Part 24
SIR:--On the night of the 9th of June, 1856, you held forth in the Court-House in Charleston, Mo., taking myself, _Rev. Josiah McCrary_, the Methodist stationed preacher of that town, and Methodists generally, for your text. It would seem that the _touch_ I gave you, and a letter of mine read before a large congregation in Charleston, on Sabbath evening, June 8th, _have fully developed all the latent blackguardism of your early training and corrupt nature_! I will now place the record of your _infamy_ before the world in such a permanent form, and circulate it so extensively, that your low Billingsgate and vile blackguardism can never harm any man or sect. I will make such a showing of you that no persons of refined feelings or of any pride of character will hear you preach or entertain you in future! I will remind many readers of the showing up of your infamous character and conduct, by the editor of the Louisville Journal, ten or twelve years ago, and of the exposure of your villainous conduct by the _Rev. Mr. McNutt_, of Kentucky, through the Nashville Advocate, some eight or nine years ago.
I will only add the following article from my paper of the 21st June, 1856, as it completes your record, so far as Tennessee is concerned. I will only add, that you were driven out of McMinn County in East Tennessee, where you were preaching, lying, and drinking whiskey, years ago. There and then, too, the records of the Sullivan County affair, certified to by the Clerk, were produced against you! But to the article from my late paper:
STEPHEN TRIBBLE AGAIN.
This old hypocrite and scoundrel has been denying in the pulpit that he was ever convicted of manslaughter or branded! It turns out, also, that the old villain once joined the American party in West Tennessee! And last, but not least, it seems that he was turned out of both the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches before he became a Campbellite preacher. A pretty disciple to be abusing honest men! But to the law and to the testimony:
"ROANE COUNTY, June 3d, 1856.
"SIR:--In your issue of the 14th of May, you notice _Stephen Tribble_, and ask for information concerning him. He came to the lower end of Roane county from one of the upper counties of East Tennessee, and passed himself for an Arian preacher. I objected to his preaching in a meeting-house, and came near getting myself into a scrape. About that time a gentleman came from our upper country, and said he had seen his father apply the branding-iron to Tribble, and the smoke rose ten feet high! I then began to play on a harp of one string against him, and that was _a tribble_, whereupon he left between two days for Kentucky! He was once expelled from the Methodist Church, and afterwards he was expelled from the Presbyterian Church. If Tribble disputes what I say, all I ask is a chance to prove it. I live ten miles south of Kingston, near Barnardsville. Yours truly,
"JOHN BLAIR."
* * * * *
"PARIS, TENN., June 6th, 1856.
"DEAR SIR:--I see in a late issue of yours that you are after a Reverend wolf, Stephen Tribble. I am personally acquainted with him, as I lived in Sullivan county when he was in the Blountville jail. I have heard him preach here, and deny from the stand ever having been in jail, when he and I had talked the whole matter over the day before. He is now about forty-eight years of age--has a scar on his cheek. He preached here monthly in 1846, and here it was that he joined the American party. He now resides either in Graves or Fulton county, Kentucky. One of his brothers told me last week that he now preaches at one point in Kentucky, and the rest of his time in Missouri. One of their preachers told me that he gets drunk and cuts up largely. Yours, with respect,
"A. J. HICKS."
To the foregoing letters we add a certified copy of the records of the Circuit Court of Sullivan county, and after this we shall leave this _old clerical debauchee_ to preach for such Sag Nichts as may feel edified by his ministry:
"MONDAY, Sept. 24, 1827.
"State of Tennessee, First Circuit, Sullivan County Court: met according to adjournment. Present, Honorable Samuel Powell, Judge, &c."
"FRIDAY, Sept. 28, 1827.
"STATE _vs._ STEPHEN TRIBBLE AND JOHN TRIBBLE.
"In this cause, the jury having retired yesterday to consider of their verdict, under the care of an officer, and the same jury, to wit: James Steele, Wm. Morgan, Joshua Miller, John Thomas, Wm. Hashman, John Wassum, Thomas Brown, Stephen B. Cawood, John K. Arnold, Thomas Fain, William Hughes, and William H. Biggs, returning to the bar, do say, they find the defendants not guilty of the murder, but they find them guilty of manslaughter as charged in the bill of indictment. Whereupon the defendants moved the Court for a rule to show cause why a new trial should be had, which rule is granted, and on argument said rule is discharged. It is therefore considered by the Court that for such offence the said defendants be imprisoned for the term of four calendar months: that they be branded with the letter M in the brawn of the thumbs of their left hands on to-morrow morning, and that they pay the costs of this suit or remain in custody until the same is paid."
* * * * *
"STATE OF TENNESSEE, SULLIVAN COUNTY.
