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RECREATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 BY EEV. T, a. JONES. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 RICHMOND: A. MORRIS. 
 1859. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, 
 BY MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON, 
 
 in the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Eastern District of Virginia. 
 
 RICHMOND: 
 MACFARLANE * FERQUSSOX. PUBLISHERS. 
 
Ac* 
 
 RECREATIONS &c. 
 
 M2G8541 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE, 1 
 
 THOMAS CHATTERTON, 9 
 
 HOPKINS S AMERICAN CITIZEN, . . . . .65 
 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY, . . .83 
 
 THE NEW LITERATURE, 105 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION, . . . 123 
 SMITH S PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY, . 153 
 
 MILBURN S LECTURES, 179 
 
 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, 203 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 It has been for some time the fashion to collect and publish in book 
 form the best articles of our ablest and most respectable Reviews. 
 We like the fashion. Many of these articles are the best productions 
 of the finest minds of the age the ripest scholars, the profoundest 
 thinkers, the ablest representatives of the bar, the bench, and the pul 
 pit, as well as the most distinguished men of science and of general 
 literature. 
 
 No kind of reading has seemed to us better adapted to improve the 
 taste, enlighten and enlarge the views, adorn and furnish the whole 
 mental structure, than that supplied by the better class of essayists and 
 critical reviewers. We are aware that it has been thought by some 
 that this kind of reading tended to a mere smattering and superficiality 
 of knowledge. And doubtless it is true that not a few readers of 
 reviews are superficial smatterers, and nothing more. But we should 
 be slow to think that their review-reading made them such. We sus 
 pect that without it they would have been more meagre and superficial 
 still. So far are we from conceding the injurious influence suggested, 
 that we are ready to declare our conviction that judicious reading of 
 reviews is of the very opposite tendency. Were one, indeed, to read 
 nothing else, provided he read deeply and understandingly, he would 
 be wanting in neither depth nor breadth of intelligence. For as we 
 have already intimated, the best reviews often embrace and embody 
 the best results of the best efforts of the best minds of the age the 
 products of their richest and ripest scholarship, maturest thought, 
 deepest reading, most thorough research, all condensed, severely con 
 densed, and brought within the briefest possible space, and thus pre 
 sented most advantageously, multum in parvo, to the intelligent and 
 competent reader. A good review gives to the reader the very kernel 
 of the work, (whether of philosophy, art, science, or general literature,) 
 reviewed the kernel stripped of the shell, which the able and expe 
 rienced reviewer has learned to take away with a facility to which his 
 unpracticed reader is a stranger. And in doing this, it often also gives, 
 in intense and nervous style, the very quintessence of the reviewer s 
 own genius and attainments the distillation and crystalization, as it 
 were, of his very intellect and heart. 
 
2 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 More than this, the review of the book often leads to the book itself, 
 interests one in its author, and introduces him, perhaps, to an intimate 
 acquaintance with all his works. To the dull and sluggish mind it 
 proves stimulant and inspiring, exciting deeply and abidingly, it 
 may be, its interest in great principles discussed, and inciting it to a 
 farther and fuller consideration of those principles than the reviewer 
 or essayist himself had given them. Practical questions, too, of every 
 day interest and importance, which, as well as great abstract principles 
 and propositions, it is the province of the reviewer to consider, are 
 often made to appear in new and striking lights, to take hold of the 
 mind with unwonted force, and thus to enkindle its ardour and arouse 
 its energies. Sometimes a clue, that might never otherwise be fur 
 nished, is given to a wide and wondrous labyrinth of thought and 
 speculation ; and thus the active and inquiring mind, ardent and ad 
 venturous, is led forward in a career of the noblest explorations. By 
 " a word fitly spoken," by some new light shed in the glow of earnest 
 thought and fervid conception the reviewer "shining," as Robert Hall 
 said of Dr. Johnson, "upon the angle of a thought," some great and 
 glorious many-angled thought the intellect addressed, is led, it may 
 be, into the widest and richest realms of study and of contemplation, 
 where exhaustless treasures, and honours immortal, await its coming. 
 
 Thus would it seem that review-reading, elevating and enlarging 
 the conceptions, giving greater range of thought, greater extent of view 
 in every direction, greater scope and compass to all the leading powers 
 and functions of the mind, so far from having an essential tendency to 
 superficiality, tends to depth as well as breadth of knowledge and of 
 thought. 
 
 In our age, and especially in our country, to save the people not 
 from superficiality, but from almost utter ignorance with respect to 
 many matters of the very last importance, reviews would seem to be 
 indispensable. They appear to have been brought into being by the 
 very necessities of the times. Everybody goes by steam. Everything 
 is hurry, bustle, confusion. Men in general, unlike their leisurely an 
 cestors, who could not only afford to read ponderous folios and quartos, 
 as well as less ponderous octavos, but to write them, and to meditate 
 almost unbrokenly for long days, and nights, and years, upon some fa 
 vourite topic, have neither opportunity of time nor place, whatever their 
 ability or disposition, to read much, or to meditate deeply and long. 
 They must do these things, to a considerable extent ; at least, if they 
 do them at all, by proxy. While they do hand-work for others, others 
 must do head-work for them. While they mind the material machinery 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 3 
 
 of the world, hold the helm of the vessel and the handle of the plough* 
 fuel the fires of the furnace and lubricate the lathe of the factory, fell 
 the primeval forest, and build up great cities in its solitudes, while they 
 construct railways and canals, steam-ships and steam-mills, hew wood 
 and draw water while they, in a word, by their husbandry and handi 
 craft supply literary men with the necessaries and comforts of the 
 physical life, the bread of the mere corporeal being, these men of lite 
 rature must furnish them with the necessaries and comforts of the 
 spiritual and higher life, the bread of the intellectual and. moral being. 
 Now the vocation of these latter, in part, at least, is that of the essay 
 ists and. critical reviewers. And when true to their high mission, they 
 constitute one of the "worthiest and most important portions of the so 
 cial organism. Honor to them! Earnest, honest, fearless, able while 
 truly kind-hearted, appreciative, and genial, yet strong-minded and 
 strong-hearted not afraid of even the famous motto of the old Edin 
 burgh " Judex damn at ur cum nocens absohitur." Men who while not 
 on the one hand arrogating the power and authority of censors of the 
 press; nor, on the other, assuming the poor and pitiable office of undis- 
 criminating eulogists and loose laudators of everybody and everything 
 that appears in print, still keep an open, ever-watchful eye upon the 
 immense and multifarious issues of the press, the " many books," of 
 "making" which, in our time as in that of Solomon s, "there is no end," 
 scanning and scrutinizing them closely and severely. " gathering the 
 good" together, and casting the "bad away," giving the results of their 
 labours to their less leisurable neighbours in highest, shrillest notes 
 sounding the alarm against error, heresy, treason; in clarion tones ap 
 plauding and commending the loyal, the good, and the true. Men who 
 sit at the entrance of the sacred grove of knowledge, its true and in 
 corruptible guardians, opening its portals to every worthy worshipper, 
 admitting him to the inmost sanctuary, arid the holiest shrine; but re 
 pelling the irreverent and profane intruder, and closing against him 
 the gates forever. 
 
 "Procul, O procul, este profani! 
 Conclamat vates, totoque absistite luco!" 
 
 We are, then, in favour of the Reviews. We think all, the young 
 especially, may read them with the highest profit, and without the 
 slightest reason to fear that they will thus be made superficial smatter- 
 ers. And we are happy to be able to enforce our own commendation 
 of this class of reading, by the great name of Foster, who while him- 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 self an omnivorous reader of Reviews, as well as a constant contribu 
 tor to them, was at the same time, so far from being superficial as al 
 most to deserve the title of the Thinker of his times. That unrivalled 
 essayist, after having spoken of "a deluge of new entertainment rush 
 ing upon him in the form of the Edinburgh Review," (for a whole set 
 of which he had a short time before "written to Paternoster Row, ) 
 called it a "terrible Review," which he read "with abhorrence of its 
 tendencies as to religion, but with admiration of everything else," and 
 saying that it could "not fail to have a very great effect upon the literary 
 world, by imperiously requiring a high style of intellectual perform 
 ance, and setting the example," writes to his friend, the Rev. Joseph 
 Hughes "It may not seem very consistent, after this, to insist that you 
 must have this work, from the beginning; and so must, or ought, every 
 other intellectual and literary man. He cannot pretend to have a com 
 petent library without it."* 
 
 Rich and varied as is our literature, it would suffer, in all its depart 
 ments, a deep impoverishment, in the loss of its Reviews. From those 
 invaluable productions of gifted and cultivated intellect, which "pos 
 terity will not willingly let die," scarcely would any be more missed 
 than those which bear the image and superscription of certain celebra 
 ted Essayists and Reviewers. Indeed, one of the heaviest calamities 
 that could befall English literature, would be the loss, from its com 
 mencement, of that one Review alone, so highly commended by John 
 Foster. With it would perish the nervous and caustic critiques of Lord 
 Jeffrey, the magnificent essays of Macaulay; the sparkling wit and 
 racy humor of Sidney Smith ; the ponderous philosophic thought, strong 
 and glowing scientific statement of Lord Brougham ; the easy elegance, 
 the captivating grace, the pure sentiment, the elevated conception of 
 Sir James Stephen to say nothing of the occasional, but invaluable 
 contributions of other and scarcely inferior names. 
 
 To the important class of writings, of which we have just been 
 speaking, the articles of which the present volume is composed belong. 
 And in this class we think they deserve to take a highly honorable po 
 sition. The author s subjects all seem to us well chosen; a matter, by 
 the way, always of the very greatest moment both to the reader and 
 the writer, insuring the pleasure and profit of the former, and, as in 
 the case of many an immortal author, the fortune, often, of the latter ; 
 a matter, too, not as some would seem to suppose, of chance, but of 
 sound judgment, correct taste, proper mental and moral affinities and 
 
 * Life and Correspondence of John Foster, by J. E. Ryland, p. 125. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 5 
 
 habitudes, as well as other indefinable felicities in union with propitious 
 but perhaps scarcely appreciable outward circumstances and relations. 
 Several of the essays, those particularly, in which he discusses Ameri 
 can Slavery, American Citizenship, and Christianity in the Legal Pro 
 fession, seem to us to involve questions of paramount social and politi 
 cal, ethical and religious importance questions, too, which many of 
 those who may become his readers, doubtless find constantly coming 
 up for practical solution. Some of these, discussed with no parade 
 of argument or pomp of language, are treated with great simplicity 
 clearness, and strength. We think every reader will agree with us 
 that he sets forth with remarkable perspicacity and force, the true con 
 stitutional and governmental theory upon which are based the rights 
 and duties of American Citizenship. He has managed, too, to treat 
 the perplexed and perplexing subject of Slavery, in the clearest and 
 most convincing manner. And we cannot but hope, on this account 
 if on no other, that his book may fall into the hands of the many 
 well meaning, but somewhat morbidly conscientious and. sensitive 
 Christian people, who are often greatly puzzled and embarrassed by 
 certain moral and religious aspects which slavery is made to assume. 
 We do not see how any unprejudiced and dispassionate reader, after 
 attentively considering the cogent arguments and striking illustrations 
 which he has furnished, in connection with his well selected quotations 
 from the authors under review, can fail to accept the conclusions which 
 he reaches. While not designing to forestall the enlightened reader s 
 own judgment and taste in the premises, or in any wise to detract from 
 other portions of the book, we trust we shall be pardoned if we say that 
 we think those portions in which are contained the discussions just al 
 luded to, will be found of especial interest and value. Other essays of 
 the volume, pertaining to the realm of poetry and light literature, im 
 part an agreeable variety, and relieve the tension of thought demanded 
 by the severer and weightier discussions of the author. 
 
 It does not need the light shed by the title page, to enable the reader 
 to identify the author as a Southerner and a Barrister. Both are prom 
 inent on many of his pages. As it should be, his amor patrice as a 
 Southerner is ardent and strong and it often finds for itself expres 
 sion. In his treatment of the " peculiar institution, especially, does 
 it declare itself. But there is, withal, an enlargement of view, a 
 breadth and generosity of sentiment, really refreshing and hope-inspir 
 ing in these dark days of a narrow and selfish sectionalism. Though 
 the South is clearly his " first love," his patrial feeling grows too ex 
 pansive to be bounded by it. Passing the barriers of States and sections, 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 it embraces the whole Confederacy, and becomes American. His esprit 
 de corps as a lawyer, is equally marked. And this, too, we sincerely 
 respect and cordially commend. No one ought to be a lawyer, or 
 anything else, who is not proud of it. If there is any good and suffi 
 cient reason for one s not feeling an honourable pride in his profession, 
 he should abandon it. If there be no such reason, and he yet have no 
 such pride, then he will never honour his vocation, and it will never 
 honour him. They will mutually disgrace each other. And if he will 
 not abandon it, then it should abandon him as we believe Themis 
 often does many an unworthy votary, leaving him without " a local 
 habitation," or "a name," clientless, briefless, penniless. 
 
 But not only in the spirit of the barrister, but in the manner also, does 
 our author show the class of intellectual workers to which he belongs. 
 He displays the skill and ingenuity as well as the clearness and 
 strength of statement characteristic of the well-trained lawyer. His 
 facts and incidents, arguments and illustrations are arranged and mar 
 shalled with great ostensible simplicity, but always with a keen dis 
 criminating view to the effect. In a quiet, easy, off-hand, half-intui 
 tive way, (which because of its very ease and quietness, by many 
 would be unobserved,) he fastens upon both the strong and the weak 
 points of the subject under review. And then with similar facility and 
 freedom from display, he presses them into his service. He fitly calls 
 his essays " Recreations ;" for. however valuable, they do not seem to 
 have cost him any very great exertion. There is no apparent friction 
 of the powers, no jarring and creaking of machinery, no painful and 
 destructive " wear and tear." All is easy, pretentionless, practical, 
 plain. 
 
 The author s " Christianity," too, is as conspicuous and prominent 
 as his " Legal Profession." Some have thought that the two could not 
 "dwell together in unity." He seems to us to have given in his book 
 a double demonstration of the fallacy of that opinion. However dis 
 cordant and antagonistic in the theory, and especially the practice, of 
 some others, in his they would seem most happily to harmonize. So 
 far from considering the one as essentially and necessarily hostile to 
 the other, he rather regards them as really in the strictest and most 
 beautiful accord. Both having to do essentially with law law whose 
 ; seat is the bosom of God, and whose voice is the harmony of the 
 world," it were strange, indeed, if they should be discordant and ne 
 cessarily repellant of each other. The author s Christianity is exhib 
 ited, we will not say in honesty and fairness, truthfulness and candour, 
 as a critic for men of very little Christianity, have sometimes, in 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 7 
 
 even an eminent degree, displayed these qualities but, (to say nothing 
 of his frequent and strong expressions directly or indirectly made upon 
 the subject.) in a certain very manifest charity as well as conscientious 
 ness of thought, sentiment, and allusion ; strictness of statement, mod 
 eration of language, mildness of manner, indicative of self-denial 5 
 (temptations to the exhibition of very different qualities being, in nu 
 merous instances, by no means wanting ;) and above all, in a certain 
 elevation of sentiment and softness of tone eminently becoming the 
 disciple and follower of the meek man of Nazareth, who, while not 
 withholding from the haughty Scribe and the self-righteous Pharisee 
 intense and burning denunciation, when truth and justice, the interest 
 of man and the authority of God, demanded it, yet beautifully fulfilled, 
 in its true sense and spirit the prediction, 
 
 " He shall not strive nor cry, 
 
 Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets ; 
 
 A bruised reed shall he not break, 
 
 And smoking flax shall he not quench/ 
 
 We do not doubt that with the high moral qualities which we have 
 just now mentioned, the original and native character has often much 
 to do. But still there is something about them in their fullest and best 
 development, which marks a higher source. The essay on Chat- 
 terton, 
 
 " The marvellous boy, 
 The sleepless soul that perished in his pride," 
 
 while it shows the native sympathy of the author s heart ever prompt 
 ing him to side with the weak and the unfortunate, rather than with 
 the prosperous and the strong, also furnishes striking illustration of 
 that moral and religious tone to which, as characteristic, we have called 
 attention. 
 
 Extended as our introductory notice already is, we cannot consent to 
 close it without a few words in respect to the style of the book. Easy, 
 unaffected, perspicuous, natural, there is no straining after mere verbal 
 and lingual effect no effort at the "brilliant," and the "splendid." 
 There are no pretty conceits no abortive attempts at the witty, the 
 humorous, and the epigrammatic. None of these things, and things 
 similar, which have ever been the bane of review-writing. What 
 ever positive excellencies of style the author may want, whatever the 
 literary crimes and misdemeanors with which he may be chargeable, 
 we cannot refrain from congratulating him warmly upon his freedom 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 from the vices, the crying sins, of style, which we have just indicated. 
 With him language is what language was designed to be, a means and 
 not an end the vehicle, and nothing more, of the sentiment and the 
 thought. When we read some of our fine writers of the Hervey or 
 Headley, Phillips or Gilfillan type, we cannot, if we try, look aside 
 from their language more than we can from the mists and clouds 
 which sometimes burden and darken the air. In reading our 
 author, however, his language is forgotten. There is something 
 beyond it, for which we are looking, that engages and absorbs 
 our attention. He expresses himself in a direct, plain, practical 
 way, never being afraid as so many with weak and sickly taste 
 would seem to be, to close a sentence with the particle "to" or "at," 
 or any other, that, coming at his call, pleases him. He uses language 
 as he does his facts and arguments in a perfectly business-like manner, 
 just as we might suppose he would in a legal case, employ the evi 
 dence upon which he relied to sustain his cause. His style is the 
 clear and transparent atmosphere of his mind through which, bright 
 and distinctly defined, appear its stars of sentiment and thought, un 
 attended by any of those hazy splendours which hang around the 
 horizon of so many minds. 
 
 Having said thus much more, perhaps, than we should have said, 
 we now cordially commend to the reader s regard as both pleasant 
 and profitable, the " Recreations of a Southern Barrister." 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON.* 
 
 In one of his Imaginary Conversations, Landor dis 
 courses upon the disinclination manifested on the part of 
 contemporaries to render to men of genius the honors justly 
 due them. The fact is universal, and has been frequently 
 referred to. Contemporary judgments and the judgment 
 of posterity so frequently and so widely differ, that we are 
 not authorized, from the possession of present reputation, 
 even to infer the probable guaranty of future fame. The 
 rule would seem to be just the reverse : that the present 
 and the future are at such discord that he who would se 
 cure the favors of the present must consent, in large part. 
 to relinquish the honors of the future. But for the obscu 
 rity of the shell, the pearl would never have ripened ; and 
 all the fame (properly so called) which is worth the hav 
 ing has been strictly posthumous chiefly the fruit of pre 
 sent obscurity and toil. 
 
 The career of the wonderful Chatterton forms no excep 
 tion to this rule. While he had won notoriety during his 
 life ; while his name had been remarked as an example of 
 extraordinary precocity of intellect and, too, of deprav 
 ity he has become famous, if at all, since his body was 
 
 * The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton: with notices of his life; a 
 history of the Rowley controversy; a selection of his letters ; notes 
 critical and explanatory, and a glossary. In two volumes. Boston : 
 Little, Brown & Co. 1857. 
 
 2 
 
10 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 Interred in the pauper s graveyard, in Shoe Lane, London ! 
 That time will vindicate the judgment of Southey, and 
 condemn the strictures of Chalmers and the prophecy of 
 Foster, is, we think, beyond question. A century has 
 nearly elapsed since he has run his race ; but it has not di 
 minished, it has rather increased the interest which was 
 first discovered in his career, and awakened by the fruits 
 of his splendid genius. 
 
 In the study of his life, we know not which most to ad 
 mire : the splendor of his intellectual powers, his wonder 
 ful and rapid attainments in almost every department of 
 thought and walk of science, the waywardness of his 
 course, or the steady and persevering attachment, exhibit 
 ed under the most trying discouragements, to the mythic 
 personage his fancy had created. Rowley was his other 
 self with all of his genius, and but few if any of his foi 
 bles ; and to the hour of his death, Chatterton asserted 
 and maintained the genius of the priest at the expense of 
 his own. 
 
 Chatterton s life has been the theme of almost innume 
 rable sketches, and the sober work of half a score of biog 
 raphies. They have all failed in meeting the want ex 
 pressed by Walter Scott, a half century ago. The life 
 and character of the poet has never been drawn " by the 
 hand of a master." While the lives written by Dix and 
 Gregory, and even that of Chalmers, furnished useful hints 
 and facts in the history of Chatterton, and for these rea 
 sons are to be commended, yet they all leave unsolved the 
 mystery which his life presents. By one he has been de 
 scribed as very nearly approaching a demon. Another 
 has painted him as almost a saint. His latest biographer, 
 whose work prefixes this edition and the Cambridge edition 
 of his poems, has attempted to hit the golden mean, and 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 11 
 
 in doing so presents us with a piece of patchwork, in the 
 style of the Turkey carpet. In the compass of a dozen 
 pages, in the way of foot-notes to the poems, we meet with 
 the fierce criticism of Foster, the glowing eulogies of 
 Southey. and the moderate and justly-balanced judgments 
 of Scott. In the biography proper, the writer one moment 
 recommends the poet to mercy, on account of his youth ; 
 and the next, startles us by the declaration that Chatter- 
 ton s "moral nature was essentially manly," and that u his 
 faults were all the growth of a strong and vigorous heart 
 and of a searching and masculine intellect." Either may 
 be true ; but is it probable that they are both true? Chat- 
 terton, with the biographer, is also religious, and his piety 
 too is after the manner of Shelley ! whom, in apparent 
 sincerity, the biographer declares " to have been the most 
 religious of all men!" Heaven forefend us ! Mr. Wilcox, 
 the reputed author of the narrative we now refer to, must 
 have contracted a fondness for the marvellous and striking 
 by the study of our poet, or else he has aspired to imitate 
 him as a practical jester, when he makes such a declara 
 tion as this. He feels that he is giving utterance to no 
 commonly cherished opinion in thus canonizing Shelley ! 
 Hence he adds : " There are many who cannot understand 
 this, and to such will offence come. These see, not with 
 the eye of faith, but with the fleshly vision only." The 
 good priest, Thomas Rowleie, would hardly have sanction 
 ed such a sentiment as this. 
 
 Chatterton was born on the 20th November, 1752, in 
 the city of Bristol. His parentage was humble. His 
 father was at one time writing-usher to a classical school, 
 and afterwards a chorister in Bristol Cathedral. He was 
 still chorister when he died, in August, 1752 ; and he had 
 held, in conjunction, the office of head-master in Bristol 
 
12 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 free school. He Avas a man, so the biographer informs us, 
 " of dissipated habits and of a brutal disposition." Chat- 
 terton s mother is said to have exhibited some of the traits 
 which subsequently distinguished her unhappy son. She 
 was of a melancholy disposition, of mild and amiable quali 
 ties, and most devotedly attached to her children. In 
 Chatterton s character there was the blending of the two 
 the pride, and, in some measure, the dissipation of the 
 father, and the kindness, occasional melancholy, and affec 
 tion of the mother. Up to the fifth year of his age, Chat- 
 terton was no prodigy. If remarkable for any thing, he 
 was remarkable for dulness and stupidity, "receiving into his 
 apparently obtuse skull no portion of the luminous instruc 
 tion which the pedagogue of a free school could be sup 
 posed to impart." It was feared he would prove an incor 
 rigible dunce. Chance, however, awoke his slumbering 
 genius, and an illuminated French musical manuscript 
 proved an apter teacher than mother or pedagogue. The 
 boy "fell in love" with it, says his mother; and having 
 thus got into the mysteries of the alphabet, he began to 
 read. This manuscript, together with a black-letter Bible, 
 completely metamorphosed the dull boy into an apt scholar. 
 Poetry and black-letter ! We may read in the juxtaposition 
 the character of the future creator of Rowley. Would 
 that we could also discover a significance in the holy wri 
 tings which were his earliest mental exercise. Doubtless 
 they moulded the intellectual and gave a tinge to the emo 
 tional character of the reader ; yet we shall discover but 
 very slight traces of their influence in his future career. 
 Chatterton s intellectual development begins at this period. 
 He becomes a rapacious reader, and devours with avidity 
 all that he can reach. His ambition and pride grow with 
 his expanding genius. A characteristic anecdote is told 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 13 
 
 of him at this time, illustrating the maturity of both : An 
 artificer desired to carve a design on a cup as a present for 
 him. He asked what design would suit him. " Paint me," 
 said the boy, " paint me an angel, with wings, and a trum 
 pet to trumpet my name over the world !" Probably urged 
 on by this insatiate desire for notoriety, as well as the nat 
 ural stimulus and thirst for knowledge which the mental 
 excitement created, by reading superinduced, the boy con 
 tinued to grow into habits of study and thought, shutting 
 himself in his little garret when at home, or taking long 
 and out-of-the-way strolls, with his books under his arm, 
 and not returning for hours. Once he was chastised for 
 his long absence. His manly spirit forbade his shedding a 
 tear. He merely said, " It was hard, indeed, to be whipped 
 for reading." 
 
 But one thing more was needed to complete the charac 
 ter of the severe student and youthful antiquary, and that 
 was supplied by the proximity of his mother s residence to 
 St. Mary Redcliffe Church. This ancient church had stood 
 now nearly three hundred years, and was as remarkable 
 for the magnificence of its structure as for its antiquity and 
 venerableness. It abounded in long, dim aisles and noble 
 arches, reaching to almost illimitable dimensions. There 
 was the tomb of worthy Mastre Canynge, the founder, or 
 at least the rebuilder, of the noble pile, and the patron ge 
 nius of the Mr. Thomas Rowleie, whose curious and recon 
 dite manuscripts had lain for four centuries and upwards 
 buried in a chest in the muniment room in the church. 1 This 
 chest had six keys to it. and was not disturbed until the 
 father of the poet had plundered the parchments on which 
 they were written to cover copy-books in his useful vocation 
 of usher to the Bristol school ! Chatterton, in one of his 
 letters, gives a description of the venerable edifice, in at- 
 
14 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 tempting a panegyric on an artist in music : " Step into 
 Redcliffe Church ; look at the noble arches ; observe the 
 symmetry, the regularity of the whole : how amazing must 
 that idea be which can comprehend at once all that magni 
 ficence of architecture. Do not examine one particular 
 beauty or dwell upon it minutely ; take [in] the astonish 
 ing whole, and then think that what the architect of that 
 pile was in building, Allen is in music." The ancestors of 
 Chatterton had filled the office of sexton to this church for 
 upwards of one hundred and fifty years. At this time, his 
 uncle held the position, and Chatterton had free access to 
 the several parts of the building. Here he most resorted 
 and chiefly spent his hours, seated upon the tomb of Ca- 
 nynge, whose character and career he was subsequently to 
 perpetuate. Here doubtless dawned upon him the concep 
 tion of the Rowley manuscripts ; not in very truth drawn 
 from the dim cloisters of the hoary structure, but generated 
 and produced in the mind of the youthful student and wor 
 shipper of her antique walls and crumbling monuments. 
 One name, at least, he would rescue from the jaws of de 
 vouring time and embalm in never-dying song. 
 
 In August, 1760, Chatterton was admitted to the charity 
 school at Bristol. He soon became disgusted with it. They 
 taught him nothing but the ordinary branches of the com 
 monest English education. He complained that they had 
 not books enough there. But one tender association is 
 connected with this school. The usher was a poet, and 
 had a taste for history. A firm attachment sprung up be 
 tween him and Chatterton. The usher s fame in writing 
 verses raised in the school hosts of rivals; but, strange to say, 
 we are informed by one of Chatterton s contemporaries, it 
 never aroused the emulation of the poet. In an elegy, 
 published among his acknowledged poems, Chatterton be- 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 15 
 
 moans this "friend to genius, sciences, and the arts." He 
 had few faster friends, or more faithful monitors and ad 
 vancers of his wayward early genius, than Thomas Phillips, 
 the usher of Bristol charity school. Not many notable 
 matters can be discovered in the life of our poet. He re 
 mained at the Bristol school nearly six years, when he was 
 taken and apprenticed to one Lambert, an attorney, of 
 little practice and of a prosaic and passionate temper. Up 
 to his leaving Bristol for London, these were the only 
 changes in his condition worthy of note. 
 
 The earliest production of Chatterton s muse, strangely 
 enough for a boy of such parts and industry, does not ex 
 hibit remarkable precocity. It was a set of verses on the 
 last Epiphany, written at the time of his confirmation, in 
 the tenth year of his age : 
 
 " ON THE LAST EPIPHANY, OR CHRIST COMING TO JUDGMENT." 
 
 " Behold, just coming from above, 
 
 The Judge, with majesty and love ! 
 
 The sky divides and rolls away, 
 
 T admit him through the realms of day. 
 
 The sun, astonished, hides its face ; 
 
 The moon and stars with wonder gaze 
 
 At Jesu s bright superior rays! 
 
 Dread lightnings flash, and thunders roar, 
 
 And shake the earth and briny shore ; 
 
 The trumpet sounds at Heaven s command, 
 
 And pierceth through the sea and land. 
 
 The dead in each now hear the voice ; 
 
 The sinners fear and saints rejoice; 
 
 For now the awful hour is come, 
 
 When every tenant of the tomb 
 
 Must rise and lake his everlasting doom!" 
 
 We scarcely discover here the flutterings even of the 
 unfledged eaglet. " From the time he began to learn. 
 
10 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 (writes Chatterton s sister,) he had been gloomy ; but lie 
 became more cheerful when he began to write poetry. 
 Some satirical pieces we saw soon after." His first satiri 
 cal poem, though its authorship has been questioned, writ 
 ten at eleven years of age, betrays more maturity and 
 power, though still sadly deficient in the spirit, and much 
 more in the pathos, of the future Rowley. The poem was 
 occasioned by the order of a churchwarden to level a grave 
 yard; of which he had the care. Except as an indication 
 of the growth of the poet s mind, and of his early ten 
 dency to satire and invective, it would be hardly worthy of 
 mention. It is entitled, 
 
 " THE CHURCHWARDEN AND THE APPARITION/ 
 
 "The night was cold, the wind was high, 
 
 And stars bespangled all the sky; 
 
 Churchwarden J. E. had laid him down, 
 
 And slept secure on bed of down. 
 
 But still the pleasing hope of gain, 
 
 That never left his active brain, 
 
 Exposed his churchyard to his view 
 
 That seat of treasure wholly new. 
 
 : Pull down that cross!" he quickly cried. 
 
 The mason instantly complied ; 
 
 When lo ! behold the golden prize 
 
 Appears! joy sparkles in his eyes. 
 
 The door now creaks the window shakes ; 
 
 With sudden fear he starts and wakes ! 
 
 Quaking and pale, in eager haste, 
 
 His haggard eyes around he cast. 
 
 A ghastly phantom, lean and wan, 
 
 That instant rose and thus began : 
 
 Weak wretch ! to think to blind my eyes ! 
 
 Hypocrisy s a thin disguise. 
 
 Your humble mien and fawning tongue 
 
 Have oft deceived the old and young : 
 
 On this side now, and now on that- - 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 17 
 
 The very emblem of the bat 
 
 Whatever part you take, we know 
 
 Tis only interest makes it so ; 
 
 And though with sacred zeal you burn, 
 
 Religion s only for your turn. 
 
 I m Conscience called ! J. E. greatly feared. 
 
 The lightning flashed it disappeared." 
 
 Chatterton s literary career, proper, began with the pro 
 duction of the De Bergham Pedigree. The story is fami 
 liar. Bergum was a Bristol pewterer, who had, as his 
 ancestors before him, followed in peace and quietness the 
 lucrative calling which had sustained the family of Ber- 
 gutns from time immemorial. Our pewterer was a vain, cred 
 ulous man too happy in the belief that some former sire 
 had distinguished the name to inquire too closely into the 
 authenticity of the fact. He was a fit subject for Chat 
 terton s skill. One day the boy brought to his friend, 
 Bergum, a document with odd-sounding names and magni 
 ficent titles, which he declared was the De Bergham pedi 
 gree to the time of William the conqueror ; tracing the 
 origin of the pewterer from the daughter of Waltheof, Earl 
 of Northumberland, Northampton and Huntington ! Such 
 suddenness of fortune bewildered his intellects. He re 
 warded the youthful antiquary by the present of five shil 
 lings, and probably forgot to inquire how and when Chat- 
 terton came by it, and where the original had been discov 
 ered. The trick was altogether successful ; and success 
 emboldened a second achievment, more remarkable than 
 the first. A fortnight afterwards, the discoverer produced 
 "a continuation of the account of the Bergham family," 
 (down to within a safe distance of the pewterer s recollec 
 tion.) In this second pedigree, " collected, as the former, 
 from original records, tournament rolls, and the heralds of 
 march and garter records," he is assured that one of his 
 
18 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 progenitors was the greatest ornament of his age, and an 
 undoubted son of Parnassus ; and that John De Bergham, 
 this poetical ancestor, a partial list of whose works is 
 given, was the author of the "Romaunte of the Cnyghte," 
 which he produces in its original form, in token of the ge 
 nius of the author, and translates into modern English for 
 the use of his less learned descendant. These poems are 
 printed with this collection. Bergum did not question the 
 authenticity of the pedigree or poem, but preserved them 
 with care ; and it is said that several years after Chatter- 
 ton s death, fired by the desire to imitate his ancestors, he 
 made a trip to London, and laid before the heralds of 
 march and garter this pedigree of the De Bergham family. 
 His mission was fruitless. He found his judges inexorable. 
 They would not acknowledge his title to knighthood. He 
 retired to his native Bristol again, to carry on the business 
 of a pewterer, to cheat his partner, and to forget his dream 
 ing of ancestral glory. The heir of the house of Bergum 
 had probably omitted to question the discoverer of the ped 
 igree where he had found it. It would have been fortu 
 nate for the author if he had always met with subjects so 
 easy of faith in the marvellous. 
 
 The true date of the origin of the Rowley poems has 
 never been ascertained. Whether Chatterton began to 
 write them before or after being articled to Lambert is not 
 known. It is probable they had been commenced before, 
 and were in some process of completion when the poet took 
 upon himself the duties of an attorney s apprentice. It 
 was, we imagine, however, chiefly done while he remained 
 with Lambert. While there, he was frequently employed 
 in making verse, and on more than one occasion put his 
 master into an ill-temper on account of it. His master, he 
 complained, was " continually insulting him, and making 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 19 
 
 his life miserable, tearing up and destroying his composi 
 tions, and annoying him with coarse and contemptuous 
 allusions ;" and this though the apprentice discharged faith 
 fully his duties, and had beside shown some desire to mas 
 ter the mysteries of legal documents by the preparation of 
 a folio book of law-forms and precedents, of three hundred 
 and odd closely written pages ! His companions, mean 
 while, in Lambert s office were vulgar and illiterate menials, 
 incapable of appreciating his employments, and only fit to 
 act in the capacity of spies upon his conduct ; in which 
 honorable office his master did not scruple to employ them. 
 No wonder the boy grew disgusted with such a life, and 
 longed for greater freedom ! He spent his evenings at home 
 with his mother and sister, and at ten would retire to his 
 lodging at Lambert s. It is no slight commendation of 
 his life in Bristol to say, that Lambert himself, with such 
 opportunities of detection if Chatterton had indulged in 
 dissipated habits, bore testimony to his exemplary con 
 duct. 
 
 Chatterton was at Lambert s when the first public dis 
 play of an antiquarian taste was given. The old bridge 
 which had spanned the river near Bristol for centuries had 
 been displaced, and a new one constructed in its stead. It 
 was determined to celebrate with due honors the day on 
 which it was first opened to the public. The ceremony 
 passed off well and happily. Chatterton s genius greedily 
 seized hold of the occasion to exhibit itself in an account 
 of the ceremonies observed at the opening of the old bridge 
 which had just been demolished. In Felix Farley s Bristol 
 Journal it appeared, and purported to have been taken 
 from an old manuscript. 
 
 " MR. PRINTER : The following description of the Mayor s first pass- 
 
20 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 ing over the old bridge, taken from an old manuscript, may not (at this 
 time) be unacceptable to the generality of your readers. 
 
 Yours, etc., DUNHELMUS BRISTOLIENSIS." 
 
 " On Fridaie was the time fixed for passing the newe Brydge : Aboute 
 the time of the tollynge the tenth Clock, Master Greggorie Delbenye 
 mounted on a Fergreyne Horse, enformed Master Mayor all thyngs were 
 prepared ; whan two Beadils want fyrst streyng fresh stre, next came a 
 marine dressed vp as follows Hose of goatskyn, crinepart outwards, 
 Doublet and Wayscoat also, over which a white Robe without sleeves, 
 much like an albe, but not so long, reeching but to his Lends ; a Girdle 
 of Azure over his left shoulder, reeched alse to his Lends on the 
 ryght, and doubled back to his Left, bucklyng with a Goaldin. Buckel, 
 dangled to his knee ; thereby representyng a Saxon Elderman. In his 
 hand he bare a shield, the maystrie of Gill a Brogton, who paincted the 
 same representyng Saincte Warburgh crossyng the Ford. Then a mickle 
 strong rnanne, in armour, carried a huge anlace, after whom came Six 
 Claryons and Six Minstrels, who sang the song of Saincte Warburgh; 
 then came Master Maior, mounted on a white Horse, dight with sable 
 trappyngs, wrought about by the Nunnes of Saincte Denna, with Gould 
 and Silver; his Hayr brayded with Ribbons, and a Chaperon, with the 
 auntient arms of Brystowe fastende on his forehead. Master Maior 
 bare in his Hande a Gouldin Rodde, and a congean Squier bare in his 
 Hande, his Helmet, walking by the Syde of the Horse : than came the 
 Elderrnen and Cittie Broders mounted on Sable Horses, dyght with 
 white trappyngs an Plumes, and scarlet Copes and Chapeons, having 
 thereon sable Plumes; after them, the Preests and Freeres, Parysh, 
 Mendicaunt and Secular, some Syngyng and others some Citrialles. In 
 thilk manner reechyng the Brydge, the Marine with the anlace strode 
 on the fyrst Top of a Mound yreed in the midst of the Brydge; then 
 want up the Manne with the Sheelde, after him the Ministrels and 
 Clarions. And then the Preestes and Freeres, all in white albs, ma- 
 kyng a most goodlie Shewe ; the Maior and Aldermen standyng round, 
 theie sang with the Sound of Clarions, the Song of Saincte Baldwyn ; 
 which beyng done, the Mamie on the Toppe threwe with greet myght 
 his Anlace into the see. and the Clarions sounded an auntiant Charge 
 and Forloyn . Then theie sang againe the song of Saincte Warburgh, 
 and proceeded up Chryst s hill, to the cross, where a Latin Sermon was 
 preeched by Ralph de Bhindeville. And with sound of clarion theie 
 agayne went to the Brydge, and there dined, Spendyng the rest of the 
 daie in Sportes and Plaies, the Freers of Sair.cte Augustine doeyng the 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 21 
 
 Plaie of the Knyglites of Bristowe, and makyng a great fire at night on 
 Kjnwulph Hyll." 
 
 Bristol was agog with excitement. In the language of 
 the biographer : 
 
 "The Journal office was besieged. Where was the original manu 
 script? Who was the Transcriber? Who the fortunate discoverer? 
 Where, too, was it discovered 1 Amongst what cobwebs had it reposed 
 for centuries ! and what spiders had spun the cobwebs ? Rapidly the 
 interesting number was bought up ; the description flew from mouth 
 to mouth, intersecting broadways andbyelanes, while the real author 
 the ex-charity boy young Thomas Chatterton, sat silently laughing In 
 his sleeve upon his stool in Mr. Lambert s office." 
 
 So successful a brochure had not disturbed the quiet cit 
 izens of Bristol from the time the worthy mayor had taken 
 part in the ceremonies of passing the first bridge, by sing 
 ing to the sound of clarions the " song of Saincte Bald- 
 wyn." The copy of Dunhelmus Bristoliensis was scanned 
 and preserved, and its characters noted. Chatterton was 
 never entirely successful in his practical jokes, save with 
 Bergum and Barret and men of an over-credulous turn of 
 mind. He had not disguised his handwriting when he gave 
 to the Bristol Journal the lucubrations of Bristoliensis. 
 He knew well the excitement it had produced. He doubt 
 less wished the discoverer to remain unknown. Ordinary 
 shrewdness would have suggested under these circumstances 
 a prudent abstinence, for a brief period, from further 
 essays, at least in the Bristol Journal. Yet do we find 
 him (in person, we suppose, and at the Farley office) pre 
 senting for insertion, immediately afterwards, another doc 
 ument written in the fair hand of the discoverer. He was 
 immediately recognized. "The alarm was sounded," and 
 attorney Lambert s office was besieged, not for the prepa 
 ration of recondite specimens of legal lore, but for the 
 
22 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 original of the copy of the "old bridge ceremonies." The 
 original was not produced, though the discoverer was en 
 treated and threatened by turns. He told two stories 
 about it : the one, that it was among a parcel of old man 
 uscripts a gentleman had employed him to transcribe ; the 
 other, that it had come from the large chest with six keys 
 in the muniment-room of the St. Mary Redcliffe church. 
 After Chatterton s death, its real origin was made known. 
 To a Mr. Reedhall, an intimate friend of Chatterton, he 
 had communicated the secret. Reedhall promised con 
 cealment. It was not disclosed till in 1779, when, " on 
 the prospect of procuring a gratuity of ten pounds for 
 Chatterton s mother from a gentleman who came to Bristol 
 in order to collect information concerning her son s his 
 tory, he divulged it." The real author the reader need 
 not be told was the attorney s apprentice, Thomas Chat 
 terton. There are facts, however, connected with Reed- 
 hall s account, noteworthy, inasmuch as they throw light 
 upon Chatterton s facility in making ancient manuscripts 
 out of new ones. Reedhall says : 
 
 "That Chatterton brought to him one day a piece of parchment about 
 the size of a half-sheet of foolscap paper. Mr. Reedhall did not think 
 any thing was written on it when produced by Chatterton, but he saw 
 him write several words, if not lines, in a character which R. did not 
 understand. They were totally unlike English, and, as he apprehended, 
 were meant by Chatterton to imitate or represent the original from 
 which this account was printed. He could not determine precisely 
 how much Chatterton wrote in this manner, but the time spent in the 
 visit did not exceed three-quarters of an hour. He said also, that when 
 Chatterton had written on the parchment, he held it over the candle 
 to give it the appearance of antiquity, which changed the color of the 
 ink, and made the parchment appear black and contracted : he never 
 saw him make any similar attempt, nor was the parchment produced 
 afterwards by Chatterton to him, or (as far as he knows) to any other 
 person." 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 23 
 
 Immediately after the publication of the old bridge man 
 uscript, he finds a new acquaintance, or revives an old one, 
 in the person of Mr. Catcott, of Bristol, the partner of 
 Mr. Bergum, the pewterer, whose name Chatterton had 
 already made famous. Catcott, it seems, was a man of 
 literary tastes, and fond of antiquarian researches. Walk 
 ing one day in Redcliffe church, he was informed by a 
 friend that several ancient pieces of poetry had lately been 
 discovered there, and were in possession of Chatterton, 
 whom the speaker described as " an extraordinary young 
 man." Catcott sought an introduction to the poet, and, 
 in a brief period, an intimacy grew up between them. We 
 find him now giving to Catcott a copy of " The Bristowe 
 Tragedy," "Rowley s Epitaph upon Canynge s Ancestor," 
 other smaller pieces, afterwards, "The Yellow Roll." Cat 
 cott, we imagine, by repeated solicitation, redoubled the 
 labors of our poet, and, perhaps, to the amiable importu 
 nity and credulous curiosity of this friend, we owe many 
 of the Rowley poems. We discover as much told as this 
 in the following lines, taken from Chatterton s Last Will 
 and Testament. 
 
