The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-05-13


n.y. That's the true test. Apply it, Apply i
any where, to any class, and you viii find Osr
position proved bey ond the shadow Of doubt.
Let us see IL VIC canuot make il clear even 10
Prejudiced eyes.
Senator UKDEEwOoD calculates that a white
family looking to. and living upon, the pro-
ceeds Of slave labor, will, in the third genera
ton, be helplessly poor. Suppose ii starts with
an hundred slaves. While cotton, or rice, or
tobacco is high in price, and the land which
produces one or all Of them is strong, the iamily
can be indolent, expensive, careless, reckless II
You please True. ruin overtakes them al last;
for slave labor is too costly TO permit such ef'
cess; still, for two generations, they 60 on
proudly Indifferent TO the present OF the future
Bat take the family having FIVE or ten negroes
as patrimony. They cannot afford TO be either
INDECENT or expensive. Yet pride, the spirit OF
CASTE above all the degradation Of labor, forbids
them from delving in bitches, or doing any kind
Of drudgery. No slaves work for them No
dirty slaves toll for father or son. No common
drudgery for mother or daughter! The result
Is. ihst in majority Of cases, families thus situ-
ated, become bankrupt ere the Father dies! That
is, they are left miserably poor in single life
The truth is, small Shareholders and poor white
laborers having no slaves, suffer most sharply
and Immediately the horrible ills Of slavery. IL
may be said, "they should do better-they ought
to avoid this Incidence, this excess" and SO
they ought; but who among us could do belter2
Who under like circumstances, would be better
or braver7 We should fall under the same in
defence. We should feel the same dislike for
servile labor. We should long for slaves, that
we might enjoy our ease, while we compelled
them 10 work for US. And thus our energy,
our habits Of industry, all that goes to make q
man, or make community, would be relaxed'
and false pride usurp the place Of frugality,
| false notions Of honor overlap true notions OF
duty, mean serviity overthrow an honest in
dependence! And what followsi Why, the
impoverished sell off, and 90 away; the clear
sighted, seeing the certain result, emigraie al
once; and thus the history of an old slave State
shows, invariably, exhausted wealth, decress.
ing population, no great or successful improve
menIs, no universal education, no progress.
3 The STATE nil decay more and more, il
SiGUery be continued
This follows from what we have said But il
NAV be made clearer still TO the common vision
BY reference TO a few facts. What cities in the
State flourish most7 Those treesf from slavery
CoUiRgtOR has increased, Proportionately, far
more than any one or all the rest. She has less
than eight hundred slaves in four counties
around her. What counties are the most pros
perous7 Those with the fewest negroes in
them! Compare, for this end, the river with
the interior counties, as our intelligent cores
pondent Cato has done, and like him, too, II you
would grasp the full evil Of slavery, contrast
both with any Of the counties of Ohio. But af-
ter all, il is not wealth, il is not money, nor the
hope Of making it, which ever yet started into
being a great movement, swept il on triuIn-
phantly. A tattered and painted emblem, Tapping
idly in the wind, will rouse a nation, and bid il
scatter property ike chat, and shed blood like
water, if thereby nations liberty may be won.
And it is the greatest curse Of slavery, its deep
est, blacklist woe that insensibly, in defiance Of
the noble generosity and warm hospitality Of
i " ehch oiohcig
cramps and criPPles the energy, Of the common
mind, Of the masses, which thus acts for the cora
mon coed. IL brOOds over it like palsy. IL il
a thrall upon industTy-all noble emulation. i
subdues, extinguishes the creative power Of th'
people when that should be enkindled and en-
! famed. 1t weakens and degrades labor, and thu
leaves men without motive, or the means o
growth. il blinds them TO the nobleness Of thei
own nature, its csPability, greatness, strength
; destiny.
What then should Kentucky dol Lin off In
incubus. Let our people breathe free. FO
once give them an hour to recover-to emery
from the thick evils Of slavery, and they will b
in energy, power, greatness, real growth, equa
to the foremost in our land, or in any land
Look ahead, then, statesmen. Look ahead, pa
: triOts! And say whether you will labor to I'll
: them with new life, 10 ePen for them all the av
enues Of honor and progress, through universe
freedom, or leave them cowed, oppressed, thral
led ia mind and estate, by the crushing, desOls
tirg influences of slavery