New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-12-01
THE BASIS OF SLAVERY.

There ia only one ground upon which the adj
yocates of the perpetuity of Negro Slavery in our
Southern States do or can base the maintenance
of that proposition. The most ultra among them
do not pretend that, if the slaves, instead of
being negroes, were white men, however igno-
rant or degraded, the institution would continue
to exist They support themselves and their ar
gument entirely upon the assumed fact that the
negroes are an inferior race, over whom the
whites possess not merely an artificial superiority
dependent upon the existing circumstances of their
mutual position, but a natural superiority, which
exists and ever must exist, and which at once
iustifes and makes necessary the relation of mas
tership on the one side and Of seryitude on the
other. The negroes, told, are capable of
nothing but of mere rude labor. The sagacity to
put that labor to a productive use the stimulus to
call it FORTH must come from the white man.
The negroes make excellent slaves, but they are
not fit to stand in the position of freemen, or to
take the lead in the varied operations necessary
to the existence and progress of civilized society
Governor Gist however, to judge from his re-
cent message to the Legislature of South Caro-
faith in this view of the case. Indeed, he states
some facts not very consistent with it, A prac-
tice prevails it seems, in South Carolina on the
part of save-owners of allowing certain ingeni-
GUS and capable slaves to hire out their own
time--a sort of first step, as it were, toward
getting rid of Slavery. These slaves, thus left to
look out for themselves, not only succeed in pay
- A.. .lo:. e tbo,
they would obtain in the ordinary way, but
in addition accumulate money for themselves.
Ii appears that slave mechanics of this class not
unfrequently set up establishments of their own
and even hire white men to work under them as
jOurneymen. Governor Gist is quite unwilling to
leave this matter to be regulated by the natural
infcriority of the negro and the assumed superb
ority of the white man. He appeals to the Leg
islature to come TO the aid of nature and to sup
port the superiority of the white man by legal
props. This state of things, he observes, should
not be permitted. There must be distinction
between the races, as marked as their different
" colors, and il must be distinctly and universal
"ly understood that the white is the governing
" race, without an exception, and ieithout regard
"to disparity Of intellect merit, requirements.
Governor Gist it would thus appear, does not
base the right of the whites to be masters on
superiority of intellect, merit, or requirements.
He seems tacitly to admit that the negroes may
furnish in proportion to their numbers, quite as
many persons superior in these respects AZ the
whites. To be white, is to stand, in South Car
DINA, in the place of intellect merit, or acquire
ment. 1t is difficult to perceive in what respect
this doctrine differs from the old feudal notions
upon which the exploded systems of European
nobility rested for their basis.
In like manner Mr.. Meminger of Charleston,
in his address to the citizens of Greenyile, seems
to put very little faith in the alleged natural SUI
pefiority Of white men. He undertakes to alarm
the citizens of that district where the white pop
ulation is largely predominant, with the idea,
should the slaves be emancpated, of negro
migration from the rice swamps of the sea board
to that more healthy and eligible region; and
with "equal rights and equal numbers" he asks,
what is to keep them from equal seats in this
"CourtE House, and equal places in the muster
" field and tho hustings." 1t appears then that
in Mr.. Memngers opinion, with equal numbers
and 'equal rights" the negroes would prove
fair match for the whites, and that any attempt
to maintain the white ascendency would only
lead to a war Of determination, the res"l' oI
which he raosrds a d~..LtG'i.