The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-03-31
Emancipation I'm Kentucky.

| occasion to a great deal OF ignorant and una
talk. C. A. D.
|
emancipation I'm Kentucky.
alt is remarkable that the two create.
and most salutary social revolutions whic
have taken place in England-that revolt
tion which, in the thirteenth century, pu
an end to the tyranny OF nation over ns
ZION, and that revolution which, few gen
erstions later, put an end to the propert
Of man in man-were silently and imper
ceptibly effected. They struck contem
porary observers with no surprise, and hav
received from historians very scanty mea
sure of attention. They were brough
about neither by legislative regulations no
by physical force. Moral causes noiselessll
etiaced, first the distinction between Nor
man and Saxon, and then the distinction
between master and slave. None car
venture TO fr the precise moment at which
either distinction ceased. Some faint traces
Of the old Norman feeling might perhaps
have been found late in the fourteenti
century. Some faint traces Of the institu
ton of villenage were detected by the Gu
rious 50 late as the days Of the Stuaris; no.
has that institution ever till this hour beer
abolished by statute. "-Macanlay's Eng
land.
"The editors OF the Louisville Examiner
the organ OF Negro Emancipation, in no
ucing our article on emancipation, in the
latter part Of January. profess not TO b.
able TO see why subject like emancipa
ton should be left without agitation, to the
slow process OF public opinion, nor why
this question should not be started in the
election Of delegates, sat time when SC
many other questions are 10 be raised. =
Perhaps those whose vocation il is TO agi.
tate this subject, cannot see the reason for
not agitating il. We never expected them
to see it, but herhaps others may; and,
solemnly believing both these propositions
to be true, we shall endeaVor TO maintain
them. We believe that the tranquility and
general wellbeing Of the State depend
upon their maintenance.
"In proof OF our position that great So
eial changes are TO be brought about by
the noiseless operation OF moral causes. we
have cited from Macaulay the remarkable
passage. Louisville Journal.
Slavery in Kentucky and villenage in
England. Identical in principle. differ in
almost all other respects. That villenage
was insular, and could not strengthen and
perpetuate itself by diffusion. The mo-
ment il became Improbable for purposes
Of labor, il was profitable for nothing; a
Villein possessed no marketable value
Slavery in Kentucky strengthens itself by
diffusion. Whenever the demand and sup
ply Of labor are balanced, so that an addi-
tional supply would impair the value OF
the slaves, and thereby undermine Slavery,
the surplus are exported as merchandise,
and the motive to emancipation, founded
upon selfinteresl, is Withdrawn. The
principal reason why the sentiment OF
emancipation, 50 vigorous in Virginia in
1872, and also in Maryland and Ken.
lucky about the same period. declined after
that, is to be sought, not in the agitation
or the question OF Slavery at the North or
anywhere else, but in the increase of the
price Of slave-labor staples, which led to
the opening Of new regions for slave cult.
walton, and augmented the marketable
value Of the slave. The price of cotton in
the United States in 1881 was 9 IA cents;
in 1882, 10 cents; the next year it rose to
IL, the next to Is, and in 1885, it was
10 12. The value Of the entire cotton
crop in the United States was S29, ESQ, 900
in 1921, and in 1881, s3e, 333, OO0-hav.
ing increased in ten years only about S..
100000, not a million year but in 1884:
it was $4,000, 900, having doubled in
three years, or increased at the rate Of near.
ly s13.000.0 900 year.
The villeins Of England were compare.
lively few in the tenth century. numbering
scarcely more than a twentieth OF the
whole populaiion-so that the slaveholdins
interest must have been feeble one. In
Kentucky, the slaves amount TO nearly two
hundred thousaDd-almost one-fourth oil
the entire population. Besides, the ruling
pOllllCni CidcS III tuul Aoldic - lutuuHtu WIN
the slaveholding caste, which is supreme in
fifteen confederate States, containing q
slave population OF two millions and a
half-more numerous than the entire pop.
ulation OF England. lords and villeins, dur.
ing the period Of yillenage. The pride,
ambition, prejudice, and selfinterest Of tht
whole caste, are involved in the mainten
ance Of slavery in Kentucky. There is nc
parallel to all this in the history Of Eng
lish slavery.
No physical peculiarities marked the
villeins Of England. They were distin.
guished from their lords by their condition
Emancipated. no visible sign pointed then,
out as having been degraded. The slaves
of Kentucky are marked by physical pc
culiarity which, belonging Ia this country
to those who are slaves, becomes associs
ted in the public opinion, with degrade
ton. and raises the presumption Of servi
tude. The influence OF such an association
in producing heartless prejudice. and i'm
pairing our sense Of the wrong Of slavery
is an obstacle in the way Of emancipation
which never existed in England.
Were IL frI,e fharafoxo fk.t ,ar,a:,, no,