The Ohio union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1849-1854, 1853-07-06
Term. etAdvertising.
For the Ohio Union.
British Toadyibm and British Agitation.


Mn. EDIroR Permit me, through the
medium Of your paper, TO give publicity to
few facts and thoughts upon the much
agitaIed question Of slavery, and, more
particularly, upon the relation of Great
Britain TO that institution and the motives
which have actuated her in all her move
menls and in all her Legislation upon the
subject. M- aaa
Perhaps no country can boast Of states
men more devoted to their country's inter.
ests than Great Britain. With an eagle
eye they watch the progress Of nations,
ready to take advantage Of any great NOR
al or political event, which would contri-
butte to the advancement Of the Empire.
Britain's glory and aggrandisement has
been the important study Of their lives.
The selfshness Of their philanlhroplIy has
long since become proverbial. But Of all
The questions which have ever arisen for
their investigation, tina; of slavery appears
to have been the most difficult, and the
one in which they have committed the most
errors.
Slavery was the mighty engine Of power
by which England maintained her natioual
existence for more than quarter OF a cen
tury, against the combined powers Of Eu.
rope, and she has made it the instrument,
through her own bad Legislation, Of making
her subservienl 10 some of the most insig.
nifcant despoisms on the face of the earth
thereby enriching her most deadly fnes.
and elevating them 10 that position Of
wealth and greatness which size herself
once held. For one hundred and fifty
years she was engaged in the slave traffic,
and enriched herself upon the blood and
sinews of five hundred millions of the ma.
tives Of Africa. For nearly century did
she tolerate the most cruel and barbatous
system Of slavery in her colonial posses.
sions that the world ever saw.
"Ah, but she has atoned for all that"
says one Of our lauer.day abolilion.sainis.
&" Has she not abolished the institution in
the West Indies, and declared the slave
trade piracy!" TO your inquiries, l
readily give an affirmative answer, but that
she has "aioned" for her iniquiious part in
this matter, | most emphaiicaIly deny. I
hold tha, no action is COOL in the sight Of
heaven, unless the motive which prompted
the action was good. Now | assert, and
without fear of successful contradiction,
that among all the schemes which England
has ever devised for the ameloration Of the
condition of The African race; there has not
been one ntwhat originated ia sel6shness,
and have not only resulted in entailing addi-
llonal misery and woe upon the coloted
race, but has spread ruin and bankruptcy
among her own subjects, and paraly zed the
whole Of her vast commercial interests.
To sustain these assertions, let US take
hasIy review of British legislation upon
this subject, the motives which prompted
her, and the results which followed.
In l-l3, England secured the right o.
importing slaves, making her North Ameri.
, can Colonies the principal mart Against
= this, our ancestors solemnly protested, and
even went so far as to pass legislative pro.
hibiIiOns. bul the mother country refused
10 sanclion them. Besides The CONNER.
cal advantages which she derived from the
traffic; the Earl of Dartmouth discloses
still more potent reason: =" !"Negroes eau.
not become Republicans; they will be
power in our hands 10 restrain the unruly
Colonists!" Here then, we see that self.
= interest first prompted her 10 engage in the
t traffic, of slaves. In 1924, she passed her
act abolishng the slave trade; four years
after the United States had declared il pi-
, racy, at which time she bad become by
I word and a reproach among nations, 10
1 such an extent was she engaged in the
traffic. No sooner was this act passed by
England, than rival nations, taking advan.
, tage Of the increased demand for slaves,
renewed the traffic. This soon began 10
= seriously affect her interests, and she made
an effort to extricate herself. British Cap.
iIalisIs organized an association under The
a patronage Of the government. called the
african Civilization Society, having for
lis objects the supervision Of the slave
trade, the establishing of factories. the pro.
motion of the interests Of agriculture, and
The dissemination !. :. ....,.lliSencs .. among ihS
! natives, and eventually to make the whole
African continent a dependency of the
Empire' Oh what disinferssted philan.
y lhroPyl Fortunes for the Capitalists, and
Q Continent for The King Bat The climats
proved unhealthy and the scheme proved 4
failure.-Gnforiunaiely for England and
humanity. she was cursed. a, this period,
! well as at present, with set Of al lion
fanatics, aud as the government had uiisr-
= y failed in accomplishing any good thus
far they insisted upon their riqht Of being