The Impending Crisis of the South How to Meet It by Hinton Rowan Helper
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Title:The impending crisis of the South: how to meet it. By Hinton Rowan Helper.

Author:Helper, Hinton Rowan, 1829-1909.

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Print Source:The impending crisis of the South: how to meet it. By Hinton Rowan Helper.

Helper, Hinton Rowan, 1829-1909.

50th thousand.: x, [11]-420 p. 20 cm.

New York,

A. B. Burdick,

1860.

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THE IMlPENDING CRISI.S OF THE SOUTH: H O W T O MI E E T I T. BY HINTON

ROWAN HELPER, OF NORTH C AROLINA. COUNTRYM.EN I sue for simple jistice at your hands, Naught else I ask, nor less will have, Act right, therefore, and yield my elaimn, Or, by the great G,d that made all tbin,s, I’ll fight, till from mny bones my flesh be hack’d!-Shaks,peare. The lil)eral deviseth liberal thtings, AtId l,y liberal tlir)gs shall he stand. sa-a FIFTIETH THOUSAND. NEW-YORK: A. B. BURDICK, No. 145 NASSAU STREET. 1860. i I I . I

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is L/q Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1857, by HINTON

ROWAN HELPER, I’ t Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States foi Li Southern District of New York. i i ,I I e “:*’.-*

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HENRY M. WILLIS, OF CALIFORNIA, FORMERLY OF MARYLAND., I WOODh’ORD C.

IIOLNiAN, OF OREGOCN, FORMERLY OF KENTUCKY, MATTHEW Ki. SMIITII, OF

WASHINGTON TERRITORY, FORMERLY OF VIRGINIA, AND TO THE NON-SLAVEHIOLDING

WIIITES OF TITE SOUTHI GEN F,RA LLY, W.IETIIER AT HOME OR ABROAD THIS WORK

IS MOST CORDIALII,Y D EDICATED BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND AN[D

FELLOW-CITIZEN, THE AUTHrOR. -ii _.:i?:fSox’ i i II I I

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I, I r t I I. I iI

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PREFACE. i IF my countrymen, particularly my countrymen of the South, s ill more particularly those of them who are nonslaveholders, shall peruse this work, they will learn that no narrow and partial doctrines of political or social economy, no prejudices of early education have induced me to write it. If, in any part of it, I have actually deflected from the tone of true patriotism and nationality, I am unable to perceive the fault. What I have committed to paper is but a fair reflex of the honest and long-settled convictions of my heart. In writing this book, it has been no part of my purpose to east unmerited opprobrium upon slaveholders, or to display any special friendliness or sympathy for the blacks. I have considered my subject more particularly with reference to its economic aspects as regards the whites-not with reference, except in a very slight degree, to its humanitarian or religious aspects. To the latter side of the question, Northern writers have already done full and timely justice.

The genius of the North has also most ably and eloquently discussed the subject in the form of novels. Yankee wives have written the most popular antislavery literature of I I/ -Y-k ~~ I II i i

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PREFACE. the day. Against this I have nothing to say; it is all well enough for women to give the fictions of slavery; men should give the facts. I trust that my friends and fellow-citizens of the South will read this book-nay, proud as any Southerner though I am, I entreat, I beg of them to do so. And as the work, oonsidered with reference to its author’s nativity, is a novetlty-the South being my birth-place and my home, and my ancestry having resided there for more than a century-so I indulge the hope that its reception by my fellow-Southrons will also be novel; that is to say, that they will receive it, as it is offered, in a reasonable and friendly spirit, and that they will read it and reflect upon it as an honest and faithful endeavor to treat a subject of enormous import, without rancor or prejudice, by one who naturally comes within the pale of their own sympathies. An irrepressibly active desire to do something to elevate the South to an honorable and powerful position among the enlightened quarters of the globe, has been the great leading principle that has actuated me in the preparation of the present volume; and so well convinced am I that the plan which I have proposed is the only really practical one for achieving the desired end, that I earnestly hope to see it prosecuted with energy and zeal, until the Flag of Freedom shall wave triumphantly alike ever the valleys of Virginia and the mounds of Mississipr.. a 9 IL. ]t. H. Ju, 1857. vi i I t I I i I t i I

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CON TE N T S. CHIIAPTER I. PA&IL COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FREE AND THE SLAVE

STATES.. 11 Progress and Prosperity of the North-Inertness and Imbe cilhty of the South-The True Cause and the Remedy Quantity and Value of the Agricultural Products of the two Sections-Important Statistics-Wealth, Revenue, and Exdenditure of the several States-Sterling Extracts and General Remarks on Free and Slave Labor-The Im mediate Abolition of Slavery the True Policy of the South. i HOW SLAVERY CAN BE

ABOLISHED……………….. 12.3 alue of Lands in the Free and in the Slave States-A few Plain Words addressed to Slaveholders-The Old Ilome stead-Area and Population of the several States, of the Territories, and of the District of Columbia-Number of Slaveholders in the United States-Abstract of the Au thor’s Plan for the Abolition of Slavery-Official Power and Despotism of the Oligarchy-Mal-treatmenrt of the Nonslaveholdiing, Whites-Liberal Slaveholders. and what may be expected of tihem-Slave-driving Democrats-Class ification of Votes Polled at the Five Points Precinct in 1856 Parts played by the Republicans, Whigs, Deinocrats, and Know-Nothing(s during the last Presidential Cam paign-How and why Slavery should be Abolished with out direct Compensation to the Masters The American Colonization Society-Emigration to Liberia-Ultimatum of the Noon-slaveholding Whites. CIIAPTER II. I SOUTHERN

TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY………………. 188’ What the Fathers of the Republic thought of Slavery Opinions of Washington Jetterson-MAladisori-Monroe Henry-Randolph-Clay-Benton-Mason-McDlowell lredell-Pinkney- Leigh-Marshall-Bolling-Chandler Summers-Preston-Fremont-Blair-Maury-Birney. Delaware-McLane. Maryland Martin. Virginia-Bill of CHAPTER III. t I i k I i i iz i I k I

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CONTENTS. PAGN Rights. North Carolina-Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence Judge Ruffin. South Carolina-Extracts from the Writings of some of her more Sensible Sons. Georgia -Gen. Oglethorpe -Darien Resolutions. CHAPTER IV. NORTHERN

TESTIMONY………………………….. 235 Opinions of Franklin-Hamilton-Jay-Adams Webster -Clinton Warren Complimentary Allusions to Garrison, Greeley, Seward, Sumner, and others. CHAPTER V.

TESTIONY OF THE NATIONS……………………. 245 The Voice of England-Opinions of Mansfield Locke Pitt-F(,x-Shakspeare, -Cowper Milton-Johnson Price-B ckstone-Coke-Hampden-Harrington For tescue-t]ougham-The Voice of Ireland-Opinions of Burke Curran-Extract from the Dublin University Mag azine for December, 1856-The Voice of Scotland-Opin ions of B<attie-Miller-Macknight-The Voice of France -Opinions of Lafayette-Montesquieu-Louis X-Buffon  Rousseau-Brissot-The Voice of Germany-Opinions of Grotius-Gcethe-Luther-Extract from the Letter of a living German writer to his Friends in this Country  The Voice of Italy-Opinions of Cicero-Lactantius-Leo X-The Voice of Greece-Opinions of Socrates-Aristotle -Polybius-Plato. i, 1 II I CHAPTER VI. TE3TIMONY OF THE

CHURCHES……………………. 258 Introductory Remarks-Presbyterian Testimony-Albert Barnes-Thomas Scott-General Assembly in 1818-Sy nod of Kentucky-Episcopal Testimony-Bishop Horsley -Bishop Butler-Bishop Porteus-John Jay-Anti slavery Churchman-Baptist Testimony-Rev. Mr. Bris bane, of South Carolina-Francis Wayland-Abraham Booth-Baptists of Virginia in 1789 Methodist Testi mony-John Wesley-Adam Clarke-Extracts from the Discipline for 1784,‘85 and‘97-Catholic Testimony Pope Gregory XVI-Pope Leo X-The Abbe Rgynal- - Henry Kemp. viii I i i I I i i I

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CONTENTS. CIIAPTER VI!. ASA…~~~~~~~~~~~~~. ~ti. BIBLE

TESTIMONY……………………………. 27 5 The Bible an AntiSlavery Textbook Selected Precepts and Sayings of the Old Testament Selected Precepts and Sayings of the New Testament-Irrefragability of the Ar guments here and elsewhere introduced against Slavery. CHAPTER VIII. FREE

FIGURES AND SLAVE……………………… 281 Opening Remarks General Statistics of the Free and of the Slave States-Tonnage, Exports, and Imports-Pro ducts of Manufactures-Miles of Canals and Railroads in Operation-Public Schools-Libraries other than Private -Newspapers and Periodicals Illiterate White Adults -National Political Power of the two Sections-Popular Vote for President in 1856-Patents Issued on New In ventions-Value of Church Property-Acts of Benevo lence-Contributions for the Bible Cause, Tract Cause, Missionary Cause, and Colonization Cause-Table ot deaths in the several States in 1850-Number of Free White Male Persons over fifteen years of age engaged in Agriculture or other outdoor Labor in the Slave States Falsity of the Assertion that White Men cannot cultivate Southern Soil White Female Agriculturists in North Carolina-Number of Natives of the Slave States in the Free States, and of Natives of the Free States in the Slave States-Value of the Slaves at $400
per head-List of Presidents of the United States-Judges of the Supreme Court Secretaries of State-Presidents of the Senate Speakers of the House-Postmasters General-Secretaries of the Interior-Secretaries of the Treasury Secretaries of War-Secretaries of the Navy-Result of the Presiden tial Elections in the United States from 1796 to 1856-Aid for Kansas Contributions for the Sufferers in Ports mouth, Va., during the Prevalence of the Yellow Fever in the Summer of 1855-Congressional Representation-Cus tom House Receipts-When the Old States were Stettled and the New Admitted into the Union-First European Set tlements in Amnierica Freedom and Slavery at the Fair -What Freedom Did-What Slavery Did-Average Value per Acre of Lands in the States of New York and North Carolina. I 1 I ik is ix iI t

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CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PAGw COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN

COMMERCE…………331 PYea for a great Southern Commercial City-Impo;tancz of Cities in General-Letters from the Mayors of sundry American Cities, North and South-Wealth and Popula tion of NewYork, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-Orleans, Bo(ston, St. Louis, Brooklyn, Charleston, Cincinnati, Louis ville, Chicago, Richmond, Providence, Norfolk, Buffalo, Savannah, New-Bedford, Wilmington-Wealth Concen trated at Commercial Points-Boston and its Business Progressive Growth of Cities-A Fleet of Merchantmen Commerce of Norfolk-Baltimore, Past, Present, and Fu ture-Insignificance of Southern Commerce-Enslavement of Slaveholders to the Products of Northern industry Almost Utter Lack of Patrioitsm in Southern Merchants and Slaveholders. t i CHAPTER X. FACTS

AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE………….. 360 Whv this Work was not Published in Baltimore-Legisla tive Acts Against Slavery-Testimony of a West India Planter to the Advantages of Free over Slave Labor-The True Friends of the South-Slavery Thoughtful-Signs of Contrition-Progress of Freedom in the South-Anti slavery Extracts from Southern Journals-A Right Feel ing in the Right Quarter-The Illiterate Poor Whites of the South.

CHAPTER XI. SOUTHERN LITERATURE………………………….. 383 I I Instances of Protracted Literary Labor-Comparative In significance of Periodical and General Literature in the Southern States-The New-Yol.‘k Tribune.-Southern Sys tem of Publishing-Book-makrng in America-The Busi ness of the Messrs. Harper-Southern Journals Struggling for Existence-Paucitv of Southern Authors-Proportion of White Adults, over Twenty Years of Age, in each State, who cannot Read and Write, to “he Whole White Popu lation-Southern Authors Compelled to Seek Northern ~ubliherS-C-onClqsion. x II i i t I t ‘t i t t i

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CiAPTER I COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FREE AND THE SLAVE ST.,TES. IT is not our intention in this chapter to enter into an elaborate ethnographical essay, to establish peculiarities of difference, mental, moral, and physical, in the great family of man. Neither is it our design to launch into a philosophical disquisition on the laws3 and principles of light and darkness, with a view of ediucing any additional evidence of then fact, that as a general rule, the rays of the sun are more fructifying and congenial than the shades of night. Nor yet is it our purpose, by writing a formal treatise on ethics, to draw a broad line of distinction between right and wrong, to point out the propriety of morality and its advantages over immorality, nor to waste time in pressing a universally admitted truism-that virtue is preferable to vice. Self-evident truths require no argumentative demonstration. What we mean to do is simply this: to take a survey of the relative position and importance of the several states of this confederacy, from the adoption of the national compact; and when, of two sections of the country starting under the same auspices, and with equal natural advantages, we find the one rising to a degree of almost unexampled power and eminence, and the other sinking II II k t III II i AI I

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COMPARISON BETHS EN THe into a state of comparative imbecility and obscurity, it is our determination to trace out the causes which have led to the elevation of the former,’ and the depression of the latter, and to use our most earnest and honest endeavors to utterly extirpate whatever opposes the progress and prosperity of any portion of the union. This survey we have already made; we have also in stituted an impartial comparison between the cardinal sections of the country, north, south, east, and west; and as a true hearted southerner, whose ancestors have resided in North Carolina between one and two hundred years, and as one who would rather have his native clime excel than be excelled, we feel constrained to confess that we are deeply abashed and chagrined at the disclosures of the comparison thus instituted. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789, we commenced an even race with the North.

All things considered, if either the North or the South had the advantage, it was the latter. In proof of this, let us introduce a few statistics, begin. ning with the states of NEW YORK AND VIRGINIA. In 1790, when the first census was taken, New York contained 340,120 inhabitants; at the same time the pop ulation of Virginia was 748,308, being more than twice the number of New York. Just sixty years afterward, as we learn from the census of 1850, New York had a population of 3,097,394; while that of Virginia was only 1,421,661, being less than half the number of New Yoik I 12 I e i I I . f I I i J’ i -I I I f

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. In 1791, the exports of New York amounted to $2,505,465; the exports of Virginia amounted to $3,130,865. In 1852, the exports of New York amounted to $87,484,456; the exports of Virginia, during the same year, amounted to only $2,724,657. In 1790, the imports of New York and Virginia were about equal; in 1853, the imports of New York amounted to the enormous sum of $178,270,999; while those of Virginia, for the same period, amounted to the pitiful sum of only $399,004. In 1850, the products of manufactures, mining and the mechanic arts in New York amounted to $237,597,249; those of Virginia amounted to only $29,705,387.

At the taking of the last census, the value of real and personal property in Virginia, including negroes, was $391,646,438; that of New York, exclusive of any monetary valuation of human beings, was $1,080,309,216.

In August, 1856, the real and personal estate assessed in the City of NewYork amounted in valuation to $511,740,491, showing that NewYork City alone is worth far more than the whole State of Virginia. What says one of Virginia’s own sons? He still lives; hear him speak. Says Gov. Wise: “It may be painful, but nevertheless, profitable, tc recur occasionally to the history of the past; to listen to the admonitions of experience, and learn lessons of wisdom from the efforts and actions of those who have preceded us in the drama of human life The records of former days show that at a period not very remote, Virginia stood oreeminently the first commercial State in the Union; wnen tier commerce exceeded in amount that of all the New 13 0 I i I i N I I i .I

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COMPARISmO BETWEEN THE England States combined; when the City of Nori,ik owned E ore than one hundred trading ships, and her direct foreign trade exceeded that of the City of NewYork, now the centre of trade and the great emporium of North America. At the period of the war of independence, the commerce of Virginia was four times larger than that of NewYork.” The cash value of all the farms, farming implements and machinery in Virginia, in 1850, was $:223,423,315; the value of the same in NewYork, in the same year, was $576,631,568. In about the same ratio does the value of the agricultural products and live stock of NewYork exceed the value of the agricultural products and live stock of Virginia. But we will pursue this humiliating comparison no further. With feelings mingled with indignation and disgust, we turn from the picture. and will now pay our respects to MASSACHUSETTS AND NORTH CAROLINA. In 1790, Massachusetts contained 378,717
inhabitants; in the same year North Carolina contained 393,751; in 1850, the population of Massachusetts was 994,514, all freemen; while that of North Carolina was only 869,039, of whom 288,548 were slaves.

Massachusetts has an area of only 7,800 square miles; the area of North Carolina is 50,704 square miles, which, though less than Virginia, is considerably larger than the State of N(w-York. Massachusetts and North Carolina each have a harbor, Boston and Beaufort, which harbors, with the States that back f i I r i I f i

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. them, are, by nature, possessed of about equal capacities anid advantages for commercial and manufacturing enterprise.

Boston has grown to be the second commercial city in the Union; her ships, freighted with the useful and unique inventions and manufactures of her ingenious artisans and mechanics, and bearing upon their stalwart arms the majestic flag ofour country, glide triumphantly through the winds and over &e waves of every ocean. She has done, and is now doing, great honor to herself, her State and the nation, and her name and fame are spoken with reverence in tfe remotest regions of the earth. How is it with Beaufort, in North Carolina, whose harbor is said to be the safest and most commodious anywhere to be found on the Atlantic coast south of the harbor of NewYork, and but little inferior to that? Has anybody ever heard of her? Do the masts of her-ships ever cast a shadow on foreign waters? Upon.

what distant or benighted shore have her merchants and’ mariners ever hoisted our national ensign, or spread the arts of’, civilization and peaceful industry? What changes worthy of note have taken place in the physical features of her superficies since “the evening-and the morning were the third day?” But we will make no further attempt to draw a comparison between the populous, wealthy, and renowned city of Boston and the obscure, despicable little village -of Beaufort, which, notwithstanding “the placid bosom of its deep and well-protected harbor,”

has 1no place in the annals or records of the country, and has scarcely ever been heard of fifty miles from home. In 1453, the exports of Massachusetts amounted to 4 15

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE $16,895,304, and her imports to $41,367,956; during he same time, and indeed during all the time, from the period of the formation of the government up to the year 1853, inclusive, the exports and imports ot North Carolina were so utterly insignificant that we are ashamed to record them. In 1850, the products of manufactures, mining and the mechanic arts in Massachusetts, amounted to $151, 137,145; those of North Carolina, to only $9,111,245. In 1856, the products of these industrial pursuits in Massa chusetts had increased to something over $288,000,000, a sum more than twice the value of the entire cotton crop of all the Southern States I In 1850, the cash value of all the farms, farming implements and machinery in Massachusetts, was $112,285,931; the value of the same in North Carolina, in the same year, was only $71,823,298. In 1850, the value of all the real and personal estate in Massachusetts, without recognizing property in man, or setting a monetary price on the head of a single citizen, white or black, amounted to $573,342,286; the value of the same in North Carolina, including negroes, amounted to only $226,800,472. In 1856, the real and personal estate assessed in the City of Boston amounted in valuation to within a fraction of $250,000,000, showing conclusively that so far as dollars and cents are concerned, that single city could buy the whole State of North Carolina, and by right of purchase, if sanctioned by the Constitution of thie United Statcs, and by State Constitutions, hold her as a province. In 1850, there were in Massachusetts 1;861 native white and free colored persons over twenty years of age who could not read and write; in the same 16 f i I i

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. year, the same class of persons in North Carolina numbered 80,083; while her 288,548 slaves were, by legislative enactments, kept in a state of absolute ignorance and unconditional subordination. Hoping, however, and believing, that a large majority of the most respectable and patriotic citizens of North Carolina have resolved, or will soon resolve, with unyielding purpose, to cast aside the great obstacle that impedes their progress, and bring into action a new policy which will lead them from poverty and ignorance to wealth and intellectual greatness, and which will shield them not only from the rebukes of their own consciences, but also from the just reproaches of the civilized world, we will, for the present, in deference to their feelings, forbear the further enumeration of these degrading disparities, and turn our attention to PENNSYLVANIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA. An old gentleman, now residing in Charleston, tcld us, but a few months since, that he had a distinct recollection of the time when Charleston imported foreign fabrics for the Philadelphia trade, and when, on a certain occasion, his mother went into a store on Marketstreet to select a silk dress for herself, the merchant, unable to please her fancy, persuaded her to postpone the selection for a few days, or until the arrival of a new stock -of superb styles and fashions which he had recently purchased in the metropolis of South Carolina. This was all very proper Charleston had a spacious harbor, a central position, and 17

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE a mild climate; and from priority of settlement aed busi ness connections, to say nothing of other advantages, she enjoyed greater facilitiesfor commercial transactions than Philadelphia. She had a right to get custom wherever she could find it, and in securing so valuable a customer as the Quaker City, she exhibited no small degree of laud able enterprise. But why did she not maintain her supremacy? If the answer to this query is not already in the reader’s mind, it will suggest itself before he peruses the whole of this work. For the present, suffice it to say, that the cause of her shameful insignificance and decline is essentially the same that has thrown every other Southern city and State in the rear of progress, and rendered them tributary, in a commercial and manufacturing point of view almost entirely tributary, to the more sagacious and enterprising States and cities of the North. A most unfortunate day was that for the Palmetto State, and indeed for the whole South, when the course of trade was changed, and she found herself the retailer of foreign and domestic goods, imported and vended by wholesale merchants at the North. Philadelphia ladies no longer look to the South for late fashions, and fine silks and satins; no Quaker dame now wears drab apparel of Charleston importation. Like all other niggervilles in our disreputable part of the confederacy, the commercial emporium of South Carolina is sick and impoverished; her silver cord has been loosed; her golden bowl has been broken; and her unhappy people, without proper or profitable employment, poor in pocket, and few in number, go mourning or loafing about the streets. Her annual im 18

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FREE AND THE S’,AVE STATES. portations are actually less now than they were a century ago, when South Carolina was the second commercial province on the continent, Virginia being the first. In 1760, as we learn from Mr.

Benton’s “Thirty Years’ View,” the foreign imports into Charleston’were $2,662, 000; in 1855, they amounted to only $1,750,0001 In 1854, the imports into Philadelphia, which, in foreign trade, ranks at present but fourth among the commercial cities of the union, were $21,963,021. In 1850, the pro ducts of manufactures, mining, and the mechanic arts, ir Pennsylvania, amounted:to. $155,044,910; the products of the same in South Carolina, amounted to only $7,063,513. As shown by the census report of 1850, which was prepared under the superintendence of a native of South Carolina, who certainly will not be suspected of injustice to his own -section of the country, the Southern -states, the cash value of all the farms, farming implements,. and machinery in Pennsylvania, was $422,598,640; the-value of the same in South Carolina, in the same year, was only $86,518,038. From a compendium of the same census, we learn that the value of all the real and personal property in Pennsylvania, actual property, no slaves, amounted to $729,144,998; the value of the same in South Carolina, including the estimated-we were about to say fictitious value of 384,925 negroes, amounted to only $288,257,694. We have not been able to obtain the figures necessary to show the exact value of the real and personal estate in Philadelphia, but the amountis estimated to be not less than $300,000,000; and as, in 1850, there were 408,762 free inhabitants in the single city of Ph’ladelpb,-, 19

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE against 283,544 of the same class, in the whole state of South Carolina, it is quite evident that the former is more powerful than the latter, and far ahead of her in all the elements of genuine and permanent superiority. In Pennsylvania, in 1850, the annual income of public schools amounted to $1,348,249; the same in South Carolina, in the same year, amounted to only $200,600; in the former state there were 393 libraries other than private, in the latter only 26; in Pennsylvania 310 newspapers and periodicals were published, circulating 84,898,672 copies annually; in South Carolina only 46 newspapers and periodicals were published, circulating but 7,145,930 copies per annum.

The incontrovertible facts we have thus far presented are, we think, amply sufficient, both in number and mag. nitude, to bring conviction to the mind of every candid reader,that there is something wrong, socially, politically and morally wrong, in the policy under which the South has so long loitered and languished. Else, how is it that the North, under the operations of a policy directly the opposite of ours, has surpassed us in almost everything great and good, and left us standing before the world, an object of merited reprehension and derision? For one, we are heartily ashamed of the inexcusable weakness, inertia and dilapidation everywhere so manifest throughout our native section; but the blame properly attaches itself to an usurping minority of the people, and we are determined that it shall rest where it belongs. More on this subject, however, after a brief but general survey of the inequalities and disparities that exist between 20

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. those two grand divisions of the country, which, without reference to the situation that any part of their territory bears to the cardinal points, are every day becoming more familiarly known by the appropriate appellation of THE FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. It is a fact well known to every intelligent Soutlierner that we are compelled to go to the North for almost every article of utility and adornment, from matches, shoepegs and paintings up to cotton-mills, steamships and statuary; that we have no foreign trade, no princely merchants, nor respectable artists; that, in comparison with the free states, we contribute nothing to the literature, polite arts and inventions of the age; that, for want of profitable employment at home, large numbers of our native population find themselves necessitated to emigrate to the West, whilst the free states retain not only the larger proportion of those born within their own limits, but induce, annually, hundreds of thousands of foreigners to settle and remain amongst them; that almost everything produced at the North meets with ready sale, while, at the same time, there is no demand, even among our own citizens, for the productions of Southern industry; that, owing to the absence of a proper system of business amongst us, the North becomes, in one way or another, the proprietor and dispenser of all our floating wealth, and that we are dependent on Northern capitalists for the means necessary to buila our railroads, canals and other public improvements; that if we want to visit a foreign country, even 21

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COMIPARISON BETWEEN THE though it may lie directly Seuth of us, we find no convenient way of getting there except by taking passage through a Northern port; and that nearly all the profits arising from the exchange of commodities, from insurance and shipping offices, and from the thousand and one industrial pursuits of the country, accrue to the North, and are there invested in the erection of those magnificent cities and stupendous works of art which dazzle the eyes of the South, and attest the superiority of:free institutions I The North is the Mecca of our merchants, and to it they must and do make two pilgrimages per annum-one in the spring and one in the fall. All our commercial, mechanical, manufactural, and literary supplies come from there. We want Bibles, brooms, buckets and books, and we go to the North; we want pens, ink, paper, wafers and envelopes, and we go to the North; we want shoes, hats, handkerchiefs, umbrellas and pocket knives, and we go to the North; we want furniture, crockery, glassware and pianos, and we go to the North; we want toys, primers, school books, fashionable apparel, machinery, medicines, tombstones, and a thousand other things, and we go to the North for: them alL Instead of keeping our money in circulation at home, by patronizing our own mechanics, manufacturers, and laborers, we send it all away to the North, and there it remainsI; it never falls into our hands again. In one way-or another we are more or less subservient to the North every -day of’ our lives. In infancy we are swaddled in Northern muslin:; in childhood we are humored with Northern gewgaws.; in youth we are instruct ed out of Northern books; at the age of maturity we sow 2

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. our “wild oats” on Northern soil; in middle4ffe we ex haust our wealth, energies and talent>; in the dishonorable vocation of entailing our dependence on our zhildren and on our children’s children, and, to the neglect of our own interests and the interests of those around us, in giving aid and succor to every department of Northern power; in the decline of life we remedy our eye-sight with Nor thren spectacles, and support our infirmities with Northern canes; in old age we are drugged with Northern physic; and, finally, when we die, our inanimate bodies, shrouded in Northern cambric, are stretched upon the bier, borne to the grave in a Northern carriage, entombed with a Nor thern spade, and memorized with a Northern slab I But it can hardly be necessary to say more in illustra tion of this unmanly and unnational dependence, which is so glaring that it cannot fail to be apparent to even the most careless and superficial observer. All the world sees, or ought to see, that in a commercial, mechanical, manufactural, financial, and literary point of view, we are as helpless as babes; that, in comparison with the Free States, our agricultural resources have been greatly exaggerated, misunderstood and mismanaged; and that, instead of cultivating among ourselves a wise policy of mutual assistance and cooperation with respect to individuals, and of self-reliance with respect to the South at large, instead of giving countenance and encouragement to the industrial enterprises projected in our midst, and instead of building up, aggrandizing and beautifying our own States, cities and towns, we have been spending our substance at the North, and are daily augmenting and 23

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE strengthening the very power which now has is so corn pletely under its thumb. It thus appears, in view of the preceding statistical facts and arguments, that the South, at one time the su perior of the North in almost all the ennobling pursuits and conditions of life, has fallen far behind her competitor, and now ranks more as the dependency of a mother coun try than as the equal confederate of free and independent States. Following the order of our task, the next duty that devolves upon us is to trace out the causes which have conspired to bring about this important change, and to place on record the reasons, as we understand them, WHY THE NORTH HAS SURPASSED THE SOUTL. And now that we have come to the very heart and soul of our subject, we feel no disposition to mince matters, but mean to speak plainly, and to the point, without any equivocation, mental reservation, or secret evasion what ever. The son of a venerated parent, who, while he lived, was a considerate and merciful slaveholder, a native of the South, born and bred in North Carolina, of a family whose home has been in the valley of the Yadkin for nearly a century and a half, a Southerner by instinct and by all the influences of thought, habits, and kindred, and with the desire and fixed purpose to reside permanently within the limits of the South, and with the expectation of dying there also-we feel that we have the right to express our opinion, however humble of unimportant it may be, on any and every question that affects the public good; and, so 24

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STArTES. help us God, “sink or swim, live or die, survive or pelp ish,” we are determined to exercise that right with manily firmness, and without fear, favor or affection. And now to the point. In our opinion, an opinion which has been formed from data obtained by assiduous re searches, and comparisons, from laborious investigation, logical reasoning, and earnest reflection, the causes which have impeded the progress and prosperity of the South, which have dwindled our commerce, and other similar pursuits, into the most contemptible insignificance; sunk a large majority of our people in galling poverty and ig norance, rendered a small minority conceited and tyran nical, and driven the rest away from their homes; entailed upon us a humiliating dependence on the Free States; dis graced us in the recesses of our own souls, and brought us under reproach in the eyes of all civilized and enlightened nations-may all be traced to one common souroe, and there find solution in the most hateful and honrifble word, that was ever incorporated into the vocabulary of human economy-Slavery! Reared amidst the institution of slavery, believing it to be wrong both in principle -and in practice, and having seen and felt its evil influences upon individuals commu nities and states, we deem it a duty, no less than a privilege, to enter our protest against it, and to use our most strenuous efforts to overturn and abolish it! Then wv arn an abolitionist? Yes I not merely a freesoiler, but an abolitionist, in the fullest sense of the term. We are riot only in favor of keeping slavery out of the territories, bat, carrying ounr opposition to the institution a step further, 2 25

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COMPARISON BnTWEEN THF we here unhesita Vngly declare ourself in faver of its im. mediate and unconditional abolition, in every state in this confederacy, where it now exists I Patriotism makes us a freesoiler; state pride makes us an emancipa ionist; e profound sense of duty to the South makes us an abolition its; a reasonable degree of fellow feeling for the negro, makes us a colonizationist. With the free state men in Kanzas and Nebraska, we sympathize with all our heart We love the whole country, the great family of states and territories, one and inseparable, and would have the word Liberty engraved as an appropriate and truthful motto, on the escutcheon of every member of the confederacy. We love freedom, we hate slavery, and rather than give up the one or submit to the other, we will forfeit the pound of flesh nearest our heart. Is this sufficiently explicit and categorical? If not, we hold ourself in readiness at all times, to return a prompt reply to any proper quest’on that may be propounded. Our repugnance to the institution of slavery, springs from no one-sided idea, or sickly sentimentality. We have not been hasty in making up our mind on the subject; we have jumped at no conclusions; we have acted with perfect calmness and deliberation; we have carefully considered, and examined the reasons for and against the institution, and have also taken into account the propable consequences of our decision.

The more we investigate the matter, the deeper becomes the conviction that we are right; and with this to impel and sustain us, we pursue our labor with love, with hope, and with constantly renewing vigor That we shall encounter opposition we consider as cer 26

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FREE AND T1TE SLAVE STATES. tain; perhaps we may even be subjected to insult and violence.- From the conceited and cruel oligarchy of the South, we could look for nothing less. But we shall shrink from no responsibility, and do nothing unbecoming a man; we know how to repel indignity, and if assaulted, shall not fail to make the blow recoil upon the aggres sor’s head. The road we have to travel may be a rough one, but no impediment shall cause us to falter in our course. The line of our duty is clearly defined, and it is our intention to follow it faithfully, or die in the attempt. But, thanks to heaven, we have no ominous forebodings of the result of the contest now pending between Liberty and Slavery in this confederacy. Though neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, our vision is sufficiently pene trative to divine the future so far as to be able to see that the “peculiar institution” has but a short, and, as heretofore, inglorious existence before it. Time, the righter of every wrong, is ripening events for the desired consummation of our labors and the fulfillment of our cherished hopes. Each revolving year brings nearer the inevitable crisis. The sooner it comes the better; may heaven, through our humble efforts, hasten its advent. The first and most sacred duty of every Southerner, who has the honor and the interest of his country at heart, is to declare himself an unqualified and uncompromising abo litionist. No conditional or half-way declaration will avail; no mere threatening demonstration will succeed. Witll those who desire to be instrumental in bringing about tht triumph of liberty over-slavery, there should be neither evasion vacillation, nor equivocatio-. We shtvl I 21

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COMPARISON BETWEEN TUE listen to no modifying terms or compromise s that inay be proposed by the proprietors of the unprofitable and ungodly institution. Nothing short of the complete abolition of slavery can save the South -from falling into the vortex of utter ruin. Too long have we yielded a submissive obedielLce to the tyrannical domination of an inflated oligarchy; too long have we tolerated their arrogance and selfcon:eit; too long have we submitted to their unjust and savage exactions. Let us now wrest from them the sceptre of power, establish liberty and equal rights throughout the land, and henceforth and forever guard our legislative halls from the pollutions and usurpations of proslavery demagogues. We have stated, in a cursory manner, the reasons, as we understand them, why the North has surpassed the South, and have endeavored to show, we think successfully, that the political salvation of the South depends upon the speedy and unconditional abolition of slavery.

We will not, however, rest the case exclusively on our own arguments, but will again appeal to incontrovertible facts and statistics to sustain us in our conclusions. But before we do so, we desire to fortify ourself against a charge that is too frequently made by careless and superficial readers. We allude to the objections so often urged against the use of tabular statements and statistical facts It is worthy of note, however, that those objections never come from thorough scholars or profound thinkers. Among the majority of mankind, the science of statistics is only beginning to be appreciated; when well understood, it will be recognized as one of the most imp,rtant branches 28

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FREE AND THE SL iVE 4TAi ES. of knowledge, and, as a matter of course, be introduced and taught as an indispensable element of practical education in all our principal institutions of learning, One of the most vigorous and popular transatlantic writers of the day, Wm. C. Taylor, LL.D., of Dublin, says: The cultivation of statistics must be the source of all future improvement in the science of political economy, because it is to the table of the statistician that the economist must look for his facts; and all speculations not founded upon facts, though they may be admired and applauded when first propounded, will, in the end, assuredly be forgotten. Statistical science may almost be regarded as the creation of this age. The word statistics was invented in the middle of the last century by a German professor,* to express a summary view of the physical, moral, and social conditions of States; he justly remarked, thai a numerical statement of the extent, density of population, imports, exports, revenues, etc., of a country, more per. fectly explained its social condition than general statements, however graphic or however accurate. When such statements began to be collected, and exhibited in a popular form, it was soon discovered that the political and economical sciences were likely to gain the position of physical sciences; that is to say, they were about to obtain records of observation, which would test the accuracy of recognized principles, and lead to the discovery of new modes of action. But the great object of this new science is to lead to the knowledge of human nature; that * Acher.,all, a native of Elbing, Prussia. Born 1719, died 1792 29

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(COMPARISU, BE WVVERN THE is, to ascertain the general course of operation of man’s mental and moral faculties, and to furnish us with a correct standard of judgment, by enabling us to determine the average amount of the past as a guide to the average probabilities of the future. This science is yet in its infancy, but has already produced the most beneficial effects. The accuracy of the tables of life have rendered the cal. culations of rates of insurance a matter of much greater certainty than they were heretofore; the system of keeping the public accounts has been simplified and improved; and finally, the experimental sciences of medicine and political economy, have been fixed on a firmer foundation than could be anticipated in the last century. Even in private life this science is likely to prove of immense advantage, by directing attention to the collection and registration of facts, and thus preventing the formation of hasty judgments and erroneous conclusions.” The compiler, or rather the superintendent of the seventh United States census, Prof. De Bow, a gentleman of more than ordinary industry and practical learning, who, in his excellent Review, has, from time to time, displayed much commendable zeal in his efforts to develop the industrial resources of the Southern and Southwestern states, and who is, perhaps, the greatest statistician in the country, says: “Statistics are far from being the barren array of figures ingeniously and laboriously combined inL’o columns and tables, which many persons are apt to suppose them They constitute rather the ledger of a nation, in which, like the merchant in his books, the citizen can read, at one so

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FRNE AND TilE SLAVE STATES. , iew, all of the results of a year or of a period of years, as compared with other periods, and deduce the profit or the loss which has been made, in morals, educations wealth or power.”

Impressed with a sense of the propriety of introd’lcing, in this as well as in the succeeding chapters of our work, a number of tabular statements exhibiting the comparative growth and prosperity of the free and slave states, we have deemed it eminently proper to adduce the testimony of these distinguished authors in support of the claims which official facts and accurate statistics lay to our consideration. And here we may remark that the statistics which we propose to offer, like those already given, have been obtained from official sources, and may, therefore, be relied on as correct. The object we have in view in making a free use of facts and figures, if not already apparent, will soon be understood. It is not so much in its moral and religious aspects that we propose to discuss the question of slavery, as in its social and political character and influences. To say nothing of the sin and the shame of slavery, we believe it is a most expensive and unprofitable. institution; and if our brethren of the South will but throw aside their unfounded prejudices. and preconceived opinions, and give us a fair and patient hearing, we feel confident that we can bring them to the same conclusion. Indeed, we believe we shall be enabled-not alone by our own contributions, but with the aid of incontestable facts and arguments which we shall introduce from other sources -to convince all true-hearted, candid and intelligent Southerners, wL) may chance to read our book, (and we 31 0

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COMPARISON B3ETWEEN THE hope their name may be legion) that slavery, and nothing but slavery, has retarded the progress and prosperity )of our portion of the Union; depopulated and impoverished our cities by forcing the more industrious and enterprising natives of the soil to emigrate to the free states; brought our domain under a sparse and inert population by preventing foreign immigration; made us tributary to the North, and reduced us to the humiliating condition of mere provincial subjects in fact, though not in name. We believe, moreover, that every patriotic Southerner thus convinced will feel it a duty he owes to himself, to his country, and to his God, to become a thorough, inflexible, practical abolitionist. So mote it be I Now to our figures. Few persons have an adequate idea of the important part the cardinal numbers are now playing in the cause of Liberty. They are working wonders in the South.

Intelligent, business men, from the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande, are beginning to see that slavery, even in a mercenary point of view, is impolitic, because it is unprofitable. Those unique, mysterious little Arabic sentinels on the watch-towers of political economy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, have joined forces, allied themselves to the powers of freedom, and are hemming in and combatting the institution with the most signal success. If let alone, we have no doubt the digits themselves would soon terminate the existence of slavery; but we do not mean to let them alone; they must not have all the honor of annihilating the monstrous iniquity. We want to become an auxil’ary in the good work, and facilitate it. The lib. eratioi of five m’llions of “poor white trash” from the 32

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. second degree of slavery, and of three millions of miserable kidnapped negroes from the first degree, cannot be accom plished too soon. That it was not accomplished many years ago is our misfortune. It now behooves us to fake a bold and determined stand in defence of the inalienable rights of ourselves and of our fellow men, and to avenge the multiplicity of wrongs, social and political, which we have suffered at the hands of a villainous oligarchy. It is madness to delay.

