You have found an item located in the Kentuckiana Digital Library.
Address to the people of Kentucky on the subject of emancipation
Address to the people of Kentucky on the subject of emancipation 400dpi TIFF G4 page images University of Kentucky, Electronic Information Access & Management Center Lexington, Kentucky 2002 b92-161-29919612 Electronic reproduction. 2002. (Beyond the shelf, serving historic Kentuckiana through virtual access (IMLS LG-03-02-0012-02) ; These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Address to the people of Kentucky on the subject of emancipation Corresponding and Executive Committee on Emancipation, [Louisville, Ky. : 1849] 12 p. ; 23 cm. Coleman Caption title. Microfilm. Atlanta, Ga. : SOLINET, 1994. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (SOLINET/ASERL Cooperative Microfilming Project (NEH PS-20317) ; SOL MN03348.07 KUK) Printing Master B92-161. IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. Slavery United States Controversial literature. AIDDRES S TO THE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY, ON THE SUBJECT OF EMANCIPATION. FELLOW-CITIZENS: In August next the duty of selecting delegates to the Convention called to remodel the Constitution of our beloved Commonwealth, will devolve on you. You have already been frequently addressed by those in favorof certain proposed reforms, who have not seen fit to urge on your attention the neces- sity of reform in relation to the greatest evil under which we labor. We regard slavery as by far the greatest of all the evils now afflicting the people of this State, and are deeply solicitous that some steps shall be taken toward its gradual removal from among us. It is our present pur- pose to urge you to co-operate with us in the great and good work of Emancipation. We beg you to give us your attention while we proceed to enumerate some of the evils which slavery in- flicts on us, and to point out some of the many benefits which would result from its removal. In proposing to change that portion of the organic law of the State which refers to slavery, we take the ground that slavery is an evil,view- ed in all its aspects-social, moral, political and pecuniary. We cannot name a single interest which we value, and which we would desire to cherish and perpetuate, that would Hot be pro- moted and strengthened by the removal of slavery. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that our sister States, with greatly inferior natural advantages, are outstripping us in pop- ulation, wealth, extent and variety of internal improvements, and in the general diffusion of knowledge. In all those tnmistakeable signs of prosperity which mark the adjacent free States, our State compares most unfavorably; and we but repeat the observation of thousands of unprejudiced observers, in attributing this unfavorable State of things to SLAVERY. We are aware that many of our fellow-citi- zens, who have not examined this subject thor- oughly, differ from us in their views of the comparative progress and prosperity of the free and slave States. Even during the short period that the subject of Emancipation has been un- der discussion in Kentucky, we have seen it asserted "that it is not true that the Northern States have increased more rapidly than the southern," and further, that "National wealth mid prosperity when predicated of the States of this Union," so far as they may be affected by slavery, is "mere loose speculation, not deserrinE a serious answer." We are willing, fellow-citizens, to make this the point on which the decision of this question shall turn. For, if it can be made to appear that slavery is a blessing-if it can he proved to be an element of permanent national wenlth- if it increases public security and private hap- piness-if it elevates the morals, refines the tastes, or develops the resources of a people- then should we at once cease our opposition to it, and labor most zealously and faithfully for its perpetuation and extension. If slavery gives us any advantages which we would not possess in its absence, the advocates of its per- petuation can certainly enumerate them. If the capitalist can invest his money to a better advantage in a slave than in a free State, or if the laborer, the mechanic and the manufacturer can procure higher wages, or hold a more ele- vated position in society in slave States, the facts can easily be shown. When we are asked to perpetuate slavery we can but ask in our turn, what good has it done, and what good does it propose to do When we examine American slavery by the light of history, we find it condemned by large and respectable meetings of the citizens in the slave States before the Revolution. We find the deliberate opinions of such men as Wash- ington, Jefferson, Madison, Henry and Frank- lin recorded against it. Commencing at the Revolution and coming down to our own day, we find a very large proportion of our own wisest legislators and statesmen testifying to its blighting and withering influence. In our own .tate, and in the halls of our own Legislature, , has frequently been characterised in terms of loquent and bitter denunciation. In view then of this concurrent ard united testimony 2 condemning slavery, and after fifty years ex- perience of its advantages, if any there be, are we asking too much of its advocates when we request them to specify those advantages At this period, when we are about framing a new organic law, under which the interests of all the citizens of the State are to be protected, should we be acting wisely, by deliberately using our influence to perpetuate a known evil, unless that evil is mixed with much good, and is in some of its aspects a manifest advantage to the community tolerating it We are now acting for future generations-we are to promulgate the organic law under which our children and our children's children are to live and act.- Should we then be faithful to ourselves or to them, or should we be acting faithfully toward our beloved Commonwealth, in deliberately engrafting on that organic law a provision which will perpetuate an institution so obnox- ious as slavery Shall our own experience, and the opinions of the wisest and best men of the present and past generations be entirely dis- regarded in the settlement of this question, or shall we fold our arms in quiet indifference and permit the great question of the age, now press- ed upon us for deliberation and decision, to go by default Fellow-citizens, these are impor- tant questions which force themselves upon our attention at the present juncture, and which in one way or another WE MUST ANSWER. We have asserted that slavery is a positive evil viewed in all its aspects, and we feel it due to those who differ from us on this question to enumerate the facts upon which this assertion is based. With Emancipationists this course of procedure is unnecessary. They know the evils of slavery, and see the necessity of taking steps with a view to the gradual but ultimate extirpation of those evils. We desire to win over to our views a large majority of those who honestly and sincerely differ from us, and we therefore ask a candid examination of the facts and statistics we are about to offer. In a country like ours, made up of various States, each one inviting immigration by pre. senting as many advantages as possible, popula- tion will naturally and irresistibly centre where the most numerous and valuable considerations are presented. We may, therefore, safely affirm thata rapid and continuous increase of population, is the most certain measure of pub- lic and private prosperity. This