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AMERICAN SLAVE STATES.*
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Untitled Article
Qct . 1-3 , I 860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 865
to do so , consult , fresh evidence ; but it is as absurd to say that this is altering our belief by our will , as to say that we set a house oil iiro . with-our will , when .-in consequence of having- willed to do so , we set it alijg'ivfc with a torch . That we cannot make that course of conduct appear preferable which . relatively ' to us appears the reverse of preferable , and vice verm ;¦ this great truth in its ultimate logical application utterly overturns the revolting- doctrine that punishment should "he vindictive and expiatory instead of reformatory and preventive . That lmhian nature is indeihtitelyniodifiable ; that is , we cannot fix a limit . to the decree of goodness , virtue , ability , intellectual power ,, and moral excellence , on the one hand ; and depravity , ignorance , and degradation , moral and intellectual ,.-on-the other , to v . liieh mail may be brought by-appropriate influences and conditions being-; made to operate upon him ; this shows that man . hi the mass can ' be made enlightened and virtuous r . s surely as we can make him an , army ; or a profession , as the lawyer , doctors , clergy ? or a trade ,. a . s the carpenter , . farmer , &c : ail these classes , all these examples ¦ of-aj / r / FCffafe man being exactly . what the influences and conditions operating upon them have wade them . That the more the psychical powers . are . perfected , the . higheivthe deg-reeof intellectual and moral development , the greater is thetendency to do thing's from the simple consideration that , they are fit and proper to be done , without the dread of punishment for not doing them ; this shows thaiman may be brought to do thing's spontaneously and disinterestedly from perfected moral tendency , when his properly-cultivated reason sees they ought to be . done . —That thing's done as the means to an end are at last dbn . Ci for their own sake , from habit ; this shows that properly-trained human aprents may be made moral and virtuous from fixed inirraclicable habit ; that , in short , we can manufacture moral -arid virtvious wia ' siss ' s of mankind , by bringing' the requisite , influences and conditions to -boar . upon them , as y / e , are now manufacturing- " dangerous classes " in our large cities by the hundred thousand , iffnorance and want being * among' the principal , influences and conditions employed for that purpose . -What is called the . " law of association , " is too well known to need repotition here ; it will be found in every text-book on the suhject . ] £ ut our space is filled , and we must conclude , ' merely indicating that the point upon which our results converge is that '" of ' . liftman , . perfectibi . li . t-v . '
American Slave States.*
AMERICAN SLAVE STATES . *
Untitled Article
r Wvrii ± < approaching- election ot the President serves to intensity ' JL the siibject of Slave-labour in rlie south of America . The more reflective look a-head to the : coining civil contest with fearful or hopeful apprehension , siccordihg- to their creed or supposed interest . The South is still under the delusion that Slave-labour is beneficial to the master . Mr . Olrnsted , who has -already written two volumes on the subject , and well considered it in all its aspects , has arrived at a very different conclusion . There are also , he says , moral forces at work , as irresistible as the laws of climate , which prevent the rnasterderiving any advantage from the Slave-system .. The present state of the South is deplorable , both for the slave and bis tyrant , arid operates in a worse manner for the latter than the former . It is seldom that a slaveowner ' s estate reniiiins long in the same family . The sons are " generally fools andprofligates , and soon run through the-property . The reaction upon the overseers is equally bad , It makes them callous to conscientious . impression . The whip is in constant use . Alas ! poor negroes ! ¦ Our author said to one , of their drivers , "It must bo very disagreeable to have to punjsh them as much as you do . " " Yes , " , was his reply i ' ¦ ' it would be to those who are not used to it , but it is my business , and I think nothing of it . Why , sir , I wouldn't mind ; killing a nigger more than I would a dog , ' Hq was then asked if ho had ever killed a negro P "Not quite , " he said , " but