The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-05

xcikd ~ egniAt0rs ndlgnauon enu, a. tney
rsded rs well In Christians Is In Psgans, was me
ale Of Christian slaves to the inddels that 1t vas
spught 70 Yeprcesn t was to have the prohs OF the
lade a web a 70 escape the scandal OF enslaving
Christians that the African slave tade Was sevlved,
with the great increase Of commerce. IN the htteensn
and sixteenth centuries OF ouy era Ihe gress en.e
prizes Of Prince Henry Of Portugal In tae hiteentn
century and u full effects Of which have been py
OF msritme discovery to BE along that very region
where negroes mos. abJund-the western COAST OF
Africa. Then laid the foundation OF she no Tern
African slave trade, for carrying on when the peo
ole Of the Peninsuar nations have exhibited 30 great
fon iness clngDg TO 1t long after 1t had been openly
denounced by other patons. In l442, according 70
Mr.. Bar dinel ten black slaves we're carried TO Lis
bon by Gonzales Balde1a, on his return from voy.
sge that ne had undertaken by order Of PR Henry.
This Was the announcement Of that trade which
soon became 80 great-the trade in African slaves.
II IL not within my province to follow the details OF
ne Eus IL prIS o
other men on the subject, that though some of their
number looked with anger on the traffic. they begun
70 cary It on at about the same time they began to
be naval power. Sir J. Hawkins carried load Of
negroes to Hayti, from Guinea, in 1862. The frat
English African company was formed in 1888, the
very year Of the Armada. And in 1851 the next
year after the foundation Of Boston, Charles sane
formed for carrying il on under the British nag.
sm not aware that the PuIitans who hated him so
profoundly, ever brought 1t up agains. him that he
had given 80 deliberate an approval of the traffic in
negroes, as they certainly would have done had he
outraged their feelings by tina. act. They boasted
thai they did not do tner work negigently yet they
do not seem t. have said anything against his "pro-
slavery cor duet-a pretty good proof that they
Even Mr.. Whittier is forced to admit that slavery
had something OF an existence here at m, very re-
mote date from the foundation OF the colony. :" 1t
ter, nor the unkndly soil of Massachusetts, which
discouraged the introduction Of slavery in the first
ha,f century Of her existence as colony. 1t was
she Puritsns recognition of the BROTHERHOOD Of man
in sin suffering and Tedempti0n-his estimate Of the
awful responsibilities and eternal destiDes of huma-
Dty-his hatred Of wrong and tyranny, and his
strn sense OF justice. which Jed him to impose upon
the African slave trader the terrible penalty Of the
facts. The Puritans had no such ayersion to negro
slavery as our worthy post has discovered in the n
through the force Of his Imagination, nor did they
impose upon tie African slave trader the terrible
penalty Of the Mosaic CODE" II was against the
man steaer and not against the Al lean slave trad
er, that that penalty was provided. AS we-have
seen the fundamental laws Of the colony actually
provided for the protection OF slaves, and therefore
must have recognized the Legality of the trafi, in
men, as the very same laws did in Just so many
words. African slaves were year by year brought
into the colony; and have Dot been able to find one
solitary instance of q man being put to death for
bringing them here, as it would have been easy to
do mad the ter ible penalty" ever been imposed
upon African slave traders. But khave found plen v
QUHkcTB
witches the scoureiDg Of criminals the Danish meut
OF people for conscience sake the selling of Ind ms
INFO the most horrible forms Of slavery and the pur
chase OF white slaves for their own use, under the
name of servantsfor they were nice in the Of
words as some modern people like slavery az lit.
tie as Mr.. Whittier himself, but cannot recognise
it as q duty 10 shut my eyes TO well established
facts snd then, because cannot see them, declare
that they do not exist.
