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THE COUNTRYMAN.
77
It may be asked, then, what need of
keeping a law which is practically void,
upon the statute hook ? I answer this ques
tion by asking another : Why repeal it ?
There must be an object sought in its repeal,
and that object must be to establish schools
for the slaves : and to this I am opposed,
because education and slavery are incom
patible. Negroes are incapable of educa
tion, and it will be a waste of our time and
resources to attempt to confer it upon them,
besides proving injurious to the slave.
These positions will be elaborated,if need be.
But I return now to the letter of my
esteemed friend. He says the bible is
altogether on the side of slavery, and so I
believe. But it is true, at the same time,
that many a yankee says it is not, and New
England divines and politicians both quote
it against slavery. Make the negro learned
in the bible, and be might make the
same use of it that the yankee does.
Dr. Talmage asks, “ Is it right in an en~
lightened, Christian, and Protestant land,
to withhold the revealed will of Goa, by
law, from any human being, when the plain
command of Heaven to all the inhabitants
of Christendom is, 4 Search the Scriptures?’”
To this 1 answer, that any person, white
or black, may know enough of the mandates
of the bible to perform ail the Christian
duties, and yet never read a syllable in the
bible. The negro may have as much
knowledge of the word of God imparted to
him by oral instruction as is necessary and
proper for him in his sphere. Pollok, in
writing of the unequal distribution of intel
lect and intellectual culture, by our Creator,
says:—
“ But stranger still the distribution seemed
Of intellect, though fewer here complained,
Each with his share, upon the whole, content.
One man there was—and many such you might
Have met—who never had a dozen thoughts
In all his life, and never changed their course,
But told them o’er, each in its ’customed place,
From morn till night, from youth till hoary age.
Little above the ox which grazed the field
His reason rose. So weak his memory,
The name his mother called him by, he scarce
Remembered ; and his judgment so untaught,
That what at evening played along the swamp,
Fantastic, clad in rob-e of fiery hue,
He thought the devil in disguise, and fled
With quivering heart, and winged footsteps
home.
The word philosophy he never heard,
Or science ; never heard of liberty,
Necessity; or laws of gravitation ;
And never had an unbelieving doubt.
Beyond his native vale he never looked,
But thought the visual line, that girt him round,
The world’s extreme, and thought the silver
moon,
That nightly o’er him led her virgin host,
No broader than his father’s shield. He lived—
Lived where his father lived—died, where he
•died;
Lived happy, and died happy, and was saved.
Be not surprised. He loved, aud served his
God.”
I invite the attention of those who are
uneasy about the salvation of the negro, on
account of bis not knowing bow to read,
to the foregoing portraiture and sentiments
of the author of the Course of Time—And
yet I say, at the same time, that it is no
wonder Christians are becoming uneasy at
their failure to impart to negroes the moral
and religious instruction which they should
have done. Their neglect <it this point
has been most shameful, and I hope to lend
my aid in stirring them up to a sense, of
their whole duty to their slaves.
I commented, in a previous article upon
the idea that the law under consideration
may be “ one of the many reasons, why
God is withholding, in a degree, liis smiles
from the righteous struggle which we are
waging with our cruel foes.”
There are several points of doctrine and
theology in Dr. Talmage’sletter from which
I must dissent, but as they are not essential
ly germane to my subject, I pass them by.
On the other hand, he says many good
things, which he is certain to do when he
speaks, or writes, and which should engage
the serious attention of our people. For
instance, lie says, “ Let our slave laws be
amended, and fixed on high Christian prin
ciples.”—There are some few amendments
which should be made to our slave code :
and at the proper time, I will, as a public
journalist urge this amendment upon our
people. But in the main, our slave code is
now “ fixed uponhigh Christian principles.”
He who will thoroughly examine the sub
ject, will find it so. I have written before,
upon this subject, and crave the reader’s
pardon for makiug an extract from an arti
cle of mine first published in DeBow’s
Review, and afterwards republished ifl The
Plantation, vol. 1, p. 324. The extract is
as follows :
“ The slave has the right under the law,
to cease from labor on the sabbath;’to have
only reasonable task-work required of him ;
to have of his master food and raiment, in
consideration of his services ; to have this
food and raiment after he becomes old and
infirm, and unable to labor; to have the
master restrained in any punishment which
may.be inflicted upon him, by the fear of
fine and imprisonment, in the event of cru
el treatment; to sue for his freedom if
illegally held in bondage, and to have jury
trial; and, in case of a killing on the part
of the master, to demand from his grave,
through the voice of the law, the life of
that master, unless lie- lias committed only
justifiable homicide. These provisions, as
to master and slave, are all expressly laid
down in the letter of the statutes of Geor
gia. And we hesitate not in saying, that
her slaves have just as many privileges,
with some few exceptions, guaranteed to
them by law, as are necessary to their en
joyment and happiness.”
The foregoing extract gives a just and
t rue abstract of the privileges of slaves un
der our code. There are some deficiencies
in that code, and it becomes us as a Chris
tian people, to supply all deficiencies, and
at a proper time perfect our system of slave
ry, and make it what it would have been ere
now, hut for the interference of abolition
ists. Dr. Talmage and all other humane
men may count on my humble assistance
in attaining this desirable end, if God spares
my life to labor in the good cause. Though
our laws are good with reference to our
slaves, a great many people neither under
stand nor discharge their obligations to
their negroes. It is to the enlightmeut of
the public mind on this subject that the
press and pulpit must, in good time, lend
their best energies.
Dr.. If. M. Crawford
Has written aiid published in the Chris
tian Index, 3 very able essays on God,
Revelation, and Miracles. I would be very
much pleased to see these essays, and
others like them, republished in book form,
for convenient handling.
Our Resources, State and Confederate.
“Thefollowing remarks of the Richmond
Examiner, showing the necessity for the
States as well as the Confederate govern
ment giving encouragement to those pur
suits which are necessary to self-defense,
must meet with general concurrence :
‘We believe that it is more appropriately
the work of the*State than the Confeder
ate legislature to develop the resources of
the States, and to guide the industvy of the
people. We hope our legislatures and gov
ernors will everywhere rise to the full
level of the present gleat occasion. Let
us have wise forecast and energetic action,
and let such countenance and protection be
given to indispensable pursuits as will en
sure their prosecution.’ ”
The foregoing I clip from one of my ex
changes. A policy the very reverse of the
one here recommended, is being pursued
by the Georgia legislature. Instead of en
couraging indispensable pursuits, they seem