The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1854-11-25
Stoves next edition of Uncle Toms Cabin.
Education for all, according to the capacity
of each is the true la1U of loue and progress.
From the Charleston Mercury.
Revival of the Slave Trade.


1t is now nearly half a century since the
people of the south, in spirit of honest but
mistaken philanthropy, consented to meas
ures for the abolition of the slave trade. 1t
was the first step towards the grand consum-
mation-the extinction of slavery ITSELF
In England, the same policy has been pur-
sued, and in the end, emancipation III the
British colonies crowned with success the
untiring efforts of fanaticism. Out Of this
last act of folly, grew the first sober refec-
ton, and mankind, taught by Its terrible re-
suits, We're forced to look at the question by
more practical and truer lights than t1lckered
in the extravagant rhetoric of Wilberforce
and his coadiutors. Indeed, so rapidly did
these islands fall from prosperity into decay,
utter blight and desolation, that Mr.. Macau
ly, so far back as 1910, just seven years after
the act had gone into effect, declared, In the
House of Commons, that {" if twenty years
hence, those colonies in which slavery con-
tinued should be able TO point to those in
which it had been abolished, ruined, and the
plantations in them abandoned, then he
would say, that although we should indeed
have wiped stain from our own land, he
questioned qchether aDe should haze conferred
a great and signal boon upon humanity IN
general" The whole world knows how fully
his apprehensions have been justified, land how
emancipation has come to be word signfi
cant only of mpoverishment and destruc-
ton But it is not merely to institute a
parallel that we now allude to it. We wish
to show that governments have always
failed to effect any good by interfering
against slavery; and that as emancipation
was followed by the direst consequences, so
measures for the suppression of the slave
trade have only aggravated the evils they
aimed to extirpate This done, we shall then
proceed to an examination Of the slave trade
itself, as question of vital interest to the
American continent, and with which its fu-
ture development is closely bound up.
Our readers will remember that this is no
new question with us. 1t was long since
discussed in the columns OF the Mercury; and
now that public opinion in the whole coun-
try seems attracted TO it, we return to it
with stronger convictions and renewed as
surance.
In the first place, then, what has the in
reference of government achieved i'll amelio-
rating the evils of the slave trade? This
trade had its origin in the wants of new
continent. The discovery Of America re-
vealed to the world vast regions of richest
fertility, and mines of fa abulous wealth, to
tempt the acquisitiveness and stimulate the
enterprise of men. There was bat one
thing needed, and that was labor. Just then
Africa threw open her doors. There were
millions of savages, split up into thousand
tribes, living in perpetual wars, practising
the most disgusting rites, and buried in the
darkest paganism. They were already ac-
customed to slavery; for by the usages of
war, the captive was the slave or the victim
of the conqueror. But what seemed special
Providence in the matter was, that the ply
sical constitution of the African adapted
itself at once to the tropical climate of
America, while the European languished and
died. Thus, on the one hand was land
inviting to the most active enterprise, and
promising the richest returns, yet closing the
treasure, by the seal of death, TO the labor
of every race but one; and on the other
stood Africa, ready to pour forth and supply,
in countless thousands, that very race.
Now, if ever a case arose which should
have been sacred from the intermeddling of
sentimentalsts, which called for the most
enlightened and liberal craftsmanship, it
was this Yet, what do we see? While the
East India company, under the sanction of