The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-17
slavery Doomed in Rranll.

FfOnl The Independent. ''- N"i
The telegram of date April s, which an
nounced with customary brevity that the
Emperor of Brazil had signed the decree of the
General Assembly abolishing slavery through
out the empire, though covering one of the
most important and pregnant facts of the de-
cade--for we count big events by decades, not
by ages, now--comes1 to us glibly over the
wires, and probably passes as glibly over the
minds OF most readers of news. No doubt one
explanation of the very moderate interest it
eXcites is to be found in the circumstance that
Brazil is a great way off, that its affairs are of
no very great interest to us, that it's revolu-
tions do not Immediately affect us, and that
little is popularly known inregard to its people,
its institutions, or it's government. But a
better explanation is to be sought probably in
the familiarity of the public mind with great
movements of emancipation. Since France
abolished slavery in her colonies, and Eng
land abolished it in hers since
.. 'The slave walked free in Tunis,
And by Stamboul's Golden Horn;"
since Russia gave freedom to her 25, 000, 900
serfs; and the United States, timidly following
these imperial examples, broke the chains of
her 100000 chattels, nothing less than uni
versal liberty has been looked tor. Emanci-
patton is taken as matter of course; and
matter of course it is. But we must not allow
Jndb COuuulOH phrase 10 CONCEAL from US Llo
immense change in public sentiment that has
made such moral victory to be a matter of
course. Emancipation was no matter of course
in England or France. In France it was
achieved by freshet of enthusiasm; in Eng
land it was carried by a long and severe
agitation, in face of every vested interest and
chartered right. 1t was not a matter of
course in Russia, where the mobiles resisted
it and fairly made the crown recoil. Nor was
q Of in fha Sfafao
for here a moral warfare, unparalleled for
its steady and fatal valor, ragged around
slavery for generation. A vast political party
was organized against it, industry commerce,
manufactures, all felt it to be foe, if they
did not call it so; and at last terrible civil
war did its utmost to root it out. Even then
it perished slowly; even then its abolition so
far from being a matter of course, was resisted
and impeded by politicians, and aristocrats,
and majorgenerals, and priVy counsellors.
Providence with an iron hand wrung eman-
cipation from the great republic. Why,
then, does it seem so natural thing that it
should be decreed by constitutional mon
archy, as grand state measure in time
of peace; there being no pressure which is
in the air, and no conYulsion within, save
the moral conVulson that takes place when
a right-minded and generous Government
recognized an absolute inconsistency be-
tween its principles and its practices, it's
spirit and its tTaditlonsf Brazil Is thinly
peopled country. There are about as many
negro slaves there as white inhabitants
nigh three millions of each it is a tropical
climate, warm and luxuriant, favoring indo-
lence rather than energy; its chief produc-
tions until recently were precious stones and
dust and now are coffee, sugar, cotton, to-
bacco-which we have been told all our days
could be raised advantageously by slave labor
alone. There was uneasiness ON the subject
of slavery; but no such deep adherence of it
as prevailed among ourselves--there was no
suppressed war threatening yearly to become
open war. Why, then, does Brazil emancipate
! her slaves? l0u Il IN TOO. ,f. rI1l
In the first place, the spirit of the age was
abroad. Brazil was the last great empire
which maintained the old barbarism of the
nations. A passion for popular liberty had
taken possession of Europe. Even the most
absolute despotisms, however much they
might Oppress their subjects, did not make
race an excuse for oppression; and when the
United States gave up the cause, no great
example remained to keep an empire in ooun-
tenance; no example remained at all but
Spain; and Spain is an example chiefly of
what States should avoid. f MO- m
And then the genius of the Brazilian GOV
ernment was thoroughly averse TO an insti-
tuition like slavery. Few more enlightened
| governments exist. The General Assembly