It would seem most unreasonable and illogical to suppose that the people
of Virginia turned to secession and civil war from a selfish desire to
safeguard slavery from the attacks of the Abolitionists. Such a course
augmented rather than lessened the dangers which beset the institution.
If, however, worn out with the assaults upon their constitutional rights
and wounded in their pride by the fierce arraignments of their character
and civilization, they turned to separation as a means of preserving
their self-respect and as showing a determination to live no longer in
political association with their enemies, then their action becomes
intelligible—whatever may be the judgment as to the just proportion
between the wrongs complained of and the remedy proposed.
-----
Footnote 329:
_William Lloyd Garrison_, by his children, Vol. III, p. 508.
Footnote 330:
_Thurlow Weed_, Barnes, Vol. II, p. 305.
Footnote 331:
_Twenty Years of Congress_, Blaine, Vol. I, 176.
Footnote 332:
_Madison to Clay, Private Correspondence of Henry Clay_, Colton, p.
365.
Footnote 333:
_Virginia Slavery Debate_, 1832, Speech of James McDowell, pp. 23-24.
Footnote 334:
_Memoirs of Robert E. Lee_, Long, p. 88.
Footnote 335:
_Richmond Dispatch_, March 13, 1861.
Footnote 336:
See _Richmond Enquirer_, March 11th, 1861.
Footnote 337:
_Speeches, Lectures and Letters_, Wendell Phillips, Lee & Shepard,
1892, p. 85.