The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-03-17


emancipation, has endeavored to aid our DELHI
erations by the terrors Of their mighty denun.
citation against all emancipation; and, not
willing 10 trust TO the ability Of emancipators
sufficiently to raise the question OF the policy
Of the act Of 1888, have, in the most authori-
tative manner, thrust IT forward for the con-
sideration Of the people. They have taken
care TO prove, In the very hour when we mos,
needed such proof, that Legislative discretion
was not TO be trusted for the preservation of
that salutary law, and that, If its policy was
ysrth preserving, the people must take care to
provide for il in the new Constitution.
There are large number Of shareholders in
Kentucky. probably majority, who are neither
emanciPators nor peTpetnalists-- siderate,
prudent men, who are instinctvely disinclined
to all innovation or agitation and especially dis
inclined 10 the agitation Of this delicate subject
They were content with the policy of the law
Of 1888 and disposed to let time settle the ques-
ton Of slavery in Kentucky. The recent action
of the Legislature has driven them from their
neutral position. In the coming contest they
will have TO take sides either for perpetualism
OF gradual emancipation, provided the latter
question Ia raised. Their support of the law Of
1888 indicates their leaning sufficiently to
authorize a high hope as to their decision
One Of their number, in recent publication
sense, proposes that they meet in convention,
take council together. and advise with each
other what shall be done. Ii il 20 be hoped
they will do so, and appoint delegates 20 confer
with the convention Of emancipators to be held
al Frankfort in April. Should they do SO and
should II then be ascertained that there is no
good prospect Of success for emancipation, If
they will agree 10 a constitutional prohibition
against the importation of slaves, they can
dictate their own terms as TO the balance. Iii
assuming nothing TO venture to promise, In
behalf Of the emancipators Of the State, that IL
will be found that they are not disposed to agi
tate for the mere sake Of agitation, either for
the present or for the hereafter. They will be
content that the Legislature shall have discre-
tionary power not oftener than once, after the
lapse Of each twenty or thirty years, to propose
u plan Of gradual emancipation for the decision
Of the people at the polls. But with the law OF
last session they will hold no terms and make
no compromises They will declare against il
unremitting and untiring warfare. Indeed it
does not leave them the alternative of perfect
acquaintance and inaction ON the slave subject.
Feeling the frmest, the most undoubting con-
vietion that true policy and justice on their
side, every dictate Of self-respect and duty TO
the State will require that they shall vindicate
their principles and endsavor to propagate
them.
II is well known that majority of the slave
holders are opposed to the importation of more
slaves. How then do the members Of the last
Legislature expect TO be sustained in this new
pOlicyl Is il by reason Of their supposed infiu-
ence over the poorer class OF men, who are not
slave owners, most Of whom have no prospect
Of becoming so, none Of waom have any per-
sOnal interest in maintaining slavery, and who
constitute four fths of the voters Of the State7
There must be some plausiblity in the argu-.
ment which goes to show that slavery is bene-
fetal to the owners of rich lands, who are also
the almost exclusive owners Of slaves, or so
many respectable and intelligent men would
not avow that opinion. But, what is the cou rse
Of reasoning by which il is expected to prove TO
the great laboring class, who own no slaves,
but do their own work in tilling the thinner
and less productive lands, That their interests
are promoted. that they are benefited by the
system! Kentucky has been trying the OK
pertinent for between sixty and seventy wears,
and thus far the direct benefits slavery, If there
lie such, have never yet reached the poor lands.
We need no further experimenting to prove
that those benefits never will reach Them
All know that negro slavery never did and
never can thrive on poor land, while there is
a slave market in richer lands. The inhabitants
Of our thinner lands must by this time be
the dirict benefits Of negro slavery to others,
they are never TO reap any Of them. What then
are the collateral benefits Of slavery to tina, class
Of our population who constitute so large ma
lority of the wholel This development the pro-
slavery men have never yet made. No one has
vet attempted TO prove that the system was ben
eficial TO that class Of our population. There
are perhaps more rich men in Kentucky in
proportion TO white population than there are
in Ohio. One OF the evils of the system is TO
accumulate too much wealth in few hands, and
the rich part Of our population may be conce-
ded TO be in sufficiently prosperous condition.
But the rich are a very lean minority Of the
population Of any country. They are so few in
number that with no ProPriety can the funda-
mental institutions Of society be adjusted with
peculiar view, much less with an exclusive
eye, TO their interests. The great interests 70
be attended to, not TO the exclusion of others,
however, but that which is most entitled to re-
spectful consideration, 10 the interest Of the la
boring masses--of those who constitute four
fifths IL not fve-sixths Of our white population
Let il be shown how slavery benefits them
what interest they have in the perpetustion Of
slavery and the increase Of slaves in our State.
II is precisely In its evil operation on them, by
its destructive influence on their best interests,
that the system produces most Of it's pernicious
They are mostly small farmers, remote from
market. The mechanic arts and manufactures
are but little pursued among them. They have
not been reared TO such pursuits and do not
voluntarily fall into them. The institution Of
slavery keeps mechanics and manufacturers
from coming TO the State and settling among
them. That is what they want. Agricultural
labor is overstocked. They want an industrious,
consuming population near them, which they
can have the benefit Of feeding, and which can
teach them the mechanic arts. The labor Of
one producer can feed himself and FIVE or six
others. All producers and no consumers can
never constitute prosperous community
They especially need the facilities for educa-
ting their children and teaching their sons good
trades. They cannot give all their sons farms,
but they know that If they can make them good
mechanics, they will make them independent.
How does the large Shareholder Of an adjacent
county aid or assist that class Of our communi-
ty7 He raises his own provisions and is a COM
petitor In the market with his surplus He
grows his own wool and fax, weaves and makes
up his own coarser clothing, imports his furni-
ture and finer clothing ready made from free
State, and encourages no mechanic but the
blacksmith and the house-builder, and that be-
cause he cannot import a ready-made house,
and because he cannot send TO free State TO
have ais wagon mended or his horse shod. Nor Is
this state of things al all likely to improve, but
II is every day getting worse. II is an undoubt.
ed fact, that forty years ago there were more
hats, shoes, boots, saddles, aud various articles
of furniture manufactured in Kentucky than
there are at this day.
The great mass Of every community is, always
has been, and always will be poor. In Other
words, the great majority must always be made
up of those who are not and never can be slave.
holders. Hence the necessity Of constantly
keeping in view the interests Of this greater mass