The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-12-09
From the Richmond Enquirer, OF Nov. %
AN ODIOUs AND GRINDING NONOPOLY


But, especially, care must be taken that
n,OnopoIics, which are the cankers of all trading
be not admitted under specious colors of public
good"
This is the language Of Lord Bacon contain
ed in his letter of advice 10 Sir George Yillers,
when the latter was appointed Prime Minister
10 King James the First. That letter Of advice
ab0unds with sound political maxims, which
render il indeed chart for statesmen but III
nothing more than in this emphatic condemna-
ton of monOpoies is its wisdom signalized. Mo
nopolies are the cankers of all trading, as free
dom from restraint is the vital principle of all
fair and profitable business.
/ have attentively considered the profession
of the great Democratic party, and find that
freedom from all unnecessary restraint enters
into that creed, and WHITES the whole With
draw that single principle, and the party now
instinct with life, would instantly fall into con
fusion, and miserably perish But what is true
of that party, wherever it is found, is especially
true of that great division Of it which reigns
supreme In Virginia The Democratic party is
the glory Of this Commonwealth Long may il
remain the pride, and the solace, and the pro-
lection OF the people. Freedom Of religion free
dom of thought freedom of action, and freedom
Of trade, are all the glorious progeny of that
one grand principle freedom.
When the avaracious, allgrasping North,
through it's political organ. the Federal Govern
ment. had under "color" of protective laws,
gained a monopoly of the Southern market,
and cozened very respectable but not very
sagacious party. iii the South, to cooperate in
us schemes of plumber, the Democratic party in
the plentitude of its power rose up, broke down
the ramparts by which fair competition was
fenced out, and the domestic trader WAS fenced
IN, and fixed freedom Of trade as fundamental
of American politics. Yes, " freedom of trade
which, IN the words of It's invincible advocate,
+" has It's foundations in the deep and durable
basis of truth, and will yindcate itself 1t draws
ITS origin from on high. 1t emanates from the
Divine WILL and Is designed in its dispensation
10 perform an important part in binding together
IN concord and peace the nations of the earth,
and extending far and wide the blessings of civ
ilization. In iulfmcnt of this high design, Sc
coe penalties are aInered to a departure from
ats tairs.' That was glorious victory, and has
cnured and will enure to generations yet
born. Buy trtere yoa can buy cheapest is the
political economy which, trumpet-tongued, has
been proclaimed to the nations of the eerth, by
the Democracy of this ancient Commonwealth
1t will be echoed along the line of succeeding
generations, JIty Iohere goa can Juy cheapest
After YOUR proud Capitol, and your monuments
of brass, and monuments of stone, have crum-
bled into dust, that principle, in immortal vigor
Will survive, to protect the interests and direct
the councils of nations.
Buy where YOU can buy cheapest! But why
should this great truth in politics be confined
an ITS application to tho productions of the earth
and the productions of capital and skill a? Why
not, in the various traffic of man, why not ex-
tend 1t to everything that is bought and sold :?
Under the sheltering hand of this great princi-
bs. If 81. -
mitted to resort to the markets of the world, in
order to provide for his looms the necessary ma
terial. He may go to Brazil and lay in his sup
plies, if his judgment caprice shall so elect.
He may 20 into Algeria or British India, or
doubling the Cape, he is suffered even to resort
10 Ifficd, and buy for his looms from the native
chiefs, and pay for the article with keg of
whisky, red Jacket, or string Of glass beads
This is all perfectly right-the law Of nature
adopted and enforced by tho Democratic party.
suffers him to reap the profits of his own labor
and capital and buy where he can buy cheap
est. 1t does not compel him, nor does il allow
the Government TO compel him, TO deal at a dis
advantage, and thus con6scnte one mans inter
ests, that the interests of another man NAV be
advanced. All men and all emplOyments stand
on a level IN that presence, from a cObber on
his bench 10 the curious artifcer in brass
Cotton IN the United States is the produc.
tiOn of slave labor; and the slave. equally as
the cotton which his labor produces, is impress.
ed with the seal of property, and NAV be- bought
and sold. Why, then, should the planter of
cotton be compelled, by a penal act, to pur.
chase his slaves in the domestic market, whilst
the manufacturer OF cotton is suffered to resort
To the universal market for his supplies-to
South America, Asia, or even to Africa itself?
thus bringing the producer OF American cotton
III direct competition with the cheap and un-
bought labor of other countries. There is no
equality, no reciprocity, here. If the Northern
manufacturer does not avail himself of this
liberty, 1t Is because he does not choose to do
IL; the laws offer no impediment whatever
But the cotton planter of the South does not
stand alone-he has ellow-sufferers enough.
Would YOU buy lot of negroes to establish a
farm or plantation in Virginia, You are met
full front by this Federal MONOPOLY, a deep
laid plan established and maintained by the
Anti-Slavery power at Washington, for DESTROY
ing Slavery here. You may purchase, delivered
at Norfolk or Alexandria, frst-class hands.
imported from Africa, for 500 a-piece-such
hands as you pay for in the barracoons of
Richmond, twelve or fifteen hundred dollars
But an imperial mandate from the palace OF
the American Caesars interposes its prohibition,
and you are compelled, unless you relinquish
your plan of life, to purchase from the domestic
slave breeder or slave merchant, at that great
advance. Why not permit YOU to purchase from
the negro kings of Africa as wen as from the
negro kings of Virginia? Why not allow YOU
10 buy where you can buy cheapest? Is not
this the result of the business, that the Federal
law transfers from your pocket TO the pocket OF
another the difference between 800 and 81, 200
or $500? But why confscate and destroy the
property, and perhaps the bread of one man, to
swell the profits or glut the avarice of another ?
Why take the necessary food from A, that b
NAV dress in purple and fine linen? Why not
amply to negro labor, as well as to the produc.
lions of negro labor, the golden rule of the Yir.
sinia Democracy, Buy scAere you can buy the
cheapest Is it because there is an immortality
in the slave trade? If that be true, then, in
obedience TO the demands of conscience abol.
ish this abominable domestic slave trade, which,
with a forehead of brass, thrusts itself in view
at every corner, and which has erected for its
convenience many a stately palace-or rather,
prison-the counterparts of which in Africa are
called barracoons-
Or is the slave trade wrong, because it nour-
isheth the root, Slavery? 1t does nourish the
root of slavery, and, therefore, was placed un-
der an interdict by the Anti-Slavery power at
Washington; power which from the first hour
of its existence either openly or elandestinely
has sought to destroy Slavery In the South.
Many devices have been tired, bat none so eff:
eacious as this; for it has cut Off the rivulet
from the fountain from which IT ISSUES, and by
which IL is sustained.
Is not the Democratic party of Virgin the