 " Catcott, for thee, I know thy heart is good, 
 
 But. ah! thy merit s seldom understood; 
 
 Too bigoted to whimsies, which thy youth 
 
 Received to venerate as gospel truth, 
 
 Thy friendship never could be dear to me, 
 
 Since all I am is opposite to thee. 
 
 If ever obligated to thy purse, 
 
 Rowley discharges all my first chief curse ! 
 
 For had I never known the antique lore, 
 
 I ne er had ventured from my peaceful shore. 
 
 To be the wreck of promises and hopes, 
 
 A Soy of Learning, and a Bard of Tropes; 
 
 But happy in my humble sphere had moved, 
 
 Untroubled, unsuspected, unbeloved. r * 
 
24 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 Some have discovered in these verses the affirmation by 
 Chatterton of the genuineness of the Rowley poems. We 
 cannot so read them. We think they speak the other way ; 
 at least, they are an ambiguous voice, and of little worth. 
 Catcott is soon followed by Barret, the Bristol surgeon 
 and historian. Treasures hitherto undiscovered were made 
 known to Barret. The specimens, the favorable specimens 
 of Rowley s genius produced to him are scrutinized and 
 pronounced authentic by the two, and the historian hastens 
 to make the acquaintance of the young and unfledged 
 attorney, and to secure the manuscripts for his work ! Row 
 ley was not merely a priest and poet, but a prose writer as 
 well : and in a few days the delighted historian is furnished 
 from the Rowley MSS. " with a true and particular ac 
 count of the ancient churches of Bristol, which formerly 
 occupied the sites of the existing structures;" a few days 
 more, and another mouldy manuscript is produced ; again, 
 another and another ; all authentic, and all solemnly in 
 troduced into the otherwise learned and elaborate history 
 of Bristol by the good Mr. Barret ! Naughty Thomas 
 Chatterton ! would it not suffice thee to turn the head of 
 the tradesman Bergum with black-letter and march and 
 garter titles ? and to set Bristol agape with antique ac 
 counts of old bridges recently discovered, and veritable 
 descriptions of the farces enacted at them ? Would it not 
 suffice thee to coin tragedies in verse, and priests to write 
 them, for thy amusement and edification when seated in 
 the presence of the Truth shining from the covers of ven 
 erable law-books and time-honored parchments ? Must thou 
 needs go and falsify history ? Must thou record as fact, or 
 allow another to record as fact, what thou knowest full 
 well was the product of thy fertile and capricious fancy, 
 finding neither foundation nor even apology in the dim pe- 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 25 
 
 riods into which thou pretendest to gaze ? We may forgive 
 thee the harmless imposture on a credulous pewterer ; we 
 may allow thee to put forth as the poetical productions of a 
 holy "prieste" the comings of thy own brain ; but we can 
 not allow the fountains of wisdom, the philosophy of ex 
 ample, to be corrupted at their source. Let not thy pro 
 fane hand dare to touch the sacred precincts of history ! 
 In this, thou hast not done well ; and the pages of sober 
 print recorded by worthy Mr. Barret, giving minute ac 
 counts from Turgotus of Radclefte and Bryghstowe walls 
 and castles, will, to thy dying-day and beyond it, be a 
 standing monument of thy rashness and folly ! 
 
 Chatterton, at the time of these "forgeries" this is the 
 harsh title some have applied to them was scarcely six 
 teen years of age ! What might have been expected from 
 a boy, had he ripened into a man, who had begun thus 
 early to make history and to write it ? His historical 
 contributions to good Mr. Barret s history of Bristol will 
 probably, together with the work in which they appeared, 
 sink into oblivion the poems remain. 
 
 It seems amazing to us, in view of the overwhelming 
 testimony against the authenticity of the Rowley poems, 
 that the learned world should so long have held dispute 
 concerning them. Every fact in their history ; the manner 
 of their production ; the interval of time that elapsed be 
 fore their being fully revealed ; the character as well as 
 the genius of their discoverer ; his confession of the fact that 
 one of them he had produced as Rowley s was his own, and 
 that the best among them; his zeal in forwarding the 
 claims of the pretended author at the expense of his own 
 all pointed, almost unerringly, to the true source to 
 Thomas Chatterton, as the author. These were the exter 
 nal marks. There were, besides, internal evidences, per- 
 3 
 
26 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 liaps more convincing and conclusive. Rowley s English, 
 though in great part the English of his day, was not all of 
 it in that category. Words were used by him in the fif 
 teenth century which had not been in vogue for a century 
 afterwards ; and there were other words which could only 
 be found in modern dictionaries, and were probably mis 
 prints. His subjects, too, were novel for his day and for 
 his vocation. A priest in calling, and living in a priestly 
 age, when " devotional hymns, legendary tales, and mor#l- 
 izations of the scriptures," were almost the only literature 
 in vogue, his literary taste is chiefly historical ; and when 
 he leaves that path, we have " elegant little poems upon 
 charitie and happinesse, a new church, a living worthy, and 
 other occurrences of the moment." His versification, too, 
 is not in keeping with his times ; neither his sudden and 
 rapid breaks in the conversation, nor the dramatic ability 
 displayed, nor the Pindaric metre of many of his poems. 
 His absence of learning on points in which a priest would 
 have been learned ; the generality of his descriptions, when 
 an eye-seer would have been minute ; the very astonishing 
 fact that a learned and ingenious priest of the fifteenth 
 century should have written nothing which an attorney s 
 apprentice of the eighteenth, well versed in old and modern 
 English, could not understand, and appreciate, and enjoy : 
 could such a host of evidences, all pointing in one direc 
 tion, each of them singly of significance and worth, prove 
 fallacious ? There ought to have been no doubt of it. 
 Tried by the tests of a nice scrutiny and the canons of 
 criticism, rare must be the genius of the man, and matured 
 and well elaborated the results of his labors, who shall suc 
 ceed in imposing on the credulity of even a respectable 
 minority in his own age. Chatterton s work could not 
 stand it, though a marvellous one for a boy. 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 27 
 
 In the present edition of these poems, which is almost 
 an exact reprint of the Cambridge edition of 1842, we are 
 furnished with a history of the Rowley controversy. The 
 writer has marshalled the lists, and assigns to each one his 
 proper position in the contending hosts. First, Walpole, 
 the correspondent, and afterwards the defender of Chat- 
 terton s claims, who, half angry, we imagine, at the trick 
 the boy had played on him, determined to wash away 
 the stain upon his antiquarian gown by stoutly denying 
 the existence of Rowley. Then Milles, Dean of Exeter, 
 and President of the Antiquarian Society, who proved his 
 title to the office of honor by a vigorous comment upon 
 Rowley, and a splendid quarto edition of his poems I The 
 dean closes an anathematic, and, to himself, an irresistible 
 series of arguments for their genuineness, by the declara 
 tion that the " Death of Syr Charles Bawdin had a greater 
 variety of internal proofs of its authenticity than any 
 other!" Chatterton, it is known, did write the Death of 
 Sir Charles Bawdin ! Unfortunate dean ! After Milles 
 comes Dr. Sherwin, this biographer says, "of all the 
 vindicators of Rowley, the most amusing and the most labo 
 riously trifling," and last on the Rowley side, and main 
 spokesman of them all, Jacob Bryant. Mr. Bryant starts 
 out with the simple proposition, that " every writer must 
 know his own meaning;" and attempts, in a treatise of six 
 hundred pages, to demonstrate that Chatterton did not 
 know his that in his illustrative notes of Rowley, Chat 
 terton had in many instances grossly misconceived and 
 misinterpreted the text ! If he had succeeded in the de 
 monstration that Chatterton did not understand Rowley, 
 we might probably unite in the verdict he has rendered. 
 But is it quite true that " every author understands him 
 self ?" Mr. Bryant might have paused here as a debateable 
 
28 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 point. Subsequently, Warton, and Malone, and Stevens 
 Pinkerton, Jamieson, and Sir Herbert Croft 3 , engaged in 
 the controversy, taking the side of Chatterton, and vindi 
 cating his claims. Of these Warton was the chief and the 
 most successful advocate ; and, indeed, he may be said to have 
 settled and put to rest the anti- Chatterton advocates for ever 
 But we should not dwell too long upon the merely criti 
 cal history of these poems. They have something more 
 than antique diction and the natural curiosity excited in 
 regard to their origin to awaken attention to their claims. 
 They are characterized by aptness and simplicity of ex 
 pression, and abound in touches of exquisite pathos and 
 beauty. Chatterton was not a scholar in the vulgar use of 
 the term. He had not mastered any other language than 
 his own, but he was a master of that. He had learned to 
 read and admire, and he had caught the spirit of the best 
 writers of pure English, and he had made himself familiar 
 with the splendid productions of the ancients. It may 
 have been his fondness of the old for the old s sake, a pas 
 sion for antiquity the ruling passion of his life which 
 attracted him to the stories and poetry of the ancients. It 
 may have been the mere thirst for learning which prompt 
 ed him to the new a thirst with him insatiable and which 
 he would willingly have slaked at any fountain. But, how 
 ever implanted, this spirit had been cherished, and exhibits 
 itself everywhere on the pages of his writings. In this 
 respect, Chatterton s acknowledged poems and the writings 
 of Thomas Rowley are one. Of the later writers, Chat 
 terton s genius seems chiefly to have been impressed by the 
 writings of Pope : and he has so familiarized himself with 
 Pope s translations of Homer and satires, that he every 
 where catches and transfers his spirit. While excelling 
 his master in some of the regions of sentiment, he is 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 29 
 
 scarcely inferior in those departments which Pope s genius 
 and circumstances were peculiarly adapted to produce. 
 The very genius of Chatterton was against his success in 
 the Rowley imposture. Warton, one of his critics, re 
 marks this difficulty: 
 
 "To have been dull would not have suited Chatterton s purpose, nor 
 indeed was it consistent with his genius. His aim was to dazzle and 
 surprise, by producing such high-wrought pieces of ancient poetry as 
 never before existed. To secure our credulity, he should have pleased 
 us less. He has shown too much genius and too little skill. Overact 
 ing his part, and unable or unwilling to repress his abilities, he awa 
 kened our suspicions and exposed his want of address in attempting 
 to deceive. He sacrificed his veracity to an imprudent ambition. In 
 stead of wondering at his contrivance, we find he had none. A medi 
 ocrity of poetical talent would have succeeded much better in this im 
 posture. He was too good a poet to conduct and execute such a forgery. 
 He conceived that his old poetry would be sufficiently marked by 
 old words and old spelling ; but he took no caution about thoughts and 
 imagery, the sentiment and the substance. He had never forgot, or 
 never knew, or was not inclined to believe, that the garb of antiquity 
 would but ill become the elegance of Pope, or the spirit of Dryden." 
 
 This is not overwrought praise. 
 
 Celmendi s soliloquy at reaching Bertha s home, and the 
 " Mynstrelle s Song," in the tragedy of JElla, are examples 
 of the highest perfection of art, united with exquisite sen 
 sibility to poetic impression. We cannot omit the latter : 
 
 " ! synge untoe mie roundelaie, 
 O! droppe the brynie teare wythe mee 
 Daunce ne moe atte hallie daye, 
 Lycke a reynynge ryver bee ; 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 Gon to hys deathe-bedde, 
 Al under the wyllowe tree. 
 
30 THOMAS CHATTERTON.. 
 
 ii. 
 
 "Black hys cryne as the wyntere nyghte, 
 Whyte hys rode as the sommer snowe, 
 Rodde hys face as the mornynge lyghte, 
 Gale he lyes ynne the grave belowe ; 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 Gon to hys deathe-bedde, 
 Al under the wyllowe tree. 
 
 III. 
 
 "Swote hys tyngue as the throstle s note, 
 Quycke ynn daunce as thoughte can bee, 
 Defte hys taboure, codgelle stote, 
 0! hee lyes bie the wyllowe tree; 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 Gonne to hys deathe-bedde. 
 Alle underre the wyllowe tree. 
 
 IT. 
 
 "Harke! the ravenne flappes hys wynge, 
 In the briered delle belowe ; 
 Harke ! the death-owle loude dothe synge, 
 To the nyghte-mares as heie goe; 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 Gonne to hys deathe-bedde, 
 Alle under the wyllowe tree. 
 
 V. 
 
 " See ! the whyte moone sheenes onne hie 
 
 Whyterre ye mie true love s shroude ; 
 
 Whyterre yanne the mornynge skie; 
 
 Whyterre yanne the evenynge cloude ; 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 Gonne to hys death-bedde, 
 Al under the wyllowe tree. 
 
 "Heere, uponne mie true love s grave, 
 Schalle the baren fleurs be layde, 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 31 
 
 Nee one hallie Seyncte to save 
 Al the celness of a mayde. 
 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 
 Gonne to hys deathe-bedde, 
 
 Alle under the wyllowe tree. 
 
 vi I : 
 
 "Wyth mie hondes I ll dente the briers 
 Rounde his hallie corse to gre, 
 Ouphante fairie, lyghte your fyres, 
 Heere mie boddie stylle schalle be. 
 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 
 Gon to hys deathe-bedde, 
 
 Al under the wyllowe tree. 
 
 "Comme, wythe acorn-coppe and thorne, 
 Drayne mie hartys blodde awaie ; 
 Lyfe and all yttes good I scorne, 
 Daunce bie nete, or feaste by daie. 
 
 Mie love ys dedde, 
 
 Gon to hys deathe-bedde 
 
 Al under the wyllowe tree. 
 
 IX. 
 
 " Waterre wytches, crownede wythe reytes, 
 Bere mee to yer leathalle tyde. 
 I die! I comme ! mie true love waytes. 
 Thos the damsel spake and dyed." 
 
 " The Bristowe Tragedie, or the death of Sir Charles 
 Bawdin," is one of the earliest of the Rowley poems, and 
 the best. Chatterton confessed its authorship to Barret. 
 Its subject is the execution of a knight, who, in the wars 
 between the two Roses, was a zealous Lancastrian. We 
 extract the following from the statement prefixed to the 
 poem in the present edition. It occurs in the edition of 
 Southey and Cottle, and is possibly the work of Chat 
 terton : 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 The person here celebrated, under the name of Syr Charles Baw- 
 Din," was probably Sir BaldewynFulford, Km., a zealous Lancastrian, 
 who was executed at Bristol in the latter end of 1461, the first year of 
 Edward the Fourth, He was attainted, with many others, in the gen 
 eral act of attainder, 1 Edward IV. ; but he seems to have been executed 
 under a special commission for the trial of treasons, etc., within the 
 town of Bristol. ... If the commission sat soon after the Vth of 
 September, as is most probable, King Edward might very possibly be 
 at Bristol at the time of Sir Baldwyn s execution ; for, in the interval 
 between his coronation and the parliament which met in November, 
 he made a progress by the south coast in the west, and was (among 
 other places) at Bristol." 
 
 We are only deterred by its great length from giving in 
 full this favorable specimen of the author s genius. It re 
 sembles some of the fine old ballads which Percy has res 
 cued from oblivion, and, had it stood alone, would readily 
 have imposed upon a more astute and less credulous critic 
 than Horace Walpole. Campbell aptly remarked, that the 
 interest and strength of the poem is in nowise dependent 
 on the obsolete garb in which it appears. It will bear a 
 translation into modern English, without loss of any of the 
 fire or force of the original : 
 
 " The feathered songster chaunticleer 
 
 Han wound e hys bugle home, 
 And tolde the earlie villager 
 
 The commynge of the mornej 
 
 " Kynge Edwarde sawe the ruddie streakes 
 
 Of lyghthe eclypse the greie ; 
 And herde the raven s crockynge throte 
 
 Proclayme the fated daie." 
 
 " Thou rt righte, quod hee, for, by the Godde 
 
 That syttes enthron d on hyghe ! 
 Charles Bawdin, and hys feLowes twame, 
 
 To daie shall surelie die." 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 33 
 
 The king orders the intelligence to be communicated by a 
 courier, who 
 
 " Wythe harte brimfulle of woe," 
 
 goes on his sad errand. As he approaches the victim of 
 royal vengeance, he discovers him surrounded by his wife 
 and little ones 
 
 " He journey d to the castle gate, 
 And to Syr Charles dydd goe. 
 
 " But whenne hee came, hys children twaine, 
 
 And eke hys lovynge wyfe, 
 Wythe brinie tears dydd wett the floore, 
 
 For goode Syr Charleses lyfe. 
 
 " goode Syr Charles ! sayd Canterlone, 
 
 Badde ty dings I doe brynge. 
 Speke boldlie, manne, sayd brave Syr Charles, 
 
 Whatte says thie trayter kynge V 
 
 u I greeve to telle, before yonne sonne 
 
 Does fromme the welkin flye, 
 Hee hath uponne hys honnour swome, 
 
 That thou shall surelie die. " 
 
 Sir Charles meets the message firmly, and sends back the 
 answer : 
 
 " Telle thye kynge, for myne hee s not, 
 
 I de sooner die to-daie 
 Than lyve hys slave, as manie are, 
 Tho I should lyve for aie. " 
 
 While arrangements are making for the execution, Mais- 
 ter Canynge (of whom we shall have something more to 
 say "a grete and goode man, the favoryte of Godde, the 
 friende of the chyrche, the companyonne of Kynges and 
 the fadre of hys natyve cittie") seeks the king, to entreat 
 
34 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 on behalf of the prisoner. Canynge is a favorite with 
 Edward, but his importunities and entreaties are alike 
 vain : 
 
 " Lette mercie rule thyne infante reign, 
 
 Twyll faste thy crowne fulle sure ; 
 From race to race thy familie 
 
 Alle sov reigns shall endure. 
 
 " But yff wythe bloode and slaughter thou 
 
 Beginne thy infante reigne, 
 Thy crowne uponne thy childrennes brows 
 
 Wylle never longremayne. 
 
 " Canynge, awaie ! thys traytour vile 
 
 Has scorn d my power and mee ; 
 How cans t thou thenne for such a manne 
 
 Intreate my clemencye ? 
 
 " Mie nobile liege ! the trulie brave 
 
 Wylle vaVrous actions prize, 
 Respect a brave and nobile mynde, 
 
 Altho ynne enemies. 
 
 " Canynge, awaie ! By Godde ynne Heav n 
 
 That dydd mee being gyve, 
 I wylle nott taste a bitt of breade 
 
 Whylst thys Syr Charles dothe lyve. 
 
 " Bie Marie, and all Seinctes ynne Heav n, 
 
 Thys sunne shall be hys laste ; 
 Thenne Canynge dropt a brinie tear, 
 
 And from the presence paste/ 
 
 Sir Charles is the braver of the two. We must extract 
 quite largely here : 
 
 " We alle must die, quod brave Syr Charles. 
 
 Whatte bootes ytte howe or whenne? 
 Deathe ys the sure, the certaine fate 
 
 Of all wee mortall menne. 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 35 
 
 " Saye, why, my friend, thie honest soul 
 
 Runns over att thyne eye ; 
 Is ytt for my most welcome doome 
 
 Thatt thou doste child-lyke crye ? 
 
 " Quod godlie Canynge, I doe weepe 
 
 Thatt thou soe soone must dye, 
 And leave thy sonnes and helpless wyfe ; 
 
 Tys thys thatt wettes myne eye. 
 
 Thenne drye the teares thatt out thyne eye 
 
 From godlie fountaines sprynge ; 
 Dethe I despise, and all the power 
 
 Of Edwarde, traytor kynge. 
 
 " Whan through the tyrant s welcome means 
 
 I shall resign my lyfe, 
 The Godde I serve wyll soone provyde 
 
 For bothe mye sonnes and wyfe. 
 
 * Before t sawe the lyghtsome sunne, 
 
 Thys was appointed mee ; 
 Shall mortal manne repyne or grudge 
 
 Whatt Godde ordeynes to bee "? 
 
 " Howe oft ynne battaile have I stoode 
 
 Whan thousands dy darounde ; 
 Whan smokynge streemes of crimson bloode 
 
 Imbrew d the fatten d grounde. 
 
 " Howe dydd I knowe thatt ev ry darte 
 
 That cutt the airie waie, 
 Myght nott fynde passage to my harte, 
 
 And close myne eyes for aie? 
 
 " And shall I nowe, for feere of dethe, 
 
 Looke wanne and bee dismayde? 
 Ne ! frornme my herte flie childyshe feere, 
 
 Bee all the manne display d. 
 
 " Ah ! goddelyke Henrie ! Godde forefende, 
 
 And guarde thee and thye sonne, 
 YfF tis hys wylle ; but yff tis not, 
 
 Why thenne hys wylle bee donne. 
 
36 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 " My honest friende, my faulte has beene 
 To serve Godde and mye prynce 5 
 
 And thatt I no tyme-server am, 
 My dethe wylle soone convynee. 
 
 Ynne Londonne citye was I borne, 
 
 Of parents of grete note ; 
 
 My fadre dydd a nobile arms 
 
 Emblazon onne hys cote. 
 
 " I make no double butt hee ys gone 
 
 Where soone I hope to goe ; 
 Where wee for ever shall be blest, 
 
 From oute the reech of woe ; 
 
 " Hee taughte mee justice and the laws 
 
 Wyth pitie to unite; 
 And eke hee taughte mee how to knowe 
 
 The wronge cause fromme the ryghte : 
 
 " He taughte mee wythe a prudente hande 
 To feede the hungrie poore, 
 
 Ne lette mye servants dryve awaie 
 The hungrie fromme my doore : 
 
 " And none can saye butt alle mye lyfe 
 
 I have hys wordyes kept ; 
 And summ d the actyonns of the daie 
 
 Eche nyghte before I slept. 
 
 " I have a spouse, goe aske of her, 
 
 Yff I defyl d her bedde; 
 I have a kynge, and none can laie 
 
 Blacke treason onne my hedde. 
 
 " Ynne Lent, and onne the holie eve, 
 Fromme fleshe I dydd refrayne ; 
 
 Whie should I thenne appeare dismayed 
 To leave thys worlde of payne? 
 
 " Ne ! hapless Henrie! I rejoyce 
 
 I shall nee see thye dethe ; 
 Most willynglie ynne thye just cause 
 
 Doe I resign my brethe. 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 37 
 
 " fickle people! rewyn d loncle ! 
 
 Thou wilt kenne peace ne moe ; 
 Whyle Richard s sonnes exalt themselves, 
 
 Thye brookes with bloude wylle flowe. 
 
 " Saie, were ye tyr d of godlie peace 
 
 And godlie Henrie s reigne, 
 That you dydd choppe youre easie daies 
 
 For those of blonde and peyne 1 
 
 " Whatte tho I onne a sledde bee drawne. 
 
 And mangled by a hynde, 
 I doe defye the traytor s pow r, 
 
 He can ne harm my mynde ; 
 
 Whatte tho uphoisted onne a pole 
 
 Mye lymbes shall rotte ynne ayre, 
 And ne riche monument of brasse 
 
 Charles Bawdin s name shall bear; 
 
 " Yett ynne the holie booke above 
 
 Whyche tyme can t eate awaie, 
 There wythe the servants of the Lorde 
 
 Mye name shall lyve for aie. 
 
 " Thenne welcome dethe ! for lyfe eterne 
 
 I leave thys mortall lyfe, 
 Farewell, vayne worlde, and alle that s deare, 
 
 Mye sonnes and lovynge wyfe ! 
 
 " Nowe dethe as welcome to mee comes 
 
 As e er the moneth of Maie; 
 Nor woulde I even wyshe to lyve, 
 
 Wyth my dere wyfe to staie. 
 
 " Quod Canynge, Tys a goodlie thynge 
 
 To bee prepar d to die ; 
 And from thys world of peyne and grefe 
 
 To Godcle ynne Heav nto flie. " 
 
 The meeting of the mfe, and the separation, just be 
 fore the final scene, are most touchingly described. It 
 
38 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 lacks but one thing to make the picture complete the 
 children are not there to take the final parting : 
 
 " And now the bell beganne to tolle, 
 
 And claryonnes to sounde ; 
 Syr Charles hee herde the horses feete 
 
 A prauncing onne the grounde ; 
 
 " And just before the officers 
 
 His lovynge wyfe came ynne, 
 Weepynge unfeigned teeres of woe, 
 
 Wythe loude and dysmalle dynne. 
 
 " Sweet Florence ! nowe I praie forbere, 
 
 Ynne quiet lett mee die ; 
 Praie Godde, thatt ev ry Christian soule 
 
 May looke onne dethe as I. 
 
 " Sweet Florence ! why these brinie teares * 
 
 They washe my soul awaie, 
 And almost make mee wyshe for lyfe, 
 
 Wythe thee, sweete dame, to staie. 
 
 " Tys butt a journie I shalle goe 
 
 Untoe the lande of blysse : 
 Nowe, as a proofe of husbande s love, 
 
 Receive thys holie kysse. 
 
 " Thenne Florence, fault ring in her saie, 
 
 Tremblynge these wordyes spoke, 
 " Ah, cruele Edwarde ! bloudie kynge ! 
 
 My herte ys welle nyghe broke: 
 
 " Ah, sweete Syr Charles! why wylt thou goe, 
 
 Wythoute thye lovynge wyfe ! 
 The cruelle axe that cuttes thy necke, 
 
 Ytte eke shall ende mye lyfe. 
 
 "And nowe the officers came ynne 
 
 To brynge Syr Charles awaie, 
 Whoe turnedd to hys lovynge wyfe, 
 And thus to her dydd saie : 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 39 
 
 " I goe to lyfe, and nott to dethe ; 
 
 Truste thou ynne Godde above, 
 And teache thy sonnes to feare the Lorde, 
 
 And ynne theyre hartes hym love ; 
 
 " Teache them to runne the nobile race 
 
 Thatt I theyre fader runne : 
 Florence! shou d dethe thee take adieu, 
 
 Yee officers, lead onne. 
 
 " Then Florence rav d as anie madde, 
 
 And dydd her tresses tere ; 
 Oh! stale, mye husbande ! lorde ! and lyfe ! 
 
 Sir Charles thenne dropt a teare." 
 
 It was a brave man s weeping not for himself, but for 
 the strength of affection and did not arise save from 
 weakness of manhood ! The march through the streets of 
 Bristol is then described. Edward has taken a position to 
 witness the caravan of death. As the unhappy prisoner 
 nears the place in which the king sits, he rises up from his 
 seat to utter an earnest and bitter invective against the 
 tyrant murderer. The passage has excited the admiration 
 of more than one critic : admiration deepened doubtless by 
 the fact that it was the creation of a boy s brain, but not the 
 less sure and steady and firm. It is one of the manly 
 productions of Chatterton s genius which will never die : 
 
 " Uponne a sledde hee mounted thenne, 
 Wythe lookes full brave and sweete ; 
 Lookes, that enshone ne more concern 
 Thanne anie ynne the strete. 
 
 "Before hym went the council-menne, 
 
 Ynne Scarlett robes and golde, 
 And tassils spanglynge ynne the sunne, 
 
 Muche glorious to beholde : 
 
40 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 " The Freers of Seincte Augustine next 
 
 Appeared to the syght, 
 Alle cladde ynn homelie xussett weedes 
 
 Of godlie monkish plyghte ; 
 
 " Ynne difFraunt partes a godly psaume 
 Most sweetly theye dydd chaunte ; 
 
 Behynde theyre backes syx mynstrelles came ; 
 Who tuned the strunge bataunt. 
 
 " Thenne fyve and twentye archers came ; 
 
 Echone the bowe dydd bende, 
 From rescue of Kynge Henrie s friends 
 
 Syr Charles forr to defend. 
 
 " Bold as a lyon came Syr Charles, 
 Drawn onne a clothe-layde sledde, 
 
 Bye two black stedes ynne trappynges white, 
 Wythe plumes uporme theyre hedde : 
 
 " Behynde hym fyve-and-twentye moe 
 Of archers stronge and stoute, 
 
 Wythe bended bowe echone ynne hande, 
 Marched ynne goodlie route : 
 
 " Seincte Jameses Freers marched next, 
 Echone hys parte dydd chaunt ; 
 
 Behynde theyre backes syx mynstrelles came, 
 Who tuned the strunge bataunt. 
 
 "Thenne came the maior and eldermenne, 
 Ynne clothe of scarlet deck t ; 
 
 And theyre attendyng menne echone, 
 Lyke Easterne princes trickt. 
 
 "And after them, a multitude 
 
 Of citizens dydd thronge 5 
 The wyndowes were all fulle of heddes, 
 
 As hee did passe alonge. 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 41 
 
 "And whenne hee came to the hyghe crosse, 
 
 Syr Charles dydd turnc and saie, 
 Thou that savest manne fromme synne, 
 Washe mye soul clean thys dale ! 
 
 "At the grate mynsterr wyndowe sat 
 
 The Kynge ynne myckle state, 
 To see Charles Bawdin goe alonge 
 To hys most welcom fate. 
 
 " Soone as the sledde drewe nyghe enowe, 
 
 That Edwarde hee myghte heare, 
 The brave Syr Charles hee dydd stande uppe, 
 
 And thus hys wordes declare : 
 
 " Thou seest mee, Edwarde ! traytour vile ! 
 
 Expos d to infamie ; 
 Butt bee assur d, disloyall manne ! 
 
 I m greater now than thee. 
 
 " Bye foule proceedyngs, murdre, bloude, 
 
 Thou wearest nowe a crowne ; 
 And hast appoynted mee to dye, 
 
 By power nott thyne owne. 
 
 " Thou thynkest I shall dye to-daie ; 
 
 I have beene dede till nowe, 
 And soone shall lyve to weare a crowne 
 
 For aie uponne my browe : 
 
 " Whylst thou, perhapps, for some few yeares, 
 
 Shalt rule thys fickle lande, 
 To lett them knowe howe wyde the rule 
 
 Twixt kynge and tyrant hand. 
 
 " Thye pow r unjust, thou traytour slave ! 
 
 Shall falle onne thye owne hedde. 
 Fromme out of hearyng of the Kynge 
 
 Departed thenne the sledde. 
 
 "Kynge Edwarde s soul rushed to hys face, 
 
 Hee turn d hys hedde awaie, 
 And to hys broder Glocester 
 
 He thus did speke and saie ; 
 
42 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 " ; To hym that soe-much-dreaded dethe 
 
 No ghastly terrors brynge ; 
 Beholde the manne ! hee spake the truthe, 
 Hee s greater thanne a Kynge ! " 
 
 Shall we attribute the noble sentiment with which this 
 passage closes to the study of the black-letter Bible, the 
 first companion to the poet s genius ? The scene at the 
 scaffold is as vividly described : 
 
 " And nowe the horses gentlie drawe 
 
 Syr Charles uppe the hyghe hylle ; 
 The axe dydd glysterr ynne the sunne, 
 
 Hys pretious bloude to spylle. 
 
 " Syr Charles dydd uppe the scaffold goe, 
 
 As uppe a gilded care 
 Of victorye, bye val rous chiefs 
 
 Gayn d ynne the bloudie warre ; 
 
 " And to the people hee dydd saie, 
 
 Behold you see mee dye, 
 For servynge loyally my kynge, 
 
 My kynge most rightfullic. 
 
 " As long as Edward e rules thys lande, 
 
 No quiet you wille knowe ; 
 Youre sonnes and husbandes shalle bee slayne, 
 
 And brookes wythe bloude shalle flowe. 
 
 " You leave youre goode and lawfulle kynge, 
 
 Whenne ynne adversitye ; 
 Lyke mee, unto the true cause stycke. 
 
 And for the true cause dye. 
 
 " Thenne hee, wyth preestes, upon hys knees, 
 
 A pray r to Godde dydd make, 
 Beeseeching hym unto hymselfe 
 
 Hys partynge soule to take. 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 " Thenne, kneelynge downe, hee layd hys hedde 
 
 Most seemlie onne the blocke ; 
 Which fronime hys bodie fayre at once 
 
 The able heddes-manne stroke ; 
 
 " And oute the bloude beganne to flowe, 
 
 And rounde the scafFolde twine ; 
 And teares, enow to washe t awaie, 
 
 Dydd flow fromme each manne s eyne. 
 
 u The bloudie axe hys bodie fayre 
 
 Yunto foure parties cutte ; 
 And ev rye parte, and eke hys hedde, 
 
 Uponne a pole was putte. 
 
 " One part dydd rotte onne Kynwulph-hylle, 
 
 One onne the mynster-tower, 
 And one from off the castle-gate 
 
 The crowen dydd devoure ; 
 
 The other onne Seyncte Powle s good gate; 
 
 A dreery spectacle ; 
 Hys hedde was plac d onne the hyghe crosse, 
 
 Ynne hyghe-streete most nobile. 
 
 " Thus was the ende of Bawdin s fate ; 
 
 Godcle prosper longe oure Kynge, 
 And grante hee maye, wyth Bawdin s soule, 
 
 Ynne heav n Godd s mercie syngge !" 
 
 We confess we fear to trust ourself to speak of this bal 
 lad in terms sufficiently commendatory. We have no pa 
 tience with the cold and superficial criticism which could, 
 after reading such a poem, stop to scan and search out its 
 merely verbal defects. The spirit of the times of which it 
 writes, and when it purports to be written, is breathed 
 anew. Were worthy Thomas Rowley s name linked with 
 no other effort of his muse, this alone would prove an im 
 perishable monument. In his storie of Wm. Canynge, 
 

 44 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 Rowley says : "I gave Master Cannings my Bristow tra 
 gedy, for which he gave me in hands twentie pounds, and 
 did praise it more than I did think myself did deserve, for 
 I can say in troth I was never proud of my verses since I 
 did read master Chaucer?" The "chief poete of Bri- 
 taine" would not have disowned them. Chatterton wrote 
 this poem before the latter and evil days of his life, 
 and while the sweet and holy charities of a home, with a 
 mother s love and a sister s tenderness, were about him. 
 It is the echo of his truer and better nature not the utter 
 ance of the wild wantonness of dissipated boyhood, nor 
 yet the fruits of the bitterness of toil, after the sterner 
 and bolder grasping of the unattainable and the lofty had 
 soured his genius. 
 
 The Bristowe tragedy was one of the poems which he 
 committed to the keeping of Mr. Catcott. He afterwards 
 produced the tragedy of 2Ella. We do not hear of its 
 existence until towards the end of 1768, when he opens a 
 correspondence with Dodsley, in which he states that he 
 has " an interlude, perhaps the oldest dramatic piece ex 
 tant, wrote by one Rowley, a priest, in Bristol, who lived 
 in the reigns of Henry Vlth and Edward the IVth." The 
 next year, he begins his attack upon the credulity of Wai- 
 pole, by a complimentary note, accompanied with an ac 
 count of " THE RYSE or PEYNCTEYNGE IN ENGLANDE, 
 
 WROTEN BY T. ROWLIE, 1469, FOR MASTRE CANYNGE." 
 
 This account he annotates himself, and begs Walpole to 
 correct the mistakes (if any) in the notes ! The account he 
 supposes will be of service in some future edition of his 
 lordship s truly entertaining anecdotes of painting ! The 
 trap was well set, and came near catching the prey. Wai- 
 pole s reply was respectful, courteous, and polite ; just like 
 the production of a man obliged by a favor from an unex- 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 45 
 
 pected quarter, and who doubts not for a moment his in 
 debtedness. When the world began to laugh at the anti 
 quarian, he assumed a different air ; but no one could read 
 this letter without the conviction that its author was in 
 sober earnest, and did not hesitate to believe in the authen 
 ticity of the materials furnished him. A second letter 
 was not so successful. Chatterton did not know the char 
 acter of his correspondent. He began to prate of pov 
 erty, and complained of the humble sphere in which he 
 was condemned to move ! Presto ! the conduct of the 
 peer was sadly changed ! Walpole was a cold, artificial, 
 and polished man of letters a nobleman, and therefore 
 cold and haughty, an antiquarian and man of letters, and 
 therefore polished. His reply to the letter of Chatterton 
 doubtless partook largely of these qualities. The reply is 
 lost, and only a fragment of Chatterton s letter remains. 
 Subsequently to Chatterton s death, Walpole relates the 
 affair, and judging from the specimen of charity it fur 
 nishes, the professed antiquarian was severely stung by the 
 recollection of the part he had played in the transaction. 
 We may, pardon, however, the bitterness of the language, 
 when we remember that about the time of this letter public 
 attention had been drawn to the unhappy fate of the won 
 derful Chatterton, and Walpole was reproved and sharply 
 rebuked for not having extended to him his protection and 
 interest. 
 
 l; I should have been, (says Walpole,) I should have been blameable 
 to his mother and society, if I had seduced an apprentice from his mas 
 ter to marry him to the nine muses; and I should have encouraged a 
 propensity to forgery, which is not the talent most wanting culture in 
 the present age. Jill of the house of forgery are relations ; and though it 
 is just to Chatterton s memory to say, that his poverty never made him 
 claim kindred with the richest or more enriching branches, yet his in- 
 
46 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 genuity in counterfeiting styles, and, I believe, hands, might easily have 
 led him to those more facile imitations of prose, promissory notes." 
 
 This from the author of the "Castle of Otranto" a 
 book stated by its writer to have been discovered in some 
 ancient library, and printed in 1529 at Naples, when in 
 fact it was the handiwork of Horace Walpole, and pub 
 lished in the eighteenth century is something marvellous. 
 No wonder that Coleridge, in citing this passage in the no 
 bleman s history, with the foregoing severe stricture on the 
 boy-genius, exclaimed against the outrage. A letter of 
 Walpole to Hannah More in 1789, immediately after the 
 publication of Barret s History of Bristol, justly provokes 
 the indignation of the present biographer. 
 
 Chatterton, in his Last Will and Testament, alludes to 
 poems of a religious cast which he had produced, simply 
 designing to show "that a great genius can effect any 
 thing." There are but two or three of his acknowledged 
 poems extant which may be regarded as of a religious type, 
 and to neither of these can we refer the allusion. The 
 man who wrote "Resignation," and "A Hymn for Christ 
 mas Day," was in earnest. They are both excellent after 
 their kind, and give some token of "a light from heaven 
 breaking through the darkness of the soul." The former 
 of these poems has already called forth from a kindred 
 poet verses of exquisite tenderness and beauty.* 
 
 THE RESIGNATION. 
 
 " O God, whose thunder shakes the sky, 
 
 Whose eye this atom-globe surveys, 
 To thee, my only rock, I fly, 
 
 Thy mercy in thy justice praise. 
 
 "The mystic mazes of thy will, 
 The shadows of celestial light, 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 47 
 
 Are past the power of human skill. 
 But what th Eternal acts is right. 
 
 " teach me in the trying hour, 
 
 When anguish swells the dewy tear, 
 To still my sorrows, own thy power, 
 
 Thy goodness love, thy justice fear. 
 
 " If in this bosom aught but Thee 
 
 Encroaching sought a boundless sway, 
 
 Omniscience could the danger see, 
 And Mercy look the cause away, 
 
 "Then why, my soul, dost them complain? 
 
 Why, drooping, seek the dark recess ? 
 Shake off the melancholy chain, 
 
 For God created all to bless. 
 
 " But ah ! my breast is human still ; 
 
 The rising sigh, the falling tear, 
 My languid vitals feeble rill, 
 
 The sickness of my soul declare. 
 
 "But yet, with fortitude resigned, 
 
 I ll thank th inflicter of the blow ; 
 Forbid the sigh, compose my mind, 
 
 Nor let the gush of mis ry flow. 
 
 " The gloomy mantle of the night, 
 
 Which on my sinking spirit steals. 
 Will vanish at the morning light, 
 
 Which God, my East, My Sun, reveals." 
 
 Among his acknowledged poems, the African Eclogue 
 and the Elegy on Phillips have gratified us the most. 
 There is a piece of passionate and pathetic painting in 
 "The Death of Nicou," worthy of the genius of Byron : 
 
 " Pining with sorrow, Nica faded, died, 
 Like a fair aloe, in its morning pride. 
 
48 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 The African Eclogues were written in London in the 
 darkest period of his history, just before the perpetration 
 of the closing act of his life. 
 
 From the time Chatterton left his home at Bristol, and 
 the office of Leonard, his life was a whirlpool of commo 
 tion and agony. His fate is not unlike that of the gifted 
 Burns. The contrast is in Burns s favor. Burns, though 
 he died in penury, was an object of admiration, and at 
 times the pet, of the great ones in his own age. His poems 
 met with immediate applause, and, for his day, were in a 
 remarkable degree remunerative. If he fell into neglect, 
 to himself must he attribute the suddenness of his fall. 
 But " alas ! poor Chatterton !" With the thirstings for a 
 fame which his Heaven-bestowed genius entitled him to 
 claim, he is restless and ill at ease, and chafes under the 
 drudgery and prosaic duties of an attorney s office, long 
 ing to be master of his own time, to roam at will over the 
 fields of literature and science, and to reap a harvest of 
 imperishable renown ! With high hopes and a proud heart, 
 he abandons the quiet of Bristol and the engrossing of in 
 dentures, to play his part in the metropolis. Mr. Thist- 
 lethwaite, a contemporary of Chatterton, and not altogether 
 free from jealousy of his superior abilities, has given in a 
 letter the views with which Chatterton tried his fortunes at 
 London. Thislethwaite s credit is not beyond suspicion, 
 and were there nothing in Chatterton s history to support 
 his testimony, it might be discarded ; but, unfortunately, 
 in the latter years of Chatterton, he had contracted 
 infidel views, and spake and wrote of religion and reli 
 gious emotions with the levity of an established " philoso 
 pher." Thislethwaite tells us that on inquiring of Chat 
 terton what he expected to do at London, he replied : " My 
 first attempt shall be in the literary way. The promises 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 49 
 
 I have received are sufficient to dispel doubt ; but should 
 I, contrary to my expectations, find myself deceived, I will 
 in that case turn Methodist preacher : credulity is as potent 
 a deity as ever, and a new sect may easily be devised. But 
 if that too shall fail me, my last and final resource is a 
 pistol." Construe this language as we may, it betrays a 
 great laxity of principle ; and if not the mere babbling of 
 the boy, without thought, on a topic which one would sup 
 pose had interested and excited him, is deserving of un 
 mixed censure. This is but one of many references made by 
 him to the subject of suicide. It seemed to have been a 
 familiar topic of his thought and conversation, and fre 
 quently occurs in his writings. It probably grew up at 
 the time of his having imbibed infidel principles. 
 
