The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-03-24
The Kvils sf slavery.
To the Editors of the Louisville Journal:

. | - seSs. -.
To the Editors Of the Louisville Journa
GENTLEMEN: "Inouirer" and the Jou
nal are agreed in the opinion that slayery
as il exists in Kentucky. is q social an
political evil. But the Journal, in tn
edition of Feb. 23d. maintains that, mo-
outstanding the pressure Of this evil. tn
State is eminently prosperous; that, indeed
''our citizens are the most prosperous peopl
in the West." In the edition Of Marcl
9Th, in its reply to enquirer" the Journa
defines its position in respect to the remova
OF slavery thus: .-st.,s.t. ... Ia.
"The language held by rs in our articl'
or 23d- February is as follows I'VE hap,
not ourselves proposed the slavery question
as problem which must be solved II
some ways social, moral and econom
ical question which must be got rid of BY
direct and positive effort il the course oil
things and moral causes will rot remove it.
This, then, is our position. IL is desirable
to get rid Of slavery in Kentucky if moral
and economical causes will remove il; fur
ther than this we have not gone. We have
not commended that il was desirable to 20
beyond or faster than these influences.-
And, while we regard slavery as an evil,
we believe that much greater evils than
this institution, ms it exists in Kentucky.
may be brought upon ms by ill-directed
efforts to get rid Of it. In our opinion. the
emancipalionists have much work to per-
form before they can reach that stage in the
discussion where we should be compelled
to adopt emancipation il our hopes Of get
ting rid of slavery by other means were
shown to be delusive. There would then
remain another alternative, that Of bearing
the ills we have in preference to risking
those I'VE know not Of
Such is the position Of the Journal. But
the emancipators maintain that slavery is an
evil Of such magnitude, that its removal
should be attempted by wise and cautious
system of constitutional emancipation
And here the issue is joined.
In addressing myself to this issue, am
under the necessity Of adverting 10 the evils
which the system entails on the Common.
wealth. This line Of argument has been
stigmatised as intended, or at least adapted,
10 depreciate Kentucky. The suggestion
is nothing more than an artful appeal to
popular preiudices. No man deems him.
self deprecated, when his physician de-
scrbes, in a proper manner, the malady
under which he is laboring. The patriots
1f &c did not style the Declaration Of In
dependence a wilful defamation of the
United Colonies, because il enumerated the
ntolerable exactions Of the mother country.
We greatly misjudge the people Of Ken
lucky, if we hesitate, on such grounds, TO
expose to their notice the evils under which
we conceive them 10 be laboring. They
will honor the men who have the candor
% describe these evils, if the statements be
rue as to the matter, and respectful as to
he manner Of them. They will honor
hose who SO honor the Commonwealth as
10 expose and oppose whatever may i'm
pede its prosperity or impair its great re-
nown.
Now the Journal will hardly deny that
he laboring people, meaning thereby the
slave population, Of Kentucky are in q
Of extreme degradation. It does
not reach the case to say that they are ex-
GUIDED from the benefits Of the maxim thar
all men are created free and eq1al; that
hey are shut out from office, from the
militia, from the jury-box. and the ballot
box; that no law provides, even in sem.
blance, for their education; that difference
Of color separates them, everlastingly, from
he dominant race, and dooms them, ever
to social inferiority; and that the
practice Of the most difficult virtues and
Inc possession OF the most exalted intelli-
gence can no more redeem them from in
feriorily, than these can change the color OF
their skin. All this does not describe their
condition. Our laws divest them Of their
personality. treating them partly
as property and partly as human beings
As property, they may be bought and sold
by the citizen and by the free negro; as
persons, they may be "created free" by the
act Of their owners. As property, they
may be chastised at the pleasure Of the
master, and resistance to his authority may
be avenged even unto death; as persons,
they are shielded from wanton cruelty. As
they are protected by the owner;
IS persons, they are entitled to trial by jury
end are punished for crimes. As property.
their lives must be spent in the service OF
their proprietors aspersons. their lives are
held sacred. Their legal condition is sim
gularly mixed, its elements being say three
fifths CT personality, and-sit penia verbo
OF chattelism. Furthermore,
the law presumes them to be devoid Of
shame; for in the punishment Of their crimes
il knows no other alternatives than the whip
and the halter, as il they were insensible
to everything except physical suffering. and
as if the penitentiary could neither add to
their degradation nor awaken their remorse.
The law, also, presumes them to be too
ignorant 10 comprehend or too debased to
apprehend the obligation Of the oath; for,
il fifty slaves were to see white man
murder citizen. and fifty were in posses
sion Of circumstantial evidence equally
as To his guilt, and fifty moro
were to hear the assassin confess his crime.
he could not BE- convicted by the oaths Of
the whole multitude, because not one Of
them would be permitted to testify. The
slave may be admitted to oath as between
or against parties Of bis own color. bat
even them the court is required to charge
him. that, il he depart from the truth. be
shall be whipped; just as Il forty stripes
save one were more terrible 10 his stupid
than the vengeance of Al