proposition needs no proof, for its opposite involves the absurdity that our citizens, when left free to act, are incapable of appreciating and under- standing their own interests. Centuries must roll around before any portion of these States can touch the point "where population presses upon the means of subsistence." That dogma can, therefore, form no element in our present reasonings on the progress and laws of popula- tion. Commencing, then, with Maryland, one of the oldest slaves States, we submit the follow- ing statements and statistics, taken from a pamphlet published in Baltimore, in 1846, en- titled "Slavery in Maryland, briefly considered." This pamphlet was written by John L. Carey, Esq., a distinguished member of the Baltimore Bar. After a well considered introduction, Mr. Carey thus speaks of the blighting effect of slavery in his own State. For years past our cotton growing states have been exporting their soil; and with that improvidence which slavery generates, that love of present indulgence, careless of what may follow, the South has received in return the means of enjoyment only-nothing wherewith to renovate the outraged ground. Such a pro- cess long continued must, in the end, ruin the finest lands in the world Its effects are appa- rent in the Atlantic States, in the south-west operating irresistibly to draw the planters of Carolina and Georgia from their worn out fields. The same general observations will apply to our slave-holding sections in Maryland, and to many parts of eastern Virginia too, if it were necessary to pursue the investigation there - Emigration to the west has kept pace with the impoverishment of our lands. Large tracts have come into the hands of a few proprietors-too large to be improved, and too much exhausted to be productive. But this is not the worst.- The traveller, as he journeys through these districts, smitten with premature barrenness as with a curse, beholds fields, once enclosed and subject to tillage, now abandoned and waste, and covered with straggling pines or scrubby thickets, which are fast overgrowing the wan- ing vestiges of former cultivation. From swamps and undrained morasses, malaria ex- hales, and like a pestilence infects the country. The inhabitants become a sallow race; the cur- rent of life stagnates; energy fails; the spirits droop. Over the whole region a melancholy aspect broods. There are everywhere signs of dilapidation,from the mansion of the planter with its windows half-glazed, its doors half- hinged, its lawn trampled by domestic animals that have ingress and egress through the broken enclosures, to the ragged roadside house where thriftless poverty finds its abode. No neat cot- tages with gardens and flowers giving life to the landscape; no beautiful villages where cul- tivated taste blends with rustic simplicity, en- riching and beautifying; no flourishing towns alive with the bustle of industry-none of those are seen; no, nor any diversified succession of I I well cultivated farms with their substantial homesteads and capacious barns; no well-con- structed bridges, no well-constTucted roads.- Neglect,the harbinger of decay, has stamped her impress everywhere. Slavery, bringing with it from itsAfrican home its characteristic accompaniments, seems to have breathed over its resting places here the same desolating breath which made Sahara a desert." Mr. Carey next gives a detailed statement of the population of each county in Maryland, commencing in 1790,and bringing it on in regu- lar decades to 1840, exhibiting in the aggregate the following remarkable results: "In nine counties in Maryland the white pop- ulation has diminished since 1790. These are the counties: Montgomery, Prince George, St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles, Kent, Caroline, Tal- bot and Queen Anne's. The aggregate white population of those counties in 1790 was 73,352; in 1840 it was 54,408. Here is a falling off of nearly 20,000; if the account were carried to the present year the falling off would be more than 20,000. "These nine counties include the chief slave- holding sections of the State. In five of them taken together, to-wit:-Montgomery, Prince George, St. Mary's, Calvert, and Charles, the number of slaves exceeds that of the white pop- ulation. These are chiefly the tobacco grow- ing counties, together with the county of Fred- erick. "The counties of Alleghany, Washington, Frederick, and Baltimore, and Baltimore City, are the portions of the State in which slavery has existed but partially. That is to say, Alle- ghany, with an aggregate population of 15,704, has but 811 slaves; Washington,iu a population of 28,862, has 2,505 slaves; Frederick has 6,370 slaves to a population of 36,703; Baltimore county, 6,533 slaves inan aggregate population of 80,256; and Baltimore City includes but 3,212 slaves in its population of 102,513- "Now taking these four counties and Balti- more City out of the account, it will be found that the aggregate white population of the rest of the State has diminished since 1790. In other words the increase of our population, which is about one hundred and fifty thousand since the first census, has bEen mainly in those counties where slavery has been least promi- nent. In those portions of the State where slavery prevails most prominently, the white population, during the last fifty years, has di- minished." He then sums up by the following compari- son of a portion of the free and slave States, which exhibits the latter in a painfully humili- atimng contrast: "The contrast presented by the progress of the free States, whithin fifty years, and by that of the slaveholding States for the same period, is so familiar that it would be useless to burden these pages with statistics to illustrate it. It may be sufficient to state, in respect to the in- crease of population, that in 1790 the free 3 States, including Massachusetts and Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and Pen nsyl- vania, had a population of 1,971,455; while the slaveholding States, Delaware, Maryland, with the District, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, contained 1,852,494 in- habitants. In 1840 the same free States num bered a population of 6,761,082, and the same slaveholding States had an entire population of 3,827,110. The former increased in a ratio more than double as compared with the latter. "In our own State, however, where we do not grow cotton, sugar, or rice, and where there are no new lands to present a fresh soil to the plough, and to invite settlers from a distance, the in- crease of population in our chief slaveholding counties has been nothing at all. There has been a decrease, and a very marked one. How has this decrease happened but by a process similar to that which rendered desolate three hundred thousand acres in the campagna of Naples, in the days of slavery among the Romans-which made Italy itself almost one wilderness, re-in- habited by wild boars and other animals, be- fore a single barbarian had crossed the Alps! "Let us not conceal the truth from ourselves. Slavery in Maryland is no longer compatible with progress; it is a dead weight and worse; it has become a wasting disease, weakening the vital powers-a leprous distilment into the life- blood of the commonwealth." This, then, fellow-citizens, is the result of the continued existence of slavery in one of the older States. We shall presently see that the deleterious effects of slavery are palpaple in Kentucky as well as in Maryland. We will now turn to Virginia, "Old Vir- ginia, " the State that we proudly claim as our mother, and let us see if the picture of slavery has there a brighter side. And first we give a comparative view of the progress and devel opment of the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial interests of New England and Vir- ginia, as gathered from the best authorities within our reach. The first sett ement in Vir- ginia was commenced in 1607, at Jamestown, while the first colony planted in New England, was in 1620, at Plymouth. Both sections may, therefore, be considered as nearly of the same age in point of settlement, both were settled by Englishmen, and there is a striking similarity in extent of territory. Mr. Martin, a Virginia ge- ographer, states the area of Virginia at 65,624 square miles; Mr. Darby says, 'the area of this State is usually underrated, as by a careful measurement by the rhombs, the superfices are within a fraction of 70,000 square miles."