 We are furnished, in a letter to his mother, with a brief 
 reference to this trip to London. It rings with boyish 
 delight, and is redolent of cheerfulness and hope, and a 
 bright future. Every thing goes merrily as a marriage 
 bell. How soon is the hope to be withered and blasted ! 
 
 Two weeks afterwards he again writes, and still his good 
 star is in the ascendant : " I am settled, and in such a set 
 tlement as I would desire. I get four guineas a month by 
 one magazine ; shall engage to write a History of Eng 
 land, and other pieces, which will more than double that 
 sum. Occasional essays for the daily papers will more 
 than support me." " What a glorious prospect !" he ex 
 claims. Wilkes knew him by his writings ; he had an in 
 troduction to Townsend and Sawbridge, and was quite 
 familiar at the Chapter CoiFee-house ! 
 
 " A character was unnecessary an author carries his 
 character in his pen," said he; and, in the same breath, 
 he declares the vast superiority of London to Bristol : " In 
 Bristol I was out of my element now I am in it." His 
 
50 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 knowledge and skill in the art of managing booksellers had 
 run beyond his experience : " No author can be poor who 
 understands the arts of booksellers. Without this neces 
 sary knowledge, the greatest genius may starve ; and with 
 it, the greatest dunce live in splendor. This knowledge I 
 have pretty well dipped into." This sounds somewhat 
 strangely from a youth on his first trip to London, 
 who had not lived there quite three weeks ! We should 
 note such precocious perspicacity as truly remarkable, if 
 the sequel had confirmed his confident declaration. The 
 "art and mystery" of booksellers is, we fear, a sealed 
 volume, and will ever remain such to the hungry race of 
 authors. If history speaks truly, they have usually se 
 cured the lion s share in every division of spoils. 
 
 The next post from London probably the next post-- 
 carried a letter which begins 
 
 KING S BENCH, for the present, May 14, 1770. 
 
 " Don t be surprised at the name of the place. I am not here as a 
 prisoner. Matters go on swimmingly. Mr. Fell having offended certain 
 persons, they have set his creditors upon him, and he is safe in the 
 King s Bench. I have been bettered by the accident; his successors 
 in the Freeholder s Magazine knowing nothing of the matter, will be 
 glad lo engage me on my own terms !" 
 
 The maxims of Rochefoucault could find here an apt 
 illustration. 
 
 In mitigation of the indiscretion of the boy if it be 
 indiscreet thus to speak out to a mother the real feelings 
 he cherished it must be remembered that his London 
 life was a struggle for very existence ; and as his pros 
 pect brightened, need we wonder that the misfortunes 
 of a comparative stranger were overlooked in the hope that 
 nerved anew his arm, and inspired the wish of further at- 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 51 
 
 tainments and usefulness ; that, in the excitement of the 
 moment, just discovering spread out before him a pano 
 rama of noble effort, and a splendid career, he forgets the 
 higher and nobler principle of love to his neighbor ! The 
 world does not so regulate its conduct, that it may, without 
 passing judgment upon itself, condemn the boyish ardor 
 and hectic gayety of this letter. Yet is this feature want 
 ing to perfect the character of Chatterton, and to make 
 him a model of morals, as he was a miracle of mind. Chat 
 terton now contracts an acquaintance with a young gen 
 tleman in Cheapside, partner in a music shop, " the great 
 est in the city." Chatterton writes a few songs for him. 
 They are exhibited to a doctor in music, and the poet is 
 invited to treat with him on the footing of a composer for 
 Ranelagh and the Gardens. This is not all the good news 
 his letter communicates. He is likely to have been en 
 gaged as companion to the young Duke of Northumber 
 land in his tour ; but he speaks but one tongue, and this is 
 an insurmountable barrier. While in London, Chatterton 
 enjoyed favorable opportunities for making an impression ; 
 but the place was expensive. He is obliged, by his pro 
 fession, to frequent places of the best resort, and to dress 
 fashionably. This is the use he makes of his means ; but 
 he will retrench. He wished cheaper lodgings. Indeed, 
 a Scotch gentleman, a brother of a lord, who wished to 
 embark pretty deeply into the bookselling branches, had 
 offered him lodging and boarding, genteel and elegant, 
 gratis. He promises his sister two silks that summer. 
 And the beginning of the next winter he will be writing 
 the voluminous History of London ; and as that will not 
 " oblige me to go to the coffee-house, I will be able to serve 
 you the more by it." "If money," he adds, "flowed as 
 fast upon me as honors, I would give you a portion of 
 
52 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 X5000." The spirit breathing through this entire letter is 
 hopeful. He is on terms of friendship with the Lord Mayor 
 could obtain from him a recommendation to an East India di 
 rector for an office of honor ; but prefers staying on land 
 to trying his fortunes on the sea. Thistlethwaite speaks of 
 Chatterton as indulging in medical readings during his stay 
 in Bristol. This letter gives some evidence of his studies 
 in that direction. He prescribes for one of his Bristol ac 
 quaintance, (a lady ;) lectures on the sunlight and its pre 
 judicial effect upon the eyes, and advises, as one of his 
 chief medicatives, that she meet with no contradiction ! 
 
 In the letter to his sister in which he thus figures as an 
 Esculapius, he gives us a picture of his London life, quite 
 natural and lifelike. We must content ourselves with but 
 one or two extracts : 
 
 "Essay-writings has this advantage: you are sure of constant pay; 
 and when you have once wrote a piece which makes the author in 
 quired after, you may bring the booksellers to your own terms. Essays 
 on the patriotic side fetch no more than what the copy is sold for. As 
 the patriots themselves are searching for a place they have no gratui 
 ties to spare. . . . On the other hand, unpopular essays will not 
 even be accepted ; and you must pay to have them printed. But then 
 you seldom lose by it. Courtiers are so sensible of their deficiency in 
 merit that they generally reward all who know how to daub them with 
 an appearance of it." 
 
 In another portion of the same letter he writes : 
 
 " Having addressed an essay to his lordship, (the mayor,) it was very 
 well received perhaps better than it deserved; and I waited on his 
 lordship to have his approbation to address a second letter to him, on 
 the subject of the remonstrance, and its reception. His lordship re 
 ceived me as politely as a citizen could, and warmly invited me to call 
 on him again. The rest is a secret. But the devil of the matter is, 
 there is no money to be got on this side of the question. Interest is on 
 the other side. But he is a poor author who cannot write on both 
 sides." 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 53 
 
 This is Chatterton s account of an affair which in no wise 
 redounds to his credit. This passage in Chatterton s career 
 has been made the occasion of severe censure, and, we are 
 compelled to acknowledge, not without reason. 
 
 The facts were these : When Chatterton reacned London, 
 parties were engaged in earnest conflict about the Middle 
 sex election. He instantly contracted an acquaintance 
 with the leaders of the Wilkes, or "popular party," as it 
 was then called, and was recognized by them as one of 
 themselves, identified with their cause, and engaged in 
 their behalf for the conflict. He became a writer for the 
 press, and wrote several political letters, modelled after the 
 style of Junius. These letters evince very extensive and 
 accurate information. They abound in personal allusions 
 and bitter invective. Beside the letters, Chatterton s 
 satires were, in many parts, of the same political type, and 
 were designed for the same purpose. While thus enjoying 
 the favor of the popular party, and courting their applause 
 and receiving their bounties, the youthful writer was not 
 averse to experiencing a like return from the opposite side ; 
 and, if there be truth in dates, on the same day he wrote 
 two letters about the same measure the city remon 
 strance in one of which he speaks in terms of commen 
 dation of the act of the administration in rejecting it ; and 
 in the other, as severely condemned it ! In the one he began : 
 " My Lord, it gives me painful pleasure." And in the other : 
 When the endeavors of a spirited people to free them 
 selves from insupportable slavery." It is pleaded, in ex 
 tenuation of this fault crime it surely was not that the 
 penman was but a youth, not having yet reached the years 
 of responsibility ; that to talk of the political course of a 
 boy of seventeen would be a solecism in teims, and would 
 justly expose the critic to harsher dealing than his victim ; 
 
54 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 and that during the formative stage of the intellect, it may 
 be regarded rather as the evidence of an active mind, than 
 of a perverted moral sense, that one could think with equal 
 readiness on both sides of a subject, and discourse with 
 equal fervor and eloquent vehemence on both ! And that, 
 if these pleas do not avail, then that poverty and destitu 
 tion were a sufficient excuse and apology ! That indeed 
 would be a shallow criticism which should apply to the ac 
 tions of the mere youth the same moral canons that are 
 adopted in the judgment of the actions of the matured and 
 experienced, without taking into the account the immatu 
 rity of the offender ; but, on the other hand, it would be 
 productive of no little obliquities, if the plea of nonage 
 alone were allowed to overcome all moral delinquencies. 
 And in the case of Chatterton, whose intellect had at this 
 time so ripened and matured as to fully equip him for the 
 actual discharge of the duties of life to perform its po 
 litical as well as its social obligations ; who had the means 
 at hand of fully measuring the extent of his responsibility, 
 and who ventured to be a director and guide of public 
 opinion, the plea of infancy would be a sorry and incom 
 plete one, and will scarcely exculpate him, save with such 
 judges as are blinded by the superior light of his genius 
 and the remarkable splendor of his intellectual produc 
 tions ! Poverty and penury, too, are not sufficient of them 
 selves, or even when united with youthful years, to justify 
 so gross a dereliction of duty, and so flagrant a disregard 
 of moral obligation ! The writer for the public eye should 
 value sacredly every impression he is making, and should 
 as distinctly recognize his obligation to speak honestly and 
 truthfully, as if speaking to a friend or companion in pri 
 vate ! and should scorn a support gained by insincerity in 
 the one case as a favor obtained by falsehood in the other. 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 55 
 
 Lax criticism and an overweening attachment, not to say 
 adoration, of genius, have too frequently taught otherwise ; 
 and this to such an extent, that a reader of the current 
 literature of the day in works of morals sometimes, as in 
 newspapers and periodicals would imagine that there had 
 been implanted in us a moral sense of two kinds ; the one 
 to try small offenders by, of a strict and severe cast ; the 
 other of a loose and more generous type, for the ingenious 
 and noble-born, for the gifted and the great ! 
 
 Chatterton s political essays were doubtless above the 
 average of his day: yet they served no higher purpose 
 than to flatter his pride and get bread for their author. 
 Full justice has not been done to his other prose writings, 
 of which they were many. They all exhibit fertility of 
 invention, and are characterized by a smoothness of rheto 
 ric which would have been remarkable in any other than 
 the creator of Rowley. 
 
 We now approach that point in Chatterton s career which 
 it pities us should ever have been written. His hopeful 
 prospects of fame and fortune are withering. The History 
 of London was never begun, or, if begun, was never pub 
 lished. The bonuses of politicians and statesmen, falsely 
 so called, are uncertain and unsatisfactory. The newspa 
 pers are fruitful in promises, but fruitless in their perfor 
 mance. In the space of a month, he changes his boarding 
 house a second and even a third time. Necessity or pride 
 is driving him from the haunts of the few friends he had 
 made. A brief memorandum in his pocket-book tells the 
 condition of his exchequer. It contains a charge of eleven 
 pounds due him from London publishers ; of long standing, 
 doubtless, and unliquidated ! Poverty and destitution stare 
 him in the face. He locks himself up in his upper room, 
 and refuses to eat, because he must eat the bread of char- 
 
56 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 ity ! Thoughts of bailiffs crowd his brain, and he longs for 
 Bristol and boyhood ! We may suppose him repeating the 
 lines which occur in the singular document he entitles his 
 " Last Will and Testament:" 
 
 " Had I never known the antique lore, 
 
 I ne er had ventured from my peaceful shore, 
 To be the wreck of promises and hopes, 
 A Boy of Learning and a Bard of Tropes; 
 But happy in my humble sphere had moved." 
 
 The last transient gleam of hope fled when Barret re 
 fused him assistance in procuring a situation as a sur 
 geon s mate to the coast of Africa, a situation he was not 
 fit for. 
 
 Henceforth Chatterton looks into the face of despair, 
 and gathers strength and nerve for the deed which closes 
 his life. How sad and strange the conclusion of the whole 
 matter. He dies by his own hand on the 24th of August, 
 1770! 
 
 " The suicide," says his biographer, " was effected by 
 arsenic mixed in water ; such, at least, was the opinion of 
 the most competent authorities. On the following day, 
 his room was broken open. The door was covered with a 
 multitude of small fragments of paper ; an evidence that 
 he had destroyed all the unfinished productions of his mar 
 vellous intellect." There was discovered after his death, in 
 his pocket-book, a set of lines which, for his memory s 
 sake, it were well had never been written. They could 
 hardly have been written by one laboring under insanity, 
 and if written at the time of the sad occurrence, as by their 
 date is apparent, evidence the possession of that uncon 
 querable and direst foe of his living as of his dying expe 
 rience his pride. There is but one redeeming feature in 
 the whole : he does not forget his mother, but bids her a 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 57 
 
 her a sad adieu, before he perpetrates the act which robs 
 her of a son and himself of life. 
 
 THE LAST VERSES WRITTEN BY CHATTBRTON. 
 
 "Farewell, Bristolia s dingy piles of brick, 
 Lovers of mammon, worshippers of trick ! 
 Ye spurned the boy who gave you antique lays, 
 And paid for learning with your empty praise. 
 Farewell, ye guzzling, aldermanic fools, 
 By nature fitted for corruption s tools ! 
 I go to where celestial anthems dwell, 
 But you when you depart will sink to hell. 
 Farewell, my mother! cease, my anguished soul, 
 Nor let Distraction s billows o er me roll! 
 Have mercy, Heaven ! when here I cease to live, 
 And this last act of wretchedness forgive. 
 " August 24, 1770. T. C 
 
 Let us attempt something more than shellwork with Chat- 
 terton. He deserves it. His work, his short and singular 
 career, his splendor of genius, his untimely fate, command 
 it. If we were called upon to distinguish him by a single 
 title, we should characterize him as the Diligent Worker. 
 Not, we admit, all his lifetime a workman through choice, 
 or always earnest ! But he was lashed into activity by the 
 genius that stirred within him ; and this, more than hun 
 ger, more than pride or the aspiration to excel, more than 
 the affection he bore his parent or his sister, produced the 
 marvellous history of a boy-author leaving behind him such 
 works as his ! It is a commonly received opinion, though 
 we believe an erroneous one, that men distinguished for 
 genius are not often distinguished for industry. The plod 
 ders say so, and the million believe it. But it is not true. 
 In merely physical labor, what does not the world owe to 
 its men of genius, its men of thought? In every depart- 
 
58 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 ment of industrial pursuits, as in every branch of intellec 
 tual effort, they have been preeminent. Toils of body 
 which would have worn down the mere plodder have been 
 endured by the thinker, with no regard to their extent, 
 their recollection being forgotten in the superior splendors 
 of the mind and its noble products. Sir Humphrey Davy 
 toiling over his lamp, Milton delving at his political manu 
 scripts or elaborating his poems, Newton walking by the 
 ocean of science, and picking up pebbles from the rocky 
 shore, were all workmen, and workmen in earnest. Bacon, 
 too, was a worker. His experiments in natural science 
 alone would afford work for a lifetime. And time would 
 fail us to speak of the hosts of men in Germany, England, 
 and our own and other countries, that might be added to 
 the list. Goethe and Richter. Chalmers and Southey, 
 Irving and Prescott, are examples of earnest industry and 
 an active working ; the last named especially pursuing zeal 
 ously his historical pursuits under circumstances the most 
 difficult and trying, enough to dampen the ardor and de 
 press the zeal of the most hopeful and laborious. As spe 
 cimens of other nations, Lope de Vega had written in the 
 compass of a few years an innumerable series of trage 
 dies, and Voltaire s works are so multitudinous that the 
 manual labor of copying them would require for its exe 
 cution a decade, (though a decade ill spent, or the tithe of 
 it.) These works were the fruits of a workman. It is, 
 then, we repeat, an erroneous impression that men distin 
 guished for their genius have, as a general rule, been dis 
 tinguished for their idleness or No- Work. Independently 
 of the vast numbers who have united to the cares of state 
 the not less important cares of the man of letters, it is true 
 that the man of thought who lives worthy of his name is a 
 man of labor. Chatterton was truly such. In early child- 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 59 
 
 hood, his mother s garret witnessed his toils, and the after- 
 years bore witness to the fidelity with which he wrought, 
 for fame. Besides a volume of acknowledged poems, quite 
 enough to have occupied the spare hours of a schoolboy 
 and attorney s-apprentice for ten years of labor his prose- 
 writings alone, in the edition by Southey and Cottle, fill an 
 octavo volume of upwards of four hundred pages ! And 
 what shall we say of the chief labor of his life, the Row 
 ley poems, upon which he expended doubtless the largest 
 portion of his available time, and which was his most de 
 lightful employment? The almost merely mechanical task 
 of transferring these into thoir antique garb was a hercu 
 lean one, and with the poet the less attractive and enter 
 taining; unless we may conceive that his work had so 
 grown upon his affection, that he had learned to cherish 
 his antiquated and daily companions, Bailey s Dictionary, 
 or Kersey or Speght, with as much of interest as the vis- 
 itings of the muse and the stirrings of the inward fire 
 which kindled and glowed in the recital of JElla or the 
 Ballade of Charitie : or even the gentler moods and sweeter 
 yet more mournful strains of the two "Systers in Sorrowe," 
 who were widowed in a single night, and 
 
 "wandered to swollen Rudborne s syde. 
 
 Yelled theyre lethalle Knelle, sonke yun the waves and dyd." 
 
 Every one will note as a distinguishing characteristic 
 of Chatterton s genius, its precocity. This has given him 
 the greatest hold upon the public mind, and will probably 
 widen and lengthen his fame. It is his chief distinction 
 indubitably ; but if this were all, the marvellous boy would 
 be but a boy still, and we might hear his name simply 
 cited among a series of illustrations of remarkable exhibi 
 tions of youthful intellect, with Zera Colburn, and the 
 
60 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 rest ! But there is something in the peculiar character of 
 the precocity of this boy. He had nothing of the boy 
 about him. There was a completeness of intellect and a 
 completeness in intellectual efforts in every direction to 
 which they were applied, that marked him as mentally a 
 complete man ! This is remarked by Foster as rendering it 
 probable that had Chatterton lived he would not have ful 
 filled the generous predictions which had been augured con 
 cerning him. However this may have been, and we pre 
 tend not to be seers, it is unquestionably true of him, more 
 than of any other prodigy of intellect, that his mental ex 
 hibitions are of such a character as to invite to their scru 
 tiny the same canons and rules that would be exercised 
 and applied to one of mature years. Chatterton was not, 
 however, a fully developed man. In intellectual powers 
 he ranked as such ; but his present biographer errs most 
 indubitably in the assertion that his moral nature was manly, 
 if he means thereby to express the opinion that the vir 
 tues of the youth had attained their growth or stability. 
 Chatterton, it is true, neither puled nor drivelled. He was 
 as far removed from the cant of the infidel as the so-called 
 Christian ; yet was he not altogether as he ought to have 
 been. He lacked the stamina of right principle, strength 
 ened and developed by right action for a long term of 
 years. He had not formed those habits of virtue which 
 are possibly as necessary for proper living as virtue itself. 
 While not deficient in endurance never whining under 
 wrong and never complaining of injustice to his youth it 
 was his pride, his unconquerable pride, rather than his 
 moral force, that enabled him to withstand the imagined as 
 well as the real wrongs of his detractors and friends. Chat 
 terton would unquestionably have made a good hater 
 which Johnson longed for rather than a true lover of 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 61 
 
 truth for the truth s sake, of the right for the right s sake. 
 In his social intercourse, no less than in his political " ter 
 giversation," we discover a remarkable laxity of adhesion ; 
 rather evincing a regard to personal advancement as the 
 main inducement to his attachments, than an earnest, heart 
 felt, sincere devotion to friendship, which is attached it 
 knows not why or how. In fine for we must abbreviate 
 what we would say on this point because of his almost 
 unnatural growth intellectually, he has the strength of 
 manhood without its habits of virtuous action the bold 
 ness and hardihood, and the expedients of the intel 
 lectual veteran, yet the feebleness and inefficiency and help 
 lessness of moral infancy. We do not believe the charge 
 of libertinism preferred against him, yet passages in his 
 poems and prose writings might be cited to establish that 
 he was neither a prude nor a saint. We forbear to speak 
 of his pride, which he confessed in one of his letters con 
 stituted nineteen-twentieths of his nature ; or of the 
 sad and fearful catastrophe of which it was the occa 
 sion. 
 
 Singular throughout life, the single golden strand that 
 binds him to the humanity of his day was the strength and 
 continuance of the attachment he bore his parent and sis 
 ter. One is at a loss to reconcile this unselfish devotion to 
 these with other facts in his life. Nor do we discover here 
 any exhibition of the pride which so distinguished him. 
 With them, he is natural and childlike, and the son and 
 brother writes in the letters which have been preserved in 
 glowing and fervent language to his own ! The promise of 
 a new dress gives as much joy to his heart as the announce 
 ment of a new poem, or the triumph of a new article, or 
 some state achievement. Let us set down to his credit, if 
 we strip him of every other virtue, that he had somewhat 
 
62 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 of truth in him, and acted it in filling up and discharging 
 as far as in kis power the duties of a child and brother! 
 
 Chatterton s training was defective, yet we should err if 
 we attribute the waywardness of his career to defects in 
 his education. The education he enjoyed was probably as 
 efficient as any other course of training would have been. 
 While he had not mastered the classics (strictly so called) 
 in their original tongues, in their stead he had cultivated 
 an intimate acquaintance with the classics of his own 
 tongue, and through the medium of translations had made 
 himself familiar with the best literature of the ancients. 
 Some few of his poems are translations. If a thorough 
 training in classical learning and the usual curriculum of 
 the college had served to postpone his acquaintance with 
 the soberer realities of life and its severer struggles, it had 
 been well ; but then the Rowley poems would never have 
 seen the light, and the world would have been the loser. 
 The six years of Chatterton s life at the school of Colston 
 were not the least important. The free use of circulating- 
 libraries and an earnest study of their treasures, (fortu 
 nately it was before the advent of latter-day fiction,) made 
 him a master of the learning which was essential to the 
 character he was about to assume and successfully carry 
 out. Perhaps his truest instructor and most successful 
 leader was the usher-poet, whose memory he has preserved 
 in fragrant verses, redolent of friendship and trustingness. 
 Few schools of his day could boast of a Thomas Phillips, 
 and fewer Phillipses would have found in the wonderful 
 child a companion and a friend. Not to the want of edu 
 cation at school do we trace the aberrations of our poet, 
 but rather to his lack of education at home ; or, if we may 
 so say, to his superior mental training without a corres 
 ponding growth of the moral part of his being to his 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON. 63 
 
 want of experience and forethought as a habit, rather than 
 to a defective development of the guiding power of the 
 rational faculty. He had learned, and aptly learned, that 
 worldly wisdom which, in his case, as in others of elder 
 years and riper powers, enabled him to weigh and balance 
 the probabilities of success, and the means for its accom 
 plishment. This made him a man. But he had failed to 
 learn that higher and purer wisdom which his mother s 
 black-letter Bible might have taught him, and which, if he 
 had followed to the end, instead of the sad eclipse of his 
 genius, his sun, after riding the zenith and scattering 
 its light over the ages, would have gone down with the 
 splendor its rising had betokened. 
 
HOPKINS S AMERICAN CITIZEN.* 
 
 BISHOP HOPKINS rightly estimates the value of citizen 
 ship in this country, and has aptly unfolded in this volume 
 many of the rights and duties, of high privilege and respon 
 sibility, which such citizenship involves. No people were 
 ever called to the discharge of higher obligations, or were so 
 thoroughly equipped by nature and by training for the task. 
 The experience of many centuries was required to put into 
 healthful action the agencies which, though set on foot long 
 before, found their full development only in the complete 
 organization of the American government. We cannot claim 
 the method of that organization as altogether our own. 
 Highly as we esteem the wisdom of the fathers of the Re 
 public, we would be guilty of a gross perversion of history if 
 we attributed to them alone the capacity to organize such a 
 government, to give to it its appropriate machinery, and to 
 clothe it with almost unlimited power of expansion, with 
 out first having availed themselves of the helps and aids 
 which three centuries of struggling in the mother country 
 had furnished. The seed-plots of American liberty were 
 sown many years before the battle of Lexington, and long 
 before his Majesty, King George III., taxed the colonies 
 
 * The American Citizen ; his rights and duties according to the spirit of 
 the Constitution of the United States. By JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, D. D., 
 LLD., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of 
 Vermont. New York: Pudney & Russell, 79 John street. 1857. 
 
66 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 without their consent, or committed any of the offences 
 against right, so graphically portrayed in the Declaration 
 of Independence. So, too, the practical knowledge which 
 was brought to the task of framing the government was, 
 in chief part, derived from a severe study of the principles 
 which had been agitated in the mother country, and which, 
 by free discussion, had become the common property of all 
 educated men. The writings of Milton, the lives of 
 Hampden and Pym, the bold speeches and bolder action 
 of the Protector, had not been without their effect in dif 
 fusing, throughout the entire range of English civilization, 
 embracing the colonies of England as well as her immedi 
 ate territory, the spirit of true liberty. The works of her 
 statesmen and orators were the property and the daily 
 mental food of the educated among the colonists, and not 
 a few of them resorted to her universities to secure for 
 themselves the advantages there afforded. If we look at 
 the events, immediately preceding and subsequent to the 
 Revolution, by the light of mere veneration, we may 
 blindly invest our fathers with miraculous power. If we 
 look at them as the result in chief part of the antecedent 
 history of our people and race, as the latest unfolding of 
 the experiences of the past, we shall indeed see less of the 
 marvelous, but we will see more of beauty and perfectness, 
 in the system of government they organized and set on 
 foot. 
 
 There never had been offered before a more inviting op 
 portunity for solidifying principles into positive institutions. 
 The materials of the new government were prepared for 
 the work. Thirteen sovereignties, which had been taught 
 by healthful action and experience to exercise the gift of 
 sovereignty, were about to blend into one common form. 
 They desired a new compact but something more ; a mere 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 67 
 
 compact would not suffice. This new form of government 
 was to be invested with some portion of the sovereignty 
 they themselves exercised ; and for the common welfare, 
 they were willing to relinquish so much as was necessary 
 for the purpose. They gave and intended to give no more. 
 They gave and intended to give as much as would be ne 
 cessary to clothe the common sovereignty with enough of 
 power to keep the whole in harmonious action and to ena 
 ble it to protect the several parts. This is the essential 
 idea and scheme of the American government ; an enigma 
 to foreigners, but plain and simple and of easy solution to 
 the American. Taking this view of the origin of the 
 Federal Government a view sanctioned by contempora 
 neous history, and by the uniform principles of action 
 adopted by men of every shade of opinion from that day 
 to this there can be no difficulty in ascertaining how far 
 the government thus framed would be clothed with the 
 power to interfere with the rights of conscience, as exer 
 cised by the citizens of the several States. Even in the 
 absence of any express inhibition in the Constitution, there 
 would seem to be no good purpose to be secured by such 
 interference. The sovereignty with which it was intended 
 to invest the Federal Government did not reach, w r as not 
 designed to reach, and could by no possible contingency 
 reach, or in any wise affect the relations of the citizen to 
 his God. That was outside of the natural sphere it was 
 designed to occupy. It would prove a clog upon its har 
 monious operations ; or, if introduced either directly or 
 indirectly, into its workings, would have set the whole ajar. 
 The framers of the government were too wise to introduce 
 any such disturbing element. They knew the history of 
 the past too well ; they valued too highly their individual 
 liberties ; they were too much attached to the comparative 
 
68 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 freedom they enjoyed, to assent to any measure which 
 should cut themselves off from the proper exercise of these. 
 If asked for their religious views, they would doubtless 
 have answered that the Bible (as we have it) was the reli 
 gion of the land ; that its sacred precepts were the foun 
 dation of social order, the amplest and the best security 
 for the government ; but they would not have answered 
 that they designed to incorporate that or any other system 
 of religion into the organic law of the country ; that, being 
 assigned the task of framing a scheme of government for 
 a combination of sovereignties, they had no ghostly coun 
 sel to furnish, no sovereign panacea for spiritual diseases 
 to provide. 
 
 This, we believe, was the general opinion adopted by all 
 the statesmen of that day, and it has been echoed with one 
 consent by all constitutional writers who have treated on 
 the subject since. 1 It is confirmed by express provisions in 
 the Constitution, to which it will become necessary here 
 after to advert. It is not, however, the opinion of the 
 author of this work. He maintains that there is a consti 
 tutional requirement of religion, and tells us, in so many 
 words, that " the religious rights of the citizen of the 
 United States consist in the enjoyment of his own consci 
 entious choice amongst all the forms of our common 
 Christianity which were in existence at the time when the 
 Constitution was established;" beyond this, the citizen 
 may be tolerated to profess a religion he has no right. 
 In another connection the author seems to teach that the 
 only Christian rights and liberties then enjoyed, and de 
 signed to be protected by the Constitution, were those of 
 the Congregationalists, the Reformed Dutch, the Scotch 
 and English Presbyterians, the German Lutherans, the 
 Friends, or Quakers, the Baptists, the Methodists, the 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 69 
 
 Koman Catholics, and the Episcopalians. The Jews, he 
 thinks, maybe tolerated, but, with that "single exception," 
 he adds : u I can find no right for the public exercise of 
 any religious faith under our great Federal Charter which 
 does not acknowledge the Divine authority of the Christian 
 Bible." 
 
 It is manifest from the language the author has used, 
 that he considers the right to exercise a religious faith to 
 be derived by the citizen from the Constitution. He speaks 
 of those rights being protected by the Constitution, and 
 calls it the great "Federal Charter." Doubtless he means 
 that the Constitution is the charter of our religious as of 
 our civil liberty. We have already exposed the fallacy of 
 these views. In no proper sense can it be said that the 
 right of our citizens to enjoy what religion they may 
 choose is derived from the Constitution of the Federal 
 Government. Equally improper is it to call it the " char 
 ter" of those rights as if they had been aforetime in peril, 
 and were rescued and guaranteed to us in the federal 
 compact. 
 
 But the error of Bishop Hopkins is something more 
 than verbal. While maintaining in full force and vigor 
 the common standard of Christian principle, the Bible, he 
 attempts to introduce a new feature into the operations of 
 the government by maintaining the equal rights only of 
 those Christian Churches and sects " which existed at the 
 day" the American Constitution was adopted. It is this 
 last limitation that we are chiefly inclined to question. 
 We do so for this reason : It would be impossible to inau 
 gurate it as a rule of action without instantly introducing 
 intolerance, and admitting the power of the State to con 
 trol the exercise of religious beliefs. If it be granted that 
 the right of religious beliefs is restricted to the beliefs 
 
70 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 existent at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, 
 the State will be the arbiter to settle which forms of Chris 
 tian beliefs were then existent, and we shall clothe the 
 latter with the amplest power to encourage and foster, or 
 crush out and destroy, any form of belief towards which 
 "the powers that be" might be well or ill affected. If 
 this were the case, it would not be long before w r e should 
 witness the clashing of sects and opinions on the civil 
 arena ; and the strife would wax as furious as in the bit 
 terest period of religious intolerance. Do what we might 
 to prevent it, these questions would be instantly debated : 
 What were the Churches that existed in the era of the 
 American Constitution ? what were their forms of govern 
 ment, their faiths, their practices ? what part of the coun 
 try did they occupy ? are the present a lawful or a bastard 
 progeny ? have they changed in form, in faith, in practice, 
 or even in locality ? There were Calvinists then Presby 
 terians so called : who are their lawful descendants, the 
 Old or the New School Presbyterians ? There were Bap 
 tists then : who are their lawful descendants, the Regular 
 Baptists or the Reformers ? did they observe the Lord s 
 day or the seventh day ? were they Mission or Anti-Mis 
 sion ? There were Protestant Episcopalians : were they 
 High Church or Low Church ? were they Puseyites or Non- 
 Puseyites ? There were Methodists then : were they Calvi- 
 nistic or Arminian ? did they follow Whitefield or Wesley ? 
 Here then would be opened the floodgate first to religious 
 intolerance and acrimony, and afterwards to civil and state 
 persecution ; nor would the bitter tide expend itself until 
 these rival bodies and rival interests had settled their pre 
 cedence at the era of the country s independence, and 
 history or the sword had vindicated their respective claims ! 
 Could the demon of intolerance desire a more ample har- 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 71 
 
 vest to be spread oat for the reaping "i Bishop Hopkins is 
 too catholic and judicious to covet any such controversy. 
 He would shrink, we know, from the expression of a sen 
 timent, the probable result of which would be anything 
 like the picture we have attempted to draw. Yet is it not 
 true ? does not the history of the past testify to the truth, 
 that the bitterness of persecution for religion s sake is not 
 to be measured by the differences, but rather by the resem 
 blances of religious belief; that it is not the widest points 
 of difference in doctrine which most tend to promote dis 
 cord, but the nearest ? If this be true, the controversy 
 his doctrine would beget, beginning with an acrimonious 
 discussion, would finally result in the bitterest persecution 
 of the Churches ; not waged for the absence of vital god 
 liness, but for differences in the cut of the coat or the 
 shape of the shoe ; for the wearing of a gown or putting 
 it off ; for bowing or sitting at the sacrament ; and the 
 like. 
 
 The picture is a gloomy one. Admit, however, that such 
 results would not flow ; admit that, under the benign influ 
 ence of the author s doctrine, Christian toleration would 
 be given and always given to the sects he has enumerated ; 
 still the germ of the evil would be there, ready to bud at 
 the earliest favorable opportunity. The power of the State 
 would be called in to determine which is true and which is 
 false ; her wisdom would be consulted to devise schemes, 
 and her force employed to carry them out, for the annihi 
 lation of the new sects which have sprung up since the 
 formation of the Federal Government, or may spring up 
 hereafter. Sects would thicken and multiply as the work 
 of destruction or persecution went on : and in a little 
 while, the glory of a tolerant government would be con 
 verted into the shame of an intolerable religious tyranny. 
 
72 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 The advocates ot religious interference go quite far enough 
 when they say that the safety of the people being the su 
 preme law,* whenever the profession or practice of any 
 religion interferes with the due discharge of the duties of 
 the citizen, the latter must override the former the reli 
 gion must yield. Granting that the form of government 
 is the best, and that infallible judges might apply the rule, 
 we should admit the statement as a mere truism commend 
 ing itself to the ripe judgment of every one. But even 
 here we are met by the difficulty that human judgments 
 are not infallible, and that it would be hazardous (to say 
 no more) to commit to the keeping of any man, or body of 
 men, the consciences and the religion of the people. Where, 
 on the other hand, there is no conflict between the avowed 
 religion of the citizen and the natural sphere of govern 
 mental operations ; where the duties of the citizen are not 
 impinged upon by his religious faith, there it is clearly the 
 duty of the State, not indeed to tolerate, but to protect in 
 their proper exercise the religious rights of its citizens, 
 and not to allow them to be in any wise disturbed. We 
 object, as we have said, to the words "religious toleration" 
 as applied to our government. These words imply that 
 "religious beliefs" are matters of State concern, and that 
 to the due enjoyment of any form of religion there must 
 first be secured the sanction of the powers of the govern 
 ment. This is fallacious. The State as such, our govern 
 ment as such, has nothing to do with the forms of reli 
 gious beliefs. It takes no other cognizance of them save 
 that which it takes to secure their proper enjoyment. If, 
 indeed, they conflict with the well-being of the State ; if 
 their profession or practice lead to a breach of the laws 
 
 * Solus populi suprema lex. 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 73 
 
 enacted for the public safety and welfare, then such 
 breaches should be punished as any other breaches are 
 punished. This would cut off Mormonism, the impurities 
 of Mohammedanism, Thnggism, and indeed, all other 
 breaches of public law, whether committed by Catholic or 
 Protestant, by a professed saint or a professed sinner. The 
 ground upon which, in the absence of the principles we 
 have attempted to defend, Bishop Hopkins attempts to 
 justify the claim of the Jews to worship in this country iy 
 specious and unsound : 
 
 "The meaning of the Cons.itutiou can only be derived," he say;-, 
 "from the reasonable intention of the people of the United States. 
 Their language, religion, customs, laws and modes of thought, were all 
 transplanted from the mother country: and we are bound to believe 
 that whatever was tolerated publicly in England was doubtless meant 
 10 be protected here. On this ground there is no question about the 
 constitutional right of our Jewish fellow-citizens, whose synagogues 
 had long before been established in London. But with this single ex 
 ception, I can find no right for the public exercise of any religions 
 faith under our great Federal Charter which does not acknowledge the 
 Divine authority of the Christian Bible." 
 
 Here our author is at fault, both in his facts and his 
 deduction from the facts. How were the Jews tolerated 
 in England at the time that the people of this country 
 transplanted the religion and customs of the mother coun 
 try to this ? Were they allowed accession to the public 
 councils ? were they eligible to office ? could they have 
 filled a ministerial post of the lowest dignity among the 
 myriad offices of his sovereign majesty, the then ruling 
 monarch of two kingdoms ? Was it not a mere toleration 
 and nothing more ? the simple privilege of breathing Eng 
 lish air while they worshipped Jehovah as they were taught 
 by their fathers. Is this the sort of "toleration" the 
 Bishop would confer upon the Jews of this country ? We 
 6 
 
74 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 take it for granted that in the allusion to the transplant 
 ing of manners from the mother country to this, the author 
 refers more particularly to the happy reign of King James 
 the First ; a monarch whose career was as remarkable for 
 its tyrannical and oppressive exactions, whose era was as 
 noted for kingly and prelatical rage, as any which preceded 
 it, if we except the reign of the bloody Mary. The Court 
 of High Commission was permitted by this king to glut its 
 voracious appetite with victims not a few ; and he seems 
 himself to have been more than partial to its operations, 
 for, in express violation of his solemn pledges to the Scott 
 ish Church, he introduced it into Scotland to carry on in 
 that Country its destructive work. Even the superficial 
 reader of English history will recall also the famous five 
 points which he attempted to thrust upon the Scottish 
 Church. Bishop Hopkins would surely not claim as a part 
 of our religious system either the High Commission Court 
 or the intolerance of this monarch, or even the religious 
 doctrines taught by the English government afterwards. 
 Yet how does he, how can he introduce a part of that sys 
 tem one of its relieving features, it is true as of binding 
 obligation while the system itself is ignored and repudiated ? 
 Into this dilemma must he be driven if he attempts to jus 
 tify the toleration of the Jews in this country simply on 
 the ground that they were tolerated in England. Another 
 and not less serious difficulty will he encounter when he 
 makes the attempt to ascertain the particular era of settle 
 ment of any one State, and the special customs brought 
 from the mother country into that State. If our ances 
 tors, the framers of the Federal Constitution, are to be 
 supposed to have inherited the customs and religious be 
 liefs of their progenitors, and the terms of the Constitu 
 tion are to be construed by a reference to these customs 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 75 
 
 and religious beliefs, we shall have as many different inter 
 pretations as there were differences in the respective settle 
 ments of the colonies, and in the opinions and customs 
 which were propagated among them. 
 
 It will not be pretended, for example, that the Catho 
 lics of Maryland brought with them from England the 
 laws which prohibited the free exercise of their own reli 
 gious beliefs. They brought with them, at farthest, only 
 so much of the law as did not conflict with this right. So 
 with the Puritans of New Plymouth ; they brought only so 
 much of the laws as did not impair their right to serve 
 God in their own way. So with the Episcopalians of Vir 
 ginia ; each brought over with them only so much of the 
 customs and laws of the mother country as did not abridge 
 the exercise of their own religious beliefs. It is apparent, 
 then, that the standards of toleration vary with the people 
 by which they are to be exercised ; that these standards 
 are strict or loose, are Catholic or Protestant, are Presby 
 terian or Episcopalian, as they are applied by the one or 
 the other. Would any American citizen be content to have 
 his religious rights guaranteed by such shifting and uncer 
 tain tenures ? Adopt this view, and what possible fixed 
 interpretation can be assigned to the terms of a constitu 
 tion the common organic agreement of these several bodies 
 of people when the rules which govern its interpretation 
 by the one not only differ from, but contradict and totally 
 subvert the rules adopted by the other? If the Jews enjoy 
 the right to the exercise of their religious faith under the 
 aegis of our Constitution, their protection in the enjoyment 
 of that faith must be found somewhere else than in the 
 fact that their faith was tolerated in England. It must be 
 found in the operation of a principle which will introduce 
 to similar rights the professor of any religion, Christian or 
 
76 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 otherwise, the due exercise of which is compatible with the 
 discharge of the duties of the citizen, the due exercise of 
 which does not, on the one hand, necessitate a breach of 
 the penal laws of the land, or, on the other, invite to an 
 omission to fulfil any duty enjoined. To be consistent 
 with the practical operation of our government, our author 
 must find, too, a principle which will admit the Jew to 
 office in the same manner and to the same extent as the 
 Christian. 
 
