The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

388

In discussing the philosophy of the subject
Mr. T. H. Gladstone observes :--

It is strange that men should fight so hard to introduce
so bad a thing as slavery into a land.
We have been so accustomed to dwell on the moral evils
of slavery, the essential enormity of the system, and the
wrongs which almost of necessity arise out of it, that we
are apt to overlook that which otherwise we should not be
slow to recognise, namely, how baneful the system is in its
influence upon the white race, and how seriously it im-
poverishes a country, and retards the progress of its people.
The celebrated Jefferson, himself a slaveholder, has left
in his writings a strong testimony against the system in its
reflex influence upon the masters, when he said, that
" the man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners
and morals undepraved " whilst living in the midst of
such a system. " The whole commerce," he writes,
"between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the
most boisterous passions—the most unremitting despotism
on the one part, and degrading submission on the other."
As one of the chief founders of the republic, Jefferson,—
in common with Washington, Franklin, Madison, Henry,
and all the leaders of his time,—regarded the abolition of
what he calls " this great political and moral evil," as
essential to the prosperity of the Union.
Bat slavery is as great an economical, as it is a political
or moral evil. The day on which I first set foot in a slave
State, and a few hours before I crossed the border-line, I
was conversing with a gentleman residing in Pennsylvania,
whose views appeared to be Southern, but who expressed
them in a tone of candour and moderation. " Well," said
he at length, " this afternoon you will be in our Southern
States. You expect, I dare say, to find the difference the
moment you cross the State•line. Whichever way you
look, you will calculate on seeing nothing but what is bad.
should like very much to know, whether you find it as
bad as it is most likely you expect."

In illustration of the proof that slavery is
anti-economical and anti-social, the author
continues :

By all unprejudiced witnesses the fact is acknowledged,
that slave labour in any temperate climate cannot hold its
ground when brought into fair competition with free
labour. As a system, slavery ever brings with it a heavy
entail lof disorder, slovenly negligence, stereotyped ad-
hesion to old methods, disregard of all improvements,
costly and unnoticed expenditure, and general impoverish-
ment in all that pertains to the cultivation of the soil.
This is not a matter of controversy. It is sufficient to
see the " thrown out " or "turned out " lands of Virginia,
—thousands of acres now no longer cultivated, naturally
far richer than the soil of Massachusetts, enjoying a more
genial climate, adapted to the growth of more remunera-
tive products,—and in a State colonised at an earlier
period,—and to compare the poverty of the one with the
wealth exhibited in the other State, to be convinced of the
terribly pernicious influence of the slave system on the
agriculture of a country. Whether we illustrate the con-
trast between a slave State and a free State, in the market-
price of the land, in the difference of population, or in the
relative extent of unimproved soil, we arrive at the same
conclusion, and gain sure indices of the prejudicial econo-
mic results of slavery.
To cross the border from Pennsylvania to Virginia, is to
cross from land at fort)-nine dollars, to land at twentyone
dollars per acre, as shown by the Government returns.

All that is quite true ; but the author stops
short at the point where a useful general
reflection might be made. Adopting his
phraseology, we might say, "It is strange that
" men should fight so hard to introduce so bad
" a thing as tyranny into a land "; yet the
history of any country shows that cruel acts of
despotism, and fierce acts of power, have often
found their warmest supporters in large
popular classes. The policy of the French
Court towards the Huguenots, of the Crom-
wellians in Ireland towards the Celtic popula-
tion, of the Spanish nation towards " heretics,"
of certain civilised States towards Poland—all
found multitudinous approvers. Vicious in-
stitutions have often been popular, and men
have had a desire to propagate them. The
" strange" thing that men should be pro-
slavery advocates in America can be referred
to the general social law, according to which
the deeply-seated instincts of ascendancy re-
fuse to be coerced even by a democratic
equality of condition and privilege.

That in a country like Kansas there should
be this " border-ruffianism" on which Mr.
Gladstone writes, does not surprise us. Class
feeling of the grossest kind is a potent gene-
rator of the pro•slavery passion which burns
so fiercely in Kansas. Mr. T. H. Gladstone
writes :

Of political parties in -Kansas, the two main divisions
are, of course, the free-state and the pro-slavery parties ; but
the latter exhibits a further distinction, according as its
adherents are moderate and constitutional in their main-
tenance of Southern views, or endeavour to force their
principles upon the territory by powder and shot. The
latter policy is known as " border-ruffianism."
He gives us several pictures of the latter class
which look remarkably like nature. Ho
writes

I had just arrived in Kansas city, and shall never forget
the appearance of the lawless mob that poured into the

THE PRESS.

