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AvtºRY. L., E. Croššman. A diggert at ion submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement s for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1916. TABLE OF CONTENTs. Introduction ----------------------. -------------------- - - *g” Chapter I. The Argument in the Colonial Period 1700-1760 The problem of race adjustment.................... e-7 The Sewall-Saffin controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-14 An early refutation of charges of cruel treatment. 14-15 Georgia and the "climatic "argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-19 Chapter II. The Revolutionary and Early Nātional Period 1760–1800 Natur &l right 3 and race adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-21 The Parsons- Pears on debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-28 The defence of West Indian slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-4C The Bernard Romans defence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41-45 The beginnings of reaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45-46 Chapter III. The Completion of the Reaction, 1800–1832. r An early South Carolina defence (Drayton) . . . . . . . 47–50 John Taylor's "Arator' essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-59 Two replies to the Edinburgh Review (a) "Letter to the Edinburgh Reviewers" . . . . . 59-67 (b) Robert Walsh's "An Appeal from the Judgments of Great Britain. . . " . . . . . . . . . . 67-71 The Charãeston pamphlet 33rs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72-80 General flummary and criti Cigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80-81 Chapter IV. Dew's Essay on Slavery Nat Turner's Insurrection and its consequences .. 82-83 The essay - (a) Slavery vs. the law of nature . . . . . . . . . . . . 83-84 (b) Advantages of slavery in the history of civilization a. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 84-85 (c) The slave trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 (d) The nature of the probesh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85-86 (e) Emancipation with colonization . . . . . . . . . . . 86-99 (f) Emancipation without deportation . . . . . . . . . 99-105 (g) objections to slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105-113 The transitionai character of Dew's essay . . . . . . . ll3–ll 5 iii. Chapter W. The Ehhnological Argument. An analysis of the clash of opinion as to program . . . . 116-120 The discussion of fundamental principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120-121 "White Supremacy and Negro Subordination" (a) The "great delusion" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131-135 (b) The human creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125-130 c) Man in history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130–131 (d) Specific differences between blacks and whites. 131-133 (e) "Mulattoism and Mongrelism" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138-139 }}} The "Slave trade" and "3 lavery " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139-143 Southern opinion of the ethnological argument. . . . . . . . .143-144 Chapter VI. The "Bible Argument ". The "Bible Argument " a phase of the argument from authority, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145-146 The uncritical scriptural justifications . . . . . . . . . . . . i46-147 Dabney and the criticºl theological and scriptural argument • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 147-153 The Old Testament Argument. (a) The "Curse of Canaan" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153-133 (b) The Patriarchs and slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153–155 (c) The case of Hagar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155-156 (d) The Mosaic Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156-159 {}} The Decalogue and slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 (f) An examination of objections to the Old Testa- ment Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159-165 The New Testament Argument (a) No prohibition of slavery contained in the New Test; ament; * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 165-167 (b) The "Doulos" controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167-168 (c) Christ and the slaveholding Centurion of - ^apernaum * c e º 'º e - e. e. e. e. e. tº " + 4 + · · + = * * * * * * * * * * * * * 168-169 (d) The Apostles vs. the modern opponents of slavery * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -- - - - ------- - 169-171 (e) Slave holding and church itembership . . . . . . . . . . 171-172 (f) The relative duties of masters and slaves . . . . 172-175 (g) Phi lemon and One simus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175—177 (h) Prophetic denunciation of modern abolitionism, 177 (i) The "Golden Rule" argument of the opponents of - slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178-180 (j) The abolitionists explanation of the failure of the New Testament to denounce slavery . . . 180-182 The force and applicabinity of the "Bible Argument ". . . .182-183 Contemporary critics on Dabney's argument . . . . . . . . . . . 183-185 iv. Chapter VII. Fitzhugh, Hughes and the Sociological Argument. Fitzhugh and the "failure of free society" . . . . . . . . . Hughes, and the philosophy of perpetualism . . . . . . . (b) "Production": ". . . . . . . . . . . . . *Diºt I'ibutiºn" --------------------- * * "The progress of free society" . . . . . . . . . . "The law of warranteeism". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "The civil expediency of warranteeism "... The "Rhapsody" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The §otºrce; * - e. -- e. e. e. --- * * * * * * Bibliography . . . . . - * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -- ---- * * * * * * * * * * - - - - - - -- (a) The two forms of society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 186-190 190-193 192-193 . 193-198 ---- * * * * -º-º-º: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 198.204 204-305 —l- | INTRODUCTION. | - | "Our mere politicians," wrote R. L. Dabney in 1867, 'failed to meet the Abolitionists with ºutrient persistence and force on the radical question -- the right-ousness Of African servitude as existing among us. It is true that this fundamental point has received a discussion at the south, chiefly at the hands of clergymen and literary men, which has evoked a number of works of the highest merit and power, constituting almost a literature on the subject. One val- uable effect of this literature was to enlighten and satisfy the Southern mind, and to produce a settled unanimity of opinion, even greater than that which existed against us in the other states. But such is the customary and overwhelm- ing egotism of the Yankee mind, that none of these works, whatever their merit, could ever obtain general circulation Or reading in the North. People there were satisfied to read only their own shallow and one-sided arguments, quietly º treating us as though our guilt was too clear to admit Of any argument, or we wer-too infºr" ºr to be capable of it. The consequence was, that although the North has made the wrongs of the African its own peculiar cause -- its great master-question -- it is pitiably ignorant of the facts and arguments of the case. After twenty-five years of discus- sion, we find that the staple of the logic of their writers –2- is still the same set of miserable and shallow sophisma, which Southern divines and statesmen have threshed into dust, and driven away as the chaff before the whirlwind, so long ago, and so often, that any intelligent man among us is almost a shamed to allude to them as requiring an answer. When the polemic heat of this quarrel shall have passed away, and the dispassionate antiquary shall compare the literature of the two parties, he will be ashamed to see that of the popular one so poor, beggarly, and false, and that of the unpopular one $o manly, philosophic, and powerful. But at present, such is the clamour of prejudice, our cause has not obtained a hearing from the world. "The North having arrogated to itself the name of chief manu- facturer of literary material, and having chief control of the channels of foreign intercourse, of course our plea has been less listened to across the Atlantic than in America. The South has been condemned unheard. Well-informed men in Great Britain, we presume, are ignorant of the names and works of the able and dignified advocates to whom the South confidently and proudly committed her sºurisation.” These are the words of one who admittedly wrote for posterity. A year later, 1868, in addressing a different audience, Dr. J. H. Van Evrie asserted with supreme confidence, 1. Dabney, TATFFAGFTSf virginia. 13-15. "Every man and woman too in this broad land must accept the simple but stupendous truth of white supremacy and negro sub- ordination. . . The author...has given his life - more than life - to this work, to the explanation and demonstration Of the grand and beneficent truth underlying our whole social fabric; and however blind, mad, or perverse this generation may be, he is content with the assurance that the countless millions to com; after us on this Continent will be benefited by his lºor: It was only the next year, however, that another writer, Davidson, spoke to the contrary. Said he, referring to Fitz- hugh and other defenders of slavery, "The fates appear might- 1er than Mr. Fitzhugh's logic, or that of the host of pro- slavery sociological writers - mightier also than the earnest and daring people who have bled so heroically in this cause, having as they had, the world against them. Future times will keep these books as curious or monstrous airs." - what has been the verdict of history concerning these and other essays in the literary defence of slavery? Fifty years have passed since these three men wrote, and the in- quiry is now proper. Dabney clearly spoke the truth when he declared that there was a literature written in defence of slavery. It is still extant, but do the people, of the North and of Europe know it better today than they did a half cen- tury ago? Have "dispassionate antiquaries" come to agree vº. l, Van Evrìſe, "hiſtº Supremacy and Negro Subordination." vll. 2. Davidson, "Living Writers of the South. “ lºº. with him that the argument of his fellow defenders of slavery was "manly, philosophic and powerful?" How many of Van Evrie's "countless millions" solve the race problem in th. light of his expostition of the "simple, but stupendous truth" of white supremacy and negro subordination? How many, indeed, take the pains with Davidson to view these essays in de- fence of slavery even as” curious or monstrous things?" * To answer these questions is not a difficult matter. Apparently the literary defence of slavery had be ºn judged and found wanting. With the exception of a half-dozen or so of the more important and striking among these works they are quite unknown today. or perhaps it would be nearer the truth to say that since they have been so lars-ly ignored, history has as yet given them no appraisal. If this be the fact, an investigation today may conceivably upset the judgment which, in default of knowledge, history has thus far rendered in the case, and rehabilitate these past lucubrations for future historical use. In any event it is our task to examine t critically a few of the representative essays in their proper historical setting. Historians have long since agreed on a two-fold div- ision of the history of the slavery controversy. In the first of these major divisions they include all of the •vents of the period which preceded the year 1830. In the second 8 rº treated the developments which filled the years, 1832- 1865, and which culminated in the legal extinction of slavery in the United States. J- Being primarily a history of thought this study should, perhaps, take no cognizance of such more or less arbitrary distinctions. It happens, however, that th- turning point in th- thought of the defenders of slavery, the publication of Dew's essay in 1832, coincides closely with the tradition- al division. For this reason it is proposed to treat the argument in defence of slavery under three main topical divisions. These are, first, the beginnings, early pamphlets and expressions of opinion; second, Dew and the change from apologetic to aggressive defence; third, representative lat- ter-day defences of slavery. -6- P A R T I . CHAPTER I. The Argument in the Colonial Period. 1700 - 1760. It is approximately three hundred years since the first African negroes were brought to this continent. A Dutch privateer landād probably not more than twenty of them at Jamestown in August, l019. There seems to be a disagreement among authorities as to the status of these negroes and of later comers in the first years after their *. It, is admitted, however, that not long after the coming of the blacks, the whites who were in daily contact with them came to believe that methods must be used in dealing with them other than those suitable to apply to members of their own race , There is sufficient evidence to justify the assertbon that opposition to these peculiar methods of dealing with negroes manifested itself not much later. A few men, chief- ly, it seems, those of very limited experience with Africans in the mass, asserted their belief that the treatment ac- corded the negroes on this continent was unchristian, im- politic and unjust - The negroes have been mingled with the whites from that time to the present, principally in the southern por- tions of this continent. Their numbers have constantly, augmented. These facts coupled with the prevalence of divergent opinions as to how the negroes should be dealt with have produced that controversy which is now called l, Russel I, TTThe TFFTNegro in Virginia. " pp. 16, ff. 8. Ilocke, "Anti-Slavery in America." ch. I, passim. Beverley, "History of Virginia. " (ed. 1855. § 219. -7- the race problem. In antebellum days it was the same problem but men knew it by a different name - the slavery controversy. It is clear that in virtually the whole of the colonial period the great majority of the people in Anglo-America were quite unconcerned with any question as to the maintenance or elimination of negro slavery. A very small number of per- sons put themselves on record against it, but the actions of practically all the rest spoke so strongly to the contrary ef- fect that were s were scarcely a.a.s. Notwithstanding this ract there exist certain expressions of opinion which with pro- priety may be set over against the anti-slavery utterances of the time. Indeed, it seems not too much to assert that these opinions are quite as representative of the existing public opinion as the pamphlets of Sewall, Lay, Benezet, Woolman and the rest of the anti-slavery school. It is a strange coincidence that the town which afterward was to produce anti-slavery stars of the magnitude of Garrison and Phillips should furnish practically the earliest justifi- cation of slavery. This defence was the product of what seems to have been a veritable tempest in a teapot. While this con- troversy may have shaken Boston to its center, it is probable that it was a mere flurry in that stormy Puritan haven. The chief participants were two judges of the Superior court, Sam- uel Sewall and John Saffin. sewall began it by the publication in 1700 of a brief pamphlet, "The selling of Joseph," in which he attacked the African slave trade and negro slavery. Saffirl replied in, "A Brief and Candid Answer to a Late Printed She et I. Locks, TGHTTEESSIm. v * l entituled The Selling of Joseph, " 1701. - Saffin covered a surprisingly large part of the ground upon which rest the later arguments in defence of slavery in his lit- tle tract. Although the debtae concerned itself chiefly with the slave trade, various phases of the general issue came in for t, restºrmerlt, . Sewall had attempted to present as analogous cases the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites by his brothers and the modern trade in African slaves. The former transaction was unlawful, and he concludes, as Saffin says, "therefore, it is utterly un- lawful to buy and sell Negroes, though among Christians." The latter considers this conclusion "not well drawn from the §rem- ises." If there be a parallel case it is this; The Jews were expressly empowered to have slaves, whether born in their houses or purchased, hence it is not unlawful for us to have arid to buy and sell slaves. He cites various passages of scripture to bear out his contention. The most prominent of these 1 s Leviticus XXV, 44-46. Sewall's opening argument was founded upon the proposition : "None ought to part with their Liberty themselves, or deprive others of it but upon mature consideration. " Saffirl remarks that the last clause constitutes "a prudent exception." He argues that Sewall does not and cannot prove that all have equal rights to "Iiberty and all other Comforts of Iife," for the Providential order that confronts us is one that includes high and low, 1. Fac-SimTIFTCORTFETSTthese two pamphlets will be found in Moore, "Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts," pp. 83-87 and 25l-256, respectively. For other data on this controversy see Moore, 81-97 et passim. 2 hnnorable and despicable, monarchs and subjects, masters and slaves. If it were not so, "there would be a meer parity among men," and this is contrary to seriºus: "Now if this position of parity should be true, it would follow then that the ordinary course of Divine Providence of God in the world should be wrong and unjust." Naturally such a presumption is quite unthinkable. All the sacred rules, precepts and commands would be purposeless, and this would exceedingly "derogate from the Divine wisdom of the most High, who hath made nothing in vain, but hath Holy Ends in all his dispensations to the Children of men." This disposes of the first assertion. Saffirl now deal 8 * $he economic argument. Nobody doubts that white servants are more likely to promote the welfare of the province than are blacks. Does this prove, however, that it is unlawful to hold slaves and that all who hold them must set them free at once? Stated in modern terms, Saffin's idea of the only possible plan for doing away with negro slavery is compensated emancipation ac- companied by colonization. If Sewall could "perswade the Gen- eral Assembly to make an Act, That all that have Negroes and - do set them free shall be Re imbursed out of the Publick Treasury, and that there shall be no more Nºrgroes brought into the Country, 'tis probable there would be more of his opinion; yet he would find it a hard task to bring the Country to consent thereto, for then the Negroes must be all sent out of the country W or else the remedy would be worse than the Disease. " Iri- required to deed, some scheme of colonization may be soon deal with the free blacks now in the province, for "it is to be 1. TCSFTTERHEISTXIITI3-26. / Cº feared that those Negroes that are free, if there be not some strict course taken with them by Authority, they will be a plague to this country." - - Sewall' s argument as to the illegality of slavery seems to Saffin to prove too much. Granted that it is unlawful to make slaves of negroes; it seems far more culpable to make our own Christian brethern servants for from seven to twenty years as this "oft times proves for their whole life." Yet this form of servitude was specifically allowed to the Jews by the law of God. As to Sewall's implied assertiºn that the slava trače is contrary to the law against men-at-aling, $8 fifin claims a caveat *mptor, "for in that very Chapter there is a Dispensation to the People of Israel, to have Bond men, Women and Children, even of their own fiation is some case." Sewall, therefore, in Saffin's opinion, misapplies the law in his effort to con- demn the slave trade. It seems that Sewall had attempted to fore stall criticism by answering the possible objections which might be urged against hih 3 vi ºw. One by one he knocks down his hypothetical straw man and conceives that he has utterly demolished the case of his adversaries. In general Saffin proceeds on the assumption that if he can demolish Sewall's demolitions he can rest his case on the objections. - The first of these dealt with the curse utter-d by Noah. 3°Wall apparently avoided the application of this curse to the case of the negroes by the assertion that they were not des- cended from those against whom the curse was air-et-a. Saf- fin refusus to discuss this point. It is enough for him that he has proved from scripture that "any lawful captives of // other Heathen Nations may be made Bond men." In answering the second anticipated objection, "that - the Negroes are brought out of Pagan Countries into places where the Gospel is Preached, "Sewall attempted to assume the whole case as to the slave trade by asserting that evil must not be done that good may result. Ir, answer Saffin has only to deny that the procedure involves any evil at all. The third objection also dealt with the slave trade, "the Africans have Wars one with another; our Ships bring lawful Captives taken in those Wars." Sewall based his attack on this on the unjust character of wars in general, maintaining that "There is not any War but is unjust on one side." ' Here the reductio ad absurdam suits Saffin's purpose. "If we we must stay while both parties Warring are in the right, there would be no lawful Captives at all to be Bought; i which seems to be rediculous to imagine and contrary to the tenour of Scripture, and all Humane Histories on that sub- ject." - Another objection to be demolished was that Abraham held slaves acquired both by purchase and by being "born in his House." Sewall asserted that "until the Circumstances of Abraham's purchase be recorded, no Argument can be drawn from it. “ TO Sarrin this contention was empty and Sewall, indeed, gave away his case by stating that "in the mean time Charity 6bliges us to conclude, that he [Abraham knew it was lawful and good." What more is needed" "If", says -12- Saffin, "we are in Charity bound to b-la-v. Abraham's prac- tice, in buying and keeping slaves in his home to be lawful and good: then it follows, that our imitation of him in this his moral Action, is as warrantable as that of his Faith... " To Sewall's proof that the Jews were forbidden to en- slave one another Saffin accedes cordially. But, "what is that to the case 3 n hand? What a strange piece of Logick is this 7 Tis unlawful for Christians to Buy and Sell one another for slaves. Ergo, It is unlawful to Buy and sell Negroes that are lawful Captiv'd Heathens." The half-hearted, vague terms in which Sewall couch-d his final assertion gives Saffin opportunity to declare that it proves nothing. Said Sewall, "These ºth opians as Black as they are, seeing they are the Sons and Daughters of the first Adam; the Brethern and Sisters of the Second Adam, and the offspring of God; we ought to treat them wbth a respect agreeable." Is th: 3 an asserti or that "we are bound to love and respect all men alike?" If this be §affin dissents. tha meaning,A"I may love my servant well," he says, "but my son batter. " Applying that gentleman's #pparent inter- pretation of his own reasoning to Sewall himself Saffin opines that "this worthy Gentleman would deem himself much /3, neglected, if we should show him no more Defference than an ordinary porter." Hence, "these florid expressions, the Sons and Daughters of the first Adam," etc., are misapplied when they are so interpreted as to demand that "Pagan Negroes" are to be tra at ad "with all love, kindness, and equal respect - - * as to the best of mori. " . - Resting his case on scriptural authority and on the past practice of Jews and Christians, Saffin concludes: "By the Command of God, Lav. 25, 44, and their venerable example, we may keep Bond men and use them in our Service étill; yet with all candour, moderation and Christian pru- dence according to their state and condition consonant with the word of god." - He appends an execrable bit of doggerel verse, prepared in part, at least, for the eccasion. It is interesting chiefly because it sº ems to be the earliest •xample of American "pro-slavery poetry." "The Negroes Character. "Cowardly and cruel are those Blacks Trinate, Prone to Ravenge, Imp of inveterate hate. He that exasperates them, soon espies Mischief and Murder in their very eyes. Iibidinous, Deceitful, False and Rude, The spume Issue of Ingratitude. º The Premises considered, all may tall, How near good Joseph they are parallel. " Such is the first formal presentation of the defence of slavery in America. To the assertion of the doctrine * ...” ~ - /*/ of the natural right to liberty, it contains a reply based, not on the necessity but upon the apparently providential existence of inequality. It contains a statement of the great economic obstacle in the way of emancipation, and an assertion of the impractibility of emancipation without col- onization. There are to be found in it some of the more im- pottent among the essentials of what came to be termed the "Bible Argument." In it, moreover, there is a justification of the slave trade, and, though Saffin specifically denies that the blacks and the whites are of separate races, his rhymed description of the character of the blacks shows clearly his implicit belief in their unchangeable inferiority to the *:: Two phases of the later slavery controversy which Saf- fin's pamphlet left untouched received treatment in the next generation. One of these was the refutation of charges of I. In a Connecticult TIaw Tsūſt, which was tried before the Gen- eral Court and which involved the right of a master to his mu- latto slave, the attorney for the complainant, the master, presented a plea containºng a brief but admirable examination of the scriptural argumpnt. \ , "It has been alleged (to justify the said Abda's freedom) that such servitude for" life is contrary to the word of God ; Against which the Complainant offer to this Honourable Court; that his holding the said Abda as a servant for life is not contrary to the word of God: for "l. It was established by the Judiciall Law that the Jews might hold as servants for life the children of those that were of a strange nation, although born among them: See Levit. 25th., 45th & 46th. "Again: The Jews were obliged by the 4th Commandment that their bond men and bondwomen should sanctifie the Sabbath day; and that Commandment was given to be a rule to them, as much with relation to their bondmen and women, as any other ser- Vants; So that the morall law doth allow of such servants, as well as of any others. "Nor can it be thought that if slavery were, in itself, contrary to the morall law, it could be established in the judicial. - "Nor doth Christianity, as is pretended, make a bondman to become free: for it is very evident that when the heathen were / ST- / cruelty preferred against slaveholders. Robert Beverley, one of Virginia's first historians and by virtue of his long residence in the colony qualified to speak, took up this matter. In his history of Virginha he defended the treatment accordied the slaves and servants. "Because I have heard how strangely cruel and severe the service of this country is represented in some parts of England, I can't forbear affirming that the work of their servants ºrid slave 8 + 8 no other than what every common freeman does; neither is ary servant re- quired to do more in a day than his overseer; and I Carl as sure you with great truth that generally their slaves are not workäd near so hard, nor so many hours in a day, as the husbandmen and dºe laborers in England. An overseer is a man that having served his time has acquired the skill and character of an rxperienced planter, and is therefore entrusted with the direction of the servants and slaves." He adds a detailed description of the laws designed to secure proper treatment to the slaves and concludes: "This is what the laws prescribe in favor of servants, by which you may find that the cruelties and severities imputed to that country are an unlust reflection. For no prople more abhor the thoughts of such usage than the Virginians, nor take more - - l precaution to prevent it now, what ever it was in former days." first converted to the fººth of the Gospel, that conversion did not make any change at all in the state of the person a considered in relation to bondage or liberty; but if the person so converted was a bondservant before that conversion, he re- mained so, notwithstanding that conversion. See lst. Cor. 7: 21st. The word there rendered servant" is the same with that which signifies a bondservent or servant for life, as it is used. Gal. 3, 28 and Coll: 3rd, llth. In both which places it is declared that, in rºſation to *:::::::::H. it matters M not whether a men be bond or free." Historical Magazine, Ser. III. Wol. III, 14-16. 8 sº l. Beverley, 219-222. / 4, - º º *** º º - º º The second of these two phases came out clearly in the struggle over the introduction of slavery into the colony of Georgia. "That over the merit 8 of this particular controversy may have been, several of the opinions expressed in pamphlets, merror ºl. 3 and letters bring out the so-called climatic argu- ment in favor of six-sº we are told that scarcely two years after the first settlement of Georgis, seventeen Savannah freeholders petitioned the Trustees to allow the introduction of negro slaves, asserting that they were necessary to the success of the colony. In 1740, James Habersham declared: "The sun is so extremely hot here in the summer, that no white men can stay in the field the best part of the day." Again: "I once thought it was unlawful to keep negro slaves, but I am now induced to think God may have a higher end in permitting them to be brought to this country, than merely to support their 1. 35mºtRTng Tof TEHFTSETFſt of this struggle appears in the following note which shows, also, the basis of the argument for the introduction of slavery into the colony. - "The pretended content and satisfaction of the people o Ebenezer without negross will ſlainly appear to be the dictates of spiritual tyranny and only the wretched acquiescence of the people who were in truth unacquainted with the privilege of choosing for themselves. - "It is acknowledged indeed that the present war and late invasion may furnish the enemies of the colony with the most plausible objections that could occur against the allowance of black slaves, but these reasons have not always existed, nor have the trustees ever declared any resolution to admit them at any other juncture. But if it plainly appears that Georgi a as a colony cannot barely exist without them, surely ar, admis- sion of them under limitations suitable to the present situation of affairs, is absolutely necessary to its support, since want and famine must be more dreadful and insuperable invaders than arly living enemy: besides the honorable trustees were informed by a letter from Mr. Stirling and others, of the falsehood of the contented and comfortable situation the people of Darien were affirmed to be in, end that they were bought with a number of cattle and extensive promises of future rewards when they signed their petition against negroes." In "A Brief Account of the 9auses that have Retarded the Progress of the Colony of Georgia in America." London, 1743. ( Georgia Hist. Soc. Col. II, 93. 2. Ga. Hist. Soc. Col. II, /7 masters. Many of the poor slaves in America have already been made freemen of the heavenly Jerusalem, and possibly a time may come when many thousands may embrace the gospel, and thereby be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of god. These, and other considertaions, appear to plead strongly for a limited use of wers...} - The same thought was elaborated in a pamphlet published --- º-º-º-º: º º the next year. "The falling or timber was a task very un- equal to the strength and constitution of white servants, and the hoeing the ground, they being exposed to the sultry heat of the sun, insupportable; and it is well known that, the labor is one of the hardest upon the negroes, everl though their con- stitutions are much stronger than white people, and the heat (of the sun) no way hurtful nor disagreeable to them; but in us it created inflammatory fevers of various kinds, both continued and intermittent, wasting and tormerlting riux's, most ex- cruciating colics and dry belly-aches, tremors, vertigoes, palsies, and a long train of painful and lingering nervous dist empers, which brought on to many a cessation both from work and life... And so general are these disorders that during the hot season, which lasts from March to October, hardly one half of the servants and working people were ever able to do their masters or themselves the least service; and the yearly Bick- ness of each servant, generally speaking, cost his master 88 much as would have maintained a negro for four years." Whitefield, the great preacher, expressed similar views and endeavored to persuade the Trustees to allow the use of l. Stevens, TTH story of Georgia." I, 292 and 300. 8. "A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia." Republished in Ga. Hist. Soc. Col. II / 3’ | slaves. His first inspection of conditions in Georgia convinced him that, while the prohibition of the use of negroes was well meant, it was "impossible of enforcement in so hot a country." Later he stated his belief that it was advantageous to trans- port Africans from thiſar homes of barbarism to a Christian land where they would be required to share in Humanity's common toil, but where at the same time they would receive humane treatment. After an experiment with a plantation in Carolina operated by negro slaves he wrote to the Georgia Trustees: "Blessed be God, this plentation has succeeded; and though at present I harve only eight working hands, yet in all probability, thers will be more raised in one year and with a quarter the expense, than has been produced at Bethesds for the several years last past. This confirms me in the opinion I have entertained for a long time thet Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province with- out negroes are sus-d'. Still later he is reported to have declared that he would think himself fortunate to be able to "puschase a good number of them, to make their lives comfort- able, and lay a foundation for **** their rosterity in the nurture snd admonition of the Lord." I.T.Tºnºs. THstory SFTSTETTI, 401, 422 and 405. 8; Taken from one of Whitefield's letters which are republished in Tyerman, "Iife of "hitefield." Quoted by Jernegan, "Slavery and Conversion in the Colonies.” AM. Hist. Rev. XXl, 514-515. There exist sundry petitions of citizens of Fennsylvania which are of import similar to that of the petitions and memorials of the Georgians. Extracts from severai are given in Turner, "The Negro in Pennsylvania. * pp. 2, 4 & 6, notes 6, 15, & 24, respectively. In an article on slavery in Connecticut, Dr. W. C. Fowler states on the authority of Moses Stuart that the "friend and pat- ron [of George "hitefield, President Jonathan Edwards, wrote a vindication of the slave "trade." I have been able neither to find the vindication nor to verify the truth of the assertion. In the same article Dr. Fowler quotes as fairly representative of Connecticut opinion the views of "sn intelligent Christian men, born in 1737. " "It was a great favor to the bondmen, among the children of Israel to be taken from the ignorant and sinful nations and admitted to some of the privileges of , 7. * It is admitted that these are mere fragments, yet, whatever * * the dominand opinion conce-rºing slavery may have been, they probably reflect faithfully the main lines of the argument which justified slavery and the slave trade in this period. - the chosen people of God, in the land of Israel, where they could become good men and go to he ºver, when they died. It is a great privilege for the poor negroes to be taken from the wicked and ignorent people of Guinea, and placed in a Christian land where they can become good Christians and go to heaven when they die." Hist. Mag. Ser. TTI. Vol III, lº, 17. º º - - --- -º- --- --- - - º -- - \ - - º - º º - - º | -º-, -º-º-º: - * : º º º - -- º º º --- CHAPTER II The Revolutionary and Early National Period. 1760-1800. It is matter of common knowledge that there came to be wide acceptance of the doctrine of natural rights in the British North American colonies during the period between the years 1760 and 1785. The natural and inalienable right to liberty was not the least among these, and we know that it was a shib- boleth used with great effect by the opponents of British rule. Some spokesmen of the prevalent philosophy were clear-sighted and consistent enough to point out the conflict between the theory and the practice of the patriots involved in their use of these doctrines to support their cause against the mother country, on the one hand, and their continued maintenance of negro slavery on the other. The tendency among such men was , of cours", to condemn the institution. - To take a prominent example, wºrrºrson used harsh terms in speaking of slavery in his "Notes on Virginia," first published in 1784. Said he: "The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual, exercise of the most boisterpus passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. Our children see this and learn to imitate it, for man is an imitative animal - this quality is the germ of education in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learning what he sees others do. If a parent had no other motive, either in his own philanthropy or self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion 1. Jefferson, Works, VIII, #2 * (ed. /Y, 42. *&^. ) 2 / towards his slave, it should always 'be a sufficient one that his child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent stormes, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst of passions and thus nursed, educated and daily exercised in the worst of tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities." With great gusto the anti-slavery generations which flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century quoted this and other remarks of similar import for the benefit of Southern defenders of the institution. Several pamphlets are extant, however, which make it apparent that even in the Revolutionary period there was opposition to the application of theories of natural rights to the relations between white 8 and negroes. This is illustrated in a printed report of a debate between two candidates for the baccalaureate degree at Harvard in 1773 on the question: "Whether the slavery to which Africans are in this province, by the permission of law, subjected, be agreeable to the law of nature?" Theodore Parsons took the negative, i.e. the anti-slavery side, and Eliphal et Pearson, the ºrrºr-ray. Parsons opens. He declares himself a firm believer in "the truth of those principles in which is founded the idea of natural equality." He confesses his fainful astonishment that in "this enlightened age and land," the case of the un- happy Africans has received so little attention from those who base their own liberties on these very principles. Mary, l. These names are written Tn on the title page of the copy of belonging to the Harvard Library. The full title is "A For- *nsic Disputation on the Legality of enslaving the Africans." 22– indeed, are yet slaveholders in direct contradiction of their expressed convictions. "What less can loe said of that exer- cise of power, whereby such multitudes of our fellow-men, des- cendants, my friend, from the same common parent with you and me, and between whom and us nature has made no distinction save what arises from the stronger influence of the sun in the climate whence they originated, are held to groan uhder the insupportable burden of the most abject slavery." He asserts that the laws - only in part protect the lives of slaves. Even so, every inoment of such lives, "is worse than non-existence;" because of the slavery to which these people are subjected. Pearson admits the difficulty of defending his view be- Cause it, " involves principles seemingly incompatible with the hap- piness of any." He begs that sentiment and humanity may be laid aside temporily "while we calmly attend to the voice of reason, which is the voice of natures alwise and benevolent Author." "Liberty is sweet," but even in a free government it can not be enjoyed in a perfect sense. The great ruling principle, "the happiness of the whole," demands that some have authority and, hence, more liberty than others. "And though, my friend, I can cordially join with you in the benevolent wish that it were possible that these Africans, who I am free with you to call my brethrºn, and to whom, it is confessed, the principles of our civil constitution allow but a small degree of liberty, might enjoy it equally with us, yet till I am convinced it might comport with the rule above mentioned to allow them more, I am in duty bound to appear an advocate for those principles." He reverts to the question and proceeds to define his terms. l. pp. 3-6. 22-3 "By the law of nature is intended that law which is the measure of all our moral actions." What actions are agreeable to this law'? "I answer, what ever action in 1 tº nature, concomitant circumstances being considered, tends to happiness on the whoke." This is the standard by which slavery is to be judged. Now in nature nothing can possible "be of the least consequence but happiness or misery." This principle has been approved "by the generality of ethic writers" and by the practice of good governments. Let it be applied first to the general idea of slavery, which is "the involuntary subordination of the will of one to that of another; - whereby, independent of all compact, the actions of the former are in all things to be directed by the will of the latter. " If slavery in general according to this rule be not opposed to the law of nature, then the principle of natural equality fails, and an application of the general principle to the cage of African subordination will make clear its legality according to the law of nature. It is universally acknowledged that there wrists a right of authority not derived from contract, and that involuntary subordination to this kind of authority does not constitute a violation of right. Such is God's authority to govern the universe and the authority of parents over their children. T}oes this principle apply also in other cases? Upon investigayº on it becomes apparent that this just right of God and of parents to exercise authority is based in large part upon the principle of "the greatest good of the whole. " Consider the matter of parental power. *"While parents so far excel their children in wisdom, and from natural affections are disposed to promote their happiness, it will -24/ follow that more happiness will result to both from the exercise of authority in parents, and subordination in children, than from the exercise of equal Liberty in each." Keeping in mind that wase are to determine the justness of slavery by the principles laid down, let us examine the state of the individuals about us. "ſe discover "vast inequality" in capacity "for the proper direction of conduct. " It matters not what may have caused the inequality, whether it is due to differences in natural capacity, in means of improvement, or in ambition to rise; the general end, happiness is best obtained by the voluntary or involuntary subordination of the incompetent to the competent. Observation proves that the principle of absolute equality cannot be supported, in fact, by implication Pearson puts the burden of proof on those who, in the face of differing capacities and dispositions of men to act properly, assert the existence of natural equality and herice, natural ret: Parsons, in reply, promptly admit 8 the assertions of his opponent concerning the propriety of Divine and parental authority, and likewise a differeng degree of capacity in different individu- als. These facts, however do not for him exclude tha natural right to independence. He finds refuge in the assertion that Pearson's principle is utterly impracticable, because marl's nature, state and condition is such that the exercise of authbrity over a noncontracting subordinate cannot lead to the greatest good of the whole. Human wisdom fails when it attempts to say who shall be superior and who subordinate in any given case, hence states cannot make such distinctions by legislative action. He thus puts the whole question on the ground of the relative ex- l. pp. 6-17. - Zeſ pediency of two imperfect frinciples; legalized authority over involuntary subordinates versus the principle of natural equality. He believes the principle of equality better adapted to insure the general end, happiness. Parsons asserts, more ever, that any attempt to apply the just principle of authority deduced from Divine and parental rights to negro slavery is quite futile, for with the Divine authority is coupled in- finite wisdom and goodness, and with parental authority, affection. He claims that Pearson must show that men who undertake the relationship of master to slaves are similarly endowed before they can be considered fit to exercise similar authority. Only with such men as masters can slavery be justified by the law of nature. Moreover, such reasoning is inapplicable to African slavery because there is not the essential inequality between the whites and blacks. "I suppose you will hardly imagine the darkness of a man's skin incapicitates him for the direction of his own conduct and authorizes his neighbours, who may have the good fortune of a complexion a shade or two lighter to exercise authority over him." Similar remarks are applied to possible differences of hair and shape of *::: Pearson is apparently not greatly disturbed by this re- joinder. He makes application of his reasoning to African slavery. He submits the proposition that: "Whenever such a connection of things takes place that any number of men can- not, consistently with the good of the whole, have a residence in any community but in a state of involuntary subordination, and that their residence in such community notwithstanding such subordination, be in fact best for the whole, such sub- ordination though involuntary, is no violation of the law l, nº. IW-53. of nature; but on the contrary to all intents and purposes correspondent thereto." of course this somewhat unskilful proposition fully fits the case of the Africans in the British colonies. He says that it is generally acknowledged that only under some scheme of subord+ nation can these people "consistantly enjoy a residence among us." This subjection is a limited one, all masters being under authority of laws governing the relationship. Txamination of the condition of negroes in Africa seems to make it probable that it is to their interest that they are in subjection here rather than in freedom there. Tn Africa they lack the means requisite to their social, educational and religious improvement; moreover they are enslaved to "lust and passion," "brutish stupidity," and "savage barbarity." Which is better, their condition here ºr the re? Tf Orle had a brother woula one prefer that he be given the African freeman' s education or an education under American slavery? "Motºrithstanding all the uneasiness attend- ing subordination and all the m3 series to which an African is exposed in his removal from his native country; while his con- d? tion here is so much more eligible than his condition there, his removal is to be -steemed a favor. . . . It is in vain to alledge here the want of consent on his part. No one ever considered the consent of a child, idiot or madman necessary to his subordination; no more should the consent of the African, whose real character seems a compound of the last three men- º - - - º - tioned, be considered essential. Tt is undoubtedly the duty of those whom providence has favored Trith the means of im- provement in understanding, and the wisdom resulting from 27 such improvement, to make use of their discretion in directing the conduct of those who want it." Taking up briefly the argument from scriptural authority, Pearson contends that bf slavery in all cases be contrary to the law of nature, God could Kleºfer have allowed the Israelites under the theocaacy to enslave strans-re in their midst. That it was permitted to the were proves that it was better for these strangers "to reside wors a people, where thay might have some oppor- tunity for improvement irl knowledge and virtue, though in a state of subordination, than to remain among the barbarous and idolatrous nations whence they originated." one does not need to go into fetails as to the many advantages which a slave in this country enjoys as compared with a freeman hin Africa. Cases of abuse of slaves are only the exceptions which tend to prove the rule that they are generally well- treated. "On the whole, since it is evident beyond all can- troversy, that the removal of the Africans from the state of brutality, wretchedness and misery in which they are at home so dº a ply involved to this land of light, humanity and christian knowledge, is to them so great a blessing, however faulty any individuals may have been in point of unnecessary cruelty practiced in this business; yet, whether the general state of º subordination, which is a necessary consequence of their re- Imoval, be agreeable to the law of nature, can by no means longer remain a **** Parson's reply may be summarized briefly. Pearson's attempt to involve him in a dilemma by inquiring if God can -L_ 1. pp. 23-31. 28 anprove an action in itself contrary to the law of nature is rather clumsily dodged. An action "expressly authorized, " he says, "may be fit and proper, and in its nature right which without such tolfration would not be 30 ; and for this plain reason, that the same action when by rightful authority permitted may have on the whole a tendency to happiness, which without such permission woulf have an opposite tendency." For the rest, Parsons simply denies the facts set forth by Pearson. He cites various traveler's accounts to bear out hiss contention that the Africans are not so barbarous as has been alleged by those who wanted to justify the slave tria. Neither are they of a different species. Furthermore, it is not true that they benefit either in a moral or in a religious way by their transportation to this continent. And instead of being well used here, they are cruebly abused, particularly in the West Indies, while the horrors of the "middle passage" far out- weigh even the alleged advantages which they derive from resi- dence 4 m *Aer. Pearson remarked in the sentence which concluded the de- bate that the whole issue had be ºn changed from a question of principle to one of fact, and that upon this topic he preferred to let those speak who were better qualified than he felt him- self to be. In the same year a controversy similar to that in which Saffin and Sewall had engaged at an earlier time brought forward twro witnesses to testify as to the facts. It's Tamphlet, which is attributed to Benjamin Rush, and which was published in Philadelphia in 1773, there was a bitter attack 3 on West Indian slavery. A reply was almost immediately l. His authorities were ; Jeffery, “Account of Part of North, America" and Sir Haº; 31 oane, "Natural History of Jamāli ca." 2. pp. 31-48. 