Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-01-12

! for Che reason that We have not enterprise, O
fail Tor the reason that VIC arc simpetons an
sluggards; but we stagnatc for the want of on
portanity, and we fail for the reason, that W
hayehoped against hope, and have stakcl on
fortunes upon the achievement OF success, wher
success was never possible.
+ This state OF facts would be altered by th
foreign slave trade. The slaves that come coulc
be purchased at the costs of importation. a
sucf,priceS, they could find employment on ou
lighter soils; the means of living would becom
mors abundant and more cheap With cheav
slaTfs on cheap subsistence, our enterprisin.
tradesmen could compete with tradesmen il
other sections of the world. Instead Of impor
tinSarticleS and implements for use, they coult
supply themselves; they could turn the tide 0
trade back upon the older States 4 largc
population would result; larger amount o
products and fabrics would solicit transporta
tion. Hotels, railroads and steamboats, woult
begin to pay; wealth would flow in upon us
importance would come to us; and instead 20
standing, as we now stand, in provincial allmira
ton of the Hoes and Eanderbilts of the North
Respondent in the prosperity that has come
upon them, with five millions starving foreigners
we,qurselveS could stand up still more rcspen
dentin the prosperity that will have been pour
ed npon us by the teeming thousands from the
plains of Africa.
That TINS Is not visionary speculation, may
be seen from the records of our sea board dis
tricts. When foreign slaves were introduced
therural parishes Of Charleston District were the
brightest spots in all America. Slaves, taken
from the marts Of Charleston to tie lands ada
cent, gave to everything they touched the spring
of progress. From the labor of one year came
as many more the next. They gave drainage to
thealandS, cultivation to the soil and provisions
in abundance to the citizens and operatives of
tile city; those, in turn, with flour and provi-
siqns cheap, struck boldly out upon the. field of
competition. Leather was tanned, cloth was
manufactured, shoes, hats, clothes and implc-
ments were made for consumption and for eX-
port. The country proSpered; swamps were
reclaimed; mansions rose avenues were plan
ted; pleasure grounds laid ont commerce star
ted ships sailed to every quarter of the world
parish churches, i'll imposing styles of architec-
ture were erected, and sections were replcte
with progress, and more warmed by hospitality
were never seen than were the town and parish
es OF Charleston District. But with the sup
preston of the slave trade, their splcndors and
their glories left them; progress departed for
the North swamps returned mansions became
teuantless and rootless; values fell lands, that
sold for iilty dollars per acre. sold for less than
live dollars; trade was abandoned. Oftwenty
Towards, not one remains; of shoes, halls and
implements of industry once put upon the trade
OF foreign towns, now are put upon our own !;
and Charleston, which was once upon the line
ale Wi vile once the meFf5lfs SjSm u 2tI,s TrHef
cI is now the unconsidercd omtict Of u tributary
ptvince. Such was the experience of Charles
t4 District-Sucli, to u greater ora less extent
lE been the history of every other section o.
OBJ Southern scabnar,l, and thi: with no other
| pbof wou,l seem to be conclusive nf the oues-
| tin whether that trade would ever again give
H ,grcss to the South.
| $50, also, is there reason to believe it would
gre integrity to the social constitution Of the
&uih. There are now three mil!ion fyc hul-
drcd Thousand slaves TO six millions masters
%l:l thus, therefore, there are three millions o
laStcrs without slaves. These. it is sail. will
b. true to the South: and SO they will be. II
st,verv hc an evil, "thc ulcer is ct least their
okn, and they will let no Others scratch it.''
s., also, they would not css it be abolished. for
tiev, too would share i'll the ruin OF lis aboli-
tpn. But willie there is not white man WHO
wpuld not own slave if he could-ana if there
were slaves at importers prices, there is scarce
white man who could not, if he would-yct, il
he cannot do so, and at present prices many can
not; if Grced to work in competition with the
slave from the inability to get above him, there
is no single white man who will not feel the in.
stinct Of repulsion-who will not use his fran
chise to,widen his sphere-who will not elbow
slaves from employments, rather than he el-
bowed from employmcnts by slaves and thus it
is that they have driven them from Northern
States to the South-thus it is that they have
driven them from the larger cities of the South
to the country-thus it is that they feel them
selves, and will force the Legislature to aIkn6w-
ledge, that there is difference between free
labor aud Slave abor-and thus it is, and must
be, that until Eutopia be colonized, man will
evcract from the centre of his own Individual
interest," To be clear of this there must be no
with Our slaves. There would be no such class
if there were slaves, at prices low enough for
every line of business. Such as might be i'm
ported would be SO cheap; and it is thus. there
fore, that the foreign slave trade, to every
human apprehension, would harmonze diScor-
dant interests, and restore integrity the most
perfect, ito the social system Of the South.
In view Of these considerations view o
the assurance that the slave trade would restore
political lpowcr to the South, thatit would give
progress to the South, that it would restore in
tegrity to the social system Of the SoHth-l am
free to confess that, for my own part, would
be willing, as q mere measure of policy, to re
opeii and Legitimate at once, the foreign slave
| trade.
But there is another consideration, apart
froih the. practical operation of that measure
which, in my opinion, renders it necessary tlii
| the South shall take decided stand upon it
and il is q consideration which, ! trust, vii
address itsclr to all who feel for tho honor ant
Importance Of the Suntll, whatever may ,bc thci
convictions rs to those ultimate results to whicl
| l have alluded
This Union isa democracy. OF that, ] pre-
slme, there is little question. 1t is . demo
cfacy in name, and suppose there are none tc
doubt but that it is Il democracy in nature. Ii
ast, the social principle that triuinphed in tht
Resolution was simply this, that "Equality il
the right Of man." and it is very Geitain that
tES Union, as u WHOLE has been ut little pain;
toNsaflirm it. 1t entered the Constitution 0
ouf present Governmental declared the law
that lnajnrities shall govern-that suffrage Shai
bGuniYersal-tLaL all Offices shall he elective
aIEl that all restrictions on individual liberty
shal be removed. 1t was at the dictate of thi:
principle that the word slave was not admitted
to}the' 'Cuns,lution-tlat, i'll 1874, as FAR as WI
cAl', 1"c prO! !libtcd the lr;sportationo Of slave:
| ir6n one foreign country to anntlcr-tllat il
l8S, we prohibited the introduction Of slave;
toshis country-tilat, in 1919, We sent armed
slips to cruise against tile slave tr:lde-that ii
lS2O, we made it piracy to engage i'll it-tllat
inAS2D also, We restricted slavery to the rcgiur
Stath Of 3C 3O-that in 1872, we joined Eng
lald in u maritime crusade against it, and tlla
inaS50, we cleansel the ns:io,lal capitol of tht
pollution Of that eXecrable traffic 1t is alst