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."[138]
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 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 government, 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."[139]
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."[140]
R. R. Howison, the Virginia historian, in his _History of Virginia_,
published in 1848, alluding to slavery in the state, said:
"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."[141]
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 men—called 'Chivalry' and
'Nullifiers,' who so often predict and threaten a dissolution of the
Union."[142]
Matthew F. Maury, writing in 1851, said:
"I am sure you would rejoice to see the people of Virginia 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."[143]
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."[144]
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.
Robert E. Lee writing in December, 1856, said:
"In this enlightened age, there are few, I believe, but will
acknowledge that as an institution slavery is a moral and political
evil in any country. It is useless to expatiate on its
disadvantages. I think it, however, a greater evil to the white than
to the black race, and while my feelings are strongly enlisted in
behalf of the latter, my sympathies are strongly for the former...."
"While we see the course of the final abolition of slavery is
onward, and we give it the aid of our prayers and all justifiable
means in our power, we must leave the progress as well as the result
in His hands, who sees the end and chooses to work by slow
influences."[145]