Washington telegraph., 1857-01-21
WASHINGTON ARKANSAS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY q, 1857

Iquired the re-opening of the African slave
trade and the flooding of the country with
slaves from those barbarous regions He
thought the wise foresight of the trainers
Of the constitution contemplate that by de-
grees, we should make our slaves more
persons and less things The constitution
did not cali them property, but persons
held to labor or service, and treated the
relation between master and slave as a
contract Of law as much as that between mas
ter and apprentice, and approved the law for
the restitution Of those escaped from that
labor and service, one equally with the
other. 1t was on that ground that he
claimed that the master and his slave had
an equal right to 90 into the territories of
the United States with that of the master
and his apprentice, and the obligation TO
protect them there was equally binding
upon the Congress of the United States.
He did not consider the slave mere
chattel, but human being with a soul to
be saved and mind to be cultivated and
improved until some day he might be per-
mitted to be free. He did not think there
was stakeholder present, who would be
glad to believe that in some good time eve
" man on the face of the earth who was
fit to be free, would be free That was
| for the future to bring forth. Let US now
/ deal with the realities around us. 1t had
/ been said that while the African slave
trade was in operation but few more than
300,0 slaves had been imported into
this country. That was all the benefits
this country had received from the traffic
Had that been sufficient to compensate for
the loss of human life, and the amount Of
misery inflicted by the traffic? If none
/ but prisoners Of war, who would be other
wise sacrificed, would be brought to this
country in comfortable vessels, &C., that
would be one thing. But the traffic, if
opened at all, must be opened to the whole
world. Brazil and other countries would
embark in the trade, and a premium
would be offered to every barbarian cliief
I in Africa, to attack unoffending villages,
to piIlage, burn, slay and make captive in
order to get the price Of slaves to load the
vessels Of Spanish, Portuguese and other
slave traders. lie did not think any hui
name man could think Of such 2 state OF
things without shudder. As to the ben
eft Il is said It world be To tls;e
/ There was a sentiment in the Holy Book
and inscribed by the favor Of God on eve
~ l4eart, not to do evil that good may
come
Look at the matter in q pecuniary point
/ Of view. It is said slaves could be fur
nishcd, if this trade was re-opened, for
/ $3.50 to $500 each, while they were ROW
worth from 1920 to S1400 Grant it
/ The reasonable result would be that those
now in the country would be proportion
/ ably decreased in value; and the South
would suffer a loss more than all that had
+ been lost under the tariff, about which Sc
much had been said He wanted no isms
/ in the South lie did not want to en-
bark in scheme that would make Us ac-
complies in q barbarian warfare in Africa
It would be sin against humanity and
in the sight Of God, and no good could
come of it. The South occupied a posi-
ton now he did not wish to surrender
in which she could defy the world, if they
would but remain in the position where
they were placed by their forefathers-
But this was not the time or place for an
| extended speech He had thrown out
these crude suggestions for the considera-
ten of the Convention.
He referred to the ladies of the South,
many Of whom had attended the sessions
Of the Convention. They were interested
in the questions of the convention, as
much as the lnen-the ladies OF the South
were with the men of the South in all that
was right and Just, but if we were to en-
bark In a scheme that involves moral tur-
pitude, and wrong, and cruelty, their in
stinctive sense of what is right, and hu-
name, and womanly too, would revolt at
it, and they would not allow US to reopen
the African slave trade, and he thanked
God shey would not. But while they
would be against obtaining a temporary
or lasting prosperity for the country by
enbarking in a scheme of inhumanity on
which the world and God would frown,
yet in all that was right and just, they
would be ready to cheer their brothers and
sons and fathers to the struggle, and would
say, as the Spartan matron said to her son,
whom she sent forth with his shield, Gre
turn with or upon it. y