Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1856-12-11
The Re.Opeuihg Of the Slave
TrAA

part OF the Southern democracy 70 reopen
the infamous foreign trade in slaves. At
the same time the Northern Democratic
papers have not only kept silence upon this
matter, but have studiously concealed from
their readers the evidence-as' furnished
by extracts from Southern papers-ef this
las. damnable plot, of modern Democracy,
against the cause of Freedom. Even now,
no Northern Democratic paper dare go far
ther than merely to ridicule the idea OF
such revival of the slave-trade, pronouncing
it en- exaggeration of the Republican pa
pers, hard pressed for political ammuni-
ton.
This matter, however, can no longer be
blinked nor laughed at by the pliable Nor
thern tools of the Calhoun Democrats, who
now shape the measures of the Democratic
party. Gov. Adams, of South Carolina,
has, in his annual message to the Legisla-
ture of that State, distinctly recommended
action with regard to this matter, and as
that stripe of the Democratic party to which
South Carolina Calhounism belongs, gives
color to the party which elected Mr.. Pierce
and his successor, Mr.. Buchanan, it is per-
fectly fair TO charge the measure as a party
one, at least so long as Northern politicians
and Northern party papers dare not take
grounds hostile to the movement
Gov. Adams enters into long discus
sion upon Slavery, and recommends its DIFF
fusion as means for giving it strength
In order that the poorest white may be in
terested in its perpetuity, he recommends
that at least one slave be exempt from sci
zure under an execution.
Gov. Adams anticipates strong cotton
growing rival in the East Indies, and q
final end of the present monopoly enjoyed
by Southern States, and shows by figures,
that upon soil under English rule, more
cotton is now grown yearly, than in 1920
was grown in the whole United States,
and that when England and the Continent
can procure their supply elsewhere than
from the Southern States, the doom of the
South is sealed. The value of slave-labor
will then be destroyed, and emancipation
which Gov. A. considers a calamity-would
follow. The remedy Gov. A. would ap-
ply, is, to make slav Labor cheap, and en-
ploy it in every department where labor is
required; and to do this he recommends
the re-opening of the African slaye-trade.
Upon the Humanity" contained in this
proposition, the Governor argues thus:
"Untif Providence interposes and chan
ges his organism, the African must contin-
ue to be .hewer of wood and drawer Of
water 1t is a diseased sentimentality
which starts back at the idea of legalizing
the slave-trade, and at the same time con-
| templates without emotion the cruel seryi-
tudes which capital exacts of labor, all the
world over. There was time when can't
ing philanthropists had instilled into us a
belief that Slavery was wrong. Inyestiga-
ton Las entirely changed the once COM
mon sentiment on this point. The South
now believes that mysterious Providence
has brought the two races together on this
Continent for wise purposes, and that the
existing relation has been mutually bene6-
cial. Southern Slavery has. elevated the
African to a degree of civilization which
the black race has never attained in any
other age or country. We see it now in
its true light, and regard it as the most
safe and stable basis for free institutions in
| the world"
As to what the relative position of the
North and South would now be, had the
trade never been abandoned, Gov. Adams
says:
"Had the slave-trade never been closed,
the equilibrium between the North and the
South would not have been destroyed
The North has had the Old World from
which to draw her supply Of labor, and
hence the rapid settlement of the North
west. Since 1908, the South has supplied
her own labor, and has necessarily made
slower progress in settling up the South
west. If the trade were open now, am
persuaded that the South would not con.
sent to close it; and this is, perhaps, the
best answer to the argument derived from
the mere sentiment that is arrayed against
the proposition"
Another beneficial (?) efectwhich would
result from the slave-trade would be the
driving out of free-labor from the South
This view of the case is particularly flatter-
ing to those of the laboring classes who
work for the Democratic party. Gov. A.
says: a
at is apprehended that the opening Of
this trade will lessen the value of slaves,
and ultimately destroy the institution. 1t
is sufficient answer to point to the fact
that unrestricted immigration has not di-
minished the value of labor in the North
western section of the Confederacy. The
cry there, is, want of labor; notwithstand-
ing capital has the pauperism of the Old
World to press into its grinding SERVICE
If we cannot supply the demand for slave
labor, then we must expect to he supplied
with species of labor we do not want,
and which is, from the very nature Of
things, antagonistic to our institutions. II
is much better that our drays should be
driven bysfaves-that our factories should
be worked by slayes-that onr hotels should
be served by slaves-that our locomotives
should be manned by slaves, than that we
should be exposed to the introduction,
from any quarter, Of a population alien to
us by birth, training, and education, and
which in the process of time must lead to
that conflict between capital and labor,
which makes it so difficult to maintain free
institutions in all wealthy and highly civil
lized nations where such Institutions as ours
do not exist In all slaveholding States,
true policy dictates that the superior race
should direct, and the inferior perform all
menial service. Competition between the