- (l he area of England and Wales is but 57,812; Scotland, 25,016; and Ireland, 31,874 square miles.) authorities, viz: Square Miles. 30,000 9,280 10,212 7,500 1,306 4,674 63,026 Hn that Virginia Acres. 19,200,000 5,939,200 6,535,680 4,800,000 870,400 2,991,360 40,336,640 is superior to New England in extent of territory; the advan- tage must also be conceded to her in climate, in fertility of soil, in the variety of agricultural pro- ductions, in her natural position, inthe extent of internal navigation, thus affording avenues to market, with equal facilities for foreign or do- mestic commerce. It might also be shown that Virginia possesses great advantages for manu- facturing, and that in minerals she is superior to any other State. "Few countries," says Martin, "possess greater advantages than Virginia for success in manufacturing; she has labor cheap and abundant, inexhaustible supplies of fuel, and almost unlimited water power." " In min- erals, and fossils," says Flint, 'Virginia is con- sidered the richest State in the Union. Quarries of the most beautiful marble and freestone, blue limestone, pit coal, and iron ore, are found in inexhaustible abundance, and in places too nu- merous to be designated. Black lead, lead ore, rock crystal, amethysts, and emeralds, are dis covered. Porcelain clay and chalk arecommon, and almost all the useful fossils. The extensive belt of hill and mountainous country, in which gold is found in every form, commences in this State, nearly in the midland regions, and ex- tends S. W. many hundred miles." We have alluded to theace natural resources of Virginia, to show her capabilities of employing a large population in manufacturing and mining, and thus to diversify the industrial pursuits of her inhabitants. The relative condition of New England and Virginia, at the present time, is shown by the following statements. They present a compara- tive view of toe substantial elements of pros- perity, as well as of moral and intellectual im- provement, in these two sections of the United States-the one a population of diversified in- dustrial employments, and improving all their advantages-the other a population chiefly agri- cultural, its manufacturing, mining, and com- mercial advantages but partially developed, im- porting from abroad a large portion of the manu- factures necessary for the supply of its inhabi- tants, most of which could readily and advanta- geously be made within its own borders. COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE PRaSENT CONDITION OF NEW ENGLAND AND VIRGINiA. New England Virginia. White population, 1840, 2,212,165 740,968 Free col'd do do. 22,633 49,872 Slaves, do. 23 448,987 Total pop. in 1840, 2,234,821 1,239,827 Persons employed in Agriculture, 414,138 318,771 In Manufactures, 187,258 54,147 In Mining, 811 1,995 In Commerce, 17,757 6,361 In Navigation, 44,068 3,534 In Learned Profes- sions, 11,050 3,866 Whites over 20 years of age who cannot read and write, 13,041 58,787 Students in Colleges, 2,857 1,097 Do in Academies, 43,664 11,083 Scholars in Primary Schools,574,277 35,331 Capital employed in Manufactures, 86,824,229 11,360,861 In Foreign Commerce, 19,467,793 4,299,500 In Fisheries, 14,691,294 28,383 In Lumber Business, 2,096,041 113,210 Banking capital in 1840, 62,134,850 3,637,400 ESTIMATES OF THE ANNUAL PRODUCTS, BY PRO- FESSOR TUCKER OF VIRGINIA, ON THE BASIS OF THE CENSUS OF 1840. Annual products of Agriculture, 74,749,889 59,085,821 Of Manufactures, 82,784,186 8,349,211 Of Commerce, 13,528,740 5,299,461 Of Mining, 3,803,638 3,321,629 POPULATION, ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1830 AND 1840. White persons in 1830 Colored do. 1830 White do. 1840 Colored do. 1840 Increase of whites in fifty years, Increase of colored persons in fifty yr's, In crease of total pop- ulation, 1,933,338 21,378 2,212,165 22,657 694,300 517,105 740,908 498,829 1,219,384 298,853 5,613 192,636 1,224,997 491,489 The per centage of increase on the total popu- lation in fifty years, in New England, 121 3-10; in Virginia, 65 6-10. If we now compare Virginia with New York, the disadvantages of slavery will appear in a still more striking point of view. One of the citizens of our State, Thomas F. Marshall, in a pamphlet published in 1840, draws the follow- ing comparison between Virginia and New York: "In 1790, Virginia, with 70,000 square miles of Territory, contained a population of 749,308. The area of the New England States is thus 4 given by the best Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Total, It is, thus show I New York, upon a surface of 45,658 square that reigns in her dilapidated villages-the large miles contained a population of 344,120. This quantity of exhausted land that is lying waste, statement exhibits in favor of Virginia a differ- ence of 405,188 inhabitants, which is double and the forests of pine and cedar now waving that of New York and 68,000 more. In 1830, over a soil that once rewarded the labors of the after a race of 40 years, Virginia is found to husbandman. contain 1,211,405 souls, and New York 1,918,- We thus perceive that slavery produces the 608, which exhibits a difference in favor of New same melancholy results in Virginia as we have York of 707,203. The increase on the part of Virginia will be perceived to be 453,187, starting Pointed out as existing in Maryland. But bad from a basis more than double that of New as the condition of Virginia is, a still more York. The increase of New York upon a basis gloomy state of things is before her. She now of 340,120 has been 1,578,391 human beings. Virginia has increased in a ratio of 61 percent., gains her support principally by selling slaves and New York in that of 566 per cent. The to other States. This trade, in the present total amount of property in Virginia, under the state of things, is to her of the most vital im- assessment of 1838, was 211,930,508. The ag- portance, but it places her at the mercy of the regate value of Real and Personal property in New York, in 1839, was 654,000,000, exhibit- States with which she carries on the traffic.