Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1858-04-17
$500 %a--~ -.
Txla african Apprentice Esit-

yes end ccsing or f~ayoring this n1agnan1snous
project, il immediately repEbljsaes it with a
few predatory remarks, generally Of Z com
TiilaeDtsry character. On the 10th iasEsonf
cotess, porary usestle following language over
III. artics> from the Bastrop -Adrocaze,; Of the
3Ist uIt..;
We orine the assumption, On Nhich Ger
tain journals have tiippantlY argued that the
measure had 10 friends at1,ofIg the masses OF
the people, will prove groandless. We SHOULD
not be surprised If it turned out exceedingly
popular &~tostead Of being unpopuiar.' =.
Now, good Mr. Crescent, We will give YOU
an article irom the Coast Journal WHICH
You haNe doubtless seen, containing some oi
the soandest arguments in opposition to the
Measure we have yet read, We think tht
op;as,eSgets of the bill sustain their ground
nobly, and, if anything, are slightly ahead oi
its adv3atest
One of the rnost monentops questions
which came Up III the Legislature this year.
was that with which WE heard these remarks,
Introduced in the House by Ms. Taylor, OF
EISa / GijEjdiG, INC tift dA%ttJt GGLit- '@titeH
Fl. Brigham and his associates to import into
the State If Louisiana, for agriculture and
Other iaborsns purposes. twenty-five hundred
free i tsfcans,n passed the House otReprese,t-
tatives III the hurry Of business incident 10
the close Of = Legislative session, without at
%tractiog much notice. indeed, MANY members
were ignorant until afterwards that zach i bill
had been before them. In the Senate the Till
rn,,t,n! -.,cr. ,{tarttn, a,I 9nI tutfn.ta,i
ing the favorable report Of Il special conf
mittee to which it was referred, and the mass
Of aioouence which was brought TO its SUI
port, The measure was disposed Of by being
indefinitely postponed, Such would also, un-
doubtedlY, have been its fate IN the lower
house, had it been brought forward at au ear
Iier period, when the attention OF members
would have been less engrossed III local
measures
Since The az adjournment Of the Legislature
the question has been taken up and discussed
b. the press, in, various parts Of tt country,
and wi III but few exceptions in terms une-
quivoc4ly conden1nator Of the legality. pol
and Justice Of the whole scheme. Sheets
which D, as far Is sny others i'll defence OF
Southern rlghtsScannot discern any right ia
the State of Louisiana to disregard express
provisions ot treaties binding on all the
and men who cannot be itopeached
for 4 want Of attachment to Southern inter-
ests, condemn the project Of importing free
iaboress, as Il scheme hostile to the
true interests OF slavery the oae great and
rutins Interests OF the South.
The acts of Congress for the suppression of
the slave trade expressly prohibit the iE1por-
Eations into the United States Of ANY negro,
OF person Of color, with intent to
hold, sell, Or dispose OF, any such negro, MIL
alto, or person of color, as u slave, pr to be
tsid 10 serrsre or labor.3 IL the face Of such a
oro;aibition, how can the advocates Of this
Importation biElH' justify their project. as not
,aing il violation Of treaty sti3uIattons q
away with t~reaties, repeal past laws on
he subject, and then but not till then, may
vol agltats this scheme, on the ground OF
without rendering it liable to the
:harge Of Illegally.
= But surprising that such a project were not
n direct violation OF the laws Of the United
States. it would be no easy matter yet to
that the proposed measure meets the
rue policy Of the South. What! bring q
Of savage, unclvilIzed Africans, in
he m.dst oil "a slave population, their superb |
IFS III point Of civilization, but their Interiors
II social station! What pIante, could rest ,
ecure, when his slaves were brought in con- |
gct with an inferior class. elevated by the
Eaach1lieEy oil law to a superior position Il |
nay OF it may not be true, as the friends Of
his scheme contend that the docile character !
nd habits of the native Africans are too
veil eno"n to give rise to any fear OF their
dangerous subjects; but 4 thing |
is strangely overlooked is the d,scon-
ent and INSTRUMENTATION WHICH their pres
nee would give rise to among the siave.por-
iatioI- Even now the presence OF free
lacks III Louisiana is looked on with leai-
usy BY every slave owner, aud the very
the Legislature, which un%thinkiDgIy !,
assed MIR. iayiors Importation bill, but Il
aw days previously had before it a bill Of @
atuEe dianetTically the opposite we aIIule
. the bill prohibiting the introduction of
rec negroes into the State. and ordering the
et those free negroes remaining IN the
tate contrary to the provisions OF the bill.
was introduced BY Mr.. Gray. Of Bien-
lille. and was looE I'd on with favor bY mem
ers from all quarters. Can it be supposed
hat the slaves would see this lie w&im ,oEta-
of their own race. in The enjoyment Of
reatar privileges, and not be moved to in
abord nation Or il it a part Of the pro-
Ean,use as some unbiushiugly avow, to make
|ayes OF these Africans. to import them as
Iaboreks and keep them as slaves? On
ae score st policy, undoubtedly, this would
c al improvement on the original scheme:
Ut On the score OF public truth ard honesty
would be a blot on the fair name Of Louis
sta which nc atter-work could et1ace. And
ct. bring hither your free Africans, and no
course would be left to you. Admit
nat for fifteen years they would occupy a
10 higher than that of the slave, and
'e will add that their treatment might be
he worse from the temporary property
'hich their owners will hold in them. But
iteen years are soon past, and when gone
1ere would he a s~ervile class turned loose in
ae fs1sdst OF masters and slaves, to furnish
mother ard a far more difficult problem for
'sis1ation, than that Of their introduction.-
.lthef YOU would have to make slaves of
7en, suffer the evil Of their presence. Or un-
the most difficult of all, return them
} their native country.