jno. l. hiiieb & co., proprietor* 1 An Independent Journal: For tlie Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. jlewis m. qeist, pubiuher.

VOL. 3. YORKVILLE, S C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1857. ^TO.39.

|t Slafce CrakFrom the Marion Star.

SPEECH OF 0. W. MILLER,To Citizens of Barnwell, at Wylde-Moore,August 2tith, 1857, in favor of Re-open-

ing the African Slave Trade.Fellow-Citizens: Having been invited

to address you on this occasion, I shall takepleasure in reasoning with you, on a subjectof vital interest to us all. It is true, as nayfriend, Hon. J. D. Allen, said, in his com-

pliroentary introduction, that I was born inthe District of Sumter; and now a citizenof Marion, I come from the Eastern border,te "Barnwell. the Western hnrder of theState, to enjoy his and your hospitality, andcommune with you in terms of sympathy andbrotherly love. Marion shakes hands with i

Barnwell; and may friendship and harmony f

cement them in indissoluble bonds. i

We have reason to rejoice that we, incommon with our fellow-citizens of the Union, 1are this day enjoying, in peace and prosper- '<

ity, the blessings of civil and religious liber- <

ty, under a republican government; and <

our rising glory is brilliant and dazzling, even incomparison with the majestic pomp, pow- t

er and parade of trans-Atlanticand Oriental 1nations. Nevertheless, our Confederacy, f

and especially the slave-holding States, have 1

not yet reached their culminating point of J

civilization, wealth and splendor. Great as £

we are, we are still in a state of progess; and 1the South will be slow in attaining her full a

and due growth, in national greatness, with- cahf Viof nOAnccorr orM tfinnnl loVirtr wKlnk ic Ivuv HUOV utvvupoij auuikiVUdi mvvt n mvu m £

alone to be supplied by re-opening the Afri- tcan Slave Trade. This subject 1 propose to [discuss; and the time is come, not only for c

discussion, but for action. Europe clamors c

for more cotton than the- world at present i

supplies; France has already contracted for (10,000 African slaves, called apprentices, to *

be employed in the West Indies; while the ISouth, with 1,000,000 of square miles of c

territory, embracing cotton lands enough to e

supply rhe world, cultivates but 5,000,000of acres in cotton.only one acre in 12S of t

her soil; and this is the best that can be a

done till Africa shall pour in upon us more bof her population to reclaim our fertile lands. r

The high price and scarcity of cotton have o

stopped thousands of looms, aDd manufacturersare coufiniug their operations to the r'

finer fabrics. The want of labor has made ~

sugar so dear as to be almost a mere article c

of luxury; and population, all the world a

over, is pursuing its natural law of outrun- n

ning production. Nature has ordained that c

our best lands can only be cultivated, under ^

our burning sun, by African muscle; and tlwe see that, with the requisite labor, our pvast territory may sustain in comfort a popu- v

lation larger than that of China; that we Fmay make every wilderness and every swamp bnow under the dominion of water a bloom- a

ing garden, beautiful as a rice-field ; improve sl

the whole face of the country with roads, n

canals, residences, churches, schools, col- 11

leges, manufactures, and other monuments a

of civilization ; make ourselves independent, t(

and the producers of grain and raw materialfor the world ; and on the wings of our own c

commerce carry them to every corner of the c

earth; so that the South may proudly lift ther head pre-eminent among the nations, tcrowned with a chaplet more enviable than n

the diadems of Eastern royalty. But with othis prospect before us, and the boon within r

our grasp, by re-opening the African slave ttrade, supine procrastination or political in- jtrigue advises us to postpone discussion and taction upon the subject. It is a subject of ftoo much importance for delay; and, in dis- jcussing it, I will consider.v

1. Jhe morality of holding slaves and of a

re-opening the slave trade. j 12. The philanthropy of acquiring and 1

holding African slaves. t3. The benefit to the South of re-opening s

the slave trade. tt. And the practicability of effecting it. 1In the first place, I shall show, in few \

words, thattheservitude of the African is in i

accordance with the will of Almighty God; c

and he who does the will of God cannot be j

in the wrong. Slavery existed iu the priuuc- 11val world, before civilized society originated,when man was pastoral and noruadic, livingin tents, wandering to and fro and up anddown in the earth, driving and feeding hisflocks for subsistance, with no better thanpatriarchal government. If we float up thestream of time to the days of Adam andEve, we shall find tho germ of slavery, whenGod put Eve under the " rule" of Adam,for eating the forbidden fruit. Truly, this"rule" has come down to our day, but. likethe current of the river Arar, it is now ofsuch gentleness and smoothness in its course,that it is difficult for the spectator to discernwhether control flows from mau or woman.

