The same paper contained the article of Macaulay entitled “The West
Indies,” from the _Edinburgh Review_, January, 1825, Vol. XLI. pp.
464-488. The day after its appearance, the New York Herald, in a
leader with the caption, “_Macaulay, Sumner, and Slavery,_” sought to
disparage the testimony, saying, among other things:--
“What Mr. Sumner now introduces is a proof how badly off the
party must be for weapons, when they rake them up from the
dead magazines of another generation, and written by a youth
a little over twenty years of age; or Mr. Sumner has not yet
recovered his usual strength of mind, since the injury he
received a few years ago at the Capitol. And what does his
article amount to? That the British planters in the West Indies
treated their slaves very badly, which may or may not be true.
But from the abuse of the institution in one place he argues
against the policy of its continued existence in any other
part of the world. He might as well conclude, that, because
many of the English are cruel to their horses, and that it was
necessary to pass an Act of Parliament for their protection,
therefore horses ought to be emancipated in the United States,
and let loose through the country. An argument from the abuse
to the disuse of anything is the poorest kind of logic.”
Such was the tone of discussion on the eve of the Presidential election
destined to decide the fate of American Slavery.