3.An Address to the Inhabitants of the 2.7 forthcoming; "slavery not forbidden by Scripture. Or a Defence of the west-India Planters, from the Aspersions Thrown out against them, by the Author of a Pamphlet, entitled, An address to th. Inhabitants of the British settlements in America, upon slave-keaning." It is thought that this pamphlet was writ- tºn by on Richard Nesbit, a clergyman in the established church. ſ | - / Though"conscious of a trant of abilities," this writer asys that he is led to publish his study be reason of his desire to put the case of his "unworthily traduced" West-Indian friends in th- best possible light. Honest men, he thinks, wrill favor his attempt to crush the "most malevolent slander" of which the Aaarassor has been guilty. Nesbit notes the fütility of the efforts of reformers who fail * * due allowances for human imperfectability. "Instead of advising some whole some regulations and improve- ments, they spend their time in fruitless reproaches," and, the anti-slavery men among them, at least, "afterwards declare that slavery ought to be utterly abolished." Many abuses *xist in human society: kings sacrific- their subjects in the •rrort to acquire paltry bits of land; public servants ambezzle the public funds; bishops preach humility and unworldliness, "yet pocket ten thousand a year"; lawyers plead the wrong as eagerly as the right side of a case; merchants continually try to overreach one another; and most sports cantain elements of cruelty. Consequently it is easy for "a man of gloomy and British TSettlements in America, upon Slave-keeping." Phila- delphia, 1773. 20 discontented turn of mind" to prove the degeneracy of human nature. "The man of a liberal and benevolent way of think- ing, " on the other hand, "will see that there are faults in all employments, and that many of our amusements cannot be - | - justified by the ſtrict rules of humanity; but he will over- - look such matters, seeing they are the necessary conse cuenoses Z" i of the imperfection of our nature. . . and be of opinion that the - small port) on of time every good member of society has to spare from his own concerns is better employ a j in promoting the hap- piness of mankind than in railing at their vices." Proceeding from the general to the particular, Nesbit declares: "Slavery, like all other human institutions may be 2 : --- * attended with its particular abuses." It must not be argued, l ; | - however, that the gº abuses erº" sufficient totally to condemn - # * it, and to reckon every one unworthy the society of men who º º , ºwns a negro." The fact is; "If precedent constitutes layſ, " - - / . . . . . negro slavery can surely be defended. Nesbit appeal. s to the - - \ scriptures and at his behest "the divine legislator, Moses," utters the command, “Both as wond-ºn and/thy bond-maids - \ \\ which thou shalt have, chºi be of the heathen that are round about you. . . " Not. all Hebrew slaves were heathen, clearly considerſ; the ge non-i-nº- slaves property, ºld fºre, rs yet, the 18 tº - the master in viržually all respects. "31 aves for life, / - - l A **rtainly lay under still grºater disedvantages. These were º w - - º º º - distinguished by the name of £ond-men, and I can find no laws / --- . / º \º - - f in the Old Testament concerning them. The heath ºn and strangers f 8phear to have be ºn hald in so small estigation, by Moses and - - º - - - * 1. A "Fät TTTTTTTTTIFFFFFTR5E-Yorbidden by Scºrinture. " ? -3. !, \ \ Jº/ the Jews, that it is likely he did not think it worth while to give any laws concerning them, and left it in the will of the master to treat them as he thought proper." In Nesbit' s opinion "The Jews deserve censure for their illiberal partial- ity to their own countrymen and fellow ****** Contrary to the opinion advanced in the Address, Nesbit holds that the patriarchs clearly authorized slavery. The . Addressor seems to have advanced the view "that Providence kept the neighbouring nations in bondage to prevent the Jews from corrupting their national religion and, by intermarriages, altering the descent of Jesus from what was originally or- dained. " Nesbit's reply to this is uttered in terms meant to be scathing. "Could an eternal decree of God be overturned by the pitiful revolutions among men? or could not the same om- nipotent being who marked out the descent of the saviour of the world prevent the race of Abraham from being corrupted?" That is to be said to the fact that the Jews are still a dis- anot -on- The new Testament argument is dismissed in a paragraph. The "general maxims of charity and benevolence, " therein con- tained "cannot be maintained as proofs against slavery," for, if the relation had be en thought evil by Christ and his followers they would no doubt have preached against it in direct terms." Their boldness of speech and intrepidity of conduct are well attested. It is therefore, little short of wicked to use the Addressor's language, "to accuse the Saviour of the meane st dissimulation by saying that he forebore to mention anything . L. pp. 3-5. 2. pp. 5-8 J.2, which might seem contrary to the Roman or Jewish laws. This gentleman, attempting to be religious, becomes **** His scriptural argument presented, Nesbit turns to a con- sideration of the economics of slavery and emancipation. "If this writer gºd confined himself to the impropriety of slavery in this, [Pennsylvania], and some of the other colorlies and had treated the subject in an unprejudiced manner, his labours might have been useful. In the northern parts of America there are now numbers of industrious white inhabitants, and when that is the case the importation of negroes will cease without any interposition of the legislature." The reason for this is clear. "No man who pays attention to his interest and peace of mind will ſever employ slaves to do his work, when he can get freemen at a moderate price." Rush, however, is proposing to give the negroes thrir liberty and to settle tº he "est, Indies with whites. This is quite a different ºntº: There are over four hundred thousand negroes in the British "est Indies. How is it proposed to replace them with white, and if this can be accomplished in the first instance how are their ranks to be kept at full strength? "There is the money to be raised to make satisfaction to the planters for the loss of their projarty!" The se are pertinent questions. England can not be expected to furnish the required whites, for the ºnglish already complain that too many emigrate. Furthermor; such whites as do come to America "prefer the interior parts of America to the rugged rocks of the West Indies or the swamps f Carolina, " because they are more suitable in respect to need- pf 1. pp. 8. 2. nºn. 8-9. 3 & ful and familiar products and climate. Rush himself has con- fessed that whites who are at hard labor in the tropics are short lived, and yet "he is desirous that our white fellow sub- jects should toil in those sultry climates that the Africans might indulge their natural laziness in their own country, The former, are, no doubt, much obliged to him for his kind 3 nt exiti () ris. " In contrast with the whites, the negroes are admirably fitted to labor in the Test Indies and in Carolina, because both the climate and the products are similar to these of their native land. Concerning the compensation of masters, Nesbit declares that a total of fifty-two millions would be necessary to recompense the planters in case of emancipation; "twenty-two millions for the Negroes and thirty in consideration of the lands, buildings, so." - Recognizing the value of an appeal to self-interest, Rush in his Address advanced an economic reason for doing away with slavery. This is the now well-known doctrine ; "agriculture can never flourish where slavery is tolerated, " Nesbit replies "there are few or no lands better cultivated anywhere" than the "ſest Indies. "The lit tº e island of 3t. Kitts is not above e?;thty miles square, ſeighty square miles] and yet, its annual produce amounts to half a million sterling, which is not per- haps, to be equalled in the whole universe." But further, the whole history of the islands shows that, contrary to Rush's assumption, free, small-scale propriators cannot successfully engage in the sugar industry. In the early days, the settlers were poor in capital and eked out an existence by planting "a 1. pp. 5-IC. J / - little cotton and tobacco, and consequently consumed scarcely any of England's manufactures. A few through special thrift and the assistance of accidental supplies of money managed to get possession of the lands of their less fortus nate fellows, and by large scale production of sugar not only made themselves prosperous but turned the islands into a source of 'revenue to the government of Britain. The necessity for large scale operation is perfectly obvious to one who knows the sugar industry The machinery for manufacture is so expensive that it cannot be owned by men of small means, yet when the crop is ready the sugar mill must be at hand, because sugar in the cane will not bear transportation to find e purchaser either by land or -º-º: "What has ºngºl and actually lost by the concentration of wealth in a few hands in the islands? One admitted consequence is a s small Thit a potulation, nevertheless Nesbit thinks that the empire has gained on the whole. "I know estates which formerly affordeſ only a scanty subsistence to a few families, that now yield fice thousand pounds sterling per annum, to the proprietor, and fº - rare--a hundred to the revenue, which is infinitely more than an estate in England of the same income. The result is, that although England can expect few soldiers from the West Indies, she can use the funds derived from that source to keep as sol- º *- diers the men of more impecunious colonies. But let us induis- for a moment the "chimerical suppos- ition" that the British government by parliamentary enactment should put an end to slavery in the British colonies. Beg- £ary would be the portion of the sugar, rice and indigo plant- ers; four millions now paid to them for their products would l.Tº...TIGITE. 2. pp. 12-13. ºſ- necessarily $o tº O foreigners; the revenue Would be reduced more than a million, and a most valuable, present outlet for manufactures would be lost. "Beside s, we must consider the loss of freight, the number of sailors and others that would have no employment , and the check that the usual circulation in the mother country would receive, by the proprietors in the colonies having no money to spend. It Would be endless to trace the consequences." In the end Britain might become so Weak that France could easily conque r her, "and thus, by free- ing the Africans, Britons themselves must be come abject slaves l to despotic power." Thy have not sailors and soldiers been considered by these " advocates for human liberty?" If it were concerning the right s of these men to liberty that Rush and his followers were petitioning the ministry, they would doubtless be tº old "that the wisest statesman had never discovered any other method of manning the navy, expecially on a sudden emergency; and that the army could not be maintained if the times of serving were left in the will of the soldiers. . . that private considerations must always give Way tºlic good, and that the safety of the state requieed these extraordinary exertions of power. " Well, then, "will not the same reason oblige government to allow slavery to continue in the colonies? By listning to one petition, Britain must be conquered by force of arms; by granting the other, she must ne undone by losing he; Commerce. The cause would be different, but the effect the same. " Nesbit considers himself in a position to speak I. pp. TI3-I4. 3. pp. 14-15. 5 & authoritatively on the treatment of slaves in the islands. The charges of cruelty which have been brought against the planters are particularly irritating, and he is at some pains to refute them. "When levied against the masters as a class, the charges of rape and toruſtre are infamous falsehoods. The Addressor "says these pictures are taken from real life," Nesbit observes; "I should be glad to know his authority. For my part, I never knºw a single instance of such shocking: barbarities, " and West Indians with whom the writer has dis- cussed the subject have be ºn equally positive in their dis- claimers. Of course, in the centry which has elapsed since the West Indies were settled, there have doubtless bee-n instances of all manner of crimes, but it is wholly unjust "to stigmatize every West Indian with the name of murderer and monster, and to r-ºr-seat him as dead to every kind of feeling." English training in youth gives to the mafority of these colonists "those swntiments of liberty and independence," which are native to England. Test Indians, indeed, are notably "of a generous and merciful disposition," and hold those guilty of unusual severity in the same abhorrence as would neople in any civilized land. Moreover, if all else fails, self-interest alone may be expected to induce slaveholders to treat their charges hu- manely. This is not to assert that proper correction is omitted when slaves require it, however. Such punishment is rather a kindness than a cruelty as it keeps the viciously inclined from becoming neighborhood nuisances and tends to prevent plots. "The planter who lays down a resolution never to let a fault pass unobserved, will soon find that there is seldom occasion 37 to exert his authority," for the good negro's will be good any- way, and from fear the bad will see to it that they never merit Tunishment. Furthermore, though the laws regulating the conduct of slaves are anparently harsh, they are "excuseable and ab- solutely necessary to the safety and good government of the is- lands." Their seeming rigor is due to the fact that most of them were passed in periods of stress, "after some insurrection or commotion thich struck at the very being of the colonies." They are simply held over the heads of the blacks in order to "terrify and restrain them." In practice, slaves are almost never dapitally punished. "Notorious acts of theft," for example, "which, in England, would bring any person to the gillows are only punished with a few stripes." Asserti ons that masters starve their slaves are quite as groundless. "A planter will deny himself the common necessaries of life rather than let his negroes went, for he cannot expect them to work unless they are properly fed. He had rather sup- port them at the yearly expense of half their worth than by starving them have his land improperly cultivated and endanger the losing of them altogether." New negroes get much more of the very best food than they can be supposed to consume, and, while acclimated and creole negroes get scantier allowances, the natural food products of the islands amply supply any deficiencies. Nature is so bountiful in this respect that many slaves use their corn rations to fatten pigs and poultry, and purchase various luxuries with the proceeds of the sale of these and of their surplus bananas. 1%ther respects the new negroes are treated very considerately, many of them doing no Gó’ work for as long a period as a year, while weak negroes whenever worked are given light tasks, and ever, the robust are called upon to do no more then do the peasants in other countries. The separation of families when they are sold is rare. "W6 per- son would be foolish enough to buy a negroe that *****, *- tressed, since he must run no small risque of losing him." Nesbit has little to say concerning the slave trade, ad- mitting that he is not well acquainted with the method by which # t is carried on. He thinks, however, that the majority of the slaves "are bought in the fair course of trade, " and that many by being so purchased are saved from cruel deaths. Furthermore he thinks the conduct of other savage tribes is evidence sufficient to beli e the accusation that the slave trade has produced war : --- among the Africans where hitherto it had not existed. Cruel treatment is not the cause of the failure of West Indian slaves to reproduce with sufficient rapidity to supply the demand for slaves, as has been alleged. The importation of large numbers’ of fresh Africans into the islands is to be attributed in part to the very great expansion of industry now in progress and in part to the fact that the ºnglish not only supply themselves, but, likewise in a s: measure, the French, Ijutch and Spanish. Nesbit º: existing birth rate is due to the notorious irregularity and hygienic carelessness of tºre negroes. "They frequently assemi- after their work is over and ladnce great part of the night. Instead of going home they often sleep in the open air, which ºxposes them to numberless disorders. I may add that:3the misfortunes they meet are mostly of their own seeking." 1. pp.TIFIECTää. 2. py. 3. pp. 27. --- 37 Rush had taken pains th establish the intellectual equality of blacks with whites. Nesbit attempts a rather elaborate refutation without using the negro's inferiority to justify his enslavement. He is scèptical concerning African travel er's tales. "Alltheritick histories" of evian the familiar West Coast are rare, and the interior has never been visited by Europeans. The best plan sº ams to be to examine those who reach the West Indies. ºhi te "it is im- possible to determine with accuracy whether their intellects or ours are superior," yet "it seems probable that they are a much inferior race of mer, to the whites in every respect." "Therºnever was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, " Says Nesbit, and ever, the rudest of white nations and tribes have been distinguished from inferior peoples by something of eminence in their valour, their form of govern- ment, or some other particular. "Such a uniform and constant difference could not happen in so many countries and ages if nature had not made an original distinction betwixt these breeds of ---. ºxcept in the portions inhabited by whites, Africa is en- tirely barbarous; in government it is a congeries of petty war- ring despotisms; in arts, letters and manufactures it is totally deficient; in religion it is a prey to supersti ºction and fetich- 1 sm. Climate is not an adequate explanation of this barbarism, for the neighboring Moors and the ancient Egyptians have figured in history, while the Chinese (whom Nesbit considers to be white?" have done equally well in similar latitudes. ºver, the l - pp. 20-2I. aborigines of America, notably the Peruvians and Mexicans, have left evidence amply demonstanting their superiority over the Africans. The only satisfactory expbanation of the barbarism f the latter, then, is "a want of genius in the people." #et against this mass of evidence Rush has offered only such cases as that of Phyllis Theatley, author of a "few silly poems," and that of the Jamaica negro who was reputed to be "a man of parts and learning. The 3e fall far short of proving to sensible men "that the baſicks are not deficient to us in un- ***** All things considered Nesbit is of the opinion that the negro slave has "fewer cares and less reason to be anxious about to-morrow than any other individuab of our species." As a free savage his lack of success against his enemies may bring about the deaths of himself and family, while failués in the chase will result in fºrmine ; as a slave his provander is assured and he suffers not, at all from War. "The negro, it is true, - Cºnnot easily change his master, but to make amends for this in- convenience, he enjoys the singular advantage over his brother in freedom of being attended with care during sickness, and of having the same provision in old age as in the days of his youth. Instead of being oppressed to feed a large family, likka the laborers in Europe, the more children he has, the richer he becomes, for the moment a child is born the parents receive the same quantity of food for its support as if it were a grown per son; and in case of their own death, if they have any reflection, tºy will quit the world with the certainty of their chil- drºn being brought up with the same care they formerly experienced 1. TF5:23-84 2// l themselves." Rush's pamphlet was much more severely handled by Bernard Romans in his "Natural History of East and West Florida." Romans' interest in the Address was only incidental to his solicitude in the cause of making the Floridats attractive to settlers. He contends that many people who are able to purchase slaves have allowed themselves to be misled by Rush's tract, and have "run away with the notion of the unlawfulness of holding property in Hegroes." He conceives it to be his duty to advise all "who desire to improve a plantation for their benefit not to forget these useful though inferior members of society." The climatic argument is the fundamental element in Romans' justification of negro slavery. He points to the parlous state of Georgia before, and its happy condition since slavery was introduced. "The primum mobile of the welfare of these Countries and of the 77 ealth of the 3 r inhabit ºrits are the Afri Carl slaves. " The attempts of West India planters to induce . whites to settle in the islands have proved abortive for the reason that generally the whites are unable to "labour in those climates. "Indeed: "The impossibility of an European's bearing the requisite labour in those climates is now so well ascertained as not to require any elucidation." It follows that it is far better to use those accustomed to the climate and to the status of slavery. l; nº. TF-55.TesbíTremarks that upon mature consideration rush will do ubtless make amends "for his ſingenerous abuse of a set of men whom he never had an opportunity of knowing, and who, I dare say, never injured him." But instead of doing so, Rush promptly put out a second edition of the Address, adding, "A Vindication of the Address in Answer to a pamphlet entitled, "Slavery not forbid- den in Scripture; or, a Defence of the Test fridia Planters. " " At about the same time there was published another pamphlet, "Person- al, Slavery established by the Suffrages of Custom and Right Reason which purported to be the equivalent of a second edition of Nes- bit's essey. Upon examination it turns out to be a most ironical 'second edition". In the bibliography of his essay, "The Negro in --- 24. Romans is more specific than Nesbit as to the character of negroes, roundly asserting that treachery, stubbornness, theft and idleness are thonoughly characteristic, that these traits are not at all the result of slavery, and that they must needs be cor- rected with rigor. "Do we not see Solomon's words fully verified in Negroes? " A servant will not answer though he understand." But harsh usage can be overdone, and the writer neither approves nor recommends the conduct of "our western nabobs" in this respect . Nor has the Floridian more patience than Nesbit with the anecdotes of the "sublimity of negro sentiments." He asserts that "against the Phyllis of Foston (who is the Phoenix of her race) I could bring at least twenty Tº c 11 kroºr, ris tº rices of the contrary effect of education on this gable generation." Arld he has quite as much contempt for the idea that free labor is more productive than slave labor. "The rhapsodical opinion that the earth produces more when worked by free men than by slaves may do in theory but not in practice. ... I am certain from the nature of the climates that the same colonies when cultivated by free men would not produce one tarith part of what they do now." But this Address, he continues, is further blameworthy in its tendency to induce the enlargement of the free negro class, and hence, the production of "a greater number of vagabonds than we are already pestered with." No masters should be allowed to manumit slaves without giving guarante e s as to their future "good behaviour and industry, and the idl a free blacks are fit subjects for reenslavement. -- Tsansylvania, Trofessor TR. Turner arroneously asserts that t this pamphlet "defends slavery." (p. 285. ) 243 / The major part of Roman's reply is devoted to refuting the "pretense" of Rush " that our employing slaves is contrary to the precepts of our most holy religion." Here Romans the geogra- pher quite out does Nesbit, the author of an avowed defence of slavery on the ground that the institution is not forbidden by scripture. The assertion, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ' is misapplied when it is made to demarld that men shall refrain from keeping slaves. Furthermore, Romans arrºrms, "there is a five-fold state of slavery not only known or per- mitted but commended in God's holy word." These commands deal with: "1st. Those who are condemned to slavery for their crimes, which we but too often experience to be the case with the slaves imported to us from Africa. - "2nd. Those that are taken in war, which is the most general way among the Negroes to furnish us with slaves, and who would be murdered, did we not induce their conquerors by our manufactures and money to show them mercy. "3dly. Those who are sold by their parents, which custom ob- tains among many people, even the refined and civilized chinese, not to mention some christians, but most among the Negroes. "4thly. Those who sell themselves or ar. sold for debts or other wants, which not only the Negroes, but our own laws justify. "5thly. Those who are born in slavery." For each of these he cites or quotes the appropriate Old l Testament texts. Romans does not assume that the slavery of 1. Exod.TXXI, AK7, TEKTXXIT3; TGFn. TX, 25, 27; Josh. Ix, 23; Lev. XXV, 39 - 47; Proverbs, XI, 29, and, XXII, 7. ZZ *- t the Africans is to be based upon their descent from Ham, express- ly contending that the several races were of diverse oria: The New Testament argument is very brief. "Had not the well known Christian 10 octor of the colossian Church; a slave called Onº simus? and did not this slave run away (after having, as usual with slaves, robbed his master) come to Rome and go to see St. Paul ? Paul treated him kindly, instructed, converted, and baptized him and sent him back to his master with a letter full of Godly eloquence to persuade Philemon his master to forgive the slave and re-establish him in his favor, but by no means an exhortation, much less an order to set him free." It easily follows that ; "It is not religion, then, 110 º' christian charity that forbids us to have slaves, but it commands us the duties we are to fulfil towards them, instructing them to obey us and us to use them as a part of the reasonable creation." "Shall after what I have said, this Rhapsodist with his confined ideas send us to some modern system of religion, or say that I have ºffered anything contrary to the sublime doctrine of the author of christianity? Had this anonymous writer instead of playing with the word slavery, told us that the Northern color:- i es had no accasion for Negroes, he woyld have said more than l. 5: The question of Fagº Hüsrsity, Romans says: "Without doubt Moses's account of the creation is true, but why should this Historian's books in this orie thing be taken so universally when he evidently has confined himself to a kind of chronicle Concerning one small part of the earth. ... We do not at all derogate from God's greatness, nor in any ways dishonour the sacred evidence given us by his servants, when we think that there were as many Adams and Eves (every body knows these names to have an allegorical sense) as we find different species of the human genus; is this not a more natural way, agreeing more with the proceedings of a God of order, than the silly suppositions that the variety is an effect of chance, much less a conse- quence of curses?" pp. 54-55. a sº- 24– / l all he has advanced in his futile publication." Literary defences of slavery are conspicuous by their absence in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. There can be little doubt, however, that there was a reaction from the doctrines of natural rights in the years 1785 to 1800. The Federal Constitution framed in 1787 is standing proof of this return to conservati sm. Though quite voiceless, this reaction was greatest, perhaps, in respect to the apphi- cation of the natural rights philosophy to slavery and to the question of race relationship. It seems safe to assert that the high point had been reached and passed in the series of events which culminated in the passage of the ordinance of 1787. Thereafter, in the slaveholding states at least, the disposition to maintain the existing regime seems to have been constantly on the increase. - There were several causes. The excesses of the French Revolution, so often referred to by later defenders of slavery, and the effects which it produced in the neighboring slave Colonies of the French doubtless caught the at tention and rººved * cond-mºtion of the thoughtful in the slave states. , Another and far more potent one was the invention of the cotton gin and the consequent opening up of a new industry to which the labor of negro slaves seemed to be well ºut." The paucity of literary defences of slavery in these years is also readily explainable. For one thing, there seems clearly to have been a distinct slackening in the anti-slavery attack, L. Romans.T&Tscussſon of thIETEORTC occupies pages 103-lll. 2. One effect of the inventions which produced the industrial revolution in England was the development of the cotton-produc- ing industry in this country. In England, the economic freeing of the worker followed almost at once, but in this country the *ffect was quite the opposite. As an anti-abolitionist economist º 2. - // (, and hence, less occasion for the expression of defensive sentiment. Furthermore, the constitution had erected a bulwark against offensive action on the part of the op- ponents of slavery, and in its early sessions Congress man- ifested no disposition to make a national issue of the question. One is able to infer from the isolated expressions of opinion and from the "pro-slavery" contentions which the anti- -- slavery speakers and writers of the period at tempted to demolish, that the defence did not differ radically from the arguments of Saffin, Nesbit, Pearson afd *: It remºji Yled for Tºrri tº r & in the first third of the nineteenth century to complete the apologetics of slavery defence. T. T. P. KºłłąII put it: "The Invention of the cotton-gin, the carding machine, the spinning-jenny and the steam-ºngine Combined to wreave that network of cotton. Thich formed an in- dissoluble cord binding the black, who was threatened to be cast off, to human progress." This inter-relation, a decidedly interesting one, is often overlooked in the study of the issue over slavery. 1. Locke, "Anti-Slavery in America." p.m. l’8-186. Z/7 CHAPTER III. The Completion of the Reaction. 1800-1832. The first third of the nineteenth century saw the completion of reaction from natural rights in the slaveholding states. Still other factors than those already mentioned tended to fix more firmly the desire and intention to retain slavery. Among these were the closing of the African slave trade and the rapid expansion of the cotton industry, which together caused a great rise in slave prices. In the twenties virtually all traces of the anti- slavery sentiment which had previously been so notable in the northern-most of the seaboard slave states disappeared. For the first years of this period the literary evidence of the reaction is quite fragmentary. Perhaps the most important of the available testimonies is that of William Drayton of South Carolina which is contained in his "View of South carolina.” (1802. ) At the out set of his brief discussion of slavery, Drayton declares that its existence has made possible the pros- perity of the state; that without it the richest of her lands would not have been worth the cultivating, giving for this the familiar reason that only negroes can labor in the coastal plain. Their constitutions are perfect ly adapted to its cultivation. They can "uncovered, stand the sun's meridian he at and labour their appointed time exposed to the continued steam which arises from the rice grounds, whilst a white person could barely support himself under the shade, surrounded by such a relaxing 1. TFTWESTTETäisäussion of slavery occupies pages 144-149. Diligent search has failed to bring to light ºvery justified 2ZA’ atmosphere. He can work for hours in mud and water, (which he is obliged to do in the rice culture, in ditching and draining, ) with- out injury to himself, whilst to a white this kind of labour would be almost certain death. Should these observations be founded on fact, (which it is believed they are) they sufficiently justify the present condition of this state in the kind of propº” immediately refer." Drayton was one of the earliest to take notice of organized effort on the part of outsiders to secure the extirpation of slavery . "Many are the efforts which are not only tried individually but collectively to weaken this right of property, and ultimately to change its very nature. The impropriety appears the greater as these attempts flow not from our own citizens, for they know their rights and interests better, but from those of the Northern states who are less acquainted with them. With as much propriety might we request them to dismiss their horses from the plough, as for us to dismiss these people from labour... And With the same reason might they be asked to give the money out of their pockets in order to equalize the situation of every person, as the people of the Southern states be requested to make changes in this property, which would materially affect the fortunes they possess. And notwithstanding this impropriety, Societies have intruded so far as to send addresses to the different branches of our legis- lature, recommending certain modes which they deem most eligible for us to pursue in this respect : and all this for the good of the whole fami iv. of mankind : Thé reception †hich these addresses have met with renders any further comment on them unnecessary. This much however may be said, that if it be a sin it is the SyTSGFIFFüFSTREEFTEESTEYTHIFney to Rev Archibald Cameron and published in Lexington, ºy., 1806. (Birney, "Life of James E. Birney." 384. ) - /// happiness of those who are not engaged in it to be safe from any of it; G future calamities." The actual condition of the slaves in South Carolina, Dray- ton continues, is far from bad. They have many advantages - good houses, gardens and often spécial fields upon which they are 311- couraged to raise small crops for their own benefit ; they have holidays and oppºrtunities which ºr 3 fully embraced for dances and feast-making. "They are worked by certain tasks which are not unreasonable : and when they are diligent in performing them, they have some hours of the day to themselves." They are protected, too, in the small properties they acquire. With good mastery, so far from distressing is their situation that "instances are known where they have declined an offered freedom." Their lot , furthermore, is almost immeasurably superior to that of their fellows who are yet in Africa. A few of these who were of the original importations were doubt. 1333 stolen, and some others have been acquired by the traders through chicane, but the great majority have simply exchanged a hideous servitude in Africa for the far happier 3tatus of Amºri Cài slaves. nor does their lot suffer when compared with that of the white peasant ry in many civilized countries. In how many lands can the inhabitants of this class boast of as much good? The tenure 3 of fortune and of liberty which the poor whites of other countries enjoy are dependent upon the wills of princes, and many a father raises his sons to maturity to be his support and comfort in his old age only to see them remorsely swept off by the authorities "to swell the pageantry of a court or to confound the liberties of their country." 5-2) But Drayton considers that it behooves man to take these mat- ters philosophically. Human life i3 "Continually chequered with good and evil, happiness and misery. The philanthropist may seek perfection and happiness among the human race; but he will never find it complete. . .he may plan new laws and new systems of government, which practice too often declares but the efferve scence of fancy and unequal to the end proposed. Nature, governed by unerring laws which command the oak to be stronger than the willow and the cyprus to be taller than the shrub, has at the same time imposed on mankind certain restrictions which can never be over- ^{}}t;6. She has made some to be poor and others to be rich, some to be happy and others to be misèrable, some to be slaves and others to be frº 3." A much more elaborate treatment of the slavery quºtion was made by the well-known John Taylor of Caroline at the beginning of the second decade of the century in his "Arator" essays dealing with the virginia agricultural situation and the various problems connected *: This little book ran through several editions in a short time. Several of the essays, in particular Numbers 13, 14, 38, 29 and 30, concerned themselves with the slavery controv ºr ºy as it then stood. º Taylor quite clearly believed that expediency was the proper basis for the défence of slavery, "Negro slavery, " he says, is * This forturº tº agriculºurs, incapable of removal and only within the reach of palliation. . . an evil which the United 8tates must look in the face. To whino over it is cowardly, to aggravate it, criminal, and to forbear to alleviate it because it cannot be TTFETFEFFETFGTTEFETEEESTedition, revised and aniarged, Georgetown, J. M. Tarter, 1814. ?. p. 57, =-_ 3 / --" -- i. wholly cured, foolish." Though admitting that slavery is an evil, the writer feels bound to criticise the famous stricture embodied in Jefferson Notes on Virginia. These notes, 3aid he, "We're Written in the heat of a war for liberty," when the author was exalted by the "mental rementations and moral bubbleg" then arising. "If Mr. Jefferson 3 assertions are correct, it is better to run the risque of nation- al extinction, by liberating and fighting the blacks than to live abhorred of God and consequently hated of man. If they are erroneous, they ought not to be admitted as arguments for the amancipating policy." In the remarks of Jefferson the Deity has be ºn enlisted on the side of the slaves. Taylor protests that this is "not a little tinged with impiety"; that "his justice and mercy do not require the White 3 and blacks to be placed in such a relative situation as that one color must extinguish the other"; and that it is "somewhat like a charge of inattention to his awn attributes, in apparently aiding with masters throughout all the ages and amongst most nations hitherto, the liberating St. Tomingo masters excepted." Again, if slavery produces the dis- as trous effect 3 as cribed to it by Jegferson, history should show them. Yet of slaveholding Greece and Rome, Taylor believes it can be said: "These two nations produced more great and good patriots and cit- izens than, probably, ańl the rest of the world." Furthermore, "In the United States it is also probable that the public and private character of individuals is as good, as in the countries where loco- motive liberty and slavery to a faction exist, nor do the alave I. F. ITS- 42 states seem less productive of characters in whom the nation is willing to confide than the others." . But better still, Taylor lets Mr. Jefferson, the man and the citizen, aemolish ºr, Jor- ferson, the enthusiast in the cause of liberty and equality. "Even the authºro of the quotation himself may be fairly adduced as an instance which refutes every syllable of his chapter on virginia manners, unless indeed this refutation and an abundance of 6thers like it can be evaded by forming the best citizens into a class of prodigies or monstars to evade the force of eminert virtues towards the refutation of errone outs **on." *To me it 360 mg that 9 laves are too far below and too much in the power of the master to inspire furious passions, " Taylor aggerts in stating his own position on this question, ºuch - passions "are nearly as rare and disgraceful towards slaves as towards horses; slaves are more frequently the objects of benevolence than of rage," and "children from their nature are inclined to goothe and hardly ever guffered to tyrannize over them. " Moreover, the relation tends to "open instead of shut the sluices of benevolence in tender minds," and Taylor thinks it not unlikely that fewer "good publick or private characters have been raised ir, countvºes enslaved py some raction or particular interest than in those where personal slavery existed." There are several reasons for this, "Character, like condition is contrasted, and as one contrast causes us to love liberty better, so the other - causes us to loºrs virtue bºtt ºf." vicious and mean qualities are usually associated with the character of slaves, hence, they are corresponding lººd-spinable in the eyes of freemen. . . Instead, the re- fore, of fearing that children should imbibe the qualities of T º ſº. £35-3 M º gº slaves, it is probable that the circumstances of seeing bad qual- ities in slaves will contribute to their virtue." Servility will likewise come to be hated because ordinarily "submission and flattery" mark the slave. It is only when equals are led to submit to and to tiatter other equals that there is danger to the moral stability of a nation: - - But the Virginia colonel went still further, and, though he said he did not wish to be considered an advocate of slavery, he came dangerously near to justifying it. "Virtue and vice," he observes," are naturally and unavoidably coexistent in the moral world, as beauty and deformity are in the animal; one is the only mirror in which the other can be seen, and therefore in the present state of man one cannot be destroyed Without the other. It may be thus that personal slavery has constant ly reflected the strongest rays of civil liberty and patriotism. Perhaps it is suffered by the deity to perform an office without which these rays are gradually obscured and finally obliterated by charters and partial laws. - per aps the sight of slavery and it; º; vices may inspire the mind #ith and ºf fection for liberty and virtue, just as the climates and deflarts of Arabia would make it think Italy a pºsals." This chapter of Jefferson's "concludes with an intimation that; the congent of the masters to a general emāncipation or their own extirpation were the alternatives between which they had to choose. Such a hint from a profound mind is awful. It admits an ability in the blacks though shackled by slavery to extirpate the whites, an; proposes to increase this ability by knocking off their shackles." A general emancipation, he thinks, is quite sure to produce r). 64–65. 6 l tº º ". 6 : : Cº-º/ great evils both to blacks and to whites. "The history of parties in its utmost malignity is but a feint mirror for reflecting the consequences of a white and a black party. . . No doubt can exist of the consequences of placing two nations of distinct colours and features on the same theatre, to contend... for wealth and power. . . . A civil War of a complexion so inveterate as to admit of no ig- sue but the extermination of one entire party" is a very probable out come of such a move. If this does not eventuate at once, the blacks will only have exchanged their present servitude to personal masters for the worse 3ituation of slavery to a faction or a cor. poration. "Free" they "cannot be." Yet such a general emancipa- tion is being urged by many *iºns. Concºrning these emancipa- tionists, Taylor has much to say. He notes the feeling of insecurity among the slaveholders as to the future of slavery. This condition, he says, is kept alive by those who "persuade themselves that they are complying with the principles of religion, patriotism and morality. Intº 311”h fatal errors is human nature liable to fall by its deliriums for acquiring unattainable perfection." It cannot be that these agitators desire to see a war of extermination waged in the South, yet this is almost sure to follow attempts at emancipation. But suppose "our northern brethren should succeed in overwhelming the southern gtates with the negro patriotism and civilization, what will they have done for the benefit of the liberty, virtue or happiness of mankind? Thé Frènd (3 revolution, bottonea upon as corrent abstract principles and sounder practical hopes, turned out to be a foolish and mischievous speculation: what then can be ex- pected from making republicans of negro slaves, and conquerors of I.T.E.E.. IIT-IIB, IIS-120. ignorant infuriated barbarians? What can those who are doing the greatest mischiefs from the best motives to their fellow-citizens, to themselves and to their country expect from such preachers of the gospel, such champions of liberty and such neighboring possessors of a territory larger than their own. "But what will not enthusiasm attempt? It attempted to make freemen of the people of France ; the experiment pronounced that they were incapable of liberty. It attempted to compound a free nation of black and white people in St. Domingo. The experiment pronounced that one color must perish. And now, rendered blinder it proposes to renew the last experiment, by experience, though it impressed tºruth by sanctions of incon- ceivable horror; and again to create a body politick, as monstrous and unnatural as a mongrel half white man and half nºw.” - In much the same strain is the following: "Our religious and philosophical quixottes have undertaken to make ignorance in- dependent of knowledge. They propose to bestow a capacity for liberty and rule on an extreme of ignorance when the whole history of mankind announces that far less degrees possess no such capacity. One would suspect, except for the integrity of these divines and philosophers, that they were imposters disguised in the garb of religion and philosophy striving to disengage a mass of ignorance from thog 3 who now direct it for the purpose of appropriating it t; © themselves." to these hasty", or rather, "famatic philosophera, patriots and ſhristians" believe that negroes can be freed and yet kept from equal rights as to property and political privileges? Do these not thern states want to see the ºt. Domingo experiment tried in this country.” “If not, why do they keep alive the St. Domingo TE-TT-TTg, *... p. 119. 3 & . spirit 7 War is the match which will in the course of time be put to such a spirit , and an explosion might follow which would shake our nation from its centre to its extremities. Is it humanity, wisdom or religion, or some adversary of all three which prepares 1. the stock of combustibles for this explosion?" "What had the present génération to do with the dilemma in which it is involved? How few even of its ance stors; were con- cermed in stealing and transporting negroes from Africa?...I self preservation shall force the slave holders into stricter measures of precaution than they have hitherto adopted, those who shall have driven them into these measures by continually exciting their negroes to cut their throats, will accuse them of tyranny with º - / as little reason ag the prosecutors of the slave trade accuse them of negro stealing." A great evil flows from the agitation in that "rewards and punishments, the sanctions of the best government and the origin of love and fear, are rendered useless... by the re- proaches to masters and sympathies for slaves breathed forth from the North ºrn 3t at 33. Sympathies, Guch as if the negroes should transfer their affections from their own species to the baboons. Under impressions derived from such sources, the just est punish- ment will be felt as the infliction of tyranny, and the most liber- al rewards, as a niggardly portion of greater rights. For Where will the rights of black aansculottes stop?" "Such a state of things, " Taylor observes in summing up his characterization of anti-slavery agitation, " is the most uri- favorable imaginable to the happiness of both paster and slave. 67 f f It tends to diminish the humanity of one class and increase the malignity of the other, and in contemplating its utter destitu- tion of good our admiration is equally excited by the error of those who produce and the folly of those who suffer *...* so much for the emancipation horn of the Jeffersonian dilemma. perhaps something can be done to prevent the predicted extirpation of the whites by the slaves. "Slaves are docile, useful and hap- py if they are well managed," Taylor observes. It is easy to gather from his remarks on the emancipation movement that in his opinion one essential step to be taken is to put at an end the agitation over freeing the slaves, to induce the northernors to stop magnifying the virtue; of the black; and the vices of their present masters. Another method of preventing the threatened catastrophe may be found in better management of slaves. A thorough believer iºnºe officacy of rewards and punishments, Taylor proposes that take the form of better houses, clothing and food in the one case and strict ºr discipline in the other. Proper rewards will bind the slave to his master "by a ligament stronger than chains," while if punishments be inflicted with strict justice and only when required, the danger from insurrection Wii be reduced to a -º-º: In the thira place, if the problem presented by the free blacks can be solved, it will go far to re- lieve the state of all danger from her slave population. This matter of the free blacks is a crux of no such importance that Taylor gives up one whole number to it. it's an evil "of a magnitude sufficient to affect deeply the prosperity of agri- culture and threateri awfully the safety of the country." In at 1.T-TTg. º least two directions this evil works itself out on the public in the slaveholding communities. ºf ºut ºn Source of insur- rection. 1+ was the policy of allowing a free negro class to grow up "Which first doomed the Whites and then the mulattoes themselves to the fate suffered by both in St. Domingo." In the second place, the existence of this class in an agricultural community dependent upon slave labor indisposes the slaves to labor, "renders them intractable, "and "entices them into a multi- tude of crimes and irregularities." In addition, the free blacks act as "brokers for disposing of stolen products," and thus prey upon agriculture "like a stock-jobber or capitalist class." In language that is only elaborated by later writers ravior further characterizes this vicious class. "The only remedy" for the evil " is to get rid of it. This measure ought to be stettled by considerations of a practical moral nature and not by a moral hypotºººº...by substantial, not balloon morality." Doubtless someº each class will suffer if a severance is carried out, but "no doubt can exist of its benefitting a majority of each and a very great majority of the who le. No injury but much good to the whites and slaves is per- ceivable in the measure. And relief from the disadvantages of inferior rights, from the necessity of living in a settled course of vice, and from the dangers portended to it by a commotion among the slaves promis ges great benefits to the free negro class it- gelf from a severance." - Either one of two methods of colonization may be employed. Lands may be purchased from Congress "sufficient for their 1. pp. 57-58. 