"I, Jno. W. Cox, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Sullivan County, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a full, true, and perfect copy of the final judgment in the case of State _vs._ Stephen Tribble and John Tribble, as appears of record in my office.
"Given under my hand at this office, the 10th of June, 1856.
"Jno. W. Cox, Clerk,
"By A. J. Cox, Dep. Clerk."
In conclusion, _Stephen_, I take my leave of you now, having introduced you to the 5,000 subscribers to the Whig, the 7,500 subscribers to our campaign paper, and the _tens of thousands of readers_ of this book--a work which will exist and be referred to when I am in my grave, and you are in the hot embraces of the Devil! You will at least agree with me that _that_ was an evil hour for you when you travelled out of your way to assail me before a strange audience in Missouri.
I am, &c.,
W. G. BROWNLOW.
Knoxville, June 23d, 1856.
A SERMON ON SLAVERY.
Delivered by the undersigned in Temperance Hall in Knoxville, on Sabbath, 8th of June, 1856, to a large and attentive audience, composed of citizens and strangers--some from the North and some from the South--occupying one hour and a quarter in the delivery. It is published as it was delivered, without an omission or an alteration. Respectfully, &c.,
W. G. BROWNLOW.
TEXT.--"Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed."--1 Tim. vi. 1.
Whoever reflects upon the nature of man, will find him to be almost entirely the creature of circumstances: his habits and sentiments are, in a great measure, the growth of adventitious circumstances and causes; hence the endless variety and condition of our species. That race of men in our country known as Abolitionists, Free-soilers, or Black Republicans, look upon any deviation from the constant round in which _they_ have been spinning out the thread of their existence as a departure from nature's great system; and, from a known principle of our nature, the first impulse of these fanatics is to condemn. It is thus that the man born and matured in a free State looks upon slavery as unnatural and horrible, and in violation of every law of justice or humanity! And it is not uncommon to hear bigots of this character, in their churches at the North, imploring the Divine wrath to shower down the consuming fires of heaven on that great Sodom and Gomorrah of the New World, all that section of country south of Mason and Dixon's line, where this unjust practice prevails.
When an unprejudiced and candid mind examines into the past condition of our race, and learns the fact which history develops, as the inquirer will, that a majority of mankind were _slaves_, he will be driven to the melancholy reflection, that the world, when first peopled by God himself, was not a world of freemen, but of _slaves_!
Slavery was really established and sanctioned by Divine authority among even God's chosen people, the favored children of Israel. Abraham, the founder of this interesting nation, and the chosen servant of the Most High, was the owner of more slaves than any cotton-planter in South Carolina or Mississippi. That magnificent shrine, the gorgeous temple of Solomon, commenced and completed under the pious promptings of religion and ancient Free-Masonry, was reared alone by the hands of slaves! Egypt's venerable and enduring pyramids were reared by the hands of slaves! Involuntary servitude, reduced to a science, existed in ancient Assyria and Babylon. The ten tribes of Israel were carried off to Assyria by Shalmanezer, and the two strong tribes of Judah were subsequently carried in triumph by Nebuchadnezzar to end their days in Babylon as slaves, and to labor to adorn the city. Ancient Phoenicia and Carthage were literally overrun with slavery, because the slave population outnumbered the free and the owners of slaves! The Greeks and Trojans, at the siege of Troy, were attended with large numbers of their slaves. Athens, and Sparta, and Thebes--indeed, the whole Grecian and Roman worlds--had more slaves than freemen. And in those ages which succeeded the extinction of the Roman empire in the West, slaves were the most numerous class. Even in the days of civilization and Christian light which revolutionized governments, laboring serfs and abject slaves were distributed throughout Eastern Europe, and a portion of Western Asia--conclusively showing that slavery existed over these boundless regions. In China, the worst forms of slavery have existed since its earliest history. And when we turn to Africa, we find slavery, in all its most horrid forms, existing throughout its whole extent, the slaves outnumbering the freemen at least three to one. Looking, then, to the whole world, we may with confidence assert, that slavery in its worst forms subdues by far the largest portion of the human race!
Now, the inquiry is, how has slavery risen and thus spread over our whole earth? We answer, by the _laws of war_, _the state of property_, _the feebleness of governments_, the thirst for _bargain and sale_, the _increase of crime_, and last, but not least, _by and with the consent and approbation of Deity_!
