Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-03-10

ARIsToCRAcY AND ANTI-SLAvERY.-Rich.
ard ID. " ebb, of Dublin, thus alludes To tht
prevalent ideas among the pro-slavery Amer
leans relative to Che aNti-slavery position AN,
action Of the aTiStocrdiic classes in Great Bri
tain:
81 have been greatly amused by the no
lions that some OF HE less educated Ameri-
cans | have met with, seem to have formed
OF what constitutes aristocracy here. They,
very naturally, (when they see so much now
eTiy, rags, and wreichedness, on one hand,
and so much comparative comfort AMONGST
The portion OF community who have rood
houses over their heads and food on their Ia
bles,) class all the latter as the aristocrICy;
so that even your very humble servant has
been dignllied with the title of aristocrat.-
TO us who know the difference there could
be no more comical mistake. | have often
read IN the entertaining columns of the Re-
JuSe g Oppression, In the Liberator. and UNI
der your caption Of Pr0-Siarery (Which |
faithfully peruse) the most furious CHARGES
against the British aristocracy for their sym.
pathy with abolitioniStS and their abomina-
BILE taste in studiously seeking the society of
every colored man who comes over here TO
dHdllSN nv ltNNtldE InSlUullOn.-
Now need not tell you that this is either A
gross error or a wllIul misrepresentation. If
II mad not been for the influence of the pow
erIul English ariStoCracy--Or at least nf ma
ny Of its members-slavery in the British
West India Islands would have been abolish
ed many wears before that event really took
place. What was called in England ''the
West Indian Interest consisted chiefly Of
nohlemen holding estates in the Slave Coo
MES, or merchants who held mortgages on
their property, and who conceived that their
interests were identified with the maintenance
Of the system. The House Of Lords and lin
the time of George the Third of blessed me-
mory) the King, were the great obstacles in
the way of the abolition of the slave-irade
and slavery. The English aristocracv, who
consist of about four hundred noblemen with
their relatives, and the families of wealthy
commoners of ancient lineage, though an in
t%luential, are a comparatively small class in
these Kingdoms. They are not nearly SO
numerous and have by no means such a noX-
ious influence on the deslinies Of the country
as is welded by yorr potent, united, and I'M
scrupnlous aristocracy Of shareholders. Onr
aristocracy are too rich, luXuriant, and in
%SouciGnt in general TO care for any such move
ments as those for the abolition of slavery or
the overthrow of drinking habits. With We
ry rare exceptions, they never NEEDLE in
them; on the contrary, they look on them as
low and vulgar, and they rarely honor them
with the %faintest light Of their conntenance.
1t is by the middle class in the British Is
lands, by those who are raised above the fear
Of absolute poverty, and who are yet not so
rich as to he selfish and lazy, that nlne-tenths
of all efforts are made for the reformation Of
and for the good Of their fellow.crea-
A man in my station might live and
die in Ireland, without seeing twenty mem
bers Of the arlstocracy or conversing with
half a dozen. This has been pretty nearly
experience-and yet ] am hale and hear
ty, and in the enjoyment OF health and spir-
its. When ] was a child | remember ofloo-
king with a certain revereniial on an old
gentleman who had ''seen the King" ] have
heard of a poor shoemaker who boosted that
the Third had spoken TO him. Being
what he said, he replied, ale bid me
nut Of the wav." When George the
Fourth landed in Ireland at the Hill Of Howth,