2. pp. 58-59. Už subsistence in states where slavery is not allowed and giving them the option of removing to those lands or emigrating wherever they please." Better still would be a free negro settlement in Africa fostered by England and Amºerica. Once started, "slavery might then be gradually re-exported, and philanthropy gratified by a 31 OW reamination of the virtue, religion and liberty of the negroes, instead of being again afflicted with the effects of her own rash attempts suddenly to change human nature." Taylor was one of the first to condemn the attitude of the press in the non-slaveholding states on the slavery question. He complained: "The Northern newspapers are continually dealing out fraternity to this race [the negroes) ... and opprobrium to their white masters with as little justice in the last case as taste in t; he first." In 1819 the Edinburgh Review printed several articles based on the accounts of certain Englishmen who had trave led in America, theréin presenting the views of the editors on slavery in the United States. Both books and reviews contained severe animadversions on the existence of slavery in America, on the evils alleged to be connected with it and on the indisposition of the Americans to do away with it instanter. The first to take up the cudgels against the Review was "an American, who Confessed that he was a slaveholder residing in Virginia and that he was prepared to speak only for his own stats. Preliminary to discussing the general issue of slavery and its proposed remedies and alleviation this writer enters into an analysis of the historical responsibility for the "institution" of slavery in America by means of the slave trade. He invites the Reviewers to make this crime as black as they please; then, "take the crime and the reproach home to I. pp. 60 and 67. 2. p. 117. 3. "Letter to the Edinburgh Reviewers: by 'An American. " " First published in the National Intelligencer, Nov. 16, 1819. yourselves." He outlines Virginia's efforts to put a stop to the trade in the colonial period, and points out that the United citates as a nation has made great efforts to secure its repression. Coming to the specific problem with which he deals, the writer maintains that it is unjust to accuse the Americans of indi “ference to this question of slavery. The existence of eman- cipation and colºnization societies in the South is sufficient proof that its people are seriously considering the matter, although he holds that the agisability of their action in this respect is open to question. Concerning the feasibility of emancipation the writer is more than scéptical, contending that there are almost insurmountable obstacles in the way of even gradual emºncipation. Is it not likely that greater evils will filow from attempts to liberate the slaves than are now just ly chargeable to the institution? In "All American's" opinion, "it is not at this moment in the power of human wisdom to devise a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery which does not require for its completion a degree of virtue, philosophy and moderation among both whites and blacks which it would be folly to anticipate.: Almost any conceivable plan must work great suffering on those to be fre 2d. the proposed plans will ruin the whites in addition. This might be borne with greater equanimity if the majority of +he emancipation schemers Were not so far distant from the º seene of their proposed operation. Indeed, when compared with the patriotism of those well-meaning characters who heroically involve themselves in the ruin they occasion, the "patriotism" of the abolitionists is quite inexcusable, and is denounced by T. pp. Tº-lä. 3. pº, 7-8. *. 19. 15. (2 / the writer in no mild terms. "Secured by a distance of upwards of a thousand leagues from the theatre of their exploits againiat all individual danger, they pursue their sanguinary and ruinous schemes, (for such they must inevitably prove in the end, ) without any man- ner of risk to themselves, and, with an unrelenting spirit of spurious ambition, distinguished alike for cruelty and cowardice, push forward their own headlong experiments at the sole hazard of other men's lives and tortune." a The fact is that "there are moral as well as physical evils in this world, which no human agency can remove. You Can- not wash the Ethiop white, nor can you impart to him the active intelligence of the bomo sapieng Europaeus ; and in defiance of all the benevolent societies of Europe and America, Africa will continue for ever to be what it has been for nearly six thousand years - the residence of slavery and ***.* Let us grant, then, that the Continuance of slavery in America is a matter of necessity. Is it a legitimate institution when measured by the "principles of natural law," and "the precepts of revealed religion?" The writer thinks that these questions must be answered in order to present every possible point of defence, but in considering then he intends no injury to the blacks. "The era of their emancipation will arrive whenever the white people are convinced that the scheme proposed is practicable, and that it will not, in its progress or after its completion, do more harm than 3 good to the blacks themselves." Grotius, Pufendorf, Hobbes and º Paley are all of the opinion "that slavery may be justified on the principles of natural law." How unjust it is that Grotius who l, p. 41. 2. p. , 17. 3. pp. 28-29. / 2 . justified slavery is held in great admiration by the world, observes the writer, "while we who do not justify it, but more- iv tolerate it, to avoid a greater evil are loaded with the bitt, eregt 3xecrations. " Without going into details on this topic : "It is worthy of notice that all those who advocate a scheme of emancipation, concede, without appearing to be aware of the fact, one of the positions on which the writers on natural law place the legitimacy of slavery." §his consession is "that masters or owners have a right to be indemnified for t;h 6 trouble and expence of malºhaining the offspring of slaves, by the labor of this offspring. If this right be admitted the question [the legitimacy of slavery] is settled... This, however, is but a small matter discernable by the eye of reason only. And who will resort to reason on such a subject, when eloquence answers the purpose so much batter." Fe presents briefly the argument from Scripture and the plan of creation, and inquires, "Is not this enough? What : do the christañns of the present day pretend to be wiser than God Almighty - more humang, more pious, more conscientious, more moral, than the Apostles” He declares that these texts are not presented to justify slavery; "whether they do justify it or not let every reader decide for himself." One result may be anticipated, however, Christians in the face of these Bible ult; + era rices on slavery cannot justifiably continue to heap abuse and denunciations on the heads of thorse whom he holds to be involuntary and unwilling navºnoia”. False motions are abroad concerning the deſhoralizing tendencies T-EE-º-º: Gen. 2. pp. 30–36. He cites a XIV; 14: . Exod. YXI, 6-7: Lev. xxv, 45–46; Ephes. WI; Colos. III; Tiin. WI; Titus II; I Pet. II; Philemon. & 3 º of 3 lavery. One needs but to look to Greece and Rome for a refut- ation. Jefferson who is made by the Reviewers to do service in the cause of labºratins the blacks was clearly wrong in his "whole commerce" claus 6. "The picture which he then drew bears now but a slight resemblance to the reality. I do not know a man cruel to his slaves . I have heard of a few, very few, many years ago. They lived abhorred. The people of Europe can form no idea of the force of publig opinion in a country where the whole body of the white people constitute only one class and the source of all power. A cruel man would not be enawa.” Furthermore, Jefferson's silence since 1784 is proof that he does not consider emancipation and colonization practicable at present.” - "An American" gives a first presentation to a phase of the economic argument which later writers developed much more fully. "more is the great difference in estimating the mass of human migery, " he inquires, "between slavery and service? In a certain stage of society, that is, when the population is thin and when the demand for service exceeds the supply the difference in favor of the latter is admitted to be great , but when the country becomes more populous, and labor, after having been sought for employment begins itself to seek employment, the hire ling is in a state of more absolute dependence than a slave and proves that he is so by working much harder and faring much worse. In a state still riore advanced, where manufactures have, encouraged a wretched population and where poor laws founded . in humanity -- medidlegome, erring humanity -- have increased the TWTAT mºri SãTTEſtes his readers to Taylor's refutation. 3. pp. 16. (.4% numbers and the miseries of the poor and their vices too, then +he advantage is on the side of the 3 lave." To see this rule in operation we have but to look to conditions in England and America. The condition of England's poor is depicted in the reports of various investigations made by Englishmen is wretched in the extreme. On the other hand American slaves feel no apprehension as to food for themselves and for their *asºn: "On a well-regulated plantation," the writer testi- fies with passing eleguence, they enjoy "their weekly allowance of meat or salted fish, their gardens filled with cabbages and sweet potatoes, the only potatoe they would deign to eat, their fowls, their dogs and their traps for game, their fishing-rods when in the vicinity of millponds or rivers, and above all, their corn meal bread - the best bread that the poor ever had in any part or in any period of the World º They have the benefits of a physiciar's care, and in old age; to all intents and purposes, are the recipients of pensions. Notwithstanding the fact that he is aware of his servile status, in "an American's" opinion the slave is content because he knows that "it has pleased Al- mighty God to separate him and his children from the white people by a difference of color.” For the sake of argument grant that , through consciousness of enslavement and a certain degree of improper treatment, the negro slaves are more or less miserable. Take no account of their possible benefits through relief from care for the future. Even so, "Will the chance of benefit to be obtained by the blacks at any assignable period justify an interference which goes into º º pp - 55 º 3. pp. 54. -" the midst of every family" to root out a system sanctioned by the centuries ºf Such a proceeding can contribute to the happiness of neither slaves nor masters. By common consent the English poor laws produce grave mischiefs to the poor, but "our case is attended by difficulties and dangers incalculably greater unless we are left entirely to ourselves." Every year sees the amelioration of the lot of the slaves. Does not the evidence show that this is far from being the case with poor whites, particularly the artisan class in England? Well, then, the proposal to free the slaves amounts simply to a plan to exchange a condition of increasing good for one which, in appearance at least, is inevitably becoming worse and worse. But "all sympathy, all humanity, is now black or copper colored, " hence a tale of the difficulties, trials and privations of the whites in case they emancipate their slaves must fall on deaf ears among the English. Turn, therefore, good Reviewers, turn and take a "distinct view of the condition to which they [the slaves] Will be reduced when the "glorious' plan of their emancipation shall l have been effected." It is a dismal picture that\'an American" draws of the future of the blacks in a state of freedom. Idleness, want, misery, discontent, crimes, punishments, insurrections and almost total annihilation are sure to follow one another in rapid succession, and soon the few remaining blacks will be happy to be again enslaved. Even under the most favorable conditions that philanthropists could ask for - conditions which should give to the blacks opportunity to live only through labor and industry - there would still be l. pp. 53-55. 4 (. a circumstance which must cause emancipation to fail. This is + he fact that "the blacks when freed are blacks still - they are negroes in spite of freedom." Reformers should long since have given serious consideration to this fact, which, be it noted, is a matter of race, "Philanthropy," however, "disdains to calculate. It rushes forward towards its object, trampling as it goes on the best feelings of the heart, the dearest interests of society, the recorded precepts of religion and the acknowledged principles of law before it has as certained the real value of the object thus impetuously sought, and even whlteher the object thus sought be in truth attainable." In other lands where slavery died out the former slavres were readily assimilated into the body politic. HOW - different is the case of the blacks. They are poor and spirit less because though free they are black. They constitute and must for. over constitute, and know and feel that they constitute an inferior and degraded caste. . . . Philanthropy may declaim, it has declaimed, see is now declaiming and will continue to declaim; but the 5 enti- ment produced by difference of Color will be as eternal and un- change able as the decree of the Almighty by which that difference W 33 ordained." - "I take it for granted, then, the emancipated blacks are for- ever to constitute this inferior and degraded caste." Even the reformers propose to keep the freed blacks from holding lands and offices, from bearing arms, intermarrying with the whites, acting as attormies, jurors and the like. "Such is the sentence which philanthropy itself has pronounced. Now pause for a moment and see the condition to which they are reduced. They are free, it is true. They are under no immediate personal control. º - * 47 Yes, they are free to choose a master. This is the head and front of their freedom. It hath this extent, no more." They will be poor, distinction is beyond their reach and equality is interdicted. "In such a state of things, is it not manifest that they have ex- changed a life of comparative ease for the mere name of freedom, while, by a decree of the Almighty, the gulph which separates them from the whites is as impassible as ever, - that they must become indolent, care less, vicious, sunk in their own esteem? T3- graded by nature and the law, they pine away their lives in hopeles dejection and feel no desire to raise up children to be as wretched as themselves. They languish, decay, and in a few centure's of wretchedness and vice, they disappear. Such are the triumphs of **.* Another reply to the articles in the Edinburgh Review, Robert Talsh's "Appeal from the Judgment of Great Britain," is far better known than the "Letter to the Edinburgh Review. " It was cited in the works of Dew, Thornton, Folland and others of the later controversialists. Walsh devoted about one fifth of hig five hundred twelve pages to the slave trade and slavery in the United states, and of thrig section the greater part was Concerned With a history of the slave trade and it 3 repression. Walsh's general method was to set off the alleged evils of Arjºrican slavery by presenting parallels with the equally bad or worse conditions existing in Britain or her colonies. How Carl the English charge us with neglect of duty because we have failed to liberate our slaves, he urged, when they have taken no steps T-EE-gº- - 2. At least one Englishman rallied to the defence of his country against the oft repeated charge that she was chiefly responsible for the introduction of slavery into America because of the Britiſh participation in the slave trade. James Graham, Esq. published this pamphlet, "Who is to blame? or, Cursory Review of "American Apology for American Accession to Negro slavery.'" London, 1842. Z 3 to liberate the million in the Rritish West Indies who are far worse off? Surely until their own slaves are set free, Britons cannot justifiably deny to Americans "the benefit of the plea of **.* - This writer is even more clear than "an American" on the fact that a question of race is involved in the solution of the prob- lem presented by the existence of negro slavery. He point 3 out that it is impossible to educate the slaves, because education is likely to make them so far capable of acting in concert that they raight , perhaps, gain the upper hand while still wholly un- equal to the responsibilities which go with rulership. This would be a distinct calamity to all concerned. Tr: "alsh tº view the only practicable adjustment of race relations in a land con- taining two free races of unequal capacity is amalgamation, and this, of course, is tet ally unthinkable. The solution is to annihilate the problem by removing one of the races, and with Walsh this means the colonization of the megºoes. "ithout this, if the negroes are freed we shall have either "a two-fold or a riot lºy nation - § perpetual wasting strife or a degeneracy from * European standard of excellence, both as to body and mind." In the condition of the free blackB the effects of gradual 5 emancipation can be seen, says Walsh. with the best of op- portunities for education and religious training, the masº of t; he northern negroes are no better than their free fellows in the south. *"orth of Mason's and Dixon's line, too, they are treated quite as well as are the corresponding classes in England by members of the upper classes, Moreover, while the free blacks are under civil disabilities in the southorn states, their disfranchisement 3. Talsh quotes at length from R. G. Harper's "Letter to the American 42 - - is in no sense unjust if self-preservation and the welfare of the majority are principles which should weigh with political thirºkers and *a*." Walsh adds but little to what "an American" had said concern- ing the £ffect of slavery upon morals, simply witnessing that he has noted no "particular proneness to tyranny or inhumanity. . . no torpid conscience or an imperfect Genge of equity" in the American slaveholder. Indeed, "the planter of our old southern states has always been rather remarkable for his urbanity and facility, as well as for the dignity and liberality of his sentiments." Walsh, , too, point 3 to Greece and Roine as triumphant refutations of the charge that slavery and political freedom are wholly incompatible, while, with Nesbit, he as 33rt 3 that Gouthern slave laws, having been formed for extraordinary occasions, are no satisfactory criterions bv which to determine the actual treatment of the aws. An amelioration in the lot of the slave has been continuous since the American revolution, says Walsh; "the negro has gained nearly as much by our separation from Great Britian as the white." There are three reasons for this. The dread of enforced at &ept- ance of the Royal African Company's fresh import ations was 3 nied by the war; the abolition of entails and the breaking up of large estates which resulted from the War has caused slaves to be held in smaller parcels, thus incr 3aging the mast 3réâ interest in the well-being of each slave; and a new public opinion, the product of the spirit of the revolution, has forced gré or lènity and generosity in the treatment of slaves. Nowadays, "the mast 3r Who should ^STSRIZățion Hoºićty, TI3 If, on the characteristics and conditions of the free blacks. Harper 333ms to have expanded Taylor's strictures in Arator. Walsh, 392–394, , 398, 40l. ... pp. 394–395, 397. 2. pp. 461, 464–465. 7 o deprive his negro of his peculiam, - the produce of his poultry house or little garden, who should force him to work on holidays or at night , who should deny him the common recreations or leave Thim. Without shelter or provisions in his old age, would incur the aversion of the community and raise obstacles to the advancement of his own interests and 3xt ºrnal *.. - As to food and the physical factors which go to make up hu- man happine 33, American slaves may be thankful when they com- pare their lot *** of sauna” ºr one of ºne ºn wasne. of the satisfactory operation of these factors is to be found in the rapidity with which the slavés double their numbers. Allow- ing for immigration and other sources of error in the statistics, Walsh contends that the natural increase produces a doubling of the black population every twenty-eight years. This fact, he says, is admitted by those who oppose slavery because they fear that the blacks will some time overwhelm the Whites through sheer force of number 3, but it is forgotten when they are charging Iºast, ers with cruel, and inhuman treatment of their slaves. Notwithstanding this comparatively rapid increase, there is little danger of the occușence of the calamity which the enancipationists fear, * , white immigration constantly reduces the ratio batween the races. contrary to the accepted belief, the internal slave trade is not a serious evil. Few except recalcitrants among the slaves are disposed of through the traders; the vast majority of the - blacks now going into the new territories in the southwest merely accompany their masters and presumably profit quite as much as the I. pp.TCC-AC3. 2. Walsh cites Southey, Colquhon and others in an appendix. 7/ latter by his increased well-being. There is very little sever- ance of family relations in the trade, and on the whole it is neither Worse riſ, r floré ****, man the English scheme of trans- porting convicts to Botany Bay. 4 But Walsh is no positive goodſman, and he frankly admits the existence of Čertain evils in the prevailing regime. Kid- napping exists though reprobated and severely punished; whipping slaves is, "no doubt, too Common, " but far less frequent than in the British West Indies; religious instruction is not generally provided, though no obstacles are placed in the way of church attendance and membership and the conflitions are improving. No, Americans generally will not deny that "great abuses and evils accompany our negro slavery. The plurality of the leading men of the southern states are so well aware of its pestilent genius that they would be glad to see it abolished, if this were feasible with benefit to the slaves and without inflicting on the country injury of such magnituée as no community has ever voluntarily in- curred. whiled a really practicable plan of abolition remains undiscovered or undetermined, and while the general conduct of Americans is such only as necessarily results from their situation, they are not to be arraigned for this institution. If - as I have no doubt is the case - it produces here much less misery and vice than it produces in the other countries which are cursed with it, it furnishes occasion rather for praise than bia.” The reaction against the application of natural rights philosophy to the question of race relationships which had followed the revolution affected the states north of Mason's and Dixon's line by no means to the smae extent that it did the more southern Y-F-TTg. 3. pp. 412, 416. - 3. Tº . 421. . . states. Interest in the raising of their slave brethren to the status of free men continued to be manifested by numbers of Quakers and New Englanders. With the legal stoppage of the African trade, however, the agitation connected with it which had so long occupied their attention had either to come to an end or be given a new direction. The trouble with Great; Britiºn and the concern of the New Englanders in their sectional grievances post- poned for over a decade the crystallization of a new issue, the Missouri compromise struggle. The agitation which accompanied this conflict apparently brought home for the first time to the aerona- ers of slavery a realization of the lengths to which the more vig- orous of their opponents were willing to go in combatting the insti- tution. Pamphlete and articles in the newspaper press and peridd- icals had been comparatively rape up to this time. No ºf + he friends of the institution entered into a campaign, unorganized, desultory, and comparatively unfruitful, to be sure, but a more serious effort than had previously been attempted to present slavery in a favorable light. Charlest on was a pamphleteering center of considerable mag- nitude throughout the antebellum period, and it was particularly º, C. Zºº. active in the twº entiº. In this decade it produced tº all that was put into print in the defence of slavery. Iri addition to the irritating Missouri compromise struggle, there was a new reason for the activity of South rarolinians, the abortive Denmark Vesey plot of 1832. The plot itself &larmed many people and aroused discussion of the question of the manage- ment of slaves and free negroes, while the denunciation of the Northern press against the strict repressive measures adopted 73 by the South Carolinians furnished the latter with further in- ducements to express their views on the anti-slavery campaign. The most important of these pamphlets are: E. C. Holland, "A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated against the Southern and Western States..." 1833; Rev. Richard Furman, "Exposition of the Views of the Baptists relative to the Coloured Population in the United States, " 1823; an anonymous pamphlet, "Practical ſonsiderations founded on the 63riptures relative to the Slave Population of South Carolina," 1833; Whitemarsh H. Seabrook, "A Concise Statement of the Critical Situation and Future Pros- pects of the Slaveholding States, " 1835; Edward Brown, "Notes on the Origin and Necessity of $lavery, " 1836; and, Robert i. Turnbull, "The Crisis," lsº: In 1839 a pamphlet by Zachariah Kings ièy, a Floridian, entitled "A Treatise on the Patriarchal System of Society. . . Slavery," was published. In general these pamphleteers ground little new grist. "irtually all of them insist Gei on the necessity of African slave r) labor for the cultivation of the unhealthy coast lands. 3 - Several devoted attention to the "Bible Argument." Both Holland and the writer of the "Practical Considerations" laid TT5ther pâmphlets and essays by South Carolinians in this decade dealt with some phases of the slavery question but not Awith the defence. One of these was a pamphlet by "Achates, " "Reflections occasioned by the Late Disturbance 5 in Charleston, " 1822. Tr 1826 a collection of essays was published which included two South Carolina products, a communication to the Boston Recorder and Telegraph signed "A South Carolinian" and a series of letters signed "Hieronymus." The former deprecated north 3rn discussion of a lavery, and the latter, a colonizationist, sought to soften the impression then prevailing in the North as to the treatment of slaves. 2. cf. Tolland, "Refutation, 42, 44; "Practical Considerations? 7; Kimgsley, "Patriarchal System," 5, Brown, "Notes" 33-34; Turnbull, " "risis, " 89, 1°4 ff. The famous Dr. Cooper, though opposed in gen- eral to slave labor, paractically admitted its necessity in Georgia and the Carolinas in his lectures of political economy, He observed: "tºothing will justify slºve labor in point of economy, but the nature 3. Folland, 41-42, "Pract. Consid." 8–25, Furman, 6-16, Brown, 14–15, 7% streas upon the argument from the "curse of Canaan; as expounded , i. Bishop Newton's "Dissertations on the Prrophecies." (London, 1776). Turman, on the other hand, argued with better effect from the direct testimony/contained in the Mogai º laws; and from the indirect, evidence of the New Testament on the topic. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the latter's essay is his handling of the "Golden Rule " argument of his opponents. "The Christian golden rule of doing to otherg as we would they should do to us," he says, “has been urged as ºn tºns ºr ºl tº argumentſ ºne slaves. But surely this rule is never to be urged against that order of things which the Tivine government has established; nor do our desires be come a standard to 118 under this rule unless they have a due regard to justice, propriety and the general good. A father may rary naturally de- sire that his son should be obedient to his orders; i3 he, there- fore, to oboy the orders of his son? " A man might be pleased to bº exonerated from his debts by the generosity of his creditors, or that hig rich neighbour ahould equally diviðfll his property with him, and in certain circumstances might desire these things * O be done; would the mere existence of this desire oblige him to exonerate his debtors and to make such division of his property? ^onsistency and generosity, indeed, might require it of him if he were in circumstances which would justify the act of generosity, but otherwise, either action might be considered as the effect of folly and extravagance. If the holding of slaves is lawful or anoording to the Scrittºbres then this Scriptural rule can be considered as requiring no more of the master in respect of justice (whatever it may do in point of generosity) than what he, if a slave, could consistently wish to be done to himself, while the relationship Tote º Tºrºusd.) of the soil and climate which incapacitates a white man from laboring in the summer time, as on the rich lands L’ 7. l between master and servant should be still continued. " Holland noted the evil produced by the presence of free blacks in the population and approved of their deportation, but he held that the free mulattoes were useful as "barriers" between whites and slaves, for "in cases of insurrection.º.º." most like ly to enlist themselves under the banner of the Whit, e3 * on account of their interests in property and aws." Turn- bull, On the other handſdenied that the more southern states had a free negro evil and bitterly opposed the colonization movement , partly because he thought it was but a first step in the direction of a general emancipation, and partly because the efffort to get the general government's aid for the enterprise boded ill to his state's rights program. Ringsley's point of view on free negroes and colonization Jºsia, different . In his opinion the best safeguard for the continuitance of slavery was to treat the free negroes as they were treated in Brazil. He therefore opposed in Taro Tina and Georgia extending one hundred miles from the seaboard. ..In Soubt, Carolina or Georgia, I doubt if the rich lands could be cultivated without slave labor." ("Lectures on the TEIAments of Political Economy," Columbia, 1826, pp. 95-96. ) 1. Furman, "Exposition," 8. - - 2. Holland, "Refutation, 84. 3. Turnbull's analysis of the proposed federal colonization scheme is illuminating. As a national movement, he declared, it amounted virtually to an attempt to do away with the sixty thousand pauper blacks of New York and Pennsylvania. The rapid increage in the numbers of these black nuisances led the inhabitants of these º two states to seek to be rid of them. But these are the states, 4, … which have encouraged the "fugitive 3 slaves, of the South to / seek an asylum amongst them so that their whole policy seems to be, first, to entice from the Southern planter his slaves, secondly, to emancipate them after they are enticed, by means of their Soc- ietiſfies or their laws, and thirdly, to get rid of them, not at * A « , » own entire expense but at the expense also of the South. . . by causing the Southern States to contribute by taxation their por- tion of the cost. Now really, to us in the South it is a matter of indifference whether the citizens of New York or Philadelphia are tormented or not with this species of population. In truth if we were to express any desire on the subject it would be that they should be more and more tormented with them every day, that they might be induced to aid rather than oppose the .*:::::"..." ###"> Hºlºgº.º.º.º. ######. ###;"#######, * 878tº 3R. O. very "C-C-C-, “ . A / 3 º 74 colonization and urged that free negroes be given an opportunity to put themselves into the scale with the whites rather than 1 with the slaves. With one accord this whole group of writers unite in condemnation or denunciation of the tactics of their opponents, the northern anti-slavery agitators. Holland said, for example: "The people of the North and East are, or they affect to be, totally ignorant of our situation, and yet they insist upon legislating for us upon subjects, with a knowledge of which they appear to be wholly unacquainted... "e are not only dictated to, but we are slandered in their public prints, denounced in their pulpits, and calumniated in pamphlets and orations... They represent the condition of bondage as a perpetual revolution of labor and severity, rendered still more deplorable by an utter destitution of all the comforts of life . Our Negroes, according to these candid and accurate ob- servers, are in every respect illy provided, badly fed and badly clothed, worked beyond their physical capacity while in health, neglected while in sickness, going always to their labor with the most dogged reluctance, confined to it by the severity of the cart-whip, and denied, in fine, all the ordinary enjoyments of existence. Now the very reverse of this is the truth, and it is within the province of those who are continually defaming us to as certain it ; yet, notwithstanding that the most abundant testimony is at hand to satisffy the most curious enquirer upon the subject, and every candid and enlightened observer finds himself at every step furnished with the most ample refutation of these charges, the calumny has nevertheless been industriously propagated and T. WTREETay-WFäEFITFGFAT575EETs 6-9, 12–26, passim. ------ - º -- 77 upheld with a malignity of design and an utter contempt of truth at war with every thing like fair argument or the most ordinary regard for OUR tº ans...} Seabrook's pamphlet was in part devoted to a denunciatory review of a printed anti-slavery sermon which had recent ly been delivered at Princeton by a Rev. Mr. anasia. Brown declared that "the pacific disposition hitherto displayed by the people of the slaveholding states towards the libels which are continually put forth against them from the press, the pulpit, the bar, the forum and the table talk on the general question of slavery and the treatment of their slaves has been a serious injury to their characters, their property and their cause . . . No state of society has been so grossly misrepresented as slavery; +hoge inimical to it have exhibited to the multitude insulated facts at which humanity shudders to represent the general treatment of slaves . . . A collection of the epithets and phrases invented or perverted for the purpose of casting odium on slavery and the owners of slaves would alone form a curiousity in literature and at the same time show the open hostility of those whose lot is cast in 3 pleasant places to those whose lot is cast where slavery exists." Turnbull' s remarks Were one sustained Crescendo of annotation: Jefferson's "whole commerce" clause, it was thought , needed further refutation. Brown and Holland both made use of the reply which was first pronounced by Senator William Smith of South Carolina in a speech on the Missouri bill, January 26, 1820, reported as follows by the Congressional Globe: * With all the vener- ation which he felt for that great man, he did not hesitate to contradict him in the most unequivocal terms. The master has TTETTFWATWRETTEREIER, TIO-II, 14-15. °. Brown, "Notes," 43. 3. Brown, 38, 40, 42–43. 4. Turnbull, "Crisis," 124 et passim. cfc Kingsley, "Patriarchal System," 5, "Achates, W "Reflections, "passi 7 Y no motives for this boisterous hostility? It is at War with his interest, and it is at war with his comfort. The whole commerce between master and slave is patriarchal. The master has every motive to impel him to it. As to the effect on children, it is **** the black children are the constant associates of the white children, they eat together, they play together and their affections are oftentimes so strongly formed in early life as never to be forgotten, so much so that in thousands of instances there in nothing but the shadow of slavery left. These observations of Mr. Jefferson could not have been founded on facts; they were written to gratify a foreigner at his own request when every American was filled with enthusiasm. They were the effusions of the specu.- . lative philosophy of his young and ardent mind, and which his riper years have corrected. He wrote these notes near forty years ago, since which his life has been devoted to that sort of practical philosophy which enlarges the sphere of human happiness and con- tiſºbutes to the promotion of civil liberty; and during the whole time his principal fortune has been in slaves, and he still con- tinues to hold them. It is impossible, when his mind became en- larged by reflection and informed by observation, that he could entertain such sentiments and hold slaves at the same ties.; In refuting the charges of inhuman treatment, Holland followed a plan seldom used by the defenders of slavery. H6 persuaded several of his slaveholding acquaintances, among them Turnbull, to furnish him with signed statements concerning their systems of plantation management. Naturally these statements tended to establish the fact that the slaves had little to complain of in the matter of physical comforts, and that they manifested a great TAFETE-57 Tongress, Iºth. Cong. 1st. Session I, 264-275. Smith covered the usual points of defence in this speech. Hig 77 degree of happiness in their situation. Kingsley gives his personal experiences, and comes to similar conclusions: Rr own introduced into the defence a discussion of the causes which tended to produce the slaveholding form of society. He first developed the proposition: "Slavery has ever bean the step- ladder by which civilized countries have passed from barbarism." Tris fundamental proposition was that all men are naturally sloth- ful, and that so long as they can get their food and raiment with- out effort they will not only continue to be slothful but will remain barbarous. When press of population produces shortage, men will be forced to labor for food. At the point 3 where additional labor is required come the transitions from the hunting and fishing to the pastoral and the agricultural stages. But some save while others waste, Consequently, in time of famine those who have wasted are perforce induced to make such bargains as they may with their provident neighbours. This is the true origin of slavery, not as often charged, "the Cupidity of gain and love of domineering inherent in man." But, "in countries where the valude of labour is excessively great and the me and of subsistenſe abundant and cheap, glavery be comes essential to the very existence of civilization and its forced and premature abolition would be attended with the greatest evils." On the one hand, this means that where labor is dear those who under other circumstances would hire, husbandmen, for example, are forced to till only such amounts of land as will produce the necessities for themselves and families. On the other hand, those who would otherwise se & THETTERETTERTÉtiºn, "Tºp-58. Kingsley, "Patriarchal systew, " 4, 21-??. ('Note l, con. ) treatment of the scriptural argument was finished, - t *z, +heir labor are unable to get the high wages demanded, and in preference to working for low wages set up for themselves. But civilization depends upon stable government, and this in turn depends upon a proper degree of authority and subordination. Hence such a state of equality as that chara terizing the situation described is destructive to subordination and morality both of which are ºne cessary 3 to civilization." The preventive of such a condition is slavery. "By forcibly bringing a quantity of labour into the market," said Brown, it "tends to diminish the value of its wages from what they otherwise would be, and at the same time, by depriving the slave of volition and preventing him from rising to liberty and competency, prevents that perfect and universal equality which is but another phrase for barbaria. A South Carolinian, wrote a letter to De Bow in 1857, commenting on Te How 's republication of Harper's "Memoir on Slavery " and between Calhoun and Harper relating his impressions of a conversation to which he had listened in 1828. "I well remember, " he declared, "in the cousse of their conversation that the future of the question of slavery was fully discussed; both of these great and good men then fully balanced the present condition of affairs and agreed that the great error of the South was in not meeting the discussion of the slavery question on fundamental principles. They both deplored the dis- position of the South to palliate and excuse the institution of slavery, rather than to defend it on the principle of **.* Over and over again this assertion was repeated by the writers of the forties and fifties. Was it true? If this study of the early defence has established a point it is that the argument used was TEFETF-TEFETT-3T. 2. De Bow a Review, XXII, 448. £/ almost wholly apologetic and palliative in character. In fact Turnbull's "Crisis" seems to have been the only a cºlº ex- ception, and it gas written well toward the end of the period. But if the argument in this period was chasacteristically apologetic, it covered a surprisingly wide field, and in many particulars it was quite as complete by 1830 as it ever came to be. "e find in it two main explanations of the origin of slavery, that it grew out of the "curse of Canaan," and that it was the product of economic necessity. It 3 paculiar neces sity in the Southern states was attributed to climatic conditions on the one hand, and on the other that it was the most satisfactory of the possible race adjustments. Its justice W 33 defended on the ground that it was in at rict accord, either with the divine law, the law of nature, or the principle cf. expediency. Several proposals, changing the status of the blacks were discussed, in- cluding emancipation, private and legislative, compensated and uncompensated, gradual and immediate, together with the colonization of the free negroes and the slaves. There was, further, much assertion supported by some concrete demonstration that the slaves were well treated and happy, both positively and in comparison with free laborers elsewhey?. Finally, there was abińndant and varied complaint of outside interference by abolitionists, and censure of the methods by which they gought to attain their ends. & 2 × P A R T I I, ------ CHAPTER Iv. Dew's Essay on Slavery. A fundamental change was wrought in the tone of the defence of slavery by the rise of the Garrisonian agitation and the occurence of Nat Turner's revolt in 1831. The whole slavery issue was opened anew to discussion, and in Virginia especially various proposals for the modification of the existing regime Were made and given currency. The plans ranged all the way from the stric test of repressive measure to unqualified and uncom- pensated emancipation. In South Carolina the recourse of those Who had had something to say on the question had been pamphlet- eering. In Virginia, several pamphlets appeared, and in addition, the various phases of the problem were given a thorough airing in the session of the legislature which occupied the winter months in 1831-32. The debate, though acrimonious at times, was serious and intense. The public manifested so much interest in the struggle that a number of the speeches were promptly issued in pamphlet form. Several communications on the topic appeared in the Richmond papers, and at the close of the session a brief connected study of the argument was published, first in the Enquirer and later as a pamphlet, under the title, "The Letter of Appomatox to the People of virginia." Shortly after an elaborate essay sppeared, which purported to be a critique of TI. This pamphlet is attributed to Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Dew used practically all the material it contains. The several aim tºpics treated are; (a) the injudiciousness of discussing - fº #". for modifying slavery so soon after the Southampton Massacre; b) the proceedings of the house of delegates in the matter of Ø3 the arguments advanced in the debates in the General Assembly and a review of the letter of Appomattox. The young writer, Thomas Roderick Dew, was a member of the faculty of William and Mary College, and at the time comparatively unwoº. It: was his essay, however, which became the standard defence of slavery throughout the remaining antebellum years. As a necessary preliminary to his examination of the larger theme which was interesting the people of Virginia and the South, Dew presented his views on the alleged conflict of slavery with the law of nature. Slavery, he says, has had a continuous existence since the beginning of recorded history. As to its origins he speaks as follows: A very large proportion of the wars which this world has seen have been conducted under the rule that the conqurered shall be exterminated. The rise of slavery following the begin- ning of private property tended to mitigate the old law of war by substituting enslavement for death in case of caputre. Wir- tually all the standard writers on law have held the enslavement Foot-note of previous page continued. the petitions and the Goode-Randolph resolution; (c) review of the arguments employed by the opponents of slavery; (d) proposals for strengthening slaveholders against recurrence of the revolt . 1. Thomas Roderick Dew. b. Virginia, 1802, d. Paris, France, 1847- Traduate, William and Mary College, 1820. Between 1820 and i827 spent two years in study and travel abroad. 1827 to 1847 Professor of "History, Metaphysics, Natural and National Law, Government and Political Economy," William and Mary, 1836 to 1847, President of Wiiiism and Mary.’ 'For details and a "few bibliography consult, D. Ralph Midyette, Jr., "Thomas Roderick Dew," The John H. Branch Historical Papers of Randolph-Macon 9ollege, III, 5-13). Works: "A Treatise in Defence of Free Trade; another in Defence of Slavery; a Tract on Usury; Notes on Ancient and Modern History, designed as a text-book for his class, a series of Papers ; the Southern Literary Messenger on 'The characteristics of Womerſ".)" (So. Lit. Mes. XII, 704). - ** * 2/ of prisoners of war to be just in some circumstances, one only, Blackstone, asserting the ºntº: BlackStone had said the right of enslavement was deducible only from the right to kill and that this right prevailed only in cases of self-defence; accordingly, no just right to enslave could arise out of the law of war, because the fact of enslavement would be proof that the need to kill in self-defence did not exist. Dew met this by basing both the slaughter Of prisoners and their en- slavement, not on self-defence but on the "lex talionis. " Other origins of slavery he found in the "state of prop- erty and feebleness of government" which in certain societies compelled the weak and poor to become slaves, whether for the sake of protection or of sustenance. In the latter case, Dºw contends, answering Blackstone again, the assurance gained of food, clothing and general maintenance would beaunder necessit- ous conditions (an ample quid pro quo: To force the point home, on the one hand he compares the condition of Wirginia's happy slaves with that of China's starving free millions, and on the other asserts that the impossibility of maintáining slavery in England lay in the economic inability of masters there to guarantee their *-names: But in addition to mitigating the horrors of war, he con- tinued, slavery has benefited man in other ways. It has been the tie which has bound the savage to the soil and induced him to zºa, - replace, predatory mode of life with pursuits of peace. It has 1. Dew citad, Grotiſus, Pufendorf, Bynkershoek, Wattel and Locke - 2. pp. 294-334. All" references are to the essay as republished in "Pro-Slavery Argument; Phila. Lippincott, Grambo & Co. 1853. 85 been the most common and most successful method by which unpro- ductive savage man has been tamed and rendered fit for labor. It has tended to alleviate the lot of woman and has raised her to her present position of equality with man. Indeed, it is perhaps not too much to say that slavery has been "the principal means for impelling forward the civilization of manana. As to the African trade, Dew thought that though its advantages had been substantial, they had been outweighed by it s aſsadvantages and that Africa on the Whole had suffered from the traffic. There had been alleviating Ciscumstances, however, and Dew thought that as long as slavery should exist in the United States the interstate slave trade must be continued in order to prevent the evil of forcing slaves to till worn-out lands. And with Walsh and others he at tributed tº chief responsibility for the introduction of slaves and slavery into this country to the patia. But while he grants that all this is essential to a correct view of the whole question, it is not particularly pertinent to the main discussion. The crucial consideration is that in Virginia and the South there are two races of men living intermingled. It is not a theory which must be confronted; slavery is a fact in these states. The main question, then, the issue which demands serious investigation, is "whether there be any meang by which we may get rid of slavery?" Can the races be separated by the de- portation of the blacks? Is the time now ripe for emancipation? 3 Tāll it ever be feasible to free the slaves with out removing the M7 1. pp. 324-342. 3. pp. 287-289, 355. In the Virginia legislative debate the topic has been discussed chiefly in the light of several proposals for emanci- pating the blacks or otherwise changing their status. All who have spoken in this debate seem to have been agreed that deport- àtion is a necessary conconſtant of liberation, and in several speeches the advantages which a colonization of the blacks seemed to portend to Africa and the Africans have been ably presented. But before accepting these schemes as advanced by their friends it may be well to examine them, arefully &nd to Subject them to rigid calculation as to their *:: Tiet it be assumed, first, that none but compensated emancipation is intended. It appears that at an average price of $200 the total cost would amount in round figures to $100, 000,000. Now the total assessed value of the lands and houses of Virginia is only $206,000,000, and the value of personalty aside from slaves is negligible. Yet it is gravely proposed that; property, "which constitutes nearly one-third of the wealth of the whole state, and two-thirds that of lower Virginia", shall be given up and that the remaining two-thirds shall bear the enormous expense of transporting and colonizing the freed blacks • Everybody knows that it is population which gives to houses and lands their value. The effect ºf taking away the present slave population would, then, be equivalent to pulling down "the Atlas that upholds the Whole system." If the scheme should be 2 consummated Virginia must become a howling wildnernesse *- ** Pp. 355-356e 2- PP. 357-358. Aº 87. But many colonizationists have urged more plausibly that the state should deport, not the whole body of negroes but the net annual increase only, amounting to some six thousand. It may be remarked, of course, that such a scheme would scarcely allay the fears of the alarmists who desire to get rid of the blacks in order to prevent the recurrence of negro insurrections. More to the point , how- ever, if this plan were adapted it would call for the annual expend- iture of about *1,400,000 for a period of nºt less than º years to pay the owners of the slaves transportedl And while the actual transportation charges might not exceed 30 per head, the expensºr collecting the negroes in Virginia and the cost of feeding and pro- tecting them in Africa would add sufficient to bring the total expense for each emigrant to *200 at least. Thus Virginia would be forced to raise *2,500,000 in round figures every year, and this expense would be "sufficient to destroy the entire value of the whole property of Virginia." Consider but one item in the practical working out of the scheme, the difficulty and expense of purchasing and collecting the slaves in Virginia. If the whole six thousand were to be purchased in any one place, only the worth less could be obtained, to the manifest detriment of the proposed colony. If, as is most likely, some sections should undersell others, the system would operate unequally and the refore unjustly. If the state wereko be divided into districts, differences in the relative density of slave population would produce corresponding effects on the market, and to prevent transfers from section to section in search of the highest prices, resort must be had to "Oct; roi and ** _2 -e-…” -“” The fact is that Virginia Aexporting six thousand negroes, not to Africa but to the mo:re southern states. In operation this plan would force the state to take the very negroes novv. going south by outbidding the southern competitºrs. The result would i. T}{}. 