Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-10-17
From the National Era.
AN ENGLISH VIEW OF AMERICAN
SLAVERY.

| From the National Era.
AN ENGLISH VIEW OF AMERICAN
SLAVERY.
| An English gentleman (James Sterling) has
written volume, giving his experiences in the
Save States Of this country. lie is candid in his
statements, evidently an unpreudiced traveller and
spectator. and inclined to apologize for the slave
owneFs,as the readers will learn from the following
paragraph extracted from his volumes
Let US be just to the South Let us not wrong
the savcowner in denouncing Slavery. The sys
TEN is vicious one but there conscientious
men who regard it as good institution, and yet
more who look on it as necessary evil We must
not forget that the saye.owners Of these States
have been born and bred in a land of Slavery, and
that they inherited the prejudces with the proper
| ty Of their fathers.
"lf We take q generous view of the position Of
the South, she will appear entitled to our kindliest
sympathles. Herself high.spirited and refined
community, she is brought into antagonism with
all civilized society. The convictions of the world
condemn her She is the Pariah of civilization
| The consciousness of this moral outlawry gals a
people at once sensitive and proud and hence
those outburets, which seem to us to patake almost
OF the character Of frenzy are but the the Gxacer
batlons Of that chronic irritation which is Gnawing
continually at its heart. The South, too, knows
full we'll the evils connected with her social system
| Who should know them better? In her secret
heart, she feels and depor2s the plague that is up
on her, but is too proud to confess her pains
! With Spartan tOrtitude she smiles in the worlds
face, while her inward yitalS consumed"
This volume has already attracted considerable
attention in England, and also in America, from
the fact that il is canddy and impartally writ
ten. The authOr, alter travelling slowly through
the slave States, conversing with the planters, and
mingling with all classes in the South, the slaves
rot excepted comes to the conclusion that Slavery
ia liDtr the SOuth and lpstrD her hest
interests. lie agrees exactly with Mr.. Olmsted,
| in his opinions OF the workings of the institution.
lie says:
"Tho truth is, Slavery cannot continu, in the
South the governing class of the South is too high
ly Civilized to coexist with Slavery. The incon-
grui-y is too great between q berbarous institution
anda refined people. Slavery end high civilization
are n contradiction, monstro5ity, IA absurdity.-
The South has not had justice done her by the
world nor has she done justice to herself Stran-
gers have concluded that the South was barbarous,
because she holds barbarous institution, while the
South herself exaits Slavery powerful element
of her high civilization, Both wrong ; the
South is refined community, but it is in spite of
Slavery and the contradiction between her social
system and the state of culture is so gross that it
cannot long continue. Slavery may subsist in Bra
I'll or Cuba, among deGenerated sensual races, but
it cannot exist SIDE by side with Anglo-Saxon civil
izatlon Whether viewed geographically or his
/ orcally, Slavery and civilization are manfestly
Incompatible. The course Of modern civilization
has been from serfdom to freedom. Are the South
ern States Of the American Union to exhibit the
| sole anomaly? Are they alone, of all nations, to
reverse the course Of history and civilization? Or
is it not probable that they too, ere long, will
follow the usual course of human progress, and rid
themselves of this fatal anacLrOnism? l respect
the people of the South too highly to doubt it,"
THIS English view of Slavery we commend to
the attention Of intelligent Southern gentlemen.-
The South cannot afford to laugh at the honest
opinions of tho civilized world respecting her ia
yorite institution. 1t must seem to the most III
ira Slayery-delender. to say the least, little
strange that the civilized world agrees in condemn
ing her social system" 1t should at least pro-
woke thought and a suspicion that there is some
; thing wrong in the peculiar institution.
{ Here is view in perspective worth looking at
indeed it strikes us that it is much better look
, ing at it in this way than as present reality
Says Mr. Sterling
Il 1.-The slaves Of the more northern States have
somehow become more intelligent than they were.
;, have been quite struck with the intelligence and
|, frankness of some Of those with whom have con-
yersed They know very well the state of matters
2 between the North and the South, and they are
evidently biding their time; they know also the
feelings of Englishmen, and speak very openly to
them. Their owners aware of this intelligence
and it makes them more suspicious and more Sc
! we're. They cannot abide free negroes Indeed,
it is not lawful in Kentucky to manumit a slave.
Suspicion is the Fury that whips, in retrbution,
the slave.mcster. Insurrection
causes severity; but can you suppress human
emotion When it comes to mailing down the
safety valve, it is bad lookout for all concerned
The slaye-ownor may turn round, and ask me,
! what then, is my solution of the problem L.
for one. have no solution to offer but this | say
a solution must be found, or worse thing will
T happen. If the South cannot find a solution OF
this slave problem, God will End one for them, and
Il that, trust me, will be q violent one Southern
writer's tell US that, if the negroes to be freed
one or the other of the two races must be destroy
ed. They cannot exist together, say they, and
the result Of freedom must be the utter extermi-
nation of one race. 1t is not difficult to guess
which race they propose to oxterminate but tie
determination of four millions of people is such
simple matter though passionate editors talk SO
} glibly Of it, The immediate future of slaves and
slave-owners in the South is very dark"
The saveholding population will probably laugh
, at Mr. Sterling's fears. So laughed may of the
officers in the English army in India, few days
previous to the Sepoy mutiny, when the farsight
ed predicted the outbreak Retribution will surel
come to the South and nation in one shape OF
another Indeed, it has already come in the shape
Of ruined fields and plantations general igno
rance of the poorer classes Of whites, and lacl
of prosperity.
If TIE slGveowners would only be reasonable
and to say the least, sent that the shoul
net extend over new lands and new States, the evi
: might to great extent be ayerted. But such i
e not the case. The South demands the extension
J of her peculiar system. She will have it in Kan
! sas, in Oregon in all the new Territories, an
y nothing remains but for tho Free States, VIII
have the power to arrest the spread of the terribl
Q system. Having the power, with them rests tn
o res possibility, and in the future they will be hel
s accountable for the resut.-NationaL Era.