The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-01-12
Political Da1tefs.
Light Penetrating Virginia.


Memorial Of the Citizens Of Virginia,
4 to the General assembly, asking for
& certain Reforms IN the Laws concern
& ing Slaves and Free Persons of Color.
To THE HoNoRABLE THE SENATE AND
I THE HOUSE, OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1T is
under deep sense of the delicate and
peculiar relations of the subject to which
your attention is earnestly called, thai
your memorialists address you But il
its political nature demands caution and
deliberation. its moral bearings may still
more claim thoughtful investigation, and
calm though prompt action. In the
faith that the best policy of the State
will always be one with the rectitude ol
its laws and institutions, and that right
neuer sDronged any man, we respectfully
submit our petition, that the Laws OF
Virginia may be SO modified as
/. To protect the parental relation.
forbidding the separation of parents and
young children, at the will of any man
or set of men, under criminal penalties.
2. To recognize and secure the MARTA.
relation to colored persons forbidding
the disregard OF the sacred relation OF
husband and wife by any man amongst
his own slaves, and protecting the same
between slaves of different families.
3. To allow persons so disposed to
teach persons of color to read, so as
better to assist their moral and mental
elevation.
Your memorialists readily allow that
these claims, which they solemnly submit
in behalf of the eolored population ol
the State, are founded on the postulate,
that they are something other than mere
property and they insist thatthe claims
of the South, that they shall have pecu-
liar representation in the Safe and Fed
eral Governments, as we'll as the special
code everywhere found necessary. for
them, as distinct from other kinds of
property, imply, equally certain limita-
tons on the powers of individuals over
them. And this necessity for special
treatment of them rests on this funda-
mental truth: that they have certain nat
ural gifts which suggest culture. Ifthe
susceptibility of cultivation in the grass,
swhich to-day is. and tomorrow is cast
into the oven," makes him benelaetor
of his race "who makes two blades OF
grass grow where only one grew before, y
how much nobler is it to assist the germs
of thought and feeling, with which God
has endowed race, to their utmost
growth and result! Any necessity OF
thwarting this. so plain law of nature,
is fearful concession to those who op-
pose the institution of slavery. To say
that they are incapable of culture, is to
utter the severest satire on the law which
prohibits it, and is to give birth to the
solecism, that speech, understanding,
and moral being have not definite OBJ
jects, as the eye and the ear have. To
say that they are low and degraded
race, is only to charge ourselves with a
heavier weight of duty in theirelevation;
since, clearly, the progressive principles,
in man. or beast, or sege table. is the IN
dex of improvementand promise OF sue
cess. and capacity the only limit. Sure.
ly, then, they are not mere hborers, and
cannot ..live by bread alone. -
Your memorialists feel this to be the
highest law in the universe: and to that
they wish to bear witness. They are
deeply sensible that any law which
dwarfs and impedes the growth and de-
sslepment of any part OF Gods creation,
more especially that which is moral aud
intelligent, cannot fail to prove curse.
however much our shortsigtedness may
faneyita blessing.
The laws which tolerate the separation
of parents aud children, produce scenes
that the Christian heart must character
ize as cruel and impious. and worthier
the slaye-coast in a past generation, than
Virginia in this day. They are uuchrist-
ian in permitting those to be put asunder
whom God has joined together under the
most so.emn circumstances; thusencour-
aging impure aud transient connections
between the sexes. and bunting the ho-
liess feelings OF the human being; BY
this brulalizing the race to degree that
should eaEse even our selfish interests 70
shadder. They are unwiss because they
bling the humanity of Our STATE into