Character: Hugh Auld
Sebastian Salazar
The Face of The South
Good morning fellow members of this literary forum. I come to you today as
someone who has been the object of great injustice; I come to you today to
set the record straight; to free you from the lies uttered by the incendiary
and rebellious African, Frederick Douglass, in his recently published
Narrative. Mine is the face of the South, the face of the people who have
been humiliated, stripped off of their property and with it of their
constitutional rights. Mine is the plea that we lay aside our differences and
unite with determination and energy in repelling the attacks on the
institution of slavery by deluded fanatics. Deluded fanatics that have even
dared to accuse slavery of being immoral and a sin in the eyes of God,
people who believe that they have the moral authority to sanction who will
and won’t enjoy eternal life. Such are the people who endanger our nation
and threat with destroying the sole institution which holds our society
together. Yet I believe that there is hope for the United States, that with the
help of God and reason, we can convince the American people that slavery
is a positive good. That under the institution of slavery both the European
and African races benefit and that without it our people would be destroyed.
Let me begin my intervention by deepening on the relation which I as
master had with the colored boy, Frederick Douglass and I leave it to you to
judge if I didn’t behave as expected of a good Christian.
My brother in law Thomas Lloyd was the legal owner of the colored boy but
in an act of generosity both towards the young slave and myself, he trusted
me with his care. He came to my possession as a boy, and at first he was a
most helpful servant to my family. However everything changed when my
wife Sophia in her innocence and ignorance of the relation between master
and slave, taught the slave to read, thus condemning his poor soul. It was
never the same from there on, the boy became disobedient and hateful, as
it is always the case when slaves are exposed to ideas which their inferior
mind can’t understand, he sinned and his punishment was a feeling of guilt
and deep unhappiness. He contracted the disease of the runaway slave.
This is my only regret in regards to how I treated my servant; I was far too
kind, I didn’t correct him enough, I failed to protect him from his own nature.
Let me explain this point to those of you who are alien to the institution of
slavery and to the African race. The Almighty created the African race to be
submissive, there is ample proof of this in their anatomy as Dr. Samuel
Cartwright has shown, and as such God determined that the only way in
which the blacks could pursue happiness and salvation was through this
state. This is the reason why blacks can’t be considered equals to the
European race before the law. Our founding fathers, whose wisdom and
enlightenment are to guide our nation through the ages, made this very
clear in the constitution. Blacks are but three-fifths of a person and anyone
who speaks against this idea is ignorant of the great differences that exist
between blacks and whites. Because you see, it is when the relation
between master and slave opposes God's will, by trying to make the
African anything else than "the submissive knee-bender”, that chaos is
bound to appear and the slave will run away. I now hold this to be evident
but my arrogance prevented me from realizing this sooner; had I known this
before I would have corrected Douglass’s sinful behavior and would have
instructed my wife in how to properly treat the African race. That is my only
regret, my experience with Douglass has convinced me of the wisdom and
morality of the institution of slavery, and has propelled me to speak up
against the radicals who quite cowardly and in violation of the law attack it.
An attack on slavery is an attack on the prosperity and stability of our
nation. Under slavery our Union has been successful; we have fought
external threats and achieved victory, we have achieved great economic
development, and we have carried forward the ideal of democracy. Slavery
is the basis on which we have constructed our union; Abolish slavery and
you might as well abolish our Union. But this is by no means what ought to
happen, there is hope for our nation if we unite against the threat of
Abolition.
I too, in the words of the Great intellectual of the south who honors us
today with his presence, John C. Calhoun “do not belong to the school
which holds that aggression is to be met by concession. Mine is the
opposite creed, which teaches that encroachments must be met at the
beginning, and that those who act on the opposite principle are prepared to
become slaves”. Our federal government has been hijacked by extremists
and the laws protecting private property and the sovereignty of the States
have been grossly ignored. If we want to preserve the Union, if we want to
live in peace, let us amend the wrongdoings committed against the South,
against people like myself. Let there be a fair compensation to he who was
robbed of his property; let us uphold the promises made by our constitution
and enforce such laws as the Fugitive slave act of 1793. Give a step in the
right direction and hold Frederick Douglass accountable for his actions,
make him pay for his insults to my family’s name and honor. Don’t let this
crime go unpunished, show the South that we are not alone, prove that we
can find ample means of security within the Union. Let us return to a state
of order, let us revitalize and perfect our Union by asserting once and for all
the institution of slavery.
References
1. Cartwright Samuel, “Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race”
2. Calhoun C., John. "Slavery as positive Good." Adress to Congress. Congress of the
United States. Washington D.C. Speech.
3. Calhoun C., John “Resolutions and Speech on the Importance of Domestic Slavery”
Adress to Congress. Congress of the United States. Washington D.C. Speech.
4. "Mutual Relation of Masters and Slaves as Taught in Bible." Sermon to be preached in
the First Presbyterian Church. The First Presbyterian Church. Georgia, Augusta. Sermon.