The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-06
THE WEAKNESS OF SLAVERY.


The Washington States, edited by Mr. Pryor,
of Virginia, draws the following picture of the
deplorable weakness of slaveholding commu-
nifty:
"There are in Cuba not far from $50 600 Afri-
can negroes under register, as the wards of Eng
land, and entitled to all the freedom enjoyed
by the white inhabitants, whenever the British
Government thinks proper to enforce the rights
of guardianship which she has over them by
convention with Spain. There is, besides, a
trained military force of from 5000 to 5000
blacks, prepared to serve, in case of collision
OF races, the nucleus of Authorization; and
III addition to these peculiar and distinct ele-
mlents for European misunderstanding, there is
a larger proportion of semi-educated mixed
blOods in Cuba than can be found in any State
of the Union. This class is. of course. intense
ly European in its prejudices, and is, in every
way, quite as capable of leading active meas
ures under European direction, as the unarm-
/ ed, oppressed Cubans are of resisting them.
Placed between two fres-European dicta-
ton in front, and negro Instruction in the
rcar-Cuba cannot act BY or for herself; and on
this Spain relies On the certainty that the
Cubans will not rashly invite upon their families
the terrible doom of St. Domingo, the Crown of
Spain rejects the idea of ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Bv
the vOlitionl of her own inheXible pride, sus
tanned by the ineyorable will of Napoleon who
in turn compels England to underwrite his pol
icy, Spain says Cuba must be African, if not
Spanish
a" To the Cubans Napoleon has said and is
now saying, BE prudent and patient. Out of
the union YOU not only retain Your negro ap-
prentices, but you may add to them to- any ex-
tent. My flag shall cover an ample supply of
laborers at 900 francs $4,000 head. to open
transitS as well to cultivate the fertile wastes
Of tropical America. This cheap system of
labor Will enable you to undersell your neigh
borS la our markets, while the interchange will
foster French manufactures and shipping, and
this community of interest must necessarily
secure the sympathy and protection of France
These arguments, and the dread of sectional
interference, together with the promise of
French mediation for an Independent yet we'll
/ protected status, has deprived the leading Gu
bans of even the wish for annexation. We say
this on the authority of the best names among
! the revolutionary leaders.
"While Cuba is being filed up with a pre-
ponderating army of free blacks, we hear that
the neghboring Republic of Dominica is sen
fenced to death by the French Emperor. The
prosecuted remnant of whites have held their
own eastern section of the island against terri
bic odds for fourteen years but France de-
clares they must now pass under the yoke of
the Haytien negroes. Her journals say that
an Independent State with American tenden-
cies cannot be tolerated in the midst of Euro
pean colonies, and the fiat of destruction has
therefore gone forth. February and March are
the months appointed for the final subjugation
of the unfortunate Dominicans and after that,
no white man will be allowed to hold real estate
on the island. So much for the process of
differentiation in the Antilles by the reopen
ing of the slave trade"