355-355. - 3. Pſ). 4ll-413. ſº be "to substitute our government, alias ourselves, as purbhasers instead of the planters of the south, Jºhile the slave popula- tion would increase just as rapidly as at present. Thus a pre- sent source of wealth would be transformed into a grievous bur- den. Indeed, if pressed with unthinking zeal the plan would possibly threaten to force the current of the domestic slave trade backward to Virginia, unless the state should follow the unjust scheme of purchasing below the market value or the equally impolitic plan of frightening the owners into forced sales at Avery low prices. It has been urged that the present Southern *** are soon to be closed to Virginia's surplus slaves by laws of the various slaveholdingstates, hence, Virginia must soon be forced to dispose of this surplus in another manner or to keep it at home. Dew replies that legislative enactments in the more southern states cannot prevent the citizens of these states from purchasing slaves from Virginia, in fact, despite present restrictions, Virginia is now exporting more slaves to the southern market than ºver stors: But getting rid of the blacks is only one phase of the colonizationist's) program. They also expect to replace the negroes by whites. Will this object be attained by this plan? "If we are too proud to work in a field with fifty negro men this year, we shall surely be no more disposed to do it next year, beeause one negro, the increase of fifty, has been sent to Liberia," Nor will this scheme result in improvement; in respect to the productiveness of labor, for "free labor by association with slave labor, must inevitably be brought down łº ºz to its level and even below it"; for in general wherever two different grades of labor afe associated the least productive tends to set the standards of productiveness for both grades” * ... * , If the question be examined in another phase, namely, the offeet of, the proposed colonization or the blacks and on the whites, it will be seen that the whole idea is famous. Since Malthus, wrote, says Dew, every student of public affairs has realized the danger of legislative "tampering with the elastic and powerful spring of population." Government is - feeble or impotent when arrayed against it. Under the most favorable conditions population may be expected to double as often as once in twelve years, and, making due allowances for iſigration, the population of the United States has doubled in fifteen years. Now if government in pursuance of a plan of emancipation and deportation should enter the market with, com- petitors for the purpose of purchasing the annual increase, the price would at once be pushed up. In this case, "the pro- lific African might, no doubt, be stimulated to press hard” "upon the fifteen year limit. In fact, even though Virginia should deport as many as twelve thousand negroes each year for a period of from twenty-five to fifty years, at the end of the time, so great is the fecundity of the blacks, she would have reduced her black population by not a single megro. Take the case of Louisiana as an example of what, reproductive powers of the negro race are under favorable conditions. Before the African trade was closed there was practically no natural in- 1. pp. 362-366. % C, crease, and the idea became current that the climate of the state was unfavorable to the rearing of negro children. Since the trade W3.3 stopped, greater care has been taken in rearing the slave - children, and now "nowhere is the African female more prolific than she is in Louisiana."* Dew cites still other historical cases which show that "the spring of population accommodates itself to the demand for human beings and becomes inert, or active in proportion to the value of the laborer and the small or great expense of rearing him."" |. Turning to the effect of the scheme on the whites, Dew takes hot,e of the contgātion that slaveholders Will not object to it because *} * : --- - it, Will give to each slave a value of two hundred dollars or more. He declares that in reality this supposed gain Will be "effect at Quirº | expense, both as to wealth and numbers." To prove this statement, he applies the Malthusian doctrine to the White population. Even ex- cluding the loss through migration, he says, the White population of Virginia tends to become stationary because of the prevailing "high standard of comfort" and "the operation of the federal exact- ions. " Now, under these circumstances the imposition of an addition- al burden of $1,380,000; the tax necessary to buy and deport the annual increase, "would add so much to the taxes of the citizens - would Subtract, so much from the capital of the State , and increase so great- ly the embarrassments of the whole population, that fewer persons would be enabled to support families, and consequently to get married." º The result would be that more whites than ever would quit the state, more Whites than negroes would be forced into exile, and the "vacuum" created by this migration of whites could not be filled by new whites TFTFom a speech by Henry Clay to the American Colonization Society in 1830, *. pp. 366-371. - ...! ſ + ; : 7/ from the natural increase. "The poverty stricken master would re- joice in the prolificness of his female slave, but pray Heaven in its ki'iness to strike with barrenness his own spouse," in the fear that his own children would be unprovided for. And it is not to be expected that Virginia Will be the scene of extensive išigration Sø long as the West holds out its attraction of eheap and fertile lands - lands, not "mortgaged to the payments of millions, per annum," for the emancipation and deportation of a large part of the laboring popula- tion. To see the fallacies and the perils involved, one need only consider the great evils which followed the expulsion of the pro- ductive Moors from Spain, the Huguenots from France, and the Pro- testants from the Netherlands, and to remember that "these measures are as nothing compared with that contemplated by our abolitionists; * It has been urged that the spring of population was not im- paired in Africa by the exportation of one hundred thousand slaves annually, and hence Virginia will not suffer by the loss of six thousand at a time. This is a fallacious comparison. "Africa" has profited by her exportation, her means of subsistence has been aug- mented by each sale, and for that reason there has been no loss of population. In Virginia, if the proposed plan is carried out , no equivalent will be received, and she will lose from two to three thousand of her whites each year, suffering thereby a diminution of both capital and labor. In short, "There is the same difference be- tween this exportation from Arrica and that proposed by the Abolition- ists from Virginia that there is between the agriculturist who sends his produce to a foreign state or country and receives back a full —equivalent, and him who is condemned to send his abré at his own *. pp. 371-375. º %2. expense and to distribute it gratuitously." If European govern- ments were to be "silly enough" to purchase Virginia's slaves for transportation and colonization, "however much others might suffer for their folly, we should escape.” But this is not to be antici- pated.* The opponents of slavery, Dew observes, have not been able wholly to overlook these objections, and they have presented several assertions and arguments by Which they hoped to reconcile virginians to their plans. In the first place, it has been asserted that some slaveholders would be willing to surrender their slaves to government, gratis and that others would sell, at fraction of their value. Vain delusion; history proves that self-interest, and not philanthropy has ever been the motivating force behind the liberation of the slaves and the serfs. But if it were true, and the sacrifice **tea, it. Would amount only to a transfer of the burden of emancipation from the population of the state at large to the shoulders of the slaveholderse "Can it be genuine philanthropy to persuade them alone to step for- Ward and bear the Whole burden?" This is an unworthy evasion of the difficulties. * - - The "Randolph plan" is another such attempt." TFTSE 377-379 *. pp. 279-381. °. This plan proposed: "that the children of all female slaves who may be born in this state on or after the 4th day of July, 1840, shall be- come the property of the commonwealth, the males at the age of twenty- one, and females at the age of eighteen, if detained by the owner’s Within the limits of Virginia until they shall respectively arrive at the ages aforesaid, to be hired out until the net sum arising there- from shall be sufficient to defray the expense of their removal beyond the limits of the United States." Letter of Appomatox, 10.) \\ Že It is equally open to criticism on the ground that, it would put undue burdens upon the slaveholders. In addition, it would in- fringe the right of property and merely postpone the evil day. If it, Were to be put, into operation the values of slave and other property in Virginia would be firtually destroyed before 1840. Some prudent slaveholders would migrate with their slaves before that date ; others would surrender the parent stock and migrate. Further, no plan more likely to produce discontent, and insurrection could be devised, for the negroes born before 1840, unable to see - the justice in their being enslaved for life while their juniors were to be freed at maturity, would be transformed from happy, harmless creatures into "dark, designing and desperate rebels." * Others have proposed that the blacks be so colonized that, further breeding among those left behind will be largely prevented, This is another "vain, juggling, legislative conceit,”) "If our - slaves are ever to be sent away in any systematic manner, humanity demands that they should be carried in families." Dew suggest S however, that if this proposal should ever be acted upon, recourse to the Catonian ergastula to insure the separation of the sexes would be both proper and efficacious.* But, more dangerous than any of the proposals º or argu- ments noted is the enunciation of the doctrine that "property is the creature of civil society, and is subject to action, even to des- truction.” Dew thinks that this will be the basis of any action which may be taken if emancipation is ever seriously attempted, and he urges slaveholders to buckei on their armor to do battle against it. The doctrine is most likely to prove attractive to non-slave- holders. How is it to be met? Dew's refutation is based on the pp. 381-383. *. pp. 383-384. 2 / Lockeian conception of a natural right to property - a natural right, Whidh it is the chief function and duty of the state to pro- tect, . He thinks that, there has been some confusion in the minds of the proponents of this doctrine, and that, they have been think- ing in part of the right of eminent domain. He recognizes the possible force of this admitted right of the state, but asserts that it can only be exercised in case of emergency and then only When accompanied by compensation to these over whom the power is exerted. In the case of slavery no exigency has been shown to exist, 2 and the right to compensation has been denied on the ground that "the Whole State is not competent to afford it, and may there- fore justly abate the nuisance." But, consider what the practical effect of this plan would be. It is equivalent, to a proposal to im- pose upon a patt of the population a burden too heavy to be borne by the Whole. This is certainly a most unjust, and quite unbearable program. - To make this doctrine acceptable, its advocates have tried to convince the public that slaves are valueless, burdensome and a nuisance to owners. Dew's reply is, so to the market: Each of these nuisances brings $200; this "is an evidence of his value to every one acquainted With the elements of political economy . . . . If this or that owner may be pointed out as ruined by this species of property might we not point to merchants, mechanics, lawyers, doc- tors and divines all of whom have been ruined by their several pur suits and must all these employments be abated as nuisances to Satisfy the crude, undigested theories of tampering legislators?" Dew follows this by quoting the sarcasm of "Appomatox: "It is re- markable that this nuisance is more offensive in a direct ratio to 24- its distance from the complaining party, and in an inverse ratio to the quantity of the offending matter in his neighborhood... it would be a matter of curiosity to ascertain (if it could be done) the aggregate number of slaves held by all the orators and all the printers Who are Go Willing to abate the nuisance of slave property hold by other people. I suspect the census would be very short." * But this proposal would use government, in a Way directly Contrary to its fundamental **, and deprive a minority of their property by virtue of the vote of a majority. To the slaveholder this majority Would say: "*ou must give up your property although º you have amassed it, under the guarantee or the laws and constitution of your State and of the United States," while to the holders of other property it, Would say : "You may hold yours because We do not, yet consider it a "nuisance.'" What more need be said: * There are reasons other than those already adduced Which tend to establish the fact, that colonization of the negroes, either in whole or in part is quite impracticable. The general history of colonization is a record of success achieved only at costs al- most prohibitive. Africa, which must be the scene of any colonizing º, activity, is extremely unhealthy, its mortality being estimated by Malthus at double that of most European countries. What is to be expected when the Virginia blacks, used to a far more salubrious climate, are compelled to clear and till these fever-stricken lands? Liberia is represented to be healthy, but even if its climate were as favorable as asserted, the territory is far too small to meet the requirements of a migration as large as that contemplated from Vir- ginia; and when it is filled up, recourse must be had to tracts much -— - : pp. 384-389. . 199 • 389-391, # - less favorable. £he fact is, when colonization is undertaken on a grea's scale the most favorable of climates are fatal to a large number of the colonists. Dey, indeed, conjectured that a mortality of from fifty to seventy-five percent of the annual migration would not be improbable. Worse still, without such a mortality, Virginia could not hope to maintain the colony. - Another serious obstacle to the success of the proposed colonization Dew found in the character of the emigrants. Instead of being so highly civilized and Christianized that they weuld be sure to civilize and to Christianize Africa, as many colonizations maintained, he held on the contrary that the Virginia expatriates "taken from a state of slavery and ignorance, unaccustomed to guide and direct themselves, void of all the attributes of free agents, with dangerous notions of liberty and idleness," would be the poor- est of stuff with which to build a colony. * Moreover, colonizing activities in Africa must be con- ducted in the expectation that there Will be Wars with the native §ribes. There is every reason to believe that negro settlers woulá be far less likely to succeed in their struggles with the natives than were the European colonists in their Indian wars in North America. African Wars, too, mean the extermination or enslavement. of the conquered. If defeated, as seems most likely , the Colonists must expect to be killed or reduced to subjection; if victorious, "they will be certain to enslave, too, ºr to engaged in the slave trade. Thus the whole prospect is "most gloomy and horrific." * r: pp. 404-405. *. 199 • 408-410. is . . º . As evidence to support these forebodings, Sierra Leone has had a career of Some thirty years, and it has definitely - proved itself a failure. Its heavy mortality due to climatic con- ditions and to bad management, its wars, foreign and domestie, the "intemperance, imprudence and desertion of the colonists, - all these go to make up a sorry story. They have made even an, colone izationist admit that the British project has failed, and they are certaintly indicative of the probable fate of Liberia. * When these arguments are applied to the plan of a Federal Colonization of the whole of the natural increase of the slaves in this country, the case is even stronger. There are the same dif- ficulties as to initial expense the same climatic obstacles and the Same difficulties with regard to tampering With the Spring of - JºA. wrá, ée/c----, -ºº ºve-…-a < * * population. But on a federal project for deporting ºut sixty thousand negroes Would need to be sent, out annually. The resulti- ant fatalities among the colonists Would be so heavy that in time the slave "on bended knee might implore a remission of that fatal sentence which would send him to the land of his forefathers." * There Would be, too, the expense of maintaining the colony. "Suppose a member of Congress should propose to sand out an army of sixty thousand troops and maintain them on the Goaštoof Africa; would not every sensible man see at once that the thing would be impracticable. . yet strange to tell, the philanthropists of Virginia are seriously urging her to attempt, that which Would every year impose upon her a burden proportionately greater than this?" * Even now, when Liberia is receiving annually only a few hundred colonists, it is -r—- : º s' Pp. 405-407. • p. 399. *. lºs 40l., -- largely dependent, upon external aid for support. To care for sixty thousand annually, tº sº "would require the disposable wealth of the rest of the world to support." * Furthermore, with such an influx those already there ºrnwat suffer. One of the colonization- ists has recently admitted that "in any single year... the influx of a thousand emigrants might have been fatal to out.” enterprise."” Indéed, the colony might justifiably legislate to prevent, such whole- sale annual dumpings of fresh colonists on her shores on the ground that they were "nuisances, and the laws of God, whatever might be those of men, would justify their abatement."* Basing a calcula- tion on the present power of Liberia to absorb new immigrants, Dew declares that, it would be impossible to send off enough to "check even the geometrical rate of increase," and hence it is utter folly to think of undertaking the colonization of the Whole of the riatural increase of the blacks in the United States. ** One of the best examples of the difficulties inherent in colonization on the grand scale, says Dew, is to be found in Holy Writ. The Israelites were valuable laborers in Egypt, indeed they Were so highly esteemed that it took ten divinely ordained plagues to induce Pharaoh to release them, while Without, the constant inter- position of God, they must never have reached the land of promise. It is recorded that they had to have a miracle to get them safely across the Red Sea; that God had to lead them by a cloud or Smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, 5 and that they had to have manna rained upon them from Heaven to enable them to live in the desert, gountry through which they had to pass. Sensible men are quite sues to : ; ::::: , , $ º - P = 415. **. pp. 4is-417. wait until the movement for the colonization of the blacks caav show such signs of divine guidance and Support, until it can point out its Moses, before they give it their unqualified and hearty support. * After all, what "a stupendous piece of folly," is the whole colonization project. The "idea of carrying religion, intelligence, industry and the arts to Africa...is destined to vanish and prove worse than mere delusion." * The "colonization schemers" may be likened to the man Who ordered his servants to check a rising tide by carrying off the accumulating Waters; and if their plans were to be tried, they Would aoubtless rid the country of slavery about as effectually as the unfortunate bailers of Water in the old tale soliºsted to check the rising tide. * There is still to be considered the matter of emancipation without colonization, which Dew thinks a more practicable proposal in spite of its train of inevitable disaster. Moreover he believes that, Will surely be adopted in preference to colonization if a whole- sale freeing of the slaves is ever attempted. “The present great º question," therefore, "the real and decisive line of conduct, is either abolition without removal, or as steady perseverance in the system now established." What, then, is to be said of this method of getting rid of slavery? “” - The main proposition is stated at once: "The slaves, in both an economical and moral point of view, are entirely unfit for a state of freedom among the whites." Much ado has been made about the ** PP. .412-413- . s" Ps #### 410. - - ...; P: 417: - - -*. 12 - 420-42i. * superiority of free over slave labor from the point, of view of economic efficiency. The real problem to be solved in this case is: what, relation exists between the amount of labor now perform- ed by each Slave and that which may be expected from him after emancipation? Everybody in Virginia and the slave states knows the answer : "Slave labor is vastly more efficient and productive - than the labor of free blacks." North and South, these free blacks are the "very arones and pests of Society. " Ohio after a brief experience with them has expelled them from her borders. They are a continual incubus upon society, and they have displayed their worthlessness in the West Indies.* Moreover, history proves that great danger to the slaves themselves result from emancipation. Recent experiments, one in Barbadoes and the other in Virginia, have demonstrated the futility of attempting to turn African slaves into Small peasant proprietors. * In the former case, when the slavé régime was reëstablished, an immediate improvement was noted, both in the well-being of the slaves and in the product of the plantation. In the Virginia experiment, it was understood from the outset that the master reserved the right, to re-enslave in case the results obtained Were not up to his expectations. But, says Dew, it was to no avail that every stimulus was offered to induce the prospective free men to work hard; "their natural indolence and carelessness triumphed over love of liberty, and demonstrated the fact that free labor made out of slaves is the worst, in the world." Nor is it just to attri- bute the failure ºf the free blacks to prosper to the presence of the whites along with them, as some have done. If there were no ** */Dew cites Brougham's colonial Policy, and the Report of the Committee of the Paris Council, 1788, and others. *. Dew refºº #3 the steeie plantation àxperiment in Barbadoes • # / C / "intrinsic and inherent" cause at work, the spirit of industry which prevails among the whites should create such a spirit among the blacks when they are subjected to its influence. Dew says that there is such an intrinsic cause at work. In is to be found in the fact that in the blacks "the principle of idleness and dis- sipation triumphs over that of accumulation" and desire of a better- ed condition. * St. Domingo furnishes, a fair, concrete example of the "success" of a freed regro polity unembarassed by the pre- sence of competing whites. An agent of the British government, says Dew, who has recently studied conditions in Hayti has report- ed that only by penal enactments quite as rigèrous as the regula- tions of the former slave plantations can the negroes be brought to labor at all. His statistics prove, also, that even with these laws, the production of cane and other cultivated products has greatly decreased, and that spontaneous products alone have main- tained the former volume of output. Sierra Leone and Liberia fur- nish other examples of the economic inefficiency of freed negroes. In the former, the blacks cannot be induced to do more than cultivate their infinitesmai truck patches; in the latter the difficulty of getting the residents to work is clearly established by the appeals of the colonization society leaders in the colony to "send out laboring men of good character."" - It is quite as easy, says Dew, to establish the "moral" unfitness of the African slaves for freedom," as it is to establish the economic incompetence of free negroes. Out of the idiness Which results from emancipation, all manner of crimes may be expect- ed to issue. Experience bears outt this assumption. For proof, -—#urn to the statistics of negro criminality. The ratio of free * s' PP. 423-430. . PQ 430-4353, -$º. Tho are so ready to leap without considering the landing place. 2 Ö-22 negro criminals to the total number of blacks in the population is much larger than the corresponding ratio of the whites, North and South. When a similar comparison is instituted between the free blacks and the slaves, the disproportion in favor of the slaves is far greater, in spite of the fact that the free blacks exert a corrupting influence on the slaves.” One of the worst, results of a premature emancipation of the negro slaves would be a loss of "those sympathies and kind feelings for the blacks" which now characterize the master class. In Poland and Livnnia a premature liberation of the serfs produced a degree of callousness to the sufferings of the freedmen nowhere to be duplicated under the existing regime in the slaveholding states of America. The condition of affairs in Hayti is ample evidence of all the evils of liberating slaves before they are fitted for freedom. It is a sorry picture which "Mr. Franklin, who derives his informa- tion from personal inspection," has presented of the indebtedness of this country, its neglected agriculture and its moribund commerce, Such prosperity as exists is traceable to the "Code Henri" which provides for an iridustrial. administration at least, as intolerable as that of personal slavery. "Slavery to the government and its military officer's is substituted for private slavery ; the blacks - Iſlaster, **tepped into the shoes of the white." Such is "freedom” in Hayti, ,"not a single negro in the commonwealth of Virginia would *cept such freedom," if it, were offered him. * The fact, is , premature and ill-advised emancipation gener- - | - ally beings about almost incalculabe misery. Dew scores the vision- ** PP. 433-435. pp. 435-442. os ** There is a time for all things,' and nothing in this World Ghould be done before it 3 time . An emancipation of our slaves would check at once that progress of improvement, which is now so manifest, among them. The Whites would either gradually withdraw, and leave whole districts or settlements in their possession, in which case they Would sink rapidly in the scale of civilization; or, the blacks by closer intercourse would bring the Whites down to their level..." * But there is a still greater evil connected with the schemes of the liberating reformers. This is the tendency of their efforts to provoke plots, insurrections and crimes. If the plan operates to disestablish slavery, then those still enslaved will be tempted to Win possible freedom through crime; if all are freed at once, "Want, and invidious distinction will prompt to revenge." It is not a pleasant prospect which Virginia faces in either event • Guatemala adopted emancipation and as a result, in the city of Guatemala, for example, "the colored population is drunken and revengeful"; among thé. murders and Stabbings are frequentiºunder fewer res- traints, their vices display themselves more disgustingly." Vir- ginia has had no such experiences; does she care to invite them now by emulating the examples of the liberating states?" As proof of what may be accomplished in the southern states, some have pointed to the success which attended the emancipation of the serfs in western Europe and of the slaves in the northern states of the Union. Dew proceeds to examine these cases. In the northern states the slaves were very few in number, the uncongenial climate was alone almost sufficient to end slavery by preventing any natural ##":; the state of agriculture made the use of slaves unprofit- - *... pp. 444-446. , 24% able, and, to cap the climax, the demand for slaves in the southern markets made it far more profitable to sell than to hold them. In Europe the rise of towns and the development of the middle class furnished a medium capable of absorbing the slaves and serfs, but in the south, the difference in color will always prevent, the dev- elopment of such an absorbents The Anegro "forever wears the in- delible symbol of his former conditions." In the relative fitness of the slaves for freedom is to be found another difference between Gonditions in the liberating European countries and in the south – CX 2. 2.ÉÉea e vºvic 2–2 ,which tended to make emancipation successful in the one case and must cause its failure in the other. There is no comparison between the learned slaves of the Romans, for example, and Virginia's black ignoramuses. * Some writers have attempted to institute a comparison between the cause of the insurrectionary blacks and that of the oppressed of France and Poland. Dew has no patience with these attempts to enlist sympatity for the supposed ills of the black man. Revolution, he aays, is never justifiable if certain to fail, or if, when successful," it produces a state of things Worse than tha\sº previously existing. Negro insurrections can be justified neither by possibility of success, nor by a probability that greater good to the negroes will follow them; hence, comparisons of these efforts with the patriotic attempts of the French and Polish patriots and their followers, are wholly beside the mark. “ Dew quotes with approval a passage from one of Canning's speeches asserting that it is little short of criminal to turn —loose negro slaves, for though they are men in physique, they are e." Pī) - 446-448. e Pp. 448-449, : / O 5-T but children in intellect; and likewise Canning’s further observa- tion that slavery is not an evil of recent growth, and that it re- quires more than thirty years of such discussion as has been had to put the problem into such shape that the institution can be anni- hilated at a blow, Previous ległslators, says Dew, have not dared to touch the , institution in its essentials, and sound policy re- quires that whatever is to be done shall not be by "sudden and violent measures." * The essayist, believed he had proved that compensated aboli- tion with deportation was an impossibility, that emancipation with- out, removal was even more unthinkable, and that uncompensated eman- cipation was not to be considered at all by sensible men. No other methods of race adjustment being proposed, a continuance of slavery seemed the only remaining possibility. Now, §ince numerous object- ions to this institution have been advanced, he remarks, it may bë well to examine it, to discover whether or not it is as bad as it, has been represented to be. - He begins here by examining the assertion that slavery is wrong in the abstract and contrary to Christianity. This proposition gives Dew no difficulty in rig view of a rule he propoumas for deter- mining the righteousness or unrighteousness of a given course of action. "Any question must be determined by its circumstances," he avers. In practical life we are justified in choosing the lesser of two evils: "If; therefore, we cannot get rid of slavery without producing a greater injury to masters and slaves, there is no rule of conscience or revealed law of God, which can condemn us." This _enables him to admit that "slavery is against the spirit of Christ- *... pp. 449-450. * * Zoo ianity", for it is not, with its introduction but with its con- tinuance that Southern slaveholders have to deal. But, granting that slavery is repuagnant to the spirit of Christianity, there is nothing in the Old or the New Testament which shows that slavery When once introduced "ought at all events to be abrogated, or that, the master commits any offence in holding slaves." The proof of this requires a rapid survey of the chief texts on whibh the scrip- tural defence was based." He scores vigorously those whose tender Consciences have causea then to sell their såaves and to migrate to non-slaveholding states. "To the slaveholder has truly been en- trusted the five talents." Such conduct, therefore, is no steward- ship. It is the slaveholder's obligation to care for his trust, and the disposal of their slaves by the ultra pious can be character- ized in no other way than as pernicious submission to principles that are "whining and sickly . . . highly unphilosophical and detrimental to society. * * second objection to slavery is that its moral effects are deleterious and harmful. Dew takes Jefferson's "whole commerce" Clause as a specimen of this type of criticism. He denies the allegations contained in this stricture; there are good masters and their children learn, not tyranny, but an "exalted benevolence, a greater generosity and elevation of soul." These traits particularly characterize the slaveholding portions of the population. "We do not find among them that cold, contracted, calculating selfishness, which withers and repelss every thing around it..." These noble - * characteristics of slaveholders are seen at their best in the "nation- al co #3 - - - 2, —#######. --- J. Co-º-, V11, 2 2/, / J. PL 7-2 : Z. Ø (…//, /d, a leg % P, &; e cited Gen. XXVI. Af ſy % - r / - e. pp. 451–454. | - T.:/- FL, 7, , o, /* !-6, ... --~~3 (? --2, , , , a cº ZZT-222.2/_1 VT, /, oz If Jefferson's statements were true the mildest of slave- holders should be those who have been brought up in freedom and who scºre slaves after naturity, but as the case actually stands these are notoriously the very worst of masters. Of course there are a few cruel masters as there are inhuman fathers, but in general "their example in society tends rather to strengthen than weaken the prin- ciple of benevolence and humanity." Nor is it true as affirmed in Jeffersons's statement that slaves hate their owners. There is no - tie save blood kilnship that, is closer than that of master and slave, Slaves glory in the successes of masters and their families; they are loyal and dutiful from affection; in War they could be trusted to de- fend the families of their masters. *n the Virginia debate "no speaker insinuated even. . . . that the slaves in Virginia were not treated kindly." They are well-fed, merry and so contented that it is a pity to subject them to disturbance by attempts to infuse into their minds "a vain and indefinite desire for liberty - a something" altogether beyond their comprehension and calculated to "dry up the very sources" of their happiness. History has demonstrated that the close relationship existing between lord and serf in feudal times was broken up pari passu with the enactment of legislation regulating the relation. Legislators should take heed, therefore, and avoid making matters worse by injudicious action. Adopting a view almost directly opposite to Jefferson's view, Dew observes "We are almost disposed, judging from the official returns of crimes and convictions, to assert, with...Mr. Giles, ‘that the whole population of Virginia, consisting of three castes - of free white, free colored, and slave colored population - is the soundest and most moral of any other, accord. ing to numbers, in the whole world, as far as is known to me.” “ *... pp. 454-461. ver A further objection often presented against slavery is that, it is unfavorable to a republican spirit. Dew disposes of - * this in short order, partly by the presentation of historical testi- totle, and the greatest men of antiquity, believed slavery ne- cessary to keep alive the spirit of freedom." More to the point, Dew testifies that in the South there is a "perfect spirit of equality" among the Whites, that "color. alone is here the badge of distinction, the true mark of aristocracy, and all who are white are equal in spite of the variety of occupation." * The crux of the question that has agitated Virginia and brought, out. a revival of the debate over slavery is the allegation that it produces insecurity to the Whites through the plotting and insurrection of the blacks. Although Dew believes that he has shown deportation to be impracticable and emancipation without rº- moval likely to "produce all these horrors in still greater degree," he is willing to give this matter a thorough discussion. In the first place the "danger" is the product of the false assumption that all slaves are "actuated by the most deadly enmity to the Whites.” This is far from being the case, for the majority of the Slaves are not ferocious "koromantyne" but are civilized, com- paratively speaking. woreover, read rightly the history of the St. Domingo insurrections proves the practical impossibility of the success of slave plots in the United States, for without the concurrence of a set of factors nevera to be apprehended again it could scarcely have succeeded as it did. It is pretty Well - established that "in modern times, wealth and talent must ever rule º P} - 4ól-462. º / O2 over mere physical force." In fact, the murders and robberies which result, from insurrections in the southern states are con- parable only to the same crimes resulting from other causes in "free societies." Dew believes that London has more capital crimes in a year than the whole southern country; yet, he says, Londoners sleep in perfect, security, and Why should dweller's in the slaveholding States do otherwise, False conclusions have been drawn from the statistics Corles cerning the increase of white and black population in Virginia. It has been asserted, for example, that the negroes will increase so rapidly that they cannot be properly policed. On the contrary, says Dºw, the greater the number, the greater the ease of policing. Concert, in the members of the subordinate party is farº more diffi- cult of achievement as numbers increase. It has been supposed that "the hundredth man in any community is as much as the people can afford to keep in pay for the purposes of a police." But, a police force of 10,000 in a population of one million is far more efficient than a police of lø in a population of a thousand. rt is notorious that revolutions are effected much more readily in countries with a Small rather that "large populations. ºpistº his principle to the situation in the slaveholding states, it appears that people only tor- ment themselves with needless fears when they holds the belief that danger of insurrection will be augmented by a considerable increase in the numbers of the slaves. But is it truet that the blacks may be expected to increase out of all proportion to the whites, awakº/. that plots may be expected to arise out of their sheer force of numbers. Grant, for the moment that the blacks will increase much more // O rapidly than the whites, the only result will be that more whites can be detailed for police duty. But actually these fears are - baseless because dependent on misleading statistics. Since 1810, although the blacks have increased, they have increased at 3. de- creasing rate and in a decreasing ratio when, compared to the whites. Now during the last forty years "Virginia has been pouring forth emigrants more rapidly to the West than any other State in the Union." This emigration has tended to check the increase of the Whites in Virginia because it has taken from the state a large share of her capital and some of the best of her whites. If this condition were to contiinae indefinitely a disproportionate increase of the black population might very properly be feared. hº" However, there are two reasons why this tide will cease, first, the cheap lands of the West, must in time all be taken up, and there- after the whites now drawn from the state will cease to emigrate, Second, a proper system of internal improvement, will stimulate ex- change between west and east in the state and the value of the agri- cultural productions will be correspondingly increased ºfficient to make it more profitable for whites to stay at home than to move We St. In conaection. With this latter point, there is to be found another argument against colonization; money which would be spent for this pernicious scheme can be used to vastly better advantage to all concerned in the furtherance of internal improvements. "Time and internal improvements," few asserts, "will cure all our ills and Speed on the Old Dominion more rapidly in wealth and prosperity." There are many, says Dew, who admit the force of these argu- --- - * / / / ments and who feel that no real danger is to be anticipated from plots and insurrections, but Who urge that the prevailing sense or insecurity among the whites tends to unhappiness and makes some re- medial measures advisable. Neo these, he says, "the population of our slaveholding country enjoys as much or more conscious security than any other people on the face of the globe." He points to their finlocked houses as proof of this claim, and compares the conditions in Virginia with those existing in the Northern states and Europe. What more proof of faith in the fidelity of slaves could be de- sired? " Dew considers one more objection to slavery. It is claimed that slave labor is unproductive, and that the distressed condition of the state and of the remainder of the south is due to this fact. Although this is matter for a separate treatise Dew maintains that it. canAin a few words (be shown, "that the truth of the general pro- position upon which the proposition is based depends on circumstances, and that these circumstances do not apply to our southern country." º over slave labor, and Dew endorses the general soºness of this view, But, "it is very evident when we look to the various countries in which there is free labor alone that a vast difference in its pro- ductiveness is manifested. The English operative we are disposed to consider the most productive laborer in the world, and the Irish laborer in his immediate neighborhood is not more than equal to the southern slave- the spanish and even Italian laborers are interior. Now, how are we to account for this great difference?" He considers *... pp. 462-482. // 2 * º, that \sconomic conduct, is the resultant of a conflict between two primary principles, "the desire to accumulate and better our con- dition," on the one hand, and on the other, "a desire to indulge in idleness and inactivity." Attendant circumstances also modify such conduct to some extent. In tropical countries there is abundant evidence that slave labor is more productive than free labor. "Nothing but the strong arm of authority 9%an overcome the greater potency of the principles of idleness natural to the population of these countries. In St. Domingo both systems have been tried. Under the slave regime the island once produced great quantities of sugar for export; it. now makes scarcely enough to supply the local demand. Again: "The fact that to the North negro slavery has everywhere dis- appeared while to the South it has maintained its ground triumphant- ly against free labor, is of itself conclusive of the superior pro- auctiveness of slave labor in southern latitudes." Economists have often asserted that where population has become dense slavery has had to gº die out, but China is a modern and Egypt, and ancient example of very populous countries in which the equality at least, of slave labor has been established by its retention after the popula- tion became very dense. * - Comparisons are sometimes instituted between the northern and Southern states for the purpose of showing that the latter are losing in the race for wealth and prosperity. When this result is attri- buted to slave labor, says Dew, a most fallacious conclusion is reached. The value of the exports of the southern states (only Orić - third of the total number) is one-half the whole value of American exports. This looks little like unproductiveness. The fact is "e PQ = 433-435, - // c3 'J W. that \southern states have been falling behind their northern sisters, the explanation must be sought not in the situation of southern laborers but in the tariff legislation of the Federal government. - Through the tariff the states below Mason and Dixon's line are made to bear the expense of developing northern manufactures, hence "It is not slave labor; . . . which has produced our depression, but it, is the action of the Federal government, which is ruining slave labor." If we look to that great slaveholding state, Louisana, "with the most insalubrious climate, with one-fourth or her white population spread over the more northern States in the sickly season, and with a higher standard of comfort than perhaps any other State in the Union," We shall see a very prosperous state. What, is the explanation of this anomaly? The Federal government, has protected her great product, sugar. In her case, Surely, the economic ineffectiveness of slave labor has been quite disproved. * Daw contributed virtually no new data to the a\jºument in defence of negro slavery. It was his great function to organize the scattered materials, to give the argument coherence and systematic presentation. Later writers consisteſſ, honored him by making his study their point of departure • But Dew's great influence on the later defence cannot be attributed solely to his admirable organiaation of the argument- Upon the publication of the essay he was promptly charged with ad- vocating the maintenance of slavery for all time • Could this claim have been substantiated? Dew remarked in his conclusion; "If our positions be true, and it does seem to us they may be sus- *... pp. 485-5489. ºr / / z/ tained by reasoning almost as conclusive as the demonstrations of the mathematician, it follows that the time for emancipation has not yet arrived and perhaps it never will." This is not per- petualism. On the contrary it seems clear that Dew regarded slavery as an evil Which it would be desirable to eradicate if a method - could be devised which promised not to carry still greater evils in its trains His assertion was non possumus, not polumus. Many of his contempories and successors were content to take his position-ko put the whole issue on the ground of the relative expediency of slavery or abolition. But not all men are so constituted that they can be satisfied to choose the lesser of two evils as the basis of their policy. Many Southerners, there- fore, forced by Dew's logic to endorse his conclusion that the pro- posed schemes for modification or eradication of the institution were impracticable and wrong, turned to the other horn of the dilemma, and by various processes of reasoning convinced themselves that slavery was right, and a positive good to the blacks, to them- selves, and to mankind as a wholes It is recognized, of course that there were other factors in the change from apologetic to aggressive defence • For one thing, the augmentation in the numbers and the activities of the opponents of slavery played a large part in producing this trans- ition. Nevertheless it is of significance that the generation which furnished the "positive good" men of the fifties, read Dew's essay in youth. And one of these De Bow said in 1859, "The great book upon slavery has yet to be written. In the meanwhile . . . all books upon the subject subserve a valuable purpose as data for the Tº * ~ / / ſº future philosopher and historian who is yet to treat it, as it deserves. None but a Southern author of rare abilities and sain - philosophic temper can do it juſtice. If Prof. Dew were yet living, with the ripened experience he would have acquired and With the light furnished by the incessant, discussion of the past, fifteen years, he might have written the great treatise. As it is, his essay, making proper allowance for the early period of its appearance, is probably the best which has yet been published.”” This is high präise but it apparently voices the sentiment of the - great majority of his informed Southern contemporaries. ------ * I. Tº e Rev. XXVII, 490 e - 3 …” 97.6 P A R T III. Chapter W. - The Ethnological Argument. It must not be assumed that, in the form which it took in the last, three decades of the antebellum periºiod, the slavery controversy was merely a two-sided issue between well-defined, opposing parties. We have already discovered divergences of opinion among the Writers who ºr sºng, sº sº the pre- tical programs to be followed out in a modification of the regime and as to the proper grounds upon which to defend the institution. In the last, generation before the War these differences crystalized. There was, of course, indifference on the question through- out the whole period of the existence of slavery in this country. The testimony of writers of all shades of opinion is almost un- animous on the point. Up to the Revolutionary War, without doubt, , the indifferent formed a large majority of the Whole people. In the next two generations it is quite as clear that there came grad- ually to be an approximate equality between the indifferent tº the one hand and these who had a program on the other. After 1830 the number of those who deprecated discussion constantly decreased until by 1861 there were few not positively interested in behalf of some proposal for the adjustment or the readjustment of the re- lations between the black and the White races • very few of the antebellum writers who considered the slavery issue seem to have appreciated the various trends of opinion which prevailed. The two terms which constantly recur in the writings of the period are "abolition" and "pro-slavery." If a man expressed himself at all, despite all protest, he was promptly assigned his place in one or the other of these two categories. Indeed, when 'A' found 'B' disagreeing with him in any respect, on the general issue or upon 'A's proposals for modi- fications of the existing rešime, he promptly dubbed 'B'" abolition- ist" or "pro-slavery" according to whether or not, his, (A's) views favored Grº opposed the extirpation of slavery. Actually, however, there were all. degrees of opinion. Perhaps the most feasible means of analyzing the complex of opinions is to begin at what may be called the line of indifference and Work thence in each direction to the extremes. Those who Iſº- fused to consider the question at all take their place at this line of indifferences - Bordering this central body on What in general was the anti- slavery side were those who maintained that slavery was not an institution sufficiently good to be perpetual but who in view of the difficulties in the way of remedial measures advocated nothing more than voluntary manumission on the part of the indivial Öğrığı"e A number of these coupled with this mild anti-slavery view the idea that, all the freedmen should be colonized somewhere at the ex- pense of government. Qthers more advanced held that the state should take action which would tend to put slavery at an end. Of this §I'Olip ſlot, a rew wanted to see laws passed which would provide for making slaves free at the attainment of maturity after certain future dates, perhaps with provisions duly made for the colonization of the freed-men. Still others, many of whom likewise advocated colonization, preferred a more prompt emancipation to be accompanied with partial or complete compensation to the dispossessed owners. But, most of those who favored such action as would exert its full -> º,” //8 effect at once belonged to the still more radical großp which is commonly known as the "abolitionists." A very small number º of these immediatists appear to have been Willing to sanction compensation, and still fewer admitted the need of colonization. The great majority of the "abolitionists" wanted an immediate and uncompensated abolition of slavery without any attempt to colonize or otherwise displace the freed black population. A portion of this group representing the extremity of opposition to slavery was -- º known and still is referred to as the "Garrisonian" or "Root, and | - Branch" element. The members of this ultra group differed from other immediatists in that they refused to use any existing apparatus of politics in destroying slavery, and also in the degree of virulence with which they attacked the slaveholders. on the other side of the line of indifference there were ~~~~~~~~~& … *, *, *… in turn three groups, separated one from another but, readily dis- tinguishable. The great majority, but little removed from the in- different, were characterized chiefly by their opposition to anti- slavery propaganda on the ground that its tendency to distrfüb conditions in the South was hampering and would continue to block movements, whether actual or prospective, toward ameliorating º the lot of the slaves. This group was made up in large part of expediency men- that is to Say 2 those who considered that the cir- cumstances made slavery the best rešime temporarily, but who ad- -- mitted that in the long run it must be modified and eventually dissestablished. They were gradualists only, and incidentally often colonizationists. More radical that these were those Who hold that siavery needed practically no modification, and that al- . º - // * º though it might not prove permanent, it gave promise of being for an indefinite time the best possible mechanism for the control . . . . of the blacks. Finally, there was a small group of extremists who asserted that a regime of slavery was the natural order of society and therefore right and good; that no change could improve its essentials, and that its destruction must needs be deleterious. These, "positive good" men, like the "abolitionists" on the anti- slavery side, were divided into moderates and extremists. The latter not only advocated the re-opening of the African slave trade but the re-enslavement of such of the freed blacks as might per- sist in remaining inhabitants of the slave states. If the question "Shall the existing regime continue?" had been put to spokesmen of each of the several groups, the character- istic replies would have been, from the manumissionist, "only until all slaveholders have been induced voluntarily to free their slaves;" from the emancipationists, "Only until a majority is able to liberate the slaves by act of government"; from the "Root and Branch" abolitionist, "No! Not for a single day!” on the other hand, the expediency man would obviously say, "Yes, until by further civil- izing and Christianizing the slaves become ready for freedom;" the Iſlotºe pronounsea conservative would say, "Yes, until it becomes apparent to all reasonable men that a better solution to the pro- blem of racial adjustment has been discovered and made applicable"; While he of the "positive good" extreme would have matched the abolitionist, "No!" with an equally emphatic "Yes! Forever and a day!” - To the question, "shall the negroes be deported or colonized" %22& without the limits of the United States?" large numbers on each side of the line of indifference were ready to say, "Yes, if possible." Only extremists would have replied with an unqualified negative. - "shall the masters be compensated for the losses incurred in liberating the blacks?" To this question some members of the milder anti-slavery groups were ready to answer yes, but the ‘Root and Branch" men would have rejected it with scorn, asserting that if there was to be any compensation it should go to the slaves, not to the masters. In the opposite school, few, if any, were ready to Consider any but compensated emandipation, and not even this would satisfy the extremists of this manner of thinking. But all this has to do with questions of program, and program tended to political action, the consideration of which is not our actual concern. The discussion involved fundamentals. The principles upon which men base their conduct came in for new and searching examination, particularly with reference to slavery, in the form in which it, existed in this country and as an abstract, principle of human organization. Davidson, who wrote shortly after the war, scarcely exaggerated in his classification of the treatises on slavery. "slavery in general," he observed, "and Negro slavery in particular have been discussed from many points of View, - the Scriptural, theological, anatomical, ethnological, ethical, histor- *cal, judicial, pºlitico-economical, sentimental, and necessitarian."