The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1858-11-09
HAWKS HISTORY OF n. c.
From tie Fayetteville OJsrrrer.


ture and Industrial Arts" of the responsibility for
the introduction of slavery into the colony OF North
Carolina and the Southern States. If ever there
has been so thorough exposure OF that hypo-
critical cant with which the abOlltIOnlsts OF Od
and New England arc prone to favor the world, We
have failed to see it.
By the way we may state in this connection, the
opinion Of Gov. Swain,-whO has devoted more at
tention than any one in the State to its History
oftbe character Of the forthcoming volume Gov
Swain examined the work with care i'll the manu-
script and expresses the opinion that it exhibits
q range and extent Of information, and the careful
examination Of the evidence in relation to contro-
yertcd facts, which had not ventured to antlcl
pate from even his extraordinary opportunities and
ability for research and that if his subsequent vol
umcs shall be characterized by the same unwearIed
search for truth, and tuncss and accuracy OF Illus
tration, We will possess a History which will com
pare flvorably with any State History which has
fallen under my observation.
As TO the agricultural laborers-who were they?
First there were negro slaves. 1t has unhap-
PLY seemed meet TO the self gloryfying humanity
of modern times both ia Eng land and Ill some
horizons of the United States, to lift the hands
and eyes to heaven III holy horror, and descant
with a somewhat clamorous Indignation, trans
Inuted by sclfrightcOusncss into Imaginary Chris
tan zeal, upon the godlincss which prompted 1t,
upon the one hand, to free itself from all cOnncc-
ton with slavery; and the atrOcous and damnabe
guilt on the other haiid, of all those who having
in rods Providence been intrrusted with the pro-
tection and con. fart Of the poor southern slave,
have not vet been able to see that immediate and
universal emancipation would either discharge
them from their solemn responsibilities to God,
or fulfil the duty which they owe both to their
fry md -pIr
here at least TO discuss in the abstract the correct
hess CT the the other view of the subject but
in telling story, truth requires Of Us to say our
forcIthers had negro slaves, feel obliged to Of
fer a picture Of the past times and speak OF things
as they were. Our DEPRESSION shall be brief. We
are not sure that our picture will reflect much
credit the humanity of our English torcfa;hcrS;
and 1t may, perhaps, even rutfle the pIouS com
placency of our northern cOuntrymen, who may
possibly be led to suspect that after all, their
ancestors were not less wicked than those
whom they now dcnounce irrIcovcraby
damned; while they themselves ale ''partakers of
other mems sins" by living without compunctior,
on the profits of their forefathers' iniquity.
Who first brought these negro slaves to North
America? We answer. without hesitation Eng
lishmcn, under the countenance of the English
government \ late British writer has, with
great zeal, denied that England '.torccd the
Americans to become shareholders; while, a: the
same time he has admitted that Great Britain
''iacilitatcd her colonial offspring to become slave
holders" encouraged her merchants in tempting
them acquire slaves" and ''eXcclled all her COM
petiturs i'll slave-stcaling." This is all true but
there is also more truth than Englands apOlogist
has left untold. The English people en-
barkcd in the African slave trade in 1862,
and in that year carried cargo to IIispan-
lola The success of the speculation soon enlisted
others in the business; and private associations, en-
bracing some of the most Opulent and distinguished
men Of the kingdom, were speedily formed. Very
soon the object was considered Of national impOr-
lance as connected with the commercial pursuits
and prosperity of the country. In the rel On of
James |. (l6i9) royal charter made a joint-StOck
company in London, with the exclusive privilege
of taking negroes from Africa, and carrying them
into slavery. Private adventures intcrtered so
much with this trade, that the charter was at last
abandoned Charles L. granted another charter,
which from the same cause (private cupldity and
interterence) shared the fate of the former. When
Charles H. came to the throne (1G61, Dayenaht
informs that "a representation being made
to him that the British plantations IN Amcrjca
were, by degrees, advancing to such condition
necessarily required greater yearly supply of SER
wants and aborers than could we'll be spared from
England, without the danger of depopulating his
majesty native dominons, his majesty did (uJ,om
account Of Supplying these plantations rjh ne
grOcs) publicly invite all his subjects to the sub
scription of a new joint-stock for recovering and
carrying on the trade to Africa" The subjects
came in crowds to the monarch call, and the sub
scription lists show the names of numbers of the
first people in England From this time the trade
to Africa was considered and treated of nation
al concern: parliament, from time to time, inter
fcred to sustain and improve it, that in 1892 no
less than six-and-twcnty acts might be counted on
the English statute book, directly sanctioned and
encouraging the African slave trade.
This trade was deemed SO important by Eng
land, that it involved her in a war with the Dutch
she sought monopoly of the traffic; she had two
thirds of the whole slavctradc of the world she
stipulated for its enjoyment in her treaties with
foreign powers; she kept constantly employed iii it
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Ships
she built forts in Africa to maintain it; she voted
parliamentary grants of money to uphold it, and, if
We include the whole period of time in which she
carried on the business, undcr iegui sanction, she
took away more than six millions of negroes from
Africa and caused, in two centuries, the destruc-
ton of number of these poor creatures, quite
equal to two thirds of the whole black population
of the United States! 1t is not therefore, per-
fCctly accurate in Mr. Graham to assert as he does,
that prior to the reign of Queen Annie, 1.-The slave
trade not comprehendeI within the scope and
operation of the commercial policy of the British
government" Queen Anne came to the throne in
1902; and We have seen that, for a century before
that time, the trade had been treated as very i'm
portant feature of England's commercial policy"