The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-03-07
Nirbmunh 9ispatfb.
WEDNESDAY MORNING MARCH :, ,sec.
M.cnulay en SLAVERY.


Macn1lay en Slavery.
when the war Of the gauges was raging
about ten years ago, the advocates Of the
broad gauge insisted with great vehemence,
upsu the authority Of BRrNRL, who had
adopted a monster gauge OF seven feet, for the
0rea, Western Railway. His argument, they
said. was Irresistible in itself, throwing out Of
consideration altogether his high reputation
A an engineer. The friends OF the narrow
gauge met them with some tolerably peril.
nent facts. They said that BRUNELs argu.
ment was made before any railroad Of the
gauge proposed had been constructed; that i,
was, therefore, theory, and nothing either
more or less that his broad gauge had since
been thoroughly tried that according to the
annual reports, IL had been found exceedingly
expensive, and not = particle more effective
than the narrow gauge; that, therefore, il
might fairly BE- voted a faiisre. As the fruits
of An experiment afe to the majority OF the
world, as well as TO philosophers since the
days Of BACON, the best test Of its merit, the
decision, it seemed, ought TO have been unani-
nous. But Il theorist is never disturbed by
the failure Of his projects, and SO the broad
gauge party maintA tanned its position to the
last.
Quite as inaccessible to the res ults Of expe.
rience are the theoretical assailants of slavery
in this country. The opinions Of WASHING.
TON and JEFFERSON, expressed when the mag
nitude of the problem involved in the propo-
sition TO emancipate the slaves Of the South
was not at all appreciated, are still quoted at
ter the practical effects Of emancipation have
been exhibited, with quite AS much zeal As
they were III the infancy of the question:
Failure does not dishearten, or disaster dis
may, these intrepid theorists. The latest ex-
position Of the evils of slavery which they
have discovered, il in the shape Of an essay
written by MACAULAY, and published in the
Edinburgh Rsrisr in 1925. This essay-not re-
printed in the American edition Of the au-
thor's works-has fallen, of late, under the
observation Of Mr.. CHARLES SUMNER, and he
favors the New York 7,i5une with long let
ter upon the subject. When that individual
next dives into Herculaneum, we would adj
wise him TO bring up some of ROSEsPIERRE's
speeches upon the perfcc tibility OF the HUI
man species, few OF the essays published
at the opening Of the French Revolution,
upon the blessings OF government i'll
which reason was TO do everyt thing and
force was to be rendered unnecessary, by writ
ten constitutions. If the Reign of Terror
present strong comment upon the doctrines
OF these optimists, it can hardly be strong
er than that afforded by the progress of events
in the West Indies, upon the abolition of sla-
very.
When this essay of MACACLAY's was writ
ten, the subject OF emancipation was not un-
derstood in England, nor even in this coun-
Try. That same year, when an ambassador
from the government of Hayti sat down to
The table on board Il steamboat on the Della
ware, and a Southern gentleman, expressing
his disapprobation, caused the sable function
AIRY to rise, every other passenger, including
many Shareholders from the South, rose, like
wise. to show their indignation, and went with
him on deck. So unanimous was the senti-
ment, that the offending party felt constrained
10 apologize. The world had then had no
praclical proof Of what abolitionism is, and
could, therefore, by 10 means compre-
bend the magnitude Of the question
Precisely at that time MACAULAY wrote the
article in question. being young man. fresh
from Alma Mater, with all the Crudeness of
his school-boy notions still clingns to his
skirts. His article, we are told, was flaming
appeal to the sympathies Of the English
people, in favor of what he regarded as an
oppressed race. 1t dealt largely, it may
be said almost entirely, in the cruelties prac-
tised upon their slaves by the West India plan
tiers. arguing most illogically that the system
ought to be abolished because abuses existed
under it! AS if marriages ought to be abo lish-
ed, because bad men whip their wives; or courts
of justice, because judges protract the law by
their Incidence; or gunpowder, because a care
less superintendent sometimes blows upSa
magazine; or gold and silver coin, because thew
are sometimes counterfeited or governments
because officers are sometimes corrupt: or civ
iliza;ion, because it tolerates evils which
ought not TO exist; or the religion Of Christ
because black sheep out of numbe exist with
in the fold. ltwould have been philosophical
at least, to have inquired into consequence
10 have ascertained how far the objects of SYM
pathy would have been bettered by the change
proposed-to have been, at least, sure that the
state Of slavery was the worst for the slave
that could possibly exist. But the Dung essay
list condescended to inqui into none of these
things He had n far higher object in view.
He wanted 10 write a brilliant essay and to es.
1ablsh his own reputation. All the writings
Of that day, upon that subject, We're of sim
liar character. Their united weight carried
the question, as the writers wished it to be
carried. 1t rendered the people insane upon
the subject and encouraged the Parliament to
abolish slavery in the West Indies.
What the result has been, all the world very
we'll unders lands. The planters, AS loyal sub
jects AS any within the realms Of the British
q ueen, have been ruined. Their estates ave.
rage about the price that the machinery which
they bought before the heavy times TO manu-.
facture the sugar they produced, would bring,
if sold AS old iron or copper Their planta.
tions are overrun with weeds and brambles
Their elegant mansions, once the abodes of
luxury and refinement, have fallen in to ruins
Their towns are almost depopulated, and the
buildings are tumbling into the street. The
judgment of Heaven seems to have visited
them, after the manner described in the Old
Testament. The very people, for whose bene.
III the philan thropists OF g reat Britain thought
ii but light thing to ruin SO many of their
fellow subjects, are becoming savages once
more Us fact as it Is possible for human nature
10 retrograde. When such have been the re-
suits Of the policy MACAULAY sought to mi.
tiate, it il paying but Il poor compliment to
his memory 10 drag this essay before the pub.
lie. If it proves nothing else, it proves. at
least that re was entirely deficient in sagacity.
and that his mind was not capable of grasp.
Jig, in its full magnitude, the momentous
question which he presumed to solve without
reflection, without inq uiry, and without hay.
ing before him any example to direct his in
Nestigations or enlighten his Judgment. But
what Is failure to theoristl If a chem ist
blow himself up in making experiments. he is
only the more firmly convinced that he is on
the right road TO some grand discovery. Dr
SANaRADo stuck to bleeding and hot wafer
Alter ne had inundated a thousand victims To
MS theory. The more absurd a creed NAV he