Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-01-19
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE.
ENnI fcU cENTIMRNr

We suhjon significant article from the London
"Timss" And if that journal really is, as it is said
to be, an index to popular sentiment in England
that seldom deceives, then indeed, have we almost
conclusive evidence, that on the subject of slavery
the public mind Of Great Britain has undergone ma
teria change. The article evidently written with
caution. And although it doe, not admit the moral
right of the institution, there is no oonceaIment OF ds
appointment and regret at the consequences Of its ab
rogston in the British West Indies. 1t is true the
Times" favors the furtheranoe of the free labor sys
tenn by transferring emigrdnts from one por.
ton of her possessions to another 1t is intimated
that the mutinous sepoys might be made to serve
profitable purpose 10 the cultivation OF cotton sugar.
&C., in the West Indies, for the benefit of Great
Britain But who believes this system would
~~t Lo Of involuntary servitude And
should 1t be tried and found impractieable or un
profitable, we have little doubt that revival Of the
African slave trade under some disguise, will ut,
mately either be authorized or connived at by the
English government. The general policy Of conquest
and annexation, pursued by Great Britain now, as
we'll earlier days. is strikingly contradictory to
those noble motives Of justice and generosity, which
her writers would have the world believe have alone
tnsnt. Whenever and wherever she conceives that
her interests would be advanced by 1t, then and
there if there 10 doubt Of success ia her sword sure
to DO drawn and her Hag unured She knows no other
obstacle to the extension Of her dominions, no
matter when or where, than the wortheesness
Of the country within her resch-or it's strength
to resist. An island, or territory, or province
that is vslueless, is In no danger OF being in.
corporated into the British possessions But if
the exercise of ownership over it would promote
her Interests in any way let it be warned by the for
tune of the kingdom Of Dude, unless it can de.
fend Itself or can claim protection from some other
power. England has always acted upon the barba.
rous aphorism that "night makes right"
Her conduct in India has long ago attested the alsy
of her phanthropic professions for the negro race in
America. 1t may be that the altered tone Of the voice
of her psoplswhich is echoed by the London "Tmes"
is attributable In some degree to increased intelligence
and lees preudiced exercise of reason. We not
ungenerous enough TO think that It S not so. But
we nevertheless believe that it is to be ascrbed prin.
cpally to the fact that English interests are sscer
tanned to have been retarded rather than advanced
by the sntagonism OF the British government and
the British people to slavery The act of cnranelpa.
tion IN the West Indies is referred to now, not with
boasts, but with sorrowful disappointment.
II would seem strange to nonarchist that as the
domestic government of Great Britain grows more
enient and LIBERAL the opposition to African eavery
becomes less and less violent But to US there is
nothing more natural. The white man is freest
where the black man is ensaved. As long as manual
labor is essential to the culture of the products of
the esrtb long as society exists and governments
endure, there will and must be matters and slare,.
In Russia we find serfs. In India we find csstes. In
England we fnd lords and peasants And in the
UNITED STATS every ahite man is himself a sore.
re,gn. He acknowledges no superior by birth, and
knows no inferior in class, of his own race. The
negro, stamped with inequality by the hand Of
God is, In this country, what the white man
is often in Europe-the siave Of master. There merit
is made subserviept to birth. Here there is other
ineo uality acknowledged than that which God has de-
creed between superior and an inferior race. And
AZ England becomes more and more liberal in her
it is but natural that she should be less
and less prejudiced against negro slavery.
France Is already engaged again in the African
slave trade And the day may not be distant when
Great Britain will initiate her example. The civil.
ICED world may then decide whether the Southern
States have not done well to retain an institution
which France and England have been obliged by
necessity to establish in the nineteenth century.
From the London Times, Dec. 1871
A NEW PLAN TO SUPPLY The WEST IN.
DIES WITH LABOR.
II REQUIRES no great foresight to perceive that
great contest is approaching on the subject of slavery
and the slave trade. The battle OF the negro will
have to be fought by the philanhropsts with great
dimnuton of prestige the result of falsifed predc
tiops and blasted hopes. The Broughams and Viii.
berforces Of the present day will haveto adopt
what humbled tone. The manifestoss OF Exeter Hall
must for once be defensive and apologetic for the
world is now wiser than when pulpit and platform re-
sounded with indignant appeals to humanity five and
twenty years ago The touching descriptions of phil
anthropc novel writers will 90 for little now as far
regards our own colonies. Those who are old enough
may recolect the traditional portraits of West
Indis propretors, their wives and children, which
are to be found in the "morsl tales" Of the last
generation. The owner of a Jamaica property was
slways lying on sofa, drinking sangaree and swear
ing at Sau.bo fine mulatto youth, whose culver
ing lips and flashing eye told how much he felt
The lady of the house, always represented as
faded beauty, with her brow wreathed with
pearls, was, Of COURSE being famed by two female
lash The youthful heir wandered about the house |
-1srcsing whip given him by his mother expressly
10 beat the little negroes with. faithful and pious
pompey exposed to every kind of i'll usage, because
Dipah, who loved him-oh, how fervently!-would
not listen to the unmanly proposals OF Drive, the
nverseer, completed the picture. BY such represen
aons as these body of as hard working and loyal
obloquy, and negro emancipation was effected with
mt regard tn fha f0thYaste of man who Wero poDu