Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-11-01
sInxerr and ConnnIencn.


to look upon slavery as permanent institu-
ton. In the Southern States, where, in pro-
portion to the white population, the number
of slaves was greatest, there was less Of this
feeling, or it was less general than in the
| Northern; but there were not wanting, even
there, men of standing and influence who
deeply lamented the introduction of Africans
to this continent desired to put an end to
their further importation, and hoped to sec
the time when the system of involuntary
! servitude should be abandoned.
| This feeling was the effect of two classes
of causes. In the first place, people who
had just come victorious out of along strug-
gle for freedom, could not fully refrain from
applyingth the principles of their own case to
that of those whom they held in bondage;
and in the second, slavery was Improbable
in the North; and in the South was less re-
munerative than it is atpresent. There was
fear in both section, that the time was ap-
preaching when the negroes would be a
burden.
1.-THE opinion that the African race would
| become growing burden had its origin long
before the Revolution, and led the colonist;
| to oppose the introduction ofslaves; but fail
ing in this, through the opposition of En-
| gland, as soon as they threw off the foreign
yoke, many OF the States at once crushed the
| system; among the first acts of sovereignty
| by Virginia being the prohibition of the
| slave-trade.-COttoH is King, p. l9.
Elliott in his history of New England,
denies the truth of the charge sometimes
made, that slavery was abolished in New
England "solely because it was Improbable
there" 81 have found" he says, mo in
stance where it was urged solely on that
ground, and rarely where it was advocated
upon that ground at all. 1t was question
there ofhonor, and justice, and decency, and
not ofproft and the men of New England
deserve to be put right upon the record"
Still, as we do not hesitate to charge the
pro o-slavery feeling which afterward grew
up in the South, to the fact of an increasing
profit on slave labor, it would not be unfair
to conjecture that the consciences of the
men of New England may have been a little
quickened by the recollection that slavery
was not a paying concern.
The organic difference between the people
of the two sections of this Union was not so
great but that the same class of motives
which were operative upon those of the one,
would produce very similar effects upon
those of the other. In one case, as the in
terest disappeared, the feelings of honor, and
justice, and decency, became aroused in the
other, as the interest advanced, the feelings
aforesaid became proportionately less in
tense, and finally subsided altogether 1t is
human nature, from beginning to end.
In New England, historians remark a
change adverse to the negro which took |
place on the abolition of the servile tenure, |
The social difference between the white and |
the black seemed to be increased: there was |
less tolerance upon the one side as there was
less affection upon the other. When the do.
mestic bond had become severed, and the |
inducement of gain had disappeared, what |
cared the Anglo-Saxon for his brother from |
African He might work, if he would do so
on such terms as were prescribed to him, or
he might starve. The result is thus ten
derly alluded to by the historian: "And |
slowly and imperceptibly, by law of ma
ture, the negroes vanished from New En- |
gland without struggle" In other words,
they died out.
The cultivation of cotton, or rather the
invention and use of the cotton-gin, by the |
impulse which it gave to the production of |
an article in such universal demand, served |
to relieve the minds of the statesmen and |
of the Southern States of |
all fear that the negroes would ever become |
a burden upon their hands, and in propor-
ton to their ease upon that point, seemed |
to vanish their scruples as to the moral as
poets of the servile relation. And, subse-
quently, in respect to the different questions
that have arisen, conscience and interest an
pear to have gone lovingly hand in hand.
For example, Virginia, whose business it is
% breed slaves for the States farther South,
las always been leader in opposition to
hat nefarious traffic, the foreign slaye-trade
'piracy"-a thing that her soul could never
Ibide; while South Carolina, whose interest
les in the line of free trade in negroes, has
'bstinately refused to see any difference in
'oint of turpitude between the importation
If persons" from Virginia and from the
oast of Africa. In fact, no index of the in
ensity of the pro-slavery feeling in the
south could be more accurate than one
'ased upon the number of pounds of cot
on to the hand" produced in each To-
ality.
But as negroes have increased in value,
hereby giving permanency to the servils
enure, so there is a compensation in the
interest which the master feels in
he preservation of the health and conse-
uent usefulness of his slave. By the
trengthening of the social tie, the distance
etween the master and his servant is short
ned; there is the tacit acknowledgment of
mutual interest, under the influence of
which, combined with the effects of genial
Innate, the race of the African increases
nd multiplies, with mighty augury for it's
istant future.
me of LOuis NapOIeOn's italian Chestnuts.
The French official journals are advising
he public that France does not want the
'land of Sardinia-has no thought of ask !
lg for it-in fact, would not take il if King