The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-29

our nature, that all men Will seek 10 JusUIy
what seems to be their own interest; and hence
the change of sentiment upon the subject Of
Slavery at the South, reversing all her maxims
of policy, creeping stealtnily beneath the ermine
| of the Judge and by judicial mandate robbing
the poor negro of his soul to justify the enslave-
ment of his person. Cotton is indeed King, if
he can thus drive another rivet in the chain
which holds FIVE millions of bondmen. 1t may
not be an improbable inquiry to consider
whether he is not equally powerful to loose as
to bind If the half million and more of free
negroes now in the United States should be
transplanted to the tropics, and should employ
themselves, and the natives of the country under
their guidance, in planting cotton and sugar, 1t
would make an immense difference in the supply
of these staples. They could raise them more
abundantly and cheaply than can be done In
the Southern States with slave labor. The COM
petition would be difficult to Withstand, and
would certainly dispose the minds of men TO
contemplate emancipation with more complacen-
CIV than they do now Would not the hope thus
held out inspire those who belong to that race,
and who are now free, with an eager desire to
embrace the offer which have supposed our
Government might make them2 How noble the
task of redeeming their own race from bondage,
and how full of inspiration the thought Many
of them are gifted with high order of intelh-
gence, and / believe them capable of such I'M
proYement as will enable them to establish and
maintain a better and more stable Government
than any now existing in the tropics-one which
would confer benefits upon the whole world.
Volumes have been written and spoken about
the commerce of the Indies and the East-a
commerce which has enriched all the nations
which have possessed and enjoyed it, building
up vast cities in the deserts through which, in
ancient times, it took its laborious course, and
creating Empires and States into whose lap it
was poured, to decay and disappear from among
nations with its loss. This vast commerce, which
has founded empires, was itself created by the
productive power of the colored races OF Asia
none of which are capable of enduring the fervors
of the torrid zone as well as the negro, none of
which possesses greater capacity for improve
ment, or more patient industry, than the people
of that race-and the country from which, for
so many ages, this almost miraculous stream of
wealth has flowed, cannot be compared with the
intertropical regions of America for fertility of
soil and mineral resources have already ad-
verted to some of the reasons which give de-
cided superiority to the tropics of this continent,
and which make it absolutely certain that they
are destined to supply the world with cotton
and sugar. Here, also, are produced the finest
qualities of tobacco, and the best and most
abundant supplies of coffee, all the precious
woods and dye stuffs, medicinal plants, and
the tropical fruits. 1t is, moreover, the richest
region of the world in gold, and silver, and
precious stones. This immense reservoir of
wealth, whose commerce will one day make
the marvellous riches of the Orient seem insig-
nifcant by comparison, lies adjacent to our
ports, almost within reach OF our outstretched
arm, accessible to Our fleets by few days sail
across the Gulf, and its vast interior penetrated
by mighty rivers, navigable for thousands of
miles by sea-going vessels. Europe only
avail herself of the productions of the East by
voyagng half around the world which, with
steam vessels even, is an affair of months A
few days steaming is all that is necessary to
reach our India from any of our great seaports.
The Mississippi river pours itself out into the
very lap Of the tropics and the great Gulf stream,
gathering there its volume pours its floods along
our Atlantic seaboard as if nature had provided
these two great currents, flowing south and
north, to be the arteries of our interchanging
commerce.
The torrid zone contains more cultivable land
than all the rest of the earth put together, and
is the most productive with the least lapor. On
this continent, its resources may be said to be
untouched, for the small part of it which has
been subjected to cultivation is Insignificant in
deed, when compared with the vast tracts of its
untamed wilderness All that is required to de-
velop its untold wealth is, a race of men capa-
| bic of enduring the climate, and who shall at
the same time be sufficiently advanced in cvili-
| cation to be capable of maintaining stable Gov
eminent to protect property. Experience has
shown that our race cannot extend itself to that
region without losing its hardihood and vigor-
indeed, it cannot propagate itself in that climate,
and requires constant recruiting from the tenn
perate zone to keep up its numbers. Even in the
mountainous regions, whose elevation produces
| the climate of the temperate ATTITUDES, the de-
scendants of the Spanish conquerors have, from
some cause, diminished in numbers, and become
thoroughly demOralized, and incapable of main
tanning any kind of government worthy of that
name. All the productive industry is performed
by the negro race, and it is by that race alone
that those regions are to be regenerated and
brought within the circle of civilization. In the
Upited States, there are five millions of negroes,
who have received, under our immediate tuition,
an amount of instruction and knowledge in gov
erpment, religion, and all the arts of civilized
life, which makes them superior, as a people, to
any of the coiored races of the world. Earl Grey
Colonial Secretary under the Administration of
Lord John Russell, in speaking of plan to pro-
mote the immigration of the free negroes from
the United States into the British West India
island bears this emphatic testimony in their
behalf:
Such addition to the existing population of Trinidad
would have tendency to raise the 1ro community The
scale cczGon whereas there is precisely the opposite
tendency with respect to immigration from any other quar-
ter and this is slight drawback to the advantage be
obtained from it."
1t is this race of men, christianized in our
churches, civilized by our firesides and educated
in government by hearing our political discus
sions, through whom ] would extend our laws,
our power, and our influence, to the tropics of
America, and make its wealth tributary to our
commerce, requiting us a thousand fold for every
sacrifice it would cost; expiating the error of
their enslavement by giving the enfrancbised
bondmen free homesteads and free government;
removing from our midst the prolific cause of
bitterness between brethren; brushing away an
institution whose malign influence brings desc
lation wherever it is found, and avenges the
wrong done to the subject race by the evil it in
ficts upon the wrong doer.
invoke the example of the pioneer nation in
colonization, Great Britain. She has created an
empire, surprising in extent and solidity that of
| Rome, by her colonial system, iulparting to her
! dependencies her own free institutions and ma
king them adhere to the empire without force
/ from sense of mutual advantage and the at
traction of common power and glory. 1t is this
! which has made her the heart of the world of
commerce, its life-giving currents imparting
! strength and power to resist the combined des-
| potisms of Europe.
! What has been her policy in relation to the
negroes undsg her control in the West Indies,
/ and what the result of that policy? She has
/ liberated and instructed them, and has propaga-
ted her power and influence through their in
stru&entality,. 10 such a degree as to control
most OF the commerce of those regions and to
! sway the counsels of all the surrounding nations:
| whilst we, TO whom the people of Spanish Amer
lea once looked with confidence and who form
! ed their Governments upon the model of our
Republic, yielding to us the largest share of their
| trade, and guiding themselves by our counsel
| are now regarded on every hand with suspicion
and detestation, because the policy of our Gov
ernment is to hold in bondage the colored race.
to which they mostly belong, and to extend that