The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-05-27
NEGRO SLAVERY.
characteristics and Abolition in the
United States, and in Brazil.

in your late notice of the abolition Of
slavery in Brazil are just and appropri
ate. In frequent visits to that country
some of them made while the importa-
ton of slaves was permissible by law
Others when it was more or less success.
fully carried on by smugglers, and after
wards when by the joint efforts of the
government and the active vigilance OF
British cruisers it was actually stopped
1 have been led to compare the system
with that which in those days existed in
the United States, and to observe the
different methods which were taken
finally to suppress it.
IN the first place, slavery which
!, verYbody now admits to be both sin
and a crime, was once neither one nor
the other. 1t was supported on nigh
moral principles. 1t was thought to be
a great benefit TO the blacks 10 be res
J cued from the tyranny of their in
human kings, who not only kept them
in a most degraded condition at home,
but sacrificed them by thousands for
their own amusement, Or TO obtain the
favor of the devils they worshiped. The
Rev. john Newton, one OF the most
piOus divines of the last CEN
fury, had commanded a slave
ship. In his memoirs, he re
prOaches himself for his many sins of
omissioBa and of commission, his lust,
his intemperance. his Sabbath break
ing and his evil thoughts. He repents
sincerely for them, but he never mani
tests the slightest penitence for having
been engaged in the slave trade. On
| l,a h. . Il. /
he was doing q triple service, to God, to
| the negroes and to the American plan
| tations. The MayfOaUer, which brought
| Englishmen to Plymouth Rock for the
| liberty of their souls, afterwards carried
Africans to Virginia for the slavery of
thei1 bodies. Her white and black pas
| senger tratfics were equally consonant
with the moral sense of Christianity.
"Times change and we change with
them" The definition of sin also
changes with the times, and l may be
permitted incidentally to commend this
apothegm to the consideration of some
of your readers. Slavery had more of
rGlSon d'etre in Brazil than it had in the
United States. Africa and Brazil are
comparatively near and are alike
in climate. The latter being at
great distance from Europe, it was
more necessary for her than it
was for the American colonies to
draw her supplies of labor from
her neighbor. There were no
horrors of the slave trade while the
slave trade was permitted. 1t was
for the interest of the carriers to make |
the passage of the negroes as comfort |
able as the method OF ventilation then |
known, and the supply of wholesome
fond VunnI6 norroif r.,
the trade was declared contraband |
that the vessels were overcrowded and
as the risk was understood to be the
loss of half of the ships, the poor
devils were more closely confined.
Under the old system cargoes
we're landed in such good order
that the slaves seemed to have
actually enjoyed their trip. Under theil-
l;cit proceeding, once saw three-fourths
of cargo brought into an outport in a
wretchad condition, and the captain
he was an American, who afterwards !.
became merchant in New York told T.
me that he had made very successful /
voyage, as he had fed only one-fourth of
his passengers to tbs sharks.
Curiously the negroes themselves =
have been among the principal slave
owners OF Brazil. There are negroes
and negroes. Oae class came from
locality in the Gulf of Benin. They are
different from the Cong0es and other
debased tribes. The men are of stall
wart frames and Of Intelligent minds,
the women Of pleasing countenances
with figures like Venus de Medici in
ebony, and they walk, even under their
burdens like queens Professor Agas-
siz once said to me at Rio de Janeiro:
The Nina negress is the finest speci-
men of natural woman that [ have
ever SEEN"
The people OF this tribe were first
brought over as slaves, butthey soon came /
TO be slave owners. They became also =
a lucrative trade with Africa in negroes L
and in merchandise. They have crossed Z
with the Portuguese blood, as all the .
other negroes have done; but the :,
Nina cross is by far the best, and it !:
,an scarcely be considered a deteriore- J
ton. This miscegenation has gone so
Tar that many years ego when it was :.
in taking the census of '
the empire, to classify the whites and y
blacks, it was found impossible to de-
termine the color line
Slavery spread itself over the whole j
Brazilian Empire as it spread itself
through all the original thirteen United "
States. The local abolition commenced I
n both countries for precisely the
same reasons. AS in north latitude, Z
where New England has the coolest { {
climate, slavery ceased to pay, while 7
mere was a demand for it in the
Southern States, so in Brazil, where
The conditions of latitude are l
reversed, it was gradually discontinued
n Minas Gereas and the other southern
while it remained profitable IL
IN the banks of the ANA G
ION. The northern Americans q
sold their slaves to their southern r
The southern Ameri- I
cans sold theirs to their countrymen ;
If the north, and then the New Eng
anders and those of the lower provinces u
If Brazil became alike deeply impressed >.
vita the evil of slavery. Each Ii
ebored to bring about its abolition, q
md each succeeded. In this country .
We treated the malignant disease I
after the method of DR.. =
bleeding the patient so Z
leariy to death that it has required