We find him constructing an appeal to masters to have their
slaves orally instructed in religion. In many passages he speaks
of oral instruction as confessedly an imperfect species of in-
struction, very much inferior to that which results from personal
reading and examination of the world of God. He says in one
place, that in order to do much good it must be begun very
early in life; and intimates that people in advanced years can
acquire very little from it; and yet he decidedly expresses his
opinion that slavery is an institution with which no Christian has
cause to interfere.
The slaves, according to his own showing, are cut off from
the best means for the salvation of their souls, and restricted to
one of a very inferior nature. They are placed under restriction
which makes their souls as dependent upon others for spiritual
food as a man without hands is dependent upon others for bodily
food. He recognises the fact, which his own experience must
show him, that the slave is at all times liable to pass into the
hands of those who will not take the trouble thus to feed his
soul; nay, if we may judge from his urgent appeals to masters,
he perceives around him many who, having spiritually cut off the
slave's hands, refuse to feed him. He sees that, by the operation
of this law as a matter of fact, thousands are placed in situations
where the perdition of the soul is almost certain, and yet he
declares that he does not feel called upon at all to interfere with
their civil condition!
But if the soul of every poor African is of that inestimable
worth which Mr. Jones believes, does it not follow that he ought
to have the very best means for getting to heaven which it is
possible to give him? And is not he who can read the Bible
for himself in a better condition than he who is dependent upon
the reading of another? If it be said that such teaching cannot
be afforded, because it makes them unsafe property, ought not
a clergyman like Mr. Jones to meet this objection in his own
expressive language?--
Were it now revealed to us that the most extensive system of instruction which
we could devise, requiring a vast amount of labour and protracted through ages,
would result in the tender mercy of our God in the salvation of the soul of one
poor African, we should feel warranted in cheerfully entering upon our work, with
all its costs and sacrifices.
Should not a clergyman like Mr. Jones tell masters that they
should risk the loss of all things seen and temporal, rather than
incur the hazard of bringing eternal ruin on these souls? All
the arguments which Mr. Jones so eloquently used with masters
to persuade them to give their slaves oral instruction, would
apply with double force to show their obligation to give the slave
the power of reading the Bible for himself.
Again, we come to hear Mr. Jones telling masters of the
power they have over the souls of their servants, and we hear
him say--
We may, according to the power lodged in our hands, forbid religious meetings
and religious instruction on our own plantations; we may forbid our servants
going to church at all, or only to such churches as we may select for them. We
may literally shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, and suffer not them
that are entering to go in.
And when we hear Mr. Jones say all this, and then consider
that he must see and know this awful power is often lodged in
the hands of wholly irreligious men, in the hands of men of the
most profligate character, we can account for his thinking such
a system right only by attributing it to that blinding, deademing
influence which the public sentiment of slavery exerts even over
the best-constituted minds.
Neither Mr. Jones nor any other Christian minister would
feel it right that the eternal happiness of their own children
should be thus placed in the power of any man who should have
money to pay for them. How, then, can they think it right
that this power be given in the case of their African brother?
Does this not show that, even in the case of the most humane
all souls before God, a constant familiarity with slavery works a
practical infidelity on this point; and that they give their
assent to laws which practically declare that the salvation of
the servant's soul is of less consequence than the salvation of
the property relation?
Let us not be thought invidious or uncharitable in saying, that
where slavery exists there are so many causes necessarily uniting
to corrupt public sentiment with regard to the slave, that the
best-constituted minds cannot trust themselves in it. In the
Northern and free States public sentiment has been, and is to
this day, fatally infected by the influence of a past and the
proximity of a present system of slavery. Hence the injustice
with which the negro in many of our States is treated. Hence,
too, those apologies for slavery, and defences of it, which issue
from Northern presses, and even Northern pulpits. If even at
the North the remains of slavery can produce such baleful
effects in corrupting public sentiment, how much more must this
be the case where this institution is in full force!
The whole American nation is, in some sense, under a paralysis
of public sentiment on this subject. It was said by a heathen
writer, that the gods gave us a fearful power when they gave
us the faculty of becoming accustomed to things. This power
has proved a fearful one indeed in America. We have got used
to things which might stir the dead in their graves.
When but a small portion of the things daily done in America
has been told in England, and France, and Italy, and Germany,
there has been a perfect shriek and outery of horror. America
alone remains cool, and asks, “What is the matter?”
