armors Jlotitljlg l^isit^r 



CONUUCTKD BY ISAAC HILL. 



* Those who labor irr the earth are the chosen feople op God, whose nREAais hb has made his pkchliab deposite for substantial and oenuine virtue." — Jtffcrsim. 



VOL. 9. NO. 8. 



CONCORD, N. II., AUGUST 31, 1847. 



WHOLE NO. 104. 



THE PARBIKR'S MONTI1I.Y VISITOR, 



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iJOMTHLY visitor: 



From the Congregational Journal. 

 Facts coaceruiag Slavery at the South. 



NO. II. 

 "the morning COMETH." 

 No mail, wlio has been in the hahit of visiting 

 the Soiitli Ibr tlie last twenty yrurs, and accus- 

 tomed himself to note the changes, and watch 

 the progress of events, lint must have perceived 

 that on no subject has there been wroug.ht a more 

 visible and marked change in public sentiment 

 than on that of slavery. We will briefly glance 

 at a few of thcni. 



1. The time has been, when Southern minds, 

 — with the exception of such men as Washing- 

 ton and Jefierson, — were unaccustomed to think 

 of slavery as an evil in any sense, and much less 

 as a system that must come to an end ; but now 

 they speak of these things as not only probable 

 but cciiain. 



2. It was onre a law of Louisiana, and is still 

 upon her statute books, "That no black man 

 should presume iijion nn equality with the 

 whites." But now you see them together in the 

 eaiiie church, counting room, and stage coach, 

 shaking hands and conversing familiarly, and 

 with more ease and kindness than is ever seen at 

 the North unless on extraordinary occasions, 

 where there is a desire to make a show of great 

 condescension. It is but a little while since a 

 colored iuan, just freed from bondage, preached 

 in the first Presbyterian Church of this city, to as 

 large and refined an audience as can be assem- 

 bled in New York or Boston. Frequently have 

 1 met the colored man here in ecclesiastical bod- 

 ies, taking part in their deliberations, and seated 

 with his brethren at the same domestic table — 

 circumstances, which, twenty years ago, would 

 have produced a mob — but now looked upon with 

 approbation. 



3. At one time, it was never snppo.sed possible 

 to niake any thing more of a black man, than one 

 of the lowest menials, but it is now no uncommon 

 thing to find him in the shop, employed in the 

 most curious and difticiilt brunches of the me- 

 chanic arts, or standing at the desk beside his 

 master, keeping his books, and carrying on his 

 correspondence. 



4. 'I'here was a time when public seiilimcnt 

 united with the law in prohiliitiiig the education 

 of the slave, but though the letter of the law 

 stands, public seiiiiuient says, " Let every n)an do 

 as he pleases"; and when either his sense of du- 

 ty, or his interest inclines liiui to do it, there are 

 few w ho dare say aught against it. la vifitiiig a 



family, but yesterday, and noticing the intelli- 

 gence and familiarity of the servants, and their 

 love for reading books and newspapers, llie gen- 

 tleman rem.irked, " You must not think strange 

 of the familiarity of my servants— having no 

 children of my own, I have made jiels of all of 

 them ; and as they are to inherit my property, I 

 want to educate llieui, ami lit them for enjoying 

 it. I tell them that they don't know but there is 

 a Judge or a ['resident among them, or a success- 

 or of Gov. Uolierts, and they must bestir them- 

 selves, and prepare for the responsibilities." Ami 

 1 said, "../moi;" nor did 1 feel the least disposi- 

 tion to steal them away, or run them ofV to Can- 

 ada. 



5. Twenty years ago it was the settled convic- 

 tion here at the South that white laborers could 

 never endure this climate ; — hence the plea for 

 slavery. But the thousands, and tens of thou- 

 sands, of the Irish and German emigrants that 

 liave poiued in here from the old world, and 

 which are seen every where rolling colton bales, 

 or hogsheads of sugar, driving hacks, or drays, 

 or firing their engines, and actually supplanting 

 the blacks in many departments of labor — is set- 

 tling the question beyond all controversy that 

 slavery is not a necessary evil ; but white, free 

 labor being better performed and more profita- 

 ble, it is a pecuniary curse. 



Thus God in his own good time and way and 

 without any of man's wisdom, is opening the 

 eyes of thousands, and weakening the bands ev- 

 ery year that have so long bound together the 

 iiinsier anil itie slave. 



(5. Once more. Till lately, it has been thought, 

 by the large sugar and cotton growers of the 

 South, that even were it possible for white labor- 

 ers to endure the climate, still the vast number 

 of hands necessary to carry on their heavy o[ie- 

 rations, rendered the slave system absolutely in- 

 dispensable, and to hire the number of hands 

 they needed, in certain seasons of the year, was 

 quite out of the question. But in a recent con- 

 versation on this subject, with one of the largest 

 sugar planters in Loiiisiaun, he said to me, " 1 

 can make more money oft" my plantation, by cut- 

 ting it up into small farms, erecting little cottag- 

 es, and renting them to these tiiniilies of emi- 

 grants, they bringing to my sugar house so much 

 cane annually for the rent, thus relieving me from 

 ail the vexations, responsibilities and expenses 

 of providing for a hundred and filly slaves that 

 must be fed and clolhedand taken care of when 

 sick whether the crop fails or not" — "and the 

 time is not far distant," added he, "when these 

 experiments will be made, to the entire satisfac- 

 tion of every southern man — thereby rendering 

 slavery a pecuniary burden, too grievous to be 

 borne — and which must be thrown oft'." 



