HIil8€5 U5J N.Y. S COLLEGE OF )C E ^ c. u Cornell Xaniverstt^ OF THE IRew l?orJ? State eoUeae of Hsriculture .C-IL :l. s-7..x ^/LfJ..ps\ 1633 Cornell University Library HD 4865.U5J The American planter; or, The bound labor 3 1924 013 720 796 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013720796 THE AMERICAN PLANTER. THE AMERICAN PLANTER: BOUND LABOR INTEREST itititeii States. BY M. A. JTJQE. IsEW TOEK: LONa AND BROTHER, 43 ANN STREET. 1854. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by M. A. JUGE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United Statu- for the Southern DiBtrict of New York. INTRODUCTION. CoNSiDEEtNG the Boiind Labor Interest in the United States as of the first importance in the economy of the human society, the Author has devoted the following lines to it, in order to show what particular claims it has to the candid consideration of the public and the legislative care of governments. What- ever may be its historical basis its necessity is yet so urgent, its utility so great, and its vitality so vigorous, that the argu- mentation on it would little gain by historical detail. "We must not seek for the key to the correct understanding of the slavery question in the United States, or elsewhere, in its special history, or the individual management of bound labor on this or that plantation, but in the history of the culture of our race m general. "We have endeavored ourselves to give it in a comprehensive form in the first part. If we have succeeded in this, there will be no diificulty between ourselves and the reader to come to an understanding about the other parts, treating the bound labor question in pohtical and religious regard, and in regard to the policy of our government and others. Here is debatable ground. We invite all who write and speak against bound labor to refute our first part, or to prove that the laws of our social development do not make this labor system a lever of culture. Our own Federal government has managed the wild Indians, not so as our ancestors have managed the wild Africans. IV nrrEODucTioN. "Well, what is the result of the liberal policy (as it is called) of our Congress ? Its own official reports confess it plainly — a total failure. The time and treasure spent for years for their culture have not produced so much mundane profit, as a single Louisiana plantation produces in one year. This liberal indul- ging policy has ruined and almost extirpated the Indians. If they would have been at once bound to labor and domes- ticated, and their tribe organization broken up entirely, just as practical man did with the wild negroes, a labor force would have been gained for the benefit of all interested and of the whole society, similar to that of the African bound labor. Thus this method is not inhuman. It may be abused, but what is exempt of abuse ? The great attention bestowed in our times to a proper esti- mation of labor has its good reasons. Still niost of the writers mistake the nature of labor entirely. Labor is iron-born ; it is the hard granite foundation of our existence ; it ought to be rewarded ; still there is no better reward imaginable for the labor enforced from a savage man, than his daily bread, neces- sary clothing and shelter ; all other methods will ruin him, just as our Indians got spoiled by the stipends and pensions of Congress. The harmony and strength of our Union are endangered by erroneous notions about bound labor. To promote the first, every task to shed light upon this subject should be favorably received. BOUNI) LABOE IN THE UNITED STATES. PART I. BOtTND LABOR IN THE tTNITED STATES IN SOCIAL EBGARD. Interest, or profit, is the result of a disparity of circumstances im- proved by the favored party. The inferiority of the African race, and the superiority of the Europeo-American race— a disparity which, from paramount natural causes, probably will last for ever — have given rise to that great interest, called Bound Labor, in the United States. The scarcity and high price of labor in civilized society ; the impracticability of employing white persons on the fields in a high southern clime ; the vicinity of Africa, whose natives, especially on the Atlantic coast, have been, since time immemorial, used as bound laborers at home and abroad, are the causes of perpetuating and systematizing this African bound labor. The result of this operation has been the promotion of the husbandry and comfort in the colonies, and the gradual develop- ment of the culture of cotton and sugar in our days — to say nothing of rice, corn, tobacco, etc., which constitute one of the grand interests reared by human industry. Talcing cotton alone, is it not, for a thou- sand reasons, one of the most indispensable materials in the household of the world ? If the crops of sugar, potatoes, corn, rice, or wine, al- though of vast importance and value, should fail, it never would, espe- cially in the United States, produce such general mundane derange- ments, as necessarily would follow from a sudden disappearance of the cotton staple from the market. Because for sugar, potatoes, corn, rice, and wine we may find surrogates, and with tobacco we may dispense 6 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. at any time entirely ; but cotton, to our knowledge, cannot be replaced by any substance. The annual value of cotton produced by bound la- bor in the United States is about one hundred million dollars. How the perfection in the manufacture of this beautiful gift of heaven has improved the comfort and outward appearance of mankind, in all parts of the world, is well known. It has been highly instrumental in the political and moral improvement of mankind ; for each political pro- gress, each step onward to freedom, is a moral progress too. And has not the outside appearance a mighty share in equalizing man socially and politically ? Now, what is at the bottom of all these phenomena but the Bound Labor in the United States ? Another most interesting effect of this Labor system is the introduc- tion of civilization into Africa — in vain attempted by the Dutch and others — in consequence of the settlement of Liberia ; an act of profound wisdom and practical philanthropy. It is th.e first dawning of civiliza- tion in Africa. To prevent misunderstanding, we insert a few remarks on the pro- per meaning of the words " civilization " and " culture." ' Civilization,' in its proper sense, denotes the state of development of civism; i. e. of civil liberty, personal freedom, and independence ; the opposite or contrast of subjection, relying entirely upon the innate force of self- government. It is essentially masculine. The word ' culture ' denotes the state of development of refinement • i. e. of personal training by edu- cation in -our homes, and sciences, arts, industry, sumptuary laws, police, subjection, slavery. Its opposite is savageness. Cultm-e is essentially feminine. These notions are, in a too common, careless manner, used promiscu- ously, as it happens with other words of equally distinct meaning, viz. ' education ' and ' instruction,' ' nation ' and ' people.' ' Education,' in our public schools, is but instruction ; ' people,' in the United States, do not form a nation. The subject of this treatise requires rather a strict logical use of the terms ' civilization ' and ' culture.' Liberia excepted, there is no trace of civilization in Africa, so far as known. It is a continent of subjection, which, by itself, excludes civilization. Sub- ject men are such for being yet too much matter, and destitute of civism. Still the' Africans have some culture, more or less. In general they are BOtrND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 7 wretchedly abject. But this state of society in Africa, how much phi- lanthropists or enthusiasts may lament ahout it, has its mundane provi- dential advantages, in regard to the gradual development of human society. It assists, at present, the industry of civilized men in America, there where no other labor force is practicable ; and, in consequence of the steady progress of civilization, there will come a time, when Europe, and first Great Britain, will be in need of the same assistance from her next door neighbors, the Africans. The geographical position of Africa, between the best parts of our terra firma, seems to ,be well calculated for this help in need. Asia exhibits a different aspect. Her society has been long, long ago in a high state of culture. Her numerous metropolises once surpassed in luxury our modern Babels. Still the Asiatics never were civilized, never aimed at civism. Roving nomades are brave and daring, but the easy dupes of Tamerlanes, Mahomeds, and Czars. Their bravery aims at rich spoils, and terminates in subjection. In Europe civilization is spreading, but has not yet penetrated the masses. Of course, there is much culture in Europe. Still the Euro- peans, with hardly any exception of consequence, are yet subject, i. e. treated like property. It is but bad grammar to talk of European civi- lization. The Swiss are graciously permitted to call themselves inde- pendent, in due consideration of their loyal services as body-guards of despots, in Naples and elsewhere. We again say, Civism and Civilization exclude all subjection, are en- tirely opposed to it ; whilst culture, in a certain measure, is found every- where among men, subject or not. Civilization proper, at present does exist on a large scale nowhere, ex- cept in the United States. There is no genuine civilization in Mexico and the Southern American republics. The citizens of the United States are in truth politically self-governing. Other social organizations, as the church, are subordinate to state. This is civism or civilization, the highest degree of social development. A citizen of the United States may be a pattern of civism, the bravest republican, the best pa- triot ; still he may be such without much culture. Washington, the prototype of civism, was destitute of many of those accomplishments derived from culture. Franklin had of both a well balanced share. 