Europe answers back, “Why, we have heard that men are
sold like cattle in your country.”
“Of course they are,” says America; “but what then?”
“We have heard,” says Europe, “that millions of men are
forbidden to read and write in your country.”
“We know that,” says America; “but what is this outcry
about?”
“We have heard,” says Europe, “that Christian girls are
sold to shame in your markets!”
“That isn't quite as it should be,” says America; “but still
what is this excitement about?”
“We hear that three millions of your people can have no
legal marriage-ties,” says Europe.
“Certainly, that is true,” returns America; “but you made such
an outcry, we thought you saw some great cruelty going on.”
“And you profess to be a free country!” says indignant
Europe.
“Certainly, we are the freest and most enlightened country in
the world! What are you talking about?” says America.
“You send your missionaries to Christianise us,” says T
urkey;
“and our religion has abolished this horrible system.”
“You! you are all heathen over there--what business have
you to talk?” answers America.
Many people seem really to have thought that nothing but
horrible exaggerations of the system of slavery could have pro-
duced the sensation which has recently been felt in all modern
Europe. They do not know that the thing they have become
accustomed to, and handled so freely in every discussion, seems
to all other nations the sum and essence of villany. Modern
Europe, opening her eyes and looking on the legal theory of the
slave system, on the laws and interpretations of law which
define it, says to America, in the language of the indignant
Othello, If thou wilt justify a thing like this--
Never pray more; abandon all remorse;
On Horror's head horrors accumulate;
Do deeds to make Heaven weep, all earth amazed;
For nothing canst thou to damnation add
Greater than this.
There is an awful state of familiarity with evil which the
apostle calls being “dead in trespasses and sins,” where truth
has been resisted, and evil perseveringly defended, and the con-
victions of conscience stifled, and the voice of God's Holy
Spirit bidden to depart. There is an awful paralysis of the
moral sense, when deeds unholiest and crimes most fearful
cease any longer to affect the nerve. That paralysis, always a
fearful indication of the death and dissolution of nations, is a
doubly-dangerous disease in a republic whose only power is in
intelligence, justice, and virtue.
CHAPTER II.
PUBLIC OPINION FORMED BY EDUCATION.
Rev. Charles C. Jones, in his interesting work on the
“Religious Instruction of Negroes,” has a passage which so
peculiarly describes that influence of public opinion which we
have been endeavouring to illustrate, that we shall copy it:--
Habits of feeling and prejudices in relation to any subject are wont to take
their rise out of our education or circumstances. Every man knows their influence
to be great in shaping opinions and conduct, and oft-times how unwittingly they
are formed; that while we may be unconscious of their existence, they may grow
with our growth and strengthen with our strength. Familiarity converts defor-
mity into comeliness. Hence we are not always the best judges of our condition.
Another may remark inconveniences, and, indeed, real evils, in it, of which we
may be said to have been all our lives scarcely conscious. So, also, evils which,
upon first acquaintance, revolted our whole nature, and appeared intolerable, cus-
tom almost makes us forget even to see. Men passing out of one state of society
into another encounter a thousand things to which they feel that they can never
be reconciled; yet, shortly after, their sensibilities become dulled, a change passes
over them, they scarcely know how. They have accommodated themselves to
their new circumstances and relations--they are Romans in Rome.
Let us now inquire what are the educational influences which
bear upon the mind educated in constant familiarity with the
slave system.
Take any child of ingenuous mind and of generous heart, and
educate him under the influences of slavery, and what are the
things which go to form his character? An anecdote which a
lady related to the writer may be in point in this place. In
giving an account of some of the things which induced her to
remove her family from under the influence of slavery, she related
the following incident:--Looking out of her nursery window one
day, she saw her daughter, about three years of age, seated in
her little carriage, with six or eight young negro children
harnessed into it for horses. Two or three of the older slaves
were standing around their little mistress, and one of them,
putting a whip into her hand, said, “There Misse, whip 'em
well; make 'em go! They're all your niggers.”
What a moral and religious lesson was this for that young
soul! The mother was a judicious woman, who never would
herself have taught such a thing; but the whole influence of
slave society had burnt it into the soul of every negro, and
through them it was communicated to the child.
