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    Qct. 1-3, I860] The Saturday'Analyst and...

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    AMERICAN SLAVE STATES.* rr^I IK approach...

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    *A Jimi'iity ii\ the find' ('mmtry. Hy V...

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    Inductive Psychology.* "V^Te Usl; The ' ...

    to do so , consiilt- 'fresh evidence ; but it is as absurd to say that this is altering our belief by our will , as to say that we set a house oil iiro . with-our will , when .-in consequence of having- willed to do so , we set it alight with a torch . That we cannot make that course of conduct appear preferable which . relatively ' to us appears the reverse of preferable , and vice verm ;¦ this great truth in its ultimate logical application utterly overturns the revolting- doctrine that punishment should "he vindictive and expiatory instead of reformatory and preventive . That luiman nature is indefinitely modifiable ; that is , we cannot fix a limit . to the decree of goodness , virtue , ability , intellectual power , and moral excellence , on the one hand ; and depravity , ignorance , and degradation , moral and intellectual ,.-on-the other , to v . hieh mail may be brought by appropriate influences and conditions being-. ; made to operate upon him ; this shows that man . hi the mass c-aii be made enlightened and virtuous r . s surely as we can make him an , army ; or a profession , as the lawyer , doctors , clergy ? or a trade ,. a . s the carpenter , farmer , < £ c : ail these classes , all these examples ¦ of-agr / Fegafe man being exactly what the influences and conditions operating upon them have made them . That the more the psychical powers are . perfected , the . higheivtlie deg-ree of intellectual and moral development , the greater is thetendency to do thing's from the simple consideration that , they are fit and proper to be done , without the dread of punishment for not doing them ; this shows that man may be brought to do . things spontaneously anil . disinterestedly from perfected moral tendency , when his properly-cultivated reason sees they ; ought to be . done . —That things done as the means to an end are at last don . ei for their own sake , from habit ; this shows that properly-trained human agents may be made moral and virtuous from fixed inirradicable habit ; that , in short , we can manufacture moral arid virtuous wia ' siss ' s of mankind , by bringing * the requisite , influences and conditions to -boar . upon them , as y / e , are now manufacturing " dangerous classes " in our large cities by the hundred thousand , ignorance and want being among' the principal , influences and conditions employed for that purpose . -What is called the . " law of association , " is too well known to need repotition here ; it will be found in every text-book on the suhject . ] £ ut our space is filled , and we must conclude , ' merely iridirating that the point upon which our results converge is that of limr . rm perfectibility . '

    Qct. 1-3, I860] The Saturday'analyst And...

    Qct . 1-3 , I 860 ] The Saturday'Analyst andLeader . 865

    American Slave States.* Rr^I Ik Approach...

    AMERICAN SLAVE STATES . * rr ^ I IK approaching election of the President serves to intensify ' JL the subject of Slave-labour in rlie south of America . The more reflective lpok a-liead to the : corning civil contest with ft'hrful or hopeful apprehension , siccordihg to their creed or supposed interest . The South is still under the delusion that Slave-labour is beneficial to thq master . Mr . Olrnsted , who has alread y written two volumes on the subject , and well considered it in all its aspects , has arrived at a very different conclusion . There are also , he says , moral forces at work , as irresistible as the laws of climate , which prevent the masterderiving any advantage from the Slave-system .. The present state of the South is deplorable , both for the slave and bis tyrant , arid operates in a worse manner for the latter than the former . It is seldom that a slaveowner ' s estate reniftins long in the same family . The sons are " generally fools andprofligates , and soon run through the-property . The reaction upon the overseers is equally bad , It makes them callous to conscientious . impression . The ' whip is in constant use . Alas ! poor negroes ! ¦ Our author said to one . of their drivers , "It must bo very disagreeable to have to punjsh them as much as you do . " " Yes , " , was his reply i ' ¦ ' it would be to those who are not used to it , but it is iny business , and I think nothing of it . Why , sir , I wouldn't mind : killing a nigger more than I would a dog , ' Hq was then asked if ho had ever killed a negro P " Not quite , " he said , " but overseers were often obliged to . Some negroes are determined never to lot a white man whip them , and will resist you when you attempt it ; of course you must kill tliQin in that case , " Thus tho attempt to treat the ncgro ' as a quasi brute mnlces a real brute of the white man . The cruelty engendered by this system as detail e d in these pages , and of wJtich tJto aut / iofy Vtvr . v a witness , are heart-sickening 1 , A disgusting state of immorality ensues . Fornication and adultery abound— -but are not punished , unless they lead to quarrelling 1 — whon the overseer will order nil four offenders to be " well-hidod . " Many a purely white woman i . s retained on theplantationsns a slave . Tho following passage on religion deserves citation in avtensu , " Being ' with ' . the proprietor and tho manager together , 1 asked about the rolipyious condition of tho slavos , There wero ? preachers ' on tho plantations , and they had some religious observances on a Wunda , v j but thepreachers were tho worst characters among them , and , they thought , only made their religion a clonk for habits of especial depravity , t ¦ They were , at all events , tho most deceit Ail and dishonor slaves on tho plantation , aiul oftoncsfc roquirod puii- I ishment . Tlio negroes of all denominations , ond oven thono who ! ordinarily made no religious pretensions , would' join together in j exciting religious observances , ThewQ gontlcmou considered the religious oxeroiscn of the negroes to bo pimilnr , in their , intellectual and moral ' character , to tho Indian frusta and . Wniwlnncort , and UM not cnoourupjo thorn . Noithor did they lllcp to have white mcu pronch on tho cwtnto ; and in iuturo they did not intend to permit ' !