8 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. People who raise to the skies the Jenny Linds, and calumniate the Kos- suths, are cultivated at the expense of civism. The Frenchmen may be the best cultivated men, but they are the least civilized men under the sun. Hence their abortive experiments with republics in Paris. English- men possess more civilization than the French, but their coarse luxury and heavy loyalty to fashion, rank, caste, and mammon, hinder them from making the right use of it. Thus they prefer to be crown-property or subject. The Germans, too, are nearer to true civilization than the French ; still, they are over-cultivated by their state professors, state schoolmas- ters, state drill-sergeants, and state gensdarmes. The recent failures of their curious attempts at self-government prove their incapacity for prac- tical self-control, and that the masses know nothing about civism. The over-cultivated or educated Germans are, like the Parisians, in the bad habit of trying to realize, instead of common sense justice, by their republics, all kinds of philosophical, pedagogical, sesthetical, and politico- economical ideals. Hence their failures. Catholicism aims at culture, Protestantism at civilization. A civilized man is self-made, fond of liberty and politics, and skilful in governing and organizing ; he is associative, practical, speculative, in- ventive, very acquisitive and progressive; he is honest, chivalric, patri- otic, cosmopolitic, law-abiding ; he is not very obhging, but kind, re- ligious, tolerant; he is decidedly disinclined to hard confining labor and service, also, in a standing army. If practically cultivated, he is a noble man — Nature's best work. The cultivated man is drilled, loyal, humble, subject, obliging, polite ; he is fond of school-philosophy, fine arts, sciences ; he is enthusiastic, ex- citable, unpractical, laborious, jack-of-all-trades, rebellious without pur- pose, superstitious or rationalist, and ready to service also in standing armies, and to do hard work in factories, etc. If civilized, he is an orna- ment to society — Arts best work. The Barnums live upon the support of cultivated men, and are pa- tronized by queens ; the Editors live upon that of civilized men, and are persecuted by emperors. The more Ole Bulls, the fewer Monroes. In consequence of an enthusiastic excitement for culture by means of state forces, in the European style, society in the United States is advancing in culture, and retrogi-ading in civilization. Thus, Mr. Hale was right BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 9 when he declared, from his seat in the Senate chamber, that, at present, the Federal Constitution could not be made ; as certainly not, as neither the French, Germans, nor English understand her merits, nor have nerve enough to copy and adopt her. Thus, we add, we improve in feminine, vicious, imperial luxury, and lose in manly, honest, republican simpli- city. We should already have arrived at the end of our bright repub- lican days, if the Alleghany mountains had been, indeed, the Western terminus. The development of society is a uniform, steady, regular progress. As children begin their social existence under the guidance of their masters, called parents, in a helpless state and a kind of subjection, like little slaves, so mankind began their social existence in slavery under the guidance of masters called patriarchs, later kings, etc. Gradually in the child reason is developed and matter brought under her control, and the child becomes a person. It takes an age to make a person, or to raise a child upon the actual level of society ; but it requires ages to raise society en masse upon a higher level. The history of society is said to be old, but really, it begins, hke mankind, every day anew ; oi-, is there not in our present days as much slavery and serfdom in Africa, Asia, Europe, and America, as in the patriarchal times, recorded by fabu- lous history, and perhaps more, in proportion to the increased bulk of society ? African humanity is entirely matter or slave. That in Asia is only a little less so. The Chinese are just at work to break through this level ; they may succeed to change the dynasty, as the Greeks, Bel- gians, and Frenchmen did, but they will remain, in good Asiatic style, subject. Also society in Europe is matter, and managed like property, still less so than that in Asia. The war in the East is a symptom of an upheaving of this social level. The phenomenon, of course, takes place there where subjection is worst. Individuals who, favored by nature and circumstances, are overtower- ing the common level of social culture, are called geniuses, heroes, demi- gods, saviors, etc. They often rise in Asia and Europe ; they are un- known in Africa, and scarce in the United States, or civilized society, for obvious reasons. If such persons, who break through the hard crust of the social level, merge from an ocean of misery, they become religionists, philanthropists. ■10 BOUND LABOR IN THK UNITED STATES, Examples are here innumerable, from Moses and Jesus down to Mrs. Fry. If they see from their heights in the valleys below oppression, they sound the notes of patriotism and liberty, as agitators, liberators, and warriors, like the Kossuths, Lafayettes, Washingtons, and William Tells. If heaven-born enthusiasm swells their breasts, such men may become founders of empires, like, the Mahomeds. The originals among those social level-breakers are, like the comets, endowed with the power of forming new social mundane phases. They are few. The rest are like meteors or flying fishes, appearing for a few moments over the level horizon to sink again into the ocean. Genuine enthusiasts are at once practical, conceited philanthropists always unpractical : the first work out that salvation of society for which it is prepared ; the second work out their fancies, vrithout due regard whether society is prepared for their realization or not. They are rather stubborn men, and doing much mischief. Some European philanthropists have turned their minda to the abo- lition of slavery in the colonies subject to their governments. They have found imitators in the colonies, and, now, in the United States. As stimulants of social progress they are right in their way. But they often forget that there is a very large margin left between stimulation and progress itself. A bird's-eye view of human society shows that subjection, serfdom, and slavery included, is the rule, and civilization the exception ; and that from slavery, the lowest degree of subjection, to civihzation is an immense distance, over which society, en masse, in con- formity with the laws of nature and not of man, is moving on, step by step, slowly. Of this movement, amongst the ancients, Aristotle had the correctest notions. Enthusiasts invariably produce social ruin by advocating measures against this progressive march of time or society, and enforcing them by state-power. This happens with the slavery- abolitionists. To liberate the negro-slaves in Jamaica is nothing but the immersion, at once, of the society in Africa into that of Europe, on a small scale. This, at the first glance, must appear as a hazardous non- expedient. Genuine philanthropists turn their mind to the reform of things, and not to their destruction. Lafayette, thus, thought that Louis- Philippe as king would keep society in France best in order. The elec- tion of Louis Napoleon by the people proves that he was right. The BOUND LABOK IN THE UNITED STATES. 11 French prefer yet subjection to self-government. O'Connell never pro- posed a republic to his countrymen, they would not manage it right to- day. Kossuth settled with Austria' on the common level of constitu- tional monarchism. If the monarchs in question would have acted faithfully, all would have been right. Luther never advised the aboli- tion of the Roman church, but only her reformation. The bound labor interest in America deserves to be treated likewise ; but, alas ! never has been treated thus. The English philanthropists insisted upon the abolition of the traffic with slaves between their colonies and Africa. Still, they forgot that the forced exportation of negroes is the only practical method of trans- planting them to America, for they will never leave Africa sponta- neously ; and thus this expatriation is in itself not a whit harder to those savage men, than the voluntary expatriation of the cultivated Irish or Germans to those. It is even the question whether, in the end, the situation of the bound emigrant negro is not in many regards easier than that of a volunteer emigrant, because for the first the master takes care, but the latter often would perish if charity, benevolent emigrant societies, and friends would not help him to start life anew. The English philanthropists seem to sympathize, par preference, with the native Afri- cans. The worst feature of American slaveiy — slave-breeding — has but little ^ attracted their attention. We easily may account for that, for something of this kind takes place within their own doors. The English- men are born to their royal master just as a bound laborer in America is, at present, bom to his labor master. It would be inconsistent, of course, to say much about American slave-breeding, for the easy repar- tee would be, English-subject or white-slave-breeding. Still the English philanthropists think it their duty to send lecturers and preachers to America to promote the cause of slave-abolition. We rejoice that the Americans are resenting this meddling with their affairs as civilized men