The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1844-08-23

our own.
It is well known that southern climate IS most
congenial to the negro. Our government census
tables demonstrate the fact, that blacks residing in
the southern States live to more advanced age
than those in the north, and are a hundred fold
more exempt from the malades with which their
brethren in the colder climates are afflicted Tex
as is more salubrious than any other portion OF
the south and possesses the finest temperature IN
America. Upon the supposition, then, that af
the blacks from the northern slave States should
be transported 10 Texas, their condition would be
much improved. There, they cannot suffer from
cold, however meany clad; and to experience
hunger in Texas, without the means of satisfying
it, man must either be disabled, or incorigibly
indolent.
What benefit is to result from confinng the
blacks to their present northern abodes' Is 1t
imagined that any of the States are about to man.
unit their slaves; Where are the evidences Of
such proceedngi Is the testimony to be found
in the increased, and increasing, rigor of the laws
of almost every northern slave State? No, no
no such policy is contemplated. Shareholders
either rdcule Or become incensed at, the bare
mention Of liberating their slaves, and turning
them loose upon our country. But let them speak
for themselves. The distinguished citizen of
Kentucky, Hon. Henry Clay, who says he is the
owner of fifty slaves, may be presumed to enter
tain the same views held by the great mass Of his
brother shareholders; and hear what he says.
HENRY CLAY'S OPINION UPON THE
SUBJECT OF ABOLISHING SLAVERY
In his celebrated address 10 Mr.. Mendenhall,
after referring to some Of the effects of abolishing
slavery, Mr.. Clay goes on to remark :-[See Cree
leys life and speeches of Clay, vol 2, page 5O5.l
ga contest would inevitably ensue between the
two races; civil war, carnage, pillage, confagra-
ton, devastation, and the ultimate determination
or expulsion of the blacks. Nothing is more GER
tain. And are not these evils far greater than the
mild and continually improving state of slavery
which exists in this country! say continually
improving; for if this gratifying progress in the
amelioration of the condten Of theslaves has been
checked in some of the States the responsibility
must attach to the unfortunate agitation of the SUBJ
lect of abolition"
And again, Mr.. Clay says in his speech on aboli.
tlOH peulOUs, uClNtESu III tiiS cChatC, L Cu uay
7, 1889, and which may be found in the work just
quoted, vol. 2, page 4l2, that,
eff I had been a citizen of Pennsylvania, when
Frankln's plan flor gradual emancipation was
adopted, should have voted for IT, because by no
possibility could the black race ever acquire the
ascendency in that State. But if had been then,
or were now, a citizen of any of the planting
States--the southern, or southwestern States-I
should haze opposed, and aoould continue to op-
pose, any scheme aDhatever of emancipation, grad
l.al or Immediate, because of the danger of an
ascendency of the black race, or of civil contest
which might terminate in the extinction of one
race or the other"
Here, we have the evidence of the Hon. Henry
Clay showing that he regards the abolition of
slavery, ,Ieither gradual immediate, and throwing
The slaves upon our own country as thesgreatest;
curse that could befa our land
In Texas, the slave will occupy aseountry ad-
dining one IN which no distinction is made in
respect to color. In Mexico all shades of COM
plexion are equality-the black, the mulatto,,
the quartroon and the white all enjoy the same
privileges. In that government there are FIVE:
coloIed to one white man. 1t is a curious fact that
On Galveston Island, in 1887, among some FIVE
hundred prisoners taken at the battle of San Jacin.
to, not one white man was to be found.
Mexico being possessed of such population
and institutions, is it not natural to suppose that
the negroes of Texas would seek an asylum in that
country, if permitted by their masters? And the
all powerful objection to manumission which pre-.
walls in the United States, not existing in Texas,
it is not to be presumed that hundreds of philan-
thropic owners would liberate their blacks and
send them across the border' We daily hear Of
persons willing to manumit, provided their servants
are sent out of the country The colored man is
unwilling to go to the home of his forefathers and
if he was, means are deficient to send him to
Africa. But when once in Texas, this difficulty
no longer exists. There, the slave may receive,
MS freedom one week, and in the next, occupya
land where the laws, and (what is more potent)s
public opinion place him on level with thewhite..
The most powerful objection to the extinguish--
nent of slavery in the United States would lose
It's potency in Texas and it is by no means vision-'
ary to imagine that annexation may at some future
lay prove the means of abolishng slavery through
out North America. In the boundless territory Of
Mexico and Central America is to be found the
'nly secure retreat for the posterity of the African
But exclude Texas from the Union, and YOU
brewer bar the door to their passage into Mexico.,
Many northerners are jealous of the political
'ower of the South. That portion Of our confed-,
'racy possesses nothing like the weight of the
forth. The territories OF Iowa and Wisconsin are
bout being admitted into the Union, which will
id still further TO our preponderance. Besides.
he stupendous territory of Oregon is ours, and
he day is not very remote when her soil will add
everai new States to our glorious constellation,
nd all of them will be Free This will bear down
he balance immensely on the side of the north.