Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-25 00:00:00

YOUNG AMERICA ON

SLAINERY.

(After reaanethos. Collie Grattan's "CivilisedAmerica

LCorttirPeted from yesterday's 316ti1tern

Slavery was born in barbarian times
was a scourge, and for long It so continued

Then it

Bancroft says, the ilebrew rather could sell his
daughter, and if he owed money, his wife and
mother could be taken in payment.

Virginia to-day is only doing, vault Palestine
and its adjoining lands did so extensively in former

breeding slaves or the intaket. But Vir-
ginia is civilised, and l'alestine is barbarian. My
northern education shrinks at such commerce, ;and
I can but feel the ctrsc that ragland stereotyped
upon my own land. Palestine was, and is, barba-
rian. Greece ttastomparatiiely civilised, so 'much
so she as a slaw breeder! Achilles's anger VOUS
aroused whilelitutrreling about a slave. The hero
of Ma -don sold. his own kindred into slacery:!

Asiatics mid Africans acre sold in all:. he •lattaA's
of Ear Ope Christian€.! After building 'their
palaces.on'the profits of the slave trade, the Vere-
tians passed•R law forbidding a slave ever again to
step on ;beard an •argery of Venice, lEnghtna is
equally,virtt.ous afterihe has enriched herself!!

lefferscn must have- got his absura. -"Free and
equal" t-clause, in the declaration of Indeper_dence,
from Pope Alexander. 111., who wrote inlhe 12th
century. "Nature having made no Slaves, all
men have an equal right to liberty:" If nature
does net -make &hes, she has been a 'long time
engaged in mannfacturing aperonfices, 'serfs, and
pauyeri But *ere is one thing 'toher credit
which I cannot say of the flat-mused Ohilanthro-,
piSts, she kcr own business, and makes money
by; it. -

I am glad to find that England \\vas not the
Adam afid:Eve of originel slavery.

Before:Europe, Africa. Before Africa, Asia

The' Slavonic races derive their name from being
slaves. But Exeter Hall should remember that
white'men did not invent negro slavery. As Hebrew
enslaved Ilebrew,—Greek Greek, ,so the negroes
enslaved their own people, as more 'civilised Anglo-
Saxons-made slaves of Angle Saxons.

Ard the-pulpit abolitionists aware-that when the
Saxons introduced slavery to England, that the
price -of an able bodied Englishinan was only
four times that of an ox! Are they aware when
4/ack-guarding Americans, that sthe noble Scots
-taken on. the field of Dunbar, were sent and sold
as slaves in New England? i o .they know that
the. Royal prisoners at the battle of Worcester,
in spite of Henry Vane's remonstrances were
shipped‘ to America and sold into. slavery?

Fors two centuries the Red ,112011 of the West
were•sold in Europe as slaves. -"-Columbus
Washington Irving, " sent five•hundred Indians to
Spain.-;" and the account sales showed better returns
than shipments to Australia. Charles V. realised
large sums by granting licensestethe Flemmings to
sell-slaves. Are the Ebbony emancipators aware
that Philip V. and Queen Anne divided profits on
the 144,000 negroer sent to America under the
Assiento Treaty ? And when Englishmen become
loyally national and proudly conscious of their
possessions in the East, does it ever occur to them
that the profits of the African slave trade furnished
them with the original capitalto plant the acorn
of their Indian Empire ? Read."l3ancroft on the
Slave Trade."

The Caucassians, the Ethiopian, and the Ameri-
can races were on the American soil at the same
time. While the Pilgrims wen landing in the
North, a Dutch man-of-war carried the first slaves
to :Virginia. The red man is disappearing from
the hunting fields; the black man improves and
multiplies on the plantations, while the energy of
the white man of the west arouses the jealousy
and the amazement of Europe !

The American Indian was not 'civilization-proof.
He wig the Zebra of the horse tribe, the African
VMS the donkey, and the Anglo-Eason was the

,•••••• %M.

