The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-12-16

icCtudily PtcScutcu-tuoct WHO are not able
to purchase slaves, OF are not willing 10
hold them, will be driven out-a check, ef
fectual and eternal, will be given to the in
crease Of white population, and the black
encouraged and stimulated to its utmost ca
pacity Of expansion. And are these bles.
sings! If so, upon whom are they to fall!
Not upon the present race Of shareholders,
surely. Will MIR. Wickliffe's fortune be
improved by general reduction of slaves?
Will the non-slaveho9er consider i as a
blessing? The avowed ground Of the poll.
cy is jealousy Of him. Hear AIR. Wick.
life: The scheme of the aboltionists for
Kentucky is. ''to drain the slaves from the
State until none but the wealthy shall own
them, and to set the nonslaveholder upon
the STAKEHOLDER, and, through the ballot
box, by the mere force Of numbers, to set
the negroes free. To effect his object the
law was passed" DC.
The law is tending to this result by d.
minishing the number OF dawes, and il is
to alter, and forever yprsysri.. this state of
things that its repeal il sought. And what
is the "modus operandi" Of MIR. Wicklifie's
policy? TO open the doors wide TO the
importation Of slaves, and thereby so to re-
duce the wages Of labor as forever to ex
clude ''the free mechanics" from Europe
and the North, who can, in the proposed
state OF things, find no means Of employ
ment within our country. And yet Mr..
Wicklifle denies that the repeal of this law
will drive free labor from the State. In
proof Of this, will make one more and
the last quotation from his pamphlet: "a
gentleman from Woodford, | am informed,
stated to you the other night, that every
negro that is brought into the State drives a
mechanic from it. Had the gentleman told
you that every negro that comes into the
State keeps a mechanic from being driven
from it. he would have come nearer the
truth. Is there man in the world who
does not perceive, that the same causes
which would exclude would also expel! If
the wages Of labor, from the number Of
slaves, be reduced so low that mechanic.
or free laborer from abroad, canno. come
into the country because he will find no
means oil supporting himself and family, or
improving his fortune-must not the same
circumstances induce the mechanic, already
in the country, TO seek more congenial
market for his industry? Has not the OPP
Grafton of slavery been precisely similar in
the Southern Atlantic States! Has it not
banished manufactures and the mechanical
arts from Virginia and the CaIolinas! Has
not MIR. Wicklifle told us that his leading
object is TO keep out head mechanics and
head manufacturers, and 10 confne the pop
ulaton to landholders and slaves, TO liken
US to Virginia and South CaIolina--to link
US forever with their policy and their fate.
The effect and policy Of the law, is to d.
minish the number Of slaves and TO increase
the white Population--this, the Senator from
Fayette admits, and breads, and opposes
The repeal Of the law, is to increase the
number Of slaves, and to diminish the white
population, and thereby to defeat the infu-
ence Of non-slaveholders in elections. The
people of Kentucky should consider Of this
policy. There are now in kentucky about
100000 white souls and about loo, 900
black. The proportion between slave
holders and non-slaveholders is not known
accurately, but the great preponderance Of
the latter is obvious from the foregoing state
ment. Were We to distribute the black
population equally, giving one to each man,
there would be 434, 900 non-slaveholders to
10000 shareholders. Blu; they are not
equally distributed. 1t is said that the Sem
ator from Fayette owns some three hundred
himself, and, consequently, the preponder-
ance is greater than what is represented
above. What must this class of voters
think OF policy which is aimed at their
very existence, and that, too, upon a sup
position that they are Of necessity aboli-
tionists, and the enemies Of the STAKEHOLDER?
Is il wise, or is it humane, in any man, to
endeavor TO draw party line of this de-
scription within the Commonwealth, and to
represent these classes Of citizens, as natur-
ally and necessarily hostile upon a subject,
of all others, the most eXasperatng!
Have the non-slaveholders in kentucky
deserved the charge made against them?
The Legislature Of kentucky, a short
time back, passed law authorising the
people to vote upon the call Of Conven'
ton. MIR. Wickliffe says that this was an
abolition scheme. kentucky was TO be
the battle. ground, and the tenure Of slavery
was to be destroyed by new constitution.
What said people in which there were al
least five non.slaveholders to one slavehold
er? They voted down the convention bill
and refused to change a constitution which
recognised slavery, and placed the right be-
yond the reach Of the government. They
were far more liberal to Mr.. Wickliffe anC
his class, than we have every reason to be
lieve he would be, to their rights, if he hat
the power. He is afraid Of their influence
at the ballot box-he is efraid Of the cxer
else of their suffrages. These opinions arr
not peculiar to Mr.. Wickliffe-the princi
pies upon which they are founded, are in
corporated in the Constitutions Of Virgini'
and South Carolina. The Shareholders il
those States have not left their cherished
rights, and the perpetuation Of slavery, to
mere constitutional provision. They hav'
taken more substantial guarantees IN th
composition Of their Legislature and in tn
distribution Of their representation: Tn
representation in Virginia and South Caro-
lima is distributed among the several dl'
tricts into which the States are respectivel
laid of, not according to the number Of Ire
white men in each district-no such thing