ought to. Of course, the English enthusiasts have well taken care to declare those who would stir up the English to abolish subjection, and become self-governing freemen, rebels or traitors, and, if not hung, to send them, with the Meaghers and Mitchells, to Botany Bay. Thus, the English philanthropism, in this matter, must be called spurious, and a real calamity ; whilst the American philanthropism, in this matter, is 12 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. the worst of all eccentricities, because it aims at tke abolition of an in- terest which is guaranteed by the common law of the land, the Federal Constitution, which first must be abolished before a law-abiding man may insist upon the abolition of an interest guaranteed by it. There is not a vestige of sincerity and good feeling in this English philanthropy, otherwise the settlement of Liberia, by private citizens, would have given her another turn. This settlement is a product of genuine philanthropy. Since that time American slavery has become an African social question ; like Janus, it turns one face towards the west, promoting comfort and developing industry ; the other tbwards the east, spreading culture and even civilization. Why will those eastern philan- thropists not take hold of this grand social phenomenon, calculated to improve a race, i.e. an entirely different social stratum ? No, that is too practical for visionaries. They prefer to enforce the fusion, or rather con- fusion, of two eternally antagonistic races in Jamaica, Cuba, and in the United States too. And still these very chemists do not understand how to conglomerate their kin, the Irish, with their own society, so that they prefer expatriation, although to do this is easy, as shown by the harmo- nious society in the United States, fused together from all parts of the world. But conceited men cannot do anything practical, and so they try rather to fuse the Negi'oes and the Americans, or to make out of dark night and bright day a new harmonious whole — a finer day than that made by God. We doubt whether even the Liberians, civilized in America, may use- fully increase their society by a fusion with native Africans. They are too far remote in the scale of culture from the position of the Liberians. To civilize them on the native soil is impossible. It is also doubtful whether the Europeans can be civilized in Europe. Genuine philanthropy, therefore, must wish that Liberia should be for a long time peopled from the American negro stock, in order to strengthen her. Some have said that the Americans, when they, had escaped from European bondage, acted inconsistently by keeping bound laborers. Still there is no inconsistency in making use of this labor force by free civilized men ; for they only are in need of bound laborers, and know how to.keep them. Slaves do not keep slaves, and subjects do not make BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 13 subjects. It being a consequence or child of social necessity, a similar force like tbat used in schools, prisons, &c., is required to realize it. Subjection is also a necessity there where men are not able of governing themselves. Statesmen who turned philanthropists, or philanthropists who turned statesmen, and condemned bound labor, have failed to remove the necessity of it. Still the reform must begin there, for otherwise a power- ful reaction will baffle all their efforts to abolish it. They may succeed with their unpractical experiments in the small West Indian islands, inhabited by European subjects, who are too weak for an energetic reaction, but they will not succeed in the United States. Bound labor, wars, and massy migrations, are some of the gi-and levers and elements in the progress of mankind, according to the laws of nature. Paradox as it may seem to be, still, according to these laws, civiliza- tion is the principal cause of the Bound Labor system in the United States, defective as it is at present. The enterprising Americans, then Englishmen, took hold of those men on the lowest step of culture, the negroes, to domesticate them as laborers. And thus the negroes got drilled, manageable, industrious, useful, and their American offspring cultivated and even civilized. To train a savage, they found out that absolute domestic subjection is indispensable. Nothing but this can overcome his native indolence and stupidity. Through a similar process should our wild Indians go, and if possible in Europe, in order to train them to usefulness. Men often act by instinct, in conformity with the laws of nature, without knowing their purpose. " We work in dark- ness !" We maintain thus, that a society, composed exclusively of civilized men, cannot exist ; either it will break up, or, what is the same, sink into an abyss of filth, in spite of all artificial help from machinery and other expedients of relief, because there would be nobody to do service or hard work. In such an unnatural and intolerable situation would be society in the United States, if she were, like Japan, shut up from society in Europe and Airica. This, fortunately, has not been the case, until in Africa, of late. And thus the labor force vacuum in the United States has been filled up, and the equilibrium restored by a grand free immi- gration from Europe, and forced importation of labor forces from Africa 14 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. — the Africans being too indolent to be able to appreciate such a chance for themselves. Thus society in the United States became what she is. And history acknowledges — that there never has been a like social phenomenon before ! BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 16 PART II. JOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES IN POLITICAL REGARD. "When the Constitution of the United States was framed, bound labor existed in all the States. The practical authors of this document inserted, therefore, those general provisos, which were required for the government of this interest. Bound labor is, of course, constitutional in the United States. The passages concerning Bound Labor are as follows : — "Art. 1, Sec. 2. — Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor- tioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service, tod excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons." This is plain without comment. It is, besides, eminently liberal and humane as the whole Constitution. "lb. Sec. 9. — The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be pro- hibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person." This passage may as well have no bearing at all upon " bound laborers," but it is the only one which mentions a "prohibition of migration." It is not likely that it can be understood, as making it imperative for Congress to prohibit migration or importation of persons, leaving it rather to its discretion to enact such prohibitory laws or not. Still it proves that Congress has the power to regulate the importation of bonnd laborers, according to time and circumstances, in the Union. "Art. 4, Sec. 2. — No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor. 16 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom service or labor may be due." This proviso presupposes bound labor all over the United States, and is the basis of the celebrated compromise lavr, known under the name of the Fugitive Slave Law — a mere daguerreotype of a similar old law enacted under the presidency of Washington. Of course, about its con- stitutionality in general, there cannot be the least doubt. Both bound and free labor require such a protection also, without the precedent of a constitution, especially in a confederation of States. Allow us to remark, however, that in this law should be found a clause concerning the extinction of a claim of .a fugitive bound laborer, by the lapse of time or prescription. One year, perhaps, might have been sufficient time for a master to make up his mind whether he would claim a runaway slave or not. Such a clause would have saved much bitter irritation, consider- ing that at present slaves have been claimed who have resided for ten years and longer in their new homes in the bosom of a family. To break up such relations is a cruel, anti-social, and unpolitic act, not to be allowed by law. Still these passages, together with those which attribute to Congress the regulation of commerce with foreign nations, which includes the Police over the Oceans ; further, the naturalization of foreigners ; suffi- ciently prove that to this body belongs the main responsibility of the good and bad success and regulation of the bound labor interest in our Union, and that its acts in this regard are the supreme law of the land as long as the Federal Constitution remains as it is. There are at present about ten millions of men directly interested in the bound labor system in the United States, of whom three millions are colored, the rest whites. Indirectly all who work and use cotton have an interest in it. These are again counted by millions. Thus it will be seen that in numerical respect this interest is about equal to Spain. Still, the Spanish nation may be swallowed up by an earthquake with- out any discomfort of consequence for the rest of mankind, perhaps the Pope, Lord Howden (see Part IV.), and the Spanish state bond-holders in London or elsewhere excepted ; whilst a sudden stand-still of the cotton culture in the United States would plunge thousands and millions of mortals in both hemispheres into utter distress and misery. BOUND LABOR IN TIIK UNITED STATES. 