Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-02-23

struggled to abolish the slave trade at once
and forever and when the ordinance of
1877 was introduced by Nathan Dane, with
out the clause prohibiting slavery, it was
through the favorable disposition Of Virgin
la and the South that the clause OF Jeffer-
son was restored and the whole northwest
ern territory all the territory that then
belonged to the nation was reserved for
the labor of freemen.
DESPAIR OF THE MEN OF THE REVOLT
TToN
The hope prevailed in Virginia that the
abolition Of the slave trade would bring with
it the gradual abolition of slavery; but the
expectation was doomed to disappointment
In supporting incipient measures for eman-
cipation, Jefferson encountered difficulties
greater than he could overcome; and after
vain wrestlings, the words that broke from
him. i tremble for my country when
reflect that God is Just, that his justice
cannot sleep forever, were words ofdespair.
Ii was the desire of Washington's heart
that Virginia should remove slavery by a
public act and as the prospects of general
emancipation grew more and more dim, he
in utter hopelessness of the action of the
state, did all that he could by bequeathing
freedom to his own slaves Good and true
men had, from the days of l776, thought of
colonizing the negro in the home of his an
cestors. But the idea of colonization was
thought to increase the difficulty of emanci-
patton; and in spite of strong support,
while it accomplished much good for Africa,
it proved inipracticable as remedy at home
Madison, who in early life disliked slavery
so much that he wished to depend as little
as possible on the labor of slayes,P Madison
who held that where slavery exists, the
republican theory becomes fallacious;" Mad
ison, who in the last years of his life would
not consent to the annexation of Texas lest
his countrymen should fill it with slaves !;
Madison, who said, Slavery is the greatest
evil under which the nation labors, a por-
tentous evil, an evil, moral, political and
economical, sad blot on our free country, :
went mournfully into old age with the cheer
less words No satisfactory plan has yet
been devised for taking out the stain.
NEW VIEWS OF SLAVERY s
The men of the Revolution passed away.
A new generation sprsng up, impatient that
an institution to which they clung should be
condemned as inhuman, unwise and unjust !;
in the thFoes of discomfort at the self re-
proach of their fathers, and blinded by the
lustre of wealth to be acquired by the culture
of new staple, they devised the theory
that slavery, which they would not abolish,
was not evil, but good. They turned on the
friends of colonization, and confidently de-
manded, "Why take black men from a civil
lied and Christian country, where their
| labor is a source of immense gain and a
power to ocontrol the markets of the world,
and send them to land of ignorance, idol
airy and Incidence, which was the home OF
their forefathers, but not theirs2 Slavery
is blessing. Where they not in their an
cestral land naked, scarcely lifted above
brutes, ignorant of the course of the sun,
controlled by nature2 And IN their new
abode, have they not been taught TO know the
difference of the seasons, to plough, and
plant, and reap, to drive oxen, to tame the
horse, to exchange th ;ir scanty dialect foI
the richest of all the languages among men,
and the stupid alteration of folles for the
pnrest religion? And since slavery is good
| for the blacks, it is good for their masters,
bringing opulenee and the opportunity OF
educating araee The slavery of the black
| is good in itself; he shall serve. the white
man forever And nature, which better
understood the quality of heeting Interest
and passion, laughed, as it caught the echo,
man and forever 7
1 SfAAN Eh1 Al HUME. 7
A regular development of pretensions fol
/ lowed the new declaration with logical con
sistency. Under the OLD declaration every
one of the states had retained, each for ltseli
the right of fmanumitting the negro by an or
4 dinary act of legislation; now, the power OF
1 the people ouer serYitude through their leg
i islatures was curtailed, and the privileged
| class was swift in imposing legal and constl
| tutional distractions on the people them
selves The pow er of emancipation was mar
| rowed or taken away. The slave might no
be disauieted by education. There remain
ed an unconfessed consciousness that the
system of bondage was wrong, and a restless
memory that it was at variance with true
| American tradition; its safety was therefor'
to be secured by political organization Tht
generation that made the Constitution tool
care for the predominance OF freedom II
/ Congress. by the ordinance of Jefferson, thl
new school aspired to secure for slavery al
equality of votes in the Senate; and while i
limited at an organic act that should conced
/ to the collective South veto power on ma
tioual legislation, it assumed that each stat
separately had the right to revise aud null
fy laws of the United States, according q
the discretion of its judgment
/ SLAVERY AND FOREIGN RELATIONS.
i The new theory hung as bias on the for
n eign relations of the country; there could b
: no recognition of Hayti, nor even OF tn
American colony of Liberia; and the worlt
was given to understand that the establish
mem of free labor in Cuba would be rea
SON for wrestling that island from Spain
Territories were annexed; louisiana, Flor
da. Texas, half of Mexico; slavery mus
have its share In them all, and it accepte
for time dividing line between the un
questioned domain of free labor and that j
which involuntary labor was to be tolerated
A few years passed away, and the new schot
strong and arrogant, demanded and receive
an apology for applying the Jefferson prov
SO to Oregon.
sQUAITER SOVEREIGNTY.
The application of that proviso was inter
runted for three administrations; but jus
tice moved steadily onwards. In the new
that the men of California had chosen free
dom, Calhoun beard the knell OF partln
slavery; and on his death bed he counselle
} secession. Washington, and Jefferson. an
, Madison had died desparting OF the abol
{ tion of slavery, Calhoun died in despair :
? the erowthof freedom His system rushe
7 irresistibly to its natural development. Th
death struggle for California was tolowe
by short truce; but the new school OF po
: iticians who said that slavery was not evl
! but good, soon sought to recover the groun
, they had lost, and confident of securing LEI
i as. they demanded that the established lin
in the territories, between freedom an
p l.. Liotknl a,xf Tho nof1ufr-