The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-03
An English Opinion Of the negro.

America IN Wnlch some OF the results
of the present war, as they effect the
blacks, are discussed. The writer OBJ
/ serves that he locks at the question
/ quite independent of the merits or de
merits of the parties to the war, while.
/ if it's touching politics to assume that
/ slavery is drawing to an end in the
/ United States, then he must be political
/ to that extent" but he is thoroughly of
/ the opinion that slavery can never again
be what it was in the model republic.
The first point touched upon is the
! education effectively received by the
negro, in the legislation and discussion
of the last few years-indeed, in all the
time since the Government was or
ganized. Thus it is shown that negro
woman was made free in Massachusetts,,
IN l142, on the simple claim of personal
and political right The treatment Of
the negro regiments by Washington is
referred to, and also the consideration
in which they were held by Lafayette
and Jackson Then came the doleful
middle period, when the South began
to draw tight reins upon the blacks;
with this came the era of Colonization,
which admitted the wrongs Of slavery
and the desirableness Of It's extinction
With this also were the severe statutes
| forbidding emancipation in the Slave
States. The chance of release was an
initiated, and fugitives began to
abound Then came also the era of the
discussions in the Missouri and other
| compromises, the age Of instructions
and the continued and severe pressure
| of the black code. All this time the
negroes knew what was going on. They
| had information of the debates in Con-
/ gress, the growth of Northern feeling,
/ the movements commenced in their be-
/ half IL was not abolition emissa-
/ ries' that imported this knowledge to
| them They learned it from the chance
papers that fell in their way, and We're
/ instructed in it by the ceaseless conver-
sations and debates of the households
to which they were attached In 1856,
/ the slaves heard their masters declare
that the success Of the Republican
/ party meant freedom to them In Ten
nessee the negroes did rise, the insur-
rection taking dimensions larger than
the reality, from the panic Of the
masters.
But the problem that presents itself
/ has new conditions arising from the
war, and from the new experience that
has been brought home to the blacks,
and this the writer treats of hopefully
When the first contrabands' came
/ into our lines, there was an absence OF
definite policy. There were apathy and
delays and singular inability or un-
willingness to take the course that now
seems 50 obvious However, a decision
was finally reached, and @ policy was
established. OF this the Review speaks
favorably, and in it finds hope for the
extinction of slavery. With the ar
rangemeats for conducting the cotton
plantations and using the labor Of the
negro In his familiar pursuits, and with
the opening Of the military career to
the black, the writer expresses himself
pleased. He finds that negro troops are
ssrviceable, and that they can be trust
ed in the camp. He finds them dill
gently working on their old plantations,
and learning the first lessons Of indie
pendent and voluntary labor Hence
he concludes, with reason, that this is
not state of things favorable to slave
| holding Slavery is less like being the
corner stone Of national policy than
it ever was before" He adds
/ We see how inconceivable it is that
/ slavery can ever again be an establish
/ ed and supreme institution in the
Southern States; and unless supreme,
| slavery cannot exist The Confederacy
aware Of this, but apparently unaware
Of the certainty Of failure in the then
/ condition Of their own fortunes and Of
their negroes, struck a bold stroke for
their social system, putting everything
to hazard for assurance on this ono
/ point. Nothing better could have been
/ desired by the friends Of liberty and
/ the deliverers Of the negro than that
\ the end Of oppression should be brought
/ about by the oppressors themselves
/ Slavery would soon have become ini-
| possible except by a fearful social retro
| gressiOn-an extension Of its bounds,
/ and a reopening Of the negro trade Such
/ a retrOgression has been rendered inn
| possible, and the Shareholders have
sought to avert the gradual disintegra-
/ ton Of their system by a sharp and pc
rilous effort at ISOLATION from outward
/ influences. The result proves that they
/ have miscalculated their chances and
[ have precipitated the revolution in
their labor system, which they intend
/ ed to prevent 1t is scarcely possible
/ to conceive q more remarkable example
Of that power which shapes our ends,
rough hew them as we will, than this
result Of the American Revolution, Op-
posed alike TO the original intentions Of
the seeding States and Of their antag-
Onists If it be true that the object Of
/ secession was to extend and perpetuate
slavery, that object has signally failed
nay, more, emancipation has been its
direct consequence If, on the other
hand, we are to believe that the sece-
ding States are fighting, not for slavery,
but for their own independence, then
/ it becomes their first interest to accept
and complete the abolition Of slavery.
for it is that which cuts them or from
the sympathy Of mankind Of this
their own statesmen are aware But
the time is past when they had any op-
ton on the subject
The South have indeed allowed the
'time to pass, and 10 has 50 far passed,
that they are the more bound tOuphOld
the institution, and 10 make its preser-
walton Of equal importance with the -in-
dependence" for which some Of their
friends claim they are struggling II
they let 60 their hold Of slavery in the
hope Of winning esteem abroad. thev
hazard the loss Of the confidence Of
their own people, who started in this
war distinctly for the slavery interest,
and whatever credit is TO be gained b.
an emancipation policy. is already se-
cured by the Federal Government,
which has boldly taken the initiative.
II the North British Review could be
thus sanguine in January that slavery
was destroyed, how much more potent
ly can il press the question home upon
its English readers now that measure
Of emancipation by constitutional
amendment is pushed 20 far forward to-
ward its adoption BY the only power
from which there is no appeal When
the States act under the constitution,
their action has the highest sanction Of
law and right
Col. Webb Of the Seventyseyenth
Illinois, recently killed in the baelesin
louisiana, a few years ago, presided over
the editorial department Of the Peoria