THE OREGON ARGUS.
rVILISIIKD IVIM SATURDAY MORNING,
. BY WILLIAM L. ADAMS.
ADVKIITWINO UATKS.
On aquar (IK line or liw) one insertion, JJliO
" " two Innerlions, 4,!Mr
" " llm-v innru.nK, fl.Uir
Each suhariuent iuwiUon, 1,00
Reasonable deductions to tlM who advertise by
tho year.
JOB PRINTING.
Tin rRoraiETOR or the ARGUS n nmr
! Inform the public that ho liaus just received a
large stock of JUU TYPE and other new print
ing material, and will be In tho speedy renript of
addition suited to all the requirement ef this le.
eality. UANPKILLH, PONTKItH, HLANKfl,
CAUD8. CIIWJi; LAKH, PAMP1ILKT-WORK
TERMS Thi A rods vill it furnished at
. Thru Dollart and fifty Cent! per annum, in
" advance, ta tingle eubtcribert Three Dollart
tack ta clubi ef ten at one ojictin advance.
When tht money it not paid in advance, Four
' Dollart will he chArged if paid within tix
mourn, ana rite uoiiart at the end of the year,
0T Twa Dollar! for tix months No tubterip-
tione rerewed for a leu period,
fjf No paper diteontinued until all arrearages
Vol. III.
OREGON CITY, OREGON, NOVEMBER 21, 1857.
No. 02
are paid, unlets at tut option of the publisher.
and other kiuds, dune to order, on short notice.
influx (f(fV
VCJyJl W IV, IVy llll IVJJ II fL Vl vll- fill ivtt7-Jj
r ........ sr
A Weekly .Newspaper, devoted to the JL nnciples ot Jeilersoninn Democracy, and advocating the sido 01 Irutu m every wsue.
BUSINESS CARDS.
W. T. HATIAC!.
W. 0. JOHNSON,
Matlock &, Johnson,
ATTOnXEYfl Sc COUNSELORS AT LAW,
And Solicitors in Chancery,
WILL promptly attend to any business which
may bo committed to their professional
charge before the District and Supreme Court.
Glliee in Highfluld building, iuiniediaUily op
posite ma maw nireet iiouie.
Oregon City, March 7, 1857. 47y
H. . Barnott,
ATTORNEY k COUNSELOR AT LAW,
And Solicitor in Chancery,
BETHEL, I'OLK COUNTY, OREGON.
JOHN R. M'BRIDE,
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW,
Lafayette, Yamhill County, 0. T.,
WILL fuilhfully attend to all busines en
triuted to his professional care.
Wo, 0. Dement tit Co.,
WHOLESALE and rotail Dealure in Grocor
ie, 1'ruviiiiuni, Paint, C)il, lioota and
Shoe, Cnickery, He. Oppoaite the Land Office,
Alain bu urcgon City. June 1, 1855.
CHARLES POPE, JR.,
DEALER in Hardware, Grocerim, Dry Goods,
Clolliiug, Boot 4 8hovt, Medicine, Book
and Stationery.
Main-t., Oregon City, April 21, 1857-Itf
CCO. AIUillXETIIY & Co.,
MERCHANTS,
OREGON CITY, O. T.
Abornethy, Clark 6t Co.,
COMMISSION AND FORWARDING MERCHANTS,
Sun Francisco, Cal.,
Will alti-nd to selling Oregon produce, and fill or
der for Good, Grorerka, itc, at the lowest rate,
, The patronage of the people of Oregon ia re
epcctfully solicited. Aug. 3.
33. IMilwain,
, Manufacturer, Whole tale and Retail Dealer in
COOK AND PARLOR STOVES,
TrN L corrER ware, hardware, ac,
MainSt., oppoaite Main Street Hotel,
OREGON CITY, O. T.
Steamboat aud jobbiug work attended to with
dispatch.
Order from the country promptly filled. je7
Time.
ttt v iitr.Tir.'i v.r. n
VV. watch-maker, gj
Persona desirous of getting good work done will
do well to give me a call, aa my whole time ia de
voted to the requiring of Chronometer, Lever,
implex, aud llonzuntul wutohci.
An assortment of Jewelry on hand.
jewelry mane 10 oraer, mm repaired.
Price to auit the time. I am thankful for naat
favors, and hope to give satisfaction in future.