We cannot be too hasty in carrying out our designs. Precipitance in this matter is an utter impossibility. If to-day we could emancipate all the slaves in the Union, we would do it, and the country and everybody in it would be vastly better off, tomorrow. Now is the time for action; let us work. By taking a sort of inventory of the agricultural products of the free and slave States in 1850, we now propose to correct a most extraordinary and mischievous error into which the people of the South have unconsciously fallen. Agriculture, it is well known, is the sole boast of the South; and; strange to say, many proslavery Southerners, who, in our latitude, pass for intelligent men, are so puffed up with the idea of our importance in this respect, that they speak of the North as a sterile region, unfit for cultivation, and quite dependent on the South for the necessaries of life I Such rampant ignorance ought to be knocked in the head! We can prove that the North produces greater quantities of breadstuffs than the South I Figures shall show the facts. Properly, the South has nothing left to boast of; the North has surpassed her in everything, and is going farther and farther ahead of her every day. 2* 33

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE We ask the reader’s careful attention to the following tables, which we have prepared at no little cost of time and trouble, and which, when duly considered in connection with the foregoing and subsequent portions of our work, will, we believe, carry conviction to the mind that the downward tendency of the Southcan be arrested only by the abolition of slavery. 34

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. TABLE NO. I. AGRICULTURAL’ PRODUCTS OF THE FREE

STATES-I50o. f3tates. Wheat, Oats, i lr dian Corn, bushels. busheJs.

bushels. Califoriiia……………17,228 12,236 Cotline cticut………….. 41,762 1,25-8,738 1,935,043

Illitnois……………….. 9,414,575 10,087,241 57,616,984

Indiana……………….. 6,214,458 5,655,014 52,964,363

Iowa……………….. 1,530,581 1,524,345 8,656,799

Maine……………… 296,259 2,181,037 1,750,056

Mlassachusetts…………….. 31,211 -1,16’,146 2,345,190

Michigan………………. 4,925,889 2,866,056 5,641,420 New Hampshire………….. 185,658 973,381 1,573,670 N.-w Jersey…………….1,601,190 3,378,063 8,759,704 New York……………. 13,121,498 26,552,814 17,858,400

Ohiio……………….. 14,487,351 13,472,742 59,078,695

Pennsylvania…………. 15,367,691 21,538,156 19,835,214 Rhode Island……………….. 49 215,232 539,201 Vermont……………..

535,955 2,307,734 2,032,396 Wisconsin………….. 4,2-6,131 3,414,672

1,988,979 72,157,486 96,590,3.71 242,618,650 TAIBLE NO. II. AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTS OF THE SLAVE STATES1850. States Wheat, Oats, Indian Corn, Oats bushels. 2,965: 6 96 656,187 604,518 66,586 3,820,044 8,201,231l1 89,637

2,212.151 1,503,288 5,278,079 4,052, 078 2,3122.155 7,703,086 199,017

10,179,144 49,882,97-9 States. Alabama……………. Arkansas………

1, Delaware……………. Florida………………

Georgia…………….. Kentucky……………. Louisiana……………

Maryland……………. Mississir)pi…………..

Missouri……………… North Carolina………. South Carolina……….. Tent essee…………… Texas……………..

Virginia………….1 I I I 35 Wheat, bushels. 294,044 199,639 482.511

1,027 1,088,534 2,142,822 417 4,494.680 137,990 2,981.652 2,1.30,102

1-066,277 1,61 9,386 41,729 11.212,616 l 27,904,476 Indian Corn, bushels.

28,754,048 8.893.939 3,145,542 1,996,809 30,080,099 58,672,59.1 10,266,373

10,749,858 22,446,552 36,214,5.,7 27,941,051 16,271.454 52,276 223 6,028, S76 35,254,319 348,992,282

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FREE AND THE SLA -E STATES. TABLE NO. III. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF THE

FREE STATES1850. State8 rotSTh;obesUSh(I.. bnH,1,eel i)BUaSrl1leC. - Ry e, bushels. 600,893 83,364 78,792 19,916 102,916G 481,021 105,871 183,117

1,255.578 4,148,182 425,918 4,805,160 26,409 176,233 81,253 _ 12,574,623

Californ’a…………. Connecticu…………….

1llinnis……………… lndiana……………..

Iowa……………….. Maine…………………

MNlassachliusetts……….. M[ichigan……………. New Hampshire………. New Jersey………….. New York……………

Ohio………………… Pennsylvania………….. Rhode Island………… Vermont…………….. Wisconsin……………

-~~~~ 5,3,7 125463,0.1 TABLE NO. IV. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF THE SLAVE

STATES1850. S~tateB~ Potatoes, (I. states.~~ S.) bush.

Alabama………………. 5,721,205 Arkansas……………. 981,981

Delaware………………. 305,985 Florida……………… 765,054

Georgia…………….. 7,213,807 Kentucky…………… 2,490,666

Louisiana…………… 1,524,085 Maryland…………. 973,932

Mississippi…………….. 5,003,277

Missouri……………….1,274,511 North Carolina…………..

5,716,027 South Carolina……….. 4,473,960 Tennessee……………

3,845,560 Texas………………. 1,426,803 Viienia……………..

3,130,567 44,847,420 Rye, Barley, bushels. bushels. 17,2 61 3,958 8,047

177 8,066 56 1,152 53,750 11,501 415,073 95.343 475 226,014 745 9,606 228

44,2()8 9.63 1 229,.,,6 3 2.735 43,790 4.583 89,137 2.737 3.108 4,776

458,930 25,437 1 608,240 161.907 I I I I 36 Potatoes, (I. & S.) bush.

10,292 2,689,805 2,672,29.1 2,285,048 282,363 3,436,040 3,585,i-,94

2,361,0-14 4,307,919 3,715,251 15,403,997 5,245,760 6,032,904 (i5i 029

4,951:014 1,402,956 59 033 170 Barley, bushels. 9,712 19.099 lio 795

45:48o’ 25,093 151,731 112,385 75,249 70,2-6 6,492 3,585;059 354,358

165,584 18,87-5 42.150 209.692 5.002-013 States.

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\ewv Jersey………….. NeW York……………

Oliio……………….. Pennsylvania………… ROC1ode Island………… Vertmoit…………….. Wis;onlsil……………

8.550,215 1542,295 762,265 TABLE NO. VI. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF THE

SLAVE STATES1850. States. Buckwheat, Beans Peas, Clov. Grass Beans,%

Peas, bushels. 892,70 1 285,738 4,120 135,359 1,142,011 202,574 161,732

12,816 1,072,757 .46,017 1,584,252 1,026,(JOO 3869,321 179,351 521,579

7,637,227 Alabama……………. Arkansas…..1 257 5

Delaware…………….. Florida…………… Georgia……………..

Kentucky…………… Louisian a…………….

Maryland……………. isissi ppi 111 10………….

Miissoui…………… Nolthi Carolina………. S,,uth Caroli na…2..

Te incsee…………….. .exas….. irginia……………. I 91.3,.i1

.184.715 140,501 178,943 5,0.’.6 15:69.,6 5,486 7602,265 878,934 3,183,955

638,060 2,193,692 1,245 209,819 l 79,878 8,550,245 14,174 741,546 60,168

5-5,231 6,846 104,649 20,657 1 542,295 Buckwheat, bushels. 348 175 8,615

55 1 250 16,097 3 103,671 1,121 23.641 16,704 283 19,427 59 214,898

405,357 Clov. -k Grass seed%, bush. 685 526 3,928 2 560 24,711 99 17,778

617 4,9)65 1,851 406 1,1,214 10 53,155 123,517 States.

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COMPARIS01N BETW EEN THE TABLE NO. VII. CTS OF TITE FREE STA’ ES-18 0.

Flaxseed, Val. of Gar-Val. of Ot bushels. den products. chard prod’ts $75,275 $17,700 703 196,874 175,118 10,787 127,494 446,049 386,888 72,864

324.940 1,959 8,848 8,434 580 122,387 842,865 72 600,020 463,995 519

14,738 182,650 189 56,810 248,560 16,525 475,242 607,268 57,963 912,()47

1,761,950 ] 188,880 214,004 695,921 41,728 688,714 723,889 RhoIl 1~1and 98,29)8 63,994 939 18,.853 315,255 .1,191 32,142 4,823 358.923 $3,714,605

$6,332,914 TA1ILII NO. VIII. ATS OF TIlE SLAVE STATES1850. Flaxiseed, Val. of Gar-Val. of Or bushels. den prod uctts. chard prod’ts. 69 $84,821

$15, 08 321 17,150 40.141 904 12,714 46,574 8,721 1,280 622 76,500 92,776

75,801 303,120 106.230 148,329 22.2-59 2,446 200,869 164,051 26 46,250

50,405 13,696 99,454 514.711 38,196 39,462 34.348 u 55 47,286 35.108

18,904 97,183 52 8J4 26 12,354 12.505 52,318 183,047 4 177,137 203,484

$1,377,260, $1,355,827 0 38 Califoriiia…………

Cotinecticut……………… Illinois………………

Indiana……………… Ioc’a…………… MNaine………………

Mlassachusetts………… Michigan.’…………… New Hamnpshire………. N;w Jersey………….. Ncw York…………….

Ollio……………….. Pernnlsylvania…………. Rho(le Islanid…………. Vermoit…… Wisconsin….. Alabama…………….

Arkansas………. Delaware……………. Florida..-…………….

Georgia…………….. Kentucky……………. Louisiana……………

Maryland……………. 51 issis~sippi…….;…….

3!Miss;ouri…………….. Noioth Carolina……….. South Carolina………. Tentnessee……………. -TeXas……………….

Virgini a……..

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FREE AND THE -LAXE STATES RECAPITULAT_ON-FREE STATES. Wheat…….

72,157,486 bush. 10……. 108,236;229 Oats…………. 96,590,371 ” “

40……. “38,636,148 I(dian Corn…….242,618,650 ” ” 60…….

145,571;190 Potatocs (I. & S.) 59,033,170 ” ” 38…….22,432,604

Rye………….. 12,574,623 ” ” 1.00……. 12,574,623 Barley………..

5,002,013 ” ” 90……. 4,501,811 Buckwheat……. 8,550,245 ” ” 50.-.

4,275,122 Beans & Peas….. 1,542,295 ” ” 1.75…….. 2,699,015 Cloy. &

Grass seeds 762,265 ” 3.00…….2,286,795 Flax Seeds……… 358,923 ” “

1.25…….. 448,647 Garden Products……. 3,714,605 Orchard Products…….. 6,332,914 Total……499,190,041 bushels, valued as above, at $351,709,703 RECAPITULATION-SLAVE STATES. Wheat…………

27,904,476 bush. ( 1.50…….$ 41,856,714 Oats…………. 49,882,799 “

” 40……. 19,953,191 Indian Corn…… 348,992,282.” ” 60…..

209,395,369 Potatoes (I. & S.). 44,847-,420 ” ” 38…….. 17,042,019

Rye………… 1,608,240 ” ” 1.00. 1,608,240 Barley……….. 161,907 “

” 90……. 145,716 Buckwheat…….. 405,357 ” 50……. 202,678 Beans &

Peas….. 7,637,227 ” ” 1.75……. 13,365,147 Clov. & Grass seeds 123,517

” ” 300……. 30,551 Flax Seeds……. 203,484 ” ” 1.25……. 254,355

Garden Products…….. 1,377,260 Orchard Products……. 1,355,827

Total…… 481,766,889 bushels, valued as above, at $306,927,067 TOTAL

DIFFERENCE-BUSHEL-MEASURE PRO[UCTS. Bushels. Value. 2ree States……..

499,190,041……………… 351,709,703 Slave States……..481,766,889………………. 306,927,067 Balance in bushel, 17,423,152 I)ifference in value… $44,782,636 39

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COMPARISON BEIWEEN THE So much fol the boasted agricultural superiority of the South I Mark well the balance in bushels, and the differ ence in value I Is either in favor of the South? No I Are both in favor of the North?

Yes I Here we have unquestionable proof that of all the bushel-measure pro ducts of the nation, the free states produce far more than onehalf; and it is worthy of particular mention, that the excess of Northern products is of the most valuable kind. The account shows a balance against the South, in favor of the North, of seventeen million four hundred and twenty-three thou, sand one hundred and fiftytwo bushels, and a difference in value of fortyfour million seven hundred and eighty-two thou sand six hundred and thirtysix dollars. Please bear these facts in mind, for, in order to show positively how the free and slave States do stand upon the great and important subject of rural economy, we intend to take an account of all the other products of the soil, of the livestock upon farms, of the animals slaughtered, and, in fact, of every item of husbandry of the two sections; and if, in bringing our tabular exercises to a close, we find slavery gaining upon freedom-a thing it has never yet been known to do -we shall, as a matter of course, see that the above amount is transferred to the credit of the side to which it of right belongs. In making up these tables we have two objects in view; the first is to open the eyes of the nonslaveholders of the South, to the system of deception, that has so long been practiced upo] them, and the second is to show slaveholders themselves -we have reference only to those who are not too pel verse, or ignorant, to perceive naked truths 40

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FREE AND THl’LAVE STATES -that free labor is far more respectable, pr(
fitable, and productive, than slave labor. In the South, unfortunately, no kind of labor is either free r respectable. Every white man who is under the necessity of earning his bread, by the sweat of his brow, or by manual labor, in any capacity, no matter how unassuming in deportment, or exemplary in morals, is treated as if he was a loathsome beast, and shunned with the utmost disdain. His soul may be the very seat of honor and integrity, yet without slaveshimself a slave-he is accounted as nobody, and would be deemed intolerably presumptuous, if he dared to open his mouth, even so wide as to give faint utterance to a three-lettered monosyllable, like yea or nay, in the presence of an august knight of the whip and the lash. There are few Southerners who will not be astonished at the disclosures of these statistical comparisons, between the free and the slave States. That the astonishment of the more intelligent and patriotic nonslaveholders will be mingled with indignation, is no more than we anticipate. We confess our own surprise, and deep chagrin, at the result of our investigations. Until we examined into the matter, we thought and hoped the South was really ahead of the North in one particular, that of agriculture; but our thoughts have been changed, and our hopes frustrated, for instead of finding ourselve(.s the possessors of a single advantage, we behold our dear native South stripped of every laurel, and sinking deeper and deeper in the depths of poverty and shame; while, at the same time, we see the North, our successful rival, extracting and absorbing the few ele rents of wealth vrt remain 41

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COMPAP.ISO,N BETWEEN THE ing amongst us, and rising higher and higher in the scale of fame, fortune, and invulnerable power. Thus our disappointment gives way to a feeling of intense mortification, and our soul involuntarily, but justly, we believe, cries out for retribution against the treacherous, slavedriving legislators, who have so basely and unpatriotically neglected the interests of their poor white constituents and bargained away the rights of posterity. Notwithstanding the fact that the white nonslaveholders of the South, are in the majority, as five to one, they have never yet had any part or lot in framing the laws under which they live. There is no legislation except for the benefit of slavery, and slaveholders. As a general rule, poor white persons are regarded with less esteem and attention than negroes, ahd though the condition of the latter is wretclhed beyond description, vast numbers of the former are infinitely worse off. A cunningly devised mockery of freedom is guarantied to them, anId4 tht is all. T,) all intents and purposes they are disfi’aichiscd, and outlawed, and the unly privilege extended to them, is a shallow and circumscribed participation in the political movements that usher slaveholders into office. We have not breathed away seven and twenty years in the South, without becoming acquainted with the dema gogical manoeuverings of the oligarchy. Their intrigues and tricks of legerdemain are as familiar to us as household words; in vain might the world be ransacked for a more precious junto of flatterers and cajolers It is amusing to ignorance, amazing to credulity, and insulting to intelligence, t,) hear them in their blatttering efforts to mays 42

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FREiE AND THE SLAVE STATES. tiff and pervert the sacred principles of liberty, and turn the curse of slavery into a blessing. To the illiterate poor whites-made poor and ignorant by the system of slavery-they hold out the idea that slavery is the very bulwark of our liberties, and the foundation of American independence I For hours at a time, day after day, will they expatiate upon the inexpressible beauties and excellencies of this great, free and inee ent nation; and finally, with the most extravagant gesticulations and rhetorical flourishes, conclude their nonsensical ravings, by attributing all the glory and prosperity of the country, from Maine to Texas, and from Georgia to California, to the “invaluable institutions of the South I” With what patience we could command, we have frequently listened to the incoherent and truth-murdering declamations of these champions of slavery, and, in the absence of a more politic method of giving vent to our disgust and indignation, have involuntarily bit our lips into blisters. The lords of the lash are not only absolute masters of the blacks, who are bought and sold, and, driven about like so many cattle, but they are also the oracles and arbiters of all nonslaveholding whites, whose freedom is merely nominal, and whose unparalleled illiteracy and degradation is purposely and fiendishly perpetuated. How little the “poor white trash,” the great majority of the Southern people, know of the real condition of the country is, indeed, sadly astonishing. The truth is, they know nothing of public measures, and little of private affairs, except what their imperious masters, the slave-drivers, condescend to tell, and that is but precious little, and 43

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE even that little, always garbled and o e-sided, is never told except in public harangues; for the haughty cavaliers of shackles and handcuffs will not degrade themselves by holding private converse with tLGse who have neither dimes nor hereditary rights in human flesh. Whenever it pleases, and to the extent it pleases, a slaveholder to become communicative, poor whites may hear with fear and trembling, but not speak. They must be as mum as dumb brutes, and stand in awe of their augst superiors, or be crushed with stern rebukes, cruel oppressions, or downright violence. If they dare to think for themselves, their thoughts must be forever concealed. The expression of any sentiment at all conflicting with the gospel of slavery, dooms them at once in the community in which they live, and then, whether willing or unwilling, they are obliged to become heroes, martyrs, or exiles. They may thirst for knowledge, but there is no Moses among them to smite it out of the rocks of HIoreb. The black veil, through whose almost impenetrable meshes light seldom gleams, has long been pendent over their eyes, and there, with fiendish jealousy, the slavedriving ruffians sedulously guard it.

Nonslaveholders are not only kept in ignorance of what is transpiring at the North, but they are continually misinformed of what is going on even in the South. Never were the poorer classes of a people, and those classes so largely in the m’ajority, and all-inhabiting the same country, so basely duped, so adroitly swindled, or so damnably outraged. It is expected that the stupid and sequacious masses, the white victinis of slavery, will believe, and, as a gen 44

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FREE AND TEIF SLAVE STA’ES. eral thing, they do believe, whatever the slaveholders tell them; and thus it is that they are cajoled into the notion that thee are the freest, happiest and most intelligent people in the world, and are taught to look with prejudice and disapprobation upon every new principle or progressive movement. Thus it is that the South, woefully inert and inventionless, has lagged behind the North, and is now weltering in the cesspool of ignorance and degradation. We have already intimated that the opinion is prevalent throughout the South that the free States are quite sterile and unproductive, and that they are mainly dependent on us for breadstuffs and other provisions. So far as the cereals, fruits, garden vegetables and esculent roots are concerned, we have, in the preceding tables, shown the utter falsity of this opinion; and we now propose to show that it is equally erroneous in other particulars, and very far from the truth in the general reckoning. We can prove, and we intend to prove, from facts in our possession, that the hay crop of the free States is worth considerably more in dollars and cents than all the cotton, tobacco, rice, hay and hemp produced in the fifteen slave States. This statement may strike some of our readers with amazement, and others may, for the moment, regard it as quite incredible; but it is true, nevertheless, and we shall soon proceed to confirm it. The single free State( of NewYork produces more than three times the quantity of hay that is produced in all the slave States. Ohio produces a larger number of tons than all the Southern and SouthweBtern States, and so does Pennsylvania. Vermont, 45

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COMPARISON 3ETWEEN THE little and unpretending as she is, does the same thing, with the exception of Virginia. Look at the facts as presented in the tables, and let your own eyes, physical and intellectual, confirm you in the truth. And yet, fors)oth, the slavedriving oligarchy would whip us into the belief that agriculture is not one of the leading and lucrative pursuits of the free States, that the soil there is an uninterrupted barren waste, and that our Northern brethren, having the advantage in nothing except wealth, population, inland and foreign commerce, manufactures, mechanism, inventions, literature, the arts and sciences, and their concomitant branches of profitable industry,-miserable objects of charity-are dependent on us for the necessaries of life. Next to Virginia, Maryland is the greatest Southern hay-producing State; and yet, it is the opinion of several of the most extensive hay and grain dealers in Baltimore, with whom we have conversed on the subject, that the domestic crop is scarcely equal to onethird the demand, and that the balance required for homeconsumption, about two-thirds, is chiefly brought from NewYork, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. At this rate, Maryland receives and consumes not less than three hundred and fifteen thousand tons of Northern hay every year; and this, as we are informed by the dealers above-mentioned, at an average cost to the last purchaser, by the time it is sto ved in the monw, of at least twentyfive dollars per ton; it would thus appear that this most popular and valuable provender, one of the staple commodities of the North, commands a mnarket in a single s’ave State, to the amount 46

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. of seven million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars per annum. In this same State of Maryland, less than one iiillion of dollar’s worth of cotton finds a malKiet, the whole number of bales sold here in 1850 amounting to only twenty-three thousand three hundred and’twentyfive, valued at seven hundred and forty-six thousand four hundred dollars. Briefly, then, and in round numbers, we may state the case thus Maryland buys annually seven millions of dollars worth of hay from the North, and one million of dollars worth of cotton from the South. Let slaveholders and their fawning defenders read, ponder and compare. The exact quantities of Northern hay, rye, and buckwheat flour, Irish potatoes, fruits, clover and grass seeds, and other products of the soil, received and consumed in all the slaveholding States, we have no means of ascertaining; but for all practical purposes, we can arrive sufficiently near to the amount by inference from the above data, and from what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears wherever we go. Food from the North for man or for beast, or for both, is for sale in every market in the South. Even in the most insignificant little villages in the interior of the slave States, where books, newspapers and other mediums of intelligence are unknown, where the poor whites and the negroes are alike bowed down in heathenish ignorance and barbarism, and where the news is received but once a week, and then only in a Northernbuilt stage-coach, drawn by horses in Northern harness, in charge of a driver dressed patie in Northern habiliments and with a Northern whip in his hliand, the agri’

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE cultural products of the North, either crude, prepared, pickled or preserved, are ever to be found. Mortifying as the acknowledgment of the fact is to us, it is our unbiased opinion-an opinion which will, we believe, be endorsed by every intelligent person who goes into a careful examination and comparison of all the facts in the case-that the profits arising to the North from the sale of provender and provisions to the South, are far greater than those arising to the South from the sale of cotton, tobacco and breadstuffs to the North. It follows, then, that the agricultural interests of the North being not only equal but actually superior to those of the South, the hundreds of millions of dollars which the commerce and manufactures of the former annually yield, is just so much clear and independent gain over the latter. It follows, also, from a corresponding train or system of deduction, and with all the foregoing facts in view, that the difference between freedom and slavery is simply the difference between sense and nonsense, wisdom and folly, good and evil, right and wrong. Any observant American, from whatever point of the compass he may hail, who will take the trouble to pass through the Southern markets, both great and small, as we have done, and inquire where this article, that and the other came from, will be utterly astonished at the variety and quantity of Northern agricultural productions kept for sale. And this state of things is growing worse and worse every year. Exclusively agricultural as the Se uth is in her industrial pursuits, she is barely able to support her sparse and degenerate population. Her men 48

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FREE AND TRE SLAVE STATES. and h(r domestic animals, both dwarfed into shabby ob. jects cf commiseration under the blighting efftrts of slavery, are constantly feeding on the multifarious products of Northern soil. And if the whole truth must be told, we may Lere add, that these products, like all other articles of merchandize purchased at the North, are generally bought on a credit, and, in a great number of instances, by far too many, never paid for-not, as a general rule, became the purchasers are dishonest or unwilling to pay, but because they are impoverished and depressed by the retrogressive and deadening operations of slavery, that most unprofitable and pernicious institution under which they live. To show how well we are sustained in our remarks upon hay and other special products of the soil, as well as to give circulation to other facts of equal significance, we quote a single passage from an address by Paul 0.

Cameron, before the Agricultural Society of Orange County, North Carolina.

This production is, in the main, so powerfully conceived, so correct and plausible in its state ments and conclusions, and so well calculated, though, perhaps,. not intended, to arouse the old North State to a sense of her natural greatness and acquired shame, that we could wish to see it published in pamphlet form, and circulated throughout the length and breadth of that Unfortunate and degraded heritage of slavery. Mr. Cameron says: “I know not when I have been more humiliated, as a North Carolina farmer, than when, a few weeks ago, at a rtilroad depot at the very doors of our State capital, I saw 49

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,CO 3PARISON. BETWEEN TRE wagons drawn by Kentucky mules, loading witf Northern hay, for the supply not only of. the town, but to be taken to the country. Such a sight at the capital of a State whose population is almost exclusively devoted to agriculture, is a most humiliating exhibition. Let us cease to use every thing, as far as it is practicable, that is not the product of our own soil and workshops-not an axe, or a broom, or bucket, from Connecticut. By every consideration of self-preservation, we are called to make better efforts to expel the Northern grocer from the State with his butter, and the Ohio and Kentucky horse, mule and hog driver, from our county at least. It is a reproach on us as farmers, and no little deduction from our wealth, that we suffer the population of our towns and villages to supply themselves with butter from another Orange County in NewYork.” We have promised to prove that thie hay crop of the free states is worth considerably more than all the cotton, tobacco, rice, hay and hemp produced in the fifteen slave States. The compilers of the last census, as we learn from Prof. De Bow, the able and courteous superintendent, in making-up the hay-tables, allowed two thousand two hundred and forty pounds to the ton. The price per ton at which we should estimate its value has puzzled us to some extent. Dealers in the article in Baltimore think it will average twentyfive dollars, in their market.

Four or five months ago they sold it at thirty dollars per ton. At the very time-we write, though there is less activity in the article than usual, we learn, from an examination of sundry pricecurrent and commereial journals, that hay isAselling 50 - t

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FREE ANDI) THE SLAYE STATES. in. Savannah at $33 per ton; in Mobile and New Orleans at $26; in Charleston at $25; in Louisville at $24; and in Cincinnati at $23. The average of these prLices is tweniy-six dollars sixteen and two-third cents; and we suppose it would be fair to employ the figures which would indicate this amount, the net value of a single ton, in calculating the total market value of the entire crop. Were we to do this-and, with the foregoing facts in view, we.submit to intelligent men whether we would not be justifiable in doing it,-the hay crop of the free states, 12,690,982 tons, in 1850, would amount in valuation to the enormous sum of $331,081,695 more than four times the value of all the cotton produced in the United States during the same period I But we shall not make the calculation at what.we have found to be the average value per ton throughout the country. What rate, then, shall be agreed upon as a basis of comparison between the value of the hay crop of the North and that of the South, and as a means of testing the truth of our declaration-that the former exceeds the aggregate value of all the cotton, tobacco, rice, hay and hemp produced in the fifteen slave States? Suppose we take $13,081 just half the average value-as the multiplier in this arithmetical exercise. This we can well afford to do; indeed, we might reduce the amount per ton to much less than half the average value, and still have a large margin left for triumphant demonstration. It is not our purpose, however, to make an overwhelming display of the incom parable greatness of the free States., In estimating the value of the various agricultural pro -51

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COMPARISON BETW. EN rtE ducts of the two great sections of the country, we have been guided by prices emanating from the Bureau of Agriculture in WVashington; and in a catalogue of those prices now before us, we perceive that the average value of hay throughout the nation is supposed to be not more than half a cent per pound-$11.20 per ton-which, as we have seen above, is considerably less than half the present market value;-and this, too, in the face of the fact that prices generally rule higher than they do just now. It will be admitted on all sides, however, that the prices fixed upon by the Bureau of Agriculture, taken as a whole, are as fair for one section of the country as for the other, and that we cannot blamelessly deviate from them in one particular without deviating from them in another. Eleven dollars and twenty cents ($11.20) per ton shall-therefore be the price; and, notwithstanding these greatly reduced figures, we now renew, with an addendum, our declaration and promise, that-We can prove, and we shall now proceed to prove, that the annual hay crop of the free States is worth coie erably more in dollars and cents than all the cotton, tobaco, rie, hay, hemp and cane sugar annually pr(tduced in the - teen slav States. 52 0

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. HAY CROP OF THE FREE STATES-1l50. I2,690 98
tons a 11,20……………………….. $142,138,998 SUNDRY PRODUCTS OF

THE SLAVE STATES -1850. Cotton…………2,445,779 bales a 32,00………..$78,26,928 Tobacco,………185,023,906 lbs. “

10………….18,502,.390 Rice (rougn)….. 215,313 497 lbs. “

4…………..8,612,539 Hay……….1,137,784 tons “11,20…….12,743,180 ltemp………….34,67d tons “112,00………….3,883,376 Cane Sugar……237,133,000 lbs. “

7………….16,599,310 $138,(C05,723 RECAPITULATION. Hay crop of the free States…………………….. $142,138,998 Sundry products of the slave States………………..138,60o,723 Balance in favor of the free States…. $3,533,275 There is the account; look at it, and let it stand in attestation of the exalted virtues and surpassing powers of fieedom.

Scan it well, Messieurs lords of the lash, and learn from it new lessons of the utter inefficiency, and despicable imbecility of slavery. Examine it minutely, libertyloving patriots of the North, and behold in it additional evidences of the beauty, grandeur, and superexcellence of free institutions. Treasure it up in your minds, outraged friends and nonslaveholders of the South, and let the recollection of it arouse you to an inflexible determination to extirpate the monstrous enemy that stalks abroad in your land, and to recover the inalienable rights and liberties, which have been filched fror you by an unprincipledi oligarchy.

In deference to truth, decency and good sense, it is to 53

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COMPISON BETWEEN THE be hoped that, negro-driving politicians will never more have the effrontery to open their mouths in extolling the agricultural achievements of slave labor. Especially is it desirable, that, as a simple act of justice to a basely deceived populace, they may cease their stale and senseless harangues on the importance of cotton. The value of cotton to the South, to the North, to the nation, and to the world, has been so grossly exaggerated, and so extensive have been the evils which have resulted in consequence of the extraordinary misrepresentations concerning it, that we should feel constrained to reproach ourself for remissness of duty, if we failed to make an attempt to explode the popular error. The figures above show-what it is, and what it is not. Recur to them, and learn the facts. So hyperbolically has the importance of cotton been magnified by certain proslavery politicians of the South, that the person who would give credence to all their fustian and bombast, would be under the necessity of believing that the very existence of almost everything, in the heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the water under the earth, depended on it. The truth is, however, that -the cotton crop is of but little value to the South. New England and Old England, by their superior enterprise and sagacity, turn it chiefly to their own advantage. It is carried in their ships, spun in their factories, woven ill their looms, insured in their offices, returned again in their own vessels, and, w’th double fieight and cost of manufacturing added, purchased by the South at a high premi um. Of all the parties engaged or interested in its transp~rtation and manufacture, the South is the only one that 54

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. does not make a profit. Nor does she, as a general thing, make a profit by producing it. WVe are credibly informed that many of the farmers in the immediate vicinity of Baltimore, where we now write, have turned their attention exclusively to hay, and that from one acre they frequently gather two tons, for which :they receive fifty dollars. Let us now inquire hqw-many dollars may be expected from an acre planted in cotton Mr. Cameron, from whose able address before the Agricut tural Society of Orange County, North Carolina, we’have already gleaned some interesting particulars, informs us, that the cotton planters in his part of the country, “have contented themselves with a, crop yielding only ten or twdve dollars per acre,” and that “the summing up of a large surface gives but a living result.” An intelligent resident of the Palmetto State, writing in De Bow-s Review, not long since, advances the opinion that the cotton planters of South Carolina are not realizing more than one per cent. on the amount of capital they have invested. While in Virginia, very recently, an elderly slaveholder, whose religious walk and conversation had recommended and promoted him to an eldership in the Presbyterian church, and who supports himself and family by raising niggers and tobacco, told us that, for the last eight or ten years, aside from the increase of his human chattels, he felt quite confident he had not cleared as much even as one per cent. per annum on the amount of his investment. The real and personal property of this aged Christian-consists chiefly in a large tract of land and about thirty negroes, most of whom, according to his own, onfession, are 55

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE more expensive than profitable. The proceeds arising from the sale of the tobacco they produce, are all absorbed in the purchase of meat and bread for home consumption, and when the crop is stunted by drought, frost, or otherwise cut sLort, one of the negroes must be sold to raise funds for the support of the others. Such are the agricultural achievements of slave labor; such are the results of ” the sum of all villainies.” The diabolical institution subsists on its own flesh. At one time children are sold to pro. cure food for the parents, at another, parents are sold to procure food for the children. Within its pestilential at mosphere, nothing succeeds; progress and prosperity are unknown; inanition and slothfulness ensue; everything becomes dull, dismal and unprofitable; wretchedness and desolation run riot throughout the land; an aspect of most melancholy inactivity and dilapidation broods over every city and town; ignorance and prejudice sit enthroned over the minds of the people; usurping despots wield the sceptre of power; everywhere, and in everything, between Delaware Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, are the multitudinous evils of slavery apparent. The soil itself soon sickens and dies beneath the unnatural tread of the slave. Hear what the Hon. C. C.

Clay, of Alabama, has to say upon the subject. Hiis testimony is eminently suggestive, well-timed, and truthful; and we heartily commend it to the careful consideration of every spirited Southlron who loves his country, and desires to see it rescued from the fatal grasp of” the mother of harlots-:” Says he: “I can show you, with sorrow, in the older portions of 56

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. Alabama, and in my native county of Madiso:i, the sad memorials of the artless and exhausting culture of cotton. Our small planters, after taking the cream off their lands,” unable to restore them by rest, manures, or otherwise, are going further West and South, in search of other virgin lands, which they may and will despoil and impoverish in like manner. Our wealthier planters, with greater means and no more skill, are buying out their poorer neighbors, extending their plantations, and adding to their slave force. The wealthy few, who are able to live on smaller i profits, and to give their blasted fields same rest, are thus pushing off the many who are merely independent. Of the $20,000,000 annually realized from the sales of the cotton crop of Alabama, nearly all not expended in supporting the producers, is reinvested in land and negroes. Thus the white population has decreased and the slave increased almost pari passu in several counties of our State. In 1825, Madison county cast about 3,000 votes; now,. she cannot cast exceeding 2,300. In traversing that county, one will discover numerous farm-houses, once the abode of industrious and intelligent freemen, now occu pied by slaves, or tenantless, deserted and dilapidated; he will observe fields, once fertile, now unfenced, abandoned, and covered with those evil harbingers, fox-tail and broom sedge; he will see the moss growing on the mouldering walls of once thrifty villages, and will find’

one only mas ter grasps the whole domain,’ that once furnished happy homes for a dozen white families. Indeed, a country in its infancy, where fifty years ago scarce a forest tree had I een fello I by the axe of the pioneer. is already exhi. 57

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE biting the painful signs of senility and decay, appare.- t in .- Virginia and the Carolinas.” Some one has said that “an honest confession is good for the soul,” and if the adage be true, as we have no doubt it is, we think Mr. C. C. Clay is entitled to a quiet conscience on one score at least. In the extract quoted above, he gives us a graphic description of the ruinous operations and influences of slavery in the Southwest; and we, as a native of Carolina, and a traveler through Virginia, are ready to bear testimony to the fitness of his remarks whien he referred to those States as examples of senility and decay. With equal propriety, however, he might have stopped nearer home for a subject of comparison. Either of the States bordering upon Alabama, or, indeed, any other slave States, would have answered his purpose quite as well as Virginia and the Carolinas. Wherever slavery exists there’he may find parallels to the destruction that is sweeping with such deadly influence over his own unfortunate State. As for examples of vigorous, industrious and thrifty communities, they can be found anywhere beyond the Upas-shadow of slavery-nowhere else. NewYork and Massachusetts, which, by nature, are confessedly far inferior to Virginia and the Carolinas, have, by the more liberal and equitable policy which they have pursued, in substituting liberty for slavery, attained a degree of eminence and prosperity altogether unknown in the slave States. Amidst all the hyperbole and cajolery of slave-drivingpol. itficift who, as w: have already seen, are’

the books, the 58

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FREE AND TIHE SLAVE STArES. arts, the academies, that show, contain, and govern all the South,’ we are rejoiced to see that Mr. Clay, Mr. Cameron, and a few others, have had the boldness and honesty to step forward and proclaim the truth. All such frank admissions are to be hailed as good omens for the South. Nothing good can come from any attempt to conceal the unconcealable evidences of poverty and desolation everywhere trailing in the wake of slavery. Let the truth be told on all occasions, of the North as well as of the South, and the people will soon begin to discover the egregiousness of their errors, to draw just comparisons, to inquire into cause and effect, and to adopt the more utile measures, manners and customs of their wiser cotemporaries. In wilfully traducing and decrying everything North of Mason and Dixon’s line, and in excessively magnifying the importance of everything South of it, the oligarchy have, in the eyes of all liberal and intelligent men, only made an exhibition of their uncommon folly and dishonesty. For a long time, it is true, they have succeeded in deceiving the people, in keeping them humbled in the murky sloughs of poverty and ignorance, and in instilling into their untu tored minds passions and prejudices expressly calculated to strengthen and protect the accursed institution of slavery; but, thanks to heaven, their inglorious reign is fast drawing to a close; with irresistible brilliancy, and in spite of the interdict of tyrants, light from the pure fountain of knowledge is now streaming over the dark places of our land, and, ere long, mark our words-there will ascend from Delaware, and from Texas, and from all the intermediato States, a huzza for Freedom and for Equal Rights, 59 I

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COMI ARISON BETWEEN TEH] that will utterly confound the friends of despotism, set at defiance the authority of usurpers, and carry consternation to the heart of every slavery-propagandist. To undeceive the people of the South, to bring thee to a knowledge of the inferior and disreputable position wl:ch they occupy as a component part of the Union, and to give prominence and popularity to those plans which, if adopted, will elevate us to an equality, socially, morally, intellectu ally, industrially, politically, and financially, with the most flourishing and refined nation in the world, and, if possible, to place us in the van of even that, is the object of this work. Slaveholders, either from ignorance or from a wilful disposition to propagate error, contend that the South has nothing to be ashamed of, that slavery has proved a blessing to her, and that her superiority over the North in an agricultural point of view makes amends for all her shortcomings in other respects. On the other hand, we contend that many years of continual blushing and severe penance would not suffice to cancel or annul the shame and disgrace that justly attaches to the South in consequence of slavery -the direst evil that e’er befell the land that the South bears nothing like even a respectable approximation to the North in navigation, commerce, or manufactures, and that, contrary to the opinion entertained by ninety-nine hundredths of her people, she is far behind the free States in the only thing of which she has ever dared to boastagriculture. We submit the question to the arbitration of figures, which, it is said, do not lie. With regard to the bushel-measutre products of the sol, of which we have already taken an inventory, we have seen that taere is a 60

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. balance against the South in favor of the Ncrth of seventeen million four hundred and twenty-three thousand one hundred and fiftytwo bushels, and a difference in the value of the same, also ill favor of the North, of fortyfour million saeen hundred and eighty-two thousand six hundred and thirtysix dollars. It is certainly a most novel kind of agricultural superiority that the South claims on that score I Our attention shall now be directed to the twelve principal poundmeasure products of the free and of the slave States-hay, cotton, butter and cheese, tobacco, cane, su gar, wool, rice, hemp, maple sugar, beeswax and honey, flax, and hops-and in taking an account of them, we shall, in order to show the exact quantity produced in each State, and for the convenience of future reference, pursue the same plan as that adopted in the preceding tables. Whether slavery will appear to better advantage on the scales than it did in the half-bushel, remains to be seen. It is possible that the rickety monster may make a better show on a new track; if it makes a more ridiculous display, we shall not be surprised. A careful examination of its precedents, has taught us the folly of expecting anything good to issue from it in any manner whatever. It has no disposition to emulate the magnanimity of its betters, and as for a laudable ambition to excel, that is a characteristic altogether foreign to its nature. Languor and inertia are the insalutary viands upon which it delights to satiate its morbid appetite; and “from bad to worse” is the ill-omened motto under which, in all its feeble efforts and achievements, it ekes out a most miserable and deleterious existence 61

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COMPARISON BETWEEN. T-H TABL,E NO. IX. AGRICULTVIRAL PRODUCTS OF TITE FE

TT~8O States. ilay, tons. Hemp, tonL Hops, lbs. Calit’,)iriia……….

Coiiii~ecticut.5613.5 l~ili………………..0,5,5

Micliigan………………44940,3 New lianpsliire………9,5 5,7 Ne~

Jersey………..8,.5,3 New York………..,2794 258,9

Pennsylvariia………,4,744 2,8 Rihode Islaid……………7,127
erot………………6,528,2 WVis&:olsill………………25621,) 12,690,982 198 ,463,176 .TABLE NO. X AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF THE

SAESAE-80 States.-Hy os ep os os b Alabaiia………………..368

Arkan,,,as’…….1………..3961 Delawvare……………8,5 4

-Florida………………..2501 Geiraia…………………2.4 6

Kentiicky………………1377 1,8,0 Liiiai……………….57t2.2

Noi-tli Car-ilina……….15633, Teriiessee………………7,959,3

Texa~s……………… Virgiaia…………899819 156 1,137,474 1 4,7

8,787 i I II I II 1-62 R,.REE STAIE1850. ilemp, tons. Ilops, lbs. r,);5.4

3,5  1 92,71.)6 8,242 40,120 121,.595 : 10,663 251-,174 .. 2,13,3

21536,2)9 - 63,7-31 22,083 2-7 288,02.3 1.519,110 3,463,176 liay, tons.

