Oppression Of Slavery Upon The Non-slaveholding Portion Of T...

uvery body knows that it is the condition L of the elave that renders his situation ( )isable by hi8 owner and others. He l forma what slaveholders cali all the al offices of society, (the necessary labour br the support of ihe whole community.;- J It is true that color is the mark that for f venienceis eet upon that class oflaborers, that may be owned as olher property is; i but who does not know that the condition 1 ie the substance of the ownership. Nu claes i of persons who forin a considerable I tion of the whole community can be kept in I slavery unless they are at the samo time i kept in poverty atid ignorance. This posi tion will be universally admitled. Toen he ; who posscsses all the attnbutes of' a elave ' must of necessity be a slave; and these ' tributes are, in general, poverly, and ignorance, and the mark that society may have put ujon a slave, whether it be a black or a white one, and that be be owned by some other person. It is true that the ownorship is the great fundamental principie of slavery, but notwithslanding, the other attnbutes are absolutely necessary : for you cannot keep a large proportion of the community in. slavery who have wealth and knowledge. Tüen ïf a man is poor and ignorant, be so lar has the attnbuteB of a slave, and f he belungs to that portion of mankind which eociety may have set aside as suitable to make slaves of, then hclacks but one thing of being a síave, and that is an owner, and when men are found in a slaveholuing country with all Ihe qualificatioii8 for slaves except an owner, they are in danger of being enslaved, for there are various ways of furnishing owneis for those who havo none, with which the public are familiar. It would 8eem reasonable therofore to conclude, that that portion of the community which are not slaves and which possess tho greatest number of the attributes and quaüfications of slave3, would be treated more like slavea than those who did not possess such attributes and qualifications. This is true in practice in slaveholding countnes. Look at the traatment of the free blaclc9 in the slaveholding Btates - observe the contempt with which slaveholders look upon all laborera both North and South, and judge for yourself, whether my position is true, that men posses. sing in part the attributes of elaves are treated by slaveholders in part as slaves; and ïf tliiá bc true, do not all who labour in the slave States receive from the slaveholders treatment alun to that he bestows upon his slaves. We have been toJd by leading southern men that their system of labor is the best of any, (to wit, tbat systeni wherO laborers are owned) but 1 never heard of a slaveholder's saying that thero would be less propriety in owning a white laborer than a black one, and wlule they have made no distinction, it is fair to infer that they desire none. It is fair to conclude from the nature of the case, and from the nature of tbe system they advocate, that they would be glad to reduce all but slaveholders to a state of slavery. If their system is best why ehould they not desire to make it as nearly perfect as possible, and to make it perfect all who labor at least must be reduced to slavery. I have represented that to poss?ss any oue of the attributes of a slave ie detrimental to a man's standing in a rlavcholding country; to labour for an honest living is one of these attributes. Do men who begin the world as laborers for wages in the slaveholding States often arise lo distinction? I believe the instances are very few : while at the Norlh, a large proportion of the men of the highest order of talenc have ariseti from this ' condition or from that of opprentice boys, - jPbe sa id that there are not aa manyóla and as good opportunities for poor yonng men to nse, there as at the North, tli8 only aöbrds additioiml evidence to an important fact which intelligent men have long known, that slaveholders desireto keep all the nonalaveholding porllon of the com. munity, both white and black, asignoranl es possib Ie, for a9 8oon as the white laboror is Bufficiently informed to see that he is half elave himself, and thisin consequence of the exUtence of the elave syeiem in liis State, his influence will be exerted against it; he wül be an abolitiomst in eelf-defence, but vvliile he can bc kept ignorant of the very thing that makea hini ignorant, he may be induced to linger out h3 existence in bis present condilion without great inconvenience to the slavcholder or the inatitu. tioa. The 6laveboldera having the aecendancy in knowledge and wealth, and having the power to let the rest of ttie community remam comparatively ignorant, (and they do remain bo.) inaka the institution of elaverv the great and leadiug inlorest in all financia! and poluical movementa, and the interesta of all the rest of the community aro entirely overlooked. Did yon ever know of the publication of a newspaper in any one of ihe slaveholding States, for the purpoae of advoctting the interest of the "working men?" Did you ever know of the holding of a state or county convention for the purpose of promoting any interest nut directly connec led with Blavery? I never did, and I euppose you never did, and I suppose that the interest of no class, except that of the slaveholders, is at all looked after, or cared for in legislation or any other public proceedings and the reaaon I have for believing so is this I never learned fróm any public pruceeding in any of the slave States, that any ioteres not directly connected with stevery, existe ihere, save the agitation of the interests o {'ree labor in the Legislature of itentuck wilhin thfi iimi fpw vor.