overseers were often obliged to . Some negroes are determined never to lot a white ' man whip them , and will resist you when you attempt it ; of course you must kill them in that case , " Thus tho attempt to treat the ncgro ' as a quasi brute inn'kes a real brute of the white man . The cruelty engendered by this system as detail e d in these pages , and of wJtich tJto aut / iofy vWr . * a witness , are heart-sickening , -A disgusting state of immorality ensues . Fornication and adultery abound— -but are not punished , unless they lead to quarrelling 1 — when the overseer will order nil four offenders to be " well-liidod . " Many a purely white woman i . s retained on theplantationsns a slave . The following passage on religion deserves citation in avtensu , " Being with the proprietor and tho manager together , 1 asked about the 1 'olipyious condition of tho slavos , There wero ? preachers ' on tho plantations , and they had some religious observances on a Wunda , v j but the preachers were the woiwt characters among them , and , they thought , only made their religion a clonk for habits of especial depravity . t Thoy were , at all events , tho most deceitful and dishonor slaves on tho plantation , and offconcst roquirod pun- I ishment . Tlio negroes of all denominations , ond oven thono who ! ordinarily made no religious pretensions ,, would' join together in j exciting religious observances , Tlicno gontlomon considered tho religious oxeroiscfl of the ' iiortooh to bo pimilar , in their , intellectual and moral ' character , to tho Indian frusta and Wniwlnncort , and did not cnoourupjo them . Noithor did they , like to hnvo white wcu proach on tho eutnto ; and in i ' uturo they did not intend to permit ' ! * A Jimi'iity ii \ the Hack CuiuArii , ' l \ y KroiitM'Irlt J ' . mv f , » m 4 i « i 1 . ( ijiinnpi'ou , l . owj NllU fc CO . ) t "Tlio Ijnd eliiunetcr of rtlnvQ jii'cncliorfl In iioiior . il , 1 luiyo ofwii ¦ liouvil as ^ iinnil in cumvoromlun , n » If . It wora nntdi'loum , mill It tvuini nlwnyw to hvivo boon no , On tiio rticorcla of tUo'SuporUir Court of AiiH'iuiOi OoophIu , In 1700 , ' tliu liunilKJr of nem'oos vnl lu ^ . tlionnHolvoH puprionx , koIiirt u ^ i ' iil Uio tiiiuilrr , ' In jiu'HQiilod n » n nul'inii ( . 'v . — WMf ft 8 t « ttet \ t < K \ r a < w'fffi . » ¦ ,
. i them to do so . It : excited the-negroes so much as to greatly inter i fere with the subordination and order v . bich . were necessary to obtain the profitable use of their labour . . They would be singing i" j and dancing every night ¦ in their ' . cabins , . till ' . -dawn of day , and i utterly unfit themselves for work . 1 remarked that I had been I . told that a religious iie «;' ro was considered to be worth a third more , ; because of his greater honesty arid steadiness-. 'Quite the contrary , ' ! thoy . both assured me , for a relig ' ious negro generally made trouble , ¦/• imu ( -thoy were'glad-. to get rid of him . '" ; The disgusting efforts lately made by Professor C-arhvi-ight . ' . and I others , to raise a modico-theolog'ical theory in support of negro or j Oiinaanitish slavery , are exposed by IVir . Olmsted with wellj deserved ridicule and . emphasiss . As to a proper religious education I of the nogro , the Southern planter does not desire it . ' I Mr . Olinstc-d- Judiciously reiimrks that an important secondary i effect r « 3 u ) tK from the habitual ' caution imposed on the clergy and i ]; ublio 'teachers ' , in regard to the negroes—an effect siinilar to that i usually attrihated hy Protestants to .-Papacy , and which wofully ! afl'bcts the education of the white race . It has an eflccfc r . ot only ' ! on the minds of the slave , but on -the minds of all the 2 'eople , and j discountenances ' and retards ' the free and fearless exercise of the i mind in general upon subjects of a roligiout or ethical nature . In a | word , the necessity of accepting and apologising for the exceeding j low mor . uity of the nominally religious slaves , together with the j . familiarity with thisinimorality ¦ . which all classes acquire , renders | the-existence of a very elevated standard of in orals among the whites almost an impossibility . . There—the truth is out at lust . It is not for the blacks , but the . ; whites that we need to plead . It is the emancipation of the latter I from the brutality and immorality that the system forces on them , ' : that we really ¦ ¦ . invoice . These arc the poor wretches whom we pity , : who . for the sake of a property that perishes at their touch , sacrifice "> r all