2,038 1516,11,31 601,)52 75r),889 651.807 404,934 1 598854 1 435:1150

3,728,767 1,443,142 1,842,970 74,418 1 86-6,153 275,662 12,690,’.).82 4

150 44 198 s-1850. . Hops, lb.4. 2 i-6 I,”) 7 i’ 348 i - 1 4 i 261 4,309

]-‘5 i 1;870 i 473 -1 4,1‘30 . 0;246 26 1,032 7 83,780 Hay, tons. 82.C)85

. 1 3,976 30,159, 2,510 - 2:3.449 113’ 7,47 , 25 7r)2 157:95C) . 12,504 1

1 (i. 91”115 1, , 5.6‘5 3 tl,O.-)25 7410(l)l 18,354 1 36-9,098

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0 IEE AND THE SLAV ST’ATES. TAB] E NO. x r. ArI.crrI UIRAL PRODUCTS OF THE

FREE STATES-150. Maple Sugar, Tol)acco, Ilbs. lbs. . - - 1,000 50,7

96 1,267,624 2,18,:t04 841,i94 2,921,192 1 1,044.620 78,407. 6,041 93.542

795,525 138,246 2.43.9.794 1,2l45 1,298,f;63 50 2,197 310 10,357,484

83,189 4,588,209 1 0-,454,449 2,326,525 912,651 28 6:349,357 i 610,9-76 1

1,268 32.161,79q.}! 14,752.01. 7 Calif)r1’ia…………

ColtIlecticut…………….. Ill i,(0is……………… In dia na……………… l.a……………….. Meaie rl………………

Massachusetts………………. Ilichigan…………… New Hampshire……….6 Ne w Jersey………….. New York………4..5. -

Ohio……………….. Pentinsylvania…………. Rhodle Island…………. Verimolnt……………. W,Visconsin…………….

LE NO. XII. rs OF THE SLAVE STATES  1850. Flax, Maple Sugar, Tobacco, tlbs. l bs. lbs. 3,921 643 164,990 12,291 9,330 218,936 17,174 50! 998,614

5,387 50 423.924 2,100,116 437,405 55,501,196 L. 255 “26,878 35,686 47,740

21,407,497 665. 55! 49,. 60 627,1.69 178,91] 0,.113,7 84 593,7.i,6 27,932

11,984.76 -33 200 3 74.2 85 368,131 158,557 20,148,932 - 1,048 66,697

1,000,450 1,227,665 56,803,227 - I,9 2,088,6 185,_ 2,90 6 77^.9812088,6q-185,023,9086 Alal)ama…………… Arkansas…………….

Deslawvare……………. Fl()rida………………i Geo:‘aia…………,.I.Kle::.tiicvky…………….

LI,zuisialla…………… MI~llarlmld………….. i5I its~issip~ld………….. M1i~ssouli i…………….. Nor-th Carolina………. So,uth Carolina……….. Teiiiiessee…………..

T’exas.. Virginia…………….. 63 17,928 160,063 584,469 .62,660

-17,081 t’ 1,162 7,152 7,652 1182,)6,5 940,577 446,932 530,307 85 20,852

68,393 1 , 3,048,278

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t 031OMPARISON BETWEEN THE TABLE NO. XIII. OF TIIE FREE STATES-1I85).

SVool, Bitter anWd o BAesax and lbs. Cheese, lbs. Itoh,ey, t)s. 5,520 85.5

497,454 11,861,396 93,304 2,150.113 13,804,768 869,444 2,610,287

13,506,099 935,329 373,898 2,881,028 321,711 1,364,034 11,67 8,265 189,618

585,136 15,159,512 59,508 2,043,283 8,077,390 359,232 1,108,476 10,173,619

117,140 375,396 9,8o2,966 156,694 10,071,301 129,507,507 1,755,830

10,196,371 55,268,921 804,275 4,481,570 42,383,452 839,509 129,692

1,312,178 6,347 3,400,717 20,858,814 249,422 253,963 4,034,033 131,005

39,617,211 349,860,783 6,888,368 California……………

Colllleticut………….. Illinlois………………

Indiana…………….. Iowa………………..

,Mlainie………………. Massachusetts………..

Michigan……………. New Hampshire………. Ne~v Jersey…………..

New York…………… Ohlio…t………………

Pennsylvania………… Rhode Island…………

Vermnont…………….. Wisconsin…………… TABLE NO. XVI. ANIMAL

PRODUCTS OF THE SLAVE STATES1850. Wool, Butter and Beeswax and lbs Cheese, lbs. Honey, lbs. 657,118 4,040,223 897,021 182,595 1,884,327

192,338 57,768 1,058,495 41,248 23,247 389,513 18,971 990,019 4,687,535

73:I2,514 2,297,433 10,161,477 1,1o8,019 109),897 685,026 96,701 477,438

3,810,135 74,8112 6559,619 4,367,425 397,46( 1,627,161 8,037,931

1,328,972’ 9;0,738 4,2i4,11 01‘2,289 487,233 2,986,820 216),281 .61,36 378

8, 17,26 1,036.572 131,917 2,440,199 380.825 2,860,765 11,525,651 880,767

12,797,:29, 6,6331,224 7,964,760 Alabama…………….

Arkansas………… Delaware……………. Florida………………

Georgia…………….. Ke:ntucky……………. Lotuisiania………..

Maryland……………. A1 i.ssi.ssippi…………..

Missoturi………….. North Carolina……… S,,uth Caroliia……….

Teiiiiessee……………. Texas…………….. Virginia………… 64

States.

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Florida……………… Georgia…………….. Kentucky……………

Louisiana……..183’ Maryland………. Mississippi……27

Missouri……………. North Carolina……….. South Carolina……….. Tennressee…………… Texas……………….

Virginia…………….. 2,445,779 237,133 215,313,497

RECAPrrULATION-FREE STATES, Hay…………….28,427,799,680 lbs.

Hlemp…………… 443,520 ” lIop……………. 3,46‘63,176 “6

FlIx…………… 3,0,18,278 ” Ml.qple Sugar……….. 32.161,799 “

Tobacco…………. 14,7 52.,087 ” W”,ool……………. 39,647,21 1 “

Butte’ier alid Cloe,se… 349,860,783 ” Bceswax anid’oIlon,cy.. 6,888,368

” total… 28,878,06 1; 9’)2 lbs., val-acd as abe, 9214,422; *23 ,%a, i,3.L 499,091 758 178,737 484,292 50,545 300,901 194,532 58,072 3,947

2,445,779 6, J U 846 10 226,001 8 38,950.691 5,688 4,425,349 2,719,856 700

5,465,868 159,930,613 258,85: 88,203 17,154 215,313,497 77 3 7,351 237,133

$142,138,998 22,176 619,476 304,827 2,572,)943 1,475.203 ] 3,8, 6.523

52,47,1), 17 1,033,2-J5 6C (C ,t I C I 1-2 c. 5’” 15 ” 10 ” 8 ” 10 ” 35 “

15 ” 15 “

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COMPARISON BETWEE.’ THE’ RECAPITULATION - SLAVE STATES.

Ray…………….2,548,636,1!60 lbs..D Hiemp……………..77,667,520.

3”8, ” Hlops……… 33,780 ” ” Flax………………4,766,198 ” Maple Sugar………. 2,088,687 “……” Tobacco………..185,023,906” ” “

Wool……………. 12,797,329 “…..” Butter and Cheese….. 68,634,22

“…..” Beeswax and Honey…..7,964,760 “……” Cotton………….

978,311,600 ” ” 8 Cane Sugar………. 237,133,000 ” ” Rice (rough)……..215,313,497 ” Total…… 4,338,370,661 lbs. valued as above, at $155;,223,415 TOTAL DIFFERENCE -POUNDMEASURE PRODUCTS. Pou-nds.

Value. Free States……28,878,061,902 $214,422,523 Slave States……..4,338,370,661……………….155,223,415 Btlance in pounds, 24,539,694,241 Difference’in value, $59,199,108 Both quantity and value again in favor of the North I Behold also the enormousness of the difference I In this comparison with the South, neither hundreds, thousands, nor millions, according to the regular method of computation, are sufficient to exhibit the excess of the poundmeasure products of the North. Recourse must be had to an almost inconceivable number; billions must be called into play; and there are thie figures telling us, with unmistakable emphasis and distinctness, that, in this department of agriculture, as in every other, the North is vastly the superior of the South-the figures showing a total balance in favor of the former of twenty-four billion fie hu n. 6 1-2 5 .15 -10 -. -8 10 3515 15 8 7 4
c……12,7,13,180 “. …..3,883,376 “………6.5,067 “. 476,619

“….-..i t7-,091 “..-..18,502,390 “-….4,479,06X5 “……10,295,1:33

“…….1,1(.)4,714 “…..8,261,928 “:….16,599,310 “……..8,612,5.39

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FREE AND TEE VES E “STATES. dred and thirtynine tillion six hundred and ninty-four tkousand two hundred and fortyone pounds, valued at fift-nine million one hundred and ninetwnine thousand one hundred and eight dollars.

And yet, the North is a poor, God-forsaken country, bleak, inhospitable, and unproductive I.l What next? Is it necessary to adduce other facts in order to prove that the rural wealth of the free Staetes is far greater than that of the slave States? Shall we make a further demonstration of the fertility of northern soil, or bring forward new evidences of the inefficient and desolating system of terra-culture in the South? Will nothing less than “confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ,” suffice to convince the South that she is standing in her own light, and ruining both body and soul by the retention of slavery? Whatever duty and expedience require to be done, we are willing to do. Additional proofs are at hand. Slaveholders and slavebreeders shall be convinced, confuted, convicted, and converted. They shall, in their hearts and consciences, if not with their tongues and pens, bear testimony to the triumphant achievements of free labor. In the two tables which immediately follow these remarks, they shall see how much more vigorous and fruitful the soil is when under the prudent manage. ment of free white husbandmen, than it is when under the rude and nature-murdering tillage of enslaved negroes; and in two subsequent tables they shall find that the live stock, slaughtered animals, farms, and fairming implements and machlinery, in the free States, are worth at least o,ze tlwZisanud million of dollars more than the market vaiue of the same in the slave States I In the face, however, of all 9 0

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE these most significant and incontrovertible facts, the oligarchly have the unparalleled audacity to tell us that the South is the greatest agricultural country in the world, and that the North is a dreary waste, unfit for cultivation, and quite dependent on us for the necessaries of life. How preposterously false all such babble is, the following tables will show: 68

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STA.E S. TABLE NO. XVI. ACTUAL CROPS PER ACRE ON THE

AVERAGE IN TilE FREE STATES1850. St Wheat, buOsabts. buRse md. Corn,’

Ir1shPot na. torn, bushels. 40 3.3 33 32 27 31 32 30 33 27 36 20 82 80 436
connecticut..40 Illinois……….. Indiana…….. Iowa……….. 5]

aire………… 31l a.sacliusetts…. MVichiigan……… New Hanipshire… New Jersey……. New York…….. Ohio………….

Pe’insylvania….. Rho(le island….. Yerlnont……… Wisconsiu……..

161 825 J07 486 1,508 TABI,E NO. XVII. ACTUAL CROPS PER ACRE ON TIIE

AVERAGE IN THIE SLAVE STATES1850. Wheat, Oats, Rye, Ilnd. Corn, lrlsh l’ota bushels. bushel. buelL bushels. toes, bush. Alak~rna 5 121 151 60

Aki.a18 221 l11 20 20! 15 175 51 18 7 16 125 81 18 11 24 130 1 I 16 13 21

181 23 75 9 12 18 105 11 26 34 110 7 a 1055 7 65 ot ao n8 12 11, 70 71 19

7; 21’ 120 iea….. 51 1 20’ 250 7 13i 5 18’ 75 1211’ 19 Og.276, 1,860 I I 69 Whe’.1t, bu,gliel.3. 11 12 14 10 16 10 11 11 12 12 15 13 14 161 OntL-, busbelij. 21 29 20 86 26 26 30 26 25 21 30 35 825 R e. busels. - 14 18

Trif.h Potatoes, buih. F,5 115 100 100 120 170 . 140 2’-‘O ioo 75 100 178

StateiL 1 17 25 20 107 1,503 States. Alabania……… A i-kati.,,as..

Dela%vai-e……… Floi-id………. Geor ,ia…… K,Olltucky….

l,otiisiaria…….. Alai-ylaiid……… Alissi.ssil)pi…… ” Al issouri Not-tli I -iia.. Soutb Carolitia.. Tt,iiiiessee…. Yirgiuia.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN TH RECAPITI. KTION-G ACTUAL CROPS PER ACRE ON THE

AVERAGE-1850…..- -‘- FREE STATES. SLAVE 8T.ATES. Wheat…12 bushels per acre. Wheat…. bushels per acre. ()its… 27 ” Oats…….. 17 “

-e……..18 “c ” Rxe………11 ” ” il(,lia!) Corni 31 ” ” lli;dian Coni.20 ” ” 1isli Potatoes 125 ” ” rifsli Potatoes 113’” ” What an obvious contrast between the vigor of Liberty and the impotence of Slaveryl What an unanswerable argument in favor of free labor! Add up the two columns of figures above, and what is the result? Two hundred and thirteen bushels as the products of five acres in the North, and only one hundred and seventy bushels as the products of five acres in the South. Look at each item separately, and you will find that the average crop per acre of every article enumerated is greater in the firee States than it is in the slave States. Examine the table at large, and you will perceive that while Massachusetts produces sixteen bushels of wheat to the acre, Virginia produces only seven; that Pennsylvania produces fifteen and-Georgia only five: that while Iowa produces thirty, six bushels of oats to the acre, Mississippi produces only twelve; that Rhode Island produces thirty, and North Carolina only ten: that while Ohio produces twentyfive bushels of rye to the acre, Kentucky produces only eleven; that Vermont produces twenty, and Tennessee only seven: that while Connecticut produces forty bushels of Indian corn to the acre, Texas produces only twenty; that New Jersey produces thirtythree, and South Carolina only cleve.: that while New Hampshire produces two hundred and twenty bushels of Irish potatoes to the acre, Maryland produces only seventy-five; that Michigan produces one hundred and forty, and Alabama only sixty.- -ow fr other beauties (
slavery.:in another table. -70

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FREE’ AND THE SLAVZ STATES. T’I’ABfI’i NO.- XVIII. AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS IN

IIIE FREE.bFr&rS -1850. Valhe of Val. of Animals Cash.al. of Farm Live Stock. - 31Saughterled. Farm. limp. &-Ma.c $3,3-)1,058 $107,173

$3,977,5,24 C7,467,49’) 2,202,266 74,618,963 .24,209,258 4,9 2,286

10’,):38,851 22,478,5)55 6,567,935 143,089,617 3,i689,275 821,164 1

830,436 9,705,726 1,646.773 57,146,305 9,64,710 2,500,924 112285.931

8,008,734 1,828,327 54,63,817 8,871,901 1,52‘2,873 57,560,122 10,679,291

2,6)8,552 124,66-3.014 7 3,57 0,499 13,573,883 576,631,568 44.121.741

7,439,43 371.)509,188 41,500,053 8,219,848 422,59.)8,6 10 1,532,6;7

667,486 17,568,003 12,643,228 1,861,,336 66.106,509 4,897,385 920.178

80,170,131 $286,8376.541 $56,990,237 $2,233 058 619 TA13LE NO. XIX. VALUE

OF FARMS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS IN THE’ SLAVE STATES -1850. Val. of Animatls CashVal. of Farm.s LSlaughtered. Farm. Imp. & Ma% $4,823,485 $69,448,887

1,163,313!6,866,5t1 373,665 19,390,310 2514,685 6,981,904 6,339.762 101,6

17,595 6,462.598 160, 1910.2)99 1,458,990 87,.91,336 1,954,S00 89,61,9P88

3,6‘36.582-60.501,561 3,367,106 67.207,068 5,767,866-.7182.3298 3,502.6)’

7 86, 68,038 6,401,765 103,211,422 1,116,137 18,701.,712 7,502;986

223,423,315 Valute of Live Stock. $21.690,112 6,617,969 1,849,281

2.880,058 25,*728,416 29(),661.4:36 11,152,27;5 7,997,‘67’,4 19,403,662

19,887,580 17,717.647 15,060,01.5 29J,978,4)16 !0,412,927 ..‘65 i,7 ,/1

VALUBE -F-FARMS States. - - - California……. Cotlliecticut…..

Ilniriois………. Inidiania……… I.owa…………. oain e….

M%Iassachusetts…. Michigan…….. New Hampshire.. ,e;” Jersey…… New York……. Ohiio…………. Penniisylvantia…. Rhlode Islanid…

Vsermisont…….. Wisconlsinl…….; States. Alabama…….. A rkan sas…….. D~elawarel…….. F I (.ida…….. G or,_,ia……..

Ken-ttucky……. Louisialla…… Nlai-ylarrd…….. Msssi p…… 51I iss.uiu i…….. Noi’thi Carolina.. Soutll Carolina…

‘[‘rlitlessree……Texas……… ,. -‘g i…….. .4

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COMARISON BETWEEN TH RECAPITULATION-FREE SATES. Value of live Stock $286,376.541 Value of Animals slaugh tered,……………….56,990,237

Value of Farms, Farming-Implements and Machinery, 2,233,058,619

$-2,576,425,397 RECAPITULATION-SLAVE STATES. Value of Live Stock……………………… $253,723,687 Value of Animals slaughtered……………….. 4,388,377 Value of Farms, Farming Implements and Machinery, 1,183,995,274 $1-492,107,338 DIFFERENCE N

VALUE-FARMS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Fre

States,………………………….$2,5 76,425,397 Slave States………………………. 1,492,107,338 Balance in favor of the Free States………… $1,084,818,059 ]By adding to this last balan cein favor of the free States the differences in value which we found in their favor in our account of the bushel-and-poundmeasure products, we shall have a very correct idea of the extent to which the undivided agricultural interests of the free States preponder-ate over those of the slave States.

Let us add the differences together, and see what will be  el;resu t, BALANCESiALL IN FAVOR OF THE NORTH. I)iference in the value ofbusbel-measure products.. $44,782,636 Difference in the value of poundmeasure products.. 5,199,108 Difference in the value of farms and domestic animals 1,084,318,059 Total………………. $1,188,299,803 INo figures of rhetric can add emphasis or signfiance to t-igures of aritehmtic. They dem e conclu 72

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. sively the great moral triumph of Liberty over Slavery They show unequivocally, in spite of all the blarn(.y and boasting of slavedriving politicia as, that the entire value of all the agricultural interests of the free States is very nearly twice as great as the entire value of all the agricul tural interests of the slave States-the value of those iin.erests in the former being twentyfive hundred million of dollars, that of those in the latter only fourteen hundred million, leaving a balance in favor of the free States of one billion one hktadred and eighty-eight million two hundred and ainety-iine thousand eight hundred and three dollars! That is what we call a full, fair and complete vindication of Free Labor. Wrould we not be correct in calling it a total eclipse of the Black Orb? Can it be possible that the slavocracy will’ever have the hardihood to open their mouths again on the subject of terra-culture in the South? Dare they ever think of cotton again? Ought they not, as a befitting confession of their crimes and misdemeanors, and as a reasonable expiation for the countless evils which they have inflicted on society, to clothe themselves in sackcloth, and, after a suitable season of contrition and severe penance, follow the example of one Judas Iscariot, and go and hang themselves? It will be observed that we have omitted the Territories and the District of Columbia in all the preceding talmes. We did this purposely. Our object was to draw an eqtable comparison between the value of free and slave la br in the thirty-one sovereign States, where the two syst6ih-si comparatively unaffected by the wrangling of politiciai’, and, as a matter of course, free from the interference of 4 73

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE the general government, have had the fullest opportunities to exert their influence, to exhibit their virtues, and to commend themselves to the sober judgments of enlightened and discriminating minds. Had we counted the Territories on the side of the North, and the District of Columbia on the side of the South, the result would have been still greater in behalf of free labor. Though “the sum of all villanies” has but a mere nominal existence in Delaware and Maryland, we have invariably counted those States on the side of the South; and the consequence is, that, in many particulars, the hopeless fortunes of slavery have been propped up and sustained by an imposing array of figures which of right ought to be regarded as the property of freedom. But we like to be generous to an unfortunate foe, and would utterly disdain the use of any unfair means of attack or defence. We shall take no undue advantage of slavery. It shall have a fair trial, and be judged according to its deserts. Already has it been weighed in the balance, and found wanting; it has been measured in the half-bushel, and found wanting; it has been apprized in the field, and found wanting. Whatever redeeming traits or qualities it may possess, if any, shall be brought to light by subjecting it to other tests. It was our desire and intention to furnish a correct table of the gallon-measure products of the several States of the Union; but we have not been successful in our attempt to procure the necessary statistics. Enough is krown, however, to satisfy us that the value cf the milk, wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, fluids, oils, and molasses, annually 74

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES produced and sold ill the free States, is at east fifty mil lions of dollars greater than the value of the same articles annually produced and sold in the slave States. Of sweet milk alone, it is estimated that the monthly sales in three Northern cities, New York, Philadelphia and Boston, amount to a larger sum than the marketable value of all the rosin, tar, pitch, and turpentine, annually produced in the Southern States. Our efforts to obtain reliable information respecting another very important branch of profitable industry, the lumber business, have also proved unavailing; and we are left to conjecture as to the amount of revenue annually derived from it in the two grand divisions of our country. The person whose curiosity prompts him to take aii account of the immense piles of Northern lumber now lying on the wharves and houseless lots in Baltimore, Richmond, and other slaveholding cities, will not, we imagine, form a very flattering opinion of the products of Southern for ests. Let it be remembered that nearly all the clippers, steamers, and small craft, are built at the North; that large cargoes of Eastern lumber are exported to foreign countries; that ninetenths of the wooden-ware used in the Southern States is manufactured in New England; that, in outrageous disregard of the natural rights and claims of Southern mechanics, the markets of the South are forever filled with Northern furniture, vehicles, ax helves, walking canes, yardsticks, clothes-pins and pen-holders that the extraordinary number of factories, steam-engines, forges and machine-sh(ps in the free States, require an extraordinary juantity of cord-wood; that a large majority 75

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C’MPARISON BETWEEN THE of the magnificent edifices and other structures, Doth private and public, in which timber, in its various forms, is extensively used, are to be found in the free Stateswe say, let all these things be remembered, and the truth will at once flash across the mind that the forests of the North are a source of far greater income than those of the South. The difference is simply this: At the North everything is turned to advantage. When a tree is cut down, the main body is sold or used for lumber, railing or paling, the stump for matches and shoepegs, the knees for ships building, and the branches for fuel. At the Sonth everything is either neglected or mismanaged. Whole forests are fcll’ad by the ruthless hand of slavery, the trees are cut into logs, rolled into heaps, covered with the limbs and brush, and then burned on the identical soil that gave them birth. The land itself next falls a prey to the fell destroyer, and that which was once a beautiful, fertile and luxuriant woodland, is soon despoiled of all its treasures, and converted into an eye-offendiing desert. Were we to go beneath the soil and collect all the mineral and lapidarious wealth of the free States, we should find it so much greater than the corresponding wealth of the slave States, that no ordinary combination cf figures would suffice to express the difference.

To say nothing of the gold and quicksilver of California, the iron and coal of Pennsylvania, the copper of Michigan, the lead of Illinois, or the salt of NewYork, the marble and free-stone qquarries of New England are, incredible as it may seem to those unacquainted with the facts, far more important sources of rerenue than Ml the subterranean deposits in the slave States. From the 76

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. most reliable statictics within our reach, we:re led to the inference that the total value of all the precious metals, rocks, miLerals, and medicinal waters, annually extracted from the bowels of the free States, is not less than eightyfive million of dollars; the whole value of the same substances annually brought up from beneath the surface of the slave States does not exceed twelve millions. In this respect to what is our poverty ascribable? To the same cause that has impoverished and dishonored us in all other respects-the thriftless and degrading institution of slavery. Nature has been kind to us in all things. The Strata and substrata of the South are profusely enriched with gold and silver, ard precious stones, and from the natural orifices and aqueducts in Virgina and North Carolina, flow thle purest healing waters in the world. But of what avail is all this latent wealth? Of what avail will it ever be, so long as slavery is permitted to play the dog in the manger? To these queries there can be but one reply. Slavery must be suppressed; the South, so great and so glorious by nature, must be reclaimed from her infamy and degradation; our cities, fields and forests, must be kept intact from the unsparing monster; the various and ample resources of our vast domain, subterrar eous as well as superficial, must be developed, and made to con. tribute to our pleasures and to the necessities of the wv)rld. A very significant chapter, and one particularly pertiLent to many of the preceding pages, might be written on the Decline of Agriculture in the Slave States; but as 77

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE the press of other subjects admonishes us to be.

concise upon this point, we shall present only a few of the more striking instances. In the first place, let us compare the crops of wheat and rye in Kentucky, in 1850, with tile corresponding crops in the same State in 1840-after which, we will apply a similar rule of comparison to two or three other slaveholding states. KENTUCKY. Rye, bus.-* 1,321,873 415,073

Decrease 906,300 bus Wheat, bus. Crop of 1840……….. 4,803,152 ” “

1850…………2,142,822 Decrease 2,660,330 bus. TENNESSEE. Tobacco, lbs.

29,550,432 20,148,932 Decrease 9,401,500 lbs. Wheat, bus. tCrop of 1840……….. 4,569,692 44 ” 1850………..1,619,386 Decrease 2,950,306
bus. VIRGINIA. Tobacco, lbs& 7 5,347,106 56,803,227 bus. Decrease 18,543,879 lbs. Rye, bus Crop of 1840……….. 1,482,799 t “

1850………… 458,930 Decrease 1,023,869 ALABAMA. Rye,bus. 61,000

17,261 Decrease 33,739 bus Wheat, bul. Crop of 1840…………. 838,050 “

” 1850……… 294,0-14 Decrease 544,008 bus. The story of these figures is too intelligible to require words of explanation; we shall, therefore, drop this pait 78

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. of our subject, and proceed to compile a couple of tables that will exhibit on a single page the wealth, revenue and expenditure, of the several states of the confederacy. Let it be distinctly understood, however, that, in the compilation of these tables, three million two hundred and four thousand three hundred and thirteen negroes are valued as personal property, and credited to the Southern States as if they were so many horses and asses, or Bridles and ila nkets -and that no monetary valuation whatever is pl-ced on any creature, of any age, color, sex or condition, that bears the upright form of man ii the free States A.’ V C..e26 19

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New York……. 1,080,309,216 Ohio…… 604,726,120 Pennsylvania…,.

729,144,998 Rhode Island….. 80,508,794 Vfmont…………92,205,049

Wisconsin……. 42,056,595 $4.102,1 o2,108 $4.102,172,108 $18,725.211

7,076,733 TABLE NO. XXI. WEAtH-REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF TIE SLAVE

STATES 1850. Real and Personal property. $228,204,332 89,841,02.5

18,855,863 23,198.734 335,425,714 301,628,456 233,998,764 219,217,364

228,951,130 rl37,217,707 226,800,472 288,257,694 207,454,704 5,.362,340

391,646,438 $2,936,090,737 Alabama..1…… Arkansas……..

Delaware……… Florida………. Geor,ia……… Kentlleky…….

Louisiana……. Maryland…….. Mississippi…… Missouri……..

Nortlh Carolina… S:,tth Carolina… Teninessee…… Texas………..

V’i rginia……… Revenue. Expendituro. $658.976 $513,559 68,412 74,076

60,619 55,234 1,142,405 597,882 779,293 674,697 1,146,568 1,098.911

1,279,953 1,360,458 221,200 223,637 326,579 207,656 219,000 228,173

532,152 463:‘021 502.126 6-362 5 140,6M8 156) 622 1,265,744 1,272,382

$8,343,715 i $7,549,9.33 2,698,3S10 3,016,403 7,716,;552 124,944 185,830

135,155 $18,725.211 2,520,932 2, *36.060 6,87-6,480 115.835 183,058

136,096 $17,07,6,733 -.. States.

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. Entire Wealth of the Free States…………….. $4[02,172,108 Entire Wealth of the Slave States, includigl Slaves, 2: b36,090,737 Balance in favor of the Free States,………. $1,160,081,371 What a towering monument to the beauty and glory cf Free Labor I What irrefragable evidence of the unequaled efficacy and grandeur of free institutions I These figures are, indeed, too full of meaning to be passed by without comment. The two tables from which they are borrowed are at least a volume within themselves; and, after all the pains we have taken to compile them, we shall, perhaps, feel somewhat disappointed if the reader fails to avail himself of the important information they impart. Human life, in all ages, has been made up of a series of adventures and experiments, and even at this stage of the world’s existence, we are almost as destitute of a perfect rule of action, secular or religious as were the erratic cotemporaries of Noah. It is true, however, that we have made some progress in the right direction; and as it seems to be the tendency of the world to correct itself, we may suppose that future generations will be enabled, by intuition, to discriminate between the true and the false, the good and the bad, and that with the development of this faculty of the mind, error and discord will begin to wane, and finally cease to exist. Of all the experiments that have been tried by the people in America, slavery has proved the most fatal; and the sooner it is abolished the better it will be for us, for posterity, and for the world. One of the evils resulting from it, and tl.at not the least, is ap. parent in the figures above. Indeed, the 7fprofitabkwss of 4* 81 , -,k.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE slavery id t monstrous evil, when considered in all its bearings; it makes us poor; poverty makes us ignorant; ignorance makes us wretched; wretchedness mares us wicked, and wickedness leads to the devil I “Ignorance is the curse of God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.’” Facts truly astounding are disclosed in thie two last tables, and we could heartily wish that every intelligent American would commit them to memory. The total value of all the real and personal property of the free States, with an area of only 612,597 square miles, is one billion one hundred and sixty-six million eighty-one thousanid three hundred and seventyone dollars greater than the total value of all the real and personal property, including the price of 3,204,313 negroes, of the slave States, which have an area of 851,508 square miles! But extraordinary as this difference is in favor of the North, it is much less than the true amount. On the authority of Soutk rons themselves, it is demonstrable beyond the possibility of refut tati, i that the intrinsic value of all the property in the free States is more than three times greater than the intrinsic value of all the property in the slave States.

James Madison, a Southern man, fourth President of the United States, a most correct thinker, and one of the greatest statesmen the country has produced, “thought it wrong to admit the idea that there could be property in man,” and we indorse, to the fullest extent, this opinion of tide profound editor of the Federalist. We shall not recou;e property in map; the slaves of the South are not 82

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STA. ES. wt. th a groat in any civilized community; no many f gen uinie decency and refinement would hold them as property on any terms; in the eyes of all enlightened nations and individuals, they are men, not merchandize. Southern proslavery politicians, some of whom have not hesitated to buy and sell their own sons and daughters, boast that the slaves of the South are woith sixteen hundred million of dollars, and we have seen the amount estimated as high as two thousand million. Mr. De Bow, the Southern superintendent of the seventh census, informs us that the value of all the property in the slave States, real and personal, including slaves, was, in 1850, only $2,936,090,737; while, according to the same authority, the value of all the real and personal property in the free States, genuine property, property that is everywhere recognized as property, was, at the same time, $4,102,172,108. Now all we have to do in order to ascertain the real value of all the property of the South, independent of negroes, whose value, if valuable at all, is of a local and precarious character, is to subtract from the sum total of Mr. De Bow’s return of the entire wealth of the slave States the estimated value of the slaves themselves; and then, by deducting the difference from the intrinsic value of all the property in the free States, we shall have the exact amount of the overplus of wealth in the glorious land of free soil, free labor, free speech, free presses, and free schools. And now to the task. Entire Wealth of the Slave States, including Slaves $2,936,090,737

Estimated Value of the Slaves,………………. 1,600,000,000 True Wealth of the Slave States,…………. $1,336,090,737 83

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE True Wealth of the Free States,……………..

$4.102, 72:108 True Wealth of the Slave States,……………..

1,3836,090,737 Balance in favor of the Free States,………

$2,766,081,371 There, friends of the South and of the North, you have the conclusion of the whole matter. Liberty and slavery are before you; choose which you will have; as for us, in the memorable language of the immortal Henry, we say, “give us liberty, or give us death 1” In the great struggle for wealth that has been going on between the two rival systems of free and slave labor, the balance above exhibits the net profits of the former.

The struggle on the one side has been calm, laudable, and eminently successful; on the other, it has been attended by tumult, unutterable cruelties and disgraceful failure. Wfe have given the slave drivers every conceivable opportunity to vindicate their domestic policy, but for them to do it is a moral impossibility. Less than three-quarters of a century ago-say in 1789, for that was about the average time of the abolition of slavery in the Northern States-the South, with advantagres in soil, climate, rivers, harbors, minerals, forests, and, indeed, almost every other natural resource, began an even race with the North in all the important pursuits of life; and now, in the brief space of scarce three score years and ten, we find her completely distanced, enervated, dejected and dishonored. Slave-drivers are the sole authors of her disgrace; as they have sown so let them reap. As we have seen above, a careful and correct inventory of;ll the real and personal property in the two grand divisiot of the country, discloses the astounding fact that, in 1850 the free States were worth precisely two thousand 84

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STARES. seven htlndred and sixty-six million eighty-one thousatd tiree hu dred and seventyone dollars more than the slave States I Twentyseven hundred and sixty-six million of dollars!Think of it t What a vast and desirable sum, and how much better off the South would be with it than without it! Such is the enormous amount out of which slavery has defrauded us during the space of sixty-one yearsfrom 1789 to 1850-being an average of about fortyfive million three hundred and fifty thousand dollarsper annum. During the last twentyfive or thirty years, however, oui annual losses have been far greater than they were formerly. There has been a gradual increase every year, and now the ratio of increase is almost incredible. No patriotic Southerner can become conversant with the facts without experiencing a feeling of alarm and indignation. Until the North abolished slavery, she had no advantage of us whatever; the South Was more than her equal in every respect. But no sooner had she got rid of that hampering and pernicious institution than she began to absorb our wealth, and now it is confidently believed that the merchants and negro-driving pleasure-seekers of the South annually pour one hundred and twenty million of dollars into her coffers I Taking into account, then, the probable amount of money that has been drawn from the South and invested in the North within the last six years, and adding it to the grand balance above-the net profits of the North up to 1850-it may be safely assumed that, in the present year of grace, 1857, the free States are worth at least thirty-four hutndred million of dollars more than the slave St,des! LBt him wlo dares, gainsay these remarks ai,d isZ

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE calculations; no truthful tongue will deny them $
ao hon orable pen can controvert them. One more word now as to tihe valuation of negroes. Were our nature so degraded, or our conscience so elastic as to permit us to set a price upon men, as we would set a price upon cattle and corn, we should be content to abide by the appraisement of the slaves of the South, and would then enter into a calculation to ascertain the valhe of for. eigners to the North. Not long since, it was declared in the South that “one free laborer is equal to five slaves,” and as there are two million five hundred thousand Euro peans in the free States, all of whom are free laborers, we might bring Southern authority to back us in estimating their value at sixty-two hundred million of dollars -a hand some sum wherewithal to offset the account of sixteen hundrcd million of dollars, brought forward as the value of Southern slaves! It is obvious, therefore, that if we were disposed to follow the barbarian example of the traffickers in human flesh, we could prove the North vastly richer than the South in bone and sinew-to say nothing of mind and-morals, which shall receive our attention hereafter. The North has just as good a right to appraise the Irish immigrant, as the South has to set a price on the African slave. But as it would be wrong to do either, we shall do neither. It is not our business to think of man as a merchantable commodity; and we will not, even by implication, admit “the wild and guilty fantasy,” that the condition of chattelhood may rightfully attach to sentient and immortal beings. In this connection, we would direct the special atten 86

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. tion of the reader to the following eloquent passage, exhibiting the philosophy of free and slave labor, from the facile pen of the editor of the North American and T,Jnited States Gazette “In the very nature of things, the freeman must produce more th: the slave. There is no conclusion of science::ore certain. Under a system which gives to a laboring man the fruit of his toil, there is every motive to render him diligent and assiduous. If he relies on being employed by others, his wages rise with his reputation for industry, skill, and faithfulness. And as owner of the soil, there is every assurance that he will do what he can to cultivate it to the best advantage, and develope its latent wealth. Self-interest will call forth what powers of intellect and of invention he has to aid him in his work, and employ his physical strength to the greatest possible advantage. Free labor receives an immediate reward, which cheers and invigorates it; and above all, it has that chief spring of exertion, hope, whose bow always spans the heaven before it. It has an inviolate hearth; it has a home. But it looks forward to a still better condition, to brighter prospects in the future, to which its efforts all contribute.. The children in such a household are chief inducements to nerve the arm-of labor, that they may be properly cared for, fed, clothed, educated, accomplished, instructed in some useful and honorable calling, and provided for when they shall go out upon the world.

All its sentiments, religious and otherwise, all its affections for parents and kindred, all its tastes aie so mainy impelling and stimulating forces. It is disposed to read, 87

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE to ornament its home, to travel, to enjoy social intercourse, and to attain these ends, it rises to higher exertions and a stricter economy of time; it explores every path of employment, and is, therefore, in the highest degree productive. “How different is it with slave labor t The slave toils for another, and not for himself. Whether he does little or much, whether his work is well or ill performed, he has a subsistence, nothing less, nothing more; and why should he toil beyond necessity? He cannot accumulate any property for the decline of his years, or to leave to his children when he is departed. Nay, he cannot toil to better the present condition of his children. They belong to another, and not to him. lie cannot supply his hut with comforts, or embellish it with the adornments of taste. Hie does not read. He does not journey for pleasure. Inducements to exertion, he has none. That he may adapt himself to his condition, and enjoy the present hour, he deadens those aspirations that must always be baffled in his case, and sinks down into ease and sensuality. His mind is unlighted and untutored; dark with ignorance.

Among those who value him most, he is proverbially indolent, thievish, and neglectful of his master’s interests. It is common for even the advocates of slavery to declare that one freeman is worth half a dozen slaves. With every cord to exertion thus sundered, the mind benighted, the man neaitly lost in the animal, it requires no deep phliloso. hy to see wh-y labor cannot be near as productive as it would be were these conditions all reversed. Thoucrgh tver sc well directed by the superior skill, and urged for. 88

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FREE AND THE SAv&E STATES. ward by the strong arm of the master, slave lal or. is necessarily a blight to the soil-sterility follows in its steps, and not afar off. ” WVhat a difference, plain and heaven-wide, between the outward and interior life of a slave and of a free community, resulting directly and palpably from this difference in its labor. The cottage-home, amid trees and shrubbery, its apartments well adorned and furnished, books on its shelves, and the passing literature of the day scattered around; the few, perhaps, but well-tilled acres, belonging to the man who tills them; the happy children with sunny prospects; the frequent school; the church arrayed with beauty; the thriving, handsome village; the flourishing cities and prosperous marts of trade; the busy factories; railroads, traffic, travel-where free labor tills the ground, how beautiful it all is in contrast to the forlornand dreary aspect of a country tilled by slaves. The villages of si1Cl a country are mainly groups of miserable huts. Its comparatively few churches are too often dilapidated and unsightly. The common school-house, the poor man’s college, is hardly known, showing how little interest is felt in the chief treasures of the State, the immortal minds of the multitude who are not born to wealth. The signs of premature old age are visibly impressed upon everything that meets the eye. The fields present a dread monoton)y.

Everywhere you see lands that are worn out, barren and deserted, in c)nsequence of slave tillage, left for more fertile lands in newer regions, which are also, in their turn, to be smitten with sterility and forsaken. The five community may increase its population almost without limit. 89

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE The capacity of slave countries to sustain a population is soon at an end, and then it dimi ishes. In all the elements of essential prosperity, in all that elevates man, how striking the contrast between the region that is tilled by slave, and the region that is tilled by free labor.” For the purpose of showing what Virginia, once the richest, most populous, and most powerful of the States, has become under the blight of slavery, we shall now introduce an extract from one of the speeches delivered by Henry A. Wise, during the last gubernatorial campaign in that degraded commonwealth. Addressing a Virginia audience, in language as graphic as it is truthful, he says: “Commerce has long ago spread her sails, and sailed away from you. You have not, as yet, dug more than coal enough to warm yourselves at your own hearths; you have set no tilt-hammer of Vulcan to strike blows worthy of gods in your own iron-foundries; you have not yet spun more than coarse cotton enough, in the way of manufacture, to clothe your own slaves. You have no commerce, no mining, no manufactures. You have relied alone on the single power of agriculture, and such agriculture! Your sedge-patches outshine the sun.

