Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-07-18
President Lincoln and Henry Clay
ON the Ell oIpatIon OF Slavery.
[From the baltimore American.

[From the Baltimore Americana
The discussion of the question of eman-
cipation in this State, growing out of the
proposition of President Lincoln, aud the
action of Congress thereon, has drawn on
the President the charge of Abolition,
whilst those who approve his course assert
that els no more Of an Abolitionfst than
Henry Clay ,vas" Having some doubt as
to the correctness of this assertion. we
make use of some extracts complied by a
correspondent of the ST. Louis Democrat
from the speeches of Mr.. Clay, which we
lay before our readers for their examina-
ton:
His opinion of slavery as an abstract
question is given in his speech in Con-
gress, February Z, 1899, in which he says ::
81 am no friend of slavery. The Search
er of all Hearts knows that every pulsation
of mine beats high and strong in the cause
of civil liberty. Wherever it is safe and
practicable, desire to see every portion
of the human familygiu the enjoyment of
it." f5
Aud in a speech at Richmond, lad Oc-
tober lst, he said:
81 desire no conceRlment of my opinions
in regard ro the institution of slavery.
look upon it as agreat eUit, and deeply la
meut that we have derived it from the pa
rental Government aud from our ancestors.
/ wish every slave III the United States
was in the country of his ancestors"
Holding these very decided views in ref
erence to slavery itselk, it eau hardly be a
matter of surprise to iud that he favored
getting rid of il. II will be discovered
that, az long ago MS 1880 be was ia fa-
vor rofemancipating of the slaves in Kentucky.
Referring to this subject, in the speech al
ready quoted from, February 18th, 1889, he
said: 9 ~ ils - ~ q
Forty years ago the question was agi-
tated in tue State of Kentucky of gradu-
al emancipation of the slaves within its
limits.
Many thought, and I among them, that as
each of the slave States had a right e1Clu-
sively to Judge for itself in respect to the
institutions of domestic slavery, the pro-
portion of slaves compared with the white
populationiut that State at that time was
so uncomfortable that system of gradual
emancipation might have been safely adopt.
ed without any hazard tothe security and
interests of the Commonwealth. Aud
still think that the question OF such emAn-
oipation in the farming States is one whose
solution depends upon hereIdtiUs number of
the tlgo races in any given State"
These short extracts seem to establish
that Mr.. Clay was quite as much of an alb
olilionist as Mr.. Lincoln is understood to
be, if not something more of an emancipa-
ZIONIST. It might not be amiss, also, to re-
member that, as in 1889, there was no
design to col0nise the slaves mauumitted in
Kentucky. Mr.. Clay was guilty of the
euormity of desiring to "turn the niggers
loose in the state of his adoption.
Ats subsequent period of his life, Mr..
Clay became member of the American
Colonization Society, giving as one Of his
motives for favoring that seheme the dan
ger of retaining so large class "of a diff
ferent physical il not moral consultation,
who never can amalgamate with the. great
body of our population" rs the negroes
then were. Inahis own language, '.tbe At
tieau part of our population bears so large
proportion TO the residue; of Enropean
origin, asito create the most lively appre-
hanaiong ~ -r-4. ~ so