The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-01-25

logic of their common starting point, that sla-
very is an evil.
Mr.. O'Conor takes an entirely antagonistie
position to that of the Albany Regency and
Seward--one that has had the sanction of prac-
tice In all nations, and of all religions Except,
perhaps, the modern puritanism of New Eng
land), for thousands of years. He asserts that
the institution of domestic slavery is one that
has grown out of the imperfections Of
our human nature and the needs aad
requirements of society, in communities con-
posed of unequal and dissonant races of mea;
and instead of admitting that it is an evil, Q SIN
and crime, be boldly and truthfully states
that it has conferred much comparative good
and happiness on both the bond and the free.
He shows that ii has existed in this country for
more than two hundred years, and that, start
ing with small beginnings, it now presents to
the world four and a han millions Of negroes,
who, under the guidance and example Of the
intellect of the white man, exhibit social,
moral and material elevation and civilization
which the unassisted negro In Africa has NJ
where attained in thirty centuries Of history.
He proves that it has conferred equal benefits
upon the white race, both within and without
the domain of slavery. Under this admirable
welding of the relations of the bond and free,
few millions Of whites and blacks, working
together and in harmony, have improved alike
the comfort and the hygiene of the whsle
world-civilized, barbarian and savage. The
cotton which negro slavery-and negro slavery
alone-has produced and is producing, has i'm
proved the clothing of men everywhere,
given q new reward to barren labor, and stimu-
lates the civilizing influence of commerce:
The sugar, which almost alone comes FROM
the labor Of the negro, under the CON
troll and guidance of the white man, has
improved the food, as well as the medicinal
contributions to the comfort and relief OF man
In these two great social necessities, twenty
millions of white men, with less than ten mil
lions of negro slaves, contribute more to the
employment, comfort and health of four hun
dred millions of civilized men in America and
Europe than do the hundreds Of millions of un-
assisted and unorganized men in Africa and
India together.
In taking this position Mr.. O'Conor truly
states the premises of the question that to day
agitates this country, and that will continue to
agitate it until anatcal error or sober truth pre-
vail. The Albany Argus, and the Albany Re-
gency of Cassidy, Cagger g. Co., attack him in
vain. 1t little matters whether they agree or
not, precisely, with Seward to-day. They ad-
init, with him, the great starting point, that
slavery is an evil, and the force of logic will
carry them irresistibly to the same conclusion.
Their hopes to participate in the Offices and the
rewards which are to be enjoyed under the
constitution keep them to-day from attacking
that great palladium Of our liberties and our
moral and material progress. But in teaching,
in common with Seward, Wendell Phillips and
Garrison, the fallacy that slavery is an evil, the
Albany Regency Of Cassidy, Cagger & Co. sup
port and advance the efforts Of fanaicism to
involve the Union in q struggle which may end
in blosd and conAagration, both in the South
and in the North.