The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-10-06


10 favor of this northern route and the editor
adds, that it is not only the shortest, as the
map will show but also in the most direct line
from Liverpool and Amsterdam to ports in
China and Japan. The climate also is pref
cradle, as the heat ON the southern routes
would be destructive of perishable commodi-
ties, These considerations, with many more
that might be enumerated, make Minnesota
desirable country for New Englsnders.
| There are other points to which ! wish to
alude in regard to the best route to Minnesota,
the cost and time required sc. These will be
the subject Of another communication, should
any Of your readers wish il
J. +. BRADLEY.
For the National Era.
CAREY ON THE SLAVE TRADE.
The work of Mr.. H. c. Carey on the Slave
Trade has been highly commended as an An
t-Sla very book in the New York Tribune II
has been somewhat favorably noticed though
dissented from by "E.' in the National Era |
have no objection TO this, nor to the circulation
and study of the work but having given it
some attention, wish through your columns
to notice briefly some of its features, as they
presented themselves to my mind. Abolition
lists should know what sort of an Anti. Slavery
book it is, and what remedies it would have
them patronize.
In the beginning of the book (page y there
is caution against following the British ex-
ample of immediate emancipation" in the
West Indies" and it is more than limited that
the condition Of the poor negro has been i'm
paired, not improved" The writer intimstes
his expectation Of being able to show more
excellent way. Ga page 20 he treats OF the
Dement'S conferred on the negro race and their
Improvement under American Slavery, yet rep
resents the planters as having looked to early
measures for its entire abolition The coloni.
cation scheme is here and elsewhere warmly
applauded.
Chapter 4, on Emancipation in the British
Colonies" represents it as a failure. "Jamai-
Ca" is represented as zone of the Oldest, and
untt lately one of the most prosperous, of the
colonies" The reader is left to infer that
emancipation caused its decline But, il any
one seeks for a refutaton of that conclusion,
he has only to turn to pages II, 80, to find other
causes of West India depression-causes at
work, and producing their effects, before eman-
cipation--causes TO great extent, inscparable
from the workings of the slave system. SINH
lar facts may be found on pages IS, 81.
1t is remarkable that a grave and learned
writer on Political Economy and Slavery should
rely on such print as Benefits New York
Hsratd-(never reliable on any subject, and al
ways bitter opposer Of emancipation for
statistics and information from the emancipa,
ted islands. Yet this is seen on p &c 26. The
London Tunes, another echo of the planters r.
is also another of the authorities quoted by Mr..
Carey; and the information obtained is as re-
markable as the authority "The Africans are
unhdppiiy following the example of the oreoes
10 the district in buying land upon which they
settle in oontented tdienessip How is it that
penniless negroes, thrown adrift without house
or home with scarcely covering for their ma
kedness, with nothing but their liberty and
their hands to begin the world with, can SC
soon have alarmed the conservatives of two
hemispheres hy their propensity to bug land gu
Especially, how is it that they can DO this N
contented idlenessW Here was problem that
should have arrested the philosophical atten
ton Of Mr.. Carey. Could he have considered
: the land-purchasing propensity Of the black
: an unhappy" one Elsewhere, when tellin,
his readers " how freedom grows in Denmark
, (p 343) aud in Northern Germany" (p 3I3
he tells them that tho peas intry were encour
aged and enabled to acquire small portions o
land. He il far from calling it an unhappy
arrangement, or q result or evidence of idle
ness' Why, then, did he record it among the
evidences OF disastrous emancipation in the
West Indies?
In showing how freedom grows in Russia,
(p. 328) Mr.. C. remarks the absurdity Of de
mandlng that such people should exhibit thu
marks Of advancement seen in more favored
countries. IAN that should be asked is, wheth
err people has surpassed it's own previous con
dition, and is in a way Of improvement anG
progress" Let the colored people of the Brit
ish West Indies have the benefit OF this rule
and their friends need not fear scrutiny O
thom, Notwithstanding the strange assertion o
Mr.. C., (p 81, that " the poor laborer of ia
maica is being destroyed" that he is "nov
more a slave than ever, because his labor yield
him less Of the necessarcs and comforts of life
than when master was bound to provide foI
him" Ii this be 80, whence comes his money
to "bny lane" to the annoyance of the white
gentry, the real "idiers2" And whence comes
the wcll-known increased demand in the islands
for tho "necessaries and comforts furnished
from the United States
MIR. Carey defends the shareholders in this
country from the blame that IL sometimes cas-,
upon them. They are Slaves Of circumstances
over which they have no control "-(P Is The
general drift of the argument throughout the
book throws the blame Of American Slavery
On the British Government, whose policy will
not "permit" the cotton-growing States to be
cotton cloth manufacturers process which
would, at least prevent the westward slav,
trade, if not ultimately abolish Slavery which
according to Mr. G., consists in poverty, or re
suits of necessity from it. He forgets to tell u,
how it came to pass that British policy did moi
prevent cotton manufacturing at the North a.
we'll as at the South Instead of noticing how
free populace readily became manufacturers
he would have it believed that manufacture,
must first DO introduced at tho South, before
the slaves can become free. Following out his
definitions, which make Wealth synonymous
with Liberty, and Poverty identical with Sla
very, his grand panacea for American Slavery
is the previous enrichment Of the South, just
as though Ut this were practicable) the wealth
of the planter would secure the liberty Of the
siape! Only raise the price Of labor, the price
Of the products Of labor, and the price OF land
and man becomes free, Of course, according Il
Mr.. c.; and we need not trouble ourselves Il
repeat the statutes that consign him to ehatte
hood. Thus, at least we are led to infer. But
in showing show freedom grows in Other
countries, ~ in Germany, the absolute rights
OF the peasant "over the land" Implying free
dom from chattelhood, and even from serfdom
become. an essential part Of the process.
3i3) We seem to have one rule for Europe
and another for America II il be meant thai
the enriching of the stakeholder, while remain
ing such, ana on the products of slave labor
will have tendency to wean him from the bn
siness OF slavehold,ng, the argument certainly
is not made very clear Now, does Mr.. Carey
show us how the high price Of wages, products
and land, are ~ benefit the slave, 10 long AZ be
remains chstteI. But he seems very conf
dent OF one or both Of these results, and hs
would have tho friends Of the slave relinquisl
their present efforts, their crusade for imme
date emancipation" and especially their ear
nest appeals TO the conscenoes Of the innocen
and involuntary shareholders, dsvotipg Their