Your inattention to your only source of wealth, has seared the very bosom of mother earth. Instead of having to feed cattle on a thousand hills, you have had to chase the stump-tailed steer through the sedge-patches to procure a tough beef-steak. The present condition of things has existed tor long in Virginia The landlord has skinned the tenant, and the 90

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. tenant has skinned the land, until all have grc wn poor together.” With tears in its eyes, and truth on its lips, for the first time after an interval of twenty years, the Richmond Enquirer helps to paint the melancholy picture. In 1852, that journal thus bewailed the condition of Virginia: “We have cause to feel deeply for our situation.

Philadelphia herself contains a population far greater than the whole free population of Eastern Virginia. The little State of Massachusetts has an aggregate wealth exceeding that of Virginia by more than $126,000,000.”

Just a score of years before these words were penned, the same paper, then edited by the elder Ritchie, maJe a most earnest appeal to the intelligence and patriotism of Virginia, to adopt an effectual measure for the speedy overthrow of the damnable institution of human bondage Hiere is an extract from an article which appeared in its editorial column under date of January 7th, 1832: “Something must be done, and it is the part of no honest man to deny it-of no free press to affect to concoal it. When this dark population is growing upon us; when every new census is but gathering its appalling numbers upon us; when, within a period equal to that in which this Federal Constitution has been in existence, these numbers will increase to more than two millions within Virginia; when our sister States are closing their doors upon our blacks for sale, and when our whites are moving westwardly in greater numbers than we like to hear of when this, the fairest land on all this continent, for soil, and climate and situation, combined, might be 91 I

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COMILRISON BE TWEEN M come a sort of garden spot, if it were worked y the I.nds of white men alone, can we, ought we, to sit quietly down, fold our arms, and say to each other,‘Well, well; this thing will not come to the worst in our days; we will leave it to our children, and our grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren, to take care of themselves, and to brave the storm I’ Is this to act like wise men? Means, sure but gradual, systematic but discreet, ought to be adopted for reducing the mass of evil which is pressing upon the South, and will still more press upon her, the longer it is put off. We say now, in the utmost sincerity of our hearts, that our wisest men cannot give too much of their attention to this subject, nor can they give it too soon.” Better abolition doctrine than this is seldom heard. WVhy did not the Enqtrier continue to preach it?

What potent influence hushed its clarion voice, just as it began to be lifted in behalf of a liberal policy and an enlightened humanity? tIad Mr.

Ritchie continued to press the truth home to the hearts of the people, as he should have done, Virginia, instead of being worth only $392,000,000 in 18.50 -negroes and all-would have been worth at least $800,000,000 in genuine property; and if the State had emancipated her slaves at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, the last census would no doubt have reported her wealth, and correctly, at a sum exceeding a thousand millions of dollars. Listen now to the statement of a momentous fact. The value of all the property, real and personal, including slaves, in seven slave States, Virginia, North-Caiolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida and Texas, is less 92

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FREE AND THE SLATE STATES. than the real and personal estate, which is nquestioiiable property, in the single State of NewYork Nay, worse; if eight entire slave States, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, and the District of Columbia-with all their hordes of human lierchanldize-were put up at auction, NewYork could buy them all, and then have one hundred and thirtythree millions of dollars left in her pocket I Such is the amazing contrast between freedom and slavery, even in a pecuniary point of view.

When we come to compare the North with the South in regard to literature, general intelligence, inventive genius, moral and religious enterprises, the discoveries in medicine, and the progress in the arts and sciences, we shall, in every instance, find the contrast equally great on the side of Liberty. It gives us no pleasure to say hard things of the Old Dominion, the mother of Washington, Jefferson, HIenry, and other illustrious patriots, who, as we shall prove hereafter, were genuine abolitionists; but the policy which she has pursued has been so utterly inexcusable, so unjust to the nonslaveholding whites,‘so cruel to the negroes, and so disregardful of the rights of humanity at large, that it becomes the duty of evelr one who makes allusion to her history, to expose her follies, her crimes, and her poverty, and to publish every fact, of whatever nature, that would be instrumental in determining others to eschew her bad example. She has wilfully departed from the faith of the founders o’f this Republic. She has not only turned a deaf ear to the ounsel of wise men from other States in the Union, but she Ze, in like manner, ignored the teachllings 93

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COMPARISON BETWE~-‘ THE of the great warriors and statesmen who have sprui - from her own soil. In a subsequent chapter, we expect to show that all, or nearly all, the distinguished Virginians, whose bodies have been consigned to the grave, but whose names have been given to history, and whose’memoirs have a place in the hearts of their countrymen, were the friends and advocates of universal freedom-that they were inflexibly opposed to the extension of slavery into the Territories, devised measures for its restriction, and, with hopeful anxiety, looked forward to the time when it should be eradicated from the States themselves. With them, the rescue of our country from British domination, and the establishment of thle General Government upon a firm basis, were considerations of paramount importance; they supposed, and no doubt earnestly desired, that the States, in their sovereign capacities, would soon abolish an institution which was so palpably in conflict with the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, it would seem that, among the framers of that immortal instrument and its equally immortal sequel, the Constitution of the United States, there was a tacit understanding to this effect; and the Northern States, true to their implied faith, abolished it within a short period after our national independence had been secured. Not so with tihe South. She has pertinaciously refused to perform her duty. She has apostatized from the faith of her greatest men, and even at this very moment repudiates the sacred principle that “all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” among which “are life,’ liberty, and the pursuit of I tppiness” It is evident, therefore, that 94

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. the free States are the only members of this conf~ leracy that have established republican forms of government based upon the theories of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, lenry, and other eminent statesmen of Virginia. The great revolutionary movement which was set on foot in Charlotte, Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, on the 20th day of May, 1775, has not yet been terminated, nor will it be, until every slave in the United States is freed from the tyranny of his master. Every victim of the vile institution, whether white or black, must be reinvested with the sacred rights and privileges of which-he has been deprived by an inhuman Qligarchy. Wzour noble sires of the revolution left unfinished it is our duty to complete. They did all that true valor and patriotism could accomplish. Not one iota did they swerve from their plighted faith; the self-sacrificing spirit which they evinced will command the applause of every succeeding age. Not in vindication of their own personal rights merely, but of the rights of humanity; not for their own generation and age simply, but for all ages to the end of time, they gave their toil, their treasure and their blood, nor deemed them all too great a price to pay for the establishment of so comprehensive and beneficent a principle.

Let their posterity emulate their courage, their disinterestedness, and their zeal, and especially remember that it is the duty of every existing generation so to provide for its individual interests, as to confer superior advantages on that which is to follow. To this principle the North has adhered with the strictest fidelity. How has it been with the South? Has she iuitated the praiseworthy example of our illustrious 95

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ancestors? No I She has treated it with the utmost contempt; she has been extremely selfish-l-so selfish, indeed, that she has robbed posterity of its natural rights. From the period of the formation of the government down to the present moment, her policy has been downright suicidal, and, as matter of course, wholly indefensible.

She has hugged a viper to her breast; her whole system has been paralyzed, her conscience is seared, and she is becoming callous to every principle of justice and magnanimity. Except among the nonslaveholders, who, besides oeing kept in the grossest ignorance, are under the restraint of all manner of iniquitous laws, patriotism has ceased to exist within her borders. And here we desire to be distinctly understood, for we shall have occasion to refer to this matter again. We repeat, therefore, the substance of our averment, that, at this day, there is not a grain of patriotism in the South, except among the nonslaveholders. Subsequent pages shall testify to the truth of this assertion. Here and there, it is true, a slaveholder, disgusted with the institution, becomes ashamed of himself, emancipates his negroes, and enters upon the walks of honorable life; but these cases are exceedingly rare, and do not, id any manner, disprove the general correctness of our remark All persons who do voluntarily manumit their slaves, as mentioned above, are undeniably actuated by principles of pure patriotism, justice and humanity; and so believing, we delight to do them honor. Once more to the Old Dominion. At her door we lay the bulk of the evils of slavery. The first African  sold in America was sold on James River, in that State, on the 96

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FOPz AN~D THE SLAVE STATES. 0tl, orf A igust, 1620; and although the institution was fastc,led upon her and the other colo:ies by the mother country, she was the first to perceive its blighting and degrading influences, her wise men were the first to denounce it, and, after the British power was overthrown at York Town, she should have been the first to abolish it. Fifty-seven years ago she was the Empire State; now, with half a dozen other savehoiding states thrown into the scale with her, she is far inferior to NewYork, which, at the time Cornwallis surrendered his sword to Washington, was less than half her equal. Had she obeyed the counsels of the good, the treat and the wise men of our nation-especially of her own incomparable sons, the ex.endible element of slavery would have been promptly arrested, and the virgin soil of nine Southern States, Keniucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, would have been saved from its horrid pollutions.

Confined to the original states in which it existed, the institution would soon have been disposed of by legislative enactments, and long before the present day, by a gradual proess th could have shocked no interest and Harmed no prejudice, we should hive rid ourselves not only of African slavery, which is an abomination and a curse, but also of the negroes themselves, who, in our judgment, whether viewed in relation to their,actual characteristics and: condition, or through the strong antipathies of the whites, are, to say the least, an undesirable population. This, then, is the ground of our expostulation with Virgini: i, Din Glowi dirWd of th-e adze nd 97

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COMPARISON BY.-EEN TH friendly warnings of Washington, Jefferson, Ma lison, Henry, and a host of other distinguished patriots who spriang from her soil-patriots whose voices shall be heard before we finish our task-and in utter violation of every principle of justice and humanity, she still persists in fostering an institution which is so manifestly detri mental to her vital interests. Every Virginian, whether living or dead, whose name is an honor to his country, has placed on record his abhorrence of slavery, and in doing so, has borne testimony to the blight and degradation that everywhere follow in its course. One of the best abolition speeches we have ever read was delivered in the Vir. ginia House of Delegates, January 20th, 1832, by Charies James Faulkner, who still lives, and who has, we under stand, generously emancipated several of his slaves, and sent them to Liberia. Here follows an extract from his speech; let Southern politicians read it attentively, and imbibe a moiety of the spirit of patriotism which it breathes: “Sir, I am gratified to perceive that no gentleman has yet risen in this Hall, the avowed advocate of slavery. The day has gone by when such a voice could be listened to with patience, or even with forbearance. I even regret, Sir, that we should find those amongst us who enter the lists of discussion as its apologists, except alone upon the ground of uncontrollable necessity. And yet, who could have listened to the very eloquent remarks of the gentlemnan from Brunswick, without being forced to conclude that he at least considered slavery, however not to be defended upon prineip/e, yet as being divested of much:of its enormity, as you approach it in practice. 98

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BREE AND THE SLAVE ST. ES. “Sir, if there be one who concurs with that ger. leman in the harmless character of this institution, let me request him to compare the condition of the slaveholdiing portion of this commonwealth-barren, desolate, and seared as it were by the avenging hand of [leaven-with the descriptions which we have of this country from those who first broke its virgin soil. To what is this change ascribable? Alone to the withering and blasting effects of slavery. If this does not satisfy him, let me request him to extend his travels to the Northern States of this Union, and beg him to contrast the happiness and contentment which prevail throughout that country, the busy and cheerful sound of industry, the rapid and swelling growth of their population, their means and institutions of education, their skill and proficiency in the useful arts, their enterprise and public spirit, the monuments of their commercial and marufacturing industry; and, above all, their devoted attachment to the government from which they derive their protection, with the derision, dis(content, indolence, and porerty of the Southern country. To whlat, Sir, is all this ascribable? To that vice in the organization of society, by which onehalf of its inhlabitants are arrayed in interest and feeling against the other half-to that unfortunate state of society in which freemen regard labor as disgraceful, and slaves shrink from it as a burden tyrannically imposed upon theiii-to that condition of things in which half a million of your population can fi,el no sympathy with the society ill the prosperity of which thley are forbidden to participate, and no attachment to a government at whose hands they re ccive nothing Lut injustice. I. . I 99

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COMPAiSN BD -EN “If tlhis ihoulL Lot be sufficient, and the curious and incredulous inquirer should suggest that the contrast which has been adverted to, and which is so manifest, might be traced to a difference of climate, or other causes distinct from slavery itself, permit me to refer him to the two States of Kentucky and Ohio. No difference of soil, no diversity of climate, no diversity in the original settlement of those two States, can account for the remarkable disproportion in their natural advancement. Separated by a river alone, they seem to have been purposely and providentially designed to exhibit in their future histories the dif.

ference which necessarily results from a country free from, and a country afflicted with, the curse of slavery. “Vain and idle is every effort to strangle this inquiry. As well might you attempt to chain the ocean, or stay the avenging thunderbolts of Heaven, as to drive the people from any inquiry which may result in their better condition. This is too deep, too engrossing a subject of consideration. It addresses itself too strongly to our interests, to our passions, and to our feelings. I shall adocate no scheme that does not respect the right of property, so far as it is entitled to be respected, with ajust regard to the safety and resources of the State. I would approach the subject as one of great magnitude and delicacy, as one whose varied and momentous consequences demand the calmest and most deliberate investigation. But still, Sir, I would approach it-aye, delicate as it may be, encompassed as it ,may be with difficulties and hazards, I would still approach it. The people demand it.

Their security requires it. In the language of the wise and prophetic Jeffersou’You too 11r

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FREE AND THE SLAVE STATES. mug approach it-you must bear it-you n ist adopt some plan of emancipation, or worse will follow.”’ Mr Curtis, in a speech in the Virginia Legislature in 1832, said: “There is a malaria in the atmosphere of these regions, which the new comer shuns, as being deleterious to his views and habits. See the wide-spreading ruin which the avarice of our ancestral government has produced in the South, as witnessed in a sparse population of freemen, deserted habitations, and fields without culture I Strange to tell, even the wolf, driven back long since by the apt proach of man, now returns, after the lapse of a hundred years, to howl over the desolations of slavery.” Mr. Moore, also a member of the Legislature of Virginia, in speaking of the evils of slavery, said: “The first I shall mention is the irresistible tendency which it has to undermine and destroy everything like virtue and morality in the community. If we look back through the long course of time which has elapsed since the creation to the present moment, we shall scarcely be able to point out a people whose situation was not, in many respects, preferable to our own, and that of the other States, in which negro slavery exists. “In that part of the State below tide-water, the whole face of the country wears an appearance of almost utteI desolation, distressing to the beholder. The very spot on which our ancestors landed, a little more than twc hundred years ago, appears to be on the eve of again b coming the haunt of wild beasts.” Mr. Rives, of Campbell county, said: 101

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COMPARISON BETWELEN THE “On the n’lltiplied and desolating evils of slavery, he was not disposed to say much. The curse and deteriorating consequence were within the observation and experience of the members of the House and the people of Virginia, and it did not seem to him that there could be two o)pinlions about it.” Mr. Powell said: “I can scarcely persuade myself that there is a solitary gentleman in this House who will not readily admit that slavery is an evil, and that its removal, if practicable, is a consummation most devoutly to be wished. I have not heard, nor do I expect to hear, a voice raised in this Hall to the contrary.” In the language of another, “we milght multiply extracts almost indefinitely from Virginia authorities-testifying to the blight and degradation that have overtaken the Old Dominion, in every department of her affairs. HIer commerce gone, her agriculture decaying, her land falling in value, her mining and manufactures nothing, her schools dying out,- ne presents, according to the testimony of her own sons, the saddest of all picturesthat of a sinking and dying State.” Every year leaves her in a worse condition than it found her; and as it is with Virginia, so it is with the entire South. In the terse language of Governor Wise, “all have grown poor to gether.” The black god (f slavery, which the South has worshipped for two hundied and thirty-seven years, is but a devil in disguise; and -if we would save ourselves firom being engulphed in utter ruin we must repudiate this foul god, for a purer de:By, and abandon his altars for a holier IV2

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FREE AND THIE SLAVE STATES. shrine. No time is to be lost; his fanatical adorers, the despotic adversaries of human liberty, are concocting schemes for the enslavement of all the laboring classes, irrespective of race or color. The issue is before us; we cannot evade it; we must meet it with firmness, and with unflinching valor. What it was that paralyzed the tongues of all those members of the Virgina Legislature, who, at the-session of 1831-‘32, distinguished themselves by advocating a system of emancipation, is a mystery that has never yet been solved. Whether any ol all of them shared a division of spoils with a certain newspaper editor, we have no means of knowing; but if all accounts be true, there was consummated in Richmond, in the latter part of the year 1832, one of the blackest schemes of bribery and corruption that was ever perpetrated in this or any other country. We are assured, however, that one thing is certain, and it is this: that the negro population of Virginia was very considerably and suddenly decreased by forcible emigration-that a large gang was driven further South, sold, and the proceeds divided among certain renegades and traitors, who, Judas-like, had agreed to serve the devil for a price. We would fain avoid all personalities and uncomplimentary allusions to the dead, but when men, from love of lucre, from mere selfish motives, or from sheer turpi. tude of heart, inflict great injuries and outrages on the public, their villainy ought to be exposed, so that others niay be deterred from foll )wing in their footsteps. As a general rule, man’s moral nature is, we believe, so strong -103 I

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COMPARISOX Bbz E that it invariably prompts him to eschew vice and prao.

tice virtue-in other words, to do right; but this rule, like all others, has its exceptions, as might be most strik ingly illustrated in the character of -, and some half-dozen or more of his proslavery coadjutors.

From whose hands did this man receive fifty thousand lollars-improperly, if not illegally, taken from the public funds in Washington? When did he receive it?and for what purpose?-and who was the arch-demagogue through whose agency the transfer was made? He was an oligarchical member of the Cabinet under Mr. Polk’s administration in 1845,-and the money was used,-and who can doubt intended?- for the express purpose of establishing another negro-driving journal to support the tottering fortunes of slavery/,From the second volume of a valuable political work, “by a Senator of thirty years,” we make the following pertinent extract: “The Globewas sold, and was paid for, and how? becomes a question of public concern to answer; for it was paid for out of public money-those same $50,000 which were removed to the village bank in the interior of Pennsylvania by a Treasury order on the fourth of November, 1844. Three annual installments made the payment, and the Treasury did not reclaim the money for these three years; and, though traveling thlrough tortuous channels the sharpsighted Mr. Rives traced the money back to its startting point from that dep(osit. Besides, Mr. Cameron, who had control of the village I ank, admitted before a committee of Congress, that he had furnished money for 104

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FREE AN’- THE’SLAVE STATES. :the payments an admission which the obliging Commit. tee, on request, left out of their report. Mr. Robert J. Walker was Secreta -y of the Treasury during these three years, and the conviction was absolute, among tlhe close observers of the course of things, that he was the prime contriver and zealous manager of the arrangements which displaced Mr. Blair and installed Mr. Ritchie.” Thus, if we are to believe Mr. Benton, in his i” Thirty fear’s View,” and we are disposed to regard him as good Authority, the Washington Union was brought into exitence under the peculiar auspices of the ostensible editor of the RPichmond Euquirer; and the two papers, fathered by the same individual, have gone hand in hand for thaq last dozen or thirteen years, the shameless advocates and defenders of human bondage. To suppose that either has been sustained by fairer means than it was commenced with, would be wasting imagination on a great improbability. Both have uniformly and pertinacicusly opposed every laudable enterprise that the white nonslaveholder has projected; indeed, so unmitigated has been their hostility to all manual pursuits in which their stupid and vulgar slaves can not be employed to advantage-and if there is any occupation under the sun in which they can be employed to good advantage, we known not what it isthat it is an extremely difficult matter to find a respectable merchant, mechanic, manufacturer, or business man of any calling whatever, within the boun Is of their circu tation. We have been credibly informed by a gentleman from -P,owha’.tt-i.ounty in Virginia, that-in the year 1S36 or ;* 105

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ‘37, or about that time, the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, of Bos ton, backed by his brother Amos and other millionaires of New England, went down to Richmond with the sole view of reconnoitering the manufacturing facilities of ihat place -fully determined, if pleased with the water-power, to erect a large number of cotton-mills and machine-shiops. Hie had been in the capital of Virginia only a day or two before he discovered, much to his gratification, that nature had shaped everything to his liking; and as he was a business nlan who transacted business in a business-like manner, he lost no time in making preliminary arrangements for the consummation of his noble purpose. His mission was one of peace and promise; others were to share the benefits of his laudable and concerted scheme; thousands of poor boys and girls in Virginia, instead of growing up in extreme poverty and ignorance, or of having to emigrate to the free States of the West, were to have avenues of profitable employment opened to them at home; thus they would be enabled to earn an honest and reputable living, to establish and sustain free schools, free libraries, free lectures, and free presses, to become useful and exemplary members of society, and to die fit candidates for heaven.

The magnanimous New Englander was in ecstasies with the prospect that opened before him. Individually, so far as mere money was concerned, he was perfectly independent; his industry and econ’ my in early life had secured to him the ownership and control of an ample fortune. With the aid of eleven other men, each equal to himself, he could have bought the whole -city of Richmoo, i negroes and all-though it is not to be pre. ioc

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TREE AND TIE SL.VE STATES. ~Amed that he would have disgraced his name by becoming a trader in human flesh. But he was not selfish; unlike the arrogant and illiberal slaveholder, he did not regard hiil self as the centre around whom everybody else should revolve. On the contrary, he was a genuine philanthropist. While, with a shrewdness that will command the admiration of every practical business man, he engaged in nothing that did not swell the dimensions of his own purse, he was yet always solicitous to invest his capital in a manner calculated to promote the interest of those around him. Nor was he satisfied with simply furnishing the means whereby his less fortunate neighbors were to become prosperous, intelligent and contented. With his generous heart and sagacious mind, he delighted to aid them in making a judicious application of his wealth to their own use.

MNoreover, as a member of society, he felt that the commIunity had some reasonable claims upon him, and he made it obligatory on himself constantly to devise plans and exert his personal efforts for the public good. Such was the character of the distinguished manufacturer who honored Richmond with his presence nineteen or twenty years ago; such was the character of the men whom he represented, and such were the grand designs which they sought to accomplish. To the enterprising and moneyed descendant of the Pilgrim Fathers it was a matter of no little astonishment, that the immense water-power of Richmond had been so long neglecte L IHe expressed his surprise to a number of Virginians-wnd was at a loss to know why they had not, long prior to the period of his visit amongst them, 101

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16 comrAltSoN AETwEE S; availed themselves of the powerful element tl it is eternally gishing and foaming over tlie falls of James River. Innocent man I He was utterly unconscious of the fact that he was “interfering with the beloved institutions of the South,” and little was he prepared to withstand the terrible denunciations that were immediately showered on his head through the columns of the Richmond Enquirer. Few words will suffice to tell the sequel.- That negroworshipping sheet, whose hireling policy, for the last four and twenty years, has been to support the worthless black slave and his tyrannical master at the expense of the free whlite laborer, wrote down the enterprise I and the noble son of New England, abused, insulted and disgusted, quietly returned to Massachusetts, and there employed his capital in building up the cities of Lowell and Lawrence, either of which, in all those elements of material and social prosperity that make up the greatness of States, is already far in advance of the most important of all the seody and squalid niggervilles in the Old Dominion. Such is an inkling of the infamous means that have been resort ed to, from time to time, for the purpose of upholding and perpetuating in America the accursed institution of slavery. Having in view all the foregoing facts, we were not in the least surpri,sed when, while walking through Hollywood Cemetery, in the western suburbs of Richmond, not long since, our companion, a Virginian of the true school, directed our attention to a monument of some pretentions, and exclaimed, ” There lie the remains of a man -upon whose monument should be inscribed in everlasting prom 108

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BE% ANtD THE iSIVE S;A’M. PS. inence the finger of scorn pointing downward.” The reader scarcely needs to be told that we were standing at the tomb of, who in the opinion of our friend, had, by concentrating within himself the views and rurposes of all the evil spirits in Virginia, greatly retarded thle abolition of slavery; so greatly, indeed, as, thereby, to throw the State at least fifty years behind her free competitors of the North, of the East, and of the West It is to be hoped that Virginia may never give birth to another man whose evil influence will so justly entitle him to the reprobation of posterity. How any rational man in this or any other country, with the astounding contrasts between Freedom and Slavery ever looming in his view, can offer an apology for the existing statism of the South, is to us a most inexplicable mystery. Indeed, we cannot conceive it possible that the conscience of any man, who is really sane, would permit him to become the victim of such an egregious and diabolical absurdity. Therefore, at this period of our history, with the light of the past, the reality of the present, and the prospect of the future, all so prominent and so palpable, we infer that every person who sets up an unequivocal defence of the institution of slavery, must, of necessity, be either a fool, a knave, or a madmarn It is much to be regretted that the slavocrats look at but one side of the question. Of all the fanatics in the country, they have, of late, become the most unreasonable and ridiculous. Let them deliberately view the subject of slavery in ul its aspects and bearings, and if they are possessed of honest hearts and convinciblo minds, they 109

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COMPARISON BETWEEL’ THE will readily perceive the grossness of their past errors, renounce their allegiance to a cause so unjust and disgracefil, and at once enroll themselves among the hosts of Freedom and the friends of universal Liberty. There are thirty-one States in the Union; let them drop California, dr any other new free State, and then institute fifteen comparisons, -first comparing NewYork with Virginiia, Pennsylvania with Carolina, Massachusetts with Georgia, and so on, until they have exhausted the catalogue. Then, for once, let them be bold enough to listen to the admonitions of their own souls, and if they do not soon start to their feet demanding the abolition of slavery, it will only be because they have reasons for suppressing their inmost sentiments. Whether we compare the old free States with the old slave States, or the new free States with the new slave States, the difference, unmistakable and astounding, is substantially the same. All the free States are alike, and all the slave States are alike. In the former, wealth, intelligence, power, progress, and prosperity, are the prominent characteristics; in the latter, poverty, ignorance, embecility, inertia, and extravatganie, are the distinguishing features. To be convinced, it is only necessary for us to open our eyes and look at facts -to examine the statistics of the country, to free ourselves from obstinacy and prejudice, and to unbar our minds to convictions of truth. Let figures be the umpire. Close attention to th, preceding and subsequent tables is all we ask; so soon as they shall be duly considered and under stood, the primary object of this work will have ibeen accomplished. I

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FREE AND THE SLAVE ST ES, Not contert with eating out the vitals of the South, slaver-, true to the character which it has acquired for insatiety and rapine, is beginning to make rapid encroachments on new territory; and as a basis for a fewv remarks on the blasting influence which it is shedding over the broad and fertile domains of the West, which in accordance with the views and resolutions offered by the immortal Jefferson, should have been irrevocably dedicated to freedom, we beg leave to call the attention of the reader to another presentation of the philosophy of free and slave labor. Says the North American and United States Gazette: We have but to compare the States, possessing equal natural advantages, in which the two kinds of labor are employed, in order to decide with entire confidence as to which kind is the more profitable.

At the origin cf the government, Virginia, with a much larger extent of territory than ‘NewYork, contained a population of seven hundred and fifty thousand, and sent ten representatives to Congress; while NewYork contained a population of three hundred and forty thousand, and sent six representatives to Congress. Behold how the figures are reversed. The population of NewYork is three and a half millions, represented by thirtythree members in Congress; while the poplulation of Virginia is but little more than one and a half millions, represented by thirteen members in Congress. It is the vital sap of free labor that makes the one tree so thrifty and vigorous, so capable of bearing with all ease the fruit of such a population. And it is slave labor which strikes a decadence through the other, drying up many of its branches’with a fearful sterility, and rendering the ii.

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COMI tRIS N BETWEEN THE rest but scantily fruitful; really incapable tf sustaining more. Look at Ohio, teeming with inhabitants, its soil loaded with every kind of agricultural wealth, its people engaged in every kind of freedom’s diversified, employ ments, abounding with numberless happy homes, and with all the trophies of civilization, and it exhibits the magic effect of free labor, waking a wilderness into life and beauty; while Kentucky, with equal or superior natural advantages, nature’s very garden in this Western world, which commenced its career at a much earlier date, and was in a measure populous when Ohio was but a slumbering forest, but which in all the elements of progress, is now left far, very far, behind its young rival, shows how slave labor hinders the development of wealth among a people, and brings a blight on their prosperity. The one is a grand and beautiful poem in honor of free labor. The other is an humble confession to the world of the inferiority of slave labor.” Equally significant is the testimony of Daniel R. Goodloe, of North Carolina, who says: “The history of the United States shows, that while the slave States increase in population less rapidly than the free, there is a tendency in slave society to diffusion, greater than is exhibited by free society. In fact, diffusion, or extension of area, is one of the necessities of slavery; thle prevention of which is regarded as directly and imme diately menacing to the existence of the institution This arises from the almost exclusive application of slave labcr to the one occupation of agriculture, and the-difficulty,. if not impossibility, of diversifying employments.-

Free soci. 112

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FEEg AND TRE SLA.- TATES. ety, on the contrary, has indefinite resources of Levelop. ment within a restricted area. It will far ex(el slave society in the cultivation of the ground-first, on account of the superior intelligence of the laborers; and secondly, in consequence of the greater and more various demands upon the earth’s products, where commerce, manufactures, and the arts, abound. Then, these arts of life, by bringing men together in cities and towns, and employing them in the manufacture or transportation of the raw materials of the farmer, give rise to an indefinite increase of wealth and population. The confinement of a free people within narrow limits seems only to develop new resources of wealth, comfort and happiness; while slave society, Apent up, withers and dies. It must continually be fed by new fields and forests, to be wasted and wilted under the poisonous tread of the slave.” Were we simply a freesoiler, or anything else less than a thorough and uncompromising abolitionist, we should certainly tax our ability to the utmost to get up a cogent argument against the extension of slavery over any part of our domain where it does not now exist; but as our principles are hostile to the institution even where it does exist, and, therefore, by implication and in fact, more hos tile still to its introduction into new territory, we forbear the preparation of any special remarks on this particular subject. AWith’

regard to the unnational and demoralizing institu. tion of slavery, we believe the majority of Northern people are too scrupulous. They seem to think that it is enough for them to be mere freesoilers, to keep in chl-eck the diffu 113

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COMPARISON BETWEEN’ THE’ sive element (f slavery, and to prevent it from crossing over the bounds within which it is now regulated by municipal law. Remiss in their national duties, as we contend, they make no positive attack upon the institution in the Southern States. Only a short while since, one of their ablest journals-the North Americat acd Uiited States Gazette, published in Philadelphia-made use of the following language: “With slavery in the States, we make no pretence of having anything politically to do. For better or for worse, the system belongs solely to the people of those States; and is separated by an impassable gulf of State sovereignty from any legal intervention of ours. We cannot vote it down any more than we can vote down the institution of caste in Hindostan, or abolish polygamy in the Sultan’s dominions. Thus, precluded from all political action in reference to it, prevented from touching one stone of the edifice, not the slightest responsibility attaches to us as citizens for its continued existence. But on the question of extending slavery over the free Territories of the United States, it is our right, it is our imperative duty to think, to feel, to speak and to vote. We cannot interfere to cover the shadows of slavery with the sunshine of freedom, but we can interfere to prevent the sunshine of freedom from being eclipsed by the shadows of slavery. We can interpose to stay the progress of that institution, which aims to drive free labor from its own heritage.

Kansas should be divided up into countless homes for the ownership of men who have a right to the fruit of their own labors Free labor would make it bud and blossom like the rose; 114

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TREE AND THE SLSE STATE S. would cover it with beauty, and draw from it boundless wealth; would throng it with population; would make States, nations, empires out of it, prosperous, powerful, intelligent and free, illustrating on a wide theatre the beneficent ends of Providence ill the formation of our government, to advance and elevate thile millions of our race, arMd, like the heart in the body, from its central position, sending out on every side, far and near, the vital influences of freedom and civilization. May that region, therefore,’ be secured to free labor.” Now we fully and heartily indorse every line of the latter part of this extract; but, with all due-deference to our sage cotemporary, we do most emphatically dissent from the sentiments embodied in the first part. Pray, permit us to ask-have the people of the North no interest in the United States as a nation, and do they not see that slavery is a great injury and disgrace to the whoie coqiztry? Did they not, in “the days that tried men’s souls,” strike as hard blows to secure the independence of Georgia as they did in defending the liberties of Massachllusetts, and is it not notoriously true that the Toryism of South. Carolina prolonged the war two years at least? Is it iot, moreover, equally true that the oligarchs of South Carolina have been unmitigated pests and bores to the General Government ever since it was organized, and that the free and conscientious people of the North are virtually excluded from her soil, in consequence of slavery? It is a well-known and incontestible fact, that thi’e Nortlhc-rn State(s furnished about two-thirds of all the A nerican troops engaged in the Revolutionary War; and, 115

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co( cM AniO ()D teWet l ]I though they were neither more nor less brave or patri otic than their fellow-soldiers of the South, yet, inasmuch as the independence of our country was mainly secured by virtue of their numerical strength, we think they ought to consider it not only their right but their duty to make a firm and decisive effort to save the States which they fought to free, from falling under the yoke of a worse ty.

ranny than that which overshadowed them under the reign of King George the Third. Freemen of the North I we earnestly entreat you to think of these things. Hitherto, as mere freesoilers, you have approached but half-way to the line of your duty; now, for your own sakes and for ours, and for the purpose of perpetuating this glorious Republic, which your fathers and our fathers founded in septennial streams of blood, we ask you, in all seriousness, to organize yourselves as one man under the banners of Liberty, and to aid us in extermiznating slavery, which is the only thing that militates against our complete aggrandizement as a nation. In this extraordinary crisis of affairs, no man can be a true patriot without first becoming an abolitionist. (A freesoller is only a tadpole in an advanced state of transformation; an abolitionist is the full and perfectly developed frog.) And here, perhaps, we may be pardoned for the digression necessary to show the exact definition of the terms abolish, abolition and abolitionist. We have looked in vain for an explanation of the signification of these words in any Southern publication; for no dictionary has ever yet been published in the South, nor is there the east probability that one ever will be published within her bor 116 ,r

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FrEE A! THE SLAV STATES. ders, until slavery is abolished; but, thanks to Heaven, a portion of this continent is what our Revolutionary Fath ers and the Fathers of the Constitution fought and labored and prayed to make it-a land of freedom, of power, of progress, of prosperity, of intelligence, of religion, of literature, of commerce, of science, of arts, of agriculture, of mianufactures, of ingenuity, of enterprise, of wealth, of renown, of goodness, and of grandeur From that glorious part of our confederacy-from the North, whence, on account of slavery in the South, we are under the humiliating necessity of procuring almost everything that is useful or ornamental, from primers to Bibles, from wafers to printing-presses, from ladles to locomotives, and from portfolios to portraits and pianos-comes to us a huge volume bearing the honored name of Webster -Noah Webster, who, after thirtyfive years of unremitting toil, completed a work which is, we believe, throughout Great Britain and the United States, justly regarded as the standard vocabulary of the English language and in it the terms abolish, abolition, and abolitionist, are defined as fold lows: “Abolish, v. t. To make void; to annul; to abrogate; applied chiefly and appropriately to establish laws, contracts, rites, customs and institutions; as to abolish laws by a repeal, actual or virtual. To destroy or put an end to; as to abolish idols.” “Abolition, n. The act of abolishing; or the state of bbing abolished; an annulling; abrogation; utter destruction; as the abolition of laws, decrees, or ordinances, rites, customs, &e. The ,utting an end to slavery; emancipation.”

“Abolitionist, n. A person who favors abolition, oi the ignm.dia’e emancipation of.slavs” -1’II

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COMPARISON BETWEEN TliE There, gentlemen of the South, you have (be definitions of the transitive verb abolish and it, two derivative noins, abolition and abolitionist; can you, with the keenest possible penetration of vision, detect in either of these words even a tittle of the opprobrium which the oligarchs, in their wily aLd inhuman efforts to enslave all working classes irrespective of race or color, have endeavored to attach to them? We know you cannot; abolition is but another name for patriotism, and its other special synonyms are generosity, magnanimity, reason, prudence, wisdom, religion, progress, justice, and humanity. And here, by the way, we may as well explain whom we refer to when we speak of gentlemen of the South. We say, therefore, that, deeply impressed with the conviction that slavery is a great social and political evil, a sin and a crime, ill the fullest sense, whenever we speak of gentlemen of the South, or of gentlemen anywhere, or at whatever time, or in whatever connection we may speak of gentlemen, we seldom allude to slaveholders, for the simple reason that, with few exceptions, we cannot conscientiously recognize them as gentlemen. It is only in those rare instances where the crime is mitigated by circumstances over which the slaveholder has had no control, or where he himself, convinced of the impropriety, the folly and the wickedness of the institution, is anxious to abolish it, that we can sincerely apply to him the sacred appellation in questionian appellation which we would no sooner think of applying to a proslavery slaveholder, or any other proslavery man, than we would think of applying it to a border-ruffian, a thief or a murderer. Let it be under 118

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FREE AND THE SLAVE -ST ES. stood, however, that the rare instances of which we speak are less rare than many persons may suppose. We are personally acquainted with several slaveholders in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, who have unreservedly assured us that they were disgusted with the institution, and some of them went so far as to say they woul A glad to acquiesce in the provision of a statute whicn could malre it obligatory on them all to manumnit their slaves, wituout the smallest shadow or substance of compensation. These, we believe, are the sentiments of all the respectable and patriotic slaveholders, who have eyes to see, and see-ears to hear, and hear; who, perceiving the impoverishing and degrading effects of slavery, are unwilling to entail it on their chllildren, and who, on account of their undeviating adherence to truth and justice, are, like the more intelligent nonslaveholders, worthy of being regarded as gentlemen in every sense of the term. Such slaveholders were Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and other illustrious Virginians, who, in the language of the great chief himself, declared it among their “first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery, in this country, may be abolished by law.” The words embraced within this quotation were used by Washington, in a letter to John F. Mcrcer, dated September 9th, 1786-a letter from which we shall quot9 more freely hereafter; and we think his emphatic use of the participle abolished, at that early day, is proof positive that the glh)rious -“Father of his Country” is entitled to the first plane in the calendar of primitive American aboe litionists. I’!-9

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THll It is against slavery on the whole, and against slave holders as a body, that we wage an exterminating war. Those persons who, under the infamous slave-laws of the South-laws which have been correctly spoken of as a “disgrace to civilization,” and which must be annulled iimultaneously with the abolition of slavery-have had the vile institution entailed on them contrary to their wills, are virtually on our side; we may, therefore, very properly strike them off from the black list of three bundred and forty-seven thousand slaveholders, who, as a body, have shocked the civilized world with their barbarous conduct, and from whose conceited and presumptuous ranks are selected the officers who do all the legislation, town, county, state and national, for (against) five millions of poor outraged whites, and three millions of enslaved negroes.

Nonslaveholders of the South I farmers, mechanics and workingmen, we take this occasion to assure you that the laveholders, the arrogant demagogues whom you have ,elccted to offices of honor and profit, have hoodwinked you, trifled with you, and used you as mere tools for tho consummation of their wicked designs. They have purposely kept you in ignorance, and have, by moulding your passions and prejudices to suit themselves, induced you to act in direct opposition to your dearest rights and interests. By a system of the grossest subterfuge and misrepr(sentation, and in order to avert, for a season, the vengeance that will most assuredly overtake them ere long, they have taught you to hate the abolitionists, who are your best and only true friends. Now, as one -of Y

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FREE AND THE SLaaE STATES. own number, we appeal to you to join us in our patriotic endeavors to rescue the generous soil of the South from the usurped and desolating control of these political vampires. Once and forever, at least so far as this country is c u( erned, the infernal question of slavery must be disposed of; a speedy and perfect abolishment of the whole institution is the true policy of the South-and this is the p)olicy which we propose to pursue. Will you aid -us, will you assist us, will you be freemen, or will you be slaves? These are questions of vital importance; weigh them well in your minds; come to a prudent and firm decision, and hold yourselves in readiness to act in accordance therewith.

You must either be for us or against us-antislavery or proslavery; it is impossible for you to occupy a neutral ground; it is as certain as fate itself, that if you do not voluntarily oppose the usurpations and outrages of the slavocrats, they will force you into involuntary compliance with their infamous measures. Consider well the aggressive, fraudulent and despotic power which they have exercised in the affairs of Kanzas; and remember that, if, by adhering to erroneous principles of neutrality or non-resistance, you allow them to force the curse of slavery on that vast and fertile field, the broad area of all the surrounding States and Territories-the whole nation, in fact-will soon fall a prey to their diabolical intrigues and machinations. Thus, if you are not vigilant, will they take advantage of your neutrality, and make you and others the victims of their inhuman despotism. Do not leserve the strength of your arms until you shall have been rendered powerless to strike; the present is the 6 121

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THIE STATES. proper time for action; under all the circumstai ces, apathy or indifference is a crime. First ascertain, as nearly as you can, the precise nature and extent of your duty, and then, with)ut a moment’s delay, perform it in good faith. To facilitate you in determining what considera. tions of right, justice and humanity require at your hands, is one of the primary objects of this work; and we shall certainly fail in our desire if we do not accomplish oui task in a manner acceptable to God and advantageous to man. But we are carrying this chapter beyond all ordinary bounds; and yet, there are many important particulars in which we have drawn no comparison between the free and the slave States. The more weighty remarks which we intended to offer in relation to the new States of the West and Southwest, free and slave, shall appear in the succeeding chapter. With regard to agriculture, and all the multifarious interests of husbandry, we deem it quite unnecessary to say more. Cotton has been shorn of its magic power, and is no longer King; dried grass, commonly called hay, is, it seems, the rightful heir to the throne. Commerce, Manufactures, Literature, and other important subjects, shall be considered as we progress. 122

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. CHAPTER II. HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED.

