New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-12-26
4 SOUTHERN VIEW or oruE SJTrtTyov,


We have before US publication called
" The Natchez Almanac" which contains AN
elaborate article on "The Situation" valuable
AZ showing the tenacity with which cor.
tain Southern minds cling 10 the exploded
idea of Imported African Labor. ASSUMING
that Free Labor has thus far been upon tbs
whole failure the writer lays it down "a n
Fundamental proposition that the soil ia the
"prime source of wealth the soil must be-
worked, and the soil which win produce thu
greatest return is that which win be best
worked, if Africa, Asia, and the Isles of the
" Sea have to be emptied Of their inbaln-
" tantso There is in the article about font
parts in five Of the usual Gaming talk
about Outstanding" the African; bat if thu
MammOn of UnrighteOusDess did not inspis
the writer, if he did not hope to make money
out of his imported brands pucked from the
burning, If he had not pet theory about
working the SOIL" it is perfectly clear that
he would leave the negro in Africa, to chow
down to wood and stone" and, without
molestatiOn, to enjoy his fetish all his
days. 1t is the old, old story which
We have heard for so many years
the sing-song of Southern pulpits-tbe drons
OF Southern preachers of which We have not,
it appears, heard the last. 1t is the stereo-
typed folly, wickcdness, and protension Of that
race which should long ago have become olso-
lete--tbe race of Southern Doctors Of Divinity.
We protest against the doctrine which holds
that the heathens should be cOnverted-because
we can thus make great deal of money out
of them. We are suspicious of this ncon-
grllity of motives; we dOubt the morality Of
this close connection between praying and
paying; and VIC suspect that the Conversion
of the imported laborer, the bringing him "to
"the light Of Christianity" would turn out in
the end to be quite secondary consideration.
"Ah, but We DO not mean to make them
"Slavesn says this commercial and religions
writer. But, good and pious friend, what do
you propose to make thcmP FreemcnP Why
you have Black Freemen enough already-sey-
eral millions of them, be the same more rless
The point upon which we wish to be enhght-
encd is in what way the status of the Imported
African viii differ from that of the African
who is with us in such numbers already. II
the expatriatiOn and expectation of these say.
ages is to he compulsory, az cOmmOn-sense
shows that it must of necessity be, then their
toll here must be compulsory, and you have
the old Slavery, in all its essential elements,
over again. The smeared and painted Afri-
can, utterly ignorant Of the nature of a con-
tract, cannot make valid one any more than
child can. The inevitable middle-man.
the INSCRIPTIONS factor, the baracoon
proprietor upon the coast of Africa.
- 20 1aItIa horozc do
fraud, and virtually eDslaye. The enOr-
nous cost of this abnormal importation
must be betrayed in some way, and the I'm
ported Laborer, ignorant of his rights, ard
often brought off by compulsion and through
the tyranny and cupidity of the native chiefs,
would inevitably be made to defray it. What
was begun 10y abduction would end in inyoi-
untary servitude. The native African is not
like the Chinaman, keen, shrewd, capable Of
making a bargain, and defending his rights
under it. He is n barbarian under a barbarous
prince, so far as he is under any government
at all worthy of the name. And this being
the Natchez writer proposes to import, and tn
place at the mercy of writer's saturated with
venOmOus hatred of the African race IL
the scheme were feasible, which it is not, all
SOOu anu echSlDle ueh suOulu pray LOT lLd
utter Illustration.
Nor is the expense of the project to be lef!
out of the account. This, with any decent re-
gard for the comfort of the immigrant, would
be enormous. The writer whose article We
are considering thinks that from 800 to 800
Africans could be brought over for 100000
The estimate shows the utter folly of the
whole absurd prOiect With plenty of labor
ers here already, you are to send for a further
supply, at cost which the reader may easily
compute; and if from 300 to 800 cost 100000.
how much will from 5000 to 5000 cost, and
so on from 10000 to 5O,OCOG 1t is the old
arthmetical problem Of the horseshoe nails
over again. But enough, for the present, OF
these dreams and decisions.