17 The daily prayer of the lowly at present is : First give us bread, then cotton ! And should such an interest be left unprotected by the legislation of civilized men, or wantonly sacrificed to the diplomatic intrigues of foreigners, or carelessly exposed to the wicked and visionary machina- tions of politicians by trade, and fanatics at home ? Now, let us consider, in general, what, we think, is the duty of civil- ized men and their governments in regard to the regulation of Bound Labor. Government has, 1. To regulate the importation, to order, of native Africans, as bound laborers, for life, to prevent ill treatment and usage. In regard to the Bound Labor in the United States, there will be, first, necessary an extensive Consular or Agent intercourse between those and Liberia and other African countries. Further : there are regular factories, agencies, or expresses to be established to execute the orders. Thirdly : all importation of bound laborers, without direct orders, for speculators, should be prohibited. Fourthly : who sends an order for bound laborers to Africa should have it verified by an officer at home, and controlled by a consul or agent abroad, and be, eo ipso, bound to take proper care of them for life. This refers as well to citizens in Boston as in New Orleans. — We are prepared to hear from certain quar- ters : " This is scandalous ; this makes old Massachusetts a slave state !" "We reply : No. As little as old or young Massachusetts deserves the name of a shoemaker state, because there are some shoemakers in Linn, or of a whaling state, because there are some whalers kept in Nantucket, as little proper for her would be the epithet slave state on account of a few bound laborers kept by a citizen in Boston. The Federal Constitution wisely protects the industry, of which com- merce is a part as well as bound labor, in the Union in general. Is it, then, not a signifit'ant fact, that this bound labor business — a mere per- sonal afiair, and not at all referring to land or territory — ever could give rise to snch a curious epithet ; whilst it seems to be clear enough that^ under a well digested general law, bound African laborei-s may be kept in Boston, and even in London and Paris, as well as in Charleston, with- out producing slave states, slave Dixon and Mason lines, slave politics, 18 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. or any such tronUe wbicli the present American bound labor system is constantly stirring up ? All interference with the exportation of bound laborers from Africa, to order, by foreign governments (English or French) must be deprecated, or simply put down by force. But if our bound labor system is well organized, and our Government acts resolutely, there will be no difficulty in those regions. We should cease to sympathize with unpractical sentimentalists, be practical ourselves, and all will be right. Another view of the case. The final issue of the present, or any war in Europe, must be in favor of civil liberty, or republic, even if the Cos- sacks should for a while check it. Then society there will become by degrees in the same situation in which we find ourselves. It is true that the uniform temperate climate of Europe is in favor of a uniform system of the labor forces ; still, the rapid spreading of civilization will produce a scarcity of labor forces, for the emigi-ation of the laboring classes from Europe to this hemisphere will then rather increase than decrease, on account of the cheapness of land in America, and the preva- lent inclination of the Europeans rather to serve an American than one of their own countrymen. Then will come a time when Europe will be in need of African labor forces. The position of Africa is as favorable for this operation to Europe as to America. She is destined to be the great, central, mundane service and labor reservoir of the world. And then the European governments will be called upon to regulate the im- portation and keeping of bound laborers, and, among others, the British government first. Or, does there not already exist in Great Britain a rise of the price of labor only in consequence of the increase of the regu- lar emigration to our shores and those of Australia ? Do people, and especially the editors and other managers of public opinion, on the other side of the ocean, believe that this current will ever decrease ? Would it now, in time to come, be just to hinder an enterprising, duly civilized Englishman to introduce African laborers, domesticate them, and make them work as we do, if he cannot do without them ? Most certainly not, for it is vain to swim against the stream of time. 2. To forbid slave-markets and slave-breed inff, or the maxim : " Partus seguitur matrem." The acquisition of bound laborers takes place in Africa. For single BOUND LABOR IN THE UNJTED STATES. 19 instances, when laborers must be disposed of, there is no need of a market. The maxim, that a child born by a bound laboress must be a bound laborer, is good European but bad American, and against the instinct of civilized people. In such society neither stations, qualifications, nor offices can be acquired by birth. This is only endured by uncivilized society ; these people have emperors, tings, lords, prerogatives of castes and all kinds of offices, and laborers too, by birth. Our bound laborers, besides, form a distinct rac«. By allowing slave-breeding we cannot prevent race-crossing and race-spoiling. Civilized men, the real aristo- crats of human society, are justly anxious how to preserve a pure race ; not so are certain enthusiasts, or mere subjects. 3. To deferiiUHC how long children, born by bound laborers in Antirica, and therefore free, but who have been reared, schooled, and cultivated at the expense of the masters, arc legally bound to labor for them, in order to indemuify them, before they become practically independent. A term of twenty-one years, or less, but not more, may be adopted. To marry before that time should be forbidden. As factories are of late provided with schools for children who work there, so may plantations be provided with schools too. They are as necessary for the best in- terests of the planters, as their hospitals for those of the bound laborers. The law may further enact, that children of slaves, if they cannot find free labor when their free labor term arrives, should be obliged to con- tinue to work for their prior master, if he will keep them ; if not, that they should be exported to Africa. 4. To regulate the personal treatment of bound laborers by good police laws. It is unnecessary that the master, in a well regulated bound labor system, should consider himself as the proprietor of the laborers, for he is but the proprietor of the labor force, and nothing else. He and his bound laborers are personally controlled by and subject to laws. He is, however, the guardian or master of the slaves, and deserves as such, if kind and just, the esteem and thanks of mankind, for his is no easy task ; it is, if well done, more beneficial to society at large than to him, for many reasons. Under good laws, well administered, a cruel treat- ment of bound laborers will occur as seldom as that of free laborers. 20 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. We may then hope that the present anti-slavery opposition will evapo- rate. In the way it is carried on at present it never can produce any good. 5. To regulate the disposing of hound laborers at home, and to ordain that all idle or criminal America-Africans either shall be forced to return to bound labor, or expm-ted to Africa, respecting, under all circumstances, matrimonial ties. There will happen cases when a bound laborer has to change hands. The primitive costs of importation, regulated by the labor value in Africa, and the price of labor at home, are the most prominent items for compensation. Their exportation to Liberia should be controlled just as their importation. For the well understood benefit of the Africans themselves, their permanent settlement in America should be discou- raged. The free negi-o lives in a false position in our society, in regard to his full development. It is not enough for a man to have means and talents to push on life ; a proper locality, and favorable circumstances, are as indispensable to success as those. K this exportation to Liberia would have been better organized than now, Liberia might be already an important commercial point, and as a home more sought for by our free negroes than is now the case. It requires a vigorous aotivitj', and no romance at all, to regulate this business well. There is no romance in labor. 6. To regulate the emigration or exportation of negroes to Africa with due regard to the interests of Liberia. Liberia has been founded by private enterprise ; it may be further sup- ported by it. Still, if Congress would recognise her, young America would easier achieve what old America has so nobly begun. It may be wise for a private person to be non-committal, but never for a govern- ment, if it will not hazard and forfeit its authority. We are in need of Liberia to help us to accomphsh a noble cosmic task. It brings honor to a labor interest which is not so well appreciated at home as it deserves. The opposition against it, constantly excited by European in- terference, is alive ; the compromise has not annihilated it. The armis- tice should be made use of to attain a lasting peace instead of a mere temporary repose. States are made for the ends of justice. They recognise each other BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 21 to enlarge the empire of justice. The policy of our government is to recognise each state de facto. Liberia belongs to the family of well established states. Its origin is moral, noble, Christian. What is the origin of the French, English, Prussian, Russian, and Turkish govern- ments ? Conquest and piracy, is the answer. Still, we have to respect them now as governments of states de jure et facto. Why not recognise Liberia too ? Her political title is second to none, as the American Colonization Society can testify. These six