The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-11-28

lsay Twelve dollars and hfsy eents,) that it
would probably be yielded by the owner gratis,
ana would thus reduce the six hundred mil
lions of dollars the first head Of expense, 10 thir-
1y'seyen millions and half leaving only the ex-
penses OF nourlshment while with the mother and Of
transportation. And from what fund are these ex-
penses TO be furnished Why not from that of the
lands which have been coded by the very States
no" needing this relief And coded on no con
sldeTauon, Tor the part bat that of the general
good OF The whole. These cessions already con-
sti'ute one-fourth Of the States of the Union, 1t
may be said that these lands have been sod are
now the property of the citizens composing those
Stales anu the money long ago received and ex-
pended But an equivalent Of lands in the terrific
rIes since acquired, may be appropriated 10 that OBJ
Ject, or so much at least may be sufficient and
the object, although more important to the slave
States Is highly so TO the oilers, also, II they were
serious IN their arguments the Missouri question
The slave States ton, If more interested would also
contribute more by their gratuous liberation, thus
laklng on themselves alone the first and heaviest
item OF expense.
'ln the plan sketched in the Notes on Virginia,
no particular place of asylum was specified be-
cause It was thought possible that, Ia the reyOu-
tonary stale Of America, then commercial, events
might open 10 US some one within practicable DIS
lance. This has now happened. ST. Domingo has
become Independent, and with population Of that
color only; and If the public papers to he cred
tied, their chief offers TO psy their passage TO re-
eeye them as free citizens, and TO provide them EN-
ployment This leaves, then, for the general con-
ederncy, no expense but Of nurture with the mother
a few years, and would call, Of course for a very
moderate appropriation of the vacant lands"
This, then, establishes the fact that the plan of
which he speaks IN his "No,es on virginia. IL
his OUR. lie is there reciting the provisions Of a
Revised Code for Virginia, which, along with two
other public commissioners for that purpose he pre-
pared IN the year I'LL He says that it embraced
also some alterations of the laws; among which was
the following:
$40 emancipate all slaves born after passing the
act. The bill reported by the reysers does itself
contain this propositions; but an amendment contain
ing II was prepared TO be offered TO the legislature
whenever the bill should be taken up, and further
directing that they should continue with their pa
rents TO certain age, then be brought up, at the
public expense, To ullage, arts, Sciences accord
ing to their geniuses, I'LL the females should be
eighteen, and the males twenty-one years Of age,
when they should be coloniZed to such place as the
circumstances Of the time should render most prop
er, sending them out with arms, implements Of
household and Of the handcraft arts seeds pairs OF
the useful domestic animals, &c, TO declare them
free and independent people, and extend to them
our alliance and protection, I'LL they have acquired
strength; and to send vessels at the same time to
other parts Of the world for an equal number Of
white inhabitantsi TO induce whom to migrate
hlther proper encouragements to be pro-
posed"
In his Memoirs Of himself (prspared in 1921 he
says again, of this plan: at found that the
public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor
will It bear it even at this day. YET the day is not
distant Uhsn il must bear and adopt H. or icorss leiH
JoIiotp."
In his letter to John Holmes, April %, 1920, he
expressly says that siaUsS not property:
III say with conscious truth, that there is not
n ma m earfh Xuh unnld \
would TO relieve us from this heavy reproach in any
practicable way. The cession Of that kind Of prop
erty, for so II is misnamed, is a bagatee which
would not cost second thought, If, in that WY
a general emancipation and expatriation could be
effected, +" &c
We might cite much more; but this suffces to
prove that, in l777, Mr.. Jefferson was the author
Of good deal The most radical and rtinous plan Of
abolition that Il has been hap TO see: that
this being at the beginning, he refers with compla-
cency to it at the close OF his career, in 1924 that
his intermediate opinions did not vary. And now,
what is III
At first, he proposes, by State authority, to take
awuy, at once, and without compensation, all prop
erty in slaves born after the passage of the act
They are to remain direct charge upon the master
at first; and then to be brought up and educated by
the State. Thus, as the masters would have to pay
the taxes, each master would not only get nothing
for his slave, but have to pay hundreds of dollars
him out for migration! But 10! to make amends he
is TO be ared again. to bring in white laborers from
Europe!
This was after the adoption of the Virginia consti-
tuition and the Virginia bills Of rights the latter of
which expressly declares that private property
shall not be taken for public without compensa-
TOM To q strict construclionist. however, there
was, Of course, mighty little difficulty in getting
over such small stumbng-block as that, or even
IN turning 1t into a steppng-stone or horse block.
Accordingly we see elsewhere that Mr.. J. was pre-
pared to assert that the laws nothing against
any OF his new-fashioned political truths and that
there could be no property in human beings; which
IL, IN reality, the sum and substance of aboonisn
If, however, this did not avail, what would have
been the hesitation to State rights man. of saying
that "this was not taking private property for pub
lie use, since the public made use of itip
This, 1t will be observed, was the original plan,
the action and expense to be of the State only. But
has he at the close of his days. any scrupe Of bring
ing IN the federal government 10 aid in emancipation?
Not the least! He proposes that the public domain
shall be devoted to the object. That is itself long
stride: but mark the inevitable consequences His
own oftenrepeaed constitutional axiom and that of
his school was "that the federal government cannot
lawfully make appropriations except for oh ecs which
belong to its disrbuve subjects of power and again.
'that the consent of State its exercising power
cannot confer it, if the general government had it
not before" If, then, the federal power could ap-
pfopi'ote VI ouy cpuiNaieut W inc cmanCipa-
ton Of the blacks it could, ofis own direct author-
ty, emancipate them, ,oho, in any manner consult
ing the States!
And now, is the Union satisfied And does il or
does it not assent to these propositions and princ-
pies Of it's infalible oracle'
1t may not be amiss to conclude this article with
an extract from some remarks which we had occa-
sion TO make some years ago on the same subject,
The sentiments which we then expressed remain
unchanged
mo ono will suspect of any sympathy with
abolitioniss in the sense in which the term is en-
ployed in Virginia With General Harrison, we
hold that the subject Of slavery in the States is ex-
cluslvely within the control of the State govern
ments, and that the general government has no
power whatever over it. We go further and deny
the right of Congress to interfere with that ques-
ton even in the District Of Columbia, without the
consent of the people of the District But these
opinions of ours not at all Inconsistent with a
regard for the freedom Of opinion on this subject
on all others, and the right Of expressing it where
its expression is not restrained by the laws or by
prudential considerations equally operative The