IT Located at the old atand, opposite tlio Tel
egraph Office, OREGON CITY. Feb. 2.
7 Drug's, Medicines, Faints, Oils,
lf and Dye-stuffs.
at the OUIiGON CITY DltUG STORE,
wil5 . Main Street, Oregon City, O.T.
JOHN P. BROOKS,
lVAolcWe ij- Retail Dealer in Groceries, Produce,
Provisions, de.( Main Street.
A General Assortment kept up of Selected Goods
Cnuemuh, March 28, 1857.
GUN SMITHING.
EEING permanently located in Oregon City.
I am prepared to carry on the businesa of
UUN-SMIT111NG
JN ALL ITS BRANCHES.
Those who favor me with their patronage, may
expect to have their work done right.
Those who leave 0 UNS al my Shop for
repairs, and do not cull , for them within nim
months of the time set for the work to be dune,
may expect to have them sold to pay charges.
FEKDIXAND WILDE.
: June 27, 1857. llmlfl
, Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express,
Between Oregon, California, the Atlantic
Siates ani Europe,
. .jjtv HAVING made advantageous
FjSijr-i arrangementa with the United
SMda SUtea aud Pacific Mail Steam
ship Companies for tionspnrtation, we are now pre
pared to forward Gold Dust, Bullion, Specie,
Package!, Parcels, and Freight, to and from N
York, N. Orleans, Sun Francisco, Portland, aud
principal towns of California and Oregon.
Our regular Semi-mouthly Express between
Portland and San Francisco, ia dispatched by the
Pacific Mail Sleumship Co.'s steamship Columbia,
connecting at Sun Francisco with our semi-monthly
Express to New York and New Orleans, which
is dispatched regularly on the 1st and I6U1 of each
month, by the mail steamers and in charge of our
own messengers, through to destination.
Our Express from JS'ew York leaves regularly
en the 5th and 20lh of each month, also in charge
of messengers.
Treasure insured in the best ew York com
panies, or at Lloyd' in London, at the option of
shinnore. ;
OmcEs New Yoik, No. 1G, Wallst.j New
Orleans, No. 11, Exchange pluce; Sau Francisco,
Ho. 114, Montgomery street.
A. II. STEELE, .Aeni.
Oregon City, April 31, 1857-ltf
" Beading for ti;011- '
S.J. McCORMICK
OAI CONSTAKTLT ON BAND AT THE FRANK UN 1001
STORE, FRONT-BT, PORTLAND, OREOON,
A Choice selection of Popular Books, News
papers, Magazine and Fancy ftatlonery.
' Among the book on hand will be found work
an Temperance, Agriculture, Horticulture, His
tory, Poetry, Hiography, Medicinea, Religion,
Science, School Book, Romance, Vo., ate, &.C.
HXSubaeripliona received for Harper, Graham,
Godey, Lealie'a, or Putnam, at $4 year,po
age free.
... ICT Subscription received for any newspaper
published in any part of the Union.
Remember the Franklin Book Store and Newt
paper Agency, Front street, Portland Oregon.
tJTA priced catalogue will be published early
in April, and will be seut to any part of the terri
tory free on application.
Oregon Lodge Jo. 3, I. O. O.
MEETS at their Hall over the Oregon City
Drag Store every Wedaeaday evening at
7 o'clock. Brethren in good etanding are invited
tovia.t FRED. CHAUMAN, N. G.
. George Pease, Sec'y. 31
TEMPLE OF nON'OR. Tualatin Temple rf
Honor, TH. 1, meet on the 1 at and 3d Fri
day eveningitof each month at 6J o'clock, at Tem
perance Hail, Forest Grove, Oregon.
Mtmbeta of the Order ia good standing an in
vited to visit this Temple.
K. W. DIX02T.W.C.T.
M- Tcttie, W. R, . . 33
Rescue of three more Hurvlvora of Ibe
Central America, after being Eight iays
and Twenty Hours without I'ood or
Urlnkt
NARRATIVE OP MU. TICK.
Within half an hour before the Central
America tank it been mo evident to all on
board that their efforts at bailing and
pumping were unavailing, and Mr. Tice,
with ethers, betook himself to the deck.
