Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1823-09-20


men, may be at variance with his inte-
rest, especially if in unison with his pre-
JUDGES and his inclinations? If you
should require additional evidence, re-
fer you to Brougham's Colonial Policy,
where the fact is illustrated and explain
ed, in language somewhat less courte-
Gus, indeed, than | am willing to adopt,
but with the usual force and ability Of that
powerful writer.
Ganilh expresses his surprize, that an
author SO intelligent as yourself, and SO
well acquainted with the progress Of So
cicty in Europe, should maintain the ge-
neral position, that slave labor is cheap
er than the labor Of freemen; but he in
sinuates some doubt, whether the posi-
ton may not be true when applied to
the colonies. He gives no reason, how
ever, for this idea, for he can scarcely
offer it as an opinion) which do not apply
with the same force and propriety to the
European system |; and after a Careful
examination OF his argument, can real
the principles he lays down, and the in
ference he seems disposed 10 deduce
from them, as between the solemn and
repeated dec iarations OF France, that she
has, bona tide, abolished the slave-tradc,
and her extension OF this traffic, in the
eyes Of Europe, to the very utmost limits
of which her capital will admit.
He observes, " As soon, therefore, as
education has formed rnan for part.
cular mode of living, it is the height of
imprudence to impose upon freeman,
all at once, the ideas, the feelings, and
The incinations Of slave; or, upon a
slave, the ideas, feelings, and inclinatioas
ola freeman. In this respect, although
il affears 10 as evident, thai The labor
ofa freeman is more profitable than thai
ofthe slave, perhaps it Is equally true,
of the colonial system, as it now exists,
that the labor of the slave is more pro-
flahle than that of the freeman" Now
this argument against the abolition of
slavery in the West Indies, applies
equally to the abolition OF slavery every
where; or rather, it is applicable only to
sudden emancipation any where. " BY
educating man as a slave, you unfit
him for freedom" Educate him then as
: freeman, and you unfit him for slavery
II the present generation of West India
, slaves, al SO tainted with the poison oil
J slavery, that their moral constitutions
cannot be regenerated. guard the nexl
generation from the malignant influence
of TINS vicious system, and you supply
the islands with more productive labor
ers, agreeably to Ganilh's own admission.
II he had founded his exceptions OF
the colonies from the operation of the
general principle that the iaror OF free
men is cheaper than that OF slaves, on
some radical distinction between the
European and the African race, or be-
tween European and Colonial bondage,
bis arguments would have been intelli-
gible at least if not conclusive. But he
asserts, and think most Justly, "that
the nature oil man--white, yellow, or
black, is every where the same; that
the passions exercise the same empire
over each color, and that all equally obey
the influence of moral and physical caus :
es;" and with respect to any difference
between Europe and Colonial bondage,
he has not even alluded to the subject.
| admit, however, that some striking
distinctions exist between them dlstinc-
tons SO little creditable either to your
country or my own, that | cjoice that my
subject does not compelme TO insist upon
them. The argument l am pursuing,
leads me to dwell less on those points in
which the two systems differ, than on
those in which they agree; and trust il
will appear from their coincidence IN the
few particulars in which shall institute
comparison between them, tn at the
principle from which slavery derives its
malignant influence on human character,
are common to both, and that the happy
results which'have followed its abolition
in the one case, may reasonably be an
ticipated from it in the other.
II in the West Indies and America,
the wealth of the planter is estimated,
not by the number OF acres which he
possesses, but by the number of his
slaves, SO il is in Europe. " Peasants
belonging to individuals in Russia" says
Coke, "are the private property OF the
landholder, as much as implements of
agriculture, or herds Of cattle, and the
value OF an estate is estimated by the
number Of Doors, and not by the number
OF acres" "The peasants OF Poland"
observes the same writer, "as in all
teudal governments, are seris, or slaves
and the value of an estate is not estma-
ed SO much from its extent, as from the
number OF its peasants, who are transfer
red from one masIer TO another. Like So |