 The stress of his position has occasioned on the part of 
 Bishop Hopkins a palpable misinterpretation of the lan 
 guage of the Federal Constitution. In the third section of 
 the sixth article, it provides that " no religious test shall 
 ever be required as a qualification to any office or public 
 trust under the United States." The first article in the 
 amendments directs further that " Congress shall make no 
 law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 
 the free exercise thereof." The author finds what he sup 
 poses to be the true interpretation of these clauses by a 
 reference to the "test-laws" of England. He thinks they 
 were simply designed to guard the religions affected by 
 those laws, and were not intended to look beyond them : 
 that in thus affording protection to u the Congregational- 
 ists, the Dutch Reformed, the Scotch and English Presby 
 terians, the German Lutherans, the Friends or Quakers, 
 the Baptists, the Methodists, the Roman Catholics, and 
 the Episcopalians," giving to neither one supremacy over 
 the rest, all was accomplished that was in the view of the 
 framers of the Constitution ; that the framers of the Con 
 stitution did not " unite to patronize infidelity, to nullify 
 the very oath which they were so careful to require, and to 
 give the same political confidence to those who vilified as 
 to those who reverenced the common religion of the land." 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 77 
 
 Let us get rid, in advance, of the odium of this argu 
 ment. An appeal to prejudices never serves to enlighten 
 the mind. It was certainly not the intention of the framers 
 of the Constitution to patronize or foster infidelity. They 
 had no such aim. They neither desired to do so by openly 
 bestowing reivards upon avowed infidels, nor by encour 
 aging a semi-infidelity by conferring gifts and capabilities 
 upon quasi Christians which others did not enjoy. They 
 ignored altogether a man s religious belief; and while re 
 fusing, on the one hand, to give premiums to the avowants 
 of religious belief, on the other, they also refused to annex 
 disabilities to the absence of all religious belief. This is 
 the obvious and palpable construction of the language used 
 in the Constitution ; and it would violate the rules of fail- 
 interpretation, and tend to confound the plain meaning of 
 well-settled terms indeed, it would destroy all confidence 
 in all interpretations if such language may be tortured 
 into a different and variant construction. The article in 
 the Constitution, as first propounded, looked, we admit, 
 simply to the " test" acts, but it was to meet and supply 
 the very deficiency of this article that the amendment, in 
 larger terms and of more comprehensive import, was adopt 
 ed. " Congress," it declares, " shall make no law respect 
 ing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free 
 exercise thereof." Could language be broader? If it had 
 been designed to prohibit laws tolerating any other forms 
 of belief than the Christian religion, it were easy to have 
 made the meaning clear. But this was not the purpose. 
 The purpose is patent on the face of the amendment : it 
 embraced every form of religion ; and, on the one hand, 
 negatived the right to establish any, and, on the other, 
 cut off the right to prohibit any. Nor will it sufiice to an 
 swer this view by the remark that an oath is required to 
 
78 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS OF 
 
 support this Constitution, and that the taking of this oath 
 implies a reference to the Christian religion. This would 
 be a forced inference even were it true that this taking of 
 an oath means the taking of an oath in the Christian 
 sense. But it is very far from being true that oaths are 
 always thus administered even in Christian countries. The 
 law books tells us that witnesses are to be sworn according 
 to the peculiar ceremonies of their own religion, and in 
 such manner as they may deem binding on their own con 
 sciences. This was a part of the civil law, and is as well 
 a part of the common law.* 
 
 In England, even before the laws removing the disabili 
 ties of the Jews, they were allowed to sit on juries; they 
 were sworn as jurors ; the oath they took was administered 
 according to their own form of religious belief, and was 
 never administered as a Christian oath. It is so here 3 
 And while we will acknowledge that in some of the courts 
 of the country a belief in the future state of rewards and 
 punishments has been deemed essential to make a witness 
 competent, in others the doctrine has been repudiated. If 
 it were universally adopted, however, it would not answer 
 the purpose of the author. To make his reasoning even 
 plausible, the oath required must be a Christian oath, in 
 form and in belief; the deity of Christ, and the inspira 
 tion of the New Testament Scriptures, must be acknowl 
 edged. 
 
 Besides the fallacies of the argument which we have 
 just disclosed, there are other difficulties which the inter 
 pretation of Bishop Hopkins encounters. A simple refer 
 ence to the names of the Presidents who lived contempo 
 raneously with the adoption of the constitution, some of 
 whom labored for its adoption by the people, will scatter 
 to the winds the interpretation he has given. Thomas 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 79 
 
 Jefferson was one of these : John Adams was another ; 
 the latter a Unitarian, the former a nondescript, (we will 
 not call him an infidel, yet we know no other name by 
 which to call him.) Now neither of these classes do we 
 find enumerated by Bishop Hopkins among the religious 
 beliefs the exercise of which is protected by the Constitu 
 tion, as embraced in the terms of admission he has assigned. 
 Does not the interpretation fail, then, in an essential point ? 
 or, does Bishop Hopkins understand the provisions of the 
 Constitution better than Jefferson and Adams ? or, worse 
 still, did Jefferson or Adams, in taking the oath to support 
 the Constitution, violate its spirit in the act of taking it ? 
 We must adopt either one of these interpretations, and 
 we confess we incline to adopt any interpretation rather 
 than charge Jefferson and Adams with ignorance or per 
 jury. Bishop Hopkins feels the force of this objection, 
 and undertakes to prove that Jefferson did not entertain 
 infidel sentiments, and cites his public messages to disprove 
 it. Unfortunately for Jefferson s memory in this respect, 
 letters from his own hand, addressed in familiar correspon 
 dence to personal friends, in which he would be most apt 
 to reveal his true sentiments, disclose, in no ambiguous 
 terms, the views he entertained of the Christian religion. 
 We are not compelled to discredit these revelations, as 
 Bishop Hopkins suggests, because their author never de 
 signed that they should see the light. For that very rea 
 son they are entitled to the more credit. In the familial- 
 intercourse between man and man, in personal correspon 
 dence, there is little if any inducement to the concealment 
 of personal opinions and prejudices : there is, too, a more 
 full unfolding of the sentiments and character; and ac 
 cordingly, it is now a universally established canon of evi 
 dence that such revelations are to have greater weight, are 
 
so THE RP:LIGIOL T S RIGHTS OF 
 
 to be more relied on than mere public displays. But we 
 will not do Mr. Jefferson the injustice to say that there is 
 any contrariety between his public messages and his pri 
 vate correspondence. There is nothing in the former 
 which one acknowledging a Deity, as he did, might not 
 have used without creating a false confidence in his Chris 
 tianity, lie professed faith in Christianity neither in pub 
 lic nor in private ; and his public displays go no farther 
 than to establish his belief in the existence of a Divine 
 Being. In his private letters he does not deny it. Some 
 thing more than this is demanded by the terms of admis 
 sion laid down by Bishop Hopkins. The constitutional 
 requirement of the oath of office, he contends, is a Chris 
 tian oath : "No man can take the oath in its true consti 
 tutional sense unless he [is] a believer in the essential 
 truths of the Christian religion as revealed in the Holy 
 Scriptures." Mr. Jefferson took it. Was he within the 
 terms? So did Mr. Adams. Does Bishop Hopkins regard 
 the deity of Christ as one of the essential truths of the 
 Christian religion ? If he does, did Mr. Adams come up 
 to his requirement ? or did he in violation of the spirit of 
 the Constitution take the oath of office ! Another name 
 among the Presidents, whose history was not contempora 
 neous with the adoption of the Constitution, occurs to us 
 as one of the insuperable difficulties the Bishop s interpre 
 tation encounters. The younger Adams was not a be 
 liever in the Divinity of Christ. He, too, must be num 
 bered among those who violated the spirit of the Constitu 
 tion in taking the oath of office, if the author s interpreta 
 tion is to be adopted. 
 
 We willingly acquit the Bishop of Vermont from the 
 charge that he designed to introduce into the practical ad 
 ministration of the United States government any of the 
 
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 81 
 
 objectionable features we have shown to be the natural and 
 almost inevitable results of his doctrines. He expressly 
 disclaims the desire to unite Church and State; and we 
 are satisfied that the chapters of his work we have com 
 mented on thus freely were written solely for the purpose 
 of diffusing the spirit of true Christianity among the peo 
 ple. We should heartily second any effort the result of 
 which would be a wider and deeper interest in the Chris 
 tian religion. But we submit that it is neither the wisest 
 nor the best philosophy which makes a merely nominal pro 
 fession of religious faith the handmaid to earthly distinc 
 tion, or even puts into the hand of true Christianity the 
 insignia of earthly power. Our author, and those who 
 adopt his views, may disclaim any intention to unite and 
 blend the sovereignty of the State with any one or more of 
 the forms of religion ; but the dangers of such a union are 
 too great, the temptations to it are too strong, to admit of 
 doubt, that in the end, this result would ensue, were his 
 doctrines embraced. Strange indeed would it be if such 
 a result should be traced to an instrument framed by its 
 authors for preventing this very consummation ; to one 
 which, in so many words, declares that no law respecting 
 an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer 
 cises thereof, shall be enacted. 
 
 The space we have devoted to this topic forbids our fol 
 lowing the author into other fields of thought he has ex 
 plored, the ripe fruits of which he has gathered for his 
 readers. 
 
 It affords us unmixed satisfaction to bear testimony 
 to the justness of views with which he has considered 
 and discussed the great dividing question of the day. 
 It is indeed a noteworthy matter that a Vermontese Bishop 
 should have taken so catholic and national a position on 
 
82 THE RELIGIOUS RIGHTS, &c. 
 
 this important subject. While we do not agree with every 
 thing he has written upon it, we yet can cheerfully echo in 
 chief part his sentiments. An analysis of his eleventh 
 chapter sets forth, in brief compass, his opinions on this 
 topic. We will cite it for the benefit of our readers : 
 
 "The rights and duties of the American citizen with regard to 
 slavery : 
 
 1. He has a right to his personal opinions. But he has no right to 
 form them unfairly, either in contempt of the Bible, or of the senti 
 ments of Christendom for eighteen centuries 
 
 2. He has a right to believe that although slavery be lawful, yet it is 
 expedient to dispose of it peacefully, legally, and justly, with regard to 
 the permanent interests of the South and all the parties. But he has 
 no right to abuse the Constitution or trample upon the law. 
 
 3. He has a right to think that the abolition of slavery is not expe 
 dient j but he has no right to threaten a dissolution of the Union, nor to 
 use unlawful violence in any form towards those who differ from him. 
 It is his duty to be just, patient, and generous towards all who cannot 
 see the subject in the same aspect as himself. It is also his duty to 
 support the law, so long as it is law, because the resistance of the law 
 is rebellion, and exposes the whole land to anarchy and ruin. It is his 
 duty to guard against excitement, and to remember that the subject of 
 slavery should be treated with a sense of solemn responsibility, and in 
 the spirit of patriotic devotion to the public good." 
 
 Such sentiments as these are worthy of all praise. As 
 " words fitly spoken, they are like apples of gold in pic 
 tures of silver." 
 
BLEDSOE AND STRINGFELLOW ON SLAVERY.* 
 
 We are not of those who condemn the Higher Law. 
 We believe in it. That is, we are willing, in advance and 
 a priori, to express our approval of any set of opinions 
 or course of conduct for which Bible sanction can be pro 
 duced. We yield implicitly and with profound homage to 
 a "Thus saith the Lord," whatever its teachings, what 
 ever its command ; and though it call for the renuncia 
 tion of the most dearly cherished opinions, and for the 
 sacrifice of the most deeply important interests, even of 
 life itself, its behests we are willing to obey. If, then, 
 the Bible sanctions slavery, we will commend it: if, on 
 the contrary, the Bible condemns it, and teaches that it 
 is right to abolish it at whatever cost of money or of 
 blood, we say with cheerfulness, Let the will of the Al 
 mighty be accomplished : let his injunctions be obeyed. 
 In the discussion, therefore, of the slavery question, we 
 place ourselves fairly on the platform which the Chris 
 tian of either section of the Confederacy should desire, 
 by an appeal in the first instance, and as definitively set- 
 
 * An Essay on Liberty and Slavery. By ALBERT TAYLOR BLEDSOE, LL. D., 
 Professor of Mathematics in the University of Virginia. Philadel 
 phia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1856. 
 
 Scriptural and Statistical Views in favor of Slavery. By THORNTON 
 STRINGFELLOW, D.D. Fourth edition, with additions. J. W. Randolph. 
 121 Main street, Richmond, Va. 1856. 
 
84 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 tling the issue, to the oracles of Jehovah. What do they 
 say in regard to the subject of slavery ? what do they 
 inculcate as applicable to this institution ? what course 
 of conduct do they point out as proper where it exists? 
 
 An examination of these writings will establish that 
 slavery has received the sanction of Jehovah in every 
 period of which they treat : " by express command under 
 the Patriarchal age; by its incorporation into the law 
 uttered from Sinai ; and by its legality being recognized 
 and its relative duties being regulated by Christ and his 
 apostles. * 
 
 The first scriptural passage bearing upon this subject 
 is found in Gen. ix. 25-27. It is the declaration of 
 Noah in regard to his sons and their descendants: 
 u Cursed be Canaan : a servant of servants shall he be to 
 his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem ; and 
 Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth. 
 and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan 
 shallbe his servant," This is the language of prophecy, 
 doubtless ; yet it is the language of a father, speaking 
 in explicit arid emphatic terms of the abject bondage of 
 a part of his descendants to the rest, and, without inter 
 posing a single remonstrance, uttering the will of the 
 Almighty with implicit obedience and cheerfulness. 
 The language also is unaccompanied by any denuncia 
 tion of anger or wrath upon those who shall hold their 
 brothers in bondage, but absolutely blesses them. Not 
 double-tongued, but singularly emphatic, is his first decla 
 ration of the Holy Scriptures concerning the institution 
 of slavery . If it be allowed to speak at all, it speaks 
 that slavery, even slavery among brethren, may be tole- 
 
 * Stnngfellow. 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 85 
 
 rated, yea, enjoined by God. In the language of Dr. 
 String-fellow, God in this instance decreed slavery, and 
 shows in that decree tokens of good will to the mas 
 ter." Tracing the sacred records down from this decla 
 ration of Noah, we are next arrested by the case of 
 Abraham. Abraham, the father of the faithful, has 
 had many unworthy descendants, who have been proud 
 to call him father. The abolitionists surely will not 
 claim any relationship. When called to go into Canaan, 
 the narrative informs us, Abraham " took Sarai his 
 wife, and Lot, his brother s son, and all their substance 
 that they had gathered, and the souls they had gotten in 
 Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Ca 
 naan." Gen. 12. 5. Who are these " souls he had gotten 
 in Haran?" Slaves, bought with Abraham s money. 
 So the ancient Jewish writers say. and so the major part 
 of Christian commentators agree. Dr. Bush, however, 
 expresses no positive opinion concerning it, but simply 
 affirms that by Abraham s " making souls," we are to 
 understand his " enlarging his household establishment." 
 This enlargement consisted, doubtless, of the addition of 
 slaves, and to it we are in a great measure to trace the 
 astonishing fact, disclosed to us in Genesis xiv. 14, that 
 when Abram " heard that his brother was taken captive, 
 he armed his trained servants, born in his oivn house, three 
 hundred and eighteen, and pursued them [i. e., the cap 
 tors of Lot] unto Dan." These "servants" were slaves, 
 and the passage should so have been translated. Kitto 
 estimates that in order to furnish this quota of slaves 
 able to bear arms, the probability is that Abram was the 
 owner of four times the number, so that he held in his 
 own right in bondage upwards of twelve hundred slaves! 
 Numerous other passages occur in the book of Genesis, 
 
86 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 referring to the great wealth of Abraham, consisting of 
 silver and gold, flocks and slaves; so that one has pro 
 perly said that " in his history, the existence of slavery 
 meets us at every turn." We will not dwell specially 
 upon these, but content ourself with a simple reference 
 to the following: Gen. xii. 15, 16: xvii. 12, 13; xx. 
 14-16. One other fact connected with the history of 
 slavery in Adam s time we must not omit to notice. It 
 teaches so wholesome a lesson to modern agitators, that 
 we could wish it engraven in golden letters upon their 
 frontlets. Dr. Stringfellow has stated the case so well 
 in his little work, that we cannot do better than cite his 
 language : 
 
 " God had promised Abraham s seed the land of Canaan, and that 
 in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. He reached 
 the age of eighty-five, and his wife the age of seventy-five, while as 
 yet they had no child. At this period, Sarah s anxiety for the promised 
 seed, in connection with her age, induced her to propose a female slave, 
 of the Egyptian stock, as a secondary wife, from which to obtain the 
 promised seed. This alliance so puffed the slave with pride, that she 
 became insolent to her mistress: the mistress complained to Abraham, 
 the master. Abraham ordered Sarah to exercise her authority. Sarah 
 did so, and pushed it to severity, and the slave absconded. The Divine 
 oracles informs us that the angel of God found this runaway bond-wo 
 man in the wilderness; and if God had commissioned this angel to 
 improve this opportunity of teaching the world how much he abhorred 
 slavery, he took a bad plan to accomplish it. For, instead of repeating 
 a homily upon doing to others as we would they should do unto us, 
 and heaping reproach upon Sarah as a hypocrite and Abraham as a 
 tyrant, and giving Hagar direction how she might get into Egypt, from 
 whence (according to abolitionism) she had been unrighteously sold 
 into bondage, the angel addressed her as Hagar, Sarah s maid, (Gen. 
 xvi. 1, 9.) thereby recognizing the relation of master and slave, and 
 asks her, Whither wilt thou go ? And she said, I flee from the face 
 of my mistress. Quite a wonder she honored Sarah so much as to call 
 her mistress. But she knew nothing of abolition, and God, by his 
 angel, did not become her teacher. 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 87 
 
 " We have now arrived at what may be called an abuse of the in 
 stitution in which one person is the property of another, and under 
 their control and subject to their authority without their consent; and 
 if the Bible be the book which proposes to furnish the case which 
 leaves it without doubt that God abhors the institution, here we are to 
 look at it. What, therefore, is the doctrine in relation to slavery, in a 
 case in which the rigid exercise of its arbitrary authority is called forth 
 upon a helpless female, who might use a strong plea for protection, 
 upon the ground of being the master s wife? In the face of this case 
 which is hedged around with aggravations, as if God designed by it to 
 awaken all the sympathy and all the abhorrence of that portion of 
 mankind who claim to have more mercy than God himself but, I say, 
 in view of this strong case, what is the doctrine taught ? Is it that God 
 abhors the institution of slavery ; that it is a reproach to good men . 
 that the evils of the institution can no longer be winked at among 
 saints; that Abraham s character must not be transmitted to posterity 
 with this stain upon it ; that Sarah must no longer be allowed to live 
 a stranger to the abhorrence God has for such conduct as she has been 
 guilty of to this poor helpless female ? I say, what is the doctrine 
 taught? Is it so plain that it can be easily understood ; and does God 
 teach that she is a bond-woman or slave, and that she is to recognize 
 Sarah as her mistress, and not her equal ; tliat she must return and 
 submit herself unreservedly to Sarah s authority? Judge for yourself, 
 reader, by the angel s answer: And the angel of the Lord said unto 
 her, Return unto thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands. 
 Gen. xvi. 9." 
 
 We have already sufficiently established the Divine 
 sanction of slavery during the Patriarchal age by the 
 proof that Abraham, while enjoying the Divine appro 
 bation and favor, was a slaveholder. But we may go 
 farther, and show that this very relation was recognized 
 and blessed in the covenant which God made with Abra 
 ham. Not that God made the covenant with Abraham 
 and his servants, (for that we should find no warrant in 
 the scriptural writings,) but that he designed and di 
 rected that the token of this covenant should be placed 
 upon every servant "that was born in his house, and upon 
 
88 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY". 
 
 him that was bought with his money " Gen. xvli. 13. 
 This was something more than a bare permission to enjoy 
 the service of his slaves during life. 
 
 Abraham died as he had lived, a rich man, with flocks 
 and herds, possessed of silver and gold, and men-servants 
 and maid-servants, and camels, and asses. The Lord had 
 blessedhim, and gave him all these; (Gen. xxiv. 35;) had 
 blessed him in giving to him slaves. Before his death, the 
 old man bethought him of the "son of promise," and de 
 sired that Isaac should not take a wife of the daughters of 
 the Canaanites, but should marry one of his own country 
 and his own kindred, So Abraham called unto him his eldest 
 servant, and required that he should "make oath that it 
 should be as he had desired." The servant having taken 
 the oath, departed into that country in search of the wife. 
 The story is one of those beautifully touching episodes in 
 familiar oriental life which render the Bible attractive to 
 men of taste, and instructive and interesting to all. It is 
 familiar, yet we cannot forbear painting the prominent 
 features. The purpose of the mission was accomplished. 
 Rebekah accompanies the messenger. And as Isaac went 
 out into the fields at eventide to^ meditate, he saw afar off 
 the faithful servant returning with his camels. Beside him 
 there walks a veiled female the wife whom the servant 
 had been sent after. " And Isaac brought her in to his 
 mother Sarah s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became 
 his wife, and he loved her ; and Isaac was comforted after 
 his mother s death." The faithful servant had discharged 
 his oath. How had he discharged it ? Read the statement 
 he -makes to Rebekah s parents, and you will discover the 
 purpose for which this narrative has been cited. When 
 bidden to speak his errand, he begins : " I am Abraham s 
 servant. And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 80 
 
 and he is become great ; and he hath given him flocks and 
 herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid 
 servants, and camels and asses. And Sarah, my master s 
 wife, bare a son to my master when she was old ; and unto 
 him [i. e., Isaac] hath he given all that he hath." The 
 remaining portion of the statement may be found in Gen. 
 xxiv. 37-50. Now, whether or not Rebekah was urged 
 by this feature of the narrative to make the prompt de 
 cision she did make, when asked if she would go with the 
 man, we will not take it upon ourselves to determine. 
 Certain it is, neither her parents nor herself objected to 
 Isaac that he had inherited his father s slaves along with 
 his silver and gold, his flocks and herds, and camels and 
 asses. So Isaac, too, was a slaveholder Isaac, the son of 
 promise, whom God blessed, and to whom he declared at 
 Gerar, " I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of 
 heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries, and 
 in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ; 
 because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, 
 my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Gen. 
 xxvi. 4, 5. Here we have a double sanction of slavery, 
 declared in explicit terms, in the blessing of a slaveholder, 
 the son of a slaveholder, of whom it is said, " He hath 
 kept God s charge, and commandments, and statutes, and 
 lav.s !" Could language be more emphatic or more com 
 prehensive ? Would a modern abolitionist echo this bless 
 ing in terms, or even utter a feeble Amen to it? 
 
 Passing over a period of several centuries, from the 
 time that Jehovah meets and blesses Isaac in Gerar to 
 the delivery of the law from Sinai, we shall hear the same 
 God, from the thunders and lightnings of that mountain, 
 as he proclaims his will to his people, declare, side by 
 side with the commandment, " Thou Shalt not bear false 
 6 
 
00 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 witness against thy neighbor/ this other commandment, 
 " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s house, thou shalt 
 not covet thy neighbor s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his 
 maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that 
 is thy neighbor s." The God of Gerar and the God of 
 Sinai speak the same voice. He is consistent with him 
 self. He that blessed Isaac in his possessions as a slave 
 holder, enjoins on the descendants of Isaac in respect 
 alike to a man s wife, and his man-servants and maid-ser 
 vants, not only that they should not be stolen, but that they 
 should not be coveted ! 
 
 We are not surprised to find, in the laws promulgated 
 by the Divine Author of the Decalogue, such passages as 
 these : 
 
 "Both thy bondmen, and bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be 
 of the heathen that are around about you; of them shall >e buy bond 
 men and bondmaids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that 
 do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy. and of their families that 
 are with you, which they begat in your land; and they shall be your 
 possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children 
 after you, to inherit them for a possession: they shall be your bondmen for 
 ever; but over your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one 
 over another with rigor." Lev. xxv. 44-46. 
 
 " If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold 
 unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant, but as 
 a hired servant; and as a sojourner he shall be with thee, and shall 
 serve thee until the year of jubilee, and then he shall depart from thee, 
 both he and his children with them, and shall return unto his own 
 family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. For 
 they are my servants which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt ; 
 they shall not be sold as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule over him with 
 rigor, but shalt fear thy God." Lev. xxv. 39-43. 
 
 "If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the 
 seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he 
 shall go out by himself; if he were married, then his wife shall go out 
 with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne 
 him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master s 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 91 
 
 and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, 
 I love my master, my wife, and my children: I will not go out free; 
 then his master shall bring him unto the judges: he shall also bring 
 him to the door or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear 
 through with an awl ; and he shall serve him forever." Exod. xxi. 26. 
 
 These were the statutes which the Divine Being or 
 dained for the government of his peculiar people. They 
 are the emanation of his wisdom and will concerning them. 
 They contain the most emphatic endorsement and sanc 
 tion of the right of property in man. This point cannot 
 be more satisfactorily sustained than by the simple cita 
 tion of such language as this. It will be enough for the 
 purposes of Southern slavery if the statutes we have cited, 
 and other citations made, establish that slavery is not a 
 malum in se is not an absolute and universal evil. 2 
 
 The testimony which the New Testament Scriptures fur 
 nish on the subject of slavery as a Divinely ordained in 
 stitution, is not, we are free to admit, of so emphatic a 
 character as that furnished by the Old. But there is 
 nothing in the New Testament writings which would in 
 duce an impartial exarninant to modify the views he would 
 derive from searching the Old. It cannot be doubted 
 that the question of slavery was presented as a practical 
 question to the Saviour. It was all around and about 
 him in Galilee, and Samaria, and Judea. Slavery in 
 every form, we are told, was abundant in that age. The 
 sight of a slave was a much more familiar sight to Christ 
 than to a modern abolitionist. Our Saviour himself not 
 unfrequently refers to the relation of master and slave, to 
 enforce his lessons upon the people. Many of his most 
 impressive parables were drawn from it. In many of his 
 discourses he alludes to it. While we would not, perhaps, 
 be justified in saying that these allusions to and use of this 
 
92 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 relation express a full sanction of slavery, yet it can hardly 
 be imagined that if it were a malum in se, a gross moral 
 wrong to hold slaves in bondage, the Saviour would so 
 have referred to it. As was properly remarked by a 
 learned divine, if the Saviour had deemed slavery a hein 
 ous sin, a moral wrong semper et ubique, he would surely 
 have made a different use of it. To instance : In the case 
 of the parable of the ten talents, instead of comparing the 
 relation we sustain as servants to our Heavenly Master to 
 the relation subsisting between the lord and his servants, 
 he would doubtless have drawn therefrom a lesson which, 
 being translated, would run thus: "If, in a relation which 
 is the mere result of brute force, without right, and sinful 
 on the part of the master, the master expects and enforces 
 implicit obedience, and the use of all the talents and capa 
 bilities of his slaves, how much more should God, your 
 Creator, and Maker, and rightful master, expect and en 
 force such obedience from his creatures!" In the holy 
 writings we nowhere have any such argument adduced, or 
 any the remotest implication that the existence of slavery 
 was itself wrong, or the result of wrong. Everywhere it 
 is dealt with as if it were right and expedient. There is 
 a slavery denounced, but it is the slavery of the soul to 
 sin; and freedom from that is spoken of a blessing. Of 
 that slavery, Christ and his apostles were not chary in de 
 claring its abomination in the sight of God and of holy 
 men. One instance only have we in the New Testament 
 in which the practical question as to the right of the master 
 over the slave arose for the consideration of an inspired 
 apostle, and in that case the course pursued is in exact 
 conformity with the conduct of the angel in the case of 
 Hagar. Our readers will understand that we allude to 
 Onesimus. Paul s letter to Philemon, sent by this slave, 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 93 
 
 is a brief but complete and satisfactory exposition of the 
 duty of both master and servant in the contingency for 
 which it was written. The epistle would seem to have been 
 preserved among the inspired records to condemn the con 
 duct of modern agitators, who verily think they do God 
 service by breaking his laws and robbing their neighbors. 
 We shall cite the entire letter : 
 
 "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto 
 Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow-laborer, and to our beloved Ap- 
 phia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy house : 
 Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers; 
 hearing of thy love and faith, which them hast toward the Lord Jesus, 
 and toward all saints: that the communication of thy faith may become 
 effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in 
 Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, be 
 cause the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. Where 
 fore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which 
 is convenient, yet for love s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an 
 one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I be 
 seech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds : 
 which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee 
 and to me: whom I have sent again; thou therefore receive him, that 
 is, mine own bowels: whom I would have retained with me, that in 
 thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel; 
 but without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not 
 be as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore de 
 parted for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever: not now 
 as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, 
 but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord? If 
 thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath 
 wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account: I Paul 
 have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it : albeit I do not 
 say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. Yea, 
 brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the 
 Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee. knowing 
 that thou wilt also do more than I say. But withal prepare me also a 
 lodging; for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you, 
 
01 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus; Mar 
 cus, Aristarchus, Deinas, Lucas, my fellow laborers. The grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. 
 
 If aoolitionists had an index expurgatorius, we fancy this 
 epistle would head the list. And there are also other pas 
 sages of the New Testament which, in all probability, they 
 would gladly expunge. We allude to those in which the 
 duties of this relation are explained; in which the servant 
 is enjoined to obedience an obedience which should not 
 be marked by mere eye-service, but obedience from the 
 heart, an obedience which is to be rendered to the froward 
 as well as to the good and gentle ma. ter. They are such 
 is s these : 
 
 " Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the 
 flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto 
 Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but as the servants of 
 Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing ser 
 vice, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good 
 thing any man doeth, the same he shall receive of the Lord, whether 
 he be bond or free." Eph. vi. 5-8. 
 
 " Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh ; 
 not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fear 
 ing God ; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not 
 unto men/ Col. iii. 22, 23. 
 
 " Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own mas- 
 blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not des 
 pise them, because they are brethren, but rather do them service, be 
 cause they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit." 1 Tim. 
 vi. 1, 2. 
 
 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please 
 them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but 
 showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our 
 Saviour in all things." Titus ii. 9, 10. 
 
 "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the 
 good and gentle, but also to the froward." 1 Pet. ii. IS. 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 95 
 
 It is in vain that such passages are sought to be per 
 verted from their plain and obvious effect. They clearly 
 and certainly i ecognize the relation as existent and in full 
 force, and as creating the obligation of hearty obedience 
 on the part of the servant to his own master, "not to all 
 men, or to the masters of other slaves." " This duty of 
 obedience does depend on the justice of the authority 
 which the master claims." 3 While commanding the slaves 
 to obey, the apostles do not forget the masters in the dis 
 tribution of their precepts. Masters are enjoined to "for 
 bear threatening," (Eph. vi. 9,) and " to render to their 
 servants what is just and equal." Col. iv. 1. This seems 
 to be the extent of the apostolic injunctions to masters. 
 The Christian master is not commanded to manumit his 
 slaves, but to treat them well. Does this evidence an opin 
 ion on the part of the apostle that slavery was a " heinous 
 sin ?" If that had been the case, would not the injunction 
 to manumit have been given ? In the absence of such an 
 injunction, are we not warranted in saying that the 
 apostle did not so regard it, but, contrariwise, deemed the 
 relation in itself a moral and lawful one, and therefore 
 undertook to regulate the reciprocal duties of the Chris 
 tian master and Christian slave ? If there be any flaw in 
 this reasoning, we are unable to detect it, and we are sin 
 cerely anxious to know what the Scriptures do leach on 
 this subject. What we said at the beginning, we repeat 
 here : if the oracles of Jehovah teach that slavery is a 
 moral wrong, semper et ubique, at all times and in all 
 places, and that it ought to be abolished, at whatever cost 
 of money or of blood, the commands of Jehovah ought to 
 be obeyed. But if tney do teach, as we think they do, 
 that slavery is a lawful institution, not in itself s.nful, and 
 that its continuance and existence are allowable, in con- 
 
96 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 formity to the Divine will, then it is alike the duty of the 
 Christian to submit his own will and his own prejudices to 
 the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.* 
 
 * It may not be amiss to refer, in this connection, to the following re 
 marks submitted in the Senate of the United States by Mr. Benton, in 
 1829. The) contain an ample vindication of the position assumed in 
 the text, and are themselves an eloquent exposition of the manner in 
 which Christ and his apostles dealt with the subject of slavery. u Sir," 
 said Mr. B., "I regard with admiration, that is to say, with wonder, the 
 sublime morality of those who cannot bear the abstract contemplation 
 of slavery at the distance of five hundred or a thousand miles off. It 
 is entirely above, that is to say, it affects a vast superiority over the 
 morality of the primitive Christians, the apostles of Christ, and Christ 
 himself. Christ and the apostles appeared in a province of the Roman 
 empire, when that empire was called the Roman world, and that world 
 was filled with slaves. Forty millions was the estimated number, being 
 one-fourth of the whole population. Single individuals held twenty 
 thousand slaves. A freed man, who had himself been a slave, died 
 the possessor of four thousand : such were the numbers. The right of 
 the owners over this multitude of human beings was that of life and 
 death, without protection from law or mitigation from public sentiment. 
 The scourge, the cross, the fish-pond, the clen of the wild beast, and the 
 arena of the gladiator, was the lot of the slave, upon the slightest ex 
 pression of the master s will. A law of incredible atrocity made all 
 slaves responsible with their own lives for the life of their master : it 
 was the law that condemned the whole household of slaves to death, 
 in case of the assassination of the master- a law under which as many 
 as four hundred have been executed at a time. And these slaves were 
 the white people of Europe and of Asia Minor, the Greeks and other 
 nations, from whom the present inhabitants of the world derive the most 
 valuable productions of the human mind. Christ saw all this: the num 
 ber of the slaves; their hapless condition; and their white color, which 
 was the same with his own ; yet he said nothing against slavery; he 
 preached no doctrines which led to insurrection and massacre; none 
 which, in their application to the state of things in our country, would 
 authorize an inferior race of blacks to exterminate that superior race of 
 whites, in whose ranks he himself appeared upon earth. He preached 
 no such doctrines, but those of a contrary tenor, which inculcated the 
 duty of fidelity and obedience on the part of the slave, humanity and 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 97 
 
 In view of such overwhelming testimony afforded by 
 these scriptures of the Divine approbation of slavery, can 
 it be credited that they are appealed to as condemning it ? 
 Yet it is even so. Many of the bitterest opponents of 
 slavery declare their opposition to it because it is incon 
 sistent with the will of God as set forth in the Bible. 
 Tney read there a law which says, " Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself;" and again, "All things whatsoever 
 ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to 
 them." They discover in these two precepts a principle 
 diametrically opposed to slavery. One of these has said 
 " Were this precept [the one last cited] obeyed, it is man 
 ifest that slavery could not in fact exist for a single instant. 
 The principle of the precept is absolutely subversive of the 
 principle of slavery." This is one of the strongholds of the 
 anti-slavery advocate; and if we compel him to surrender it, 
 we shall have gone far to convert him to the truth. The 
 answer we think is complete. Jesus Christ declared of the 
 "law" that its essence was contained in two items su 
 preme love to God, and love to one s neighbor: " Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, 
 and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two 
 commandments hang all the law and the prophets." This 
 "law" of which the Saviour spake embraced the law of 
 the Decalogue, from which we have before cited, and in 
 wnich, as we have seen, slavery is protected, and the in 
 junction is given, " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s 
 wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his 
 
 kindness on the part of the master. His apostles did the same. St. 
 Paul sent back a runaway slave, Onesimus, to his owner, with a letter 
 of apology and supplication. He was not the man to harbor a runa 
 way, much less to entice him from his master; and, least of all. to ex 
 cite an insurrection." 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor s" 
 Can it be possible that the Lawgiver of Sinai and Christ 
 are at issue ? When Christ declares that the two princi 
 ples of supreme love to God and love to one s neighbor 
 embraced the whole law, did he mean to say that they 
 embodied a part and not the whole of it ? Still worse, did 
 he mean that one of those principles conflicted with the 
 law ? Did he mean that if the whole of that law were pro 
 mulgated, this principle, "Love your neighbor as your 
 self," would be utterly subversive of an institution which 
 the law, in one of its items, was designed to protect and 
 secure ? We might rest the question here, and leave it to 
 the objector to set at rights this manifest division between 
 the pei sons of the Holy Trinity which his declaration pro 
 duces. If it be true, as he says it is true, that the principle of 
 slavery and the Bible principle of love to one s neighbor 
 are antagonistic, then there is no escape from the conclu 
 sion that the God of Sinai and the Christ who expounded 
 his law are at issue. To remove this contrariety it will be 
 necessary to show that the interpretation put upon the 
 command to love your neighbor as yourself, by modern 
 anti-slavery writers, is not the true one. We say it with 
 all the emphasis of which we a,re capable, that the princi 
 ple of slavery does not conflict with the proper lines of 
 the law of human love ; that, on the contrary, in many 
 cases, and in the particular case of American slavery, the 
 proper exercise of the principle, " Love your neighbor as 
 yourself," demands the continuance of the institution. 
 
 By the precept, " Love your neighbor as yourself," and 
 by that other precept (being the same in another form,) 
 " Do unto others as you would that others should do unto 
 you," we are not to understand as taught that whatever 
 one man may lawfully desire in one condition of life, 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 99 
 
 another may lawfully desire in another condition of life ; 
 and that the master is, therefore, in applying the rule of 
 love, to measure the proper desires of his servant by his 
 own. If it be right for the servant, taking into considera 
 tion justice to the master, the safety and welfare of society, 
 and the welfare of the servant himself; if it be right for 
 the servant, in view of all these considerations, to desire 
 freedom, then it is certainly true that the master, in the 
 proper exercise of this Christian principle of love, should 
 set him free. But if, on the other hand, it be not right 
 for the servant to desire freedom, because of any of the 
 considerations named, or for any other sufficient reason, 
 then it is equally clear that, in the exercise of the same 
 principle, the master should not manumit him, but should 
 hold him in bondage. Let us illustrate the practical ope 
 ration of this principle in a hypothetical case, the parallel 
 to which any Southern city can furnish. A. is a servant 
 of B. B. has purchased him at a very high price. With 
 his powers as a mechanic, A. is nevertheless naturally un 
 thrifty, negligent, and lazy. He needs an overseer some 
 one to compel him to work ; otherwise, he would become a 
 drunken and dissipated wretch, scarcely able to earn bread 
 enough to live upon, much less to rear up a family. A. is 
 now in B. s service, and works well. The master gives him 
 
 f 1 1 1 .1 T 1* - . 1 " * 11 " 
 
 luou turn vjiui/iijLijg, tiim supplies 111111 wim nu nie iieuesscti ies> 
 of life. He has a wife and family, all of whom are under 
 the control of his master, and A. is as happy and con 
 tented as is the master who owns him. In such a case, 
 the question of manumission is presented to B. One at 
 his elbow suggests, " You have no right to hold A. in 
 bondage. The God that made you declares that you 
 must love your neighbor as yourself; that you must do 
 to others as you would have them do to you. If you were 
 
100 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 in A. s place, you would desire freedom. Christian love to 
 A. must prompt you to set him free." "But," responds 
 B., " I cannot set him free. As he is, he is filling the 
 station God designed him to fill. He is a faithful, steady 
 servant. He works well as a servant. His labors are of 
 great pecuniary advantage to me, and of utility to the 
 place in which I live. He has all the necessary comforts 
 of life ; a wife and family well taken care of, and provided 
 for as he is himself. If I manumit him, I will do him an 
 injury. I will not deny that he may desire freedom, but 
 he is (as all of his race are) naturally unthrifty and negli 
 gent, and he lacks forethought. If I set him free, together 
 with his family, as my neighbor N. did in the case of his 
 servants, like them, in a few months years at farthest 
 A. and his family will become vicious and filthy in their 
 habits, an eyesore to all passers-by, and some of them, 
 perhaps, tenants of the jail or penitentiary. I believe my 
 duty to A. and to A. s family, and the love you speak of, 
 alike require that I should keep him in his present state of 
 servitude. He is a happier and better man, as a servant, 
 than he would be if he were free." In the case put, is not 
 B. s reasoning sound? Yet if B. had measured A. s de 
 sires by his own, he would have given him and his family 
 their freedom ; and in so doing, would have violated rather 
 than obeyed the law of Christian love, by inflicting upon 
 his servant the evils he enumerates. The servant is not 
 prepared for struggling as a freeman in the battle of life: 
 he is not fitted for the position into which he would 
 be thrust by manumission ; hence his ruin by securing 
 freedom. Dr. Bledsoe has happily expressed the thought 
 we are here enforcing : "A. foolish desire, we repeat, in 
 one relation of life, is not a good reason for a foolish or 
 injurious act in another relation thereof." He continues: 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 101 
 
 " The precept which requires us to do as we would be done by, was 
 intended to enlighten the conscience. It is used by abolitionists to 
 hoodwink and deceive the conscience. This precept directs us to con 
 ceive ourselves placed in the condition of others, in order that we may 
 the more clearly perceive what is due to them. The abolitionist em 
 ploys it to convince us that, because we desire liberty for ourselves, 
 we should extend it to all men, even to those who are not qualified for 
 its enjoyment, and to whom it would prove the greatest possible in 
 jury. He employs it not to show us what is due to others, but to per 
 suade us to injure them ! He may deceive himself; but so long as we 
 believe what even he admits as highly probable namely, that the 
 abolition of slavery would be the greatest possible injury to the slaves 
 themselves we shall never use the Divine precept as an instrument 
 of delusion and of wrong. What! inflict the greatest injury on our 
 neighbor, and that, too, out of pure Christian charity?" 
 
 If this reasoning be sound, it follows that, in some cases, 
 it is an act of disservice and positive injustice to the slave 
 to manumit him. In such cases, it is clear that slavery 
 does not conflict with the proper exercise of the principle, 
 "Love your neighbor as yourself." Slavery, as it exists 
 at the present day in the Southern States of this Union, 
 constitutes, we think, one of the cases in which justice and 
 love to the slave require that the institution should con 
 tinue to exist. Some of our opponents will admit that 
 slavery, as known among us, is of the most mitigated form ; 
 that it has resulted in no little advantage to the slaves 
 themselves ; and that it compares in no wise with the 
 abjecter servitude which prevailed in the Eastern countries 
 in Patriarchal times or when our Saviour lived, or even 
 with the slavery of Africa at this day. Fictions may be 
 written to unfold to an astonished world the horrors of 
 American slavery ; but we have no conception that their 
 authors either credit them themselves, or that their readers 
 believe them to be veritable descriptions of the reality. 
 These readers know or should know that the main merit 
 
102 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 
 
 of such productions consists in the strength of imagination 
 and vividness of fancy which their authors have brought to 
 the task. Slavery, if presented in its true guise, would 
 hardly afford material fit for the use of these latter-day 
 romancists, who deal in stories to " curdle the blood, and 
 make the hair stand on end." Without taking into the 
 account, then, the false sentiment which such works may 
 have created, it will hardly be questioned by those 
 whose opinions are worth regarding, that the slavery 
 with us is of the most mitigated form. We say more : 
 Our slavery has exalted the race who are its subjects from 
 a state of gross barbarism to a state of comparative civili 
 zation. We say more : The race subjected to slavery 
 among us is yet imcompetent to govern or provide for 
 itself; and if such a thing as universal emancipation were 
 practicable, and could the race at once be separated from 
 the whites, it would again speedily lapse into barbarism. 
 Even amid the restraining influences of the highest civili 
 zation, the individual instances of emancipation attest 
 what we have said, that, as a people, they are incompetent 
 and improvident, and utterly unable to maintain decently 
 themselves or their families. In the character of slaves, 
 they have been useful, and have advanced rather than 
 retarded the prosperity of our people. Such being the 
 advantages, on the one hand, of keeping them in servitude, 
 and such being the disadvantages, on the other, of setting 
 them free, the argument for the extinction of slavery must 
 be overwhelming, indeed, before we can be brought to be 
 lieve that it is either just, or right, or expedient to manu 
 mit our slaves. As they are, they live happily and con 
 tented : as the abolitionists propose to have them, they 
 would be neither happy nor contented, and would too often 
 be unable to secure either food or lodging. As they are, 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT FOR SLAVERY. 103 
 
 they render service to their masters and to the community, 
 and fill up the sphere for which their capacities and char 
 acter adapt them : in the position in which they would be 
 thrust by setting them free, they would be incompetent to 
 discharge aright the duties they would owe to the public 
 or to themselves, but would become charges upon the one 
 and curses to the other. 
 
