We say, then, without fear of contradiction, that every disinterested man’s report from the South, whether American or foreigner, on the question of immediate abolition, declares decidedly and solemnly to the Abolitionists, “Gentlemen, you are wrong. It is impossible.”
But the doctrine of immediate abolition, dictated to the slave-holding States, and imposed upon them, even though it were safely practicable, assumes the right of interference, and therefore cannot be expected to be conceded by those concerned, and who claim the right of originating and deciding this question for themselves. The same right has been claimed by the Northern States, where slavery formerly existed, and in no case have they seen fit to attempt immediate emancipation. To enforce it upon the South by foreign dictation would be despotic, nay, an invasion, and, as we think, “contrary to the principles of our republican form of Government.” We declare, in the first place, that foreign, that is, Northern Abolitionists are, from the necessities of their position, incompetent judges of this question; and next, that they are unconstitutional, and therefore unlawful judges. Certainly, we do not mean by this to debar the right of opinion, or any constitutional modes of expressing it; but only, that they have no right to sit in judgment on this question for the purposes of dictation and legislation, or for that which is tantamount to legislation, to enforce this principle.
Moreover, some of the most influential literary emissions of the American Anti-Slavery Society are purely fictitious, and generally so exaggerated and highly coloured, or so unfaithful in not giving the whole truth, as to misrepresent the truth. “The narrative of James Williams,” which has probably had more influence, and excited more feeling, than any other single document, and which was thought of sufficient importance to be made conspicuous in the last Annual Report of the Society, by devoting one third of a page to attest its veracity, notwithstanding the Abolitionists had been sufficiently advised, that it was false. They have at last been forced to make public confession, that it is a fiction! It is impossible to say, what proportion of the issues of this Society are of this character, because the proof of a negative, especially in such matters, is always slow and difficult; but the exceeding avidity of the Abolitionists to take up and accredit such stories as “the Narrative of James Williams,” directly in the face of rebutting and conclusive evidence, and the strong temptations in such circumstances to fiction, may fairly establish the presumption, that many of their issues are purely fictitious.
But exaggeration of statement, over-coloring of facts, and keeping back parts of truth which are essential to a correct judgment, are precisely of the nature of fiction. Such is the concurrent testimony from all quarters, and such the evidence of probability in the very nature of things, that this part of the budget must be immense. Every body, who has visited the slave States, knows, that slavery there is not what it is represented to be in the publications of the American Anti-slavery Society, in general, or in particular. Certain specific evils, necessarily resulting from a system of slavery, no fair man can deny; that some of these are of a revolting character, candor requires to be confessed; that there are cruel and inhuman masters, is no less true. So also are there cruel and inhuman parents, husbands, masters of indented apprentices, and various other superiors in the relations of life, out of the slave States. We will venture to say, from authoritative evidence submitted to the British Parliament, amounting to many volumes, that there is more maiming of the human body, and more crushing of the human mind, from infancy to the grave, in the manufactories of Great Britain, by the cruelties inflicted on that perpetual bondage which in fact endures from generation to generation, than the whole amount of the same class of evils inflicted on all the slaves in the United States, notwithstanding the immense difference between the number of persons in one case and the other; and that this result may be established by the best certified evidence. If it should be said, that the bondage of the British manufactories is voluntary, we reply, it is not, and that the law of necessity which imprisons its victims there, while they can work, on a bare subsistence, without enough to get away, and dismisses them when they can work no longer, without providing for their support, is far more cruel than American bondage, where the law that makes it hereditary, provides for the sick and superannuated. We are quite aware, that one of these cases does not justify, though it relieves, the other, by the light of comparison. There is no state of society in the world, not even in the free States of North America, where these cruelties and inhumanities cannot be found in great abundance. And why do not the Abolitionists begin at home, and tear down society in their respective Commonwealths, because these enormities are to be found, notwithstanding the law and public opinion are against them, in the same manner as law and opinion are against them in the slaveholding States? Or, since they have a propensity to these foreign missions, why do they not go to the nations of Europe, where bondage is more cruel, and where they might, in that proportion, be more useful, if, peradventure, they are likely to be useful at all? In all these cases, and in all parts of the world, these cruelties are exceptions to the general state of society, not the rule.
