Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1858-06-05
From the Charleston Mercury.
The African Slave Trade---Piracy.

ced it---France adopts it; and all the reGula-
tions nlrd treaties to suppress the African
slave trade are II ridiculous md costly farce
Tho sooner the shallow hypocrisy is ended,
the better for all the nations of Christcndom.
For the attempt to enforce these treaties must
produce contention and war No nation of
the least independence or dignity will submit
to have enforced towards hcr, n treaty Which
is practically violated by the party attempt
ing to enforce it. 1t Is mere nsolcncc to
claim of others tho fulRlment of an agree
mcnt violated by the party claiming it. In
our Judgment, the whole apprentice system
is nothing but the renewal Of the slave trade.
Phc free negroes, Frcnch or English, in the
! West Indies, will not labor Efficient volun-
tnry. free African labor is discovered to bc
l'onc OF the myths of u afuncifulhumanity 10
| obtain cocrccd African labor for the cultya-
! tion OF tho great tropical productions so cS-
ssentiat 10 the progress and civilization of the
world. is the object of tho apprentice system
The African is a slave in his own county
sold as slavc-bought as slave and what
ever may be the forms adopted to introduce
him as II slave in the West Indies, n slave
heought to he. If he is not a slave by name,
he is yet linked to the most cruel of all bon
daGcS. where interest is, to great degree,
! opposed to humanity. His mastcris iutcres-
ted only to get out Of him the greatest guam
Ftity OF labor in u limited time and all that
care which our slavery throws over the slave
la sioknoss or old agc--ul that moderation
as to his labor, and that regard for hs health,
comfort and happiness, which slavery EFFORTS
from interest itself is lost to the unhappy
apprentice. But whether in this shape or as
1t exists .here, we do not doubt that, ,practi-
caiIy, all Africans introduced into the West
lndes--French or Englisli--aro slaves. and
| are brought there because they can furnish
/ the cocrCcl labor of slaves
| II this is q correct view of the importation
OF Africans under the name of apprentices,
in the West Indies, with what grace can
! France OF England presume to talk of sup
! pressing the African slave trade? They have
revived it, and to them must the world lie in
dcbtcd for its renewal amongst the nations Of
/ the world. Can the statesmen OF these ma
toms be so silly as to suppose that other ma
tions, interested in the tropical productions,
! Will still stand Still and sec them stock their
colonies with African labor, and thereby un-
! dcrscll them in the markets of the world,
whilst they shall makeno efforts to keep up
their equality (or monopoly, if you please TO
/ call III i'm AtfhrdinI these rrnhnr nrtinnS2 Tho
7 JugGlely OF parchment and paper, can do
! great deal when backed by force; but force
III such an enterprise can only. eud in shame
and discontinue,
! But let us take the other horn of the dilc,n
ma. Let us suppose that the importation of
/ ~ tlIlchIlS from tne coast oil Africa Is not the
| African slave. trade. Then what right has
: Great Britain to attempt toprcvcntit? What
right has ,evcnthc Unitcd States to attempt
to control it, in the ports of the United States?
| May nota vessel be fitted out in broad day
/ III any port OF the United States, to bring in
| omlGrants on apprentices from Africa, as free
| ~ rs vessels are daily fitted out to bring in
emigr0nts from Eorpe? What aw Of the
Snited States does such an enterprise violate?
! Nothing is morc common than for agents of
manufacturing, mills Mt the North, to go to
Europe or Canada, and to import into the
| United States hundreds Of laborers, appren-
ticcd for a certain term to work inthcif mills
/ Shall not the aSriculturst ofthc South have
the privilege to do the same thing on the
coast of Africa? Apprcnticcd Africans are
not slaves. The trado is not slave trade.
! Is is not illcSal---it is not in connctwith any
! OF our treaties with France or England, who
| DO the same thing. 1t is not piracy. 1t is a
\ hiir, lawful transaction, open to all the pe6-
pie OF the United States, and may be promo
| ted by the Legislation of the States An Af-
rican isas free to cn,igmte tothe United States
! rs amEuropoan. and an American ship can
! as lawfully. bring. him over the Atlantic as
/ bring an European. Tho ship is u sacred
from search or seizure as If loaded with palm
oil or cotton. 1t sin this view that the in
solencc Of the British cruisers in the Calf of
k Mexico, in stoppingnnd searching orr cons
teFs, is most fla9rant. Suppose the allegq-
ton to be true sthat,apprenticed Africans arc.
! being brought over from Africa to the Sortll-
h oin ports OF the United States. What rigft
| has Great Britain to interfere We arc only
doing what she and France are doing and,
on thoir high authority. are in no way en-
| gagged in tile African slave trade. If her
cruisers saw American ships In the, Gulf of
Mexico loaded down to the ,gunwales with
| Africans, what oughtthcy to pfesumeY Why,
shat we are impoi ug apprentices from bar
barons and bloods destiny, to the mild do-
minionof the Southern planter. We are in,-
itntng their example. We are rs full OF
philanthropy, and as faithful to our treaty
obligatioas;as as thoy. are. Iastead Of firing,
INTO our ships, they should see in them the
rehex..of their own pure and kjgh humanity,
! and cheer them on to their destincc homes.
But 1t they intend to labrcate one code of
| morals and law for us, and another for their
own use and that Of Franee-if with simil,r'
treaties with France, they neither on the
coast of Africa, nornear Gnadaloupe OF Mar
Enrique, think prpperto Interfere with Mench
ships loaded with Africans, but turn their
intcrierence and supervision only to the wa
ters and ships Of the United. Statos--3 when
they Import African apprentices from Storm
Leone mo jamaica, il is.'awful, and lust,
| anu humane. and in no sense the African
slave trade s but when citizens Of tbs lated
States import them from the same Viz sage,
| II b cruel mud barbarous, and SO fiafastt q
violation Of the laws prohibitins the pan.
slave trade, as to justify their irinterpositioncn
our coast by cannon,ball and tho heller we
can only say, 50 on T. The people Of the uhis
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