PRE.IM-NARY to our elucidation of what we conceive to be the most discreet, fair and feasible plan for the abolition of slavery, we propose to offer a few additional reasons why it should be abolished Among the thousand and one arguments that present themselves in support of our position-which, before we part with the reader, we shall endeavor to define so clearly, that it shall be regarded as ultra only by those who imperfectly understand it.- is the influence which slavery invariably exercises in depressing the value of real estate; and as this is a matter in which the nonslaveholders of the South, of the WVest, and of the Southwest, are most deeply interested, we shall discuss it in a sort of preamble of some length. The oligarchs say we cannot abolish slavery without infringing on the right of property. Again we tell them we do not recognize property in man; but even if we did, and if we were to inventory the negroes at quadruple, the value of their last assessment, still,/Impelled by a sense of duty to others, and as a matter of simple justice to ourselves, we, the nonslaveholders of the South, would be fully warranted in emancipating all the slaves at once, and that, too, without any compensation whatever to : -” I I 123

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABCI.ISHED. those who claim t) be their absolute masters and owners We will explain. In 1850, the average value per acre, of land in the Northern States was $28,07; in the North. western $11,39; in the Southern $5,34; and in the South western $6,26. Now, in consequence of numerous natural advantages, among which may be enumerated the greater mildness of climate, richness of soil, deposits of precious metals, abundance and spaciousness of harbors, and superexcellence of water-power, we contend that, had it not been for slavery, the average value of land in all the Southern and Southwestern States, would have been at least equal to the average value of the same in the Northern States. We conclude, therefore, and we think the conclusion is founded on principles of equity, that ycu, the slaveholders, are indebted to us, the non-slaveholdel s, in the sum of $22,73, which is the difference between $28,07 and $5,34, on every acre of Southern soil in our possession. This claim we bring against you, because slavery, which has inured exclusivelato your own benefit, if, indeed, it has been beneficial at an, has shed a blighlt ing influence over our lands, thereby keeping them out of market, and damaging every acre to the amount specified. Sirs! are you ready to settle the account?

Let us see how much it is. There are in the fifteen slave States, 346,048
slaveholders, and 544,926,720 acres of land. Now the object is to ascertain how many acres are owned by slaveholders, and now many by nonslaveholders. Sup pose we estimate five hundred acres as the average landed property of each slaveholder; will that be fair? We think i vill, taking into consideration the fact that 17,,5r03 124

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. of the wl ole number of slaveholders hold less than five slaves eachi-68,820 holding only one each. Accord(ing to this hypothesis, the slaveholders own 173,024,000 acres, and the nonslaveholders the balance, with the exception of about 40,000,000 of acres, which belong to the General government. The case may be stated thus: Area of the Slave States 544,926,720 acrcs. Acres owned by slaveholders.. 173,024,000 Estimates Acres owned by the government 40,000,000-213,024,000 Acres owned by nonslaveholders……….

331,902,720 Now, chevaliers of the lash, and worshippers of slavery, the total value of three hundred and thirty-one million nine hundred and two thousand seven hundred and twenty acres, at twenty-two dollars and seventy-three cents per acre, is seven billion five hundred and fortyfour million one hundred and forty-eig,ht thousand eight hundred and twentyfive dollars; and this is our account against you on a single score. Considering how your villainous institution has retarded the development of our commercial and manufacluring interests, how it has stifled the aspirations of inventive genius; and, above all, how it has barred from us the heaven-born sweets of literature and religion-concernments too sacred to be estimated in a pecuniary point c,f view-might we not, with perfect justicp and propriety, duplicate the amount, and still be accounted modest in our demands? Fully advised, however, of your indi. gent circumstances, we feel it would be utterly useless to call on you for the whole amount that is due us; we shall, therefore, in your behalf, make anotLer draft on the fund of nonslaveholding generosity, and let the account, meagre as it is, stand as above. Though we have given 125

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HOW SLAVE tY CAN BE ABOLISHED. you all the offices, and you have given us none of tbe benefits of legislation; though we have fotught the batt1e of the South, while you were either lolling ini) your pia7zaa, or playing the tory, and endeavoring to filch from us our birthright of freedom; though you have absorbed tlhe wealth of our communities in sending your own childreito Northern seminaries and colleges, or in employing Yanikee teachers to officiate exclusively in your own families, and have refused to us the limited privilege of cormmon schools; though you have scorned to patronize our meclanics and industrial enterprises, and have passed to the North for every article of apparel, utility, and adornment; and though you have maltreated, outraged and defrauded us in every relation of life, civil, social, and political, yet we are willing to forgive and forget y(ou, if you will butl (. us justice on a single count. Of you, the introduce-. aiders and abettors of slavery, we demand indemnificati(,, for the damage our lands have sustained on account there ef; the amount of that damage is $7,544,148,825; aiw now, Sirs, we are ready to receive the money, and if it it perfectly convenient to yol, we would be glad to have you pay it in specie I It will not avail you, Sirs, to pa,rley (X
prevaricate. Wre must have a settlement. Our claim:s just and overdue. We have already indulged you to long. Your criminal extravagance hlas almost ruined rv. We are determined that you shall no longIer play the pro fligate, and fair sumptuously every day at our expendn9 How do you propose to settle? Do you offer us your vi groes in part payment? We do not want your negroes We would not have all of them, nor any number of them, 126

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HOW SLAVERY CA’I BE ABOLISHED. even as a gift. We hold ourselves above the isreputable and iniquitous practices of buying, selling, and owning slaves. AVhat we demand is damages in money, or other absolute property, as an equivalent for the pecuniary losses we have suffered at your hands.

You value your negroes at sixteen hundred millions of dollars, and propose to sell them to us for that sum; we should consider ourselves badly cheated, and disgraced for all time, here and hereafter, if we were to take them off your hands at sixteen farthings I We tell you emphatically, we are firmly resolved never to degrade ourselves by becoming the mercenary purchasers or proprietors of human beings. Except for the purpose of liberating them, we would not give a handkerchief or a tooth-pick for all the slaves in the world. But, in order to show how brazenly absurd are the howls and groans which you invariably set up for compensation, whenever we speak of the abolition of slavery, we will suppose your negroes are worth all you ask for them,.and that we are bound to secure to you every cent of the sum before they can become free-in which case, our accounts would stand thus: Nonslaveholder’s account against Slaveholders……$7,544,148,825 Slaveholder’s account against Nonslaveholders…….1,600,000,000 Balance due Nonslaveholders…………. $5,944,148,825 Now, Sirs, we ask you in all seriousness, Is it not true that you have filched from us nearly five times the amount of the assessed value of your slaves? Why, then, do you still clamorfor more? Is it your purpose to make the game perpetual? Think you that we will ever continue to b.w at the wave of your wand, that we will bring 127

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HOW SLAV ERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. humanity into everlasting disgrace by licking the hand that smites us, and that with us there is no poi at beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue? Sits, if these be your thoughts, you are laboring under a most fatal delusion. You can goad us no further; you shall oppress us no longer; heretofore, earnestly but submissively, we have asked you to redress the more atrocious outrages which you have perpetrated against us; but what has been the invariable fate of our petitions? With scarcely a perusal, with a degree of. contempt that added insult to injury, you have laid them on the table, and from thence they have been swept into the furnance of oblivion.jHenceforth, Sirs, we are demandants, not suppliants. We demand our rights, nothing more, nothing less. It is for you to decide whether we are to have justice peaceably or by violence, for whatever consequences may follow, we are determined to have it one way or the other. Do you aspire to become the victims of white nonslaveholding vengeance by day, and of barbarous massacre by the negroes at night? Would you be instrumental in bringing upon yourselves, your wives, and your children, a fate too horrible to contemplate? shall history cease to cite, as an instance of unexampled cruelty, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, because the world-the South-shall have furnished a more direful scene of atrocity and carnage?

Sirs, we would not wantonly pluck a single hair from your heads; but we have endured long, we have endured much; slaves only of the most despicable class would endeure An enumeration or classificationof all the abuses, insults wrongs, injuries, usurpations, and oppres 128

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOULISHED. 3iins, to which you have subjected us, would fill a larger volume than this; it is our purpose, therefore, to speak )nly of those that affect us most deeply. Out of our effects your have long since overpaid yourselves for your negroes and now, Sirs, you must emancipate them-speedily emanzipate them, or we will emancipate them for you I Every ion-slaveholdei in the South is, or ought to be, and will t)e, against you. You yourselves ought to join us atonce ,n our laudable crusade against “the mother of harlots” Slavery has polluted and impoverished your lands; freedom will restore them to their virgin purity, and add from twenty to thirty dollars to the value of every acre.

Correctly speaking, emancipation will cost you nothing; the moment you abolish slavery, that very moment will the putative value of the slave become actual value in the soil. Though there are ten millions of people in the South, and though you, the slaveholders, are only three hundred and forty-seven thousand in number,: you have within a fraction of onethird of all the territory belonging to the fifteen slave States. You have a landed estate of 173,024,000 acres, the present average market value of which is only $5,34 per acre; emancipate your slaves on Wednesday morning, and on the Thursday following the value of your lands, and ours too, will have increased to an avers age of at least $28,07 per acre. Let us see, therefore, even in this one particular, whether the abolition of slavery will not be a real pecuniary advantage to you The present total market value of all your landed property, at $5,34 per acre, is only $923,248,160! With the beauty ail-sunligh of freedom beaming on the same estate, it 129

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. would be worth, at $28,07 per acre, $4,856,873,680 ThE former sum, deducted from the latter, leaves a balance )I $3,933,535,520, and to the full extent of this amount wil your lands be increased in value whenever you abolisi slavery; that is, provided you abolish it before it corn pletely “dries up all the organs of increase.”

Here is X more manifest and distinct statement of the case: Present value of slaveholders’ lands……………. 923,248,160 Probable aggregate enhancement of value…….. $3,933,535,520 Now, Sirs, this last sum is considerably more than twice as great as the estimated value of your negroes; and those of you, if any there be, who are yet heirs to sane minds and honest hearts, must, it seems to us, admit that th( bright prospect which freedom presents for a wonderftu increase in the value of real estate, ours as well as yours: to say nothing of the thousand other kindred considerations, ought to be quite sufficient to induce all the SouthlerL, States, in their sovereign capacities, to abolish slavery at the earliest practical period. You yourselves, instead of losing anything by the emancipation of your negroeseven though we suppose them to be worth every dime of $1,600,000,000-would, in this one particular, the increased value of land, realize a net profit of over twenty three hutndreo milh$ons of dollars! Here are the exact figures: Net increment of value which it is estimated will accrue to slaveholders’ lands ill consequence $3,933,535,520 of the abolition of slavery…………….. P,ative value of the slaves………………. 1,600,000,000 Slaveholders’ es’timated net landed profits of eman. $2,333,5356,520 130

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. What is the import of these figures? They are full of meaning. They proclaim themselves the financial intercessors for freedom, and, with that open-hearted liberality which is so characteristic of the sacred cause iii whose behalf they plead, they propose to pay you upward of three thousand nine hundred millions of dollars for the very “property” which you, in all the reckless extravagance of your inhuman avarice, could not find a heart to price at more than one thousand six hundred millions. In other words, your own lands, groaning and languishing under the monstrous burden of slavery, announce their willingness to pay you all you ask for the negroes, and offer you, besides, a bonus of more than twenty-three hundred millions of dollars, if you will but convert those lands into free soil I Our lands, also, cry aloud to be spared from the further pollutions and desolations of slavery; and now, Sirs, we want to know explicitly whether, or not, it is your intention to heed these lamentations of the ground? We want to know whether you are men ordevils-whether you are entirely selfish and cruelly dishonest, or whether you have any respect for the rights of others. We, the nonslaveholders of the South, have many very important interests at stake-interests which, heretofore, you have steadily despised and trampled under foot, but which, henceforth, we shall foster and defend in utter defiance of all the unhallowed influences which it is possible for you, or any other class of slaveholders or slavebreeders to bring against us. Not the least-among these interests is our landed property, which, to command a decent price, only needs to be disencumbered of slavery. 131

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOUSHED. In his present condition, we believe man exercises one of the noblest virtues with which heaven has endowed him, when, without taking any undue advantage of his fellowmen, and with a firm, unwavering purpose to confine his expenditures to the legitimate pursuits and pleasures of life, he covets money and strives to accumulate it. Entertaining this view, and having no disposition to make an improper use of money, we are free to confess that we have a greater penchant for twenty-eight dollars than for five; for ninety than for fifteen; for a thousand than for one hundred. South of Mason and Dix-u’s line we, the nonslaveholders, have 331,902,720 acres of land, the present average market value of which, as previously stated, is only $5,34 per acre; by abolishing slavery we expect to enhance the value to an average of at least $28,07 per acre, and thus realize an average net increase of wealth of more than seventy-five hundred millions of dollars. The hope of realizing smaller sums has frequently induced men to perpetrate acts of injustice; we can see no reason why the certainty of becoming immensely rich in real estate, or other property, should make us falter in the performance of a sacred duty. As illustrative of our theme, a bit of personal history may not be out of place in this connection. Only a few months have elapsed since we sold to an elder brother an interest we held in an old homestead which was willed to us many years ago by our dear departed father. The tract of land, containing two hundred acres, or thereabouts, is situated two and a half miles west of Mocksville, the cap.

ital of Davie ( )unty, North Carolina, and is very nearly 132

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED equally divided by Bear Creek, a small tributary of the South Yadkin. More than onethird of this tracton which we have plowed, and hoed, and harrowed, many a long summer without ever suffering from the effects of coup de soleil-is under cultivation; the remaining portion is a well-timbered forest, in which, without being very particular, we counted, while hunting through it not long since, sixtythree different kinds of indigenous trees-to say nothing of either coppice, shrubs or plants-among which the hickory, oak, ash, beech, birch, and black walnut, were most abundant. No turpentine or rosin is produced in our part of the State; but there are, on the place of which we speak, several species of the genus Pinus, by the light of whose flammable knots, as radiated on the contents of some half-dozen old books, which, by hook or by crook, had found their way into the neighborhood, we have been ena bled to turn the long winter evenings to our advantage, and have thus partially escaped from the prison-grounds of those loathsome dungeons of illiteracy in which it has been the constant policy of the oligarchy to keep the masses, the nonslaveholding whites and the negroes, forever con fined. The fertility of the soil may be inferred from the quality and variety of its natural productions; the meadow and the bottom, comprising, perhaps, an area of forty acres, are hardly surpassed by the best lands in the valley of the Yadkin. A thorough examination of the orchard will disclose the fact that considerable attention has been paid to the selection of fruits; the buildings are tolerable; the water is good.

Altogether, to be frank, and nothing riore, it is, for its size, Eie of the most desirable farms in 133,

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. the c)uinty, and will, at any time, command the maximunim price of land in Western Carolina. Our brother, anxious to become the sole proprietor, readily agreed to give us thle highest market price, which we shall publish by-and bye. While reading the Baltimore Sun, the morning after we had made the sale, our attention was allured to a paragraph headed ” Sales of Real Estate,” from which, among other significant items, we learned that a tract of land containing exactly two hundred acres, and occupying a portion of one of the rural districts in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, near the Maryland line, had been sold the week before, at on hundred and five dollars and fifty cents per acre. Judging from the succinct account given in the Sun, we are of the opinion that, with regard to fertility of soil, the Pennsylvania tract always has been, is now, and perhaps always will be, rather inferior to the one under special consideration. One is of the same size as the other; both are used for agricultural purposes; in all probability the only essential difference between them is this: one is blessed with the pure air of freedom, the other is cursed with the malaria of slavery. For our interest in the old homestead we received a nominal sum, amounting to an average of precisely five dollars and sixty cents per acre. No one but our brother, who was keen for the purchase, would have given us quite so much.

And, now, pray let us ask, what does this narrative teach? We shall use few words in explanation; there is an extensive void, but it can be better filled with reflection. The aggregate value of the one tract is $21,100; that of the otl’e” is only $1,120; the difference is $19,980. Weo 134

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. contend, therefore, in view of all the circumstances de tailed, that the advocates and retainers of slavery, have, to all intents and purposes, defrauded our family out of this last-mentioned sum. In like manner, and on the san,e basis of deduction, we contend that almost every nonrlaveholder, who either is or has been the owner of real estate in the South, would, in a court of strict justice, I)( entitled to damages-the amount in all cases to be d( termined with reference to the quality of the land in ques tion. WNVe say this because, in violation of every principle of expediency, justice, and humanity, and in direct oppo sition to our solemn protests, slavery was foisted upon us.

and has been thus far perpetuated, by and through the diabolical intrigues of the oligarchs, and by them alone and furthermore, because the very best agricultural lan(d, in the Northern States being worth from one hundred 1, one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre, there is it possible reason, except slavery, why the more fertile aiid congenial soil of the South should not be worth at leart as much. If, on this principle, we could ascertain, in thf matter of real estate, the total indebtedness of the slaveholders to the nonslaveholders, we should doubtless find the sum quite equivalent to the amount estimated on preceding page-

$7,544,148,825. We have recently conversed with two gentlemen who to save themselves from the poverty and disgrace of slavery, left North Carolina six or seven years ago, an,. who are now residing in theterritory of Minnesota, whern they have accumulated handsome fortunes. One of theij had traveled extensivel, iui Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, 135

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. Indiana, and other adjoining States; and, according to his account, and we know him to be a man of veracity, it is almost impossible for persons at a distance, to form a proper conception of the magnitude of the difference be tween the current value of lands in the Free and the Slave States of the West. On one occasion, embarking at Wheeling, he sailed down the Ohio; Virgina and Ken tucky on the one side, Ohio and Indiana on the other. He stopped at several places along the river, first on the right bank, then on the left, and so on, until he arrived at Evans ville; continuing his trip, he sailed down to Cairo, thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Des Moines; having tarried at different points along the route, sometimes in Missouri, sometimes in Illinois. Wherever he landed on free soil, he found it from one to two hundred per cent. more valuable than the slave soil on the opposite bank.

If, for instance, the maximum price of land was eight dollars in Kentucky, the minimum price was sixteen in Ohio; if it was seven dollars in Missouri, it was fourteen in Illinois. Furthermore, he assured us, that, so far as he could learn, two years ago, when he traveled through the States of which we speak, the range of prices of agricultural lands, in Kentucky, was from three to eight dollars per acre; in Ohio, from sixteen to forty; in Missouri, from two to seven; in Illinois, from fourteen to thirty; in Arkansas, from one to four; in Iowa, from six to fifteen. In all the old slave States, as is well known, there are vast bodies of land that can be bought for the merest trifle. We know an enterprising capitalist in Philadel. phia, who owns in his individual name, in the State of 136

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. Virgirua, one hudred and thirty thousand acres, for whi’i he paid only thirty-seren and a half cents per acre I Some years ago, in certain parts of North Carolina, several large tracts were purchased at the rate of twent-five cents per acre I Hiram Berdan, the distinguished inventor, who has fre quently seen freedom and slavery side by side, and who is, therefore, well qualified to form an opinion of their relative influence upon society, says: “Many comparisons might be drawn between the free and the slave States, either of which should be sufficient to satisfy any man that slavery is not only ruinous to free labor and enterprise, but injurious to morals, and blighting to the soil where it exists The comparison between the States of Michigan and Arkansas, which were admitted into the Union at the same time, will fairly illustrate the difference and value of free and slave labor. as well as the difference of moral and intellectual progress in a free and in a slave State. In 1836 these young Stars were admitted into the constellation of the Union. Michigan, with onehalf the extent of territory of Arkansas, challenged her sister State for a twenty years’ race, and nanled as her rider,‘Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this State.’ Arkansas accepted the challenge, and named as her rider,‘The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners.’ Thus mounted, these two States, the one free and the other slave, started together twenty years ago, and now, having arrived at the end of the proposed race, let us review and mark the progress of each. Michigan comes out in 1856 with three times the population of slave Arkansas, with five times the assessed value of farms, farming, implements and machinery and with eight times the number of public schools.” In the foregoing part of our work, we have drawn com 137

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HOW SLAVERY CAN. E ABOLISHED parisotls between the old free States and the old slave States, and between the new free States and the new slave States; had we sufficient time and space, we might with the most significant results, change this method of comparison, by contrasting the new free States with the old slave States. Can the slavocrats compare Ohio with Virginia, Illinois with Georgia, or Indiana with South Carolina, without experiencing the agony of inexpressible shame? If they can, then indeed has slavery debased them to a lower deep than we care to contemplate. Herewith we present a brief contrast, as drawn by a Mfaryland abolitionist, between the most important old slave State and the most important new free State: ” Virginia was a State, wealthy and prosperous, when Ohio wab a wilderness belonging to her. She gave that territory away, and what is the result? Ohio supports a population of two million souls, and the mother contains but one and a half millions; yet Virginia is onethird larger than the Buckeye State. Virginia contains 61,000 square miles, Ohio but 40.000. The latter sustains 50 persons to the square mile, while Virginia gives employment to but 25 to the square mile.

Notwithstanding Virginia’s superiority in years and in soil-for she grows tobacco as well as corn and wheat-notwithstanding her immense coal-fields, and her splendid Atlantic ports, Ohio, the infant State, had 21
representatives in Congress in 1850, while Virginia had T)ut 13-the latter having comntenced in the Union with 10 Congressmen. Compare the progress of these States, and then say, what is it but Free Libor that has advanced Ohio? and to what, except slavery, can we attribute the non-progression of the Old Dominion?” As a striking illustration of the selfish and debasing influences which slavery exercises over the hearts and minds of slaveholders themselves, we will hlere state the 138

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HOW SLA! ERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. ract that, when we, the nonslaveholders, remonstrat( against the continuance of such a manifest wrong and iD
humanity-a system of usurpation and outrage so obvi ously detrimental to our interests-they fly into a terrible passion, exclaiming, among all sorts of horrible threats, whicl are not unfrequently executed, “It’s none of your business I”-meaning to say thereby that their slaves do not annoy us, that slavery affects no one except the mas ters and their chattels personal, and that we should give ourselves no concern about it, whatever I To every mian of common sense and honesty of purpose the preposterqpsness of this assumption is so evident, that any studied attempt to refute it would be a positive insult. Would it be none of our business, if they were to bring the small-pox into the neighborhood, and, with premeditated design, let “foul contagion spread?” Or, if they were to throw a, pound of strychnine into a public spring, would that be none of our business? Were they to turn a pack of mad dogs loose on the community, would we be performing the part of good citizens by closing ourselves within doors for the space of nine days, saying nothing to anybody?

Small-pox is a nuisance; strychnine is a nuisance; ma(i dogs are a nuisance; slavery is a nuisance; slaveholders are a nuisance, and so are slavebreeders; it is our business, nay, it is our imperative duty, to abate nuisances; we propose, therefore, with the exception of strychnine, which is the least of all these nuisances, to exterminate this catalogue from beginning to end. We mean precisely what our words express, when we say we believe thieves are, as a general rule, less amene-. 139

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HOW SL,VERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. I)le to the moral law than slaveholders; and here is the basis of our opinion: Ordinarily, thieves wait until we acquire a considerable amount of property, and then they steal a dispensable part of it; but they deprive no one of physical liberty, nor do they fetter the mind; slaveholders, )n the contrary, by clinging to the most barbarous relic of the most barbarous age, bring-disgrace on themselves, their neighbors, and their country, depreciate the value of their own and others’ lands, degrade labor, discourage energy and progress, prevent nonslaveholders from accunmlating wealth, curtail their natural rights and privileges, doom their children to ignorance, and all its attendanlt evils, rob the negroes of their freedom, throw a damper on every species of manual and intellectual enterprise, that is not projected under their own roofs and for their own advantage, and, by other means equally at variance with the principles of justice, though but an insignificant fractional part of the population, they constitute themselves the sole arbiters and legislators for the entire South. Not merely so; the thief rarely steals from more than one man out of an hundred; the slaveholder defrauds ninety and nine, and the hundredth does not escape im. Again, thieves steal trifles from rich men; slaveholders oppress poor men, and enact laws for the perpetuation of their poverty.

Thieves practice deceit on the wise; slaveholders take advantage of the ignorant. We contend, moreover, that slaveholders are more crim inal than common murderers. We know all slaveholders would not Wilfully imbue their hands in the blood of their fellowmen; but i, is x fact, nevertheless, that all slave. 140

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ROW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. holders are unider the shield of a perpetual license tc murder. This license they have issued to themselves. At cording to their own infamous statutes, if the slave raises his hand to ward off an unmerited blow, they are permnit ted to take his life with imnpunity.

We are personally acquainted with three ruffians who have become actual murderers under circumstances of this nature. One of them killed two negroes on one occasion; the other two have murdered but one each. Neither of them has eveibeen subjected to even the preliminaries of a trial; not one of them has ever been arrested; their own private expl.nations of the homicides exculpated them from all manner of blame in the premises. They had done’nothing m rong in the eyes of the community. The negroes made an effort to shield themselves from the tortures (,f a merciless flagellation, and were shot dead on the spot Their murderers still live, and are treated as honorable members of society! No matter how many slaves or free negroes may witness the perpetration of these atrocious homicides, not one of them is ever allowed to lift up his voice in behalf of his murdered brother. In the South, negroes, whether bond or free, are never, under any circumstances, permitted to utter a syllable under oath, except for or against persons of their own color; their testimony against white persons is of no more consequence than the idle zephyr of the summer. We shall now introduce four tables of valuable and in. teresting statistics, to which philosophic and discriminatirng readers will doubtless have frequent occasions to refer Tables 22 and 23 wil show the area of the several 141

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. States, in square miles and in acres, and the number cf i habitants to the square mile in each State; also the grand total, or the average, of every statisticLal column; tables 24 and 25 will exhibit the total ntriler of inhabiLants residing in each State, according to lie census of L850, the number of whites, the nun’,.r o. free coloreds tnd the number of slaves. The tec-,,r;t,lJtions of these Lables will be followed by a comfpJ+-e l.;st cf the number .f slaveholders in the United Sts yfs, Ghovsing the exact lumber in each Southern State, and in the District of )‘olumbia. Most warmly do we commend all these static Lics to the studious attention of the reader. Their language is more eloquent than any possible combination of RIoman vowels and consonants. We have spared no pains in arranging them so as to express at a single g;ance the great truths of which they are composed; and we doubt not that the plan We have adopted will meet with general approbation. Numerically considered, it will be perceived that the slaveholders are, in reality, a very insignificant class. O’ them, however, we shall have more to say here after. 142

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ROW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. TABLL NO. XXII. AREA OF THE FREE STATES.

Acre Inhabit’i ts t square rmile. 9 9,827,200.59 2,91)1.360 79.3a 35,.359,200 15.37 21,6,37,760 29.24 32.584,960 3.78 20,330,240 18.36

4,99-)2,000 127.50 35,995,520 7.07 5,,9(,3,200 34.26 5,324,800 58.84i 30,080,000 6;;.90 26,576,960 49.55 29,440,000 50.26 835,840 112.97 6,535, 680 30.76 34,511,360 5.66 392,062,082 21,91 California……………

Connllectictt………….. Illinois………………

Indiana…………….. Iowa………………..

5laiiie……………… i assachu setts………..

l1lichigan……………. New Hanipshire……… New Jersy…………..

New York…………… Ohlio………………..

Petii)l,ylvania………… Rhodle Islaind…………

Verinont……………. Wisconsin…………… TABLE-NO. X AF.EA OF

THE SLAVE Inhabittnts to . wluare mile. 15 21 4.02 43.18 1A8 15.62 26.07

12.55 62.41 12.,6 10.1:1 17.14 22.75 21.99 .89 23.17 11.29 States.

Alabama……………. Airkan sas…………… Delaware…………….

Florida……………… Georgia…………….

Ken:tucky……………. Louisiana…………… JH trylam d……………. 1!.ssissippi…………… Missouri……………..

North Caroliina……….. Southi Caroliiia………..

Tcellllesseec…………….. Texas…………..2…

Virginia……………… Acres. 32,027,490 33,406, 7Z20 1,356,800

87.’.31,520 37,120,(JOO 24,115,200 26,403,200 7,119,360 80.179,840

43,123,200 32,450,560 18,805,400 29,184,000 152,002,560 39,165,280

544,926,720 I 143 State,s. Square Miles 155,980 1 4,674 55,405 33,809

50,914 31,766 7,800 56,243 9,280 8,320 47,000 39,964 46,000 1,30ry 10,212

63,924 612 597 Square Miles. 50,722 52,198 2,120 59,268 58,000 37,680

41,255 11,124 47,156 67,380 50,704 29,386 . 45,600 -I’ 237,504 61,352

851,4,48

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. TABLE NO. XXIV. POPULATION OF THE FREE

STATES1850. States. Whites. Free Colored. Total. California…………..

91,635 962 92,597 Connecticut…………….. 363,099 7,693 370,792

Illinois……………. 846,034 5,436 851,470 Indiana……………..

977,154 11,262 988,416 Iowa……………….. 191,881 333 192,214

Maine………………….581.813 1,856 583,169
lassachusetts…………… 985,450 9,064 994,514

Miclligan……………… 395,071 2,583 397,654 New Hampshire………..

317,456 520 317,976 New Jersey………….. 465,509 23,810 489,555 New York………….. 3,048,325 49,069 3,097,394

Ohio………………….1,955,050 25,279 1,980,329

Pennsylvania…………… 2,258,160 53,626 2,311,786 Rhode Island……………. 143,875 3,670 147,545 Vermont…………….

313,402 718 314,120 W~isconsin……………… 304,756 635 305,391

13,233.670 196,116 13,434,922 TABLE NO. XXV. POPULATION OF THE SLAVE

STATES1850. States. White& Free Slaves. Colored. Alabama……… 426,514

2,265 342,844 Arkansas…….. 162,189 608 47,100 Delaware……… 71,169

18,073 2,290 Florida………. 47,203 932 39,310 Georgia……… 621,572

2,931 381,622 Kentucky……. 61,413 10,011 210,981 Louisiana……..

255,491 17,462 244,809 Maryland…… 417,943 74,723 90,368

Mississippi…. 295,718 930 309,878 Missouri…….. 692,004 2,618 87,422

North Carolina… 553,028 27,463 288,548 South Carolina… 274,563 8,960

384,984 Tennessee…….. 756,836 6,422 239,459 Texas……….. 154,034

397 58,161 Virginia……… 894,800 54,333 472,528 1 6,184,477 228,138

8,200,361 t44 Total. 771,623 209,897 *91’,532 87,445 906,185 982;405

617,762 583,034 60.,326 682,014 869,039 665.507 1,002,717 212,592 ! 

1,421,661 9,612,979

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. RECAPITUI,ATION-AREA. Square Mile. Area of the Slave States…………851,448 Area of the Free States………..

612,597 Balances in favor of Slave States…238,851

RECAPITULATION-POPULATION-1850. Whites. Population of the Free Stateq….

13,233,6 70 Population of the Slave States… 6,184,477 Balances in favor of the Free States 7,049,193 FREE COLORED AND SLAVE-1850. Free Neg,roes in the Slave States…………………… 228,1o8 Free Negroes in the Free States……………………. 196,116 Excess of Free Negroes in tlle Slave States……………. 32,022 Slaves ill the Slave States……………………… 3,200,364 Free Negroes in the Slave States…………………… 228,118 Aggregate Negro Population of the Slave States in 1850… 3,428,5(2 THE TERRITORIES AND THE DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA. Area in Square Miles. Population. Indian Territory……………. 71,127 Kansas “……………….114,798

Minnesota “……………. 166,025 6,077 Nebraska “…………….

335,882 N. Mexic”)……………. 207,007 61,547 Oregon “…………….185,030 13,294 Utah “…………….269,170 11,880

Washington”………………123,022 Columbia, Dist. of……………. 60

*51,687 A,!,,regate of Area and Population, 1,472,121 143,985 * Of the 51.687 inhabitants it the District of Columbia, it 1850, 10,057 were Froe &‘0lored, and 3,687 were srla7e 145 Aer.s. 644,926,720 892,062,032

152,864,6,‘18 Total. 13,434,922 9,612,976 3,821,9”.‘c.6 i

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146 HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHEL NJMBER OF SLAVEHOLDERS IN THE UNITEI STATES1850. Alabama…………………………………….29,295

Arkansas……………………………………. 6,999 Columbia, Districtof……………………………. 1,477

Delaware………………………………………. 809

Florida……………………………………….3,520

Georgia……………………………………… 38,456

Kentucky…………………………………….38,885 L
ouisiana…………………………………….20,670

Maryland……………………………………. 16,040

Mississippi……………………………………23,116

Missouri…………………………………….. 19,185 Noloth Carolna…………………………………28,803 South Carolina………………… 2 5,963

Tennessee……………………………………. 33,861

Texas……………………………………. 7,747

Virginia…………………………………………55,063 Total Number of Slaveholders in the United States……… 347,525

CLASSIFICATION OF THE SLAVEHOLDERS-1850. Holders of 1
slave…………………………. 6S,820 Holders of 1 and under 5…………………. 105,683 Holders of 5 and under 10……………………. 80,765 Holders of 10 and under 20…………………… 54,595 IHolders of 20 and under 50…………………. 29,733 Hol(ders of 50 and under 100…………………… 6,196 Holders of 100 and under 200…………………… 1,479 Holoders of 200 and under 300……………………187 Holiders of 800 and under 50……………………. 56 Holders of 500 an(l under 1,000……………………. 9 Holders of 1,000 anl over………………………2 Aggregate Number )f S.-veholders in the United States…. 347,525

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HOW SLAVERY CAN’ BE ABO ISHIED. It thus appears that there are in.the United States, three hundred and forty-seven thousand five hundred and twen ty-five slaveholders. But this appearance is deceptive The actual number is certainly less than two hundred thousand. Professor De Bow, the Superintendent of the Census, informs us that “the number includes slavehirers,” and furtlhrmore, that “where the party owns slaves in different counties, or in different States, he will be entered more than once.” Now every Southerner, who has any practical knowledge of affairs, must know, and does know, that every New Year’s day, like almost ever3
other day, is desecrated in the South, by publicly hiring out slaves to large numbers of nonslaveholders. The slave-owners, who are the exclusive manufacturers of pub lic sentiment, have popularized the dictum that white ser vants, decency, virtue, and justice, are unfashionable; and there are, we are sorry to say, nearly one hundred and sixty thousand nonslaveholding sycophants, who have subscribed to this false philosophy, and who are giving constant encouragement to the infamous practices of slaveholding and slavebreeding, by hiring at least one slave every year.

In the Southern States, as in all other slave countries, there are three odious classes of mankind; the slaves themselves, who are cowards; the s.aveholders, who are tyrants; aid the nonslaveholding slavehirers, who are lickspittles.. Whether either class is really entitled to the regards of a gentleman is a matter of grave doubt. The slaves are pitiable; the slaveholders are detestable the slave-hireis are contemptible. 147 .N

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLSHlED. With the statistics at our command, it is impossible for as to ascertain the exact numbers of slaveholders and nonslaveholding slavehirers in the slave States; but we have data which will enable us to approach very near to the facts. The town from which we hail, Salisbury, the capit:al )f Rowan county, North Carolina, contains about twenty-three hundred inhabitants, including three hundred and seventy-two slaves, fiftyone slaveholders, and forty-three nonslaveholding slavehirers. Taking it for granted that this town furnishes a fair relative proportion of all the slaveholders, and nonslaveholding slavehirers in the slave States, the whole number of the former, including those who have been “entered more than once,” is one hundred and eighty-eight thousand five hundred and fiftyone; of the latter, one hundred and fiftyeight thousand nine hundred and seventy-four; and, now, estimating that there are in Maryland, Virginia, and other grain-growing States, an aggregate of two thousand slave-owners, who have cotton plantations stocked with negroes in the far South, and who have been “entered more than once,” we find, as the result of our calculations, that the total number of actual slaveholders in the Union, is precisely one hundred and eighty-six thousand five hundred and fiftyone-as follows: Number of actual slaveholders in the Utiited States….. 186,551 Nunlber “entered more than once”………………… 2,000 Nunmber of nonslaveholding slave-Liers……………. 158,974 Aggregate number, according to De Bow…….. 347,525 The greater numb ~r of nonslaveholding slavehirers, are t48

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. a kind of third-rate aristocrats-persons who formerly owned slaves, but whom slavery, as is its custom, has drcgged down to poverty, leaving them, in their false and shiftless pride, to eke out a miserable existence over the hapless chattels personal of other men.

So it seems that the total number of actual slave-own rs, intliiding their entire crew of cringing lickspittles against whom we have to contend, is but three hundred and forty-seven thousand five hundred and twentyfive.

Against this army for the defense and propagation of slavery, we think it will be an easy matter-independent of the negroes, who, in nine cases out of ten, would be dlighted with an opportunity to cut their masters’

throats, and without accepting of a single recruit from either of the free States, England, France or Germany-to muster one at least three tirmes as large, and far more respectable for its utter extinction. We hope, however, and believe, that the matter in dispute may be adjusted without array ing these armies against each other in hostile attitude. We desire peace, not war-justice, not blood. Give us fair-play, secure to us the right of discussion, the freedom of speech, and we will settle the difficulty at the ballot box, not on the battle-ground-by force of reason, not by force of arms. But we are wedded to one purpose from which no earthly power can ever divorce us. WVe are de terminled to abolish slavery at all hazards-in defiance of all the opposition, of whatever nature, which it is possible for the slavocrats to bring against us. Of this they may take due notice, and govern themselves accordingly. Before wt proceed further, it may be necessary to calC 149

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. attention to the fact that, though the ostensible proprie torship of the slaves is vested in fewer individuals than we have usually counted in our calculations concerning them, the force and drift of our statistics remain unim paired. In the main, all our figures are correct. The tables which we have prepared, especially, and the reca pitulations of those tables, may be relied on with all the confidence that is due to American official integrity; for, as we have substantially remarked on a previous occasion, the particulars of which they are composed have been obtained from the returns of competent census agents; who, with Prof. De Bow as principal, were expressly employed to collect them. As for our minor labors in the science of numbers, we cheerfully submit them to the canlid scrutiny of the impartial critic. A majority of the slaveholders with whom we are acquainted-and we happen to know a few dozen more than we care to know-own, or pretend to own, at least fifteen negroes each; some of them are the masters of more than -fifty each; and we have had the honor (!) of an introduction to one man who is represented as the owner of sixteen hundred I It is said that if all the lands of this latter worthy were in one tract, they might be formed into two counties of more than ordinary size; he owns plantations and woodlands in three cotton-growing States. The quantity of land owned by the slaveholder is generally in proportion to the number of negroes at his’ quarter;” the master of only one or two slaves, if engaged in agriculture, seldom owns less than tlree hundred acrtes; the holder of eight or ten slaves usually owns from a thou 150

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. sand to fifteen hundred acres; five thousand acres are not unfrequently found in the possession of the master of fifty slaves; while in Columbia, South Carolina, about twelve months ago, a certain noted slaveholder was pointed out to us, and reported as the owner of nearly two hundred thousand acres in the State of Mississippi. How the great mass of illiterate poor whites, a majority of whom are the indescribably wretched tenants of these slavocratic landsharks, are specially imposed upon and socially outlawed, we shall, if we have time and space, take occasion to explain in a subsequent chapter. Thus far, in giving expression to our sincere and settled opinions, we have endeavored to show, in thie first place, that slavery is a great moral, social, civil, and political evil-a dire enemy to true wealth and national greatness, and an atrocious crime against both God and man; and, in the second place, that it is a paramount duty which we owe to heaven, to the earth, to America, to humanity, to our posterity, to our consciences, and to our pockets, to adopt efiectual and judicious measures for its immediate abolition. The questions now arise, How can the evil be averted?

Whlat are the most prudent and practical means that can be devised for the abolition of slavery? In the solution of these problems it becomes necessary to deal with a multiplicity of stubborn realities. And yet, we can see no reason why North Carolina, in her sovereign capacity, may not, with equal ease and success, do what fortyfive other States of the world have done within the last for’y-five years. Nor do we believe any good reason exists wl z Virgit ia should not perf rm as great a deed in 1859

151

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RHOM SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISIIED. as did NewYork in 1799.. Massachusetts abolished slav ery in 1780; would it not be a masterly stroke of policy in Tennessee, and every other slave State, to abolish it in or before 1S60?