AMERICAN AFFAIRS, -OUR OWN CORRES-
PONDENT.—" SLAVE TRADE."
Yo THE EDITOR OF-THE NORTHERN TIMEA,
Many of your readers are no doubt sufteitntly
interested in "American Affairs" to-read the letters
of your "own Gorrespendent," published 'Weekly in
your journal.' Your correspondent's totter, pub-
lished to-day, says—writing on the proceed-
ings of Congress —" The Slave-trade is another,
though a very different subject, urgently needing
legislative attention.' _ Yet has this, too, been set
aside for the present.. In the Rouse of Represen-
tatives, .a preamble and resolutions, setting forth
that there was strong reason 'to apprehend that
the lims for the iniquitous trade are to be set at
defiance, and their violation openly countenanced
and,evicouraf;ed by a portion of the States ; that
the'emisting laws against the slave traffie should
tettain unchanged ; andthat the President should
dt all times be sustainea in enforcing such laws,
Were read, and a motion Made to suspend the rules
'to permit of their being, introduced ; but it was
• defeated by a large majority." Now this is
,entirely erroneous. The resolutions were not" tic,
ifeated by a large majority." I have before meli
New York journal of 'Peb. 1, 1859, in which I fail
reported the proceedings of the House of Repre-
sentatives, Jan. 31, .1839, part of which I send'you,
as follows Mr. Cilgore (Ind.) asked leme to
introduce the following : Whereas, The laws pro-
hibiting the African slave trade have become a
topic of discussion with newspaper writers and
political agitators, many of them boldlyideneuncing
these laws as unwise in policy, and disgraceful in
their provisions.; . and insisting on the ;justice and
propriety of their repeal, and the .revival of the
odious traffic in African slaves; _Anil Whereas,
recent Alemonstrations afford strong reasons to
appreheadthat-said laws are to be sat at defiance,
and their 'violation openly countenanced and en-
couragcdtby irportion of the citizens of one of the
States .ofthisTnion ; And Iner ee-a. it is proper,
in View,of-said facts, that the sentiments of the
people's representatives in Congress should
be made public in ;relation thereto;
Theyffore,-Racolved, That while \ave recognise no
right on the dart of the Federal Government, or

any ,other ils.w-making power t save that of the
States wherein it exists, to iittterferfere with or
disturb thwitstitution of domestic slavery where
it is establiihed or protected by state legislation,
we holdrthat Congress has power to prohibit
the foreigritraffic, and that ono legislation can be
too 'thorough in its measures,zn.or can any penalty
known toi the catalogue of modern punishment for
crime be: too severe against ga traffic so inhuman
and. utchristian. Resolved, That the laws in full
force against said traffic are founded upon the
loroudestlrinciples of philanthropy, religion, and
humanity ; that they should remain unchanged,
except ,so far as legislation may be needed to
Tender' hem more efficient ; and that they should
be faithfully and promptly executed by our Go-
vernment and respectd by all good. citizens.
Itesidvie, That the Executive should . be sus-
tained and commended for any proper ,efforts,
whenever and wherever made, to enforce said laws,
and tobring to speedyfpunishment the wicked vio-
lators thereof, and all their aiders and abettors."
Mr. Kilgore moved a suspension ofthe rules in
order do procure an opportunity to introduce the
resolution. The question was decided in the
83a gative, 115 against)B4—not two-thirds.
You. will perceive by this that of 199 members
present, 115 voted in favour of, and 84 against
suspending the rules of the House, to enable the
resolutions to be introduced. The rules of the
House requiring a two-thirds vote to suspendthe
order of business, the motion to suspend them
failed, but you wilt-observe that a majority,e4l
voted in favour of introducing them. The whole
house consists of Z`34 members, of which 118 is a
clear majority; and I doubt not, that a vote of
the whole House, obtained on the foregoing
resolutions, would show a majority, larger, in
favour of their adoption, than was given in favour
of their introduction. —Yours, &c., JUSTICE.
`Liverpool, Feb. !22, 1809.
[Justice is, in this instance, not partieularlyjust.
Our American correspondent's statement wes,i by
justice's own showing, not "entirely erroneous.
It was substantially true. The motion to suspend
the rules was, it is admitted, negatived. .And
that is the mainlact.—ED. N. D. T.]

