The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, April, 1862: Devoted To Literature And National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, April, 1862: Devoted To Literature And National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Humanity, society, and property, all have claims and acknowledged
rights; let them all be considered. It is well known that the slaves on
these islands have always been kept in a state of greater ignorance of
the world and all practical matters than those inhabiting the border
States, or where there is a larger proportion of whites, with whom they
often labor and associate. To emancipate them at once would be to do a
great wrong to the white man, to the property, in whatever hands it
might be, and a still greater injury to the slave. There can be but one
way of disposing of this question which will satisfy the nation, and
quiet the fears of the conservative, and preserve the hopes of the
radical, which is, to pursue a _middle_ course--a policy which shall as
nearly as possible equalize the question to all parties. Let the slave
be retained on the plantation where he is found; and, as no race are so
much attached to their own locality, so let them remain, place them
under a proper system of APPRENTICESHIP, with a mild code of laws, where
every right shall be protected, where suitable instruction, civil and
religious, shall be given, and where the marriage rite shall be
administered and respected. Under such laws and beneficent institutions,
this territory would soon be settled by men from the West, the North,
and from Europe, intelligent, enterprising, and industrious, who would
retrieve its worn-out fields, and introduce new systems of culture, with
all the modern labor-saving utensils. With kind treatment and new hopes,
the simple sons of Africa would have inducements to labor and to await
with patient hope the future and its rewards. Then would Beaufort
District become what the Giver of all good designed it to be--the abode
of an industrious, peaceful, and prosperous community. The production of
its great staple, 'Sea-Island cotton,' would be immensely increased, and
its quality improved, till it rivaled the silks of the Old World. The
yield of rice would be doubled, and its gardens and orchards would
supply the North with fruits now known only to the tropics.
So soon as the new government was fairly inaugurated, and the condition
of the land and its future cultivation settled, a movement would of
necessity be made to found here a city which would be the great
commercial metropolis of the South.
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