regard
its principal result, namely, the termination
of Slavery, throughout the whole of your
vast Republic, as a striking evidence of the
overruling providence of God, in bringing
good out of evil; and we rejoice, with
| reverent thankfulness to Him, ut the total
| extinction of system of which England, in
giving you Slavery, shared the guilt. ~.
We are at the same time sensible that all
violent changes, more especially where they
are of fundamental and extensive character
are necessarily attended with much suffering
And our sympathies have been called forth
for many amongst you, who have been re-
duced from affiuence. Stripped of much
that had been secured to you by law, and on
which you had naturally placed your de
pendence, some Of you may have been, and
perhaps still are, surrounded by hardships
to which you had previously been strangers.
Your position is one in which much
patience, forbcarance and selfcontro may
be required hut we would respectfully sub
nit to your considerations whether there is
not true wisdom in meeting with calm reso-
luton the present emergency, and seeking to
turn it to the hest advantage, rather than in
spending time and strength in vainly en-
deavourine to recall the past And is not
this especially the case where the change,
| though painful in the process, leads to "a
state of society. and condition of things
generally more consistent with sound states
manship. and with Christian morality also,
than that which previously existed g."
Some of your greatest statesmen, whose
names are enrolled amongst the founders of
| your Commonwealth, depored the existence
of Slavery; and, though they saw not how
the event was to be brought about, they
looked forward with hope to the day when
| its final extinction should give completeness
and security to the ediiice of your national
! liberties. And it is our sincere conviction,
! that as there is, on the part both of the
| Freedmen and of their former owners, a
longs to their new relations, the great event
which has realized this hope will be found,
| under the Divine blessing, to work bene-
| hcially to each. =l .5ag .la.- fnr .ua
| Permit u.s. therefore, to express our earnest
| desire that you may be enabled, with cour-
age, energy and SKILL, to do your part, to-
wards the solutloniof the problem which
| your country is called to solve May you,
with real inagnanimity, behave towards the
| Freedmen as tellnw citizens, now that the
! law has clothed them with that character
| May the employers of labor treatiwith those
who work for them upon fair and reasonable
terms, giving them just and even liberal
| wages for faithful work done, and zealously
cooperating with them for the common
good. That not a few amongst you are al
ready setting a bright example in these
respects, we can readily believe; and we
| long that this example may he extensively
followed, and that, even should you find
that your kindness and good treatment are
not always at once appreciated by the newly
emancipated, some allowance may be made
for the effect produced upon them BY many
| generations of slavery and Ignorance. III .
The present, allow US to remind you, is a
| golden opportunity: you may now by a
! wise and prudent course of conduct, hy pa
tient kindness and Cancellation, by the pro-
| motion of education and iof sound and
| well-adjusted system of labor, win the con-
ftience and gratitude Of the colored race
! Much will depend upon the next few years !;
and how rich and manifold may he the benz
etits which, under the Divine blessing, you
| may yourselves be permitted to reap. If, by
| chnarfnl com, ,li,no, wifi tho low mil ly