The southern press., 1851-08-02
SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1861.

TAe Destiny u African slavery.
The extinction Of slavery: Westminster Re.
rie.o, No. lO9, July, 1851.
The condition Of Southern slaves. New York
Tribune. July 81, 1851.
The third article of the Westm;nster Reuie,o
for July last commences with the following
paragraph:
"Slavery is extinct in the United Kingdom
and in all its depsndencies. This end hsyins
been achieved, the means Of bringing about it.
extinction, everywhere have been earnestly can
vassed. There II but one feeling in this coun
try, a. regards the willingness to cooperate fo
the purpose with other nations similarly dis
rosed, although there are numerous and con
fiicting opinions, ~ to which, of all the mean.
suggested for our adoption can be most sue
cessfnlly employed"
The New York Tribune says
But We are told to leave slavery alone il is
the apectal curse of the South, and we have no.
thing to do with it. This Is great mistake in
every way. As journalists it is our right and
duty TO discuss whatever interests the public, or
whatever we think ought to interest it, whether
in New York, England, Carolina, or India But
in slavery we have q nearer interest than this
for it il an American institution, and exerts its
baleful influence over the whole Republic, all Of
which Is weakened and endangered by weakness
and danger in any Of its par:s-not to say any
thing OF the Disgrace this institution casts upon
democracy in the eyes of civilized mankind Be-
sides, we are liable to be called on to send back
fugitives, an act which certainly renders us par
tcipants in their enslaving Moreover, it is too
latein the day to think of stopping the discus.
sion of this subject 1t DiH be discussed, and
the best thing is to look at it peaceaby and sin
cerely, and say the whole truth about it,"
The Westminster Rsuie,o is published, we
suppose in Westminster. which is a suburb of
London, and the Tribune in the city of New
York. The two cities of London and New
York contain together a population of three
millions Of people--about equal in number to
the slaves of the Southern States.
In those two cities the vice, want, suffering
misery, disease, death, crime and pauperism, are
greater than among the slaves of
the South: The actual labor performed is, per-
haps, greater; the actual comfort realized is GER
tainly less. In those cities the seats of refine
ment and civilization in the two bemispheres,
men and women are not bought for life, but
they are bought and sold by the day or night,
week, month or year. They are not bought for
life, for they are not sufficiently valuable to pay
the expense of their support in childhood and
age. They are marketable only in their youth |
and their prime. The labor of man for day
in New York, can be bought as low as that of
a slave of equal strength and skill in the South
The labor of a white woman for eighteen hours
per day in making shirts, in washing, or in mil
linery can be bought for much less than the la
Dor of Southern female slave Worse than
that, the chastity Of white woman, young and
beautiful, is notoriously marketable commodi-
ty, and can be bought every day and at all
hours-the chastity, or the person of women
Of every variety Of attainment, family and man.
ners
In those cities, the condition of human life is
80 miserable. that young children are exposed to
want, to disease, and death, in so many forms,
that scarcely third of them escape an untimely
grave. In those Cities the extremes of wealth
and poverty, are seen bloated, voluptuous, and
selfish wealth-and pining, haggard, despond.
ant, and desperate poverty. Crime abounds
Thousands of police officers are appointed and
paid to prevent and punish crime, and yet there
are more men, women, and children, in their
prisons, jas, and penitentiaries, and more crime
committed than among all the slaves of the
South together. In those cities, there is starva-
ton-there is none among Southern slaves.
And yet here are two scribbling phanthro-
pists, who cannot find time to relieve and as.
suage the mseries of their own people in their
own neighborhood, but must speculate ince.
sanity on schemes to abolish the slavery of ne
groes.
The destiny of slavery--the doom of slavery.
deserves the consideration of Southern peope.
because some of them have listened |
80 much to the dogmatic and pragmatic lectures
of these pharsees, that they have contracted the
notion that African slavery is, somehow or other,
an institution that has received its sentence from
these expounders Of civilization, and must soon
pass away. What are the indications9
African slavery is now advancing, by its nat
ural Increase and the comforts of the slave, as
rapidly as ever. 1t overspreads the fairest and
most prolific cmes and soils of North and South
America, and is more important now to the
commerce, wealth, and comfort of the civilized
world than ever before. Abolish it, and the |
most radical and comprehensive revolution
would occur in all the highly civilized States of
the world that history records. One balf of the
States of this Union would become desola-
ton; plantations would be laid waste, popula-
ton would perish, and commerce would disap-
pear. The wild beasts would come forth from
the mountains of Virginia, the rice swamps of
South Carolina, and the csne-brakes of Missis-
aippi and Louisiana, and re-occupy the land
The spindles of Lowell and of Manchester
would stop. and silence would reign over their
deserted streets, and famine rage around their
habitations.