8
e stablishment of that system i n this state. We believed that the s um o f good w hich would have been attained by the S tate of K e n t u c k y , i n a gradual emancipation of her slaves, at that period, w ould have far transcended the aggregate of mischief which might h ave resulted to herself and the U n i o n together, from the g radual l iberation o f them, and their dispersion and residence i n the U n i t e d S tates. W e were overpowered by numbers, but submitted to the d ecision of the majority w ith the grace which the minority, i n a r epublic, s hould ever yield to such a decision. I have nevertheless n ever ceased, and never s hall c ease, to regret a decision, the effects o f which have been to place us i n the rear of our neighbours who a re exempt from slavery, i n the state of a griculture, the p rogress o f manufactures, the advance of improvement, and the general prosperity o f society. O ther s tates, i n which slavery exists, have not b een unmindful of i ts e vils, nor indifferent to an adequate remedy "for their removal. B ut m ost of them have hitherto reluctantly acquiesced i n the continuance of these evils, b ecause t hey thought they saw no practical s cheme f or their removal, which was free from insuperable o bjection a nd difficulty. Is there then really no such r emedy? M u s t w e endure perpetually all the undoubted mischiefs of the s tate of s lavery, as i t affects both the free and bond portions of the population o f these states? A l r e a d y the slaves may be e stimated at two m illions, a nd the free population at ten, the former being i n the p roportion of one to five of the latter. T h e i r respective numbers w i l l p robably duplicate in periods of t hirty-three y ears. In the y ear ' 63 the number of the whites w i l l p robably be twenty, and o f the b lacks four m i l l i o n s ; i n ninety-six, forty and eight, and in t he year 1 929, about a century, eighty and sixteen millions. What mind is s ufficiently e xtensive i n its reach, what nerves sufficiently strong, to contemplate this vast and progressive augmentation, without an a wful f oreboding of the tremendous c onsequences? I f the two d escriptions of population were equally spread and intermingled o ver the whole surface of the United States, t heir d iffusion might d i minish t hedangcrof their action and corrupting influence upon each o ther. B u t this is not the state of the fact. T he s laves of the U , S tates are chiefly restricted to one quarter of the U n i o n , w hich may be described w ith s ufficient general accuracy, by a b oundary beginning w ith the mouth of the Potomac river, extending to i ts head, t hence to the Ohio river and down it and the M ississippi to the C iulph o f M e x i c o , and w ith t hat and the A t l a n t i c ocean, and the B a y o f Chesapeak to the beginning. M a r y l a n d , D elaware, M i s s o u r i , a p art of Louisiana and Arkansas, c ompose the whole of t he r esidue of the slave district of the United States. W i t h i n t hose l i m i t s ' a l l o ur slaves are concentrated, and, w ithin a p ortion of t hem, i rresistible c auses tend inevitably to their further concentration. I n o ne of the states, comprized w ithin those l imits, the slave s tock had at the last census, the superiority i n numbers, whilst i n s everal o thers the enumeration exhibits the two races i n nearly e qual p roportions.