New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-01-26

abcr made the task of slaves. could not well be f,uud
and 1t IA not surprising that the mechanics OF Colam
bia should have warmly resented the insult Wat.
ever prejudices those mechanics may have i'm.
bibed as to the saactiy Of the patrArchal nstsu-
ton in the abstract it is plain that they do no.
20 the sbsnri aud suicidal length of the phi.
losOpher in question. They do not believe that popu.
lar education humbug, and that il is enough for
carpenter TO understand his footrule Nor inIeed
would it be just to the South to suppose thar Mr..
Tabers ideas or any approach to them, meet with a
reception among any considerable portion Of the popu-
ation of the Slave States In fact ii Is not difficult TO
find among distinguished Southern writers the complete
opposite of Mr. raber, both in feeling and in thought
and such one we will now recall 70 the minds of our
readers.
In 1898 law passed by the Legislature OF Ken
lucky prohibiting the importation OF slaves into that
commonwealth 1t seems that this bin originatedin
the Senate and was reported "by three Of the best
lawyers in the ate owsley. Thornton and Gathre"
whether this be the Mr. Guthrie of the Treasury,s 50
orthodox to the Baltimore Platform we are no. In
formed but presume it is This law produced great
excitement in Kentucky and led to manya severe pas
sage at arms between men who knew how to put
Robert WickiTe, SEN. against the law and Robert j.
Breckenridge for it. Mr. Wicklife assaled the law
and its authors with great bitterness hOnorins tho
famous Thomas F. Marshall with liberal share Of his
attacks. This elected reply from Marshall in q
series of letters TO the Editor of TIE ConuOareoiA
which, in some respects constitute the most mas
terly antislsyery document ever published south
of Mason and Dixons Line. As these letters
are not generally accessible propose 10 quote few
passages which are especially worthy the attention Of
all men at the present day And FIRST to the value
of mechanics and the humbug of universal education
let the hardfsted men who build our cities and palaces
and leave their monuments all the face OF the
country betokening that society needs them whether
they need an education or not Just listen to Marshall
In 1870 Ohio was a wilderness In ls4O Those letters
were written in December lsio il her population bear the
same proportion that her DO she rebes US In
people and numbers two millions The tolls Of her canals
amount to sJO43O6-abou dolbe whole revenue Her
representation in Congress will be in proportion to herpco
pie But why compare her with Kentucky With the
restless and unpausng energy which belongs to
nifty entirely free she has passed long since. She viii
now take her station third in the Union and Virginia which
twenty years ago stood first in power and placeVrgna
the nursery of Presidents the mother of States the proud
the chvarc must yield up her honors aud quietly fall in
the rear of this creation of yesterday Verify these same
Goths and Vandas free mechanics and artisans, the
objects of Mr. Wiclies classic hoor-are the most
nowred Of conquerors No dangers daunt them and
abors tire They cut through mountains they hew down
forests they build up cities they connect the with
the lakes the lakes with the they conquer mo and
space they subject nature throughout all her kingdoms
and in all her elements TO the Of men, and men malt
ply and population bounds forward to meet and enjoy the
supplies thus furnished by their victOrous industry.
comparison of the history and progress of the States of this
Union leaves doubt of the fact that in all that const
tues greatness and power In cOmmunity-ln wealth in
population in industry in fiscal 10 the govern
ment in multiplied empoyments and extended and dfused
comforts and intelligence among the great of the poo
pe-I say there doubt that, in all these PARTICULARS
the advance Of the Free States has been wonderfully the
most rapid and the distance is widening at every obserya
ton that is taken have ascrbed It to negro sLaDeTy
What other circumstance there that peculiar TO the
section Of the Union TO which this remarkable difference in
progressive power be ascribedl IL we would exam
inc phoophcsly into the process of production, tho
sources Of wealth and the principles Of population. We
would doubtless find the principle here as in everything
elfe to correspond with and explain the fact
In these letters some of the most scorching son
fences about Slavery itself that recall to mind
Here is Mr. Marshall view OF several matters, and
especially of free trade in slaves
"Do the 100000 slaves in Virginia the $4,000 in South
Carolina afford the same ecc,ual demands for the impor
ation of merchandise which the number of free inde
pendent citizens would do The answer is obvious their
consumption Of whatever is to be purchased by the mister
is limited to whatever is absolutely necessary and their
means Of purchase for themselves nothing VIII having
tLG whole returns Of our Southern trade made the NEST
degraded the most vicious Of Southern slaves the vom Of
Virginia and South Carolina ab instead Of money on bills
of tie East better enable us to meet foreign baancesa
the points whence we import VIII ii advance agriculture
more than it will manufactures commerce. Ask the
ruined fields the wasted and depopua'ed districts Of lower
Vrginn. VIII improve the condition, the morals or the
character of present of slaves' They at
present sort of inferior rural population degraded cast
to be sure but intelligent and vuous when compared with
the brutal and savage masses in the Atlantic slave States
With us lin Kentucky resistance or insar
recton is impossible The husband can leave his wife, the
mother her child without apprehension from this source
Phantoms Of coDfagraton and massacre harm not our
sumber-the tenors of st. Domingo, OF Northampton,
vex not our waking thoughts VIII il strengthen us polti
caly Look the state Of the representation in Congress
between the free and slave States and tho question
answered Shall the government Of Kentucky let 90 the
check rein which they hold on this Law, upoa tie
growth Of the most threatening evil in the constitution
American Society y
We commend the following paragraph to Mr. Tabers
especial reflection so that when he next addresses biz
fellow-ctzens on the essentials of a Republic he
may incorporate this vigorous definition Of political
cancer into his reasonings
81 have said that considered negro slavery polci
misfortune The phrase too mild II is cancers
Glow consuming .ancer-a whitening pestilence-an INIT
oafed curse spenk not in the shirt of puin9 and o