Mr. Faulkner, in a speech before the Virginia Legislature, Jan. 20, 1832, said:—­“The idea of a gradual emancipation and removal of the slaves from this commonwealth, is coeval with the declaration of our independence from the British yoke.  It sprung into existence during the first session of the General Assembly, subsequent to the formation of your republican government.  When Virginia stood sustained in her legislation by the pure and philosophic intellect of Pendleton—­by the patriotism of Mason and Lee—­by the searching vigor and sagacity of Wythe, and by the all-embracing, all-comprehensive genius of Thomas Jefferson!  Sir, it was a committee composed of those five illustrious men, who, in 1777, submitted to the general assembly of this state, then in session, a plan for the gradual emancipation of the slaves of this commonwealth.”

Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh, late United States’ senator from Virginia, in his letters to the people of Virginia, in 1832, signed Appomattox, p. 43, says:  “I thought, till very lately, that it was known to every body that during the Revolution, and for many years after, the abolition of slavery was a favorite topic with many of our ablest statesmen, who entertained, with respect, all the schemes which wisdom or ingenuity could suggest for accomplishing the object.  Mr. Wythe, to the day of his death, was for a simple abolition, considering the objection to color as founded in prejudice.  By degrees, all projects of the kind were abandoned.  Mr. Jefferson retained his opinion, and now we have these projects revived.”

Governor Barbour, of Virginia, in his speech in the U.S.  Senate, on the Missouri question, Jan. 1820, said:—­“We are asked why has Virginia changed her policy in reference to slavery?  That the sentiments of our most distinguished men, for thirty years entirely corresponded with the course which the friends of the restriction (of slavery in Missouri) now advocated; and that the Virginia delegation, one of which was the late President of the United Stance, voted for the restriction, (of slavery) in the northwestern territory, and that Mr. Jefferson has delineated a gloomy picture of the baneful effects of slavery.  When it is recollected that the Notes of Mr. Jefferson were written during the progress of the revolution, it is no matter of surprise that the writer should have imbibed a large portion of that enthusiasm which such an occasion was so well calculated to produce.  As to the consent of the Virginia delegation to the restriction in question, whether the result of a disposition to restrain the slave trade indirectly, or the influence of that enthusiasm to which I have just alluded, * * * * it is not now important to decide.  We have witnessed its effects.  The liberality of Virginia, or, as the result may prove, her folly, which submitted to, or, if you will, PROPOSED this measure, (abolition of slavery in the N.W. territory) has eventuated in effects which speak a monitory lesson. How is the representation from this quarter on the present question?”