"Wherefore, then, object to slavery? Because it is ruinous to the whites, retards improvements, roots out an industrious population—banishes the yeomanry of the country—deprives the spinner, the weaver, the smith, the shoemaker, the carpenter, of employment and support. The evil admits of no remedy, and it is increasing and will continue to increase until the whole country will be inundated by one black wave covering its whole extent, with a few white faces here and there floating on the surface."[[130]]
John A. Chandler, a representative from Norfolk County, speaking on the 17th of January in the same debate, said:
"It will be recollected, sir, that when the memorial from Charles City was presented by the gentleman from Hanover, and when its reference was opposed, I took occasion to observe that I believed the people of Norfolk County would rejoice could they even in the vista of time see some scheme for the general removal of this curse from our land. I should have voted, sir, for its rejection because I was desirous to see a report from the committee declaring the slave population an evil and recommending to the people of this commonwealth the adoption of some plan for its riddance."[[131]]
William H. Broadnax, speaking as a representative from the County of Dinwiddie, on the 19th of January, in the same debate, said:
"That slavery in Virginia is an evil and a transcendent evil it would be idle and worse than idle for any human being to doubt or deny. It is a mildew which has blighted in its course every region it has touched from the creation of the world. Illustrations from the history of other countries and other times might be instructive and profitable had we time to review them, but we have evidence tending to the same conviction nearer at hand in the short histories of the different states of this great confederacy which are impressive in their admonitions and conclusive in their character."[[132]]
Henry Berry, speaking as a representative from Jefferson County, on the 20th of January, in the same debate, said:
"Sir, I believe that no cancer on the physical body was ever more certain, steady and fatal in its progress than is this cancer on the political body of the State of Virginia. It is eating into her very vitals. And shall we act the part of a puny patient, suffering under the ravages of a fatal disease, who would say the remedy is too painful, the dose is too nauseous, I cannot bear it; who would close his eyes in despair and give himself up to death? No, sir, I would bear the knife and the cautery, for the sake of health. I would never despair of the Republic. For myself, I would abandon hope on this subject and the state together."[[133]]
Charles James Faulkner, speaking as a representative from Berkeley County, on the 20th of January, in the same debate, said:
"Wherever the voice of your people has been heard since the agitation of this question, it has sustained your determination and called for the present enquiry. I have heard of county meetings, county petitions, and county memorials; I have heard from the North, the East, and the South. They are all, with one voice, against the continuance of slavery. None for it. The press, too, that mirror of public sentiment, that concentrated will of a whole community, has been heard from one extremity of the state to the other. Its power is with us, its moral force is united, efficient and encouraging. In this city, the capital of the Old Dominion, the heart of the commonwealth, which by one ventricle receives and through the other discharges the life blood of intelligence and public spirit throughout your empire, aye, and from a quarter and from many quarters where such a voice was least expected its tones have been firm, manly, and intrepid. Honor, sir, to those who dare speak the truth in the worst of times."
In conclusion he said: