The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-09-10

| will be found to consist, in q considerable de-
gree, Of State Rights extremists Of that era.
Now, what assurance can be given that q
considerable number of the FIRE eaters of this
day will not also fly to the opposite extreme of
Pro. Slavery State Rights !? As members of the
selves the allies of Black Repubicsnism, in oppo-
sition to the National Democracy; and who
can tell what may be the ultimate effect of such
a conjunction?
From the Montgomery (Ala.) Gazette, August %.
IMPORTANT NATTER BEFORE THE SOUTH
ERN COMMERCIAL CONVENTION.
Among the important matters presented to
the late Southern Commercial Convention at
Knoxville was that urged by Mr.. Bryan, of
South Carolina, in regard to annulliug the
| eighth article of the Asbburton Treaty, con-
| cluded at Washington in November, 1912. By
that treaty with England, the United States en-
| gagged to keep q naval squadron on the coast of
, Africa, to aid in suppressing the African slave
trade. Under provision of the eleventh arti-
Gle, the right was reserved of Withdrawing that
squadron after the expiration of Eve years. Mr.
| Bryan's resolution was adopted, requesting the
Southern Senators and members of the House
to lay the subject before the Legislatures of
their respective States, doubtless to memorial.
ize Congress in relation to it.
| The experiment has failed, as facts will dem.
onstrate - experiment we characterize it, be-
cause it was so regarded by the insertion ofthe
eleventh article, which reserved the right to
amend it after specified period. During the
very first five years, there were three hundred
and sir thousand four hundred slaves exported
from Africa. The next FIVE years witnessed
larger number, and the last five a compare.
lively larger number still, after deducting the
Brazilian traffic, stopped by Brazil herself In
l848, Mr.. HUT arose in Parliament and &C.
knowledged this oceanic police to be failure,
even advocating an immediate abandonment of
it. 1t failed, too, in the face of unexampled eff.
forts on the part of Great Britain, France and
the United States. There was no lack of force
or of vigilance, for there had been some twenty.
five or thirty British cruisers, four or FIVE
| American, and those of other nations, on the
coast.
1t is true, our Secretary of the Navy reported,
in 1855, The Department has recent advices
that the slave trade south of the equator is en-
tirely broken up" The American cruisers &C
complished nothing of this result, which is
solely due to the recent prohibitory laws of Bra
I'll. These, however, were obtained through
British diplomacy, and are destined to be tenn
porary. Then, again, if what the Secretary
stated is true, an additional reason is furnished
for Withdrawing the. squadron-the object has
been attained, and why any longer a large out
lay of money and loss of life in those unhealthy
cruises?
This is purely British scheme. England
claims the honor, too, of rescuing Africa from
the grasp of transatlantic cupidity. Let her
still continue to protect Africa. Look at her
contiguous possessions, afording admirable ad
vantages for the task. She has colony at the
Southern extremity-Sierra Leone and mouth
n fho HI q ba IL =.
ate proximity TO the slave trade, Gibraltar on
the north, st. Helena on the west, and Ascen-
sion and st. Matthew off the coast. These
harbors and outposts and her immense navy,
will enable her to surround the coast, and prove
herself the mistress of the "pirates," as she
claims to be the mistress of the ocean.
Consider another fact of no slight i'm portance.
No Southern citizen either imports a slave or
has a SLAYER, nor violates the prohibitory laws
of the United States. Why sh 'uld we, then,
"give our money and our sanction to support
a naval force, to keep up the mockery of at
tempting to suppress a traffic carried on by
Portuguese and Spaniards. in Yankee vessels
and THE, too, for no benefit to ourselves, but,
practically, to Pende- tn the malice of British
and Northern Abplitionists. our deadIIesL anu
most dangerous foes?" Are we not actually
indicating the principle which makes our
slaves "plunder," and our fathers "pirates ."
|
are paid by the South. In incurring this use.
less expense for the squadron, are we not viii.
fully sustaining our enemies in their combined
efforts to ruin US?
Then, again, what becomes of the negroes in
the slavers that are occasionally captured ?
They are not taken back to their native homes.
Are they not transported to the English colony
of Sierra Leone, or enSlaUed in Jamaica as an.
prenttcesF The truth is, they are used to col
onize one end of the Guinea coast under British
rule, or thrown into the British West Indies,
adding to the labor which completes with that
OF the Southern States of America.
Suppose that too many were captured for
Liberia, Sierra Leone, or for the British West
Indies, and some Of them were really carried
back to their homes-that would constitute a
rendition, not OF fugitiUeS, but Of stolen slaves
We would then be aiding Aboltionists to cap
ture slaves frots Cuban owners, and return
them to the Kingdom of Dahomey, when these
very Abolitionists are annually stealing hun
dreds and thousands of our negroes and run.
ming them into the free States and Canada. and
yet zoe cannot recover even one of them, except
at an expense above his value, and at the i'm
minent peril of our lives. How long shall we
unite with those Abolitionists, who thus treat
US and our property?
1t can be shown that when we consented to
this joint naval police to suppress the traffic,
circumstances existed bearing upon it which
have ceased to exist. Take the change of SEN
timent here at the South itself, with regard to
Slavery. Then Slavery was admitted to be a
great evil-a political and moral evil, and we
looked forward to the time when it should be
abolished. Now, our opinions have changed.
We have ceased to view Slavery as an evil
defend its rightfulness per Sc, and are resolved
to resist its abolition. 1t becomes solemn
duty to desist from cooperating with the Abo-
litionists in this business, whose opinions have
dlverged to an extreme precisely opposite to
which ours have attained
Mr.. Bryan went further in his speech. and
made strong points in considering these arti
cles of the treaty in their bearing upon the for.
eign policy of the South in the event of DISCO
luton of the Union, and, indirectly, upon that
construction which British Ministers have more
than once endeavored to put upon the laws of
nations, which would in course of time deprive
slave property of the benefit of it's protection.
he considered, too, the fact that they were
| adopted as alternative to the acknowledge
meHt of the fright of search, ;" which is still
claimed by the British Government under the
name of the fright of visitation" We would
be pleased to publish the remarks of Mr.. BRYAN
entire, but have not the space to devote to them.
We hope to recur to the subject again shortly.
GOV. WALKER, OF KANSAS.
Gov Walker whose oonrso N Konaos r,os 90