 If these statements be true and may we not appeal to 
 facts to support every assertion we have made it is evi 
 dent that our duty, our Christian duty, guided by the prin 
 ciple of that maxim which anti-slavery advocates so fre 
 quently urge, demands that in lieu of setting our slaves 
 free, and depriving them of our oversight and care, we 
 should retain them in their present station, until such im 
 provement is discerned and exemplified in the race as will 
 afford reliable evidence that liberty will be to them a bless 
 ing and not a curse. 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE.* 
 
 i 
 
 It is a gratifying feature of the times that so much tal 
 ent is effectively employed in the service of. Truth. In 
 happy ignorance of the actual state of the matter, one 
 might presume that talent would always be thus employed 
 that it would spurn the service of Error, and cast off its 
 livery as a hated and despicable master. Yet how falla 
 cious such an opinion. Tested by every day experience, 
 it would appear that talent had engaged its noblest offices 
 to every other purpose save the defence of truth, that 
 fur this alone it had disdained to use its powers, or, if to 
 use them at all, to do so inefficiently and feebly. What a 
 display of talent, for example, in the department of Fic 
 tion characterizing by the term every species of litera 
 ture presenting false or exaggerated views of life ? How 
 much of thrilling eloquence, of dramatic ability, of pow 
 erful narrative ? If we may trust ourself to read the 
 pages of modern novelists of this type, we shall weep over 
 the imaginary wrongs of some innocent heroine, while our 
 ears are deaf and our sensibilities unawakened to the cry 
 for bread at oiir doors, and the petition for relief on our 
 streets. Or, if our novelist author has seasoned his dish 
 
 * Confessions of a Converted Infidel ; with Lights and Shadows of Itin 
 erant Life, and Miscellaneous Sketches. By Rev. JOHX BAYLEY, of the 
 Virginia Annual Conference. Third Edition. New York : M. W. Dodd, 
 Publisher. 1856. 
 8 
 
106 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 for the mental palate with the ordinary condiments of 
 latter-day fiction, we shall discover in ourself an unwonted 
 eagerness for the success of the well-polished villain, in 
 his scheme of villainy, while the victim of his vices, adorn 
 ed erewhile with the virtues of womanly modesty and the 
 graces of refined and delicate sentiment, secures neither 
 pity nor remorse. Or, we are introduced, it may be, into 
 an unnatural and unreal world, in which though there be 
 upon its inhabitants the blight of sin, its streams of feli 
 city are perennial and its sweets ever enduring. What a 
 display of talent in the coteries of fashion ? If we shall 
 visit them, we will find the sparkle of wit, the frolic of 
 humour, and the play of satire all actively enlisted, not 
 always in the advancement of truth, but making what ef 
 forts they may for its annihilation. At the best, society, 
 ordinarily so called, is but a contrivance for the assassina 
 tion of time ! " time, destined to perish by a mightier 
 hand, but men are willing to assist in its destruction."* 
 
 Turning to the professions and business pursuits of life, 
 we shall discover the frequent and vast efforts of talent in 
 building up the wrong and pulling down the right. We 
 are not inclined to echo the slanders perpetrated against 
 the professions particularly. We cannot entertain the 
 opinion uttered by some, even of respectable attain 
 ments, that no man can be a lawyer and a Christian ! Yet, 
 how few of the legal profession are numbered among 
 Christ s people ? How few have studied the truly "higher 
 law" of his kingdom, and have deemed it more honour to 
 fill the lowest seat at his table than to gain a heritage of 
 fame ! Of medical men, how many have found in secon 
 dary causes the origin of things ; and have neglected the 
 higher analysis of the immortal and imperishable part of 
 
 * John Foster. 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 107 
 
 man to devote attention exclusively to tlie merely mortal 
 and perishing ! We repeat, that observation teaches the 
 lesson that Talent has not always been enlisted in the ser 
 vice of truth. And when thus employed, as sometimes it 
 has been, its efforts have, in great part, been feeble and 
 inefficient. Truth lay hid and buried in the ponderous 
 octavos and unreadable quartos of the past century, while 
 Error was disseminated in sprightly essays and vivacious 
 volumes. We rejoice that a change has been wrought 
 here ; that the children of light have learned wisdom 
 from the children of darkness, and that sanctified talent 
 has at last been taught the lesson that precious knowledge 
 may be communicated to the masses better in the tract 
 than in the treatise, better in a volume of unpretending 
 proportions than in a body of divinity. We are gratified 
 that it has learned more that in order to be read, in or 
 der to accomplish the very purpose for which books are 
 written, books must be made interesting as well as instruc 
 tive must have the graces of a perspicuous style as 
 well as an abundance of ripe thought. Few men are so 
 highly gifted as to justify the venture to make their writings 
 obscure in order that they may be studied. The OiPolloi 
 are now the rulers in the republic of letters as well of 
 Christian letters, distinctively so called, as of what is un 
 happily denominated profane literature ; and the Oi Polloi 
 demand that those who cater for their mental religious ap 
 petite, shall create the appetite as well as supply its wants. 
 We regret that the fact is so. We would have truth sought 
 for herself, because she is Truth. But complainings will 
 not remedy the evil. Nor will it do to stand off and de 
 liver learned divinity to a public mind that cannot retain 
 the pith of a single sermon. We must come down to the 
 capacities of the people, if we cannot lift them up to our 
 
108 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 ordinary tone of discourse. We must give them the nour 
 ishment they can digest, for nourishment they will have, 
 and if we do not give them food of a character adapted 
 to their capacities, they will find noxious poisons which, 
 not allaying their hunger, will destroy the little of men 
 tal health and vitality that remains. It is for these reasons 
 that we are gratified that men of talent, of thinking power, 
 have not deemed it an unworthy office to supply such men 
 tal pabulum, and that while they might easily have con 
 structed systems of divinity, they have preferred to pre 
 sent truth in its fragments in order to entrap into the way 
 of right thinking the languid and almost listless reader of 
 modern literature, and to pour over his intellect a tide of 
 fresh and pure thought to quicken it to a healthful activity. 
 The time has arrived for such works. When John Foster 
 published his volume of essays, containing the essay on 
 "Decision of Character," and that on " The Use of the 
 Epithet Romantic," works characterized by the highest 
 eloquence and by profound thought, he did so with fear 
 and trembling ; and was gratified that his volume had 
 met with even a moderate success. A quarter of a 
 century afterwards, "a kind of moral essay," such as 
 Foster produced, would have fallen still-born from the 
 press, while the current of modern fiction, embracing alike 
 with the higher qualities of imagination and artistic power 
 displayed in " Vanity Fair," " Dombey and Son," and 
 "Jane Eyre," the disgusting detail of the lives of "Dick 
 Turpin, the Highwayman," and "Edwards, the Forger," 
 would have been devoured with avidity ! Fortunately, the 
 supply of the baser material has so completely glutted the 
 intellectual appetite, that the taste for such delicacies has 
 in a measure diminished, and is daily diminishing. One 
 may even confess without a blush, in the literary circles of 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 109 
 
 the day, that he has not read Dickens s last work, and is 
 wholly oblivious of, if he ever saw, the latest productions 
 of Bennett, or Reynolds ! In this decline of the modern 
 Novel, taking its march into oblivion after its predecessor, 
 the Romance, it is peculiarly happy that Fact and Reality 
 are gaining their rightful power, and that Religious Fact 
 has now an opportunity to assert its dominion. 
 
 We have placed at the beginning of this article the title 
 of a work recently published, of this type. We hail its ap 
 pearance as indicative of a higher literature for the read 
 ing public, and its extended circulation as evidencing that 
 the public mind is now at least in part prepared for a purer 
 and more healthful style of thought than has distinguished 
 the days just numbered with the past. 
 
 Mr. Bayley s book is autobiographic throughout, though 
 he may not probably have designed it as such. In the 
 Lights and Shades of Itinerant Lifj and in the moral 
 essays, as well as in his avowed Confessions, he is disclo 
 sing to us the actual progress of his own inind a mind 
 intensely active and stored with thought and eminently 
 self reflective while touching at many points the external 
 world, and deriving pleasure and profit from the contact. 
 We have an antipathy to the title " Confessions." We 
 associate with it the so-called disclosures of Rousseau, his 
 pompous bombast and his causeless and impertinent self- 
 abasement self-abasement having more the air of self-ex 
 altation than of repentance, more of the spirit of the car 
 nally proud than of the spiritually humble. We would be 
 inclined also to condemn these "Confessions of a Converted 
 Infidel, if they were of this type or approached it. But 
 this is far from being true. They are a plain and unvar 
 nished tale of the manner in which the author trod the 
 pathway to infidelity and of his deliverance from its 
 
110 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 unhappy power. Our author was born in an ancient 
 borough of old England. In early childhood he lost the 
 training of a mother. Before he had reached his fifth 
 birth-day she was laid in the grave. His father was un 
 happily an admirer of Paine, Volney and Voltaire, and 
 possibly this parental example had somewhat to do with the 
 early aversion which he cherished toward the Bible and 
 the avidity with which his mind fastened itself upon its 
 unpalatable truths, leading him to discard its teachings 
 altogether. A course of miscellaneous reading, conver 
 sation with the leaders of the infidel party, misuse of the 
 Sabbath for purposes of r,ecreation, contrast of the rich 
 and wealthy with the humble and destitute, completed the 
 work of transformation and the author became a confirmed 
 infidel. In that spirit he bade a farewell to his native 
 land "to see the operations of Deism" in America. A 
 companion blessed him on his way with the exhortation 
 " that he had been inoculated with the truth and must 
 spread it." After passing many years in the northern 
 portion of the Union, he came to Virginia to learn another 
 system of truth, and to become its ardent and zealous de 
 fender. By a series of not very wonderful providences, 
 he is led gently along to retrace his steps, to converse 
 again with the pious and the pure, to read books of whole 
 some doctrine and finally to renounce his infidelity and to 
 embrace in intellect the truth of the Christian religion. 
 We must cite here a passage disclosing this gradual change 
 of mind : " I began to look upon religion and religious 
 people with more respect and to attend more frequently 
 the house of God. It was some time after this before my 
 heart was sufficiently humbled to lead me to the practice of 
 prayer. Indeed, I still thought, with a marvellous incon 
 sistency, that prayer to the Almighty was very absurd. 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. Ill 
 
 And one day I walked into the solitude of the woods 
 to think over the subject, with the intention of writing an 
 essay upon it. As I was walking about, I thought, If 
 God is infinite in knowledge, why should we inform him of 
 our own wants, since he knew them before ? If he is in 
 finitely wise, why should we attempt to direc, him? If he 
 is infinitely good, why should we endeavor to prevail upon 
 him to supply our wants ? Arid, above all, if he is unchange 
 able, why should we solicit him to change ? In the midst 
 of these reflections, my attention was arrested by a plain 
 tive and earnestly supplicating voice, and going in the di 
 rection from which the voice came, I saw a negro man on 
 his knees, under a tree, with hands clasped together and 
 uplifted to heaven, while he cried out with great earnest 
 ness, Jesus, Master, have mercy upon me a poor sinner ! 
 And this he continued to repeat. The poor fellow did not 
 observe me, so intently was he engaged in prayer. An 
 awful feeling came over my soul ; I forgot my essay, and 
 walked back to town musing on the power of religion. 
 That negro was happily converted, and many a time after 
 ward have we met together at our sunrise prayer meetings, 
 and in the use of other means of grace. These impres 
 sions, however, wore off, and it was not until it pleased the 
 Lord to lay me upon a bed of sickness that I was led to 
 renounce publicly my infidel sentiments, and to seek an 
 interest in the atonement made for the whole human race 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 While he lay on the bed of disease, the letter of an 
 absent sister from across the Atlantic reached him and 
 touched his heart. He longed to be a Christian that he 
 might say, that if they met no more on earth they would 
 meet in heaven. This at least would be something cheer 
 ing to write ; and she had told him that his letters wore 
 
112 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 unhappy and made her so. Here was the turning point 
 in his experience. He had found before that Butler s 
 Analogy was able to remove all his positive objections to 
 the truths of the Christian religion, but he had not yet 
 cherished the spirit which prompted to a cheerful and 
 hearty surrender to its claims. " The Christian religion 
 became," he says, "something very lovely and desirable 
 in my sight, and though it was several months before I 
 could make the change in my sentiments known, there was 
 a decided change from that hour." The stragglings with 
 conscience were not yet over : We must cite his graphic 
 description of his conversion : " The devil was endeavor 
 ing to retain me in his bondage and I could find no rest 
 to my spirit. I wandered into the woods in the neighbor 
 hood, and there, in the silence of the groves, sat down 
 and wept. Often did I make up my mind to unbosom 
 myself to some one, and as often did pride gain the mas 
 tery over me, and compel me to keep my secret. Never, 
 while memory retains her power, shall I forget one holy 
 Sabbath morning, when I paid a visit to the Baptist 
 church, to hear the Rev. Mr. Fife. He gave out the hymn 
 commencing, 
 
 Jesus ! and sliall it ever be. 
 A mortal man ashamed of thee? 
 
 When the congregation began to sing the hymn, I looked 
 around with a heavy heart ; my lips were sealed, and I 
 could not utter a word, and a voice in my inmost soul 
 seemed to say, Yes, sinner, that is you you are the 
 only one in this congregation ashamed of Christ. For 
 it seemed to me that with one united heart and voice that 
 congregation did worship Christ as a God. My troubled 
 heart would not allow me to pay much attention to the 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 113 
 
 sermon ; but I went home weary and heavy lade n? anxious 
 to obtain rest, and yet obstinately and foolishly refusing 
 to seek it in God s appointed way. Falling into the com 
 pany of some young men who had recently been convert 
 ed, I made some enquiries about religion, to which they 
 gave me evasive answers, supposing that I wanted to get 
 into a controversy with them. Seeing their unwillingness 
 to converse with me on the subject, my heart was grieved 
 and my eyes were filled with tears. One of them said, 
 i Are you sick? you had better lie down. And though I 
 assured them that I was not sick, they all left the room. 
 As soon as I was left alone, a voice in my heart seemed 
 to say, Sinner, you should kneel down and pray. It was 
 the wooing voice of Christ, leading the blind by a way 
 that he knew not ; but, to my shame let it be written, I 
 thought that perhaps some one would come in and see me 
 at prayer. So I took the key of Mr. James Jackson s 
 store, and went to that place and locked myself in, and 
 soon was upon my knees. With a heart tossed to and fro 
 by a variety of conflicting emotions, I began, Lord, 
 if thou didst ever hear prayer Here I came to a pause, 
 and repeated the if, and it occurred to my mind that it 
 was very absurd to pray in that way, since God had caus 
 ed it to be written in his word, Without faith it is impos 
 sible to please Him ; he that cometh to God must believe 
 that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that dili 
 gently seek him. Strange as it may seem, I rose from 
 my knees without offering up a prayer. I then opened 
 the Bible and read the eighth chapter of the epistle to 
 the Romans, at which place I happened to open undesign- 
 edly. This was entirely above my comprehension, and it 
 occurred to my mind that I had once read it before, and 
 asked my father if he understood it ; to which he replied, 
 
114 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 f No, nor does any one else it is a heap of nonsense. 
 Finding nothing to relieve me here, I closed the book 
 and left the store, and endeavored to shake off my feel 
 ings in another way. Some few weeks afterward Mr. 
 Childs had an appointment in the village. It was in the 
 Christmas time, and though the backsliding which gene 
 rally follows great religious excitements had not commen 
 ced, there was no unusual manifestation of religious feel 
 ing at that time in the community. I was one of the con 
 gregation that night, but I have no recollection of the 
 preacher s text, nor of his discourse. All that I know is, 
 that he fixed his piercing eyes upon me at the close of the 
 discourse, descended from the pulpit, walked deliberately 
 to me, took me by the hand, and said, Get down on your 
 knees, and begin to pray. I fell down trembling without 
 a word, and began to pray and cry aloud for mercy. Thus 
 the struggle, as far as regards my recantation of infidel 
 ity, was over, and I was before the congregation a weep 
 ing penitent suing for mercy at the foot of the cross. I 
 remained on my knees until the congregation was dismiss 
 ed, when some one came to me and whispered in my ear 
 that I ought to go home and pray there. As soon as I 
 got to my room, I saw a friend with whom I lodged at the 
 time, sitting by a table reading ; and throwing myself 
 upon my knees by the bedside, I asked him to pray for 
 me. He immediately left the room, and sent Mr. Childs, 
 and several other brethren, who came to my room, and 
 held a little prayer-meeting until about midnight. After 
 they had left me, I remained up all night in a state that 
 I have no language to describe. It appeared to me that 
 I had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, the sin 
 which hath no forgiveness, and I was afraid to lie down 
 and sleep, lest I should die, and wake up in hell- I re- 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 115 
 
 mained in my room all the next day, meditating, praying 
 and reading, and at night went to a prayer-meeting, at 
 which John Morris, a colored man, who has since gone to 
 Liberia as a missionary, made a profession of religion. 
 At that meeting one against whom I had taken up a pre 
 judice, put his arms around me and tried to encourage me 
 to believe, but it had a chilling effect upon my feelings, and 
 as I walked home that night, I thought I should give up 
 the struggle and become worse than I had ever been. 
 But the next day my convictions returned with increased 
 power, and I lay on my bed almost in the agonies of des 
 pair. While reflecting on my past life, and on the great 
 subject of religion, I was bewildered ; my reason seemed 
 to be forsaking me; and then it was suggested to my 
 mind, you will lose your reason, and then you will cer 
 tainly be lost, for religion is a reasonable thing, and no 
 one who is not in his right mind, can repent and believe 
 in Christ. This alarmed me greatly, and I turned over 
 in my bed and cried aloud, so that some of the neighbors 
 came in to see what was the matter. Among others, my 
 dear departed friend, Brother Wm. Blanton, came in and 
 knelt by my bedside and prayed for me. The conversa 
 tion of Mr. James M. Jackson, Mr. John Long, and 
 others, was profitable and encouraging to my soul. I 
 read Butler s chapter on the Mediatorial character of the 
 Saviour, and was satisfied with regard to the correctness 
 of the author s positions ; but still there was a mountain 
 of unbelief on my heart, and I could not trust in God for 
 salvation. Though I saw clearly that God had promised 
 to forgive the sins of all who believe in Jesus, I could 
 not understand how this could be done, and therefore I 
 would not believe. After all my company left me, I rose 
 from my bed and sat down by the fire in profound medi- 
 
116 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 tation. The little negro boy who sat in one corner of the 
 room looked very earnestly at me, and inquired, 
 
 " What was the matter with you when you hallooed 
 so? 
 
 " God was punishing me for my sins, I replied. 
 
 " What did that little man do for you ? 
 
 " He prayed for me. 
 
 " Would God hear him? 
 
 " Here I was puzzled, and knew not what to answer. 
 I thought, if I say no, I shall contradict the Scriptures, 
 for God has said, l Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and 
 ye shall find ; knock, and the door shall be opened to 
 you. And if I say yes, I shall not speak the truth, be 
 cause I do not believe it. So I remained in silence. With 
 a sigh the little boy exclaimed, I wish I could pray. I 
 still made no reply, and he said, ; Won t you teach me to 
 pray, sir? 
 
 U 4 
 
 You must ask the Lord to teach you, I responded. 
 
 " c Must I ? What must I say ? he again inquired. 
 
 " Struck with the earnestness of the little fellow, I be 
 gan to be more attentive to him, and remembering a verse 
 of a hymn which I had been taught when I was a little 
 child, I said, say, Lord, teach a little child to pray. 
 
 " He instantly knelt down at my feet, put his face to 
 the floor, and whispered, Lord, teach a little child to 
 pray ? 
 
 " The thought instantly flashed into my mind, if that 
 little boy can believe in me, why cannot I believe in God. 
 He says in his word, that He i so loved the world as to 
 give his only-begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in 
 Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. This 
 declaration embraces me, if I believe it, and whether I 
 understand how it can be done or not, I must and will be- 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 117 
 
 lieve it on the authority of God himself. In a moment 
 the burden seemed to fall from my heart. I felt greatly 
 relieved ; and though I did not take it for conversion at 
 the time, from that moment I began to look at the Saviour 
 with the eye of faith. When I laid down in bed that 
 night, a couplet of one of Charles Wesley s hymns was 
 continually suggested to my mind, 
 
 Now, e en now, the Saviour stands, 
 All day long he spreads his hands. 
 
 A friend read to me after I laid down the tentli chapter 
 of the Epistle to the Romans, which contains the same 
 sentiment : But to Israel he saith, all day long have I 
 stretched forth my hand to a gainsaying and rebellious 
 people. I was still more convinced of sin, and prayed 
 more earnestly to God, Before I fell asleep the words of 
 the Psalmist came to my mind, i For his anger endureth 
 but a moment ; in his favor is life ; weeping may endure 
 for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. 1 fell asleep 
 in hope of obtaining a still clearer assurance of the par 
 doning mercy of God, and I was not disappointed. About 
 four o clock I awoke, and began to reflect, what am I ? 
 and the answer came to my mind in a moment, I am a child 
 of God, and an heir of everlasting life, and then I began 
 to sing in the beautiful language of Kirke White ; 
 
 ; Once on the raging seas I rode, 
 
 The storm was loud, the night was dark, 
 
 The ocean yawn d, and rudely blowed 
 
 The wind that toss d my found ring barque. 
 
 Deep horror then my vitals froze, 
 
 Death struck, I ceased the tide to stem ; 
 When suddenly a star arose. 
 
 It was the star of Bethlehem. 
 
118 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 It was my guide, my light, my all, 
 
 It bade my dark forebodings cease, 
 And through the storm and danger s thrall, 
 
 It lead me to the port of peace. 
 
 My voice was feeble at first, but it gradually became louder, 
 until my room-mate awoke, and asked me what was the 
 matter. To which I replied, that my soul was happy, and 
 that it made me feel comfortable in body and in mind. 
 I arose from my bed, and continued in reading the Scrip 
 tures, prayer, arid praise, until the break of day, when I 
 took a walk on the banks of the Appomattox river, and 
 on that memorable morning all things appeared more 
 bright and beautiful than had ever before appeared to 
 me. The trees, all withered and lifeless as they were, 
 appeared to be covered with glory, and all Nature had a 
 voice exhorting me to praise her great Creator. sing 
 unto the Lord a new song, for He hath done marvellous 
 things. With his own right hand, and with his holy arm 
 he hath gotten to himself the victory. I felt then dis 
 posed to shake hands with every one that I met, and 
 thought it strange when any one did not sympathize with 
 me in my joy. I was not, however, without strong temp 
 tations. Satan continued to assail me with his fiery darts, 
 and I had many a struggle with the powers of darkness, 
 but I generally drove them away by singing and prayer." 
 The author subsequently becoming convinced of his duty 
 to preach, at the earnest solicitation of his friends, began 
 the ministry at once. He united himself with the itinerancy, 
 and entered with cheerful heart upon its laborious duties. 
 We have already said his entire book is autobiographic. 
 The Lights and Shades of Itinerant Life are confessedly 
 such, and disclose the sunshine and the storms of the trav 
 elling minister. These sketches are racily written and will 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 119 
 
 amply repay the curious reader. They tell us what the 
 man of God sees and handles in his effort to do good, and 
 how his philosophy and patience are put to the test alter 
 nately by awkward politeness and impudent swagger. 
 The writer does not omit an occasion to shoot at folly as 
 it flies, and his shot is usually effective. In illustrating 
 the case of those who bless the Lord for a free gospel, 
 meaning one that costs them nothing, he appends the 
 following note : 
 
 " A penurious member of the church said in a religious 
 meeting, < I bless the Lord for a free gospel ; I have been 
 a member of the church for many years, and it has never 
 cost me anything except tiventy-five cents / The preacher 
 looked on him with mingled surprise and pity, and a small 
 infusion of contempt, and said : God bless your stingy 
 soul! " 
 
 An extract from the sunny side of the itinerant life will 
 be in place here : 
 
 " It must not be forgotten, however, while we are mu 
 sing on these petty pains, which small as they are individ 
 ually, in the aggregate are not to be despised, that the 
 itinerant of the present day is free from many of the 
 cares and anxieties that harass his brethren who lead a 
 more settled life ; nor that he has many advantages which 
 flow from the nature of his wandering life. By a proper 
 management of his time, and habits of self-denial, he may 
 find opportunities for reading and reflection, and for the 
 improvement of his own heart and mind. The great book 
 of human nature is ever open to his view. Nature, with 
 all her charms, smiles upon him, and spreads before him 
 all her treasures. He has the privilege of visiting vil 
 lages, towns, and cities, mountains and valleys, rivers and 
 lakes, which he never would have seen if he had not been 
 
120 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 an itinerant minister. Sometimes, as lie communes in his 
 closet with the master spirits of past ages, or as he pur 
 sues his solitary way through the woods, and forests, and 
 gazes upon the sublime and beautiful scenes of nature, 
 his heart swells with joy, and he blesses God who called 
 him to this glorious work. He has the advantage, too, 
 of free and familiar intercourse with many of the choice 
 spirits of the Church of the living God. Still more : he 
 enjoys the counsels, the prayers and the sympathy of the 
 holiest among the children of God, and he looks forward 
 to the time" when he will mingle with them in the General 
 Assembly of the Saints in the Glorious Land. When he 
 sees these things by faith, he feels that he would not ex 
 change positions with the wealthiest and the most honora 
 ble of the human race. On the other hand, he has a 
 heavy load of care, and an awful responsibility to the 
 world, to the Church, and to God. He occupies a perilous 
 height, on which it is difficult to stand, and from which it 
 would be damnation to fall. And, therefore, with the 
 great apostle of the Gentiles, he exclaims, c Who is suffi 
 cient for these things ? In the midst of grief or glad 
 ness, sickness or health, success or failure, he toils on, 
 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God 
 than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. If he 
 succeeds in winning souls for Christ, and building up the 
 Church of God, he rejoices like one who has found a great 
 treasure. Occasionally he has the mortification to find 
 that his own brethren are the greatest obstacles in the 
 way of his usefulness. Some Diotrephes, who loves to 
 have the pre-eminence, some Demas, who loves the pre 
 sent w T orld, or some cross-grained brother, whose whims 
 and caprices have not been sufficiently attended to may 
 raise a clamor against him ; or some emissary of Satan 
 
THE NEW LITERATURE. 121 
 
 may succeed in raising prejudices, against him, so that he 
 is sent away from his field of labor, before the harvest is 
 ripe. A stranger enters and reaps the crop. In his next 
 field of labor, however, the case is altered. He is the 
 reaper this time, and those who look only at the surface 
 of things take him to be something ; and yet he is the 
 same man that he was before, while the circumstances 
 around him are altered a little." 
 
 A Second trip across the Atlantic opens up in our au 
 thor s history a fresh spring of delightful incidents, and 
 under the titles "Home Again," " London," " Farewell," 
 and " Reflections on the Ocean," he makes us familiar with 
 his friendships and his clear loved ones at home. We 
 regret our inability to make more than a simple reference 
 to these and to the essays on "Reading," "Thinking," 
 "Christian Conversation," "The Study of Human Na 
 ture," and "Superstition." From the article on "Loquac 
 ity," the longest and best of the sketches, we make a 
 brief extract: 
 
 "Apart from higher considerations, it would be well for 
 these incessant talkers to remember, that they lose much 
 by their want of moderation in the exercise of their gifts. 
 By monopolizing all the time, they prevent others who 
 are their company from speaking, especially the modest 
 and unassuming ; and to say nothing of the injustice of 
 such a course, in this land of equal rights, who can tell 
 how much information, sparkling wit, and brilliant elo 
 quence, they lose by their conduct ? It has been remarked 
 that celebrated authors, with few exceptions, have had 
 little to say in company ; but they have been great listen 
 ers swift to hear, slow to speak. It might be well 
 then, if those persons who are afflicted with the talking 
 mania, would occasionally, at least, impose silence upon 
 
122 THE NEW LITERATURE. 
 
 themselves for a season. And this brings to mind an ob 
 servation made by a shrewd gentleman in Richmond, Vir 
 ginia. A love-feast had just been held in one of the city 
 churches, in which very few persons had anything to say. 
 When some one complained of the dulness of the meet 
 ing, that individual observed, that the meeting must have 
 done good, for certain persons who were at it had not 
 kept silence so long for many years ! It is said, also, 
 that one of the loquacious tribe went to a Quaker meet 
 ing, at which nothing was said, and he becoming exces 
 sively tired of it, went out in a pet, and exclaimed, That 
 
 is enough to kill the d 1! That is exactly what we 
 
 want to do, quietly remarked the Quaker." 
 
 It was an apt remark of Robert Hall that t( it is the 
 fortune of some men to labor under an incapacity of dis 
 cerning living worth a sort of moral virtuosi who form 
 their estimate of character as the antiquarian of coins, by 
 the rust of antiquity." 
 
 " Urit enim fulgore suo, qui prasgravat artes 
 Infra se positas : extinctus amabitur idem. 1 
 
 We have not followed the timorous example set us by 
 such critics ; and we are assured that the reader who will 
 consult the pages of our author, will not regret our de 
 parture, in the present instance, from a standard of judg 
 ment so narrow and contracted. For the ripe instruction 
 with which the volume abounds, and chiefly of all, for its 
 charming simplicity of style, we heartily commend this 
 specimen of the New Literature. 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION.* 
 
 Our main purpose is not so much with Mr. Brown s book, 
 as with a topic he has incidentally discussed the ethics 
 of the legal profession. We fully agree with him in the 
 statement that his work has no pretensions to style. The 
 frankness of the disclaimer will somewhat blunt the edge 
 of criticism. As mere collectanea of anecdotes, and brief 
 sketchings of legal biography, his volumes will prove to be 
 passably interesting, and pleasant light reading ; had their 
 author claimed for them a higher position, they would 
 unquestionably not have secured it. Humble, however, as 
 are the claims of Mr. Brown s work, it should not go 
 wholly unrebuked. We admit his perfect right to publish 
 as many of his personal recollections as he may choose ; 
 and if designed and heralded as his own life, to mingle 
 with it as much of egotism and self-laudation as may suit 
 his taste ; but we strongly question his right to devote 
 largely more than a hundred pages of a work, professedly 
 giving an account of the practice and practitioners of 
 Pennsylvania, to a discussion of his own merits and posi 
 tion, while his recital of the character and life of such a 
 man as Justice Washington is compressed into about 
 twenty. The disproportion may not have been noted by 
 
 * The Forum ; or, Forty Years Full Practice at the Philadelphia Bar. By 
 DAVID PAUL BROWN. Two Volumes. Philadelphia : Robert H. Small, 
 Law Bookseller, No. 21 S. Sixth Street, 1856. 
 
124 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 Mr. Brown. He may possibly imagine that each has been 
 treated according to his deserts that the author of " The 
 Forum" is entitled to fill a much larger space in the 
 public eye, than the great, venerable and distinguished 
 Justice ; but Mr. Brown will scarcely get the reading 
 public, either professional or non-professional, to agree with 
 him. To prevent mistake here, let us say that the memoir 
 of Mr. Brown prefixed to his work was not written by his 
 own hand. It seems to have been prepared originally by 
 a friend of the author, for a place among the catalogue of 
 the distinguished living, published by Mr John Livingston 
 in his "Biographies." The writer, however, had peculiar 
 advantages for the work. He quotes the private journal 
 of Mr. Brown, and gives us an account of his first public 
 eifort. From this it appears that Mr. Brown s debut in 
 the courts of Pennsylvania equalled, if it did not excel, 
 the highest efforts of Grecian or Roman oratory, and in 
 stantly placed the orator upon the pinnacle of fame. The 
 biographer does not tell us, that like Erskine on the occa 
 sion of his famous first speech before Lord Mansfield, the 
 Philadelphia orator received thirty retainers before he left 
 the court room. He doubtless deserved them. 
 
 Having said thus much in censure of these volumes, we 
 must say what it is in our heart to say in commendation 
 of the writer and his work. He seems to be a good na- 
 tured, cheerful old gentleman, liberal to a fault, and a sincere 
 teacher of the lesson of good fellowship. He has placed 
 a high, but not too high, estimate upon the practical value 
 of strict professional decorum ; and inculcates as one of 
 the essentials to success as well as to comfort in the prac 
 tice of the law, the cultivation of an equable temper, and 
 seasonably and shrewdly remarks, that " no client would 
 be safe in trusting the management of his cause to a 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 125 
 
 lawyer who is incapable of self-government." He also calls 
 attention to another feature in legal life, which may 
 strike with some surprise those who are not familiar with its 
 inner departments : " The result of professional harmony is 
 the greatest mutual confidence. They rely upon each other s 
 word as an infalible bond. As between themselves, they 
 rarely require any writing , as assurance. They neither 
 doubt nor are doubted. This, among the other lofty prin 
 ciples of the profession, has secured them here and every 
 where a position which neither envy nor calumny can ever 
 destroy or impair." 
 
 The legal profession has been the subject of calumny. 
 No one will doubt this who has taken the pains to acquaint 
 himself with the ordinary opinions cherished and expressed 
 by some even of the more intelligent classes who have 
 devoted themselves to other pursuits. As the result of 
 calumnies widely and industriously diffused by those who 
 believe them to be true, we think we do not err in saying, 
 that a large proportion of thinking men, outside the 
 profession, regard the vigorous, faithful and earnest prose 
 cution of the law as incompatible with the highest standard 
 of morality ; as inconsonant with a sincere attachment for 
 the principles of the Christian religion. 
 
 It is our design, in the present article, to vindicate the 
 profession from these charges, and to show that the prose 
 cution of the law is not only consistent with the sincere 
 profession and practice of Christianity, but that, in some 
 particulars, the lawyer enjoys peculiar advantages for at 
 taining eminent usefulness in the Christian life. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that if the law may be 
 practiced at all, its practitioner is called upon to discharge 
 its duties with vigor and fidelity. It argues neither a 
 Christian heart nor a Christian head to falter in the prose- 
 
126 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 cution of any work we may properly undertake. Energy 
 and striving for success are as obligatory upon the Chris 
 tian in the pursuit of lawful secular callings, as diligence 
 and fidelity in the discharge of any peculiarly Christian 
 duty. If, then, the Christian may be a lawyer, he should 
 prosecute his profession vigorously and earnestly; he 
 should not hesitate to meet its fall responsibilities, and to 
 discharge them all ; and if the life of the Christian be in 
 compatible w r ith the energetic discharge of the lawyer s 
 office, duty to the client, duty to himself demands that the 
 Christian lawyer should lay aside his professional robes, 
 and devote himself to some other pursuit. This is the 
 practical question to which we invite attention ; may the 
 Christian practice the law without soiling his character, or 
 impairing his Christian influence ? 
 
 There is nothing essentially variant between the profes 
 sion of Christianity and the practice of the law. To em 
 brace the principles of the one does not, in itself, imply 
 the denial of the principles which should rule in the 
 other. So far as human laws are written on the statute 
 books of the country, or have been unfolded and ex 
 pounded in the decisions of the courts, the principles which 
 underlie and regulate them are found to be, are design 
 ed to be modelled after and built upon the principles of 
 Divine truth. If there be occasional aberrations from the 
 standard, these have occurred, not from intentional disre 
 gard of the claims of the a higher law," but fronvmisin- 
 terpretation or misapplication of the test ; and as fallible 
 men have had to expound and interpret the statutes and 
 to apply in practice these principles, it is surely not with 
 out excuse that occasional departures from their true de 
 velopment have been made occasional errors committed. 
 
 There is not only no essential variance between the prin- 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THK LKUAL PROFESSION. 127 
 
 ciplcs of Christianity arid the principles which should rule 
 in the practice of the law ; there arc designed coincidence 
 and harmony between them. 
 
 In civilized countries the great code regulating the 
 dealings of man with man is the code contained in the 
 Holy Scriptures. Variously expressed as their statutes 
 have been, assuming with every different nation and peo 
 ple a distinct and separate form, varying according to the 
 mental habits, and circumstances of the people for whose 
 control they are designed, they all acknowledge, and are 
 all designed to inculcate, obedience to the Divine law, as 
 promulgated from Mount Sinai, and as interpreted by the 
 Infallible Interpreter. Let a man but obey this law, in 
 its spirit and letter ; and ho need riot fear breaking any of 
 the positive statutes, or running counter to the written de 
 cisions of the courts of a civilized people. Legislatures 
 and courts alike have bowed in homage to the Divine 
 model ; and have striven to make their enactments arid 
 their rulings conform to its high standard. The Common 
 Law of England, though its foundations were laid in a 
 dark arid inauspicious age, haj become the boast of law 
 yers and statesmen, and the pride and glory of the An 
 glo-Saxon nice, its highest and happiest accomplishment, 
 in a history crowded with wonderful successes, and almost 
 unexampled fortunes. No wonder that it was cherished 
 with affectionate remembrance by our fathers ; arid though 
 they were compelled to sever the national bond of 
 union between them and the mother country, no wonder 
 they fondly clung to this, the earliest and the best boon 
 they had inherited. Yet after all, what is this Com 
 mon Law, which law writers proudly characterize as the 
 highest reason ? Whence has it derived its splendor, its 
 justness of proportion, its solidity of principle, arid its 
 
128 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 practical value ? From what source has it received the 
 maxims which it has written as the guide of the courts ? 
 Whence derived the canons which govern and control 
 them ? When we assert for this Common Law these high 
 claims, we are not asserting them as due to its intrinsic 
 and self-derived excellence ; we are only commending a 
 glory and a grace which are reflected from it, only as it 
 has imitated and embodied the principles of the Divine 
 law. David Hoffman, in his excellent treatise on a course 
 of legal study a work distinguished for its comprehen 
 siveness and completeness instructs the student to lay 
 the basis of his legal studies by securing an accurate ac 
 quaintance with the Bible. We quote his language : 
 
 " The purity and sublimity of the morals of the Bible 
 have at no time been questioned ; it is the foundation of 
 the common law of every Christian nation. The Chris 
 tian religion is a part of the law of the land, and, as such, 
 should certainly receive no inconsiderable portion of the 
 lawyer s attention. In vain do we look among the 
 writings of the ancient philosophers for a system of moral 
 law comparable with that of the Old and New Testament. 
 How meagre and lifeless are even the Ethics of Aristo 
 tle, the Morals of Seneca, the Memorabilia of Xeno- 
 phon, or the Offices of Cicero, compared with it." * * 
 * " If treatises on morals should be the first which 
 are placed in the hands of the student, and the structure 
 of his legal education should be raised on the broad and 
 solid foundation of ethics, what book so proper to be thor 
 oughly studied with this view, if no other, as the Bible. 
 But the religion and morals of the Scriptures by no means 
 constitute the only claim which this inestimable volume 
 possesses on the earnest attention of the legal student. 
 There is much law in it, and a great deal which sheds more 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 129 
 
 than a glimmering light on a variety of legal topics. Polit 
 ical science is certainly indebted to it for an accurate ac 
 count of the origin of society, government, and pro 
 perty. The subjects of marriage, the alienation of pro 
 perty inter vivos, its acquisition by inheritance and bequest, 
 the obligation of an oath, the relations of governor and 
 governed, of master and servant, husband and wife, the 
 nature and punishment of a variety of crimes and offences, 
 as murder, theft, adultery, incest, polygamy, &c., the 
 grounds of divorce, &c., &c., still receive illustrations from 
 this copious source ; and this high authority is often ap 
 pealed to by legal writers, either as decisive or argumen 
 tative of their doctrines." * * * * " We have been 
 thus particular on the subject of the utility of the Bible 
 to the lawyer, from a deep conviction that its ethics, his 
 tory and law cannot fail of being eminently serviceable to 
 him ; from our observation that young lawyers frequently 
 read any other book but this ; and, lastly, from the fact 
 that nearly all the distinguished lawyers with whom we 
 have been personally, or through the means of books, or 
 otherwise acquainted, have not only professed a high ven 
 eration for Biblical learning, but were themselves con 
 siderably versed in it. Lord Coke had, no doubt, made 
 the Scriptures his study, long before Archbishop Whitgift 
 sent him a copy of the New Testament, with a request that 
 he, who had so thoroughly mastered the Common Law, 
 should study the law of God ; be this as it may, his 
 writings abound with arguments and illustrations taken 
 from that source. The names, also, of Bacon, Hale, Holt, 
 Jones, Erskine, Yates, Grotius, D Aguessau, and very 
 many others, who have testified their respect for this knowl 
 edge, by frequent reference to the sacred volume ; added 
 to the like tribute, so often paid to it by poets and orators, 
 
130 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 were a sufficient warrant, if one were needed, for the 
 urgent manner in which I press this subject on the student s 
 attention." 
 
 Similar recommendations of the study of the Holy 
 Scriptures are given in every respectable treatise on the 
 study of the law. The uniformity and urgency of these 
 commendations at least show that legal writers have never 
 discovered in the sacred writings anything to discourage, or 
 embarrass, or hinder the young legal student in the pursuit 
 of his profession ; on the contrary, they show that lawyers 
 of eminent learning and experience believe that the prac 
 titioner will be better equipped for the successful discharge 
 of his duties as a lawyer, if he has stored his mind in 
 youth with the truths of the Divine Word, mastered its 
 teachings, and familiarized himself with its principles. 
 JSTor will it be objected, we are sure, that these writers are 
 wanting in perspicacity. In claiming for the legal profes 
 sion the power to understand their true interests, we are 
 but claiming what every one will, without argument, ac 
 knowledge. 
 
