Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-02-08

doctrines. Yes, sir, he traverscd this very ex
tensive District over mountains and acros.
rivers for the party, and was rewarded b,
again rescuing it from Know Nothing rule.
( Would it be just noe when the clouds hay,
parted and our party arc enjoying unprece
dented political peace to ovcrslaugh the cham
pion who fought the battle for us? thinl
not, sir. And again repeat that am op
posed to any Convention assembled for the pur
/ pose Of turning out our present gallant repre-
sentative.
/ This letter might seem TO be predicated Of
! the idea that il convention were held. i
would nominate some new man. But such Is
not my belief do not believe that n conven
ton could be assembled in this district whicl
would refuse to nominate Mr.. Edmundson. liz
is very and deservedly popular, and while there
are many gentlemen here who would reflect no
nor on the district, will venture to say that
not one Of them has done greater service TO the
party, or been more consistent or truer to i;
| than Henry Edmundson. He, sirs, has not
/ only always been with the Democratic party
but in times Of danger he has been in front o.
it, carrying its banner into the midst Of the
! thickest Of its enemies.
know there are gentlemen in the district
who aspire to this position they have right &c
/ do so-it is worthy ambition in any dcserv
ing man; and if there be such gentlemen, the
/ field is now open TO them to try their strength
with Harry Edmundson. 6ef5re tie people o.
: the Twelfth District Those gentlemen cai
have a free fght and all the favor they deserve
Let the people say who shall be their repre-
! T., h. oponub ,-no,,
sition is announced, to call a convention We
do not contemplate that Mr. Edmnndson should
have life tenure in the Office which lie holds
but we do think that he ought to be allowed tc
date his tenancy from the date Of his sigma
service in 1855 and another term in Congress
will not be too great reward for that service
.'EAsr or THE ALLEGHASrEs."
A friend in Ohio refers to the following ar.
ticle as embodying the sentiment Of large
class Of thinking men at the North.
! Prom the Cincinnati Commercial!
Little Plain Talk about the Foreign slave-Tradc
! 4 paragraph in the Telcgraphic news from
! Washington the other day informs the public
that Senator Seward has introduced his bill Ii
abolish tic .lfricdn Stare trtdG.
! About two hundred millions of dollars hav.
! ing already been expended, and some thousands
Of gallant lives sacrificed in .rruitless efforts to
do this stuie thing, in the same udy proposed by
Senator Seward, it may well be questioned
whether the experiment is worth continuing.
! The efficiency Of legislation in preventing
any given evil, depends very much upon the re-
lations existing between the la,o-makin9 loner
and the causes which operate 10 produce thc
evil to be rcmedied.
Let us. therefore, inquire for moment, 10
ascertain what relationship exists between
legislation and the causes Of the African slave
trade; and We may perhaps discover the rca.
son Of the lamentablc failure Of the united
legislative efforts OF civilized nations for lis
suppression.
Why does the Afriom stare true srist?--
SIMPLY BECAUSE THE CIVILIZED WORLD DEMANDS
THE PRODUCTS OF SLAVE LABOR AND WILL. So1
DO WITHOUT THEM. 10 very considerable cX.
tent, it is question Of STOMACH VS.. SENTIMENT.
If one.half the coffee drinkers Of the world
were to abandon the use Of that beverage to-
morrow, the slave trade 10 Brazil would de-
crease from twcnty.to forty per cent. within
the next two years. But whilst fifty millions
or moro Of white philanthropists are in the daily
Use Of that agreeable drink, the less conscien-
tious planter of the raw material in Brazil, will
resort to every effort legitimate or ilegitimate,
to supply the demand, and the price Of coffee
4 in New York and Liverpool will determine the
amount of risk he is willing to incur in ven
turc to the coast of Africa for negroes. If col
fee will bring him twenty cents pound h(
will be willing to lose four cargoes Of negroc.
out Of every five he sends for, and if it only
brings ten cents, he cannot afford to risk Sc
much.
When the political philosophers and philan
thropists Of France thought that Liberty
EQUALITY and Fraternity" required the aboi
ton Of slavary in their West India possessions
they had sense enough to know two things
| First, That the proposed emancipation OF tho
slaves wouldn't have the slightest effect upon
the appetite of the French people for SUGAR
and Second. That they could no longer expect
supply Of that article from those French West
India Islands. They. therefore, Immediately
and very wisely set about encouraging the cul'
! tiyation Of the SUGAR BEET in France. Now,
the French manufacture great proportion, and
perhaps all Of the sugar they consumc-but II
| is not at all improbable that if every sugar
beet and sugar beet seed there, were dcstroyec
TODAY. the negroes now rtgsta!ing along TIN
coast Of Africa, within the reach Of the slav'
traffic would commence suffering the consc
mlences within the next twelve months.
1t is said the price Of negroes is greatly al
vanced in the South. Why is this? 1t IS no
because white men in the South lore slarcry
but because they love money. Slaves max
money for them. and they can make more nov
than formerly, because there is an '"ere"sf'
demand for tie products or their labor.
inetccnth-twentietlls perhaps Of all the cot
ton manufactured and used throughout tn
civilized and halfcivilzed world ispro,l"ed b.
the labor Of s,eres There are great man.
other people then, besides the Shareholders, win
are pecuniarily interested in making negroe
nick cotton. The STAKEHOLDER is simply IN
ao,ut for the manufacturer OF the raw mate
rial. The manufacturer, in his turn, is tn
factor of the jobbcrs and retail dry goods incl
chants: and these again make their money b
selling to the individual consumers Hence tn
interests of all these classes combine 20 maS'
profitable for the STAKEHOLDER to hold slaves an
to increase their number.
Now if there is any legitimate way for lecI'
lation to counteract the influence OF these CON
bincd eausss, there is no doubt that IN that wa
their effects could be reached. In other words
if legislotion can be properly invoked an
efficiently exercised to prtrfnt the eonsampt0
Of Tie products IF s'1re labor, !" d',fourdg
their maagfaeture and to enr'ail and fhaH
abolish ali commerce in them then the md
chi,ts and tgils connected with slavery, ar
subject to legislative control
The soundncss Of this position is recognize
in the very cardinal idea OF the Colonizatio
Scheme. That great plianthropc entcrprls
. looks to the development Of the resources
Africa by free African labor, and the cons
. quent supply Of the demand Of the world i'
tropical products, by this free labor-and TIN
, as a necessary result, slave labor will lose
the competition. and thus eventually be aba
doned.
But although that scheme has been repr
scnted by the highest intellects Of the conntr
i and has been administered with equal ablli
; and liberality, its results have been altogeth
"A ;cf,c J.-JIJ