Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1867-10-03

1t was not until 1899 that the State commenced 9
system of laws for the gradual abolition of slavery
Every slave child born after July 4th of that yea
was to be free, the males after twenty-eight, ant
the females after twenty-five years. In 1910, tn
benefit of freedom was also extended to those borr
before July 4th, 1899, to take eHectJuly 4th 1927
the date at which the earliest born of those freed by
previous law reached their majority Of twenty
eight years: Still the census of 1880 found X
slaves! The Revised Statutes of New York, aftel
1877, provided penalty for those carrying then
ont of the State for sale; showing that the ten
dency to do so existed. r-..... ....
In New Jersey, the first act looking toward pros
'pective emancipation was adopted in 1884. BY it
al born after 1904 were to be free in 1920 1t wa:
not until 1920 that action was taken to give efec
to this promise and then the nature Of the Law
was such as to postpone the hopes of the slaves
The first sectionof the law of February oath, 1920
says: "Every child born of slave within thii
State since the 4th day of July, 1904 or which
shall hereafter be born as aforesaid, shall be free
but shall remain the servant Of the owner Of biz
or her mother, and the executors, administrator
and assigns of such owners, in the same manner as
if such child had been bound to service by the
Trustees or Overseers of the poor, and shall con
tinue in such service, if male unit" the age o.
twenty five years. and if q female until the age o.
twenty-one years" 1t was. within the scope o.
possibility that slave women whom this law lef1
slaves for life might bear children as late as the
year 1S4S: whence bondage would not have been
terminated wholly by it until 1873. New Jersey
had 236 slaves for life in 1850 1t is stated by one
of the best informed Of her old citizens that the
prospective effect of these enactments was to cause
a considerable exodus to Southern markets; and
that when boy, he heard much talk Of the sale
of negroes, and the sending Of them to the
Natchez," and was cognizant Of the continual ap-
prehension of the negroes concerning the danger.
In Pennsylvania, emancipation was also pros
pective and gradual. Her first act was passed
March lst, 1880. The rate at which it operated
may be seen from these figures: In 1776 she had
about 10000 slaves in 1890, (ten years after her
first act) she had 2,737; in 1900, l,7O6; in 1910,
795; in 1920, 2l1 in 1880, 4O3; and in 1910, "a
slaves
Thus, the emancipation legislation of the Nor
thern States has been reviewed. and the assertions
of the Hon. Mr.. Stuart substantially sustained.
That Northern emancipation was prompted by no
consideration for the supposed rights Of Africans,
but by regard to their own interests is evinced by
many facts Of these, perhaps, the most general
and striking is the persistent neglect Of the welfare
of their emancipated slaves the refusal to give
them equal civic rights, until they found motive
for doing so in malice against the South; and the
shocking decadence, vice and misery to which a
nominal liberty, according to the testimony Of
Northern WRITER'S has consigned their wretched free
blacks. Another proof is found in the current
language Of the men of the generation which effect
ed the change. That language, as is well remem-
bered by elderly persons still living, was usually
such as this: that now that the population had
filed up the country, the question Of emancipation
was simply one Of choice between their own chill
dren and the negro-whether their sons should elm.
grate, or the negro be gotten rid Of as there was
no longer room for both. Another conclusive
proof is in the fact that while these States were
getting rid of their own negroes, they were debe.
rately voting Massachusetts,, New Hampshire and
Connecticut, in the Convention of 1877 to pro.
long the introduction of slaves into the Carolinas
nineteen years more. Still another evidence is
found in the repugnance of those States to the in,
lux of free blacks and the stringent laws Of some
of them to prevent it. Thus, Massachusetts,, in
March, l7SS, (eight years after the pretended ex'
tinction of human bondage passed law ordering
every black, mulatto or Indian, who came into the
State and remained two months, to be publicly
whipped; and this punishment was to be repeated
eff he or she shall not depart totes quotes 4s
la,o remained IN force aultI 1884 as is shown by
its appearance in the Revised Laws of Massachu.
sets, 1928 1t is also to be noted that the scheme
of gradual emancipation upon which the whole
North acted, obviously recognizes the property oi
the master in his slave as legitimate in itself. II
only touches it, because private rights are here
required to give place to public INTEREST," in the
case of those born after certain day. The slave
the others is left as perpetual and legalas ever
And even as to the latter born, the right Of the
master receives certain recognition, in that he is
allowed twenty-five years service as partial COM
pensation for the surrender of the remainder.
But how different is the summary aboitionf forced
upon Virginia and the South! Here, the general
legislation of the State was steadily multiplying,
eevating and blessing the black race, which in the
North was so rapidly dying out under its pretended
liberty. And private benefcence of Virginians
without any legal compulsion, had actually given
the boon of freedom to at least one hundred thous
and blacks; which is more than all the citizens oi
the New England States, New York, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania together, ever did, under the
force of all their laws In this wise and bench
cent career Virginia has been violently interrupted
against her recognized and guaranteed rights, by
instant and violent abolition The motive OF the
North, as whole, has manifestly been, not love
for the negro, but hatred for the white man, ano
lust of domination. This abolition is purely the
result of supposed military necessity because the
North believed that otherwise she could not over
throw the South in an unjust war. But for THU
single fact, the Africans would still be in bondage
so far as tho Yankee was concerned The proof i
that the Chicago platform of the Black Repubi
can party in 1860, expressly repudiated the pur
pose ever to medde with slavery in the States. Mr.
Lincoln, the chosen man of the North, soemnly
asserted the same thing in his letter to A. d. Ste
phsns of Georgia, in his public inaugural, and ii
his messages. The Congress- after the beginning
of the war, solemnly declared to the world by {
Joint resolution, that the purpose Of the war wa
only to restore the Union, and not to restrict o.
change State institutions Mr.. Lincoln constantly
declared to the AboGtionsts, that if the perpetua
ton Of slavery tended to restore the Union, il
should be perpetuated. His standing invitation tt
L Il