Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1849-01-10
roa TsE srAusres srsorATos.
LAGOON NO. II.
TO the Honorable, Che Member, Of the House Of
Delegates and Of the Senate Of Hirgiaio:

| Delegates and cfthc Senate Of Hrsiaio:
4 have said that the rapid Increase of the coored
population oi Virginia, will soon bring us to the
conviction that they must either be annihilate as
an inferior caste by aniGlg h the whites.
or RACED by lao and common consent 10 a emil and
soc'df eq"dnsy, or be removed from the State. The
fiTst cannot be. Even aboliiioniss revolt t IL when
practically urged, and plainly show that their SYM
patiiles are fictitious and unnatural and therefore
not only mpractfcab!e In the experiment, but null
and void as moral obligation This inferior caste
can never be los, by aaalgamation
IL Is equally cersaiil.Iat i.ey can never be rails
ed ~ an equality eivil and cial rights and p,i
Snsges ms may oe attempted, tuv It will DC
failure. II has been attempted, but when has the
experiment ever succeeded2 Let St. Domngo
give the answer full of solemn instruction and full
OF warning. Soon after the early introduction of
slavery into that island the spirit of emancipation
began to create free coored population, all infe-
tlor degraded caste When i'll 1890 their number
0eSan to approximate to that Of the whites ,hey
petltioned 10 be admitted To the rights of suffrage
and other privileges of free citizens. The national
Assembly OF France decrecd-what the colonial au
thorties rejecied,he civil and social equality of
The Tree negroes. In the progress Of events these
soon mace common cause with the slaves, civil
wars ehsued, and the Island was deuged i'm blood
TIL the whites were exterminated
AS lar as the experiment has proceeded the re-
suits here have been strikingly similar. Their num-
oer, increasing at ratio much greater than the
whites, will bring their tread upon our heels be-
lore the generation now graded in our peaceful
dwellings shall have passed off the stage They
VIII naturally be clamorOus for privileges They
VIII be urgent in petition, then in argument, then
In demand. They will be first persuasive. then
accusatory, and finally insolent. They are men.
and even If we had no record of history in which to
lead the future by The past, we may know what
they Will do! And will they find no sympathy.
lll- ptInn e.. IL i
be dull scholar, indeed, who, without the teach
ln"s OF history, cannot infer the future from the
present You have made law that the slave e.
mancipated, shall leave the State But Won need
not be told how often this law is violated. and
how many may be found in every county retained
contrary to the law by common sympathy on their
behalf 1t Is generous impulse which violates
the law-but judicious law which demands a sup
preston OF these sympathies. Thus are the free
blacks increasing rapidly still, by the double pro-
cess Ut birth and emancipation.
Extension of privilege is the order of eyery com
ihuniiy, and wider room is yielded with every de-
mand come not 10 ''repress this genial current
of the soul" am not prepared to saw the fye.
people OF color yet have the point O! elevation A.
warded to them which they deserve and MANY of
theHi are very merltorous. Bnt we look beyond
Inc present. Where do these paths lead TO VIVA,
! Is the point to Which these finger boards we now
| read direct us What sro the tendencies consa
quences OF what we now doing2 AS certain n,
there Is no asssnable limit TO human progress, w,
saii III process OF time, find this class of our popu
| lation requiring more room and DEMANDING NOR,
privileges till they will come to the door, OF you
| legislative halls and ask, are we not men, free men
men OF property. of intelligence and of numbers su
iicient TO be known. recognised, heard among ,ou
WI! not assume TO write this history in detail
What 1t must be in effect. all not politically blind
can see. When II comes to This, or any thilr like
IL, the answer must be like that OF the Colonial As
sembly OF ST. Domingo. The rest is known. The,
can ne0er be admitted to equality in ciyH a,e
social privilege. 1t only remains, then. that the,
DO REMOVED from the State. 1t will be my mex
object to show that this may be done-that it ouah,
| to be done, and done NOW