The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-07-21

"e,eohaIy, anu 10 great extent the large slave
holding interest Of this State that is now plead
e ing inc cause Of freedom here. 1t Is a gres
e fetribution, which, perhaps, God may accom-
n plish, and II is striking providence, that sue
;. hands are put to the work. ~
. a fraction OF the shareholders, perhaps
9 may De two-thirds, or even nine-tenths of III
.hoie number own the larger part, or suppose
you like, the whole of the slaves In the S ate
u Lei US set those slaves down In round number
n al 2Vo'ooo and their value at 500 900, 900. Nov
mere is very large interest, one that no wis
OF Just man can for moment disregard. And /
heid by ancient, and, as to their binding force
5 uhquesuoned laws, and by long continued, ant
e sven though they be conditional, yet constitu
nonal guarantees. In my opinion, It would b,
an act OF robbery for the State Of Kentuck,
uhuer 'hese circumstances, to take these slaves
OF any CT them, from these masters, or any Of
lhem, without paying the masters for them. Il
| with such principles that I have upiformly
declared that the new constitution ought TO con.
tain an explicit protection of this property, as
ooth our former constitutions have done; and
approve the very words used in both those con-
stitutlons. These, also, are the opinions of The
party with which act; and they have, In eSe-y
FORM and on all occasions, declared that they
were for no other Emancipation than thGi
nn'e" should be prOspeetire. and operate eXclu-
slvely OH slaves born after the plan had been ma
tured, voted by the people, and commenced its
legal existence; and that they were for secur-
ing as absolutely as under the present cOnstitn-
hon, every masters title TO his slaves now in
oeing and TO be born up till the occurrence Of
mat event Amongst candid men il seems to
me there can be no dispute, either az TO the
matter of fact or the matter Of right, en- this
part OF the subject.
Claims. however, are set up on behalf of the
slave holder far beyond this, and of kind truly
remarkable. He Is entitled, so one claim runs
70 Keep his present slave property in Kentucky
| now; therefore, II Is a breach Of honesty and
lair dealing TO prevent him, and all coming
slave holders, from keeping other slave property
mere In all time TO come; wherefore, il this be
90, the State having once tolerated slavery, can
never become free State. And again, he is
entitled now to the future increase of his slaves
AND therefore no iuture increase Of them TO the
END oil ume' can even be put under such cir
cumstances as TO deprive him Of the right of
holding them in Kentucky. Such pretensiorIs,
IL they were founded In reason, would render
all human progress impossible, and place soci-
| ely IN chains at the mercy Of all despotisms
aristocTacies, close corporations, feudal tenuTss
and intolerable prescriptions, that have cursed
The world and been obliterated by the advance
OF freedom and truth. If, in reality, there is
any assignable value that can be put on the
power OF the female slave to produce offspring,
"hleh Is over and above her personal value aud
independent Of ID; the slave holder might have
some shadow Of an equitable claim on the State,
tor this, in case IL were taken from him md the
women left TO him. But nothing Of the sort is
contemplated. The plan have long ago pub
llsnsd, and by which my principles are 10 be
judged, proposes, that under all circumstances
The master of the mother shall, for the expens,
OF rearing the issue, and even for the benefit of
that issuei have the election up to the moment
~hen the issue would go free, 10 elect whether
u shall 90 out OF the State as his slave, or as a
free person. AS matter Of property, therefore,
MS right even in the issue is held sacred II he
chooses to retain II, and all that 10 demanded OF
him is that, IL after long warning, and the
iuii expression Of the will Of the people, he pre-
iers TO own his slaves still, he will not attempt
70 oDsiruct the great scheme Of the Common
wealth. hut sell 80 sO.sss Oslr-r sfu.s
state, such slaves as may have been born after
the people should determine TO make Kentucky
free State. Whatever his slaves NAV be
worth in the market they will bring; what they
bring is his; and no act Of ours will have re.
uuced their value, in all human probability,
plach OF snuff IL he prefers 10 retain them as
ms own slaves, II is his own affair, and any
State 10 which he could remove them by sale, he
could remove them to, still more ceriainIy as
his own. Ii he remains here, selling his slaves
out OF the State, very well-if he prefers TO re-
move with them, very well again the matter
would be at his own free disposal, and the gu, 3.
ton OF property as touching the slaves would,
in every conceivable result be decided by him
self Yet it is upon this state Of case, that the
attempt is made all over Kentucky, TO make the
STAKEHOLDER believe that they are about to be |
robbed Of 500 900 900; and to persuade them |
That they have some sort of mystical power TO |
force the eternal continuance Of slavery in the |
State.
The shareholders have the highest possible |
interest in settling this whole question on mod |
crate and reasonable terms 1t is highly proba. |
Ole that the mass Of their own children will be- |
long to the class Of non-slaveholders. Its GER
tain that that class can, whenever they think |
proper, by their immense preponderance, dis
pose Of the whole question as they please; and |
1t Is beyond doubt certain that they must, at |
least see that 1t is their interest TO change the
matter essentially. No class of persons would |
profit more by the immense advance in the pros |
Perity Of the State consequent upon a change
from mixed, to free white population, than |
land-holders, which the owners ofslaves gener. |
ally are. An advance Of SO per acre in the |
price of land over this State, would produce the
nett sum Of s7l ,000, 000---to which add the |
price Of all the slaves sold and the correspond |
ing advance in the value Of all the products Of |
the earth after three or four hundred thousand |
white people had been substituted for tho like |
or smaller number Of slaves. NV deep con- |
viction 10, that this State would gain many
times the entire value Of all her slaves, by the
proposed change, and that the shareholders |
themselves would be amongst the largest gain.
ers by the event. am aware that il is object |
ed to such statements, that the negroes are a |
far better population than the Irish, Dutch and |
Yankees, who would, IL is said, supply their
places. To which reply, in the first place, |
that our own children would, to great extent, |
NIL up the vacuum, II we did not force them to |
seek home elsewhere, by preferring our neigh |
boris slaves TO our own flesh and blood; and In |
the second place, will merely say, it seems to |
me II is the highest proof that one sees his cause
10 be desperate when he resorts to arguments |
al once inhuman and absurd,in order to sustain |
ii. The labor of the foreign population now
In America, adds more every year to the nation
al wealth, many times over, than the total value |
Of all the slaves in this State. We have hun
dreds Of millions of acres Of land, worth moth
ing, simply for the want Of people TO till Il; and
there are tens of millions Of poor and oppressed
men, who are thus derided, that would be made |
happy by possessing it--and at the same time |
add to the wealth, the power, and the develope-
ment OF our great empire. Scattered over Ken
lucky are thousands of men, who are an honor
TO the State, who fall undet this condemned and
desPised class; and probably the grandfathers Of
Of nine-tenths of the people OF the State were
born in some foreign land, and the fathers of the
vast majority Of them in some other State. For
my part, so greatly desire 10 see this noble
State made the exclusive abode of the free
white man, that one of the leading motives Of all
my conduct connected with this subject, has
been the hope Of substituting the race of negro
slaves with the race of free whites.
Without pressing this aepect of the subiect