Letters From The South

Extraéis ironiTo you who have been accustomcd to consider the subject of a la ver}' in Us varioU3 relations, it will not seem paradoxical to eay, that slavcry, if not the parent, is the foster mother, of nullifieation - iu oiher words, of resistance to the lawful nuthority. The master feels that h3 will is'unrestrained and paramountj the community of masters is equally unyilling tayield to any extraneous influer.ce. ïhis principie - firsí shows itself in the family. The child, accustomed to unqueslioning obedicnce frora the servants to every expression of its wül, soon becomes irapatient of restraint from its pa" renta, and at an early age practically nullifies every unpleasant requisition. Henee it is much more diüicult at the South than at tho North, to govern the young men vho are assembled in colleges. Restraint and law, even as exerled in the genlle authority of these seminaries, are things to which the chivalrous sons of the South are very unwilüngtosubmit; andoften would the facuUy of some Northern colleges have been gratified if it had been in tlieir power to re'ceive a student from the south of Maeon and Dixon's line. Agemleman j in üaitinsore who had thought seriously upon this subject, once told me that he should edúcate h3 son at Yale College, because he was afraid to send him to a college in Virginia. And the recent murder by a student, of a professor in one of those institutions, considered in connection with the attendant circumstances, speaks with fearful emphasis as to the reasonableness oí his fcars. Submission to lawful authority is certainly viewed in a very different light at the Ñorth and the South. This submission, by disciplining the character, and by subduing the fierce and lawless passions wliicli are natural to depraved man, is there regarded by every man of intelligence, as the instrument of some of the graatest blessings which accompany the progressof civilization. Here it is thought by a large part cf the community that to suhnit to any thing, stamps a man with disgrace. And these opposing principies are carricd out very fúlly into appropriate actioa. In New-Ëngland forcible resistance to a civil process, would ruin any man in the view of the public; while almost every newspaper will inform you how frequently this takes place in some parte of the Southern country, - not unacompanied, in many instances, by iCivery man acquainted with Soutliern ' society is well avvare that slavery, in its I various bearings, is eminently fitted to ' troy nurity of mind in all classes exposed V to its influer.ce, and that particularly it fords to young men an opportunity of ' restrained induigence, which can hardly ' fail to be ruinous, in a very great nutnber ! of cases, to their mwral characler. Bul th3 subject, while it cannot be overlooked in examining the various bearings of i very, is one which I do not consider it i ful to discuss at lengtb. It is hardly l cesssary to remark, that without moral - rity no raan, and no community of men, can bü usefuLor happy in this world, or can be acceptable to God. It follows irresistibly iïom the view of the subject which Í have taken, I lect and superficial as it is, that religión I and slavery are antagonist principies. Not t wishing to express an opinión on the tion, whether slavery is in every case demned by the gospel, nor indeed upon l 'be moral character of the system at all, i I think there can be Iittle doubt in the L tnind of any man either of the North or l the South, that the fruit3 of slavery are f not "the fruits of the Spirit." It ia true, i that there are many persons through the J 3outhern country who profess the religión c ïf the gospel; but it is equally true that t 'he number in proportion to the wholo t 'ation is much smaller than at the North. c nd while I rejoice to say that many in r Lbeír habitual course of life give i wy eyidence of piety, I am compelled to s idd, that with respect to many there is s Roat rcaaon to doubt the genuineness of ftheir religious profession, even aiter making all reasonable allowance for the circumstances in which they are placed, anc the general tone of morality in the com munity. Religión contends with great dis advantages, when opposed by theinflucn ces I have mentioned.