Washington sentinel., 1854-03-01

would then return them 10 state OF slavery,
and we should be, after long course Of suffer
ing and misery, just where we now are as to
slavery, except that neither white nor black
would be so well off. And what then? Would
you recommence your old policy, to pursue the
same round of misery again, or would you treat
both the masterand the slave more kindly? After
such course of experience, there could be but
one answer to this question: you would treat
them more kindly. Why not 40 so now, and
save this world Of misery to which your policy
must lead If it can be successful?
Perhaps it may be said that this policy does
not look to the extreme Of Africanizing the old
slave States, but that whites would still be left
among Them and yet | do not see what the
cause of abolition would gain by leaving few
instead many masters. But suppose the case
to be as they may choose to state it in what
temper would these whites exercise their power
under the Constitution Would they not, un-
der your system of persecution and annoyance,
become hostile element in your government?
Would they not carry on a constant civil war,
under the forms of legislation, and annoy and
disturb In their turn, until you would be glad
to get rid of them? These gentlemen may
work the problem of their policy as long as
they will, and they will find at last that it must
consist in perpetual oscillation between negro
barbarism and negro slavery, unless they ex-
terminate the black race entirely, consumma-
ton which none Of them would profess to seek
at any rate. But they say that they have no
power to emancipate slavery within the States.
They know, then, that it cannot be done; and
if abolition cannot be effected, why pursue this
course of annoyance and agitation, which sows
the seeds Of jealousy between the master and
slave, which interrupts the course of ameliora
ting legislation, and which impedes the pro-
| gress both of whites and blacks 1t is sim yly
mischief, for no good end. No useful purpose
according to your own confession, can be ac-
1 complished. You have no power by which you
can set them loose; and why then pursue
course which can have no effect except to make
them miserable?
You pursue it, you say, because slavery is an
evil-a great evil Suppose that it is. To
turn the slaves loose upon the community
would be still greater evil, both to blacks and
whites, as all experience proves. What, then,
is to be done? A wise man would say, let it
alone; leave the subject to those who know best
how to deal with it, and whose interest it is to
deal with that subject kindly and Justly. The
| lights of Christian civilization beam on the
south as well as the north, and the spirit of the
age pervades all the sections of our confedera
cy. But these gentlemen seem to delight in
drawing extravagant and overcharged pictures
of slavery. The senator from Massachusetts
Mr.. SUMNER says: "Without father, without
mother, almost without God. the slave has
nothing but master" When asked his name
and place of abode, according to the formulary
of the time and upon his trial for life, it was
Danton who said :7"My name is to be found in
the Pantheon Of history; my residence will soon
be with annihilation." And here, sir, is a re-
preventative from grave, religious Massaehu-
setts, the earliest home Of the Puritan fathers,
who rises to declare in his place that human
being a fellow-creature, man who walks the
earth in the image Of his Maker, is "almost
aoithout a God" Whose government does he
impugn? That Of man or of Providence? If
he be without a God, it is either because there
is no God, or because He does not extend His
providence over the slave. Such, sir, is the
spirit in which the senator from Massachusetts
approaches this grave matter Of practical legis-
lation, and such the consideration in which he |
holds his brother, without father and without
mother"
Well, sir, if there be no fathers or mothers |
among slaves, it is very certain that there can
be no sons and daughters, and as the remorse-
less rhetoric of the senator, which takes away |
everything else from them, eavesdeath instead |
of hope at the bottom of the box, it becomes |
demonstrable that this evil Of slavery must
soon expire by its own limitation, and cannot
last long The senator has thus discovered an
anti-slavery proviso, which, in efficacy, far ex
ceeds that Of Wilmot. Such is the extrava. |
gance Of the pictures which the senator draws |
and such the rhetoric upon which he would fee |
justified in sapping the foundation of society," |
if he could. If he will lend me his pallet ard |
brush, and give me the use of portion of |
those dark colors, in which he so delights to IN
ln1 I dro f,rh MO
of the relations of husband and wife, parent |
and child, master and servant, which shall be |
rs horrible and as true as any which he has
drawn in depicting slavery. But shall we on
that account destroy the patria potestas2 Shall
we break down the conjugal relations? Shall
we put an end to all contracts for wages and
hire because cases of hardship and misery
sometimes arise out of them? Why not? Be
cause, sir, although evils do occasionally arise,
much more good is produced by acknowledging
those relations than would be accomplished by
destroying them. And is it not far better for
both to respect the condition Of slavery, where
the white and black races live together than
to destroy it? Has not experience taught us
this? And if considerations Of the greater
good Justify the continuance OF one set of re-
lations, why not the other? Passion may sug-
gest a distinction between the cases, but reason
can nnd none.
But, Mr.. President, rejoice to believe that
the destinies of this country are not in hands
like those of the senators from Massachusetts
and Ohio. ! am glad to know and to see that
the great democratic party of the free States in
this country are awakening to sense of their
high mission; that they feel that they have |
great work to perform, and mean to discharge
their duty. Long since, the distinguished and
patriotic senator from Michigan Mr.. CAss) laid |
low the Wilmot proviso by blows SO vigorous
that / trust it can never recover. Walking in |
the same path, the able senator from Illinois
(Mr. DoUGLAs) has manfully taken upou him
self the responsibility of introducing this great
measure OF peace-ay, sir, and of national
strength. And Indiana, ever faithful and true |
when the Constitution and the Union are at
stake, comes bravelyup to the work. Penn
sylvania, too, the gorious old Keystone, has |
NxlA l. H..