The Feliciana Democrat., 1858-04-03
LETTERS FROM JOHN mitchell

This distinguished gentleman, who has re.
Gently been making tour III the Southwest,
cnlivcns the columns Of his excellent paper.
the Southern Citizen, with letters descriptive
Of his impressions rs he floats down the great
Father Of waters His third letter addressed
to his friend and compatriot, John Martin,
now IN Paris, gives graphic account Of his
trip from Memphis to Vicksburg, and his con
vcrsation with his fellow passengers Missis.
sppi plantcrs-on the subject of our insiitu.
tons:
Several planters are on board, and take
occasion to converse with them. suggest
that there is room and wo,k on these two
sas alone for an additional million or two of
negroes They assent, but generally tell me
that Arkansas is settling up very fast as it is.
And from whence do the settlers come From
Tennessee, Alabama Georgia, South Caro-
lima, Why then, they Withdraw labour and
capital from those States to pour it into \
kansas Yes, they answer, but labour and
capital will seek their most profitable field -
Why should they not come to a Arkansas if the
planters can make more bales To tile hand
there ? Who is injured TO this answer,
nobody perhaps, is injured in his individual in
t"rcSt; but are not the States weakened ?
Are not struggling to maintain your South
crn institutions and interests against the
North ? TO give your labor system aud fair
play? How can you SucC ced in this, If you
try to extend your handful of negroes over 50
vast region? The State of Arkansas alone
could afford work for the whole four millions
Of them.
Most of those ] have talked with seem to
admit all this; hut they say, what remedy =
The remedy is to buy your negroes, not in
South Carolina or virginia where they are
dear, but in Whydah and Dahomey where
they are cheap, TO do my friends justice, not
one OF them seemed shocked ut this sugges.
ton. They are l,l well aware that their ne
gro slaves are in greatly better and higher
position upon their plantations than any Afri-
can negro in Africa ever was; and that the
lucklcst, Jolllest and treest negroes on the face
OF the earth are the four million slaves in these
States They even launch forth into genera
litics, and declaim and enlarge upon the supc.
r!or condition OF their slaves rs compared with
the lot Of white laborcrs in Europe This
is topic which do not love The white
laborers of Europe are Of the highest and
choicest breed and blood Of men They are
capable of lofty spirit and ambition, and are
great enough to be discomfort and dissatisfied
under the tyranny Of the "higher classes
higher by accident of position. For these
men, bread and meat are not happiness; man
is greater than bread and meat; and can be
great, even almost without bread and meat
That they are for the present depressed lower
than negro slaves is true; but in the nature Of
things this cannot last; and until it be set
right, the highest heads Of Europe shall sleep
on an uneasy pillow
Therefore | put aside that comparison, as
irrevclant; and ask my fricnds-secng that
you know and feel that your negroes in Anne
RIGA lead a better and more human life than
any negroes ever could attain in Africa--that
their slavery is useful to yon, and hardly less
useful to thcmselves--that, in short, the cause
Of negro slavery is the cause Of true philan-
thropy, 50 far as that race is concerned = then
what hinders you from going to purchase your
laborcrs in the cheapest market and SO re-
scuing them from brutal barbarism, cannibal-
ism, fctshism-and elevating them to the COM
parative dignity Of plantation hands? The
Law Z! 1t is not a constitutional law, nor a
reasonable or humane law-let it be altered.
But the general sentiment Of the world in these
days is against a renewal of the slave trade
Yet you admit that this general sentiment is
an ignorant and vicious sentimcnt-that il
leaves the Africans in barbarism, and leaves
your fields wilderness. Sentiment And
who Is entitled to dictate sentiments to you
In whom resides authority to lay down Il code
OF morals for you, in II matter whereof yol
are peculiarly qualified to judge? Is it in
Exeter Hall, that authority?