3
can be adopted, however wise and liberal ln its atitution soobnioxiouaasslaver) Shallour ow n
features. We have accounts of great public experience, and the opinions of the wisest and
meetings held to promote the cause of education, I est men of the present and pa generations be
but nothing will be done, because nothing can o
be availably done, until ourpeople see a disposi- entirely disregarded in the settlement of this
tion manifested to get rid of the slaves which question, or shall we fold our arms in quiet in-
have the effect, like a deadly pestilence, of driv- difference and permit the great question of the
ing the people as far off' as they can possibly ae  o  rsiguo    sfrdlbrto        n
get."                                           age, now pressing upon us for deliberation anal
  John H. Pleasants, also a distinguished Vir- decision, togo by default Fellow-citizens,these
ginian, thus writes:                           are important questions which force themselves
  "Nocommunity can greatly flourish and pros- upon our attention attthe present juncture, and
per where its youth are brought up in idleness, which in one way or the other WE MUST ANSAVES1.
and to regard manual labor and the mechanic  Webelieve that slavery is a positive evil view-
trades as dishonorable, because slaves axe em-
ployed todo the manual labor of the community: ed in all its aspects, and we feel it due to those
This is the great and clinging curse of slavery! who differ from us on this question to enumerate
It enervates and effeminates the youth of the the facts upon which this belief is based. We
Republic: It causes them to rely at every turn, desire to win over to our views those who honest-
even to the bringing of a pitcher of water from
the well, or brushing their shoes, upon a negro, ly and sincerely differ from us, and we therefore
instead of upon themselves: The grow up worth. ask a candid examination of the facts and sta-
less in energy, and helpless, and when their tistics we are about to offer.
patrimony is squandered, as it is almost sure to  Increase of population in a State depends
be, from the habits of idleness and extravagance
engendered by the existence of slavery, they be- upon increase in the means of living; and is,
come drones here, or emigrate to the West to therefore, the most certain measure of public
seek the fortune they rarely or never find, and and private prosperity. Whenever the three great
neverdeserve to find."                         branches of productive industry, agriculture,
  Judge Robertson in a speech which he deliver- manufactures and commerce, or any of them,
ed in the last Legislature of Ky., says:   continue to yield increasing products, the popu-
  "Slavery in Kentucky is a social and moral lation will increase at the same rate; because
evil."
  Mr. Clay, in his late letter to R. P!ndell, says: then industry produces a surplus beyond the
  "Kentucky enjoys high respect and honorable present wants of the people, and more families
consideration throughout the Union and through- can be supported. This is the general rule-the
out the civilized world; but, in my humble opin- exceptions to it can only be temporary in their
ion, no title which she has to the esteem and ad-
miration of mankind, no deeds of her former occurrence.
glory, would equal, in greatness and grandeur,  In this country, where emigration to new
that of being the pioneer State in removing from  countries is so easy, whenever the means of liv-
her soil every trace of human slavery, and in es- ing fail in their native place, the people are sure
tablishing the descendants of Africa, within her t
jurisdiction, in the native land of their forefath- to relieve themselves by emigration. Without
ers."                                          some pressure of the sort, attachment to their
  These, fellow-citizens, are, for the most part, native land is ordinarily sufficient to prevent
the opinions of our conscript fathers-as such men from emigrating; indeed, it is a maxim with
they commend themselves to our approval. We all political writers that if the wages of labor in
believe them correct. And now, after fifty \ ears any coun-ry be such as to enable the poor
experience of the evils of slavery, when we are classes of people to live with tolerable comfor
about framing a new organic law, under which they Wvil not emigrate.
the interests of all the citizens of the State are  We may therefore lay it down as a general
to be protected, should we be acting wisely, by rule, that the quantity of emigration from a
deliberately using our influence to perpetuate a State is a pretty accurate index of its compara-
known evil We are now acting for future gen- tive prosperity. If few leave it, we may justly
erations-we are to promulgate the oiganic law  infer that its industry is thriving-sufficientlyso
under which ourchildren and our children's chil- to support the natural increase of its population,
dren are to live and act  Should we then be and to make nearly all contented at home. But
faithful to ourselves or to them, or should we be if a large and perpetual stream of emigrants is
acting faithfully toward our beloved Common- pouring out of it in search of better fbrtune else-
wealth., in deliberately engrafting on that organ- where, it is an infallable symptom of one of two
ic law a provision which will perpetuate an in- things; either that the country has no more