Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-01-23
The London Times on the Revival Of
the Slave Trade,

Times OF Dec. 18th, on the subject OF the
revival of the slave trade in the British Col
,enies. We have rarely met with calmcr
discussion of great question, or one that
involves SO much that is signi icant in the
future. We again commend the subjoined
article to the careful perusal of our readers:
"Never was the prospect Of emancipation
more distant than now that foreign slave
owners are establishing monopoly Of Ii
the great staples of tropical produce. The
islands which in the old times supplied SO
much sugar, coffee and cotton, are going
out of cultivation, while Cuba, the United
States and Brazil are every day extending
the area of their cultivation and the number
Of. their slaves. So valuable, indeed, is the
slave in Cuba that, in spite Of treaties and
penal laws, cruisers and blockades, thous-
ands Of Africans are yearly carried across
the Atlantic to work on the sugar and to-
bacco plantations The wealth of the island
is such that, in spite Of misgovernment, OPP
pressiye taxes, and Spanish army Of 25,-
900 men, its proprietors are among the
richest in the world. AS to the United
States, it is indeed folly to expect any
change in that quarter. Slavery on the
North American continent has extended, is
extending, will extend. AS long as the
supplies Of cotton are below the demand in
all the markets Of the world, SO long will
slave labor be too valuable to be parted with.
Even the Northern Slave States, which but
a few years ago were discussing the gradual
Abandonment Of the system, are now silent
about abolition, immediate or prospective.
Their slaves are at present great, perhaps
their greatest, source Of wealth. If they
cannot cultivate their own lands, they breed
negroes to supply the new plantations in
the South. 1t may be declared that the at
tacks of Abolitionists and the interieren
OF the North are the cause of this determi-
nation to uphold slavery; but no sensible
man will believe that mere irritation and
o5stinacy could lead to such great results
The existence of slavery is an economical
question, and SO long as the system is profit
able we cannot doubt that it will be main
tanned. Much the same may be said with
respect to Brazil, where the institution pre-
walls with features Of cruelty unknown even
IN the worst Of times under English rule.
'Now, to these countries we have given
monopoly of products which are the chief
basis OF our industry Or among the chief
sources of our revenue. They are becom-
ing rich, powerful, arrogant, every day less
inclined to be guided BY English counsels
or moved by English counsels or moved by
English interference With all the rcadi
ness which selfinterset induces they have
learnt the arguments against limiting sla-
very and slave importation, from our mis-
Laps, our acknowledgements of failure, from
their own prosperity, and from our depcn-
dence upon them. They have the law of
nations upon their side, and nay quote it in
answer to any assertion of our rights to in
terfere in the cause Of humanity. They are
free nations and Africa is free coast Ne
grocs are necessary to raise the cotton, SUI
gar, coffee, and tobacco which the world
wants. The white man cannot work under
tropical sun, and unless the African be
used as laborer the fairest regions of the
New World must remain desert. In fine,
negroes must be had at any cost, and no
nation has right to impose its own scru-
polosity on other free communities. IfEnc-
land has ruined her own colonies that is no
reason why she should seek to check the
progress Of the whole American continent.
Such is the kind Of. J ca soning which is be-
coming mere and more common every day
and we may depend upon it that in some
form or under some pretext the live owners
Ut the other hemisphere will again attempt
to obtain supply of Negroes from the
coast OF Africa. The recent importations
into the French colonies has naturally rous-
ed their attention, and it is no wonder that
we hear it asked why few cargocs Of such
aemigrants'' could not be broug ht to New
Orleans or Savannah, there to be settled
according to the domestic institutions Of the
States. With this renewed vitality of sla-
very, owing to the rapidly increasing value
Of the slave, we have now to deal.
"And it is not by preaching, or protest
ing, or threatening, or denouncing, that
tLe objects Of humanity can be attained.
Vhe last generation were content to be
merely destructivcs; they broke down the
Slave system in the West Indies without at
tempting to replace it by better, and the
consequence has been the multiplication of
the former evils, and deepening of the
guilt, in which we in directly participate
as consumers of the slave raised produce.
After 20 years experience we are now call
ed upon to provide remedy On all sides
we hear the same cry,-the colonies are
perlshing for want of sufficient labor. By
additional supplies alone can the principle
of free labor in the tropics be yindicated
and real blow struck at the iniquities
against which we have SO long acclaimed.
There can be no doubt that slavery will
once more gain the ascendant unless we
carry out plan of free labor.-Our colonies
Il the West are the field for such scheme,
our empire in the East may furnish the la
borers, and the new hold we shall have On
Asia will give facilities for doing what we
wish. Whether we should send mutinous
Sepoys across the water is Il matter hardly
yet ripe for decision; but we think if they
are to be transported anywhere, they may
as we'll people Trinidad as the Andamans
or any Asiatic island. But it is evident
that the whole question of West Indian cul-
tivation must now be examined, and with
such. colonies as Jamaica, Trinidad and
Guiana, there is no reason why we should
not show that the culture of the Tropics bv
free labor is not the impossibility which the
partisans of slavery represent"
Agency in Highland.
ANDREW III BYRD. ESQ. of HIGHLAND 10