propositions seem to contain some useful material for an improved bound labor system ; and if they would only promote the one effect, to make bound labor a mere private affair, it would be a great blessing for our Union. It then would be, without giving the least offence or promoting any general irritation, practicable in single in- stances everywhere. We allow ourselves to illustrate this by some examples. The history and aspect of the city of New York sufficiently prove, that the free labor forces are inadequate to keep the streets clean. Civilized men dislike such work; they, as we see, rather abide to dust and filth instead of removing both themselves. It seems that also the immigrated laborers cannot afford to clean the streets thoroughly, in spite of the large sums which are paid for it. That filthy streets, espe- cially in a large commercial sea-town, are endangering the health, is obvious. The citizens and foreigners are alike interested in this street affair. Suppose now, the New Yorker and their city-fathers are satis- fied, that African bound laborers, under good commanders or overseers, would do this work well, why, we ask, should they not be at liberty to send an order, per express, to Africa for a certain number of bound laborers, import them, and keep them for this purpose ? We ask fur- ther, would this keeping of a number of bound laborers, or this street- cleaning business, alter for the worse or better the politics of the state of New York ? or can it be proved that it would, directly or indirectly, affect the action of the legislature or governor of this state ? We, for our lives, cannot discover how this business might influence this state government, or even only the government of the city of New York, any more than shipbuilding establishments, or any factory, or even the alms- house, or immigrant offices, etc. Another example. There are in the middle and southern regions of 22 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. Califojiiia large tracts of swamp lands, fit, as it is said, for the culture of rice and cotton. White laborers cannot work there, without being ruined by the marsh fever ; but negroes can, if forced to work there. However, the Constitution of California flatly prohibits the employment of bound laborers. Now, is this politic ? Why exclude this labor force in general ? Entei'prising men, who wish to raise rice, are now trying to have the State divided, in order to organize one or two, without this prohibitory clause in the Constitution, for the purpose of raising rice and cotton. Is this not a curiosity worth to be exhibited in a political curiosity shop ? What, we ask, has rice, cotton, tobacco, and labor, bound or free, to do with the political organization of society ? Positively not more or less than wool, leather, bread, potatoes, butter, watercure, and calomel. If, under our Federal Constitution, the Constitution of California is right, when prohibiting bound labor, the Constitution of Arkansas is wrong, when allowing it. When Congress has a right to enact a general " fugitive slave-law," to be respected by all States, why should not a citizen of this Union have the right to engage bound labor wher- ever his interest makes the use of this kind of labor imperative ? Governments in civilized society never should act as managers of interests, but merely as their organizers iii regard to justice. Interests always can take care of themselves, but not justice, unless we are ready to confide our persons, property, and intei'ests, to Lynch Law. It is the same with labor, bound or free, with agriculture, commerce, &a. If the State is converted into an agency of literature, commerce, theology, or sciences and industry in general, it at once ceases to he impartial, or the realizer of justice thus far. That the expression " slave state " has become vulgar, proves that the proper sphere of bound labor has been altered, and mistaken; and if we call, in these lines, for the action of Congress in regard to bound labor, we do it in regard to justice, and not from a view to insinuate that Congress shall meddle with the management of bound labor itself. The difference between regulation and management is obvious. In one word, labor is in question, nothing else. Only in consequence of a total misgoverning of this interest, it has become a political aflair, a land question, a Paris-apple for excited political parties, constantly BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 23 upheaving society, and even leading to revolt and bloodshed. Bound labor is a blessing of Goll, as well as free labor, or any force which fosters industry in the family circle, factory, cotton field, on the rivers aud oceans, and wherever it is needed. It is obvious that with us no person is obliged to employ bound laborers, but if he does, he must enjoy the protection which labor deserves, and not be exposed to arbitrary treatment. If every one will do his natural duty in this regard, there would be hardly any laws needed. Bound labor, being onerous and binding for the master, never will be thought of, except where free labor, so much easier and not binding at all, is impracticable. As a general thing, a good bound labor system is a good method of checking poverty among the lowly, and deliver society of apolitical evil, the almshouse, a species of communism, which deprives one of a part of his property, by force of law, for the support of another, who, in most instances, is poor by his own fault. It is mathematically true that bound labor, well regulated, instantly will cease, when there are men enough who will, and can work, and eat their bread by the sweat of their brow, i. e. such who feel that every one is bound to labor in order to live comfortably. Of this the native Africans know nothing. Free labor is the rule, it is first ; slave labor is the exception, subsidiary, secondary. By attributing the main regulation of bound labor in the United States to Congress, we are aware that the Federal Constitution presup- poses, or admits a power of the State governments in the matter. The latter power is, in this instance, subordinate and mere municipal, referring to the personal rights and duties of masters and slaves, to the local police, &c. To Congress, however, should naturally belong all that refeis to im- portation and reshipping of the Afiicans, the general order in regard to fugitives, &c. Conflicts may occur, but they should be easily decided on general jDrinciples. We deny that under the Federal Constitution the States have the right to forbid bound labor within their limits. This would be unjust and impolitic ; unjust, because it would hinder the masters of bound laborers to make use of them wherever they are needed, in California or Alabama ; and imjsolitic, because it would be against the Federal Constitution, and lead to partisan agitation, and deprive the masters and bound laborers of the excellent chance of improving by travelling. Family life in California has been rendered exceedingly 24 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. difficult by such a prohibition in her Constitution. Still, in spite of it, some slaves are there kept even in the mines, and the law 'is conniving at it. This is wrong : it weakens the faith in constitutions and laws, it undermines the ground whereupon the political fabric stands, it is un- worthy of honest men. It is the height of inconsistency to waive the keeping of slaves, under a State Constitution which prohibits bound labor, and to insist upon abolition of slavery under the Federal Constitu- tion which allows bound labor. Of course the present laws of Congress prohibiting the importation of slavery, are to be repealed. BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 26 PAKT III. BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE, IN REGARD TO CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY. We would be the first to insist upon the obliteration of the passages in the Federal Constitution, quoted in Part II., and the loudest amongst the roaring abolitionists, if bound labor would be disapproved by Chris- tianity or morality. But, although this harmless, personal, domestic affair has brought discord even into the folds of the venerable church organizations, we cannot convince ourselves of the least unchristian or immoral character of bound labor, as it is when properly and rationally regulated. Or, is it against Christianity and morality to force a lazy, wild, wayward child to become industrious ? or, is it wicked or sinful, in general, to force a man to labor, if it is evident that he will not labor without force ? In this regard, then, the whole inquiry is to be turned towards the one end : viz. Is the labor enforced 'by bound laborers in the United States dishonest and immoral, or not ? In the first instance, the object of labor ought to be altered for the better ; in the latter, the bound labor is free of all objection, in regard to religion and morality. On the other hand, it would be unchristian and immoral to force a white man to work in regions where the climate, or malaria, would kill him. It is of doubtful morality and charity to send, year after year, poor sailors after Sir John Franklin to the icefields of the North Pole; whilst it IS obvious that he cannot be more among the living. It is very disputable morality, humanity, and Christianity, to force men, even bound laborers, by the system of conscription, to serve in standing ar- mies, in order to keep them in subjection by this very means. It would be wicked and criminal to force men to perform dishonest work. But all this has nothing to do with bound labor in the United States, as it is, and we think it should be regulated. It is thus plain that Christianity, and, of course, the social organiza- 26 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. tion