The Rodney telegraph. (Rodney, Miss.) 1838-1840, 1839-03-16

here, and here must remain, in some condi- !
ton; and, repeat, how are they to be hes:
governed? WHAT'S best to be done for their
happiness and our own? In the slave States
the alternative is, that the white man must
govern the black, or the black govern the
white. In several of those States the num-
Der of the slaves is greater than that Of the
white population. An immediate abolition
of slavery in them, as these ultra abolition.
lists propose, would lie followed by. a despc-
rate struggle for immediate ascendancy of
the black race over the white race, or rather
twould be followed by instantaneous coils
ions between the two races, which would
| break out into civil war that would end in
the determination OR subjugation of the one
race or the other. In such an alternative,
who can hesitate? Is it not better for both
parties that the existing state Of things should
be preserved, instead Of exposing them to
the horrible strifes and contests which would
inevitably attend an immediate abolition?
This is our true ground of defence for the
continued existence of slavery IN our coun-
try. 1t is that which our revolutionary an.
cestors assumed. 1t is that which, in my
opn on, forms our justification in the eyes of
all Christendom.
A third impeachment to immediate aboli-
ton is to be'found in the immense anloun!
OF capital which is invested in slave proper
ty. The total number of slaves in the y.
States, according to the last enumeration Of
the population was little upwards of two
millions. Assuming their increase at a ra-
ito, which it probably is, of FIVE per cent
per annum, their present number would be
three millions. The average value of
slaves at this time is stated by persons well
informed to be as high as FIVE hundred dol
lars each. To be certainly within the mark,
let us suppose that i: is only four hundred
dollars. The total value, then, by that esti-
mate, OF the slave property in the U. States
is twelve hundred millions of dollars. This
property is diffused throughout all classes
and conditions of society. 1t is owned by
widows and orphans, by the aged and in
firm, as well as the sound and vigorous. 1t
is the subject of mortgages, deeds of trust
and family settlements. 1t has been made
the basis of numerous debts contracted up.
on its faith. and is the sole reliance, in many
instances, of creditors within and without
the slave States, for the payment of the
debts due to them. And now it is rashly
proposed, by single fiat of Legislation to
annihilate this immense amount of property
To annihilate it without indemnity and with
out compensation to its owners! Does any
Fconsiderate man believe it to be possible to
elect such an object without CONFUSION, re-
volution and bloodshc,,!
l know that thereis visionary dogma
which holds that negro slaves cannot be the
object Of property. shall not dwell long
with this speculative abstraction. That is
property which the law declared to be pro-
perry. Two hundred years of legislation
have sanctioned and sancii6ed negro slaves
as property. Under all the forms of govern
ment which have existed upon this continent
during that long space of time-under the
British Government-under the Colonial
Governments-under all tha~State Consti-
tutions and Governments-and under the
Federal Government itself-,hey have been
deliberately and solemn'y recognized as the
legitimate subjects of property. To the
wild speculations of theorists and innova-
tors stands opposed the fact. that in an unin-
terrupted period of two hundred years. du-
ration, under every form of human legisla-
ton, and by all the departments of human
government, African negro slaves have been
held and been respected, have descended
and been transferred as lawful and indispu-
table property; they were treated as pro-
perry in the very British example which is
so triumphantly appealed to as worth of our
imitation. Although the West India plan
ters had no voice in the united Parliament
of the British Isles, an irresistible sense of
justice extorted from that Legislature the
grant Of twenty millions Of pounds sterling
to compensate the colonists for their loss Of
property.
If, therefore, these ultra ab,'itionists are
seriously determined to pursue the scheme
of immediate abolition, they should at once
set about raising fund Of twelve hundred
millions of dollars to indemnify the owners
of slave property. And the taxes to raise
that enormous amount can only be justly as
sessed upon themselves or upon the free
States, if they can persuade them to Assem-,
to such an assessment; for it would be a
mockery of all justice and an outrage against
all equity to levy any portion of the tax upon
the slave States to pay for their own unques-
toned property.
Il If the considerations to which have al
!. ready adverted are not sufficient to dissuade
i the abolitionjsts from further perseverance
in their designs,the interest of the very cause
which they profess to espouse, ought to
check their career. Instead of advancing,
by their efforts, that cause, they have thrown
back for half century the prospect Of any
/ species of emancipation ofthe African race,
. Gradual 0r Immediate in anv nf tho States