After the Flood, when Noah and his threesons, Sbem Ham and Japheth, were on earth,the curse of servitude was denounced on theAfrican race, through Noah, by inspirationfrom God..(Brown's Bible Dec., Noah.)Ham, after the Flood, became the father ofCanaan. Noah began to be a husbandman,and planted a vineyard. He doubtless igno-rantly and ipnocently, drank too freely ofthe wine which he had made; and, as the n

book of Genesis (chap. 9th) relates, becomingintoxicated and uncovered in his tent,Ham saw him and spoke of it to his twobrothers:"And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw

the nakedness of his farther and told histwo brethren without. ,

"And Shem and Japheth took a garmentand laid it upon their shoulders, and went j:backward, and covercchthe nakedness of theirfather : and their faces were backward, andthey saw not their father's nakedness."And Noah awoke from his wine and knew

what his younger son had done unto him."And he said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servantof servants shall he be unto his brethren.

"And he said Blessed be the Lord Godof Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

"God shall enlargeJapheth, and he shalldwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaanshall be his servant."

Both the curse and the blessings of Noahhave been fulfilled in a wonderful manner..The descendants of Japheth conquered thoseof Shem and dwelt in their tents; and theposterity of Hem have been servants everywhere.In the dispersion of Noah's posterityover the world, (Sears' History of theBible, page 36,) "the descendants of Japhethnot only possessed all Europe, but alsoi considerable portion of Asia. The posterityof Shem had in their possession theGreater and Lesser Asia, and probably allthe countries to the East as far as China..The descendants of Ham possessed all Africa,with a great part of Asia."The curse of Noah upon Ham's posterity,

as proclaimed against hisson Canaan, for thesin of the father, fell with awful severity on

ill his race, both in Asia and Africa. TheCanaanitesin Asia felt the scourge of a brokenlaw, when conquered by the Hebrews;ind in Africa the condition past and presentif Ham's offspring but shows the certaintyif God's avenging wrath. The continent ofAfrica was peopled by three aboriginal races,;he decendants of Ham. Egypt was settledly the descendants of Mizraim, the secondson of Ham; the Lybian race are descendtntsin part from a branch of the family ofMizraim, and in part from Phut, the thirdon of Ham; and the third race was the Ethio)ianor Black, which was known to the Greek.it). rrn.- ni i. j.iuu xvuuiau jiisiunaus. xuu Diace raca, ue:endantsof Cush, the eldest soq of Ham,)Ossessed at first Nubia and Abyssinia, onhe Upper Nile. Western Africa has boen>eop!ed by some one or more of the familiesif Ham, who have scattered over the wholelontinent. This region and modern Ethiopia,n Southern Africa, were unknown to theGreeks and Romans. Western Africa, theegion from whence our slaves were firstirought, is a rich soil, producing spontaleouslymany neoessaries for human subsistnce,extending along the western coast ofV frioa from the 16tb degree of north latitude,he southern border of Sahara, to Bcnguela,bout the 16th degree of south latitude, emracingfrom 200 to 300 miles of land inteiorwardfroin the ocean, and about 1,00^,000f square miles of territory, with a populaionof about 80,000,000 of negroes, in theelation, at this day, of either master or slave-a slavery of the most galling and degradingharacter.all sunk in superstition, idolatrynd barbarism. Missionary white labor hasever been able to redeem them from thisonditiou, except in few instances, and theserere only like shot cast on the calm ocean oftieir depravity, making but a momentary riple,the impress of which was soon lost toiew. For four hundred years, since the'ortuguese first commenced missionary labor,nt little progress has been made in civilizingnd Christianizing them, and in most intanceswhere Gospel light seemed to illurinetheir savage souls, they havebnckslidedito inquity, "like the dog that is turnedgaiu tohis*vomit, or the saw that is washed3 her wallowing in the mire." The land> beautiful and fertile, but cursed with a