Not long since, a slavocrat, writing on this subject, said, apologetically, “we firankly admit that slavery is a mon strous evil; but what are we to do with an institution which has baffled the wisdom of our greatest statesmen?” Unfortunately for the South, since the days of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and their illustrious compatriots, she h.as never had more than half a dozen statesmen, all told; of mere politicians, wire-pullers, and slavedriving demagogues, she has had enough, and to spare; but of statesnmen, in the true sense of the term, she has had, and now has, but precious few-fewer just at this time, perhaps, than ever before. It is far from a matter of surprise to us that slavery has, for such a long period, baffled the “wisd’m” of the oligarchy; but our surprise is destined to cul-minate in amazement, if the wisdom of the non-slavehliolders does not soon baffle slavery. From the eleventh year previous to the close of the eighteenth century down to the present moment, slaveholders and slavebreeders, who, to speak naked truth, are, as a general thiing, unfit to occupy any honorable station in life, have, by chicanery and usurpation, wielded all the ot-icial power of the South; and, excepting the patriotic services of the noble abolitionists above-mentioned, the sole aim and drift of their legislation has been to aggrandize themselves, to strengthen slavery, and to keep the poor uites, t]-e constitutional majority, bowed down in tllh( 152

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. deepest depths of degradation. We propose to subvert tl is entire system ofoligarchal despotism. We think theie should be some legislation for decent whir men, not alone for negroes and slavellolders. Slavery lies at the root of all the shame, poverty, ignorance, tyranny and imbecility of the South; slavery must be thoroughly eradicated; let this be done, and a glorious future will await us. The statesmen who-are to abolish slavery in Kentucky, must be mainly and independently constituted by the non. slaveholders of Kentucky; so in every other slave State. Past experience has taught us the sheer folly of ever expecting voluntary justice from the slaveholders. Their illicit intercourse with ” tile mother of harlots” has been kept up so long, and their whole natures have, in consequence, become so depraved, that there is scarcely a spark of honor or magnanimity to be found amongst them ,As well might one expect to hear highwaymen clamoring for a universal interdict against traveling,- as to expect slaveholders to pass laws for the abolition of slavery. Under all the circumstances, it is the duty of the non slaveholders to mark out an independent course for themselves, to steer entirely clear of the oligarchy, and to utterly contemn and ignore the many vile imstruments of power, animate and inanimate, which have been so freely and so effectually used for their enslavement. Now is the time for them to assert their rights and liberties; never before was there such an appropriate period to strike foi Freedom in the South. Hiad it not been for the better sense, the purer patri(ot ism, and the more practical j’istice of the non-slavelhol(lers, 7* 153

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHER the iMi Idle States and New England would still be groan. ing and groveling under the ponderous burden of slavery; NewYork would never have risen above the dishonorable level of Virginia; Pennsylvania, trampled beneath the iron-heel of the black code, would have remained the unprogressive parallel of Georgia;- Massachusetts would have continued till the present time, and Heaven only knows how much longer, the contemptible boequal of South Carolina Succeeded by the happiest moral effects and the grandest physical results, we have seen slavery crushed bene,ath the wisdon of the nonslaveholding statesmen of the North; followed by corresponding influences and achievements, many of us who have not yet passed the meridian oflife, are destined to see it equally crushed beneath the wisdom of the nonslaveholding Statesmen of the South. With righteous indignation, we enter our disclaimer against the base yet baseless admission that Louisi,ana and Texas are incapable of producing as great statesmen as Rhode Island and Connecticut. What has been done for New Jersey by the statesmen of New Jersey, can be done for North Carolina by the statesmen of North Carolina; the wisdom of the former State has abolished slavery; as sure as the earth revolves on its axis, the wisdom of the latter will not do less. That our plan for the abolition of slavery, is the best that can be devised, we have not the vanity to contend but that it is a g,- od one, and will do to act upon uiitil a better shall havE been suggested, we do firmly and con. scientiously bDlieve. Though but little skilled in the deli t54

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISnED. ca. art of surgery, we have pretty thoroughly probed slvery, the frig,htfill tumor on the body politic, and have, we think, ascertained the precise remedies requisite for a speedy, ud perfect cure. Possibly the less ardent friends of freedom may object to our prescription, on the ground that some of its ingredients are too griping, and that it will cost the patient a deal of most excruciating pain. But let them remember that the patient is exceedingly refractory, that the case is a desperate one, and that drastic remedies are indispensably necessary. When they shall have invented milder yet equally efficacious ones, it will be time enough to discontinue the use of ours-.

Lhen no one will be readier than we to discard the infallible strong recipe for the infallible mild. Not at the persecution of a few thousand slaveholders, but at the restitution of natural rights and prerogatives to several mil. lions of nonslaveholders, do we aim. Inscribed on the banner, which we herewith unfurl to the world, with the full and fixed determination to stand by it or die by it, unless one of more virtuous efficacy shall b)e presented, are the mottoes which, in substance, embody the principles, as we conceive, that should govern us in our patriotic warfare against the most subtle and insivious foe that ever menaced the inalienable rights and liberties and dearest interests of America 1st.

Thorough Organization and Independent Political Action on the part of the NonSlaveholding whites of the South. 2nd. Ineligibility of Slaveholders-Never another vote to the Trafficker in Human Flesh. 155

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ITOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. 3rd. No Cooperation with Slaveholders in Politics-No Fellowship with them in Religion-No Affiliation with them in Society. 4th. No Patronage to Slaveholding Merchants-No Guest ship in Slave-waiting Hotels -No Fees to Slaveholding Lawyers -No Employment of Slaveholding Physicians -No Audience to Slaveholding Parsons. 5th. No Recognition of Proslavery Men, except as Ruf fians, Outlaws, and Criminals. 6th. Abrupt Discontinuance of Subscription to Proslavery Newspapers. 7th. The Greatest Possible Encouragement to Free White Labor.

8. No more Hiring of Slaves by Nonslaveholders. 9th. Immediate Death to Slavery, or if not immediate, unqualified Proscription of its Advocates during the Pe riod of its Existence. lI:th. A Tax of Sixty Dollars on every Slaveholder for each and every Negro in his Possession at the present time, or at any intermediate time between now and the 4th of July, 1863-said Money to be Applied to the trans portation of the Blacks to Liberia, to their Colonization in Central or South America, or to their Comfortable Settlement within the Boundaries of the United States. 11 th.

An additional Tax of Forty Dollars per annum to be levied annually, on every Slaveholder for each and every Negro found in hiis possession after the 4th of July, 1863-said Mloney to be paid into the hands of the N groes so held in Slavery, or, in cases of death, to their neut of kin, and to be used by them at their own option 156

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLIS3HED. This, then, is the outline of our scheme for the abolition of slavery in the Southern States. Let it be acted upon with due promptitude, and, as certain as truth is mightier than error, fifteen years will not elapse before every foot of territory, from the mouth of the Delaware to the embogiing of the Rio Grande, will glitter with the jewels of freedom. Some time during this year, next, or the year following, let there be a general convention of nonslaveholders from every slave State in the Union, to deliberate on the momentous issues now pending. First, let them adopt measures for holding in restraint the diabolical excesses of the oligarchy; secondly, in order to cast off the thraldom which the infamous slave-power has fastened upon them, and, as the first step necessary to be taken to regain the inalienable rights and liberties with which they were invested by Nature, but of which they; have been divested by the accursed dealers in human flesh, let them devise ways and means for the complete annihilation of slavery; thirdly, let them put forth an equitable and comprehensive platform, fully defining their position, and ihiviting the active sympathy and cooperatioh of the millions of down-trodden nonslaveholders throughout the Southern and Southwestern States. Let-all these things be done, not too hastily, but with calmness, deliberation, prudence, and circumspection; if need be, let the delegates to the convention continue in session one or two weeks; only let their labors be wisely and thoroughly pertormed;t them, on W’ednesday morning, present to the poor whites of the South, a well-digested scheme for the rcclamatioa of their ancient rights and prerogatives, and, J,- I I

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. on thie Thursday following, slavery in the United States will be worth absolutely less than nothing; for then, besides be ing so vile and precarious that nobody will want it, it will e a lasting reproach to those in whose hands it is lodged. Were it not that other phases of the subject admonish as to be economical of space, we could suggest more than a dozen different plans, either of which, if scrupulously carried out, would lead to a wholesome, speedy, and perfect termination of slavery. Under all the circumstances, however, it might be difficult for us-perhaps it would not be the easiest thing in the world for any body elseto suggest a better plan than the one above. Let it, or one embodying its principal features, be adopted forth with, and the last wail of slavery will soon be heard, growing fainter and fainter, till it dies utterly away, to be succeeded by the jubilant shouts of emancipated millions. Henceforth, let it be distinctly understood that ownership in slaves constitutes ineligibility-that it is a crime, as we verily believe it is, to vote for a slavocrat for any office whatever. Indeed, it is our honest conviction that all the proslavery slaveholders, who are alone responsible for the continuance of the baneful institution among us, deserve to be at once reduced to a parallel with the basest criminals that lie fettered within the cells of our public prisons. Beyond the power of computation is the extent of the moral, social, civil, and political evils which they have brought, and are still bringing, on the country. Were it possible that the whole number could be gathered together a.d transformed into four equal gangs of licensed robbers, ruffi,,ns, tdicves, and murderers, s ciety, we feel assured, 158

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HO} SLtVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. would suffer less from t leir atrocities then than it does now. Let the wholesome public sentiment of the nonslaveholders be vigilant and persevering in bringing them down to their proper level. Long since, and in the most unjust and cruel manner, have they socially outlawed the nonslaveholders; now security against further oppression, and indemnity for past grievances, make it incumbent on the nonslaveholders to cast them into the identical pit that they dug for their betters-thus teaching them how to catch a Tartar I At the very moment we write, as has been the case ever since the United States have had a distinct national existence, and as will always continue to be the case, unless right triumphs over wrong, all the civil, political, and other offices, within the gift of the South, are filled with negronursed incumbents from the ranks of that execrable band of misanthropes-three hundred and forty-seven thousand in number-who, for the most part, obtain their living by breeding, buying and selling slaves. The magistrates in the villages, the constables in the districts, the commissioners of the towns, the mayors of the cities, the sheriffs of the counties, the judges of the various courts, the mnembers of the legislatures, the governors of the States, the representatives and senators in Congress-are all slaveholders. Nor does the catalogue of their usurpations end here.

Through the most heart-sickening arrogance and bribery, they have obtained control of the General Government, and all the consuis, ambassadors, envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, who are chosen fronti thie South, and commissioned to foreign countries, are 159

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HOW SL4VERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. selected with special reference to the purity of their pro slavery antecedents. If credentials have ever been issued to a single nonslaveholder of the South, we are ignorant of both the fact and the hearsay; indeed, it would be very strange if this much abused class of persons were permit ted to hold important offices abroad, when they are not* allowed to hold unimportant ones at home. And, then, there is the Presidency of the United States, which office has been held forty-eight years by slaveholders from the South, and only twenty years by nonslaveholders from the North. Nor is this the full record of oligarchal obtrusion. On an average, the offices of Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of War, Postmaster-General and Attorney-General, have been under the control of slave-drivers niearly two-thirds of the time. The Chief Justices and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Presidents pro tem. of the Senate, and the Speakers of the House of Representatives, have, in a large majority of instances, been slavebreeders from the Southern side of the Potomac. Five slaveholding Presidents have been ree,lected to the chief magistracy of the Republic, while no nonslaveholder has ever held the office more than a single termni. Thus we see plainly that even the nonslaveholders of the North, to whose freedom, energy, enterprise, intelligence, wealth, population, power, progress, and prosperity, our country is almost exclusiv ely indebted for its high position among the nations of the earth, have been arrogantly denied a due participation in the honors. of federa:,ice. When “the sum of all villain 160

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. ies” shall have ceased to exist, then the rights of the non slaveholders of the North, of the South, of the East, and of the West, will be duly recognized and respected; not before With all our heart, we hope and believe it’is the full and fixed determination of a majority of the more intelligent and patriotic citizens of this Republic, that the Presidential chair shall never again be filled by a slavocrat. Safely may we conclude that the doom of the oligarchy is already sealed with respect to that important and dignified station; it now behooves us to resolve, with equal firm-‘ ness and effect, that, after a certain period during the next decade of years, no slaveholder shall occupy any position in the Cabinet, that no slavebreeder shall be sent as a diplomatist to any foreign country, that no slavedriver shall be permitted to bring further disgrace on either the Senate or the House of Representatives, that the chief justices, associate justices, and judges of the, several courts, the governors of the States, the members of the legislatures, and all the minor functionaries of the land, shall be free from the heinous crime of ownership in man. For the last sixty-eight years, slaveholders have been the sole and constant representatives of the South, and what have they accomplished? It requires but little time and few words, to tell the story of their indiscreet and unhlallowed performances. In fact, with what we have already said, gestures alone would suffice to answer the inquiry. We can make neither a more truthful nor emphatic reply than to point to our thinly inhabited States, to our fields despoiled of their virgin soil, to the despicable price of lands to our unvisited cities and towns, to our 161

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O 0W SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. vacant harbors and idle water-power, to the dreary ab. sence of shipping and manufactories, to our unpensioned soldiers of the revolution, to the millions of living monuments of ignorance, to the poverty of the whites, and to the wretchedness of the blacks. Either directly or indirectly, are slavedriving demagogues, who have ostentatiously set up pretensions to statesmanship, responsible for every dishonorable weakness and inequality that exists between the North and the South. Let them shirk the responsibility if they can; but it is morally impossible for them to do so. WVe know how ready they have always been to cite the numerical strength of the North, as a valid excuse for their inability to procure appropriations from the General Government, for purposes of internal improvement, for the establishment of lines of ocean steamers to South American and European ports, and for the accomplishment of othc: objects. Before that apology ever escapes fr)om their lips again, let them remember that the inumerical weakness of the South is wholly attributable to their own villainous statism. Had the Southern States, in accordance with the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independ.

ence, abolished slavery at the same time the Northern States abolished it, there would have been, long since, and most assuredly at this moment, a larger, wealthier, wiser, and more powerful population, south of Mason and Dixon’s line, than there now is north of it. This fact being so well established that no reasonable man denies it, it is evident that the oligarchy will have to devise another subterfuge for even temporary relief. 162

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. Until slavery and sl veholders cease to be the only favored objects of legislation in the Sourtl, the North will continue to maintain the ascendency in every important particular. With those loathsome objects out of the way, it would not take the non-slavehlolders of the South more than a quarter of a century to bring her up, in all rspects, to a glorious equality with the North; nor would it take them much longer to surpass the latter; which is the most vigorous and honorable rival that they have in the world. Three quarters of a century hence, if slavery is abolished within the next ten years, as it ought to be, the South will, we believe, be as much greater than the North, as the North is now greater than the South. Three quarters of a century hence, if the South retains slavery, which God forbid I she will be to the North much the same that Poland is to Russia, that Cuba is to Spain, or that Ireland is to England. What we want and must have, as the only sure means of attaining to a position worthy of Sovereign States in this eminently progressive and utilitarian age, is an energetic, intelligent, enterprising, virtuous, and unshackled population; an untrammeled press, and the Freedom of Speech. For ourselves, as white people, and for the ne groes and other persons of whatever color or condition, we demand all the rights, interests and prerogatives, that are guarantied to corresponding classes of mankind in the North, in England, in France, in Germany, or in any other civilized and enlightened country.

Any proposition that may be offered co ceding less than this demand, will be promptly and dis ainfully rejected. 163

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. Speaking of the nonslaveh)lders of the South, George M. Weston, a zealous co-laborer in the cause of Freedom, says: The nonslaveholding whites of the South, being not less than seven-tenths of the whole number of whites, would seem to be entitled to some enquiry into their actual condition; and especially, as they have no real political weight or consideration in the country, and little opportunity to speak for themselves. I have been for twenty years a reader of Southern newspapers, and a reader and hearer of Congressional debates; but, in all that time, I do not recollect ever to have seen or heard these nonslaveholding whites referred to by Southern gentlemen,’ as constituting any part of what they call’ the oth.’ Whlen the rights of the South, or its wrongs, or its policy, or its interests. or its institutions, are spoken of, reference is always intended to the rights, wrongs, policy, interests, and institutions of the three hundred and forty-seven thousand slaveholders. Nobody gets into C(ongress from the South but by their direction; nobody speaks at Washington for any Southern interest except theirs. Yet there is, at the South, quite another interest than theirs embracing from two to three limes as many white people; and, as we shaill presently see, entitled to the deepest symnpathy and commiseration, in view of the material, intellectual, and moral privations to which it has been subjected, the degradation to which it has already been reduced, and the still more fearful degradation with which it is threatened by the inevitable operation of existing causes and influences.”

The following extract, from a paper on “Domestic Manufactures in the South and West,” published by M. Tarver, of Missouri, may be appropriately introduced in this connection: “The nonslaveholders possess. generally.

but very small means, and the land which they possess is almost universally poor. and so sterile tiha+, a scanty subsistence is all that can be derived from 164

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HOW SLAVERY CA’., BE ABOLISHED. Its cultivation; and the more fertile soil. being-in the p(6seission of the slavelolders. must ever remain out of the power of those who have none. This state of things is a great drawbl)ack. and bears heavily upon and depresses the moral energies of the poorer classes. The acquisitioln of a respectable position in the scale of wealth appears so difficult. that they decline the hopeless pursuit. and many of them settle down into habits of idleness, and beoome the almost passive subjects of all its consequences. And I lam,ent to say that I have observed of late years, that an evident deterioration is taking place in this part of the population, the younger portion of it being less educated, less industrious, and in every point of view less respectable than their ancestors. Equaly worthy of attention is the testimony of Gov.

Hammond, of South Carolina, who says: “According to the best calculation, which, in the absence of statistic facts. can be made. it is believed.

that of the three hundred thousand white inhabitants of South Carolina, there are not less thian fifty thousand whose industry, such as it is, and compenst,ted as it is, is not, in the present condition of things, and does not promise to be hereafter, adequate to procure them, honestly, such a support as every white person is, and feels himself entitled to. And this, next to emigration, is, perhaps, the heaviest of the weights that press upon ttie springs of our prospetlty. Alost of these now follow agricultural pursuits, in feeble, yet injurious competition with slave labor. Some, perhaps, not more from inclination. than from the want of due encouragement, can scarcely be said to work at all. They obtain a precarious subsistence, by occasional jobs, by hunting, by fishing, sometimes by plundering fields or folds, and too often by what is, in its effects. far worse-trading with slaves, and seducing them to plunder for their benefit.” Conjoined with the sundry plain straightforward facts which have issue from our own pen, these extracts show con’usively that immediate and independent political 165

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HOW SLAVERY AN LE ABOLISHED. action on the part of the nonslaveholding whites of the South, is, with them, a matter, not only of positive duty, but also of the utmost importance. As yet, it is in their power to rescue the South from the gulf of shame and guilt, into which slavery has plunged her; but if they do not soon arouse themselves from their apathy, this power will be wrenched from them, and then, unable to resist the strong arm of the oppressor, they will be completely degraded to a social and political level with the negroes, whose condition of servitude will, in the meantime, become far more abject and forlorn than it is now In addition to the reasons which we has already assigned why no slavocrat should, in the future, be elected to any office whatever, there are others that deserve to be carefully considered. Among these may be mentioned the illbreeding and the ruffianism of slaveholding officials. Tedious indeed would be the task to enumerate all the homicides, duels, assaults and batteries, and other crimes, of which they are the authors in the course of a single year. To the general reader their career at the seat of government is well known; there, on frequent occasions, choking with rage at seeing their wretched sophistries scattered to the winds by the sound, logical reasoning of the champions of Freedom, they have overstepped the lbounds of common decency, vacated the chair of honorable controversy, and, in the most brutal and cowardly manner, assailed their unarmed opponents with bludgeons, bowie knives and pistols. Compared with some of their barbarism, at home, however, their frenzied onslaughts al the national Canital have been but the simplest breaches 166

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. 1’ ol civil deportment; and it is only for the purpose of as oiding personalities that we now refrain from divulging a few instances of the unparalleled atrocities which they have perpetrated in legislative halls South of the Poto mac. Nor is it alone in the national and State legisla tures that they substitute brute force for genteel behavior and acuteness of intellect. Neither court-houses nor public streets, hotels nor private dwellings, rum-holes nor law-offices, are held sacred from their murderous conflicts. About certain silly abstractions that no practical business man ever allows to occupy his time or attention, they are eternally wrangling; and thus it is that rencouniters, duels, homicides, and other demonstrations of persort,I violence, have become so popular in all slaveholding communiities. A few years of entire fieedom from the cares and perplexities of public life, would, we have no doubt, greatly improve both their manners and their morals; and we suggest that it is a Christian duty, which devolves on the nonslaveholders of the South, to disrobe them of the mantle of office, which they have so long worn with dis. grace to themselves, injustice to their constituents, and ruin to their country. But what shall we say of such men as Botts, Stuart, and Mfacfarland of Virginia; of Raynor, Morehead, Miller, Stanly, Graves, and Graham of North Carolina; of Davis and Hoffman of Maryland; of Blair and Benton of Missouri; of the Marshalls of Kentucky; and of Etheridge of Tennessee? All these gentlemnen, and many others of the same school, entertain, we believe, sentiments sinilar to those that were entertained by the immortal Fathers of tlm 167

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED, Republic-that slavery is a great moral, social, civil, and political evil, to be got rid of at the earliest practical period-and if they do, in order to secure our votes, it is only necessary for them to “have the courage of their opinions,” to renounce slavery, and to come out frankly, fairly and squarely, in favor of freedom. To neither of these patriotic sons of the Sonth, nor to any one of the class to which they belong, would we give any offence whatever. In our strictures on the criminality of proslavery demagogues we have had heretofore, and shall have hereafter, no sort of reference to any respectable slaveholder-by which we mean, any slaveholder who admits the injustice and inhumanity of slavery, and who is not averse to the discussion of measures for its speedy and total extinction. Such slaveholders are virtually on our side, that is, on the side of the nonslaveholding whites, with whom they may very properlybe classified. On this point, once for all, we desire to be distinctly understood; for it would be manifestly unjust not to discriminate between the antislavery proprietor who owns slaves by the law of entailment, and the proslavery proprietor who engages in the traffic and becomes an aider and abettor of the institution from sheer turpitude of heart; hence the propriety of tliis special disclaimer. If we have a correct understanding of the positions wbich they assumed, some of the gentlemen whose names are written above, gave, during the last presidential campaign, ample evidence of their unswerving devotion to the interests of the great majority of the people, the nonslave-‘ holding whites; and it is our unbiassed opinion that a more positive’truth is no where recorded’ in Holy Writ, 168

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. than Kenneth Raynor uttered, when he said, in substance, that the greatest good that could happen to this country would be the complete overthrow of slavedriving demoracy, alias the nigger party, which has for its head and front the Ritchies and Wises of Virginia, and for its caudal termination the Butlers and Quatlebums of South Carolina. And this, by the way, is a fit occasion to call attention to the fact, that slavedriving Democrats have been the perpetrators of almost every brutal outrage that ever disgraced our halls of legislation.

Of countless instances of assault and battery, affrays, and fatal rencounters, that have occurred in the court-houses, capitols, and other public buildings in the Southern States, we feel safe in saying that the aggressor, in at least nine cases out of ten, has been a negronursed adherent of modern, miscalled democracy. So, too, the challenger to almost every duel has been an abandoned wretch, who, on many occasions during infancy, sucked in the corrupt milk of slavery from the breasts of his father’s sable concubines, and who has never been known to become weary of boasting of a fact that invariably impressed itself on the minds of his audi. tors or observers, the very first moment they laid their eycs upon him, namely, that he was a member of the Democratic party. Brute violence, however, can hardly be said to be the worst characteristic of the slavedriving Democrat; his ignorance and squalidity are proverbial; his senseless enthusiasm is disgusting. Peculiarly illustrative of the material of which sham democracy is composed was the vote polled at the Five Points precinct, in the city of NewYork, on the 4th of November, 8

169

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HO W SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISE.D. 1856, when James Buchanan was chosen President by a mio/-itv of the people. We will produce the figures: Five Points Precinct, NewYork City, 1856. Votes casL for James Buchanan…………………… 574 ” ” ” John C.

Fremont……………………. 16 ” ” ” Millard Fillmore…………………. 9 It will be recollected that Col.

Fremont’s majority over Buchanan, in the State of NewYork, was between seventy-eight and seventynine thousand, and that he ran ahead of the Fillmore ticket to the number of nearly one hundred and fiftyone thousand. We have not the shadow of a doubt that he is perfectly satisfied with Mr. Buchanan’s triumph at the Five Points, which, with the exception of the slave-pens in Southern cities, is, perhaps, the most vile and heart-sickening locality in the United States. One of the most noticeable and commendable features of the last general election is this: almost every State, whose inhabitants have enjoyed the advantages of free soil, free labor, free speech, free presses, and free schools, and who have, in consequence, become great in numbers, in virtue, in wealth, and in wisdom, voted for Fremont, the Republican candidate, who was pledged to use his influence for the extension of like advantages to other parts of the country. On the other hand, with a single honorable exception, all the States which “have got to hating everything with the prefix Free, from free negroes down and up through the whole catalogue-free farms free labor, free society; free will, free thinking, free chil dren, and free schools,” and which have exposed their cit izens to all the poils of numerical weakness, absolute ig 170

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHE3. noranee, and hopeless poverty, voted for Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, who, in reply to the overtures of his slavedriving partisans, had signified his willingness to pursue a policy that would perpetuate and disseminate,’ w.;thout limit, the multitudinous evils of human bondage Led on by a huckstering politician, whose chief voca tion, at all times, is the rallying of ragamuffins, shoulder strikers, and liquor-house vagabonds, into the ranks of hiparty, and who, it is well known, receives from the agents of the slave power, regular installments of money for this -‘famous purpose, a Democratic procession, exceedingly -motley and unrefined, marched through the streets of one )f the great cities of the North, little less than a fortnight previous to the election of Mr. Buchanan to the Presi. dency; and the occasion gave rise, on the following day, to a communication in one of the morning papers, from which we make the following pertinent extract: “While the Democratic procession was passing through the streets of this city, a few days since, I could not but think how significant the exultation of that ignorant multitude was of the ferocious triumphs which would be displayed if ever false Democracy should succeed in throwing the whole power of the country into the hands of the Slave Oligarchy. It is melancholy to think that every individual in that multitude, ignorant and depraved though he may bi, foreign perhaps in his birth, and utterly unacquainted with the principles upon which the welfare of the country depends, and hostile it may be to those principles, if he does understand them, is equal in the power which he may exercise by his vote to the most intelligent and upright man in tilhe community. “Of this, indeed, it’ iw-useless to complain. We enjoy our freedom with th contingency of its loss by the acts of a numnerical iliajority. I behooves all men, therefore, who have a regard 171 ‘N

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. to the common good, to look carefully at the influences whi th may pervert the popular mind; and this, I think. can only be done by guarding against the corruption of individual character. A man who has nothing but political business to attend to-I mean the management of elections-ought to be shunned by all honest men. If it were possible, he should have the mark of Cain put upon him, that he might be known as a plotter against the welfare of his country.” That less than three per cent. of those who voted for Col. Fremont, that only ab)ut five per cent. of those who gave their suffrages to Mr. Yi.llmore, and that more than eig,,teen per cent. of those who supported Mr. Buchanan, were persons over one and twenty years of age who could not read and write, are estimates which we have no doubt are not far from the truth, and which, in the absence of reliable statistics, we Venture to give, hoping, by their publicity, to draw closer attention to the fact, that the illiterate foreigners of the North, and the unlettered natives of the South, were cordially united in their suicidal adherence to the Nigger party. With few exceptions, all the intelligent nonslaveholders of the South, in concert with the more respectable slaveholders, voted for Mr. Fillmore; certain rigidly patriotic persons of the former class, whose hearts were so entirely with the gallant Fremont that they refused to vote at all-simply because they did not dare to express their preference for him form the exceptions to which we allude. Though the Whig, Democratic, and Know-Nothing newspapers, in all the States, free and slave, denounced Col.

Piremont as an intolerant Catholic, it is now generally conceded t lat be was newhere supported by the peculial 172

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLffiED. friends of Pope Pius IX. The votes polled at t le Five Points I recinct, which is almost exclusively inhabited by low Irish Catholics, show how powerfully the Jesuitical influence was brought to bear against him. At that de. lectable local ty, as we has already shown, the timid Sage of Wheatland receive(. five hundred and sevenity four votes; whereas the dauntless Finder of Empire received only sixteen.

True to their instincts for Freedom, the Germans, generally, voted the right ticket, and they will do it again, and continue to do it. With the intelligent Protestant element of the Fatherland on our side, we can well afford to dis. pense with the ignorant Catholic element of the Emerald Isle. In the influences which they exert on society, there is so little difference between Slavery, Popery, and Negro. driving Democracy, that we are not at all surprised to see them going hand in hand in their -diabolical works of inhumanity and desolation. There is, indeed, no lack of evidence to show that the Democratic party of to-day is simply and unreservedly a sectional Nigger party. On the 15th of December, 1856, but a few weeks subsequent to the appearance of a scan dalous message from an infamous governor of South Caro lina, recommending the reopening of the African slave trade, Emerson Etheridge of Tennessee-honor to his namel -submitted, in the House of Representatives, tIe following timely resolution ‘Resolved, That this house regard all suggestions or proposi tions of every kind, by whomsoever made, for a revival of the slave tra e, as shocking to the moral sentiments of the enlightened 173

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLIUSHED. portion of mankind, and that any act on the part of Congress, legislating for, conniving at, or legalizing that hurrid and inhuman traffic, would justly subject the United States to the reproach and execration of all civilized and Christian people throughout the world.” Who voted for this resolution? and who voted against it? Let the yeas and nays answer; they are on record, and he who takes the trouble to examine them will find that the resolution encountered no opposition worth mentioning, except from members of the Democratic party. Scrutinize the yeas and nays on any other motion or resolution affecting the question of slavery, and the fact that a majority of the members of this party have uniformly voted for the retention and extension of the “sum of all villanies,” will at once be apparent. For many years the slavedriving Democrats of the South have labored most strenuously, both by day and by night -we regret to say how unsuccessfully-to point out abolition proclivities in the Whig and Know-Nothing parties, the latter of which is now buried, and deservedly, so deep in the depths of the dead, that it is quite preposterous tu suppose it will ever see the light of resurrection.

For its truckling concessions to the slave power, the Whig party merited defeat, and defeated it was, and that, too, in the most decisive and overwhelming manner. But there is yet in this party much vitality, and if its friends will reorganize, detach themselves from the burden of slavery, espouse the cause of the white man, and hoist the fair flag of freedom, the time may come, at a day by no means remote, when their hearts will exult in triumph over the ruins of miscalled Democracy. / 74 i i i i I

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. tt is not too late, however, for the Democratic party to A cure to itself a pure renown and an almost certain perpetuation of its power. Let it at once discard the worship of slavery, and do earnest battle for the principles of freedom, and it will live victoriously to a period far in the future. On the other hand, if it does not soon repudiate the fatal heresies which it has incorporated into its creed, its doom will be inevitable. Until the black flag entirely disappears from its array, we warn the nonslaveholders of the South to repulse and keep it at a distance, as they would the emblazoned skull and cross-bones that flout them from the flag of the pirate. With regard to the sophistical reasoning which teaches that abolitionists, before abolishing slavery, should compensate the slaveholders for all or any number of the ne groes in their possession, we have, perhaps, said quite enough; but wishing to brace our arguments, in every im portant -particular, with unequivocal testimony from men whom we are accustomed to regard as models of political sagacity and integrity-from Southern men as far as pos sible-we herewith present an extract from a speech de livered in the Virginia House of Delegates, January 20, 1832, by Charles James Faulkner, whose sentiments, as then and there expressed, can hardly fail to find a re sponse in the heart of every intelligent, upright man: But, Sir, it is said that society having conferred this property on the slaveholder, it cannot now take it from him without an adequate compensation, by which is meant full value. I may be si,ngular in the opinion, but I defy the legal research of the House te point me to a principle recognized by the aw, even in the or d:~ary course of it*
adjudications. where the community pays 175

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. for l roperty which is removed or destroyed because t is a nuisance, and found injurious to th’at society. There is, I humbly apprehend,, no such principle. There ismno obligation upon society to continue your right one moment after it becomes injurious to the best interests of society; nor to compensate you for the loss of that, the deprivation of which is demanded by the safety of the State, and in which general benefit you participate as members of the community. Sir, there is to my mind a manifest distinction between condemning private property to be applied to some beneficial public purpose, and condemning or removing private property which is ascertained to be a positive wrong to society.

It is a distinction which pervades the whole genius of the law; and is founded upon the idea, that any man who holds property injurious to the peace of that society of which he is a member, thereby violates the condition upon the observance of which his right to the property is alone guarantied. For property of the first class condemned, there ought to be compensation; but for property of the latter class, none can be demanded upon principle, none accorded as matter of right. “It is conceded that, at this precise moment of our legislation, slaves are injurious to the interests and threaten the subversion and rin of this Commonwealth. Their present numberb their increasing number, all admonish us of this. In different terms, and in more measured languag,e the same fact has been conceded by all whohave yet addressed this HIlouse.’ Something must be done,’ emphatically exclaimed the gentleman from Dinwiddie; and I thought I could perceive a response to that declaration, in the countenance of a large majority of this body. And why must something be done? Because if not, says the gentleman from Campbell, the throats of all the White people of Virginia will be cut. No, says the gentleman from Dinwiddie-‘ The whites cannot be conquered-the throats of the blacks wili be cut.’ It is a trifling difference, to be sure, Sir, and matters not to the arg,ument.

For the fact is conceded, that one race or the other must be exterminated.

“Sir, such being -the actual condition of this Commonwealth, I ask if w>
would not be justiftednow, supposing all cons’iderations of po icy and huirmnity concurred without e-‘,n a moment’s 176

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. delly, in staving off this appalling and overwhelming calamity? Sir, if this immense negro population were now in arms, gathering into black and formidable masses of attack, would that man be listened to, who spoke about property, who prayed you not to direct your artillery to such or such a point, for you would de stroy some of his property? Sir, to the eye of the Statesman, as to thb eye of Omnisciencee, dangers pressing, and dangers that must necessarily press, are alike present. With a single glance he embraces Virginia now, with the elements of destruction reposing quietly upon her bosom, and Virginia is lighted from one extremity to the other with the torch of servile insurrection and massacre. It is not sufficient for him that the match is not yet applied.

It is enough that the magazine is open, and the match will shortly be applied. “Sir, it is true in national as it is in private contracts, that loss and injury to one party may constitute as fair a consideration as gain to the other. Does the slaveholder, while he is enjoying his slaves, reflect upon the deep injury and incalculable loss which the possession of that property inflicts upon the true interests of the country? Slavery. it is admitted, is an evil-it is an institution which presses heavily against the best interests of the State. It banishes free white labor, it exterminates the mechanic, the artisan, the manufacturer. It deprives them of occupation. It deprives them of bread. It converts the energy of a community into indolence, its power into imbecility, its efficiency into weakness. Sir, being thus injurious, have we not a right to demand its extermination? shall society suffer, that the slaveholder may continue to gather his crop of human flesh? What is his mere pecuniary claim, compared with the great interests of the common weal? Must the country languish, droop, die, that the slaveholder may flourish? Shall all interests be subservient to one-all rights subordinate to those of the slaveholder?

IHas n.ot the mechanic, have not the middle classes their rights-rights incompatible with the existence of slavery? ‘ Sir, so great and overshadowing are the evils of slavery-so sensibly are they felt by those who have traced the causes of our national decline’ so ipereptible is the poisonous operation of its princil les in the va ed and diversified interests of this Common 8* 177

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HOW SLAVERY CA4 BE ABOLISHEf. wealth, that all, whose minds are not warped by prejudice or in. tcrest, must admit that the disease has now assumed that mortal tendency, as to justify the application of any remedy which, under the great law of State necessity, we might consider advise ble.”

