Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1858-11-10
innate them, even if that

permanent ana peacSBH INDUSTRY, Sucn as slave
labor must be, to be- espyoftable, amid those idle
restless. demoralizedS children of Montezuma
scarcely more civiIiss perhaps more sunk in
superstition than inshisage, and now trained tc
civil war by half aeentury Of incessant revolu
tion. What, say, could we, do with these peo
pie or these countries add to southern strength
Nothing. Could wedegrsde ourselves so far as
to annex them on equsl terms, they would be
sure to come into thiIg Union free States all To
touch them in any way is to be contaminated
England and Francesl have no doubt, would
gladly see us take thfsf burthen on our back, il
we would secure forshem their debts and neu
trail route across thesahmus. Such route we
to do with them. IfEs cannot get it by negoti
alton or by purchase must seize and hold il
by force of arms tl1s law of nations would
Justify it, and it issssolutely necessary for our
Pacific relations THepresent condition of those
unhappy States is casainly deplorable, but the
gosd God holds themsin the hollow of his hand
and will work out tbssiproper destinies.
We might expand Ire area of slavery by ac
curing Cuba, whera4African slavery is already
established Mr.. CG&oun, from whose matured
opinions, whether onsSonstitutional principles or
southern policy it willarely be found safe to de.
part said thai Cubssaas forbidden fruit" to
US, unless plucked III sTexigency of war, There
is no reasonable ground to suppose that we can
acquire it in any Other wayj and the war that
will open to us sucSnn occasion will be great
and general, and hHhg about results that the
keenest intellect canHoti now anticipate, But il
we had Cuba, we r6la not make more than two
or three slave StatasSbsre, WHICH could not re.
store the eqnilihriumEo the North and South
while, with the Arid slave trade closed, and
her only resort fhYsletes to tha continent, Ehe
would, besides crns5ihg out our whole sugar eul'
tprc by.Aer compehtsp, afford in o few years a
market for oil the.slases in Missouri, kentucky
and Maryland. She's notwithstanding the exor-
bitant taxes mpossda her, capable now ofabsorb.
ing the annual. increase Of all the slaves on this
continent, and consumes is said, twenty 10 thirty
thousand year by yhersystem Of labor. Slaves de.
crease there largelysxln time, under the system
practiced, every slagSip America might be ex.
terminated in CpbaassWere the Indians. How.
ever the idle AfrieansHay pFocreate in the trop.
les, it yet remains To- pr9yen, and the facts are
against the conclIsidp3 that he can, in those re.
gions, work and tlitiss It is said Cuba is to he
"Atricauized y rsithsrs than that the United
States should take: That threat, which at
one time was someTbat alarming, is no longer
any cause Of ds9aiende to the South, after our
experience of the: saslranizing Of St. Domingo
and Jamaica. WhsS have we lost by that? l
think we reaped seil ssueii land, i ths: :slsyes
! Of Cuba are turnedioese, great sugar culture
would grow up in Louisiana and Texas, rivalling
that of cotton, and diverting from it so much
labor that cotton would rarely be below its pres
ent price.
You must not suppose, for moment, that
am opposed to the expansion Of the area of
African slavery" On th4 contrary, believe
that God created negroes for no other purpose
than to he "the hewers of wood and drawers Of
water that is, to be slayes of the white race |;
and I wish to see them in that capacity on every
spot on the surface of the globe where their Ia
Dor is necessary or beneficial. Nor dol doubt
that such will be the final result. Much less
would l oppose the acquisition Of territory that
would place the slave States on numerical
equality, and more, with the free States in the
Union. But this reyisw and scrutiny of The re-
sources ofihe South shows, think, pretty conclu-
siveIy, that We have not now the surplus
nor suitable territory, within our present reach,
to create any number Of Slaye States that TO
attempt it by costly, yet impraeticable and aboEr
tive enterprises will be to waste our strength
to no purpose; and that the idea of recovering
the equality in voting of the slave and free States
whether on the floors of Congress or elsewhere,
is visionary We had better then, think, ut
once make up our minds according to the facts,
and giving up al bootless efprts: look every con:
sequence Of our position full in the face: For
one, l can do so without dismny-without the
slig htest trepidation. Why the South, number,
ing twelve millions of people, possesses already
an imperial domain that can well support an hum
dred millions more. What does she need to
seek beyond her borders, or what has she to
fear? With such sea coast and harbors; such
rivers, mountains and plains; so full Of oil the
PRECIOUS metals, 80 fertile in soil, SO genial in
climate, producing in such unparalleled abHn,
dance the most valuable agricultural staples of
the world; capable Of manufacturing to any ex-
tent; and possessing the best social and indus
trial system that have ever yet been organized, org
she might have sunk into slqth from EXCESS Of
prosperity, had she not been kept on the alert
by the leree assaults of an enYions world: AS
saults which, of one time alarming, it has been
in fact scarcely more than wholesome exercise
to repel; an exercise which has made us the
most viftuous and one Of the most enlightened
and most powerful people who now flourish on
the globe. The South has long been underway:
ing and doing great injustice ta herself. she
has been lsmenting har weakness, and croaklng
about the dangers that beset her, when she might
glory in her strength and hurl defiance OF her
enemies.
But il il said that, with a fixed and over.
wheming free State majority against us in this
Union, with all our natural advantages, we must
dissolve the connection to insure our present
safety and accomplish our proper destiny. Per-
haps so. But permit me to suggest, not yet.
The dissolution of the Union is an alternative
that we have always at command, and for which
we should be ever ready but peaceful, pros.
porous and powerful people may not challenge
Fate day too soon. The question still remains,
can the free States be brought to concur perma-
nently in any line of policy that will subvert the
constitution, and seriously damage the South in
this confederacy2 do not believe that they
can. Reckless as is political ambition, and in.
sane as fanatcism ever is, have no idea that
the free States can be consolidated on the wild
project of ruling the shareholders by mere brute
numbers, either through the ballot box or by
forpe of arms whether ID emancipate our slaves
o. strip US Of the fruits of their labory or to
govern us with the mildness and paternal care
due to interiors. The nervous in the South, and
the abolition demagog4es of the North, may be-.
lieye it, But when it comes to the actual test, If
neither aober sense nor patriotism should prevail,
the sense of danger and tho love of cotton and
tobacco would, with our nothern brethren, in ev.
cry crisis override their love of negroes. On
this think you may depend, despite the inso:
lent boasts Of the aboitionists of what they will
do when they get the government in their hands.
The North has only to be made clearly sensible
how far she can go, aud what the South will not
submit to. She will not tresPass beyond that,