Capt. Ilurndon was then on the hurricane
deck, and he saw him but a few moments
before the steamer sank. Mr. Tice at nce
looked about him to secure some means of
saving his life, after the catastrophe should
take place. lie found a board of an inch
and a half in thickness and about ten feet
long, and with it he. took his stand on the
hurricane deck, near the stern of the steam
er, lie had been there but a few mo
ments when the stern began to sink rapid
ly, and as the deck sank near to the sur
face, ho sprang with his board into the wat
er struck vigorously out from the sink
ing vessel, and when about forty feet dis
tant, La saw the waves closing over the
bow. He was sufficiently remote from
the steamer when she sank, so that he was
not carried under. In a moment the boil
ing surface of the sea was Cited with the
debris of the wreck, and grasping for them
were scores of human beings, still hoping
that they might yet be rescued from an
impending fute. Resting his chest across
the center of the board, Mr. Tice swam to
the leeward, and though near ta others
who wero struggling in the waves, they
were sustained on pieces of wreck and did
not attempt to share his board with him,
Soon after the aleamer sank, he discover
ed the lights of a vessel in the distance,
which he supposed to belong either to the
bark Marine or the schooner El Dorado
which they had spoken a short time before
the catastrophe. They were to the lee
ward of him, and he continued swimming
in that direction, in hopes to reach the
vessel ; . but, with the disappearaace ofj
the lights, about 9 or 10 o'clock he ceaj
rd his efforts. . An hour er two later he
again discovered lights, and this time much
nearer him. In a few moments he was
able to distinguish the hull of a vessel
bearing directly toward him. His hopes
were raised, and he was confident that he
would soon be discovered and rescued.
But, when only a quarter of a mile dis.
tance from him, tho vessel a bark the
Norwegian bark Ellen altered her
course, and kept off, and subsequently her
hull and lights disappeared while she was
apparently sailing off in a fine breeze.
During the remainder .of the night he en
countered seven persons, who, like himself,
were drifting about on fragments of the
wreck or boards, and in some instances he
hailed them. In one case, the gentleman,
a passenger, told Mr. Tice his came, which
he is now unable to remember. Another
said Unit he bad seen the purser ef the
steamer but a short time before, floating on
baurd, and the belief was expressed that
ho was yet alive. A heavy sea continued
to roll during the night and following day.
Sunday morning dawned upon Mr.
Tice with little to encourage him to hope.
The bark became visible, but she was
standing off, and by 11 o'clock had sunk
below the horizon. The day, however,
was fine; the sun shone brightly, but be
fore meridian the heat became powerful.
But despondency was no part of his na
ture. Despite of the drearv prospect of
is rescue, he resolved to struggle for life.
Sunday night came, nod for another ten
ours he wa buffeted by the still heavy
waves amid the darkness. But his fatigue
was too much fur him to overcome, and
often during the night his head would drop
on his breast while in an involuntary doze,
and he would suddenly awaken with his
hand's instinctively grasping the plank,
which alone bore his hopes for the future.
But, beside his sufferings from exposure
to the waves and the beat, thirst and hun
ger aaued tueir influence to render mi
situation the more desparate. The gnaw-
ingsof hungef were severe, but his thirst
was terrible, ttw ?osilion WM a fearfuI
realization f the words :
" Water, water, all around,
But not a drop to drink."
Monday morning dawned without the
presence of anything to cheer his hepes.
Occasionally fragments of the wreck, drift
iug in the Gulf Stream, would be lifted
by the waves into view ; and anon an in
flated life-preserver would dance over the
summit of wave amid the white caps,
and in a moment disappear. The sun set
while he was yet tossing on the waves, bat
with a spirit unbroken which was yet to
suffer severer trials than he Lad yet expe
riencedha still clung to Lis plank
throughout the night, little expecting that
the dawn of the morrow was to waft to
him a means that would bnoy him above
the waves until Providence should snatch
him from the very jaws of death.
