The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-05-15
The Abolition of Slavery in Brazil;
Now for Cuba and the Last Slave -.

Now for Cuba and the Last Slave ,,;.
The special Herald despatch, pia Iona
and the Atlantic cable, which we publ; ;SO1
yesterday, announcing decree from nea
Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, abolishipo sl.r nOa
throughout his dominions, marks t6e ' any
ing of new chapter in the political p es
vancement and material prosperity Of ,s Su.
vast and magnificent empire of the m;a ,has
Amazon. From and after the eighth day"y
April last all the children of Slaves ~.
freemen, born in Brazil, are Free and tbo -. VI
listing slaves at the end of twenty years ga Ca
also to be free. We have. no doubt t'' s
within year or two another imperial dec ra'
will complete the work of emancipation ,hu'
begun, and that Brazil will thus take nus nus
place with France, Great Britain, Russia a us
the United States in the abolition of slavaas
The population of Brazil, in round nun
bers, is eight millions, of which two milEon'
are whites, one million one hundred twen,n
five thousand free people, blacks and mirsa
races; eight hundred thousand civilized n
dians, six hundred thousand mixed s,a~.
population, and over two millians Africa
slaves. The laws of the empire have raw
dered manumission easy, and once set f,a.
the negro finds every calling and every Office fcs
in the State as fully open to him. as to tbs
white man. And in society, as in politics
color is no barrier to success. The x0rt
therefore, of negro emancipation in BRAZIL,
an easy matter, civil, political and social
equality being already established AMONG
freedmen OF all races and colors. With no
African emancipation has been purchased at
the cost OF a stupendous four years civil war
involving, North and South included. the
sacrifice OF six hundred thousand ablc-bodieJ
men; the impoverishment of extensive com.
munitles, and heavy taxation to meet the
demands OF three thousand millions of debt
And whya Because of our late broad dis
tinctions between whites and blacks because
OF decree from the Supreme Court of the
United States in 1856, declaring that under
the federal constitution the negro, bond or
free, is not citizen, and has NO rights
which white man is bound to respect :,
and because this decree, while it solidifed
the North against slavery, rallied the Soutb
to rebellion in its defence. Even in the
midst OF the war, as late as December, 1867.
when the door was open, President Lincoln
casting about fcr way to universal enamel
patton, could find no plan OF safely reaching
1t before the year 1900
The Emperor of Brazil, then, has done as
much as could be reasonably expected, in
giving slavery margin of twenty years in
which to die out. But, we repeat, that hay
ing broken ground upon it, he will soon find,
as Abraham Lincoln found, that public
opinion is ready for much shorter term Of
grace. In measures of progress the people
in this age of advancement are everywhere
ahead of their rulers. This may be said
even of the Brazilians and of Dom Pedro,
enlightened, intelligent and progressive ruler
as he is universally known to be- Meantime,
emigration from our Southern States to Bra
iii, to regain the blessings of negro slavery,
will be stopped, and the moral effects of the
Emperors decree, from Virginia to Texas,
will contribute to the work of reconstruction
under the new dispensation of universal lib
erty and political equality.
Spain will also be made to feel the moral
effects of emancipation in Brazil superadded
to emancipation in the United States, and
there will be work of reconstruction before
long in the islands Of Cuba and Porto Rico,
the last remaining places of refuge in Chris
tendon of the African slave trade. With rs-
gard to this traffic the Emperor of Brazil has
for years past actively co-operatcd with Eng
land and the United States to suppress it,
Always cultivating the most friendly recip-
rocities with our government and people,
Dom Pedro, in this matter of emancipation,
will bring the two countries into still closer
rapport. Our imports from Brazil, with
the opening of the Amazon to free navigation
and with the abolition of slavery, will be
rapidly swelled from twenty five to. fifty
millions year, and our exchanges will be
correspondingly increased. The valley Of
the Amazon, which is in Brazil, Is equal to
the bountiful support of hundred millions
of people. What limits, then. are we to fix
to our trade with that valley under this new
epoch of emancipation and commercial re-
ciprocities2 Meantime we may expect some
important manifestations in Spain and Cuba
of the moral effect of this decree of emanci-
patton in Brazil. Steam engines and tee-
graphs are bringing all the nations OF Chris
tendon so close together that great event
in one pulsates through them all.-Meac York
Herald. ....-, .a ~, ,..f p gs
The kilograms from Europe convey un-