These remarks may suffice by way of an introduction, and they will serve to indicate the course we intend to pursue, if the announcement of the text has not already done that. _Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor_, &c. The word here rendered _servants_ means SLAVES, converted to the Christian faith; and the word rendered _yoke_ signifies the _state of slavery_ in which Christ and the apostles found the world involved when the Christian Church was first organized. By the word rendered _masters_ we are to understand the heathen masters of those Christianized slaves. Even these, in such circumstances, and under such domination, are commanded to treat their masters with all honor and respect, that the name of God, by which they were called, and the doctrine of God, to wit, Christianity, which they had professed, might not be blasphemed, might not be evil spoken of in consequence of their improper conduct. Civil rights are never abolished by any communication from God's Spirit; and those fiery bigots at the North who propose to abolish the institution of slavery in this country are not following the dictates of God's Spirit or law. The civil state in which a man was before his conversion, is not altered by that conversion; nor does the grace of God absolve him from any claims which the State, his neighbor, or lawful owner may have had on him. All these outward things continue unaltered: hence, if a man be under the sentence of death for murder, and God see fit to convert him, he is not released from suffering the extreme penalty of the law!
The Church of Christ, when originally constituted, claimed no right, _as an ecclesiastical organization_, to interfere in any way with the civil government. This was the principle upon which the Church was founded, as announced by its immortal Head. When Christ was doomed by a cruel Roman law to its most ignominious condemnation, he did not so much as resist it, because _it was law_, nor did he complain of it as oppressive.
"Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?... Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.... To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."--John xviii. 33-37.
When Christ came into the world on the business of his mission, he found the Jewish people subject to the dominion of the Roman kingdom; and in no instance did he counsel the Jews to rebellion, or incite them to throw off the Roman yoke, as do the vagabond philanthropists of the North in reference to the existing laws of the United States upon the subject of slavery. Christ was, by lineal descent, "THE KING OF THE JEWS," but he did not assert his temporal power, but actually refused to be crowned in that right.
Under the Roman law, human liberty was held by no more certain tenure than the whim of the sovereign power, protected by no definite constitution. Slavery constituted the most powerful and essential element of the government, and that slavery was of the most cruel character, and gave to the master absolute discretion over the lives of the slaves. Notwithstanding all this, Christ did not make war upon the existing government, nor denounce the rulers for conferring such powers, although he looked upon cruel legislation in the light in which the character of his mission required. And although the _Church itself_ was not what it should have been, in no instance did Christ ever denounce _that_. The only denunciations the Saviour ever uttered, were those against the doctors and lawyers, ministers and expounders of the Jewish code of ecclesiastical law.
But allow us to present the case of the Apostle Paul, as proof more palpable and overwhelming, on this very point. He had been falsely accused, cruelly imprisoned, and tyrannically arraigned; and that, too, before a licentious governor, an unjust and dissipated ruler, and an unprincipled infidel. The Roman law in force at the time arrested the freedom of speech, denied the rights of conscience, and even forbade the free expression of opinion in all matters conflicting with the provisions of the laws of the Roman government. In his defence before Felix, Paul never so much as speaks of Roman law, though well acquainted with it, but "he reasoned of _righteousness_, and _temperance_, and the _judgment to come_." Here was a suitable occasion to condemn the regulations and to question the authority of the villainous statutes of Rome; but instead of this, Paul plead his rights _under_ the unjust regulations of the law. He charged Felix with _official_ delinquency, with _personal_ crime, and, as a _man_, he held him up to public scorn, and threatened him with the vengeance of God! He appealed _to the law_, and justified himself _by the law_. He claimed the rights of a "_Roman citizen_"--demanded the protection due to a Roman citizen--and he scorned to find fault with the law, cruel and unjust as he knew it to be. And the consequence was, that the licentious infidel who ruled, "_trembled_."
The views we have here presented are not at all new, but have been uniformly acted upon by evangelical Christians, in all ages of the world. Since the days of St. Paul and Simon Peter, no reformer has appeared who was more violent than that good and great man, MARTIN LUTHER. JOHN CALVIN possessed a revolutionary spirit--he fought every thing he believed to be wrong--he was unyielding in his disposition, and unmitigated in his severity. Yet neither of these great men ever made war upon the existing laws of their respective countries. JOHN WESLEY was the great reformer of the past century--he reformed the whole ecclesiastical machinery of the modern Church of Christ; and his doctrines, and manner of conducting revivals, are leading elements of American Christianity. But Mr. Wesley never made war upon the English government, under which he lived and died. On the other hand, it is a matter of serious complaint among sectarians not friendly to the spread of Methodism, that Wesley wrote elaborately against the war of the Revolution. He was devoted to law and order, and he deemed it a religious duty to oppose all resistance to existing laws. In his troubles at Savannah, Georgia, like Paul before the licentious governor, he appealed _to the law_, and sought by every means in his power to be tried _under_ the law, asking only the privilege of being heard in his own defence! And it was, in all the instances we have mentioned, "_that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed_," to quote the expressive language of the text, that existing laws have been adhered to by the propagators of gospel truth.