About 9 o'clock on Tuesday morning,
after floating with his plaak fer sixty -one
hours, be descried a boat at the distant of
two or three miles, and without knowing
certainly what it was, furthor than that it
seemed to afford a better means of lut -
laining himself than his plank, changtd
his position, resting Lis body on tho end ofj
tho plank, and swam in the direction of.
the object. . The wind in the moan lime
had become light, and the sea smoother.
and he was able to make some progress
ia his swimming. Betwetn 12 and
o'clock he reached the object ho sought
one of the wooden life-boats of the Cen
tral America, half filled with water. He
grasped its side, and in a moment bad
raised himself over the guard. In it he
found three oars, a pan, a pail, and three
old coats. With the pail Le soon bailed
out tht boat. One of the coats he fasten
ed oa an oar as a signal, and then placed
the oar upright in the bow of tho boat.
lie scanned the horizon, but not a sail was
to be seen. ' His thirst, too, was increasing,
but he resisted the temptation of weaker
minds, to drink of the salt water, knowing
its fatal consequences. As the pieces of
the wreck drifted past he watched them
closely to jt if they would afford him
any relief. For a moment his hopes ral
lied. A few yards distant ho thought he
discovered a wicker flask floating on the
swell. He sculled to it and secured it,
only, however, to be disappointed for the
cork had become loosened, and in place of
anything to slake his furious thirst was a
fow spoonfuls of tall water. ' Night came
upon the wanderer, and, exhausted, he foil
into an unquiet sleep, which continued till
near morning.
With the dawn of Wednesday, Mr
Tice saw only sea and sky, and all day he
had to encounter the ragings of Lunger
and thirst and the discomforts of a Lot aun,
and the night only afforded him the relief
of a disturbud doze.
But Thursday, if it afforded ao relief
for bodily suffering, rolieved his mind
from the monotony of his position. About
9 o'clock he discovered something in the
distance. He lock an oar and sculled in
that direction, and as he approached it he
saw it was apiece of the wreck, on which
were two men. When within a mile of
them, cue jumped overboard and swam to
the boat, and about 11 o'clock Mr. Tice
holped him in. He proved to be Alexan
der Grant, one of the firemen of the steam
er, who had beon nearly five days floating
about an a piece of the hurricano deck.
The two then rowed to the piece of the
wreck and took on board George W. Daw-
son, a colored man who was a passenger
from California by the Sonora and Central
America, They left the dead body of a
passenger on the piece of deck as they
departed. That day and night they were
drifted along by the wind and current-
After having briefly related their experi
ences since the sinking of the vessel, thoy
full into silence, only occasionally broken
by a suggestion which some one might
make as to the prospect of thoir rescue.
Friday and Saturday brought with them
no hopes of succor. They had ceased to
hunger, but their desire for water knew
no bounds. But, with a confident belief
that they would not long remain thus,
they mutually encouraged each other;
and having passed a week since the steam
er sank in the midst of scenes which
would make any but the stoutest hearl des
pair, they entered upon the eighth day of
their experience, and the night settled up
on them with a dim hepe of rescue on the
morrow.
On Sunday morning their hopes were
cheered. About 1 1 o'clock a sail was seen
in the north-east, standing for tht south.
They seized their oars and pulled for the
vessel a fore and aft schooner and when
nearest her, she was not more than two
miles distant. But the distance began to
iucrease, and in two or three hours from
the time they wera overjoyed at her ap
pearance, she was out of their sight, and
once more their spirits, for a moment so
buoyant, relaxed, and for a time a feeling
of despair followed.
Daylight on Monday morning showed
nothing to encaurage hope. But for tbt
first tirat in ovtr eight days their thirst for
water was to be slaked. A brisk shower
of rain began to fall, and while the pail
and pan were used to catch a few spoon
fulls, they opened their mouths for the
few scattered drops that chanced to fall
spon their parched and swollen tongues.
They caught ia the pan and pail about a
quart of water, but so great were their
physical sufferings that the water afforded
them no immediate relief. Eut another
and greater hope was now to be realized
than their desire for water. Hardly had
they drank tho hut drop which Lad been
thus showered upon them, when tht show,
cr passed over them, and a few miles dis
tant they taw a brig steering directly to
ward them, before a light breeze. Soon
her topsails were unfurled and set, and she
came toward them more rapidly. Grant
and Dawson took tho oars and commenced
, to row, Tbejr wcrf aJI teakeaetl from
suffering, and it ii doubtful whether their
efforts ware of much avail in moving the
iboat. But it was a struggle for lifo a last
effort to save their lives if llioy fulled
now, nothing but despair was led them.
But they were seen a hail from the brig
was wafted over the waves lo their ears ;
they pulled more manfully and with renew
ed vigor toward their savior. In a mo.
ment the boat was near the vetsel'i side,
a line was thrown out and caught by the
maciattd survivors in the boat, which wot
quickly along sido, and in a few moments
bowlines wereaboat their farms, and they
were upon the deck, eight day and twen
ty hours after the sinking of tho steamer.