place, inflamed with drink, glutted with the indulgence of
the vilest passions, displaying with loud boasts the
" plunder " they had taken from the inhabitants, and
thirsting for the opportunity of repeating the sack of
Lawrence in some other offending place. Men, for the
most part of large frame, with red flannel shirts and im•
mense boots worn outside their trousers, their faces un•
washed and unshaven, still reeking with the dust and
smoke of Lawrence, wearing the most savage looks, and
giving utterance to the most horrible imprecations and
blasphemies, armed, moreover, to the teeth with rifles and
revolvers, cutlasses and bowie•knives,—such were the men
I saw around me. Some displayed a grotesque inter-
mixture in their dress, having crossed their native red
rough shirt with the satin vest or narrow dress coat pillaged
from the wardrobe of some Lawrence Yankee, or having
girded themselves with the cords and tassels which the
day before had ornamented the curtains of the Free•state
Hotel. Looking around at these groups of drunken,
bellowing, bloodthirsty demons, who crowded around the
bar of the hotel, shouting for drink, or vented their furious
noise on the levee without, I felt that all my former experi-
ences of border men and Missourians bore faint compari-
SOD with the spectacle represented by this wretched crew,
who appeared only the more terrifying from the darkness
of the surrounding night. The hotel in Kansas city where
we were, was the next, they said, that should fall ; the
attack was being planned that night, and such, they de-
dared, should be the end of every place which was built
by free•state men, or that harboured " those rascally
abolitionists."
And he gives us a specimen of their style of
conversation :

A general rush to the bar ensued. Already maddened
with whisky, each would treat his fellow in arms :
" Step up, and liquor here, you air. A heap finer this
stuff than that there rot•gut ashore. Here, you sir; don't
he askeard. One of our boys, I reckon? All right on the
goose, eh? No highfalutin' airs here, you know. Keep
that for them Yankee Blue•bellies down East. If there's
any of that sort here, I reckon they'd better make tracks
mighty quick, and that's a fact, while I'se on board, unless
they want to make a quicker roa,l out than they came in.
Yes, sir, this yere tool of mine [handling a pistol], it isn't
the first time it has seen a Blue•belly. If there's any of
that 'ere sort aboard, I say they'd better clear out, that's
sartin. We ain't agoin' to stand them coming here, we
ain't. Isn't their own place down East big enough for
them, I should like to know ? We ain't agoin' to stand
their comin' and dictatin' to us with their nigger.
worshipping, we ain't. I reckon we'll make the place hot
enough for them soon, that's a fact. Here, boys, drink.
Liquors, captain, for the crowd. Step up this way, old
boss, and liquor."

The laws of Kansas in relation to fugitive
slaves are extremely severe. As a matter of
course, any one opposed in opinion to slavery
is not permitted to act on a jury where " black
property " is involved. We hear and read
much of King Bomba's misrule, but the fol-
lowing extract from a Kansas statute shows to
what lengths a Republican despotism may
go :

If any free person, by speaking or writing, assert or
maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in
this territory, or shall introduce into this territory, print,
publish, write, circulate, or cause to be introduced into
this territory, written, printed, published, or circulated in
this territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, or
circular, containing any denial of the right of persons to
hold slaves in this territory, such person shall be deemed
guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard
labour for a term of not less than two years.—!Statutes,
cap. 151, sec. 12.)

The darkly repulsivo phases of life in Kansas,
with its hideous coarseness, are contrasted with
peculiar phases of character in its society.
Cooper, the American novelist, might have
given some spirited pictures of the sort of life
that Mr. T. H. Gladstone describes. There
is power and freshness in the following de-
scription :

It is impossible, however, rightly to comprehend life in
Kansas without taking into consideration the natural
characteristics of the Western borderer. Take him at his
best, and the pioneer of the New World possesses a noble
character. There he stands, in his rough woollen shirt of
yellow or red, his big boots forming a large circumference
around his leathern hose, a buffalo•skin upon his back—
at once his covering by day and his bed, sheet and blanket
all combined, by night—his coonskin cap, or slouched
felt hat, covering a face which hot suns and keen frosts
have made brown as an Indian's, his rifle across his
shoulder, powder•honi and shot•pouch hanging from his
neck, his belt stuck full of twine and knives, and hatchets
and ammunition, and all the minor necessaries of his life
—the produce of his last shot perhaps upon his shoulder,
his visage the fiercer for uncombed hair and thick bristly
beard : there he stands, ready for the widest river, or the
thickest forest, or the broadest prairie, or the wildest
Indian, or the most savage beast that it may be his lot to
light on, ready to do or die.
Tbat there is a charm in all this, at least to " those
whose hearts are fresh and simple," and who are sick of
the luxury and display, the hollow pretence and unmanly
refinements of the Eastern cities, will be understood by
every one. There is romance about the unheeded perils
and unthought-of hardships, there is attraction in the
manly genetosity of these brave pioneers of civilisation.
They are the men to conquer the wild woods and stern
nature that is before them • and they do it. Step by step,
not gradually, but rapidly, ihey have carried forward the

SATURDAY,

outposts of civilised life ; the rcd man has receded before
them; the waste wilderness has been transformed into a
fruitful field ; hundreds, thousands of miles have sub-
mitted to the steady march of their conquest ; population
has followed to fill up from behind the lands they have
cleared ; and hating, as " crowded up like a city," the place
where they can see in the distance the smoke of another
man's log-hut, or cross another man's claim, they ever
move on, loving only the act of conquest, and the pride of
giving to the world new lands for its enjoyment.

