Echoes of Harpers Ferry

Page 243

Appendix. prC'Ycnt that island from b ecoming the prop e r ty of free black m en ; and the m e re annual inter ests of these two purcha s es - to say nothing of the ad­di ti onal army and navy tha t will be r e quired-will amount to four-fi fths of the whole amount now paid for education al purposes through out the F ree tat e:; of the Union. H a Ying studied these fact s , we beg our r eaue rs n ow to r emark h ow fully th ey bear out the statemen t of the Cllm·leston Courier as to the error of those who s uppose "that the nction of the gen e r al government has be 1·n h osti le to Hlavcry." "The trnth is," as it continues, "tha t although h os­t i le in its incipiency, to clomest ic Sl nvC'ry, it aft erwards so ch anged its a ction that it h as fost ered the ln.vch olding in terest," and this it has done by tnxiug the free people of the N orth for the s teady ex ten s ion of the area of la,·ery, while denying the con stitution a lity uf any e xp enditures tend­ing- to the impro,·ement of the la nds, or of the p eopl e, of the North and 'Vest. S nch is a p ortion of the cost of the U n ion. 'Vltat is its vnlue has heen shown. On a future occasion we sh a ll l'um ish som e further items of the cost; but m ea11timc will bC'g our r eade rs to r e ll ect whe th er a tracle that cannot be worth a dozen million s pe r annum is n ot d C'arly p a icl for by the mainten an ce of a sys t em that t ak es front thC' North so many m ill ions an­nua lly to be appl ied to thC' purch ase o f l=;outltrrn land, and the support of Soutlwrn war s, when they might so advan tag-eously be appli ed to the im­provement of rive rs and h a r bors by which N cn· thcrn farme rs could ch C':l ply get to market, and thC' improvement of sch ools a t whieh N orthern children might be cheaply educa t ed. THE GREAT 11TH.UGGLE. The history o f the world from tho cr-. rliest ages is l ittle more than a r ecord of the e fl'o rts of the s trong who have dC's ired to C'n:-;lnvo the ' "e:tk, and of the co un ter cff'orts of the latter t o obt nin p owe r to work for t hern­s c lYc ·. T he fo rmer ha,·c, in nil ages, hC'cn b rgc m o nnpol ist::; of lnJHl, while the la tter h aYc at all tim es sought to obtain h omestea ds to be im­proved for th eir own ucn efit and tha t uf their wives and chilcl rC'n . The former have always s ought ch eap laborer~, de iring to p urchase at tltC'ir own pri cC's, the bon C', the mu ·cle, and t he sin ew r eq u ired for their pt:r­p oscs, se lling a t the dearest r a te the produce of the labor of their ~ J a ,·e-;; while the latter h :t\·c always d esired to fix the price or t heir O\\ n labor, and to profi t by the ir own exertion s . ]3y th e former, h on est, labor has been h eld in low C'St eem, because th ey li,·cd a t th e cos t of those who l.d. .1 0red in the fi eld for the production of food or wool, and those in the town who con­s umed t he food while making the cloth . By the latt er, labor has bc•C'n c s tceme<l ns a m ea n s of acquiring h on est indep enden ce. In the former class we find the Slave-own C' rs, p oliti cian s, and tax-con sum0rs of the world, whil•J in thC' la tt e r we find the labo rers and ta x -payers of th1' worlrl. In the one we find the ad voeates of annie. anu n a Yi es, war an d fi l libus­t crism, and in the Other the fri ends of lJCacc anu ch eap government. Appendix. 479 Between these classes t h ere h as, from time immemorial, been a contest fo r power; the one d esiring to t yrannize over others, and the oth er to govern themselves, and to work for their own profit. . Such is t h e co~ test n ow in pr.ogress throughout th is country . T he great 1ssuc of our _day 1s, as we a r c. mfon nC'd by t he Cha rl C'ston Rve1~ing .Neu•s, "the extenslOn or n on-ex tens10n, of the institution [Slavery] whose foun­dation s a rc broad a n d solid in our midst." It is, wheth er free labor shall become slave lab or, or slaYc labor become free labor. A t the SoHth, we sec a body of g reat la nd-owner s surro unded by s!a ,·cs who work for them \\ hile they thC'mselves l ive upon t he profits d e rived from stan ding bctwe~n the men who work to produce cotton, sugar , anu tobacco, and those othC'r mC'n who r equire to con sume those commodities. At the Nor th , on the contra­r y, we cc the whole surface of the country divided among a bo 1ly of smnll land-owne rs , mu•q uall: d in the world for n umber, all working for th<'m­s elves. On ~he on e Side. we have a la rge body of men who desire to buy labor, and m sh to h~vc 1t cheaply ; while on the other there is a vastly larger body that _desire to sell labor, an d to sell it dearly . The objC'cts sought to be attam cd by th e two sections of t he country differ as wic10Jy as do the poles of the compass, and it can , the re for e, be mattC'r of small sur­prise tha~ th e re is almo t as g roat a di ffe r ence in the course of policy that each destr~s to sc~ purs ued - the N orthern por tion of the Union seek in~ for p rotect10n agam st the chenp lablJr system of Europe, as the best mode of aclvn.n cing t he la bor er , and the outhcm portion clinging to the Hriti~h free trade sp;t em as t he most efficient m eans of cheapening labor, and en­slaYing the labor e r.* The men who own labor e rs ar c few in number when comparC'cl with the n umbC'r of Nor thern m en who own themselves, and seck to sell thC'ir own labor; but, as i~ the case in nll a r istoeraC'ies, the sln.\'e owners a lmost always work togeth er, whi le the free p eople arc d ivided among themselves. The con sC'qu en ce of this has been that th~ former have, generally, as the Clmrleston Courier hoastingly informs its r eaders, " obtai ned thC' mastery in Congrcs~," a nd have wit h in the last twen ty yC'ars "so changccl its policy t ha t its act ion for the m ost p nr t, and with only a few cxeeptions, has foster ed t he s l:weh ol rling interest;" and this it h as done at the cost of t he free m en o f the N orth, who desired to be themselves the sellers of their ow11 labor, or its products. In proof that such hns been the fact, we propose n ow to r e view t he votes of Congress in r e lation to the question of protection or n on-protection t o t he A merican laborer. T he close of the g rea t war in E urope brought with it intense agricultural distress. T he forc i~n market for br eadstufl's died away, and simultnJtC­onsly therewith the domestic market th at had been mnclc by our manufac­tu ring est:thlishmcu ts was closed. The m.a11nfactur c rs themselves were r uined. The p eople or the South had then no doubts of the constitutional­ity of protection. A nxious to secure themselves ngninst the competition * T his iK purr d oma~og u pis rn. T ho ~ou th favor free t rttd(• hcrau<:c it if' tho inlcr­~ st of all ag n r ul tu ral rount rios OVt'ry wl~ero to ltuy iu the eht•apcst n1ark1•t aPt! >·ell 11_1 t ll_o dean·:<t. i\ ~riru l tura l cou nt rio~ hil\'l' Jill 111otivc iu huildlll!.! up n1anufMt11 ring dJstrwto; a t lhcir c.rpcu;;c; houco t110 :::louth hafi wi~cly oppu::H~<l t:trill~. J. R .