They found themselves on beard tho
British brig Mary, Capt. Shearer, of Green
nock, Scotland, from Cardenas to Cork.
Capt. Shearer had made preparations to
receive tho sufferers when he discovered
them. After taking them into the cabin,
he removed their clothing and gave them
a sip of wine, and afterward water and
gruel, gradually increasing the amount
from time to time until their hunger and
thirst were satis6ed.
For ikt Argus.
The Bible and Slavery.
Mr. Editor No crime, however mon
strous in itself, but finds its apologies, and
no wrong, however plain, but finds somo
justification.
And it seems that goncrally in propor
tion to the magnitude of tht wrong or
crime if defended at nil the more un
blushing and impudent are its attempts to
fortify its turpitude. This seoraincly
strange fact will account for that which
perhaps creates ordinarily the greatest sur
prise in the human mind, when we witness
the blackest crimes and most indefensible
outrages against right and justice dnfended
upon appeals to the highest and holiest
sources recognized by men J and the Bible
and religion have, as necessity required,
been made to cover them not only with (he
" mantle of charity," but with the sanction
of their prcoepts and the smiles ot their
approbation.
And it icems that whenever a wrong be
comes so utterly indefensible that all other
apologies fail, its perpetrators turn as a last
resort to the temple of religion and tho
pages of the Bible. Did pagans in the
early ages of Christinnity need a justifica
tien for torturing and martyring their fcl-
low-men, they pointed lo the necessity for
sustaining religion 1 Did Mahomet require
an excuse for desolating whole countries
with fire and sword, he found it in religion 1
Did an ignorant and superstitious clergy
desire to perpetuate their power by hin
deringlhe spread of intelligence, and de.
riying the truths of science when they sent
a Galileo to prison for developing them lo
the world, it was all done in the name of
religion 1 Did a bloody Mary and a re.
vengeful Elizabeth drag their powerless
enemies to the stake and the scaffold, even
in liberty-loving England, to gratify their
spite, malignity, and hate, it was done for
the preservation of religion I Did tho
Spanish fionds of South Amorica turp its
sunny fields and happy natives into bloody
wastes and woo-strickea captives bathed
in human gore and scourged in chains and
slavery, the heathen must be converted
from the superstition of paganism to the
service of the Virgin and the acknowledg
ment of religion I Does a Brigham Young
seek for excuses for the gratification of
the basest animalism and crossost licen
tiousness, we are pointed to the proofs of
tho righteousness of polygamy drawn from
the Bible 1 Does the defender of American
slavery seek to justify himself for seeking
to extend an institution that robs man of
those rights dearest to tho human heart
tho right to judge of and pursue the means
best calculated to make each individual
happy or, in oiher words, the right to
liberty that converts the subject into a
brnte denying him the means of intelli
gence or the stimulus to improvement
recognizing no law of social relations
not even that of husband and wife as
applicable to him that makes the slave
holder by habit and by necessity a tyrant,
unmerciful, cruel, and inhuman that fills
the land where it reigns with ignorance
and incontinence curses the soil with
barrenness and sterility, and spreads dis
trust and dread (knowing they have a class
who wait only an opportunity and power to
take revenge, in their midst) are, I re.
peat, these monstrous wrongs to be de
fended, tht advocate flourishes in his hand
a gilt-edged book with the imposing title,
"Holy Bible," and dares Lis opponent to
the contest I Yes ! melancholy and lam
entable as may be this truth, to the honor
of the Bible for having secured such an
ascendency over the minds of men that
wrongs not justified by conscience and rea
son find palliation through faith, and to
the dishonor of men who would pervert its
precepts and disgrace its mission it is true
that no crime in the calendar hat failed to
attempt hi dftnst from this lofty authority.