These are but specimens of the changes going 

 on here in the public mind ; only let them pro- 

 gress silently and steadily a little longer, and let 

 things take their n-itural course, under the guid- 

 ance of God's superintending providence, and 

 ere long the anxious cry will be heard from the 

 South, not "how shall we keep," but how shall we 

 g-t( n'rf of our slaves? Who will lake them oft' 

 our hand? ? W'here is there a place providc^d for 

 tliem? And, wonderful as it may seem, while 

 God has been working these changes in the 

 South, He has, at the same time, been working 

 ill Ihe hearts of christians and |diilanlhropists, 

 inciting them to prepare for the slave a home in 

 tlie land of his fathers, and paving the way for 

 his return to it. How delighiiiil to recognize the 

 hand of God in all this ! 



With the eye turned to Liberia, and the heart 

 lifted up to God, we are reaily lo exclaim, '• There 

 is hope for the slave !" " There is hope for Af- 

 rica !" " There is hope for our own country !" 



But let us advert briefly to a few oilier fiicts 



that mark the signs of the times on this subject. 



In no former period, since the existence of sla- 



very, has there been such attention paifl to the 

 religious instruction of the slaves as in the last 

 ten years; and in no parts of the world have 

 there been gathered richer fruits to encourage 

 the laborer. It is also worthy of especial notice 

 that while our country generally has been suffer- 

 ing a spiritual dearih, and many mourning Iho 

 absence of revivals, and the declension of piety, 

 ihe Southern Stales liave been sharing more largely 

 in Ihe gracious injiuences of God's converting spir- 

 it, than any other portion of our country, and em- 

 phnticidly is this true of tlie colored jiopulation. — 

 Now if we connect these fiicts with the forego- 

 ing, and mark their coincidence, the changes 

 here wrought in the public mind ; the various 

 causes that are operating to render slave labor 

 less and less productive, thereby gradually loos- 

 ening the bonds of the slave; the instruction 

 that is now being given lliem ; the outpouring 

 of the .Spirit, and converting them to (Sod, to- 

 gether with the brightening prospects of Liberia ; 

 what other interpreiation can be given to all this, 

 but that (tod, in ids own vvay and in his own lime, 

 is raising up and preparing missionaries, school- 

 teachers and statesmen, for that infant but grow- 

 ing republic that is beginning to attract the at- 

 tention and admiration of the civilized world! 

 During my present tour, I have taken es|iecial 

 pains to obtain information res|)ectiug the amount 

 and extent of religious instruction among the 

 slaves— and it is truly surprising and cheering to 

 witness Ihe almost universal feeliui; and interest 

 on this subject, and the extent to which they have 

 cjiii ieil utit tlicii- pluns, in establishing schools 

 and churches, and obtaining missionaries and 

 teachers for the sole benefit of the colored peo- 

 ple. Some of the church edifices that are neat 

 and costly, are owned by the slaves themselves, 

 with regularly organized churches, large and or- 

 derly congregations, where they enact their own 

 laws, manage their own finances, take up collec- 

 tions for benevolent objects, and would think 

 themselves slighted to be passed by — without giv- 

 ing them the privilege of doing their part. One 

 of these very churches raised between fifty and 

 a hundred dollars to send to the poor Irish. Somo 

 of their churches are very large, numbering from 

 one to two thousand commnuicauts. It is very 

 common in the country for several planters to 

 unite in the erection of a house of worship (cjr 

 their colored people — and though exclusively for 

 them — the masters and mistresses feeling a real 

 pride in lliu elevation and good conduct of their 

 servants, occasionally attend to manifest their ap- 

 [irobatinn, and encourage them in well doing, 

 and feeling themselves railier as intruders, they 

 of course take the /oHicsJ sfa( ; but it is curious 

 to witness the effect of their presence. The nat- 

 ural pride of character is at once on the alert, and 

 manifests itself in the erect posture they assume, 

 adjusting their dresses, breast-pins and brace- 

 lets (for without seeing the face, we should class 

 many of llieni among the " upper ten thousand'') 

 and then the rolling of eyes upon each other, as 

 much as to say, '■ let each one do his prettiest." 

 This is all as perfi:ctly natural as it would be to 

 children, who were anxious to please their pa- 

 rents. Then at the close of the service, when 

 they get into their happiest mood, like the iMetli- 

 odists, they begin to walk around shaking hanils 

 with all, and singing in the most melodious strains 

 — and with no respect of persons, they seized 

 their master's and mistress's hands, shouting to 

 the top of their voice, " We are bimnd fiir the 

 kingdom" till tears (low from every eye, and my- 

 self left in monreiitary doubt, whether 1 was in 

 the kingdom above or below. 



If then we turn our eyes lo the Sabbath schools, 

 we see the same lo I'licoiirage the heart, and call 

 forth our gratitude to God. I have preached in 

 cliiirches, where are schools of from one lo two 

 hundred colored cliililren all loariiiiig to read tlie 

 Bible, the laws against it notwithstanding. I have 



