Page images
PDF
EPUB

76.21

7658-13

1869. Oct. 21

Gift of Aww. Henry Westcott, of Lexington.

BOLINU. 7 FEB 1912

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by

WALKER, WISE, AND COMPANY,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

UNIVERSITY PRESS:
WELCH, BIGELOW, AND COMPANY,

CAMBRIDGE.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

THE warm welcome accorded by so many of our most patriotic statesmen, as well as the general public, at this crisis, to "The Results of Emancipation," together with the reiterated demand for its complement, justify me in offering to American readers the translation of the second part of M. Cochin's useful book, "The Results of Slavery."

As both volumes were published together in the original form, under the collective title, L'Abolition de l'Esclavage, it may be proper to state that the publication of the translation of the first volume separately, under its individual title, was done with the approbation of the author, who at the same time expressed the hope that it might "soon be possible also to publish the translation of the second volume, since the proof seems more striking when the results of emancipation are placed in the presence of the results of slavery, the good face to face with the evil." This hope I am glad to realize by presenting to the American public a book which cannot fail to interest it, devoted as it is, in great part, to the able discussion of our affairs at a time when the wise suggestions and earnest sympathy of European friends are of incalculable value to us.

The chapter on the United States was completed dur

[ocr errors]

ing the summer of 1861. The addition in the translation of a vigorous article, written by M. Cochin in August, 1862, during the dark days that followed the reverses near Richmond, continues the work wellnigh to the present time, and brings us strong and cheering counsel from amid the then prevailing discouragement. As more "last words" of the author, concerning the existing position of affairs, I may be permitted to quote from a private letter dated February 7, 1863 : —

6

"We are occupied with your affairs as if they were our own; and, indeed, they are really the affairs of the whole human race. Unhappily, we know little of general events, except through the English journals, and · of particular facts, except through correspondence from French sheets established in Louisiana, or letters from merchants occupied solely with their cotton affairs. Several of our Departments are suffering greatly. If the manufacturers were assembled, and the question were put to them, 'Do you wish that slavery should be perpetuated and you should have cotton?' the greater part, I fear, would answer, Give us cotton!' On the contrary, if the operatives were assembled and asked, 'Do you wish that slavery should endure and you should have bread? I believe that all would answer, Free the slaves ! " It is the same in England, where, notwithstanding, thanks to the freedom of assemblage, a happy agitation is recommencing by meetings and addresses in favor of the abolition of slavery. Here, the cause will be pleaded before the Corps Legislatif, petitions to the Senate are being prepared, several bishops intend speaking; in a word, public opinion is not dead, but it is not free, and policy, at the instigation of England, despite her apparent refusals, has entered upon a path of media

tion which can end only to the profit of the South. A decisive victory, should you obtain it, by the grace of God, will incline minds towards you; but this is long in coming. What we should do, it seems to me, we convinced advocates of human freedom, is to defend its cause, and to strive to make it come out victorious, whatever may be the issue of the war. Now we can hope that neither peace nor separation nor mediation can be wrought without slavery having received a death-blow. Let us not cease to direct our efforts in this direction, in order that liberty may progress at all events.”

[ocr errors]

The chapters devoted to the slaveholding countries other than the United States, the slave-trade, the immigration of free negroes, and the colonization of Africa, afford much useful and interesting information touching the beginning, growth, and effects of slavery, while the portion of the work entitled "Christianity and Slavery is an able exposition of slavery in the evangelical point of view, which, designed for-a Catholic, is equally useful in a Protestant community. M. Cochin, who is as sincere. a Catholic as M. de Gasparin is a sincere Protestant, is a broad and liberal-minded man, ready to recognize good wherever found; and, while especially striving to clear his Church of the stigma of complicity with slavery, the arguments which he deduces to prove the antagonism of this institution and Christianity are alike interesting and applicable to believers of all creeds. It is a hopeful sign when churches and institutions are seen, not only to cease to tolerate, but also to disavow all former sanction of, an existing abuse.

With the firm conviction hat this volume will be of use to my countrymen in the solution of the great problem which is now before us, and will aid them, by its lucid

details and kindly tone, more clearly to discern the happy practical results which must ultimately proceed from the great principles of truth and justice which they are so nobly struggling to maintain through the horrors of a civil war, and the loss of so much that is dear to them in the present, I submit the work to their perusal and approval.

NEW YORK, March 15, 1863.

MARY L. BOOTH.

« PreviousContinue »