Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-04-01
For the Enquirer,
TIE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.


he hr>t opponent of the slave trade was
equally opposed to slavery, and did not much
DISTINGUISH between them.
Inc Right Hon. Sir james Mcintosh, in his
dissertation on the progress of Ethical Phoso-
phy' chieiiy during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries" gives us short account
Oh DOMINO >oro. who was born the latter part
OF the .fttecnth, and died abou, the middle OF
the %f'te"M century. so greatly distinguished
AS philosopher and writer among his co,empo.
rarie>, that they adopted .ia,terinc Jingle TO
express their opinion Of his pre.eminencc. Uvi
scit Sotuh, scH t0tttm.
| This man WAS the oracle Of the Council of
! Trent-the confcssor and chief authority Of
Charles V. lie wrote Il book on Justice and
Lar, which he dedicated to DoW Carios, and
in which he gave As much elegance and con-
else emphasis to the scholastic Ethics, as he
had previously impaired to the doctrinal de-
crees OF the Council OF Trent.
The fundamental principle of this Domini
can, was total rejection of Revelation and
common sensc-a deduction Of .tilse conclu-
sion from sound general principle 1t was
this: NO difference exists between Chris
tianS and Pagans, since the law of nations
t'Jas yemti"mJ is equal TO all nations Ntque
diScrfPdntia (Ht rtor) est inter Christidnos tt
nfdeies quomidm jus gentium eEnctiS genti.
bus 0quai6 est
We admit that the jus gentium is "equal to
all nations -eQuat in its authority, in its rea-
son, IN its precise adaptation Of its practical
conclusions, to the facts and very circumstances
of each naton-and it is precisely because it
~ e9ull, that there is u difference between
Christians and Pasans.'
Justice is the informing genius of all law
the source of its authority, the author Of its
dignity-and justice demands inequality be-
tween things and peoples totally dissimilar and
dissimilarly circunstanced.
Soto was much lauded for his liberality He
was 4 phanthropist. His liberality was at
war with the truth Of hstory-with common
sense, with all practical craftsmanship, with
the teachings Of revelation. Starting with
this wild assumption that Christians and Pa
ganS arc the same sort Of people, and that there
is mo difference between them" Soto had no
difficulty in attaining his conclusion against the
slave trade and slavery alike His argument is
the same old formula OF defective premises
and onc-cycd argument, which. through all the
ages. have been the rcprOyal Of reason, and
from the twelfth to the sixteen centuries envel-
oped the whole orb> of philosophy in the mists
Of the metaphysical schoolmen.
Sir James Mcintosh considers il "signal
honor to Soro. that he was "thc frst nriter
who condemned the African slave trade"
.iU the messengers of tod had spoken the
Prophets. and EvangelistS and Apostles all
slept in their graves, and this Uominicaa arises
TO teach, for the .frst time in the history of
the world, which had been revolving for nearly
six thousand years, that the slave trade and
slavery are utterly wrong. and it is L signal
honor.
1t is true ttat the institution Of domestic
slavery and the trudc in slaves had been allow
ed and established and regulated by the great
Jewish Lawgiver; it is true that it was incorpo-
rated in the dtcdiQgUG, and the doctrine taught
that the stare Of the master is "his in the
schst IF j,roperty-likc lis or "he
scenes of the carth's dJuR,a, as they were spread
out before the prophetic eye Of St John in the
Isle of PatmoS, 'botl free and 6onF and
"slares" in the catalogue Of merchandise are
seen to act their parts. Yet this Dominican
achieves the signal honor" of gainsaying, not
day in Exeter Hall, and Williams Hall, and
sometimes IN The .%uth
lie SAYS Soto says. Seward says, and so say
the Bishop Of Oxford and my Lord Brougham,
and so said the Red Republicans Of France,
and so say the Black Republicans of the North,
and so simpcr the Elme and Rrindisd Republi.
cans of the South
1T is nfirmsd that the unhappy Ethioplans
are By fraud or force carried away and sold as
slaves. II this is hpe, neither those who have
taken them, nor those who purchase them, mar
those rho hoM them ~ bondage can erer hare
Il quiet conseience til they emancipate them,
eren IT. 10 compensation shovidb be obtdined.
Here it is the argument of Soto the .hrss
writer who condemned the slave trade. SO
perish together infamous" mother and daugh-
Ter, the slave trade and slavery.
English and Northern Phanthropsts say
amen" The Congress and Executive oil the
United States respond Amen"
Let the South bare her neck to the axe OF
the headsman, or rise up at once and assert
the solemn guarantees Of the Constitution and
the divine authority Of her institution. Silence
now Is plea of 'guilty." :lcqniescence Is
death. What Sov,hrOn, Ito the manor born,
is not ready for the deteace' 1t is the hour ol
our glory or our shame.