Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-06-19
they were cnacting q measure Of unalloyed

they were cnactlnT measure 0f una!loyed
justice when they sought 70 ioIir.nt 4 s"ryie
war in the cotton Sta;.- i SnrllrrI: holder
OF slaves would hardly ,crrtc 10 That doctrine,
and his refusal necd begcr no astnniSlncni.--
! 1t is no novelty in tie history %! mankind tiat
we are all OF It's apt to rcyoiu,oniSc ol,! ri the
sphere Of our own Immediate interests. The
carrying out Of some assumed principle oi nh.
Stract Justice is III agreeable luattcr enough
when the consuInnation touches no immediate
valuables Of our own. Eut. il an agreeable,
this is not always an easy lnattcr~-and fortu.
natcly too, perhaps. "l Ihc whole, for the sim.
pie reason that humanity ialliba and interest.
ell, cannot often perceive the abstract justice Of
4 case when the conditions o! II. like those al
| American slavery, are SO diillsr and intricate.
To many n slavery abolition enthusiast 1t May
seem to be taking low ground II Dnc contc:a
plates the fact Of American slavery under the
| economic aspects Of it, as q means OF apprc
ciating what is just and proper to DC aimed at.
| Nevertheless, with economic considerations,
after all, all large measures olpoicy and o gov
| crnment must harmoniSe, if they he destined to
live. to grow, and to take effect Nor is this
conclusion so hcartleSS and nnSrmpathetic as.
upon the first view it seems. Admit the posi-.
tion, that what is most righteous is what is
best, and legislators may hope in the end to
draw the families Of mankind into cordial rcla.
i tionshp, and bring about the highest degree OF
optimism permissible to humanity, through the
enactment Of measures prompted By interest.
and tending TO general good.
What are the commercial and economical ill.,
tercstS associated with American slavery -
Have they yet received the amount Of consider
| nj; ,,hiai, thnir
Beach Lawrence thinks not. and we are dis
posed to agree with him. If American slavery
be great fact, SO also is American cotton
| Within a small fraction, the American slave
States furnish the raw material Of the cotton
fabrics of the world. In this country alone
nearly five millions Of people have immediate
relations with American produced cotton Cot
ton Is essentially q monopoly ot the slave
States, the produce Of negro labor. Il is idle
to talk about the cotton produce hereafter
to he obtained from other quarters. Cot
ton indeed, is plentiful enough but the
sorts valuable in manufacture are not plentiful,
and the very bcst-thc Sea Island long cot.
TOLLS as restricted in the area Of its produc-
| ton rs the wines Of Ncres or Johannisberg. -
Slavery CT no slavery, it is yet q fact beyond
dispute that the cotton fields Of America do
not admit Of cultivation by the Anglo Saxon,
or perhaps any variety of the Caucasian race.
| That experiment has been tried very frequently.
and with very uniform result The results
have been universally c;,lamitous Were this
not so, if white labor had been possible, then,
rs Mr.. Lawrence aptlv observes, it would be
far CASTER and far more economical, to obtain
white than black labor. To the negro race
| American cotton lands involve no climatic sui.
fering. The white mans Golgotha might so
far rs climate has TO do with the result, be the
ncgros Paradise. Economically regarded, then,
the question Of negroes or no negroes in the
Southern States is brought within narrow
compass. No blacks, no cotton. Such is the
fnality.
We purposcly leave out Of consideration, at
this time. the points Of abstract justice or RI.
thcr Of assumed abstract justice, between mas.
tcrs and slaves. After the announcement al
the little faith we personally have in the ability
Of man to see and To appreciate such ahStrac.
tions, We shall not he expected to pronounce
very confidently Oh the matter. On anolhcl
occasion we may, perhaps point on; the natu.
raj means Of solving the problem of accommo
dating the interests Of the Southern proprietor
with those Of his black rctaincrs At present
we limit ourselves 10 pointing out how inti-
matcly the dcstinics Of cotton are allied with
those Of the negro. The best way Of test;n.
| the value Of Il scheme is 10 assume il carried
out 10 the Observation-Disclosures. Assume. then,
that the negro libcrators--we do not like 10 llSr
! the harsh word >tcalers-lad carried out their
theory to the uttcrmost; that they had spirited
away every bonded negro from the South. This
accomplishment would have thrown every rood
; Of cotton land out Of cultivation, anal would
have ruined every cation proprietor. Surely
! it is reasonable to doubt whether any measure
demanding a sacrifice Of this kind be 81 much
measure of justice rs one under the falls, >c,il-
| blancc Of justice The most logical way NJ
protesting against The existence Of American
slavery would consist in ahoshng the use oI
cotton AMI closing cotton mills. Nobody who
is not prepared TO advocate this extreme mra-
sure should logically clamor for immediate
manlnssion. Sucha CRY may nurse prepos-
session. or Solacc an easy-gong philanthropy ;
but, after all, it may be more probably akin to
hypocrisy than to justice.
1-cy