The Spectator, October 9, 1860, p. 1, c. 3
The intense devotion of Americans to"business" is proverbial. We are by far the hardest working people in the world. Though compelled by no such necessity as drives the inhabitants of the densely populated countries of the old world to their daily tasks for their bread, nevertheless the majority of us work more hours than they, with a more intense and perpetual strain upon brain and muscles, and with fewer intermissions from labors, for recreation and amusement. We are taught from childhood that work is the "chief end of man." The "dignity of labor" is among the earliest lessons we receive. With us, not merely is labor honorable, but most of us hold that it is about the only thing that is so. Even wealth and rank, while they are coveted and worshipped, borrow their respectability -- as we may see it we will look a little below the surface of our social philosophy -- from the idea that they are embodied expressions of labor. It is acquired rather than inherited wealth, which confers honor among us. While me may envy, we have at the same time a lurking contempt for the wearer of "ancestral purple and linen," unless he forswears the immunity from toil which they confer and becomes a worker.
Now all this would be very well, if our passion for labor, or rather ambition to secure its rewards, did not convert us into slaves. It is quite right that idleness should be disreputable, and industry held in high honor. But it is not right to brand all recreation and amusement as idleness. It is bad policy, as well as bad morality, to give all our time to work and none to play. -- Both body and mind are injured, and life is shortened thereby. What an army do we see in our streets of paralytics, dyspeptics, consumptives, and other victims of disease -- men not yet passed middle age, who have retired from active business with fortunes, only to drag out a few months or years of miserable existence -- all capacity for enjoying the fruits of their past toil destroyed by having made that toil a slavery. -- The sight is a melancholy one. A few hours spent daily in recreation, with the burden of business laid down and the mind unbent from its tension, would have preserved to them their health, without diminishing their gains.
We are a race of dyspeptics. A man with a perfectly sound digestion is the exception rather than the rule among us; and the principle reason is, that we scarcely do anything but work and eat. Even sleeping is regarded as time wasted -- "It is the early bird that catches the worm," and it is our motto that the "worm" we must have.
Now we entirely reject this doctrine, that work is the "chief end of man." Labor in and of itself has no "dignity." So far from it, it was imposed upon the race originally as a penalty for sin. and the best that can be said of it now is, that by a kind arrangement of Providence the penalty has been softened down into a means of redeeming us from other and more destructive consequences of the fall. By excess, it may be restored to all its characteristics of a curse. -- When it breaks down bodily health, and dwarfs the soul, instead of being dignified and honorable, it is vulgar and mean, unless it be imposed by a necessary from which there is no escape without guilt. Our first duty in this world is to grow a sound mind in a healthy body, and this is our truest dignity. Whatever impedes these ends, whether it be labour, "business," or anything thing else, should be condemned. -- Our highest obligation is to serve God. But who can serve him acceptably with a softened brain or a crick in the back? We are condemned to love our neighbor as ourselves. But with a "duodenum or an agitated pilorous," as Sidney Smith describes a dyspepsis, we can love neither ourselves nor our neighbor. Hence, sound bodily health is an indispensable condition, not merely of intellectual growth and vigor, but as well as of the normal harmony of the soul; just as indispensable conditions of sound bodily health are diversity of employments, and an alternation of labour and recreation.
It is not necessary to urge our readers to be industrious. There is not the slightest danger that they will not work hard enough. The danger is all on the other side. There is far greater necessity to urge them to spend more time in recreation, and we accordingly, seriously and earnestly do so. While you are "diligent in business," do not consider "business" the "whole duty of man." Look upon it rather as a necessity from which you have a perfect right to escape if you can. Esteem innocent diversions, sports, amusements and recreations as lawful, nay, as truly duties as hoeing potatoes or selling tape. And by all means to it, whatever may be the fancied demands of business, that you give to recreation all the time necessary to secure sound health.
The Spectator, October 16, 1860, p. 1, c. 6
At the term of the Circuit Court of Mecklenburg county, Va., Charles Hudson was tried for the murder of his slave woman Jane, convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the Penitentiary for eighteen years.
The Tobacco Plant says very truly that it is one of those cases which thoroughly vindicate the Southern character against the aspersions cast upon us by our enemies at the North. It develops what is as true of us as of any other people on the civilized globe, that we utterly detest and abhor cruelty and barbarity, whether to whites or blacks.
The evidence in the case was that on the morning of the 4th of July last, at 8 o'clock, one of the hottest days of the past Summer, Hudson stripped the woman, naked as she came into the world, tied her to a persimmon tree, and whipped her for three consecutive hours, with occasional intermissions of a few minutes, until he had worn out to stump fifty-two switches, and until the bark of the body of the tree was rubbed smooth and greasy by the attrition of the body of the victim. The ground around the tree for seven or eight feet, though it had been freshly plowed, was trodden hard. One witness testified that he heard distinctly, at the distance of six hundred yards, both the noise of the switches and the screams and entreaties of the woman. The poor creature was buried the same afternoon only some ten inches beneath the ground, in a rough box, without any shroud. The overseer suggested that the neighbors had better be sent for to see the body before burial, but Hudson dissented.
