New-York daily tribune., 1859-02-14
FROM WISHING roI.
JUDAH p. BENJAMIN on CUBi


the most polaied syeskcrs m tkN. BODY. lie hasa
musical v-iee, agraeefd delivery, 4, bland eocu'ion
slways repays tae attention be ecits By n. infOr-
nation be insysrts, ard though tTuth and Common
sense vii uot invariably ave eredence To b. facts
Dor folcw implicitly his dictioD, cultivated taste
il gratrk ed by MS classic desuction and the meoii-
e4s Tite and fAl Of BIS seatense.. Ii the object
B., merely 10 Rear one who can " discourse most
eJoo1ent mns;c" then listen to the Louisiana SeHa-
tor. But II ycu would hearken To statesminllke
se timebts % any question where Sliyery Is ia
viewed turn your ears sway
Jn bis s,eeoh tn day he was false 10 truth t. hu-
n.snity and to deceDcy. One hall of il vas per-
verse ard cruel assault upon the enranchised race
in the West Indies. Mr. Benjamin is lawyer,
wdknOw. judging from the liHeaments of his face
and the tell-tale letters Of bis name il may be il-
ferred that be descended from race who, many
wears ago had hard time of it n the brckyards
ofthe Nile when Afr .an capitalists compelled their
Hebrew servants 10 work without straw AID with
out pay. So believing, We We're hardly prepared
to hear him assert yaUEiingJ that tropical lati.
tudes could be cultivated Obly by compulsory labor.
and, therefore, that compulsory labor was just and
night.
He further tried 70 show, by manifold citations,
that the eInancipaied negroes of Hayti, and more
especially ,Iamalca, ara s miserable set Of fellows;
and though his quotations were unfair. and only
proved what a lawyer vii do when be can cite
Just so mach of uass II testimony as he pleases,
aud SUI press the rest, he did perhaps show that
thise Ailico-West Indians are almost as shiitless,
and nearly half as wicked, as the inspired penmen
declare bis ancestors 10 have been while soiournng
in tropical Judea. From sll this he inferred that
these azy lorn negroes were unworthy IF freedom
aud fit only for slaves. And his little black eyes
cleaned so fercely when be denounced Exeter
oil knli
and he gOated with such glee ever the desOsiOn in
those islands which his ancJ painted that he un-
doubtedy longs for the day when they viii again be
brought under the benign Influences Of compulsory
seryitude with Its paddles, its tread mills, and its
t-o'-rine-tsls. He told melancholy tales of the
diminished quantities of rum and sugar made IN the
British We,t Indias in consequence of Emancipa-
ton. He forgot to add that the original cry was
that abolition would result in the instant cutting of
every shareholders throat from to ear Well,
when the representative of Louisiana planters
ignores the blood, and sheds teaTs over diluted
quantities of West Ii dia rum and sugar, We may
safely admit thatwe live in progressive age.
We will not be too hard on Mr.. Benjamin, nor
on the negroes. Let US admit That his premises
are sound and MS deductions Inevitable; that the
tropics must BE- cultivated by compulsory labor.
1he question then arises, vho are to be the COM
peliOrS, and who TIE completes 1t does not fol-
low that white must necessarily be the former,
and negroes the latter. The Jews, for instance,
have been in captivity. They groaned in Egypt,
and walled IN Baby Ion, ard have had rather hard
time generally ever since True, they were eman-
cpated in Babylon and ran away from Egypt.
But the same fortune has happened to negroes
scain and sesn and it no more proves the capacity
oi the one race for freedom thsn the other Sup
rose then, that some ebony capitalists in Hayti or
Jamaica should propose 70 Mr.. Benjamin that the
Jewish desceLdents Of emhncipated slaves, nOw
scattered over the earth, aud subjected in almost
every country where they dwell 10 debasing Dis
abilities and employmeDis, should be gathered To-
getber in the islands Of the Caribbean Sea, and
there put TO working out the Senators problem of
compulsory labor would he not treat 1t as cruel
insult 10 tbat race Would he not say, " Hath
=" not jew eyes hath not Jew hands, organs,
dimensions senses, affections passions fed
- with the ssme food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same
means, warmed and cooled by The same Winter
and summer as a negro is 2" AM, that which
the descendant ef m emancipsted Jew msy say TO
negro, nlay not the descendant OF MI em8Ig pated
negro cay to Il Jew
When Mr.. Benjamin. closed this part Of bis
speech to-day, it would have been a curious sPecta
Gle to see Frederick Douglass, or, if be be little
TOO white, Henry ii. Girnett, who is darker than
Egypt ever was, let loose upon him in reply. The
Senator might still farther have invoked the great
dramatst-"I II you prick us, do we not bleed ?"
Seriously, though, IT was unbecoming in Mr..
Benjamin 10 try to iUhame war of races, to 50
peryert facts and garble documents as to msrepre.
sent the condition of enanchlsed men, and to heap
opprobrious epthes upon the victims Of civil disa-
bIities and social prejudices.
Mr.. Benjamin is small in stature; dresses care
fully and neaty has q soft, cat-like step; fawn-
ing sinister smile; keen, snaky eye look and
address now bold and audacious, and then cringiDg
ard deprecatory; bis whole air and mien suggest
ing subdued combination of Judas Iscarot with
Uriah lleep.
From Our Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Feb. IL. 1S59.
Mr.. Benjamin made speech to-day in the Sem
ate on Cuba, which opens the discussica of the