called ohuvcli, has directly as little concern with bound labor as with free labor in shops or factories. Masters and bound laborers, how- ever, will rejoice when they receive ample administi-ation of religious comfort and moral instruction. They both are needing it as much as ladies, merchants, brokers, lawyers, doctors, traders, soldiers, politicians, mechanics, and free laborers elsewhere, and princes, kings, and empe- rors too. Bound labor makes no bad men, no cheats, no unholy men, no criminals : no ; its principal aim is only to make out of a social zero an industrious useful unit. There is comparatively less crime in our slave population than in a corresponding number of white free men ; and, according to Mrs. Beecher Stowe's novel, there is much genuine practical religion among the slaves. We wish our readers may always consider that naturally man does not work, but only by the force of cir- cumstances. Those circumstances vary according to the degree of cul- ture of man. The force which drives a thinker, a Fulton, we say, to work, is a thousand times more powerful, enervating, and life-consuming than the force applied to make a native African work. Still, there is nothing unchristian in it. The ways of the great Alchymist, in develop- ing nature and society, are mysterious and wonderful ! It is an act of eminent justice' to regulate the labor forces, but a mere arbitrary act to hinder oi- obstruct them. It may be objected, that the pressing or cap- turing of slaves in Africa is an immoral and unchristian feature in the matter, and that no American has, by God, or his country, a right to do such things. We have indicated before what is required by justice to do in this respect. All cruelty can be dispensed with there, as well as in the Caucasian mountains, where bound women for the harems are sold and bought. The present illegal character of the business places the same in the category of smuggling. If legalized and well regulated, the protection of the law, the equivalent invariably to be paid in Africa for boimd labor force, will prevent all barbarism. There will then be less trouble in executing the orders for bound laborers in Africa than there is to-day caused by the pressing of sailors, in the suburbs of Lon- don, to fill the English ships with. This business will get about in such an even course, as the raising of standing soldiers for the United States army. Luther — a good authority in such things — when asked by the serf- BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 2*7 like boors of Saxony, whether the Reformation had abolished their ser- vices ? answered, No ! and that religion, or the reformation of the church, had nothing to do with such obligations. Since the beginning of the present century, not prior, have been those services sold out ! If under certain circumstances bound labor is necessary, it is just too ; and what is just cannot be immoral or unchristian. A well managed bound labor system is eminently just. The great diversity of climate in our Union justifies diverse labor forces. A truly conscientious Christian cannot be against a well regulated bound labor system in our society, but will desire that both, masters and slaves, fulfil their religious duties. We do not purpose to write an eulogy upon slavery or bound labor in America or Circassia, but to make some practical remarks upon its proper management according to its nature. We deny that it is the purpose of Christianity to alter by force the order of things which time makes necessary. Fulfilment of duty is the proper office of religion to promote. One word or two about English Christianity. Bound labor is, as we have seen, when well managed, not disapproved by true Christianity ; but the meddling with it by English Christianity is emphatically wicked. This English Christianity is indeed something per se. It rejects the corner principle of true Christianity: ".Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Eno'lish Christianity demands the abolition of slavery or bound labor in America, whilst it forbids as treason the demand for the abolition of the same thing, viz. subjection at home. Eno-lish' Christianity interferes with the acqiiisition of bound laborers in Africa, and does not allow others to interfere with the pressing of sailors at home. Eno-lish Christianity rejects further the command of the heavenly Master : " Thou hypocrite," said he, " cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye." Instead of taking good cai-e of their own white slaves [see John C. Cobden's work on the White Slaves of England, 1853], and their poor Irish brethren at home and on the sea, they have made it their "unchanging" Don Quixote knight-errant policy to libe- rate the slaves in Cuba, or Africanize this island, from Christian motives, 28 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. -just as the Czar invades the provinces of the Turkish government as the vaunted knight-errant of Eussian Christianity. English Christianity has a narcotic opium smell, as the Chinese say. English Christianity smells like gore, as thousands and millions of slaughtered men may testify, who had to die to make calico sell better. This English Christianity is, indeed, an outrage on religion, humanity, and justice. This modern Christian Don Quixotism recommends itself to the particular notice of the American clergy. They may check its perni- cious influence by teaching and practising at home the precepts of Christ, especially in regard to the relation between parents and children, em- ployers and employees, magistrates and citizens, masters and servants, both bound and free. It is a social duty of the people in the United States to give the world a good example. Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. Let us do the same. Let us by the pulpit and press manage the public opinion right, so that every one knows that he lives under a written constitution which, to obey and fulfil as long as it stands, is a sacred duty, and that disregard of the mutual religious obli- gations invariably ruins society. To forbid a clergyman to be a master or guardian of a bound laborer, deprives this man of one of the best chances to become cultivated, and hinders a sensible clergyman to do a good work. An ignorant, slothful, brute, and idle state of life, as that of a negro in Africa, is expressly disapproved by Christianity ; schooling and mental improving of the bound laborers is as necessary as that of other laborers. It is the fear of busybody abolitionism which deters the mastere from the schooling of their bound laborers. A good regulated bound labor system will instantly dispel their fears and consequences, and open churches, schools, and books to these laborers. Subjection which prevails in Europe is only a degree better than the bound laborers' station in this Union. In many regards the latter is to be preferred. No slave is forced to become a soldier. What immense diflference in favor of the slave-station compared with that of a Russian, Prussian, or French subject ! Thus the most learned and pious clergymen in Europe agree with subjection, and nobody blames BOtTND LABOE IN THE UNITED STATES. 29 them on this account. Indeed, for the settlement of Christian Liberia, by the sole agency of bounc^ labor in America, all Christendom should bring thanks and praises ; because nothing else in God's wide world would have started such a commonwealth there ! Why deny this due honor and thank to the bound labor system in the United States ? Still in Liberia is yet much merit to earn. This settlement has been greatly neglected in consequence of the ill management of our bound labor affairs at home. 30 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. PAET IV. THE PRESENT POLICY OJ THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND OTHERS, IN REGARD TO BOUND LABOR. Congress lias — 1, suppressed by law the importation of bound laborers from Africa, and declared this business piracy. This may have been done, from a European philanthropic view, to terminate bound labor, considering it as an evil. Still, it is obvious that this measure could never terminate slavery in America, as long as the maxim, '■^ partus seqiiitur matrem" prevails. The number of slaves has since more than doubled. We have seen that well regulated bound labor is a social blessing, and far from being unchristian or immoral. If Georgia or South Carolina have not advanced in population or railroading, so fast as New York and Ohio, it must not be attributed exactly to bound labor, but to their more agri- cultural and less commercial pursuits. We take the liberty to ask what most of the so called slave states would be, at present, without bound labor ? Where would the cotton be raised, which enriches shippers, merchants, and manufacturers ? If, notwithstanding, our bound labor must be called an evil, it is, no doubt, a highly valuable, necessary, and beneficial evil. If it was, from the beginning, evident that this measure of Congress could not check slavery, evil or not evil, it was a mistake in the beginning. This checking of the demand for bound laborers in civilised society, lohen imperatively medeJ ^ which is at present more the case than prior, is impolitic ; for civilized men ^^■ill get this labor force at any price, if they cannot do without it, because there is neither authority nor force in their government to hinder it. Governments of civilized men cannot enforce things against time and social n-cessity. It is otherwise with governments of mere subjects. Congress has — 2, extended the arena of slavery, as the annexation of Texas, &c., has BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 31 been styled. But bound labor does not want any more arena or soil in Utah or Nebraska than free labor, if all is right. It comes when it is needed, and goes when it has