* This writer might have gone further and shown that, as far as the defence was concerned, there was a considerable body of litera of the several main phages of, ºe, argument, not r. #.”:º Writers of the ###### 199 • 13:3:13; - * * * º - /_2 / to mention numerous treatises of the general nature of Dew's essay. Dew's study is fairly satisfactory as a representative of the gen- eral treatises throughout the period, 1832 to 1865. The evolution is shown better in the studies devoted to particular aspects of the problem. As it is impossible Within the limits of this study to present, all of the elements in the modified aerones, it is pro- posed to consider With care a representative essay in three of the ºutstanding phases. Davidson's classification is more than detailed, for several of his "points of view" are either identical with, or embrace others in the class. At all events, a fairly exhaustive consideration of the later, writings reveals the fact that, to com- pound several of Davidson's terms, the three most impāºrtant phases were , the anatomical-ethnological, the theological-scriptural, and the politico-economical, or more properly, the Sociological. Jóhn H. Van Evrie seems to be the best available represent- ative of those who justified American slavery through a process of reasoning based upon an anatomical-ethnological comparison of the whites with the blacks. His chef d'oteuvre first appeared in the late fifties and in revised and amplified form went through several editions in the next decade. * At the outset, it is clear that We have to deal with one who took an advanced position. Beginning with a consideration of what he chooses to call the causes of popular delusion on the slavery I have been able to learn little as to Van Evrie's life. He seems to have served in some capacity, possible as a surgeon, in the Mexican war. In 1853 De Bow published one of his articles, noting that he was of Washington, D.c. Several editions of the introductory, chapter to his larger work were published it, the, ſiſ: 25; a He seems to have been one of the editors of the New York "Day ºbook" from about 1856 until after the close of the #: *...*.* ºº: :..." War. Evrºle. H - }.... 2 ” Lāy-ºº: - tiº §3:...º.º.º.º.:*::::::. In Fº: to the "Negroes ana. Z 22, question, he asserts : "American slavarz, though having no exist- ence in fact, is a phrase which, for the last forty years has been oftener heard than American democracy."Attributing the iteration and reiteration of this abstraction by Americans to the European dominance of American thought, he places the historical respon- sibility for the anti-slavery agitation upon France and England, particularly upon the latter. "New communities," he announces, "are distinguished by a certain advance in civilization over the older ones." As applied to England and the United States this means simply that the Élitical principles and institutions of the mother State were inferior to those of' ** offspring, and that the parti- cular point in which the latter excelled was in the political re- cognition of a distinction between races. Now, since "monarchy consists in artificial distinctions of kings, nobles, peasants, etc., or it may be definted as the rule of classes of the same race ... from the inherent necessities of its organization, it is forced to make war on the natural distinction of races." But aside from the inherent enmity between Iſionarchial and Pºpublican institutions more recently tº class in Great Britºn have had a special reason for their desire sº to stir up an interest in the "imaginary wrongs”of American slaves among the working classes. The oppressed operatives must be made to forget. their own actual ille, hence their masters have urged: "'It is true, you laborers of Yorkshire and operatives of Birmingham have a hard life, a life of constant toil and privation; but you are free-born Rnglishmen, ana your own masters, and in all England there is not a (ſº-HSEe rºom previous page) Negro-31avery" he was, the reputed autºv of "subgenatiºn; the theºry of, the normal relation of the races; an answer to 'Miscegenation • * * /2/3 single slave ; while in America, in that so-called land of freedom where there is no king or noble, or law of promogeniture, and Where in theory it is declared that all men are created free and equal, one siºn of the population are slaves, so abject and miser- able that they are sold in the public markets like horses and oxen. What then are your oppressions or your wrongs in comparison with those of American slaves? or what are the evils or the injustice of monarchy when contrasted With those dark and damning crimes of American democracy, that thus in these enlightened times dooms one sixth of the population to open and undisguised slavery?'" This plausible presentation of the case, Van Evrie says, has been too Pºlich for those English friends of the ideals of liberty and republi- Čár. government embodied in the American government, and having "lost their interest, to & great extent in the real Wrongs of the white man they have devoted all their errorts to the relief of the fancied Wrongs of the negroes. Why has this situation arisen? Van Evrie claims that the basis cf. all the French and English sympathy for the negro is the fallacious assumption that negro and White differ only in color, He traces briefly the progress of the "delusion" abroad, beginning with Wilberforce. This man, he says, was a member of the ruling class; he consistently opposed all changes in the thoroughly bad situation existing in England, while as consistently championing the cause of the blacks. His example made the "anti-slavery cause" the cause of religion as well as of liberty and promoted its missionary phase. "If the Father of Lies, Lucifer himself, had plotted a plan or scheme for concealing a great truth and embarrassing * . a great cause, he could have accomplished nothing more effective than the movement, that Wilberforce inaugurated for the proposed benefit of the negro and other subordinate races of mankind, which, masked under the form of religious duty, and appealing to the con- science, the love of proselytism, the enthusiasm, and even the bigotries of, the religious world, has for more than half a century, held in thrall the conscience as well as the reason of Christendom." Of course, missionary errorts are Well méant, but he contends that through the misunderstanding of race differences they are likely to do more harm than good. Nevertheless England has acted upon this fallacious assumps- tion, and already some of the evil effects are apparent. One of the Worst, results has been the ignoring of the hard lot of great numbers of whites. For example, a famine SWept. off three millions of the Irish. All of these might have been spared "if the annual amount Wasted on the negroes in America" had been applied to their relief. Again, the poor of Britiſm are bearing a heavy burden of taxation made necessary by the suppression of the slave trade and by the oom- pensated emancipation of the West Indian negroes. In last analysis the abolition movement is comparable only to the crusades of the Middle Ages. "Millions of lives were saori- ºiced, not to an ideal but to a false assumption," in the earlier *vement. In the modern crusade not so many lives have as yet been lost, but the ground of action is an equally false assumption, "that *egroes are black-white men or men like ourselves." The wonder is * *mericans, men living in daily contact with the negro, seeing *hat he is a negro and steadfastly refusing to mingle their blood /23- with his , should have allowed themslaves ever to be led astray by this European delusion, which is "in fact, the villest and most in- famous fraud on the freedom, dignity, and welfare of the white - millions ever introduced since the wrold began." * - After these elaborate preliminaries, Van Evrie begins his ethnological theme, after the fashion of the natural scientist, by setting fºn his fundamental concepts, his definitions of species, genera, orders, and varities. "Some ignorant and superficial per- Sons With the false notion of continuance and connecting gradations have supposed the negro something midway between men and animals." Van Evrie ridic les this idea; such monstrosities as mid-links do not exist in nature. Far more serious, however, is the error into which many naturalists have fallen in the blind acceptance of the Linnaean classification of man as "an order, a genus and species by himself." Van Evrie declares that this erroneous belief has been Very Widely accepted by American and European anti-slavery men and made the basis of their dogmas. In reality, "The human creation, like all other families or forms of being is composed of a genus which includes some half dozen or more species." Of these "in the existing state of our knowledge" we can differentiate six in a des— 9&nding scale, "the Caucasian, the Mongolian, the Malay or oceanic, the Aboriginal Americans, the Euquimaux, and the Negro or typical African." "The Caucasian can be confounded with no other, for though * Some localities climate and perhaps ºther causes darken the skin, ' ' ' the flowing beard (more constant than color) projecting forehead, *Val features, erect posture and lordly presence stamp him as the *ster man wherever found." At the other end of the seale comes the ºf 7-33 - A b /2 & negro • "Last and least, the lowest in the scale but possibly the first in the order of creation. . . the woolly-haired Negro may have been created in tropical Asia and carried thence to Africa, as iri modern times he has been carried to tropical America." At all events this race is now found chiefly in Africa. Not all dwellers in Africa are pure Negroes, however; there exist numerous decadent ºngrel vºtes and peoples which represent former admixtures with whites and &The races medium in the Scale. Consequently when "Barth “a mongrel tribe or community, with, of and Livingston encounter, course, a certain degree or extent of civilization - the result of Caucasian innervation or perhaps the remains of a former pure White population. they promptly "note it down and spread it before the world as evidence of Negro capadity and an indication of the future progress of the race." Man Evrie protest vigorously against plac- ing reliance on the accounts of travelers who, "bitten by modern philanthropy, a disease more loathsome and fatal to the moral than Small-pox or plague to the physical nature, have been bewildered and perverted and rendered unfit for truthful observation or useful discovery before they set foot on its soil or felt a single flash of its burning sun." such travelers' accounts, of course, tend to , 9onfirm the popular impression that there is but a single human race; and, what is worse, in the attempt to prove the assumption of a single race, scientific men honest enough in intention but With virtually no knowledge of negroes have Written volume after volume *sed upon these tales. Van Evrie conceives, however, that the American mind does *ot need to be convinced of the truth of the theory of diverse - / /27 species, "so obvious if not self-evident." The citizen of the United States "know that the Negro is a Negro and is not a Caucasian, just as clearly, absolutely and unmistakeably as he knows that black is black and not. White, that a man is a man and not a woman." Negro parents have negro offspring and white parents White offspring "with the same regularity, uniformity and perfect certainty that is witnessed in all other forms of existence... The constant witnessing of this - this undeviating and perpetual order of animal life demonstrates the sp3.cific character of the negro beyond doubt or possible mistake." Irishmen, Frenchmen, Germans and other Whites come to America, and their children differ sočely at all from American children. But the children of negroes are "as absolutely and specifically unlike the American as when the race first touched the soil and first breathed the air of the New World." The condition of the negroes at the time of their coming to America is known. We know, too, roºm "the excavations of Champolion and others" that Sour thousand years ago the negroes exhibited the same characteristics of specific difference • "The Naturalist. . . says, 8that which has existed four thousand years without the slightest change or modification, which in all kinds of climate and under every condition of circumstances preserves its integrity, in the regular and normal order to each succeeding generation the exact and complete type of itself, must have been thus at the beginning, and when the existing order was first called into being by the Almighty Greator.” Into the quarrel between those who believe all men des- *ended from a single pair and those who deny this, Van ºvrie * * -- 2% a / - considers it futile to enter. * We cannot know, and it is not essential to our well-being to know the origin of diffferent species of men. "Those who interpret the Book of genesis or Who believe that the Book of Genesis teaches the origin of the human family from a single pair, Will, of course, believe that the Grea- tor’ subsequently changed them into their present form, while those Who do not thus interpret the Bible will believe with equal con- fidence perhaps that they were created thus at the beginning." Why go back of the facts at our command? If we apply our faculties to the observation of the phenomena which confront us We will be able to understand our true relations with the races and "thus to Secure our own happiness as well as their Wellis being, when placed in juxtaposition with them.” - The importance of this dispute in relation to the problem under discussion lies in the fact that intentionally or ignorant- ly many confuse the question of the unity of race in man with main- tenance of Christianity. Van Evrie quotes "A certain reverend and - r: The relation of this controversy to the slavery controversy is brought out, in a review of one of the controversial books in De Bow's Review. "There are those who advocate the present belation of the lower 99.8% among us on the ground that the Mosaic account of the origin of the human family from one pair is not true. The man of science Will see at once that it is only weakening the argument on the sub- ject of domestic slavery to contend for the negro a separate creation. to sustain it you must discard revelation, and that, with the en- lightenment of the present day renders it, obnoxious to all Chrisjtan- ty...our author says: "We trust that those who in the Providence of ºod have been placed in that part of our common country in which he African race is held in servitude will not be induced by the weak Feasoning of a shallow book to put themselves in a false position before the Christian world, and foolishly seize upon a scientific ºror as a mode of asserting rights which have been guaranteed by the federal compact, and which are incidental, to relations, ecog- #4ed and sanctioned by the great apostle to the Gentiles.'" P. B. Rev. xxx, 407-416. 186i.) 2, \ /*/ rather distinguished gentleman’ as having declared "the doctrine of a single human race underlies the whole fabric of religious belief, and if it is rejected Christianity will be lost to mankind!'" This he thinks, is rolls. "It is a virtual declaration that we must believe or pretend to believe, what we know to be a lie, in order w preserve what we believe to be a truth....There are many things- such as the belief in the doctrine of election,original sin, of justification by faith, that admit of beliefhonest, earnest, , un- doubting belief- for they are abstractions and purely matters of faith that can never be brought to the test of physical demonstra- tion, or to the standard of material fact, , but the question of race- the fact of distinct races or rather the existence of species of Caucasians, Mongols, Negroes. , etc., are physical facts, subject to the senses, and it is beyond the control of the will to refuse assent to their actual presence." If the advocates of the "European theory of a single race" believe in their dogma, why do they not act upon it in practice. If the "reverend and distinguished gentleman," believed his own assertions, "it would be his first and most imperative duty as a *istian minister to set an example to others, to labor night, and indeed, to suffer every *W, to elevate this (in that case) outragéd race-/personal incon- *nience, even martyrdom itself, in the performance of a duty so ºbvious and necessary." These men do not enact their apparent be- *śās; ºn scarcely escape the charge of hypocrisy. In reality *re is no need for the great body of Christian sects to assert the original unity of the races, for they admit the doctrine of *acles down to the time of the Apostles, at least. Strange and 14 /3 Ö - unaccountable is the perversity of theologians who depend upon super- natural interposition to convince the world of the truth of their dogmas, but who "reject it in the most important, or, at all events one of the most important instances in which it ever did or ever will occur." The attempt to foist upon the public "this palpable, demonstrable, unmistakable falsehoods" will only injure the cause it is intended to aid. * "The White, or Gauscasian, is the only historie race." To the proof of his thesis Van *wrie gives considerable attention. In- Stead of the customary economic division of history into the hunting, pastoral,éricultural stages, he divided time into three great 'cycles' In the first, save for the history of the Jews, men, even white men, left virtually no records of their deeds and thoughts. In the second, begin ing with the Greeks and ending with the Reformation, the Whites showed themselves to be the civilized race par excellence. In the third period covering the centuries since the Reformation, it is Well known that the whites have been continuously supreme intellectually. It is van Evrie's belief that the whites have not varied in "ental capacity through the ages. This, he declares, is contrary to the expressed views of the historians who have asserted that "the hunter had intellect enough to run down the stag or with *fficient to entrap the game medessary for his support, but had not *fficient capacity to take care of his flocks or sense sufficient * till the earth!" This is nonsense. Mental power remains un- °hanged; it is knowledge "or the uses made of intellectual forces" --- Which are changed, and among the Whites who have always been governed *T-54-82 º 15° /3/ by the "great law of progress," these have grown steadily with each Bucceeding generation. 3. "The inferior races present a very different espect... The Negro, isoãated by himself, seems utterly incapable of transmitting anything whatever to the succeeding generation." It is Wasted breath to speak of negro history. The capacities of the blacks are such that they "cannot go beyond the living or actual generation." With them "millions of generations are the same as a single one."” As Van Evrie asserts that there is no need to argue the "pal- pable and unavoidable fact that Negroes are a separate species," an examination of the specific differences between the races might seem superfluous. He nevertheless takes up a number of them, not for the purpose of demonstrating facts always manifest, to the senses but to determine by means of these physical dissimilarities certain essential differences in the moral make-up of the highest, and the lowest of races. His first topic is color. Anatomists and physiologists, he tells us, have been accuºmised to refer to variations in the color of the "pigmentum nigrum" as the cause of differences in color among the races. To speak of this as a 'cause", however, is an abuse of terms. Going back of this it appears that "cause and causes in *atural phenomena are known only to Omnipotence." Now, "there is in --- all the works of God perfect harmony as well as perfect wisdom; *nd, therefore, such a monstrosity as a "colored man' - or a being like ourselves in all except the color of the negro - is not merely *bsurd but as impossible in fact though not so palpable to a super- *cial intelligence as a white body with a negro head on its shoulders, 3. s' PP - 63-79. . Pp. 79-87. \ tº is ^32, or indeed as a dog with the head of any other animal or form of " Although color is merely one of the differences in the being. facial characteristics of whites and blacks, yet, "without our color, the expression would be very imperfect, and the form wholly incapable of expressing the inner nature and specific character of the race." take the blush of the white woman for an example. "For an instant, the face is scarlet, then, perhaps, paler than ever in its delicate transparency; and these physical changes, beautiful as they may be to the eye, are rendered a thousand times more so by our consciousness that they reffect, moral emotions infinitely Triº beautiful. Can any one suppose such a thing possible to a black face? that these sudden and startling alternations of Color, which refledt, the moral perceptions and elevated nature of the White Woman, are possible to the negress? And if the latter cannot reflect these things in her face - if her features are utterly incapable of expressing emotions so elated and beautiful, is it not certain that she is without, them - that they have no existence in her inner being, are no portion of her moral nature? To suppose otherwise is not only absurd, but impious; it is to suppose that the Almighty Greator would endow a being with moral wants and capacities #hat could have no development - with an inner nature denied any external reflection or manifestation of its wants or of itself. Of course, it is not intended to deny that the regress has not a moral nature; º it is only intended to demonstrate the fact, that she has not the º moral nature of the white woman; and, therefore, those who Would endow her inner nature with these qualities, must necessarily charge the Greator with the gross injustice of withholding from her any | ? 223 * expression of qualities so essential to her own happiness, as well 3.8 to our conception of the dignity and beauty of womanhood. This same illustration is extensively diversified in regard to the other Séx's The White man is flushed with anger, or livid with fear, or pale with grief. He is at one moment so charged with the darker passions as to be almost black, and the next so softened by sorrow or stricken by grief that the face is bloodless and absolutely White. All these outward manifestations of the inner nature - of the moral being with which God has endowed us - are familiar to every one. They form a portion of our daily experiences and constitute an essen- tial part of our social life."” Van Evrie considers color the "standard and exact admeasure- ment of the specific character/6f the races. "The Caucasian is White, the negro is black; the first is the most superior, the latter the most inferior." But, color is only one of the most prominent among "countless millions of facts" which distinguish the two races. Another and readily recognizable mark of diversity is that of figure and physical conformation. Take the matter of posture. "The negro is incapable of an erect, or direct perpendicular posture. The general structure of his limbs, the form of the pelvis, the spine, the way º the head is set on the shoulders...forbide an erect position." On §he other hand, "the form of figure of the Caucasian is perfectly erect with the byes on a plane with the horizon, and the broad fore- head, distinct features and full and flowing beard, stamp him with * Superiority and even majesty denied to all other creatures, and ####y to all other races of men." " • Pp. 83-90. - - *. Pp. §3% van Evrie like all enthusiasts who exploit a single. idea, garried the application of his idea to extremities at times, as in *—arrºr of postures /34/ The variation in hair is still another external indica- tion of specific difference between the two races. Among the whites the hair varies in color and is marked in the fair sex by "luxuriance, silky softness and graceful length,". It is another symbol of inner beauty. But the negress, "with her short stiff, uncombabie fleece of seeming wool," cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered to possess the attributes of beauty and comeliness common to her white sisters. It seems that the hair of the negro is wisely adapted by nature to sº protect his head from the hot, sun and from the injuries attendant, upon his mode of life. Its purpose is ultilitarian only, while in the whites the hair min- isters to the esthetic as well. - The beard, too, performs the same function for the male in the Caucasian race that, her flowing tresses do for the female. It "symbolizes our highest conceptions of manhood - it is the outward evidence of mature development - of complete growth, mental as Well as physical - of strength, wisdom and manly grace." The negro has scarcely any board at all, and Van Evrie considers that it is necessary only to know this fact, "to apply our every day experience as regards this outward symbol of inner manhood," to be able to determine the proper relations which should subsist between the races. Instead, then, or demanding equal rights for the negroes, the 'friends of humanity" should "vary their programme and demand an "equal" beard, or that we shall grant the ngro the full and flowing beard of the Caucasian. n tº they did so, "they would render their performance "ore interesting without giving up any of their 'principles," as the - * ºn 1. º #giº, is exactly the same in either case." ºf * 99 • 98-104. 269 - T-, - f 3. -* The features of the negro furnish still further evidence of his unlikeness to the whites. The negro's "entire external surface, as Well as his interior organism, differs radically from the Cau- casian. His muscles, the form of the limbs, his feet, hands, pelvis, skeleton, all the organs of locomotion, give him an outward attitude that, while radically different from the Gaucasian, approaches an almost absolute uniformity of character in the negro. His logºł- tudinal head, narrow and receding forehead, flat, nose, enormous lips, and protuberant, jaws, in short his flat, shapeless and in- distinct features strikingly approximate to the animal creation, and they are as utterly incapable of reflecting certain emotions as so much flesh and blood of any other portion of his body. The Almighty and All-Wise Creator has made all things perfect, , and adapted the negro features, as well as those of the White man to the inner nature, but if it were true that the negro had certain qualities with which ignorance and delusion would endow him, then it would be evident, that the Almighty Greator had made a fatal blunder in this case, for it is clearly a matter of physical demonstration that the negro features cannot reflect these qualities."* Nor does this exhaust, the category. The vocal organs of the negro differ from those of the White so much that, in spite of his natural imitative capacity it is impossible for him to speak the White man's language as the white speaks it. Music, too, is to the African an impossible art, partly because of his defective vocal *pparatus and partly because he lacks that complexity of brain struc- ture and "delicacy of nerve" which are essential to true musician- ship. * ** P9- 105-108. pp. 109-114. /26 The Almighty with infinite wisdom endowed the negro with mechanisms of sense less complex and therefore much less liable to begomé disabled than those of the white man. This is particularly true of the organs of sight and hearing. But with this high sensory endowment, there goes a "dominating sensualism." Moreoever, in the manifestations of certain senses there is a decided difference in favor ºf the whites. In the Caucasian the sense of touch is lo- cated chiefly in the hands and fingers, and marvelous results are produced. When this machinery is operated in conjunction with a high intelligence. In the negro the sense is more diffused. "The coarse, blunt, webbed fingers of the negress for example, even if we could imagine delicacy of touch and intelleet to direct," are incapable of creating the delicate fabrics and embroideries which are the pride of Caucasian Women. Another result of this diffusion of the sense of touch in the negroe is that he is thereby made peculiarly sensitive to whipping, and, childlike, so magnifies his sufferings under the lash, that "the ignorant, and deluded" believe such punish- ment, accompanied with horrible cruelty. "The local sensibility of the skin makes him feel the slightest punishment in this respect. . Those who can remember being flogged in childhood will also remember the great pain that it gave them, though now in their adult age they would laugh at such a thing. The negro is a child forever, a child in many respects in his physical as well as his mental nature, and while the British soldier, or Russian would receive his three hun- dred lashes without wincing, the big burly negro will yell more furiously than a school-boy when he receives a dozen cuts with an ordinery switch."* *... pp. 115-122. vey But While the negro has been well endowed in sensory mechanism he has had to suffer compensatory deprivation in being given less brain than the white. In its totality, says Van Evrie, the negro brain is from ten to fifteen precent, less than that, of the White. What is still more important in determining the relative intelledual capacity of the two races, in the whites the cerebrum or organ of thought is relatively larger, the cerebellum or sensory orgāti 2 relatively smaller than the similar parts of the brain in the negro. Now, "there is intelligence in proportion to the size of bhe brain compared with the rest of the body, and in the former there is intellectual capacity - latent, or real. - in proportion to the enlänged cerebrum and diminished cerebellum." It follows, then, that brain measurements amply corroberate one’s inference that negroes are intellectually inferior” to Whites. And there are no negro geniuses because the brains of members of this race are practically uniform in size, while among whites the Wide variatio n makes room for the genius. Of course there are no terms which enable us to express the "absolute scientific superiority of the White over the negro, "but a comparison of the intellectual labor of whites as revealed in history with the like activity on the part of the beivks makes apparent the vast difference in favor of the former." "It seems" that "the negro brain is quite incapable of grapsing ideas or What we call abstract truths, as absolutely so as the White child, indeed as necessarily incapable of such a thing as for a person to see without eyes or hear without ears. In contact with and permitted * imitate the white man, the negro learns to read, to write, to /3% make Speeches, to preach, to edit newspapers, etc., but all this is like that of the boy of ten or twelve who debates a la Webster or declaims from Demosthenes." Yet ignorant folk, unaware of the physical facts which make the negro incapable of progress, are de- manding that he be made free, that he be "given the same rights With the same chances for mental cultivation" that now appertain Golely to the Whites to the end that his "brain might, gradually alter and become like that of the white man!"" Van Evrie has yet to consider one point before applying his findings to slavery. This is the phenomenon of "mulattoism or mongrelism," which the natural scientists have generally taken to be proof that whites and negroes are not of different species. They have reasoned from analogy about, as follows: The mule is the pro- duct of coſ^ssing the horse and the ass; it does not reproduce, hence, it is certain that, the horse and the ass are of different species. Now mulattoes do reproduce, therefore, they are not hybrids, and whites and blacks must be of the same species. Van ºvrie criticises this view on two grounds, first, it assumes What is not proved, that the laws governing the reproductive function in men and animals are uniforn, the fact, being that they are "radically diff- erent." Hence, to argue that, whites and negroes are of the same species because the mulatto reproduces While the mule does not "is simply absurd." But, second, "the mulatto, literally speaking or in the ordinary sense does beget offspring, but mulattoism is as Positively sterile as muleism. . . Instead of a single generation as in the animals referred to, sterility in the human creatures is 1 T--------- pp. 123-1zi. a /3% embraced within four generations where a boundary is arrived at, as - absolutely fixed and impassable as the single generation in the case of the former." Van Rwrie says that this law is based upon the results of a investigation by himself and friends covering thousands of cases. Mongrelism and mulattoism are diseases, in the writer's opinion. The relationships which produce the mongrel and the mulatto are not sought by normal individuals in either race and are to the South virtually what prostitution is to the North. It is a decided misnomer to call this process amalgºtion. Van Evrie declares that, this term as applicable only to such normal processes as the inter- marriage and mingling of blood of the Anglo-Saxong and Normans in old England. The abolitionists by advocating the liberation of the blacks and the necessary social and civil privileges which go with this have been preparing the way for mongrelism. Matings are not to be expected between pure whites and pure blacks, but between a pure M} --- White, for example and an octºroon, The children of such a couple Will marry with their like. But when two races of unequal numerical strength go through this process the stronger will survive and the Weaker and the intermediates will perish, hence, the abolitionist, philanthropy will result in the sure extinction of the blacks. * It is no airficult matter to establish the righteousness of -- º "*"slavery and the nº slave trade'" in view of the points established. When left by himself the negro, "from the necessities of his organism. . ** perforce...a savage - an idle non-advancing and non-producing savage." History confirms this assertion. Can it be the design of the Almighty -#9 continue this condition? "All things are obviously designed for us?" * 9}, I. - *-* : zzo all the innumerable hosts of living creatures for specific pur- poses: the natures of many are known to us now, every day is add- ing to our knowledge. . It is therefore, the obvious design of the Creator that the negro should be useful, should labor, should be a producer, and as his organism forbids this if left to himself, it is evidently intended that he should be in juxtaposition with the superior Caucasian." Consequently the "slave trade" is nothing but 3. righteous errort to put, the African at Work in the production of those tropical products which the whites are physically incapable of producing but which were obviously intended to be produced for the benefit of mankind. It requires, therefore, only "a broad and liberal survey of the whole ground - the nature of the negro, his utter uselessness when isolated or separated from the White man - his organic adaptation to tropical production - the wonderful fer- tility of tropical soils - the vast importance of their peculiar products to civilization and human well-being" to "demonstrate beyond doubt the right and justice of the original 'slave trade', or the original importation of African negroes into America." And the only wrongs connected with the original introduction, the importation of a disproportionate number of males, and the transplantation of the negroes into climes unsuited to their "physical and industrial nature," have both been substantially righted now. * What is the proper relation which should subsist when the two races are thus placed in juxtaposition? There are some four million negroes here now, and they and their descendants must continue to live with us. * - - T55. IGS-179. /74 In answering this question Van Evrie again promises the Divine design to make all things useful. The most ignorant, of men know something of these purposes in the animal world, and use the horse and the sheep for their specific purposes, Without thinking of forcing either to perform the functions of the other. There is, too, a fairly Workable knowledge of the proper characteristics of the domestic relations and of the relations which individuals of the same race should bear to one another outside the family circle. But it is another matter when the question, what relation should sub- sist between members of two races when they are in juxtaposition, is considered. On this topic a profound ignorance as to theory manifests itself throughout the World, and in practice only in the South has a satisfactory regime been worked out . In these states the negroes are "in domestic subordination and social édaptation the nature with which God has endowed them. . . This, if not exactly 8. self-evident, is certainly an unavoidable truth - a truth that Tºlº emount of sophistºry, self-deception, authoritative dictum, or per- Verted reasoning can gainsay a moment. . . . . God has made the negro different from and inferior to the White man. They are in juxta- position - the human law corresponds with the higher law of the Al- *ghty; the negro is in a different and subordinate position, and therefore in a normal condition." This is not to assert that there * no room for improvement, in the adjustment now prevailing in the *outh. There may be defects, and the characteristic Caucasian law of progress will demand that such defects be remedied. "But to say * to assert that the condition of the negro at the South was wrong //2. or unjust in its essential character would be altogether absurd, and an abūše or * that none but those wholly ignorant, of the facts involved would ever, or could ever indulge in." "American slavery," then, is but another name for that status in which the negro is in his "normal condition" in a divinely order- ed juxtaposition with the Gaucasian. The African is, of course, in his "natural condition" when an isolated, free savage in his native land, but such a state of being "can not have been designed as the permanent, condition of the race, for that involves the anomaly of waste, a grand blank in the economy of the universe." And all ºxali- "free" blacks in America shows clear- ination of the condition of the ly the evil effect of attempting to put them on a footing of equality With the whites, outside of Africa, incidentally establishing the fact that, "slavery" as it, exists in the South is their normal con- dition. in the southern states, in spite of fairly favorable conditions in the shape of laws regulating them almost as strictly as are the slaves, they tend to dagline and die. In the middle and no ºthern states, where they are ſegally the equals of the Whites, the process is much more rapid, and their mortality is "greatest of all in Massachusetts, where they are citizens, and the ignorant *d misguided, however well meaning, 'friends of freedom" have their 9Wh Way and give full scope to their terrible kindness.” now, "that Which destroys a creature or under which he dies, can never be right * even approach to that, which is right." The obvious remedy, then, *dmitting that the free mulatto offers difficut lies and needs *Pºoial treatment, is a restoration of the "free" negroes to their "normal # # 4. lai. Gondition. l º pp * L79-200. 4. //3 "In conclusion, therefore, it is clear... to every mind that grasps the facts of this great, question, With the inductive facts, or the unavoidable inferences that belong to them, that any Ameri- can citizen, party, sect, or class among us, so blinded, bewildered, and besotted by foreign theories and false mental habits as to labor for negro 'freedom’- to drag down their own race, or to thrust the négro from his normal condition, is alike the enemy of both, a traitor to his blood and at war with the decrees of the eternal."” Van Evrie's book apparently met with a favorable reception on the part of an advanced group in the south. A reviewer in the Southern Literary Messenger spoke of it as "a masterly work," and declared that if it could "be placed in the hands of each of the 240, 000 readers of the Tribune, carefully perused and believed, then might we hope; somewhat for the perpetuity of the Union. But, it's too late for that now. we of the South must set up for ourselves, and take Dr. Van Evrie's book with us into the counting rooms, the workshops, and above all, into the schools- Its proper place is in the hands of every Southern pupil, as a text book."" Fitzhugh in his review%the book for De Bow's Review was even more lavish of praise. "As the phrase ‘laissez-faire' comprehends and defines the whole science of political economy, so the assertion, "The negro is not a black-white man," is but the abbreviated definition of a new and a true philosophy, in morals and in physics. *he author has filled a vacuum, supplied a desideratul, in science and in literature. . We hesitate not to express the opinion that Dr. Van *vrºe's book is *e most original, profound, and valuable book that has issued from : p. 339 - - * $6. iii. Mes. XXXII, 160, 1861. nº ſº 7 º’eſ the press of Europe or America for many years past. We recommend it to all." + - But by no means all of the defenders of slavery were of a mind to accept the anatomical-ethnological type of reasoning. Dab- ney, for example, expressly disavowed adherence to the views of those who defended slavery on "the assumption of a diversity of race,"* and an earlier writer in the Southern Literary Messenger spoke to the same effect. After an argument, for the intellectual superiority of the Whites, this writer, Harvey Lindsley, declared: "I am aware that, the inferiority of the dark to the White races has been abused as an argument in favor of involuntary slavery. It has been contended that, as the difference between them and ourselves is so great, it is obviously the order of nature that they should be Subservient to our wishes, and be made to minister to our wants and Caprices. But a precisely contrary inference would be drawn from this fact, by every well-regulated and benevolent, mind - that, it gives them so much the stronger claim upon our charity and humanity - that if we have more knowledge than they, we should instruct them - if We are more refined and plished, we should civilize them 6 if we are more powerful, we should protect, them - if we alone possess a knowledge cf. the true God, we should deem it, a privilege as well as a sacred duty to extend to them the light of revelation and the blessings of christianity." " ***** * D.B.Rev. xxx. 446-456, 1861. .. P} - 22-23, 28 a 6-2-2 *2C AJež, … e. ^2. º - 2. * So. Lit. M&S. V, 61.6-630. CHAPTER VI. The "Bible Argument." In resolving differences of opinion it seems to be quite as human for man to appeal to authority as it is for him to err. Some philosophers assert that man errs quite 8.8 often as he turns to authority to settle a disputed point + and this method is not generally regarded as in any sense a high form of proof. Nevertheless, a study of some of the great world controversies of which history speaks shows clearly enough that men have had recourse to this form of argument time and again. What was Luther's problem in the Reformation? He had come to doubt the authenticity of certain portions of the Vulgate. He appealed to the authority of earlier Greek copies of the New Test ament and built upon his new interpretation a new theology. There were several phases of the appeal to authority i in the slavery controversy. Both those who attacked and those who defended the institution appealed to the precepts and the examples of the good and the great among the men and nations of antiquity. Ancient slavery, for example, was portrayed in the worst possible light by some in both parties, while by other members of each it was des— cribed in very favorable terms. Said some of those op- posed to slavery : Greek and Roman slavery was the evil thing which history, as we show, has recorded for us; we call upon you to appreciate its horrors and then realize / /ø That American slavery is a thousand times worse. Said others: Greek and Roman slavery were beneficial institu- tions if the time and the place be considered; the slaves enjoyed their peculia: , many were highly educated , etc. By contrast what an awful thing is American slavery. On the ºa hand, some defenders of American slavery pointed out the evils to be found in the older regime and basked in the sun of their own complacency as they roundly declared that nothing in the regime prevailing in the United States even approached the conditions they described. Others de- lighted to paint in vivid colors the condition of well being in which the slaves of pagan Rome and Greece found them- selves and to assert that under Christian American masters negroes were in a vastly better situation, all things being considered. - Among the other phases of the argument based upon appeal to authority none stands out so prominent ly as the appeal to the Bible as the revealed word of the Christian God. on both sides of the issue a very large proportion of the studies dealing with the s\avery question make the Bible their point of departure. To speak in particular of the defences of slºwery, it seems a safe assertion that from sixty to seventy-five percent are in the nature of "Bible Arguments." - Some of these scripturall justifications of the insti- tution are sufficiently naive. The uncritical layman of slaveholding inclination who was able to read found in the , '7 Old Test ament of the King James version what seemed to him 8. distinct Divine command as to slavery and slaveholding. Purporting to emanate from God, himself, the words, "Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are around about you" must have had great weight for the orthodox civilian. In addition, he found passages in which the Divine sanction was apparently given to slavery among the Hebrews. Untrouble by possibili- ties of being charged with a non sequitur, he asserted that all this was as applicable to the Christian slaveholder as tº the Jewish masters in patriarchal days. In the New Testa- mant , he discovered several passages which made it sufficient- ly clear to him that the inspired writers recognized the existence of slavery. This fact, coupled with the fact that in the New Testament there was no express prohibition of slavery, was quite enough to convince such laymen that the "pro-slavery" was the stronger side of the Biblical argum ent. The great majority of the investigations of the rela- tion of thºusi, to slavery were undertaken by men trained in theological speculation and the exegesis of texts. One can go almost so far as to assert that the prominent clergymen in the South who wrote no treatisé on slavery were the exceptions to the rule. A fairly typical repre- ſº sentative of the writings of these clerics a Robert Lewis l Dabney's "A Defence of Virginia," published in 1867. ---- 1. Robert Lewis Tabney, R. Va. 1820. d, Tex., 1808. Graduate University of virginia, 1842. Union Theological Seminary (Va.) 1846. , ſº In addition to its thoroughly representative character, Dab- ney's essay possesses the special advantage for the historian of being essentially a summary of the points made by the critics as well ** advanced by the friends of the * Bible Argument: Moreover, it seems the more trustworthy since it was written in the performance of a labor of 3ove after the occasion for the aggressive advocacy of a program had passed away. "History will some day bring present events before her impartial bar;" wrote Dabney in his preface, "and then her ministers will recall my obscure little book, and will recog- nise in it the words of truth and righteousness, attested by the signaturesø of time and events." The "obscure little book" has been recalled and it is now proposed to examine in some detail its several chapters which are concerned with the scriptural argument. In well-chosen words Dabney sets forth his view of the proper sourse to be taken in the defence of slavery. "It is our purpose to argue this pro- position chiefly on Bible grounds. Our people and our national neighbors are professedly Christians; the vast major- ity of them profess to get th gorality, as all FFSFBWFFIETITIEEEFTTS, 53, 5 proºfsjööröf- Church History in Union Theological Seminary. 