The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-01-24
WHITE sLAvERY-THE PRIVILEGED CLASS

WHITE SLAVERY-THE PRIVILEGED CLASS
The Richmond Enquirer has at length come
out boldly in favor of white Slavery We have
often insisted that the premises assumed by the
advocates of the institution necessarily lead to
the conclusion that white as we'll as black Sla-
very is right and proper; but we had no hope
that they would have the frankness, at this early
day, to make the audacous avowal. We insist
ed that the Slavery spoken of in the Bible was
white Slavery, and that those who avail them
selves of the Bible in support of the SYSTEM to
be logical, must 60 the length Of justifying the
enslavement of our own poor white population
We also insisted, that if Slavery be shown to be
the best and happiest condition of the poor,
that its advocates should come out boldly in
favor of enslaving the whole white working
population of the country; and to this complex
ion it has come at last. The great organ of the
Virginia Democracy, the Richmond Enquirer,
has at lanstb arrived n. The Logical oonolusiou
and insists that white men, no less than blacks,
are proper subjects Of Slavery This is not
all. 1t insists that Freedom in Western Europe
and in our Northern States is a Failure" and
Of course should be abandoned. The Rich.
mond oracle is therefore in favor of enslarioo
the whole white laboring population of the
country, Free-Soilers and doughfaces. But let
the oracle speak!
4" Negro Stayery and tie COnstitution.-Un.
til recently, the defence of Slavery has Ia
bored under great difficulties, because its apol
ogists (for they were mere apologists) took
halfway grounds.
They confined the defence of Slavery to
mere negro Slavery; thereby giving up the Sla-
very principle, admitting other forms of Slavery
to be wrong, and yielding up the authority of
the Bible, and of theshistory, practices, and ex-
perience OF mankind. They almost admitted
the Bible to be false, because it ordained, au-
thorized, and enforced white Slavery, which
they asserted was morally wrong. Human ex-
perience, showing the universal success of slave
society, and the universal failure of free society
was unavailable to them, because thew were
precluded from employing it by admitting Sla-
very In the abstract to be wrong. The defence
of mere negro Slavery involved them in a still
greater difficulty. The laws of all the South.
ern States justified the holding white men in
Slavery, provided, through the mother, they
were descended, however remotely, from !.
negro slave. The bright mulattoes, according to
their theory, were wrongfuly held in Slavery"
"The line of defence, however, is now chang
ed, and the North is completely cornered, and
dumb as an oyster. The South now main
tains that Slavery is right, natural, and neces-
sary. 1t shows that all divine, and almost all
human, authority justiGes it. The South farther
charges, that the little experiment of free socie
ty in Western Europe has been, from the be-
rim foil hat 20
failure are abundant in our North. The aboli-
tionists cannot be provoked to deny the charge,
so overwhelming are the facts, authorities, and
admissions, by which it is sustained; nor will
they answer the question, so often put to them,
What have been the results of the experiment
of free society," They are wholly unwilling
to institute a comparison of the two systems of
society, and determine that to be right which
but promotes human well being, and is justi-
fed by most Of human and divine authority.
To deal with the subject in this way, would,
they know, be to surrender their cause. They
begin to reason, by assuming Slavery to be
morally and religiousy wrong; and the South,
hitherto, has granted their premises, and at.
tempted to Justify negro Slavery as an exception
to general rule, or, if wrong, as a matter of
bargain between the North and South. The
laws of God and Nature are immutable. and
man cannot bargain them away. Whilst it is
far more obvious that negroes should be slaves
than whites, for they are only fit to labor. not
to direct, yet the principle of Slavery is itself
right, and does not depend on difference of
complexion. Difference of race, of lineage, of
language, of habits and customs, all tend to
render the institution more natural and durable;
and although slaves have been generally whites,
still the masters and slaves have generally been
of different national descent. Moses and Arts
totle, the earliest historians, are both authori-
ties in favor of this difference of race but not
of color"
When Governor Seward spoke of the slave
holders as privileged class, in his Albany
speech, he was denounced by the whole Pro-
Slavery press Of the country, from North to
South, as an Agrarian demagogue, The Ohio
Statesman attempted to show that there was
no foundation for the popular clamor which
Mr. Seward had conjured up, and the whole
thing was set down to the score of sectional
prejudice and abolition agitation.
We shall be pleased to see what the dough
faced fraternity will say to this new develop.
ment of Southern Democracy. They cannot
dispute the authority. The Enquirer is the or
gan of Virginia Democracy, of Wise and Ma
son, CT Hunter, and Of Franklin Pierce, and the
Enquirer says that Slavery is the proper con-