limatc and with diseases which the negroan eudure, but which will forever preventhe white race from possessing and eultivaingthe soil. If Providence, with a beniglanthand, had not bestowed the blessingsf food and adaptation to the climate, on thelegro, in that country, he would long sincelave perished; but it seems as if WesternAfrica had been destined to be the cradle ofhat hardy muscle which is indispensableor developing those lands owned and occupiedby the descendants ofShem and Japheth,vhose servant Canaan is doomed to be. Ifmy one doubts that slavery is sanctioned byleaven, let him remember that even the He-irews.God's chosen people.under theirheoeracy, held slaves. The patriarchs heldlaves; and the good Abraham, the father ofhe faithful, had three hundred and more,n the march of the Israelites through thevildcruess, after the Exodus, Hcaven-dioctcdby fire at night and by cloud in thelay, slavery existed and accompanied them ;ind in the thundering?, and in the lighting?,in the earthquake, the smoke, aud'he trumpet-sound of Sinai, when God dciveredthe ten commandments to Moses,our moral law,') slavery was recognized andmplicitly sanctioned. In two of the coninandmentswe find this : in that concerninghe Sabbath, saying, "In it thou shnlt do10 work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh:er,nor thy man servant, nor tin/ maid terrainandalso in that cornceruiug covetjusness,saying, "Thou shalt not covet thyleighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thyneighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor hisnutid-senant," &c. Would God havetolcrltedsin ? When Jesus Christ came incarnateinto the world, he found slavery existingin Greece, Rome, Egypt, Judea, and almostuverywhere among the nations. lie cameto inculcate a system of true religion andmorality, as well as to atone by His bloodfor the sin of the world. .He was God, andHis mission divine, lie fearlessly deuouneedwickedness everywhere. He attacked notonly the religion of the Pagans, but what,in many instances, was politically, becausemorally wrong; and if he had thought slaverya sin, he would have denounced, condemnedand forbidden it. But there is nota word in his teachings, nor those of his apostles,against it. On the contrary, we findit noticed and sanctioned in mauy places inthe New Testament; one of which I willcite as sufficient for this argument. Paul,in his Epistle to the Collossians, (chap. 2d,)says : "Servants obey in all things your mastersaccording to the flesh; not with eye-service,as men-pleasures, but in singleness ofheart, fearing God : And whatsoever ye do,do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not untomen; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receivetho reward of the inheritance, for yeserve the Lord Christ." What can the humanmind disoern in this Scripture, but an

approval of slavery; that the servant is orderedto serve his master, and in so doing heserves God ? All this is consistent with thelaw of God, which ordained slavery beforeChrist came, who came not to abrogate, butto fulfil the law.

In the next place, are the buyers and holdersof slaves philanthropists ? It. is only a

false philanthropy which frowns on Africanslavery, disregarding Holy Writ, and in theimpotent folly of human wisdom^ seeking a

higher law than what has been given by Omniscience.Abolitionism in this country isthe offspring of that mistaken philosophywhich was taught by the poets, orators andmoralists of Europe about the time of our

Revolution, and of the fanatic genius of uni1! *__ t r J J -

versai equality wnicn iorerau ana roue uu

the storm of the French Revolution. Some,however of the wisest and best theologiansof Europe have vindicated and approved ofthe African slave trade, and amoug thesewas the Rev. John Newton. The impressof erroneous sentiments found its way. aboutthat time, to America; and Thomas Jeffersonand others wrote against slavery, as contraryto humanity and political equality. Howevergreat Jefferson was as a politician, we shouldnot learn our morals from one who, likePaine, Yoltaire and Hume, rejected JesusChrist and denied his divinity. The announcementby Jefferson, in the Declaratiouof Independence, that "all men are createdequal," is a most egregious fallacy, whichhas been exploded by modern thinkers,and especially with signal ability by our latedistinguished statesman John C. Calhoun.The human race is no more entitled to equalityof civil liberty than to equality in property,to equality in physical strength, or to e-

equality in personal beauty. Civil libertyhas its degrees, and to suppose that all men

are entitled to share an equal portion of it,is refuted by the fact that all men are notfitted by nature and education for taking andbearing it, equally. Civilized communitiesand governments, such as we of the UnitedStates are, may take and bear a high degreeof liberty] but the ignorance, mental incapacityand barbarism of the African unfithim for that large degree of liberty, disqualifyhim for self-government, and make him,only to some extent, free and happy under a

civilized master, who is to exercise over himan absolute despotic but humane government.Every attempt by the African at self-gov,ernmenthas failed, or sunk him lower in thescale of liberty, and subjected him more andmore to the bondage of a corrupt nature, oflawless passion, of superstition and penury.Hajti and St. Domingo illustrate this ; andour own free colored population prove thatthey are not fitted for enjoying free government.God has so ordained it; and althoughthey may be Christianized, by contact with,and under the control of, the descendants ofShera aud Japheth, yet I venture to prophesythat they never will attain that elevationof mental culture which will enable them toset up for themselves an independent, freegovernment. Natura fivrit prona. If weconsider the miserable condition of the Africanin Western Africa, his slavery there, hisidolatry, barbarism, cannibalism and utterdepravity, and turn to look at his happy conditionunder his master here, who will notat once decide that the Northern people,who are planning and desiring to set freeand send back our negroes to Africa, arefalse philanthropists; and that we ire thetrue philanthropists, who are not only makingour slaves happy here, but are aimingto purchase and rescue more, from a miserablebondage in Africa, by transplanting themhither into an improved state of servitude?African slavery is a divine decree.

