[IN the autumn of 1842, Mr. Clay being on a visit to the state
of Indiana, the occasion of his meeting a large concourse of
people, was seized upon, for the purpose of presenting him with
a petition, signed by many of his political opponents, praying
him to emancipate his slaves, in Kentucky. Instead of treating
the matter with indignation, as was perhaps expected by some,
Mr. Clay replied with good humor to Mr. Mendenhall, who had been
selected to present him with the address, in the following words.]
I HOPE that Mr. Mendenhall may be treated with the greatest
forbearance and respect. I assure my fellow-citizens here collected,
that the presentation of the petition has not occasioned the slightest
pain, nor excited one solitary disagreeable emotion. If it were to be
presented to me, I prefer that it should be done in the face of this
vast assemblage. I think I can give it such an answer as becomes me and
the subject of which it treats. At all events, I entreat and beseech
my fellow-citizens, for their sake, for my country’s sake, for my sake,
to offer no disrespect, no indignity, no violence, in word or deed, to
Mr. Mendenhall.
I will now, sir, make to you and to this petition such a response as
becomes me. Allow me to say that I think you have not conformed to the
independent character of an American citizen in presenting a _petition_
to _me_. I am, like yourself, but a private citizen. A petition, as the
term implies, generally proceeds from an inferior in power or station
to a superior; but between us there is entire equality. And what are
the circumstances under which you have chosen to offer it? I am a total
stranger, passing through your state, on my way to its capital, in
consequence of an invitation with which I have been honored to visit
it, to exchange friendly salutations with such of my fellow citizens of
Indiana as think proper to meet me, and to accept of their hospitality.
Anxious as I am to see them, and to view parts of this state which
I had never seen, I came here with hesitation and reluctance, because
I apprehended that the motives of my journey might be misconceived
and perverted. But when the fulfilment of an old promise to visit
Indianapolis was insisted upon, I yielded to the solicitations of
friends, and have presented myself among you.
Such is the occasion which has been deliberately selected for tendering
this petition to me. I am advanced in years, and neither myself nor the
place of my residence is altogether unknown to the world. You might at
any time within these last twenty-five or thirty years, have presented
your petition to me at Ashland. If you had gone there for that purpose,
you should have been received and treated with perfect respect and
liberal hospitality.
Now, Mr. Mendenhall, let us reverse conditions, and suppose that you
had been invited to Kentucky to partake of its hospitality; and that,
previous to your arrival, I had employed such means as I understand
have been used to get up this petition, to obtain the signatures of
citizens of that state to a petition to present to you to relinquish
your farm or other property, what would you have thought of such a
proceeding? Would you have deemed it courteous and according to the
rites of hospitality?
I know well, that you and those who think with you, controvert the
legitimacy of slavery, and deny the right of property in slaves. But
the law of my state and other states has otherwise ordained. The law
may be wrong in your opinion, and ought to be repealed; but then you
and your associates are not the law-makers for us, and unless you can
show some authority to nullify our laws, we must continue to respect
them. Until the law is repealed, we must be excused for asserting the
rights――ay, the property in slaves――which it sanctions, authorizes, and
vindicates.
And who are the petitioners whose organ you assume to be? I have no
doubt that many of them are worthy, amiable, and humane persons, who,
by erroneous representations, have been induced inconsiderately to
affix their signatures to this petition, and that they will deeply
regret it. Others, and not a few, I am told, are free blacks, men,
women, and children, who have been artfully deceived and imposed upon.
A very large portion, I have been credibly informed, are the political
opponents of the party to which I belong――democrats, as they most
undeservedly call themselves, who have eagerly seized this opportunity
to wound, as they imagine, my feelings, and to aid the cause to which
they are attached. In other quarters of the union, democrats claim
to be the exclusive champions of southern interests, the only safe
defenders of the rights in slave property, and unjustly accuse us Whigs
with abolition designs wholly incompatible with its security. What
ought those distant democrats to think of the course of their friends
here, who have united in this petition?
