A just law.
The resolution proposed in Congress to forbid the sale of slaves to the
South, from such States as may be tempted to accept the emancipation measure proposed by
Lincoln, is one of obvious notice and policy.
We hope it may be passed without delay.
We have no idea that any of the
Border States, perhaps not even
Delaware, will be tempted by
Lincoln's unblushing attempt at bribery and corruption, but we should fortify their patriotism by every proper consideration.
We know of none which will have a better effect than this on such of their Union population as may be disposed to surrender their institutions at the first bid of the corrupt dynasty in
Washington.
We have always observed that the anti-slavery philanthropists, whether in non slaveholding or slaveholding communities, (for there are some of these gentry in hordes slave States) have a keen eye for the main chance.
We never heard of but one abolitionist in
America (
Gerrit Smith) putting his hand in his pocket to relieve the slave.
We are all aware that
Mrs. Stowe made a fortune out of ‘"Uncle Tom"’ and, moreover, that she collected large sums in
Great Britain for the benefit of the ‘"sable children of oppression," ’ but she has never given the first dollar of her own means to their relief, nor have we ever heard that she accounted for even that of which she was the trustee for their benefit.
Her brother,
H. W. Beecher, has also made a fortune out of slavery agitation, but if he ever gave ten cents to a negro, he kept his alms a profound secret that his nearest neighbor never suspected him of the charity.
And so it is with all of them.
It is so with Abolitionism in
England, which, willing to abolish its neighbor's property, always treats its own with the most sacred reverence.
England only abolished slavery in
Jamaica as the calculation that free labor would be more profitable to her commercial interests, and of the small sum of twenty millions that the experiment cost, has never to this day paid anything but the interest.
Abolition philosophy softens the brain and sacrifice the heart.
We have met in our time with half a dozen slaveholders who were opposed to slavery and said they considered it a moral, social, and political exit, but when we asked them why they did not liberate their slaves, they said they could not afford it. Put philanthropy in one scale, and pounds, shillings and pence in the other, and the first soon kicks the beam.
Slavery, even in the
Northern States, might not have been abolished to this day, if the
Northern slaveholder had not a market in the
South of which he could dispose of his slaves.
As soon as the prospective emancipation act was passed the
Northern negroes were sold to the
South, just as they would be now, if the border slave States were to accept
Lincoln's proffer and abolitionize their section.
We know the true and loyal Southern portion of them will regard his proposition with contempt, but there is a corrupt element in midst, mostly of Northern origin, with the addition of some native born Shots, who consider slave labor a curse to any society that requires watching, and can only be check-mated by appeals to their cupidity and selfishness.