Many a humane slaveholder has, no
doubt, after lacerating tho quivering flesh
of a (lisobtdiutit slave till Lit own Land
uavo been stained with the culprit's blood
during the day, goue to Lit evening rest,
driving the revolting spectacle from his
mind, quieting tho risings of cocscitnce
aud tho upbraidings of humanity by recall
ing tho words, "Servants obey your mot'
tors," and " Ye shall take them as an in
htrilance for you and your children after
you, to inherit thorn forH possession J they
shall be your boudimen forever," and
" That servant which knew his lord's will,
and prepared not Litnsolf, neither did Re
cording to his will, shall be beaten with
many stripes." W hat a consoling balm to
the remorseful conscience of the slave
holder whose necessities made him cruel,
when the above came to drive away bitter
reflections upon the system of slavery I
It would be almost a pity to tleprivo him of
the consolations which theso quotations
carry to men iu inch circumstances but
justice to truth, justico to humanity, and,
above all, justice to that Bible which is
perverted to tht upholding and perpetuity
of one of tht most giant tvilt that finds a
congenial heme on this depraved earth, re
quire that it should be dene.
You will, of course, percoivo that I have
been a long time coining to the point, but
these preliminary lefleotious naturally aug-
gestod themselves aa an exordium, and I
find it difficult lo abridge them, much as I
appreciate the value of space in your col
umns.
And now, 1st. We are teld by ' A mom.
berof the Christian Church,' through the
Occidental, that " Slavery is a Bible prin
ciple"; that is, American slavery is a Bi
ble principle : for, although Le does not
so say, his whole argument is to prove that
point. To prove that slavery is a Bible
principle, he tries to show that slavery ex
isted under the Jewish theocracy and the
result of his attempt is proof thai there
were servants and bondmen that the ser
vants (the Hebrews) went freo the soventh
year (a slavery about as much like tbtsys.
tern ef African slavery which this writer
is attempting by this example to prove
"right" in itsolf, as my entoring into
contract with my noighbor to do a piece of
work which would occupy ma for tho same
length of time is like it, and no more so)
'. e., if a Hebrew owed a brother, and was
unable to pay, Lo might take Lim legally
for seven years to make his debt out tf him
by his labor but no matter if this labor
was insufficient for tho debt, he went frea at
the end of seven years. This is analogous
to tho old law of these States which al.
lowed a creditor to cast his debtor in pris
on, leaving him there till the debt was
paid. And by tho statute of limitations,
if the debt was not paid within six years,
it was discharged ; and yet where is the
man who is such a fool in Lis furious fa
naticism for slavery as to think of trying
to prove it "right in itself" by comparing
our old law of imprisonment for dubt and
the creditor losing his remedy in six years,
with the existing system of Amorioan sla
very ? And I have no doubt but any man
would prefer the Jewish sorvicc, with the
treatment which the law coinpolled the
master to bestow, to being imprisoned tht
same length of time. Thus it was a more
legal remody fur the recovery of a debt
and one milder than has been in practice
even as late as tho nineteenth century.
And this is Bible proof that Amorioan
slavery "is right in itself and neither a
national nor a moral evil" 1 And even tho
rtmedial laws just referred to have bten
repealed as a disgrace to the age. It is a
pity that "men become so fanatical as to
lose sight of truth and things that are self
cvidont" 1
But, says sur friend the advocate of
"slavory as a Biblo principle," uudor cor.
tain conditions Le was to servo Lis master
" forever." But, my friend, does the word
"forever" hore used mean perpetual servi
tude f or does it mean only for a time spe
cified and well understood ! All must ad
mit that it canaot be taken in its literal
sense, or for all lime its literal meaning ;
that would, make him a servant for all
time the literal meaning of "forever"
when he at most could only be a servant
during tho balance of his life. In constru
ing tho Bible, we ought to so construe it as
to makt it harmonize and when wt learn
by tht laws that God gave the Jews that a
jubilee was proclaimed throughout all the
land every fiftieth year, applying to all
classes held in servitude, whether as ser
vants or bondmen, who had been bought of
the heathen, the difficulty as to the mean
ing of the word 14 forever" vanishes. To
say that a man might have been, kept in.
servitude for all time nnder the Jewish
law, is therefore untrue. No Cjass, even
the bondmen, could be kept in servitude
longer than fifty years, Hence the con.
struction that the word " forever" means
till the year of jubilee next proclaimed
throughout tht land becomes irresistible.