    them to do so . It excited the negroes so much as to greatly inter fere with the subordination and order v . hich were necessary to obtain the profitable use of their labour . . They would be singing j and dancing every night in their cabin- ; , till dawn of day , and i utterly unfit themselves for work . 1 remarked that I had been I . told that a religious negro was considered to be worth a third more , ; because of his greater honesty arid steadiness-. ' Quite the contrary , ' ! they . both assured me , for a religious negro generally made trouble , ti'id tho ^ - were g-lad to get rid of him . " ; The disgusting efforts lately made by Professor Oarhvright and I others , to raise a modico-theological theory in support of negro or j Oanap . niti . sh slavery , ai * e exposed by IVir . Olmsted with wellj deserved ridicule and emphasis . As to a proper religious education I of the nogro , the Southern planter does not desire it . I Mr . Oimsted Judiciously remarks that an important secondary i effect , results from the habitual caution imposed on the clergy and i public 'teachers ' , in regard to the negroes—an cilect siinilar to that i usually attrihated hy Protestants to . Papacy , and which wofully ! aftects the education of the white race . It has an eflec ' t r . ot only ' ! on the minds of the slave , but on -the minds of all the 2 'eop le , and j discountenances'and retards ' the free and fearless exercise of the i mind in general upon ' stibject . s of a roligiout or ethical nature . In a I word , the necessity of accepting and apulog'ising for the exceeding j low niorjuity of the nominally religious slaves , together with the j . familiarity with this . inim ' orali-ty ¦ . which all classes acquire , renders I the-existence of a ' very elevated standard of in orals among the whites almost an impossibility . . There—the truth is out at lust . It is not for the blacks , but the i whites that we need to plead . It -is theemancipation of the latter I from the brutality and immorality that the ' system forces on them , : that we really invoke . These arc the poor wretches whom we pity , : who . for the sake of a property that perishes at their touch , sacrifice "> r all that is dear to humanity—their present virtue and their eternal j . happiness . Away with exclusive sympathy for the poor enslaved ; negro ! Our sympathy remains . with . the white '¦ man whose soul is I in bondage to the necessity of a false position /;' . who . ¦ ' pays for ; his .. I painful masteiy over the African captive , alltlmt ennobles him as a . ! man , his own . relf-r ' espect and the rcsppct of others ; who degrades i himself to an immoral beast , malyes a brothel of . his estate for his ; sons , and dooms lmnself and them to a brief smd infamous life . Who would not weep for ' . criminals . . sxicl-i as these ? For wretches whose , wealth , perverted from its right use , tempts , them to the commis-¦ sion of every sin , protects them in a career of vice , in , justice , and j cruelty , and subjects thein to the derision of infernal powers , who j ' present them with Dead Sea apples as the sole fruit . '' of their misi taken activity , and crown . them . 'as .