The essential principles of the great moral law delivered to Moses by God himself, are set forth in what is called the tenth commandment, in the 20th chapter of Exodus: "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." Now, the only true interpretation of this portion of the Word of God is, that the species of property mentioned are _lawful_, and that all men are forbid to disturb others in the lawful enjoyment of their property. "Man-servants and maid-servants" are distinctly _consecrated as property_, and guaranteed to man for his exclusive benefit--proof irresistible that slavery was thus ordained by God himself. We have seen learned dissertations from the pens of Abolitionists, saying, that the term "servant," and not "slave," is used here. To this we reply, that both the Hebrew and Greek words translated "servant," mean also "slave," and are more frequently used in this sense than in the former. Besides, the Hebrew Scriptures teach us, that God especially authorized his peculiar people to _purchase_ "BONDMEN FOR EVER;" and if to be in _bondage for ever_ does not constitute _slavery_, we yield the point.
The visionary notions of piety and philanthropy entertained by many men at the North, lead them to resist the _Fugitive Slave Law_ of this government, and even to _violate the tenth commandment_, by stealing our "men-servants and maid-servants," and running them into what they call free territory. Nay, the _villainous piety_ of some leads them to contribute _Sharpe's Rifles_ and _Holy Bibles_, to send the _uncircumcised Philistines_ of New England into Kansas and Nebraska, to shoot down the Christian owners of slaves, and then to perform religious ceremonies over their dead bodies! Clergymen lay aside their Bibles at the North, and females, as in the case of that model beauty, _Harriet Beecher Stowe_, unsex themselves to carry on this horrid and slanderous warfare against slaveholders of the South! And English travellers, steeped to the nose and chin in prejudices against this government and our institutions, have written books upon the subject. The Halls, Hamiltons, Trollopes, and Miss Martineaus, _et ed omne genus_, all have misrepresented us! These English writers all denounce slavery, and eulogize _Democracy_; as if an Englishman could be a Democrat, in the modern, vulgar sense of the term, and be a consistent man!
But we do not propose, in this brief discourse, to enter into any defence of the African slave trade. Although the evils of it are greatly exaggerated, its evils and cruelties, its barbarities, are not justified by the most ultra slaveholders of this age. The vile traffic was abolished by the United States, even before the British Parliament prohibited it. All the powers in the world have subsequently prohibited this trade--some of the more influential and powerful of them declaring it _piracy_, and covering the African seas with armed vessels to prevent it!
This trade, which seems so shocking to the feelings of mankind, dates its origin as far back as the year 1442. Antony Gonzales, a Portuguese mariner, while exploring the coast of Africa, was the first to steal some _Moors_, and was subsequently forced by Prince Henry of Portugal to carry them back to Africa. In the year 1502, the Spaniards began to steal negroes, and employ them in the mines of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica. In 1517, the Emperor Charles V. granted a _patent_ to certain privileged persons, _to steal exclusively_ a supply of 4,000 negroes annually, for these islands!
African slaves were first imported into America in 1620, a century after their introduction into the West Indies. The first cargo, of twenty Africans, by a Dutch vessel, was brought up the James River, into Virginia, and sold out as slaves. England then being the most commercial of European nations, engrossed the trade; and from 1680 to 1780, there were imported into the British Possessions alone, TWO MILLIONS OF SLAVES--making an average annual importation of more than 20,000! And the annual importation into America has transcended 50,000! The States of this Union, north of Mason and Dixon's Line, commonly called the New England States, were never, to any great extent, _slaveholding_; their virtuous and pious minds were chiefly exercised in _slave-stealing_ and _slave-selling_! To Old England our New England States owe their knowledge of the art of slave-stealing; and to New England these Southern States are wholly indebted for their slaves. They stole the African from his native land, and sold him into bondage for the sake of gain. They kept but few of their captives among themselves, because it was not profitable to use negro labor in the cold and sterile regions of New England. And when they enacted laws in the New England States abolishing slavery, they brought their negroes into the South and sold them before their laws could go into operation! This is the true history of slavery in New England. They stole and sold property which it was not profitable to keep, and for which they now refuse all warranty. And what few American ships are in the trade now, at the peril of piracy, are New England ships.
The pious and religious portion of New England Abolitionists, we take it, are the better portion, and in these we have no sort of confidence. Take, for example, the case of that great man, and powerful pulpit orator, STEPHEN OLIN, who came into Georgia, and was introduced into the ministry by BISHOP ANDREW and his friends, and by this means married a lady owning a number of slaves. He sold them all for the money, pocketed the money, and returned to his congenial North; and when BISHOP ANDREW was arraigned before the General Conference of 1844, because he had married a widow lady owning a few slaves, this man OLIN appeared on the floor, and spoke and voted against the Bishop! Dr. Olin had washed his hands of the sin of slavery--had his money out at interest--and he was ready to plead for the rights of the poor African! May we not exclaim, "Lord, what is man?"