The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-04-30


of precocity, no symptoms of decay A long
course of continuing improvement is in prospec
before us, with no limits which human foresight
can descry. Actual Liberty and equality with
our white po ulation has been approached
much nearer than in the free States. Few o.
our whites ever work as day laborers, none as
cooks, solutions, ostlers, body servants, or il
! other mental capacities. One free citizen does
not lord it over another; hence that feeling Of
Independence and equality that distinguishes
us; hence that pride of character, that se!f-re-
spect, that gives us ascendancy when we come
in contact with Northeners. 1t is distinction
to be Southerner, rs il Was once to be no.
man citizen.
In Virginia we are about to reform our con-
stitntion. A fair opportunity will be afforded
to draw wider line of distinction between free
men and slaves, to elevate higher the condition
Of the citizen, to inspire O. cry white man with
| pride Of rank and position. We should do more
for education. We have to educate but half OF
society, ut the North they attic iipt to educate
allO Besides, here all men have time for self
education, for reading and reflection Nobody
works long hours We should prohibit the
exercise Of mechanic arts to slaves Except on
their masters farm) and to free negroes. We
should extend the right of suffrage to all native
Virginians, and to Southerners who move to
Virginia, over twenty ore years of age. We
should permit no foreigner and no Northerner
who shall hereafter remove to the State, to vote
in elections. We should have small well
drilled paid militia, to take the place Of the pa.
troll and the present useless militia system. All
men of good character should serve on jnries
without regard to property qualification. Thus
we should furnish honorable occupation to all
our citizens, whilst we cultivated and improved
their minds by requiring them all to take part
in the administration of justice and Of govern
ment. We should thus make poverty as honor
able as ii was in Greece and Rome; Cor to be
Virginian would be higher distinction than
wealth or title could bestow. We should cease
to be bye-word and reproach among nations
for our love Of the almighty dollar. We should
be happy in the confidence that our posterity
would never occupy the place Of slaves, as half
mankind must ever do in free society. Until
the last fifteen years, our great error was to imi
tate Northern habits, customs and institutions
Our circumstances are so opposite to theirs,
that whatever suits them is almost sure not to
suit u.s. Until that time, in truth, we distrusted
our social system. We thought slavery morally
wrong, we thought it would not last, we thought
it unproftable The Abolitionists assailed us !;
we lOOhtu UIOfe CtOstly itllO our
became satisfied that slavery was morally right,
that it would continue ever to exist that it was
as profitable as it was humane.-This begat
self.contidence and sef-reliance. Since then
our Improvement has been rapid Now we may
safely say, that We are the happiest, most con
tented and prosperous people on earth. The in
termeddlng of foreign -philanthropsts in
our affairs, though it has occasioned great irri-
taton and indignation, has been of nestimabIe
advantage in teaching us to form right estimate
of our condition. This intermeddling will soon
cease; the poor thome in thunder tones demand
their whole attention and all their Charity
Selfpreservati0n will compel them to listen to
their demands. Moreover. light is breaking in
upon US from abroad. All parties in England
now agree that the attempt to put down the
slave trade has. greatly aggravated its horrors
without Mt ell diminishing the trade itself II is
proposed to withdraw her fleet from the African
coast. France has already given notice that
she will withdraw hers America will follow
the example. The eman ipation of the slaves
in the West Indies it admitted to have been
a failure in all respects. The late masters have
been ruined, the liberated slaves refuse TO work
and are fast returning to the savage state, and
England herself has sustained a severe blow in
the present diminution and prospective annihi
lation of the once enormous imports from her
West Indian colonies
In conclusion, we viii repeat the propositions,
in somewhat different phraseolcgy, with which
we set out. First-That liberty and equality,
with their concomitant free competition, begets
a war in society that is rs destructive to its
Iwenker members IA the custom of exposing the
deformed and crippled children. Secondly
That slavery protects the weaker members Of
society, just rs do the relations Of parent, guar
dian and husband and is ms necessary, as natural,
and almost as universal as those relations. IL
our demonstration imperfect? Does universal
experience sustain our theory? Should the con-
clnsons IN which we have arrived appear strange
and startling, let them therefore not be rejected
without examination. The world has had but
little opportunity to contrast the working of
liberty and equality with. the old order of things,
which always partook more or less Of the char.
acten of domestic slavery. The strong prepos-
session in the public mind in favor Of the new
system, makes il reluctant TO attribute the evil
phenomena which it exhibits, to defects inherent
in the system it-elf That these defects shonld
not have been foreseen and pointed out by any
process Of 4 priori reasoning, is but another
proof Of the fallibility of human sagacity and
foresight when attempting 10 foretell the opera.
ton of new institutions. Ii is "a much as hu-
man reason can do, when examining the com
pick frame Of society, TO trace effects back 10
their causes, much more than IL can do 10 fore
see what effects new causes will produce. We
invite investigation.
W. 0l.on tko r,IIo,,;nr, ;ntotl;o.oo. g.. al,