From the abstract of our plan for the abolition of sla. very, it will be perceived that, so far from allowing slaves holders any compensation for their slaves, we are, and we think justly, in favor of imposing on them a tax of sixty dollars for each and every negro now in their pos session, as also for each and every one that shall be born to them between now and the 4th of July, 1863; after which timne, we propose that they shall be taxed forty dollars per annum, annually, for every person by them held in slavery, without regard to age, sex, color, or condition -the money, in both instances, to be used for the sole advantage of the slaves. As an addendum to this propositi)n, we would say that, in our opinion, if slavery is not tot ally abolished by the year 1869, the annual tax ought to be increased from forty to one hundred dollars; and furthermore, that if the institution does not then almost immediately disappear under the onus of this increased taxation, the tax ought in the course of one or two years thereafter, to be augmented to such a degree as will, in harmony with other measures, prove an infallible deathblow to slavery on or before the 4th of July, 1876. At once let the good and true men of this country, the patriot sons of the patriot fathers, determine that the sun which rises to celebrate the centennial anniversary of our rational independence, shall not set on the head  Of any slav: within the limits of our Republic. Will not the 178

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. no-I.aveholders’of the North, of the South, of the East and cf the West, heartily, unanimously sanction this proposition? Will it not be cheerfully indorsed by many of the slavel)ders themselves? Will any respedable man enter a protest against it? On the 4th of July, 1876esooner, if we can-let us make good, at least so far as we are concerned, the Declaration of Independence, which was proclaimed in Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1776 -that “all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, anAl to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” In purging our land of the iniquity of negro slavery, we will only be carrying on the great work that was so successfully commenced by our noble sires of the Revolution; some future generation aiay possibly complete the work by annulling the last and :east-form of oppression. To turn the slaves away from their present homes  away from all the property and means of support which their labor has mainly produced, would be unpardonably cruel-exceedingly unjust. Still more cruel-and unjust would it be, ha sever, to the nonslaveholding whites no less than to the legroes, to granfit further toleration to the 179

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED existence of s avery. In any event, come what will, transpire wLat may, the institution must be abolished. The evils, if any, which are to result from its abolition, cannot, by any manner of means, be half as great as the evils which are certain to overtake us in case of its con tinuance. The perpetuation of slavery-is the climax of iniquity. Two hundred and thirty-seven years have the negroes in America been held in inhuman bondage. During the whole of this long period they have toiled unceasingly from the gray of dawn till the dusk of eve, for their cruel taskmasters, who have rewarded them with scanty allowances of the most inferior qualities of victuals and clothes, with heartless separations of the tenderest ties of kindred, with epithets, with scoldings, with execrations, and with the lash-and, not unfrequently, with the fatal bludgeon or the more deadly weapon. From the labor of their hands, and from the fruit of their loins, the humanmongers of the South have become wealthy, insolent, corrupt, and tyrannical. In reason and in conscience the slaves might claim from their masters a much larger sum than we have proposed to allow them. If they were to demand an equal share of all the property, real and personal, which has been accumulated or produced through their efforts, Heaven, we believe, would recognize them as honest claimants. Elsewhere we have shown, by just and liberal estimates, that, on the single score of damages to lands, the slaveholders are, at this moment, indebted to the non-slveholding whites in the extraordinary sum of $7,544,148,825 180

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. Considered in connection with the righteous claim of wages for services which the negroes might bring against their masters, these figures are the heralds of the significant fact that, if strict justice could be meted out to all parties In the South, the slaveholders would not only be stripped of’ eve:‘y dollar, but they would become in law as they are in reality, the hopeless debtors of the myriads of unfortunate slaves, white and black, who are now cringing, and fawning, and festering around them. In this matter, however, so far has wrong triumphed over right, that the slaveholders a mere handful of tyrants, whose manual exercises are wholly comprised in the use they make of instruments of torture, such as whips, clubs, bowieknives and pistols -have, as the result of a series of acts of their own villainous legislation, become the sole and niggardly propri etors of almost every important item of Southern wealth; not only do they own all the slaves-none of whom any really respectable person cares to own but they are also in possession of the more valuable tracts of land and the appurtenances thereto belonging; while the nonslaveholding whites and the negroes, who compose at least ninetenths of the entire population, and who are the actual producers of every article of merchandize, animal, vegetable, and mineral, that is sold from the South, are most wickedly despoiled of the fruits of their labors, and cast into the dismal abodes of extreme ignorance, destitution and misery.+ For the services of the blacks from the 20tliof-August, 1620, up to the-4th of July, 1863-an interval of precisely two hund ed and forty-two years ten months and fourteen 181

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. days their masters, if unwilling, ought, in our judgment, to be ompelled to grant them their freedom, and to pay each and every ne of them at least sixty dollars cash in hand. The aggregate sum thus raised would amount to about two hundred and fortyfive millions of dollars, which is less than the total market value of two entire ci ops of cotton-one-half of which sum would be amply sufficient to land every negro in this country on the coast of Liberia, whither, if we had the power, we would ship them all within the next six months. As a means of protection against the exigencies which might arise from a sudden transition from their present homes in America to their future homes in Africa, and for the purpose of enabling them there to take the initiatory step in the walks of civilized’life, the remainder of the sum-say about one hundred and twenty-two millions of dollars-might, very properly, be equally distributed amongst them after their arrival in the land of their fathers. Dr. James Hall, the Secretary of the Maryland Coloniza. tion Society, informs us that the average cost of sending negroes to Liberia does not exceed thirty dollars each; and it is his opinion that arrangements might be made on an extensive plan for conveying them thither at an average expense of not more than twentyfive dollars each. The American colonization movement, as now systematized and conducted, is simply an American humane farce. At present the slaves are increasing in this country at the rate of nearly one hundred thousand per annum; within the last ten years, a wil appear below, the-American Colonization Society I.as sent to Liberia less than five liotiusand negroes. 182

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now SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLIUT. Em grants sent to Liberia by the American Colonization Society, during the ten years ending January 1st, 1857. In 1847…………………… 39 In 1848……………………213 In 1849……………..474 In 1850………………6.590 In 1851………………… 279 In 1852……………………568 In 1853…………………583 In 1854………………… 783 In 185…………………207 In 1856………………… 544

Total………… - 4280 The average of this total is precisely four hundred and iwenty-eight, which may be said to be the number of ne groes annually colonized by the society; while the yearly increase of slaves, as previously stated, is little less than one hundred thousand I Fiddlesticks for such coloniza-i tion I Once for all, within a reasonably short period, let us make the slaveholders do something like justice to their negroes by giving each and every one of them his freedom, and sixty dollars in current money-; then let us charter’all the ocean steamers, packets and clipper ships that can be had on liberal terms, and keep them constantly plying between the ports of America and Africa, until all slaves shall enjoy freedom in the land of their fathers. Under a well-devised and properly conducted system of operations, but a few years would be rSquired to redeem the United S*-tes from the monstrous curse of negro s’avery iss I ,.Emigmuts… i

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B JW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. Some few years ago, when certain ethnographical oli garchs proved to their own satisfaction that the negro was an inferior “type of mankind,” they chuckled wonder fully, and avowed, in substance, that it was right for the stronger race to kidnap and enslave the weaker-that be cause Nature had been pleased to do a trifle more for the Caucasian race than for the African, the former, by virtue of its superiority, was perfectly justifiabre in holding the latter in absolute and perpetual bondage I No system of logic could be more antagonistic to the spirit of true democracy. It is probable that the world does not con tain two persons who are exactly alike in all respects; yet “all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” All mankind may or may not be. the descendants of Adam and Eve. In our own humble way of thinking, we are frank to confess, we do not believe in the unity of the races. This is a matter, however, which has little or nothing to do with the great question at issue. Aside from any theory concerning the original parentage of the different races of men, facts, material and immaterial, palpable and impalpable-facts of the eyes and facts of the conscience-crowd around us on every hand, heaping proof upon proof, that slavery is a shame, a crime, and a, curse-a great moral, social, civil, and political evil-an oppressive burden to the blacks, and an incalculable injury to the whites-a stumblingblock to the nation, an impediment to progress, a damper on all the nobler instincts, principles, aspirations and enterprises of man, and a dire enemy to every true interest. 184

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE sBOIJSHED. Waiving all other counts, we have, we tl.ink, shown to the satisfaction of every impartial reader, that, as elsewhere stated, on the single score of damages to lands, the slaveholdeirs are, at this moment, indebted to us, the nonslaveholdil g whites, in the enormous sum of nearly seventy-six hun lired millions of dollars. What shall be done with this amount? It is just; shall payment be demanded? No; all the slaveholders in the country could not pay it; nor shall we ever ask them for even a moiety of the amount-no, not even for a dime, nor yet for a cent; we are willing to forfeit every farthing for the sake of freedom; for ourselves we ask no indemnification for the past: we only demand justice for the future. But, Sirs, knights of bludgeons, chevaliers of bowieknives and pistols, and lords of the lash, we are unwill ing to allow you to swindle the slaves out of all the rights and claims to which, as human beings, they are most sacredly entitled. Not alone for ourself as an individual, but for others also-particularly for five or six millions of Southern nonslaveholding whites, whom your iniqui tous statism has debarred from almost all the mental and material comforts of life-do we speak, when we say, you must emancipate your slaves, a-d pay each and every one of them at least sixty dollars cash in hand. By doing this, you will be restoring to them their natural rights, and remuneratinig them at the rate of less than twenty-six cents per annum for the long and cheerless period of their servitude, from the 20th of August, 1620, when on James River, in ~irginia,;they became the uinhappy slaves of heartless n asters. lfrleover, by doing this you will be 185

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HOW SLAVERY CAN BE ABOLISHED. performing but a simple act  of justice to the nonslave holding whites, upon whom the institution of slavery has weighed scarcely less heavily than upon the negroes themselves. You will also be applying a saving balm to your own outraged hearts and consciences, and your children yourselves in fact-freed from the accursed stain of slavery, will become respectable, useful, and honorable members of society. And now, Sirs, we have thus laid down our ultimatum. What are you going to do about it? Something dreadful, as a matter of course! I Perhaps you will dissolve the Union again. Do it, if you dare I Our motto, and we would have you to understand it, is the abolition of slavery, and the peretuation of the American Union. If, by any means, you do succeed in your treasonable attempts to take the South out of the Union to-day, we will bring her back tomorrow-if she goes away with you, she will return without you. Do not mistake the meaning of the last clause of the last sentence; we could elucidate it so thoroughly that no intelligent person could fail to comprehend it; but, for reasons which may hereafter appear, we forego the task. Ilenceforth there are other interests to be consulted in the South, aside from the interests of negroes and slaveholders. A profound sense of duty incites us to make the greatest possible efforts for the abolition of slavery; an equally profound sense of duty’calls for a continuation of those efforts until the very last foe to freedom shall have been utterly vanquished. To the summons of’the righteous mo,‘ior within, we sball endeavor to prove faithful; 186

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HOW SLAVER-CA 3BE ABOLISHED. no opportunity for inflicting a mortal wound in the side of slavery shall be permitted to pass us unimproved. Thus, terror-engenderers of the South, have we fully and frankly defined our position; we have no modifications to propose, no compromises to offer, nothing to retract Frown, Sirs, fret, foam, prepare your weapons, threat, strike, shoot, stab, bring on civil war, dissolve the Union, nav annihilate the solar system if you will-do6 all this, more, less, better, worse, anything,-,-do what you will, Sirs, you can neither foil nor intimidate us;our purpose is as firmly fixed as the eternal pillars of Heaven; we have determined to abolish slavery, and, so help us God, ablish it we will I Take this to bed with you tonight, Sirs. and think about it, dream over it, and let us know how you feel tonorrow morning. io 1-87

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CHAPTER III. SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLIAVERY. IF it please the reader, let him forget all that we ha)ve written on the subject of slavery; if it accord with hi5 inclination, let him ignore all that we may write hereaf ter. We seek not to give currency to our peculiar opinions; our greatest ambition, in these pages, is to popular ize the sayings and admonitions of wiser and better men. Miracles, we believe, are no longer wrought in this bedew iled world; but if, by any conceivable or possible supernatural event, the great Founders of the Republic, Washington, Jefferson, Henry, and others, could be reinvested with corporeal life, and returned to the South, there is scarcely a slaveholder between the Potomac and the mouth of the Mississippi, that would not burn to pounce upon them with bludgeons, bowieknives and pistols! I Yes, without adding another word, Washington would be mobbed for what he has already said. Were Jefferson now employed as a professor in a Southern college, he would be dismissed and driven from the State, perhaps murdered before he reached the border.

If Patrick Henry were a bookseller in Alabama, though it might be demonstrated beyond the shadow of a d?ubt that he had never boug’ht,

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. sold, received, or presented, any kind of literature except Bibles and Testaments, he would first be subjected to the ignominy of a coat of tar and feathers, and then limited to the option of unceremonious expatriation or death. How seemingly impossible are these statemcits, and yet how true I Where do we stand? What is our faith? Are we a flock without a shepherd? a people without a prophet? a nation without a government? Has the past, with all its glittering monuments of genius and patriotism, furnished no beacon by which we may direct our footsteps in the future? If we but prove true to ourselves, and worthy of our ancestry, we have nothing to fear; our Revolutionary sires have devised and bequeathed to us an almost perfect national policy. Let us cherish, and defend, and build upon, the fundamental principles of that polity, and we shall most assuredly reap the golden fruits of unparalleled power, virtue and prosperity. Heaven forbid that a desperate faction of slaveholding criminals should succeed in their infamous endeavors to quench the spirit of liberty, which our forefathers infused into those two sacred charts of our political faith, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States. Oligarchal politicians are alone responsible for the continuance of African slavery in the South. For purposes of self-aggrandizement, they have kept learning and civilization from the people; they have wilfully misinterpreted the national compacts, and have outraged their own consciences by declaringto their illiterate constituents, that the Founders of the Republic were n(,t ab-litior.ists.

When the dark clouds of slavery, 189 4.

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY error and ignorance shall. have passed away, and,,C it lieve the time is near at hand when they are to bi dissi pated,-the freemen of the South, like those of oth,,t sec tions, will learn the glorious truth, that inflexible o)pposi tion to Human Bondage has formed one of, the distin guishinig characteristics of every really good or great man that our country has produced. The principles, aims and objects that actuated the framers of the Constitution, are most graphicallly and eloquently set forth, in the following extract from a speech recently delivered by the Hon. A. H. Cragin, of -New Hampshire, in the House of Representatives: “When our forefathers reared the magnificcnt structure of a free Republic in this Western land, they laid its foundations broad and deep in the eternal principles of right. Its materials were all quarried from the mountain of truth; and, as it rose majestically before an astonished world, it rejoiced the hearts and hopes of mankind. Tyrants only cursed the workmnen and their workmanship. Its architecture was new. It had no model in Grecian or rkoman history. It seemed a paragon, let down from heaven to inspire the hopes of men, and to demonstrate the favor of God to the people of a new world. The builders recognized the rights of human nature as universal. Liberty, the great first right of man, they claimed for’all men.’ and claimed it from ‘God himself.’ Upoil this foundation they elected the temple, and dedicated it to Liberty, Humanity, Justice, and Equality. Washington was crowned its patron saint.” “The work completed was the noblest effort of human wisdom.

But it was not perfect. It had one blemish-a little spot-the black stain of slavery. The workmen-the friends of freedom everywhere-deplored this.

They labored long and prayerfully to remove this deformity ~laey applied all the skill of their art; but they labored in vaii. Self-interest was too strong for patriotism ant love of libert3. The work stood still. and for 190

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. I time it was doubtful whether the experiment would suc(eed. The blot must remain, or the whole must fail.

The workmen revarnishe,l their work, to conceal and cover up the stain.

Slavery was recognized, but not sanctioned. The word slave or slavery must not mar the Constitution. So great an inconsistency must not be proclaimed to the world.” “All agreed, at that time, that the anomaly should not increase, and all concurred in thee hope and belief that the blemish would gradually disappear. Those noble men looked forward to the time when slavery would be abolished in this land of ours. They believed that the principles of liberty were so dear to the people, that they would not long deny to others what they claimed for themselves. They never dreamed that slavery would be extended. but firmly believed it would be wholly blotted out. I challenge any man to show me a single patriot of the Revolution who was in favor of slavery, or who advocated its extension. So universal was the sentiment of liberty then, that no man, North or South, could be found to justify it. Some palliated the evil, and desired that it might be gradually extinguished; but none contemplated it as a permanent institution.” “Liberty was then the national g3ddess, worshiped by all the people. They sang of liberty, they harangued for liberty, they prayed for liberty, and they sacrificed for liberty Slavery was then hateful. It was denounced by all. The British king was condemned for foisting it upon the Colonies. Southern men were foremost in entering their protest against it.

It was then everywhere regarded as an evil, and a crime against humanity.’

The fact is too palpable to be disguised, that slavery and slaveholders have always been a clog and a dead-weight upon the governmenta disgrace and a curse to humanitv. The slaveholding Tories of the South, particularly of South Carolina, in their atrocious hostility to freedom, prolonged the arduous war of the Revolution from two to threeyears; and since the termination of that momentous struggle, in which, thank Heaven, they were most signally defeated, 191

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. it has been their constant aim and effort to subvert the dear-bought liberties which were achieved by the nonslavehulding patriots. Nonslaveholders of the South I up to the present period, neither as a body, nor as individuals, have you ever had an independent existence; but, if true to yourselves and to the memory of your fathers, you, in equal copartnership with the nonslaveholders of the North, will soon become the honored rulers and proprietors of the most powerful, prosperous, virtuous, free, and peaceful nation, on which the sun has ever shone. Already has the time arrived for you to decide upon what basis you will erect your political superstructure. Upon whom will you depend for an equitable and judicious form of constitutional government? whom will you designate as models for your future statesmen?

Your choice lies between the dead and the livingbetween the Washingtons, the Jeffersons and the Madisons of the past, and the Quattlebums, the Quitmans and the Butlers of the present. We have chsen; choose ye, remembering that freedom or slavery is to be the issue of your option. As the result of much reading and research, and at the expenditure of no inconsiderable amount of time, labor and money, we now proceed to make known the antislavery sentiments of those noble abolitionists, the Fathers of the Republic, whose liberal measures of public policy have been so criminally perverted by the treacherous advocates of slavery Let us listeni, in the first place, to the voice of him who 192

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SOUTHEN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. was “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,’” to THE VOICE OF WASHINGTON. In a letter to John F. Mercer, dated September 9tb, 1786, General Washington says:  “I never mean, unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase. it being among myfirst wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery, in this country, may be abolished by law.” In a letter to Robert Morr’s, dated Mount Vernon, April 12, 1786, he says: “I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it. But there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that-is by legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be -wanting.” He says, in a letter To the MARQUIs DE LAFAvYETTE-‘April 5th, 1783: The schemne, my dear Marquis, which you propose as a precedent, to encourage the emancipatiOn of the black people in this country from the state of bondage in which they are held, is a striking evidence of the benevolence of your heart. I shall be happy to join you in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the business till I have the pleasure of-seeitig you.” In another letter to Lafayette,; he says: ” The benevolence of your heart, my dear-:Marqu’,-‘ms.so-con spicu(ous on all occasions, that I never wonder at any’ fresh,proofs of it; but your late purchase of an estate in the Colony of Cayenne. witlh,e iew of emancipating the slaves on it, is a’generolis 9 193

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. and noble proof of your humanity.

Would to God a like spirit might diff lse itself generally into the minds of tile people of this country.” In a letter to Sir John Sinclair, he further said: “There are in Pennsylvania laws fQr the gradual abolition of slavery, which neither Virginia nor Maryland have at present, but which nothing is more certain than they must have, and at a period not remote.”

From his last will and testament we make the following extract: “Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves which I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her life would, though earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their intermixture by marriage with the dower negroes, as to excite’the most painful sensation, if not disagreeable consequences, from the lattor, while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same-proprietor, it not being in my power, under the tenure by which the dower negroes are held, to manumit them.” It is said that, “when Mrs. Washington learned, from the will of her deceased husband, that the only obstacle to the immediate perfection of this provision was her right of dower, she at once gave it up, and the slaves were made free.” -A man might possibly concentrate within himself more real virtue and influence than ever Washington possessed, and yet he would not be too good for such a wife.. From the Fther of his Country, we now turn to the author of tie Declarati n of Independence. We williste to 194

IN

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SOUTHERN TESI MONY AGAINST SL LVERY. THE VOICE OF JEFFERSON. On the 39th and 40th pages of his Notes ol Virgiaia, Jefferson says: “‘There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our people, produced by the existence of slavery among us. The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions-thn most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imni+atc it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. From his cradle to his grave, he is learning to do what he sees others do. If a parent could find no motive, either in his philanthropy or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose rein to the worst of passions; and, thunursed.

educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but bl stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be v prodigy who can retain his manners and morals undepraved b2 such circumstances. And with what execration should thl Statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half the citizens thuto trample on the rights of the other, transforms those into des pots and these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part and the amor patriae of the other; for if a slave can have country in this world. it must be any other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labor for another; in which he must look up the faculties of his nature, contribute, as far as de pends on his individual endeavors, to the evanishment of the hu man race, or entail his own miserable condition on the endle-. generations proceeding from him. With the morals of the peo ple, their industry also is destroyed; for, in a warm climate, ne mian will labor for himself who can make another labor-for hitm. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion, indeed, are ever seen to labor. And can the libertiea 195

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SOUTHERN TE-TIIONY AGAINST SLAVERt of a nation be thought secure, when we have remov d their only firmn basis-a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? that tlihy are not to be violated( but with his wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when 1
reflect that God is just; that his justice cannrt sleep forever; that considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible-events; that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.” While Virginia was yet a Colony, in 1774, she held a Convention to appoint delegates to attend the first general Congress, which was to assemble, and did assemble, in Philadelphia, in September of the same year. Before that Convention, Mr. Jefferson made an exposition of the rights of British America, in which he said: ” The abolition of domestic slaver) is the greatest object of desire in these Colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant State. But previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves, it is necessary to exclude further importations from Africa.

Yet our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to prohibition, have been hitherto defeated by his Majesty’s negative; thus preferring the immediate advantage of a few African corsairs to the lasting interests of the American States, and the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this infamous practice.” In the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, of which it is well known he was the author, we find this charge against the King of Great Britain: “HIe has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights-oflife arid liberty, in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable 196

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINbr SLAVERY. death in their transportation thither.

This piratical w.arifare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep a market where men should be bought and sold, he has agt length prostituted his nega tive for suppressing any legislative attempt to prohibit and re strain this execrable commerce.” .Hear him further; he says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Under date of August 7th, 1785, in a letter to Dr. Price of London, he says *. “Northward of the Chesapeake you may find, here and there an opponent of your doctrine, as you may find, here and there, a robber and murderer; but in no great number. Emancipation is put into such a train, that in a few years there will be no slaves northward of Maryland. In Maryland [ do not find such a disposition to begin the redress of this enormity, as in Virginia. This is the next State to which we may turn our eyes for the interesting spectacle of j)ustice in conflict with avarice and oppression; a conflict wherein the sacred side is gaining daily recruits from the influx into office of young men grown up,and growing up. These have sucked in the principles of liberty, as it were, with their mother’s milk; and it is, to them I look with anxiety to turn the fate of the question” In another letter, written to a friend in 1814, he made use of the following emphatic language . ” Your favor of July 31
st was duly received, and read with peculiar pleasure. The sentiments do honor to the head and heart 197i

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. of the writer. Mlinie on th, subject of the slavery of negroes have long since been in the possession of the public. and time has only served to give them stronger root. The love of justice and the loveof country plead equally the cause of these people, and it is a reproach to us that they should have pleaded it so long in vain.” Again, he says: “What an incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure toil, amnine, stripes, imprisonment, and death itself, in vindication of his own liberty; and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow man a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.” Throughout the South, at the present day, especially among slaveholders, negroes are almost invariably spoken of as “goods and chattels,” “property,” “human cattle.”’

In our first quotation from Jefferson’s works, we have seen that he spoke of the blacks as citizens. We shall now hear him speak 6f them as brethren. He says: “We must wait with patience the workings of an overruling Providence, and hope that that is preparing the deliverance of these our brethren. When the measure of their tears shall be full, when their groans shall have involved Heaven itself in darkness, doubtless a God of justice will awaken to their distress. Nothing is more certainly written in the Book of Fate. than that this people shall be free.” - In a letter to James Heaton, on this same subject, dated May 20, 1826, only six weeks before his death, he says: a 3fy sentiments have beon forty years before the public. Hlad .198

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. I repeated them forty times, they would have only become the more stale and threadbare. Although I shall not live to see them consummated, they will not die’with me.” From the Father of the Declaration of Independence; we row turn to the Father of the Constitution. We will listen to THE VOICE OF MADISON. Advocating the abolition of the slave-trade, Mr. Madison said: “The dictates of humanity, the principles of the people, the national safety and happiness, and prudent policy, require it of us. It is to be hoped, that by expressing a national disapprobation of the trade, we may destroy it, and, save our country from reproaches, and our posterity from the imbecility ever attendant on a country filled with slaves.” Again, he says: ‘“It is wrong to admit into the Constitution the idea that there can be property in man.”. In the 39th No. of ” The Federalist,” he says: “The first question that offers itself is, whether the general form and aspect of the government bQ strictly Republican. It is evident that no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America. and with the fundamental principles of the Revolution. or with that honorable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experi ments on the capacity of mankind for self-government.” In the Federal C,)ivenltion, he said - “And in the third place, where slavery exists, the Republican theory becomes still more fallacious.” 199

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. On another occasion, he says: “We have seen the mere distinction of color made, n the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.” THE VOICE OF MONROE. In a speech in the Virginia Convention, Mr.

Monroe said: ” We have found that this evil has preyed upon the very vitals of the Union, and has been prejudicial to all the States, in which it has existed.” THE VOICE OF HENRY. The eloquent Patrick Henry says, in a letter dated Jannary 18, 1773: “Is it not a little surprising that the professors of Christianity, whose chief excellence consists in softening the human heart, in cherishing and improving its finer feelings, should encourage a practice so totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and wrong? What adds to the wonder is, that this abominable practice has been introduced ip the most enlightened ages. Times that seem to have pretensions to boast of high improvements in the arts and sciences, and refined morality, have brought into general use, and guarded by many laws, a species of violence and tyranny which our more rude and barbarous but more hopest ancestors detested. Is it not amazing that at a time when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision, in a country above all others fond of liberty-that in such an age and in such a country, we find men professing a religion the most mild, humane, gentle, and generous, adopting such a principle, as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible, and destructive to Iibertyl-Every thinking, honest man rejects it in speculation. How free in practice from conscientious mnotives I Would any one believe that I am master of slaves of my Own 200

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERYr. purchase? I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot justify it. However culpable my conduct, I will so far pay my devoir to virtue as to own the excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and lament my want of conformity to them. I believe a time *ill come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we can do is to improve it, if it happens ill our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants. together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot, and an abhorrence for slavery. If we cannot reduce this wished-for reformation to practice, let us treat the unhappy victims with lenity. It is the furthest advance we can make towards justice. It ie a debt we owe to the purity of our religion, to show that it is at var ance with that law which warrants slavery.” Again, this-great orator says: “It would rejoice my very soul, that every one of my fellow beings was emancipated. We ought to lament and deplore the necessity of holding our fellowmen in bondage. Believe me, I shall honor the Quakers for their noble efforts to abolish slavery.” THE VOICE OF RANDOLPH. That excentric genius, John Randolph, of Roanoke, in a letter to William Gibbons, in 1820, says: ‘ With unfeigned respect and regard, and as sincere a deprecation on the extension of slavery and its horrors, as any other man, be him whom he may, I am your friend, in the literal sense of that much abused word. I say much abused, because it is aprlied to the leagues of vice and avarice and ambition, instead of good will toward man from love of him who is the Prince of Peace. While in Congress, he said. ” Sir, I envy neither the heart nor the head of that man fiom the North who rises-here t4 defend slavery on principle.” 9 201

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SOUTHERN TESTIIMON AGAIN’ST SLAVERY. It isa well known that he emancipated all his negroea The fo!lowing lines from his will are well worth perusing and preserving: “I give to my slaves their freedom, to which my conscience tells me they are justly entitled. It has a long time been a matter of the deepest regret to me that the circumstances under which I inherited them, and the obstacles thrown in the way by the laws of the land, have prevented my emancipating them in my life-time, which it is my full intention to do in case I can accomplish it.” THOMIAS M. RANDOLPH. In an address to the Virginia Legislature, in t820, Gov. Randolph said: “We have been far outstripped by States to whom nature has been far less bountiful.

It is painful to consider what might have been, under other circumstances, the amount of general wealth in Virginia.” THOMAS JEFFERSON RANDOLPH. In 1832, Mr. Randolph, of Albemarle, in the Legislature of Virginia, used the following most graphic and emphatic language: “I agree with gentlemen in the necessity of arming the State for internal defence. I will unite with them in any effort to restore confidence to the public mind, and to conduce to the sense of the safetv of our wives and our children. Yet, Sir. I must ask upon whom is to fall the burden of this defence? Not upon the lordly masters of-their hundred slaves, who will Aec turn out except to retire with their families when danger threatens. No, Sir, t i to fall upon the less wealthy class of our citizens 11 202

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. chiefly upon the nonslaveholder. I have known patrols turned out when there was not a slaveholder among them; and this is the practice of the country. I have slept in times of alarm quiet in bed, without ILaving a thought of care, while these individuals, ow:ing none of this property themselves, were patrolling under a compulsory process, for a pittance of seventy-five cents per twelve hours, the very curtilage of my house, and guarding that property whichi was alike dangerous to them and myself. After all, this is but an expedient.

As this population becomes more numerous, it becomes less productive. Your guard must be increasad, until finally its profits will not pay for the-expense of its subjection. Slavery has the effect of lessening the free population of a country. “The gentleman has spoken of the increase of the female slaves b)eing a part of the profit. It is admitted; but no great evil can be averted, no good attained, without some inconvenience. It may be questioned how far it is desirable to foster and encourage this branch of profit. It is a practice, and an increasing practice, in parts of Virginia, to rear slaves for market. How can an honorable mind, a patriot, and a lover of his country, bear to see this Ancient Dominion, rendered illustrious by the noble devotion and patriotism of her sons in the cause of liberty, converted into one grand menagerie, where men are to be reared for the market, like oxen for the shambles 7 Is it better, is it not worse, than the slave trade-that trade which enlisted the labor of the good and wise of every creed, and every clime, to abolish it? The trader receives the slave, a stranger in language, aspect, and manners, from the merchant who has brought him from the interior. The ties of father, mother, husband, and child, have all been rent in twain; before he receives him, his soul has become callous. But here, Sir, individuals whom the master has known from infancy, whom he has seen sporting in the innocent gambols of childhood, who have been accustomed to look to him for protection, he tears from the mother’s arms and sells into a strange country among straige pcople, subject to cruel taskmasters. - - Ie has atteminpted to’justify slavery here, because it exists in Africa, And has stated that it exists all over the world. Upon 03 4.1

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. the same principle, he could justify Mahometanism, with its plurality of wives,- petty wars for plunder, robbery, and murder. or any other of the abominations and enormities of savage tribes. Does slavery exist in any part of civilized Europe? No, Sir. iD no part of it.” PEYTON RANDOLPH. On the 20th of October, 1774, while Con,ress was in session in Philadelphia, Peyton Randolph, President, the following resolution, among others, was unanimously adopted: aThat we will neither import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December next; after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave-trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures, to those who are concerned in it.” EDMUND RANDOLPH. The Constitution of the United States contains the fol lowing provision: “No person held to service or labor in anqther State, under the laws thereof, escaping to another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.” To the studious attention of those vandals who contend that the ab6ve provision requires the rendition of fugitive slaves, we respectfully commend the following resolution, which, it will-be observed, was unanimuasly adopted: ;’ On mo’i on of MIr.

Randolp h. tlho word servitudle’ was strucL 204

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINSI SLAVERY. out, and’service’ unanimously inserted - the former being thought to express the condition of slaves, and the latter the ob ligation offree persons.” Madi.son Papers, vol. III., p.

1569. Well done for the Randolphs I THE VOICE OF CLAY. Henry Clay, whom everybody loved, and at the mention of whose name the American heart always throbs with emotions of grateful remembrance, said, in an address before the Kentucky Colonization Society, in 1829: “It is believed that nowhere in the farmhizg portion of the United States would slavelabor be generally employed, if the proprietor were not tempted to raise slaves by the high price of the Southern market, which keeps it up in his own.” In the United States Senate, in 1850, he used the follow ing memorable words: ”I am extremely sorry to hear the Senator from Mississippi say that he requires, first, the extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, and also that he is not satisfied with that, but requires, if I understand him correctly, a positive provision for the admission of slavery South of that line. And now, Sir,.coming from a slave State, as I do, I owe it to myself, I owe it to truth, I owe it to the subject to say that no earthly power could induce me to vote for a specific measure for the. introduction of slavery where it had not before existed, either South or North of that line. Coming as I do from a slave State, it is my solemn, deliberate and well-matured determination that no power, no earthly power, shalt compel me to vote for the positive introduction of slavery either South or North of that line. Sir while. you reproch. and justly too, our British ancestors for the introduction of this institution upon the continent of America I am, for one, unwilling that the posterity of the present in 205

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY -AGAINST SLAVERY. habitants of California and of New Mexico, shall reproach us for doing just what we reproach Great Britain for doing to us. If the citizens of those territories choose to establish slavery, and if they come here with Constitutions establishing slavery, I am for admitting them with such provisions in their Constitutions; belt then it will be their own work, and not ours, and their posterity will have to reproach them, and-not us, for foriniig Con stitv’:.ons allowing the institution of slavery to exist among thein. These are my views, Sir, and I choose to express them; qnd I care not how extensively or universa!ly they are known.” Hear him further; he says: “So long as God allows the vital current to flow through my veins, I will never, never, never, by word, or thought, by minld or will, aid in admitting one roo,d of free territory to the everlasting curse of human bondage.” A bumper to the memory of noble Harry of the WVest I CASSIUS M. CLAY Of the great number of good speeches made by members of thle Republican party during the late Presidential campaig,, it is, we believe, pretty generally admitted that the bert cne was made by Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, at the Tabernacle, in NewYork City, on the 24th of October, 1856. From the speech of that noble champion of freedom, then and there delivered, we make the following graphic extract -:  If there are no manufactures, there is no commerce. In vain do the slaveholflers go to Knoxville, to Nashville, to Memphis and to Charleston, and resolve that tb-will have nothing to do with these abolition eighteen mil. of Northern people that they will iuild their own vessels, maniufacture heir own goods ship their own products to foreign countries, and break down ~ 206

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGA NST SLAVERY. NewYork, Philadelphia and Boston!

Again they resolve and reresolve. and yet there is not a single ton more shipped and not a single article added to the wealth of the South. But, gentlemen, they ne(ver invite such men as I am to attend their Conventions. They know that I would tell them that slavery is the cause of their poverty, and that I will tell them that what they are aiming at is the dissolution of the Union-that they may be prepared to strike for that whenever the nation rises. They well know that by slave labor the very propositions which they make can never be realized; yet when we show these things, they cry out, Oh, Cotton is King!’ But when we look at the statistics, we find that so far from Cotton being King, Grass is King.

There are nine articles of staple productions which are larger than that of cotton in this country.” ‘ I suppose it does not follow because slavery is endeavoring to modify the great dicta of our fathlers. that cotton and free labor are incompatible. In the extreme South, at New Orleans, the laboring men-the stevedores and hackmen on the levee, where the heat is intensified by the proximity of the red brick buildings, are all white men, and they are in the full enjoyment of health. But how about cotton? I am informed by a friend of mine-himself a slaveholder, and therefore good authoritythat in Northwestern Texas, among the German settlements, who.

true to their national instincts, will not employ the labor of a slave-they produce more cotton to the acre, and of a better quality, and selling at prices from a cent to a cent and a half a pound higher than that produced by slave labor. This is an experiment that illustrates what I have always held, that whatever is right is expedient.” THE VOICE OF

BENTON. In his “Thirty Years’ View,” Thomas H. Benton says - ”’ My opposition to the extension of slavery dates further back than 1844-forty years-further back; -and as this is a suitable time for a general declaration, and a sort of general conscience delivery, I wi]l say that my opposition to it dates from ] 804, when 207

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SIAV MY-. I was a student at law in the State of Tennessee, and studied the subject of African slavery in an American book-a Virginia book -Tucker’s edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries.”

Again, in a speech delivered in St. Louis, on the 3rd of November, 1856, he says: I look at white people, and not at black ones; I look to the peace and reputation of the race to which I belong. I look tc the peace of this land-the world’s last hope for a free govern ment on the earth. One of the occasions on which I saw Ilenry Clay rise higher than I thought I ever saw him before, was when in the debate on the admission of California, a dissolution was apprehended if slavery was not carried into this Territory, where it never was. Then Mr. Clay, rising, loomed colossally in the Senate of the United States, as he. rose declaring that for no earthly purpose, no earthly object, could he carry slavery into places where it did not exist before. It was a great and proud day for Mir. Clay, towards the latter days. of his life, and if an artist could have been there to catch his expression as he uttered that sentiment, with its-reflex on his face. and his countenance beaming with firmness of purpose, it would have been a glorious moment in which to transmit him to posterity-hiss countenance all alive and luminous with the ideas that, beat in his bosom. That was a proud day. I could have wished that.I had spoken the same words. I speak them now, telling you they were his, and adopting them as my own.” THE VOICE OF MASO-N. Colonel Mason, a leading and distinguished member of the Conveniition that formed the Constitution, from Virginia, when the provision for prohibiting the mportation of slavq was unider C,nidation, said:-, *-The present question conce.msnot the’importing States-alone, 208

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONlY GAINST S$LAVERY. but the whole Union. Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the emigration of* whites who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of Ileaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitalble chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. He lamented that some of our Eastern brethren had, from a lust of gain, embarked in this nefarious traffic. As to the States being in possession of the right to import, this was the case with many other rights, now to be properly given up. He held it essential, in every point of view, that the General Government should have power to prevent the increase of slavery.” THE VOICE OF MCDOWEL, In 1832, Gov. McDowell used this language in the Virginia Legislature: “Who that looks to this unhappy bondage of an unhappy people, in the midst of our society, and thinks of its incidents or issues, but weeps over it as a curse as great upon him who inflicts as upon him who suffers it? Sir, you may place the slave where you please-you may dry up, to your uttermost, the fountains of his feelings, the springs of his thought-you may close upon his mind every avenue of knowledge. and cloud it over with artificial night-you may yoke him to your labors, as the ox, which liveth only to work and worketh only to live-you may put him under any process which, without destroying his value as a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational being-you may do this, and the idea that he was born to be free will survive t all. It is allied to his hope of immortality-it is the.etherial part of his nature which oppression cannot rend. It is a torch lit up in his soul by the hand of Deity, and never meant to be eYtinguished b3 the hand of ma.” 209 I r I

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SOUTHERN TESTItO.;Y AGAINST SLAVERY THE VOICE OF IREDELL. In the debates of the North Carolina Convention, Mr. Ired,ll, afterwards a Judge of the United States Supreme Court, said: “When the entire abolition of slavery takes place, it will be an event which must be pleasing to every generous mind and every friend of human nature.” THE VOICE OF PINKNEY. William Pinkney, of Maryland, in the House of Delegates in that State, in 1789, made several powerful arguments in favor of the abolition of slavery. here follows a brief extract from one of his speeches: ” Iniquitous and most dishonorable to Maryland, is that dreary system of partial bondage which her laws have hitherto supported with a solicitude worthy of a better object, and her citizens by their practices countenanced. Founded in a disgraceful traffic, to which the parent country lent its fistirig a.(], from motives of interest, but which even she would have (is aied to encourage, had England been the destined mart of such inhuman merchandize.

its continuance is as shameful as its origin. I have no hope that the stream of general liberty will forever flow unpolluted through the mile of partial bondage, or that th(y who have been habituated to lord it over others, will not, in time, become base enough to let others lord it over them. If they reBist, it will be the struggle of pride and selfishness, not of principle.” THE VOICE OF LEIGH. In the Legislature of Virginia, in 1832, Mfr. Leigb II thought, till very lately that it was known to every body 210 .i said

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. that, during the Revolution. and for many years after, the aboli tion 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 its accomplishment.” THE VOICE

OF MARSHALL. Thomas Marshall, of Fauquier, said, in the Virginia Legislature, in 1832: “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 VOICE OF BOLLING. Philip A. Bolling, of Buckingham, a member of the Legislature of Virginia in 1832,-said: “The time will come-and it may be sooner than many are willing to believe-when this oppressed and degraded race cannot be held as they now are-when a change will be effected, abhorrent, Mr. Speaker, to you, and to the feelings of every good man. The wounded adder will recoil, and sting the foot that tramples upon it. The day is fast approaching, when those who oppose all action upon this subject, and, instead of aiding in devising some feasible plan for freeing their country from an acknowledged curse, cry’impossible,’ to every plan suggested, will curse their perverseness, and lament their folly.’ THE VOICE OF CHANDLER. Mr. Chandler, of Norfolk, member of the Virginia Legislature, in 1832, t6okoccasi)n to say I . “It is admitted, by all who have addressed this House, that 211

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAI’-ST SIAVERY. slavery is a curse. and an increasing one. That it las been destructive to the lives of our citizens, history, with unerring truth, will record. That its future increase will create commotion, cannot be doubted.” THE VOICE OF SUMMERS. Mr. Summers, of Kanawha, member of the Legislature of Virginia, in 1832, said: “The evils of this system cannot be enumerated. It were unnecessary to attempt it.

They glare upon us at every step. When the owner looks to his wasted estate, he knows and feels them.”’ THE VOICE OF PRESTON. In the Legislature of Virginia, in 1832, Mr. Preston said: “Sir, Mr. Jefferson, whose hand drew the preamble to the Bill of Rights, has eloquently remarked that we had invoked for ourselves the benefit of a principle which we had denied to others. Ie saw and felt that slaves, as men, were embraced within this principle.” THE VOICE OF FREMONT. John Charles Fremont, one of the noblest sons of the South, says: “I heartily concur in all movements which have for their object to repair the mischiefs arising fromn the violation of good faith in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. I am opposed to slavery in the abstract, and upon principles sustained and made habitual by long settled convictions. I am inflexibly opposed to its extension -on thicosoriient beyvnd i ts pr esent lkmts” “

The great body of nonslaveholding Freemen, including those of the South, upon whose werfare slavery is an oppression, will 212

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGA.‘ST SLAVERY. f discover that the power of the General Government over the Public Lands may be beneficially exerted to advance their interests, and secure their independence, knowing this.

their sufrages -will not be wanting to maintain that authority in the Union, which is absolutely essential to the maintenance of their own liberties, and which has more than once indicated the purpose of disposing of the Public Lands in such a way as would make every settler upon them a freeholder.” THE VOICE OF BLAIR. In an Address to the Republicans of Maryland, in 1856, Francis P. Blair says: ” In every aspect-in which slavery among us can be considered, ~t is pregnant with difficulty. Its continuance in the States in which it has taken root has resulted in the monopoly of the soil, to a great extent; in the hands of the slaveholders.

and the entire control of all departments of the State Government; and yet a majority of people in the slave States are not slave-owners. This produces an anomaly in the principle of our free institutions, which threatens in time to bring into subjugation tc slave-owners the great body of the free white populatiotin.” THE VOICE OF MAURY. Lieut. Maury, to whom has been awarded so much well .merited praise in the world of science, says: “The fact must be obvious to the far-reaching minds of our Statesmen, that unless some means of relief be devised, some channel afforded, by which the South can, when the time comes, get rid of the excess of her slave population, she will be ultitnately found with regard to tifs institution, in the predicament of the man with the wolf by theears; too dangerous to hold on any longer, and equally, gerous *o let go. To our mind-,-the event is as’certain to happen as any event which depends on the contingencies of the futut e, viz.: that unless means lie devised for gra 21‘9 -1

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINSI SLAV’RY. dually relieving the slave States from the undue pressure.’ this class upon them-unless some way be opened by which they may be rid of their surplus black population-the time will conime-it may not be in the next nor in the succeeding generation-but, sooner or later, come it will, and come it must-when the two races will join in the death struggle for the mastery.” THE VOICE OF BIRNEY. James G.

Birney, of Kentuceky, under whbm the Abolitionists first became a National Party, and for whom they voted for President in 1844, giving’him 66,304
votes,says: “We have so long practiced injustice, adding to it hypocrisy, in the treatment of the colored race, both negroes and Indians, that we begin to regard injustice as an elementa chief element -the chief element of our government. But no government which admits injustice as an element can be a harmonious one or a permanent one. Harmony is the antagonist of injustice, ever has been. and ever will be; that is, so long as injustice!asts, which cannot always be, for it is a lie, a semblance, therefore, perishable. True, from the imnperfection of man, his ambition and selfishness, injustice often finds its way incidentally into the administration of public affairs, and maintains its footing a long time before it is cast out by the legitimate elements of government.” ‘*Our slave States, especially the more southern of them, in which the number of slaves is greater, and in which, of course the sentiment of injustice is stronger than in the more northern ones, are to be placed on the list of decaying communities. To a philosophic observer. they seem to be falling back on the scale of civilization. Even at the present point of retrogression. the cause of civilization and human improvement would lose nothing by their annihilation.” 1 - THE VOICE OF DELAWARE. Strong antislavery sentiment had become popular i; 214

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAIN sr SLAV WRY. Delaware as early as 1785. With Maryland and fissouri, it may now be ranked as a semi-slave State. Mir.