OUR. RAILWAY WARS..
TO k THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES,

:Eir,--;While admitting the truth of the remarks
made in your paper of yesterday, as far asthey..go,
upon the position and power of railway ehairmen,
I must say you: fall short, no doubt unintentionally,
of stating the.whole case. There can he no doubt
that:the board of directors—which in some -oases
means 'the chairman, and in others the _general
manager —with more assistance
.and eupport than
of position, of a particular railway, ,can take
steps which :will so affect some other railway
conipanyithat a ruinous " war " is %Ire to result,
in which shares go down, and then, on animours of
peace, go :up ; :and again, on the failure .of,negoeia-
tions, go down, &e. But are shareholders -blame-
less in this.? You may say they have no power to
resist; .and.trnly they are generally so ill-informed
of the manner in which their own property is
managed, thatthis is, to a great extent, true. .13ut
want of power is not the only or chief reason for
not resisting:the directors' wars. Only let it be
understood, that we have a clever Board, and a
course is seen .whereby we shall be able to -steal a
march, or form an alliance, that will take some-
thing out .of rthe pockets of the shareholders of
another line and put it into our pockets.
We rub our hands, and say, " hear, hear? .A few,
and only a ;few shareholders, see through the
precious scheme,. and are quite satisfied they .will
derive no benefit, in the beginning, middle., .or end
of it; their -voice is not listened to, and they may
sit down. But,: hi course of time, the great bulk
will come over to the few, and the disappointed
being then the quany, the directors will be called to
account. Not at all, and why ? Because they
'can show they have, after very great efforts, suc-
ceeded in making peace ; the fares and rates will
immediately he ;put up, and if the shareholders
only see the advantages secured, and remain quiet,
there will soon be a different state of things, the
public are going to :pay up the money lost, with
interest. Before, we had much reform in railway
management Shareholders must give up reliance
upon both these points. Wisdom, in regard to the
first, will be gained by experience. Shareholders
will find they cannot secure advantages in railway
trade any more than in any other trade, by the
means to which I have ireferred ; and I rejoice to be
able to tell you a .change of opinion is coming
about upon ails, though we may not be at the end
yet. As to the other, it is the duty of parliament
to undeceive. Shareholders must be told, by that
authority, that if they will go to war and
waste their funds, they must submit to the
loss. I think it is partly clear, that directors
themselves begin to see that matters must come to
,this. A short time ago there was formed, with.
;ranch flourish, "The B.ailwuy Companies Asso-
siation,V which was to arrange and settle all
diflerences between disputing (companies ; to try
-to :obtain parliamentary power to make agree-
ments binding, &c. The Times remarked upon
this, that it was unlike Reform Associations
generally they proposed to operate upon some-
thing beyond themselves; this was to operate
upon acelf; it contained within it, in the re-
formers, what it was proposed to reform. I see
by one of the. railway papers that Otis novel in-
stitution ,is in a fair way of meeting .an,e,airly death,
oae or two great companies having withdrawn,
and the Board of Trade having given it a cold
reception. This is hopeful. The Board.of Trade
does not look favourably upon this pretense of
assuming, what., to a great extent, ought to :be its
functionfunctions,l do }gape and trust, that the Board of
Trade is
acquiring that knowledge, and that it \vat
acquire that power which, ere long, shall cause it
to
be acknowledged as the competent tribunal to
which to refer railway disputes • and that, through
its assistance, the decisionsdis Parliament will
shareholders, a hopelfel.
show that those and wars are, for the
When this comes
system
shalltem
m securedaoag ;n Imu much of the effects of
NM which, like many
tAtinl3,---I am,
SUFFERER.