Open-hearted, hospitable, manly, enterprising, reckless
of danger, careless of comfort, full of cool courage and
determination as the Western pathfinder is, it may readily
be supposed he holds in most hearty contempt the
delicately raised Yankee, that is, inhabitant of the North-
eastern States. To him the Yankee appears the embodi-
ment of all that is stiff and cold, caiculating and selfish.
He would not exchang,e the " rough and ready" welcome
to one of his own Western log•huts for all the gorgeous
saloons and costly display of the most brilliant receptions
in the Eastern cities. And well it is that in some part of
the Union the manly strength of its first founders is thus
perpetuated. With all his faults, there is life and vigour
in the Western borderer, and although capable of being
transformed into the worst of ruffians, because the most
reckless and determined, yet there are elements of
character, as it has been my object to show, in this rough
population of Missouri and other border lands, which are
noble in themselves, and of the highest value to the inte-
rests of the States.

The variety of life to be seen in that country
and its bordering States is extremely singular.
The author gives us some graphic " interiors "
of steamboats. After describing in one of his
sketches the Missourians and border ruffians
on deck, he goes on and presents us with the
following picture :

Further, there were on board Spaniards belonging to
New Mexico, filthy as to their persons, disgusting in their
manners. These also form a part of the transient popula-
tion of Kansas. Moreover, there were several nuns going
up to one of the Roman Catholic missions, and some
adherents of the Mormon faith, making their way probably
across the plains to Utah. Besides these were Jews, for
the most part of German origin, of whom a large class
carry on the trade and storekeeping in the towns of
Kansas. There were Germans also—called by the
Americans " Dutchmen "—who, intent on making a
livelihood, have settled so thickly in Kansas, as they have
done in all the Western lands, that there are more German
than English names upon the shops and warehouses, and
they almost bid fair to monopolise the commerce of the
country. Then there were others intent on making gain,
but not the honest gain of the German—namely, the
professed gamblers. These were men who played a trick
with cards, well known on the Western waters, which
occupies but a single minute. They never accepted a
stake of less than one hundred dollars. They began their
work late at night, and left the boat about daylight, carry-
ing with them many hundreds of dollars which they had
got from the drinking, maddened ruffians, fresh from the
spoil of Lawrence. These unfortunately are too nume-
rously represented also in the territory. Again, there were
of our number agents of the Federal as well as the
Territorial Government, and officers in the United States'
army ; and, lastly, the African race was represented, not
only by the waiters and others employed on the boat, but
also by a poor slave, who, for safety's sake, was handcuffed,
and sat ordinarily in a corner, where the black barber found
for him a seat, dropping only his wrists between his knees
when a stranger approached, to hide, apparently, the
shameful shackle from his gaze.

This is, indeed, a wild variety of life. Nuns
and Jews, Mormons and New Mexicans, Ger-
mans, officers, gamblers, and slaves, all
crammed together into one boat ! An amateur
legislator, ambitious of " colonising Eutopia,"
would have grand elements for working upon
in such raw materials. Of the denial of free-
dom of speech in that society, a significant
instance is related by Mr. Gladstone :

The word " abolition " had unguardedly dropped from
the lips of the clerk of the boat, not with the customary
oath, but with a laugh. " Shut up," was the instant
rejoinder, proceeding from a gruf, hoarse voice ; "reck'n
we're in a section now, where you can't say that there word,
not even in jest; so don't crowd on so mighty powerful.
You'll have to allow to respect the wishes of the
sovereign people ; it's them that's to rule;—d'ye hear,
Mister? "

Several passages might be quoted from this
volume which teach the conclusion, so often
dwelt on by ancient and modern philosophers,
that laws without. manners and morals can do
little for a people. There can be no real
liberty without order; and the history of the
United States in our own times repeatedly
shows that ultra-democracy, with its ballot-
box and universality of suffrage, has a tendency
to exaggerate some of the worst passions. We
admit that there are many dark plague-spots
in parts of our own population congregated in
our large towns ; but it is only after reading
descriptions of other states of society, where
white men, speaking the tongue of Shakespeare
and Milton, exhibit degeneracy of nature, that
wo come to see how the vices of England are
better than the virtues of some communities.

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