 There is, moreover, no external circumstance attending 
 the study of the law, in itself considered, preventing the 
 prosecution of Biblical and religious truth. 
 
 The professional student may be helped in his legal 
 studies by the prosecution of religious studies; he will hardly 
 be hindered by them. A too great devotion to strictly 
 professional treatises has in some instances, doubtless, con 
 tributed to divert the attention of the legal scholar from 
 the claims of the Holy Scrptures ; but this may be object 
 ed as well to every other engrossing science ; whether 
 geology, astronomy, chemistry or botany, or leaving the 
 departments of natural science, whether one s studies 
 incline to metaphysics, strictly so-called, or to the belles 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 131 
 
 lettres. Many of these, we know, have sometimes fully 
 occupied the time and attention of those whose chief 
 business it should have been to study and to preach the 
 Gospel. If we would then discountenance the study of 
 the law, because in some instances its prosecution has hin 
 dered growth in spiritual knowledge, consistency requires 
 that we should discourage the prosecution of the sciences 
 and arts, and indeed every occupation or study of life not 
 strictly and technically religious. The critical objector to 
 the practice of the law would hardly insist on carrying out 
 his principles to consistent conclusions, if he should there 
 by peril or destroy his own pursuit. He would find the 
 claims of Divine philosophy not altogether so exacting 
 and so exclusive as he had been accustomed to believe. To 
 nourish and sustain the "little ones at home" he would 
 speedily know to be of as lasting obligation, and, perhaps, 
 of as high character, as the most intimate acquaintance 
 with the Divine teaching. 
 
 So far, also, as the study of the law is a mental exercise, 
 calling for the use of the highest powers of the mind, for 
 severe analysis, for the accurate investigation and elimina 
 tion of principles, and their practical application to human 
 relations and duties, so far will it prove of advantage in en 
 abling one to know religious truth, and to understand how 
 to apply it. No one will question that the lawyer is ad 
 vantaged in a mental and moral point of view by his fre 
 quent application of moral principles to human conduct. 
 This is an important item, and ought not to be neglected 
 in making our estimate of the peculiar facilities of the bar. 
 We call attention to the fact here, simply to show the su 
 perior vantage ground of the lawyer as a hearer of reli 
 gious truth. 
 
 Every minister of the Gospel has experienced a difficulty 
 
132 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 in securing attention to the doctrines he proclaims. The 
 people lack consideration. It is very hard work to think ; 
 to think on new topics when totally new, to continue to 
 think on old topics, when very old. We would account it 
 strange, were we not- so familiar with the fact, that the 
 minister encounters both these difficulties in nearly every 
 congregation he addresses. Some of his auditors have 
 never seriously thought upon the topic he discusses ; to them 
 his teachings are misty and confused, and the impressions 
 received dim and imperfect. Others have thought upon 
 the truths so often, have heard them handled and applied 
 so often, that they have become old and trite. The lawyer 
 the true lawyer will not generally be found in either 
 class. He has learned by continual and repeated practice, 
 to grasp a novel subject in all its relations, and he follows 
 with delight the preacher into new fields of thought : and 
 is gratified by the amplest range and largest discourse. 
 He will know too how to value the old ; and will not un- 
 frequently, while a hearer, contribute from his own stores 
 of thought, or by some practical and recent experience in 
 illustration of its truth, invest the teachings of the pulpit 
 with freshness and power. When attendants on the min 
 istry, we may claim for the bar that they are attentive and 
 appreciative hearers. 
 
 While what we have stated is conceded to be true ; and 
 the probability of Christian sentiment at the bar, if there 
 were no hindrances in the way, is also conceded ; it is 
 objected that the facts tell on the contrary side of the ques 
 tion ; that legal men are not often professedly religious ; 
 that the large majority of them acknowledge no allegiance 
 to Divine truth, neither obey it themselves nor encourage 
 its obedience in others ; that among them infidelity num 
 bers its advocates, and that a practical and a theoretic dis- 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 133 
 
 regard of the claims of Christianity is the rule, and not the 
 exception ; and indeed, it is further objected that this dis 
 regard of Christian obligation is not a mere accident of 
 the profession, but one of its essentials, the due discharge 
 of legal duties requiring a sacrifice of Christian principle. 
 If the latter branch of this charge be true, attempts to 
 defend the practice of the law would be vain, and the ne 
 cessary and consistent conclusion would be that pure mor 
 als and a regard to the public welfare would demand the 
 suppression of the legal profession. Is it true ? 
 
 In proof of its truth, the objector cites the familiar ex 
 ample of an advocate s defence of a criminal known to 
 be guilty. He says that such a defence is always immoral 
 and utterly incompatible with Christian character, 
 
 We shall test the soundness of this declaration : but 
 before passing condemnation upon the bar, let us see what 
 are their teachings upon the point. To begin with the 
 work of Mr. Brown : 
 
 " The best system of forensic ethics or moral philosophy, 
 as applied to the legal duties of men, is of Divine authori 
 ty ; Do unto others as you would be done by ; that is, 
 as you justly deserve to be done by ; Love your neighbors 
 (or your clients) as yourself; which means, do the same 
 justice to them that in their condition you would be right 
 ly entitled to expect you are not to do more for them 
 than you would rightly expect ; nor to love them better 
 than yourself not to sacrifice your conscience or your 
 heavenly hope to them." 
 
 Again : 
 
 c "VVe repeat it, a lawyer is bound to refuse a case that 
 he believes to be dishonest, or to retire from it the mo 
 ment he discovers it to be so. And he is also bound to 
 avoid litigation, unless it is necessary and when unneces- 
 
134 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 sary or unavoidable, always to adopt the least offensive 
 means for bringing it to a satisfactory result. The law is 
 the handmaid of justice, and in its administration should 
 never be attended with undue severity or malevolence." 
 
 Again : 
 
 " A lawyer has a right to take all the advantage his 
 learning and talents afford him, in order to sustain a good 
 cause or defeat a corrupt one : but he has no right to sub 
 stitute his talents or learning for the honesty of a case, 
 and thereby render iniquity triumphant. When he has 
 doubts as to the correctness of his position, he may fairly 
 incline in favor of the party he represents, and sustain his 
 views by every authority and fact that the law or evidence 
 may supply, leaving it of course to the court and jury to 
 ratify or reject them. He is not to decide the case, nor 
 is he morally answerable for the correctness of its deci 
 sion ; but he is answerable for the correctness of the mo 
 tives by which he is influenced." 
 
 Judge Sharswood s testimony is to the like effect, and, 
 indeed, every legal writer of eminence and learning has 
 taught the same doctrines. 
 
 In making these citations from legal authorities on the 
 ethics of the bar, we shall not be accused of introducing 
 testimony which ought not to be regarded. Had these 
 works been written as defences of the bar, we might sus 
 pect the sincerity of the testimony ; but they were written 
 for no such purpose ; they were designed for those who 
 had already determined upon, or were actively engaged in 
 the pursuit of the profession ; and they show the animus 
 of the profession in its claims to sincerity and just deal 
 ing, as much as the ordinary conversation and tone of re 
 mark of a private individual would disclose more aptly 
 than in any other way, his personal character. 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 135 
 
 But while legal writers teach thus decidedly and em 
 phatically the duty of the lawyer, not willingly to under 
 take the espousal of an unjust cause one that he knows 
 to be unjust, and with the view to forward or protect in 
 justice much diversity of opinion exists among them, as 
 to the obligation a lawyer is under to a client whose cause 
 he may lawfully espouse. Some, but very few, maintain 
 with Lord Brougham in his famous defence of queen Caro 
 line, that " an advocate, by the sacred duty he owes his 
 client, knows, in the discharge of that office, but one per 
 son in the world his client and none others," that "to 
 save his client by all expedient means ; to protect that 
 client at all hazards and costs to all others, and amongst 
 others to himself, is the highest and most unquestionable 
 of his duties ;" and that "he must not regard the alarm, 
 the suffering, the torment, the destruction which he may 
 bring upon any other." "We know of none, however, who 
 would adopt the further sentiment of this distinguished 
 lord, when he adds, that " separating even the duties of 
 a patriot from those of an advocate, and casting them, if 
 need be, to the winds, the advocate must go on reckless 
 of the consequences, if his fate it should unhappily be, 
 to involve his country in confusion for his client s protec 
 tion." Others, however, and the larger and more consid 
 erate part, adopt the sentiments of Hale : " I never 
 thought," says that distinguished jurist and Christian, 
 " I never thought that my profession should either neces 
 sitate a man to use his eloquence, by extenuations or ag 
 gravations, to make anything look worse or better than it 
 deserves, or could justify a man in it; to prostitute my 
 eloquence or rhetoric in such a way, I ever held to be 
 most basely mercenary, and that it was below the worth 
 of a man, much more a Christian to do so." 
 
136 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 We can not suppose that Lord Brougham s remarks ex 
 pressed the deliberate results of his ripe judgment. They 
 were uttered in the progress of a trial of unusual interest 
 and importance ; one which might have hurried a speaker 
 of even cooler and more dispassionate consideration than 
 himself into extravagance of statement. If such senti 
 ments were generally adopted, no one can doubt that 
 justice would be corrupted at its sources, and then, 
 indeed, would he be a bold advocate who should under 
 take the defence of the bar and endeavor to commend 
 the practice of the law as a high and honorable and 
 Christian calling. While duty demands the exercise 
 of the best gifts with which the advocate is endow 
 ed by his Maker, and their exercise to the utmost ex 
 tent, it has never required it never will require, that 
 he should plead the cause of injustice, or espouse the 
 defence of iniquity. Strictly consonant is this remark 
 with the further one, that even the guilty man should be 
 defended. Guilty as he is, the law annexes to his guilt 
 but a certain penalty ; and the infliction of a penalty 
 variant from that either in character or degree, would be 
 a clear violation of justice, and of the plainest dictates of 
 right. He needs, then, an advisor and defender to pro 
 tect him from the unjust infliction of a severer penalty 
 than he deserves ; and the Christian lawyer may rightly 
 assume his defence for that purpose. It is equally true 
 that even guilt had better go unpunished, than that the 
 solemn sanctions and safeguards the law has thrown 
 around the lives and liberties of people should be violated. 
 And so, when in order to execute speedily upon the cul 
 prit the extreme penalties of the law, lynch-law is restored 
 to, every just-minded and reasonable and law-loving citizen 
 exclaims against the outrage even though the object of 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 137 
 
 it be notoriously guilty of crimes of deepest malignity. If 
 in popular outbreaks thus characterized, the guilty are 
 punished without the law and against the law, and the 
 punishment is thus decried as unjust and iniquitous, it is 
 true, also, that when any of the barriers erected for the 
 protection of life and liberty are disregarded by a yielding 
 or timid judiciary, or removed by a truculent and trim 
 ming bar, and even the guilty are punished, a wrong is 
 done an injury is inflicted which the culprit may not 
 only complain of, but the body of the people as well. The 
 honour of the State, the vindication of justice, and the 
 lives and liberties of the citizens are as much concerned 
 in the proper defence of the accused culprit at the bar, as 
 in his due prosecution and conviction by legal means, by 
 the prosecuting attorney ; and a high philosophy and a 
 profound knowledge of the question in its diversified rela 
 tions, would teach us that we are as much interested in the 
 one as in the other. Take, for example, the case of a man 
 indicted for murder. He has been guilty of an atrocious 
 crime. He deserves to suffer the extreme penalty of the 
 law ; but he must suffer it in a legal way. He is a freeman, 
 entitled under the laws to be tried by a jury of his peers 
 his equals. Did a jury of slaves sit upon his trial, a 
 verdict of guilty might be returned against him, or with 
 out a verdict, the judge might pronounce the sentence of 
 execution, but in neither case ought the law or justice to 
 sanction it. He is entitled to be confronted with his ac 
 cusers. A conviction obtained by testimony secured pri 
 vately, apart from his presence, and without offering him 
 an opportunity to test the accuracy of memory, or the vera 
 city of the witness, would be unjust, and such a conviction 
 ought not to stand. He is entitled to have his triers sworn 
 or solemnly affirmed, before passing upon the question of 
 10 
 
138 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 his life or death. If they are not, and they convict, the 
 conviction is, it ought to be naught. He is entitled to a 
 speedy trial, while the recollection of witnesses is fresh, 
 and the circumstances attending the fact, preceding or 
 following it, may be accurately detailed while his own 
 witnesses are living and may be had. If his trial be un 
 reasonably delayed, and the facts have faded from the 
 memory, and witnesses have died or removed to distant 
 places, beyond the reach of the court, and he is convicted 
 because of their absence or death, the conviction is unjust, 
 and should be annulled. Last of all, he is entitled to an 
 acquittal until he is proved to be guilty r , and if the proof 
 fails, and the judge, pressed by outside popular sentiment, 
 or thirsting for blood, or influenced by the moral convic 
 tion of guilt upon his own mind, either by actions or by 
 words, either in admitting improper testimony or rejecting 
 that which is proper, influences the mind of the jury 
 wrong, and they convict, and the man is hung the cul 
 prit is judicially murdered ! he has suffered a penalty 
 the law did not demand, and his execution should be re 
 garded with no higher favour than if, immediately upon the 
 commission of the crime, a fierce and angry populace had 
 hurried him to the gallows without the mockery of an 
 unjust trial. In all these steps, the man needs assistance. 
 To protect him in his rights he should have the counsel 
 and aid of those who know his rights, and who will main 
 tain them. Who shall say that the Christian lawyer, in 
 such a case, owes it not to himself and to the ordinary law 
 of humanity, to the cardinal rule of love to his neighbour, 
 laid down specifically by the Saviour, to undertake the cause 
 of the culprit, and to guard for him his rights ? Rights he 
 has ; the law has guaranteed them to him ; the culprit is 
 wronged, he is unjustly dealt with, if they be taken away. 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 139 
 
 This is an extreme case, and one usually put to the law 
 yer as a test of conscience. We have seen that to espouse 
 even such a cause is not beyond excuse ; that in fact it is 
 right. AVe confess that we cannot see that a judicial trial 
 and conviction by any unfair or unlawful means, and sub 
 sequent punishment, differ from an execution by lynch-law; 
 or if there be differences, that they are not in favour of 
 lynch-law, for while the process of lynching must, from 
 the necessity of the case, be notorious, and of infrequent and 
 extraordinary occurrence, judicial murderings without law 
 or evidence, might be perpetrated in secret and without 
 responsibility ! If prisoners are protected by appropriate 
 counsel, such cases will infrequently occur : if they are 
 wholly undefended, their numbers would be greatly en 
 larged. 
 
 Mr. Brown mentions a remarkable case in which an inno 
 cent man narrowly escaped final conviction, though without 
 the leanings of the court against him, and though defended 
 by counsel. The case was this : " Van Vliet, the defendant, 
 was prosecuted for having stolen three thousand dollars in 
 foreign gold, (sovereigns.) The prosecutrix swore that 
 she had that amount of money which she had been col 
 lecting for a long time : that the prisoner upon one occa 
 sion introduced himself into her house, under pretence of 
 desiring to buy old watches or jewelry ; that at the time 
 he entered, she was engaged in counting her gold; but 
 put it in her bureau for the purpose of bringing down an 
 old watch ; that when she came down, after a few minutes 
 conversation the prisoner left the house, and upon her then 
 going to the drawer, the gold was gone. She swore, also, 
 to the identity of the prisoner, who was a Frenchman, 
 and speaking very broken English, and somewhat deform 
 ed in person. 
 
140 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 The next witness was a confederate, who testified 
 that he knew the defendant, and had lived with him about 
 two weeks; that on the day of the alleged loss of money, 
 the defendant came home and had with him a large quan 
 tity of gold, of the description sworn to ; that they count 
 ed it together, and that the number of sovereigns exactly 
 corresponded with the amount lost ; that the day after, 
 these sovereigns were melted down by the mint, and that 
 the product in new American coinage, was handed over 
 to the defendant. The officer of the mint proved the 
 melting, and the payment to the defendant. The new 
 coin was all found on the person of the defendant. 
 
 Now, upon this testimony what could be plainer than 
 the guilt of the defendant ? 
 
 The defendant was a stranger he denied his guilt ; no 
 body knew him. He averred he had brought the money 
 from Liverpool produced some little evidence that he 
 had such money on his arrival. But this would not do ; 
 he was convicted, and the money was about passing into 
 the hands of the prosecutrix. 
 
 Newly discovered testimony was the ground of motion 
 for a new trial. The new trial was granted, and by con 
 sent of the Attorney-General, a commission issued to 
 England. 
 
 Upon the second trial, it appeared that the prosecu 
 trix had no such money. 
 
 That the defendant had received English sovereigns for 
 French gold, in Liverpool. That he had employed the 
 confederate to interpret for him for two weeks, and had 
 counted the money with him, and then carried it to the 
 mint, and obtained in lieu American gold. That having 
 dismissed his interpreter, that person concocted the above 
 scheme, with the prosecutrix, for the purpose of gratify- 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 141 
 
 ing his revenge, obtaining the money, and dividing the 
 spoils. 
 
 He was, of course, acquitted." 
 
 Had not this man been assisted by counsel, he would 
 doubtless have been condemned and punished as a felon. 
 Having disproved the charge of immorality, when al 
 leged as an universal fact in relation to the defence of a 
 known criminal, we are now ready to examine into that 
 branch of the objection urged against the bar, which char 
 ges them with the neglect of Christianity. It is too true 
 that as a class legal men are not peculiarly distinguish 
 ed for Christian character. While not falling ,behind 
 others in contributing its quota of excellent Christian 
 men, the legal profession has not, in proportion to its 
 superior advantages, multiplied the numbers of sincere 
 and devoted Christians. The fact is, there are hindrances 
 not a few to Christian devotion among barristers. The 
 prevailing tone of sentiment of leading men in the profes 
 sion seems to discourage a high degree of spirituality, 
 and, indeed, all spirituality whatever. In some circles, and 
 those too claiming respectability and influence, the name of 
 Christian is flouted, or spoken of in light and irreverential 
 terms. Unfortunately, it is too true that there are very 
 many at the bar who willingly unite in unjust and harsh crit 
 icisms of barristers who profess Christianity. This is prac 
 tical skepticism. Besides, skepticism and infidelity in theo 
 ry, are openly avowed and defended. There are not a few who 
 are led into these delusions by a desire for the reputation of 
 superior sagacity ; and others have learned to repeat by rote 
 the ordinary objections to the Christian religion, and to 
 dwell with apparent satisfaction upon the errors and in 
 consistencies of professors of Christianity. All this is 
 beyond question true ; and the Christian barrister is often 
 
142 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 tempted to believe he encounters more discouragements in 
 his Christian life than he would do, were he engaged in 
 any other pursuit. 
 
 Many of the har do, as we have said, pay an outward 
 and decent respect to the observances of the house of wor 
 ship. Many, however, on the other hand, regard public 
 worship as but a veil to conceal hypocrisy, and cover over 
 deformities of heart and life. It is here, perhaps, that the 
 barrister is more peculiarly exposed than in other profes 
 sions. He has in active practice such frequent occasions 
 of detecting the covert motives of men. Daily, almost 
 hourly, disclosures of insincerity and double-dealing are 
 made known to him; in some instances affecting those who 
 hold high positions in the community, men whose honesty 
 and integrity are unquestioned ; in other instances, attack 
 ing the fair name of Christian professors. These are but 
 too well calculated to make the lawyer a skeptic in the 
 matter of sincerity and to cause him to doubt whether 
 the observances of the Christian temple, and the seeming 
 worship of an Infinite God are not mere cloaks to con 
 ceal lives of impurity and dishonesty. If lawyers doubt 
 more the sincerity of Christian worship, it is attribu 
 table to the fact that they see more in daily life to shake 
 their confidence in the integrity of their fellows. Sadly 
 true is it that each of them has a tale to unfold a chap 
 ter of experiences to disclose, which would make many a 
 professing Christian blench before his fellows, and drive 
 from the communion table many who with sanctimonious 
 air and solemn countenance, now outwardly partake of 
 the sacred elements, without having inwardly experienced 
 the grace of which they are at once the type and the en 
 couragement. It is, too, a matter of sufficient importance 
 to note that the lawyer, more perhaps than one engaged 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 143 
 
 in any other calling certainly more than any class whose 
 
 life is not so exclusively devoted to subjects of thought 
 
 discovers in a nasal tone and canting phrase neither elo 
 quence nor sanctity ; but is sometimes deterred from the 
 regular attendance upon a ministry whose chief recom 
 mendation consists in these very questionable attainments. 
 John Foster has shown, however, that this aversion is not 
 exclusively confined to members of the bar ; that intelli 
 gent men of all classes are sometimes driven from a de 
 cent respect for the worship of Jehovah because of the 
 ignorance of His worshippers. True, intelligent men are 
 guilty of ill logic in this. They should reason that the 
 adoration of an Infinite God ought not to depend upon 
 the feeble and imperfect devotions of men confessedly ig 
 norant ; but after all that is said, that can be said upon 
 the point, even the most thoughtful are swayed more by 
 these external exhibitions of Christianity than by any 
 amount of abstract truth. Let us point such, however, to 
 the career of one who began as a contemner of Jesus and 
 persecutor of the saints, who subsequently became a zeal 
 ous defender of the Gospel, and who with a force of logic 
 almost unparalleled, and eloquence at once simple and im 
 pressive, reasoned with the men of Athens, caused guilty 
 Felix to tremble upon his throne, and compelled from 
 Agrippa the surprising confession, " Almost thou persuad- 
 est me to be a Christian;" a man of faith and power, of 
 energy of character, and sincerity of purpose ; with whom 
 the life of the Christian was a reality, to the apostle of 
 the Gentiles. Or, if a higher example be needed, let us 
 point them for imitation to the perfect life of Jesus, the 
 son of Mary, as the model, and challenge at once their 
 respect and their love for his faultless character. 
 
 Why, in the nature of things, we again ask, may not 
 
144 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 the lawyer be the sincere and devout Christian ? We have 
 already shown that there is nothing essentially variant 
 between the profession of Christianity and the practice of 
 the law ; that so far from there being such variance, there 
 is a designed coincidence and harmony between them ; 
 that the study of the sacred Scriptures is enjoined upon 
 the young professional student as a fit preparation for the 
 solemn and responsible duties of the bar ; and that while, 
 on the one hand, there is no external circumstance attend 
 ing the study of the law, in itself considered, preventing 
 the prosecution of biblical and religious truth, on the other, 
 the mere study and practice of the law as a mental exer 
 cise, calling for the use of the highest powers of the mind 
 in severe analysis, in the investigation and elimination of 
 principles, and in their practical application to human re 
 lations, will help and not hinder the student of the law in 
 his study of the truths contained in the Word of God, and 
 cause him to be more profited by the teachings of the Gos 
 pel minister, following him with delight into new realms 
 of thought, and investing by his daily experience even 
 trite themes with freshness and force. We have also shown, 
 that while Infidelity has reared its head among barristers, 
 it has done the same no less boldly in other pursuits in 
 life ; and that there is nothing in the daily exercise of the 
 profession, even in the defence of criminals justly found 
 guilty, to cause the Christian lawyer to swerve from the 
 pursuit of right ; why then, we ask, may not the lawyer 
 be sincere and devout as a Christian? Do hindrances be 
 set him ? the like encompass the goings of every man. 
 Do peculiar temptations try him ? peculiar powers and 
 gifts to resist them are his. Does the prevailing tone of 
 a bar, half-enlightened and with no Christian sentiment to 
 curb them, in any wise hinder his advancement in the 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 145 
 
 Christian life ? he would find the same in all departments 
 of business, in every employment. We see then nothing 
 to deter the Christian from the proper pursuit of the pro 
 fession, and nothing to keep the lawyer from being a 
 Christian in devotion and life. But we must not content 
 ourself with this merely negative argument in behalf of 
 Christianity. Independently of considerations which 
 might be profitably addressed to the bar, in commcn with 
 other classes, Christianity has its peculiar and positive 
 claims upon the barrister, of manifold and urgent charac 
 ter, and demanding his earnest attention. 
 
 The lawyer is a minister of justice. His practical deal 
 ings with men and with human motives are mainly design 
 ed to further this end. In the prosecution, as in the de 
 fence of causes, this is, it ought to be his chief, and only 
 purpose. And in furthering justice, he not only regulates 
 the motives and actions of men by human law, but applies 
 as well the sanctions of the divine law. He finds, as we 
 have already said, the most powerful motives furnished by 
 these sanctions. 
 
 Will he wisely apply to the conduct of others a test 
 which his own will not stand ? Will he willingly measure 
 the motives of parties, and the responsibility and credi 
 bility of witnesses by their regard to moral duty, while he 
 himself disregards it ? Will he utter as decisively true, 
 and as not admitting of contradiction or doubt, that the 
 Infidel is unworthy of credit ; and shall he be an Infidel ? 
 Aye more, will he vindicate the claims of human justice, 
 and demand the enforcement of its penalties, while he dis 
 regards and disavows the claims of Divine justice ? True, 
 we have seen such anomalies ; but are such persons con 
 sistent ? Do they act wisely or well ? Will they can 
 they plead in extenuation of their conduct any plea which 
 
146 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 would be received by the candid and intelligent ? We ask, 
 in all sincerity, what right have such men to prefer for 
 themselves the claim of wisdom and right-thinking ? Ought 
 they not to be covered with confusion, when these glaring 
 inconsistencies of conduct are brought to view ? 
 
 As a teacher of moral truth, then, an expounder of 
 the laws (which are but moral truths condensed) in their 
 applications to the varying circumstances of life, we call 
 upon the lawyer to be a Christian. We will not say he 
 may not properly discharge some of the offices of a law 
 yer without being a Christian ; we will say he cannot prop 
 erly discharge all of them without it. Weight of charac 
 ter necessary for making due impression upon the minds 
 of men, for influencing aright courts as well as juries, in 
 some measure may be secured outside of the Christian 
 Church ; but it will not be denied that the mere worldly- 
 minded barrister, the frequenter of feasts and revelry, the 
 champion of gambling clubs and race-courses, is less likely 
 to secure confidence, and command respect in his vocation 
 than the Christian. One not in the habit of attending 
 courts might be surprised at the potency of moral charac 
 ter might stagger at the assertion that as much depends 
 upon the confidence of a judge or jury in the truthfulness 
 of the advocate, as upon the merits of his cause. To se 
 cure our rights, to vindicate justice, it is not unfrequently 
 of paramount necessity that we should have one espouse 
 our defence who can secure confidence not only in his abil 
 ity, but also in his integrity ; and Avho so likely to com 
 mand respect and to ensure success, as the Christian law 
 yer who, by a life of devotedness to the right, has won for 
 himself the confidence of the community? If then, as is 
 undoubtedly true, weight of character is an essential in 
 gredient in the successful prosecution of the profession, 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 and if to enforce one s views of truth and to vindicate jus 
 tice, he ought in his own life to exemplify its excellence, 
 may not the lawyer earnestly covet, even for success in 
 his profession, the special gifts of the Christian ? 
 
 Again : the study and practice of the law, when associ 
 ated with sincere Christian principle, afford opportunities 
 of almost unparalleled usefulness. 
 
 Second only, if second at all, is the vantage ground of 
 the advocate to that of the minister of the Gospel. The 
 intimate relations subsisting between pastor and people 
 are copies of those subsisting between the counsel and his 
 client. In some respects, the latter are more closely inti 
 mate and blended. A pastor experiences no little difficul 
 ty in getting at his people ; there seems to be a something 
 (he cannot tell what) which hinders his full access to their 
 hearts, and the pious minister is stripped of the opportu 
 nity to do much good which he would do if he knew how 
 to make his people unbosom themselves to him. Very 
 little of this embarrassment attends the conferences be 
 tween the lawyer and his client. The merely perfunctory 
 in his legal character is lost sight of by the applicant for 
 legal aid, in his anxiety to secure assistance ; and all em 
 barrassment is taken away. The man shows more of his 
 heart to the lawyer than he would dare to do to his preach 
 er. He unfolds with specific minuteness, and in detail, 
 his condition in life, it may be, or some sad chapter in his 
 experience, needing a skilful and a faithful hand to bind 
 up the wounds. He knows that is, he sometimes knows 
 that to protect his interests, he must be honest ; and he 
 tells the whole, as well the questionable and doubtful as 
 that above suspicion and beyond doubt. How ample then 
 the opportunity to direct to the right by a suggestion of 
 the proper course of conduct to incline to it by a word 
 
148 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 of counsel wisely given to save one from ruin or from 
 shame. These are not merely imaginary cases. The his 
 tory of every sincere, conscientious, Christian lawyer, in 
 full practice, would disclose not a few such examples. We 
 know that this is not the feature of the legal character 
 usually presented to the public ; but it is nevertheless true, 
 and faithfully drawn ; and in nothing have even wise and 
 good men more erred, than in the harsh judgments they 
 have rashly and indiscriminately pronounced against the 
 bar. Let the truth be told. Professional gentlemen will 
 be the last to deny that there are tricksters and fraudulent 
 pettifoggers, who are with them but not of them, who 
 would not hesitate to do a dishonest or scurvy thing, and 
 whose opportunities for villainy being so great, have ac 
 complished an untold amount of evil ; and by how much 
 on the one hand these are enabled to do more harm in the 
 superior advantages afforded them, by so much on the 
 other are the upright enabled, prompted by proper mo 
 tives, to promote the good. In the single example of 
 peace-making the quieting of family disturbances, where 
 else there had been feuds perhaps bitter and unrelenting, 
 what has not been what may not be accomplished by 
 Christian lawyers ? Who can not call to mind one such 
 instance, in which such an one has interposed, and poured 
 oil over the troubled waters, and caused a great calm ? 
 
 Again : the lawyer s peculiar talents fit him for useful 
 ness in the Christian Church. For the main advancement 
 of the cause of Christianity in the earth, for its full pro 
 gression and final success, there are many whose influence 
 is comparatively inefficient. Their introduction into the 
 Church is a blessing to themselves, and may, in some in 
 stances, lead to the blessing of others ; but their lives are 
 passed in obscurity, their talents are not commanding, 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 149 
 
 their influence is contracted. Not so with the Christian 
 lawyer. If he has wisely selected his profession ; if he 
 has not been thrust into it by injudicious and imprudent 
 considerations ; if he is adapted by natural gifts and am 
 ple studies for its successful prosecution, his introduction 
 into the Christian Church will be a matter not merely of 
 personal concern and importance to himself, but will prove 
 to be of essential advantage to the body of which he be 
 comes a member. His talents will fit him for the discharge 
 of many of the offices, not strictly clerical ; and by his 
 conversation and example he will win many more of like 
 capacity with himself to the service of Christ. A body of 
 such men, animated by a sincerely humble and devoted 
 spirit, would wage no light warfare with the hosts of sin ; 
 and even when segregated and separated from each other, 
 their information, their talents and their capacities would 
 greatly promote the cause of Christianity. We have some 
 times looked with no little admiration at a bar consisting 
 of many of the wise, the eloquent, the talented and the 
 energetic, in an inland city, and pictured in our imagina 
 tion the good these might accomplish, the harvest of true 
 fame they might reap, if they were all sincerely pious. 
 Alas ! how few have been proud to call themselves Chris 
 tians how many of the few have been self-deceived ; or 
 have perhaps wittingly and willingly worn the Christian 
 profession for the purpose of deceiving others. It is pro 
 per, also, to remark that the ministry looks for some of its 
 recruits from the bar. We are not of those who imagine 
 it to be the duty of every Christian lawyer to undertake 
 the office of preaching the Gospel. True ; the gifts and 
 the acquirements which fit him for the successful prosecu 
 tion of his profession, will most probably adapt him to the 
 pulpit. But this is not universally true ; and if it were 
 
150 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 so, yet other traits of character and capacities than the 
 gift of merely speaking from the pulpit are demanded in 
 the Gospel preacher and pastor ; and the lawyer may be 
 a Christian without having these. Besides, the vocation 
 of the law demands as high Christian principle, and the 
 exercise of the purest Christian character ; and for the 
 sake of the rest, it would be unwise and imprudent to with 
 draw from the bar the entire Christian element. Some 
 professing Christianity ought to remain, that the influence 
 of their example upon those in the same calling may be 
 the more felt ; as well as for the sake of those who shall 
 come after the young men in the profession, whose exam 
 ple and character are to be determined largely by the pre 
 vailing tone of character among their elder professional 
 brethren. Yet, the pulpit looks to the bar for recruits ; 
 and many of the most distinguished and useful pulpit or 
 ators have risen from that profession. Why may there 
 not be among the twenty thousand practitioners of the law 
 in the Union, one-twentieth of them, or even a larger pro 
 portion, who shall devote their time, their talents and their 
 fortunes exclusively to the service of Christ, in the proc 
 lamation of the Gospel ? 
 
 But this is not all, nor indeed the chief service which 
 Christianity demands of the legal profession. She wishes 
 to fill up her ranks of laymen with intelligent, thinking, 
 laborious men ; she wishes counsellors in the churches, in 
 the prayer-meetings, in her more public congregations. 
 She wishes to point to "honorable counsellors," not a few; 
 her adherents and supporters, in the courts and in the of 
 fices ; men of uprightness and integrity ; men of moral 
 W T eight and justness of views ; men of thought and men of 
 purpose. She wishes that examples of holy living may be 
 given ; and that the ministers of justice, strictly so called, 
 
CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 151 
 
 may become themselves the lovers of just dealing and just 
 doing. She wishes that in every vocation of life, in every 
 employment and pursuit, her votaries may be found ; and 
 especially desires that the guardians of the law, the de 
 fenders of human rights and the avengers of human 
 wrong, shall be controlled and swayed by her sweet and 
 chastening influences shall illustrate in their lives and 
 example, and teach by their language, that there is a law 
 higher than human authority, of sacred and universal ob 
 ligation, and that they honor themselves and honor hu 
 manity by bowing to its commands. 
 
 It will appear from what we have said, that we desire 
 that barristers should do something more than make a 
 merely external profession of religion. We would have 
 the Christian barrister and counsellor exemplify, in his 
 life and by his words, the truth and the power of Chris 
 tianity. His inner life would then disclose a high state of 
 spiritual earnestness and sincerity. While engaged in the 
 active pursuit of his profession, in vindicating by his elo 
 quence and wisdom the right, and holding up to just cen 
 sure the wrong, he would find it not impossible to cherish 
 a sacred nearness to Jehovah, and to preserve that inti 
 mate communion with Christ which are the distinguish 
 ing marks of the active Christian. Such a lawyer might 
 write upon his law-books and legal opinions upon his 
 legal conduct and legal life, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD ; 
 and in every act and word, in every public effort at the 
 bar, in every opinion given at chambers, in dissuasion from 
 strife, in exhortation to justice and charity, would utter 
 in no uncertain language, the sentiments, and exhibit the 
 life of the Christian. Some Christian lawyer once said 
 " that he never undertook a cause for the success of which 
 he could not pray, and he had never lost a cause for which 
 
152 CHRISTIANITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 
 
 he had prayed." Could the principle underlying this ac 
 tion be carried into universal practice, there would be no 
 need for defences of the bar ; the life of the Christian 
 barrister would be its best exposition and ablest defence ; 
 and the slanders so often recklessly and wantonly uttered 
 against this honorable and useful calling would rebound to 
 the damage of the assailant, 
 
DR. SMITH S PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF 
 SLAVERY.* 
 
 It has been a matter of common notoriety, for several 
 years past, that the distinguished author of this work had 
 prepared a series of lectures on the subject of American 
 Slavery, and it was confidently expected that, at an op 
 portune moment, he would commit them to the press. We 
 do not regret that Dr. Smith has chosen the present as the 
 fit season for publication. The public mind is now aroused, 
 as it has never before been, to the importance of a tho 
 rough discussion of the subject; and we welcome, on the 
 part of the South and her people, this latest able defence 
 of her " peculiar institution." 
 
 A question of grave significance meets us at the very 
 threshold of the discussion. What is slavery ? Much con 
 fusion of thought, arising from the improper and indis 
 criminate use of this term, has prevailed. If there be no 
 certain ascertainment of the meaning, we are beating the 
 air instead of contesting about substantiate. What is the 
 essential idea of slavery ? What are its necessary elements ? 
 
 * Lectures on the Philosophy and Practice of Slavery, as exhibited in the 
 Institution of Domestic Slavery in the United States; with the Duties of 
 Masters to Slaves. By WILLIAM A. SMITH, D. D., President of Randolph 
 Macon College, and Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy. 
 Edited by Thomas O. Summers, D. D., Nashville, Tenn. Stevenson & 
 Evans. 1856. 
 11 
 
154 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Does it mean that the subject of the institution is invested 
 with no other rights than a brute ? Does it mean that the 
 slave is the master s chattel, in the largest and most offen 
 sive signification of the term ? May the master, without 
 violating the laws of humanity, beat and bruise, scourge 
 and maim the person of hi > slave, or convert him into an 
 instrument of wontonness or revenge ? Has he the irre 
 sponsible power of life and death ? May he, at mere caprice, 
 fetter the body of his servant, and worse still, fetter and 
 bind his soul ? There is a system of slavery of this char 
 acter we admit. In some cases, slavery has nearly ful 
 filled to the letter the items we have named ; but t! ese are 
 not the generic ideas of the institution. They may not 
 be truthfully affirmed of it semper et ubique. Thoy ought 
 not to be applied to the system of American slavery, to 
 the Domestic slavery prevailing in the S uthern states of 
 this union. We might accept as aptly describing the 
 slavery found in these states, the definition of our author 
 " the abstract principle of slavery is the general principle 
 of submission or subjection to control by the will of 
 another." 
 
 Upon the first propounding of this answer to the ques 
 tion, we are free to admit that the terms of the reply fall 
 short of a full exposition of the idea of slavery, as gener 
 ally entertained. That idea has almost invariably em 
 braced the element of force and that too of brute force. 
 In this form, it has been incorporated into our speech; in 
 this form, it has tinged our conversational and written dis 
 course, and has so moulded and influenced our thought, 
 that tyranny in the political world, and slavery in the 
 social, have become convertible terms, denoting the utmost 
 of oppression and severity on the one hand, and the utmost 
 of servility and abjectness on the other. This is the idea of 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 155 
 
 slavery that has origiaated the scoffs of " holding human 
 beings as property" and "converting them into brutes" 
 which have, for so long a period, formed the staple of argu 
 ment and of sentiment, infecting every department of our 
 literature. The idea is essentially false. The freaks of 
 fancy or of feeling it may have originated and produced 
 are fallacious and unnecessary. When we assert that it 
 is right to hold man in bondage, we do not mean to assert 
 that it is right to convert him into a brute or a thing; but 
 simply to say that the relation of master an 1 slave may 
 exist in harmony with a regard to moral obligations ; and 
 that in such case the master has the right to demand the 
 services of the slave, and it is the duty of the slave to 
 render them cheerfully, heartily and obediently. In other 
 words, for we find the definition of the author we have 
 quoted as apposite as necessary, the abstract principle of 
 slavery is the general principle of submission or subjection 
 to control by the will of another. 
 
 But we are here met by the objection " All then are 
 slaves. Every one owes subjection or submission, in some 
 form, to the will of another ; the wife to her husband ; the 
 ward to his gua dian ; the apprentice to his master ; the 
 child to his parent; and the husband and guardian, master 
 and parent, owe subjection and subm ssion to the civil au 
 thorities. Do all, then, stand on the same footing? Are 
 we all slaves ?" The question is put ingeniously and is de 
 signed to cover with unjust odium the man who asserts it. 
 If we answer by a simple affimative, then a general senti 
 ment denying its truth will be appealed to in condemna 
 tion of the answer. If by a simple negative, then the 
 definition of slavery above given would be discarded : for 
 it is apparent that if the abstract principle of slavery be 
 subjection or submission to the will of another, then the 
 
156 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 wife is the slave of her husband , &c. We answer affirma 
 tively that the essential idea of subjection or submission is 
 involved in them all ; but we must accompany the answer 
 by the further remark, that while all these relations cf 
 husband and wife, master and apprentice, &c., involve the 
 subjection of one to the will of the other, they do not in 
 volve the further ideas which .domestic slavery, as used 
 with us, invariably embraces that the subject of the in 
 stitution and his or her posterity may be transferred to 
 another master who shall stand in the same relation to the 
 slave the former master held and occupied. And if 
 there be any thing of degradation or immorality in the 
 relation, it arises from this right of transfer. 
 
 Add to the definition of the author we have cited, 
 this further thought. It would read thus : 
 
 " The principle of slavery is the general principle of sub 
 jection or submission to control by the will of another ; but 
 in domestic slavery, as distinguished from the relations of 
 wife and husband, ward and guardian, apprentice and ma-- 
 ter, and child and parent, the further idea is involved that 
 the master has the right to sell his s ave and his posterity 
 so as to render them subject to control by the will of 
 another master ; and this in such manner and to such ex 
 tent that the new master shall stand in the same relation 
 to his slave, &c., in omnibus rebus as the former master 
 stood." 
 
 In this definition we have perhaps yielded more to the 
 opponents of slavery than we ought to have yielded. It 
 is well known that in regard to all the relations just enume 
 rated, the right of transfer has been asserted and enforced. 
 But as this is not true here and our main purpose is with 
 American domestic slavery, we shall content ourself with 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 157 
 
 the definition given and will let those who decry slavery 
 make the most of it. 
 
 No on 3 will dispute the moral rectitude of the relations 
 of guardian and ward, master and apprentice, parent and 
 child. Not even the fanatical assertors of woman s rights 
 will call this in question or will doubt that these several 
 relations involve subjection on the one hand and control 
 on the other. This being granted, it only remains to jus 
 tify the other element in American slavery to vindicate the 
 Tightness of the institution. That other element is the 
 right of sale of the slave and his posterity. Granting, as 
 we have done for the sake of the argument, that the right 
 of sale or of transfer is not involved in the other relations 
 spoken of, is this right such an evil as to tinge with turpi 
 tude and moral wrong the relation of master and slave 
 while the other relations are morally right. This is a ques 
 tion, not of sentiment, but of sober fact. It is a question 
 with which reason ought alone to deal. For its proper 
 solution, we must bring it to the test of practical expe 
 rience. The discussion of the question involves but two 
 elements ; the right of transfer of the slave himself, and 
 then of his posterity. Let us put the first in another form. 
 If the right to control Catharine s services as a slave is 
 reposed in A., does A. wrong Catharine by transferring 
 that right to B ? 
 
