August 1861, George Mason on slavery

"General and Mrs Cooper came to see us. She is Mrs Smith Lee's sister, Senator Mason's sister.
'Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother'—&c. They were talking of old George Mason, in Virginia a name to conjure with.
George Mason violently opposed the extension of slavery. He was a thorough aristocrat and gave as his reason for refusing the blessing of slaves to the new states—southwest and northwest—that vulgar new people were unworthy of so sacred a right as that of holding slaves. It was not an institution intended for such people as they were.
Mrs Lee said, 'After all—what good does it do my sons? They are Light Horse Harry Lee's grandsons—and George Mason's. I do not see that it helps them at all.'
When Mrs Lee and the Coopers had gone, what a rolling of eyes and uplifting of hands...."