It will be useful, in this discussion but curiousnod mournful, to take a rapid view ofthegovernment aud some of the customs whichprevail in Western Africa; whereby we shallbe able to learn how important it is to the nativeAfrican to be brought hither in to contactwith American civilization. The whole ofWestern Africa is divided into small kingdoms,governed by kings who rule over theirpeople with the unrestrained authority of masters,exercising the most cruel and unmitigateddespotims. Polygamy is universal with allclasses, and the wife is the slave of her duskylord, who has as many wives as he can buy;his respectability being great iD proportion totheir number. The parent is allowed to sellhis offspring into slavery; and the price of a

wife is generally some trifle.a few trinkets,a few yards of cotton cloth, a bottle of whiskey,or a cow. The rich buy all the wo1men, and the poor youngmcn are left to sigh

1 L ? 1 M 1 Iana ourn 111 aesprur witu nopeicss passion, or

resort to artifices fop stolen and unlawful grat;ification, which generally is connived at bythe husband when known, because his chil:dren, being slaves, increase his wealth andpower; and with a large number of wives,he gladly subsidizes the vigor or wiqis at theamorous intrigues of love-lorn poverty. Thusthe land becomes broadcast with shamelessadultery. I speak from knowledge derivedfrom missionaries who have been amongthem for years, and who have found it utterily impossible to exterminate this system ofabominations. There arc, however, laws inAfrica against conjugal infidelity, whichsometimes are enforced. They have a cu|rious institution in Senegambia, called Mumi/>n .Titmhn V>v whiph ;in flrrimr roifo nr nnp

. ........

who has in some way offended her husband,is punished and disgraced. In a recent publication,entitled "» Western Africa," a bookwritten by llcv. Leighton Wilson, a distinguishedPresbyterian missionary, a nativeof Sumter, and for more than twenty yearsa faithful laborer in efforts to Christianize theAfrican in his own laud, we find. atpagcTG,the following, concerning^Muuibo Jumbo :" This mysterious personage, so frightful tothe whole race of African matrons, is a strong,athletic man, disguised in dry plantain leavesand bearing a rod in his hand, which heuses on proper occasions with unsparing severity.When invoked by an injured husband,he appears about the outskirts of thevillage at dusk, and commences all sorts ofpantomimes. After supper he ventures to the

town hall, where he commences his antics,and every grown person, male or female,must be present, or subject themselves tothe suspicion of having been kept away bya guilty conscience. The performance iskept up till midnight, when Mumbo suddenlysprings with the agility of the tiger on theoffender, and chastises her most soundly, amidstthe shouts and laughter of the multitude,in which the other women join more

heartily than anybody else; with the view,no doubt, of raising themselves above thesuspicion of such infidelity."

There is a general belief, throughoutWesternAfrica, in witchcraft, which is a capitaloffence, and is punished iu a murderous manner,by the red-wood ordeal, which is simplybringing the offender who is charged withbewitching somebody, before an assembly ofthe people, and forcing him to drink a poisonousdecoction of water from the red-wood,which generally produces death; and hisdeath is evidence of his guilt. Often thisordeal is resorted to against the innocent, to

gratify the worst passions in the accuser..

Should the accused escape death by anymeans, the prosecutor must submit to thesame ordeal, which is fortunately some

check to this bloody superstition. Such are

some of the customs which, with indolence,theft. Ivine and cannibalism, make the na-

tive African the most corrupt and degradedhuman being on earth ; and missionary laborhas done but little in four hundred years toChristianize; civilize or reform him ; and neverwill effect much while he remains on hisnative soil. What is the prospect when after400 years of Gospel preaching there, they eateach other, like delicious morsels rolled on

their tongues; when a subject may have a

thousand wives, and a king six thousand, as

Mr. Wilson said of the king of Loarigo;and when the king of Dehomi has an armyof 5,000 stalwart women, whom he oompelsto guard him and fight for him on the battlefield?It is recorded by Mr. Wilson, thatin a recent war against the city of Abeokuta,the Dehoman king would have lost his life,or been captured, "if it had not been for thedesperate and almost frantic fury with whiohhis Amazons defended his person." Thesefemale warriors, as is the custom with themen, wear no clothing, no dress, except a

