New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-10-11
BITTER DREGS OF SLAVERY.
A LETTER FROM OLIVER JOHNSON.

To the nd tor o. Ihe IrtbuHe.
SIR: An eminent cItizeG II Ohio, in letter now
lying before me, after expressing his warm appre-
citation of my " Recollcctions of Aboliticnist."
now passing through your journal. requests ne to
write paper on " The Moral Debasement Conse-
qucnt upon Slavery" as illustrated IN the present
condition of larGs portions of the Southern states.
Such paper. he thinks. Is not only suggested nat
demanded by the circumstances of the present
time as a means of giving a right direction to pub
lie sentiment and aVerting calamities of the most
dreful nature.
The theme to which my attention Is thus invited
is AS large as il Is important opening up many wide
aveuacs of thought. which might be prohtaply
pursued if time aud space allowed. But. confined
~ am within the limits of a newspaper article, II
is only possible TO advert to some of the more OBJ
yiOus but at the same time the most important,
features of the subject. And this shall endeaNOr
TO do in a nou-parisan spirit IN the hope oi
awakening reflection among sober and thoushtiW
citizens of whatever political faith, and leading
them to consider seriously what ought 10 DC uohe
in the present crisis of our country.
Nv readers know me an Aboiitionlst Of the
most radical school, and many of them on tins ac-
count will quite naturally regard my opinions and
observations with a certain degree of dstrust. Let
me saw then. that have not a thought to express
that Is not suggested and completely Justified by
these pregnant words of Thomas Jefferson, in his
Notes on Virginia. which are the text Of the
present article:
The whole commerce between master and slave IS a
pcrpeiuI exercise OF the nois-rons passons-he
most uuTemtiing dcspotsm ON the one par, ana w
aud learn 10 initiate The parent storms tue chiI
looks on catches he iineameus OF wrath. puts on nc
same airs Ia nr Of smaller slaves gives loose
rein worst OF passions. and thus nurseu cuucl
Ell aud daily exercised TYRANNY caunOt hut be stamped
byIt vita odious pecuLtrlues. The man must be a
prodigy who retain his manners ana morals unr
PRAYED by such circumstances Ana WIN what $500. $500.
iion should The statesman lie loaded who, permitting
one-SI o. me C@ ,so Se i1t JsorS and these into
enemies DESTROYS tue morals Of one part uud the amor
ndustry is ai,o destroyed And the liberties Of
nation be thought secure when we nave rein1Neu VIZ
firm hsiSa conviction IN tue minds oil the peopc
that liberties the gift OF Cod that they are
not 10 be violated with His wIathf Indeed, trem-
be my country when reflect that God Is Just.
These words of the great statesman of Virginia,
himself a stakeholder are SO complete an lllumina-
tion of my theme that | am tempted to throw down
my pen and wnte not another line. But | remem-
Der that slavery at the South was abolished four
teen years ago, and that many people of the North
have nattered themselves that the moral dcbaSe-
ment induced by the system in a period of more
than two centuries is no longer source of danger
This is Just where many Northern people have been
making great mistake IN their haste To recon
struct the Union. in their eXUltaton over the fall
of slavery and in their generous disposition to Tor
get and forgive the crime of rebellion, they have
been blind to the full significance of Jchersons
words and have looked 10 see at once IN the south
state Of society in full accord with the principles
Of impartial Justice. In our sympathy with the
negro and our jov in seeing his chains melted in
the hot flame, of war, many of us forget that the
institution Of slavery. which had place in the So
cal system of the South from the time when the
States were first Organized, had induced habits and
cultivated passions that 10 law OF emancipation
could reach and that can be crdicatcd only 10y the
slow operation of moral forces, working upon the
minds and hearts Of the people Ii was one thing
and an important thing certainly to aunul the law
that made the slave chattel. but 1t Is another and
at the time a harder and slower operation, to
lift either masters or slaves out Of the moral de-
basement into which slavery plunged them.
In the days of the anti-slavery struggle 1t was
often said that terrible the effects of slavery
upon the slave they were even worse upon the
master. and IN some important respects this was
true. The slave was an innocent victim, and IN
submitting TO the bondage which he had no power
to throw oil he committed no outrage upon his
moral nature II was not impossible for him to live
upon good terms with his conscience, and to resist.
TO a certain extent the demoralizing influences of
a system that made him a chattcL Not 50 the
master He was the voluntary. responsible and
guilty perpctrator of crime. Ii his conscience
Wa, not scared as with hot iron, and scared thus
bv his own voluntary agency, be could be al peace
with il. no, not for hour. There doubtless
was a time. long, long ago, when men might
be Shareholders without suspecting themselves of
crime. but such men had not announced to the
world their solemn belief that all men are created
equal and are endowed by their Creator with GER
tain inalenablc rights In a nation whose Magma
Charta is tie Declaration of L. Apendence, and
among a people who celebrate the Fourth of July,
IL islmpossiblc that men should be ignorant that
slavery Is a gross wrong. But even If this were
otherwise il would still remain true that American
Shareholders even the worst of them, proclaimed
their consciousness of guilt in their refusal TO allow
the subject 10 be discussed. The man who Is sure
lie is doing nothing wrong Is not afraid of the
winds of free speech Least of all does he threaten
with death those who shall dare attempt to convict
him Of sin ] do not forget that the Shareholders
excused their efforts 10 suppress discussion upon
the pretence that they feared instruction of
the slaves but General Dan Green one of the
foremos. of the champions OF slavery, naiyely con-
fe,scd that what was really feared was IAN lnsn~-
rection Of the conscieuccs' OF the Shareholders
themselves: and was undoubtedly true. The whole
attitude and course of the Shareholders during the
aut-slayery conflict betrayed their consciousness
Of the niquity of their system. Pretending To be
Ieve that II was sanctioned by the Constitution
and by Christianity itself, they were yet unwilling
that the subject should be openly discussed In
stead of sending their champions T. the North to
rout the Abolitionists by argument, they appealed
Ia Northern Legislatures TO prohibit any agitation
of the subject.
This consciousness of wrong dong on the p'rt OF
Shareholders was the very root ca that demoraliza-
tion which Jefferson SO graphically describes as
constantly at work wherever slavery exists, and
which made him tremble Tor his country when he
reflected that God was just. We see the fruits of
thar d,lnorll "a ton in the South to-day in the OPP