Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-08-04
From tho Spartansburg Express.
NEGRO MECHaNIC5-THE REMEDY. y

4
From tho Spartansburg Express.
NEGRO MECHaNICs-THE REMEDY"
We find in the Charleston Standard Of the
| 18th inst. contribution, backed by an able
editorial under the above caption, which dis
ousses the propriety of dispensing with the SER
| vices Of slave labor in the mechanical arts, in
/ order to mako room for foreign and Northern
white mechanics who are flooding the Southern
| States.
The Standard argues therefore, that because
"there is within our limits party who neces-
sarily, from feeling and in practice, must oppose
the Islavel institution, We have arrived at q
point when the policy of our course may be
best determined"
aThe nucleus Of free labor that is slowly
| forming upon our Southern seaboard may grad
ually remove the institution to tho farther
| West and If it is ultimately our purpose to
abandon Slavery, it is only necessary to yield
| to the gentle pressure Of the opposition, and in
few years, as the forests Of the West are open
cd to us, we May possibly wash our hands Of
the wrongs SO literally charged upon us, and
look upon the crimes of other people with the
same complacency which lends so inefable q
charm TO the face of New England"
The Express comments as follows upon the
foregoing extract from the Standard.
ave have no doubt that Northern and for
eign mechanics, who have read the editorial
! and the communication referred to, will sustain
the views inculcated, and regard the Standard
as an advocate for the prohibition of mechani-
cal slave labor-or, OF least, willing to yield
to the gentle pressure of the opposition.
awe agree with the Standard, that there
are white men who cannot afford to buy
slave = and hence, within our own limits,
rivalry is forming between free and slave la
Dor, But we hardly supposed thai South
Carolina journal, especially one Published In
Charleston, would step forward as champion
for Northern and foreign mechanics, who arc
more than willing to do injury to slave owners
and drive from the bench, the anvil, the trowel,
aud the needle O species Of property which is
regarded the most valuable in those depart
ments, and which il the main, if not entire,
support CT large number of widows and or
phans throughout the State"
The Express goes on to condemn the sugges-
ton, which by the way is only limited, Of with
drawing negroes from mechanical operations,
and supposes that the writer mus. be q North
ern man, or Southern man with Northern
principlesn Tho Express further quotes from
the Standard, as follows:
Finally, the Standard says:
$50 long as we have houses to build, boats
TO navigate, lands to clear and cultivate, rail-
roads to construct and one and thousand
domestic Offices for which the present number
Of our laboring population is not suf6 ,ient, we
must expect the eDterprising laborers from
other sections to como amongst us; and it is
right that they should come; and if we expec.
to neutralize their character and make them
constituents Of our institutions, we must give
them slaves, and upon such terms as that it
| will be their interest to receive them. With
out this they will follow their Interestingly
4 must follow their interests--apd it is bat right
1 that they should follow their interests. We
| have vast domains Of vacant territory all
around us we have in our rivers, mines, and
forests, illmtablc wealth, which We have not
the time now to touch upon. We have no
right to perpetually scclude this wealth from
those whom God has vested with tho enter
! prise to grasp it. To admit them however,
and not admit within our midst an interest in
| opposition to our Institutions, we must give
them slaves. Under present circumstances,
slsves can never be permanently cheaper than
they are. Tho demand for them increases
with each accession to our numbers, and we
must look for sources Of supply, or we must
submit our interests to the inevitable tenden-
cies around usn
Tho idea Of giving slaves to Northern me-
chanics, as an inducemsnt TO remove South, is
sheer nonsenae.
We are glad TO witness this evidence Of
The natural and inherent repugnance between
free and slave labor. May they never be REQ.
onciled! and whatever policy be adopted by
the South, good must result. II the introduce
ton Of free Iaborers is encouraged, il is we'll.
If the slaves are universally employed in me-
chsnical occupations, IL will be better, since
they win thereby be fitted for freedom, and
prepared TO take care OF themselves.
The Express dislikss mechanics from the
North, who, 1t scems, are less prone " to conquer
their prsjudicesn against Slavery than the
merchant class The latter are welcomed Ia
those hsttsring terms @.
aThc intelligent mercantile class, who come
among ~ from the North and settle, are gen
orally valuable acquisitions TO society, and every
way qualified 10 sustain our institution but
the mechanics, most Of them, are pests 10 socie-
W, dangerous among tho slave population, and
ever ready TO form combinations against the
interest OF the stakeholder, against tho laws OF
the country, and against the peace Of the Com.