Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1855-07-26
From the New York Times.
Bancroft on Slavery.


The new volume of Baacroh's Miscellanie
just published BY tho Horpers 10 book which
has feeh sometim" eagerly awaited by the
literary world. With several Of its articles,
we venture to predict, the admirers Of the
historian will be griegously disappointed.
Yet there is in the volume one essay worth,
in our view, oil the rest, which no historical
scholar and no man interested in the morals
of politics can read without the profouEdest
interest. We refer to the article which de-
P;c,s the influence of Slavery in uncermin-
ing the Roman Empire. To those who have
sometimes, perhaps unreasonably, doubted of
Mr. BaEcroft's sense Of the evil of chat;le-
slavery to our own political progress, and who
have feared for his boldness in expressing
his convictions, we cominend these chapters.
They are clear, downright and explicit; and
gathering together the best Of modern in
vestiga;ions in Roman history, those Of Me.
buhr and Arnold, they have presented what,
SO far as we know, no other narratives have
done, boldly drawn, consistent sketch of
Roman Slavery and its consequences. Mr..
Bancroft has not drawn the parallel, but it is
patent on every page. One feels, with some
mitigating exceptions, thnt he is reading the
history and the Ldoom OF American Slavery.
He shows US in tho time Of the Gracch, the
Gland reIomers" in Italy, the Roman Repub-
lie upheld by three classes, the opulcnt ar
istocrOcy; the slaveholders; the poor free
laborers and the slaves.
"Phianthropy," says Mr.. B. "when it con-
templates aslaveholding community, may have
its first sympathIes excited for the slaves; but
The needy free man is in worse condition" !"
The attempts OF the reformers to improve
the cor dition OF the free laborers failed; they
became more degraded than before; the
State became divided between masters and
slaves; ld0ge continued TO weigh more
severely on the slaves, mostly of foreign
birth, until at length under the guidance OF a
leader, who appealed to their religious super
stitions as well as to their love cf liberty,
they burst forth into a fearful revolution
The Roman State was shaken to its base,
and the most frightful atrocities which his
tory records were committed. "The outra-
ges," Mr. b. well remarks, (Which men com.
nit when they first regain their freedom
furnish the strongest argument against the
condition which Gun render human nature
capable Of such crimes" These AMI the
succeeding outbreaks were put down, for the
weak and enslaved foreigner was pitted a
gainst thr even yet vigorous and warlik,
Roman. 1t was then the Italian, as now III,
Anglo-Saxon "destiny," everywhere to gov
err the weak. But the weak and the oppres
sed had terrible revenge; or rather the law
OF the moral world worked out 10 their ma
tural result. Slavery threw the power ant
lands of the State into the hands of a few
it crushed the free middling class; it introduc
ed luxury and idleness, and go sapped th'
energies of the governing classes; 1t dimn
ished the relative numbers of the slave-own
crs and the .aristocracy-ior, in the words o
the essay, "Slavery tends to diminish th'
frequency of marriage among masters. In
! State where emancipation is forbidden, th'
slave population will perpetualy gain in re
lative numbers"
At the time of Caesar, the "peculiar insti
tuition" Of Rome had come to have. full sway
The slaves numbered some three times botI
the masters and free laborers. The slav
trade extended to every sea, and commerc,
aud wars kept the markets full. The cod
of slavery was somewhat like that Of ou
Southern States, except that in Rome th
slave could be instructed; and genius o. &C
complshments were valued at the market, al
now are pety and muscles at the block il
New. Orleans. There was no efficient pro
lection to the chastity of Roman slave girl
the family relations were never protected, ian
no slaves testimony could be received, ex
cept upon the rack. On the remote plants
tions, they were completely at the mercy
/ their masters, and probably crueltes wer
, committed commonly, of which our Souther
States only see occasional instances. Slave
, filled all the mechanics places, and even bt
, came the instructors anG men OF science
the State. The prices varied much, as the
would now if slaves were thoroughly trainet
A common laborer was worth from S75
, 100; play actor $SOoo; a grammarian 81
, 900; a beautiful actress even as much
a $4,000 per annum, and a physician wi
legally valued at 50 400.
h Slavery prepared the way COR the furth'
= debasement OF Rome, by introducing an e
= t-avagant luxury, and everywhere degrade
!. public morals by violating the sanctity
marriage. Chastity among the young mt
+ of the upper classes became almost unknow
r. With the chattel bondage terrible vices a
Il terrible diseases set in over the whole
society. At length despotism and submi
+, sion to foreign authority was the natur
a course to society SO rotten and diseased; {.
= as our historian wisely observes, ,"Despotis
- in the regular order of Providence, is Il
punishment Of a nation for the institution
q Slavery"
ID The land Of Italy, as begins now to
n seen in Virginia and others of the Southe
" States of America, was exhausted by Sa
!, cry. The fields OF the Campagna were on
: rich as the lands on the slopes Of the All
IN ghanies, or in the Kentucky prairie bottom
,e They were dotted with beautiful hon
a stcads and plantations. But the waste
system of cultivation by boHdsnhen first tur
ed them from fertile grain 6Alds to pas.ur
e. and then left them, as they are now, solita
ID, and miasmatic plains, where hardly man c