Newspaper Page Text
11
THE COUNTRYMAN-
A Wrath y Letter from Sew
ard.—“Mr. Seward has written the
followii g letter to Mr. Adams, in re
ply to the application made on behalf
of the confedeiate bazaar, in Liver
pool, for permission to apply the fund
collected, in ‘distnbuting aid’ to the
confederate prisoners in northern pris
ons. Lord Wharncliffe, in making
the application, had taken care to dis
avow any intention of giving ‘politi
cal aid,’ or ‘an imputation that rebel
prisoners are deprived of such atten
tions as the ordinary rules enjoin
Department of State. 1
■Washington, Dec. 5, 1864. J
Sir: I have received your des
patch of the 18th of November, No.
807, together with the papers therein
mentioned, viz : a copy of a letter
which was addressed to yon, on the
12th of November last; by Lord
Wharncliffe, and a copy of your an
swer to that letter. You will inform
Lord Wharncliffe, that permission for
an agent of the committee described
by him, to visit the insurgents detain
ed in the military prisons of the Uni
ted States, and to distribute among
them seventeen thousand pounds of
British gold, is disallowed. Here, it
is expected that your correspondence
with Lord Wharncliffe will end.
That correspondence will neccessari-
ly become public. On reading it, the
American public will be well aware
that, while the United States have
ample means for the support of pris
oners, as well as for every other exi
gency of the war, in which they are
engaged, the insurgents, who have
blindly rushed into that condition, are
suffering no privations that appeal for
relief to charity, either at home or
abroad. The American people will
be likely to reflect, that the sum thus
insidiously tendered, in the name of
humanity, constitutes no large portion
of the profits which its contributors
may be justly supposed to have deriv
ed from the insurgents, by exchang
ing with them arms, and munitions of
war, for the coveted productions of
immoral, and enervating slave labor.
Nor will any portion of the American
people be disposed to regard the sum
thus ostentatiously offered, for the re
lief of captured insurgents, as a too
generous equivalent for the devasta
tion, and desolation which a civil war,
promoted and protracted by British
subjects, had spread throughout the
states, which, before, were .eminently
prosperous, and happy. Finally, in
view pf the last officious intervention
in our domestic affairs, the American
people can hardly fail to recall the
warning of the Father of his Country,
directed against two great and inti- j
mately connected public dangers,
namely, sectional faction, and foreign
intrigue. I do not think the insur
gents have become debased, although
they have sadly v'andered from the
ways of loyalty, and patriotism. I
think that, in common with all our
countrymen, they will rejoice in being
saved, by their considerate and loyal
government, from the grave insult
which Lord Wharncliffe, and his as
sociates, in their zeal for the over
throw of the United States, have pre
pared for the victims of this unuatu-
ral, and hopeless rebellion.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
William H. Seward.”
The Massachusetts Slave
Trade.—“A satirical Kentuckian,
writing over the signature of‘Legree,’
in the New York Express, urges the
New England government to re-open
the African slave trade, as supple
mentary to the domestic branch of
that traffic, m which they are now en
gaged. Why not ? As well send to
Africa as to Germany, for food for
powder, and offerings upon the ‘altar
of liberty.’ A negro, and a foitiori
an African negro, ‘is just as good to
stop a rebel bullet as a white man.’
‘Legree’ enforces his advice thus.
‘As Andrew, Buckingham & Co.,
have confessedly entered into the do
mestic slave trade, they cannot hesi
tate to agree to the re-opening ot the
African slave trade, as it is from here
our future supply of laborers must
come. Our present stock of negroes
have become too much civilized, and
christianized, to be longer ‘hewers of
wood, and drawers of water merely,’
and cannot compare with Guinea ne
groes as field hands ; the lattei being
far more tractable, and easily manag
ed, besides having fewer wants, a
clout and a corn cake being unaccus
tomed luxuries.
Nor are arguments based on Christi
anity, and humanity wanting with
which to reconcile your correspon
dents to this scheme. By statistical
returns, there are found to be 400,000
members of evangelical chuiches,
among the slaves of the slave states,
or more than are found among the
equal white population of New Eng
land. This is the result of the teach
ing of masters, and mistresses of the
south.
A far better showing this, than all
the missionary efforts of all Christen
dom, from the preaching of the Apos
tle Philip to the eunuch of Queen
Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, down
through the eighteen hundred years,
to the preseut time. The whole of
Africa cannot show as many Christian
converts as are to be found in this
one county of Fayette, among its ne
gro population. Why, the Rev. Dr.
Robert J. Breckinridge, the tempora
ry chairman of the Baltimore repub
lican convention, owns a negro.man,
\vhom he hires to the African church,
at Lexington, for $250 per annum,
who preaches to more christianized
Africans, every Sunday, than all the
preachers from the Cape of Good
Hope to the Straits of Gibran. ".
such has been the result of i ,<■
importations of Africans, in the .
of God, does not every consider*,
of humanity call for the re-openiug
of a trade which has been such a
boundless blessing to multitudes of the
sable sons of Africa V
With a sharp appreciation of cer
tain New England peculiarities - L -
gree,’ adds : ‘Call it not a slave trade,
but call it rather a missionary move
ment.’ ”
Pious Vandals.—In several libra
ries of New England clergymen, we
have seen choice volumes of great
cost, bearing the names of southern
ministers, to whom they still belong,
although they have been sent north,
as gifts from yankee soldiers, who
had appropriated them. Some Mas
sachusetts parlors are said to be car
peted with spoils of another kind.
Now if any one asks what has become
of the union party, once so strong at
the south, we answer thaS in part,
they have been alienated from the
government by the unjustifiable out
rages committed by wicked, or
thoughtless federal soldieis. At
Beaufort, S. C., tombs were violated.
At Holly Springs, Miss., a commun
ion table was used in beliaif of ‘eu
chre’ and ‘old sledge.’ Such tales of
wiong have infuriated many who
were disposed to be friends to the
uniou, and their righteous indignation
has had something to do with rever
ses that have overtaken our arms.—
New York Christian Enquirer.
Remedy for Croup. — Havh v
heard of the death of a child, from
croup, we give the following simple
remedy, which has been used by one
of the editors of this paper, and with
uniform success. It is only to place
a pinch of pulverized alum on the lit
tle sufferer’s tongue, repeating it eve
ry five, or ten minutes, until respira
tion becomes easy. We know of
families that have used this remedy
for years, always with success, and
relieving ihe mest violent ©uses.—
Confederate.