And what is the foundation of this appeal to me in Indiana, to liberate
the slaves under my care, in Kentucky? It is a general declaration
in the act announcing to the world the independence of the thirteen
American colonies, that all men are created equal. Now, as an abstract
principle, there is no doubt of the truth of that declaration; and it
is desirable, in the original construction of society, and in organized
societies, to keep it in view as a great fundamental principle. But,
then, I apprehend that in no society that ever did exist, or ever shall
be formed, was or can the equality asserted among the members of the
human race, be practically enforced and carried out. There are portions
of it, large portions, women, minors, insane, culprits, transient
sojourners, that will always probably remain subject to the government
of another portion of the community.
That declaration, whatever may be the extent of its import, was made by
the delegations of the thirteen states. In most of them slavery existed,
and had long existed, and was established by law. It was introduced
and forced upon the colonies by the paramount law of England. Do you
believe that, in making that declaration, the states that concurred in
it intended that it should be tortured into a virtual emancipation of
all the slaves within their respective limits? Would Virginia and the
other southern states have ever united in a declaration which was to
be interpreted into an abolition of slavery among them? Did any one of
the thirteen states entertain such a design or expectation? To impute
such a secret and unavowed purpose would be to charge a political fraud
upon the noblest band of patriots that ever assembled in council; a
fraud upon the confederacy of the revolution; a fraud upon the union
of those states, whose constitution not only recognized the lawfulness
of slavery, but permitted the importation of slaves from Africa, until
the year 1808. And I am bold to say, that, if the doctrines of ultra
political abolitionists had been seriously promulgated at the epoch
of our revolution, our glorious independence would never have been
achieved――never, never.
I know the predominant sentiment in the free states is adverse to
slavery; but, happy in their own exemption from whatever evils may
attend it, the great mass of our fellow-citizens there do not seek to
violate the constitution, or to disturb the harmony of these states.
I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institution of
slavery. I look upon it as a great evil, and deeply lament that we have
derived it from the parental government, and from our ancestors. I wish
every slave in the United States was in the country of his ancestors.
But here they are, and the question is how they can be best dealt with?
If a state of nature existed, and we were about to lay the foundations
of society, no man would be more strongly opposed than I should be,
to incorporate the institution of slavery among its elements. But
there is an incalculable difference between the original formation of
society and a long existing organized society, with its ancient laws,
institutions, and establishments. Now, great as I acknowledge, in my
opinion, the evils of slavery are, they are nothing, absolutely nothing,
in comparison with the far greater evils which would inevitably flow
from a sudden, general, and indiscriminate emancipation. In some of
the states the number of slaves approximates towards an equality with
that of the whites; in one or two they surpass them. What would be
the condition of the two races in those states, upon the supposition
of an immediate emancipation? Does any man suppose that they would
become blended into one homogeneous mass? Does any man recommend
amalgamation――that revolting admixture, alike offensive to God and
man; for those whom He, by their physical properties, has made unlike
and put asunder, we may, without presumptuousness, suppose were never
intended to be joined together in one of the holiest rites. And let
me tell you, sir, if you do not already know it, that such are the
feelings――prejudice, if you please, (and what man, claiming to be a
statesman, will overlook or disregard the deep-seated and unconquerable
prejudices of the people,)――in the slave states, that no human law
would enforce a union between the two races.
What then would certainly happen? A struggle for political
ascendancy; the blacks seeking to acquire, and the whites to maintain
possession of the government. Upon the supposition of a general
immediate emancipation in those states where the blacks outnumber
the whites, they would have nothing to do but to insist upon another
part of the same declaration of independence, as Dorr and his deluded
democratic followers recently did in Rhode Island; according to which,
an undefined majority have the right, at their pleasure, to subvert an
existing government, and institute a new one in its place, and then the
whites would be brought in complete subjection to the blacks! A contest
would inevitably ensue between the two races――civil war, carnage,
pillage, conflagration, devastation, and the ultimate extermination
or expulsion of the blacks. Nothing is more certain. And are not
these evils far greater than the mild and continually improving
state of slavery which exists in this country? I say continually
improving; for if this gratifying progress in the amelioration of the
condition of the slaves has been checked in some of the states, the
responsibility must attach to the unfortunate agitation of the subject
of abolition. In consequence of it, increased rigor in the police, and
further restraints have been imposed; and I do believe that gradual
emancipation, (the only method of liberation that has ever been
thought safe or wise by any body in any of the slave states,) has been
postponed half a century.
