Sir, you may place the slave where you please
— you may dry up, to the uttermost, the foun-
tains of his feelings, the springs of his thought,
you may close upon his mind every avenue of
knowledge, and cloud it over with artificial
night — you may yoke him to your labors as
the ox that liveth only to work, and worketli
only to live — you may put him under any
.process which, without destroying his value as
a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational
being — ^you may do this, and the idea that he
was born to be free will survive it all. It is
allied to his hope of immortality ; it is the ethe-
real part of his nature which oppression can not
rend. It is a torch lit up in Ms soul by the
hand of Deity, and never meant to be extin-
guished by the hand of man."

"Was the illustrious Virginian, Thomas Mar-
shall, of Fauquier, a Fanatic, an Incendiary,
and an Enemy of the South, when he, in the
same Legislature of Yirginia, of 1832, replied to
the question, ""Wherefore then object to Sla-
very ?" in the ponderous words :



DEVELOPMENTS. 109

" Because it is ruinous to tlie -whites — retards
improvements, roots out an industrious popula-
tion, banishes the yeomanry of the country, de-
prives the spinner, the weaver, the smith, the
shoemaker, the carpenter, of employment and
support."

And, finally, was George "Washington a
Fanatic, and an Incendiary, and an enemy to
the South, when he wrote to Eobert Morris,
April 12, 1786 :

" I can only say that there is not a man living,
who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a
plan adopted for the abolition of it," (Slavery.)

Or when he wrote to Lafayette, April 5,
1788:

" The scheme, my dear Marquis, which you
propose as a precedent, to 'encourage the eman-
cipation of the black people in this country,
from the state of bondage in which they are
held, is a striking evidence of the benevolence
of your heart. I shall be happy to join you in
so laudable a work."

In his last will and testament he inscribed
these noble words :



110 SOUTH AND NORTH.
