2



the amor patri  ot the other. For if the slave
can have a country in this world, it must be any
other in preference to that in which he is born
to live and labor for another-in which he must
lock up the faculties of hib nature, contribute as
far as depends on his individual endeavors to the
evanishment of the human race, or entail his
own miserable condition on the endless genera-
tions proceeding from him. With the morals of
the people, their industry is also destroyed. For
in a warm climate no man will labor for him-
self who can make another labor for him. This
is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves, a
very small proportion indeed are ever seen to
labor. And can the liberties of a nation be
thought secure when we have removed their only
firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the peo-
ple that these liberties are of the gift of God-
That they are not to be violated but with his
-ach   Tn1 -1 I t.amhl. far -- -rnn4yw -h.en



If we cannot reduce this wished for reformation
to practice, let-us treat the unhappy victims with
lenity. It is the furthermost advance we can
make towards justice, it is a Debt we owe to the
purity of our religion, to show that it is at vari-
ance with that law which warrants slavery. I
know not where to stop. I could say many things
on the subject; a serious view of which gives a
gloomy perspective to future time."
  Again, in the debates in the Virginia Conven-
tion, he declared:
  "I repeat it again, that it would rejoice my
very soul that every one of my fellow beings
was emancipated. As we ought with gratitude
to admire that decree of Heaven, which has
numbered us among the free, we ought to lament
and deplore the necessity of holding our fellow-
men in bondage."



I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot  late ex-President Monroe, in a speech in
:sleep forever; that, considering numbers, nature, the Virginia Convention, said:
and natural means only, a revolution of the  "We have found that thia evil has preyed
,,eheel of fortune, an exchange of situatio1l is  "ehv   on   htti   vlhspee
whee ofotnnechneostato                    isupon the very vitals of the Union; and haa been
a mong possible events-that it may become pro- prejudicial to all the States in which it has een-
bahle by supernatural interference! The Al prjdc
mighty has no attribute which can take sides 1t."
with us in such a contest.                      Another distinguished Virginian says:
  "What an incomprehensible machine is man!  "7The existence of tLat scourge of a guilty
Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprison- world, Slavery, is the true, the real, the undeni-
ment, and death itself, in vindication of his'own able source, whence springs all the ignorance
liberty, and the next moment be deaf to all those and much of the vice and immorality which now
motives whose power supported him through his unhappily afflict the State.
trial, and inflict on his fellow.men a bondage,  You may sketch out the most admirable plan
one hour of which is fraught with more misery for educating the poor children, ever devised by
than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to the wit of man, but you can never reduce it to
oppose. But we must wait with patience the practice with the least prospect of success, as
working of an overruling Providence, and hope long as we cultivate our lands with slaves, and
that that is preparing the deliverance of these bring them up to trades, (which ought to be con-
our suffering brethren. When the measure of fined exclusively to white citizens) thus compell-
their tears shall be full-when their tears shall ing our people to leave the State, and seek em-
have involved Heaven itself in darkness-doubt- plnyment elsewhere, Or remain here and endure
less a God of justice will awaken to their dig- the alternative, so mortifying and repugnant to
tress, and by diffusing a light and liberality the feelings of freemen, of being compelled to
among their oppressors, or at length by his ei- labor side by side, with the slave, and to have
terminating thunder manifest his attention to their services estimated by those of the slave.-
things of this world, and that they are not left Thousands of our young mechanics, Carpenters,
to the guidance of blind fatality.        Blacksmiths, Bricklayers, c., "the bone and
  "I am very sensible of the honor you propose sinew' of the land, from this cause alone, annu-
to me, of becoming a member of the society for ally leave Virginia and go to some of the free
the abolition of the slave trade. You know that States of the West. Go to any county in the
nobody wishes more ardently to see an abolition, State, particulaTly in Eastern Virginia, and you
not only of the trade but of the condition of sla- will find na arly all the land, worth cultivating,
very; and certainly nobody will be more willing in possession of the "slaveholdingaristocTacy,"
toencountereveysacrificeforthatobject. But and almost every man has his own Carpenter,
the influence and information of the friends to Blacksmith, tc., from among his own negroes.
this proposition in France will be far above the Tne poor boys, if they are brought up to some
need of my association."                      hard working and respectablecalling, mUst leave
                                               the State to find employment; they cannot af-
  Tbat immortal orator and great and good- ford to stay here and work as cheap as theslave,
man, Patrick Henry, in a lefter to Rob't Pleas. who fares in the coarsest manner and is com-
    ants, referring to slavery, says:     pelled to toil in the most arouous and incesant
ants, referring to slavery, says:         manner, under penalty of the lash, to be inflict.
   "Ibelieve a time will come, when an opportuni ed at the discretion of his master. Thousands
ty till be ofered toabolish this lamentablet el.- of poor families leave Virginia every year, prin.
Everything we can do is to improve it, if it hap- cipally from the causes which I have mentioned,
pens in our day; if not, let us transmit to dsr and those who stay behind, are so scattered and
lescendants, together with our slaves, a pity for separated, that it is next to an impossibility, to
their unhappy lot, and ourabhorenceforslavery. reach them by any system of Education, that



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