Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-12-25
THE SLAVE.TRADE.

Southern men are beginning to discuss the
trade in slaves a moral question. A corres-
pondent of the Richmosd South asks. "Ought
negro-traders to be hung?" His own conyic-
tons are decidedly that they ought not In
short, he thinks it absurd that those whom the
law allows to buy and sell slaves in Virginia
should suffer the ignominy of scaffold and
hemp merely for making their purchases of hu-
man merchandise in Cuba, three days sail from
Norfolk, and he asks, "Can it be possible that
the people of Virginia are in favor of laws like
these" The same writer proceeds to inquire,
and not without logical force, "Where is the
grant of authority found which authorizes Con-
gress to denounce and punish as piracy. a trade
the moral guilt of which we all incur when we
sell a slave to the Southern market" 1t is
quite evident that the more progressive
portion of the Southern mind is earnestly and
hopefully devoted to a renewal of the African
Slave-trade. Cuba is, of course, referred to
only by way Of illustration. Slaves are more
likely to go to Cuba from Virginia than to
come from Cuba to the United States Africa
is manifestly the source of supply which is
looked to. Slave-labor in the cotton and surar
States is in demand. 1t is therefore natural
that the planters, whose aspirations are fnan-
cial rather than political should revovo IN their
minds the reopening of the Slave-tralfc. They
can lawfully import negroes from Virginia,
Maryland and Missouri, and they profess to see
no moral distinction betweou .Aat sort of trade
and the importation Of negroes from the Guina
coast. The argument is doubtless with them.
There is no moral difference. The practical
question presented would seem to be whether
the Interstate Slave-trade shall not yield to the
general sentiment of the age, and such is left to
be the real issue in the case, BY the more re-
flecting Southern men. Accordingly they as
sumo thus early the aggressive side and insist
that trade which civilized nations have long
consented to regard as piracy shall be restored
to the category of legitimate commerce. But
this bold claim, so well calculated to startle the
Free States is not eountenanced by the poll
tcians of the South who feel that it must dis
turb existing party relations, and thus upset
political arrangements. Yet the time is coming
when the pecuniary interest of the sugar and
cotton region will assert itself, and many years
may not pass before the reestablshment of the
Slave-trade will be insisted upon at the South
as the paramount sectional issue. When this
shall happen, the South will become smaller
than it now is. Virginia and the other nom
tton-growing States will attach themselves to
the North Ss 50 !hqt s6 b6rdes l SCUM
Hi.oi;ns Ni.o and Mississippi. In ma Mexico con-
quefeadf or Annexed. ife ..,,i;,ion and exten-
sion of Slavery have always been ,qsoted on
grounds of political economy rather than
through moral considerations, except in the
case of the British West India Islands, where
the will and wishes of the Mother Country
overruled the interests of the colonies. In this
country it is idle to suppose that the planting
interest will omit to push its claims, or that
those who buy slaves within the Union will see
anything repugnant or startling in the PROPOSE
ton to go to Africa when the Virginia supply is
short