- ing an excess in New York over Virginia of These States have drained off the dark waters 442,066,492. Statesmen may differ about which would have overwhelmed her. But now policy, or the means to be employed in the pro- some of them show an inclination to shut out motion of the public good, but surely they ought to agree as to what prosperity means. the stream from themselves. It must then roll I think there can be no dispute that New York back, and spread desolation over the face of that is a greater, richer, more prosperous and Pow- ancient Commonwealth. She will be reduced erful State than Virginerr to a condition worse than any which her worst is but one explanation of the facts I have enemies could wish for her. Sooner or later shewn. The clog that has staid the march of this state of things must come. Too many of her people, the incubus that has weighed down her citizens seem to think that they can keep off her enterprise, strangled her commerce, kept sealed her exhaustless fountains of mineral this dark cloud by shutting their eyes. If they wealth, and paralysed her arts, manufactures continue to do so, its thunders will burst upon and improvement, is Negro Slavery." their ears when it is too late for them to avoid Since these remarms were written, the cen- the storm, sus of 1840 has been published, shewing that Before the convention for amending the Con- New York has increased during 10 years, 515,- stitution of Virginia, called in 1830, Charles 413 inhabitants, while Virginia has increased Fenton Mercer, of Loudon county, made the only 28,525-all of which is in the western part following remarks, which drew tears from the of the State where there are but few slaves, and eyes of members of the convention: the ruinous effects of the system are less severe- "Mr. Chairman, as I descended the Chesa- ly felt. peake the other day, on my way to this city, Furthermore, the census of 1840 has de- impelled by a favoring west wind, which, co- operating with the genius of Fulton, made the veloped the important and alarming fact that vessel on which I stood literally fly through the the population of Eastern Virginia, is less by wave before me, I thought of the early descrip- 26,106 inhabitants than it was in 1830. The tions of Virginia, by the foliowers of Raleigh, population of the Union has increased during and thecompanions of Smith. I endeavored to scent the fragrance of the gale which reached the same period 32 7-10 per cent., which ap- me from the shores of the capacious bay along plied to the population of Eastern Virginia in which we steered, and I should have thought 1830, say 8,330,048 would give 1,105,454 as the the pictures of Virginiawhich rose to my fancy, number of inhabitants there ought to be in this not too highly colored, had I not often traversed our lowland country, the land not only of my section of the State, but deducting from this, nativity, but that of my fathers-and I said to the actual population shews that Eastern Vii- myself, how much it has lost of its primitive glnia has, In 10 years, fallen short of the gen- loveliness! Does the eye dwell with most pleas- eral advancement by the number of 298,512 in- ure on its wasted fields, or on its stunted forests of secondary growth of pine and cedar Can habitants. If the ratio of the increase of popu- we dwell without mournful regret on the tem- lation and the value of Real Estate be consi- ples of religion sinking in ruin, and those spa- dered as tests of the prosperity of a State, then cious dwellings whose doors once opened by the it is evident that the Eastern section of Virginia hand of liberal hospitality, are now fallen upon it is their portals, or closed in tenantless silence- is the reverse of prosperous. This conclusion Excepton the banks of Its rivers, the march of is further corroberated by the mournful silenes desolation now saddens this once beautiful 6 country. The cheerful notes of population often expressed. In the original draft of the have ceased, and the wolf and wild deer, no Declaration of Independence, he expressed the longer scared from their ancient haunts, have greatest indignation towards the British King descended from the mountains to the plains.- They look on the graves of our ancestors, and for capturing and bringing to the colonies "a traverse their former paths. And shall we do distant people who had never offended him."- nothing to restore this once lovely land There In a letter to Mr. Warville, he gives the follow- was a time when the sun in his course shone ing melancholy and yet truthful picture of on none so fair!" slavery: Since the time at which Mr. Mercer spoke, slaeryn freemen have been invited to come and takepos- "Tihe whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most bolster- session of these lands, and the wolf is again be- ous passions; the most unremitting despotism ginning to fly to his mountain den. Slavery had on the ene part and degrading submission on so poisoned the soil that slavery itself could not the other. Our children see this and learn to live upon it. It fastened its teeth upon the soil, imitate it; for man is an imitative animal. The a parent storms, the child looks on, catches the and never let go its vampyre hold while life lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in remained in its victim. But as if to show that the circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to his slavery has no sorrow that freedom cannot cure, worst passions, and thus nursed, educated and the land is again reviving. The beautiful plains daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stain- are again rejoicing In the smiles of freedom, must be a prodigy pho eculiaaritines The man and send forth their welcome in herbs and and morals undepraved by such circumstances. flowers. The country will acquire more than And with what execration should the states- its former glory, if slavery is not again permit- man be loaded, who, permitting one-half the ted to enter likeanotherserpent into thegardencitizens thus to trample on the rights of the o en. other, transforms those into despots, and these of Eden. into enemies, destroys the morals of the one The enlighted public sentiment of the age is part, and the amor patrics of the other. For if ancompromisingly hostile to slavery. The tes- the slave can have a country in this world, it timony of the Conscript Fathers of the Repub- must be any other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labor for another- lic, those great and wise men who laid the foun- in which he must lock up the faculties of his dations of our government, is also against Afri- nature, contribute as far as depends on his in- zanslavery. There isscarcelyagreatmanwho dividual endeavors to the evalishment of the flourished in our revolutionary history, who has human race, or entail his own miserable condi- not taken occasion to record his opinions against tion on the endless generations proceeding from him. With the morals of the people, thei in- slavery. In proof of this assertion listen to the dustry is also destroyed. For in a warm climate following great men: no man will labor for himself who can make Washington, it is well known, provided for another labor for him, This is so true, that of the manipaton f al slvesoverwho hethe proprietors of slaves, a very small propor- the emancipation of all slaves over whom he thtion indeed are ever seen to labor. And can the had control, by his will. In a letter to General liberties of a nation be thought secure when we Lafayette he said: have removed their only firm basis, a conviction "ithe benevolence of your heart, my dear in the minds of the people that these liberties Marquis, is so conspicuous on all occasions, are of the gift of God That they are uot to be that I never wonder at fresh proofs of it; but violated but with his wrath Indeed, I tremble your late purchase of an estate in the colony of for my country when I reflect that God is just; Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the that his Justice cannot sleep forever; that, con- slaves. is a generous and noble proof of your sidering numbers, nature, and natural means humanity. Would to God, a like spirit might only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an diffuse itself generally into the minds of the exchange of situation is among possible events people of this country' But I despair of seeing -that it may become probable by supernatural it. Some petitions were presented tothe As- interference! The Almighty has no attribute sembly at its last session, for the abolition of which can take sides with us in such a contest. slavery; but they could scarcely obtain a hear- "What an incomprehensible machine is man! ing. Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprison- ment, and death itself, in vindication of his own In another letter addressed to Joh F. Mercer, :liberty, and the next moment be deaf to all those he said: motives whose power supported him through "I never mean, unless some particular cir- his trial, and inflict on his fellow-men a bond- zumstances should compel me to it, to possess age, one hour of which is fraught with more another slave by purchase; it being among my misery than ages of that which he rose In re- first wishes to see some plan adopted by which ellion to oppose. But we must wait with .satery in this country may be abolished bplaw." patience the working of an overruling Provi- dence, and hope that that is preparing the Mr. Jefferson's abhorrence of slavery was deliverance of these our suffering brethren.- 7 When the measure of their tears shall be full- when their tears shall have involved Heaven itself in darkness-doubtless a God of justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing a light and liberality among their oppressors, or at length by his exterminating thunder manifest his attention to things of this world, and that they are not left to the guidance of blind fatality. "I am very sensible of the honor you propose to me, of becomming a member of the society for the abolition of the slave trade. You know that nobody wishes more ardently to see an abo- lition, not only of the trade but of thecondition of slavery; and certainly nobody will be more willing to encounter every sacrifice for that ob- ject. But the influence and information of the friends to this proposition in France will be far above the need of my association." That immortal orator and great and good man, Patrick Henry, in a letter to Rob't Pleas- ants, referring to slavery, says: "I believe a time will come, when an opportu- nity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we can do is to improve it, if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot, and our abhorrence for slavery. If we cannot reduce this wished for reformation to practice, let us treat the unhappy victims with lenity. It is the furthermost ad- vance we can make towards justice, it is a debt we owe to the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variance with that law which war- rants slavery. 1 know not where to stop. I could say many things on the subject; a serious view of which gives a gloomy perspective to future times!" Again, in the debates in the Virginia Con- vention, he declared: "I repeat it again, that it would rejoice my very soul that every one of my fellow beings was emancipated. As we ought with gratitude to admire that decree of Heaven, which has numbered us among the free, we ought to lamentand deplore the necessity of holding our fellow-men in bondage." The late ex-President Monroe, in a speech in the Virginia Convention, said: "We have found that this evil has preyed upon the very vitals of the Union; and has been prejudicial to all the States in which it has existed." If we make a more general comparison of the slave and free States, we still find the facts against slavery. For example-it appears from the last census that the number of white per- sons who cannot read and write compared with the whole white population is, in the New Eng- land States, one to every five hundred and eighty- five; in the State of New York one to fifty-six, and in Pennsylvania one to fifty, whereas the enteen,and, in the State of Virginia one to every twelve and a half, of the white inhabitants. In addition to this, when we take into considera- tion that nearly the whole of the colored popu- lation in the slave States are without the priv- ilege of education-what a mass of ignorance do we find within their borders! The evils complained of are not confined to any one State-they extend to all sections of our country where a large proportion of the population is composed of slaves. In proof of this, we cite the language of the eloquent ex-Senator Preston, of South Carolina. In a speech delivered some years since at Columbia in reference to a proposed railroad, he says: "No Southern man can journey (as he had lately done) through the Northern States, and witness the prosperity, the industry, the spirit which they exhibit, the sedulous cultivation of all those arts by which life is rendered comfor- table and respectable, without feelings of deep sadness and shame, as he remembers his own neglected and desolate home. There no dwel- ling is to be seen abandoned, not a farm uncul- tivated. Every person and everything performs a part toward the grand result; and the whole land is covered with fertile fields, with manu- factories and canals, and railroads and edifices and towns and cities. We of the South are mis- taken in the character of these people, when we think of them only as pedlars in horn flints and bark nutmegs. Their energy and enterprise are directed to all objects great and small within their reach. Their numerous railroads and other modes of expeditious intercommunication knit the whole country into a closely compacted mass, through which the productions of corn- mere and of the press, the comforts of life and the means of knowledge are universally diffused, while the close intercourse of business and of travel makes all neighbors, and promotes a common interest and common sympathy." "How different the condition of these things in the South! Here the face of the country wears the aspect of premature old age and decay, No improvement is seen going on, nothing is done for posterity. No man thinks of anything beyond the present moment." This picture, drawn by the hand of a master, is unhappily too true! Its fidelity cannot be questioned, and it is in vain for interested poli- ticians to attribute it to any other cause than that of slavery. And how can it be otherwise, in a land where one half the population is re- duced almost to the condition of beasts of bur- den-intentionally and systematically shut out from every means of improvement, and when a large portion of the other half is nurtured from infancy in habits of idleness and extravigance It is in vain to tell us that railroads and canals number in the slave States averages one to sev- [will secure our prosperity, for they cannot 8 change the character of our population nor the habits of our people. It is useless for us to hold conventions and listen to the best means of preserv lg the balance of trade-for the balance will always be against us while capital and labor are shut out by a general contempt for labor. It must then be evident that the want of en- terprise, the aversion to labor, and the absence of general education, so often complained of by Southern men as existing to a deplorable extent in the Southern States, can be attributed only to the system of slavery; which, to use the lan- guage of a distinguished Virginian, is "a mil- dew that has blighted in its course every region it has touched from the creation of the world." In viewing the effects of slavery on some of the richest sections of our country, we are remind- ed of the language of the Prophet when speak- ing of