The body was exhumed on Friday, two days afterwards, but was in such a state of decomposition that the external marks of violence were well nigh obliterated. But the testimony of the physician, who dissected the body, and of several other physicians, who were examined as experts, was distinct and positive that the violence used was sufficient to produce death. It was also in evidence that, after the protracted punishment, Hudson untied the woman and sent her to the creek, some one hundred and fifty yards distant, to wash herself, accompanied by a negro boy, with instructions to bring her back to him; that she complained of great thirst, and was seen to go down to the water's edge; that she remained there about fifteen minutes; that on her return she stopped two or three times, and complained of having a severe colic; that finally she stopped and could proceed no further, when the negro boy, at the command of his master, took hold of one hand and Hudson of the other, and dragged her towards the tree.
The main argument of the defense was based upon the idea that the woman went into the creek, remained there fifteen minutes, drank to great excess, and that this, in all probability, brought on a congestion of the vitals and produced death.
Such is an imperfect account of this horrible transaction. The jury hesitated much between a conviction for murder in the first and murder in the second degree. But finally they agreed and ascertained the term of imprisonment in the Penitentiary at eighteen years--the longest term known to the law. Hudson is now sixty-eight years old, and there is scarcely a probability that he can survive his confinement. Indeed he is already exceedingly prostrated.
On Monday morning, the last day of the Court, Judge Gholson pronounced sentence upon him, as follows:
"Charles Hudson--You have been regularly tried for the murder of your own slave. You have been defended with great ability, and a jury of your own country have found you guilty of murder in the second degree, and fixed the term of your confinement in the Penitentiary at eighteen years. In this verdict this Court entirely concurs. I will not go into the details of the shocking deed. You tied and stripped a female, who dared not raise her hand against you--whose only protector in this world you should have been. For three hours did you, in one of the hottest days of the summer, cruelly whip and torture this helpless woman, until, in the language of counsel, 'the angel of death delivered her from the hands of her tormentor.' You have thus committed a great crime against both human and divine law. You have outraged the feelings of the community among whom you lived. You have enabled their enemies to fan the flame of fanaticism, by charging against them the enormity and cruelty of your hard and unfeeling heart, although that community cordially loathe and condemn cruelty and oppression towards black or white.
"But, if your crime has been great, your punishment will be heavy. You are an old man. In all human probability, before eighteen years have expired, you will be dead. The remnant of your days are to be spent within prison walls. The labors of the day will never be followed by the pleasures of home and friends--but night after night, until the last night of your earthly existence, will you be carried to your narrow cell, and hear, as the prison house keeper departs, the harsh grating of the heavy key that keeps safe the door of your dungeon. From man you have nothing to expect. Your doom is fixed. A murderer, you are now a convict and prisoner for life, and your sentence is just, nay merciful. Nor is there hope for you beyond the grave, unless you truly and deeply repent.
"If you will sincerely repent yourself of this horrible deed and your other sins--if you will bow your head to this deserved punishment, and pray Almighty God to pardon your sins, and soften and regenerate your heart, there is hope. Yes--if your repentance is sincere, it is certain that God will pardon you--for rest assured that the same power which translated the criminal from the Cross to Heaven, can and will save alive the penitent convict. Desolate and dreary beyond description is your present condition.--With a hard and unfeeling heart, human blood resting upon your head, and your limbs fettered with a felon's chains, whenever weary and tired you may ask: 'When shall I be free? this verdict of eighteen years will answer--'Never'--'never.'
"Then I will, with deep humility and sincere repentance, feel and confess your crime and sins, and that this sentence may prove the means of saving your soul."
The Spectator, October 23, 1860, p. 2, c. 1
You responded most nobly on the 19th of October to the call for a Grand Union Rally. -- True to your ancestral instincts, you came through storm and mire to show how ready you are against all odds to answer your country's call for even the slightest service. But many who would have then been with you, found it impossible, and now ask only another chance, and they will join you regardless of weather.
The eyes of the Union party of Virginia are now upon Augusta. The eloquent Summers told you how longingly her daughter counties of the West were looking to their old Mother in this hour of danger to the Union. Your boast is already published over the land, that yours claims to be the banner Union county at the polls on the 6th of November-next. Your honor is now at stake, and each and all must see that it is redeemed.
We do not propose another "Rally," but invite an informal meeting from all over the county, and especially from the precincts which were unprepared to come out on the 19th of October. -- In a crisis like this all must move, and in solid column to cheer and encourage each other.
On Friday, the 2nd day of Next Month,
by 10 o'clock in the morning rain or sun shine, and hear your own eloquent County men,
who promise, certainly, to address you. Other speakers and hearers from other counties will be more than welcome; but we propose that this shall be a meeting of the thousands of Union loving men of Old Augusta, to counsel together on the Eve Of The Great Battle For The Union. It will be the last occasion on which all of our countrymen can meet before the close of the canvass; let it be a good family meeting, and let All The Family come. Let all who were here in such gallant array on the glorious 19th of October come back, with their banners and their bells, and "bring their shoaves with them." Let the ladies and all lovers of the Union come, of whatever party faith.
By order of the County Committee.
