American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1856-11-08

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na From the w ashington Sentinel, -
English Oppression and Southern sla-
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Mere tongue philanthropy is an easy
virtue. 1t costs nothing, while it
claims, for itself great rewards. All
the philanthropists in the world, of this
cheap school have formed an offensive
allionce against the slave owners of the
Southern States. Traitors at home
have united with canting hypocrites a
broad, and nothing short of universal
abolition will content them. England
forgetting her great army of starving
paupers and oppressed laborers, who if
they be males are driven to murders &
larccnies, if females to shame and de-
gradation, has for years past zealously
assisted American fanatics and slave
stealers in organizing plan for robbing
riehtful owners of slaves of their pro-
perty. Every effort that human inge-
nuity could devise has been made to
excite discontcnts and instructions a.
mong the slaves. Books and pictures
portraying the cruelties of the masters
and the sufferings Of the slaves have
been industriously scattered over the
country. The children of the North
are taught from their earliest infancy
to regard their Southern brethren as
brutal masters, who delight in the tor
lures and groans of the unhappy
blacks.
We have so often had to speak Of
this injustice committed against the
Southern people, and so often had oc-
casion to contrast the happy condition
of the Southern slaves with the degra-
ded condition ofthe free negroes of the
North, and the suffering and oppressed
labolers Of Europe, that we do not
deem it necessary to repeat here the
facts and illustrations, which from time
to time, we have presented to our rea-
,ders.
Our object, at present, is simply to
call the attention of our readers to a
y startling manifestation Of English colo
NAL policy, u barbarous cruelty which
has but recently received the most au-
thentic developement. The colonial
history of England is marked by the
most revolving forms Of oppression, ra-
pine and cruelty. Her officials have
boa,, -, e., ~ o,,, fr IL 81, bo ,b l. ~,
tax gatherers for their impositions and
frauds. But itremained, for the pre-
sent times, when she is wasting her
sympathies on our Southern Slaves, to
bring to light system of pains, penal
ties, and tortures pursued by her in her
india possessions, which have their par
allel nowhere but the dark dungeons
of the old Spanish inqaisition.
1t was charged in the English par
lament in 1854, that tortures of the
most revolving kind were practiced by
the British officials in the Madras Pre-
sidency, in the collection of the rcven-
ues, and that the unhappy natives had
no means of redress. The charge was
disdainfully denied, and an inyestiga-
tion challenged by the President of the
Board Of Control. A commission was
appointed, which in short time col.
lcctcd proofs the most conclusive and
damning of The truth of the charge.
The land revenue is the principal
source of income to the East India
Company; and out Of G2G, 100000 OF
all kinds Of taxes, G15,000,00 arc dc.
rived from this source. TO collect
this, the government acted as landlords
to the whole territory, "placing q mo.
ncy rent upon every field within the
vast dominions.' This system intro.
duced the agency Of the State "to an
extent that had no parallel in the his.
tory of the world" Districts Of 1000
square miles, and in some instances OF
$1,000 square miles, we're placed under
n single collector, with few English
assistants, who "made tours through
the districts, asccrtairing or attcm ptin9
to ascertain, how much land each indi-
yidual cultivator intended to bring into
cultivation, and watching and checking
the produce of the soil under every va
riety Of season and of climate" Such
thing as private property i'll land was
unknown. The rate Of assessment
was so high as to drive the people from
them, and to leave them waste. One
third Of the best land was thus laid
waste. In South Arcot only one ffti
eth was cultivated. IF the tenants at.
tempted an Improvement, such as sink
ing wells, planting orchards, &C., the
assessment was increased. The Mad.
ras district, on the line of the railroad,
was desert. Not one tenth Of the
ancient water works were kept in re.
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