Without any knowledge of the relation in which I stand to my slaves,
or their individual condition, you, Mr. Mendenhall, and your associates,
who have been active in getting up this petition, call upon me
forthwith to liberate the whole of them. Now let me tell you, that some
half a dozen of them, from age, decrepitude, or infirmity, are wholly
unable to gain a livelihood for themselves, and are a heavy charge upon
me. Do you think that I should conform to the dictates of humanity by
ridding myself of that charge, and sending them forth into the world,
with the boon of liberty, to end a wretched existence in starvation?
Another class is composed of helpless infants, with or without
improvident mothers. Do you believe, as a christian, that I should
perform my duty towards them by abandoning them to their fate? Then
there is another class who would not accept their freedom if I would
give it to them. I have for many years owned a slave that I wished
would leave me, but he will not. What shall I do with that class?
What my treatment of my slaves is you may learn from Charles, who
accompanies me on this journey, and who has travelled with me over the
greater part of the United States, and in both the Canadas, and has
had a thousand opportunities, if he had chosen to embrace them, to
leave me. Excuse me, Mr. Mendenhall, for saying that my slaves are as
well fed and clad, look as sleek and hearty, and are quite as civil
and respectful in their demeanor, and as little disposed to wound the
feelings of any one, as you are.
Let me recommend you, sir, to imitate the benevolent example of the
society of Friends, in the midst of which you reside. Meek, gentle,
imbued with the genuine spirit of our benign religion, while in
principle they are firmly opposed to slavery, they do not seek to
accomplish its extinction by foul epithets, coarse and vulgar abuse,
and gross calumny. Their ways do not lead through blood, revolution,
and disunion. Their broad and comprehensive philanthropy embraces,
as they believe, the good and the happiness of the white as well as
the black race; giving to one their commiseration, to the other their
kindest sympathy. Their instruments are not those of detraction and
of war, but of peace, persuasion, and earnest appeals to the charities
of the human heart. Unambitious, they have no political objects or
purposes to subserve. My intercourse with them throughout life has been
considerable, interesting, and agreeable; and I venture to say, nothing
could have induced them as a society, whatever a few individuals might
have been tempted to do, to seize the occasion of my casual passage
through this state to offer me a personal indignity.
I respect the motives of rational abolitionists, who are actuated
by a sentiment of devotion to human liberty, although I deplore and
deprecate the consequences of the agitation of the question. I have
even many friends among them. But they are not monomaniacs, who,
surrendering themselves to a single idea, look altogether to the black
side of human life. They do not believe that the sum total of all
our efforts and all our solicitude should be abolition. They believe
that there are duties to perform towards the white man as well as the
black. They want good government, good administration, and the general
prosperity of their country.
I shall, Mr. Mendenhall, take your petition into respectful and
deliberate consideration; but before I come to a final decision, I
should like to know what you and your associates are willing to do for
the slaves in my possession, if I should think proper to liberate them.
I own about fifty, who are probably worth fifteen thousand dollars.
To turn them loose upon society without any means of subsistence or
support would be an act of cruelty. Are you willing to raise and secure
the payment of fifteen thousand dollars for their benefit, if I should
be induced to free them? The security of the payment of that sum would
materially lessen the obstacle in the way of their emancipation.
And now, Mr. Mendenhall, I must take respectful leave of you. We
separate, as we have met, with no unkind feelings, no excited anger
or dissatisfaction on my part, whatever may have been your motives,
and these I refer to our common Judge above, to whom we are both
responsible. Go home, and mind your own business, and leave other
people to take care of theirs. Limit your benevolent exertions to your
own neighborhood. Within that circle you will find ample scope for the
exercise all your charities. Dry up the tears of the afflicted widows
around you, console and comfort the helpless orphan, clothe the naked,
and feed and help the poor, black and white, who need succor; and you
will be a better and wiser man than you have this day shown yourself.