To say that a system of servitude which
Msually lasted six, but never mor than fifty
years, which Lad its origin as a remody for
a debt and net in the mere superiority ,i
tho master, establishes that American sla
very, which dooms its subjects and their
posterity to perpetual slavery, forbids
them any lawful sanction to the rights of
marriage, places them completely at the
masters disposal, knows them only as
property, forbids them the meant of en
lightenment and improvement ii in any
just sen so right, is about as logical as to
say that two and three make ten. " Any
mind possessing any balance at all can see"
uch an argument springs from a '' badly
balanctd mind" as well as a badly culti
vated hoart. Suppose, my friend, that the
law of American slavery was abolished,
and the Jewish code of servitude instituted
In iti place. By that code, bondmen
bought tf tho heathen who became con
verted went free tin seventh year. " Six
years shall he serve, and in the soventh Le
hull go out free fur nothing." Vastly
like American slavery, is it not t
Again, for the emancipation of the hta.
then who remained uuconvtrted bondmeo,
it is said, Lev. zxv. 10, "Ye shall hallow
the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty
throughout alt the land unto all the in
habitants TitP.BEOF." This bears a Luge
reseinblunco to tho statute of South Caro
lina : " Slaves oliull be deemed, held, ta
ken, reputed, and adjudgod in law to be
chattels personul in the Lauds of their
owners and possessors, to nil intents, con
structions, and purposes whatsoever"; and
the constitution of Arkansas: "The Le
gislature shall Lave no power to past laws
emancipating slaves"! The Jewish law
emancipated all the fiftioth year; ours
makes their slavery eternal. Tht Jewish
law would in fifty years free every slave
on American soil ; and yet we are todl
"slavery ia of Divine sanction." The
Jowish law protected the person of the
slave, and the lost of an eyt or a tooth ict
him free. American law, at expounded
by one of the ablest judgei who over eat
in the forum, Chief Justico Ruffin of North
Carolina, is, "The power of the master
must bt absolate the submission ef the
slavo perfect."
By the Jewish law, if toe slave ran away
all were strictly forbidden to catch him,
American law calls upon all citizens to as
Hist iu oatching him ; and, as if human
aid were not enough, the fierce and mer.
cileas bloodhound is trainod to track the
flying fugitive from cruolty, oppression,
and wrong. By the Jewish law, more
than ont third of his time was at his own
disposal ; by our law not a single breath
that he draws is his own all is his mas
tcr's. By the Jewish law, kidnapping was
punished with death; American law, by
the efforts of such mon as Washington,
Madison, Adams, Monroe, Jefferson, and
Franklin, is made to brand the taking them
from thoir native land as piracy one in
stance whtre our law is in advance of the
Mosaic, for that permitted them to buy of
the heathen. Such is Bible and such Am
erican slavery. One destroyed, the other
porpotuates slavory forever. The opera
tions of one found the province of Judea at
the coming of Christ without a single
slave, so far as we are informed ; tho other
encourages, protiels, maintains, and ex
tends the institution by all tht -.auctions of
its authority. To make the Bible sustain
such a system as the latter because the for
mer was permitted, is simply absurd.
But admit, for the sako of argument,
that the Hebrews had slaves does that
make it right to have slaves now! God
permitted Abraham to have more than out)
wife J is polygamy therefore right I God,
in forming the government fot his chosen
nation, united church and statt j Is that
therefore right ! God gavo them a king
to rulo thorn ; Is a monarchy therefore
right! God said that for every iniquity
which shall be established against another,
it shall be at the mouth of two or three
witnesses; shall tht folon Jhertfore now go
unwhipt ef jnstice becaust there is only
one witnosi to testify to his guilt I God
told his people whenever they took a city
of their enemies', they shtulJ put all tho
males to death is the murder of disarmed
defenseless prisoners therefore right!
God told Saul to "smite Amalrk and ut
terly destroy all that they Lave, and spare
tbetn not, but slay both man and woman t
infant and suckling, ox and sheep, or.m
and ass;" is such inhuman butchery
therefore right! Alas! alas I far the hu
man reason that can bo guVlcd by such,
puerile sophistry to accept such a mon-.
sftus wrong for a divine institution.
What is a slave! " A slave is a ptrson
who is the absolute property and under tho
absolute control of another, doomed in bia
own person and that of his posterity to
live without knowledge and without the
capacity to make anything his own, and
to toil that another may reap the fruits."
Set opinion of Judge Ruffin in case of N
Carolina vs. Mann, 2d Dtvereauj Reports,
pore 263. . -
Such is the definition by an apright,jus
llaveholdiBg judgt, and it, well accords.-