The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-16

TcoxrIxUED FROM THE FIRST PAGE. I

could his pure spirit return and take position
among at this momentf On which side of
this contest would he range himself2 Let no
man doubt; he would enlist with the friends of
Freedom. Let me press this inquiry little fur
ther. How would he be received in the "Old
Dominion ?" Let the case of Underwood, lately
driven from Virginia, answer.
Sin, blush to say what is now on my lips If
Washington was alive, and candidate for the
Presidency, with the Anti-Slavery sentiments
that he held while living, he could not receive a
single electoral vote south of Mason and Dixons
line.
The testimony of Jefferson is still stronger.
He says:
There be unhappy influence on the manners
ofOu people produced by the OF Slavery among
The whole commerce between master and slave is
perpetual exercise OF the boisterous passions
unremit,ng despotism the part, degra-
ding submissions the other; children his and
learn initiate IL" The be q prodigy who
csa retain manners morals undeprsved 81 such
circumstances. And with what eIecrauon should the
be loaded who permitting the citizens
irsmple the rights the other those
nto desPots and these into enemies destroys the morals
of the part and the pao of the oiher.n "wh
morals Of the people their industry destroy
Again, he says:
Indeed trembe for my country when reflect that GOO
Jusl; that his justice sleep forever; that
siderIng numbers nature and natural me only.
luton of the wheel OF fortune exchange institutions
among possible events that may become probable
by supernatural interference The Almighty has no at
tribute that take sides with such a
Again:
What AN incomprehensible machine is man. who car
endure toll famine, stripes Imprisonment, and death
self vindicatlon of his liberty; and the neri mo
be deaf all those motives whose power sup
ported m through has irs aud infci on his fellow
than ages OF thai which he in rebellion oppose"
In letter to DIR. Price. of London, who had
interested himself in behalf of emancipation, he
says:
Norihward of the Chesapeake you may find here and
there opponent your doctrine may find
and there a rObber and murderer; but in greater
number"
In another letter, written to friend in 1914,
we find the following emphatic language:
Your favor of July 3lst duly received, read
with peculiar pleasure The sentiments do honor to the
and hesr Of the writer Mine the subject the
slavery of have long been the posses
on of The public and time has only served 10 give them
The love of justice and the love Of country plead
equally the people and il il reproach TO
thai they should have pleaded it long vain"
Again:
we with patience the workings OF an over
ruling Providence and hope that tais preparing the de-
hvorance OF these our brethren"
Bre.hrenl Brethren do we hear from the great
founder of the Democratic party2 The language
of Virginia statesmen now is, GOODS and chat
tells" property" human cattle"
Hear him further:
. When the measure of their shall be full when
their groans shall have involved Heaven itself dark
distress"
In the original draught of the Declaration OF
Independence, he denounces the King for keeping
open the slave markets in the Colonies against
their will he calls it an " eze7dJls commerce."
In letter 10 Mr.. Sparks, February 4, 1924, he
avows his firm adherence TO his opinions formed
in early life this subject. Such is the Ian
guage of the great Virginia statesman, the pride
of the free Democratic world. We have been
taught to look to him the exponent of Demo-
cratic principles. They will stand the test and
scrutiny OF time, and must prevail. BY the side
of Jefferson. this great question, stood Frank
lin, Rush, Jay, Adams, Gates, George Clinton,
Madison, Monroe, and hosts of other leading and
patriotic spirits.
In letter to James Heaton, on the subject of
Slavery, dated May 20, 1926, six weeks before
his death, he says:
nv hare been forty ysoTs before The public
Had Trsafed ths,u Jorty they 'couh haze only be-
ths stale and threadbare Although shall not
Ire hem oonsunD7dted they ciH nOt die ruth
but iring dying they '.H be ava my most errs
Pr0yers-
The eloquent Patrick Henry has left his record
against Slavery. He says:
..woud sny one believe that am master of slaves OF
my choice, l will not, eannOt Justify n. | be-
lieve lime will come when an opportunity will be Of
tered 10 abolish this iarneSitatIs eriL"
Again, he says:
alt would rejoice my very soul, that every of my
Seilo,c-bei,Igs emancipated We ought lament
aud depore the necessity of holding eLO'c-', in
bondage"
Here is the language of a noble man. He did
not call them property" but "fellow-men."
Virginia gentlemen do not such language at
this day.
Mr.. Monroe, in a speech in the Virginia Con-
vention, said
1--WE have found that TIN. evil has preyed upon the
very viias OF the Union, and has been preudcia to all
The States in which II has existed"
I shall refer to only one more patriot of the
Revolution-the gallant and noble Lafayette.
He perilled his life and fortune for our cause,
and, in his last days, looked with anguish upon
the system of Slavery in this Republic. In a
letter to Mr.. Clarkson, the close of his life,
he Gays:
Il would have drawn my sword in the cause OF
America, If could have conceived that thereby was
founding a land of slavery"
In a remarkable and interesting letter, written
by him in the prison of Magdeburg, he says:
81 know not what disposition has been made OF my
plantation al Cayenne; but hope Madame de Lafayette
will take care that the negroes who cultivate shall pre-
serve their liberty"
Himself in prison. in bondage, he was still
anxious for the liberty of others-even a few
"Africans"
fond of quoting from Southern men
There a time when Liberty national
and to that time / always turn with delight. In
these degenerate times, hear note from
Freedoms harp south OF this Capitol. Let u:
cherish and preserve the music of better days.
Colonel Mason, leading and distinguished
member of the Convention that formed the Con
sttution, from Virginia, when the provision fo
prohibiting the importation of slaves was unde
consideration, said:
"Th~ presenqn concerns moi the importing State
nlone bat the UNION. Slarsry disoOErages
gataot1os The poor despse labor ch,,I performed b
sare They Prerent The emigration Of trh,es rhO reaA
erh aud strengthen country Ihssprod'ce The most PEE
.reof Ertry Of sdreS born
pet,y tyranL 7s,y brinS the Judgment Of Har,n
country. AZ nations cannot be rewarded punished i
The neIl wofo ihey must De IN ihIs by an inevilahl
chain of and effects Providence
by national calamltes. He lsmented thai
Eastern brethren bad from lost OF gam einbarke
This nea-ious traffic. As the States being posse,
the right 10 import. tins ihe with man
l:her rights. now 10 be properly given up He held
enai erey pOinf that The General GorraDi
should hare Jo'r1 10 prerenf the increase Of Saray'
This is very good Republican doctrine.
sounds very like what we hear from this side OF tn
Hall every day, for which we are called Blac
Republicans and Sectionalists" Strange {
cav sir the descendants of this man, and tn
Representatives from his then noble State, de
nounce this doctrine now as "treason" an
Northern fanaticism."
More than this, sir; TO utter such sentiment
here at ALL is a dangerous business. If shout
say that every master of slaves is born a petit
fyrantp who wenld warrant my head2 Fo
uttering such sentiments now, in the State
Virginia, a man would be mobbed, or drive
from the State, within twenty-four hours
/ have .arred longer with the fathers of tn
Republic than intended. love to travel bac
into those olden times, and pore over the rec
ord of the acts and thoughts of the great high
priests of Liberty. No man can read the histor
of those times without being fofcibly impresse
with the strong opposition TO Slavery that the