1859-1883 Professor of Theology, same institution. 1883–1898 Professor of Moral Philosophy in University of Texas. Served in Confed- erate Army under Jackson. Works ſadh cred Rhetorio, 1866. Sentualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century considered, 1876 A Course of Systematic and Pelemic Theology, 1878. The Christian sabbath, 1881. Practical Philosophy, 1896. Numerous Articles ( (b) Life of Reverend Dr. F. S. Sampson, 1854. A. Defense of Virginia, 1867. Life of general T. J. (stonewall) Jackson. 7% should, frºm the Sacred scriptures... The masses derive their ideas of right and wrong from a "Thus gaith the Lord. • And it is a homage we owe to the Bible, from whose principles we have derived so much of social prosperity and blessing, to āppeal to its verdict on every subject upon which it has spoken. . . The scriptural argument for the righteousness of slavery gives us, moreover, this great advantage : If we urge it successfully, we compel the Abolitionists either to submit, or elge to declare their true infidel character. We thrust; h them fairly to the wall by proving that the Bible is against them; and if they declare themselves against the Bible (as most of them doubtless will) they lose the support of all honest believers in God's word." n Whe word slavery's a term to which various writers have attached divers significations, we are told. For Dabney it involves simply "the obligations of the slave to labour for life, without his own consent, for the master." The master - - º has property only in the involuntary labor:r of the slave. º º It has been insisted by the opponents of slavery that the institution involves the control of the personality, and the soul along with the highest capacities of the slave as well; this, for Dabney, is nothing but an attempt to make the re- lation a self-evident injustice and hande to imake fair dis- cission impossible. He asserts that even the much-maligned TTTEnGWTTDEFence of Virginia. , 25-26. / e º Taº) º ºn tº southern legislation on slavery disproves the ağlegation since in the codes the slave is held morally responsible. The master's power of control extends only to those actions - which are incidental to his ownership of the labor obligation. The person, being, and moral responsibility of the slave are protected against his master, and the slave who alleges \l Il- lawful detention can sue in the courts. Though it is true, as alleged by Senator Sumner and others, that South Carolina laws declare slaves and their children are to be treated in all respects as chattels personal yet other portions of the statutes of the same states unquestionably treat them as responsible men. The explanation is that South Carolina legislators were concerned with the relative nature of chattels real and personal in a legal and not in a moral sense when they made this law. When levelled at the Bible by Dabney, this Abolition criticism yields interesting results. "God says, Gen. XXVI, 14, 'Isaac had possession of flocks, and hords, and servants." Leviticus, xxv, 45, "of the children of strangers that do soºjourn among you, of them shall you buy, , , and they shall be your possession '. Exodus, XXI, 20, 21: * And if a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand: he shall be surely punished. Notwith- standing, if he continue a day or tºo, he shall not, be punished: for he is his money.' Does God's law dehumanize the slave, and reduce him to a mere chattelt” PETEA-55. //7 It is with that slavery which involves the enforcement of the invoiluntary labour obligation and not with the Abolition- ist compound of all the Wickedness which they term slavery that Dabney proposes to anal. It is doubtful whether or not these evils exist along with slavery but, in any case; they are abuses and not of the essence of slavery. southern clergy- men forced by negessity to do a very large part of the defend- ing of the institution have been held up to public Op- probrium 33 apologists for these insulties. Argument against an institution from abuses incident to it can only º be legitimate when these abuses are "legitimate and necessary, and uniform consequences of the institution it self." This cannot be true of the abuses of slavery, because thousands of masters and the vast majority of slaves have been unfamil- i ar with ther: Dabney and the apologists of the school of Dew, be it noted, occupy entirely different ground on the question of the morality of slavery when measured by Christian and biblical standards. Dew was frankly of those who head that expedi- ency justified the continuance of an admitted evil when the … consequences of abolishing it were likely to be worse than the ill effects of continuing it . Dabney repudiates such a position: "the Bible teaches that the redation of master and slave is perfectly lawfyl and right, provided only its I.TIFT58-99. / -5. 2 - duties be fulfilled." It may not be that all men should †ive in the relation; some doubt less are better off when not living in it. He goes so far as to assett that if the Bible did not teach us that slavery may be perfectly righteous and innocent, "we should be obliged to hold with the Abolitionist s. We could never be of the number of those, who attempt to transmute the essential traits of moral right and wrong, at the demand of expediency, and to excuse the continuance of a radical injustice, by the inconvenience of repairing it." we have seen reference in Saffin and subsequent writers to the curse of Noah as a justification of slavery. The Biblical account of this event is as follows: "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard : and he drank of the wine and Was drunken; and he was uncovered - within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without . And Shem and Japhet took a garmant , and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and corrºred the naked- ness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew that his younger son had done unto him; and he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brotheen. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japhet and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." 2 1. pp. 99-100. 2. Gen. IX, 20-37. / 3 T \5 3ust how did this passage aia the defender of slavery? Tt does not seem adequate to reason directly from the terms of the Curge : Canaan shall be a servant of servants to Shem and Japheth, to the cºnnclusion that negroes are justifiably the slaves of the whites in America. Dabney must supply the missing links in this chain of reasoning. His first contention is that the "majority of sound expositors" believe Noah spoke as an inspired prophet in the utterance of this ourse. It seems that "God's approbation attended his ver- dict" for, "the divine Providence has been executing it for many ages since Noah's death." It might seem desirable at this point to prove the descent of the present day Africans from Ham and Canaan. Däbney does not sonsider this essential. Indeed, he asserts that the injudicious resting of the case on such supposed proofs by some of the defendara of slavery has discredited the whole Bible argument. He holds that the prophetically inspired Noah simply ordained and predicted the continuance of the institution of 5 lavery. Moreover, Noah's words constitute "a moral sentence upon conduct, by competent authority; that verdict Barictioned by Goa. Now if the verdict is right Gouls, and the execution blessed by God, it can hardly be that the executioners of it are guilty for putting it in effect.” But this matter of the curse of Canaan is not "of prime force and importance" in this argument. It merely shows a cage in which God through Noah apparently authorized slavery. I - pp - Tö TISA º - / # Of greater import is the second topic, Abraham as a slavehold- er, says Dabney, On this the record is quite full.” From it he draws the not unreasonable conclusion that "Abraham, "the friend of God," and Isaac the most holy and spot less of the Patriarchs were great slaveholders." And these slaves of theirs were real slaves, despite the fatuous assertions of some Abolitionists that they were not slaves, since, if they had been slaves, Abraham Would never have dared to arm them as he did on one recorded occasion. An obvious retort to such reasoning is that in those days there W31°6 rio inter- meddling Yankee Abolitionists to come between masters and slaves, but a real criticism is that thiſ, argument assumes the vary thing to be provea, viz., that slavery is an evil. inia is to base the conduct of slaves in Abraham's day on the modern Abolitionist's definition of slavery. Moreover, "Ebed" and "shippeth", the words exclusively used in these passages in the Hebrew, according to "honest" lexicographers always mean "actual slaves." Dabney denies that it is correct to assert as some have done that the mere example of the good men, Abraham and Isaac, is sufficient to justify imitating their actions. Abolitionists declare that if moderns can justifiably follow Abraham' s example as to slaveholding they may do so as to T D5557 TETSGTGan. TYIV, 14; xv.11, 10-12, 26, 27; XVIII, 17–19 ; Yx, 14; xXIV, 35; and XXVI, 12, 14. /ſ 3'→ concubinage. This Dabney denies, pointing out a difference in the origin of the two institutions and in the cºnduct of Abraham as to each. Furthermore, it appears that Divine favor granted Isaac many slaves, hence, to allege that slave- holding is a girl in stasifºliosts. God in the sin by representing Him as "blessing a favoured saint by hallowing providentially gifts which it is a sin to have." The Divine command to Abraham to Circumcise the slaves born in his house in the same manner as his own children, in Dabney's view, clearly establishes a most important sanction for domestic slavery. "Would a holy God thug baptize an unholy relation- ship?" The favorite plea of those who attempt to apologize for the slaveholding of Abraham, viz., "that he lived in the dawn of religious light," etc. is utterly demolished at this ppint. According to the sacred record it was God, not Abraham, the partially enlightened, who commanded the circum- cision of the slaves. God "is perfectly holy and unchange- able . If he had seem that Blavery is intrinsically wrong, and had intended at some future day to declare it so, would he at this time have sanctioned it by making it the ground of a solemn ordinance of religion?" In the story of Hagar, Dabney finds additional proof of the Divine regognition and approval of patriarchāl slavery. The Egyptian was unquestionably a slave. The Bible inform; g us that when she fled from the wrath of garah an "Angel of the Lord" directed her to return and submit her self to her mistress, at the same time making to her promises which none but God w º +, pp. IOTII). himself could fulfil. In the race of this pivine car- mand to Hagar to return to slavery can it be asserted that the relation is 3inful? abolitionists Contend that this command was given merely to carry out the admonition: "When wrongfully smitten on one cheek. ... turn the other likewise: me parallel is not well drawn, asserts Dabney, for Hagar was well on her way to Egypt. *Under these circumstances it is prepost erous to say that the grace of Christian for- bearance required her to return volunt arity whither ho claſhm of right drew her and subject herself to unjust and un- authorized persecution again." Neither is there force in t; he objection that the Lord sanctioned concubinage in send- ing her back, for the command is to submit herself to the will of her mist Bess. And again, there is no force in the comparison of the course of the Lord in the case of Hagar's second journey into the wilderness with His course in the first, for at this time she had been manumitted and was under l no obligation to return. In the M8saic law Dabney finds still further proof of 5ivine sanction for slavery. Summarizing the orthodox view that the Jews were a people chosen to "keep alive the services and precepts of true morality and true religion." º º º I.T.T. IIST II.4. 247 --- --- º ºn ºf ------- - º * º he argues: "It is totally inconsistent with the holiness of God" to assert that any of the laws he laid down for them, temporary or permanent, legitimatized acts intrinsically evil. "It would be impiety to represent God as capable of commanding what is wrong; and to enjoin 3in in order to make people holy, would be a folly and a contradiction." If, then, we find a thing enjoined or permitted in the Mosaic law, "it does not prove that thing to be morally binding on us, in this century, or necessarily politic and proper for us; but it does prove it to be in its ensential character inno- cent." - Examining the Law we find two varieties of slavery re provided for : Hebrew servitude and the bondage of gentiles? Dabney believes that unquestionably the Hebrew servants were to go free at the "year of Jubilee," but in the mean- time they were subject to involuntary servitude, to t; he right ºf the master to compel the labor of the servant with- out his consent." This "is a sanction of the principle of our institution." The Gentile slaves, on the other hand wore not to be freed at Jubilee, they were heritable property. "Here is involuntary slavery for life, expressly authorized º to God' s own peculiar and holy people, in the strongest and TENTE-Yºr-º-STLev. xxv, 41, 44P 46. yº /* most careful terms." This is no mere toleration of it as alleged by Abolitionists. Who made the Mosaic law but God himself? "Does the Almighty, the unchangeable, the Holy, connive at moral abuses, like a puny human magistrate, and content himself, where he does not denounce a gih, with pruning its growth a little?" He quotes further passages to prove that what the Mosaic law was intended to accom- plish was the prohibition of inhuman abuses in an institu- tion which W&G wholesome, benign and guitable for the govern- merit of the depraved." In the passage from Numbers it appears that God accepted "a religious ºffering of slaves for the service of his sanctuary." Dabney ironically re- marks that this claiming of the "Lora's tythe...seems to the candid man a strange way of expressing bare tolerance. Was it not enough to leave the 1aity of the "holy people." polluted with the sin of slaveholding, without procedding by his own express injunction to introduce the "taint' into the still more sacred caste of the priesthood” to think that the use sanctified the "unholy source of the offspring" is blasphemous. This consecration of slaves to sacred use is "the strongest possible proof that slaves are lawful property. . . The divine permission and sanction of slavery tit, the very people whom God was setting apart to a holy life, the consecration of slaves as property to a sacred purposeº the regulating by law of the duties flowing from the rela- tion, all prove that it was then a lawful and innocent one. - - 1. Numbers, XXXI, 25–30; Josh. IX, 30-27. / ſº If it was innocent once in its intrinsic nature, it is inne- cent now unless it has been subsequently prohibited by God." The Decalogue, though a part of the civil and ceremonial laws of the Hebrews, is peculiar in that it was "given for all men and all dispensations." This fact invests with extraordinary import the implied sanction of slavery con- tained in it. "In the 4th Commandment, Exod. xx, 10, it is made the master's duty to cause the £aave to observe the sabbath day. After the 8th commandment had forbidden in- jury to our fellow-man's property in act, by overt theft, the loth, (v. 17, ) prohibits its injury even in thought by corrupt coveting. And in the enumeration of possessions thus carefully covered from assault, are men-servants ( ebed ) and maid-servants." Now, slaveholders have often been de- - nominated pirates. Suppose we should read in the Decalogue. "that highwaymen and pirates are commanded to enforce Sabbath observance on their injured victims, and that W6 must not covet our neighborf's concubines or the stolen goods in his possession, ... It would be impossible for either intellect of conscience to reconcile it self to the anomaly. " 2 Tabney ends the presentation of the direct testimony | º of the 6ld Testament at this point. The opposition had advanced a number of objections, both by way of presenting TFE-ITI-Tº: y &o - - - / A / conflicting testimony and by the aenial of the conclusions which he draws from his texts, and he proceeds to as Consideration of several of these. The first ** since Hebrew slavery was milder than that of the virginians, no argument drawn from the former can justifiably be applied to the wistering up of the latter. Dabney's reply is: granted Hebrew slavery was the milder, the principle is the same in both, therefore, all that could possibly be Ghown by this objection is that virginia, slaves are wrongly treated, not that they are unjust ly held in bondage. In fact, the slavery of the Gentiles among the Jews showed all the essentials of African slavery in Virginia involuntary servitude for life, the right of buying, selling and bequeathing such slaves, the right to punish for insubordi- nation, etc. l Dabney flat ly denies the truth of the second objection, viz., that the slavery of the gentiles allowed to the gews was limited to the "seven condemned tribes of Canaan," the Hittites, the Amorites, etc. These were all to be killed, asserts Dabney, and it was from other Gentile peoples that slaves were to be purchased. - º But, he has his opponents contend in a third objection, in reasoning after this fashion, you have God commanding that horrible wickedness, the destruction of nations which had not as sailed his chosen people. Is not this Divine command to mur- der on a par with the Divine command to hold slaves? "We willingly TFF-Tº-Tºg: 3. pp. 126-127. / 4 / accept the instances, " says nabney; * God "g Command" in these cases "does prove that killing is not murder. This very instance gives us an unanswerable argument against those who oppose áll capital punishment as wrong. And just so do we employ the other instance, which our assailants say - is parallel - Hebrew slavery - to prove that slaveholding is not necessarily sinful." the cages are really not parallel, he sava, since the statute as to slaveholding was unlimited º while that condemning the seven tribes to destruction was º a specific task imposed upon certain individuals. mhere was no authority in the command to Joshua for the Hebrews of a later day to exterminate pagan tribes. On the other hand: "Till any one gay tº at the authority given by Moses to his fellow-citizens to hold slaves was not just as good to enable subsequent generations of Hebrews to hold slaves. " l In another objection the opposition contend that by implication Moses taught the right of slaves to escape in the passage: "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best : thou shalt not oppress him". "Of course, " fabney remarks, "this passage is quoted triumphant ly as settling the question against the fugitive slave: law. " But Moses Stuart, who is "no friend of slavery, " has refuted this argument to the taste of our expositor. In the -T-Tº-Tºs. Z 4, 2. opinion of the Andover professor, the passage can refer only to the 31 ºre of a Gentile escaped to the Hebrews. "If he had been a Hebrew servant, belonging to a Hebrew. . . restoration or restitution, if we may judge by the tenour of other property laws among the Hebrews, would have surely been enjoined." - The obvious reasons for this refusal to restore the escaped. slave of a Genti le were : the cruelty of the pagan bondage, and the fact; that; to force him back was to remand him to the dark- ness of heathemism." This is all quite to Daoney's way of thinking. *To suppose that Moses could so formally authorize and define slavery among the Hebrews, and then enact that: every slave might gain his liberty by merely stepping over the brook or imaginary line wich separated the little cantons of the tribes from each other, or even by going to the next house of his master's neighbours, and claiming protection, when ever petulance, or caprice, or laziness should move him, the reto; this is absurd.: it is trivial child's play." l Theologians of abolitio ist tendencies have urged that the Old Testament was an imperfect revelation of God's will and that the revelation crºritained in the New Test armerit amended and completed that of the 6ld. In Dabney's opinion this cannot be true as to essentials, for otherwise we would be forced to admit the impossible case of two standards of infallible truth, or, the earlier in point of tire would T-E-Tº-T30. º / (, 3 º - º be proved to have been timinspired. Such interpretations are due to unworthy prejudice against southern slavery. An º example is the case of a minister of the Gospel, who, "after floundering through a volume of confused and impotent sophisms, …, ſº roundly declares that if compelled to admit that the Bible treated slavery as not a sin in itself he would repudiate the Bible rather than his opinion.' * Tabnev notes that one of the strong point 3 of these interpreters in the establishment of their case is the posi- tion of polygamy and divorce in Biblical law. The argument stated briefly is as follows: Divorce for less cause than contugal infidelity and polygamy were allowed to the Jews in C13 Testament law. Both were expressly forbidden in the New. this is held to establish the fact that all practices allowed to the rews in the earlier dispensation are not intrinsically innocent . when applied to the old Test ament defence of slavery the 36 anti-slavery commentators maintain that thi 3 fact, sufficient to upset the claim that it was necessarily innocent because permitted to the Jews. Dabney claims that this argument is untrue as to fact and fallacious as to º application. "Polygamy and capricious divorce were never authorized in the Old Testament law in the sange in which domestic slavery was; and second, the latter was nev ºr pro- hibited in the New Best ament, as polygamy and such divorces 1. pp. 130 - 13?. 2. Matthew XIX, 3 - 9. y & 4/ expressly are . " The legislation on slavery has been presented already, and he avers that polygamy can show no such direct authorization, Moreover, divorce, though legalized in the Mosaic coae, is made to apply solely to wives and even here only to cases of unconsummated marriage. - Dąbriety further declares: even granting that polygamy and divorce were legalized by the law of the Old Test ament and that they were afterward prohibited by Christ, this would still be no argument against alavery, for the latter "Yºet Fio Gúch prohibition from him [Christ , and is therefore lawful still. If not, why did the Divine Reformer strike down the two 'sister "sins f, and leave the third, the giant evil, untouched? There i 3 but one answer: He did not regard it as a sin." l Our expositor chooses to congider as a single objection "various passages from the Hebrew prophets, which denounce the oppression of the poor, and the withholding of the labouring man's Wages. Every phase which sounds at all like their purpose is violent ly seized by the Abolitioni gts" he tells lis, "and pressed incontinently into the service of Condemning slavery, without regard to the sacred writer's intention or meaning. " So many texts are thus wrested from their original meaning that a complete exposé would fill a respectable volume; the re- fore, a few of the stronger among them must answer for the whole? - T-Tº-TAT- T 3. Isaiah LVIII, 6 and XVI, 3 and Jeremiah XY, 13 and XXXIV, 17. - --- --- 24 & One general criticism may be directed against the application of the se text 3 to slavery. This is, that not a few of them were uttered by islaveholding prophets who were doing more than ex- pomnding the Mosaic law which unquestiºnably recognized glºvery. Another criticism is that, before these injunctions against oppression can be made to apply to slavery, it must be proved that slavery was regarded as an oppression by the god who inspired the prophets to speak as they did. "To take tº is for granted is a begging of the whole question in debate." From allusions already noted in Dabney's treatment of the Old Test ºment themes it is clear that for him the cornerstone of the new Testament augment is to be found in the fact that no- Wher a does it expressly prohibit the relationship which is the 633 eriºd of slavery. "of the truth of this assertion it is sufficient proof, that Abolitionists with all their malignant zeal have been unable to find a single instance, and are compelled to assail us only with inferences. mhe express per- mission to hold slaves given by Moses to God's people is no- where repealed by the 'greater than Moşeş' the Divine Prophet of the new dispensation. " This, he contends, could not have been due to lack of knowledge of slavery, for Christ and his disciples and apostles lived in the midst of a harsh slave rešime. "Now", therefore, "we are entitied to claim that this silence * f the lat; ºr and final revelation leaves the lawfulness of glºveholding in full force, as expressly established in the earlier, On that allowance we plant ourselves, and defy our 1. TFE.TITITIA5. Z & 4 accusers to biting the evidence of its repeal. On them lites the burden of proof." In reply to this line of reasoning it had been asserted that the New Testament gives us "a rule of morals, not by special enactments for every case, but by general principles of right, whic". we must apply to special cases as they arise." This ig true only in part, he argues, for there are several detailed sins in the New Testament writings; and he follows this as šežtion by a characteristic bit of searching analysis : "But why does Revelation omit a number of particulars, and state general prin- ciples? For the lack of room, it is said. The other plan would have made the Bible too large. Now we ask, as the case actually stands in the New Testament, would not a good deal of room have been saved as to slavery by simply specifying it as a wrong? It is a queer way to economize space thus to take up a subject, define it at large, limit, modify it, retrench its abuses, lay down in considerable detail a part of its duties and relations, and then provide by some general principle for its utter prohibition! Would nºt the obvious way have been to say in three plain words what was the only fundamental thing, after all, which on this supposition, needed to be taught, 'Slavºry is sinful?" This would have settled the matter, and also have saved space and ambiguity, and made an end of defini- tiºns, limitations, abuses, inferences and all, in the only honest way. But farther, we admit that the Rible has left a multitude of new questions, emerging in novel cases, to be settled by the fair application of general principles (which º are usually illustrated in Scripture by application º / C / to some specific case.) Now must not an honest mind argue that since the human understanding is so fallible in infºren- tial reasonings, especially on social ethics, where the premises are so numerous and vague and prejudices and interests so binding, a social precept where one is found applicable is better than an inference probably doubtful? Till it not follow a 'this saith the Lord," if it has one, rather than its own de- duction which may be a blunder? We 1, then, if God intended us to underst and that he had implicitly condemned slavery in a some general principles given, it was most unlucky that Fe said any thing specific abut it which was not a specific con- demnation. For what he has specifically said about it must lead His mºst honest servºnts to eonclude that he did not intend to leave it to be settled by general inference, that He exempt- ed it from that class of subjects. Had God not alluded to it by name, then we should have been more free to apply general principles to settle its moral character, as we do the modern duel, not mentioned in Scripture, because it is wholly a modern usage. But since God has particularized so much about slave- holding therefore, honesty , humility, piety, require us to study his specific teachings in preference to our supposed inferences, and even in opposition to them." + Some abolitionists, however, had attempted to maintain the thesis that slavery and slaves were not mentioned at all in the New Test ament . A word, "Doulos, " is used to indicate the status of certain men who are spoken of in the Gospels. Boes this mean literally slave, Dabney asks, or simply snn, hired * - —i. pp. 149 - 1% / ( ? servant , or subject or dependent citizen? * profane history, he answers, afters a parenthetic expression of scorn for those who made the opposite contention, proves clearly the existence of slavery in the first years of the Christian era, and 'Doulos' i8 admittedly the word which the secular writers of antiquity used to mean slave in their works on history, law and politics. To assume that when used in the New Testament the word had a different sense is to hold absurdly that there is not in it a single reference to the actual slavery which existed about its writers. Moreover, 'Doulos' is the word which supplants the Febrew ºbea in the creek translation of the old testament which was in use auring the apostolic period, and in it the game word is often used in contrast with son and political subject. 2 Again, the aptness of the mataphors in which ' Doulos' is used figuratively depends upon its literal meaning being that of 3 lave. Here, as occasionally, he cites several authorities on biblical lexicography in corroboration. 3 & If slave, "ºne- than servant, son, or political subject be the correct translation of "Toulos', he continues, there are certain fair deductions which can be drawn from the various passages in which it is used. In one such, recorded in Luke VII, 2-10, we find Christ; praising a slaveholder, the centurion of Capernaum. The conduct of this man so pleased Christ that he declared 1.Tºve TÉhis questiºn a bitter controversy seems to have raged. cf. Fletcher's "Studies on Slavery" 506-585; Brown, "Stric- tures on Abolitionism. ". 528-534. - 3. John VIII, 34, 35; Luke XIX, 13, 14; Galations IV, l. 3. These authorities are: Bloomfield, Hodge, Trench, and Dr. Edward Robinson. *º- º * . . - -- / 47 "with delight; that he had not round so great faith, no, not in Israel, . . . Yet this much-applauded man was a slaveholder: This is not all. The 3 lave was healed and restored to his º - Master's possession and use. If, as abolitionists claim, the relation is a sin per se here was an unsurpassed opportunity to set up "a good strong precedent against slavery." Doubtless the abolitionists would have had Christ say: "Honest centurion, you owe one thing more to your Sick follow-arnature: jº liberty. You have humanely sought the preservation of his being, which I have now granted; but it therefore becomes my duty to tell you, lest silence in such a case should confirm a sinful error, that your possession of him as a slave outrages the laws of his being. I cannot become accomplice to wrong. The life which I have rescued I claim for liberty, for righteousness. I expect it of your faith and gratitude that instead of be- grudging the surrender, you will thank me for enlightening you as to your error." But no; Christ says nothing tike this, but goes his way and leaves the master and all the people blinded by his extraordinary commendation of the slave-owner, and his own act in restoring the slave to him, to blunder on in the beilief that slavery was all right. certain we are, that, had Dr. Channing or Dr. Wayland or the most moderate Abolitionist been the miracle-worker, he would have made a very different use - l of the occasion." When one compares the writings of the apostles with the effusions of some of the modern abolitionists, furthermore, one notes an ipportant difference in the manner in which slavery is treated. The latter generally refuse to distinguish - 1ſº - | $'. - / 7 & *between the relation and its incidental abuses", while the former always makes this necessary distinction. "Our accusers," sy as Dabney, "now claim a license, from the well-known 1&gical rule that it is not fair to argue from the abuses of a thing to the thing itself. Hence they insist that in estimating slavery we must take it in the concrete, as it is in these southern states, with all that bad men or bad legislation may at any time have attached to it. - And if any feature attaching to an aggravated case of oppression should be proved wrong, then the very relation of master and slave must be held wrong in itself. The bald and ingolent gophistºry of this claim has been already alluded to, By this way it could be proved that marriage, civil government and church government, as well as the parent al relation, are intrinsically immoral; for all have been and are abused, not only by the illegal license of individual bad men, but by bad legislation. Just as reasonably might a monk say to all Mohammedians, that marriage is a sin, for the charact ºr of the institution must be tried in the concrete, With all the accessaries which usually attend it in Mohammedian lands, and most certainly with such ag are established by law; and among these is polygamy which is sinful; wherefore the marriage relation is wrong. And this prepost erous logick has been urged although it has been proved that in the vast majority of cases in these stateſhasters did preserve the relation to their slaves without connecting with it a single one of the incidents , whether allowed by law or not, which are indefensible in a moral view. To say that the relation was 3inful in all these º virtuous citizens, because some of the occasional incidents were / 7 / sinful, is just as outrageous as to tell the Christian mother that her authority over her child is a wicked tyranny, because some drunken wretch near by has been guilty of child-murder. " mhe apostles on the contrary while denouncing the very manifest , abuses of the contemporary slavery never considered them suf- ficient "to condemn the whole institution." There can be little doubt that their standard was the Mosaic law, and that this was used because it was so far in advance of the laws of pagan lands in the protection of life, limb and chastity in 3 laves. º - - There is evidence satisfactory to Dabney that slavery was not regarded by the apostles a8 633&ntially evil and that no 3Cill 38 ſº- ishness prevented the admission of slaveholders to church member- ship.” The importance of these points is derived from the fact that the apostles guarded with jealous care the purity of the church. "It will appear to be increable that they should receive slaveholders thus, if the relation were unrighteous... Christ separated his church out of the World, to secure sanctiº ty and holy living. To suppose that he, or his apostles, could avowedly admit and tolerate the membership of men who persisted in criminal conduct betrays the very purpose of the church and impugns the purity of the Saviour himself." The abolitionists, as represented in Albert Barnes, he observes, attempt to evade 1. pp. 155-152. - 2. As to the first point he cites I Cor. YII, 13; Colos. III, ll; I Cor. VII, 20, 21. On the second Acts X, 5-17, Cornelius by act of God made a church member while still a slaveholder; Ebſpesians VI, 2; and the Epistle to Philemon. / 72, the cogency of this reasoning by contending that although slave- holder 3 might, be converted as Wºº other sinners they were there- after to cease this particualr siń. But in Dabney's opinion this contention is voided by the admission of the aboli- tionists that slaveholders were in good standing in the churches for years after they wers organized. Moreover, one such 31ave- holding church rºbºr, Philemon, was promoted to the ministry while still a slaveholder. "when did philemon first acquire his slave Ortesimus? Before the former first joined the church? Then Paul permitted him to remain all these years a member and promoted him to the ministry with the 'sin of slavery' unforsaken! was it after he joined the church? Then a thing occurred which, on Mr. Barnes' theory is impossible ; because buying a slave, being criminal, must have terminated his church membership." If slaveholding be wrong and it was the duty of Christians gpon entering the apostolic church "to repent of, forsake and repair this wrong," then the apostles should have so taught. The fact that instead of so doing they enjoined upon the Christian masters ºv- zł, J - proper treatment of, slaves *** that the relation was no sin in itself. l This topic of the recognition and regulation of the relative duties of masters and slaves deserves in Dabney's opinion; 3pecial attention? The drift; off the precepts oontained in the texts sººn that slaves who were church memberg were - º to be taught to obey masters from the Christian motives, "a sense i. pp. 158-167. 3. He cites Ephesians VIm 5–9; Colos. III 22 to IV? l, inclusive: Tim. VI, 1-2; Titus II, 9-12; Peter II, 18, 19. - /73– Of duty, love for Christ, and his doctrine, the credit of which was implicated in their christian conduct here, and the expectation of a rich reward from Jesus Christ hereafter;" while on their part masters who were church members were to treat their slaves with all humaneness and consideration. From the fact that these precepts were addressed to church members it &s properly to be inferred that the continuance of the rela- tion of master and slave was contemplated, for otherwise there would have been no masters and no glºveş. "If slaveholding is a moral wrong, the chief guilt, of course, attaches to the mas- ter, because on his side is the power. When the apost leg pass, then, from the duties of servants to those of masters, it is unavoidable that they must declare the imperative duty of emancipation. But they say not one word about it : they seek to continue the relation rightfully." This is not to implicate the apostles "in a connivance at the excesses and barbarities" which accompanied ancient slavery, as has been charged. They denounced and prohibited the wrongs while leaving the relation as such unt ouched. The conjugal and parental adjustments were subject to grave abuses in apostolic days, but "shall anyone say that because these abuses W3T3 current, */the apost leg should have denounced these relationships as well? Did they wink at wifebeating because they did not denounce the institution of which it was an incident? *Why then should these absurd inferences be attached to their treatment of - domestic slavery?" But the favorite abolitionist evasion /7% of this reasoning if found in the assertion that the apostles taught Christian slaves patience and meekness in obeying mas- ters in the same way that Christians in general are taught to love their enemies. This, Dabney protests, is a tº shame- less sophism. It is to represent "the pure and benign genius of Christianity" as saying to the oppressed slaves under he Y- jurisdiction, "be patient"; while to the oppressors who are equally under her jurisdiction, she says, not, 'cease oppres- sion,' but, ‘oppress: equitably." "The honest mind méét 3 such a statement not only with the "Incredulus 5um, ' but with the - Incredulus odi, of the Lºt in gatirist." The Whole conten- tion is disproved by the fact that 3 laves and masters were admitted to t the same communion table, that not patience only º but duty, obedience and fidelity are enjoined on 3 18763 "as upon Christians paying reciprocal obligations," and finally, that Paul sent back Onesimus to Philemon. ** seeming analogy between the apostolic command to christians to obey the exist- ing government and render to it "allegiance Ana hearty obedience" and the similar command to slaves to obey their masters has been advanced. Now, no one will contend that Nero was a righteous ruler, say the abolitionists, Far from being dismayed by this contention, Dabney claims that it is in his favor, * for it proves the proposition exactly parallel to ours, that civil government is a lawful institution, notwithstanding it is abused. If abolitionists ate not willing to argue that the relation is a sin per se, notwithstanding the obedience required to Nero, they cannot argue from their proposed analogy between Nero's * e y 7, cruelties and slaveholding." Equally conclusive is the fact that Nero, the cruel ruler, and his patient Christian victims were not admitted to the communion table at the same time, they being admonished to treat him with for bearance while he was not given the correlative command to give over his mistrattment 6f ther. " That "the ºpistle to Philémon is peculiarly instructive as to the moral character of slavery," is prove: by the aboli- tionista "wrigglings and contortions of logic"in their attempted 6vasions of it; 3 vian purport. The incident has already been used to prove that a slaveholder recºived from Paul the highest ^hri 3+, i an commendation, and that his gºé slaveholder was held by Paul to be a brother ſibrist or in ºwn. There 3.5 more in it than this. In the first place, if, as is represented, the relation of the master to slaves is an unrighteous one and hence the master's 'right' no right at all, it follows that the sole basis of the slave's duty of submission is that of Christian forbearance. Suppose a man held to Tālīšć)}ſ. should escape from his captors ; would anyone insist that he should go back and submit himself to them again until the ransom was paid on the ground of "hristian forbearance? If the Abolitionist assumption be Correct , this was One simus' cage exactly. Yet unquestionably it was a sense of moral obligation on the part of both Paul and the fugitive that sent the latter back to his master, for Paul admits desiring to retain him, and Oneginus returns though Paul Could exert no physical force to cause him to do so. *This instance proves beyond a cavil that the relation of master and -FF-Tº-Tºs.- T- 7 & | gerrant was moral; it lies above the level of all those quibbles which we have been compelled to rebut." Again, Paul's words in this letter clearly show "a moral propriety or ownership in Onegimus' labour. He refused from Philemon the involuntary "benefit' of onesimus' services; he proposed himself to pay what ever Philemon may have lost through the previous His conduct of the slave and thus clearly recognized the right to the latter's & ervices . "But if Crésimus' abour was Philemon's property, of which he could not be right fully deprived with out his own consent and for the logº of which he was entitled to an equivalent, glaveholding cannot be in itself unlawful. We have here a recognition of the very essence of the relation." One abolitionist "wriggle" takes the form of a dºubt that "Paul really sent back Onesimus to his mºst ºr at all." It is esserted that there is no evidence that Paul either corpoiled or urged the slave to return. "But," says pawney, "the stubborn fact is, that Cnesimus went . . . Paul had no *** force by which to drive ºnegirus all the way from Rpme te coiosae: but, there is such a thing as moral power, and the fact that the conscience of the sent freely seconds the righteous authority of the gender surely does not prove this authority to be naught. How perverse must he be who can see in the words, 'whom I (Paul) have sent, nothing but that One simus sent himself: " Rút furthermore, these abolitionist commentators assert on the - one hand that it is not proved that Oneşinitig was actually a 31&ve at 411, while on the other they profess to find that he was manumitted by Paul. *Thus contradictory is error : Just now he was not a slave at all: now he is a slave manumitted; and that / 77 by one who had no power to do it." Neither contention is gound. "Toulºg." Wag the terrº applied to Cºesinus in one verse. Păul "beseeches" where if he had felt the authority to manumit he would have commanded. Why did Paul send him back et all, if he could emancipate him? Moreover, he disclaimed the right in the assertion, "But, without thy wind I would do nothing"; and bº offering to pay for the delinquencies of Criesiiºus he fully recognized the latter's continued servitude. * Dabney professes to find an express denunciation of modern 2 After Paul had given in- abolitionism in the New Test ament, . junctions to Timothy to teach that masters should provide sér- vants with proper moral instruction and that servant a should be cloadient to masters, he said: ** If any ran teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord - Tagus Christ, and to the doctrine which is agºording to Godli- ness' (the opposite teaching of abolitionſ ar. contradicts &hrist's own words) "he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of cor- rupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is goalinese: from such withdraw thyself. * * This text he expounds fully, arguing point by point the appli- cability of thºse denunciations to the northern abolitionists and Republicans, and to them only.” T-FF-Tº---TEE- 3. I Tim. WI, 3-5. 3. pp. 185 - 192. - - * º ------ - -- --- --- --- º º / 73 There remained for Dabney to consider the two most in- portant among the New Testament pleas of the opponents of slavery. The first of these was that slavery is incompatible with the Golden Rule. No slaveholder would enjoy being enslaved, hence, none of them should hold other's enslaved; and this was more than gufficiant to offset the seeming authorization and regulation of slavery in certain other New Testament texta, in the opinion of the objectors to 3i avery. "Abolitionists usually advance this with disdainful confidence as though he who does not admit it g justice were pro- foundly stupid, " Nevertheless, Dabney remarks, "it is exceedingly easy to show that it is a bald instance of petitio principii... Its whole plausibility rests on the a priori assumption of prejudice that slaveholding cannot but be wicked and on a determination not to see it otherwise." The fact is that this Golden Rule is not a law which essentially modifies the Mosaic law, as has been. asserted; on the contrary, it "is but a practical appli- cation of the Mosaic precept "to love our neighbours as ourselves.'" Therefore, "thrist's giving the law of love cannot be inconsistent with his authorizing slaveholding, because Moses gave the same law or love and yet indisputably authorized slaveholding." The abolitionist reasoning in this matter proceeds on the assumption that "any caprice or vain deaire we might entertain to- wards out relior-man, if we were in his place and he in ours, must be the rule of our conduct towards him, whether the deaire *ala se in itself right or not. This absurdity has ** 11- lustrated by a thousand instan”. Çn this rule a parent who were he a child again would be wayward and self-indulgent, commits a 2.1aar air in restraining or punishing the **** of his \ child, for this is doing the opposite of what he would wish were he again the child... In a word, whatever ill-regulated desire we are conscious of having, or of being likely to have. in reversed circumstances, that desire we are bound to make the rule of our action in granting the parallel caprice of any other man, pe he bore, beggar, highwayman, or what not, on this understanding the Golden Rule would become anything but golden : it would be a rule of iniquity; for instead of making impartial equity our regulating principle; it would make the accidents of man's cºiminal caprice the law of his acts." But there is a still better refutation to this abolitionist plea. Let us "carry the war into Africa"; we can prove from this rule, "by a process precisely as logical as theirs that enancipation is a 5 in. Surely the principle of the Golden Rule binds the slave just as much as the master. If the desire which one would feel (mutatis mutandis) must govern each man's conduct, then the slave may be very sure that, were he the mášt; ºr, he would naturally desire to retain the services of the slaves who were his law- ful property. Therefore, according to this abolition rule, he is morally bound to decline his own liberty; i.e. , to act towards his master as he , were he the master, would desire his slave to act.” All this, of course, is to make the law of love absurd. Dabney's own view of the propºr application of this rule to the question is that it should regulate the treatment accorded slavery to slaves by masters. "So far as ability and a just regard for other duties enables us," we should do for the **aves that Whi ch we could noonscientiously" desire done to ourselves if y & O we were slaves. *Whether that treatment should include emanci- pation depends on another Question, whether the desire which we if slaves should very naturally feel to be emancipated is a righteous desire or not; or, in other Words, whether the obli- gation to service is rightful. Hence, before the Golden Rule can be cited as enjoining emancipation, it must first be settled whether the master's title is unrighteous. The Apostle Paul gives precisely the true application of this rule when he says: "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal.' And this means not emancipation from Servi- tude, but good treatment as servants; which is proven by the fact that the precept contemplates the resſition of masters and servants as still subsisting." - - º - ** The final abolitionist plea was one of avoidance. It was º - º - º in substance as follows: Though quite aware of slavery and its attendant evils, Christ and the apostles forbore to condemn the - - º institution because they feared the possible effects of such º denunciation on the fortunes of the infant church. " Dabney clearly feels that he cannot be too Boathing in denouncing the *…*, *…*&^: promulgation of Buch aſſ, assumption. It is "cowardly prudence which it imputes to the men who, every one, died martyrs for their moral courage and unvarying fidelity to truth. " For these commentators, it seems, "Christianity is merely a human liable to total extinction unless it is system pf moral reform; º T-r g-Tss--- - - 2. Fº a passage from Wayāand's "Moral Science" which clearly put the case on this ground. - --- --- --- - º - º -- º º a little sly in keeping back its uppopular points until an adroit occasion offers, (such, for instance, as the power and support of a resist less Yankee majority in some confederation of slaveholders, ) to make the unpopular doctrine go down, or at least, to choke off those who dare to make wry fades : * Christ; and his apost les, though conscious that "sin persevered in must damn the soul," are represented by this assumption **~ been tº "totally silent ag to one great and universal crime. . . * the sum of all the villainies.” What is worse, if one accept s this representation, they were not only silent about a great sin, but by limiting and defining the rights of masters, retrench- - ing abuses, admitting to church membership those who had not repented of theri sin, etc., they gave to the World the false impression that the relation was a lawful one. Absurd as is this interpretation from one point of view, it fe 31.8mderotis 2.92.É.