 If B. be more humane and generous than A ; more cau 
 tious in inflicting punishment and more faithful in requir 
 ing the discharge of duty, Catharine is advantaged by the 
 transfer and has no cause to complain. 
 
 And if B. be less humane and generous than A. it would 
 still remain with Catharine to show that she is entitled, of 
 natural right, to be treated with the humanity and gene 
 rosity of A. before she could complain of the transfer. 
 
158 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Again : even though she prove this, it would yet admit. 
 of grave doubt whether the right of transfer does not lie 
 behind the question of ill or good treatment on the part of 
 the master, and whether it should not be determined with 
 out regard to it, either in one direction or the other ; for 
 the right to control one s services involves the right to be 
 stow them upon others, unless, cotemporaneously with the 
 origination of the former right, or subsequently to its 
 origin, the latter right has been taken away. 
 
 This has been in substance admitted by one of the lead 
 ers of the anti-slavery hosts. 1 Then, as regards the pos 
 terity of the slave. Can there be any doubt that if the 
 master ex virtute magistri may claim the posterity of the 
 slave, the person to whom he sells may do the same, with 
 out wrong ? This being true, has the master any right to 
 the posterity of his slave ? To ask the question is to an 
 swer it, if we look to what is involved in the plain letter of 
 its terms. Concede that the slave is rightly the master s 
 and you concede that any hindrance or incumbrance to 
 his discharging due service for his master should as far as 
 practicable be accounted for to the master. This rule 
 would in the case of the parent slave, secure on the ground 
 of loss of service a title to her child. Add to this the 
 further confirmation of this title, by the actual expenditure 
 of means for its support by the master and by its other 
 wise strange and anomalous position, itself free while its 
 parent is a slave, and you have an argument, as it seems 
 to us impregnable, for the continuance of the relation in 
 the case of the child. This reasoning itself advantages 
 the child of the slave ; for if you successfully deny the 
 right of the master to the services of the child, you cut off 
 all occasion of kindness and care on the part of the mas 
 ter toward it, you beget disaffection and insubordination 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 159 
 
 on the part of the child to its parent, and in the end you 
 must thrust it in^o the struggle of life with no means of 
 self support and having no claims for help upon those who 
 could afford it assistance. The legal maxim which declares 
 that the child shall inherit the condition of the mother is 
 thus found to be the dictate of common sense and common 
 reason ; and strange, passing strange would be the philos 
 ophy which should teach that while one, of right, might 
 control the services of the parent, and might lawfully 
 transfer that right to another, he might not exercise in any 
 case the same right in regard to the posterity. The entire 
 question thus resolves itself into the question first mooted 
 has a master a right to the services of his slave? Or this 
 other, its equivalent : does the relation of master and 
 slave necessarily involve moral wrong ? 
 
 In not meeting the question of the right of sale, some 
 may regard the work of Dr. Smith as defective. We hope 
 he will discuss this question in a future edition. We have 
 briefly hinted the line of argument we should pursue. It 
 might be amplified and extended. 
 
 It is almost a work of supererogation, since the masterly 
 argument of Dr. Fuller, in his letters to Dr. Wayland, to 
 drag forth to light again the favorite objections to Ameri 
 can slavery urged by the author of the Moral Science and 
 his coadjutors. That argument is so conclusive, that but 
 little if any thing can be added to its strength ; yet, as 
 these objections are reiterated in every possible form, no 
 work, or even essay, on the topic would be complete 
 without replying to some of them. 
 
 The favorite dogma that all men are born free and equal, 
 in addition to its being a palpable untruth, is neither cred 
 ited nor acted upon by its assertors. We cannot refrain 
 from citing an example to illustrate the L^-ck of faith in 
 
160 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 this dogma as a rule of action. A few years ago, the en 
 tire country was agitated by the disclosure that, in a North 
 ern city, not far from the walls of a classic and collegiate 
 institution, an infant of scarce three years of age was kept 
 under painful restraint by its parent, and not permitted 
 for two or three days to taste its food. The child had 
 disobeyed its parent. Its will must be subdued. It must 
 become subject to the control of the father, or else its ruin 
 would be precipitated. Hence the stern mandate, and the 
 sterner execution. The child was debarred from eating or 
 drinking until it confessed its fault. At length it relented ; 
 the error was confessed; and the tender but faithful parent 
 clasped the child to his embraces. Rumor states that father 
 was the Rev. Dr. Wayland, the author of the Moral Science, 
 and the defender of the doctrine that all men are born 
 free and equal ! Did he credit the dogma ? If the child 
 had been his slave, would he have acted differently ? The 
 case of the child illustrates the inequality between the pa 
 rent and itself. A like inequality, or one similar to it, Ls 
 found to exist in other relations of life, and is, in fact, in 
 separable from existence. We will quote the language of 
 our author in the discussion of this objection. It is a clear 
 and complete vindication of the position that we have as 
 sumed, while it discloses the American source of this doc 
 trine of human equality, and exposes its corrupting in 
 fluence : 
 
 " Until within a few years past, the dogma, that all men 
 are born free and equal, was stereotyped in all the text 
 books of the country from the horn-book to the most 
 eminent treatise on Moral Science for colleges and univer 
 sities. From the days of Jeiferson until now, it has been 
 the text for the noisy twaddle of the stump politician, 
 and the profound discussions of the grave senator in the 
 Congress of the United States. If this dogma, as it gen- 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 161 
 
 erally exists in thought, be true, it will follow, that any 
 and every abridgment of liberty is a violation of original 
 and natural right that is, inalienable right. Hence every 
 system of slavery must be based upon a false principle. 
 The popular sense in which this language is generally un 
 derstood, from father to son, is evidently the literal sense. 
 But taken in this sense, the doctrine is utterly false. For 
 men are born in a state of infancy, and grow up to the 
 state of manhood ; and infants are entirely incapable of 
 freedom, and do not enjoy a particle of it. They are not, 
 therefore, born equally free, but in a state of entire sub 
 jection. They grow up, it is true if they be not imbe 
 ciles to a degree of mental liberty, that is, the liberty of 
 arbitrary volition in the plain matters of right and wrong, 
 and hence are accountable ; but the degree of this lib 
 erty, or how far they are thus mentally free, depends upon 
 the accident of birth, education, and numerous coincident 
 circumstances, which destroy all equality of mental free 
 dom ; and as to equality in other respects, it is scarcely 
 a decent regard to the feelings of mankind to affirm 
 their equality. They are not physically equal. No two 
 men will compare exactly in this respect. They are not 
 politically equal. The history of all human governments, 
 throughout all time, shows this. To be hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water, in unequal and subordinate posi 
 tions to the few, has been the lot of the great mass of 
 mankind from the days of Adam. But, says the social 
 ist, [to whom the doctrine is far more creditable;) this 
 latter is precisely the state of things we deprecate, and 
 affirm that such was never the intention of the Deity, but 
 that it is his will that there should be no such inequality 
 among men ; that his will is in itself the right ; and what 
 it is his will we should be, it is right for us to be, and it is 
 our right to be; and that system w r hich makes our condi 
 tion other than this, deprives us of our rights. This is 
 the philosophy of socialism. 
 
 " Now it is true that much of the inequality of condi 
 tion among men is owing to an abuse of the superior power 
 which intelligence confers upon the few ; but this admis- 
 
162 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 sion does not advance the cause of socialism. For if it 
 were allowed that the will of God is the only rule of 
 right that is, in itself the right, instead of this, that 
 which in itself is the right is the will of God it will not 
 help the argument. For, on this hypothesis, the will of 
 God is the only rule of right, as on the other it conforms 
 to the only rule of right ; so that on either, the will of 
 God may be taken as a certain rule of right. What then 
 does he will? In regard to the present subject of inquiry, 
 we can only judge what he wills from that which he has 
 done. Now we have seen that he has not endowed the 
 souls of men with equal capacity, nor has he even placed 
 them in circumstances of providential equality, favorable 
 to an equal development of the unequal capacities he has 
 given them. Superior intelligence is the condition of ine 
 quality. Where this exists, there is essential inequality, 
 and practical inequality cannot usually be avoided. Hence 
 superior and inferior and cognate terms, are found in all 
 languages, and the conditions they represent are found 
 amongst all people. Hence inequality among men is the 
 will of God ; and if his will is the rule of our rights, we 
 have no abstract right of equality. It is rather our duty 
 to submit to that inequality of condition which results from 
 the superior intelligence or moral power of others. Su 
 perior physical power may, for a time, give us the ascen 
 dancy ; but things will find their level. Superior intelli 
 gence will ultimately bear its possessor to his destined 
 eminence. A state of oppression is not one of inequality 
 merely. It is one in which superior intelligence has de 
 graded and afflicted those in rank below it, in an inferior 
 condition ; or it is an instance in which, by the aid of brute 
 force, those of inferior condition have, for a. time, risen at 
 the expense of those of superior intelligence. If we are 
 oppressed, in either of these ways, we have a right to 
 complain, because our oppressors violate the will of 
 God concerning us violate our rights; but we have no 
 right to complain of inequality merely. Inequality is the 
 law of heaven. He who complains of this is not less un 
 wise than the prisoner who frets at his condition, and chafes 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 163 
 
 himself against the bars and bolts of the prison which se 
 curely confines him ! 
 
 " But if the dogma in question cannot be made to serve 
 the cause of truth, it has often been made to serve the 
 cause of policy. Many there are who have not scrupled 
 to use it as a tocsin to call together a clan, not their infe 
 riors merely,, but so degraded in their inferiority, that, for 
 the price of being honored with the distinction of free and 
 equal fellow-citizens, they have been ready as menials to 
 bow their necks to their masters, debase themselves, dis 
 honor the state, and insult Jehovah!" 
 
 Of a character similar to the dogma just considered, are 
 these : " All men are created equal;" "All men in a state 
 of nature are free and equal;" or, as these dogmas have 
 been recently expounded by Dr. Wayland, " The relation 
 which men sustain to each other is the relation of equality ; 
 not equality of condition, but equality of right." All 
 of these are amenable to the charge of confusion of thought, 
 and might be readily dismissed with the remark that, so 
 far as the mind is capable of grasping the ideas sought to 
 be expressed by them, they are palpably untrue; while in 
 regard to that which lies beyond the power of mental con 
 ception, their truth or untruth would be equally fruitless. 
 
 But let us attempt an exposition of the fallacies wrapped 
 up in these indefinite and almost indefinable objections to 
 slavery. What is the state of nature spoken of? The 
 time has been when political philosophers fancied such a 
 state, in which there was no law or government ; when 
 there were neither domestic nor civil obligations ; when man, 
 primeval and disintegrated, was left to himself to work out 
 alone the problem of a separate existence ; but these fan 
 cies have passed away and it is now not questioned by any 
 sober mind that such a state of disintegration and isolated 
 self-gc vernment never in fact existed. The relation of the 
 
164 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 family has always been found, since that happy hour when 
 Eden owned a master and mistress : 
 
 " As hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair 
 That ever since in love s embraces met : 
 Adam, the godliest men of men since born, 
 His sons; the fairest of her daughters, Eve." 
 
 The marital relation was not the fruit of sin, nor do we 
 suppose the subjection of the wife to her liege lord the in 
 fliction of a curse upon the woman. In a state of nature, 
 then for if this be not the state of nature sought after, 
 we should be a loss to find it elsewhere there was found 
 an example of inequality. In the case of child arid parent, 
 too, which grew out of the family relation, there was in 
 volved, as we have seen, a like inequality. Doubtless, to 
 avoid the force of these truths, the dogma of equality was 
 expounded to mean, not " equality of condition, but equal 
 ity of right" 
 
 Let the author of this exposition expound his own defi 
 nition. "Each separate individual," he remarks, in illus 
 tration of his statement, "is created with precisely the 
 same right to use the advantages with which God has en 
 dowed him as any other individual." Who doubts the 
 truth of this truism ? If this is what is meant by " equality 
 of right," in what manner does slavery militate against it? 
 The slave has the right, as his master, to worship his God, 
 and to use all the advantages with which God has endowed 
 him. No one will or can abridge or impair this right. 
 But what are the advantages with which God has endowed 
 him ? In a state of slavery, by virtue of his relation to 
 his master, the slave is under obligations which both the 
 law of God and right reason, always in harmony with that 
 law, sanction and enforce. Has the slave the right to dis- 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 165 
 
 card the relation, or to refuse to perform the duties growing 
 therefrom, any more than the child has the right to reject 
 parental restraints, or the wife to discard the law of her 
 husband ? Does not the very right which God has given the 
 master, u to use the advantages with which God has en 
 dowed him" require that he should control his slave and 
 demand of him the fulfilment of his duties ? There is no 
 necessary " equality of "condition" that is admitted. 
 If there be not involved equality of condition, the one 
 must be superior and the other inferior ; and that superi 
 ority and inferiority running, in the case of the master 
 and slave, in the same line, in the idea of superiority, in 
 such case, is involved the right of the superior to control ; 
 and in the idea of inferiority, in such case, is involved, as 
 reciprocal to the right of the master or superior, the obli 
 gation of the inferior to obey. Have we not here, then, 
 all the conditions of slavery fulfiled and expounded in the 
 definition of the author? 
 
 But again : In affirming that by the equality of man 
 with man is meant equality of right, and not equality of 
 condition, the author of the Moral Science aims an effect 
 ual blow at the theory of his coadjutors, who insist that 
 because men are equally free they have equal rights. If 
 he meant to assert that all men are " equally free ," or of 
 right ought to be, would he not have defined the equality 
 he insisted on as an equality of condition? What is free 
 dom but a state or condition ? And if, as the author of 
 Moral Science asserts, the equality to which he refers as 
 that to which all men are entitled is not an equality of 
 condition, how can he deduce from his premises that free 
 dom is the thing to which all men are entitled ? 
 
 This reasoning may be charged with being mere special 
 pleading. But is it so ? Where is the fallacy? what trip 
 
166 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 is there in the argument ? what unfair deduction ? If there 
 be any such, we lack the perspicacity to perceive it. The 
 fact is, this admission of the writer on Moral Science ad 
 mits away all the argument against the institution of 
 slavery. It was designed to avoid the unpleasant infer 
 ences and to avert the force of the arguments which would 
 be deduced from the other relations of life above spoken 
 of; and, as usual in the case of ingenious and artful de 
 vices to turn aside the power of truth, the author has 
 f ,und himself in a worse dilemma than that from which he 
 wished to escape. 
 
 It becomes us to be modest in treating of the lucubra 
 tions of the author of Moral Science ; but if we were com 
 pelled to express an opinion on the subject, we should say, 
 that the definition of the writer is one of those ingenious 
 specimens of word-nionging, in which the language used, 
 while it appears to have the shadow of a meaning, serves, 
 in fact, to obscure, and not to enlighten. We have no 
 doubt the author of the Moral Science fancied he had a 
 meaning in the jargon he uses ; but it was only a fancy. 
 If it had a meaning, as we have shown, it is one which 
 opposes rather than confirms his position. We are inclined 
 to think it has none. 
 
 In a previous article, the poison was extracted from the 
 arrow which had been drawn so frequently from the anti- 
 slavery quiver. We then showed that the law which en 
 joined us to " do unto others as we would have them do to 
 us," required the American slaveholder to continue in a 
 state of slavery his African slaves, so long as they were 
 incapable or incompetent to sustain or govern themselves. 
 We shall not stop here to add to the arguments then ad 
 duced, though they might be easily enlarged upon and ex 
 tended. Dr. Wayland has waived the necessity of such a 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 167 
 
 discussion in the remark that " whether slaves at the South 
 are competent to self-government is a question of fact, 
 which it is not the province of moral philosophy to de 
 cide !" With such an admission of the want of jurisdiction 
 over the only practical question at issue between the North 
 and the South, it is surprising that the Doctor had not, 
 from sheer policy, waived the discussion of slavery alto 
 gether. It is the more surprising that he should have 
 attempted the subject among the class of "Practical 
 Ethics!" 
 
 We now approach the Gibraltar of abolitionism. It is 
 objected to us, that we do not teach our slaves to read and 
 write; that we are excluding from them light to which they 
 are fairly entitled ; that we are depriving them of the 
 right to read the Bible ; that we are interfering with their 
 moral and social elevation ; and, being guilty of keeping 
 them in a state of barbarism, that we plead that very bar 
 barism in vindication of our policy. The answer given to 
 this objection by Dr. Smith is so full and conclusive, that 
 we would give it space if we had room. We shall content 
 ourselves with condensing what he has said, adding, in 
 brief form, to the reply of the Doctor, what has occurred 
 to our own mind in relation to the subject. 
 
 We will admit that, in very frequent examples, in indi 
 vidual instances, intellectual training would unquestionably 
 exert a wholesome influence upon the moral and social 
 condition of the slave. In such instances, it would 
 possibly promote his happiness and usefulness. But we 
 deny that such would be the result in the mass. Be 
 sides the utter impossibility of effecting universal educa 
 tion among the negroes, in the act of teaching them to 
 read and write, we should create for them wants which 
 their social condition would not enable them to secure. 
 
168 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 Thus an impatient and restless spirit would be engendered, 
 creating disaffection and insubordination, and, as the re 
 sult, the security of the white race might require the ex 
 termination of the black. With such evils in full view, 
 we should be untrue to ourselves, and should violate one of 
 the plainest dictates of humanity, did we invite by our 
 action such a catastrophe. Admitting that the institution 
 of slavery, as found among us, is barely a necessitated 
 evil and as far as this every well-balanced Northern mind 
 has gone this reasoning would be sufficient to answer the 
 objection raised. 
 
 But, farther : we do not cut off from our slaves the right 
 of religious instruction. We are not interfering, by the 
 statutes which prohibit them from being taught to read and 
 write, with the proper discharge of the duties they owe to 
 man or to their Maker. The facts will testify that a very 
 large portion of them have not been deprived of religious 
 influences ; and judging by results alone, it might well be 
 questioned whether the white race enjoyed superior reli 
 gious advantages. 
 
 Again : the domestic element in the system of American 
 slavery is probably as opportune for the development of 
 all the powers of the slaves taken in the mass as any 
 other scheme of instruction or enlightenment. In a brief 
 period of time, they have undergone such rapid changes 
 in civilization, as demonstrate, beyond question, the 
 happy influences which have been at work in their im 
 provement. "Upon this element of slavery," says the 
 learned author of the work before us, " the policy of the 
 South relies, as the natural, the only safe, and ultimately 
 the effectual means of the intellectual and moral elevation 
 of the African." The remarks he submits in this connec 
 tion are so forcible that we cannot forbear quoting a part 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 1G9 
 
 of them. He clearly demonstrates that this is the natural 
 method of civilizing the African race among us : 
 
 " It is the natural way ; that is, the way adapted to 
 their condition as an inferior and naturally distinct race, 
 who, both on account of the physical facts which consti 
 tute them a distinct race, and the low state of civiliza 
 tion (if it may be called civilization at all) which they 
 have yet been able to attain, should not be admitted to a 
 social footing by intermarriage with the superior race. 
 
 " In a former lecture, it was demonstrated that an un 
 civilized race, dwelling in the midst of a civilized commu 
 nity, had no right to social equality, and, for a still stronger 
 reason, no right to political sovereignty in such a commu 
 nity. It was also shown that their natural rights entitled 
 them to protection, and reasonable provision for their im 
 provement, and, as in the case of minors, to such authori 
 tative control 1 as is best calculated to preserve their power 
 of self-action their power of volition from that enslave 
 ment to the baser passions of depraved nature, which is 
 destructive to all true liberty, and the most degraded and 
 ruinous form of slavery subjection to the Devil; in com 
 parison with which, a physical subjection to a fellow man, 
 in civilized life, with a power, defined by law, only to con 
 trol his time and labor to a reasonable extent, is a para 
 dise. These, we of the South say are their natural 
 rights the good to which they are entitled in virtue of 
 their humanity. Now as these rights are in their nature 
 relative, they imply the duty on the part of the civilized 
 race amongst whom, in the providence of God, they dwell, 
 to afford them both the protection and control in ques 
 tion. Their DUTY, in these respects, is clearly reciprocal 
 with the rights of the Africans. They can no more omit 
 these duties to the blacks with impunity, than they can do 
 so to the minors and imbeciles of their own race. Now 
 what form of control will more naturally or appropriately 
 fulfil the conditions of this problem ? They are to exercise 
 the sovereign control : all political freedom is denied the 
 blacks by their condition. They have no right to it. It 
 
170 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 is not, to them, the essential good. Their rights lie, as 
 in the case of imbeciles of any other race, in being gov 
 erned, not in governing themselves, in those matters which 
 constitute the objects of civil government. To exercise 
 this sovereign control of the blacks, and at the same time 
 afford them the protection and improvement which are ap 
 propriate to a necessary condition of slavery, or state of 
 subjection to such sovereign control, is the solemn duty 
 of the superior race. The position here advocated is, that 
 the domestic element of the present system in operation 
 amongst us, affords a more perfect guaranty that all the 
 conditions of this problem will be fulfilled, than could be 
 effected by any other system, or by the proposed modifica 
 tion of the present system. The element in question con 
 stitutes for them an invaluable school of instruction a 
 school in which both the mental and moral nature is de 
 veloped. A school for the formal instruction of the blacks 
 in letters, we have seen, would operate only to defeat the 
 end proposed by its establishment. To govern and protect 
 them, and at the same time make them useful to them 
 selves and to society, by a system of military police, could 
 find but few if any advocates, even among the visionary. 
 But what more natural than to accomplish all these ob 
 jects, by a system which distributes them in small num 
 bers through the different families of civilized life ? Here 
 they are brought into immediate connection with much 
 that is calculated to develop the mind, cultivate the moral 
 sense, and train the will to the habit of obedience to its 
 high behests. The law confers upon the head of the 
 family the same right to direct and appropriate the time and 
 labor of the blacks, that he enjoys in the case of his chil 
 dren and no more. The period of time to which this 
 authority extends, differs in the one case from that of the 
 other ; but this is the only difference known to the law. 
 Great abuses of this authority sometimes occur in the case 
 of the blacks ; but the same is occasionally true of paren 
 tal authority in all parts of the civilized world. The for 
 mer may furnish a fit theme for the perverted genius of 
 Mrs. Harriet Stowe. The fruit of such a genius may 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 171 
 
 have a poetry of its kind ; but it can lay claim to neither 
 philosophy nor common sense. The same force of logic 
 which is hurled against the authority of the master, rakes 
 the authority of the parent in the line of its fire, with an 
 effect no less destructive. Both are equally necessary ; 
 both are equally protected by law ; and both are open to 
 great abuses. The poetry which invests these abuses with 
 the shovr of argument against the authority of the master 
 may cater to the corrupt taste of both the great vulgar 
 and the little vulgar ;" but it is the same cormorant ap 
 petite which is fed, that leads tin mere readers and ci 
 pherers of the land to turn aside from those valuable pro 
 ductions so appropriate to their real wants, and delight 
 themselves in tragic stories of murder, arson, and rape, 
 from the perusal of which they rise with passions inflamed 
 to crusade against the morals of society. Christianity 
 sternly rebukes the abuses complained, of; and equally 
 condemns that perversion of genius which employs those 
 abuses to currupt the public taste and the public morals. 
 As far as Christianity prevails, the civil law which re 
 quires humanity in the exercise of domestic authority, no 
 less in the case of the child or the apprentice, is sanction 
 ed, and in cases demanding it, is duly enforced by public 
 opinion and sentiment. In all communities in which 
 Christianity is the presiding influence, African slavery 
 must, therefore, be a mild form of domestic servitude. It 
 even contributes in a measure to a knowledge of letters. 
 Many servants are raised by their associations with civi 
 lized life to a desire to read the Word of God. The do 
 mestic relation often supplies them with the means of grat 
 ifying this desire. Many pious slaves read the Word of 
 God as a part of their family worship ; and instances are 
 not wanting of those of whom it may be said, they c are 
 mighty in the Scriptures. Such are the tendencies and 
 capabilities of domestic slavery as a system recognized by 
 law ; and apart from those abuses which all good men de 
 plore- no less in the case of the slave than in the case of 
 the child and the apprentice, who are no further protected 
 from inhumanity by the provisions of law than is the 
 
172 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 slave. Hence this system is the natural way of protecting, 
 improving, and governing the African for the mutual ben 
 efit of society. It is evidently indicated by Providence. 
 No other can be appropriate to a mass of population who 
 can never be politically free in our midst, for the reason 
 that, in the order of Divine Providence, they never can 
 amalgamate with us." 
 \ 
 
 Our author has said enough, w r e think, to justify the 
 action of the slaveholding States of the confederacy, in 
 refraining to instruct, for the present at least, their slaves 
 in letters. P>ut let this matter be determined as it may, 
 it does not essentially determine with it the character of 
 American slavery: it does not settle whether American 
 slavery is either wrong or right. If it be consistent with 
 a wise regard to the reciprocal rights and obligations of 
 master and slave, that slaves should be taught to read 
 and write, if such training will not interfere with the 
 due discharge of the duties growing out of the relation, 
 no Southern master would hesitate to bestow it upon his 
 slaves. Self-interest, no less than benevolence, would 
 prompt to the gift. But if it be true, on the other hand, 
 that these rights would be interfered with, and that the 
 discharge of duties on the part of servants would be hin 
 dered by it, it would be equally the right and the duty of 
 the master to refuse the gift. At any rate, with or with 
 out schooling, we are not amenable to the charge of keep 
 ing our slaves in a state of barbarism. We have seen that 
 they daily come in contact with civilizing influences, which 
 are working their w T ay not the less powerfully because less 
 noisy and pretentious ; and we may add, that the state of 
 the African slave now, as compared with his state at his 
 entrance into this favored land, denotes a higher degree 
 of improvement and more rapid strides towards civilization 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 173 
 
 than many of those who weep so piteously over his sad 
 fate, and speak in terms of harshness and severity of his 
 tyrannical and covetous, and cruel masters. 
 
 We have not yet fully cleared away from the question 
 the rubbish which has been accumulating upon it in its 
 discussion; but to answer in detail the thousand objec 
 tions which a distorted ingenuity has contrived to urge 
 against American slavery, would be a tedious and unprofi 
 table task. We have taken what we believe to be the 
 strongest points urged by the opposers of slavery, and 
 having answered these, are content that the rest of the 
 defensive part of the warfare should be judged of by the 
 sentence which shall be pronounced on those already 
 treated of. We turn now to another aspect of the ques 
 tion. 
 
 American slavery has its strongholds, which no argu 
 ments yet urged have overturned; and we must have 
 greatly underrated the prowess of the assailants, or have 
 overrated the strength of these bulwarks, if any can be pre 
 sented to destroy them. Look, for example, to the conser 
 vative elements of the institution. It is a notorious fact, 
 the verity of which will hardly be questioned at this day, 
 that the Southern States of this union, in which domestic 
 slavery is found, are almost immeasurably beyond the 
 North in point of sober and thoughtful conservative regard 
 for what is the true support of the religious and social in 
 stitutions of our people. Without arrogating to ourselves 
 more than we can justly claim, we may declare our free 
 dom from the infections of that moral poison which has 
 spread its deadly influence through almost every vein and 
 fibre of Northern society. We are free, thank Heaven, 
 from the putrid corruptions of "new-lights," "free-love," 
 socialism, agrarianism, arid the like. If, perchance, a 
 
174 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 stray branch of these Upas trees has fallen in our midst, it 
 has met with an ungenial soil, and has perished and died, 
 leaving no trace behind to mark either its entrance or 
 exit. To what are we to attribute these facts ? Shall we 
 say. that it is because we have not yet encountered the 
 tide of fury and rampant fanaticism which, like another 
 Yandalic descent, has poured out from foreign lands upon 
 the northern part of our own ? We owe the exemption to 
 the fact that we have had always at home a class to fulfil 
 our menial offices, and this has kept off the class of immi 
 grants which infect and infest our neighbors. "Will it be 
 said that the mind of the South is not as active as the 
 Northern mind, and, therefore, neither restless nor impa 
 tient of restraint ; and new thought does not, for that rea 
 son, give so early an impression here as there? If by new 
 thought and an active mind are meant a greedy gaping 
 for novelty, a rush for the unknown and unknowable, a 
 disregard of the old because it is old, and a love for the 
 new because it is new, we admit the fact, and pray to be 
 delivered from the day when mind and thought shall thus 
 run riot in our midst. But if by activity of mind and 
 novelty of thought are meant a prudent and proper exer 
 cise of the mental powers, and a readiness to adopt what 
 is valuable, whether new or old, then we claim for our 
 social system sufficient activity for these purposes, and 
 challenge proof to the contrary. We will cheerfully ad 
 mit that, in the aggregate of wealth and of activity, the 
 North, with its vast and teeming multitudes, surpasses us ; 
 but we do not admit, because we do not believe, that a 
 comparison of her average wealth with our own would 
 show any superiority on her part. On the contrary, we 
 can demonstrate the reverse, and, at some future period, 
 will endeavor to do so. But admit, however, the case to 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PPvACTICE OF SLAVERY. 175 
 
 be otherwise ; admit that the average wealth of the North 
 surpasses ours ; admit, further, what her writers so fre 
 quently affirm, that we are to attribute this inferiority to 
 the institution of slavery ; we shall still be able to con 
 tend successfully, that while slavery has entailed on us 
 this single evil, its benefits have vastly more than compen 
 sated for the loss. A record of the crime and lunacies 
 not to say, of the frauds and treacheries inseparable from 
 free society, would disclose to us what we have saved and 
 what we have gained by this simple patriarchal relation. 
 If it had effected no other good than relieving us from 
 the immigration of paupers and convicts, and driving from 
 our midst the fruitfully pernicious systems of infidelity 
 and socialism that prevail at the North, (and would prevail 
 here in the absence of slavery,) we are more than compen 
 sated. 
 
 A characteristic feature of the work before us we have 
 thus far failed to notice. It is an important one, and we 
 are gratified that, in the discussion of the subject, the 
 writer has not overlooked it. In the concluding lec 
 ture of the series, he treats of the relative duties of 
 masters and slaves. Vast interests are at stake, de 
 pending on the proper discharge of the obligations im 
 posed upon the master, and on the cheerful and hearty 
 obedience of the slave. These interests it is the duty of 
 the master, as the superior and more intelligent and in 
 structed party to the relation, to foster ; and our author 
 has here given, in brief compass and in clear and compact 
 form, a manual which should be the guide and glory of 
 every Southern slaveholder. Dr. Smith, however, fails to 
 say (what we will now say for him) that the rights of the 
 slaves and his true interests would have been better cared 
 for and consulted, that masters would have been and would 
 
176 PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 now be more equitable, and would more faithfully and 
 zealously have discharged their duties toward their ser 
 vants, if their authority had not been interfered with by 
 others. 
 
 We must not conclude the present article without dwel 
 ling more particularly on a point casually noticed in the 
 beginning ; that, is in relation to the false sentiment which 
 has so long prevailed on the subject of slavery. The 
 argument on the question is with the South. Reason and 
 the Bible concur in support of the position that slavery, 
 in some of its forms that American slavery is right. But 
 a false sentiment is against us. Our literature, domestic 
 and foreign, has been corrupted at its sources. The twad 
 dle about the wrongs of the African, and undiscriminating 
 censure of his oppressors, pollute every channel of thought, 
 and have taken shape in every form of literary develop 
 ment. The books we put in the hands of our children ; the 
 works on science or art we read ; the lighter departments of 
 poetry and belles lettres, are all so many vehicles of false 
 logic and false sentiment upon the topic of American 
 slavery. Cowper mourns over the wrongs of the slave ; 
 Shelley pours out a sad lament at his unhappy fate ; while 
 a host of lesser lights kindle their lamps at the altar of 
 African wrong. 
 
 This has been witnessed long enough. The God of the 
 Bible must be vindicated. Right reason must be enthroned. 
 Facts, and not fancies, truth, and not falsehood, must be 
 predominant. How shall we turn the tide of sentiment ; 
 how convince the world that we are not the sad tyrants it 
 wots of? Weak and wicked would be the policy which 
 should suggest the abandonment of the institution and 
 the releasing of the slave. Justice to the slave de 
 mands his continuance in servitude. Our own safety and 
 
PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF SLAVERY. 177 
 
 the peace and harmony of the State require it. One 
 other only resource is left us. We must convert the world 
 to the truth : we must bring their minds back to the 
 teachings of the pure Word of God ; we must demon 
 strate His will, and thus create a sentiment in accordance 
 with it. This result is not unattainable. The rapid 
 spread of wholesome and truthful opinions on the topic, 
 within the last ten years, demonstrates its feasibility ; 
 and though we may not hope to impress the leaders of 
 the opposition with the truth of our convictions, we may 
 divide the ranks of " The Many,"and secure among them 
 those who shall be valiant defenders of the truth ; and 
 share with us the glory or the shame of protecting Ame 
 rican slavery. A practical field of usefulness and patri 
 otism is here spread out before us. In every department 
 of literature, of art, and of science, we are in need of 
 laborers. Our logicians must prepare for the conflict of 
 reason; our historians must record the facts ; our preach 
 ers must preach the word ; our teachers must instruct in 
 the undeniable truth, so as to bring about this change of 
 sentiment. And in due time the problem of American 
 slavery will be solved- by the Divine hand, and the result 
 will show that the same God who blessed Abraham, the 
 slaveholder, and Isaac his son; the God of Gerar, the 
 God of Sinai, has had under his guardianship the inte 
 rests of American masters and American slaves, and has 
 wisely overruled for good the agitations of noisy distur 
 bers of the public peace, and other unhappy efforts of 
 honest (it may be) but misguided philanthropists and re 
 formers. 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES.* 
 
 From a brief sketch of Mr. Milbura s life, prefixed to 
 his work, we gather the following facts. He spent his 
 early childhood in Philadelphia. When but a boy, he en 
 tirely lost the use of ono eye and was partially blind in the 
 other. Despite this serious disadvantage, he has been a 
 diligent and faithful student from boyhood to the present 
 time. At 14 years of age, he was employed as a clerk in 
 a store in some part of Illinois. Here he occupied his 
 leisure hours in storing his mind with thought and by the 
 aid of friends who read to him and his own exertions, una 
 bated and untiring, he was prepared to enter a collegiate 
 institution. At college his progress was rapid, and he was 
 in a fair way to achieve distinction, when in consequence 
 of close application, his health failed him, and " active life 
 was prescribed as the only thing calculated to restore him 
 to vigor." He began his public career as a Methodist 
 minister, and labored for two years among the cabins of 
 the West, " suffering almost incredible hardships." 
 
 " In the fall of 1845, he made his appearance in the 
 Northern and Eastern States, as an advocate for the cause 
 of education in the West, and was everywhere received 
 with enthusiasm, not only on account of his intellectual 
 
 * The Rifle, Axe and Saddle-Bags. and other Lectures. By WILLIAM 
 HENRY MILBUBN. With an introduction by Rev. J. McCLiNToCK, D.D., 
 New York : Derby & Jackson. Cincinnati : H. W. Derby & Co., 1857. 
 
180 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 qualities, but also tor his amiable disposition, and eminent 
 social virtues. On his journey north, Mr. Milburn found 
 himself on board of an Ohio river steamer, on which were 
 three hundred passengers. From the number of days the 
 passengers had been together, Mr. Milburn had become 
 pretty well informed of their character, arid he found 
 most prominent among the gentlemen, were a number of 
 members of Cong* ess, on their way to Washington. These 
 gentlemen had attracted Mr. Milburn s attention, on ac 
 count of their exceptionable habits. On the arrival of Sab 
 bath morning, it was rumored through the boat, that a min 
 ister was on board, and Mr. Milburn, who had up to this 
 time attracted no attention, was hunted up and called upon 
 to give a discourse. He promptly consented, and in due 
 time commenced divine service. The members of Con 
 gress, to whom we have alluded, were among the congre 
 gation, and by common consent had possession of the 
 chairs nearest to the preacher. Mr. Milburn gave an ad 
 dress suitable to the occasion, full of eloquence and pathos, 
 and was listened to throughout with the most intense inter 
 est. At the conclusion he stopped short, and turning his 
 face, now beaming with fervent ze 1, towards the honor 
 able gentlemen, he said ; * Among the passengers in this 
 steamer, are a number of members of Congress : from 
 their position they should be exemplars of good morals 
 and dignified conduct, but from what I have heard of them 
 they are not so. The Union of these States, if depen 
 dent on such guardians, would be unsafe, and all the high 
 hopes I have of the future of my country would be dashed 
 to the ground. These gentlemen, for days past, have made 
 the air heavy with profane conversation, have been con 
 stant patrons of the bar, and encouragers of intemperance : 
 nay more, the night, which should be devoted to rest, has 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 181 
 
 been dedicated to the horrid vices of gambling, profanity 
 and drunkenness. And, continued Mr. Milburn, with the 
 solemnity of a man who spoke as if by inspiration, there 
 is but one chance of salvation for these great sinners in 
 high places, and that is, to humbly repent of their sins, 
 call on the Saviour for forgiveness, and reform their lives. 
 
 " * As might be supposed, language so bold from a deli 
 cate stripling, scarcely twenty-two years of age, had a 
 startling effect. The audience separated, and the preacher 
 returned to his state-room, to think upon what he had said. 
 Conscious, after due reflection, that he had only done his 
 duty, he determined at all hazards to maintain his position, 
 even at the expense of being rudely assailed, if not lynch 
 ed. While thus cogitating, a rap was heard at his state 
 room door, a gentleman entered and stated that he came 
 with a message from the members of Congress that they 
 had listened to his remarks, and in consideration of his 
 boldness and his eloquence, they desired him to accept a 
 purse of money which they had made up among themselves, 
 and also, their best wishes for his success and happiness 
 through life. 
 
 " But this chivalrous feeling, so characteristic of wes 
 tern men when they meet bold thought and action combin 
 ed, carried these gentlemen to more positive acts of kind 
 ness ; becoming acquainted with Mr. Milburn, when they 
 separated from him, they offered the unexpected service 
 of making him Chaplain to Congress, a promise which 
 they not only fulfilled, but through the long years that 
 have passed away since that event, have cherished for the 
 * blind preacher the warmest personal regard and stand 
 ever ready to support him by word and deed. 
 
 " His election to the office of Chaplain to Congress, so 
 honorably conferred, brought him before the nation, and 
 
182 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 his name became familiar in every part of the Union. His 
 health still being delicate, in the year 1847 he went south 
 for the advantage of a mild climate, and took charge of a 
 church in Alabama. For six years he labored industri 
 ously in Mobile and Montgomery, cities of that State, and 
 in four years of that time, preached one thousand five hun 
 dred times, and travelled over sixty thousand miles. 
 
 " In all his different spheres of ministerial labor, Mr. 
 Milburn devoted himself to his work with the zeal and fi 
 delity which so generally characterize the clergy of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. But, as may readily be un 
 derstood, his blindness was a great impediment to the due 
 fulfilment of the pastoral function under the itinerant law 
 of the Methodist ministry. The necessity of removing a 
 growing family from place to place every two years was, 
 of itself, too great a task ; and, although Mr. Milburn s 
 great power of endurance, and remarkable physical as well 
 as mental aptitude for public speech, would make it easy 
 for him to discharge the pulpit duties of a fixed and per 
 manent change, no such permanency of the pastoral rela 
 tion is compatible with the general system of Methodism. 
 In the summer of 1853 he returned to New York, and fixed 
 his abode there. Since that period he has devoted himself, 
 first, to his great life-work, preaching the Gospel in such 
 churches in the city as needed occasional service in addition 
 to, or in place of, the regular pastorate ; and secondly, to the 
 delivery of public lectures." 
 
 He is now on a visit to London, where we are informed, 
 his lectures have awakened considerable interest.* A few 
 of these lectures compose the present volume. Besides 
 the main one which has given name to the book, " Songs 
 in the Night," "An Hour s Talk about Woman," and 
 
 * October 1857. 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 183 
 
 French Chivalry in the Southwest," make up the residue 
 of subjects to which he calls attention. These titles do 
 not aptly represent the store of ripe thought, lively illus 
 tration and interesting biography with which the work 
 abounds. The first lecture furnishes a graphic sketch of 
 Bishop Bascom s early career. In " Songs in the Night," 
 comprising some fifty odd pages, the writer has portrayed 
 the triumphs of genius over blindness. Euler, Saunder- 
 son, Francis Huber, Augustin Thierry, Prescott and Mil 
 ton are the chief portraits in this gallery of the famous 
 blind. It lends almost a sacredness to these portraitures, 
 that the sketcher is himself one of the number his pen has 
 so aptly described. Mrs. Lloyd s lines close the lecture. 
 We can not omit an opportunity to reproduce them. They 
 are supposed to be written by Milton in his blindness and 
 old age : 
 
 " I am old and blind 
 
 Men point to me as smitten by God s frown 
 Afflicted and deserted of my kind ; 
 
 Yet am I not cast down. 
 
 " I am weak, yet strong ; 
 
 I murmur riot that I no longer see ; 
 Poor, old, and helpless, I the more belong, 
 
 Father Supreme, to thee. 
 
 t; Oh, merciful One ! 
 
 When men are furthest, then thou art most near; 
 When friends pass by, my weakness shun, 
 
 Thy chariot I hear. 
 
 " Thy glorious face 
 
 Is leaning towards me, and its holy light 
 Shines in upon my lonely dwelling-place, 
 
 And there is no more night. 
 
184 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 " On my bended knee 
 
 I recognize thy purpose clearly shown : 
 My vision thou hast dimmed, that. I may see 
 
 Thyself alone. 
 
 " I have nought to fear 
 
 This darkness is the shadow of thy wing, 
 Beneath it I am almost sacred ; here 
 
 Can come no evil thing. 
 
 " Oh, I seem to stand 
 
 Trembling, where foot of mortal ne er hath been, 
 Wrapt in the radiance of that sinless land 
 
 Which eye hath never seen. 
 
 " Visions come and go 
 
 Shapes of resplendent beauty round me throng ; 
 From angel lips I seem to hear the flow 
 
 Of soft and holy song. 
 
 " It is nothing now, 
 
 When Heaven is opening on my sightless eyes, 
 When airs from Paradise refresh my brow, 
 
 That earth in darkness lies. 
 
 " In a purer clime 
 
 My being fills with rapture; waves of thought 
 Roll in upon my spirit strains sublime, 
 
 Break over me unsought. 
 
 " Give me now my lyre, 
 
 I feel the stirrings of a gift divine, 
 Within my bosom glows unearthly fire, 
 
 Lit by no skill of mine." 
 
