Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-07-10
From the New York Times.
BANCROFT ON SLAVERY

o.
book which has been sometime eogerl,
awaited by the literary world. With several
Of its articles, we venture to predict, the
admirers OF the historian will be prievous: "
disappointed. Yet there is in the volume
one essay worth, in our view, all the rest
which no historical scholar and no man in.
terested in the morals of politics can read
without the profoundest interest. We re-
fer tothe article which depicts the influence
OF Slavery in undermining the Roman EN-
pre-. To those who have sometimes, per.
haps unnecessarily, doubted OF Mr.. Bancroft's
sense OF the evil Of chattel slavery to ouI
own political progress, and who have feared
for his boldness in expressing his convic-
tons, we commend these chapters. They
are clear, downright and explicit: and gath
ering together the best Of modern investi-
cations in Roman history, those OF Niebuhr
and Arnold they have presented what, so
far as we know, no other narratives have
done, boldly drawn. consistent sketch oil
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, that he is read-
! ing the history and the doom Of American
| Slavery. He shows US in the time Of the
/ Gracchi, the Gland reformers in Italy, the
Roman Republic upheld by three classes,
1.-The opulent aristocrucy; the slave holters;
the poor free la5orers aud the slaves"
philanthropy" says Mr.. B. "when il
conlemplates a slaveholding community,
may have its first sympathy excited for the
slaves; but ii is narrow benevolence which
stops there. The needy free man is in
| .sorse condition"
/ The attempts of the reformcrs to improve
! the condition Of free laborcrs iuiied, they
became more degraded than before; the
State became divided between masters and
siuves; bondage continued to weigh severe
| ly on the slaves, mostly Of foreign b1rth,
until at length under the guidance of u
leader, who appealed to their religious SUI
perstitions as we'll nc o their love oi liberty,
they burst forth into fearful revolution.
The Roman State was shaken TO rs base,
and the most frightful atrocities winch h s.
tory records were committed. The out
rapes," Mr., B. remarks, (Which men com
NIT when they first regain heir freedom,
furnish the strongest argument against the
condition which can render human nature
eupable of such crimes" These and the
succeeding outbreaks Wee put down, tor
the weak aud ensiaycd foreigner was'plted
against the even vet vigorous aud wariike
Roman. II was then theskaiian, as now
the Anglo $ axon .destiny,"t .r.ry who're to
Govern In. weak. But the WeakSnDd the
oppressed had terrible revenge; Or n Their
the laws OF the moral world worked ~ 10
their natural result. Slavery threw The
movers and lands OF the State INTO tha
hands OF afew; il crushed the free mlddlins
class; it introduced luxury and idieiess,
and SO sapred the energies Of the govern
inc classes; it diminished the relative nnm-
beers of the slrye-omncrs and the stiocra-
cy-for, in The words Of the essay, Slavery
tends to diminish the frequency OF marriage
among masters In a State where emit-
cipation is forbidden, the slave population
will perpe,ualIy gain in relative numbers"
At the time of Caesar, the "Peculiar in
st;ts,jonp of Rome had come to have full
sway The slaves numbered some three
times the masters and free l.borefs. The
slave trade extended 10 every sea, and COM
meree aud wars kepttAe market tull: The
code OF slavery Was sonieWharitke ibat@oi
! our Southern States, except thai tp-1fatne
the saye could be instructed; and genius or
Accomplishments were valued at the market,
as now are pieiy and muscles al the block
a, New Orleans. There was no efficient
protection to the chastity oil Roman slave.
rri; the family relations Were never pro-
tected, und no siaye's testimony could be
received, except upon the rack. On me re-
mote pIanta,iuns, they were completely al
the mercy of their masters, and probably
| cruel,ies were committed commonly, OF
! which our Southern States only see occa-
! s;onal instances. Slaves filled aii the me-
I chsn places, aud even became the IN
/ structors and men Of science IN the State.
! The prices varied much, as they would now
\ if slaves were thoroughly trained. a COM
/ mon laborer was worth from $50 to SlUo;
/ a play actor $4,000: a gsamrnarian S3,ooo;
/ a beautiful actress even as much as Sl3,0oO
I per annum. aud physician was legally
! valued at $4,000.
| Slavery prepared the way for the further
| debisement OF Rome, by introducing al ex.
/ lravagant luxury, aud everywhere degraded
/ public morals by violating the sancti,y OF
! marriage Chastity among the young men
OF the upper classes became almost IN
! knoxn. With the chaitel bondage terrible
vices and terrible diseases set IN over the
whole of society. At length despotism and
submission to foreign authority was The nst-
urai course to a society so rotten and dis
eascd; fer, as our historian wisely observes,
"Despoti,m, in the regular order OF ProvI-
dence, is the punishment Of nation iot
the institution OF Slavery"
The land Of Italy, as begins now to be
seen in Virginia and others OF the Southern
States of America, was exhausted by slave
nv. The fields oithe Campa9ha were once
rich as the lands of the slopes OF the Alie'
ghanies, or in the Kentucky prairie bot.
toms. They were dotted win beautiful
homesteads and plantations Butthc waste
full system al cultivation by bondsmen hrs'
turned them from fertile grain fields to pas
lures, and then lett them, as they are now
solitary, and miasmatic plains, where hard
" nan can dwell. Even in Virgins time
.'slave labor hardly wruns from Italy re-
turn one.third so great as Tree labor get'
from the hills aud wales OF New England
AT is a calumny," says Mr.. Bancroft 10
charge the devastation o! Italy upon Inc
barbarians. The large Roman plantations
titled by slave labor wer. its RUN, Slavery
k.,t. Satfh Isn a