Weekly national intelligencer., 1850-03-02

deyolyed upon us. In this investigation there no dicuy
nothing has been left speculation inquiry or however
widely gentlemen have differed upon the power and the JUS
tce Of touching this properly they have yet united IN COM
mon testimony its character has been Jranhy ana u
eovirocaHy declared from the rry commencement OF ms
bot. ~, the most decided enemies of abolition Themselves
as ,ce as By Others that this property IS an ep af Hs
a dangerous property"
These extracts will suffice. They are few
from mass of material before me to the same
purport. They show the opinions OF leading men
in Virginia in 1882, and they announce the per-
yading opinion of that whole State on one point,
At least-the general conviction that slavery is
social and political evil in the countries where it
exists could refer, in confederation OF this opin-
ion, to the high authority of Mr.. JEFFERSON and
other names very dear to the fame of Virginia, If il
were necessary. Mr.. Jefferson's opinions are well
known, from l777 down to the last moment of his
life, as warmly and earnestly enlisted in the cause
of the final extirpaton Of slavery from the State.
need not quote them. But it is worth while to
remind the present generation that in the first year
above mentioned, l777, committee, consisting OF
JEFFERSON, Mason, LEE, WYTHE, and PENDLEToN,
submitted to the General Assembly of Virginia
plan for the abolition of slavery. They all re-
garded it as great evil. The history of that illus
trious Commonwealth does not afford, with one
exception, five names more worthy to be trusted
than these, in whatever belonged to the honor or
the happiness of the State. With such facts before
Us, / may ask, how can any rational man allow his
thoughts to dwell for moment upon that most
revolving and disastrous of all imaginable calamites,
the dissolution of this Union, retribuhon due
the crime of thinking in the current Of thought
with all Virginia, and especially with these great
lights Of freedom and republican virtue!
Shall one sincere and thoughtful citizen OF the
United States now be put under the ban OF public
censure for thinking slavery an evil! Shall this
Union be destroyed because many sincere men
think it an evil In the worst aspect of 1t, is not
this the whole head and front of the offence upon
which all this fury of passionate denunciation has
arisen? Whether it be expedient or not to forbid
the existence of slavery in the new Territories, is
question which public opinion very generally re-
fers to that previous inquiry raised in the Virginia
Assembly-that is to say Is Slavery an Evil!
For upon that point depends, in the simple judg-'
ment of well meaning men, the next proposition
Is it well to establish this evil in Territory
Why not allow men to hold their opinions on this
subject in peace without connecting it, in any form,
with the fate Of the Union :! What excuse could
VIRGINIA give to the world, if now after all that
has passed within her own history, she should unite
in this fierce assault upon the Confederacy, to
punish and disable those who have been instructed
in their opinions of slavery by her teaching, and
who have only re uttered the thoughts of her own
sages and philosophers, and, after them, of her
whole people? Virginia has given six Presidents
to the Union She is six times the more bound to
preserve it. She has taught the world, both by
her practice and her philosophy, how 10 estimate
the value of slavery. Let her not array herself in
anger against those who have deferred to her wis
dom and applauded her advice
From all these considerations which have thrown
before the reader, gather great moral, pre-
dominating influence which should peryade the
yub ocf fnnip 0f tha thn
duty Of moderation, and the suppression of all
rash resolve. / think it manifest that mutual aban-
donment of the controversy mean abandonment
of it as theme of political agitation-and throw
ing it back into the mass of subjects upon which
men may differ as they please, without denunca-
ton on one side, without prescription on the other
without, in fact attaching to the difference any PEN
atty whatever; think it obvious that such treat
ment Of it will produce result SATISFACTORY to ALL
The ship will right herself if the crew will but trust
her TO the pillows. Let Northern Legislatures
cease to instruct or, in the guise of instruction, to
toment passion and stir up resentment let the
South cease to threaten let politicians abandon
their Conventions, and fiery orators slake their
dor in salutary silence strike out Modification
and Secession from the parliamentary vocabulary;
and let over-heated citizens, both North and South,
seek some profitable private calling, and diligently
pursue it, suppanting politics with notions of thrift
and giving more heed to works that will strengthen
the Union than to fancies Of destroying it, and it
will require no prophet to foretell that in few,
months all parties will find reason to rejoice in the
result.
The storm, we may hope is now at its height.
There are already symptoms Of breaking away
in the elements. The People, distinct body from
the politicians turning the subject in their
minds The friends of the Union-friends in all
extremes-are about to fall into spontaneous array,
md Wi forth tpr he notc
tied. They will come presently ina great ground
swell, which will lift every agitatng, declamatory
politician off his feet and land him, perhaps, amongst
the wreck and offal of the beach. There are signs
of this.
MARYLAND.