The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-04-26
Rirhmo,ih gispattt|
MORNING. APRIL 70. 1850

MNnMuitu plarduy.
T'tuRSDAY MORNING. APRIL %. 1860
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eEarly Fathers and Slavery: Assertion
Of EQaaltty Ia the Declaration 81 I@ae'
pendenc..
In his late able speech in the House OF Rep.
re.entatives, Mr.. CURRY, Of Alabama feierfeo
10 The Act that scarcs spseca has oee" ~eos
or An essay written for ten years Against siA'
yery. In which the optaions OF the early nth.
ers Of the Republic were not introduced.-
Theae. however, said Mr. CURRY. were but
mere speculations. and were not enGrafted
urou the organic law; and actual results are
a safe standard by which to measure abstract
principles. Besides, times have changed since
this Government was frst inauGurated a. an
experiment. not yet satisfactorily tested
In this connection, Mr.. Curry mentions
some Interesting facts. Then there were
but little ever half n million Of slaves,
and scarce pound Of raw cotton exported
In l.sa, vessel, containing eight bags Of cot
ton, Was seized at the custom.h house in Liver
pool, on the conviction that SO much cotton
could not be the growth Of America. In 1881.
III the debate on slave representation in the
convention that framed the Constitution, Mr..
PINCKMEY said
North Carolina, South Carolina and Georfia.
IN their r'ee and 'nd.se. esd peculiar interest
which mikht 10 sacrihced.'
Cotton was not mentioned, for in that year
there were but one hundred and eight bales
shipped from the United States. Now there
are near four millions of slaves, worth s., 800,
uVo,gUp; and of Southern products, there were
exported last year saJo,mo, 600. and those ex-
ports enter materially into the comforts, ne
cessiiies aud luxuries Of the W orld. Last year
the cotton crop Of the South was near four
million two hundred and fifty thousand bales !;
sl6i, oVO, UU0 worth was exported. Balm, in his
history Of cotton manufacture, says:
lit 10 impossible to estimate tho advantage to
the tax of the people from tins wonderful cheap
mesa OF cotton yOOds.'
And
good MANAGEMENT, have handsome lurnitu re
for 0eds, windows, and tables the house vi u
s0hstantIai tradesman sixty years SINCE
In Mr.. CUsHIN9'S great speech in New
Haven, the same subject is referred to. Mr..
CUSHING admits that there may be found in
The writings OF JEFFERSON emphatic reproba-
ton OF slavery, and, in a more modified form,
similar sentiments i'll the writings of WASH
INGToN, and olher early fathers OF the Repub-
lie. But there is the Constitution of the United
States, formed by these men,. who the HELPER
book asserts are aboiitionists. WASHINGTON,
the President Of the Conven ton, an abolition
list! MADISON, the informing mind of the
Convention, an aholitionist! Why, there is
the Constitution; that declares what their
abolitionism was. There is the Cons titution,
liz which they, by emphatic, express provision
and compact protected and secured slave prop
erty in any and all the States that chose TO
hold such properly. But if it be said that, in
framing the Constitution of the United States,
these men made concessions Of their opinions
TO the general peace Of the country, were they
not all citizens OF the slaveholding State of
Virginia! Look back to that period Of time
and say if G EoReE WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON,
MADISON, MASON and HkNRY-if they and
their friends did not control the fortunes, the
power, the legislation Of the State of Virginia
ii it was not, rs it were, in the palms of their
hands. Wers they in favor Of abolition! Ii
so, why did they not introduce bill in the
Legislature proposing the abolition of negro
servitude in Virginia!
Mr.. GUSHING is equally happy in his reply
+ another favorits but untenable position of
the abolitionists-i. e., that the Declaration Of
Independence asserts the eq quality of all men.
The American Revolution, says Mr.. GUSHING,
was not d radical, sociaiistic Revolution. 1t
was political Revolution only. 1t was the
severance of the British Empire into two En-
pires-with European. British and British
American Empire. Our fathers found Indians
abounding in the country and they kept them
Indians they found Africans Astounding in
the country and they kept them Africans
Am to be told after ALL" says Mr.. CUSHING,
that we, the white men of America, the men
OF European race, are mistaken that we are
not masters OF the country after all, and that
our fathers, in the Declaration of Indepen-
d-nce, intended that the Indian and the
African were associated with US as the mas.
tiers Of these United States ! Gentlemen l
affirm as a historical fact, that the Declara-
ton of Independence intended TO apply
only to the white governing race Of these
Colonies. At the time Of the Declaration
of Independence all the Colonies held slaves,
and they did not imagine that that instru-
rnent was to change the personal or political
relations of those slaves 1t is true, after
the Declaration Of Independence, and before
the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
Massachusetts, by judicial decision, abolished
negro servitude but was it decided that these
enancipated Africans were the equals Of the
men Of European race in Massachusettsl In
the first place, says Mr.. CUSHING, the ques-
ton of emancipation, in the discussion that
then took place, involved the question of pau
perish. Was this or that negro pauper in
this or that place! That is, did he possess a
settlement in his own right, or in right of his
master! In order to show now the State of
Massachusetts, appreciated these men, Mr..
CUSHING quotes an act of the Legislature of
that State, enacted OF the Goth Of March, 17ss.
This was just prior to the framing of the
Constitution. The declaration Of Indepen.
dence had been adopted and a con!ederation
had been in operation, and the States were
about 10 form more perfect union, aud to
form compact upon the political ideas they
then possessed. The act Of the State of Mas.
sachusetts, of March a6 l7ss, is as follows:
than subject of the Emperor Of Morocco or a
citizen OF sOne one OF the United States to be evi
dsnced BY certlhcate from the Secretary Of State
81 wnlcn ne shal 10 a. citizen, shall tarry within
this Commonwealth for longer time than two
months; and upon a complaint made to any Justice
"i the peace within thus Commonwealth. that any
sucn person has boen within the same more than
two months, the said Justice shall order the said
cerson Ia depart out OF this Commonwealth and
part ~ Aforesaid, any justice Of the peace within
then CoInmonwe1lth, upon complaint and proof
made that such person mas Continued within this
commonwealth ten days after notice given him or
her To depart. a. aforesaid. shall commit the said
rerson to house Of correction within the coun-
". there be kept at hard labor, axYeeabiy to the
Fwtos and orders OF the said house, until the SEES
rtons vi the Peace next to I've holden, within and for
ne said county; and the Master vi the said house
transmits an attssted copy OF the warrant OF com
niinent to the SAID court the first day of their
ssc session and IT, upon trlai ut tine said court It
thus continued within this Commonwealth CON- On.
wary 10 the tenor Of this sct. he or shA shnl Ia
mot sxcssS.ax ten stripes and ordered to