Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1844-01-12

DetrHYeu Ivy iUO COHU0uuHCo VI AHO
fond ancioations OF Washington and Jefferson,
and Madison, and Mason, of the South, have not
been realized The great experiment of republic
can government has not been fairly tested. IL
the Union should not be perpetual, moi the Amer
lean name be synonymous with that of liberty in
all coming time, slavery is at once the cause,
the crime, and the avenger!
Are we indeed OF that Wanted Saxon blood
which no dangers can nppal, no obstacles obstruct
md shall we sit with shivering limbs and dewy
feet by the running stream with nane features
ami stoIid gaze, expecting this flood of evils TO
flow past, leaving the channel dry? We, who
can conquer all things else, shall we be here on
ly suhdued ingoriously whispering with white
lips, There is no remedy? Are the fowls free in
,he wide heavens, the fishes secure in the depths
OF the ocean, The beasts untramneled IN the forest
wds. and ehall man only, man formed in the i'm
nge OF Deity, The heir Of immortality, be doomed TO
hopeless servilude? Yes, there is II remedy.
There is one Of four consequences to which
slavery inevitably leads "A continuance Of The
present relative position of the master and the
slave, both as TO numbers, intelligence, and phys-
cal power or an determination OF the blacks or
an determination of the whites or emancipation
md removal or emancipation and community
of interest between the races.
The present relative position between the blacks
md whites, (even if undistuibed by external in
fuence, which we cannot hope,) cannot long con.
tlnue. Statistics of numbers show thnt in the
whole slave States, the black increases on the
willie population. The dullest eye can also sre
that the African by association with the white
race, has improved in intellect, and by being trans.
ferred 10 n temperate cline and forced TO labor
and to throw off the Incidence of his native land
he is increasing in physical power; while the
white, by The same reversed laws, is retrograding
in The same respects Slavery, then, cannot re-
main forever as ii is. That the black race will DO
extermipated seems hardly probable from the u
bove reflections, and because the great mass OF
human passions will be in favor of the increase OF
the slaves nd interim. Pride, love of power,
blind avarice, and many other passions are for it
and against il, only fear in the opposite SCALE We
are forced therefore, to the conclusion that the
slave population must increase till there is no re.
treat, but in determination of the whites. Athens,
Sparta, Sicily, and Rome, nearly, Hayt in mod.
ern times, did fall BY seryile wars. have shown
elsewhere that the slavery of the blacks in the
modern. is more dangerous than the slavery of the
whites in the ancient system: then the intelligent
slave was incorporated into the high caste of quon-
dam masters, an eternal safety-valve, which yet
did not save from explosions eminently disastrous
The negative of the second proposition, then
establishes the third, unless we avail ourselves o
the last emancipation. If my reasoning and facts
be correct there is not a sane nind in all the
South, who would not agree with me, that if we
can he saved from the first named evils, by all
means emancipate. Emancipation is entirely safe.
Sparta and Athens turned the slaves by thousands
into freedom with safety, who fought bravely for
their common country. During the revolution,
many emancpated slaves did good service in the
cause oil liberty We learn from MIR. Quincy
md other sources to he relied upon, that British
West India emancipation has been entirely sue
cesslul, and productive of none OF those evils
which were so pertlnaciously forelold by inteie
tel pro-slavery men. The British have regiments
Of black men who make fine neutrality-suspicious.,
not enemies of the empire. But above all, rely
not upon sound priori reasoning only, but rnili-
er upon actual experience There are in the Uni.
ted States, by the last census $50 265 free blacks
l1075S of whom are in the free, the remainder in
the slave states. There are also, 2,4S5, 45 slaves
so that, in fact about one-sixth of the whole
black race in America are already free! No dam
ger or evil consequence has ensued from the resi-.
dence Of these 3o626 lreemen among US. Who
then will he so absurd to contend thai the lib
Grafton OF the other fivesixths will endanger the
safety and happiness of The whites? / repeat,
then, that emancipation is entirely safe
Emancipation must either be by the voluntary
consent OF the masters or by force of law. ro-
gard voluntary emancipation as the mos, probable
The most desirable, aud the most practicable. For
The slavehoilng and-hoder would not be less
rich in consequence the enhancement Of The
value oil land would compensate for his loss in
slaves. A comparison Of The price of lands of
equal quality in the free aud slave States, will
prove this conclusivey. If however, by force OF
iaW-ihe law having once sanctioned slaves as
property, the great principle which is recognized
by all civilized governments, that private proper
~ cannot bc taken Tor public use without Just
compensation dictates that slaves should not be
liberated without the consent Of the masters, or
without paying an equivalent TO the owners I'M
der the sanction of law, one man invests the pro-
cceds of his labor in slaves, another in land in
the course OF lime it becomes necessary to the
common veal TO buy up the lands for redistribu-
ton or culture in comnon-how should the tax
be laid? OF course upon lands, slaves, aud per-
sonal l'roperty-in word upon the whole prop.
erty of the whole people. II, on the other hand,
it should nearly concern the safety and bappi-
ness of society, both the Shareholder and the non.
stakeholder, that slaves should be taken and c.
nlancipdted, then by the same legitimate course
OF reasoning, The whole property of the State
should he taxed for the purpose. If emancipation
shall take place ny force oil law, shall il be by he
laws OF the States or by the law of Congress p
Let Congress abolish slavery wherever she las
jurlsdictlon-i the military places, in the terrific
ries, and on the high seas, and in the District of
Columbia, II the contracts oil cesslon with pir-
gnla and Maryland allow. / lay down the broad
rule that Congress should do no more for the per-
peualion Of slavery. than she is specially bound
10 do. The debates in the federal convention,
provo that the free States did not intend TO assume
of Roger Sherman and others, they could not
acknowledge the right of "property in men."-
There is then no moral obligation in the Union
TO sustain Tbs rights of the Sonlh in slaves, except
only they are morally bound to regard the contract
with The South, and in the construction Of that
compact, the presumption in oil cases Of doubt is
in favor of liberty.
On The contrary The United States are morally
bound by all means consistent with the constu.
lion, TO eA,inguish slavery. The word slave is
not used in the constitution, because The promise
OF all the southern members Of the convention
led 10 final emancipation, and noble shame on
all hands induced the expulsion of the word from
the charter fhuman liberty. cannot agree that
there is any law superior TO that of the federal
Constitution. Ii is The part Of Christians to model
human laws after the Divine Code, but the law in
The present state Of light from on high, must be
paramount TO The Bible itself If any other prac-
tice should prevail, the confusion OF religious in.
terPrelatlons oil the Divine Will would be endless
and insuiierable In. a country where Jews
Christians, and inhdels, and Dests and Catholics
md Professionals. and Eouria.;a,a ond AIornnn.