small cotton shawl or napkin, tied round thewaist, falling down and covering little more

than mother Eve's fig leaves. Nearly naked,without fortifications except the breastworkswhich nature has bestowed on them, thesewomen, with savage ferocity, apparentlywithout setise of fear, because without themental capacity to appreciate danger, havescarce a thought but how to kill, and thoughwild as tigresses, fight with almost the effectof a Roman Legion.a barbarian wonder!But these people must and will be Christianized,because it is the will of (rod; andHe has graciously made the white man instrumentalin bringing thousands of themfrom their bondage and barbarism in Africa,and introducing them here to a mild, humaneservitude, under Christian masters. In theMinutes of the last South Carolina Conference

of the Methodist Episcopal Church, itis reported that 200,000 negroes live in therange of its ministry, and of that number45,000 are church members.nearly onefourthof the whole number; that missionarylabor is employed on 330 plantations;and that 820,000 had been appropriated theyear before, for this good work. In thelanguage of the Report of the Managers ofMissions, "As Christianity was slow to penetrate barbarism, God has brought barbarismto Christianity, that the Christian slave mightbe made happier than an African king.".And yet the false philanthropy of the Northwould deprive our slaves of their happy con-

dition and prospects here, to send tbetp backto Africa.

It is not proposed in re-opening the Africanslave trade, to institute anew the systemof kidnapping, once practised, but to establisha lawful commerce in purchasing forfairmarket value in Africa, such slaves as are

held by masters there; and surely no onewillsay that it is wrong to purchase a slavefrom a barbarous tyrant in Guinea or Kongo,to briug him hither, where he will have a

good Christian owner, who will instruct himand provide for all his wants, and especiallyendeavor to illuminate the midnight darknessof his soul with rays of blissful light.If we are wrong to do this, we are equallyor more wrong to buy slaves from each otherin America. All that has been said of thehorrors of the middle passage, would be avoidedin a lawful trade, since, by the employmentof steamships, doubtless mannedby abolitionists, negroes may be comfortablybrought in a short time across the Atlantic,to our shores.We see that re-opening the African slave

trade is consistent with Christianity and beneficialto the African ; and now let us considerthe benefits which will result from it tothe Caucasian race; and especially to theSouthern section of the United States.

It is indispensably necessary to have more

slave labor to develop the agricultural andother resources of the Southern States, andto elevate our sections to the highest conditionof which it is capable, in wealth, intelligenceand power. The slaveholdingStatescontain an area of 1,000,000 of square miles,or 640,000,000 of acres. Of this vast territory,ouly one acre in ten has been improved,(see census of 1^50,) and this improvedland embraces all that has been merelyfenced and used for uncleared pasture..Only 5,000,000 of acres are planted in cotton,or one acre in 128. In the South-West;em States, where the best lands lie, only one

acre in 20 has been improved, and of theseimproved lands a large portion is not clearedor planted. The best lands in the South lieunder the dominion of water, subject to miasma,and the African race alone can reclaimthem. The white man never will do thiswithout the aid of negro slavery. Small as

the proportion of land is that is cultivated,in the South, the cotton crop is over 3,000,000of bales in good seasons, and the wholecrops constituting the domestic exports of

i

the South are, iD round numbers, worth8172,000,000, while those of the NorthernStates arc worth only 883,000,000, (see lastReport of U. S. Secretary of the Treasury.)This shows what we are, and what we mightbe, In the South, if our land was under extensivecultivation, instead of the small portionnow producing crops; and the cultivationof even one-half would leave forestland in abundance for all the uses to whichit might be applied and for which it wouldbe wanted in civilized life. If we wait forthe natural increase of our 4,000,000 of slavesto supply us with labor to bring our countryto a high state of improvement, we shall waitin vain. The world will grow hoary with

a.z -ii j a.laage; generations win pass away; auu wiu

forests will perish and spring again out oftheir dust and ashes, before this desirableconsummation will take place. We owe itto ourselves and posterity to make progressin this grand road to national greatness andindividual posterity, while we are on" theearth and able to work. Then let us haveno delay. If it be said that we may havetoo many slaves, and their labor would thusbe unprofitable, I answer that the number tobe introduced from Africa maybe graduatedto the wants of the country, by law, so as toprevent too great an influx of slaves at one

time. When new, untaught negroes come,it will require time to teach them, as well as

time to procure them, and by proper laws thetrade may be regulated for the public good.We cannot begin this enterprise too soon :

we have no time to spare.The number of slaves would not be too

great if it was gradually increased to fourtimes that of the white population of thocoutn. At present, tnc wnite populationdouble: that of the slaves, in our section :

