aking for Georgia, said
that "If left to herself, she may probably put an end to the
evil[320]." Jefferson's expressions against slavery were many and
pronounced[321], and there is reason for thinking that these ideas
were shared by many even in the far South. An editorial in the
_Milledgeville Journal_ of Georgia, January 1, 1817, has this
remarkable language: "With such a hint from a distinguished
philosopher (_i. e._, Jefferson), shall we not merit execration, if we
fail to provide in time an adequate remedy for this great and growing
evil, an evil which is always staring us in the face--which obtrudes
so frequently upon us in spite of ourselves, the most gloomy and awful
apprehension[322]." As late as 1826, when Edward Everett, of
Massachusetts, asserted before the House that slavery was sanctioned
by religion, John Randolph, of Virginia, himself a slaveholder,
replied: "Sir, I envy neither the head nor the heart of that man from
the North who rises here to defend slavery from principle[323]."

Apparently the first assertion of the usefulness and beneficence of
the institution from a southern man of political repute came from the
governor of South Carolina in 1830[324]. How then are we to explain
the profound change of sentiment indicated by the leading papers of
the South just before the war? _The Richmond Enquirer_, September 6,
1855, asserts: "Every moment's additional reflection but convinces us
of the absolute impregnability of the Southern position on this
subject. Facts, which can not be questioned, come thronging in support
of the true doctrine--that slavery is the best condition of the black
race in this country, and that the true philanthropists should rather
desire that race to remain in the state of servitude, than to become
free with the privilege of becoming worthless." The _Richmond
Examiner_, 1854, advises all southern men to act "as if the canopy of
heaven were inscribed with a covenant in letters of fire that the
negro is here, and here forever; is our property and ours forever; is
never to be emancipated; is to be kept hard at work, and in rigid
subjection all his days[325]." The _Daily Intelligencer_, of Atlanta,
January 9, 1860, states editorially: "Whenever we see a negro, we
presuppose a master and if we see him in what is commonly called a
'free state' we consider him out of his place. This matter of
manumission, or emancipation, now thank heaven less practiced than
formerly, is a species of