The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1857-06-13
Are the Abolitionists Responsible /?


Are the Abolitionists Responsible ?
\ Missouri correspondent of the New York
Jo"rnM IF Commerce recently says
"Slavcry has been gradually declining in
Missouri since 1880; and if the abolitiOnists
will mind their own business, and not NEEDLE
with our affairs. the decline will be more
marked from this time forward"
To this the editor of the JoMmM adds -
If the aboitionistS had minded their own
business in times past. and not meddled with
the affairs of other States. there is good rea-
son to believe that slavery would be verging
towards extinction in Virginia. Kentucky. and
MARYLAND. In 1882, or about that period.
slavery in all these States was apparently
nearer its end than it is at present. Just at
that moment. abolitionism from the North
thrust in its dirty fingers. and the dish was
spoiled. Will its infatuated men and women
never learn wisdom? The experience of
quarter of century has already been lost up
on them. They are no wiser now. than they
were at the beginning of that period"
The results which are here ascribed to the
ottcious intcrmeddling of the Abolitionists.
have been often alleged, and by very high au
thority heretofore, but We have always qucS-
toned the correctness of what is so positive
ly and dogmatical!v affirmed and although
it is not cur business to vindicatc the princi-
pies or conduct of the radical AboltionistS
against the charges preferred by their oppo-
ncnts. we may vet be allowed to protest
against misrepresentation of the facts ofhis-
tory.
That the indi>criminatc and bitter dcnun-
citation of Southern Shareholders hv certain
.\bolitioniSt Journals and Societies has crca-
ted some ill feeling and provoked retaliation
at the South. we have no doubt: but that it
has frustrated any purpose or plan for clnan-
cipation. in Virginia or any other border
Slave State. as alleged above. or that it has
deferred the termination of slavery in our
country hundred Years as we are sometimes
tcld. is. we think without shadow of proof
1t is true however that before the rise of
modern Abolition societies Slavery in Virgin
il, Kentucky and Maryland was. up}o,enly.
nearer its end than it seems to be TODAY. At
that time the injustice and pcrnicious infu-
crcc of the system was clearly seen and pub
liclv acknowledged by the most eminent and
influential men in the States referred to. and
the duty and expediency of emancipation
were freely discussed among the people. and
formed leading topics of consideration in their
Legislatures for several Years. But now,
scarcely an advocate of similar sentiments can
be found within their limits. and if pcrchancc
one appear bold enough to assert his con,ic-
~ of individuals and the State to undertake
its removal. he is forthwith banishcd or 81
fenced by the popular camor. Instead ofjus-
tifying slavery as heretofore on the plea of
ncces>ity-aS an institution cntaicd upon the
State, and SO interviewer with the social fab
ric that it cannot be terminated without great
cr injury to all parties than results from its
continuance. it is now confidently affirmed to
be right-an institution sanctioned BY divine
authority and to be perpetuatcd fer the same
ends as civil government ard the family rcla-
ton.
TO ascribc this change of the popular SEN
timcnt to the conduct of Northern Abolition
lists. is to assign no reasonable or adequate
cause for such an effect
/ At the time when Virginia and the other
States referred to, were disposed to favor
some system of gradual emancipation, or in
the more classical terms of the Journal of
Commerce, were about cooking dish which
the wicked Abolitionists "spoiled with their
dirty fingers" the superabundance and rapid
growth of their slave population beyond any
demand for its labor or any prospective means
Of employment and support, had become
subject of general anxiety among rejecting
men in all the older slaveholding States.
From 1870 to 1920, thirty years, the increase
of slaves i'll Virginia was thirteen per cent,
and two per cent. more than that of the white
population in the same period, and this too.
Notwithstanding the emancipation of slaves
SO as to make the increase of the free colored
population forty-four per cent. From 1920
to 1850, thirty years, the increase of slaves
was only five per cent. and that of free color
ed persons only thirteen per cent, the ratio
of increase of both being considerably less
than that of the whites for that period.
4 comparison of these returns of the Cen
sus and little inquiry for the causes produ-
cling the discrepancies exhibited in them
will reveal the origin of that remarkable
change of Southern sentiment and policy in
regard to slavery. which has been so often
charged to the intermeldling of the Adolf
tionists. The reliefwhich Virginia was seeking
for and proposing to secure, during the first
of these periods, by cmancipating her super
abundant and unproductive slave population,
she unexpectedly obtained, during the second,
through the markets opened for slaves in the
new and more fertile Slave States. The ne
cessity of emancipation, as measure of po-
litlcal economy, was thereby removed and
from that time it ceased to be talked of
among the people, and to be discussed in the
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