The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1860-03-15

'N"N'" III NO io"'o'cPo' anu |Ho SbpcOi@I
representatives of the principles he held
and advocated with all the powers of his
great mind. lie held slaves during his
life, and at his death left them to his
heirs. If he had been in favor Of aboli-
tionism, would he not have given the
slaves their freedom, at least at his death
when they could be of no more scrvire to
him? If he kept them because he could
take better care of them than they could
of themselves, (Which some say, and
which we believe, not only in this instance
but in ninteen cases of twenty which now
exist in the slave States, why did he not
provide for their emancipation when his
demise would cause them to fall into other
hands? The answer is so plain that those
who cannot see it. are those who vjW not
His opinion on the Missouri Compromise
question was SO frequently, and so une.
quivocally stated, that those who would
pervert them into an endorsement O: abo-
litionism are either incorrigibly ignorant,
or perniciously vile. Although in retire
ment at his home in Monticello, his coun-
try's danger, less portentous than at the
present time, aroused fears for her safety;
and while in this state of mind lie wrote
10 John Adams:
"MoNTIcELLo, Dec. l8, 1919.
Dear Sir: l have to ackno Wedge the
receipt of your favor OF November the 23l.
Tie banks, bankrupt law, manufacturers,
Spanish treaty. are nothing. These are
occurrences which, like the waves in a
storm, will pass under the ship, but the
Missouri question is breaker on which
we lose the Missouri country by revolt,
and what more, God only knows. From
the battle of Bunker Hill to the treaty Of
Paris, we never had SO ominous ques-
ton. 1t even damps the joy with which l
hear Of your high health, and welcomes
to me the consequences of my want Of it.
thank God that | shall not live to wit
ness its issue
''To John Adams"
December 18th. 1920, he wrote the fol-
lowing lettsr to Lafayette. in relation to
the Missouri Compromise. over the repeal
of which three thousand New England
clergynen and the entire cohorts Of abo-
Iiiionism shed such illimi;able quantities
Of redho tears:
"The boisierous sea of liberty, indeed,
IS never without q wave, and thai from
Missouri is rolling towards us, but we
shall ride over il as we have over all 9th
ers. 1t is not moral question, but che
merely Of power. rs object is TO raise a
geographical principle for choice of Pres
ilent; and tho noise will be kept up until
that is effected. All know that permitting
the slaves of the South TO spread into the
West will not add one being TO that I'M
fortunate condition; that it will increase
the happiness of those existing and by
spreading tn m over a larger surface. will
dilute the evil everywhere, and facilitate
the means of getting rid Of it, an event
more anxiously wished by those on whom
it presses, than by the noisy prctenders to
exclusive humanity. In the mean time ii
is ladder for rivals climbing to power"
Nine shareholders out Of every ten who ex
pressed sentiments against slavery, did it
under circumstances entirely different from
those which surround abollionis.s of the
present time. In the times Of Washing
ton, Jefferson, and the statesmen whom
Helper quotes to sustain his abolilionism,
the utility of slave labor had not been
demonstrated as it has At the present dav,
and little else but a feeling Of compassion
for the negroes, caused them to hold
slaves. AT the present time, slave labor
in tie Southern States is the principal
motive power in the agricultural enter
prises Of the South Without them, the
products of that portion of our country,
which is the most productive, would dwin.
die into mere nothingness, compared with
the present. Helper and his Republican
friends say, that the stimulous which free
dom would give to the South. would al
most instan;aneously elevate 1t TO the high
est position in the scale of wealth, inteli- !
gence, and all that constitutes true national
greatness. In support of this idea, they
refer to those States which have abolished
slavery, as evidence Of the advantages
which would accrue TO all others who fol |
low their example. This mods of reason
ing affords the most flimsy argument in
favor of their pet idea; and amounts to
nothing. as slavery in those States was
found to be Improbable, which is dis
covery the Southern States have not yet
made; and We doubt not but that it will
require all the eloauence and chicanery