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    702 TM Saturday Analyst and Leader. [Atj...

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    Free And Slave Labour.* Nphe Question Of...

    ¦ will have to swear to maintain the Union of the States , and will be compelled to keep his oath . Mr . Edge then demands how , with civil war impending , with the Southern ports perhaps blockaded , and all communication with the North destroyed ,- ^ -how shall we in England obtain our cotton ? , ¦ The . Northern States , which , are fast driving matters to this issue , are , however , not Abolitionists— -not exactly Abolitionists ; they merely insist on the non-extension of slavery ; they keep within the bounds of the American Constitution . " Slavery is a State , not a , Federal , institution , arid it must

    therefore be understood that slavery can only be abolished by the Legislature of the State where it exists . " They leave , therefore , to the Slave States themselves the privilege of delivering themselves from the curse to which they object ; but they will not permit it to spread beyond its present limits . Citizens of slave States , however , who are for the abolition of slavery , indulge in bolder ideas and language . One of these , Mr . Hinton Eowan Helper , thus speaks of " the impending crisis , " in a pamphlet so entitled , and thus denounces the slave-holding oligarchy .

    " Frown , sirs , fret , foam , prepare your weapons , threat , strike , shoot , stab , bring on civil war , dissolve the Union , nay , annihilate the solar system if you will , ;— -do all this , more , less , better , worse , anything—do what you will , sirs , you can neither foil nor intimidate us ; our purpose is as firmly fixed as the eternal pillars of heaven ; we have determined to abolish slavery , and , so help us God , abolish it we will . "

    It is , thereforej in the midst of the slave States themselves that the fullest response might be expected to the denunciations against the system of Gerritt Smith , Frederick Douglass , and Mrs . Stowe . Slavery in these States is , unfortunately , a part of the inheritance they derived frorn the mother country . Virginia , and North Carolina were colonised by the cavaliers , men who answered the psalms of the Puritans by the songs of the Stuart Court . Feudal lords or retainers in their forsaken

    country , they naturally , sought to form around them a similar civilization in their adopted home . ¦ - The English " estate " emigrated , and became the American ^ plantation . " Serfs were changed for negro slaves . The same holds good with reference to Maryland , settled by" Irish Catholics , and the Huguenot colony of South Carolina , which grew out of a strictly feudal element . Georgia , colonised at a later period than the above , Under the auspices of General Oglethorpe , adopted similar usages to Virginia and the Carolinas , on the ground that as the agricultural productions of their , settlement were the same , so must their mode of cultivation be . " Seeing , " says Mr . Edge , " no other excuse for slave-holding , it was a

    plausible defence of their iniquity , to assert that agricultural operations could only be carried , on in Southern climes by - —Afrrcan ^ abtntTT ^ Trd ^^ care of himself , his master should do so by making him his chattle . The world keeps inoving , and so do the Southern States of the American Union , thoiigh it be , like a crab , backwards . Slavery , which they originally defended , on the ground of their own self-interest , they now advocate on holy and Christian principles , teaching ' a newer gospel than that delivered to the saints , ' and declaiming that by its means ' the children of Ham will be brought into the fold of Christ . ' And there are thousands of misguided men in the South who honestly believe they are doing God service in thus acting . Truly , the human heart is the devil ' s lawyer . "

    And is it , then , our aristocracy that we perceive reflected in the " peculiar institution " of these Southern States ? Yesin its last distorted , exaggerated form— -ay , and in its essential elements . Let us , then , on this account investigate the evil thing more closely . It would appear , says Mr . Edge significantly , " that an all-wise Providence had set apart the American Continent for the arena in which the principles of right and might , of slavery and freedom , should battle out their claims on their own merits . "