the ravages committed by locusts: "1 The land before them is as the garden of Eden-be- hind them is a desolate wilderness." To conclude our general view on the produc- tive capabilities of the free and slave States, we subjoin the following table, taken from the cen- sus of 1840: Slave States Free States Hardware and Cutlery 373,162 6,078,804 Cotton Goods 3,724,447 42,625,506 Silk do 3,096 116,820 Woolen do 1,376.184 19,420,819 Glass of all kinds 189,500 2,700,3931 Leather 5,219,7d0 12,163,249 Shoes, Saddlery, c. 4,574,469 28,569,841 Paper and Playing Cards 528,204 5,590,202 Precious Metals 122,520 Other do 834,260 Musical Instruments 22,878 Carriages and Wag's 2,515,665 Furniture 1,301,504 Lead, Gold, Silver, and Copper 6,756,808 Machinery 2,285,212 Drugs, Medicines,dyes and paints 635,469 Soap and Candles 1,557,156 Rope 1,658,206 Tobacco, chewing and smoking 3,634,742 Sugar, Chocolate and Confectionary 1,322,883 Granite, Marble and other stone 391,831 Iron 6,539,461 Coal, (anthracite and bituminous) 3,122,000 Brick, Stone, and Wooden Houses 14,421,391 Bricks and Lime 3,541,022 Hats,CapsandBonnets 905,074 4,612,440 8,875,176 90 90)1,(!52 8,312,220 1 6,193,798 26,344,703 8,694,368 3,894,935 4,405,210 2,360,040 2,167,142 3,256,282 3,304,655 17,187,434 11,412,176 27,496,960 6,201,090 9,215,768 Flour, Oil and Plank 23,454,809 Distilled Liquors 2,807,113 Other articles not enu. 52,120,485 11,521,502 nerated 14,216,125 52,162,220 107,934,996 397,965,552 Produce of the South 107,934,996 Balance against us 290,030,556 If to this we add the excess of the agricul- tural products of the free over those of the slave States, viz: 52,707,913, we have the entire balance against the latter of 342,738,469. We now turn to our own home, to our own State, to Kentucky, and we ask the serious at- tention of our fellow citizens to somearguments and statistics, collected by a distinguished gentleman of this State, and first published in 1845. Their general correctness will not be questioned: The number of slaves in Kentucky, at vari- ous periods, may be stated thus: Slaves. In 1790 - - - 11,830 1800 - - - 40,343 " 1810 - - - 80,561 " 1820 - - - 126,732 i 1830 - - - 165,213 " 1840 - - - 182,258 From this table it appears that in the first ten years the slave population was more than trebled; in the next decade, again, more than doubled; and in the next twenty years it again was doub- led; and from 1830 to 1840 exhibited still an additional increase of 27,045 slaves. What the increase has been since 1840 we have very imperfect means of ascertaining, but the probability is, that we now have in our State from 190,000 to 200,000 slaves. This table shows that in half a century the slave pop- ulation has multiplied upon itself nineteen times! In the period we have considered, what was the advance of the free population of Kentucky The answer includes both white and free colored persons. Free pop'tion. 1790 61,247 Original stock 61,247 18)0 180,6 2 In'c fm 1790 to 1800 119,365 or 194 8 pr ct. 18l1 325,950 do. iSJ to 1SI0 145,338 or 80 5 1820 437,58a do. 1810to1820111,636or 342 1830 622.701 do. 1820 to 1o 8;,l9 or 194 ' 1840 697,670 do. 183U to 1840 74,786 or 143 " By an examination of the foregoing table, it will be perceived that though the free population of Kentucky continues to increase, yet in every period of ten years since 1810, the rate has been gradually diminishing, and in a fearful de- gree. The proportion of free persons to slaves in 9 1790 was as 5 18-100 to 1; in 1840 it was only as 3 28-100 to 1, making it manifest that in the half century under consideration, the slaves in Kentucky have increased vastly on the whites! The next conclusion to be deduced from the facts stated is, that the presence of slavery has retarded the Jluiw of population to Kentucky, and checks the growth, and power, and the develop- ment of the abundant resources of the State.- This is apparent from the decreasing decennial increase of our free population. It will more readily appear that slavery is the cause, when we compare the growth of Kentucky with the growth of adjoining free States. Our productions are the same as those of Ohio and Indiana. Our area is greater than that of Indiana, and nearly equals that of Ohio; our way to market as easy; our soil as rich and pro- lific; our climate as propitious and healthy; cur institutions (with the sole exception of Slavery) similar, and as perfect and free, and our popula- tion as quick, apt and intelligent. The subjoined table shewing the free popula- tion of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana is full of significance: Kentucky. Rep. Ohio. Rep. Indiana. pop. in Con. pop. - pop. Rep. 1790 61,227 a wilderness. a wilderness- 1800 18:0,612 6 45,365 1 4,872 none 1810 325,950 9 230,760 6 24,520 adele. 1820 437,585 12 581,434 14 147,178 2 1830 522,704 13 937,903 19 343,031 7 1840 597,570 10 1,519,467 21 685,866 10 Slavery has oaused Kentucky to lag in the race of prosperity, while Ohio and Indiana have outstripped her; and unless the heavy burden which weighs so oppressively on the energies of our Commonwealth is removed, she must be content to see her younger sisters on the other side of the Ohio leave her at an immeasurable distance behind. But let us take other examples, in which we may compare slave States that have made the most rapid growth. For example, look at Arkansas and Michigan: Arkansas. 1830, 30,388 1840, 97,574 Michigan. 31,639 212,267 And yet another in the case of Alabama and Illinois: Alabama. Illinois. 1830, 191,978 157,455 1840, 337,224 476,183 The examples we have given prove incon- testibly that the presence of slavery in a State retards its growth, checks the advance of popu- lation, and in a few brief years brings on it the marks of premature decay. Where slavery is the badge of labor, every man shuns labor as an evil. Necessity alone can compel a man to toil by the side of his neighbor's slave, and under this compulsion the freeman becomes discontented with his social rank and directly seeks a new home where such annoyances may be avoided. This influence has been steadily going forward throughout the last thirty years, and it has withdrawn from this Commonwealth thousands of her most energetic sons, who would gladly have remained under other cir- cumstances. It has turned from the State cap- ital, industry and genius seaking investment, employment or the path of fame among the States of the Mississippi Valley. Who will fix his destiny, (other things being equal,) and the fortunes of his children in a slave State, in pre- ference to one where slavery does not exist- Surely not the laborer-; surely not tho manu- facturer; surely, not the man who expects to eat his bread in the sweat of his face. Slavery has a direct tendency to place the best lands in the State in the hands of a few proprietors. The large landholders widen their possessions, and drive out the farmers in mode- rate circumstances. This operation is seen con- tinually in progress in Kentucky. Fayette is one of the oldest and richest counties in the State. In 1787, Fayette had nine hundred voters, about a tenth of all the voters in the State. In 1798, she gave 2,247 votes on the convention question, and since that time, she has scarcely increased her voting population.