BOLIVAR CHRISTIAN
The Spectator, October 23, 1860, p. 2, c. 4
In two weeks from this day the people of the United States will be called upon to decide the most important election that has ever been held in this country. The very existence of the Government, it may be, is dependent upon the result of this election. The great and important issue is union or disunion. Will we remain a united, free, prosperous and happy people, or shall we be involved in all the evils of anarchy and discord, and all the indescribable horrors of civil war and fratricidal strife? This is a time when more considerations of party should be lost sight of entirely, and when every one should look alone to the preservation of our government, and the salvation of the Union, the only guarantee of our liberties. The man who, in this fearful crisis of our country's fate, is controlled by mere partizan [sic] considerations, is a traitor to his country. When the Government is not threatened, and when the Union is not imperilled, when we are concerned alone about the best mode of administering the Government, and differ only about the measures of policy, it is well enough then to be controlled to some extent by party preferences, and even blind party prejudice can be tolerated, if not excused, but when the Government is in danger and the Union is trembling upon the brink of ruin, it is time to turn a deaf ear to the syren [sic] voice of party and obey the solemn injunctions of patriotic duty. At this time our country calls and her voice should be obeyed. We concur with the Frederick (Md.) Examiner that the issue is Union or disunion.--Other issues may be interpolated and magnified, but they are of inferior consequence; the great and real issue is, the preservation of our form of free government, or the evils of Civil Discord, the danger of Anarchy and the prospect of States dissevered, discordant and belligerent, as the alternative.
In this fearful crisis, every lover of his country is expected to do his duty, as becomes a free-man. Fellow-citizens, are you prepared for the responsibility? Gird on the armor of patriotism, carefully survey the field, be ready, and may He who has hitherto guarded and guided us in every step by which we have advanced to the dignity of a great, powerful and enlightened nation, preserve us as a united people!
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." See to it, therefore, that apathy or neglect afford no occasion for vain regrets and remorse. Let every man go to the polls, and forgetting party distinctions, repudiating the behests of party leaders, and burying by-gone political animosities for a season, vote with an eye single to the preservation of the Union, the maintenance of the Constitution and the Enforcement of the laws.
The enemies of the Constitution, whose fanaticism threatens evil and danger, are one in sentiment and purpose, The intoxication of prospective success excites their zeal beyond the restraints of prudence. The opposition is divided; its strength is frittered away in unprofitable contentions upon abstract propositions, and fostered prejudices. If the Union be dissolved, how can the factionists hope to decide their petty quarrels; where will the demagogues then be; how shall the right, they now profess to struggle for, be longer guaranteed them?
The time has come to meet the impending crisis in a manly, decided and Constitutional manner. It is clear that the friends of the Union must make common cause and rally under the leaders who can and will save the Union, restore peace and mutual trust, and crush out sectionalism. Who can do it? Can Douglas and Johnson achieve the repose the country so much needs? They may be many times stronger in the popular and electoral vote than their rival Southern faction; yet every one knows, they are impotent against Lincoln and in no possible event can either of them be elected to the Presidential office. Can Breckinridge and Lane accomplish more? Mr. Breckinridge is practically out of the fight; his friends know he stands no earthly chance, and that his continued candidacy only gives "aid and comfort" to Lincoln. Granting all the strength his most zealous friends claim for him, what can these avail? Absolutely nothing, except to weaken and divide the strength of the Union nominees! The calculation of Mr. Lane's election by the Senate is too remote and uncertain to authorize his course thus far. The ONLY candidates, who STAND A CHANCE of DEFEATING Lincoln and Hamlin, are BELL and EVERETT; the contest lies between Bell and Lincoln, and the duty of every conservative citizen is plain and urgent. The Union must and shall be preserved; Lincoln must and will be defeated, and the way to do both is by giving a united and cordial support to Bell.
The struggle is no child's play; it will be fierce and arduous. "Work, work," Conservatives, your country calls. From this hour to the close of the polls on election day, be active energetic and diligent. Reason with your neighbors, see that every voter goes to the polls.
The Spectator, October 23, 1860, p. 2, c. 4
Even though Lincoln should be elected, and should be disposed to commit some aggression upon the rights of the South, he could not do it. The Supreme Court is against the theories of his party. The Senate is against them and the Congress will be against them. There are 237 members of the House--Oregon and California send three against him, Ohio ten, Indiana four, Illinois five, Pennsylvania five, and the South eighty nine, 116 in all. We have but to elect three other anti-Lincoln members and all is safe. New York city alone will elect six. There cannot in any event then be danger of present aggression against the South, and if conservatism and a Union spirit shall prevail in the border Southern States, we may prevent any of the other States, by reason and argument, from seceding, if Lincoln should be elected.
To break up the Government under these circumstances, simply because Lincoln should be elected, would be adding madness to treason.--The danger is in the Cotton States, and not in the North. The spirit of prohibition as represented by Lincoln will be impotent for mischief, but the spirit of disunion, as represented by Yancey and other extremists of the South may be potential for indescribable evils. The people should do all they can to elect the Union loving conservatives, Bell and Everett, for then there would be no danger of disunion and civil war.