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recollect that we have among us men eminently qualified by their acquirements , as well as by their predilections for the cause of Nonconformity , who esteem it their duty , no less than their business , to undertake this branch of the legal profession . Your correspondent " Edinburgensis , " ( p . 672 , ) will perhaps pardon me if I hint that the case he alludes
to might be beneficially referred to a quarter of this kind , although it is readily conceived that English and Scotch law may differ on certain points . True it is that the question as to " the method of acquiring the rights of a member in a Christian congregation , " is one which has given
rise to a diversity of opinion . The rigid stickler for abstract rights will contend for the perfect equality of every worshiper , whilst those who look more to expediency , and to protection from the doubtful operation of legal contingencies , with greater
prudence confine the privilege of voting , on occasions of emergency , to the subscribers of a pecuniary sum , the minimum being previously named in the Trust Deed . This is obviously a better Test than that founded , as your
correspondent says , " on subscription to articles of faith , " which must ever be repugnant to the feelings of A NON CON .
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der at the dreadful alternative of attempting" its destruction . by physical force ! In the nature of things , no great evil can be cured without time and labour , and , therefore , I cannot help deeming those the best friends
to the Negroes , and even to the planters themselves , who advocate the principle of gradual emancipation . No person who has at all attended to the question , can for a moment
believe it possible for the present order of things to exist for ever , and hence the palpable necessity of adoptingmeasures which shall render the change as easy as possible . But the slaveholders dread the idea of innovation
apprehending that the greatest mischief would follow from any attempt to disturb the old fabric . I give them , as a body , the fullest credit for a desire to make the slaves as happy as they can be made in a state of
complete servitude ; and believe they would eagerly fall in with any plan of improvement which could be proved not to have a tendency to sow the seeds of insubordination . But to my mind , no attempt can be vainer than that to render Negro slavery compatible with human happiness . With a view ,
however , to this , many benevolent planters ( for such , Mr . Editor , there undoubtedly are ) have spent considerable , sums of money , in addition to the cost of the supplies with which the law compels them to furnish the slaves . And yet there really appears no alternative for them , but either to throw
up their estates , or continue to whip on their unwilling gangs , as a postboy does his hacks from mile to mile . If managers do not abuse that despotic authority with which it is absolutely necessary to invest them , those who
justify slavery as a system can have no reason to complain . That individuals should , from passion or a want of judgment , occasionally inflict an unnecessary punishment , or administer many , where a few stripes would answer , are circumstances that will not
excite surprise with any who have the least knowledge of our nature . In short , while we ought to acquit the planters of wanton cruelty , I am at a loss to conjecture how . it is possible for them to wield their iron sceptre , otherwise than with the greatest severity . But Euelpis has made a quota-
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On Chapel Trust-Deeds . 751
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Newcas tie-under-Ly me > Sir , Dec . 10 , 1822 . AS your correspondent Euelpis states ( pp . 677 , 678 ) that he lias never been in the West Indies , I am not at all surprised that he should be of opinion that men of
industry and perseverance will be able to evangelize the Negroes in spite of their present degraded condition . And yet I strongly suspect , that if he would fix in his mind a clear picture of a master treading on his slave " with the feet of despotism , " he would perceive the cruel mockery of the same individual pretending to
raise , while in such attitude , his wretched victim " with the hand of mercy . " The feet must be removed before the hands can be held out to any effectual purpose . But the difficulty will be , to raise the slave without throwing the master down . For my own part , much as I hate slavery , I should shud-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1822, page 751, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2519/page/31/
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