The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-02-03
NO. 3IS.

taken in connection with what | have said
upon the diversity of characters among slave
holders and the reader can form a correct idea
of the extent to which the lawful practice Of
tearing asunder family ties il carried
One of the standing arguments for slavery
is, that it is no worse than other forms Of evil
aud misfortune; and "A Carolinianp ex-
hausts his store-house of reading and obserya-
ton in two hemispheres, for parallel instances
of wretchedness and misrule. He exclams,
"And be it remembered, that there is no sepa-
ration like the gulf that opens between mem.
bers of the same family, when crime comes in
between them" This comparison of the ord-
nary legal workings Of Slavery to instances Of
desperation and crime, which are made CAPT
tai felouies in all countries, IL u severity Of
ceuoure which my regard for the amenities of
literary disputation would have withheld me
from making But defenders and apologists
OF Slavery unconsciously, though quite natu-
rally, degrade and outlaw the system, by pla-
eng side by side its legitimate effects and con
sequences, with the criminal calendar of free
States. They Offset the legal cruelty and in
justice Of Slavery, for which the victim has no
redress, by pointing out the occasional infrac-
tons of the criminal code in other countries
and seem to take il for granted that 80 long
as violence and crime exist in spite Of law and
public opinion in States which boast of their
freedom and humanity there can be no reason
why they may not be authorized by law in
the Southern States
I must take exception nevertheless, to A
Carolinan's" remarks upon the cruelty Of for
tune, in separating poor emigrants from their
families | had heard much of the ills Of
poverty in European countries; have paid
close attention to the statistics of emigration
and have been for many years an habitual
reader Of the news and current literature Of
this country and of England, and protest
that never road or heard Of this fountain Of
human woe until it was opened up to my view
| by the sympathetic genius Of the far-distant
stakeholder.
Many reasons induce me to think that the
| picture he has drawn Of the suffering poor in
this particular is fancy sketch THAT it
| 10 one of those instances in which our author
has fallon into tho Pharissical practice which
he elsewhere derides of preaching distant"
philanthropy. Irishmen Germans, and other
Foreigners, sometimes doubtless come to the
United States in advance of their families, and
in few months are able to send money home
for the purpose of bringing them over to this
country,* 1t costs but trihe to bring them,
and this amount is soon raised by industry and
the assistance OF friends. But the Government
of Great Britain furnishes the means of emf
! grafton to her colonies, to her poorest classes,
| and there is not the slightest probability that
| they would separate families Ii Irishmen or
| other foreigners voluntarily abandon their
families, imagine there is no great suffering
on either sdo. And there is this general an
| swer to this and other social evils pointed out
| by "a Carolinian" az offsets to Savery-that
| they are incident to all societies, slaveholding
and Free Voluntary family ruptures are az
common at the South, among whites and slaves,
| and arising from the Same Causes, al in free
States. ln like manner, poverty and vice in
large cities are not confined to free States /.
they are evils that accompany dense popula-
ton in any cline or UNDER any form Of Gov.
eminent. They are felt with more intensity Of
suffering in Turkey, China and othcr old slave
States than in any part OF Western Europe o.
America. They are felt in New Orleans and
Baltimore no less than in New York, Phiadel-
phia, and Boston and if the Southern cities
were as largo as tho Northern, they would have
far greater amount of poverty TO provide for
and less means Of meeting the responsibility
prise, aud wealth.
1t is evident, therefore, that Slavery is su-
peradded evil which the South labors under
in addition to those which free States have to
contend with. have said nothing of the Don
dition of the poor freemen OF the South, who
have fewer of the comforts of life than any
class of freemen that have ever seen Tho
| capital Of the South is invested in slaves and
gives them no employment-they generally Oc-
| cupy the poorest portions Of the pine ridge.
| and hills or what IN known as tho "black
jacks, species of stunted Oak, peculiar to the
| poorest soil. Ia our country, the negroes re
tanning phrase Of their African ancestors,
denominnts them poor buckra," and in tho
| West Indies they were, in the times of Slavery,
| styled the "red shanks," from going without
shoes and stockings. An intelligent Southern
gentleman, who has resided in this CITY Wash
ngton) for two years, thinks that there is as
much poverty Woe, and suffering, in bis native
county, with half the population, as in Wash-
ington. Yet no comes from good section Of
the country, where the land is better than the
average Statistics take no account Of this
dispersed and vagrant Woe and wretchedness
among tho halfemployed and unemployed
poor Of the South yet the amount and degree
of it is truly appalling
There is this difference to DO observed, too
between the social evils adverted TO by "A
Carolinian," and Slavery the Press of tie free
States Of this Union and Of England are at per
upon the necessity of reform while it il re-
garded rs little short of treason in a Southern
newspaper to hint ut the evils Of I" the peculiar
institution" The newspaper of New York
which has the largest circulation OF any in the
Union, makes it u leading feature Of it's char
acter TO point out the social evils Of that and
other cities, and 10 urge the most radical meas
ures of reform. ! allude TO the Tribune the
editor OF which is an ayowed Fourierite, and
wages unceasing war upon present social Or
CARNATIONS IL 10 immntorial to my present
purpose whether his remedial Suggestions are
wise only slludo to him TO show the entire
freedom OF the Press in the free States and
that IL society in that quarter Of the Union is
not free from great evils il is blessed with that
which has been universally recognised as tho
harbinger Of Reform-a free Press.
The attompt to place Slavery on the footing
of tho despotic power conferred upon parents
and guardians, will not bear q moments scru-
tiny. Ia the one case the authority is conferred
by nature and by society, for the most beuef-
cent and disinterested purposes, over persons
who are unable TO take care Of themselves Ia
the case Of parents, tho authority, it is true is
bestowed BY nature Unfortunately, upon tho
good and bad but 10 always accompanied by
a tic OF affection which IN the best guaranty
for it's discreet use The law may intorposs TO
protect the child from tho brutality Of it's pa
rents and public opinion fnlly aud strongly
sustains such interposition. Guardians and
masters Of apprentices arc selected for their
Since writing tho above, the following paragraph
has met my eye In tho columns Of tho Baltimore San
Of the III instant
"RxxirrAsoKs TO IaSLAsp--put fsw have any
idea Of the amount Of moneys sent annually to Ire
iasd by tho Irish residents OF this country to enable
st~i.ouis Iafeihgspc~ has bson furnishod with ths
following account Of rsmittanoss frop that city du-
ring the present year
"Mr Lindsey, an agent, has rsmittod tho sum Of
s67.1 In one theusand seven hundred and seven.
~ sx and has also PAID ninety six passages for