that is dear to humanity—their present virtue and their eternal j . happiness . Away with exclusive sympathy for the poor enslaved ; negro . ! .. Our sympathy remains . with . the white ' -man whose soul is | in bondage to ths necessity of a false po ' siticm ; wlib pays for his , I painful masteiy over the African captive , alltlmt ennobles him as a . ! man , his own relf-respect and'the respect of others '; ' who degrades " ¦ ¦ hiinself to an immoral beast , lTUilyes a brothel at . his estate for his ; sons , and dooms / himself and them to a brief smd infamous life . Who would not weep for ' . criminals . . sxicli as these '? For wretches whose , wealth , perverted from its right use , tempts them to the commis-¦ sioii of every sin , protects them in a career of vice , . injustice , and j cruelty , and subjects them to the derision of infernal powers , who j present them with Dead Sea apples as the sole fruit of their mis-| taken activity , and crown . them , ' as .-the slave ' s masters with a withered wreath dripping , with ordure P Dante , in his Inferno , never drew a more horrible portrait than the planter of the South presents . ' And yet there arc some who would argue for the extension of this Odious system ! After reading JVJr , Olmsted's book , surely the scales will fall from their eyes . Here he brings before them the practical , workings of the system—a system which , as lie says , is not simply slavery , but slavery of a peculiar kind—such , in fact , as exists alone in the ' American ' republic . ' .- He properly includes under the term ¦ the . various laws , habits , political and social customs , which aro designed to secure its inviolability and perpetuity , and by which any modification , improvement , or different arrangement is resisted . Naturo protests against the enlargement of this monstrous mis ? constitution of things . The continual and rapid territorial dispersion of the slavo-holding community is the fact of tlio . day . Such community proves to be a very loosoly organised one . In Virgi-nja , •' itself ,- ' an essentially frontier condition still prevails . " Beasts and birds of prey , forests and marches , " our author states , " are increasing ; bridges , schools , clnirclios ana shops diminishing in number , whoro slavery has existed longest , The habits of the people correspond . " Not even tho desolation that has fallen upon tho llonian States exceeds that which surrounds the . slavo * liolding » of the South in \\\ o New World . . Its . operation upon tho white man is in every respect'maleficent ., It makes Jiim-moro lazy than tho oppressed jiogro . It . induces him to look on honourable labour as , a degradation , It ceasea to be to him tho stepping stono from poverty and mediocrity , to comfort and a position of . usefulness ; and is regardi'd hh a brand of oliianio whieh'thp poorest wliite consi&erH . inoro grievous than the pangs of want and wretchednons . Industrious whito men in tho South are therefovo rare . ' " Ainevioan . slu . vcry , as nt present advocated , Amoricnn slavery , a « it is desired to l > o perpetuated ., nourished , protooted , and extended , linn" ( fayn Mr . Olinptcrt ) " an influence far more cruel , inoro KtJ'enuously ropresMiyo upon the mass of free citi ^ oni *' . tho-u nluvyry ebsewhero over did ; than slavery in itself at all noedrt to liavo ; than , with all possible safety , with all reasonable prolitiiblohcttf ) to tho owners of slaves , it is my judgment that it lKwlii to have . " The sys . tcm is , in fact , like tho weorpion ringed with fire , ovon now in the act of coininitting suioido . It cannot last much longer . Mounwhile , see ita roRults in the minfonnntion of character , iho ruling ' olumictorwtio of tho Wouthoriior iw'Mho intensity of impiilHe . - ~ wJH \ iluoHrt . Mvory -wIhIi of the Huvuthenu'r w , for . the niomont nt hn » i , more imperative than that of tho iN ' ortlioriior , every baMet more uiulonhl'iM , ovory Imto more vcu ^ t'lu ) , ^ W ' «» vu inw'o iiery . Hcni-o , ihv instnnco , tho houikIuIou ^ ( I ond- 1 i \ w » li § ee 1 > il { , " ht-H of , tho . Smith , " Our authovvn'occcdn to K'ivo fon-il / lo psumnloH . WoJoave thorn to the imou-iijulfon oi' tho rvutlur . lie will , with uh , rojowo »* tho oxpootation thut ihiti ourso of tho earth w evidently ( loomed and hjiMeMiihy to itunpiwinlod tori ^ imitjon .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 13, 1860, page 865, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2369/page/9/
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