answered to its purpose. \Ye r.fpeat that, properly speaking, it has not the least bearing upon the formation of states, or counties, oi- towns. As a grand mundane interest of a more complicated nature than free labor, it requires a general law for its just management. The Federal Constitution has outlined this law. Congress has the power to enact it. Bound labor is personal, domestic, priyate ; but European subjection, or feudal serfdom and vassalage, is territorial, bound to the soil. There is work for genuine freesoilers, but not in the United States. Congress has — 8, V'ji interfered with the home slave factory system. All this nothing doing, where policy and justice called for action ; this prohibit- ing of the importation where common sense called for mere regulation ; this slave state manufacturing, where not a word should have been men- tioned about bound labor or free labor — the first being sanctioned all over the Union by the common Constitution : all this is the sonrce of all trouble which this labor is causing at present. This passive policy of Congress has encouraged the foreign governments in their meddling- policy. Accordinglv, Congress is guilt}' of all the sins of abolitionism, fre}soil- ism, party machinations, and furious oppositions, and other outrageous acts in connexion with the present bound labor system; for it has suffered to let it become vicious and defective. AYe must not carry the mastei-ly inactivitv too far. At any rate, we do not dare to blame the masters of bound laborers for it. After the ill-advised prohibition of the slave importation, they could not help to continue the dismal slave factory system. Was not, by the by, this prohibition a mere hypocri- tical aot, if it was calculated to terminate slavery as an evil, whilst it was the very thing that promlsixl to perpetuate slavery for ever? Still, on the other hand, this slave factory system will defeat its own end by furnishino' constantly more bound laborers than actually are needed. Sin engenders sin, and error, error. This pernicious incident has filled society with disgust ; it makes the abolition fanaticism plausible, and freesoilism excusable ; and those, in 32 BOUND LABOE IN THE UNITED STATES. their turn, have engendered a phantom never heard of before, neither in Babylon, Athens, nor Rome of old, although the homes of slaves. Its name is Slave Power. Although she is, in fact, the monster mother of slave-territory, slave-wars, slave-presidents, slave-congresses, slave-com- promises, slave-lines, slave-church-sohisms, slave-armies, slave-diplomacy; in short, slavery in everything we do or undo — who, we ask, can exactly tell what she is and where she is ? Has she the sway in Canada when we refuse to annex her ? or does she rule in Cuba, when she de- . sires to be annexed? Who looks calmly into this vast crucible of melting and boihng crazy politics, mad ideas, stubborn prejudices, philanthropic fooleiy and foolish legislation, must think the end of civiHzation be at hand in America. Can this last much longer ? There is, however, a well-founded hope that this political aberration may give way to calm reasoning and sound business tact. For the Federal Constitution, this firm and adamantine basis of our Union is yet in the hearts and before the eyes of the people, and the supreme law of the land. This document says not a word about certain limited slave states or territory, or slave factories at home : it admits in plain words, "bound labor" in the whole Union, just as it foimd it. It gives to Con- gress the power to regulate it, and places this great mundane interest under its main, superior control. Whether this has been done by a com- promise or not, makes no difference. Under these circumstances it be- comes the duty of the state governments not to counteract the constitu- tional laws of Congress, and that of all citizens to abide to those laws. They will do it cheerfully if they understand and appreciate the follow- ing facts well : 1. Civilized society cannot exist without a constant supply of labor forces from uncivilized regions ; 2. There are large, enormously fertile districts in the United States, where the climate forbids white men to work ; 3. The African negro is endowed with the power to work in such a climate, if forced to do it ; 4. There may occur other instances where bound labor may advan- tageously be substituted for free labor. Consequently bound labor ought to be admitted under the control of laws, as well as free labor. There is neither compromising, nor Nichol- BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 33 son letter-writing, nor any political agitation necessary about either kind of labor, if we are forced to acknowledge the truth of these premises and their logical consequence. And then people may trust the laws of God and nature, that bound labor, as the exception, wiU not last one day longer than it is needed and profitable. Boimd labor with us is no child's play, no fancy ; it is like a great kingdom ; and, above all, it is an earnest, stern necessity. It ought not to be blindly persecuted, or arbitrarily prohibited, suppressed, and abolished ; it highly deserves to be timely regulated and prudently managed, until it pleases Time — the legitime supreme abolitionist of every thing which is destitute of vitality — to let it die out. And this will promptly happen, when sound reason and manliness prevail in our councils, and we do not interfere with the natural laws of our social de- velopment. To cultivate all kinds of labor forces, free and bound, in factories and shops, with or without machinery, in fields, meadows, and swamps, according to demand and circumstances, society in the United States is the fittest, being provided with all kinds of labor forces from all parts of the world. This fitness is the main source of her wealth and immense progress ; and all this she owes to civism and liberty. However it may that this prosperity is the very cause why the English and French hereditary governments, opposed to civism and liberty, meddle with slavery in Ouba. Such governments are in the habit of managing the political and diplomatic business just as shopkeepers manage their trade. As it is commonly thought fair for a shopkeeper to break down his next door neighbor by all kinds of unfair means, so a government of this class thinks it to be also fair to ruin the interests of nations by their unfair tricks and foul play, called diplomacy. As long, now, as this shopkeeper policy is the rule in Europe, we must be, in spite of our just political position, delineated in the preamble of our Federal Constitution, pre- pared for an eternal unjust meddling with American terrestrial and maritime affairs, from the North Pole down to the Horn. It is not our business to trouble ourselves about the experiments with bound labor in Jamaica, for people there are yet the property of Great Britain, but can- not help noticing here that this experiment has ruined Jamaica. This 3 34 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED 8TATKS. result should have brought her goyemment to senses ; it should have induced it to raise the blockade of the Aftican coast, to call home ite cruisers from the Mexican Gulf. But the shopkeeper diplomacy in Threadneedle-street remains " unchanged." The same disastrous experi- ment with bound labor ought to be repeated in Cuba, on the ground of a Secret Treaty (are they suddenly ashamed to practise their shop- keeper tricks openly ?) entered into between England, France, and Spain. Also this would be passed over by us in silence, for men in Cuba are the property of the Spanish Crown, and thus Spain may do with them as she pleases. But this steady persevering course, however fatal to all parties iaterested, sufficiently proves that at the bottom of this English shop- keeper diplomacy must be something hke an unchangeable, matured plan, to ruin also the bound labor interest in the United States, and why ? — obviously to improve the cotton, sugar, rice, and tobacco culture in East India, at the expense of America. To attain this result, the ruin of Jamaica and Cuba, and of the United States, is nothing, of course. It may be that the French government has joiaed Great Britain merely from French courtesy ; but the ruin of the United States would, no doubt, please its imperial head ; and besides, it seems, according to late accounts, as if tobacco and cotton grow admir- ably well in Algiers, and that this expensive, military, tobacco, and cotton colony win look up, when the economical, civic, American cotton and tobacco planters are looking down. About the experiments with the bound labor in Cuba there are many opinions current. Some say the apprentice system is decided upon ; others say, this and the Africanizdng of Cuba, although a necessary re- sult of this system, be a sheer fabrication. Well, to enable our readers to make up their mind about the working of the European policy in these regions, we insert here the following ex- tracts from an English newspaper, which made the round, in some of the New York papers of late, to which we add a few remarks. The first is a letter written by Lord Howden, the English ambassador in Madrid, to a Virginian. It reads thus : "Paris, JVov. 14.' "My Dear Cobbin, — I have this moment received your letter of BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. 