New-York daily tribune., 1857-04-21

ing kindness and tenderness the side of the master
and gratitude and affection that ofthe slave De
sirous. az our readers well know always are oi
rendering not merely to Caesar the things that are
Cesar's but to Casar's master also such things as
really his due, we feel compelled 70 draw the al
tenton Of our Southern friends to certain neon
gruties in their legislation which go far to harden
yet more the hearts Of those that delight in vIli
pending them and their domestic relations.
1t is well known to all who ever give any atten'
tion to the subject, that the enemies of the South
are in the habit Of cleaning their examples IRON
the items Of Southern newspapers, the reports OF
Southern Courts, and even Of strengthening their
assertions by quoting chapter and section OF South
ern laws. 1t behoOves all those, therefore, VINO
justly jealous of the slayeholding character ior
humanity not merely TO exercise a strict surVel
lance their Own press (the revelations of which
are much more damaging than those Of the Aboh-
ionists) but to keep sharp lookout on the acton
of their Collective Wisdoms assembled in law
making omnipotense We are panied to see IN the
Louisiana papers that legislative action has recently
been had in that State which seems to contradict
some Of the very fundamental principles OF the De-
nefcent slave system, and which may give an coca
sion of reprcaeh and blasphemy to its unfriends.
If there be one axiom more axlomstic than
another from the self-evdence Gas Mr.. Locke
would say on which the whole beautiful scheme
depends, Geometry hangs on that of Euclid,
i ia that Slavery is the happiest of all conditions
for the negro, and, conversely, that Freedom is
another name for his vice, poverty and misery.
Any plan, therefore, for securing the slave per-
manently in the paradise appointed to him by
Divine Providence, or for reclaimng him and
bringing him back to his Eden against his will, it
be should through ignorance or the promptings OF
his fallen and deprayed human nature, have turned
bis back upon it, cOmmends itself at once tn every
bene, olent mind capable of apprehending this
axiom as beautiful and consistent application
Of the great law of love. We were not surprised,
therefore. to learn from The Baton Rouge Id
rertiser that the Senate of Louisiana had passed
bill, introduced by Senator Hyams, of New
Orleans, prohibiting the future emancipation of
slaves in that State Being charged with the care of
the happiness and wel-being Of the slaves as well
as of the masters, it was the clear duty OF these
Conscrpt TaIne.- TO protect the welfare OF the
one against the possible but morbid philanthropy
of tho other This was just and wise law, ftly
introduced by Senator from that city which,
according to the authentic declaration of her chief
Judicial magistrate, holds Slavery as not less
precious than the Gospel itself
Let the reader imagine our CONSERVATION when
We were awakened from our transport OF repub-
"can enthusiasm and universal philanthropy
(like that in which the Friend of Humanity kicks
the knife-grinder and oyerturns his wheel, in the
Anti-Jacobin) BY coming upon the following cruel
section of exceptions, viz: That the prohibition
contaned in the foregoing section shall not apply
Ito the slave who may have saved the life OF his
'Cr her owner or his or her owners spouse or
the life of the child Of either of them" And, as
if this were not enough for our sensbilites they
received yet further shock from an atrocious
amendment to this section, offered by Gen. Munday
(Friday had been a more appropriate cognomina-
tion) of East Fclicana to the effect that the pro-
hbiton of emancipation should not apply, in addi-
ton TO the cases just enumerated to any slave that
renders service to the State, by giving information
that would lead to the detection of any nsurrectOn
or conspiracy And in this shape the bill passed
the Senate 1t should be entitled, An act TO pro-
vide for the punishment Of all attempts on the
part of slaves to save their masters or the State,
by condemning them TO liberty for life as the pen
atty of the crime.
And such acts Of cruelty, thus organized into
law, are not so purely imaginary as We are assured
the common stories Of slave-horrors are-nor are
such laws the dead letters We are told the more
stringent of the slaye-laws have become A little
more than twenty years ago, the Capitol of North
Carolina took fire and was consumed. From the
fury Of this ccnAagratOn one Of the happy class
who spend their careless and cheerful days under
the shadow Of their masters fg-tree, rescued, at
the imminent peril of his life, the archives of the
State-among them. perhaps, the very charter Of
his own immunities and prerogatiyes. And what
WAS the reward the State of North Carolina be-
slowed upon him as her acknowledgment of this
scryicel Did she order him thousand lashes on
the bare back, well laid on Did she reduce his
allowance of corn from a peck to half peck per
week. Did she even pass such law a. We have
inst recited securing the elcties of his condition.
in blessed entail. on himself and his posterity
forever so AS 10 save him from any possible caprice
of his immediate lord Nothing of the sort. She
purchased Of bis protector his right of providence
and turned him loose upon the world to shift for
himself, This was the gratitude of that Republic.
Why. the very pagan Romans showed more to the
geese that saved their Capitol!
We would. in the kindest spirit possible, expos
I ~.
travagances of theirs, and beg them to reconsider