Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-12-14

| During the whole OF the eighteenth CEN
/ tlrv England reserved TO herself by the
treaty OF Utrecht the monopoly Of i'm
porting negroes 10 all the Spanish colo
nies-that is TO say, to nearly all South
America, The fact Is noted by the an
notator Of Talleyrand's Memoirs that
when the English colonies had a proper
ton Of twenty blacks to one white it oc-
Cured to them to be indignant at the
| immortality OF the traffic. The declara-
ton that the slave-trade was repugnant
to universal morals was signed by the
European powers for the first time at the
Congress of Vienna, and not then by
Portugal or Spain.
SLAVERY FORCED UPON VIRGINIA.
But-such is the irony Of fate there
was one country OF the world, and that
purely agricultural dominion, which
in the eighteenth century opposed itself
to slavery with all the power 1t could
WELD. That country was Virginia, the
patriarch OF the colonies. Slavery had
been forced upon Virginia, and in the
teeth of her rcmonstrance, by the arbi-
trarv power OF Great Britain. Twenty
three statutes we're passed by the
House of Burgesses to prevent the i'm
portation of slaves. and all were mega
tived by the British King, She was
the first State not only to pro-
hibt the slaye-trade, but to make
it punishable with death. In the midst OF
the Revolution, as early as October,
1873, her law went forth that thereafter
no slave should be imported by sea or
land into the jurisdiction Of her Com
mOnwealth. One OF her first acts when
she had shaken from her the power OF
the throne was TO write that edlct OF
emancipation for territory OF her own
which she ever denied it was in the
power of any one to write for her. She
wrote it for the territory which her en-
terprise and valor had wrested from the
GRASP of France. Whatever she might
choose 10 do herself, ii were hard to con-
ceive a more arrogant claim than that
the North could deprive her Of an equal
right in the territory OF her own dona-
ton. Even in respect to this territory
the agreement of Virginia was without
any equivalent whatever, and the ordl-
nary principle OF nudual Pactun' might
have been applied to it.
The treaty Of Independence with Great
Britain in i7S3 carefully stipulated that
the British should not carry away "any
negroes or other property OF the
American inhabitants" as afterwards
the treaty of Ghent, IN 1914, spoke OF
"slaves or other private property" At
the former period certainly no authori-
tative expression Of the thirteen colonies
would have denied that there was pro-
pertv in man. 1t is true that IN those
States where negro labor wasunfriended
bv the climate, and therefore unprotita-
bic 10 the master. the slaves were few,
and at the date of the Constitution had
virtually worn out in Massachusetts,.
This influence OF soil and climate fol-
lowing in the tow OF the suttler and
deeper force, now swiftly growing to
mans estate-the rising force-one
mightsay the rising world ofcommerce--
these potent persuaslons were already
combining to force the issue between
the former and the latter reign.
THE CONSTITUTION A DISTINCT BARGAIN.
The Constitution OF the United states
was therefore distinct bargain between
the North and the South for the security
of slave property, for which aredundant
consideration was received by the former
in the control and regulation OF COM
merce by a simple majority instead OF
two-thirds vote. From Virginia came
the chief opposition to the continuance
of the slaye.trade. That trade was con-
tinued for twenty years not by the
vote OF the solid South, but OF a solid
New England. Twenty years" ex-
claimed Madison, twill produce all the
mischief that can be apprehended from
the liberty TO import slave" y; and
George Mason rebuked the melancholy
choice Of Mammon, for that "some OF
our eastern brethren had from lust OF
gam engaged in this nsfarious traffic" T"