Nebraska advertiser., 1862-08-02
Gradual EMANCIPATION.

GEddual EmanclpatIOus
/ The following letter is by the Chaplain
of the Nebraska First--our fellow citi-
zen, T. w. Upton. We copy it from
the Memphis Appeal Our friend is de-
termined to feed the Memphisisns on true
national doctrines, if. even he has to as
sumo the character Of a venerable old
slave holder. All right, Bro. T. Hit
t~hem'again.
MEMPHIs, Tenn, July 10.
Mr. Editor:-In any other times than
those upon which we have fallen, a prop
position for gradual emancipation made
in a Memphis journal, would have been
received with a terrible outburst of in
dignation, and l your humble. c~orrespon-
dent, one year since, would likely have
joined in an effort to expel from our midst
the publisher Of such an unweIcome doc.
trine. But times have radically changed
omens fill our sky, and men now, ever in
our city, reflect under Federal gnnboats
as we have never done before. / am no
enemy Of our system of human bondage,
but have always agreed with DR.. Brock
idge, tina: the rights of labor, aud the
interests of poor white men are more
sacred than the rights of capital, wheth-
er invested in lands or Africans.
And. despising Abolitionists and cot
ton burning rebels equally, | would with
Johnson and Drake of Missouri, and
others, as the last resort, rather see
gradual emancipation, with compensation
take place, than the Federal Union of
fathers destroyed. Our mistake. / now
see distinctly, has been in claiming too
much for the institution of slavery
And, although the cry of abolition at the
North may have precipilated that state
of things, il would have been better for
our cause TO have allowed a few fanatics
to have howled out their brief hour, and
to have relied upon the sober. staid con-
servatism of the Northern masses.
We are without our portion of original
responsibility also, for if l understand
the history of my country correctly, the
s~Iaveholding fathers of the Revolution Of
l776 regarded the African slave trade as
an evil, and the institution of domestic
bondage equally so, and charged the origl-
nal on the King ard Parliament. No
man ever denied this, and never IAN
And | suppose it is equally true that
Washington and the best men of Vir-
ginia desired the time to hasten when
gradual emancipation could take place.
A later class of shareholders however,
forgetting hat which influenced such men
as Madison and his copatriots, viz: that
in Jefferson's language, Heavens jus
tice could not always slumber," attempt
ed to change the doctrine that slavery was
an evil, into that declaration that it was
a good and a patriaTchaI institution. And
this step once taken, there was no retreat,
or chance of return. For cupidity and
avariCe claimed-and who could Withstand
their reasoning-that if agood, it should
not be limited 10 the original States,
where the fathers claimed it belonged
exclusively--but should be allowed The
range of the Territories. Now, as an
old man, / can remember very well lnthe.
days of Felix Grundy and Henry Clay,
when such men made the trip TO Wash
ington city on horse back, how Clay used
70 say his body servant was a free man
from the time he crossed the line of
Kentucky. going North and such were
the decisions of the Supreme Court of
the United States. Making il a local,
not a national institution. But the next
step was, if It is a good, instead-of an
evil, the product Of its labor must have
free trade and easy access TO market. and
hence notification of the tariff laws
But blessed be. the memory of my old
friend Andrew Jackson, land how nv
heart vas pained the other day TO see his
statue defaced in the park, he lived then
TO tell South Carolina ''The Federal
Union must be preserved" But men
said if a good, il should be protected, and
therefore many took the view, that il
must have guarantees of safety by the
Federal Congress, and that we know
would have changed the whole original
policy of the Government. And then a
very few bold men, said and argued. if a
good, why not enjoy it at low figures. and
go to Africa for our slaves, and cease to
let Virginia and Maryland have a mon.
opollyy in breeding slaves. Or this we DIFF
fered among ourselves, and the whole
North was against US. And when the
r Confederacy was organized we dare not
risk the consequences Of that doctrine
with the border States and England
Others said if il be a good it must be re-
spected, and if any u speaks about il in
a disrespectful manner let him be driven
from tne South and hence secret COM
mittees, TAR and feathers, and many good
men OF the North through mistake were.
unfortunately p~erseeuted, producing much
%.irFi'asi0n. l admit that there seems TO
De somsthing plausible in the theory that