- In 1796, her representatives in the Legislature were about one-fifteenth of the whole; in 1813, it was one-twenty-third; in 1828, it was one- thirty-third, and now it is equal to only one- fiftieth of the whole. She has been continually losing her influence in thecouncils of the State, owing, in part, to the stationary character of her voting population. In 1840, her white population was 9,863, and her black population was 11,709, a difference in favor of the latter of 1,846. A similar state of things has prevailed in Bourbon county-her voting population having remained almost stationary for the last fifty years. These counties contain some of the finest land on this continent, and it has beed monopolised by large slaveholding pro- prietors. Had the State been free, these coun- ties would now be peopled densely by a thriv- ing, industrious population, devoted to a variety of pursuits, and incalculably more valuable 10 than they can ever become while the blighting shadow of slavery rests upon them. One more comparison of statistics and we leave this part of our subject. From the census returns of 1840, we have compiled the following tables: The amount of capital invested in Manufac- tures in 1840, as stated in the census was as fol- lows: Ohio, 16,905,257 Kentucky, 5,945,259 Difference in favor of Ohio, 10,959,998 Nearly three times as much capital invested in Manufactures in Ohio. Compare the capital invested in- Commerce: Ohio, 22,200,210 Kentucky, 10,322,301 Difference in favor of Ohio, 11,877,909 One million and a half more than twice as much capital invested in Commerce in Ohio. Take next the products of the Mines and of the Forest: Ohio-Mines, 2,069,859 Forest, 500,000 Kentucky.-Minep, Forest, 2,569,859 1,242,062 200,000 1,642,062 Difference in favor of Ohio, 927,797 To reduce the whole matter to a smaller com- pass, let us give the per ceiit. estimates: Excess of the population of Ohio, 94 per cent. of the capital invested in Manufactures in Ohio, 185 per cent. of the capital invested in Commerce in Ohio, 115 per cent. " of the products of Mines and the Forest, 60 per cent. It is seen at a glance, that so far as these items are concerned, not only is Ohio as a State far richer than Kentucky, but there is much greater wealth relativel to the population in Ohio than in Kentucky. Were no more tzapi- tal invested in commerce and in manufactures in the former than latter, relatively to the pop- ulation, it would be not quite twice as much as in Kentucky-that is, only 32,000,000; but the real amount we have, invested, is, 39,105,- 467! But it may be said that what Ohio gains in manufactures and commerce is lost in agricul. ture. This, too, is easily tested, and we submit the following table, taken from the report of the Commissioner of Patents, made in 1844, which is believed to be as accurate as the census of 1840, and brings the comparison nearer to our own time: Ohio. Kentucky. Wheat, bushels. 15,969,000 3,974,000 Barley, " 191,000 14,000 Oats, " 20,393,000 11,901.000 Rye, 84.0,000 2,316,000 Buckwheat, " 792,000 13,000 Indian Corn, " 48,000,000 47,500,000 Potatoes, " 4,847,000 1,371,000 Tobacco, lbs. 6,888,000 57,555,000 Cotton, "- 880,000 Silk, 31,500 5,810 Sugar, 4,380,000 2,447,000 Hay, tons. 1,876,000 164,000 Flax Hemp " 1,000 12,000 It is needless to go into an estimate of the ag- gregate values. The table shows, at once, that Ohio possesses double the agricultural wealth of Kentucky. Her Indian Corn and Wheat alone are worth the whole of the products of Ken- tucky, as set down in the foregoing table. The aggregate value of all those products, only ex- ceed by one-fourth, the value of the simple item of Hay in Ohio. When to all this we add that Kentucky is at least equal to Ohio in all natural resources; wvas settled at an earlierperiod, and hada population of 73,000, when Ohio was a wilderness; while now, after a race of forty years, Ohio has twice the population, three Limes the Manufacturing and Commercial wealth, and more than double the Agricultural, then we are prepared to form some estimate of the comparative value of the free-labor and slave-labor systems. Kentucky contains about twenty-fivemillions of acres of land, and, according to the Auditor's Report, the value of all the slaves in the State is a little over 50,000,000. If, by emancipation, the average increase in the price of land should be two dollars an acre, that increase would pay for all the slaves in the State. We have no doubt that, if our Commonwealth were rid of slavery, the enhanced value of the soil would be more than equal to the assessed value of all the slaves. Wve might adJ to the statistics we have now given, and thus pile proof on proof of the fact thatslavery is hostile to all the industrial interests of a State. But we have adduced enough to sat- i fy any man of candid mind, that slavery has greatly retarded the growth of our Common- wealth, and prevented the development of the resources with which she is so rich'y endowed. Remove this incubus from her fair bosom, and she will speedily become quickened with a new life, and enter with spirit on a career of the high- 11 est prosperity and renown. As a free State, she would resound from her centre to her extremities with the busy sounds of enterprise-her popula- tion vould soon be doubled and trebled-her im- mense mineral treasures would be opened up to the light of day-works of internal improve- ment, facilitating transportation between differ- ent and distant points would spring into exist- ence-habits of activity would banish the lan- guor that is now felt in every vein-cheerfulness would displace despondency-school-houses and churches would be greatly multiplied-and the hum of industry would rise to heaven from every hill side and smiling valley like an anthem of praise from a happy and thriving people. When we reflect on what Kentucky might be, we can- not too deeply lament that infatuation which has so long perpetuated a system so detrimental to all her interests. Slavery has not yet exhausted her fertility, and brougnt desolation on her fields, but such will be her melancholy experience, un- less she casts off her shackles before it is too late. We shall not urge at present those very im- portant considerations which a faithful examin- ation of the moral and social influences of sla- very cannot fail to awaken. If wve wished to make the picture of slavery dark, appalling, and revolting in the extreme, we might easily do so by depicting its effects on the moral and so- cial relations of the community as they are man- ifested wherever it is permitted to exist. The advocates of slavery, unable to answer the statistical facts which are so abundant and prove so clearly that slavery retards the growth of population, are prone to ask whether Ken- tucky is not populous enough and whether a dense population is not to be deprecated rather than desired. To fortify their position, they re- fer to the vices which prevail in large cities, and the difficulties expenencedby the masses in get- ting along in the most densely populated coun- tries on the globe. It is sufficient, perhaps, in reply to such logic, to say that in no State of the Union, is there the least probability that, within the next century, the population willpress on the means of subsistence, for we have an area cf public lands, embracing over fourteen hundred millions of acres-more than an acre and a half for every human being on the face of the earth. With such a boundless public domain, it is not at all likely Ihat any of the United States will, for generations to come, be afflicted with the evils of over-population. Those gentlemen, therefore, who affect to think that if Kentucky should emancipate her slaves, she will soon be too densely populated, may as well quiet their apprehensions. There can be no doubt that, when slavery shall be abolished in our Coin- monwealth, there will follow a very large in- crease in our population, and that is precisely wvhat Kentucky needs to develop her resources, and to inEure to her an eminent and continued prosperity. Every good citizen is anxious that the mineral treasures of the State shall be opened and ren- dered available to enterprise-that the facilities of inter-communication shall be greatly multi- plied-that education shall visit its blessings on the mind of every chiid in the State, and that churches shall be increased ten-fold, bespeaking the universality of the religious sentiment, and bringing the altar within convenient distance of all. We presume that but few will hazard a de- nial of the value of these agents and instrumen- talities of the public good, and there are not many who would not regard the disemboweling of the mineral riches of the State, the multipli- cation of works of internal improvement, a general diffusion of the blessings of education, and a great increase in the number of churches as full compensation for all the advantages, real and fancied, or our system of negro slavery.