As soon as a child is old enough to read the newspapers, he
sees in every column such notices as the following from a late
Richmond Whig, and other papers:--
The subscriber, under a decree of the Circuit Superior Court for Fluvanna
County, will proceed to sell, by public auction, at the late residence of William
Galt, deceased, on Tuesday, the 30th day of November, and Wednesday, the
1st day of December next, beginning at eleven o'clock, the negroes, stock, &c., of
all kinds, belonging to the estate, consisting of 175 negroes, amongst whom are
some Carpenters and Blacksmiths--10 horses, 33 mules, 100 head of cattle,
100 sheep, 200 hogs, 1500 barrels corn, oats, fodder, &c., the plantation and shop
tools of all kinds.
The Negroes will be sold for cash; the other property on a credit of nine
months, the purchaser giving bond, with approved security.
James Galt, Administrator of
William Galt, deceased.
Oct. 19.
From the “Nashville Gazette,” November 23, 1852:--
On Tuesday, the 21st day of December next, at the Plantation of the late
N. A. McNairy, on the Franklin Turnpike, on account of Mrs. C. B. McNairy,
Executrix, we will offer at Public Sale
fifty valuable negroes.
These Negroes are good Plantation Negroes, and will be sold in families.
Those wishing to purchase will do well to see them before the day of sale.
Also Ten Fine Work Mules, two Jacks and one Jennet, Milch Cows,
and Calves, Cattle, Stock Hogs, 1200 barrels Corn, Oats, Hay, Fodder, &c.
Two Wagons, one Cart, Farming Utensils, &c.
From the Newberry Sentinel:--
The subscriber will sell at Auction, on the 15th of this month, at the Planta-
tion on which he resides, distant eleven miles from the Town of Newberry, and
near the Laurens Railroad,
twenty-two young and likely negroes;
comprising able-bodied field hands, good cooks, house servants, and an excellent
blacksmith. About 1500 bushels of corn, a quantity of fodder, hogs, mules,
sheep, neat cattle, household and kitchen furniture, and other property. Terms
made public on day of sale.
Dec. 1. M. C. Gary.
*“Laurensville Herald” copy till day of sale.
From the South Carolinian, October 21, 1852:--
The undersigned, as Administrator of the Estate of Col. T. Randell, deceased,
will sell, on Monday, the 20th December next, all the personal property belong-
ing to said estate, consisting of 56 Negroes, Stock, Corn, Fodder, &c. &c. The
sale will take place at the residence of the deceased, on Sandy River, 10 miles
west of Chesterville.
Terms of sale: The negroes on a credit of 12 months, with interest from day of
sale, and two good sureties. The other property will be sold for cash.
Sept. 2. Samuel J. Randell.
&n
bsp; See also New Orleans Bee, October 28. After advertising the
landed estate of Madeline Lanoux, deceased, comes the follow-
ing enumeration of chattels:--
Twelve siaves, men and women; a small, quite new schooner; a ferrying flat
boat; some cows, calves, heifers, and sheep; a lot of household furniture; the
contents of a store, consisting of hard-ware, crockery-ware, groceries, dry
goods, &c.
Now, suppose all parents to be as pious and bencvolent as
Mr. Jones--a thing not at all to be hoped for, as things
are--and suppose them to try their very best to impress on the
child a conviction that all souls are of equal value in the sight of
God; that the negro soul is as truly beloved of Christ, and ran-
somed with his blood, as the master's; and is there any such
thing as making him believe or realise it? Will he believe that
that which he sees every week advertised with hogs, and horses,
and fodder, and cotton-seed, and refuse furniture--bedsteads,
tables, and chairs--is indeed so divine a thing? We will suppose
that the little child knows some pious slave; that he sees him at
the communion-table, partaking, in a far-off, solitary manner, of
the sacramental bread and wine. He sees his pious father and
mother recognise the slave as a Christian brother; they tell him
that he is an “heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ;” and
the next week he sees him advertised in the paper, in company
with a lot of hogs, stock, and fodder. Can the child possibly
believe in what his Christian parents have told him when he sees
this? We have spoken now of only the common advertisements
of the paper; but suppose the child to live in some districts of
the country, and advertisements of a still more degrading character
meet his eye. In the State of Alabama, a newspaper devoted to
politics, literature, and EDUCATION, has a standing weekly ad-
vertisement, of which this is a copy:--
[title]NOTICE.
The undersigned having an excellent pack of Hounds, for trailing and catching
runaway slaves, informs the public that his prices in future will be as follows for