- c. 26, 2–6. ea ºf from another. "AChrist himself expressly "repudiate a this very theory of action...How degrading to the almighty king of Zion is this inputation of politic cowardice: And how different from the real picture where we see him boldly exposing the hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers and assailing their most cherished acceptions, though he knew that the price of his truthfulness would be his blood : " It is equally slanderous when applied to Paul and the other apostles, for these unflinchingly de- hounced the legalized imperial idolatry of Rome, the universal libertiºnism, and the charished ceremonial rites of the Jews. still further, "this hypothesis represents the Saviour who claimed omniscience as adopting a policy which was as futile 88 dishonest . " Left by Christ to deduce from general principles / ſº, of equity the sinfulness of slavery, the church utterly failed to do so, and it remained for 18th century political agitators in atheist France to discover and to promulgate the new doctrine. workia Christ fores ée this?" If he did he was either not divine or he "deliberately chose a plan which consigned seventeen centuries of Christians to a sin, and as many of slaves to a - wrong, which he all along abhorred. Credat Judaeus Apella!" Then such "ethics of expediency" are taught to the youth of a nation, it is no matter of wonder that they bear fruitiºn in the beliefs and actions of an abolitionist-Republican North. l Dabney's own opinion of the force of the Bible argument” is worth giving. He found the Old Test ament argument, "short, plain, convincing." He admitted that it had limitations, since it could have no weight with those who disbelieved in a the inspiration of the Old Testament, but he declared that "to every mind which reverences the inspiration of the Old Test a- ment it is conclusive.... Although everything enjoined on the Hebrews is not necessarily enjoined on us, (because it may have been of temporary obligation, ) yet every such thing must be innocent in its nature, because a holy God would not sanction sin to his holy people, in the very act of separating them to But slaveholding was expressly sanctioned as a holiness. permanent institution; the duties of masters and slaves are defined; the right 3 of masters protected, not only in the civic but in the eternal moral law of God; and He himself became a ITISST:05. / ? § slave-owner, by claiming an oblation of slaves for his sanctuary and priests. Hence, while we do not say that modern Christian nations are bound to hold slaves , we do assert that no people sin by merely holding slaves, unless the place can be shown where God has uttered a subsequent prohibition” I It might be objected that by proving slavery no sin in it self Dabney and his school practically proved that it should continue in Christian states as the best régime for laborers. Dabney anticipates this objection and replies indireetly by "trusting" that in time there will be no more slavery of any 3 ort . "slavery may not be the beau ideal of the social organization... There is a true evil in the necessity for it, but ... this evil is not slavery, but the ignorance and vice in the labouring classes, of which slavery is the useful and righteous remedy; righteous so long “ the condition of its utility exists." Thus, in the last analysis, slavery is but one of the heavier forms of government. As the classes now subject to it rise in the scale of virtue they can be subjected to a lighter form of outward control. In the meantime slavery º fº is righteous as all civil government is righteous. His contemporaries apparently thought highly of Dabney's book. A northern critic is reported to have said: “Whe old Testament Argument, the New Testament Argument... are fully thº &rld fairy discussed with bandour and moderation of one who writes in defence of a principlº, not a party... It rust not be supposed that the author merely masses together the º * * **** Hº-Hº- -— 2. pp. 205 - 208. / & % * opinions and reasonings of others, -that would be to do him great injustice. His own views and opinions are stated with precision, his arguments presented and enforced clearly and forcibly, and the volume, from the first to the last sentence, written with the earnestness of thorough conviction." l Even more sympathetic was the Charleston Mercury's review of the book: "It takes up slavery, as existing under the authority of the Old Test ament, then under the New, - its origin in this country, and its true nature; and thread by thread it disent angles the woof of abolition sophistries, and vindicates the lawfulness and sinlessness of 3 lavery. It is the most comprehensive and unanswerable review of the whole subject we have ever seen; and every douthern man, at least, ought to own a copy of it, if for no other purpose, to give to his children the opportunity of correctly appreciating his course in maintaining it. The Whit 6 race of the South is down now, under the heel3 of Radical hate and negro fanaticism; but the truth of God's Word and of nature, can not be smothered forever. It will rise up in BPite of man's wickedness, ignorance, ana folly; and in due time will place the people of the Southern States completely vindicated before the whole world for maintaining African slavery, and resisting the madness which has overthrown it. " It was issue Stephen who said: "When the foundations of society are breaking up, men are forced to recognize the truth that a complete division between religion and politics is chimerical. The true principles on which society should be organized can only be determined by answering the questions which lie at the base of all religious theory. TTFIIHERTIETFETWTiters of the South," 124. 2. ibid. 125-125. i- - Political speculations Z ſº involve ethical assumptions and these again rest upon religious dogma ..." However well these words may have applied to the situation Stephen was describing, there can be little doubt that they are appropriate to use in characterizing the mental atti- tude of the majority of those who undertook to defend American glavery. T-555FERTETTIGh Thought in the Eighteenth century," I, 376. , , , --- º-º-º- º CHAPTER VII. Fitzhugh, Hughes and the Sociological Argument. The year 1854 saw the publication of two books dealing with certain aspects of the slavery controversy which bore titles strºngely similar. The one, "Sociology for the south, or, the Failure of Free Society, "was the work of a prolific essayist, George Fitzhugh of Virginia; the other, "A Treatise on Sociology, Theoretical and Applied," was the magnum opus of an observe Mississippian, Henry Hughes. The first attracted a fair share of attention not only in the South, but at the North and in England. The second may have had some local fame, but as a determinant of future thought it might quite as well have remained an tunexpressed idea in the mind of its authors Fitzhugh relates thet he became interested in the prob- lems arising out of slavery in the forties. His early efforts - were embodied in several series of articles which first saw the light in various Fredericksburg and Richmond nëwspapers. In 1854 38The the "sociology" which included in appendices several of the earlier studies. His literary activities thereafter were 3 onsider- able, and almost all concerned themselves with the elaboration of the main thesis of his "sociology." He scattered his favors, and the characteristic little essays, often unsigned but always easily recognizable, appeared from time to time in the Richmond papers, The New York "Day-Book", De Bow's Review, the Southern Literary Messenger and doubtless still other Southern pºliº” ” ºrv/ 1857 he published a second volume which he chose to Gall 'Canibals All, or, Slaves without Masters," in which he did little more than to re-work the field of the "Sociology" and to add further evidence tending to establish his thesis. One could wish that Fitzhugh had followed the suggestion offered by A. Roºne of Washington, in an article in De Bow's Review. Said he: "If we might assume the office of adviser, we would counsel Mr. F. to consolidate his two books, collect his various essays on kindred subjects published in this Review, purge them drastically of their irrelevant matter, reconstruct and re-arrange the whole, preserving the leading iáš. and give the result to the world in a formal treatise on social Science; and we think we may safely pre- dict for him a large increase of present reputation, and probably a permanent place in the literature of his sountry.” Unfortunate- ly the eccentrie Virginian failed to heed this excellent advice, and thereby perhaps lost his possible place in the literary hall of fame. Fitzhugh admitted that his object in writing the "Socio- logy" was to prove that free society was #ailure. "For thirty years the south has been a field on which abolitionists, foreign and domestic, have cºrried on an offensive warfare. Let us now, in turn, act on the offensive, transfer the seat of war and invade the enemy's •rritory." Many thoughtful men living in free society, said he, have come to see that a philosophy based on laissez füire and pas trop gouverner has proved most unsatisfactory 3.8 & economic gospel, and, basing their views upon investigations into ths conditions under which free labor is living and working, these men - Robert Dale Owen, Fourier, Louis Planº, arlyle, Greeley, Stephen Pearl Andrews, and the rest - are clamoring for a change • ####. the injustice which results from the existing industrial le Rev. XXIV, 312- * 2. 1:nº, sºcio; for the South." 228. / Y& regime, said Fitzhugh, and all are socialists of one sort or another. They are demanding that in the industrial Sphere at least, the very limited powers of government shall be very great- ly enhanced to the end that economic justice may be civilly enforced. "The world is too little governed," Fitzhugh himself put it, and believed that he was giving terse form to the sub- consciotis opinions of these writers. Now, said Fitzhugh, the existence of this group of thinkers who are wholly out of accord with the dominant phil- 08ophy in other parts of the world is the best of proof that there is something redically wrong with the prevailing social regime • Slave Society contains no such inharmonious elements. In a slaveholding community the word 'sociology', the invention and use of which carries with it the idea of illness in the body politic, is meaningless. To know history, said Fitzhugh, is to be aware that a condition in which the laborer is free to choose his employ- ment and his employer is a very recent development, perhaps only to be characterized as an experiment. That it had proved to be a disastrous experiment, however, and that the efforts of the reformers were but vague gropings after slavery as the medium through which to restore the proper relationships between capital and labor, Fitzhugh contended without oeasing- To be Sure, most of the socialists and the sociologists appeared to desire the substitution of the state for the old private masters, but aside from this, state socialism and slavery seemed to him to differ scarcely at all- l | admitted defective character of free society was the influence it - - l ought to have on the question of the abolition of regre slavery. | - - - - º | An anonymous writer in the Southern Quarterly Review put it better A | parison of our actual condition with those improved societies which | than Fitzhugh ever did when he said: "We havenot attempted a com- it is now frequently proposed to establish. The matters we have - attempted to discuss are of immense practical import to us, and need not be considered with relation to any conditions which have practically no existence. With regard to those actually existing elsewhere, we may be allowed to strengthen ourselves by the authority of Mr. Mill, the last and one of the clearest writers on political economy. His chapter on the "probable future of the laboring classes' gives us plainly to understand that the present free labour system is a failure. He does not think those classes will be content with the condition of labouring for wages as their ultimate state. They will no longer be willing 'to work at the bidding and for the profit of another, without any intº in the work - the price of their labour being adjusted + by stile competition, one side demanding as much and the other º - wins as little as possible." The remedy for the present evils --- - * ~kind of socialism, although he expressly disclaims that. Is it l. In "oannii in Fitzhugh quotes from the strictures of “ *...*.*:::::::::. and others on the failings of free society. - - - º - y 7 2) --- not then most strange, that we should be often advised to give a our own stable and * institutions to adopt those which need so much modifications?" - , ººº-ºº: But interesting as is Fitzhugh and the "failure of free society" Hughes' "Sociology" should be carefully examined, in part because it embodies certain unusal features of the defence of slavery, and in part because, in contrast with Fitzhugh who de- voted his efforts chiefly to a dissection of the rival. form of society, Hughes undertook a carefull analysis of the system with which he was most *:: "Some think that the Societary Organization of the United States South is morally evil and civilly inexpedient," said Hughes in his preface. "Others who understand the working principles of what is Galled slavery do not think 80. They think that it is both morally and civilly good. This is their opinion of its great &md well-known essentials. These they think ought tºnchanged and perpetual. This Treatise essays amongst other things to expound the philosophy of the Perpetualists; or, in other words, to express some of the views —of the Southern people on the subject of slavery." l, So.s. & Iy. Rev. Jan. '58, No. 37, **** - * + - º, fºr ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::" earlier years to the philosophical sº. 2. rather defense of Slavery," Later he visited Paris and published * ſº entified Sociológy.” . . . He also published a pamphlet in favor of the º 'African Apprentice Scheme...” and yet another pamphlet embºdyjne & report favorable to this scheme made by him to the commerical - - º ºf 3 & c. 4 gºes i - I 892. ) He Gonvention," Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, :* died *::::: º: seen service in the confederate amy. 2 % / Unlike Fitzhugh, Hughes took sociology seriously, and opened by an analysis of social process to which he gave the name, "theoretical sociology." By the tise of terms and series of terms such as "antagonism," "syntagonism," and "amagonism," "intention," and "obsention," "gregation," "subordinates," "ordinates," and "superordinates," he made this section so forbidding that it seems doubtful whether half his readers ever got beyond the first page or two. In outline this analysis is about as follows: "Society is an organization," and its two ends are, first, the securing of "the existence of all," and, second, the securing of "the progress of all." The first is essential, while the second is non-essential. "Personal subsistence" and "personal security" are the two sub-ends of the essential end, "existence," while "pfogress" includes five phases, health, education, enjoyment, morality ana religion. Now since society is an organization, each of these seven sub-ends must have its appropriate "organ." The organ of subsistence is the "economic system", that of se- curity, the "political system," that of health, the "hygienic system," and so on. To be perfect, a society must "realize" or actitialize each of the two great social ends, existence and progresse In practice most societies fail in one or more respects. But every imperfect society "ought to progress." This does not mean simply change; there must be a change for the better, and Hughes re- gress. Number eleven reads: "Progress is the destruction of the / ? 2) bad and the construction of the good. The good must never be destroyed. --Progress modifies, it never aślishes. It loses the º bad and gains the good." Moreover, "Progress must be humane, crime or cruelty is regress. Wrong to one cannot be right to another; inhumanity to some cannot be humanity to others." One ap lies especially to abolitionists: "Charity ought to begin at home • As long as it can find there anything to do, it ought to stay and do it. . . The whole power of the society ought to be applied to its ends. After they are perfectly realized it may help other societies." And finally: "Progress must be orderly. . . It must be patient. . . Progress does not sweat, it does not run, it walks with a lame heel, and handles with a sore hand." º --- So much for theory. "There are in practice," says Hughes, "two forms of society. Neither is perfect. • In one the existence of all is essentially perfect, and progress imperfects In the other the existence of all is not essentially perfects The realization of both it and of progress is imperfect. These forms essentially differ. The difference is in their economic system, whose order qualifies all other systems- Economic order in one form is warranted...It is ordained and established. *his form is cºlled slavery. In the other forms economic system, order is not warranted; it is free. --voluntary- This is the form Galled free labor." But in these forms of society the "politiº. systems" which give security to the members *** similar. Hughes therefore devotes his attention chiefly to the 9tº essential end, "sub- - º " "The subsistence sistence" and its organ, the "ecnnomic system • 2 7.5 of all," by which he means "a comfortable livelihood for overy- body" in a society, "is...primary, capital, necessary, overriding and supreme." It follows that "Subsistence ought to be warranted to all," for "want is high wrong and starvation, murder to which every man in the community is accessory." This warrant is attain- ed in one society, namely, that which prevails in the "United States South." This form, be it noted, is not properly to be called slavery. "What is slavery? It is want, oppression, hatred, cruelty and injustice." It is "odious" and "a moral evil ab- horred by God and man." This, Hughes asserts, is not true of the "simis-i boror" in the Southern regime. "He is a warrantee. " - In his consideration of production, Hughes is interested in the processes chiefly as they affect man. He starts with the assertion that "man is by nature economic • * , as much a utility as a citizen, well-doer or worshipper . . . He is both a producer and a product, a consumer and a consumable," and because persons are productive power they are valuable. Hence, "labor is espital," and "men are values." Industry has been exerted upon them.5 turther more they are instruments for the conferring of values, and they "are the possessions of a country employed with a view to the profit of themselves and others." It follows, then, that men "are subject to economic law." For Hughes there are three classes of producers, vize capitalists or "mentalists," skilled laborers or "manual- mentalists," and simple laborers or "manualists." The members of each class must be produced; but the prodwººn ºf * manualists is the important matter. ** the standpoint of the 2 2 % employer, this class must be produced in the purely physical sense, that is, its members must be born and reared to maturity; it must be prºduced "mentally," which is to say, its members must have the requisite willingness to labor; and finally, it must be "produced" in the locality in which it is needed. If production is to be successfully carried on the association of capital and labor must be obtained to secure this there must exist the proper motives. Hughes considers several Such "springs of action." These are: desire of bettered con- dition, fear of worse condition, affection and duty. It is his opinion that, economically speaking, the two upper classes are sufficiently spurred by these motives to do their part in the productive process, but this is not necessarily true of the third class. In free-labor society, to be tºile, these motives must be trusted when reinforced by the civil prohibition and punishment of idleness, vagrancy, and mendicancy to induce the "manualists" to perform their function ++-tre+this—-eaeme-e: In warrantee society, on the other hand, "the implement of association is moral duty civilly enforced." Experience has shown that the first; two of the enumerated "springs of action" are "not necessary or univer- sal implements of production," for, not only the amount of food and clothing required, but also the amount of labor necessary * obtain a sufficiency very with place and with climatic ******* Consequently, the desire for bettered condition * * variable &nd by no means a sure motive to production." Desires, Hughes assures us, are also mental, with uno lºivated simple laborers, f º however, bodily comfort is a more desirable Čoradition than "mental gratification", while bodily discomfort is "more *6 = pulsive than mental comfort is attractive." This is well illus- trated in the economic effects of climate on conduct. In cold climates "labor. • is a bodily comfort and more or less desirable." Elsewhere it is so warm that labor is irksome in the extreme. - "The labor motive is hence diminished," because, "comforts from idleness counterbalance comforts from industry." But with Hughes, as with Van Evrie, it is exiomatic that "every body ought to work." It follows, then, that civil enforcement of the duty to labor is necessary and proper wherever and whenever the irksomeness of labor counterbalances the motives to produce. - - ---, simple labor is capable of producing only raw materials. Before these products are ready for consumption they must be modi- fied in one way or another, and for this process capitalists and skilled laborers are essentials They do not need to be civilly enforced to perform their part in the process, for they suffer penalties in the loss of their property if they commit infractions of the obligation to labore But labor and capital do not need to be merely associated to insure perfection in production; they need to be associated in the most efficient proportions • This involves what Hughes terms the "local production" of the laborers • Of capital is not; SO readily adapted to the Labor supply as is the consequently, in any given locality He reasons that the supply Supply of labor to capitals with a fixed capital, excess or searcity of laborers can be 2 2 & remedied by transferring the labor to or from other places • But unskilled laborers, being without great intelligence and quite without capital, are unable to migrate advantageously; hence, t;o be sure of its labor, capital should "warrant" the "local pro- duction" of these laborers. In the "warrantee system" this is done, the laborers under orders journeying, before they feel the pinch of want, from places where the value of labor is low to places where it is relatively high. The manner in which this is accomplished is worth an examination. In "warrantee society" "labor has a claim for life on capital and capital on labor." The publicly ordained interest of the capitalist in the laborer is economic as well as "moral," "political" and "#eligious." To put it in Hughes' own succinct terms; "The Warrantee system capitalizes labor-opligations • * - The state inaugurates their valuations • - The obligee is a liege- laborer. He owes to the state an economic allegiance. This is Jºy civilly administered and enforced. The state warantes its execution. It makes it transferable • It deputes it. The capital- ist is a deputy warrantor of the state- That is an office. In the system miscalled slavery the master is a magistrate. He is a public officer. By capitalizing Labor-obligations the economic association of the capitalist is realized...Labor is made capitals Whatever, therefore, is needful for their perfect productiveness, the capitalist is economically enforce" tº supply. The laboring class thus become self-circulating" ** Warranteeism thus * * * unites by the only possible contrivance the interests, intelligence and \\ a 7 ability of the class of capitalists with those of the class of simple-laborers. In this the perfection of the warrantee system is *...* But another requirement to perfect production is the regular application of simple labor to its appropriate tasks. There are of course certain "affections" such as illness and, injury which are almost unavoidable sources of irregularity; but others, like intemperance and certain "affections of the mind • * * * Strikes, absconding, idleness and heedlessness", are preventable. Strikes, good ºr bad, arºquite impossible in warrantee society, because "a strike in warranteeism is revolt," and "rebellion against the State." Against absconding, the warrantee system provides by paying warrantee's wages in ne- cessaries rather than in currency, and in addition by arresting fugitives and returning them to their masters. The check in free labor society is arrest in certain cases, but more often it is "want of means" to abscond. Intemperance is a still greater hindrance to perfect production. In warranteeism it is admirably prevented by civil prohibition and by the payment of wages in Ilê GeSSaries, In Waranteeism the State consists of families which in turn are made up of warrantors and warrantees • The latter are the children of the warrantors and the servants or Warrantees propers In the "affamiliated" social units it is the civil duty of the head to warrant the subsistence of all the members, including the laborers and their children. All of these are dependent upon the i. pp. 106-197 and 193-204. 2. pp. 107-11” y 2 & systematically applied caspital of the association. The result is that laborers are most economically and satisfactorily pro- ăuced. In the opposing form of Society labor and cadpital & Jºº not so "affamiliated" but are dissociated, and lawyers have to divide their wages with their children, thuzs bearing the ex- pense of producing future laborers. Apprenticeship is free labor 's device for transferring the bruden in some measure to the capital- ſets: - - Warranteeism and skilled labor are not whoſily incompat- ible, but for several reasons unskilled routine labor is more suit- ed to the regime than skilled labor. For one thing it costs much more to produce a skilled warrantee than an unskilled one, and when such an one is produced there are greater risks connected with holding him than with maintaining an ordinary simple laborer. They are far more likely to abscond, because theºngaged in itinerant trades, because they receive pay in currency and thus are better able to fly, and further, because, if they do not re- ceive the extra wages which they think they should be paid, they become discontented. All in all the maintenance of control gºer skilled warrantees is very difficult if not quite impossible • Turning from production to distribution, Hughes lays down one of his fundamental doctrines. That system of distribu- tion is best, he says, which increases the motives to produce other distributables. In general, "that is best distributively which is best productivisiy." But this is limited by * Gonsideration. Economic justice, which demands the guaranteed *** * {1+3 butione —subsistence of all, is the supreme anº capital end of distri - 1. pp. 113-114 and 159-163. 2. pp. 11°-** - sº, º - 22 * - The "best method, therefore, is that in which the moral and the economic, the pleasurable and the productive, the desirable ºna the dutiful, setastas.” Moting that the economic product is divided into three shares, wages, taxes and interest or rent, which go to the laborer, the state and the capitalists respect- ively, Hughes attacks the wage problem. Wages, he avers may be "just," and they may be "over" and "under" justice. The minimum required by justice is never "less than a comfortable sufficiency of necessaries for health and strength." It may happen that the "just" wage will be realized satisfactorily by the concurrent action of capitalists and laborers. Hughes thinks, however, that the state may very properly fix wages. Moreover, a just wage is quite as likely to be realized if the state adjudicates between capital and labor as it is if wages are adjusted by means of mutual agreements between the two. The state "may have juris- diction as well over subsistence as over any other right of life," He finds in practice two general methods of distributing economic products, public and private , of which he recommends a - ** º combination on the basis of "public distribution for subsistence' and "private distribution for progress." *y the latºr he means, private aggreements for the distribution of ***** While a just wage may be actualized in free labor society, there are certain difficulties in the way of success in the attempt to fix wages by concurrent action of capitalists and wage earners- When laborers are "deficient" in numbers "they ºn “” ” they ~Will_work for and what shall be their wages." On the other hand, 4. pp. 120-121. ** pp. 124-126. when labor is super-abundant, capitalists can select their employees and can fix their wages. As has been shown, from the point of view of production each of these conditions is un- Batisfactory • A further study of these two possible situations reveals the inherent antagonism between capitalists and laborers. In free labor society the laborer has the power to migrate at will. Given this power, when labor is in excess of the demand in a given locality it will profit by migrating, while the capital- 1st, will lose by having fewer prospective employees to compete for his offered opportunities to labor. On the other hand, when labor is deficient in a locality, the resident laborers will tend to lose and the capitalists to gain by the influx of other laborers. Each party, therefore, will endeavor to bring about that situation which best agrees with its own interests, with the result that the "just" wage will seldom or never be realized, But further, in free society distributive justice tends never to be realized because "the agents are not equal." The Çapitalist; class is snailed to have its way despite attempts at collective bargaining on the part of the laborers, by reason of its greater wealth and intelligence, and its "associativeness, because a smaller class." "In this regreet, therefore, the free- labor system is essentially imperfect." In another particular the wage regime is faulty- It fails to provide the working class with that which society owes to each class as a class, namely, a "tribute" sufficient to enable it to care properly for its dependents, the very young, 1. pp. 127. 2. pp. 137-140° the aged, the insance, maimed, sick and those who are unemployed because employment is lacking. Further, the income of the class is paid only to its efficient members and they are left to dis- tribute to the inefficient as best they can. But wages to men are not paid in proportion to the number of the inefficient; de- venterfron them. "A free laborer with a large and helpless family gets no more for himself and them than a laborer with a Small family or no family. . . . This is not just. . . It is blind shar- ing... If, in this system, the undivided wages of two laborers, - a man and his wife, are simply sufficient for health and strength, division of these wages is less than sufficient. . . Laborers on sufficiency may merry, breed and make deficiency. . . If a free- laborer's wages during employment are sufficient for health and strength, loss of employment is deficiency for health and strength....Wherefore, the free-labor system in its distribution. . fails in the first end of *.* But there are still other criticisms to be directed at the prevailing free-labor distributive system. In the first place, wages fluctuate very greatly, and there is neither machinery for regulating the variations nor a lower limit - "a minimum wage" - below which wages may not go. One the one hand wages may rišē $0 high that "eapital will strike, fail or circulate (i.e. be shifted to another country or another sº industry)"; on the other hand, wages may reach a level so low that laborers will "strike, starve, or migrate," or turn to criminality- "Learl laborers "may turn to fat felons." Another bad feature is that the garrency in which free laborer's wages are paid is 1***** **** 1. pp. i40-142, 148-150. 2–22, subject to fluctuation in its buying power, and worse still the fluctuations in wages and in the buying power of currency are not raisi. - In warranteeism the situation is much more nearly ideal. The state regulates the subsistence of all, and wages never fall below the State's standard for either efficients or inefficients. While the "present ordinance work of the simple-labor class" does not authorize more than the present ordinance wages, When- ever the productiveness of the warrantees justifies it, increases may be expected. The increment may take the form of currency or it may be distributed by masters in the form of luxuries. This, however, "is only theoretical to warranteeism, ...matter of the re- motest progress and to be judged and governed by the laws of progress." But even at this time while the ordinance wage is Subsistence it is not the maximum wage among ambitious warranttees. If they work overtime they are "duly recompensed in currency or 2 Consumables.” In sickness all warrantee's wages run es they do in health, nay, more, they are materially increased. The The Gessarie S of health, medical skillº and materials and special food are pro- vided. In age the laborer becomes practically a pensioner. "Dur- ing efficiency he is systematically the creditor of the capitalište During subsequent inefficiency the capitalist pays the debt." Similarly, children's wages run from their birth; they are debtors to their masters in youth and repay in labor at maturity, not the 3 —principal but the "interest" on the money expended in rearing theme 1, pp. 144-146. - 8, pp. 152-153 and 156-157. . 3, pp. 154-155, 159. - –2–23 The negotiability of the capitalized labor obligation secures the proper "direulation" of warrantees and this, too, is an element in wages. The interests of capital and labor are unities ºf this rest of capitalization: As Hughes sees it, "the warrantee-laborer's minimum public wage" contains no less than ten different factors. These are; (1) "à comfortable sufficiency of food, rainent, furniture, utensils. . . . during life"; (2) Ment and rapeirs of a comfortable dwelling house; (3) payment of taxes of all sorts; (4) medical attentions of all sorts; (5) "interest on capital invested in rear- ing the warrantee; and if necessary, transporting him to where labor can be supplies.” (5) "commission to warrantor for buying and selling such necessaries Gr produce of the warrantee associa- tion as are for the benefit of the warantee?” (7) Commission "for civil representation," defence in court against accusations of crime and the like; (8) premiums to the warrantor for the insurance of subsistence in old age, youth, sickness or other period of incapacity; (9) premiums for insurance against unemploy- ment; and (10) premiums for bearing the civil responsibility in cases where the warrantee has committed wrongs against a third party. "These wages constitute the tribute to the warrantee Perhaps they are larger than the £ribute They realize the Simple-laborer Glasse to any other simple-labor class in the world • subsistence of all in the class. . . The children do not ory —because they lack. The cruse of oil is never empty, * meal --- º l, pp. 163–166. - 22-6 &/ never shows the bottom of the barrell. Instead of meat; three times a week, there is meat three times a day. The old people are fat; there is a chicken in every man's pot ... Anybody that - wants can have a vine and fig-tree. For, God blesses an institu tion which He himself devised and estatiºns." - Since free labor society manifests its economic imper- fection in a failure to realize the "existence" of all its members, as a sociologist it becomes Hughes to inquire what steps must be taken to perfect this form of social organization. There is a double reason for the necessity of economic progress. In the first place, something must be done to secure perfection in getting subsistence to the free laborer. It is his "societary right," "his inalienable, imperishable, supreme, unqualified and 2 overriding right" that he shall have "a warranted economic system." But in the second place, in order to secure perfection in pro- duction, individual liberty in economic action must be "morally qualified," as Hughes puts it. "A man has not a right to use his mind and body as he will . . . Man must do what he ought. He can not as he wills, work or be idle, pursue one, another or no call- ing, be dissociate, unadapted or irregular. . . . he must adjust his economic pleasure to his economic duty. The freeborn power of every man over his labor is morally qualified. A man may do as he pleases provided that in so doing he leaves every one in the 3 ºr enjoyment of those means of happiness bestowed by the Greator; But the present economic order in free labor society is one of "license" rather than liberty. The method to be followed *-*. 1. pp. 169-171. 2. pp. 178-185. 3- pp. 185-186. –2-c J- in replacing the present inefficient economic System of free society with a system of "liberty-labor," says Hughes, is to capitalize the labor obligation of the ordinary free laborer. This can be done he thinks without depriving the misused individ- ual of his political rights, for "economic order and civil liberty are compatible." The trades unions in free society in Hughes' opinion, supply the elements of a progress from license to liberty in the true sense. "These unions are special, mutual-insurance or warrantee associations. . . . The association, artificial body or corporation is the Warrantor; the associates, the Warrantees." This progress may be worked out by combinations and the organiza- tion of an economic state, with its economic constitution, a legislature of two houses, consisting º a capitalists Senate and a laborite lower house and the like a Warranteeism in the United States South has a special feature, merely accidental, not essential to the system; it is . warranteeism with "the ethnical qualification," as Hughes ex* presses it. This is a matter of some importance when the legal and political theory of the southern regime is considered, Hughes has previously observed that masters are officers of the state, "magistrates," and he now discusses in some detail "the powers, rights, duties and responsibilities of the **te, warrantors and warrantees" in the United States Pouth- Magistrates he observes, alluding in part of course to slaveholders, come into *º-Sºº. 1. pp. 188-190. 8, pp. 207-209. º their official position by various methods, among which are "purchase," and "inheritance; " some get their offices "by designa- tion direct, some by lot or other accident, some by law or custom, written or unwritten, general or special." Their qualifications very, too, Sometimes men come into their magisterial function - through "accidents of age, birth, race, sex, property, domicil, calling. skill, knowledge, service or citizenships, "In the United States South warrantors or masters are special subordinate Magis- trates qualified for the conservation and administration of special public-health, special public-justice and special public-economy. All their rights, duties, powers and responsibilities issue from the law, pursue the law, are limited by the law, and are created, continued, modified or terminated by the law. . . . Good behaviour and ability to execute their warranties are their qualifications. The termination of their office is voluntary or involuntary- - If voluntary, the condition precedent to termination is the sub- rogation of another good and sufficient warrantor to their office.” Economically the warrantor or magistrate must order the productive power of the warrantee association and administer its capital prudently. He must enforce the statutory labor obligation and prevent ideleness, vagrancy and the like- He must adapt the ask of each warrantee to his or her capacity, distribute wages as ordered by the state, and see to that no one suffers, "Furthermore, he must attend to the exchanging of the association's products for - - - * º - its required consumption goods. "Hygienically", he must ** all disease appears must provide the means to prevent disease, and if - Politically, —proper medical necessities and care to insure ********* l. ppe 209-212. –2-2 7 the warrantor must represent the interests of the warrantees and of the association in governmental affairs pertaining to the state as a whole • "The warrantor is the political servant of the *::: The "magistrates powers" extend only so far as to * them to fulfill their obligations to the state and to their fellow warrantors, "to execute economic, hygienic and political order in - their warranties." They have no power to terminate or qualify their warranty, they can only separate families among their º warrantees when this is essential to the subsistence of all, and under no circumstances may they separate mothers from children under the age of ten. Their public authority over warrantees is limited to the power to judge and punish breaches of the peace, economic and otherwise. Punishments are to be overt and not cruel. and unusual. "Whether warrantors have the power of punishment by imprisonment is doubtful. Punishment by imprisonment is in de- rogation of public industry, and a high and sovešign power." If they exceed their powers in the performance of their public functions they are legally responsible to the state in their persons and their property, and, in addition, are enforced economically to act justly in all things to their warrantees. "Sickness" and the like, "mulet the warrantor." "The wrongs by their consequences *** themselves. They fine the wronger and are self-executing." Turning to the warrantees, Hughes declares that the obligation to obey the masters appointed by the state does not issue from the will of the warrantees. It comes "from the conscience and the general reason." But the rights of the warrantees are l. {}{}s 213-21.7. 3- O}} • 218-226, 2–2 3 *** ** are oarefully guarded by law. "Slaves, of course, "are persons Who have no rights." in this sense, Hughes con- tends, there are no slaves in the United States South. He notes that he has already pointed out the warranted right of the economie lieges of the State to existence through warranted Subsistence and security. In addition they have legal rights of a different nature • Virtually the warrantee has property rights, virtually he has political rights, similiarly the right of petition for recress of grievances, the right to bear arms, and the like. In certain other respects, however, though theoretical to warrantee- ism, their rights are not yet actualized. But progress may be expected. The "esthetic system" is one of those not yet organized, but even now, while pleasure is not warranted, "warranteeism as it is is essentially anesthetic," for "it systematically eliminates bodily pain. Warrantees' rights to "philosophical or educational power" are other rights nºt yet actualized in the United States South. There are both economic and political reasons which make present realization of these rights impossible. Since, "the warranteeism of the United States South is that with the ethnical qualification, the existence-rights of both or of one of these races now forbids to the other this progress-right • *he education- al is at present antagonistic to the political system," though, "this antagonism is accidental and temporary- It is due to a temporary outside fact. . .an error which donfounds essentials and accidentals, which is rather aggressive from the greater good essential than progressive from the lesser bad accidental . . . It 2–2 Ž is philanthropy in design and misanthropy in deed. But between º' warrators and Warrantees there is naturally no educational antagon- ism." Politically, magistrates are "soverign"; all others, including women, children, mental incompetents and warrantees, are "sub-sovëreigh." "In republics in which the Warranteeism is that with the ethnical qualification the warrantees are sub- sovereign. They have not the right of sovereignty; that is not their due; it is unjust; it is wrong." One reason for this is the necessity of maintaining racial purity. "Hybridism is hein- ous." Hughes maintains that "political amalgamation" can result only in "sexual amalgamation," because the power to rule gives "power to repeal or annul discriminating laws." At present, the "caste spirit" and the illegitimacy of inter-racial marriages makes - them of rare occurence. "Caste to prevent impurity is hence a duty. . . of morality. ... • Ethnical segree gon is not ethical degrada- tion," for,"purity of races is right." In addition to the warrantors and the warrantees, the social organization of the United States south contains a third element, the "non-warrantors." Hughes thinks that these bear Titlöh tºlation to Warrantees that magistrates do. Economically they are interested in getting goods produced by the warrantees, Since if the supply of warrantee-produced goods is lessened, they must pay more for them. Therefore they will insist that warrantees be so treated that they will be kept in a high state of economic —consume the goods produced by the non-warrantors, and this 1- pp. 227—237. 2, pp. 240-246. º = 2 / 2. reinforces the latter's desire to see them well-treated. Through their political power, the non-warrantors act as checks upon the warrantors, for if the latter when in office abuse their powers, the non-warrantors make issues of such misuses of power upon which they ride into office. Therefore, "the rights of warrantees which Warrantors do not, the non-warrantors do **.* Warrantees have certain rights in court, contrary to the usual assertion. When the claim is against a third party, it is brought into court by the warrantor, and if adjudged sound is paid to the warrantee association as represented in the person of the master. If the action is against the warrantor, the state brings it, unless its object be the annulling of the labor obligation in which case it is brought by the warrantee. Legally no appeal is allowed to warrantees "from the judgment by the warrantor in person...because, (1) the jurisdiction of the warrantor is small, and because (2), the allowance of appeals now would be in dero- £ation of the public industry." Warrantees may be allowed to testify concerning matters affecting the sovereign race, "if expedient," and they do now testify for and against other warrantees • The warrantee marriage contract is not a perfect civil instrument, being rather, a "religious union, and a natural obligation. Whether or not it should be made more by law, and whether or not bigamy and adultery amoné warrant;6&S should be punished, is matter for progress." - "wherefore, - in the United State” South Warrantees have 3. ism is an economic, political and |-ºll their rights... Warrantee l, pp. 246-249. 2. pp. 250-35%. a * - 2 / / * f hygienic organization-- "consistent with morality and religion... necessitated by them." and "its justice is inherent, serf-execu- ting and roºve." In the consideration of his final topic, Hughes is led to repeat virtually all of his previous arguments. In addition, he points out that the system produces high mental attainment on the part of the sovereign race, for the entire race "mental- izes." Another advantage is that the promulgation of laws is very effectually accomplished, because warrantors are responsible in law for wrongs done by their warrantees, and therefore see to it that they know the law and obey it. Moreover, in war the state is strengthened by the fact that the entire thinking class can serve at the front without diminishing the productivity of the community. Old men, boys, and even women can superintend and . - control the warrantees, for, "the African people are the most manageable of all mobs." Furthermore, by warranting subsistence to each member of the society, warranteeism eliminates want as § 2 - 80tl?ce of crimée The staccato style and the severely systematic structure which characterize the body of Hughes' treatise were quite evident- ly adopted in the erroneous opinion that they would strengthen the impression of his views. Half his conclusion is writte” tº * most seniºious sºle: "The economic system of the United states South is not slavery. IT IS WARRANTEEISM WITH THE ETHNICAI. QUALIFICATIon. It is just. It is expedient- The consummation of its progress is the per” of * º way the proceeded to indulge himself in º It is progressive. . º ciety? º *But with this out of the ty - a veritable rhapsody, prophecy: "When in other generations, this progress, which is how a conception and a hope of all, shall be a **** memory and a fact; when what is now in the future, shall be in the present or the past; when the budding poetry of the allishoping - - - sociologist, shall ripen to a fruitful history; that history will be thrice felicitous; for it shall unroll the trophied poem, the rhapsody of a progress epic in its grandeur; pastoral in its peace and lyric in its harmony. Such shall be its fulfillment. Ana then on leagued plantations over the sun-sceptered zone's crop- jeweled length, myriad eyes, both night-faced and morning-cheeked, shall brighten still the patriot's student giance and fondly pour upon the full-grown and fate-favored wonder, of a Federal banner in nose woven sky of ensign orbs, shall be good stars only, in such happy constellations that their bonds and beams, will be sweeter than the sweet influences of the Pleiades, and stronger than the bands of Orion; unbroken eonstellations - a symbol sky - a heaven Which also, shall declare the glory of God, and a firmament which shall show His handiwork. Then, in the plump flesh of full-feeding health, the happy warrantees shall banquet in PIANTATION-REFECTOR- IES; worship in PIANTATIONS-CHAPELS; learm in PIANTATION-SCHOOLS: or, in PIANTATION-SAI,00NS, at the cool of evening, or in the green and bloomy gloom of cold catalpas and magnolias, chant old songs, tell tales; or, to the metred rattle of chattering castanets, or flutes, or rumbling tamborines, dance down the moon and evening Star; and after slumbers in PIANTATION-DORMITORIES, over whose gates Health and Rest sit smiling at the feet of Wealth and Labor, 2/3 rise at the music-growing of the morning-conchs, to begin again welcome days of jocund toil, in reeling fields, where, weak with laughter and her load, Plenty yearly falls, gives up, and splits her o'erstuffed horn, and where behind twin Interest's double throne, Wustice stands at reckoning dusk, and rules Supreme • When these and more than these, shall be the fulfillment of Warranteeism; then shall this Federation and the World, praise the power, wisdom, and goodness of a system, which may well be deemed divine; then shall Experience aid Philosophy, and WINDICATE THE WAYS OF GOD, T0. MAN," This "curiously metaphysical book" of Hughes' was des- timed to find few readers as De Boyſ *: and seems to have influenced contemporary thought scarcely at all, though Hughes' "warranteeism" struck a later writer as a happy substitute for the commoner term, **. according to Wendèll Phillips, the Mississippi Senate issued a report on slavery in which the institu- tion was described as "economic subordination" and "baptized" as ºutseter.” There can be little doubt that while Fitzhugh and Hughes were products of the evolution of southern thought on slavery, they were by no means representative of the majority of those who defended the institution. They were of the vanguard. Nevertheless there is evidence to show that their ideas gained some ground in the remaining years of the antebellum period, and it seems not impossible that the advanced position they defended might have become the scene of greatest conflict if secession and physical |-ºmbat had not terminated the verbal warfare over slavery. l, De Bow's Rev. XVII, 641. 