Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1856-03-22
The Rockingham Resolutions Ike Sub
iect Of Slavery

column, which we're adopted by the Dem
ocratic party of Rocking a, the March
term OF the County Court, have the ting
of ..thc genuine metal. We congratulate
the sterling Democracy Of our native coun-
y upon the bold position assumed in the
second resolution, upon question which
how constitutes the tombstone IF political
orthodoxy. and one which is more grossly
perverted by Northern fanatics than all
Others Th. perspicuous declaration upon
ms subject by the unterrlfied democracy
OF the heart Of the Tenth Legion, a, this
time of slavery agitation, is peculiarly OPP
perfume, and cannot fail to exert saluta-
ry influence abroad as indicating most
unmistakasly. that there, Of least, the pc.
ouliar institution is neither ignored, nor
considered an "evil." From the time we
first formed an opinion upon the relations
Of slave and master, and Of the entire
character Of the negro, up to the present
we have considered, the declaration in
the Methodist Discipline that slavery was
an evil, as exceedingly obnoxious to
Southern sentiment. Indeed, we have
thought, in Our crude slecuations upon
the subject, that negro slavery should have
been, from the inception Of our govern
ment, considered ADORE Legislation, except
that legislation which is necessary for the
proper regulation and protection of prop
erty--that it should have been left pre-
cisely in the condition of other property,
and that no State legislature should have the
power to declare that it was not property.
The benefits of slavery flow as freely
to the slave as 10 the master. The h,sto.
ny of the last hal: century, has shown that
Southern slavery has done more for the
Contamination of the African race than
all other agencies combined. Africa sends
20 US IN grateful return ten thousand thank.
for the mellowing and humanizing in.
fiuence oil the christian teachings OF South
ern slaves. Our own sunny South, pre-
sents spectacle in respect to the religion
of the slaves, of true moral grandeur
forcibly contrasting with the state OF ne
gro society at the North. That slavery
is "social good, We think no man who
takes the trouble to examine the compare.
tive condition Of free and slave society
can contradict. We can trace the loose
and unbrided vulg arisies and vices of
iIse 6tciety to no other cxuse than the
corrupting influences legitmatelv spring.
ing from the social relations. In the
North, where license is the law. the fruits
OF which are the evils that gather thick
upon the surface of soeiety, there are
none OF the conservative elements which
permeate the entire social system of the
South. Why Is this? Free society as
now constituted does not afford that sewer-
age so to speak, which exists in the South
neither are the restraining influences there
brought to bear upon the inferior class,
that characterize the society Of the South.
That which in the South is accomplished
by the punishment Of the slave by the
sale to planters of such as become unman-
ageable, or their transportation; in the
North is not accomplished at all, except
where crimes and misGemeanors are so
great as TO be sufficient for commitment to
the Peniteniary, or Jail. Where a race,
who bear upon them NATURES signet Of
intenority, mentally and morally, are Civ.
en- all the liberty of the laws of educated
society, there must be terminated the
elements of discord and anarchy: for
ignorance, without proper restraint, breeds
discomfort and rebellion. Hence the
floating unsettled, contentious, and fana,.
ical element, which distinguishes North.
ern society. The fact that the negro, in
the ignorant and uneducated Of the lower
classes Of whites finds congenial spirits.
only serves TO make the material of MODS
and midnight banditti the more varied
The slave in the South IS not only more
intelligent and moral, but is far happier
aud more comfortable than. no. only the
negro Of the North, but of the lower class.
ss OF their white population. The slave
traffic in the South is necessary evil-an
evil, although not PRECISELY of the same
kind, but of much greater magnitude, that
exists IN Tree society. In the South, IT
occasionally becomes necessary for the
publication of the slave society, and the
protection Of individual interests, that an
unruly servant be transferred from one
master to another. Where such is the
procedure in the South, for the corree-
ton of an evil, the pe.petra,or OF similar
offences IN the North is permitted 10 re-.
peat his misdemeanofs until they result in
crimes, and service in the Penitentiary
is the consequence. So that what appears
to be eondemning feature of slavery, IS
nothing more than modification of the
crimes of FREQ society. The sewerage of
the North is the Ptniten:iafy--the sew
erage of the South is the inter-slave traffic.
One is necessary evil of free society,"
the othe: is a necessary evil of slave So
ciety.
Had we the space this week. we should
like further to discuss this subject. The
time has come for the South to take bold
ground in defence of her rights and inter-
ests, We endorse heartily the declaration
that ''slavery is not only political bless
ing, bat social good" and shall refer to
the subject again in its bearing uTon the
| aIrfr AL Al