Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1879-07-19
SCRAP OF HISTORY.

| luCluOIG1i1y oSAsS
ton ever drawn by an American states
man to restrict slavery was penned by
a southerner, MIR. Jefferson" For this
statement we were violently assailed by
a contemporary for Ignorance inexcu'
sable in a boy of twelve years." accom-
panied by a flat contradiction that Mr
Jefferson had ever written such a reso'
luton, in these words, Jefferson so ia'
from drawing up the first resolution fol
the restriction of slavery. never ire"
up a resolution for b restriction Of
slavery in his life" Knowing the writer
of the criticism upon US to be somewhat
proud of his historical knowledge in gen.
eral, and of his Jeffersonian knowledge
in particular, we ventured in III last
to adduce an authority tor our statement
which we thought in~controvertible, when
10! our adversary makes our author
words to mean just the opposite OF thell
generally accepted import. and, while
out of the kindness OF his heart he OF
fers to give US information necessary tt
our political preterment. he falls into
an error attributed by Mr.. Jefferson to
certain profession. that of questioning
everything aud yielding nothing.
1t is exceedingly difficult to convince
people against their will. but as u critic
in his second article writes in a strain
which COMFORTS more with our ideas Of
the rules which should govern gentle
men in discussion, we rather take pleas
ure in devoting a little labor and some
of our space to his discomfture-espe
| cially as we desire to impress him with
| the fact that u chief aim as a journal
ist is to be correct in statement, a to
render the Intelligencer always reliable
| To this end we assure him, too. that il
we believed ourselves in the wrong we
should as quickly as possible acknowl-
edge it, frankly. While not pretendlns
to class ourselves among the number
we may be permitted to say That the
| ablest men make mistakes. Senator
Voorhees,, in his great speech which we
printed in our last issue, cheerfully sui
fered himself to be corrected several
times, and thereby strengthened very
materially all his other statements which
went unchallensed; and MIR. Jefferson
himself did not hesitate to acknowledge
that he had been led to misstate historl'
cal facts, scarcely dreaming, we imag'
inc, that such casual error would lead
any gentleman into accusing him there
for of ignorance-nor shall we take oul
revenge in the use Of epithets.
! Though not necessary to sustain GU
point we wish to make it clear that such
a resolution as we have attributed to
Mr.. Jefferson was entirely consistent
with his character and opinions. lie
says of himself in his memoirs, sin
1869 L became a member of the legisla'
ture by the choice of the county II
which I live, and so continued until i
was closed by the revolution. 1 made
one effort in that body for the permission
of the emancipation of slaves, which
was rejected. and, indeed, during tn
regal government nothing liberal coult
expect success. The governor
too, who had a negative on our laws
held by the same tenure and with still
greater d~evotedness to it; and last Q
all the royal negative closed the las
door to every hope of amelloration."
In his original draft of the declaration
of independence, that terrible arraign
ment of George the Third, Mr. Jefferso
wrote these words: HE has wage
cruel war against human nature ltsel
violating its most sacred rights of Iii
! and liberty in the persons of a distar
! people who never offended him, capt
waiting and carrying them into SLAYER
IN another hemisphere, OF to incur mi
, cradle death in their transportatio
q thither. This p~irstical warfare, the Of
probrium of lnfidel powers, is the wa
fare of the christian king of Great BIZ
tain. Determined to keep open a ma
: ket where me- should be bought ar
sold, he has prostituted his negative fl
9 suppressing every legislative attempt
prohibit or to restrain this execrab
9 commerce. And that this assemblaf
of horrors might want no fact of disti
guished die, he is now exciting tho
g very people to rise in arms among u
9 and to purchase that liberty of which
e has deprived them. by numbering Il
people on whom he also obtruded then
thus paying off former crimes commit
against the liberties of one people. wi
% crimes which he urges them to comm
|" against the lives of another" Cou
L language be stronger?
III The entire paragraph was strick
II out, largely by New England vot'
- Mr.. Jefferson says OF 1t: 1.-The claus
too. reprobating the enslaying the inhs
III itants of Africa, was struck out in col
plaisance to South Carolina and Ge'
10, gia who had never attempted to restr'
IL the importation Of slaves, and who.
g. the contrary. still wished to continue
u Our northern brethren also, 1 belle
felt a little tender under those ensur'
10, for though their people had very f
be slaves themselves. yet they had b
- preHu considerable carriers of TIL
to Others"
~ In 177S MIR. Jefferson brought Ia
bill to prevent the further importat
>. of slaves into Virginia. which, as
says, passed without opposition, a
stopped the increase Of the evil by
portation. leaving to future efforts
,is final eradication"
lly About the same time Messrs. JEFF
he son, Pendleton and Wythe in revisi
he the laws of the state prepared a n amel
MS ment to free all slaves born after a c
as tain day, and deport them at a pro.
age. In writing Of this measure he
I'm presses the greatest fear and horror
on the continuance of slavery. and sa
". "nothing is more certainly written
cir the book of fate than that these PEG
eft are to be Free"
se- But to none of these did we a2lude