The southern press., 1851-06-04
A Case Of Conscience,
Mr. WEBsTERs speech at Albany, contains
the following passage ......

the following passage
Gentlemen, before the revolution, SLAYER
existed in the Southern States, and had existe
there for more than hundred years. We o
the North were not guilty of its introduction
That generation of men, even in the South
were not guilty Of it. II had been introduces
according to the policy of the mother country
before there was any independence in the United
States-indeed, before there were any authori
ties in the colonies to resist it. Why, gentle
men, mems opinions have so changed on THU
subject, and properly-the world has come to sc
much juster sentiment-that we can hardly be,
lieve that which is certainly true-that at the
peace of Utrecht, in 1918, the English govern.
ment insisted on compensation from the Spanish
government for having violated contract by
which the Spanish government had established
the unqualified and exclusive privilege to the
British government of importing slaves into her
West India colonies That was not then re-
pugnant to public sentiment, but it is now.
allude to it to show that the introduction of
slavery into the Southern States is not to be
visited upon the generation that achieved the
independence of this country. On the contrary,
all the eminent men of that day regretted it.
And you, my young friends Of Albany, if you
will take the pains 10 60 back to the debates of
the peri.d from the meeting of the first Con.
gress, in l774-I mean the Congress of tile
Confederation-to the adoption of the present
Constitution, and the enactment of the first law
under the existing Constitution-any body who
will make that necessary research, will find that
Southern men and Southern States, as repre-
scented in Congress, lamented the existence of
sla cry in far more earnest and emphatic terms
than the Northern, for though it did exist in the
Northern States, it was feeble taper, just going
out-soon to end-and nothing was feared from
it; whilst leading men of the South-of Vir-
ginia. and the Carolnas-felt and acknowledged
that it was moral and political evil /; that il re-
tarded the arm Of the free man, and kept back
the progress and success of free labor, and said
with truth-and all history verifes the obser-
yation-" that, if the shores Of the Chesapeake
had have been made as free to free labor as the
shores of the North river, New York might have
been great, but Virginia would have been great
also"
We cannot complain that Mr.. WEBSTER en-
tertains and expresses opinions on the ethics
and economics of slavery that were quite preva-
lent in the last generation Of Southern states
men, and are held by a considerable number of
public men in the South But it is poor ex-
cuse to be made for the South in the North, and
it is very feeble defence for the South to make
for herself, to admit that slavery is a moral and
political evil, and to throw the blame for its es-
Enlistment in America on the government Of
Great Britain. Such an argument, or such a
confession, involves inevitably the inference
that the South ough. to emancipate. If slavery
is moral and political evil, il ought to be re-
moved. And, although we are not guilty OF
bringing it here, We are guilty of keeping il
here. 1t is absurd TO pre- ch to the North the
obligation of executing the Fugitive slave law
and yet to tell them, at the same time, that ir
so doing they will prolong augment, or aggra.
waite moral and political evil.
We'll may the North reply 10 the South, anc
say you confess that slavery is not only disad
vantage, but a wrong, and you pretend that yor
tolerate it, because you cannot get rid Of it. Blu
now when slavery gets rid Of you, and take
refuge here, you come, at great expense ant
trouble, to reclaim it. If slavery is an injury t
you, why not rejoice that you have got rid Of 81
much Of it as has left you! If it is an injur!
to the slave, why not rejoice still more that the
fugitive is no longer afflicted with it As TO
the pecuniary loss you may sustain, it is con
siderable; but il is nothing compared with tn,
blessings il purchases, of diminishing slavery, it
immortality, its dishonor, and its ruin.
Now, the truth is the South is responsible
not only for the continuance but the introduc
ton Of Africo- American slavery. Ii is true
also, that the North, and that Great Britain, are
equally responsible. But if there had been M
body in the South to buy negroes originally
there would have been nobody there to sci
them. In the colony Of Georgia, negro slav, r,
was at first prohibited That colony consiste,
of persons who were imprisoned for debt il
England, and were permitted to leave jNil T.
colonize Georgia. OGLETHoRPE, the founder O
the colony was philanthropist, and sought il
this way To give liberty and comfort to tina
class Of poor and unfortunate men. The colon
was founded on socialist principles. 1t was. al
forwards augmented by settlements Of Mora
VANS, strict religious and socialist sect. AT.
both classes of early colonists were decided !
opposition to slavery. But both changed the
opinions, and the prohibition was removed-an
Georgia became slaveholding.
The introduction of African slavery in Anne
RIGA was, as is generally understood, the wor
of an eminent philanthropist, the celebrate
Catholic bishop, LAS CAsAs. His object wa
10 substitute African slavery, for Indian SLAYER
in the mines, which the Spaniards had adoptcc
and which was exterminating with fearful II
pidity the native Indian population Of Americt
The plan of LAS CAsAs succeeded. The negr
was found 10 be better adapted TO seryitude tina
the Indian. The negro could increase in popl
lation, whilst the Indian would perish. And
is a curious fact that African slavery should b
established in America by philanthropy, an
should nov be assailed in the name Of phiar
thropy II is still more curious and importar
fact that negro servitude is the only kind
4. .,oIo., ,;y;l;,oJ I;co hot Il on,