35 yesterday, and I can assure you that it has not in the least embarrassed me. Our long friendship gives you a perfect right to ask me any questions that in a public situation I can answer with propriety, and your tact will have told you that in the present case I must be fully as anxious to impart the truth as you can be to know it. I have read the strange statements you have sent me about England wishing to ' Afi-icanize ' Cuba, and about the arrangements which I have been making at Madrid to that effect. I give you, in the most solemn manner such laughable (though wicked) fabrications allow, my unqualified contradiction of the whole matter. I have not the slightest hesitation in telling you what have been, during the last three years, my negotiations with the Spanish government respecting Cuba, and you will see whether there is even the slightest foundation for rumors which seem to have been most sedu- lously spread abroad in the United States. First, I have been making unceasing representations at the number of slaves annually imported into the island, and complaints of the almost open manner in which the traific was carried on under the very noses of the captains-general, always excepting the excellent Gen. Concha. Secondly, I have been making fruitless attempts to get the Spanish government to declare the abominable traffic in men piracy, that is to say, to foUow the example of the United States in this particular. Thirdly, I passed my time in anxious solicitations to obtain the ultimate and complete freedom of those negroes called ' emancipadoes,' who have been fraudulently de- tained in bondage since the year ISlV, in disregard of treaties. I rejoice to say that the Spanish government has listened to the dictates of justice and humanity, and has granted me this boon. Fourthly, I have been endeavoring to procure an abrogation of that intolerant and immoral law by which foreigners, wishing to settle in Cuba, are obliged to change their rehgion, on the somewhat startling principle, not under- stood elsewhere, that becoming bad men is a satisfactory preliminary to becoming good subjects. To these official negotiations I have added, at various times, friendly and officious exhortations to improve the internal system of the island, by facilitating the administration of justice, and by liberalizing the nominations to office and employment among the natives of the island. You will see what I really have done, or rather attempted to do, is very different from what I am said to have done in your 36 BOUND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. papers. When the true state of the case is known, and ignorance or malevolence dispelled, I even reckon upon the good wishes of your countrymen in the success of the measures I ask, so consonant with your own laws and institutions. In all that I have here told you with entire candor, the United States can only see the natural working of England's declared and unchanging policy in a cause which is dear to her ; and Spain herself must feel that, in days like these, unless she executes her engagements and modifies her intolerance, she can never hope to enter again, as she ought to do, in the hierarchy of nations. Believe me, my dear Cobbin, with great regard, yours sincerely, "HOWDEN. " E. P. CoBBiN, Esq., Paris." The ambassador, of course, cannot say with propriety anything about that secret treaty. He also contradicts the " Africanizing " of Cuba by English instrumentaUty. Whether Spain will do it remains an open question. But he admits it in other words, by stating that he has been negotiating with the Spanish government during the last three years, viia. : First, in regard to the importation of slaves ; Secondly, to induce Spain to follow the example of the United States to declare this impor- tation piracy ; Thirdly, to obtain the complete freedom of emancipated negroes, kept in bondage against treaties ; Fourthly, to procure an abro- gation of a law by which foreigners, non-catholics, are obliged to change their religion when they vrish to settle in Cuba, i 1852 to 1853 to August 1, 1863, 14,600 Omitted in previous report by the brig Hanover at Sierra Morena, 650 At Baracoa, 400 At Ensenada de Brou, south side, near Ti'inidad, in Sept., per brig Amanle (Spanish) 630 At Ensenada de Cochiuos, Oct., per schooner Maria Juana (Spanish), subsequently burned 180 BOUND LABOR IN THE tJNlTED STATES, 41 At Ensenada de Oarmele (name of vesael not given) in October, 260 At La Palomo, October 16, 320 Total, ...... 29,497 Add one third more, whieli will not cover the number that escape British investigation, ..... 9,832 Add also for losses in pursuit, and kidnapping ; for deaths on the passage ; for want of air, food, and water, . 4,200 And there will be a grand total of ... . 43,529 human beings that have been dragged from their African homes during a period somewhat less than five years. The number of apprentices al- ready intended to be brought to Cuba is 65,000. To this must also be added for loss of life in pursuit, capture, and transportation, an estimated number of 6,966, making in all 71,966 pereons, and ropres-enting an aggregate of human misery, unequalled in the history of the past, to be consummated under British and French protection ! Such are my views, justified by long and familiar acquaintance with the subject, and by association with the Spanish and Creole planters for many years.'' This writer shows : 1. That the secret treaty apprenticeship system will be nothing but unmitigated slavery ; 2. That the present bound labor system is better, and can be miti- gated and restricted by energetic British action in Madrid ; 3. That, in regard to the future bound labor system in Cuba, there will be no power to reach and check the abuse of the system. We leave the rest to the reader to comment upon it. To deny thus that the British are treating Cuba just as their own, as a second Jamaica, is, under such circumstances, gratuitous ; and, if we should force ourselves to believe that they act from Christian motives, it is still plain that they have not the least right to practise in such a manner Christianity in Cuba. Instead of pitifully complaining that the negi'oes there die without the benefit of clergy, of which, however, we have some doubt, it would be more manly to look out for a better treat- ment and management of the Irish emigrants, who also die, and are buried in the deep without ceremony. If the importation of laborers from Africa is left free and managed in 42 EODND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES. a regular business manner, it is easy to predict that it will be conducted ■with infinitely more care than the shipping of the labor-emigration from Great Britain at present. These extracts speak volumes ; they prove better than we could do it the utter futility and wickedness of the English busybody policy in this labor aflFair. What fearful light are they not besides shedding upon the situation of the people in Cuba ! We do not envy the present position of our planters ; they, however, can cling to a cotistitution for protection, if betrayed and abandoned by Congress and assailed by fanaticism. They form, besides, a part of the goternment. But where shall these poor Cubans find any protection against two powerful foreign governments, and a poor, weak government of their own, which, geographically speaking, is as foreign to them as France and Great Britain ? They must be resigned, that — thanks to the English shopkeeper diplomacy and Christianity ! — they will be more utterly ruined than the Jamaicans, having not the least constitutional share in their own government, and being not backed by a rich, but by a bankrupt government. We should not wonder if they would have indulged in the hope of annexation to the United States. But, as matters are now, there is very little ground to see their hope realized, because this annexation is too little patronized by Congress for fear of the abolition opposition, and not pressed by the sugar and cotton planters for fear of competition, and not urged by the slave-breeders for fear that the island, being over- stocked with bound laborere, would be a bad job. How wretched, then, is the situation of these planters, and indeed of the whole Cubans 1 — and all this in consequence of the wicked meddlesomeness of Great Britain (France), and of wrong notions about bound labor everywhere ! What, by all heavens ! say justice and the laws of nations to such political pro- ceedings? and what equity, morality, charity, and true Christianity, when the interests and worldly happiness of a large number of fellow- men are thus sacrificed upon the shrine of mere prejudices, error, and political iniquity ? THE END. Before we leave our subject, we humbly confess that we are not the first who has exhibited before the world the bright and dark sides of our bound labor system. No ; this has been done before, in this coun- try and Europe, by prose, poetry, and novel writers ; by residents and travellers ; by preachers and philosophers ; by our Jeffersons and Clays, Calhouns and Websters ; and, above all, by much skilfuller pens than ours. Further, we confess that these unpretending plain lines would not have appeared at all, if the well-known novel of Mrs. Beecher Stowe had not been published. Its weU-deserved immense circulation all over the reading world, is a significant fact. It proves, besides the attractive power of the book, what great interest this world is taking in the ma- nagement of our bound labor system ! People, of course, besides the usual refutations ex parte, are expecting from the practical men of America that something substantial might be done to set it right. Now, there seeing no possibility to dispense with it, or to abolish it by force of law, we wished to contribute^ our mite, that it may be better appreciated and accordingly regulated, before it is too late. It is perhaps not superfluous to add, that the author of these lines is not in possession of any property whatever in connexion with bound labor ; but — ^it may now be well to close with the following words of one of the most successful reformers — St. Paul : " I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say." " Conscience, not , thine own, but of the other : for why is my liberty judged of another man s conscience 8"