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Show 78 'l'HE Lilli::RT'i uELf,. .11 be emancipated after the the Southcm States WI • t ctcnd to determine : I rather year 1808, I do no pr doubt it." ,y c arc however willing to suppose, , kc that tho majority honestly for argument s sn • held the opinion that the abolition of the Sla.vc Trade would abolish Slavery itself, and udotltcd tho Constitution in this belief. Of course, this was mere opinion on their part. ~o one, in 1787' knew what effect the nbolition of the Slave 'l'radc would have on Slavery itself. Yet notwithstanding this uncertainty, and tho terrible consequences which they must have foreseen would ensue if this opinion should })l'OVC mistaken, our fo.tbcrs were willing to give the institution certain constitutional support without any limitation as to time. 'Ihey were willing to stipuln.to, and did stipulate, to support Slavery forever, so strong was their confidence that it would begin to die out in twenty years ! They were willing to agree to net, and did act, contrary to their clearest conviction of right, in the delusive hope that a few yearS LIDEHl'Y, SECTlONAL. SLAVERY, NATIONAL. 7!) would suffice to free them from the difliculty ! 'VItcn shall we learn that right and wrong Ul'O not thus to be played with ? l'wenty years elapsed, and tho cotton crop, which was unknown to John Jay in 1784 as an article of export, and which was not thought of by our fathers in 1787, had increased scvcuty·five fold. Tho price of Sla,~es was enhanced by the increased demand for labor, and the abolition oi tho Foreign Slave Trade only served, by decreasing tho foreign supply, to rniso still more tho price of Slaves already hero. l'he very thing of all others wbich our fathers thought wns to give Slavery a mortal wound, only served very materially to strengthen it. 'l'he hope of our fathers has proved fallacious. They abolished the Slave 'l'rade, but their contract to give Slavery itself material suppmt remains- a contract- for· ever! No-not forever! 'Vo, their sons, if we act in their spirit, must repudiate it. It is true, as Mr. Sumner says, that Slavery is sectional; but it is no less true that within certain |