THE ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS OF PROMINENT

VIRGINIANS

(Concluded)

THE period from 1833-1860 witnessed, as we have seen, the rise and progress of the abolition movement at the North and the growth of pro-slavery sentiment in Virginia and the South. These conditions are reflected in the deliverances of many prominent anti-slavery Virginians, and by a growing indisposition on the part of others of this element to publicly declare their sentiments or to take part in the discussions, which, with growing bitterness, marked the times.

George Washington Parke Custis, speaking on the 21st of January, 1833, before the American Colonization Society, said:

"Some alarmists tell us that the slave population is to be freed. And, sir, does any one regret that the hope is held out, that with our own consent, we shall one day see an end of slavery? Should this Society be, as I doubt not it will, the happy means of producing this result, it will be renowned as having done one of the greatest and best deeds that have blessed the world." 1

The following extract from a speech of William C. Rives serves not only to illustrate his anti-slavery sentiments, but the rise of the two antagonistic parties-the Abolitionists in the North and the Pro-slavery men in the

1 See Proceedings of Sixteenth Annual Meeting of American Colonization Society, January, 1833, p. XVII.

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South. The speech of Dr. Ruffner, delivered ten years later, also indicates the same condition and the fresh difficulties with which the cause of gradual emancipation in Virginia was thus confronted.

William C. Rives, speaking in the United States Senate on the 6th day of February, 1837, after deprecating the action of Mr. Webster in presenting abolition petitions as precipitating controversy over a subject with respect to which Congress had no jurisdiction, then replied to the position of Mr. Calhoun, that slavery was a beneficent institution, as follows:

"But, sir, while I have been thus prepared and determined to defend the constitutional rights of the South at every hazard, I have not felt myself bound to conform my understanding and conscience to the standard of faith that has recently been set up by some gentlemen in regard to the general question of slavery. I have not considered it a part of my duty as a representative from the South, to deny, as has been done by this new school, the natural freedom and equality of man; to contend that slavery is a positive good; that it is inseparable from the condition of man; that it must exist in some form or other in every political community; and that it is even an essential ingredient in Republican government. No, sir, I have not thought it necessary, in order to defend the rights and institutions of the South, to attack the great principles which lie at the foundation of our political system, and to revert to the dogmas of Sir Robert Filmer, exploded a century and a half ago by the immortal works of Sidney and Locke..

"In pursuing this course I have the satisfaction of reflecting that I follow the example of the greatest men and purest patriots who have illustrated the annals of our country-of the Fathers of the Republic itself.

"It never entered into their minds, while laying the foundation of the great and glorious fabric of our free govern

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ment, to contend that domestic slavery was a positive good -a great good. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, the brightest names of my own state, are known to have lamented the existence of slavery as a misfortune and an evil to the country, and their thoughts were often anxiously, however unavailingly, exercised in devising some scheme of safe and practical relief, proceeding always, however, from the states which suffered the evil. .

...

"In following such lights as these, I feel that I sin against no principle of republicanism, and against no safeguard of Southern rights and Southern policy when I frankly say in answer to the interrogatory of the gentleman from South Carolina, that I do regard slavery as an evil-an evil not uncompensated, I know, by collateral effects of high value on the social and intellectual character of my countrymen; but still in the eye of religion, philanthropy and reason, an evil."

Charles Fenton Mercer, in his work, An Exposition of the Weakness and Inefficiency of the Government of the United States, published in 1845, said:

"How shall we approach the horrid subject of slavery, the blackest of all blots, the foulest of all deformities? Here are a people descended from the very centre of civilization and free institutions of Europe, bearing with them the full tide of liberal principles, and the very cap and essence of liberty, and boasting not only of their descent, but that they are more than worthy of their ancestors, that have sanctioned slavery in its most abject form, and now, by actual enumeration, have upwards of three millions of them."

R. R. Howison, the Virginia historian, in his History of Virginia, published in 1848, alluding to slavery in the state, said:

'Congressional Debates, Vol. XIII, part I, p. 717.

'An Exposition of the Weakness and Inefficiency of the Government of the United States, p. 167.

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"We apprehend that in general, the people of Virginia hold slavery to be an enormous evil, bearing with fatal power upon their prosperity. This sentiment has been gaining ground during many years. . . . Under these circumstances, we hail with pleasure any indications that this part of our population (the slave portion) is decreasing in number and that the time shall come when Virginia shall be a free state."

Dr. Henry Ruffner, President of Washington College, delivered in 1847 an address which was printed in pamphlet form and widely distributed, dealing with the subject of slavery and emancipation. Referring to the attitude and efforts of the Abolitionists and the effect upon anti-slavery sentiment in the state, he said:

"But, fellow-citizens, shall we suffer this meddlesome sect of Abolitionists to blind our eyes to the evils of slavery and to tie up our hands when the condition of the country, and the welfare of ourselves and our children, summon us to immediate action?

"Having failed in their first mode of action by denunciatory pamphlets and newspapers, and by petitions to Congress, the most violent class of Abolitionists have now formed themselves into a political party aiming to subvert the Federal Constitution which guarantees the rights of slaveholders, and to destroy the Federal Union which is the glory and safeguard of us all. Thus they have armed against themselves every American patriot; and what is most remarkable, they have met from the opposite extreme those Southern politicians and ultra pro-slavery mencalled 'Chivalry' and 'Nullifiers,' who so often predict and threaten a dissolution of the Union."

Matthew F. Maury, writing in 1851, said:

"I am sure you would rejoice to see the people of Virginia 'History of Virginia, Howison, Vol. II, p. 519.

"The Ruffner Pamphlet, Lexington, 1847.

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rise up to-morrow and say, 'From and after a future day, say January 1st, 1855, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in Virginia.' Although this would not strike the shackle from off a single arm nor command a single slave to go free, yet it would relieve our own loved Virginia of that curse. "11

Bishop William Meade in 1854, writing of slavery, said:

"While we must acknowledge that the advantage of the African trade notwithstanding the cruelties accompanying it has been on the side of that people both temporally and spiritually; yet we can never be brought to believe that the introduction into, and the multiplication of slavery in Virginia has advanced either her religious, political, or agricultural interests. On the contrary we are confident that it has injured all.”

In 1857, alluding to the foregoing statement, he wrote:

"I have been for the last fifty years, and more especially for the last thirty, travelling much the length and breadth of Virginia, making observations for myself, conversing with intelligent farmers, politicians, ministers of the gospel, and other Christians on the subjects referred to above. . . . I have not only reconsidered them myself, but freely conversed with many sound-minded persons concerning the views there presented; and the result has been an increased conviction that they are correct and have been in time past, and still are held by the great body of our citizens, Christians, and statesmen."

The statement of Howison, made in 1848-that, "in general, the people of Virginia hold slavery to be an enormous evil, bearing with fatal power upon their prosperity," is confirmed by these conclusions of Bishop Meade, expressed ten years later.

'Life of Matthew F. Maury, Corbin, p. 131.

Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, Vol. I, pp. 89-90, note.