The Madisonian., 1840-02-01

and James ii. Gholson in the Legislature of
Virginia. and a pamphlet Oft. X. Dew, ESQ.
distinguished professor ia William aud Mary
College. &
+" Ia the Legislature Of this State, in 1892 Thomas
Jefferson Randolph declared that Virginia had been
converted into Que grand mensgene, where are
reared for the market like for the shambes This
gentleman thus compared the foreign wlh the do
mvsc traffic. The trader (African) receives the
slaves, stranger in aspect language aud manner, from
the merchant who brought him from hc interior. but
here sir individuals whom the master has known from
Infancy no has sporting M tina innocent
pambols Of chlIdhood--who have been accustomed to
look him fdr protection he from the mothers
arms and sells into strange county-snong strange
peops-suhJec, to cruel tack masters In my olnion,
| Il is much worse
"Mr Gholson. Of Virginia, 10 his speech in The lie.
gsia,ure Of ,hs, State January 10, 1884, lsee Rich
Inoud Whig1 says; :" The legal maxim Of parfas
qur reatun coeval with the existence oi The nights
of properly ITSELF aud is lounsed IN Wisdom and Jus.
lIce. II only on the justice and invloablly OF this
maxim. thar the master foregoes the service OF The e-
male slave. has her norsed and attended during the Pc
rod Of her gesston and raises the helpless and infant
offspring The vaucof The property Jus,hes the ex-
pense and do not hesitate TO say that mls Increase
consists much Of our wealth"
.Profossor Dew President Of the College Of
William aud M.ry Virginia, lE his review Of the de-
bate in the Virginia Legislature ls3l-32, speaking Of
the arising from The trade says I" fall eqnl-
vaenl being thus left IN the place OF the slave this emil
grafton becomes advantage to the State, and does
cheek The black population as nch as at hrst view
might unsginc because It furnishes every induce.
lnen tho master attend TO the negroes TO encou.
rsge breeding and cause the greatest nnmbcr possi-
e to be raised. Virginia is, IN fact. negro raising
State, for other States y
Mr.. GARLaNp resumed. These decara-
tions of Messrs. Randolph and Gholson arc
not new TO me; nor have | forgotten the agi-
,.,k a.. he nj
which they exerted in Virginia. No man can
be ignorant Of the fact, that the increase Of
slaves, must necessarily Partake Of the parent
stock, and be, SO long as property in them ex-
ist-, subjects of bargain and sale; and that II
is the duty Of the owners, as far as is comPat-
bic with proper considerations of humanity,
to employ them in the most profitable way.
Nor can any be ignorant of the fact that they
sometimes multiply to an extent that II IS the
interest Of the owner as well as il IS his duty
to transfer them into other hands. In doing
this they do not in the slightest degree alter
the condition Of the slave, but only follow
law Of property and the demands Of inter-
est, The operation (which cannot be resisted.
Many sell from ntercst--many from neces-
sity in no case worsting the condition of
the slave; but, sir, do not know single
case, in which slaves are bred and raised ex-
pressly for the market-made business of;
nor do believe there can be found any such
case in the whole South. do not doubt that
this is the point Of view in which Mr. KAN
DoLPH, Mr.. GHoLsoN, and Mr.. Dew, intend
ed to be understood and not in that Of O'Con-
nell and the gentleman from Vermont, TOR l
do not believe that either of these gentlemen
are capable Of perpetrating such slandor
upon their native State. That such SLAM
der should be perpetrated by foreigner-an
enemy to our institutions and our prosperity IS
not to be wondered at, but extremely regret
that il should be believed and repeated by an
American citizen on this floor.
The gentleman from Vermont (Mr. SLADEl
has amused us with many arthmetical cal
cuations to prove the increase OF slaves.
What else did the gentleman expect! and
how we're we to prevent il If the number
Of our slaves has increased, it has been the
result Of natural causes and certainly the gen.
tleman would not have us prevent this IN,
crease, by slaughter or strangulation! But,
sir, the dominion of slavery has decreased,
and that to great extent New York, Penn
sylyania and Delaware, were once slave hold.
ing States, but have abolished slavery; and
by the power Of the North, slavery north OF
the 36 deg. of north latitude is forever in
hbted in that immense region west OF the
Mississippi, purchased by the common trea-
sure OF the nation where trust the gentle
man can go without offence to his moral SEN
sibiIny, if he cannot 60 TO Missouri. Slavery,
also, has been excluded from that immense
region of country ceded by Virginia, now
embracing four large States and Wisconsin
Territory. With these facts before his eyes,
the gentleman seems alarmed at the increase
and progress Of slavery Sir, the facts
prove th,t slavery, SO far from increasing,
has greatly declined in the extent of territory
over which it prevails.
The gentleman from Vermont has, with an
industry and an ability which does him credit,
searched from their sleeping tombs and strung
together, in admirable order, the opinions of
many great and distinguished men upon the
moral evils of slavery and the necessity OF its
eradication, which would very well apply If
we were engaged in the discussion of the
question whether slavery should be intro
duced but which do not touch the question
whether Congress has the power TO invade
the domestic institutions OF sovereign States,
and break down their institutions or, whether
it is expedient under existing circumstances to
abolish slavery-and do not need, therefore,
to be noticed. The gentleman also referred
MS to the example Of England, and, with an
air Of apparent triumph, told us what she was,
and what she noW is. Upon the subject of
slavery, sir, England has always been true to
her interest. When it tDos her interest to
press slavery into any part Of her vas, domi-
mons, she has done it-and when il was her
interest to abolish it, she has done So Her
interest, and not her principles, has always
been the guide Of her conduct upon this, as
upon most other subjects. 1t was Old Eng