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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