Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1860-05-29

de says, IN letter to the Marquis de La Fay.
ette April ). l7s3
The scheme. my dear Marquis which yor
| propose as a precedent. TO encourage the entan.
clpation of the black people in this country from
the state OF bondage 10 which they are held il
striking evidence of the 1enevolence of voul
heart | shall be happy Ia JOIN you in So laud
able work, but Will defer going into de al
OF the business till have the pleasure of seeins
you"
La another letter to Ls-Fayette, he SAYS:
The benevolence of your heart, m dear Mar
quis, is so conspicuous all occasions. tha:
| never wonder at any fresh proofs of it bat YOU
| late purchase of an estate In the colony of Cay
enne, with the view of esnancIpa'Ing the slave;
| on tit,Is a generous and noble proc. of your hu
/ manity Would To God = like spirit might diff
fuse itself generally into the minds of the reo-
tple OF this country"
! could quote the opinions of Washington tC
much greater length. and all to the same effect
but time vii not allow me 10 do 50.
Mr.. Madison the father cf the Constitution
declared that he
| Thought it wrong to admit in the Constitu-
tion the idea thai there could be property in
men"
! Advocating the abolition of the slave trade As
We find IN the forty second number of the Fed
erafSt, he said
" 1t were doubtless to be wished that the pow
er of prohibiting the importation of slaves had
not been postponed until the year S0S, or, rat
er, that 1t had been suffered 10 have immediate
operation.
! But it is not difficult to account either for
/ this restriction on the General Government, or
for the manner in which the whole clause is ex-
pressed. Ii ought To be considered as a great
/ point gained in favor of humanity, that "A peri
od of twenty years may terminate forever, Ith- =
in these States, n traffic which has 50 long and
50 loudly upbraided the barbarism OF modern
1 4 4
considerable encouragement from the Federal
Government, and may be totally abolished by n
concurrence of the few States which continue
the unnatural traffic, in the prohlb.lory exam
pie which has been given by so great MAORI
ty of the Union"
Again, he contends that
Where slavery exists, the Republican theory
becomes still more tallacous.'
On another OCCASION he says:
I'VE have seen the mere distinction of color
made in the most enlightened period of time. a
gronud of the most oppressive domIuion ev er
I exercised by man over man"
President Monroe, IN speech in the Virginia
Con ventlon, declared:
THAT they had found that this evil had prev
ed upon the very vItals of I! e Union. and mad
been prejudIcIal 10 all the States III which It had
existed
Patrick Henry Virginla's greatest orator and
pat riot. in letter da ed January Is, 1913. asks:
is 1t not little sur PrIsIng that the professors
of Christianity, whose chief excellence con>lsi :
in softenIng he human heart. IN cherIshIng al d
imprnvlng It's finer fe elings, should encourage a
practice totally repugnant To the first Inpres-
siuns of right and wrong? " bat adds the
wonder is that this ab0mIusble practice has
been Introduced III the most enlightened ages
Times that seem 10 have preteusions to boast OF
( hi h improvement ; IN the arts and sciences,
aud refined morality. have brought into gene raj
use aud guarded by many laws, species OF
violence aud tyranny which rude and
barharous, but more honest, ancestors detest-
ed"
Again, this great orator says:
at would rejuIce ny very suul that every one
/ of my fellow being, WAS emancIpa ed We
ought to lament and depore the ueces,ity Of
holding our fellow w-men III bondage. Believe
/ me- | shall honor the Quakcts for their noble
efforts to abolish slavery
/ On the 10th of October, III, while Congress
was in session in Philadeiph PeYton Ran
dolph President, the following resolution among
others. was unanimously adopted
! That will neither import nor purchase
any slaves imported after the lst ~ of De-
cembcr next; after which time, We viii wholly
discontinue the slave trade. and will neither be
concerned IN 1t ourselves. nor viii We hire our
vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactu-
! iers, to those who are concerned IN it"
! ..On motion of Mr.. kandol phi. the wori "sef-
pa,de' was struck ott. and Scraice uua1Imous-
ly inserted; the former being thought To express
I
CATION of free persons -4nldiSon Popers, 10! ). p
| 1863.
! That very eccentric genius. John Randolph,
| of Roanoke, in a letter 10 iiliau Gibbons, III
! 1920, says:
with uufeigned respect and regard, and a.
sincere depreciation on the extension of sla-
very and It's horrors any other man, be he
tho he may. L am Jour friend, in the literal
seuse OF that much abused word. ! say much
abused, because 1t Is applied to the leagues OF
wee and avarice and ambition. instead "f good
will toward man. from love of HIm who is the
! Prince OF Peace"
" IN III Congress, he said:
| .aSir envy neither the heart nor the head ot
that man from the North who rises here 10 de-
! fesd slavery on prIucIpie.
! l, Is well know that he emancipated ali his
negroes. The following lines from bis will are
well wpr; h peruslng and preserving:
| Il give 10 my slaves there freedom. to which
my conscience tells me they are justly en-. tiled
! 1t has long lime been matter of The deepest
regret to me, that the circumstances un lei
which inherited them and the obstacles thrown
IN the way oy the law of the land have prcvcn ell
| NV eni,.lcI patIng them In my lifetime, which
i. is my full intention 10 DO IN case | ac-
| complIsh H..
| Col Mason, leading and distin gushed mem
. Der of the Convention that formed the Constl-
| tuition from Virginia, when the provision for
| prohibiting the Impor, alton Of Slaves un-
der con sideration, said:
| The present question concerns not the in-
porting States alone, but the whole Union -
Slavery discourages arts and manufactures--
The poor despise labor when performed BY
slaves They prevent the emigration of whites
who really enrich and strengthen country.-
| They produce the most pernIcous effect on man
| uers Every master of slaves Is born a petty
tyraut. They bring the judgement of Heaven
! On a country. As nations cannot be rewarded
or punished in the next world, they must be q
this. By an inevitable chain OF causes and ei-
tects. Providence punistes national sins ty na-
| tloual calamitles
In 1892, Governor Mcdowell used this Ian
guage in the Virginia Legislature:
6 Who that looks 10 this unhappy bondage OF
an unhappy people, IN the midst Of our -ocieiy
/ and thinks of is incidents issues, but wee,
| over II a great upon him who iDfilcts
/ i; as upon him who suffers II?
"Sir, you may place the slave where you
| please; you may DIV up. TO your utmost, the
| fountains Of his feelings. the springs OF hi>
! thought; you nay close ufau his mind every
avenue to know ledge. and cioI i 1t with
! rtIficial night; you mas yoke h.-. - vrur Ia
bors as the OK which Lgeth only work. and
| eorketh only to live: You may put hIm under
apy pro ess, WHICH without destroying his val
| ue as a slave, will debase and crush him a. ra-
| tional being you may do this and The idea that
/ he was born 10 be free will survive 1t all. IL Is
allied to his hope OF Immortality; Il i the etbe-
real mart Of his nature, which oppression cannot
reacI,: Il is torch lIt in bls sui by the baud
/ OF DEITY and never meant 10 be e1sluyuisiiel a