The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-02


she contemplates a line to Hamburg and to
Bremen her steamers run regularly to New
Orleans and Savannah. We alone are idle.
Vessels with their rich freight pass Delaware
Bay as If it were the mouth of creek, and
we are not unlike the inhabitants of Yeddo
| who wondered when they first beheld feet
Are we then to continue to degenerate, and
to become at last japanese city in America?
Mexican PeOnage-HOw Southern Slavery
will be Re-established.
THERE are many ways Of affecting an object
by other than direct means. 1t is easy for an
iDsolvent debtor 10 retain his property by
making an assignment of it to his wife ; so also
is it easy tor a people to accept the universal
freedom declared by the victors. and at the
same time continue slavery under a more
euphonious title. The spirit which has been
evinced by the South is such as to clearly
indicate that were 1t possible the blacks would
continue in a servItude as degrading as that
from which the force Of Northern valor has
rescued them. 1t is therefore, not the alb
! sence of the desire, but Of the opportunity,
which prevents its re-establishment. Yet with
this knowledge before us. we are gradually
giving into the hands of the Southern planters
the power to make any provisions relative to
the future OF the blacks, relying on our law
iorbidding slavery to checkmate any oppres-
sion, and render Illegal any attempt at human
bondage. From letters we have received, and
from the tone adopted by the Southern papers,
we can entertain no doubt but that at the
earliest opportunity the system Of peonage,
which is characteristic of Mexico, will be
transported into the Southern States.
The empire of MAMMALIAN has set us an
example as to how Government, while it
has forbidden slavery, can establish system
as conducive to tyranny and oppression as
any code of servitude existing at the time of
Saxon seridom, or among the captives of the
Bey of Tunis. How this can be done is
shown by an able message from Secretary
SEWARD, in reply to a resolution of the SEN
ate. We will see how che plan which was
adopted in Mexico worked on the 10th of Sep
tember. Hon w. Ii. CoRwIN, acting Charge
d'Afaires of the United States to Mexico
forwarded to the Secretary of State series
status of the black emgrants who should be
induced to emigrate to that country. The
following regulations are the most important,
as they form the framework for the establish
ment of peonage. Although it is declared
that every person, upon touching Mexican
soil, becomes free, yet the succeeding provi-
sion rendered null the original assertion.
oh oh io
master, and to contract with him for series
of years, not less than five, nor more than
ten. In return for his labor he is to receive
wages, one-fourth of which are to be de-
posted in bank of the employer. Ifhe (the
'laborer'') should become indebted to his pro-
prietor during these ten years, he can be held
in bonds until the amount of indebtedness is
cancelled. By such al arrangement it is evil
dent that with but little difficulty the whole
life of the servant could be made one long
bondage.
The feudal system has been transplanted to
our times. The serf is compelled to attach
himself to some lord, who agrees to give him
a miserable pittance, and finally, in a fit of
starvation and need, he sells his birthright of
freedom for a mess of pottage. The same
system against which the Government of the
United States is protesting because of its
establishment in Mexico to- day, is being
gradually brought into full force within the
bounds OF our own territory, under aggra.
vating circumstances.
The South, with that ability which has
always characterized its leaders, Immediately
upon the failure of their Rebellion determined
to be victorious, not by force, but by fraud,
deceit, sycophancy, and unscrupulous false
hood In this they have been successful.
he Freedmen's Bureau compels the blacks
to hire themselves to some master, to contract
to work for him at a rate of wages totally in
adequate. Should they fall in debt, which
they undoubtedly will, then it is the duty of
the State Legislature to make all needful
laws. OF fcourse the white contractor should
not be injured by loss of money consequently
the black viii have to work off his debt. As |
the rate he receives is not sufficient to support
him, his burden, like that of Atlas, will be |
constantly increasing; he will never once reach |
to freedom. but see 1t gradually receding from |
him, despite all his efforts. In ten years the
whole black population will be working off |
their debts, under the power of the employer
for either Ehe must continue to labor and |
be oppressed, or else be arrested for debt, and
spend his days in a county Jail.
Thus will we have the accursed system re.
established over all the South We NAV call