8,000,000 of white people, against 4,000,000of slaves.Let us take some light from the lamp of

history. In the most enlightened and powerfulnations of antiquity, their slaves greatlyoutnumbered the free population. Thonumber of slaves in Athens was thirteen-times that of the free people. In Sparta,the land of heroes, the birth-place of Leonidas,whom Thermopylae crowned with immortalglory, there were 31,000 free citizenswhen there were 220,000 helots, degradedslaves, and 120,000of the intermediate classnot entitled to'political rights. Gibbon says,that in the time when the Emperor Claudiusexercised the office of censor, he took an accountof the number of the ltoman people,and concludes by saying that the slaves wereequal in number to the free people of thewhole Roman world. Some idea of thenumber of slaves in Italy, about the adventof Christ, may be had from the fact thatCrassns, the triumvir and colleague of JuliusCmsar, owned 18,000 slaves. All theGreek and Roman slaves were white, andsome of them highly educated. Blade slaveswere little, if at all, known till the openingof the slave trade, in Western Africa, aboutthe year 1450, in the time of Pope MartinV., who held in bondage the first ten slavesbrought from thence. This large proportionof slaves in these three celebrated ancientnatious, never gave any uneasiness from dreadof insurrections. The Helots were sometimesinsubordinate, but were easily broughtto order. The existence of slavery was atthe very foundation of Grecian and Roman

. mi.- -t _..k: i-.i it. :igreatness. J.11C slaves cuuiviueu me sun

and practised the mechanic arts, so as to enablethe free citizens to cultivate all the artsand sciences, both of peace and war, bywhich they steadily ascended the steeps offame and have left, though a fallen people,monuments of their greatness, which excitethe wonder of modern times, and which willsecure them imperishable renown.

Some ingenious writer has recently saidthat the area of the Mississippi basin is largeenough and rich enough to sustain r populationequal to that of the whole number ofthe human race on the globe. I am sure

that, comparing the Southern territory withthat of Ireland and China, a population of500,000,000 might be sustained in the slaveholdingStates, with more comfort than is.enjoyed in either of those countries. Thinkof Ireland having 8,000,000 of people, withan area not as large as some of our States,while the whole South, in black and white,now numbers but about 12,000,000! Amember of Congress lately said, that in one

bend of the Mississippi river there was landenough to employ all the slaves in Virginia.This, too, is land which will produce 2000pounds of seed cotton per acre, and ten balesmay be made per hand.By supplying the demand for slaves in the

Western States from Africa, we will stop thedrain from the Eastern and older States andthus keep them identified with the new Statesin supporting the institution.By increasing the number of slaves here,

the African slave trade would give additionalstrength and stability to the institution ofslavery; and certainly, when the fanaticalspirit of the world is arraying a formidableopposition to the South, it is the part of wisdom

and duty to fortify ourselves in everyway and as speedily as possible. In the South,at least one-half of the people are not slaveholders,because the price of slaves is so

high that the honest poor man cannot buythem. Let the number be increased so as

to bring down the price, and all the industrious,aspiring poor people will become slaveowuers,become identified in feeling and interestwith the institution; and when this isdone, a pillar will be erected under the fabricof slavery which will render it impregnableagainst all the combined powers of abolitionists.It cannot be disguised, that theman who is shut out by poverty and the highprice of negroes, from holding and enjoyingthis property, now held only by the rich or

fortunate, will not have the same sympathywith slaveholders which interest would inspire.Nevertheless, I believe that the patrioticpoor man, though not a slave-owner,who sees his country's power and glory dependent,as they are, on the continued existenceof slavery, will arm and fight side byside with the rich, in its defense. If, there*

fore, his condition and that of the countrymay be benefitted by re opening the slavetrade, it is due to him, it is right, und imperativelydemanded by justice and the commongood, that all classes in the South shouldunite to institute so desirable a measure ofpublic policy.

