Year: 1860

| "A


From the Stanton spectatorl


Memorial to the honorable convention Of Vir-


girlfa, heldin Richmond, in October, 1929.


Seeing that the people in this common
wealth have deemed it necessary to reform
our existing constitution OF government,
to supply it's defects, and to remove
number of evils which were thought to
press heavily upon the communicative,
the subscribers, Inhabitants of Augusta
county, cannot hut congratulate ourselves
and the public on the selection of so many
of our highly distinguished citizens for
! the performance of these solemn and in
teresting duties. Distinguished as You
have been for gravity, prudence and wis
dom, we chcerfully accord to you our con-
| fidence, in the important and arduous sta
tion to which you are called; and trust
that you will employ your wisdom and
prudence in that way which will rebound
most to our common welfare.


There have been many topics of reform
anticipated and discussed among the
people. We do not mean to meddle with
any of them, or to express any opinion on
their merits. Our purpose is respectfully
to call your attention to another subject,
which we regard as of paramount impor-
tancc; and respecting which, if nothing be
done, we apprehend that your other labOrs
must prove comparatively nugatory We
ask Your attention to the existing slavery
of the negroes in our State, and to some
constitutional provision for IL system of
emancipation.


1t is objected, indeed, that our PROPOSE
tion will give alarm to our eastern breth-
rem, who are slave holders on larger
scale than we of the vest and that they
are even already alarmed atthe anticipated
11t tod
taxes on this species ofproperty. To this
@nGr oPelScsse9eh Is see ySG &f provide any requisite
guaranty against an undue exercise OF
| such power, that thus the fears OF onr
eastern brethren may be quleted. we
wish for nothing that is uninir. 10 the
| former objection we say that, in polltlcal
view, we esteem slavery an evil greater
than the aggregate OF all the other evils
which beset us: and that we arc perfectly
willing to bear our proportion of the bur
den of removing it. We ask farther, what
is the evil of amy such alarm as our prop
osition may possibly excite, in minds un-
necessarily jealous, compared with that OF
the fatal catastrophe which ultimately
awaits our country, and the general dcprl-
vutOn of manners which slavery has al
ready produced and is producing? These
we think sufficient answers to the obJec-
tions mentioned above.


In lay ing the subject before you, we are
not insensihle to its magnitude or its dltti-
cultics We are aware, too, of the rooted
prciudiccs which we encounter, growing
out of old habits and present real or sup
posed interest. Nor are we Indifferent to
| those imputations OF enthusiasm and RASH
ness which will probably be cast upon us
| in no stintcd measure. Bnt we know that
no great good was ever achieved without
strenuous efforts; and that such efforts
have always been subjected to reproachtul
| imputations. We must. therefore, patient
| ly submit to them; considering them, IN
our turn. as the ebullitions of needless
passion, uncompromising selfishness. The
awful weight of the subject forbids any
approach to it in the spirit of lcvity; and
we feel assured that we approach il with
as much caution as those observe who
turn away and refuse 10 look it in the face
But we should esteem it moral and polltI-
cal cowardice in US to remain silen: ON
subject SO deeply interesting to us in all
our domestic and political relations one
which intcrmingleS itself with every in-
terest and concern of life; productive, per-
haps, of q few transient benefits, but GER
tninly of an infiuity of evils, now pressing
upon us, and portcnding general dlssoln-
ton in future.



of religion and humanity which belong to
this mOmcntons subject, and present 1t as
a naked question of politichl wisdom and
safety. While we believe that the public
morals and general prosperity, which 1t Is
the province of governments to great eX-
tent to protect and cherish, are deplorably
Injured by slavery; we proceed to affirm
that it is our own experience and obSeTva-
ton confirming the facts and deductions OF
political economists, that the labor OF
slaves is vastly less productive than that
of free men; that it therefore, requires a
larger space to furnish subsistence for q
given number of the former than of the
latter: that the employment of the former
necessarily excludes the employment of
the latter; that, hence, our population,
white and black, averages but about sew
enteen, when it ought, and would, under
other circumstances. average, as in New
England, mt leat sixty to the square mile;
that the possession and management of
slaves form a source of endless veXatIon
and misery within the house, and of waste
and ruin on the farm; that the youth of
the country are growing up with con-
tempt of steady industry, as low, servile
thing which contempt induces idleness,
and all its attendant eTcminacy, vice and
worthlessness that the waste OF the pro-
ducts of the land, nay of the land ITSELF Is
bringing poverty upon all its inhabitants;
that this poverty and the sparseness OF our
population, either prevent the institution
of schools through the country, or keep
them in the most langnid md inefficient
condition, and that the same causes most
obviously paraIize all cur schemes and
/ efforts for the needful improvements of the