 There is at times in a single sentence of the lectures, a 
 mine of thought. Of the difficulties attendant on the 
 inarch of civilization the lecturer writes : " Human pro 
 gress is a slow and toilsome journey. The caravan of hu 
 manity proceeds by short and painful stages !" We doubt 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 185 
 
 whether the idea here presented was ever more aptly ex 
 pressed. Every word in these sentences is the representa 
 tive of a distinct thought and " the caravan of humanity" 
 embodies a world of meaning. Of character : " Who does 
 not feel and know, that the divinest agency and force with 
 which we are made acquainted, is character ? A perfectly 
 educated will, calms, controls, and directs others. It is 
 higher than intellect, or any form of genius. It blends 
 the strength of Feeling, with the serenity of Reason. It 
 is harmony of nature, wherein the creature s will is sub 
 ject to the Creator s, after tumultuous striving and long- 
 continued endeavor. It is the one only thing we carry 
 with us to the future. As it is, shall we be blessed or 
 accursed." 
 
 Speaking of Howard, he says : " his office was the in- 
 stauration of modern philanthropy." 
 
 In this talent of concentrating in a single word or phrase 
 a sublime or beautiful thought, Milburn reminds us of the 
 pictorial power of the unhappy Hazlitt. See this power 
 displayed in another phase in the following : 
 
 " 1 am assured that selfishness is the ruling law of life : 
 that friendship is a name, and love a deceit. 
 
 " So have I not found the world or man. Will you ac 
 cept my testimony on this point ? It has fallen to my lot 
 to travel as widely in this country as perhaps any man of 
 my age. My wayfarings have taken me to the boundless 
 prairies of the West, to the cotton plantations of the South, 
 the farms of the Middle States, and the manufacturing 
 towns of New England. My path has run by the margin 
 of the Atlantic, on the shores of the great lakes, by the 
 banks of the Mississippi, and along the verge of the Gulf. 
 I have travelled by every means of conveyance, on foot 
 and on horseback, in canal boats and in stages, on rail cars 
 13 
 
186 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 and steamboats. Almost all my journeys have been pros 
 ecuted alone. My comparatively helpless condition has 
 often thrown me upon the care of strangers. I have been 
 obliged to appeal for assistance to gentlemen and loafers ; 
 to the negro slave or his master : to railroad conductors 
 and to hotel landlords ; to waiters and hack-drivers ; to 
 men represented as the coarsest and harsheot of their kind. 
 At times I have had no choice but to address men when 
 in a towering passion, when their mouths were filled with 
 oaths and blasphemy ; and I have to say that never have 
 I spoken to a fellow man but once saying that I could 
 not see, and asking him to do the thing I needed, and been 
 turned empty away. 
 
 " At this spell of the feeble, the hardest fibres of man s 
 nature dissolve to the tenderness of a woman s and the 
 gentleness of a mother takes the place of revolting coarse 
 ness and brutality. Sach is the result of my acquaintance 
 with mankind ; a result, to which I believe it will be found 
 upon examination, nearly all other persons partially or to 
 tally deprived of sight have been brought. Paradoxical 
 as it may seem, the sightless man sees the best side of 
 human nature the blind man is an optimist. With all its 
 faults and vices, with all its sins and crimes, there is ever 
 10 be found lurking in our nature a kindly sensibility, a 
 genial helpful sympathy, towards those who are suffering 
 and distressed ; and those deprived of sight appear to me 
 to share a larger portion of this holy treasure than any 
 other class of the afflicted. Though the natural sun be 
 blotted from their vision, human affection by its minister 
 ing care well-nigh replaces it. Though the universe of 
 visual beauty be a blank, soft voices and kind hands cre 
 ate another, perhaps a lovelier world : for those who are 
 thrown by calamity into the arms of Providence, Provi- 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 187 
 
 dence assures protection, and appoints angels whose change 
 less and gladdening office is to smooth their way and stay 
 their steps, and yield guardianship and succor. The heavy- 
 laden are dear to God ; and man has not so utterly lost 
 God s image as not to be kind to those whom the Father 
 loveth." 
 
 This is a perfect picture. 
 
 Yet another example in which the author discusses the 
 question " whether a blind man may be an orator ?" 
 
 " Excel as the blind may in literature, the ma^ic wand 
 of the great orator cannot be given to them. Shall I de 
 monstrate my position ? When you are engaged in con 
 versation, is it not requis.te, in order to the fullest inter 
 est and animation, that you have the tribute of your com 
 panion s eye ? Is it possible for you to sustain a prolonged 
 and exciting conversation, in a dark room ? Can you make 
 a friend or intimate of any person, who when you speak 
 to him averts his glance ? No, is the unmistakable answer 
 to this question. Why ? You come to your deepest ac 
 quaintance with others sensibilities, whereby your own are 
 kindled, through their eyes and your own. The sweetest 
 and mightiest tie which binds us to each other sympathy 
 whose glow kindles our enthusiasm, whose magic power 
 enables us to transfer our life into another s life, to per 
 vade our own imagination with another s being, reveals 
 itself not through the poor ministry of words, but in the 
 divine expression of the human face, which concentrates 
 and glorifies itself in the electric flashing of the eyes. 
 These orbs are the mirrors of the soul ; the lights which 
 kindle the fires of friendship and affection. 
 
 " Again ; you are a public speaker. Suppose you are 
 called upon to address an audience from behind a screen ; 
 or with your face turned to the wall ; or with a bandage 
 
188 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 across your eyes, would your words have power, or your 
 nature inspiration ? Picture Demosthenes, or Clay, ad 
 dressing an audience, they hanging breathless on his lips, 
 whe.i suddenly the lights go out. No poise of character, 
 no self-possession, no absorption of the speaker in his 
 theme is equal to such a crisis. No spell of eloqm nee is 
 mighty enough to hold an audience together under such 
 circumstances. There can be neither speaking nor hear 
 ing in the dark. 
 
 " What is the secret of the richest, greatest eloquence ? 
 Neither in finish of style, nor in force of logic, nor afflu 
 ence of diction, nor grace of manner, nor pomp of imagi 
 nation, nor in all of these combined, is it to be found. It 
 may be accompanied by these it may be destitute of them. 
 It is in the man feeling his theme, feeling his audience, 
 and making them feel the theme and himself. He pursues 
 the line of his thought ; a sentence is dropped which falls 
 like a kindling spark into the breast of some one present. 
 The light of that spark shoots up to his eyes, and sends 
 an answer to the speaker. The telegraphic signal is felt, 
 and the speaker is instantly tenfold the stronger ; he be 
 lieves what he is saying more deeply than before, when a 
 second sentence creates a response in another part of the 
 house. As he proceeds, the listless are arrested, the leth 
 argic are startled into attention, tokens of sympathy and 
 emotion flash out upon him from every portion of the au 
 dience. That audience has lent to him its strength. It 
 is the same double action which characterizes every move 
 ment of the universe ; action and re-action ; the speaker 
 giving the best that is in him to his hearers, they lending 
 the divinest portion of themselves to him. This tidal 
 movement of sympathy, this magnetic action, awakening 
 and answering in the eyes of speaker and hearer, by which 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 189 
 
 he is filled with their life, and they pervaded by his thought, 
 is to me the secret and the condition of real eloquence ; 
 and clearly this condition is one unattainable by a man 
 destitute of sight. His audience may yield him their 
 deepest, holiest sympathies; yet how can he be made 
 aware of this? Between himself and them a great gulf 
 is fixed, over which no man may pass. His discourse is a 
 soliloquy spoken to his own ear, his imagination the only 
 guage which he possesses of the appreciativeness of his 
 audience. His words may be beneath them, or above 
 them ; his thoughts may be lofty, almost divine ; his con 
 victions may reach to the ve y roots of his being ; his voice 
 may be sweet as thrilling music, and yet, so far as the last 
 and highest requisite of eloquence is concerned, he might 
 as well be speaking to the trees. His audience is not a 
 reality, but only the product of his imagination. He is 
 wholly incompetent to appreciate or receive any sympa 
 thetic response which they maybe disposed to render him. 
 Such inspiration as he may have is the influence of his sub 
 ject upon his own mind and heart. The answer of the 
 human eye, the mightiest quickener of eloquence, is for 
 ever withholden from him. Therefore, I have said that this 
 sphere of power and distinction is shut up against him. 
 The blind may achieve the laurel of the poet, the fame of 
 the historian, but his hand can never wield the wand of 
 enchantment which is given to the great orator." 
 
 We might multiply examples of this description, but we 
 have given enough in proof of the freshness and vivacity 
 of Mr. Milburn s style, and his peculiar power as a writer. 
 He is not faultless. He has a great deal of power, but 
 much of it is misdirected. He is forever aspiring after 
 novelty, and in managing a trite topic, prefers to utter im- 
 
190 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 perfect if not inaccurate views, rather than to follow the 
 current and indulge in commonplace. 
 
 In the "Hour s Talk about Woman," Mr. Milburn sur 
 prises us by his liveliness of narrative, but we are not con 
 vinced by his reasonings, nor are we quite satisfied that 
 he understands the questions he undertakes to discuss. Had 
 he conducted us into an imaginative region had he chosen 
 to charm us with the romance of fairy land ? we would 
 have thought no marvel too marvellous, no miracle too 
 wonderful for faith in woman s power and woman s love. 
 In such event he might have selected his examples from 
 the highest forms of feminine loveliness and purity, and 
 we should have implicitly accepted his illustrations. But 
 abandoning these more inviting themes, the lecturer has 
 addressed himself to the homely question u how a woman 
 who is obliged to w r ork for bread shall get it ?" The sub 
 ject is a practical one and commonplace enough. Our 
 lecturer felt it to be such, and in his effort to make his 
 lecture interesting and entertaining, he has wholly failed 
 to answer the question he propounds ! He has committed, 
 too, another blunder. He treats the disease he would 
 remedy as if it were a national disease affecting alike all 
 sections of the country. A very little observation would 
 have taught him that it is principally confined to New York 
 and a few other Northern cities. 
 
 That there is a higher sphere for woman than she occu 
 pies in these populous communities, when compelled to earn 
 her own bread by the needle or some other industrial and 
 poorly compensated pursuit, is unquestionable ; and to the 
 shame of these commercial centres be it written, that they 
 have not lifted a finger for the relief of the victims of 
 their civilization that they have utterly failed to put in 
 digent women upon the footing which our negroes occupy 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 191 
 
 and enjoy here. There is no necessity for the agita 
 tion of this question in the South. \\ 7 e utterly deny 
 that the evil has its existence here to an extent justify 
 ing any intermeddling with it on the part of statesmen. 
 Northerners, however, are all interested in the question. 
 Amongst them, the remark of the lecturer is eminently 
 truthful : " Amid the rapid mutations and sudden chan 
 ges of position and fortune, no man can tell how soon his 
 own wife and daughters may be degraded into the garrets 
 of the poor or numbered among the outcasts of society." 
 To them it has become a matter of much moment how 
 destitute females are to gain a livelihood at once re 
 spectable and decent, and the man who would succeed in 
 devising apt means for the work ; who would create a 
 change tending alike to the good order of the community 
 and to the well being of the class designed to be the ob 
 jects of his bounty, must bring to his task profound study 
 of the social relations of his people, a ripe and ample ex 
 perience, a thorough knowledge of the counterworking 
 forms of society, and a large and benevolent wisdom 
 With all of these qualities he may fail without them 01 
 any of them, he will certainly not succeed. There h 
 no class of subjects requiring such delicate perception or 
 what is morally right, such enlarged views of the varying 
 motives of human conduct, and such intimate acquaintance 
 with the springs of human action as these social topics 
 which it his become the fashion in these latter times to dis 
 cuss so empirically and with so much dogmatism. And 
 woe be to the reforming hand that shall attempt to touch 
 even what appears to be a defect in social machinery, 
 without weighing accurately and justly its results upon the 
 rest. Mr. Milburn, we have said, has propounded the 
 question. He has failed to answer it. He attempts an 
 
192 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 answer, but what it lacks in vagueness of specification 
 is not supplied by particularity or pertinency of illus 
 tration. The three grand departments to which he 
 directs the attention of woman are already occupied by 
 her. Not we admit to the extent that they ought to be or 
 must be, but yet occupied in some measure and with a wil 
 lingness and aptitude opening up the prospect of yet fur 
 ther advances and attainments in these several directions. 
 Literature, Society and Home are unquestionably woman s 
 spheres if she may enjoy them. But what becomes of 
 the thousands who are without the culture or the capacity 
 to improve the first, and who cannot attain either of the 
 last ? What shall become of the vast horde of workers 
 who earn a scanty subsistence by daily and nightly toil 
 an i who eke out a life of anxiety and care by the con 
 sumption of vital vigor, without relaxation or rest ? To 
 talk to these of literature of writing for a livelihood 
 of weaving the pictures of fancy, is as idle mockery, a 
 satire and scorn upon their helpless fate and nothing more. 
 These forlorn and destitute creatures may sing from the 
 depths of lacerated hearts Hood s Song of the Shirt ; they 
 find it the echo of their own experience but they may 
 not, could not have written it. Is there no relief for this 
 class ? 
 
 Have the people whose social system has engendered 
 and produced this extremity of indigence, nothing to fur 
 nish but an empty exhortation to "toil on" and an idle 
 wish that brighter days may yet dawn upon the sufferers ? 
 Verily, it seems to be so. White slavery at the north (we 
 are speaking of woman s slavery there) knows no abate 
 ment no diminution. It has neither prospect for bread 
 nor hope of long life. It looks forward to a perpetual 
 bondage and would, (if it knew its true interests) willingly 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 193 
 
 exchange conditions with the Southern negro, that it might 
 thereby gain a security from famine and an exemption 
 from anxiety. Mr. Milburn thinks he ha-* met the ques 
 tion fully by answering that " woman ought to be paid 
 for her services at prices equivalent to men." This seems 
 to be right ; and we have no doubt that toiling women 
 have learned the lesson before and have sought to obtain 
 such an equivalent for their labors. But is it practicable ? 
 Constituted as Northern society is is it possible to bring 
 about this result ? Th^ plainest principles of political 
 economy interfere to prevent it. The laboring man is by 
 the nature of things compelled to ask a living profit for 
 to labor. That he must have. Without it he cannot live 
 or labor. But it is not so with the women. A large number 
 engage in industrial employments who do not rely upon 
 their labor for support. They eke it out by the surplus 
 earnings of the husband. And this large class will work 
 for any price, however small, rather than receive nothing. 
 In competition with this class, must come those who are 
 entirely dependent upon their own exertions for support, 
 and the natural consequence follows : in the contest, they 
 are compelled to work at a rate neither remunerative nor 
 self-sustaining. What are these to do ? Seek other chan 
 nels of labor they cannot. The access to them is difficult 
 and if they were reached there would be found the same 
 state of things to exist and the same consequences to fol 
 low. Nor will it much better the matter to open to wo 
 men different employments to give them access to profes 
 sional life or to the trades or other business occupations. 
 Even were the women fitted for it, the same state of things 
 would speedily ensue and in the race for wealth and for 
 bread, the destitute would find themselves outstripped by 
 those who might rely upon other hands than their own. 
 
194 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 Again : it might be asked, what good consequences would 
 flow, if these efforts succeed ? Would it not be but lifting 
 the burden of society from one class and imposing it upon 
 another ? We attempt no solution of the problem. We 
 believe that the disease lies deep down in the heart of free 
 society, and that a correct statement of its character will 
 one day disclose its true source and discover the remedy. 
 It is a matter of almost infinite gratulation to our South 
 ern people that such a state of things is unknown among 
 us that every one here who in good health is willing to 
 work for a livelihood may acquire it by an amount of labor 
 not too exhaustive. Let the statesmen of free society de 
 termine if they can, how they shall satisfy the cravings of 
 a hungry populace, or quell the outbreaks of an angry and 
 desperate people when the disease under which they now 
 labor shall develop itself in its more terrific forms. Tu 
 this issue events are now hastening, and the wise and fore- 
 thoughtiul Northern statesmen should set themselves to 
 work to ascertain the remedy and avert, if they may, these 
 popular outbreaks. 
 
 We turn now to follow the discussion of the question as 
 Mr. Milburn has propounded and answered it. He is evi 
 dently treating the theme to which he invites attention, as 
 if the class of helpless females were not in any wise inter 
 ested in the discussion. He has pointed out channels of 
 labor for which the middle and higher classes of females 
 are alone fitted. 
 
 In the departments of Literature, Society and Home, 
 woman may find employment suitable for the unfolding of 
 character and the development of her capabilities. In 
 Literature, the position she already occupies is an earnest 
 of what she may attain to hereafter. From the rapid pro 
 gress she has made during the last half century, we may 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 195 
 
 confidently assert, that to maintain and secure their boast 
 ed intellectual superiority, the sterner sex will need to put 
 forth all their powers. For a special department of lite 
 rary effort, she is peculiarly fitted. We echo most heartily 
 the opinion expressed by our author, that when a Library 
 of Choice Reading for the Home shall appear, it will be 
 found to be the product of woman s pen and heart. So 
 ciety, too, has its claims. Not the thing of shreds and 
 patches that calls itself such. Not the original of Curtis s 
 caricatures, or of Thackeray s excoriations. Not the so 
 ciety that boasts itself of splendid array and brilliant equi 
 page ; that flounces in silks and flirts in brocades. But 
 the society of the truly noble, gentle and pure ; in which 
 thought and heart are the masters, and form, and so-call 
 ed Fashion shrink into their native diminutiveness of pro 
 portion. The society in which to do a good action lends a 
 sweeter flavor to the life, and to utter a pure thought gives 
 a charm to the conversation. The society of men and 
 women, rather than of puppets and shams ; of the gentle 
 and the good, riot of the vain and vicious. This society 
 has its claims upon woman, and they are not slight. The 
 society, which this is not, needs the reforming touch of 
 woman s genius, before it can lawfully lay claim to its 
 boasted title. Did woman always aspire to occupy the 
 position for which nature designed her, society, ordinarily 
 so called, would be quite a different thing from what it is. 
 Woman would then be as little seen, and perhaps excite 
 as little, or even less attention than now ; but she would 
 more surely secure the approbation of her own conscience, 
 and receive more of true homage would excite more re 
 spect and win less admiration. " The social life of the 
 country is the reflected image of woman s character and 
 culture." Men may rule " the court, the camp, the grove ;" 
 
196 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 they may dictate the statutes for the regimen of the State ; 
 their mere physical power may nerve its arm, and as coun 
 sellors they may give voice and aim to the wisdom of the 
 nati- n ; but after all, the social problems which are the 
 subject and the origin of laws, the manners and customs 
 of the people which originate and produce these laws are 
 the product, directly or indirectly, of the women. It is no 
 slight duty, then, to which woman is called, in the dis 
 charge of her offices to society. She finds it a thing of 
 form, she should give it substance. She finds it a hypo 
 critical sham and a pretence ; she should tear aside the 
 veil from hypocrisy and make it real. She finds it cold, 
 without true sympathy, and selfish ; she should make it 
 heave with the emotions of earnestness, beat responsively 
 to the calls of sorrow, and cause it to prefer another to 
 itself. She finds it boasting of wealth, gloating in the 
 splendor of its retinue and the pomp of its luxurious en 
 tertainments ; she should make it rather rejoice in truth 
 fulness and virtue, and adorn itself with quietness and 
 humility. There is need for a mighty transformation 
 here ; and none but woman can work it. Satire and ridi 
 cule, man s weapons, will not avail. Men may raise up 
 their hand against it, but they will fail. It rests with the 
 women of the country, whether this change shall be wrought 
 whether w r e shall continue to be the subjects of shop 
 keepers and milliners, or whether we shall assert our right 
 ful dominion, and become free ; it rests with them whether 
 earnestness in social life shall become the rule, and not 
 the exception ; it rests with them whether we shall con 
 tinue to bear the bondage of the artificial forms of social 
 life, or shall breathe freely in the open air of unrestricted 
 and sincere discourse ; it rests with them whether the 
 houses of the wealthy shall become chiefly the theatre of 
 
MTLBURN S LECTURES. 197 
 
 splendid entertainments for the vain and giddy, or the 
 abodes of ripe learning and of useful and laborious, yet 
 charming content. That this is not the condition of the 
 present, is evident. 
 
 Our author has pictured this society as it appears upon 
 the surface ; he has not attempted to discover its " inner 
 life," or to unfold all the corruptions that centre there ; 
 yet the picture is by no means flattering, or to be greatly 
 admired. By far the majority of the members of these 
 circles, styling themselves society, " are remarkable for 
 their youth and inexperience." " Business and profes 
 sional men, and officials (we quote the lecturer s language,) 
 are so absorbed by their pursuits, or oppressed by labor, 
 that they have little or no time for the recreation of friend 
 ly intercourse ; and even when they attend a party, or 
 enter the smaller group of the drawing room, they are 
 either so jaded or so engrossed, that they scarce take any 
 interest in the scenes and conversation transpiring about 
 them." 
 
 " Manhood, (he continues,) therefore finds itself repre 
 sented on these occasions by those whose youth disquali 
 fies them, or whose indolence and incapacity unfit them for 
 the professions or the mart. Sophomorical inflation, and 
 punctilious regard to the state of the hair, moustaches and 
 linen, and almost equally scrupulous disregard of good 
 breeding and manly behavior, the affectation of little wick 
 ednesses and indulgence in great ones, with a fearful state 
 of intellectual vacuity, may be accepted as the character 
 istics of these youthful gallants. Gentlemen of eighteen 
 polk and flirt in our ball-rooms, talk all manner of inde 
 cency, perform all sorts of rudeness, and before the close 
 of the evening are very probably so tipsy that they must 
 be deposited under the table or carried horn:. Gentlemen 
 
198 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 of one-and-twcnty discourse to you gravely in the inter 
 vals of their pleasure- hunting, about the emptiness of life 
 and the world ; declaring that in their private opinion there 
 is neither honor among men, nor chastity among women. 
 They aver to you with a solemnity that amounts to drolle 
 ry that they have seen the whole of life, and that they are 
 now disgusted and biases. And yet at the next party 
 which by the way they are as eager to attend as the first 
 one to which they were invited they will empty a saucer 
 of ice-cream under the table upon the host s Wilton car 
 pet, in order to help themselves to chicken salad, and will 
 gobble indiscriminately and extensively enough to impair 
 the digestion of an ostrich. Seeming to realize that their 
 virtue and brains reside in their heels, they give them am 
 ple exercise in the indecent motions of the fancy dances. 
 Now, however, that these affectionate forms of pastime be 
 tween the sexes are falling into disuse, it is to be feared that 
 our society will be robbed of many of its choicest orna 
 ments. Ought not the charitable voice of the public to be 
 raised in protest against the discountenance of these lately 
 fashionable amusements ? for what will become of the de 
 scendants of the heroes of the Revolution, if they are not 
 allowed to display their only accomplishment ? 
 
 " The conversation of society, amid the excited whirl of 
 the ball, or in the quieter groups of the smaller re-unions, 
 consists of idle gossip, idle tattle, and pernicious scandal. 
 And these goodly staples of discourse are garnished with 
 profane epithets and interjections, cant words and slang 
 phrases, mumbled out in a half inarticulate style, and at 
 frequent intervals choked by the speaker s laughing at his 
 own smart things and queer conceits. This may be term 
 ed the general style of talk. The special kind is devoted 
 to love-making ; not a whit more elegant and refined, it is 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 199 
 
 more dangerous because more passionate. Neither wife, 
 mother, nor maiden, are sacred in the eyes of these pre 
 mature debauchees. With an affrontery that is only paral 
 leled by their iniquity, they seek to flatter, cajole, entice 
 and ruin women of every station in whose presence they 
 are tolerated. How far " 
 
 But we forbear to cite farther. If this be the society 
 for which woman is being trained, it needs no seer to tell 
 us she will be better off in a state of perpetual solitude 
 and entire isolation. There is another sphere, how 
 ever, in which she will often find the purity, the truly ele 
 gant attractions and the solid happiness which she may 
 have sought for, but has never secured in society. Ihe 
 American, most of all the Virginian, ought to know what 
 it is to have a home. The picture our author draws of 
 New York domestic life we accept as a truthful portraiture, 
 but it is not a model of Virginian homes. True enough, 
 we are aping the extravagance and the insincerities of the 
 chief commercial city in the country; and here and there, 
 throughout the Southern portion of the Union, you may 
 discover the tattered remnants of a mode of life derived 
 from that abode of the magnificent, but in chief part, our 
 Virginian homes to-day, are what they were in the grand 
 old manorial days, when hospitality and good cheer 
 cheer from the heart and not from the lips were the dis 
 tinguishing characters :ics of our people; when the father 
 was not too grave or immersed in care to take part in the 
 sports of his children, and when the mother looked to her 
 progeny with affectionate oversight and cared more to have 
 them registered among the truthful and sincerely pure, 
 than to bestow on them an abundance of rich and fertile 
 possessions. The " artificial and hollow form of domestic 
 life," "growing out of the senseless and sensualized con- 
 
200 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 ceptions of the people," is we hope, even yet mainly con 
 fined to the States in which the writer delivered these lec 
 tures. If it has invaded us, it is only in partial and ex 
 ceptional examples ; yet we confess the tendency of things 
 is in the direction to which the author points. The board 
 ing-house system and exaggerated views of the manner in 
 which young persons are to enter upon marriage, though 
 mainly felt abroad, are even here beginning to acquire 
 sway, and unless speedily checked, unless the channels of 
 social life be changed, we may not expect for any length 
 of time to be relieved from these curses, which have so 
 fatally sapped Northern society. " From whom," perti 
 nently asks the author, "from whom have we a right to 
 ask the initiation of reform ? Who, by their constitution, 
 their position in the family, the delicate pervasive influ 
 ence with which they are endowed, may inaugurate a rev 
 olution and carry it forward to a successful termination ? 
 The child is father of the man ; and the child s character 
 is moulded by the mother. The nurseries of to-day con 
 tain the society and the state of the next generation ; and 
 in the child s world, woman s dignity and sway are regal." 
 
 In the following extract our author happily describes a 
 true home-life, arid sets forth its adaptation for the de 
 velopment of character : 
 
 " The great end of human existence and its divinest 
 power is character, and no sphere is so propitious to its 
 attainment as the home-life of woman. 
 
 "Is it needful that I vindicate this proposition ? Her 
 relation to her servants demands patience, prudence, long- 
 suffering, self-control, and strength of will. Her house 
 keeping exacts diligence, watchfulness, punctuality, promp 
 titude, thrift, management, method. With her children 
 she must be thoughtful, gentle, firm ; ever ruling her own 
 
MILBURN S LECTURES. 201 
 
 spirit, that she may govern them ; self-possessed, yet sym 
 pathetic, blending dignity with grace, and tenderness with 
 authority. Toward her husband she will have need to be 
 generous, magnanimous, forgiving ; to her guests urbane 
 and gracious ; to her neighbors obliging and helpful ; to 
 the poor, friendly and kind ; toward the great, decorous 
 yet self-respectful. When the family fortunes meet with 
 reverses, and her husband is dispirited and crushed, from 
 the more flexible and elastic nature should come the spring 
 and vigor by which losses may be retrieved and success re 
 established. In prosperous affluence her serene spirit may 
 shed the tranquil light of contentment and peace through 
 out the household. In the time of uttermost need and 
 darkness, when man s hope faileth, and his best discretion 
 is as folly, she may lend wisdom to his council?, and 
 strength to his steps, a wisdom and strength which she has 
 obtained from One who " giveth liberally and upbraideth 
 not." No one so needs the guidance, comfort and succour 
 derived from prayer as she. To no one is the mercy-seat 
 more accessible. The multiplicity of details which consti 
 tute her daily care, it would seem can only subject her to 
 perplexity and vexation, but herein is a school for mental 
 improvement and development. The best powers of fore 
 sight, skill, combination and construction, may be employ 
 ed in restoring the tangled web to order, where every 
 thread shall find its appropriate place and every set of 
 colors shall be assorted in a fit arrangement. Her perspi 
 cacity finds scope for exercise in reading the characters of 
 her children ; and the action of intellect is never so 
 healthful and beautiful as when impelled by beneficent sen 
 sibility. The little generalship of the family summons the 
 best powers into alert and strengthening movement. The 
 feebleness of infancy, the waywardness of youth, the open- 
 14 
 
202 MILBURN S LECTURES. 
 
 ing consciousness of her larger children, alike demand of 
 her, vigilance, solicitude, self-poise and energy. When she 
 is weary and well-nigh exhausted, how do the fires of her 
 life rekindle as she beholds the merry sports and gambols 
 of her darlings ! The bloom upon their rosy cheeks, and 
 the light of their sunny glances, bring back the lustre to 
 her own eyes, and the unaccustomed blood to her wan face. 
 In an hour like this she tastes of happiness, and surely no 
 married flirt, no gay, worldly-minded woman ever experi 
 enced in quaffing the chalices of adulation offered to her 
 vanity, such pure ethereal joy, as that which fills the true 
 mother s heart in beholding the innocent gladness of her 
 offspring. Their delight is to her as a well of refreshment 
 in the valley of her pilgrimage. Her force of will is in 
 voked that she may govern them ; and her sweetest pity 
 that she may pardon ; a quick and tender conscience is 
 required for the delicacy and responsibility of her trust. 
 Faith is needed, for she guides the footsteps of heirs of 
 immortality. Her work should ripen in her confidence in 
 the germs of goodness which she plants in the soil of her 
 children s nature, in the care with which she tends it, in 
 the spiritual ministry, which shall guard it, and in the 
 eternal providence which ensures the fruit of her labor. 
 God stations the mother by the cradle and bids her yield 
 her hand to guide the uncertain steps of childhood, that 
 man s earliest years may have the presidency and control 
 of one apt to teach, able to direct, and competent to bless 
 him. The mother is called to a life of self-sacrifice, and 
 is not this the true notion of life, embodying the highest 
 conception of character ? The greatest the world has 
 known, whom men have taken for their teacher, hath said, 
 He that would be great among you let him be the ser 
 vant of all." 
 
Notes and Illustrations. 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The patron genius of the Mr. Thomas Rowlie, lohose curious 
 and recondite manuscripts had lain for three centuries and up 
 wards buried in a chest in the muniment room in the church 
 p. 13. 
 
 Chatterton began his publications concerning Kowleyin 1769, 
 The " Ryse of peyncteyne in England, wroten by T. Kowleie 
 for Mastre Canynge" purported to bear date in 1469. Chatter- 
 ton in his note to this account calls Canynge the founder " of 
 that noble Gothic pile, St. Mary Redcleft church, the Mjecaenas 
 of his time, one who could happily blend the poet, the painter, 
 the priest and the Christian, perfect in each ; a friend to all dis 
 tress, an honor to Bristol and a glory to the church." The true 
 history of this church is probably given in the account append 
 ed to the drawing of the church made by William Halfpenny 
 and published in May 1746, by Benjamin Hickey, Bristol. This 
 church was founded by Simon de Burton, merchant, in ye 22nd 
 year of ye reign of King Edward ye first. In the year 1446, 
 the steeple of the said church was blown down in a great storm 
 of thunder and lightning, which did much damage to the same, 
 but was by Mr. Wm. Canynge, a worthy merchant, with the 
 assistance of diverse other wealthy inhabitants, at a great ex 
 pense, new covered, glazed and repaired," &c. The church 
 contains, we are informed, two beautiful monumental statues 
 of Canynge, in one of which he is habited as a magistrate, having 
 
206 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 been Mayor of Bristol, and in the other, he is represented as a 
 priest, having in his latter days taken holy orders. 
 
 But happy in my humble sphere had moved, 
 Untroubled, unsuspected, unbeloved. p. 23. 
 
 So in all the editions we have seen. A lapsus pennse, per 
 haps. It probably read " untroubled, unsuspected and be 
 loved." 
 
 Sir Herbert Croft, p. 28. 
 
 The author of " Love and Madness" played a conspicuous 
 but not very enviable part in giving publicity to Chatterton s 
 effusions. Cottle gives us quite a minute account of the affair 
 in his " Reminiscences of Coleridge and Southey." 
 
 The former of these poems has already called forth from a 
 kindred poet, verses of exquisite tenderness and beauty, p. 46. 
 
 These verses are cited in the present edition of Chatterton s 
 poems. They are the production of James Montgomery : 
 
 " A dying swan of Pindus sings 
 
 In wildly-mournful strains ; 
 
 As Death s cold fingers snap the strings 
 
 His suffering lyre complains. 
 
 Soft as the mist of evening wends 
 Along the shadowy vale ; 
 Sad as in storms the moon ascends, 
 And turns the darkness pale ; 
 
 So soft the melting numbers flow 
 From his harmonious lips ; 
 So sad his woe-wan features show, 
 Just fading in eclipse. 
 
 The Bard to dark despair resign d, 
 With his expiring art, 
 Sings midst the tempest of his mind 
 The shipwreck of his heart. 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 If Hope still seems to linger nigh, 
 And hover o er his head, 
 Her pinions are too weak to fly, 
 Or Hope ere now had fled. 
 
 Rash Minstrel ! who can hear thy songs, 
 Nor long to share thy fire? 
 Who read thine errors and thy wrong?. 
 Nor execrate the lyre ? 
 
 The lyre that sunk thee to the grave, 
 When bursting into bloom, 
 That lyre the power to genius gave, 
 To blossom in the tomb. 
 
 Yes; till his memory fail with years, 
 Shall Time thy strains recite ; 
 And while thy story swells his tears, 
 Thy song shall charm his flight." 
 
 Alas, poor Chatterton ! p. 48. 
 
 In his will lie bequeathes a friend a mourning ring with this 
 motto. 
 
 The law books tell us that witnesses are to be sworn according 
 to the peculiar ceremonies of their own religion, and in such man 
 ner as they may deem binding on their own consciences. This 
 was a part of the civil law and is as well a part of the common 
 law. p. 78. 
 
 1 G-reenleaf on Evidence, 371, note 2. Quumque sit adse- 
 veratio religiosa satis patet, jusjurandum attemperandum esse 
 cujusque religioni. Heinec. ad Pand, Pars. 3, 13, 15. Quod- 
 cunque nonien dederis, id utique constat, oinne jusjurandum 
 proficisci ex fide et persuasione jurantis; et inutile esse, nisi, 
 quis credat Deum quem testem advocat, perjurii sui idoneum 
 esse vindicem. Id autem credat, qui jurat per Deum suum, per 
 sacra sua, et ex sua ipsius animi religione, etc. Bankers Obs. 
 Jur. Horn., lib. 6, cap. 2. Indeed, Mr. Jefferson, in the appen 
 dix to his Reports, has attempted to demonstrate that Christian- 
 
NOTES AND [ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ity formed no part of the common law ; that the common law 
 was in existence in England before the introduction of Chris 
 tianity. If he has been successful, it is clear that the oaths 
 required under that law were not necessarily Christian oaths : 
 and if he failed, it would still not militate against the opinions 
 expressed in the text. 
 
 In England, even before the laws removing the disabilities of 
 
 the Jews, they were alloived to sit on juries ; they were sworn as 
 
 jurors ; the oath they took was administered according to their 
 
 own form of religious belief, and was never administered as a 
 
 Christian oath. It is so here. p. 78. 
 
 The remark of Bishop Hopkins, that the " idea of a jury of 
 Turks, Jews, or infidels, would be regarded in law as a pure ab 
 surdity," is not well founded certainly so far as the Jews are 
 concerned. Macaulay, in his article on the Civil Disabilities of 
 the Jews, speaks of it as a thing conceded that the Jew might 
 sit on a jury; and, in this country, no one has ever questioned 
 the competency of a Jew as a juror. Authorities concerning an 
 oath " in a Christian country" are conflicting. Some have gone 
 to the extent of intimating that an oath upon the Gospels is the 
 only form of oath recognized ; others, that an oath should be 
 administered according to the form of religious belief enter 
 tained by the witness. In a case which arose in 1742, before the 
 Lord Chancellor of England, assisted by two Chief Justices and 
 a Chief Baron, the Court admitted the testimony of Gentoo wit 
 nesses, who, according to their faith, before testifying, touched 
 the foot of the Brahmin or priest, and complied with other cer 
 emonies of their religion. The reader who is curious to trace 
 the legal doctrine of oaths, will find a full discussion of the sub 
 ject in the report of the case just alluded to. Omychund vs. 
 Barker, 1 Atkyn s Reports, 21. 
 
 These "servants" were slaves, and the passage should so have 
 been translated, p. 85. 
 
 It is needless to cite numerous authorities. Consult Dr. Kit- 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 209 
 
 to s Pictorial Bible, in loc. and his " Daily Bible Illustrations." 
 Seventh week, Saturday, title slaves. Fletcher in his Studies on 
 Slavery amply demonstrates the true meaning of the Hebrew 
 and Greek terms rendered ( servants to be slaves. 
 
 It will be enough for the purposes of Southern slavery if the 
 statutes ice have cited, and other citations made, establish that 
 slavery is not a malum in se, is not an absolute and universal 
 evil. p. 91. 
 
 Dr. Barnes has shrewdly shifted the issue. In the larger 
 part of his earliest work entitled " Scriptural Views of Slave 
 ry" a most sad misnomer, by the way ; it should have been 
 christened quite differently he argues as if it were incumbent 
 on the South to establish that slavery is an absolute and univer 
 sal good a bonum in se. He will hardly find contestants on 
 this proposition. What is a proper burden we will cheerfully 
 bear. We are prepared to prove, and we think our writers have 
 proven, that the Southern Slavery of this Union is not an evil. 
 If Dr. Barnes will meet this question fairly, he will find it not 
 so easy to maintain the affirmative side of the issue. We shall 
 not object to scriptural tests. We invite them in the enquiry. 
 
 As to the proposition announced in the text. Surely nothing 
 can be more clearly demonstrable than that if the Divine Au 
 thor has thus sanctioned slavery, it cannot be an absolute and 
 universal evil a moral wrong, per se. It will not do to object 
 to this argument that polygamy has also received the Divine 
 sanction, and that that is such an evil. Let such objectors first 
 prove that polygamy is such an evil is a sin, per se, and we 
 may then be prepared to admit the force of the objection. Fi 
 nite beings ought to hesitate, before charging an all-wise and 
 all-pure God with sanctioning or even tolerating iniquity. Any 
 hypothesis vindicating his wisdom and justice is preferable. 
 
 This duty of obedience does depend on the justice of the autho 
 rity which the master claims, p. 95. 
 
 A remark of Dr. Fuller in his Letters to Dr. Wayland. It 
 
210 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 need scarcely hare been made, and would not have been, had not 
 the truth it affirms been doubted. 
 
 The right to control one s services involves the right to bestoic 
 them upon others, unless, contemporaneously with the origination 
 of the former right, or subsequently to its origin, the latter right 
 has been ta7cen away. This has been in substance admitted 
 by one of the leaders of the anti-slavery hosts, p. 158. 
 
 Dr. Wayland, in his treatise on Moral Science, asserts this 
 doctrine in broad and distinct terms. While not agreeing with 
 him in the illustrative case he presents, we do agree with him 
 in the position he takes that the right of transfer is coextensive 
 with the right to enjoy. The passage alluded to reads thus : 
 "As the parent has supported the child during infancy, he 
 has, probably, by the law of nature, a right to his services du 
 ring youth, or for so long a period as may be sufficient to insure 
 an adequate remuneration. When, however, this remuneration 
 is received, the right of the parent over the child ceases for 
 ever. The right he may, if he see Jit, transfer to another, as in 
 the case of apprenticeship. But he can transfer the right for no 
 longer time than he holds it. He can, therefore, negotiate it 
 away for no period beyond that of the child s minority." Way- 
 land s Moral Science, Pt. ii., ch. i., 1., p. 205. 
 
 The author is right so far as the essential principle he asse rts is 
 concerned ; i. e., that the right of transfer is coextensive and only 
 coextensive with the right to enjoy; but he is unfortunate in his 
 illustration. It is a matter of grave doubt whether the right to ap 
 prentice the child is in any measure derived from the right to 
 the child s services which the parent may have or exercise. 
 Certainly the parent does not derive his right to the child s ser 
 vices as a remuneration for having supported him during infan 
 cy. If this were so, a parent who is at charges for the support 
 and education of his child during the entire period of his mi 
 nority, would be entitled to the child s services for a sufficient 
 length of time after he attains maturity to compensate the parent 
 
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 211 
 
 for the entire charges he had been at. This, in some instances, 
 would be equivalent to reducing the child to servitude for a 
 lifetime. This concession of Dr. W. might thus be converted 
 into an argument for enslaving the child ; but we think the 
 Doctor in error, and will not avail ourself of the concession. 
 It is, we think, clear that the duty of the parent to control the 
 child, and his obligation to provide for his child during infancy, 
 and dispose of his services during his minority, are all designed 
 for the advantage of the child, and not for the advantage of the 
 parent or as remunerative to him. In promoting the child s in 
 terest, the parent is at liberty either to instruct him himself or 
 to apprentice him to another. If this right to apprentice were 
 founded upon the right to the child s services as a remuneration 
 to the parent, in some instances the child before attaining matu 
 rity would have paid the debt, and the right to apprentice would 
 cease ; and in others, as already stated, the child would be sub 
 jected to the service of the father for the full period of life, and 
 the father, in such case, could dispose of his services to the full 
 end of the term. This would be unpalatable truth to Dr. Way- 
 land. Does not the truth fall here ? The relation of parent and 
 child is a relation established by the Divine Being, the recipro 
 cal duties of both parties to which relation are set forth in his 
 written Word. They are, on the one hand, filial obedience, con 
 fidence, and reverence ; on the other, paternal affection, over 
 sight, and protection. In the discharge of these duties, it is 
 incumbent on the child to submit himself to the superior wisdom 
 and experience of the parent ; and, on the other hand, it is in 
 cumbent on the parent to exercise for his child an affectionate 
 watchcare, to provide for his nurture, and to control him for his 
 advantage and best good. How very different the doctrines of 
 the Bible and the teachings of moral science ! The one resolves 
 the problem of the parental and filial relation by a simple reci 
 tal of what is necessary to be done by each party to the rela 
 tion in order to secure the best good of both parent and child ; 
 the other, not content with this, in its effort to search out the 
 
212 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 reason for the controlling power of the father, attributes it to 
 one of the mere accidents of the relation itself the charges the 
 parent is at in the support of the child the right of the parent 
 to be remunerated for these. If this be true, the obligation of 
 the scriptural injunction to the child to honor his father, and the 
 duty of the parent toward his offspring, are mere matters of dol 
 lars and cents ; and when the debt of the child is cancelled, the 
 control of the father and the obedience of the child would right 
 fully cease ! 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 On page 13, line 27, read three in lieu of four. 
 On page 193, line 13, read his in lieu of to. 
 On page 193, line 14, read to in lieu of or. 
 
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