UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

Lastly.Abolitionists are
unaddicted to martyrdomfor opinion's sake. Let
them
if they come
among us, and theywill take good
heed to keep out of our way. There isnot one
man
among them who has any more idea of shed-
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN. 203
friendțhe Editor of the Emancipatorand Human,
ding
hisblood this cause than he has
Rights, would feel the better of of its making
enforcement, war on the Grand Turk.
providedhe had a Southern administrator. I go
to the Bible for my warrant in all moral matters. The Rev. Dr. Hill,of
* *
Let
Virginia, said,in
your emissaries dare venture to cross
the New School
the Potomac,and I cannot
Assembly:
promiseyou that their
fate will be less than Haman's. Then beware
The
how you goad an insulted
abolitionistshave
but made the servitude of
magnanimous people
the slave harder. If
to deeds
I could tell
ofdesperation !
you some of the
dirtytrickswhich these abolitionistshave played,
The Rev. Robert N. Anderson,also a
you
Lynched,and it served them
member of the Presbyterian Church, says, in
right.
a letterto the Sessionsof the PresbyterianThese thingssufficiently
Congregations within the bounds of the West
Hanover
Presbytery :
At the approaching stated meetingof our Pres-
I design to offera preambleand string of
resolutions on the subjectof the use of wine in
bytery,
that theycan tolerateand encourage
the Lord's Supper; and also a preambleand string acts of lawlessviolence, and risk allthe
of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and dangersof encouraging
abominablywicked interferenceof the Northern
mob law,foritssake.
and Eastern These
fanatics with our political and civil passages and consideration sufficientl
rights, our property and our domestic show the stand which
concerns.
the Southern church
You are aware that our clergy, whether with or takes upon thissubject.
without reason, are more suspectedby the public For many
as
than the clergy of other denominations. Now,
dear Christianbrethren, I humblyexpress it as
my
earnest wish
,
that you quityourselves like men. If
there be any straygoat of a minister among you,
tainted with the blood-hound principles of abolitionism,
alwaysattend
let him be ferretedout, silenced,
the system of slavery, and
excommunicated,
which must
and leftto the publicto disposeof him
necessarily producea certain obtuseness
of the moral sens* in the mind of
in other respects.
Your affectionatebrother in the Lord, any man who is educated from childhood
Robert N. Anderson. under them.
The Rev. William S. Plummer,D.D.,of
Richmond,a member of the Old-schoolPresbyterian
Church,is another instance of the
same sort. He was absent from Richmond
at the time the clergy in that citypurged
themselves, in a body,from the charge of
beingfavorably disposedto abolition. On
his return,he lost no time in
communicating
"
the
to the " Chairman of
bowie-knifestyle;"and
the Committee of Correspondence
we must not
" his be
agreementwith hisclerical
surprised at its producing a
martial
brethren. The cast of
passagesquotedoccur in his
religious character, and ideas
letterto the chairman :
very much at variancewith the spirit of the
gospel. A religious man, born and educated
I have carefully watched this matter from
at the
its South,has allthesedifficulties to contend
earliestexistence, and everything I have seen or with,in elevating himself to the true
heard of its character,both from its patronsand spirit of the gospel.
itsenemies,has confirmed me, beyondrepentance, It
in the was said
belief,that,let the character of
by one that,afterthe Reformation,
abolitionists
be what it may in the sight of the the bestof
Judgeof
men, beingeducated under
all the earth,this is the most
a
meddlesome,impudent,
system of despotismand force, and accustomed
reckless,fierce,and wicked excitement I
and not
would not wonder. Some of them have been
show theestimate
which the Southern clergy and church have
to therelativevalue
formed and expressed as
of slavery
and the rightof freeinquiry Ịt
shows,alsoțhat theyconsiderslavery as
important
of these opinions, shocking
they may appear, some apology may be
found in that blinding power of custom and
allthosedeadlyeducationalinfluenceswhich
There isalso, in the habitsof mind formed
so
under a system which is supportedby con-
resort to force and violence, a necessary
deadening of sensibility
tinual
to the evilsof
forceand violence, as appliedto other subjects.
The whole style of civilization which
is formed under such an institutionhas been
not unaptlydenominated by a
popular writer
peculiarly
from childhoodto have force,
ever saw.
If abolitionistswill
argument,made the
set the test of
countryin a blaze,
opinion, came to
it is but fair that look
they should receive the first upon all controversies very much in a
warmingat the
"
fire.
Smithfieldlight, the question beingnot as
* * * * # #
. * to the propriety of burnirfg heretics, but as
like infidels, whollyto which partyoughtto be burned.
The
understand that
system
theywill be caught[Lynched]
of slavery is a
of society to the worst abuses of the
simpleretrogression
mkldle ages. We must not thereforebe surprised
to findthe opinions and
practices of