- Our statesmen and philanthropists have for many years been laboring to bring about such desirable results, and their labors have been ftuitless, because slavery rears its dark and for- bidding front and frowns down every attempt to introduce great public and private enterprises. But let slavery be abolished, and then our popu- lation will be increased, and we shall soon have our immense mineral riches brought to light, and works of internal improvement, schoolhouses, and churches will be largely multiplied; so that eveiy farmer and manufacturer will be conveni- ent to a good market, and the benefits of knowl- edge and religion will abound in every neighbor- hood, to enlighten the cloud of ignorance that now wraps our State, in common with the other slave States, as with a pall. By increasing our population and by infusing into our now languid public spirit that enterprise which has caused the neighboring free States to surpass our Com- monwealth in the race of prosperity, we shall greatly multiply all the benefits of civilization. It cannot be doubted that, if any one of the slave States was surrounded by a wall, and thus isolated and debarred from the mental light and health that come from abroad, it would first gradually, and then rapidly yield to the destiny 12 of decay, and finally relapse into the moral and intellectual death of barbarism. Slavery blights everything it touches. It breathes its pestilen- tial breath on mind and morals, and they become languid and dull-its influences pass over the verdure of the fields, and it droops and decays. It palsies the hand of industry, hermetically seals up the riches of the earth, dries up the sources of wealth, robs the land of its beauty, enervates mlind, and extinguishes the rays of light and knowledge which the past has bequeathed to the present as the most priceless of its legacies. To talk of prosperity in the presence of such a terrible evil, is to talk demonstrated absurdity. No slave State is prosperous. There are no affinities between slavery and prosperity. They cannot live together. Wedlock between them is impossible, for nature forbids the banns. But it is said the present time is unpropi- tious to the discussion of plansof emancipation, and that there are so many other subjects of constitutional reform before the people that they cannot give the requisite attention to slavery. Now, as emancipation contemplates a reform infinitely more important than any and all others that have been suggested, it is ut- terly unwise to postpone it that matters of less moment may be looked into. Moreover, we feel assured that by far more attention has been given to the question of emancipation in the State than to any other question that has been proposed, and the people are as ready to vote intelligently in regard to it as to any other re- form . We are told that we ought to wait a little longer. We have waited too long already, and the longer we wait the greater the evil becomes. It is becoming more unmanageable every day. Slavery has always been insisting that people ought to wait a little longer. The cry is per- fectly characteristic of the system. With the sluggard spoken of by the wisest of the Jewish monarchs, it is in favor of "a little more sleep, a little more lumber, a little more fold- ing of the hands together." It never was and never will be ready for any sort of activity. It always favors the policy of masterly inactivity In 1792, the qnestion of emancipation was agi- tated, but postponed to a more convenient sea- son. In 1798, it was again agitated and again postponed. Since that period, half a century has gone by and the system is not belter pre- pared to be tried before the people than it was at that time. The truth is, what the pro-slavery men call the proper time will never arrive. It will never overtake us, we must overtake it. REUBEN DAWSON, JAMES SPEED, WILLIAM E. GLOVER, The friends of emancipation owe it to their cause and to their State to be vigilant. The advocates of slavery intend, If they have the power in the Convention, to throw restrictions around emancipation and to fasten the system of slavery forever on the State. In order to counteract the designs of the pro-slavery men' and to keep our beloved Commonwealth from decrepitude and premature decay, it is Incum- bent on the friends of emancipation to be ac- tive and energetic. They have a wily foe to contend with, a foe that relies for success on wealth and the influence it gives, instead of reason and common sense. The pro-slavery men are striving to produce the opinion that the question of emancipation is to be aban- doned. They have undertaken to kill it off by legislative resolutions-to resolve it into chaos They have arrogantly commanded the public inild to keep silence in regard to the greatest question of the age. Aris', fellow citizens, be- fore it is too late, and assert your right as free- men to think and to speak your honest thoughts at all times and in all places with all the force that belongs to you. Will you keep silent,as commanded Will you hush your thoughts as ordered Will you shackle your tongues, for fear they may use too large a charter and speak words that haughty and purse-proud arien have dared to denounce as treasonable- ,Trample upon all such restrictions on your rights; such impertinent interference with your Heaven-derived privileges ! If you are ready to wear the livery of your would-be masters- if slavery has infected your souls and made them servile-if its contamination has enner- vated your hearts-if you too are slaves, then bow submissively to the arrogance of those who presume to command your obedience, and pass your wretched and degraded necks into the yoke prepared for you. We earnestly call on you, fellow citizens, to meet us in Convention, at Frankfort, on Wednesday, the 25th day of April next; then and there to take into consideration the whole subject of slavery and to decide on what is right and proper to be done after a full and in- telligent survey of the exigencies of the times. We call upon you to hold meetings in your different counties and to appoint numerous del- egites to the proposed Convention. That Con- vention ought to be very large and attended by the most distinguished and capable friends of the cause in the State. It will depend on you, friends of emancipation in Kentucky, to de- cide on the size and character of that Conven- tion, whether it shall be iniigniflcant in num- bers or majestic in its strength, weak in its effectsor as influential as any other assemblage that our State has ever seen. WM. P. BOON, BLAND BALLARD.