The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-30

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Philosophy and Practice u slavery
In the rreambis 70 the Declaration Of lnde-
~~.a..1. - ara told that il 10 "seif-evadent
e,oth. that call men are created free ana
>ouas (. And that sthcy ara endowed by their
Cre..ar with Ger tain unalienabie privileges"
.monr whici. are especially enumerated "iife,
liberty. and the pursuit OF happiness" In
times OF high party excitement-and the Dec
IaYatton OF Independence was written in the
midst OF such--men are not apt to measure
tie force Of their language, and IL but TOO oiten
happens that expressions escape them which
q calm examination would not justify, ana
which. nevertheless, are siexed upon ana per
vericd to objects very different from any
which the authors ever had in view ouch mas
been the case with the language In qHes''oa
evidently never designed by the aN". ~
iusttfy 4 crusade OF one half OF the eo""'
against the other half, and yes p"' Wv -
ytoaaiy employed for that purpose
M. ~h;.n Ia. ,e.n made Of 1T, that induces
r.. n .x.,n,ne this "truth," which the aa 'iioi
tells US 10 seif-eyident ....a
Ia ths ffrs, place, '>ali men" are hol eio"'""
No human being. except ADAM ana Eve efei
.,ra..ea All the rest are "born into the
vnr,s. In the second place, allowing the
,.yrn screated" to be synonymous, IN 'nis
nl,cs with "born," it is not true that all men
care born free" On the contrary, IL Is a SELF
ey;dent truth, that no man ever was, or ever
will be. born free, In the common acceptaiioh
CT the term Man is an infant when he come"
into this world, and is not only totally 'nca-
pabie Of freedom, but does notenloy paFtiele
Of f. II he ever obtains any freedom ~ all,
he grows up to it, and is not bvrn WIN IT.
Nor are men born equal, except in 30 iaf 40
.hsy are all born equally subject to the VIII OF
their parents; in other words, are All poih
equally slaves--for such we all are during IN
fancy. No two men ever grew up physically
or mentally equal; one is always wiser or
stronger than the other. Nor in the whole
history Of the human race can there be found
any time or any country, or any system, dii-
rins. in. and under which, men were, poiitl-
caiIv equal In all conditions of society,
there have been, are, and ever will be, "hewers
of wood and drawers OF water" and with
ont the existence of such persons, society itself
cannot exist AS long as one man, or class OF
men, has q greater talent for accumulation,
more industry, moro wisdom, or a greater love
of gain than others, inequalities, in the 'oe'df
stale must always exist as they always nave
existed and OF man, in any other than the social |
s1ats. except ADAM before the creation of EyR,
history makes no mention. 3dly. Neither is IL
true that "liie, liberty and the pursuit OF hap |
pinessa are "uualieuabie rights" man may, |
and very often does, forfeit his liberty and his !
life too, % society, for offences against II, and
surely If these privileges be liable to torfel- |
ture they can not he unalienable. We are far |
from undertaking the services OF the great |
statesman to whom we are indebted for the |
Declaration of Independence, and we mean no |
disrsspeci to his memory when we thus ven |
turs upon an analysis OF dogma which we
are sure his calmer reason would have reject
cd, and which, unfortunately, has been the
source OF infinite mischief, in these latter days
Of the Republic, for the very reason that il is
eonnecte with his name. But the truth IL,
the Declaration Of Independence was written
al q time when the minds of men were too
much excited TO weigh with the requisite de-
gree OF calmness, all the consequences likely |
TO result from the propositions ii enunciated |
Add To this, that Mr. JEFFERSON was a man |
OF extreme beneyolence, and of an ardent and |
impulsive disposition. He wished to make all |
men Us happy as they could be made; and, |
vehement apostle, as he was, of freedom, he |
could conceive of no condition in which they |
could TO happy. unless it were that Of abso- |
lutte liberty. de himself and those who were
acting with him, were engaged with the moth
er country in n desperate struggle for freedom,
and IL was but natural that the sentiments to
which he gave utterance in a document like
the Declaration of Independence, should be
somewhat exaggerated. In this respect he re- I
sembled the great Enslish Apostle of liberty, |
MILTON, whose high flown opinions with re- |
gard 10 human freedom, mingled with 50 much |
that is wise and valuable, render it a subject |
OF difficulty, which to choose and which to re- |
lect, in reading his works upon subjects OF |
this character.
BE that as ii may, however, the fanatics of
the North have not failed to make the most
extensive use that it was possible to make OF
his great name, in advancing their own nefa- |
rlous objects. With boldness which found |
encouragement in the acknoS !,dgment OF
mary Southern men Of fcfmer days, that
slavery was an evil to We deprecated, they do
not hesitate to denounce it Rs positive sin,
which II IL the suty of all men TO eschew-
For this assertion, they have no warrant in
anything that appears upon the pages OF the
In ,pired volume. On the contrary, we find
slavery In existence in the earliest times, and
thoee men who were most worthy In the sight
OF God, ~ Abraham, Lot, and Others we've
shareholders on large scale. The children OF
Israel came out from Egypt Shareholders, and
Jehovah himself sanctioned it in the Deca-
lokue and in the Leyitical law. For fifteen
hundred years had it continued, when CHRIST
coming upon the earth, found il still in exis-
tence, and gaveit his sanction. think not"
said he, ",hat l am come to destroy the law
and the prophets; come not 10 destroy, but
to fulfil' He came to fulnl, not to DESTROY
the seho1s law, and this was a part of that law.
For God had not emily given it his sanction,
but had erected it into regular sys-
tenn, and ordained laws for its man.
agement. Under this system, men might
not only become slaves for limited De-
Rod. but might be made 80, with their of.
spring, in perpetuity. Accordingly, we find
that during his whole sojourn upon earth.
though his ministry lay in a country full OF
slaves, he never on any occasion uttered word
against the Institution. Is it possible to sup.
pose that he would not have done so had il
been sinful to hold slaves He expressly tells
SNt SAatS " WY laSt AhastctS out uc no mere
tells the STAKEHOLDER that he shall not hold the
slave. Slavery, then, 10 no ain. 1t cannot be |
regarded ~ a sin, by any man whs believes |
that the mission Of Christ was divine The /
Northern fanatics, however-.uch of them, at |
least as do not abandon the Bible because the
Bible does not bear them out-maintain the
monstrons doctrine, that q title commencing
" tort can never, by any lapse Of time, be
made good. That our title to our slaves COM
nsneed In 4 tort. chat is, in taking them from