Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-08-19
IRON the National rntelliscnser Of August 81

We received yesterday, from a gentleman in
Maryland, the letter which we give below. II
was written nearly ten years ago, and was first
published in the Danvilc (Virginia) Reporter,
and thence transferred to the :" Maryland Colo
nization Journal" from which journal it is now
copied. Our correspondent is of opinion that
General SCOTS views on the delicate question of
slavery have been misrepresented, and therefore
desires to see this letter, in which they fully
and authenticity set forth, inserted in the Intel
ligencer
The views expressed by the General appear TO
US to evince wise and comprehensive statesman
ship, as well as characteristic philanthropy,
and we therefore, with pleasure, give the letter a
place in our columns:
WASHINGTON, February 8, 184S.
My DEAR SIR: have been waiting for an
evenings leisure to answer your letter before me,
and, after an unreasonable delay, am at last
obliged to reply in the midst of official occupations
That ever have been named in connexion
with the Presidency of the United States has not,
can assure you, the son of an ancient neighbor
and friend been by any continuance or desire
of mine and certainly shall never be in the
field for that high Office unless placed there by a
regular nomination. Not, then, being candi-
date, and seeing no near prospect of being made
one, / ought, perhaps, to decline troubling you
or others with my humble opinions on great
principles of State rights and federal admins
tration; but as cannot plead ignorance of the
partiality of few friends, in several parts of
the Union, who may by possibility, in certain
event, succeed in bringing me within the field
from which Wing candidate is to be selected,
prefer to err on the side of frankness and can
dor, rather than, by silence, to allow any stran-
ger unwittingly to commit himself to my support.
| Your inquiries open the whole question Of do
nestle slavery, which has in different forms, for
number Of years, agitated Congress and the
| country.
| Promising that you are the first person who has
Intercepted me on the subject, l give you the
basis Of what weuld be my reply in greater de-
TAIL if time allowed and the contingency alluded
| to above were less remote.
| In boyhood, at William and Mary College, and
in common with most, if not all, of my compan-
ions / became deeply impressed with the views
given by Mr.. Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virgin
ia and by Judge Tucker, in the Appendix to
his edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, in ia
vor of q gradual emancipation of slaves. That
| Appendix l have not seen in thirty-odd years,
and, in the same period, have read scarcely any
thing on the subject; but my early Impressions
are fresh and unchanged. Hence if had had
the honor of seat in the Virginia legislature in
the winter Of 1922, when bill was brought
! forward to carry out those views, l should GER
tainly have given it my hearty support.
! suppose l scarcely need say that, in my
opinion Congress has no color of authority under
the constitution for touching the relation of mas
| ter and slave in State.
hold the opposite opinion in relation to the
! District Of Columbia. Here with the consent of
| the owners, or OH the payment of :" just compen-
sation, Congress may legislate at its discretion.
But my conviction is equally strong that, unless
it be step by step with the legislatures of Virginia
and Maryland, it would be dangerous to both
/ = IL 4 A. - =
| tween master and slave in this District
| have from the first been of opinion that Con-
gress was bound by the constitution to receive,
to refer, and to report upon petitions relating to
domestic slavery, as in the of all petitions
but have not failed to see and to regret the un-
avoidable irritation which the former have pro-
duoed in the Southern States with the conse-
quent peril to the two colors, whereby the adop-
ton of any plan of emancipation has everywhere
among us been greatly retarded.
/ own, myself, no slave; but never have at
tached blame to masters for not liberating their
slaves, well knowing that liberation, without the
means of sending them in comfort to some posi-
ton favorable to s'the pursuit Of happiness"
would in most cases be highly injurious to all
around, as we'll as to the manumitted families
themselves, unless the operation were general,
and under the auspices of prudent legislation.
| But am persuaded that it is high moral obi
CATION Of masters and slaveholding States to
employ all means, not incompatible with the
safety of both coors to meiorate slavery to exter
mination.
1t is gratifying to know that general melora-
ton has been great, and is still progressing not
withstsnding the disturbing causes alluded to
above. The more direct process Of emancipation
may, no doubt, be earlier commenced and quick
ened in some communities than in others. Each,
do not question, has the right to judge for
itself, both as to time and means; and consider
interference or aid from without, except on in
| vitation from authority within, TO be as hurtful
to the sure progress of Moderation il may be
fatal TO the lives Of vast mutitudes of all ages,
sexes, and coors. The work of liberation cannot
be forced without such-horrid results. Christian
philanthropy is ever mild and considerate. Hence
all violence ought to be deprecated by the friends
of religion and humanity. Their persuasions
cannot fail at the right time TO free the master
from the slave, and the slave from the master
perhaps before the latter shall have found out
and acknowledged that the relation between the
parties had long been mutually prejudicial to
their worldly interests.
There is, IN the order Of Providence, no eul nth
out some compensattng benefit. The bleeding Atyi-
can torn from his savage home By has ferocious
negh6ora, sold IN slavery, and cast upon this CONT
nent. Here in the mid South, the race has pondey-
fully multiplied compared Nth anything eper knopn
IN bdrbarou, life. The descendants Of a few
thousands have become many millions and all,
from tho first, made acquainted with the arts Of
civilization, and, above all, brought under the
light Of the Gospel.
From the promise made to Abraham, some two
thousand years elapsed before the advent Of our
Saviour; and the Israelites, the chosen people of
God, were for wise purposes suffered to remain
in bondage longer than Africans have been on
our shores. This race has already experienced
the resulting compensation alluded to; and as
the white missionary has never been able to pen
citrate the dark regions of Africa, TO establish
himself in its interior. il may be within the