The loyal Georgian. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1866-1867, 1866-02-24
EXTRACTS FROM BANCROFT'S
GRAFTON.
PROPHECIES ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF
SLAVERY,

PROPHECIES ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF
SLAVERY.
Neither hereditary monarch nor heredi
tary aristocracy planted itself on our soil;
the only hereditary condition that fas-
} tened itself upon US was servitude. Ma.
ture was in sincerity, and is ever true to
its law. The bee hives honey, the viper
distils poison the vine stores its juices,
and so do the poppy and the upas. Il
like manner, every thought and every
; action ripens its seed, each in its kind.
In the individual man, and still more in
nation, just idea gives life, and pro-
gress, and glory; false conception por-
tends disaster, shame, and death. A
hundred and twenty years ago, West
jersey Quaker wrote This trade of
importing slaves is dark goominess
hanging over the land the consequences
will be grievous to posterity.' At the
North the growth of slavery was arrested
by natural causes; in the region nearest
the tropics it throve rankly, and worked
itself into the organism of the rising
States. Virginia stood between the two;
with soil, and climate, resources demand
ing free labor, and yet capable of the
profitable employment Of the'slave. She
was the land of great statesmen; and
they saw the danger Of her being whelm~
ed under the rising food in time to strug-
gle against the delusions of avarice and
pride. Ninety-tour years ago, the legis>
lature of Virginia addressed the British
king, saying that the trade in slaves was
of great inhumanity,' was opposed to
the security and happiness of their con-
stituents, would in time have the most
Obstructive influence, and 'endanger their
very existence And the kind answered
them, that upon pain of his highest dis
pleasure, the importation of slaves should
not be in any respect obstructed' 'Phar.
isaical Britain, wrote Franklin in behalf
of Virginia, ito pride thyself in setting
free single slave that happened to land
on thy coasts, while thy laws continue
traffic whereby so many hundreds of
thousands are dragged into slavery
that is entailed on their posterity.' "A
serious view of this subject, said Patrick
Henry in 1878. gives gloomy prospect
to future times In the same year
George Mason wrote to the legislature of
Virginia The laws of impartial Provi-
dence may avenge our injustice upo3 our
posterity.' In Virginia, and in the Con-
tinentaI Congress, Jefferson, with the ap
prevail of Edmund Pendleton, branded
the slave trade as piracy; and he fixed
in the Declaration of Independence as
the cornerstone of America 'Ail men
are created equal, with an unalienable
right to liberty On the 6rss organisa-
tion of temporary governments for the
continental domain Jefferson, but for the
default Of New Jersey, would, IN 1884,
have consecrated every part of that terri
tory to freedom. In the formation of
the national Constitution Virginia, OPP
posed by part of New England, vairly
struggled to abolish the slave trade at
once and forever; and when the ordinance
of 1857 was introduced by Nothan Dane,
without the clause prohibiting slavery, it
was through the favorable disposition of
Virginia and the South that the clause of
Jefferson was restored, and the whole
Northwestern territory all the territory
that then belonged to the nation--was
reserved for the labor of freemen.
DESPAIR OF THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION.
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 in.
cipient measures for emancipation, Jeffer-
son encountered difficulties greater than
he could overcome; and after vain wrest-
lings, the words that broke from him, I
tremble for may country, when | reflect
that God is just, that his justice caunot
sleep forever were words of despair. 1t
was the desire of Washing tons heart
that Virginia should remove slavery by
a public act; and as the prospects of a
general emancipation grew more and
more dim, he, in utter hopelcssness 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 cclonizing the ne yro
in the home of his ancestors.
But the idea of colonization was
thought to increase the difficulty ofeman>
cipation; and in spite Of strong support,
while it accomplished much good for
Africa, it proved impracticable as areme-
dy at home. Madison, who in early life
disliked slavery so much that he Wished