New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-02-25
NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY g. 1853.

have existed Of late years TO employ slave labor &C.
v,nt,eeousy. Nis,a undeniab+e fact, which re-
cent experience abundsntly confirms, that the most
conscientious masters, ard those most impressed
with the evils Of Slavery, present and ImPendi"s'
have. however, q mucn less Lively sense ~ shose
evils. and much less strong impression OF the ne
ces,ity of doing something to avert them. when
slaves eel a. a Thousand dollars head each than
when they can With difficulty be disposed OF for two
or three hundred The idea Of cooairicg our
blacks has been at times amazingly stimulated BY
the apparently near approach of the PERIOD spoken
of by John Randolph as quoted BY Mr. Blair "hen
the masters vii be under the necessity OF running
sysy from the slaves; and as that time has seemed
Of late years to be further and further pOstponed
so the zeal for colonization has coresPondingy Ill
ninishea.
There are however, at The present time and IN
the prospects Of the year Immediately ahead some
things which may tend 10 Me revival OF the Old
fashioned colonization ideas-idess for the carrying
out of which the tropical regions Of Americs now
present facilities and inducement, so vastly beyond
anything that offered when the COLONIZATION society
was established. Undoubtedly, the great thing 'na'
has contributed TO raise the price-curren' Oh tue
slave market to the enormous rates recent! al
tanned by il, has been the high pnce OF wnea.'
That high price has enabled sAse labor 10 Dc P'oi'
itablv applied TO wheat, and bss thus kept away
crest many hands who would otherwise have found
their way to the cotton fields. II Is thus 'nas iol
five years past the growth Of cotton has been KEPT
almost stationary which, BY Rising its price, mas
given new impulse TO the market value OF slave
labor.
But wheat has now sunk b price at which tne
slaveholding farmers Of Maryland, Virginia Men
tucky, Missouri and Tennessee will hardly be aoio
70 nroduce il at profit and which will drive such
of them as attempt to continue that cultivation 70
sharp contest with the virgin lands and Tree aoor
r. the great wheat raising States OF the West-a
competition in which they will be pretty certain 10
come of secondbest. In fact, nothing but their
easier access to the ocean would enable the wheat
growers of Maryland Xnd Virginia to attempt that
competition at all This state Of things cannot bus
throw a great amount Of additional slave labor upon
the cotton. growing States, thus keeping down the
price of their staple to level such as will BY no
means Justify the extrayagant prices paid Tor saVe
labor during years past. This new state OF things
will not only be calculated to give flip to the
slumbering conscisnces of many once Jealous COLO
nizationists but may also lead the landholders OF
Virginia to reflect upon certain advantages on Tree
over slave labor. to which OF late years they have
not given much attention.
We have already called attention III these columns
to the policy of Great Britain, in employing the
negro race, not in The character of mere stupid
slaves driven to unwilling labor By the lash, but in
the character of freemen imbued with English ideas
and endowed with all the rights aud privileges OF
Epglishmep to spread civilization and industry
through those tropical regions unified to the Eng
Lab constitution, and in which white men cannot
reside without certain and speedy degenerancy.
To End England adopting and carrying out and
making the basis OF her foreign as well rs her domes-
tic policy those principles of freedom and equality,
which We were the first to proclaim and to embody
into our Constitution and laws, is great ground
of satisfaction. But for what deep humiliation
must that satisfaction be exchanged if our Govern
ment shall be found, instead of accepting Great
Britain as q generous competitor in the cause OF
humanity and civilization, assuming an attitude of
opposition, setting up the United States not merely
az perpetrators of Slavery st home, but as seek
Do % extend it into neighbOring countries where it
has once been abolished