The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1850-02-06
SolOn RObigson's Letter te
fIle&OrtEp,

iheQOrtns
TO The Editors 9t hA N;harlnFton Mercury.
GENTLEMEN: dS -c i, TO be borne in
mind, that am no,eu STAKEHOLDER, and
have no in,crcs, in le South only MS n
stranger and travclf; ,hu, my object in
these letters is ncithf to advocate slavery
or defined the ins,i,iion, but to nnrratc
facts as find ihcm.l In the abstract.
used TO regard slavy rs m evil, though
aevcr TO the negro; e,d now have some
doubts whether it is'p evil in any sense
ofthc word. /, ,i,rGgaried as an evil,
because the Slav@SHtcs have no, filled
up with cmigran,sFd iipurishcd as rapid
ly as the Nor,hyEern if,ee States. bu,
am cors;rancl,o bclhevc ,ha, Gland
monopoly" as iEl,crmcdt, and The ruin
GUS system Of altculinre ,ha, has pre-
vailed, together ~, the poverty Of much
OF the soil, has iiSmore to do with pro.
ducing sparse pbulaiion, and worn OIL,
frlds, than slavery ihn, is, that the same
results would havefollowcd The same sys.
lem OF owning larG trac,s Of land md
ana cul'ivnting buss,nall portions Of that
!" some eXhansliR staple crop, if it had
been done by bind labor. I, is charged
mat slavery cottuP.s the morals OF The
whites. J3
,,.r gnaa 9I,,sas s,,.s Sit is eeHain ,ha, if The
than their neiglld shs sSash are .:,..' no bet
that the proporiionofs crime is much less
here than AT the North. Wha, then, arc
the evils Of the institution An evil mus,
be nn injury to some one. An injury
must hurt or make some one unhappy.
and II very great, j, will pcriorcc make
the afflicted one very miserable. Isoln,cd
cases may be found where NIL this has
happened. And so it has it happened in
the\mairimoniul state. But no more in
one Than in The other has it proved grea,
curse to the human family.
The first slaves ever landed in Amcri
ca were twenty in number, from n Dutch.
man. .of-wnr, in James River, in 1920
For long time after this, they were an
article Of traffic in the Colonies. No
doubt they were sometimes cruelty irca.
'rd IN carly times, bu, a very different
iecllng now exists between master and
slave. In more than half the cases The
present owners have grown up with III:
negroes, and have been nurscd by them
in infancy and sickness, end an attach.
ment has grown up with them for one an
other ms strong exists between the mem.
bcrs of n New England family.
II IS not i'll tho nature Of things for mas
tcrs thus reared to he cruel To their Dco.
pic, or Tor those people not to entertain
feelings OF strong attachment TO such mas.
icrs.
Would it no, be well to inquire why
III" negro race have always been subicc.
ted 10 The condition Of slaves bv the whites.
Tor such is the fact. Long before Eu.
rnpcnn ships visited the African coas, the
Arabic caravans bought the negroes OF
their negro rnslavcrs and sold them to the
whites; and if wc believe the Bible we
must believe that the traffic was sanction
cd OF God. 1t is M undcniabIc truth that
they are md have been n nation Of saw
ngcs, unaffected hv surrounding civiiza.
lion, and tia, they never have been civil.
Iz"d or Chrislinnized except in state of
snhleclion to white masters.
Has Africa ever produced n negro
hero, or sage, or man Of science? No,
Dnc.
Because few Of the negroes among
is do occasionally cxhib, brigh, in,c.cc.
''al qualities, many good phiIanihropis,s
ave been led to believe that the whole
ace might he elevated 10 the same stan
lard, and have come bIindly to the opinion
hat the first great necessary step to bring
about this wonderful rcsul, will be to de
''"rc them free, md insis, that they are
'Gual TO tho white race.
Arc th"sc good but crrng men aware,
hat there is almost as much difference
'ctwccn the different tribes Of the negro
ace ns there is between the blacks and
whites?
For instance, the Jolofs seem 10 be al.
most distinct race Of negroes, and have
'ecn comparatively civilized people from
he era Of their first discovery by lhe Por.
ugucs".
"Fhose Of Gubcr and Hausa, where
degree Of civilization has
onG existed, are perhaps, the finest race
genuine negroes in Africa, unless the
olofs arc such, and should be excepted"
by Shareholders, the Coroman.ees are
stecmed the most intelligent and most
~ n q Il n