New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-03-03

r.nfo rI<
itiss And can you believe that such monsters
~ The saints represent US TO be Can you imagine
hat By merely crossing the Atlantic we acquire
rev nature p We reply, You not men of differ
srt species from ourselves and, therefore, we Will
nos sye YOU powers with which would not dare to
tras ourselves. We know that your passions are like
ours. We know that your restraints are fewer; ana,
tn refore we know that your crimes must De greater
ara desnotic aoyereeps men Of harder hearts by ma
tnre dan their subjects Are they born with hered-
itary thirst for bood-with natural rncapacity ioT
frendshipl Surely not. Yet, what Is their generA
character False-crue licentieus-ungratetut many
of them Rave performed single ac,s Of splendid gene
yoeity ard herosm few may be named whose geo-
eral administration has been sautary; but scarcely one
has passed through life without committing az leass
come one atrocious act from the guilt and niamy OF
which restricting laws would have saved him and 1's
victims If Henry VIII. had been private man, be
mieht have torn lis wifes ruff and kicked her lap
aoS He was a King, and he cut off her hesd-not
hst his passions were brutal than those of many
other men, but they were less restrained. How many
of he West Indian boast OF the pey and
magDanimity of Theodosius Yet 10 single moment
of anger that smsble prince destroyed more innocent
people than all the rnfiaDs in Europe stab in fifty
yesrs. Thusjt is with master in the Colonies We
will suppose him to be good.natured man. but sub
iect ike other men, to occasional fits Of passion de
gives an order 1t Is slowly Degiganty executed.
In EngaI he would grumble, perhaps little.
In the West Indies, the law empowers him to infct
severe hogging the lotereI. Are we very unchar-
liable In supposng that he will sometimes exercise his
privilege
1t by no means follows that person who is humane
in EnglSnd will be humane to his negroes in the West
Indies. Nothing Is so capTcious aud inconsistent as
the compassion Of men. The Romans were people of
the same flesh and blood with ourselves-they loved
their friends-they cried at tragedes-hey gave
morey 20 beggars; yet we know their fondoess for
Sladatoria shows. When by order of Pompey, some
elephants tortured IN the aDphi,heater the audi
epce was 80 shocked At the yes and contortions by
viii the poor creatures expressed their agony that
they burst forth into eXeeraons against their favorte
General. The same people, in the same place, had
probably often given the fatal twrl of the thumb
which condemned some gallant barbarian TO receive
the sword In our own time, many man shoots part
ridges in such numbers that he is compelled TO bury
then who would chastjse his son for amusing himself
with the equally interesting and not cruel diver
sion Of catching flies and tearing them TO pieces. The
drover gOsds oxen-the hshmonger crmps cod-th9
dTsgoon ssbeIs FTeDchman--the Spanish lnqulstlon
buns Jew-ihe Irish gentleman torments Catholic.
These persons not necessarily destitute Of feeling.
Each Of them would shrink from any cruel employ
ment except that to which his situation has familiar
lied him.
There is only one way in which the West Indies will
ever convince the people Of England that their prac-
tce merciful that is by making their laws merclful
We cannot understand why men shond 80 tenaciously
fight for powers which they do not to exercise.
II the oppressive privileges of the master be nominal
and not real let HIM eede them, and silence calumny
81 opee and forever. Let him cede them for his own
honor. Let him cede them in compliance with the de-
sire the vain and supertluous desire will suppose,
of the people of England Is the repeal of laws which
which are never committed, too great return for
bounty Of twelve hundred Thousand pounds for pro-
tectng duty most injurious 70 the manufacturers OF
England and the culuyaors Of Hndostan, for an army
which alone protects from inevitable ruin the lives and
20 Fessions Of the Colonists
The fact VIGOROUSLY ia, that West Indian manners
give protection even to those extreme enormtles
against which the West Indian laws provide. We
sopbisms Of our opponents "Why," they exclam,
is whole body to be censured for the dePravity
OF fewl Every society has its mlscreants. II we
had our Hodge, you had your Thurtell. If we had
our HuggiDs, you had your Wall No candid reasorer
will ground general charges on individual cases.
The 1etutation is mpe. When community does
nothn 10 prevent guilt ought to bear the blame OF
it. Wicbedness, when punished, is disgracetul only
to the offender Unpunished it is disgracsfu to the
whole society. Our charge against the Coonists If
not that crimes perperaed among them, but that
they are tolerated We will give single instance.
Since the West Indies fond OF referring to our
Eewgate Calendar, will place, side by side, leaf
from that melancholy Register and another from the
West Indian Annals
Mr. Wall was Governor at Goree. In that situation
be logged man to death, on pretense OF mutlny.
On his return TO Eng land he was indicted Tor MURDER
He escaped to the Continent. For twenty years no
remained in exile. For twenty years the English peo
ple retained the impression Of his crime une1aced
within their hearts. He shifted his residence-he dis
guifed his person-hs chan ged his name-still their
ewes were upen him, for evil, and not Tor good. AT
length concerning that all danger was at an end, he
returned. He was tried, convicted, and hanged,
amid the huzzas of an innumerable multitude
Edward Huggns OF News, about hiteen years ago
forged upward Of twenty slaves in the public market
place with such severity as TO produce the 9eatn
one and 10 ruin the constitutions OF many. lie ma
grossly violated the law Of the Colony, which pre-
scrites limit TO such infections. lie had violated IL
in OF day. and IN the presence OF magistrate lie
wac indicted by the law officer OF the crown Ills al
vOcae acknowledged the fact but argued tna the act
on which be was tined passed only TO silence the
zeaots in England and was never intended to be en-
forced. Higgins was acquitted! But that was
triHe Some members Of the House Of Assembly lost
their seats at the next election for taking part against
him. printer of a neighboring island was convicted
of libel, for merely publishing an official report OF
the evidence, transmitted TO him by authority. In
word he was considered q martyr 10 the common
cause and grew in influence and popularity while a
most respectable planter, enlightened and a>com-
plished gentleman, MIR. Tobin, who nooiy oespNing
The preudices OF his class had called the attention Of
the Government 70 these dabOical ourages, was me-
nseed with prosecutions assaied with ISLANDERS, and
preserved only by blindness from challenges. .
Let these cases be compared. We do not say that Wall
wss not Rs bad man as Huggins but we % cay thai
the Engsh people have nothing TO do with the crime OF
Wall ard that the public character Of the people OF
News suffers seriously by the crime OF Huggns Ihey
have adopted the gull, and they mutt share In the
infamy. We know that the advocates OF Slavery al,
feet 70 derde this and similar narratives as old ana
threadbgre They al them IN conversation, and
eoneb them down in the House Of Commons. But 1t
Il ir vain They written on the hearts OF the peoples
and thew will have remembered when all the smooth
noh;pgs of all the official defenders Of such transae-
tons are forgotten.
Tie truth is simply this. Bad laws and bad Gus
toms reciproeally producing and produced by each
other have given TO the whites IN all the slave islands
Dutch, Spanish, French, and Englsh-a peculiar
Character in which almost all the traits, winch IN tnls
quarter Of the world distinguish the different nations,
are lost We think we describe that character sum
III a Il, 80 ahor oofa n