Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-03-16

AhoJ ~ NOhS W ~
or two Of years hence, the kidnappers of TO-
day should be first looked after; and this,
for very obvious reasons Henry Clay does
not propose TO have done.
The plan he submits is briefly this:-That
the first generation of slaves born after 1860
shall be free at twenty five years of age-not
free as Henry Clay is free, but free to be
hired out by the State for three years in order
to raise means to carry them to Africa. And
that the second generation shall be free at
birth, on condition that they shall not be ex-
actly free. but be apprenticed for twenty one
years, and then hired out for three years, as
their parents before them to procure means
to pay for their transportation to LIBERIA
This is the gist of Henry Clay's great and
benevolent plan--a plan selfish in its incep-
tion and inhuman in its operation, one which
is eminently worthy the President of the
American Colonization Society, and is de-
signed to promote the ends OF that Society.
And although he ~pretends to look upen slave
ry as an evil and a curse, and cantingly talks
of the obligations and duties which the su-
perior intellect Of the whites-if they possess
it-imposes upon them in relation 10 the con-
dition of the slaves; yet he regards slavery
as a far less evil than free negroes, for he
says,
The colonization of The free blacks, as
they successfully arrive, from year to
year, at the age emitting them to freedom,
! CONSIDER A CONDITION ABSOLUTELY IN
DIsPENsIBLE. WITHOUT 1T, | SHOULD BE
UTTERLY OPPOSED TO ANY SCHEME OF E.
EMANCIPATION.
Here peeps out the cloven foot. Give us
colonization or eternal slarery! Promise to
carry the hated negroes from our presence,
and we will liberate them- not now, but al a
more convenient season.
Emancipation, whether immediate or pros
p%ective, has always been a great bugbear to
the South. The very word is suggestive of
loss of property; but if they could be %convin.
ced it would be pecuniarily profitable to free
their slaves, they would feel far less objection
to doing it; and those who speak of emanci-
patton would be less odious. Henry Clay
IL oNlucutly dnAlOuS v COlNluC6 SldNbllOlueIS
that they have nothing to fear from his plan
of emancipation, as witness the extract which
follows:
That the system will be attended with
some sacrifices on the part Of s%lavehold-
ers, which are to be regretted, need not
be denied. What great and beneficial
enterprise was ever accomplished with
out risk and sacrifice But these sacri-
fees are distant, contingent, and incon-
siderable. Assuming the year 1860 for
the commencement of the system, all
slaves born prior 10 that time would re-
main such during their lives. and the
personal loss ofthe STAKEHOLDER would be
only the difference in value of a female
slave whose offspring. if she had any,
born after The first day of January, 1860,
should be free AT the age Of twenty five,
or should be slaves for life. In the mea
time, # the right 10 remOrc or sell the
Stare out of the State, should be ercrci.
sed, that trifing loss would not be incur
red. The stakeholder, after the COM
mencement of the system, would lose
the difference in value between slaves
for life and slaves until the age oftwenty
five. He might also incur some incon-
siderable expense in rearing from their
birth, the issue of those who were 10 be
free at twenty five, until they were old
enough to be apprenticed out but as it
is probable that they would be most gen.
orally bound to him, he would receive
some indemnity for their services, until
they attained their majority.
Most of the evils, losses and misfor-
tunes of human life have some compen-
sation or alienation. The slave holder
is generally a land holder: and | am
persuaded that he would find, in the aug
mented value of his land, some, if not full
indemnity for losses arising to him from
emancipation and colonization. He wo'd
also literally share in the general bene-
fits accruing to the whole State. from the
extinction Of slavery. These have been
so often and so fully stated, that ] will not,
nor is il necessary TO dwell on them eX-
tensively. They may be summed up
in a few words. We shall remove from
among us the communicating influences
of a %servile and degraded race of differ
ent color; we shall enjoy the proud and
conscious satisfaction ofplacing that race
where they can enjoy the great blessings
of liberty, and civil. political and social
equality we shall acquire the advantage
of the diligence, the fidelity and the con
stancy of free labor. instead of the care
lessness, the infidelity, and the unsreadi.
ness of slave labor we shall elevate the
character of white labor, and elevate the
social condition of the white laborer
augment the value of our lands, improve
the agriculture Of the State, attract capt.
tai from abroad to all the pursuits ofcom-
merce, manufactures and agriculture
redressing, as far and as fast as we pru-