    One sign of the evil , is the want of prosperity that attends it . The Soxithern States have declined , while the Northern have advanced in population , wealth , and power . The types of either are Virginia and New York . In 1790 , Virginia had double the number the inhabitants of New York ; in 1850 , shc ~ had ~ less ~ than- ^ the value of real and personal property in Virginia , including negroes , was 391 , 046 , 438 dbls . ; that of New York , exclusive of any monetary valuation of human beings , wasl , 080 , 809 , 210 dols . In August , I 860 , the real and personal estate assessed in the city of New York amounted in valuation to 511 , 740 , 491 dols ., showing that New York city alono is worth far more than the whole State of Virginia . " The slavery of these States operates as an insurmountable

    obstacle to immigration . The position in them openly taken , that ' ^ labour is a badge of servitude , " naturally deters the intending emigrant . He is made quickly to discover that the slave districts offer no home to Mm . He is regarded as on amoral par with the slave , being obliged to work to eat , and is also undersold by the latter . Slaves , instructed in all branches of trade , are let out as chattels x > y their masters , at comparatively nominal prices ; far too moderate for the poor white man to feed , clothe , and lodge bis family upon . Under these discouragements , immigration : it length altogether ceases . Louisiana is the only slave State that increases its populations by foreign immigrants , the nationalities being mostly French , Spanish , and the Southern races generally .

    Some of the Southern States are happily fast losing their pro-slavery character ; such , for instance , as Delaware , Kentucky , Maryland , and Missouri , from their contiguity to the free States . The proportion of slaves in Delaware and Maryland is yearly diminishing , -while the number of free negroes is increasing , and the time is not far distant when these two States will abolish human servitude . Missouri , in the far West , is approaching the result in a still more rapid manner ; it is expected that five years hence she will be a free State . Mr . Edge enters largely into the statistics of the question , and the book before tis contains numerous and

    extensive tables on every point . In reference to their educational facilities and intellectual advancement , the free States are beyond all comparison superior to the slave States . The former say of the latter , . " ¦ the South only produces niggers arid cotton , " In fact , the well-to-do Southern cemimmity send their children to the North to be educated ; hence the young nien '• return home with consciences unsettled as to the sound policy and the justice of slave-holdirigy Even thus it is that Providence secures the growth of freedom . All the men of literature , science , and the arts , belong to the North . The South is barren of these and other good fruits . But it

    has been politically more active , while the Jforth has attended more to commerce ; hence the temporary domination of the former—but this can nO longer continue , now that the North is alive to the importance of the contest . It is also gratefully remembered that " nowhere in the constitution of the United States is slavery recognised " , or even referred to . " The framers of it having studiously avoided any reference to the evil , lest they might be considered to have in some manner indorsed it . Howeverj by the admission of Missouri into the Union , a fatal compromise was initiated . Thenceforward there were two parties only in the country—slavery extensiorrists , and slavery prohibitionists . .

    The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 has been considered the triumph of the party of the South . To them are also due the eonti * iua 4-attempfe 9-UQa « le- © n—the—indepen 4 ence-of—neighbour- — ing States . Mr . Buchanan has been sustained in power , because he stood pledged to the slave-oligarchy to do his utmost to annex Cuba to the Confederation . ' Our author gives a long account of the Kansas troubles , and the noble battle maintained to make it a free State . We can only deal with the results , All these significant struggles ended in 1858 in the defeat of the pro-slavery party . And now that the Republicans are likely to get into office , such defeat may be expected to be followed by many others .

    We near the conclusion of our argument . Next November , it is stated , the election of an anti-slavery extension President is sure to take place ; and the annihilation of southern terrorism is the natural result , including the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act , the confining of slavery within its present 'limits ; and the destruction of filibusterism , annexationising , and the secret carrying on of the slave trade . The Southern States forbodc the result , and are avowedly preparing to resist . Should the projected rebellion ensue , the North , wo are told , will not hesitate a moment . Hundreds ot thousands of bayonets will be poured into Virginia , Georgia and the Carolinas . " To question the result would be , " says Mr .

    Edge , "to doubt in God and civilization . " England must necessarily be seriously affected by this state of American affairs . The cotton supply from America must bo diminished—may ceaso altogether . It becomes , therefore , expedient that we Bhouiddireot attention" to" Indicr , "" Na ; tftl , ~ a } id our West-Indian and other colonies . Many of these are suited for the cultivation of cotton . The slave States aro driving from their confines thousands of freed coloured men . To these we should offer an asylum in Jamaica and other colonies . With the additional labour of these well-tried , industrious , and eminently serviceable men , wo may very soon cultivate our own cotton . In another respect , too , we shall be benefited by the impending change , We need no lpnger to keep up expen-

    702 Tm Saturday Analyst And Leader. [Atj...

    702 TM Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Atjg . 4 , I 860-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 4, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04081860/page/6/