The Daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1845-1850, 1850-05-09
HORACE MANN,s LETTER.


Mr.. Webster casts away the s'Proviso'' aItogeth-
en- He says ''Y resolution or a Ialo acere ao,c
before US to prouide q territorial government for
NeW Jferlco, l could not Uote to put ana prohibi-
ton into 1t tchateuer.' p 81. The reason given
Is, that slavery is already excluded from California
and New Mexico" ''by the law of nature, of physi-
cal geography, the law ofthe formation ofthe earth'
P. A. California and New Mexico are Aslatic in
their formation and scenery. They are composed of
vast ridges of mountains of enormous height with
broken ridges and deep valeys;'' p. AZ.
Now this Is drawing moral conclusions from phys
zeal premises. 1t is arguing from physics to meta
| physics 1t Is determining the law of the spirit by
geographical phenomena 1t is undertaking to SET
tie, by mountains and rivers, and not by the Ten
commandments, the question of human duty. 1t
aDandons the second commandment of Christ and all
Bills OF Rights enacted in conformity thereto, and
leaves our allegations TO ''neighbor and all hu-
man rights to be determined by the accidents of
earth and water and air. To ascertain whether
people will obey the divine command and do TO 9th
ers as they would be done by, it looks at the Their
mometer. What problem would this be ere
CURED the height above the level of the sea. at
which the oppressor will undo the heavy burdens
and let the oppressed 90 free, and break every Yoke
TO be determined barometrically.' Alas This
cannot be done Slavery depends, not upon the Gil
mate, but upon Conscience. Wherever the wicked
passions Of the human heart can 90, there slavery
can CO. Slavery Is an effect. Avarlce, sloth pride
and the love of domination are its cause In ascen-
ding mountain sides, at what altitude do men leave
these passions behind them2 Different vegetable
growths are to be found at different heights depend
ing also upon the zone. This | can underestimate
There Is the altitude of the palm, the altitude of the
oak the altitude of the pine, and far above them all
the line OF perpetual snow But in regard to inno-
cence and guilt, where is the white line? How
high up can STAKEHOLDER go, and not lose his free
agency! At what elevation will the whip fall from
the hand OF the master, and the letters from the limbs
OF the slaves? There is such point Freedom
and slavery on the one hand, and climate and geol-
ogy on the other, are incommensurabe quantities.
We might as well attempt to determine ques-
ton III theology by the cube root or a question in
ethics by the Black Art Slavery being crime
founded upon human passions, can 90 wherever
those passions are unresrained. 1t has existed in
Asa from the earliest ages, notwithstanding ssits
formation and scenery" 1t ldbors and groans on
the TANKS of the Ural mountains now There are
to-day fortyeght millions of slaves in Russia, not
one rood OF which comes down so low as the North
ern boundary of California and New Mexico
Should it be said that slavery will not 90 into the
new territories, because it is Improbable. ask
where is 1t profitable? Where is ignorance so pro-
htabe as knowledge? Where is ungodiness gain.
even for the things of this life? How little IS the
hand worth, at one end of an arm, if there is
not brain at the other' Do not Maryland, Virgin
Ia, North Carolina, and other States, furnish wit
nesses by thousands and tens of thousands that sa
very impoverlshes. Yet with what enthusiasm thew
cherish it. Generally, ignorance is necessary COM
infant of slavery. Ofwhite persons, over twenty
years OF age, unable to read write, there were
according to the last census SIS 1877 in Virginia. So
500 IN North Carolina; 8,5l3 IN Tennessee, and so
forth. have letter before me received this morn
ing, dated IN Indiana, in which the writer saws he
trnr NnrfI
IA years old, and at that time he had never seen
newspaper In his life. Can there be genius the in
yentye talent, or profitable labor, where ignorance
Is SO dense! Can the oppression that tramples out
voluntary industry, intelligence, enterprise. and the
desire OF independence, conduce to riches? Yetthis
is done wherever slavery exists and part and par
Gel OF Its working. Is any other form of robbino
profitable! Yet individuals and communities have
practiced it and lived by it, and we may as well re-
y upon claw of physical geography to arrest the
one as the other 1t is not poetry, but literal truth
that the breath OF the slave blasts vegetation: his
tears poison the earth and his groans strike it with
sterlty 1t would be easy to show why the master
does not abandon slavery, even amid the desolation
with winch 1t has surrounded him There is a COM
Olnaon OF poverty and pride which slavery produces
on the doctrine of natural appetence and which
therefore, it exactly fits. The heplessness of the
master IN regard to all personal wants. seems to ne
cessltate the slavery that has begotten it All NOR
al and religious principles lowered till thew con-
form to the daily practice. Custom blinds con-
science, until, without any attempt to emancipate or
amellorate their victims, man can preach and pray
and bold slaves Yorlck ests and sings over grave
{, digging
But slavery cannotgo into California or New Mex
leo, because their Sapeproductons are not 'stobac
co, cane, cotton, or rice" Up. 44) These are az
rlcutural products. But Is slave labor confined 70
agriculture Suppose that predlal slavery will not
become common IN the territories Cannot
mental? II slaves cannot do fieldwork, cannot thew
do house work There is an opening for hundred
thousand slaves to day, in the territories, for pur
poses OF domestic labor. And beyond this, let me
ask who possessed any such geologic vision that at
the distance OF thousand miles he can penetrate the
valleys and gorges Of New Mexico, and say that gold
will not yet be found there as it is in California
not IN sand and in gravel only, but in forty-eaht
Founders and in fty-sixes? This is the very Mind
OF labor ON which slaves, in all time, have been so
extensively empIoyed-the very labor on which
million OF slaves in Hispaniola lost their lives, with
! IN few years after its discovery by Columbus
| Gold deposes are now worked within twenty. five
miles OF Santa Re. The last account which ihave
seen OF a company of emigrants passing from Santa
re to California by the river Gila announces rich
discoveries of gold upon that river fellow citizen
OF mine has just returned honle who says he saw
slave sold at the mines in California in September
| last As yet, the distant regions of the ella and