The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1856-12-06
Che 5lauerp Question.
For The Cecil Why.
X e-Opening Of the Slave Trade.
A SOUTHERN vIEw or 1T.

| oouth Carollna, together with the intention,
| openly avowed in othe quarters, toIre-open
the African Slave Trade, present the slavery
| question to the people of the South In a
new light. Heretofore their practical ac-
their intimate knowledge of the relation Of
master and slave, have repealed the abstrac-
tions of Northern Abolitionists as to the
existence of any great moral wrong, and
when the admission of new Slave: States be-
came mooted question, they have contend
ed for the equal rights Of the STAKEHOLDER to
have the benefit Of his peculiar species Of
property in the Territory purchased by the
common fund, or conquered by the common
arms. Affecting no extravagant sympathy,
looking upon slavery as, if not the natural,
at least the only practicable condition of the
negro race in this country, the people of the
South have trusted to time to cure the evil
if evil there be. The laboring classes have
not been lind to the disadvantage of being
brought into competition with slave labor,
nor have the owners ofproperty, not directly
aflec by slavery, failed to see that its
market value WAS materially lcssened by its
location in Slave State; but justice to their
fellow citizens who were differently situated.
and general indispostion to unsettle the
existing order Of things by violent and radical
reforms, nave made them, not only tolerant
of this much abused institution, but often
foremost in its defence. But it is one thing
to tolerate an evil from prudential considera-
lions and sense of justice to others, with a
feeling that it is slowly, but none the less
surely, working its own cure; 1t is quite
another thing to stand silently and passive ly
by, and see that evil become aggre ssive in
its character, striking at the very root Of
national prosperity, social equality and
individual ability to protect itself from want
If the svowed purposes of these advocates
of the re- establishment of the African Slave
Trade are to be carried out, then it becomes
question, bro ught painfully near to every
man who earns his daily bread by his daily
labor, in whatever department Of life :-eHow
shall procure the necessaries of exis-
tence 2" If, in the words of the Governor
of South Carolina, sOur drays are to be
driven by slaves, our factories worked by
slaves, our hotels served by slaves, our
locomotives manned by slaves, our whole
round of agricultural and manufacturing en-
pigments performed by slaves" if it be
"Thc true policy that the superior race
should direct and the inferior perform all
mental seryice,'' then to those who have no
capital but their labor, whose only patrmony
is the strong arm and the cunning hand
which God has given them, the question
comes home :-ssHow shall we sustain life 20
Slavery ceases to be fine drawn moral alb
straction, and becomes a tangible reality of
terrible Importance; nothing less tllan
question of "bread to eat" The southern
laborer sneers at the pseudo philan.hrophy
OF the northern dreamer, and rightly charac-
terzes as s'wasted sympathy" the pity
manifested for the we'll fed and we'll clothed
slave. So long as the question is confined
to these limits, the slave owner may rest
secure in his possession; but when all the
avenues of labor shall be choked up with
slaves, and the southern laborer shall find the
question brought home to his own frcside.
when he shall read the history of this In
titution written in the furnished faces of his
own wife and children, then may the slave
holder we'll tremble for his safety. If all the
departments of labor, both Agricultural and
Mechanical, are to be in the hands Of slaves,
then there is nothing left for the poor white
man but to starve; even the poor privilege of
dcmeaning himself to the degrading level of
the negro slave in the prosecution of "menial
employments' is denied him. Does the
Governor Of South Carolina, and the dwarfod
bigots by whom he is surrounded, suppose
that American frcemcn will brook this If
the stolid temper of British operatives waxed
to madness when the introduction Of new
machinery deprived them temporarily Of
their accustomed labor, and urged them to
visit terrible vengeance upon the masters,
do these misguided men of the South sup
pose they can hold in check the hotter blood
of Am erican laborers who call no man mas
teri Here, at least, is seen the truth of the
proverbs, "That whom the Gods destroy
they first make mad, !" for as surely as comes
this hour of madness, so surely shall an awful
destruction follow in its train.
If this slave trade is to be re-opened, and
the superior and inferior races are to take
each their respective positions, the one to
'sdirect' and the other to perform call
mental services" then who is to mark out
the different spheres, and assign to each race
its different employment Who shall say
what is "noble' and what "menial employ
ment 2" Where shall one class end and the
other begin7 Shall we have recourse to the
feudal standards Of pure and base villeinage,
exaltng him who follows his master with the
sword, and debasing him who pays his hum
bier service with the plough or, shall we
come down to the modern South Carolina
standard, and call him sslord" who follows
gang of egroes, whip II hand, through a
cotton or rice field, and him "menial'' who
invents and sets in motion the most compli-
Gated piece of machinery For, if the Gsv-
crnor of South Carolina means anything, it is
that the former is proper employment for a
white man, and the latter only fit for negro
slave. How shall the different departments
Of trade, and the learned professions be
divided 2 Ifthose occupations which require
I