The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-16
rther than the Republicans of the present day

Slavery exerts an evil influence both upon the
whites and the blacks; but he was opposed to
the abolition policy, by which the slaves would
be turned loose among the whites. In his auto
biography, he says: "Nothing is more certainly
written in the book of Fate, than that these
people are to be free is it less certain that
the two races, equally free, cannot live in the
same Government Nature, habit, opinion, have
drawn indelible lines between them" Among
the evils which he says Slavery brings upon the
whites, is, to make them tyrannical and idle.
"With the morals of the people, their industry
also is destroyed. For, in a warm climate, no
man will labor for himself, who can make an
other labor for him. This is so true, that of
the proprietors of slaves very small proper
ton indeed are ever seen to labor" What was
true in Jefferson's time is true now.
L might go on and give Alumnus" every
week, from now till the election, a column of
good Black Republican" documents, all writ
ten by the most eminent Southern statesmen,
beginning with Washington, and including
nearly all of eminence for ability, virtue, and
patriotism and coming down to or own times.
No longer ago than 1850, Henry Clay declared
In the Senate-"I never can, and never will
vote, and no earthly power ever will make me
vote, to spread Slavery over territory where it
does not exist" At the same time that Clay
was opposed to Slavery, he was, like Fremont
opposed to the least interference by the Gener-
al Government with Slavery in the States where
it exists. Should there be any interference
with subjects belonging to State policy, either
by other States or by the Federal Government
no one will be more ready than myself to de-
fend the " good old North" my native State
But, with Washington, Jefferson, Franklin,
Henry, Randolph, Clay, and Webster, for polit
ical teachers | cannot believe that Slavery is
preferable to Freedom, or that Slavery extern
sion is one of the constitutional rights of the
South. If" Alumnus" thinks that Calhoun, or
any other, was wiser statesman or better
Southerner than either Washington or Jeffer-
son, he is welcome to his opinion / shall not
attempt to abridge his liberty in the least But
my own opinions will have, whether he is will
ing to grant me that right of every freeman or
not. believe that | have had quite as good
an opportunity as he has to form opinion on
the questions now to be settled. And when
"Alumnus talks of driving me out" for sen.
timents once held by these great men, ! can
not help thinking that he is becoming rather
fanatical.
For the information of "Alumnus," l will
state that he has put himself to unnecessary
trouble in blazoning this matter before the pub
lie. The whole subject belongs exclusively to the
jurisdiction of the Trustees of the University
have at heart the best interests of the Univer-
sity. There is no difficulty in bringing this or
any other question relating to the faculty or
students before them. "Alumnus has also
made another mistake in supposing that the
faculty take upon themselves to influence the
political opinions of the students. The students
come to college, generally, with their party pol
itics already fixed and it is exceedingly rare
for them to change while here. 1t has, how
ever, been often remarked, that very violent
partisan at college is pretty sure to "turn over"
before he has left college long. / have been
connected with our University, as student and
professor, for six years, and am free to say that
| know of no institution, North or South, from
which partisan politics and sectarian religion
are so entirelyexcluded And yet we are too often
attacked by the bigots of both. For my own
part, do not know the politics of more than
one in hundred of the students, except as i
might infer to which party they belonged from
a knowledge of the politics of their fathers
And they would not have known my own pre-
objections in the present contest, had not one
of their number asked me which of the candi.
dates | preferred.
But, if "Alumnus would understand the
state of things here correctly, he had better
make a visit to the University. He would find
each member of the faculty busy teaching in
his own department, whether in science or
literature; and that party politics is one of the
branches which we leave the student to study
at some other place and time. If "Alumnus !"
does conclude to visit u.s. there is another mat
ter TO which | might direct his attention. The
two societies here, to the one or the other of
which all the students belong, have each a very
good library, and in those libraries are to be
found the complete works" of many or our
great statesmen. Now, for fear that the minds
of the students may be poisoned" by read
ing some of these stanch old patriots, would it
not be well for Alumnus to exert himself,
through the Legislature or otherwise, to
drive them out of the libraries? 1t is true
the works of Calhoun are In the same case with
those of Jefferson but, from appearances, the
Virginian seems to be read pretty often, while
the South Caroinian maintains a posture of
mastery inactivity" When l was student
in college, few years ago, the young politi
clans used to debate in the "halls Of the
societies the same questions which the old
politicians were debating in the halls of Con-
gress. The side which opposed Slavery in the
abstract generally had the books in their favor,
and as the records of the society will show,
they had quite often "the best of the argu-
ment." So that when Colonel Fremont said
that he was opposed to Slavery in the alb
stract and upon principle, sustained and made
habitual by long-settled convictions he but
uttered the sentiments of four-ffths of the best
Southern patriots, from the Revolution down to
the present day !; and / may add, of the MAORI
| ty of the people among whom | was born and
educated. Of my neighbors. friends, and kim
| dred, nearly one half have left the State since
was old enough to remember Many is the
time l have stood by the loaded emigrant
wagon, and given the parting hand to those
whose face / was never to look upon again.
| They were going to seek homes in the free
| West, knowing, as they did, that free and slave
labor could not both exist and prosper in the
same community. If any one thinks that /
speak without knowledge, let him refer to the
last census. He will there find that in 1850
there we're fifty-eight thousand native North
Carolnians living in the free States of the
West-thirty-thre thousand in Indiana alone.
| There were, at the same time, one hundred
and eighty thousand Virginians living in the
free States. Now, if these people were so much
in love with the institution" why did they
not remain where they could enjoy its blessings?
1t is not, however, my object to attack the
institution of Slavery. But even the most zeal
Gus defender of the patriarchal institution can
not shut his eyes against few prominent facts.
One is, that in nearly all the slave States there
is a deficiency of labor Since the abolition of
the African slave trade, there is no source for
obtaining supply, except from the natural in
crease. For this reason, among others, a gen.
tleman OF South Carolina, in an article publish
| ed IN lie BoWS Reciew for August, 1856, ad-
vocates dissolution of the Union, in order that
the African slave trade may be revived. From
North Carolina and Virginia, nearly the entire
increase of the slave population, during the
last twenty years. has been sent off to the new
| States of the Southwest.