All classes, rich and poor will be benefitted.If the price of slaves be diminished,the rich can buy more, and all are slave-buyers.No one desires to sell, unless compelledby debt or some other cause to do so: andif slave labor is increased, land will rise inprice, because there will be greater demandfor it; and this will more than compensatefor any loss in the value of negroes. If cottonshould fall in value, more can be madewith additional and cheaper labor, more landsbrought under cultivation and reclaimedplantations better improved, better residencesbuilt, and all the comforts and luxuriesof life increased. But it will take so longa time to make new, untaught Africans valuableas laborers, that, with the natural increaseof population in the world, and itsknown law of outrunning production, itwonld require a large increase of labor, a

long time, and a great addition to the amountof cotton produced, to bring down or affectits price. Besides, there are so many otherchannels in which slave labor is employed or

desired, that if there should be a danger ofover-producingcotton, labor might be partiallydiverted from its culture. Mankind, iflet alone, will always know bow to regulatebest their own business and interests. Letus^have the muscular power wherewith towork, and the almost immense wilderness ofthe South will blossom with remunerativecrops. Is it not tantalizing to our people toknow that they have millions of acres of therichest lauds in the world, and that a cruellegal restriction prevents them from acquir-ing the labor necessary to till them and torealize those visions of prosperity which are

floating before their minds? They see howthey can grow rich beyond the dreams ofavarice, but law stands in their way- Is itthe end of law to prevent a people from becomingprosperous and happy? I have beentaught that laws were intended for the publicgood, that is to say, "for the greatestgood of the greatest number." Considerthe numerous demands for slave labor, besidesfor the production of cotton, sugar,breadstuflfs and tobacco, and it will be seenthat a large increase of slave labor is necessary.Labor is needed for clearing and drainingnew and fertile lands; for making railroads; for manufactures and the mechanicarts. It is a proposition too well proved,that no nation can attain the highest degreeof liberty, independence and power, withoutthe trinity, of agriculture, manufactures andcommerce. Agriculture alone will not makeus entirely independent; in and slave labormay well be employed in manufactures andin the preparatory departments of commerce.A state of war especially illustrates thenecessity for commerce and manufactures..Agriculture does not produce caDnon balls,arms and ammunition ; a ready-made shirtor pant-aloon never hangs out of a cottonboll; a war steamer or line-of-bnttle shipnever grows, like a live oak, out of theground ; but these things are the results ofcommerce and manufactures; and if slavelabor should become redundant in agriculture,it might nud would bo made a greatblessing to our country when a portion of itshould be diverted into numerous other occupationsin aid of our national protectionand independence.

Let us have no fear of an overflowing population,either white or black. "Sufficientunto the day is the evil thereof." Since thegreat Flood, it has been about 5000 years,and a large portion of the world is yet uninhabitedaud unimproved. Let us go on inonr course of improvement."do our duty,and leave the consequences to God." Wecannot lift the veil which is spread before thefuture, but the probability is, that when slaveryshall reclaim our forests, drain our richswamps, drive Neptune with his trident intothe ocean, bring under cultivation all that isdesirable in our present wide-extended country,Caucasian civilization will find then, andperhaps before then, other fields provided forits extension and for the employment of Africanlabor. Toppling and crumbling governmentsin the South seem to invoke our

aid, and lands rich in soil and minerals, now

almost desolate, are destined for our possessions.The Southern people will have Mexicowhenever it is needed; and Cuba, the

beautiful queen of the Gulf, smiling upon us

through her tears, "like gleams of sunshine'mid renewing storms," beckons us to comeand possess her and enjoy her treasures..African laboraloue can make these fair realmsvaluable and profitable. With thattheSouthwill grow in wealth, beauty and power;without it. rude nature will overrun all our

improvements, assert her ancientempire overa howling wilderness, and our people will bedoomed to a slow, terrapin progress, if not toa mournful retrogression.

The attempt of the Northern abolitioniststo emancipate, is so ridiculous and and absurdas scarcely to deserve a notice. Thepresent plan, as suggested by Elihu Burritt,is to raise money by contribution throughoutthe Union and elsewhere, to buy all theslaves at 8250 each. The value of 4,000,000of slaves, at 8500 each.about theirmarket worth.would be 82,000,000,000,and at. 8250 each, just half that sum..

Southern men, even if disposed to sell theirslaves, would not take half-price, to pleasecrazy abolitionists, and if they could be inducedto do so, fanaticism has not so overcome

tin love of money as to furnish themeans to pay so large a sum. Besides this,there is no proposal to take the emancipatednegroes away, or colonize them in anotherland. This would be indispensable to

us, but would require so much more moneyas to make the scheme appear what it is, amere vision of distempered fancy. Abolitionismmay feel for the supposed sufferingsof negro slaves, but never feels much in thepocket to aid them.

