Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/293

Rh white men will go down and the negroes go up, till they come to resemble each other in the habits, tastes and actions of their lives.

Slaves in Oregon, if they do an;yi:hing at all, must necessarily be "jacks of all work." They will go everywhere and do everything. They will be free enough to see and learn al] the vices of society, and slaves enough to practice them without pride or self respect. I do not see how white men who expect to labor in Oregon, can consent to have negro slaves brought here to labor with them. Slaveholders, as a general thing, are not willing to sell their good men and women to be taken thousands of miles from relatives and home, but will sell the worthless and vicious, so that the Oregon market would probably be supplied with cheap negroes, which are a curse to any country. Slavery is intended to supersede the necessity of white labor; but I deny that any system is an evil which compels white people to work. Industry invigorates mind and body. It makes the appetite good and the sleep sweet. It leads to contentment, virtue and happiness. Suppose a farmer has slaves to do his work, anrl sons to rear. Will these sons be as industrious as they otherwise would be, and is any father willing to have his children grow up without habits of industry? Indolence is a dangerous luxury for young people, and there is good sense in the Spanish proverb, that "an idle brain is the devil's workshop." What will be the political effect of making Oregon a slave State 1 This is a grave question and ought to be carefully considered. Surrounded by non-slave-holding territory—her geographical position— her climate—the productions of her soil, and the nature of her commerce, all unite and identify her with the Northern States. Suppose we go into the Union as a free State, the North will be pleased and the South satisfied. No statesman ever dreamed that slavery would ever exist in Oregon, and for that reason Douglas voted for, and Polk approved its prohibition in our organic act. And last winter, Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, said in Congress, that he would be glad to have the Northwest territories