2, Elliott, "Gotton is King and Pro-Slayery §ºn". WII. i. i. Făiiſips speeches and ieatures." p. 269. _2 / 4/ CONCI,USION, The American argument in defence of negro slavery had ºn evolution which carried it through three main phases. The typiq83. expression of the first phase was apologetic in tone, and in general it was aimed to counteract unfavorable opinion concerning an ad- mitted evil. in "The second phase was transitional. In it slavery is so much the milder of two admitted alternative evils that by contrast it comes almost to occupy a neutral position between good and evil. Dew's essay was at once the capstone of this phase and a potent cause of the phase which followed. In this third and final phase, the defence came to be based on the ground that slavery was a positive good to all eoncerneå. This is not to assert, however, that each phase was chronologically distinct from the others. Many arguments appeared in the period dominated by the "positive good" philosophy, which appropriately belong to one or the other of the earlier phases. To turn from defence to defenders, there were wide differences of opinion as to the proper point of departure from which to attack the problem. T.W. White of the Southern Literary Messenger declared in 1843: "Some will be convinced by one mode of reasoning who would not by another." Yet he was representative of a group who wanted, in his words, "to treat the whole question as One of federal compact and exclusive domestic and state regulation," for, he said, "there is danger of division" among the southerners "if we attempt to intermingle with it principles of ethies which -gamot be grasped or received by every *.* Many others, follow- l, So. Lit, Meg. IV, 609 ditto, IX, 737. _3 / 3 Tº ing Dew's lead looked first at the proposed remedies, and then justified the continuance of slavery upon the ground of its expediency. Others seized upon the characteristic racial differ- ences between the blacks and the whites, and based their defences upon the ground that the providentially ordained inferiority of the blacks was a guide to conduct when the two races were living intermingled. Very many others spent their efforts in refuting the charge that slavery was a ein par 3s., for this purpose using chiefly the Bible and Christian theological speculation. Finally a small group, accepting the "positive evil" challenge of the abolitionists, asserted that slavery was right and endeavored to establish that it was an embodiment of a principle winich society never could and never should discards - It is a far cry from Saffin's simple defence to the rhapsody with which Hughes closed his theme of perpetualism, and he would be foolhardy who asserted that the transition between the two was inevitable. Nevertheless, in view of all the circumstances, it is not difficult to understand how thinkers of the extreme type represented by Hughes and Fitzhugh could rise and gain some hear- ing in the slaveholding states, In the nature of the case the whole story is not to be found in the present study, which has concerned itself only with the presentation of the plea of the defence. It has not been clearly demonstrated that "slavery", the term about which the whole controversy revolved, ranged in meaning all the way from the sum of the economic, social, moral and political wickednesses, attached to the ultra abolitionists' concept to the perpetualists' - º 27 (, appraisal of it as a happy, prosperous, righteous and benevolent paternalism, and accordingly, that in few particulars did the contending parties actually debate the same points. Yet this, º clearly was the fact. Again no evidence has been presented to establish what was without doubt true, that there was no organized campaign in defence of the institution comparable to the attack Of the anti-slavery societies. Moreover, it has not been establish- ed that the defenders generally had the better of their opponents wherever they leeked horns with them. And yet this, too, seems º to have been the fact, Neither has it been made clear that the # audience to which the majority of the defenders of slavery were really addressing themselves was the people of the southern states, nor that in molding the opinion of these people, with scarce a doubt, the most effective plea used by the defence was the theological or "Bible" argument." Finally, no answer has been attempted to the most important of the questions connected with this great debate, what was the nature of the relation borne by the defensive argument to the public opinion which carried eleven slaveholding states out of the union in the effort to establish a new polity in America. Concerning these and similar questions it remains for each student of American history to draw his own conclusions, The present study will have accomplished its purpose if it has made more available than before some of the déta essential to a | better solution of the problems involved. º-- --º- - -- ~7 The Source G. The defences of slavery in American writings in the last three decades of the antebellum period are divisible into two major groups, the general treatises and the essays on special phases of the general topic.” Of the former, Dew's essay was the earliest, but several others of the game type were published in the thirties. One Gulch was J. K. Paulding's "Slavery in the United States, " (1836), which emphasized the satisfactory condition of the Virginia slaves and the futility of the proposed schemes for readjustment. Another, "The South Windicated from the Treason and Fanaticism of the Northern Abolitionists, " (1836), was anonymously published and is a compendium following Dew quite closely but containing in addition several severe characterizations of the prominent abolition leaders. In "An Essay on Slavery and Abolition," (1837), Catherine E. Beecher discussed several phases of the general issue from the point of view of an opponent of the existing anti-slavery machinery and program. The next year, (1838), two South Carolinians, Chancellor William Harper of the South Carolina College and William Gilmore Simms, the novelist, published brief treatises, "AAMemoir on Slavery," and "The Morals of slavery," respectively. Härper used the essays of Dew and Paulding as bases and proceeded to investigate Gertain of the charges brought by anti-slavery writers against T. WiFúa TTWTATTS fººthº materials available for the years be- fore 1830 have been examined in the first three chapters of this study, hence this brief study is limited to the writ- ings of the later period. 2/? the institution. Simms' essay is a review of Harriet Martineau's "Western Travels," and of the writings of other contemporary critics of slavery. Both are comparatively well done. In the next decade the most important general treatise was doubtless J. H. Hammond's, "Two Letters on Slavery in the United States Addressed to Thomas Clarkson, " (1845.) It seems to have been the consensus of opinion in the later days of the ante- bellum period that in the defence of slavery this study ranked second only to Dew's essay. In 1841 T. C. Thornton published "An Inquiry into the History of Slavery, ..." and in it, in addi- tion to a treatment of the customary points of defence he replied to such of Channing's anti-slavery writings as had then been published. A brief treatise of considerable worst appeared in 1846. The author was Matthew Estes, an Alabamian, and the essay bore the title, "A Defence of Negro Slavery in the United States. " - Iā a volume entitled, "The Pro-Slavery Argument" the essgys of Dew, Hammond, Harper and simms were republished in 1852 and again in 1853. In addition, in this decade appeared several books of greater or less value. One of these was John Fletcher's "Studies on Slavery, " (1852}, a ponderous volume which dealt With virtually all phases of the argument, in particular re- butted the anti-slavery writings of Channing, Wayland and Barnes. 0f siſhilar character and perhaps better execution were G. S. Sawyer's "southern Institutes, " (1858); J. C. Stiles, "Modern Reform Examined, " (1857), and Nehemiah Adams' quite inoffensive book, "A South-Side View of Slavery, " (1855). _2 / 7 In 1860 a second collection of essays, all of which had previously seen print , was issued by E. N. Elliott, of Mississ- ippi, (and it was published) under the title, "Cotton is King and pro-slavery Argument." It covers a wider range than the earlier Hammond–Harper-Simms-Dew book, but suffers by the comparison thich it invites. To turn to the studies dealing chiefly with particular phases of the argument, there were very few ethnological studies of import ance. In addition to Van Evrie's book, three such 88says may be mentioned: R. H. Colfax's, "Evidence against the Views of the Abolitionists, " (1833); the much more pretentious "Negro-Mania, " (1851), a collection of extracts from the writings of prominent naturalists, ethnologists and from the various ac- Counts made by J. Campbell; and a briefer study by Samaal A. Cartwright, published in Elliott's volume under the caption, "Slavery in the Light of Ethnology, " (1860). In the periodicals there were numerous articles which dealt in whole or in part with this £opic. For example, see De Bow's Review, IX, 331, 343-345; x, 287 ff.; xxv, 45-56; xxix, 129-136, 513–520 and 712-716; It is probable that from ninety to ninety-five per cent of the defences of slavery were either "Bible Arguments," pure and simple, or treatises devoting ht least a section to this phase of the argument. There seem to be two main groups of the studies primarily scriptural in character, differentiated by the *gree of importance which each attached to the "curse of "anaan." A minority stressed the descent of the Africans fºr tº _2 2 O from Ham and Canaan. Perhaps the best known representative of these is Josiah Priest 's "Bible Defence of Slavery, " (1842). The majority of the "Bible defences" were of the nature of DAbney's study, and they stress the divine origin of the insti- tution, rather than its religious character as an instrument al- ity for earrying out a divine judgment. It is hard to choose among these, but contemporaries seem to have known best. G. Armstrong's "The Christian Doctrine of Slavery, " (1857); H. B. Bascom's, "Methodism and Slavery. . . " (1845); The Fuller-Wayland, "Domestic Slavery Considered...", (1845); C. Hodge, "Bible Argument on Slavery, " (1860); J. H. Hopkins, "A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of Slavery...", (1864); Nathan Lord, "A Letter of Inquiry... [1854%) and "A...Second Letter...", (1855); Alexander McCaine, "Slavery Defended from Scripture, " (1842); F. A. Ross, "Slavery Ordained of God," (1857); Thornton Stringfellow, "A Brief Examination of Scripture Testimony..." (1841); and Samuel Seabury, "American Sãavery distinguished from the Slavery if the English Theorists. . . " (1861). The economic and sociological phases were treated in several books and pamphlets other than Fitzhugh's and Hughes's essays. D. R. Hundley ‘s. "Social Relations in our Southern States"/ (1860), distmusses classes in southern society and seems the best treatise devoted to the topic. Attempts to answer Helper's "Impending "risis" were made by E. Peissner "The American Question. . . " (1861), and q. M. Wolfe, "The Impending Crisis Dissected, " (1860). One of the most important economic studies for the decade of the fifties was David Christy's "Cotton is King, " (1855). Christy _2 > / was a colonizationist opposed to abolition, and his arguments on the unproductiveness of freed black laborers were taken over by the defender of slavery. Robert Collins' "Essay on the Treatment an f Management of Slaves," is typical of a group of defences which aimed to put the actual economic condition of the slaves into evidence. Many statements of this class were published in the periodicals. Arong the defences which dealt primarily with phases of the ethical argument, A. T. Bledsoe's "fiberty and Slavery, " (1865), and W. A. Smith's "The Philosophy and Practice of Slavery, " (1856), st and out most prominently. not all of the defensive material took the form of serious argument, however. Even before Mrs. Stowe's tale appeared, the defence used the novel as a means of influencing public opinion. In "Tudith Bens addi, " for example, a tale published first in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1839, the writer worked in a conversation between the hero and the heroine for the purpose of presenting in the best light the condition of the southern Slave3. After "Uncle Tom" & Cabin" created its furore numerous replies were attempted in the form of "pro-slavery" novels. Among these were David Brown's weak tale, "The Planter, or Thirteen Years in the south, " (1853); Mrs. Schoolcraft , a, "Black Gauntlet; (1861); Lucien B. Chase's, "English serfdom and American slavery," (1854); Nehemiah Adams' "The Sable -loud," (1861); and E. W. Warrent a "Nellie Norton, " (1864). - ". - º - - . . - --- - --------- ------------- 2.2.2, . To offset the anti-slavery poems of Longfellow, Lowell, whittier and others, a few "pro-slavery" poems were witten and published. The mott pretentious and best-known of these was David Grayson's "The Hireling and the Slave, " (1855), which went through several editions. 2, 2 3 The Bibliography. Very few secondary authorities furnish the investigator with anything byt bibliographical information concerning the argu- ment in defence of slavery. Among the se 3 examined I found most useful Phillips' chapter on the political and economic egg ays of the antebellum South in "The South in the Building of the Nation, " (1909), VII, 173-199; the chaptebr on the "Defence of Slavery" in Hart 's "Slavery and Abolition, " (1906), Am. Nation, XVI, 136–157; and, the sketchy chapter on "The Slavery Controversy in Merriam's "American Political Theories, " 203-251. The monographs of Miss Locke, "Anti-Slavery in America, 1619–1808, " (1901), and Miss Adams," The Neglected Period, 1808-1832, " (1908), should also be mentioned, since each furnished numerous items for the early period. In the following incomplete list of titles, the sources are given for a more complete study of the argument in defence of slavery. For several reasons a chronological rather than an alphabetical arraggement has seemed best. No critical comments are offered concerning books which have been examined in the dissert ation or in the essay on the sources. Books With st arred titles have not been personally examined, but they are included be cause for various reasons they seem to belong to the category of defensive material. Abbreviation3 : • . . ." - Books in the Library of Congress are unmarked. (P. ) Private library of Professor U. B. Phillips. (M.) University of Michigan Library. ſ: Harvard Library. (v. Vitginia State Library, (N.Y.) New York Public Library. (B. ) Boston º #7 (6.) Cornell University Library. (L. C. P. ) Library Company of Philadelphia. A List of the Defences of Slavery. (arranged in Chronological order. ) 1701. Saffin, John. "A Brief and Candid Answer to a late Printed Sheet, Entituled, The Selling of Joseph.” (in Moore, "Slavery in Massachusetts, " 251-256. ) 1722. Beverley, Robert. A History of Virginia. (Campbell ed., 1854.) 1773. "A Forensic Dispute on the Legality of enslaving the Af- ricans, held at the public Commencement in Cambridge, Wew-England, July 31st , l?73, by two Candidates for the Bachelor's Degree Theodore Parsons and Eliphalet Pearson ." Boston, Thomas Leve rebt. (H) 1773. Nesbit, Richard. "Slavery not forbidden by Scripture. Or, a Defence of the West-India Planters from the Asper- sions thrown out against them, by the Author of a Pam- phlet, entitled, An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Sèttlements in America, upon Slavekeeping. By a West-Indian. " Phila. , (L. C.P.) 1775. Romans, Bernard. "A Natural History of East and Test Florida. " N.Y. and London. 1802. Drayton, John. "A View of South Carolina." Charleston. 1806. * Cameron, Rev. A. "Slavery Justified by Scripture." The "Monitor." Lexington, Ky. (?) (reféered to in Birney, "Life of Birney," 384) 1812. Taylor, John. "Arator. " . (republished, 1814 and 1818. ) 1819. * Green, Duff. "The Bible justifies Slavery. St. Loßis. (?) (referred to in Birney, "Life of Birney," 385.) 1819. Walsh, Robert, "An Appeal from the Judgments of Great - Britain respecting the United States of America. Part first, containing an Historical Outline of their Merits and Wrongs as Colonies, and Strictures upon the Cal- umni as of British Writers. " Phila. Mitchell, Ames & White. (second edition the same year.) 1819. "Letter to the Edinburgh Reviewers, by. 'An American". , First published in the National Intelligencer of Nov. 16, 1813. ‘’ º 2 24 - 1822. 1823. 1825. 1829. 1832. 1833. #"Reflections occasioned by the Late Disturbances in Charleston, by Achates." Charleston. (?) Holland, Edwin C. "A Refutation of the Calumnies cir- culated against the Southern and Western States respect- ing the Institution and Existºce of Slavery among them. . . " Charlest; on Furman, Richard. "Exposition of the Views of the Baptists relative to the Goloured Population in the United states, in a Communication to the Governor of South Carolina." Charleston, A. E. Miller. (Republished, 1833. ) "Practical Considerations founded on the Scriptures relative to the Slave Population of South Carolina. Respect fully dedicated to the South Carolina Association. " " Charleston, A. E. Miller. #Seabrook, Whitemarsh B. "A Concise View of the Critical situation and Future Prospects of the Slave-holding States, in Relation to their 6oloured Population. Read before the 'Agricultural Society of St. John's, Colleton, on the 14th of September, 1825 and published at their request." - Charlest on. (?) (discussed in Brown,"Notes on Slavery," 38 fif.) Brown, Edward. "Notes on the Origin and Necessity of glavery." Charleston, A. E. Miller. (P) "Vigornius. " "Essays on Slavery, republished from the Boston Recorder and Telegraph for 1825." Amherst, Magg. (contains anti-abolition letter of "A South Carolini- an" and Hieronymus' letters in favor of colonization.) Turnbull, Robert J. "The Crisis; or, Essays on the surpations of the Federal Government." Charleston, A. E. Miller. (P) ſingsley, 7.7 "A Treatise on the Patriarchal or Co- operative System of Society as it exists in some Govern- ments and Colonies in America and in the United States under the Name of Slavery, with its Necessity and Ad- vantages. By an Inhabitant of Florida. " * (second edition, 1833.) Brown, John Thompson. "Speech of J-- T-- B-- in the House of Delegate, of Virginia on the Abolition of Slavery. January 18, 1832. " . Richmond, T. W. White. (reprinted, 1860.) Q 3. ! { %22%. -- £200 Q4: | Leigh, Benjamin Watkins. "The Letter of Appomattox bo the People of Virginia ºhibiting a connected View of the Recent Proceedings in the House of Delegates on the subjetta of Abolition of slavery; and a succinct Accountbf the Doctrine s broached by the Friends of Abolition in De- bate; and the Mischievous Tendencies of those Proceedings and Doctrines. Richmond, T. W. White (v 2 2 % 1832. 1833. 1834. 183 A 1835. 1835 1835. 1836 1836. last. Dew, Thomas Roderick. "Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature, 1831-'33. " - Richmond, T. W. White. (Another edition, 1832. Republished, 1833, 1849, 1850, 1852, 1853, 1856. ) Colfax, R. H. "Evidence against the Views of the Aboli- tionists. " N.Y. (P) * "An Address on Slavery and against immediate Emanci- pation, with a plan of their being gradually emancipated and colonized in 32 Years. By a Citizen of New-York." N. Y. S. B. White | Seabrook, Whitemarsh Benjamin. "An Appeal to the People of the Northern and Eastern States on the Subject of Negro Slavery in South Carolina. By a South Carolinian." N. Y. * Flournoy, John Jacobus. "An Essay on the 61'igin, Habits, &c., of the African Race ; incidental to the Propriety off having nothing to do with Negroes; addressed to the Good people of the United States. " N.Y. Gobly, William J.] "Remarks upon Slavery; occasioned by Attempts to circulate improper Publication in the Southern States. By a Citizen of Georgia." Augusta, Ga. - (two editions.) "Mainly biblical." U.B.P. #Sullivan, T. R. "Letters against the Immediate Abolition of Slavery; addressed to the Fre a Blacks of the Non- Slaveholding States." Boston, Magg. (Union Theolog. Sem. N.Y. Thompson, George, and Breckinridge, Robert J. "Dis- Cu33ion on American 31 avery. " Boston, Mags. Isaäc Knapp, (M) (second American edition, "with not be by Mr. Garitison. " ) Breckinridge is no more than apologetic in his defence. Paulding, James Kirke. "Slavery in the United States." N. Y. Harper & Bros. Smylie, James. "A Review of a Letter from the Presbytery of Chillic othe to the Presbytery of Mississippi on the Subject of Slavery.” Woodville, Miss. 7. A. Norris& Co. "The South Windicated from the Trea 3 on and Fanaticism dif the Northern Abolitionist 3. " - Phila. H. Manly. (M) Bailey, Rufus W. "The Issue presented in a Series of Letters on Slavery. " N. Y. J. S. Taylor. (P) A weak presentation. g a 7 1837. 1837. 1837. 1838. 1838 1838. 1838. 1838. Beecher, Catherine E. "An Essay on Slavery and Aboli- tion with reference to the Duty of American Females. " Boston, Perkins & Marvin. **Bondage a Moral Institution, sanctioned by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and the Preaching and Practice of the Saviour and His Apost les. " º Griffin & Purge * F1 curnoy, John Jacobus. "Facts important to know res- pecting the Constitution of the Federal Government in a Religious View." Athens, Gä. "Go. Banner Cffice." Sé Guenebault, J. H. "Natural History of the Negro Race." Charleston. (?) * Burden, J.P. "Remarks of Dr. J. P. Burden in the Senate of Pennsylvania on the Abolition Question, Feb. 1338. " Phila. "Dem. Association." (L. C. P. ) "Notices harm caused by anti-slavery extravagances." - Turner. " Carey, John L. "Some Thoughts concerning Domestic Slavery in a Letter to ----- Esq., of Băltimore." Baltimore, J. N. Lewis. # Flournoy, John Jacobus. "A Reply to a Pamphlet entitled, * Bondage a Moral Institution, sanctioned by the Scriptures and the Saviour, etc. etc." so far as it attacks the Principle of Expulsion. With no Defence, however, of Abolitionism." Athens, Ga. Harper, William, "Memoir on Slavery read before the Society for the Advancement of Learning of South Carolina, at its Annual Meeting at Columbia, 1837." Charleston, J. S. Burges. ( republished, 1850, 1852, 1853, 1860. } Simms, William Gilmore. "The Morals of Slavery, Being a Brief Review of the Writings of Miss Märtineau and Other Persons on the Subject of Negro Slavery as it now exist 3 in the United 3t ates. " Charleston (filºt appeared in the Southern Literary ºessenger, 1837. Republished, 1853, 1853. ) * Sleigh, William Willcocks. "Abolition Exposed : Prºming that the Principles of Abolitionism are Injurious to the Slaves themselves. " Phila. D. Schenk. ſcolton, Calvin J "Abolitionism a Sedition." Phila. G. W. Donahue. (p) Thoroughgoing attack on ultra-abolition group. 1840. A ſer, Leander. * Slavery Consistent with Christianity ." Baltimore, Sherwood & Co. - (reprinted, 1842, 1853. ) 1840. "Slavery vs. The Bible: a Correspondence between the - General Conference of Maine and the Presbytery of Tom- beclbee, Mississippi. With a Brief Appendix by Cyrus P. Grosvener. " Worce ster, Spooner & Howland. (P) A clear and concise presentation of the "Bible Argument. " 1841. 4 "Debate on Slavery, at Boston, May, 1841, between Rev. Nathaniel Clover, of Boston and the Reverend Jonathan Davis, of Georgia." * / (?) 1841. ſt Speed, J. J. "Letter from a Gentleman in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Friend in New York on the Subject of 31 avery. " º (reprinted, 1842. ) 1841. St ringfellow, Thornton. "A Brief Examination of Scrip- - ture Testimony on the Institution of Slavery, in an Essay first published in the Religious Herald and republished by request ; with Remarks on a Review of the Eggay." - Richmond. "Office of Reſ., Herald." (at least five editions, 4th, 1856, '5th 1860 6th., 1861. ) 1841. Thornton, Thomas C. "An Inquiry into the History of Slavery; its Introduction into the United States, Causes 6f its Continuance, and Remarks upon the Abolition Tracts of William T. Channing, D. D." - Taghington, D. C. W. M. Morrison. 1841. * Walker, Robert James. "Argument of R--J-- ?--, esq. before the Supreme Court of the United States on the Mississippi Slave Question at January Term, 1841. " Phil.a. J. C. Clark. º Mc Caine, Alexander. "Slavery Dáčended from Scripture against the Attacks of the Abolitionists, in a Speech de- livered before the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, in Baltimore, 1842.” Baltimore, Wm. Wooddy. Commended by Calhoun. 1843. * Cartwright, Samuel A. "Essays, being Inductions drawn the Baconian Philospphy proving the Truth of the Bible and the Justice and Benevolence of the Decree dooming Canaan to be the Servant of Servants, and answering the Question of Voltaire : " On demande quel Droit des Etrangers tele que leg jūifs avaient sur le Pays de Canaan." In a Series of Letters to the Rev. William Winang. " - ("First published at Vidalia, opposite the city of Matchez, 1843." Republished, 1846. ) (B) 1843. Priest, Josiah. "Slavery as it relates to the Negro or African Race examined in the Light of Circumstances, History and the Toly Scriptures, with an Account of the Origin of the Black Man's Color, Causes of his Satte of Servitude and Traces of his Character as well in Ancient as in Modern Times, With Strictures on Abolitionism." &^%. It s > ) C. Van Benthuts e” & Co. Albany. (M) 2, 2 7 1844. 1844. 1844. 1845. 1845. 1845 1845. 1845 1845 1845. 1846. # England, John. "Letters of the late Bishop England to the ſt Hon. John Forsyth on the Subject of Domestic Slavery, to which are prefixed Copies, in Latin and English of the Pope's Apostolic Letter concerning the African Slave Trade, with some Introductory Remarks, etc." Baltimore, J. Murphy *Nott, Josiah CYark. "Two Lectures on the Natural History of the ‘Caucasian and Negro Races." Mobile . "slavery. A Treatise showing that Slavery is neither a Moral, Political nor Social Evil." A Baptist Minister. Penfield, Ga. Benj. Brantly (P) Not padºticularly original. Bascom, Henry Biddleman. "Methodism and Slavery, with other Matters in Controversy between the North and the South, being a Review of the Manifesto of the Majority in Reply to the Protest of the Minority of the Late General Conference of the Methodist Episcółoal Churdh in the, Case of Bishop Andrew. " Frankfort, Ky. Hodges, Todd & Pruet; t . Tommended by Clay and Talhoun. Carey, John L. *Slavery in Maryland briefly Considered. with a Preliminary Letter by Dr. Richard S. Stewart." - - Bält. J. Murphy. Dickson, Samuel Henry, "Essays on 31 avery." * (B) Wayland, Francis and Fuller, Richard. "Domestic Slavery considered as a Scriptural Institution, in a Correspondercºe between the Rev. Francis Tayland of Providence , R.I., and the Rev. Richard Fuller of Beaufort, G. C. " N. Y. Lewis Colby. [ayne Gridley J "Slavery in the south- A Review of Hammond' s and Fuller's Letters and Chancellor Harper's Memoir on that subject. From the October Number (#845) of the Sputhern Quarterly." Charleston, Walker & Rurke. Hamilton, 7. T . "The Duties of Master and Slave Respective- ly; or, Domestic Servitude as ganctioned by the Bible. " Mobúñe, F.H. Brooks. "ammond, James T. "Two Letters on Slavery in the United States. " Charleston, Allen, McCarter & Co. (two other editions in 1845. Republished 1849-50, 1852, 1853, 1857, 1860.) - Estes, Matthew. "A Defence of Negro Slavery as it exists in the United States. " - (P) Montgomery, Ala. Press of Ala. Journal. 2 30 1847. 1847 1848. 1848 1849 1849. 1850. 1850. 1850. ſ: #. * Carey, John L. "Slavery and the Wilmot Proviso. " Baltimore. (B) Blanchard, J, and Rice, N. L. "A Debate on Slavery, held in the City of Cincinnati. " Cincin. Wm H. Moore & Co. Like most of these debates, this contains too muuch 'pot and kett le" argument. ſilongstreet, Augustus B. "A Voice from the South, com- prising Letters from Georgia to Massachusetts, etc." Balt, . S. E. Smith. - ("Eightth Edition." Rone earlier than 1848.) "evere treatment of abolitionism. "Report on Slavery." (By a committee appointed by --- Synod at Columbia in 1847.) } (P) Ewart, David. "A Scriptural View of the Moral Relations of American Slavery." Charrlest on(?) - (v) (Second ed. 1859. ) Fisher, Elwood. "Lecture on the North and the South, delivered before the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association of Cincinaati, Ohio. " - Cincin. Daily Chronicle Press. Bryan, Edward B "The Rightful Remedy. Addressed to the Slaveholder 3 of the South. " ("Published for the Southern Rights Association") Charleston, Walker & James. Though not primarily defence of slavery, contains material on the topic. Christy, David. "A Le cture on the Present Relations of Free labor to Slave Labor in Tropical and Semi-trppical Countries, presenting an Outline of the Commercial Failure of West India Emancipation, and its Effects upon Slavery and the Slave Trade, together, with its final Effects upon Colonization to Africa. Addressed to the Constitutional Convention of the State of Ohio, 1850. " Cincin. J. A. & W. P. ſaraes . Garnett, R.H.] "The Union, Past and Present. How it Works and how to save it. “ Washington, J. H. Towers. (Also published at Charleston and in De Bow's Review.) Similar to Fisher's pamphlet. Stiles, Joseph C. "Speech on the Slavery Resolutions, delivered in the General Assembly which met in Detroit in May last. " "ashington, J. Towers. Mildly anti-abolition. 2 */ 1850. 1850. 1850. 1851, 1851. 1851. 1851. 1851. # * # stockton, Robert Field. "Letter of Commodore Stockton on the Slavery Question. " N. Y. S. ºf Benedict (P) Anti-abolition and defends slavery on biblical grounds. Stuart, Moses. #Conscience and the Constitution, with remarks on the Recent Speech of the Hon? Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United states on the Subject of Slavery. " Boston, Crocker & Brewster. Defence of Webster's positions in the 7th of March Speech. Anti-abolition in tone. Thornwell, James Henley. "The Rights and Duties of Masters . . . " Charleston, Walker & James. Trescott, William H. "The Position and Course of the South. " Charleston, Walker & James. Not primarily a defence but contains clear statement of the attitude of the South at a later time. Fitzhugh, George. "Slavery Justified. By a Southerner." - Fredericksburg, Va. (N.Y.) (reprinted as appendix in the "Socielogy". ) Boardman, Henry. "The American Union, etc." Phila. Lippincott, Grambo & Co. Approval of fugitive slave law and strictures on abolitionism. Campbell, John. "Negro-Mania, being an Examination of of the Falsely Assumed Equality of the Various Races of Men. ” Phila. Campbell & Power. * A Defence of Southern Slavery against the Attacks of Henry Clay and Alexander Campbell. In which much & f the False Philanthropy and Mawkish Sentimentality of the Abol- itionist s in met and refuted. In which it is bioreover shown that the Association of the White and Black Races in the Relation of Master and Slave is the Appointed Crder/of God as set forth in the Bible and constitutes the best Social Condition of both Races and the only true Principle of Republicanism." Hamburg, S. C. Robinson & Carlisle. Contains the usual material. Fuller, Rev. Richard. "Our duty to the African Race. An Address. . . January 25, 1851. " - Balt. W. M. Innes. "Slavery-Justification"- Lib. Cong. card. Hopkins, John Henry. "Slavery: its Religious Sanction, its Political Dangers and the Best Mode of doing it away. A Lecture delivered before the Young Mens' Association of the City of Buffalo and Lockport , on Friday, Jan. 10, and Monday, Jan. 13, 1851. " Buffalo, Phimney & Co. 2 3 2 1851. 1851. 1851. 1851. 185?. 1852. 1852. 1852. 1852. 1852. 1852 Af McTyeire, Holland Nimmons. "Duties of Masters and Servants. " Charlest on, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Results of the Anti-Slavery Agitätion, with a View at the Prospect before us. BYy a Citizen of Alabama. Part I. " - Mobile, Dade, Thompson & Co. "Is Southern Civilization worth Preserviñg?" Charleston, So. Right s A3 3. Contains valuable data on conservative defence. ( In So. Qtly Rev. Jan. '51. ) Taylor, Thomas J. "Essay on Slavery as connected with the Moral and Providential Government of God, and as an Element of Church Organization. With Miscellaneous Reflections on the Subject of Slavery." N. Y. For the author. Brown, W. S. "Strictures on Abolitionism. " For the Author, Glasgow, Ky. (M) (Brown republished Priest's assay and added this material.) - Advocates natio3%l colonization of free blacks. Chiefly scriptural. Collins, Robert. "Essay on the Treatment and Management of Slaves. Written for the 3eventh Annual Fair of the Southern Central Agricultural Society...October, 1852." B. F. Griffin, Macon, Ga. Fletcher, Hohn. "Studies on Slavery in Easy Lessons. Compiled into eight Studies and subdivided into Short Lessons for the Convenience of the Readers. " - Natchez, Miss. Jackson "arner. Peterson, T . B. "The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters. By J. Thornton Randolph". (pseud.) - Phila. T. B. Peterson. An at idote to "Uncle Tom' s Cabin?" Pringle, Edward J. "Slavery in the Southern States." * Cambridge, Mass. J. Bartlett. (ayleast three editions.) A very good brief essay in reply to "Uncle Tom's Cabin. " "The Pro-Slavery Argument; as maintained by the most Distinguished Writers of the Southern States, containing + the Several Essays on the Subject, of Chancellor Harper, Governor Hammond, Dr. Simms and Professor Dew. " Charlest on, Walker, Richards & Co. (republished, 1853.) Schoolcraft, Mrs. H. R. (Mary Howard.) "Letters on the Condition of the African Race in the United States. " º 1853. 1853. 1853. 1854. 1854. Brown, David. “The Planter; or, Thirteen Years in the South." Phila. H. Hooker. (M) "Pro-Slavery novel. " # Page, John 7. "Uncle Robin in his Cabin in Virginia and Tom Without one in Boston. " Richmond J. W. Randolph. Reply to Mrs. Stowe? Toombs, Robert A. "An Oration. . . Slavery in the United States, etc." Augusta, Ga. (B) (game speech reprinted 1856.) ^ogent but not startling. Chase, Lucien B. "English Seffdom and American Slavery; or, Curselves - as Cther's see us. "The Celebrated say- ing of Sir Richard Fletcher, uttered more than two hundred years ago, "Let me write the ballads for a people, and I, care not who make the laws, " Tmight be transposed by saying, - "Let me writs to fictions for a people, and I care not who make the speeches. "TNational Intelligencer." N. Y. H. Long & Bro. Reply in kind to "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Dewees, Jacob." "The Gre at Future of America and Africa; An Essay showing Our Whole Duty to the Black Man, consistent with our own Safety and Glory." Phila. H. Orr. (P) An anti-abolitionist , colonizationist appeal. Fitzhugh, George. "Sociology for the South, or the Failure of Free Society." - Richmond. A. Morri 3. Hughes, Henry. "A Treatise on Sociology, Therºetical and Applied." Washington, Taylor & Maury. Juge, M. A., "The American Planter; or, the Bound Labor Inºest ºff the United states." N. Y. Long & Bro. Lord, Nathan. "A Letter of Inquiry to Ministers of the Gospel of all De nominations on Slavery." Boston, Fet ridge & Co. (Lib. Cong. card says, published 1850.) MacCord, David James. Africans at Home. Charlest on (B) Channon, James. "The Philosophy of Slavery as identified with the Philosophy of Human Happiness. An Essay." Cincin. Biblical defence. 1854. 1855. 1855. 1855. 1855. 1855. 1855. 1855. 1856. 1856. # String fellow, Benjamin Franklin, "Negro-Slavery no Evil; or, the North and the South. . . considered in a R eport made to the Platte County Self-Defensive Association by a Committee, through B. F. Stringfellow, Chairman. " St. Louis (N.Y.) ^hristy, David. "Cotton is King; or, the Culture of Cotton and its Relation to Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce, to the Free 6olored People, and th those who hold that Slavery is in itself 3inful." Cincin. Moore, Wilst ach, Keys & Co. (Republished, 1857, 1860. ) Adams, Nehemiah. "A South-Side View of Slavery; or, Three Months at the South in 1854. " - ("third ed.") Richmond, Va. A Morris. Grayson, Wºng. "The Hire ling and the Slave." (second ed.) Charleston, J Russell (P) Lord, Nathan. "A Northern Presbyter's Second Letter to Ministers of the Gospel of all De nominations on Slavery. " Boston, Littie, Brown & Co. Rice, Nathan Lewis. "Ten Letters on the Subject of Slavery Addressed to the Delegates from the Congregation- al Associations to the last General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. " St. Lothis Keith, Woods & Co. (P) One of several such tract 3 by this anti-abolition writer. - * Ghannon, Jame a J "An Address delivered before the Pro- Slavery Convention of the State of Missouri held in Lex- ington, July 13, 1855, on Domestic Slavery as examined in the Light of Scripture, of Natural Rights, of Civil Goverminent and the Constitutional Power of Congress. published by Order of the Convention." St. Louis. Repub. Book & Job Office . "Slavery Indispensible to the Civilization of Africa. " Balt. J. D. Toy. - (another edition, 1855?) Bledsoe, Albert Tayler. "Aw Essay on Liberty and *lavery. " Phila. J. B. Lippincott & Co. ( republished, 1860. ) Cobb., Howell. "A Scriptural Examination of the Institution m of Slavery in the United States, with its object a and Purposes." Perry, Ga. "Printed for the Author. " "Slavery - Justification.” – Lib. Cong. card. This is not Howell Cobb, the prominent politician. ſº Stephen] "The South, a Letter from, Friend in the North, . . ." Phila. C. §§erman & Son. Anti-Abolitioh. 1856. 1856. 1856. 1856. 1856 1856 1857. 1857. 1857. 1857. 1857 2 3 3 ~ * (gates, Matthew, "Tit for Tat. A Novel. By a Lady of New Orleans. " N.Y. Garrett & Co. "A Reply to Dred." - Lib. Cong. card. Jagger, William. "To the People of Suffolk County. Information acquired from the Best Authority with Respect to the Institution of Slavery. " - N. Y. R. Craighead. - (N.Y.) Ungrammatical but illuminating testimony. McMichael, William. "Slavery and its Remedy." - Pittsburgh, J. S. Davison. (P) Anti-abolition. Nott, Samuel. "Slavery and the Remedy; or, Principles and Suggestions for a Remedial Code." Boston, Crocker & Brewster. (several editions.) Mitigation of the non-essential evils is his remedy. Smith, William Andrew. "Lectures on the Philosophy and Practice of Slavery, as exhibited in the Institution of the Domestic Slavery in the United States, with the Duties of Masters to Slaves." Nashville , ºt;3 venson & Evans. * White Acre vs. Black Agre. By J. G. Esq. a Retired Barrister of Lincolnshire, England." Richmond, J. W. Randolph. (M) A curious allegory carrying the story down to the struggle over the Compromise of 1850. Armstrong, George D. "The Christian Doctrine of Slavery. " N. Y. Ch. Scribner. Fitzhugh, George. "Cannibals All: or, Slaves without Mast; ers. " Richmond, A. Morris. (P) * Middleton, Henry. "Economical Causes of Slavery in the United States and Obs;tacle 3 to Abolition. " London, Eng. R. Hardwicke. (?) Davidson: "He has given us one of the purest arguments that our literature has upon that peculiarly difficult subject." "C. C. " "Letters from the South on Northern and Southern Views respecting Slavery and the American Tract Society." (First published in Bogton Courier.) Boston, Crocker & Brewster. (P) Sł Park, John T. "An Address on African Slavery delivered before the Greenville, (Ga.) Male Academy at their Annihal Examination on the 14th. July, 1857." Atlanta (R) "An apology of no particular strength."- U. B. P. 1857. # "A Report and Treatise on Slavery and the Slavery Agita- tation. Printed by Order of the House of Representatives of Texas, December, 1857." Austin, Texas. (?) 1857 "Report of the Special Committee of the House of Represent- - - - atives of South Carolinańn...the Message of... Governor James H. Adams as . . . to Slavery and the Slave Trade. " Columbia. "Carolina Times . " (P) Representative of such reports. Denunciation of abolition men and measures, chiefly. 1857. Ross, Frederick A. "Slavery ordained of God." Phila. J. B. Lippincott & Co. (M) 1857. Ross, Frederick A. "Position of the southern Church in Relation to slavery. " N. Y. J. H. Gray. 1857. " Sloan, Tareg A. "The Great Question; or, Is Slavery a Sin in itself (per se?) answered according to the Teaching of the scriptures." - Memphis, Hutton, Galloway & Co. "In part a criticism of Dr. Wayland's Moral Science.” – Tib. Cong. card. 1857. stiles, Rev. Joseph C. "Modern Reform Examined; or, the Union of the North and South on the Subject of slavery: " Phila. J. B. Lippincott & Co. ()) 1858. * Armstrong, Geo., and Van Renaelaer, C. "A Tiscussion on -- Slaveholding. *hree Letters. . . Three Replies. . . " Phila. - 1858. Rrownlow, W. C., and Pryne, A. "Ought American Slavery to be Perpetuated? A Debate between Rev. W. G. Brownlow and Rev. A Pryne held at Philadelphia, September, 1858." Phila. J. B. Lippincott & Co. . ()) Marred by personalities. - 1858. Cobb, Thomas Reade Roots. "An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the United States of America. To which is prefixed an Historical Sketch of Slavery." Phila. T. & J. W. Johnson & Co. Good material in the historical sketch. 1858. Fielder, Herbert. "The Disunionist." (P) Atlanta (?) "Printed for the Author. " Contains chapters on "Anti-Slavery Aggressions" and "African Slavery. " 1858. Sawyer, Ceorge S. "Southern Institutes, or, an Inquiry into the Origin and early Development of Slavery and the Slave Trade, with an Analysis of the Laws, History and Covernment of the Institution in the Principal Nations, Ancient and Mºdern, from the Earliet Ages, down to the present Time." phila. J. B. Lippincott & Co. 2 37 1858. 1859. * Hughes, Henry. "A Report on the African Apprentice Spratt, L. W. "The Foreign Slave Trade the Source of Political Power - of Material Progress, of Social In- tegrity and of Social Emancipait on to the South." - Charlest on, Walker, Evans & Co. (P) Many such article 5 in De Bow 3 in 1857-'58. System. " * (?) 1859. 4 McTyeire, Hollan Nimmons. "Tutieg of Christian Masters. " Nashville. (R) 1859. 1859. 1859 (?) 1859 (?) 1860 1860 (earlier edition greatly modifed and enlarged. ) Pollard, Edward A. " The Southern Spy; or, Curiousities of Negro Slavery in the South." - Washington (?) ( republished in '59 and '60 as "Black Diamonds gathered in the Darkey Homes of the South: ) Presents the institution in a very favorable light. * Reeder, Robert S. "A Letter...on the Colored Population and Slavery. " Port Tobacco, Md. E. Wells. (P) Advocates expulsion or reenslavement of free blacks. Ruffin, Edmund. "African Colonization Unveiled." Washington, L. Towers. - (first published De Bow 's Review.) Ruffin, Edmund. "The Political Economy of Slavery; or, the Institution considered in Regard to its Influence on Public Wealth and General Welfare. " Washington, L. Towers Valuable for the position of an advanced "positive good" man. "African Servitude : Then, Why, and by Who. Instituted. By Whom and how long shall it be maintained?" My Y. Davies & Kent. (P) Bell, Marcus A. "Measage of Love. South-side View of , Cotton is King, and the Philosophy of African Slavery. Atlanta, "Daily Locomotive Office. * De Bow, James D B "The Interest in Slavery of the Southern Non-Slaveholder. " - Charleston, "1360 Association." (P) An Attempt to counteract Helper. Elliott, E. N. "Cotton is King and Pro-Slavery Arguments, comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe and Cartwright on this Important Subject. With an Essay on Slavery in the Light of International Law by the Editor. " Augusta, Pritchard Abbott & Loomis. 1860. * Fianders, Mrs. G. M.] The Ebony Idol." N. Y. D. Appleton & Co. (B) "Conception much better than execution. "- So. Lit. Mes. a 2 & 1860. 4 Hoit, True Worthy. "The Right of American Slavery. Southern and West ern Edition. " St. Louis), L. Bushnell "An elaborate vindication" - D. B. Rev. 1866. Hundley, Daniel Robinson. "Social Relations in our Southern States. " M. Y. H. R. Price. (P) 1860 * Leatherman, P. R. "Elements of Moral Science. * Phila. Jo 8 . Challon & Song (?) One of several designed to serve as schoolbooks and to offeet Wayland's text. . 1860. * c 'Conor, Charles. "Negro Slavery not Unjust." N. Y. Van Evrie, Horton & Co. (B) 186C Palmer, Benjamin Morgan, and Leacock, 7 T. "The Rights of the South defended in the Pulpit 3." (Thanksgiving Germons defending slavery.) Mobile, J. Y. Thompson. (p) Palmer's address was republished several times. 1860. A "R., H.O." "The Governing Race, a Book for the Time, - and for all Tirreg. " Washington T. McGill. "Defends African slavery on scriptural grounds. "-L. C. 1860. # Rivers, R. H. "Elements of Moral Philosophy." º (?) "Gives a full and correct view of the slavery question. " - D B. Rev. 1860. ſºccabe, James D. Jr..] "Fanaticism and its Results, by a Southerner. " Balt. J. Addison. (?) Ritter condemnation of abolition movement. 1860. Townsend, Jogn. "The Doom of Slavery in the Union, its Safety out of it." - Charleston, Evans & Cagswell. Chiefly political. 1860. van Dyke, Henry Jackson. "The Character and Influence of Abolitionism." N. Y. D. ºpplet; on. 6 ºth of the best of such addresses. 186 C. Wolfe, Samuel M. "Helper's Impending Crisis Bissected." Phila. J. T. Lloyd. - 1861. * Adams, Nehemiah. "The Sable Cloud, A Southern Tale with Northern Comment 3. " Boston, Ticknor & Fields. 1861. # Berry, Harrison. "Slavery and Abolitionism as viewed by a Georgia Slave." - Atlanta, Ga. (N.Y.) An interesting curiocsity, not particularly original. 2 3 7 1861. 1861. 1861. 1861. 1861. 1867 1861. 1861 . 1861. 1861. 1861. 186°. Hopkins, John Henry. "Bible View of Slavery." º (reprinted in full in Hopkins' later volume.) * Jones, John Richter. "Slavery sanctioned by the Bible. First part of a General Treatise on the Slavery Question." Phila. J. B. Lippincott & Co. peissner, Elias. "The American Question in its National Aspect. Being also an Incidental Reply to Mr. H. R. Helper's "Compendium of the Impending Crisis of the South. " " M. Y. H.H. Lloyd & Co. ! schoolcraft, Mrs. H. R. "The Black Gauntlet : a Tale of plantation Life in South Carolina. " º Seabury, Samuel. "Americaſ, Slavery distinguished from the Slavery of the English Theorists and Justified by the Law of Nature. " - ** N. Y. Mason Broº. "southern Slavery Considered upon General Principles; or, a Grapple with Abstractionists. By a North Carolinian." - N. Y. D. Murphy & Son. "Slavery - Justification".-Lib. Cong . Card. Thornwell, James Henley. "The State,6f the Country: an Article republished from the Southern Presbyterian Review. " Columbia, So. Guardian Press Thrasher, T. B. "Slavery a Divine Institution: a Speech made before the Breckinridge and Lane Club, November 5, 1860. " º (Peabody Library. ) "It exhausts the Bible argument on the subject." ~ D B. Be Trotter, William R. "A History and Defence of African *Iavery." (Quitman, Miss 7) for the author. "Eulogy of plantation regime, elaboration of the obvious, and recital of platitudes." U.B.P. Van Evrie, John H. "Negroes and Negroe Slavery: The First and Inferior Race ; the Latter it 3 Normal Condition. " N. Y. Van Evrie Horton & Co. (the first chapter hagi been printed in pamphlet form under practically this title in 1853 and 1854.) "ilson, Joseph R. "Mutual Relation of Master and Slave, as taught in the Bible. A Discourse preached at Augusta Georgia, January 6, 1861. " Augusta, Chronicle ºffice. (B) A. Epping, Johann Pter Martin. "The Civil War and Negro Slavery in the United States of America. A Proposition for a Rational Solution of the Slavery Question as the Means for restoring Peace and Harmony to the Country." Gothenburg, The Handels-Tidningens Bolag. (M) (Printed as a confidential manuscript copy. ) Want a 'bondage" with fixed hours for labor, etc. substituted for 'slavery." Not particularly valuable. 1862. 1862. 1863. 1863. 1863. 1867. 1863. 1864. 1864. 1864. it Gran Evrie, John H.] "Free Negroism; or, the Results of Emancipation in the North and the West Indies Is- lands. Idleness of the Negro, his Return to Savageism, and the Effect of Emancipation upon the Laboring Classes." N. Y. Van Evrie, Horton & Co. (second edition, 1866. ) MacMahon, Thomas ". "Cause and Contrast : an Essay on “the American Crisi 3. " Richmond, West & Johnston. (P) Not original. Smith, Jeremiah, and Butler, Ovid. "Is Slavery Sinful? Being Partial Discussions on the Proposition between Cvid Butler, Bishop at Indianapolis and Hon. Jeremiah Smith and Other 3. . . . " Indianapolis, H. T. Dodd & Co. Christy, David. "Pulpit Politics; or, Ecclesiastical Legislation on Slavery in its Disturbing Influences on the American Union." - (5th. ed.) Cincin. Faran & McLean. (M) Largely an elaboration of the theme of the "Cotton is King, " with strictures on clerical abolitionist s. * A Letter from an Elder in an Old School Presbyterian ^hurch to his Son at College. . . " - N. Y. "A Defence of slavery on scriptural grounds. "-L. T. card. Tyson, Bryan. "The Institution of Slavery in the Southern States Religiously and Morally Considered in Connection with our Sectional Troubles." - Washington, H. Polkinhorn. Theat, M. T. "The Progress and Intelligence of Americans. Collat eral Proof of $1avery from Genesis as founded on Organic Laws and from the Fact Č6) Christ being a Caucassion, owing to his peculiar Parent age. Progress of Slavery South. . . " Louisville. ( J. Creaar. ) The book is about as lucid as it 3 title. In a confused way, ſhe at follows Van Evrie's lead. Hopkins, John Henry. "A Scriptural, Ecclesiastical and Historical View of Slavery from the Days of the Patriarch Abraham to the Nineteenth Century. " N. Y. W. I. Pooley & Co. Hunt, James. "The Negro's Place in Nature. A Paper read be fore the London Anthropological Society." N. Y. Van Evrie, Horton & Co. (another edition, 1866. ) Warren, E. W. "Nellie Norton: or, Southern Slavery and the Slavery. . . . A Scriptural Refutation of the Principaş Arguments upon with the Abolitionists rely. A Windivation of Southern Slavery from the Old and New Testaments." Mâcon, Ga. (?) "A pro-slavery, moral and social novel. " - Davidson. 1865. 4 Caldwell, John H. "Slavery and Southern Methodism. Ywo Sermons preached in Newman, Georgia." (Newman, Ga. ?) For the author. 1865. # Robinson, Stuart. "Slavery and the Mosaic Law. " * (B) 1266. [van Evrie, John E. "Subgenation: the Theory of the Nor- - mal Relation of the Races; an Answer to ‘Miscegenation. " " N. Y. Van Evrie, Horton & Co. (an edition in 1864. ) 1867. Dabney, Robert Lewis. "A Defence of Virginia (and through her of the South), in Recent and Pending Contests against the Sectioaal Party. " N. Y. E. J. Hale & Son. 1868. "Tan Evrie, John H. "White Supremacy and Negro Subordination; - Negroes a subordinate Race and (so-called) Slavery its Normal Condition." - N. Y. Van Evrie, Horton & Co. Tiffers chiefly in title from the earlier, "Negroeg and Hegro Slavery." Fé riodicals. 1835 - 1864. The Southern Literary Messenger. Richmond. - (M) A veritable mine of information on this topic and allied on 33. 1846 - 1861 De Bow 3 Reviewſ . . In some respects more valuable even than the Messenger. / º żz - /93 5. The Southern Quarterly Reviey. The most substantial of all antbellum southern period- icals. Contains a number of first-class articles. Russell's Magazine. / £3°7 – / 86 o The short-lived successor of the ſquarterly Review and almost as valuable. *- -- - RULES COVERING USE OF MANUSCRIPT THESES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARY AND THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OFFICE Unpublished theses submitted for the doctor's degrees and deposited in the University of Michigan Library and in the Office of the Graduate School are open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. 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