THE WHITE SLAVE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2026, 29 March 1890, Page 2

THE WHITE SLAVE.

w . (Communicated). ino men^tha^h 637 t red fc ° convinC3 workredressed the th W ToJ« e t ha e t P °T tO / 6t f which h D^ 3 tiiafc exia L and of and lecrialaHnn ll ’iocranc government fe m o CT "a,i„ , 89 , ‘ “r'^taWon l^ rawra * b » bined efforts of nil Th' ? quire th e comsh„ f"^ tS CUrO «■» Commonwealth. Workman GO ' <; 'l )orat ' vt) power Knf *l, i . nien have the effSalk w el/lhet ‘ he iDWI «“» polntician Ih power - T he rich that the J! COnceivea it is right be kentin M P art °f mankind should P m thraldom, has only to bait a constituency with a few dobs of charity aLd'thf ir SB l the JoCal Church bazaar,-^ Thev arn 18 SU °h & 11100 te^owsunder hi K Ult . d 6ager to put tbeir necks able to n! 6elS - ; ihe P oo r fools are not H few n tCe } VQ that he is only investing hi£nJr nd ? that r6tUrn thousands to that 1 hin 118 USS) and are persuaded suffrao'o i mot ' ve f° r asking tbeir suflrage is the honor of representing them. haiZl' 'T' r“° kt)ovVß what Sre the has the win y i"lV° endure ' and who Writ on off dQ S ‘ ty '° raise them to a position of freedom m which life would be

enjoyable them, they conclude that be has some sinister motive, and pelt him with rotten eggs, and repair to the back door of a public-house to get drunk and sing, “-We, Britons, never never shall be alaves !”

Meanwhile whither are we drifting 1 Have we no past history of nations to guide us ] Has effeminating luxury arid debauchery of the classes and abject poverty of the masses ever failed to end in anarchy and national ruia ] Nations have prospered and become powerful while fostering chattel elaveiy. The lo wer types of humanity will bear the lash with only a murmur when well tod, housed, and cared for, bat poverty and hunger will goad the most ifieensate to rebellion. The poor s aves may he too feeble-minded to wield their power to procure their emanc’patiou. They rn iy be in the hands c? lluir enemies the chief instruments to prevent their emancipation —yet their passions grow. If it were possible, a return to chattel slavery wou'd be much belter than the course we are now following, but that is impossib'e. Although willing to be bought at a veiy cheap rate, under the do usion that he is a free man, the whi'e slave would not agree to be honestly bought or sold ; nor antis owners inclined to buy. The pittance of wages and dole of charity is not a tithe of whar it cost to purchase and keep the chattel slaves. In this dilemma what are we to dot Aie we to justify by our conduct and experience the absurd opinion that a nation can only rise in the scale of civilisation to a certain limit—then to recede with headlong rapidity to the lowest depths of barbarism 1 Or shall we, by united action, cast off our bonds and arise to a position of freedom and civilisation that has never been realised, and has only existed as a conception in the minds of a few of our greatest thinkers? Our bonds only consist of an idolatious love of money. In New Zealand our situation is peculiarly favorable to a successful effort to abolish slavery. We have lit tie or no money but what we borrow, and constitutionally we are nominally free. All we haye lo do is to make what is now nominal real, by putting aside the creatures of conservatism and replacing them with men of progressive minds. If wo were intelligent enough to know it, a very large majority of ue are identically in the same state of bondage. Our rulers and employers are the slave-drivers. They occupy the position of the slaves who were promoted lo wield the lash for a season. They know not how soon they may be reduced to the ranks (o be goaded with the lash they are now wielding. Our real masters aieia London enjoying themselves, ss recently discovered in the West (Tub. vVe stigmatise their kind of enjoyment as an outrage on public decency 7, and the men who expose them are sent to gaol for criminal libel and the perpetrators of the scandals are allowed togo scot free! And to perpetuate that system men of business must rack their brains and working men must pinch and toil. Shame on us all !