New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-23


of white men. The Colonization Society was even
then exerting it's influence, under spurious profes-
sions of friendness toward Them 10 make their lot
harder and to compel them to take their choice pe-
tween permanent degradation in their own country
and exile to the inhOsptabe shores OF barbarous
Africa. The 4tricdn Repository, the organ OF that
society, declared " The habits, the feelings, the
prejudces of socety-prejudices which neither re-
fnement, nor argument, nor education, nor rehglon
itself can subdue-mark the people OF color whether
tond or free as the subjects of degradation lhe'
table and ncurable The African in this country De-
longs by birth to the very lowest station IN society
and from that station he can never RISE be DIS TAI
ents, his enterprise, his virtues what they may
Here therefore, they must be forever debased more
than this they must be forever useless more even
than this they must be forever a nuisance, from
which il were a blessing for society to be rld.'
These words so nsultngto the very spirit OF Chris
tianity, and so full of the boldest atheism, were
written by clergyman educated in New-England'
the Rev. Ralph Randolph Gurley, Secretary OF
the American Colonization Society and what is
still worse they expressed the sentiments OF vast
majority of Northern Christians. The Rev. DR..
Leonard Bacon, of New-Haven, then the leading
champion of Colonization IN New-England. de-
scribed the negro population of the country in The
Christian SpectdtOr-a magazine of large influence
II
enslaved, must forever remain in state of degra-
datiOn no better than bondage Here slave can
not be really emsncipated. You cannot raise HIM
from the abyss of his degradation. You may call
him free, you may enact a statute book of laws 10
make HIM free but You cannot bleach him into the
enjoyment of freedom 1t was just as natural as
breathing that tho man who thought there was no
power in Christianity TO overcome complexionai
and race preiudices should be an aDologst for
slavery and so we need not be surprised to find
DIR. Bacon saying; "The Bible contains no ex-
plicit prohibition of slavery. There is neither
chapter nor verse of Holy Writ which
| lends any countenanee to the Illuminating
! spirit of universal emancipation, Of which some
exhibitions may be in some of the newspapers"
What then did Isaiah mean when he told the people
of Israel to " break every yoke" and let the OPP
pressed 90 free " And what did Jesus when
! he said he had been anointed to "preach deliver
ance to the captves," and to set at liberty them
that are Jruised"' Were expressions like these in
tended to suggest the duty of distant and gradual
breaking of the letters of the enslaved, and to sig
| Matte as fanatcal EXAMINATIONS " the demands
for immediate emancipation
Let no one suppose that write these utterances
of DR.. Gurey and Dr. Bacon for any personal reason
! whatever. Knight fill whole columns with similar
extracts from the leading dlvines and statesmen of
that day. DR.. Bacon, then a young man of ripe
culture and highest promise, simply spoke the pre-
vaiIing sentiment of the tlme-a sentiment which
he afterward unlearned and repudiated | am sim
ply trying 10 make clear TO my readers of the pres
ent generation the darkness, ignorance and moral
degeneracy against which the early Aboilonists
had to conteud. Without such knowledge, how
would it be possible for them to do JUS
tee to the character. the motives, and the
mi Of bN VIII zpd he
anti-slavery movement There are those who.
in the fancied interest of Christianity would
cover mp these ugly botchcs upon the escutch-
con Of the American Church and clergy, and
lead posterity to the conclusion that il was the so
called fanatcisln and nfdelity of the Abolitonists
that repealed Christian sympathy and support. As
God is Just. all such attempts will be vain. Tie
ugly facts cannot be concealed, and they ought not
to be if they could. Like the words written upon
the wall of Boshazzars palace, they should be en-
blazoned in history as warning to men and ma
lions in all coming time to obey the voice of God
and respect the rights of human nature; and, still
further, az warning that the true character of
Christianity is to be sought. not in the churches
bearing the name while they false to the spirit
of the Master. but in His own lite and teachings,
now and evcTmOre. Let God and Christ be true,
though all men are made larsl
I'm contrast with the Atheistc postuIate cited
above that Christianity could do nothing for the
negro in America, and that Providence had doomed
him to inevitable degradation so long as he should
fooshly persist in sharing the advantages and
blessings of our glorious republic, let quote
few sentences from Garrison, the so-caed fanatic
and inidel, with whom the churches and clergy OF
America could not find it in their hearts to fraer-
nize. Referring to the very passages above quoted
and to others of a similar character Mr.. Garrison
writing in 1882, said
Search the records of heatbensm, and senti-
ments more hostile to the spirit of the Gospel of
more black and blasphemous complexion than these
cannot be found believe that they lbels upon
the character OF my cOuntrymcn, which time will
wipe off | call upon the spirits of the just made
perfect in Heaven. upon all who have experienced
the love of God in their souls here below upon the
Christian converts in India and the Islands Of the
sea- to sustain me in the assertion that there is
power enough in the religion of Jesus Christ TO melt
down the most stubborn preiudcies, to overthrow
the highest walls of partition, to break the strongest
caste. TO improve and elevate the most degraded to
unite in fellowship the most hostile, and to equalize
and bless all its recipients Make that there
is not, and will give it up now and forever.
my countrymen are you willing to be held up
as tyrants and hypOcrltes foreveri as less mag
unanimous and just than the population Of Europe
No-no / cannot give you up as incoTigby
wicked, nor my country sealed over to destruc-
ton. My confidence remains like the oak-like the
Alps-unsbalen, storm-proof. l am not dis
couraged am not distrustful. still place I'M
wavering reliance upon the omnipotence of truth.
still believe that the demands of justice will be
satisfied that the voice of bleeding humanity will
melt the most obdurate heart and that the land
will be redeemed and regenerated by enlight-
ened and energetic public opinion. As long as there
remains among us single copy of the Declaration
of Independence, or of the New Testament, will