Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-10-15
fFrnm tho Paris Steele. /


| not pay half enough attention TO the great
events OF which the United States are now
the theater. People read the everlasting and
monotonous correspondence from Rome or
Naples with more Curiosity aud interest than
the bulletins dated from the banks of the
| Potomac. Is this mere caprice Is Il that
indifference toward distant objects with
which our countrymen are too often justly
reproached2 Or Is il a sortof secret instinct
which warns our people that that which Is
now passing on the other side of the Atlantic
is merely prologue, and that the war once
finished, the real drama will commence2
We naturally incline to the latter supposi-
tion for explanation of that peculiar apathy
which would otherwise not be very credita'
bic TO our country.
But if this war be only a prologue, would
1t not be better to let it remain there, than to
let the curtain rise upon the actual drama2
And are not both parties equally interested
in preventing its representation 1t was the
opinion of Mons. De Tocqueville that the
Government of the United States was not
created with the supposition that one or
several States would break the compact
which bound them. "If the sovereignty of
the United States" said he, entered into a
struggle with that of the States, it is easy
enough to foresee that it would have to sue
cumb." The Federal Government is by no
means of this opinion, and the sovereignty
| of the Union is now engaged in resolute
struggle with the sovereignty of the States
| As the South, even though it should gain
several battles, could never pretend to con-
| quer the North, as it is equally impossible
for the North to compel the South to live
under the same laws with ITSELF unless it
would altogether change its institutions and
| become q military power, which is not the
affair of q day, it would seem that q separa-
tion is the best means of settling the quarrel
at once.
But it is too late to have recourse to such
means2 We think it is; and the Americans
themselves seem to entertain precisely the
same opinion. War is now being waged be-
tween the North and South; and it is now
| bound to work out its natural result since no
one in the world possesses either the power
or the will to separate the combatants.
AS there is, therefore, no present hope of
peace, let us see what results must neces-
sarily flow from war. The most important
of these is the suppression Of slavery.
If the abolition of that "institution''-as it
is called in the United States-had not been
already distinctly proclaimed in the NORTH it
is easy to see, from certain measures already
adopted, that such a step on the part of the
Federal Government can not be long de-
layed. We fervently wish that this great act
of reparation could be accomplished, and yet
we can see, at the same time, all the difficult
les attending such step. To make ourselves
clear, let us for moment suppose the North
victorious and the slaves emancipated. What
would come to pass?
First abolished by Christianity, aud then
re-established by Christianity in the Six
teenth Century, slavery was not restored
under the same conditions as in ancient times.
The distance between master and slave among
the Pagans was far less than it is in our day.
Slavery was then possible condition to
every body. There was no individual who
was not, more or less, open TO such calamity
at the end of one of those constantly-occur-
ring wars of that period; and slave quarters
were frequently occupied by those who once
lived in palaces.
OF the same race as his master, the slave
was often his equal by birth, and his superior
both in intelligence and education. Terence,
Plantus, Epictetus, Esop, and many others
were slaves. There was enough manhood
left in the slave to bend without dishonor to
the will of the gods and the law of inexora-
BILE destiny. Christianity was not content
with merely resuscitating slavery, it aggra.
waited its horrors by making the infirmity o.
birth supply the place Of mere accident. Man
has been made to become slave simply by
the color of his skin. The master not only
believes himself superior to his slave, but
destined to be so forever, as De Tocqueville
so justly remarked. Slavery being made 8
question of race, even the mark of slavery
I can never be effaced, and emancipation be.
y
as in Rome, liberal class, capable of mixing
. with the Government living upon terms o.
!. familiarity with the great, holding their place
among the elite of society, and sometimes
even forming it. Many blacks are emanci.
pated in the United States but it is only 6
delusive liberty which can not at the same
time deliver them from the color of their skin
Nothing, then, can bring master and slave
together, not even religious sentiment, for by
, that their separation was sanctioned, Never
tbeless, slavery is destined to disappear
, Nothing is more clearly written in the bool
! of destiny" said Jefferson, "than the emanci
+, patton of the blacks for it is equally certain
!, that two races equally free can never liv,
. under the same government Nature, Gus
E tom and opinion have placed between then
,, insurmountable barriers"
, , 1t is undeniable that the prejudice of race
/. is, to say the least, quite as strong in thC
North, where slavery has been abolished, a
in the South, where it is still maintained
AT the North the negro is, in point of politics
F religion and justice, the equal of the whit
man; but that equality, existing by writer
law, is entirely obliterated by the fat of pub
, lie opinion. Prejudice, stronger than al
principles, has imperatively separated thu
whites from the blacks, and law strives il
vain to reunite them. In the school-hous
or the theater, the church or the hospital
I the black man must not seat himself besid,
8 | HullNi CNSu NJ LuO CcLuol6Ey Ju6 llQe U
distinction is clearly drawn, and thus they
: remain separated even in death.
To abolish slavery is not, therefore, to ar
rive at the end; the North must 90 still
further and forget that fatal prejudice of rae
, which governs it, and makes emancipation
, mere illusion. To give men their liberty, t,
.. open to them the gates of the city and theI
. say to them, "There-you shall live amonI
yourselves, you shall marry among your
selves you shall not pass the gulf that W.
have placed between your race and ours, yOl
shall form a separate society in socety"-i
: to create cursed caste, and replace slave
by pariahs. In the United States these pariah
= number several millions. What a terrible
= task it would be for any government to holC
them in respect
( NJ. De ToCqueVille, in his work called De
mocracy in America, expresses the opinion
that if portion of the Union would separat
from the other, not only could it not be pre-
vented from doing 80, but the attempt woult
not even be made. Events have proved tina
opinion to be erroneous. The North is ben
upon compelling the South to remain in tn
Union, and by that very act settles the for
q midable question of slavery. We have show
what difficulties custom has thrown aroun
n a solution of this question in the North. LIE
us now suppose the South separated from th
4 Union, and at fall liberty to propagate slav
p cry, how is it going to manage-after eman
cipation has been fully proclaimed in tn
Horth-to maintain within its limits an
keep in chains a black population at leas