Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-03-06
EMANCIPATION IN MISSOURI.

under the circumstances that surround US, like OH
alarm of mutiuy at midnight, after the storm ha-
suhsided, and while the damages done being IA.
pidIy repaired. But four months ago our institutions
aud our Union were trembling and totteriDg under
the throes Of the anxious, excited and painful
political contest. that has ever agaed this nation
and the popular mind is but beginning to regain il:
equilibrium-:he public Pulse to resume its regular
aud hea!,hful tone, when, from Missouri, an old and
unyeldng outpost Of slavery in the West, comes the
murmur OF a movement towards emancipation. With
what prospect Of ultimate success, or under wha,
auspices this suicidal scheme is opened We are moi
prepared to say But that there ardent and active
advocates either side and that the question is to
be dehnitively decided, sooner or later we think
there is little doubt. The malcontents OF Missouri
may move Heaven aud earth in their efforts to sweep
slavery from their soil, but they will be manfuly met
al every point and dercely fought upon every inch o
ground, By the undaunted defenders Of the opposi
tion
There was o time when not a few Of the wisest
ana best men In Virginia conourred in the opinion
that negro slavery was evil, and incubus upon
the interests of the State, when perhaps, if possible,
some Immediate means Of emancipation would have
been eagerly embraced by some of the ab!set spirits
in our councils and may be, indeed that the op-
posite e1treu:s Of public sentiment on the subject,
which now prevails with every class and craft of our
people, Is attributable, more to the Inv and
disqulstons induced by the doubts and fears of that
day, than TO every other cause CON bined. The inst
tuition of slavery soon sunk deep into our social
system; once embraced and incorporated among the
elements of organisation, its influences for good
or for evil extended rapidly in every direction, color
ing everything 1t touched and carrying veal or woe
wherever it went, its agencies either Immediately or
med!atey, ram6ed through every branch of business
anu principle Of eg!eation every vein and artery in
The body polite were imbued with it. And being
deemed an evil in the abstract by those honest and
able but misguided men, to whom We have alluded,
1t devolved upon them only to prove their premises,
and the catalogue of incidental ills would have been
incalcu'able, when All end so desirable would have
readily suggested the meanai and the other hand
it became incumbent upon their opposing cotempors.
res to dsprovs their theory, explode their false phi
losophy, and dissbuse the public mind of the eman
cipaiion tant, with which it beginning to be sf-
fected, or to give up their ground and enter into
crusade against the sins and inquities the demora.
zing and inpoyershiug effects of the institution Of
slavery. Investigation on both sides ensued and the
result is that negro slavery ia now considered in the
Southern States, not "a mildew a blight and q
but social, political and moral bless.
ing, special boon of Providence, both to the
African and Anglo SaIop races. Subjects SO
inscrutable 10 their origin, profound in their phi
losophy so intricate in their relations, and COM
- ,o;. IA, 81,
understanding In every form aud phase, and accu.
rate apprehension in every bearing and effect. And
we cannot but believe that the emancipation move
ment in Missouri, however it may be abeted by the
outside influences of Abolltionism in the North, af
ter has been deliberately discussed and alySed and
assayed, will sventuato in more encouraging con-
vicon on the part of that people, OF the ind,pensa.
5ity of the institution, under The enjoyment of which,
in common with the other lsyeholding States of
the Confederecy, it is growing greater and stronger
and richer and happier with every year that espses.
So FAR as security 10 tho Union is concerned, it
matters little to Virginia or South Carolina, Alabama
or Mississippi, or any othe. of the Southern States,
whether Missouri elnanicipates or not. If the Con-
s.tuiou is to be maintained intact, slavery might
ne abolished in every State in the Union but
one, and that one would be respected in its
rights as if the institution extended over the civilized
world if the constitution is to be encroached upon,
and the South must appeal Tor protection to the ply.
sica force of q numerical majority, the dissolution
o! the Union becomes question Of time to be deter.
mined by such division in the councils Of the coun-
try to preponderate in favor of the opponents of
our institutions.
1t remains for the administration inaugurated yes.
terday. togetne. with Democratic Congress- to test
Ire seuse of the people ard the strength Of the
Union, by bringing back the constitution to its pri.
ntve purity.
And. if in 1860, abolitionsm is still unchecked in
its rampant ravirss against the rights of the South
ern psops, .ho awful alternative of dsunon must
Inevitably ersue.
Missouri may emancipats or net. It will be the
same to the South in the end