-the slave ' s masters with a withered wreath 'dripping , with ordure P Dante , in his Inferno , never drew a more horrible portrait than the planter of the South . presents . And yet there are some who would argue for the extension of this Odious system ! After reading JVJr , Olmsted ' s book , surely the scales will fall front their eyes . Here he brings before them the practical , workings of the system—a system which , as lie says , is not simply slavery , but slavery of a peculiar kind—such , in fact , as exists alone in the American ' republic . . He properly includes under the term ¦ th e . various laws , habits , political and social customs , which aro designed to secure its inviolability and perpetuity , and by which any modifieation , improvement , or ' different arrangement is resisted . Naturo protests against the . enlargement of this monstrous mis ? . constitution ... of things . The continual and rapid territorial dispersion of the slavo-holding community is the fact of tlio . day . Such community proves to be a very loo « oly organised one . In Virginia , itself , an essentially frontier condition still prevails . " Beasts and birds of prey , forests and marches , " our author states , " are increasing ; bridges , schools , clmrchos ana shops .-diiTiinishing in luunbor , where slavery has existed longest , The habits of the people correspond . " Not even tho desolation that has fallen upon the Ilom ' an States exceeds that which surrounds the . slavo * liolding of the South in tl \ o New World . . Its . operation upon tho white mim is in every respceVinnloficent ., It makes ] iim-m . oro lazy than tho oppressed jicsgro . It . induces him to look on hoiiourablo labour as a degradation , It coasea to be to luni tho stepping stono from poverty and mediocrity , ' to comfort and a position of . usefulness ; and is regardi'd us a brand of oliiamo which'thp poorest wliite considers . inoro grievous than thp pangs of want and wrotchcchjOMs . Industrious whito men in tho South are Iherefovo rare . ' " Awieviean sluvery , as nt present advocated , Ainoricnn slavery , a « it is desired to bo perpetuated , nourished , protccitod , and extended , luw" ( fayn Mr . OJmntod ) " an inllueneo far more cruel , more utrpu ' iiously ropresMVVo upon the mass of free (• ittacmi than nluvyry ebsewhere over did ; than slavery in itself at nil noedrt to havo ; tlmn , with all possible safety , with all reasonable prolitnblohcttfl to tho owners of slaves , it is jay judgment that it ncodii to have . " The system is , in fact , like tho weorpion ringed with fliv , ovon now in the act of coinnn ' tting suicide . It cannot hist much longer . Monmyhilu , soo ita roRults in the tniuforiniition of character , iho ruling oliiivnctovintio of the Wouthoriior i » " < h » intensity of impiilHe . - ~ wJH \ iluoHrt . Mvory -wIhIi of the Muiilhernty l «« , for ., tho inomont at . hn » i , moro iuuwrativo than that oi'tho Is ' urlliornor , ovory boMot more uiuloubl'iM , ovory Imto moro vein ^ 'lii ) , ewry lovu miw'o ilc'ry . Homo , for instance , tho KoandalaiiH / iuiul-lilctf Mtroc't il { , "htH of . the . Smith , " Our authovvn'occcdn Utptlxo forvil / lo psumnloH . WoJoave . thorn to the imnu-inulfan pi' tho rvutlur . lie will , with uh , rojowo »» tho oxpootation that ihiti ouvso of tho earth w evidently ( loomed and hjiMeMiihy to itniipiwhtlod torinimitjon .

    *A Jimi'iity Ii\ The Find' ('Mmtry. Hy V...

    * A Jimi'iity ii \ the find' (' mmtry . Hy Vvm ^ vWU l . mv ( jlmqioii . (^ ninpt'ou , l . owj Wnn ^ Co , ) t "Tlio Ijnd eliiunetcr of rtlnvQ jii'cncliorfl In ifouor . il , 1 liayo ofwii houi ' il as ^ niini l in cumvorsaUun , n » If . It waro nntdi'loum , mill It tvuini nlwnyw to hvivo boon no , On tiio rticorcla of tUo'SuporUir Court of AiiH'iuiOi OoophIu , In 1700 ) ' tliu liunilKJr of nem'oos vnl lu ^ . tlionnHolvoH puprionx , koIiirt u boiil tho ¦ countpv , in '• » rc'Hoiil ' ofl n » n mil'tniu'v . — WMfft 8 t « ttet \ t < K \ r a < w'fffi . » ¦ ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 13, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13101860/page/9/