Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1859-02-24
From the New York Independent
The Slave Trade ReOpencd.

L ne SiaNc lrauc keOpencu.
If the Cincinnati Convention had
avowed the rcopening of the foreign
slave trade asa measure of its plat
form, and Mr.. Buchanan had advoca-
ted this in his letter of acceptance, the
whole country would have rung with
dcnunciations of the Infamous scheme.
Not all the bribery and corruption
employed in Pennsylvania, and which
Mr.. Buchanan confesscs and lamcnts
in his Fort Duquesnc letter, would
have suiiiccd to secure his election
But the foreign slave trade is rcopcncd
already, and there is hardly protest
against it, hardly a murmur of the
public consciencc-nothing but a fcnt
of opposition from tho officials of the
federal Administration. and the clam
or of those interested in the domestic
slave trade against this invasion of
their monopoly. 1t is now proved
that the Wardcrcr brought her cargo
of slaves direct from the coast of Airi-
ca and landed them upon the coast of
Georgia; and it is crcdibly reported
that other slavcrs are lowering about
the Southern coast watching an oppor-
tunity for the successful dcbarkation
of their cargocs. What now will be
the inevitable result of these bold adj
ventures? VIII an Indictment be
found against any one engaged in
them? Or if for dcccncy's sake case
of alleged completely in the slave trade
should fairly come before a United
States Court, would the constitutions
ality of an act of Congress which de-
clarcs that traffic to be piracy upon
the sea which the constitution itself is
said to guarantee upon the land, be
admitted by judiciary which is now
represented by the Drcd Scott dccis-
ion? Orif, for the sake of expcdiency,
the act of 1908 should he sanctioned
by the courts, would the South rest
satisfied while the stigma of piracy
remains upon her principal domestic
traffic, and upon the origin of her di-
vine institution of civilization?
The foreign slave trade tacitly and
successfully rcopcned, will be prosecu-
ted with the connivance of judicial of
licers and political leaders at the
South, until the fit moment shall
come to avow it and to legalize it.
Like the Fugitive Slave Law and the
Nebraska Bill, it will be sprung upon
the country unawares, and then, after
an Intellectual protest, the interests of
commerce and of party will be enlisted
in its support. True, the immediate
interests of Virginia and other slave
breeding States are opposed to any
competition in the slave market of the
South and the Southwest. But the
interests of the slavc-buying States
were equally opposed to the extension
of slave territory, which by enlarging
the market would keep up the price OF
slaves; and those interests having been
once sacrificed as a whole, will now
claim to be regarded by a measure
which is equally for The benefit of the
Institution as a whole. The South
will be a unit upon whatever measure
shall tend to strengthen and perpetu-
ate slavery And what the South 10
mands the commercial spirit of til,
North will yield.
Already the commerce of New lorl
is directly y and largely interested in th'
African slave trade Within few
months we have heard the public tes
timony of two reliable and candid wit
nesses from the coast of Africa as t,
the open participation Of New Yorl
vessels in the slave trade at the Ga
boon. Rev. Messrs. Bushnell an,
Walker of the Gaboon mission boil
testify that the number Of slavels llon