The value of slave labor may be seen at a

glance, by comparing the money power of theSouth with that of the North. The North,with double our population, exports less thanhalf the amout annually which is exportedby the South, as I have before shown. Thisgives the South superiority in nationalstrength over the North; and in a war ofdefence, with slaves to till the soil for thesupport of armies in the field and ficete onthe ocean, with a long line of sea-coast, goodharbors, and a wide extent of territory,which is a natural bulwark, we may regardourselves, without boasting, as invincible..The large revenue of the South would, intime of war, enable us to supply all the needfularms of service, and if men should bewanting, to hire soldiers from abroad. TheColonies had, we know, in the Revolution,as much trouble in fighting the mercenaryHessians as the native British.What would the South be now, if slave

labor had never been employed ? Insteadof our hills and valleys teeming with richcrops, our flourishing cities and towns, our

comfortable residences dotting the wholeland, aud our large yearly incomes, oar

country would now be a desert waste. In- *

stead of exciting the envy of the North andthe respect of other nations, chill penarywould preside over our obscure condition,and

"Freeze the genial current of the soul,"while neighboring and foreign grandeurwould look on us "with a disdainful smile."But the tide of Southern prosperity waschecked by prohibiting, after the year 1808,the importation of slaves; and now, especiallysince the great additions which havebeen made to our territory, in the SouthWest,the necessity for rc-opening the Africanslave trade becomes manifest. The independenceof our wealthy slaveholders inthe South will not stifle their patriotism,throw obstacles in the way of this salutarymeasure, and thns prevent the onward rapidmarch of their country to her meridiansplendor and power. Let us not be contentwith merely doing well; but let our mottobe, Excelsior.

Slavery fortifies in a free people the loveof liberty and devotion to country. Menwho are acoustomed to be masters will notsubmit to aggression on tbeir rights, or palebefore the countenance of insolent tyranny.Slavery is one of the elements constitutingSouthern chivalry; and nowhere among thecolonics in the Revolution was the motto of"Liberty or Death" followed and obeyed withmore sclf-sacrificing enthusiasm than by theSouthern people.

Governor Adams, in his message to ourlast Legislature, very well says, among manygood thing, that the increasing price of cottonwill induce its production in the EastIndies and elsewhere, and endanger the monopolynow enjoyed by the South in its production; that it is necessary, in order tosupport this monoply, to have more slavelabor in the South to supply the growing demandin the world for the article; that iffree labor is to compete with slave labor inthe South, it'will weaken slavery; that tostrengthen the institution,one slave in qvety,family should be exempt from levy and salefor debts hereafter sto be contractedandthat the act of Congress making the slavetrade piracy "is a brand upon us," whichought to be removed, because, "if the tradebe piracy the slave must be plunder." GovernorAdams deserves great credit for bisbold and sensible advocacy of re-opening thistrade. Condemned at first by some, be isdestined to enjoy the general plaudits of hiscountry.

I conclude this branch of the subject byremarking, what I hinted at before, thatslave labor was auxiliary, if not essential, inbuilding up Roman power. From a smallbeginning, limited to the citv*Rome be- \

came first the mistress of Italy and Sicily, Vand afterwards of the world. The iofroduc- \tion of slaves was never repressed there : Vthe slave trade was always open, and history .

does not inform us that any oomplaint wasever made in Rome or her extended territory,of a redundant slave population. Slaveryfostered the arts and sciences by affordingthe free citizens leisure for their pursuit,improved the spirit of the people, broughtmoney into the treasury, and erected thosesplendid models of architecture which havebeen unrivalled to this day. Rome fell bythe corruption of berpeople, which was pullingher down, about the coming of Christon earth. She fell from her greatness whenshe lost her respect for virtue and surrenderedto licentiousness and enervating luxury.

"Self-abasement pared the wayTo villain bonds and despots' s^ay."

The re-openit)g of the slave trade is practicable.The Constitution of the UnitedStates does not forbid it, but simply providesthat it should not he prohibited byCongress, prior to 1808. After that period,Congress passed a law making it piracy toengage in this trade. Congress can repealthis law, by a bare majority, and re-open theslave trade, with such regulations and restrictionsas the interest of the South ..may dictate.

It is the true interest of the North tocreate this new order of things becaus, amongother investments, the North has8600,000,000 invested in manufactures,and would be benefitted by increased sup-plies of cotton and diminished prices of thearticle. The whole manufacturing worldwould be benefitted in the same way. Intime of peace, plenty and ordinary health,population doubles in 20 years. Before wecan begin to increase the supply of cotton,the depend will probably be so great 88 tostop, to a considerable extent, the manufac*tureof it; and the capital that would bethus employed will find other channels, jerjmuch to our injury.

I believe that if we are true to ourselvesiu pressing this measure before Congress*that the slave trade will be re-opened. Ifwe put the issue to the North, of dissolvingthe Union if the slave trade is not re-openedby Congress, we will suoeeeed ,* becabse theNorth loves the Union more than It hattt

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