The decrease of the slave population of the West Indies, and the better economy—barbarous indeed—of keeping it up by importation, was adduced in evidence of the inhumanities of the system. And we think very fairly so. By the same rule, the rapid increase of the slave population in the Southern States, over the whites in the same States—it being in the proportion of 80 to 100 of the whites, and of 112 to 100 of the slaves, in the term of 40 years—proves, that slavery in the United States is comparatively mild. It is commonly reported and believed, by disinterested visitants to the slave States of the Union, that, from all appearances, the slaves, as a body, are the happiest people in the world. And although we are far from advocating the doctrine, in application to involuntary and hereditary bondage, as an element of society, that, “where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise;” yet the real condition of American slavery, when fairly ascertained, may go to show, that the pains taken by Abolitionists, in the use of false testimony, to awaken a romantic sympathy in the North, and to muster and urge on a violent crusade upon the South, in violation of the laws of the land, and of the obvious proprieties of man’s social condition, thereby disturbing the public peace, and threatening to bring about a civil war, involves a very grave responsibility. It is undoubtedly true, that the Abolitionists of the North know very little about Southern slavery; and that they know far less about it now, than they did before the Abolition press, under the American Anti-Slavery Society, began to instruct them. Nearly all their sympathy is romantic, resting on “the baseless fabric of a vision;” and they may rely upon it, that their crusade upon the South has as little hope of good result, as may now be read in the history of the crusade of the Christian nations of Europe upon “the Holy land.”
[CHAPTER XI.]
EVERY MAN MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS.
The observance of this rule would secure universal peace. There would never be quarrelling, never war, on the smaller or larger scale; but the breach of it soon produces difficulty, and leads to strife. We have stated in a former chapter, to the effect, that the causes of the Abolition movement of this country, cannot be understood, without allusion to certain cognate events and reforming schemes, that have been set on foot among us, and to certain extravagant and peculiar features of those reforms, which fairly entitle them to the name of violent. For example, it was assumed, that the action and scope of Christian benevolence could not stop short of calling all men to account for their principles, manners, habits, and especially meats and drinks, according as these interrogators, alias inquisitors, might judge to be wrong. Great Societies were formed to give to these measures the weight and sanction of their publicly declared opinion; and under the shield of Conventional and solemn resolutions, which struck at the root of all independence of private opinion and private character, and excommunicated from good society all that should refuse a strict conformity to these published “Bulls,” by stamping them with the taint of immorality, their Agents went forth upon the land to deal authoritative rebuke and denunciation against dissentients. The rest is known. All we have to say is, that schools of this kind—and we have only pointed to one of many—were admirable preparations for the Abolition movement. A public that would bear all this, it was thought, would bear any thing else; and they who had been accustomed freely, and with little opposition, to use these high prerogatives in the religious and moral sphere, ventured one step farther, into the political. They did it without scruple, seeming to regard themselves as well entitled to one field, as to the other; and to this day, they seem not to have discovered the impropriety of the trespass.
Now, let it be understood, that the application of these remarks does not go a whit farther, than to comprehend those violent reforms, of which the great body of the religious public of this country, of all denominations, or nearly all, are heartily tired, and earnestly wish them a good riddance. We think we are entitled, without offending any Christian, not an Abolitionist, to point to this indubitable source of this great movement, inasmuch as it would be impossible to do justice to this subject without this leave. It is the wide spread sanction that has been given to meddling and interference in the social state, and the protracted and almost undisputed use of this prerogative, that has conjured up the spirit of Abolitionism, and given it weight and influence among that class of persons, who sustained the other violent reforms, with few exceptions. They have generally passed readily and regularly, as a matter of course, from one sphere of action to the other, accumulating forces as they advanced. It is even astonishing to observe, how that gem of society, independence of private character, and the right of private opinion, has been marred and prostrated before the authoritative edicts of these high and formidable Associations, the most extravagant of which were concocted in caucus, and forced upon the public, by those very men who will generally be found in the Abolition ranks.
We think it a great mistake, in the administration of the social state, and highly injurious to it, that this title to interfere in the affairs of our neighbors, has been so widely sanctioned. It is bad in itself; and bad in all its results. Once give sanction to this principle by public authority, and there is no end to the modes and forms of its application, in private life or public affairs, in the religious or political world; and there is scarcely any thing more fruitful of strife, or more mischievous in its workings. The reformer assumes, that he has a right, and is bound, to seek the good of his neighbour—in his own way, of course—and there is the mistake. And if he can get the sanction of the public, on a large scale, as to the use of his particular modes, he is then backed by authority, and is confident. He will then march directly into society, and rebuke and denounce opposition with little ceremony. We are doubtless understood by these allusions. The rule laid down becomes a bed of Procustes: If any one’s legs happen to be too long, they must be cut off; or if too short, they must be stretched out by force. And so it goes. There is no such thing as private judgment, private conscience, or independence of character; but a man’s soul, and body, and every thing must yield to authority; or, he will have the mark set upon his forehead, and be denounced, as the enemy of society, because he does not agree in opinion with these men, as to the best modes of promoting its interests.