SOME OF THE ALMOST INSUPERABLE DIFFICULTIES
WHICH EMBARRASSED EVERY PLAN OF EMANCIPATION
(Concluded)
"Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they
discuss it freely." In these words Lord Macaulay fixes free discussion
as a prime requisite to the right solution of problems, however
difficult. It was one of the baneful features of slavery and the
racial problems attending it that in the period just antedating the
Civil War tolerant discussion was almost banished from the arena. As a
rule, men of moderate views and sane counsels were driven to the rear,
while the Fanatics of the North and the Fire-eaters of the South held
the centre of the stage. Virginia was not wholly exempt from these
conditions which in her case had their origin and growth in causes
arising both within and beyond her borders.