UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

a
and
convictionsof duty țhat we
under any circumstances.
Resolved Țhat
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN. 195
should maintain them
possessor should retain this rightat will,is no
more against the laws of societyand goodmorals,
in the opinionof thisPresbytery,
than that he should retain the personalendowments
the holding of slaves șo far from beinga sin in with which his Creator has blessed him,or
the sight of God, is nowhere condemned in his the money and lands inheritedfrom his ancestors,
holy word ; that it is in accordance with the or acquiredby his industry Ạnd neither society
example, or consistentwith the precepts, of patriarchs,
nor individuals have any more authority to demand
apostles and prophets, and that it is compatible
a relinquishment, without an equivalent, in
with the most fraternalregardto the best
good of those servants whom God may have
committed to our charge.
The
New-school Presbyterian Church
Petersburgh, Virginia, Nov. 16,1838,passed
the following :
"Whereas,the General Assemblydid,in the
"
year 1818, pass
a law which contains provisions
forslavesirreconcilablewith our civilinstitutions.
and solemnlydeclaring slavery to be sin against
God law at once offensiveand insulting to the
whole
in
peculiarly situated upon this subject,
Southern community,
because itsconstitutionand book of discipline
1. Resolved Țhat, as slave-holders, we cannot
contain the most vehement denunciations
consent longerto remain in connection with
any church where there existsa statute conferring againstslavery of which language is capable,
the rightupon slaves to arraign their masters before
and the most stringent requisitions that all
"
the judicatory of the church that,too,for members shall be disciplined for the holding
the act ofselling them without their consent firsthad of slaves
and obtained.
; and these denunciationsand requisitions
have been
2. Resolved,That,as the Great Head of the
reaffirmedby itsGeneral
church has recognized the relationof master and Conference.
slave,we conscientiously believe that slavery is It seemed to be necessary, therefore,
not a sin againstGod, as declared by the General the Southern Conference to take some notice
Assembly.
of this fact,which theydid,with great coolness
This sufficiently indicatesthe opinion of and distinctness, as follows:
the Southern Presbyterian Church. The
next extracts will refer to the opinions of
THE GEORGIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE.
BaptistChurches. In 1835 the Charleston
Resolved,unanimously,That, whereas there is
a clause in the discipline of our church which
BaptistAssociationaddressed a memorial
states that we are as much as ever convinced of
to the Legislature of South Carolina, the greatevil ot slavery; and whereas the said
which contains the following :
clause has been pervertedby some, and used in
The undersigned would further represent that
the said association does hot consider that the
Holy Scriptures have made the fact of slavery a
questionof morals at all. The Divine Author of
our holyreligion, in particular, found slavery a
part of the existing institutionsof society ; with
which,if not sinful, it was not his design
to intermeddle,
domestic institution, and one with which,as ministers
but to leave them entirely to the control of Christ,we have nothingto do,further
of men. Adoptingthis,therefore, as one of the than to ameliorate the condition of the slave,by
allowed arrangements of society, he made it the
endeavoring
province of his to impar to him and his master the
religionly to prescribe the reciprocalbenign
influences of duties the religion of Christ,and
of the relation. The question,it aiding
is believed, is purely both one of political
on their way to heaven.
economy. It
amounts, in effect, to Whether this," the operatives
On motion, it was Resolved,unanimously,
That the GeorgiaAnnual Conference regard
of a country shall be with
boughtand sold,and themselves
feelings of profoundrespect and approbationthe
become property, as in Ms state ; or whether they dignified course pursuedby
shall be hirelings, and their labor our several superintendents,
onlybecome property,
or bishops, in suppressing the attempts
as in some other that
states. In other words, have been made by
whether an employer may buy various individuals the whole time to get
of
laborers at once, of those who' and up
protractan excitement in the churches and
have a righ to dispose
country
of it,with on the subject of abolitionism.
a permanent relationof protection Resolved,furtherȚhat theyshall have our ci trdial
and zealous support
and care over them ; or whether he shall be restricted
to buy it in certain portions only,subject
in sustaining them in the
groundtheyhave taken.
to their control, and with no such permanent relation
of care and protection.The SOOTH CAROLINA
rightofmasters
CONFERENCE.
to disposeof the time oftheirslaves has been distinctlyThe Rev. W. Martin introduced resolutions
recognized bythe Creator ofallthings,who issurely
at liberty to vest the right of similarto those of
property
the over any
GeorgiaConference.
object in whomsoever he pleases Ṭhat the lawful
the one case,
than in the other.
As it is a questionpurely of political economy,
and one which in this countryis reserved to the
cognizance of the state governmentsseverally, it
is further believed, that the State of South Carolina
alone has the righ to regulatethe existence
and condition of slaveryAvithin her territorial
limits ; and we should resist to the utmost every
invasion of this right, come from Avhat quarter
and under whatever pretence it may.
The Methodist Church is,in some respects,
such a manner as to produce the impression that
the Methodist Episcopal Church believed slavery
to be a moral evil ;
"
Therefore Resolved, That it is the sense of the
Georgia Annual Conference that slavery, as ir
exists in the United States,is not a moral evil.
Resolved, That we view slaveryas a civil and