Mr.. Whittier c0ntinnes:-
But that brave old generation passed away The civil
contentious in the mother country drove the
mutndes of restless adventures and spectators The
indian wars unsettled and demoralized the people Ha
bits IT luxury and the greed Of gain took the place Of
the severe sodcnal and rigid virtues OF the fathers
Hence we are not surprised to find that Josseyn, in his
second visit 10 New England, twenty five years
after his first speaks of the great increase Of
and negroes In 1850, Governor Rradstreet in answer
to The Inquiries of his Majesty's Privy Council states
that two years before vessel from NADIA brought
INTO the colony hetwixt forty and fifty negroes, mostly
women and hidIen, who sold at loss to the
owner Of the vessel " Now and then" he continues,
Two or three negroes brought from Rarhadoes and
other OF his Majestys Plantations, and Sold for twenty
pounds apiece; 50 that there may be within the govern
ment about one hundred one hundred and twenty,
and II may be- many Scots, brought hithcr and sold
Tor servants in tho time of the with Scotland and
about bali many Irish.n .'The owning of a black or
White slave, or servant continues Mr. Whittier, " at
this period, regarded evidence dignity aud
respeetabliy and hence, magistrates and clcrgymen
winked at the violation of the law by the mercenary
traders and supplied themselves without scruple
dian slaves were common, and named in old wills,
C,,ds and inventories with horses and household
furniture. As carly as the year l64a find William
Wilton Of Ncwbury sells to George Carr sfor one guar.
Ter part Of n vessel James my Indian with all the in
erest have in lin, to be his servant for ever, Some
were taken in the Narragansctt and ether Indian
wars, and others were brought from South Carolina and
the Spanish Main
This rather lengthy quotation IL mp1rtant, both
for its truth and IFS TIE attempt Of it's ami
sble anthor TO represent the PuritaDs peculiarly
hostile TO slavery rendered it necessary for him to
show that the PUritanisal spirit bad greatly died out
in Massachusetts,, even in about thirty years from
The foupdst of Boston, when he found that slave
holding had become quite common in the colony
10 tie facts warrant his view of the subject. Most
decidedly they co not. On this point, namely, tina.
FG tsnism was weaker in l6G4 than Il was in 1859,
- se two years in which Joseiyn's visits were made
i EN- content to quote one great authority
against another-Mr Hawthorn against Gr.
Whittier. The former gentleman Il TIE best
lvi authority on all matte 8 pertaining to
en- colonial TINES. doubt, indeed, If there
ty lived a man who more completely nm
Le:tel and his opinion is fatty in the face of tina.
50 nrhesitstingly put forward by Mr.. Whittier Toe
foe ders Of the colony he considers to hare been far
less Purianicai Than their sue ,essors. "Their i'm
mediate pssterity, lie says, 1.-The generation next
10 the early emigrants, wore tie blacklist
shade Of Pmjfapism and so darkened the national
VISA. Sith il, thas all the subsequent years have
~ - ccd TO clear II up" This generation Of Mira
fuiitans existed at the very time when, according
to Mr. Whittier, the feeling against slavery had here
declired, and when "magstrates and clefgsmsn
wrked at the violation of tle law by the mere mary
with slaves. Who were tue magistrates? Tp,y
were tie creme dc la creme of Pari anisn- the men
who wore the blacklist shade of js, ma lie visible.
Who were tie clergy? They we're the priests of the
land; end priests, when sincere and 70 one DOUBT,
The sirceTity Of the men referred to-are always
NOR isDstical than the most ignorant aud deuded
Of t@eir followers. IL Mr.. Whittier be right these
same Puyitarical teac ers and rulers were band of
hypocres, WAC, for their convenience, violated the
Jaw and oisregarded their avowei principles, 10 or
der to have the privilege II owning slaves, which
vas at that period "reca ded evide ace Of dig
nity and respe liability" Truly, a,corciug TO this
picture OF him, the Puritan must have bse n 8 very
poor creature. But much question the .:ura,y
u ,he picture; ard, lite as ike slavery, mid
much roiher look upoa al cestors as having been
honest Shareholders, acting in accordance with thu
general opinion Of their age, than as nyoocfitics
snayes, who could buy and sell !, dams aud negroes
~hDe believing such coDduc. TO be n deadly wroay.
But there are other facts which make still more
stroi ely against the view pu. forward by Mr.. Whit
Tier. ala de to the .featmsn. of may Of their
Mi hu fha Dp.,t