McLane a member of Congress from this State in 1825, said: “I shall not imitate the example of other gentlemen by making professions of my love of liberty and abhorrence of slavery, not, however, because I do not entertain them. I am an enemy to slavery.” THE VOICE OF MARYLAND. Slavery has little vitality in Maryland. Baltimore, the greatest city of the South-greatest because freest has a population of more than two hundred thousand souls, and yet less than three thousand ofthese are slaves. In spite of all the unjust and oppressive statutes enacted by the oligarchy, the nonslaveholders, who with the exception of a small number of slavehiolding emancipationists, may in truth be said to be the only class of respectable and patriotic citizens in the South, have wisely determined that their noble State shall be freed from the sin and the shame, the crime and the curse of slavery; and in accordance with this determination, long since formed, they are giving every possible encouragement to free white labor, thereby, very properly, rendering the labor of slaves berth unprofitable and disgraceful. The formation of an AboUlito.-n Society in this State, in 1789, was the result of the influence of the masterly speeches delivered’n the House of Delegates, by the Hon. William Pinkney whose undy ing testimony we have already placed on record. Nearly seventy years ago, this eminent lawyer  sand Statesman declared to tie people of America, that if they did not 21b

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. mark out the bounds of slavery, and adopt measures for its total extinction, it would finally “work a decay of the spirit of liberty in the free States.” Further, he said that, “by the eternal principles of natural justice, no master in the State has a right to hold his slave in bondage a single hour.” TIn 1787, Luther Martin, of this State, said: “Slavery is inconsistent with the genius of republicanism, and has a tendency to destroy those principles on which it is sup ported, as it lessens the sense of the equal rights of mankind. and habituates us to tyranny and oppression.” THE VOICE OF VIRGINIA. After introducing the unreserved and immortal testimony of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Henry, and the other great men of the Old Dominion, against the institution of slavery, it may to some, seem quite superfluous to back the cause of Freedom by arguments from other Virginia abolitionists; but this State, notwithstanding all her more modern manners and inhumanity, has been so prolific of just views and noble sentiments, that we -deem it eminently fit and proper to blazon many of them to the world as the redeeming feature’s of her history. An Abo lition Society was formed in this State in 1791. In a memorial which thlb members of this Society presented to Congress, they pronounced slavery “not only an odious degradation, but an outageous violation of one of the most essential rights of human nature, and utterly repugnant to the precepts of the Gospel.” A Bill of Rights, una’iireully agreed-upon by the Virginia’

Convet -June 12, 1776, holds 216

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY “That all men are, by nature, equally free and independent; That Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the People, Nation, or Community; That elections of members to seive as representatives of the people in assembly ought to be free; That all men having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property, for public uses, without their own consent or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not in like manner assented, for the public good; That the freedom of the Press is one of the greatest bulwarks of Liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments; That no free Government or the blessing of Liberty can be preserved to any people, but l)y afirm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” The “Virginia Society for the Abolition of Slavery,” organized in 1791, addressed Congress in these words: ‘ Your memorialists, fully aware that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that slavery is not only an odious degradation, but an outrageous violation of one of the most essential rights of human nature, and utterly repugnant to the precepts of the gospel, which breathes’ peace on earth and good will to men,’ lament that a practice so inconsistent with true policy and the inalienable rights of men. should subsist in so enlightened an ages and among a people professing that all mankind are, by nature equally entitled to freedom.” THE VOICE OF NORTH CAROLINA. If the question, sAvwry or no slavery, could be fairly pre. Sented for the decision of the legal voters of North Carolina at the next popular election, we believe at least two 10 211

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. thirds of them would deposite the no slavery ticket. Perhaps one-fourth,)f the slaveholders themselves would vote it, for the slaveholders in this State are more moderate, decent, sensible, and honorable, than the slaveholders in either of the adjoining States, or the States further South; and we know that many of them are heartily ashamed of the vile occupations of slaveholding and slavebreeding in which they are engaged, for we have the assurance from their own lips. As a matter of course, all the nonslaveholders, who are so greatly in the majority, would vote to suppress the degrading institution which has kept them so long in poverty and ignorance, with the exception of those who are complete automatons to the beck and call of their imperious lords and masters, the major-generals of the oligarchy How long shall it be before the citizens of North Caro. lina shall have the privilege of expressing, at the ballots box, their true sentiments with regard to this vexed question? Why not decide it at the next general etection? Sooner or later, it must and will be decided-dec ded correctly, too-and the sooner the better. The first Southern State that abolishes slavery will do herself an immortal honor. God grant that North Carolina may be that State, aind soon I There is at least one plausible reason why this good old State should be the first to move in this important matter, and we will state it. On the 20th of May, 175, just one year one month and fourteen days prior to the adoption of the Jeffersonian Declaration of Indepen dence, by the Continental Congress in Philadeliphia, July 4, 1776,‘he Mecklenburg Declaration of Independenu, the 218

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‘S0UtHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. authorship of which is generally attributed to Ephrair Brevard, was proclaimed in Charlotte, Mecklenburg county North Carolina, and fully ratified in a second Conventior of the people of said county, held on the 31st of the same month. And here, by the way, we may remark, that it is supposed Mr. Jefferson made use of this last-mentioned document as the basis of his draft of the indestructible title-deed of our liberties. There is certainly an identicalness of language between the two papers that is well calculated to strengthen this hypothlesis. This, however, is a controversy about which we are but little concerned. For present purposes, it is, perhaps, enough for us -to know, that on the 20th of-May, 1775, when transatlantic tyranny and oppression could no longer be endured, North Carolina set her sister colonies a most valorous and praiseworthy example, and thlat they followed it. To her infamous slaveholding sisters of the South, it is now meet that she should set another noble example of decency, virtue, and independence. Let her at once inaugurate a policy of common justice and humanity-enact a system of equitable laws, having due regard to the rights and initerests of all classes of persons, poor whites, negroes, and nabobs, and the surrounding States will ere long applaud her measures, and adopt similar ones for the governance f themselves. Another reason, and a cogent one, why North Carolina should aspire to become the first free State of the South is this: The first slave State that makes herself respectable by casting out “the mother of harlots,” and by rendering enterprise and industry honorable, will immediately recetve 219

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SOUTHERI TE3TIfONY AGAIIST SLAVVY. a large accession of most worthy citizens from other States in the Union, and thus lay a broad foundation of permanent political power and prosperity. Intelligent white farmers from the Middle and New England States will flock to our more congenial clime, eager to give -hirty dollars per acre for the same lands that are now a drug in the market because nobody wants them at the rate of five dollars per acre; an immediate and powerful impetus will be given to commerce, manufactures, and all the industrial arts; science and literature will be revived, and every part of the State will reverberate with the triumphs of manual and intellectual labor. At this present time, we of North Carolina are worth less than either of the four adjoining States; let us abolish slavery at the beginning of the next regular decade of years, and if our example is not speedily followed, we shall, on or before the first day of January, 1870, be enabled to purchase the whole of Virginia and South Carolina, including, perhaps, the greater part of Georgia. An exclusive !ease of liberty for ten years would unquestionably make us the Empire State of the South. But we have no disposition to debar others from the enjoyment of liberty or any other inalienable right; we ask no special favors; what we demand for ourselves we are willing to concede to our neighbors. Hereby we make application for a lease of freedom for ten years; shall we have it? May God enable us to secure it, as we believe He will. We give fair notice, however, that if we get it for ten yearg, we shall, with the approbation of Heaven, keep it twenty fortya thousand -forever! 220

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. We transcribe the MIecklenburg Resolutions, which,‘it will be observed, acknowledge the “inherent and inalienable rights of man,” and “declare ourselves a free and independent people, are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power other than that of our God, and the general government of the Congress.” MECKLENBURG DECLARATION OF

INDEPENDENCE, As proclaimed in the town of Charlotte, North Carolina, May 20th, I7-5, and ratified by the County of Mecklenburg, in Convention, May 31st, 1775. “I. Resolved-That whosoever, directly or indirectly, abetted, or in any way, form or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America: and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man.

“II. Resolved-That we the citizens of Mecklenburg County, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract or association with that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of American patriots at Lexington. “Ill.

Resolved-That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people, are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power other than that of our God, and the general government of the Con gress; to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation, our lives, our for tunes, and our most sacred honor. “IV. Resolved-That-as we now acknowledge the existence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this county, we do hereby ordain and adopt, as a rule of life, all, each, 221

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. and every of our former laws-wherein, nevertheless, the cI wn of GreatBritain never can be considered as hlolding rights, privileges, immunities or authority therein.” iad it not been for slavery, which, with all its other blighting and degrading influences, stifles and subdues every noble impulse of the heart, this consecrated spot would long since have been marked by an enduring monument, whose grand proportions should bear witness that the virtues of a noble ancestry are gratefully remem bered by an emulous and appreciative posterity. Yet, even as things are, we are not without genuine consolation. The star of hope and promise is beginning to beam brightly over the long-obscured horizon of the South; and we are firm in the belief, that freedom, wealth, and magnanimity, will soon do justice to the memory of those fearless patriots, whose fair fame has been suffered to noulder amidst the multifarious abominations of slavery, poverty, ignorance and grovelling selfishness. Judge Iredell’s testimony, which will be found on preceding page, and to which we request the reader to recur, might have been appropriately introduced under our present heading.

In the Provincial Convention held in North Carolina, in August, 1774, in which there were sixty-nine delegates, representing nearly every county in the province, it was “Resolved-That we will net imnport any slave or slaves, or purchase any slave or slaves imported or brought into tlhe Province b)y others, from any part of the world, after the first day’ of November next.”.. In Iredell’s Statutes, revised by Martin, it is stated that, 222

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. ‘ In North Carolina, no general law at all was passed, Irior to ine revolution, declaring who might be slaves.”

That there is no legal slavery in the Southern States, and that slavery no where can be legalized, any more than theft, arson or murder can be legalized, has been virtually admitted by some of the most profound Southern jurists themselves; and we will here digress so far as to furnish the testimony of one or two eminent lawyers, not of North Carolina, upon this point. In the debate in the United States Senate, in 1850, on the Fugitive Slave Bill, Mr. Mason, of Virginia, objected to Mr. Dayton’s amendment, providing for a trial by jury, because, said he: ” A trial by jury necessarily carries with it a trial of the whole right. and a trial of the right to service will be gone into, according to all the forms of the Court. in determining upon any other fact. Then, again, it is proposed, as a part of the proof to be adduced at the hearing, after the fugitive has been recaptured, that evidence shall be brought by the claimant to show that slavery is established in the State from which the fugitive has absconded. Now this very thing, in a recent case in the city of NewYork, was required by one of the judges of that State, which case attracted the attention of the authorities of iMaryland. and against which they protested. In that case the State judge went so far as to say that the only mode of proving it was by reference to the Statute book. Such proof is required in the Senator’s amendment; and if he means by this that proof shall be brought that slavery is established by existing laws, it is impossible to comply wvit the requis’tion, for no such law can be produced, I apprehend, in any of th. slave States. I am not aware that there is a single State in which the institution is established by positive law.” Julge Clarke, of Mississippi, says: 223

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. ” In this State the legislature have considered slaves as reasons able and accountable beings; and it would be a stigma upon the character of the State. and a reproach to the administration of justice, if the life of a slave could be taken with impunity, or if he could be murdered in cold blood, without subjecting the offender to the highest penalty known to the criminal jurisprudence of the country. Has the slave no rights, because he is deprived of his freedom?

He is still a human being, and possesses at those rights of which he is not deprived by the positive provi sions of the law. The right of the master exists not by force of the law of nature or nations, but by virtue only of the positive law of the State.” The Hon. Judge Ruffin, of North Carolina, says: “Arguments drawn from the wellestablished principles, which confer and restrain the authority of the parent over the child, the tutor over the pupil, the master over the apprentice, have been pressed on us. The Court does not recognize their application; there is no likeness between the cases; they are in opposition to each other; and there is an impassable gulf between them. The difference is thatwhich exists between freedom and slavery and a greater cannot be imagined. In the one, the end in view is the happiness of the youth, born to equal rights with that governor on whom the duty devolves of training the young to usefulness, in a station which he is afterwards to assume among freemen. To such an end, and with such a subject, moral and intellectual instruction seem the natural means, and, for the most part, they are found to suffice.

lIoderate force is superadded only to make the others effectual. If that fail, it is better to leave the party to his own headstrong passions, and the ultimate correction of the lawn than to allow it to be iinmnoderately inflicted by a private person. WTith slavery it is far otherwise. The end is the profit of the master, his security, and the public safety; the subject one doomed, in his own person and his pos terity, to live without knowledge, and without the capacity to make anything his own, and to toil that another may reap the fru’ts.‘What moral considerations shall be addressed to such a 224

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. being to convince him, what it is impossible but that the most stupid must feel and know can never be true, that he is thus to labor upon a principle of natural duty, or for the sake of his own personal happiness? Such services can only be expected from one who has no will of his own; who surrenders his will in implicit obedience to that of another. Such obedience is the consequence only of uncontrolled authority over the body. There is nothing else which can operate to produce the effect. The power of the master must be absolute to render the submission of the slave perfect. I most freely confess my sense of the harshness of this proposition. I feel it as deeply as any man can; and as a principle of moral right, every person in his r  tirement must repudiate it.” An esteemed friend, a physician, who was ltrn and bred in Rowan county, Nortlh Carolina, and who now resides there, informs us that Judge Gaston, who was one of the half dozen Statesmen whom the South has produced since the days of the venerable fathers of the Republic was an avowed abolitionist, and that he published an address to the people of North Carolina, delineating, in a masterly Twadnner, the material, moral, and social disad, vantages o,f slavery. Where is that address? Has it been suppressed by the oligarchy? The fact that slaveholders have, from time to time, made strenuous efforts to expunge the sentiments of freedom which now adorn the works of nobler men than the noble Gaston, may, perhaps, fully account for the oblivious state into which his patriotic address seems to have fallen. THIE VOICE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Poor South Carolina!

Folly is her nightcap -, fanatic’sm is her d iy-dream; fire-eating is her pastime. She has 10* 225,

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SOUTIIERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. lost her better judgment; the dictates of reason and phi. losophy have no influence upon her actions.

Like the wife who is pitiably infatuated with a drunken, worthless husband, she still clings, with unabated love, to the cause of her shame, her misery, and her degradation. A Kentuckian has recently expressed his opinion of this State in the following language: “South Carolina is bringing herself irrecoverably in the public contempt. It is impossible for any impartial lover of his country, for any just thinking man, to witness her senseless and quenchless malignancy against the Union without the most immeasurable disgust and scorn. She is one vast hot-bed of disunion. Her people think and talk of nothing else. She is a festering mass of treason.” In 1854, there were assessed for taxation in SOUTH

CAROLINA, Acres of Land…………………….17,289,359 Valued at…………………………… $22,836,374 Average value per a c re………………………..$1,32 At the same time there were in NEW

JERSEY, Acres of L a n d……………………..5,324,800 Valued at…………………………………..$153,161,619 Aveirage value per acre……………………..$28,76 We hope the Slavocrats will look, first on that picture, and then on this; from one or the other, or both, they may glean a ray or two of wisdom, which, if duly applied, will be of incalculable advantage to them and their posterity Wf trust, also, tha’

the nonslaveholding whites will view, 226

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. vItt discriminating minds, the different lights and shades of these two pictures; they are the parties most deeply interested; and it is to them we look for the glorious revolution that is to substitute Freedom for Slavery. They have the power to retrieve the fallen fortunes of South Carolina, to raise her up from the loathsome sink of iniquity into which slavery has plunged her, and to make her one of the most brilliant stars in the great constellation of States. While their minds are occupied with other considerations, let them not forget the di-,-“.‘cel etween twenty-eight dollars and seventy-six cents, the:value of land 0er acre in New Jersey, which is a second-rate free State,l one dollar and thirty-two cents, the value of land per ai South Carolina, which is, par excellence, the model slave State. The difference between the two: sums is twentyseven dollars and fortyfour cents, which would amount to precisely two thousand seven hundred and fortyfour dollars on every hundred acres. To present the subject in another form, the South Carolina tract of land, containing two hundred acres, is worth now only two hundred and sixty-four dollars, and is depreciating every day. Let slavery be abolished, and in the course of a few years, the same tract will be worth five thousand seven hundred and fiftytwo dollars, with an upward tendency. At this rate, the increment of value on the total area of the State will amount to more than three times as much as the present estimated value of the slaves! South Carolina has not always been, nor will she always continue tc be, on the wrong side.

From Ramsay’s History of tit State, we learn that, in 174, she 22-7

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY ‘ Resolve,d-That IIis Majesty’s subjects in North America (without respect to color or other accidents) are entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural born subjects within the Kingdom of Great Britain; that it is their fundamental right, that no man should suffer in his person or property without a fair trial. and judgmenit given by his peers, or by the ilaw of the land.” One of her early writers, under the n6n de plitme of Philodemus, in a political pamphlet published in Charleston in 1784, declares that “Such is the fatal influence of slavery on the human mind, that it almost wholly effaces from it even the boasted characteristic of rationality.” This same writer, speaking of the particular interests of South Carolina, says: “It has been too common with us to search the records of other nations, to find precedents that may give sanction to our own errors, and lead us unwarily into confusion and ruin. It is our business to consult their histories, not with a view to tread right or wrong in their steps, but in order to investigate the real sources of the mischiefs that have befallen them, and to endeavor to escape the rocks which they have all unfortunately split upon. It is paying ourselves but a poor compliment, to say that we are incapable of profiting by others, and that, with all the information which is to be derived from their fatal experience, it is in vain for us to attempt to excel them. If; with all the peculiar advantages of our present situation, we are incapable of surpassing our predecessors, we must be a degenerate race indeed, and quite unworthy of those singular bounties of Heaven, which we are so unskilled or undesirous to turn to our benefit.” A recent number of Frazer’s Magazine contains a well timed and well writ4ten article from the pen of WVm. Henry 9.,28

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I SOLTHERN TESTIMON Y AGAINST SLAVERY. Hurlbut, of this State; and from it we make the following extract: As all sagacious observers of the operation of the system of slavery have demonstrated, the profitable emplovyment of slavelabor is inconsistent with the development of agricultural science, and demands a continual supply of new and unexhausted soil. The slaveholder. investing his capital in the purchase of the lalborers themselves, and not merely in soil and machines paying his free laborers out of the profit, must depend for his continued and progressive prosperity upon the cheapness and facility with which he can transfer his slaves to fresh and fertile lands. An enormous additional item, namely, the price of slaves, being added to the cost of production, all other elements of that cost require’to be proportionably smaller, or profits fail.” In an address delivered before the South Carolina Institute, in Charleston, Nov. 20th, 1856, Mr. B. F. Perry, of Greenville, truthfully says: “It has been South Carolina’s misfortune, in this utilitarian age, to have her greatest talents and most powerful energies directed to pursuits, which avail her nothing, in the way of wealth and prosperity. In the first settlement of a new country, agricultural industry necessarily absorbs all the time and occupation of its inhabitants. They must clear the forests and cultivate the earth, in order to make their bread. This is their first consideration. Then the mechanical arts, and manufactures, and commerce, must follow in the footsteps of agriculture, to insure either n’adividual or national prosperity. No people can be highly prosperous without them. No people ever have been. Agriculture, alone, will not make or sustain a great people. The true policy of every people is to cultivate the earth, manufacture its products, and send them abroad, in exchange for those comforts and luxuries, and necessaries, which their own country and their cwn industry cannot g. ve or make. The dependence of South Carolina )n Europ-and the Northern States for all the necessaries 229

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SOUf~ERN TESTIMIONY AGANST SLAVERY. comforts and luxuries, which the mechanic arts afford, has, in fact, dra.ined her of her wealth. and made her positively poor, when compared with her sister States of the Confederacy. It is at once mortifying and alarming. to see and reflect on our own dependence in the mechanic arts and manufactures on strangers and foreigners. In the Northern States their highest talents and energy have been diversified, and more profitably employed in developing the resources of the country, in making new inventions’ in the me(;hanic arts, and enriching the qommunity with science and literature, commerce and manufactures.” THE VOICE OF GEORGIA. Of the States strictly Southern, Georgia is, perhaps, th. most thrifty. This prosperous condition of the State is mainly asciri’bable to her hundred thousand free white laborers-more than eighty-three thousand of whom are engaged in agricultural pursuits. In few other slave States are the nonslaveholders so little under the domination of the oligarchy. At best, however, even in the most liberal slave States, the social position of the nonslaveholding whites is but one short step in advance of that of the negroes; and as there is, on the part of the oligarchy, a constantly increasing desire and effort to usuiirp greater power, the more we investigate the subject the more fully are we convinced that nothing but the speedy and utter annihilation of slavery from the entire nation, can save the masses of white people in the Southern States from ultimately falling to a political level with the blacks -both occupying the most abject and galling condition of servitude of which it is possible for the human mind to conceive. Gen. Oglethorpe, under whose management the Colony 230

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SOUTHER-TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAYERY. f Goorgia was settled, in 1733, was bitterly opposed to the institution of slavery. In a letter to Granville Sharp, dated Oct. 13th, 1776, he says: ”’,\y friends and I settled the Colony of Georgia, and by charter were established trustees. to ma-ke laws, &c. We determined not to suffer slavery there. But the slave merchants and their adherents occasioned us not only much trouble, but at last got the then government to favor them. We would not suffer slavery, (which is against the Gospel, as well as the fundamental law of England,) to be authorized under our authority; we refused, as trustees, to make a law permitting such a horrid crime. The government, finding the trustees resolved firmly not to concur with what they believed unjust, took away the charter by which no law could be passed without our consent.” On the 12th of January, 1775, in indorsing the proceedings of the first American Congress, among other resole tions, “the Representatives of the extensive District oi Darien, in the Colony of Georgia” adopted the following: “5.

To show the world that we are not influenced by any con tracted or interested motives, but a general philanthropy for a& mankind, of whatever climate, language, or complexion, we hereby declare our disapprobation and abhorrence of the unnatural practice of slavery in America, (however the uncultivated state of our country or other specious arguments may plead for it,) a practice founded in injustice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our liberties, (as well as lives,) debasing part of our fellow creatures below men, and corrupting the virtue and morals of the rest; ant is laying the basis of that liberty we contend for, (and which wF pray the Almighty to continue to the latest posterity,) uponll a very wrong foundation. WVe therefore resolve, at all times, t,, use ouir utmost endeavors for the manumnission of our slaves in this Colony upon the most safe and equitable footing fcr the masters and;hemselves 1),,31

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVYERY. The Ion. Mr. Reid, of this State, in a speech delivered in Congress, Feb. 1, 1820, says: ” I am not the panegyrist of slavery. It is an unnatural state, a dark cl)ud, which obscures half the lustre of our free institutions. For my own part, though surrounded by slavery from my cradle to the present moment, yet ‘I hate the touch of servile hlands, I loathe the slaves who cringe around.: ” As an accompaniment to those lines, he might have uttered these: “I would not have a slave to till my ground; To carry me, to fan me while I sleep And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earned.” Thus have we presented a comprehensive summary of the most unequivocal and irrefragable testimony of the South against the iniquitous institution of human slavery What more can we say? What more can we do? We might fill a folio volume with similar extracts; but we must forego the task; the remainder of our space must be occupied with other arguments. In the foregoing excerpts is revealed to us, in language too plain to be misunderstood, the important fact that every truly great and good man the South has ever produced, has. with hopeful confidence, looked forward to the time when this entire continent shall be redeemed from the crime and the curse of slavery. Our noble self-sacrificing forefathers have performed their part, and performed it well. They-have laid us a foundation as enduring as thf earth itself; in their dying moments they 232

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SOUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. admonished us to carry out their designs in the u] tuilding anLd completion of the superstructure. Let us obey their patriotic injunctions. From each of the six original Southern States we have introduced the most ardent aspirations for liberty-the most positive condemnations of slavery. From each of the nine slave States which have been admitted into the Union since the organization of the General Government, we could introduce, from several of their wisest and best citizens, antislavery sentiments equally as strong and convincing as those that emanated from the great founders of our movement-Vashington, Jefferson, Madison, Patrick Henry and the Randolphs. As we have already remarked, however, the limits of this chapter will not admit of the introduction of additional testimony from either of the old or of the new slave States. The reader will not fail to observe that, in presenting these solid abolition’ doctrines of the South, we have been careful to make such quotations as triumphantly refute, in every particular, the more specious sophistries of the oligarchy. The mention of the illustrious names above, reminds us of the fact, that the party newspapers, whose venal columns are eternally teeming with vituperation and slander, have long assured us that the Whig ship was to be steered by the Washington rudder, that the DemLocratic barque was to sail with the Jefferson compass, and that tl.e KnowN’othing brig was to carry the Madison chart.

Implosed( upon by these monstrous falsehoods, we have, from lime to time, been induced to engage passage on each of these 2 3 IC

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,-34: S:OUTHERN TESTIMONY AGAINST SLAVERY. corrupt and rickety old hulks; but, in every instance, we have been basely swamped in the sea of slavery, and are alone indebted for our lives to the kindness of Heaven and the art of swimming. Washington the founder of the Whig party! Jefferson thle founder of the Democratic party I Voltaire the founder of Christianity I God forbid that man’s heart should always continue to be the citadel of deception-that he should ever be to others the antipode of what he is to himself. There is now in this country but one party that promises, in good faith, to put in practice the principles of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and the other venerable Fathers of the Republic-the Republican party. To this party We pledge unswerving allegiance, so long as it shall continue to pursue the statism advocated by the great political prototypes above-mentioned, but no longer. We believe it is, as it ought to be, the desire, the determination, and the destiny (f this party, to give the deathblow to slavery; should future developments prove the party at variance with this belief-a belief, by the bye, which it has recently inspired in the breasts of little less than one and a half millions of the most intelligent and patriotic voters in America-we shall shake off the dust of our feet against it, and join one that will, in a summary manner, extirpate the intolerab]e grievance.

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NORTHERN TESTIMONY. CHAPTER IV. NORTHERN TESTIMONfr. THE best evidence that can be given of the eilightened patriotism and love of liberty in the Free States, is the fact that, at the Presidential election in 1856, they polled thirteen hundred thousand votes for the Republican candidate, JOHN

C. FPEMONT. This fact of itself seems to preclude the necessity of strengthening our cause with the individual testimony of even their greatest men. Having, however, adduced the most cogent and conclusive antislavery arguments from the Washingtons, the Jeffersons, the Madisons, the Randolphs, and the Clays of the South, we shall now proceed to enrich our pages with gems of Liberty from the Franklins, the Hamiltons, the Jays, the Adamses, and the Websters of the North. Too close at tention cannot be paid to the words of wisdom which we have extracted from the works of these truly eminent and philosophic Statesmen. We will first listen to THE VOICE OF FRANKLIN. Dr. Franklin was the first president of “The Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery;’, 235 4

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ORTHERNx TESI’LMONY. and it is now generally conceded that this was the first regularly organized American abolition Society-it having been formned as early as 1 74, while we were yet subjects of the British government. In 1790, in the name and on behalf of this Society, Dr.

Franklin, who was then within a few months of the close of his life, drafted a memorial “to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States,” in which he said:’ “Your memorialists, particularly engaged in attending to the distresses arising from slavery, believe it to be their indispensable duty to present this subject to your notice. They have observed, with real satisfaction, that many important and salutary powers are vested in you, for’ promoting the welfare and securing the blessings of liberty to the people of the United States; and as they conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be administered, without distinction of color, to all descriptions of people, so they indulge themselves in the pleasing expectation that nothing which can be done for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care, will be either omitted or delayed. From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, and is still the birthright of all men, and influenced by the strong ties of humanity and the principles of their institution, your memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bonds of slavery. and promote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom. Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat your attention to the subject of slavery; that you will be pleased to countenance tl)e restoration to liberty of those unhappy men, who, alone, in this land of fi’eedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amid the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjeciion; that you will devise means for removing this inconsistency of character from the American people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards this distressed race; and that you will step t: the very verge of the power vested in you fozx 236 4#

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NORErERN TESTIMONY. discouraging every species of traffic in thle persons of ts(ir-fellow. men.’ On another occasion, he says:-” Slavery is an atrocious debasement of human nature.” THE VOICE OF HAMILTON. Alexander Hamilton, the brilliant Statesman and financier, tells us that “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” Again, in 1774, addressing himself to an American Tory, he says: “The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms, and false reasonings, is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to equal privileges. You would be convinced that natural liberty is the gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race; and that civil liberty is founded on that.” THE VOICE OF JAY. John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States under the Constitution of 1789, in a letter to the Hon.

Elias Boudinot, dated Nov. 17, 1819, says: “Little can be added to what has been said and written on the subject of slavery. I concur in the opinion that it ought not to be introduced nor permitted in any of the new States and that it ought o be gradually diminished and finally abolished in all of them 237

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NORTHERN TESTIMONY “To me, the constitutional authority of the Congress to prohi bit the migration and importation of slaves into any of the States does not appear questionable. “The first article of the Constitution specifies the legislative powers committed to the Congress. The 9th section of that article has these words:‘The migration or importation of such persons as any of the now-existing States shall think proper to adn.t, shall not be prohibited by the Cong,ress prior to the.year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.’ “I understand the sense and meaning of this clause to be. thai the power of the congress, although competent to prohibit such migration and importation, was to be exercised with respect to the then existing States, and them only, until the year 1808, but the Congress were at liberty to make such prohibitions as to any ne(w State, which mighlt in thle mean time be established. And further, that from and after that period, they were authorized to make such prohibitions as to all the States, whether new or old. “It will. I presume, be admitted, that slaves were the persons intended. The word slaves was avoided, probably on account of the existing toleration of slavery, and its discordancy with the principles of the PRevolution, and from a consciousness of its being repugnant to the following positions in the Declaration of Independence:‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’” In a previous letter, written from Spain, whither he had been appointed as minister plenipotentiary, he says, speaking of the abolition of slavery: ”’ Till America comes into this measure, her prayers to Iteaven will be impious. This is a strong expression, but it is just. I believe that God governs the worId and I believe it to be a niaxim in IHis, as in our Courts, tha those who ask for equity ought to d ) it.” 238

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NORTHERN TESTIMONY. WILLIAM JAY. The Hon. Wm. Jay, a noble son of Cihief Justice Johi Jay, says: “A crisis has arrived in which we must maintain our rights, or surrender them for ever. I speak not to abolitionists alone, but to all who value the liberty our fathers achieved. Do you ask what we have to do with slavery? Let our muzzled presses anower-let the mobs excited against us by the merchants and politicians answer-let the gag laws threatened by our governors and legislatures answer, let the conduct of the National Government answer.” THE VOICE OF ADAMS. From the Diary of John Quincy Adams, “the old man eloquent,” we make the following extract: ” It is among the evils of slavery, that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice; for what can be more false and more heartless than this doctrine, which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin? It perverts human reason and induces men endowed with logical powers to maintain that slavery is sanctioned by the Christian religion; that slaves are happy and contented in their condition; that bets master and slave there are ties of mutual attachment and a fection; that the virtues of the master are refined and exalted by the degradation of the slave, while at the same time they vent execrations upon the slave-trade, curse Britain for having given them slaves, burn at the stake negroes convicted of rnines, for the terror of the example, and writhe in agonies of fear at the very mention of human rights as applicable to men of c( lor.” THE VOICE OF WEBSTER. In a speech wh’h he delivered at Niblo’s Garden, in 239

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NORTHERN TESTIMONY. the city of NewYork, on the 15th of March, 1847: Daniel Webster, the great Expounder of the Constitution, said: “On the general questionof slavery, a great part of the community is already strongly excited. The subject has not only attracted attention as a question of politics, but it has struck a far deeper one ahead. It has arrested the religious feeling of the coulntry, it has taken strong hold on the consciences of men. fIe is a rash man, indeed, and little conversant with human nature, and especially has he an erroneous estimate of the character of the people of this country, who supposes that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or despised. It will assuredly cause itself to be respected. But to endeavor to coin it into silver, or retain its free expression, to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is, and more heated as such endeavors would inevitably render it-should this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the Constitution or Union itself, which might not be endangered by the explosion which might follow.” Wvhen discussing the Oregon Bill in 1848, he said: ” I have made up my mind, for one, that under no circumstances will I consent to the further extension of the area of slavery in the United States, or to the further increase of slave represer tation in the House of Representatives.” Under date of February 15th, 1850, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Furness, he says: ” 1’rom my earliest youth I have regarded slavery as a great mnoral and political evil. I think it unjust, repugnant to the natural equality of mankind, founded only in superior power; a standing and permanent conquest by the stronger over the weaker. All pretense of defending it’on the ground of different races, I have ever condemned. I have even said that if the black race is weaker, that is a reason against, not for, its subjection and oppression. In a relig’ous point of view I have ever regarded it, and even spoken cf it, not as subject to any express denan 240

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NORTHERN TESTIMONY. ciation, either in the Old Testament or the New, but bs opposed to the whole spirit of the Gospel and to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The religion of Jesus Christ is a religion of kindness just’ce, and brotherly love. But slavery is not kindly affectionate, it does not seek anothers, and not its own; it does not let the oppressed go free. It is, as I have said, but a continual act of oppression. But then, such is the influence of a habit of thinking among men, and such is the influence of what has been long established, that even minds, religious ani tenderly conscientious, such as would be shocked by any single act of oppression, in any single exercise of violence and unjust power, are not always moved by the reflection that slavery is a continual and permanent violation of human rights.’ While delivering a speech at Buffalo, in the State of New York, in the summer of 1851, only about twelve months prior to his decease, he made use of the following emphatic words: “I nerer would consent, and never have consented, that there should be one foot of slave territory beyond what the old thirteen States had at the formation of the Union. Never, never.” NOAH WEBSTER. Noal WNebster, the great American vocabulist, says: ‘ That freedom is the sacred right of every man, whatever be lis color., who has not forfeited it by some violation of municipal law, is a truth established by God himself, in the v&y creation of human beings. No time, no circumtstance. no human power or policy can change the nature of this truth, nor repeal the fundamental laws of society, by which every man’s right to liberty is guarantied. The act of enslaving men is always a violation of those great primary laws of society, by which alone, tho master hiself holds evew partiyl of his own tebddbi.” 11 241

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NORTHERN’ESTIMONY. THE VOICE OF CNLITON. DeWitt Clinton, the father of the great system (,f internal improvements in the State of New York, speaking of despotism in Europe, and of slavery in America, asks: “Have not prescription and precedent-patriarchal dominion -divine right of kings and masters, been alternately called in to sanction the slavery of nations?

And would not all the despotisms of the ancient and modern world have vanished Into air, if ,he natural equality of mankind had been properly understood and practiced? * This declares that the same measure of justice ought to be measured out to all men, without regard to adventitious inequalities, and the intellectual and physical disparities which proceed from inexplicable causes.” THE VOICE OF WARREN. Major General Joseph Warren, one of the truest pat, riots of the Revolution, and the first American officer of rank that fell in our contest with Great Britain, says: 6 That personal freedom is the natural right of every man, and that property, or an exclusive right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired by his own labor, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths that common sense has placed beyond the reach of contradiction., And no man, or body of mend can, without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of any other man or body of men, unless it can be proved that such a right has arisen from some compact between the parties in which it has been explicitly and freely granted.” Otis, Hancock, Ames, and others, should be heard, but for the want of space. Volumes upon volumes might be filled with extracts similar to the above, from: the works of te 4eCeased Stat’e,men and gages of the North, who, 242 tII

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NORTHERN TESTIMXOY. whikl living, proved themselves equal to the task of exterminating from their own States ti e matchless curse of human slavery.

Such are the men who, though no longer with us in the flesh, “still live.”

A living principle-an immortal interest have they, invested in every great and good work that distinguishes the free States. The rail roads, the canals, the telegraphs, the factories, the fleets of merchant vessels, the magnificent cities, the scientific modes of agriculture, the unrivaled institutions of learning, and other striking evidences of progress and improvement at the North, are, either directly or indirectly, the offspring of their gigantic intellects. When, if-ever, conmmerce, and manufactures, and agriculture, and great enterprises, and truth, and liberty, and justice, and magnanimity, shall have become obsolete terms, then their names may possibly be forgotten, but not tell then. An army of brave and worthy successors-champions of Freedom now living, have the illustrious forefathers of the North, in the persons of Garrison, Greeley, Giddings, Goodell, Grow, and Gerrit Smith; in Seward, Sumner, Stowe, Raymond, Parker, and Phillips; in Beecher, Banks, Burlingame, Bryant, Hate, and Hildreth; in Emerson, Dayton, Thompson, Tappan, King and Cheever; in Whittier, Wilson, Wade, Wayland, Weed, and Burleigh. These are the men whom, in connection with their learned and eloquent compatriots, the Everetts, the Bancrofts, the Prescotts, the Chapins, the Longfellows, and the Danas, future historians. if faithful to their calling, will place on record as America’s true statesmen, literati,- preachers, philosophel.:, a-nd philanthi)ists, of the present age 243

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NORTHERN TESTIMONY. II. this connection, however, it may not be amiss tc re maik that the Homers, the Platos, the Bacons, the Newtons, the Shakspeares, the IMiltons, the Blackstones, the Cuvicis, the HIumboldts, and the M-caul’ays of Arnercia, nave not yet been produced; nor, in our humble judgment, will they be, until slavery shall have been overthrown and reedom established in the States of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Upon the soil of those States, when free, Dr on other free soil crossed by about the same degrees 1f latitude, and not distant from the Appalachian chain of mountains, will, we believe, be nurtured into manhood, in the course of one or two centuries, perhaps, as great men as those mentioned above-greater, possibly, than any that have ever yet lived. Whence their ancestors may come, whether from Europe, from Asia, from Africa, from Oceanica, from North or South America, or from the islands of the sea, or whatever honorable vocation they may now be engaged in, matters nothing at all. For ought we know, their great-grandfathers are now humble artisans in Maine, or moneyed merchants in Massachu setts; illiterate poor whites in Mississippi, or slavedriving lordlings in South Carolina; frugal farmers in Michigan, or millionaires in Illinois; daring hunters in the Rocky Mountains, or metal-diggers in California; peasants in France, or princes in Germany-no matter where, or what, the scope of country above-mentioned is, in our opinion, destined to be the birth-place of their illustrious offspring the great savans of the New WVolrld, concerning whom we should console ourselves with the hope that they are not burir i deeply in the matrix )f the future. 244

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rr.,TIMONY DF THE NATIONS. CHAPTER V. TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. Tk the true friends of freedom throughout the world, it is a pleasing thought, and one which, by being communicated to others, is well calculated to universalize the principles of liberty, that the great heroes, statesmen, and sages, of all ages and nations, ancient and modern, who have ever had occasion to speak of the institution of human slavery, have entered their most unequivocal and positive protests against it. To say that they disapproved of the system would not be sufficiently expressive of the utter detestation with which they uniformly regarded it. That they abhorred it as the vilest invention that the EvilOne has ever assisted bad men to concoct, is quite evident from the very tone and construction of their lan guage. Hlaving, with much pleasure and profit, heard the testimony of America, through her representative men, we will now hear that of other nations, through their representative men-doubting not that we shall be more than remunerated for our time and trouble. We will first listen to 24.

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. THE VOICE OF ENGLAND. In thie case of James Somerset, a negro wno had been kidnapped in Africa, transported to Virginia, there sold into slavery, thence carried to England, as a waiting-boy, and there induced to institute proceedings against his master for the recovery of his freedom, MANSFIELD says: ”’ The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable, of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons. occasion, and time itself whence it was created, is erased from the memory. It is so odious that nothing can be sufficient to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore. may follow from the decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England, and therefore the black must be discharged.” LOCKE says: “Slavery is so vile, so miserable a state of man, and so directly orposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation, tnat it is hard to be convinced that an Englishman, much less a gentleman, should plead for it.” Again, he says: “Though the earth, and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person; this nobody has any right to but himself.” Pr”, says: “It is injustice to permit slavery to remain fLr a single hour.” Fox says: ‘ With regard to a regulation of slavery, my detestation of its 246

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. existence induces me to know no such thing as a regulation of robbery, and a restriction of murder. Personal freedom is a righlit of which he who deprives a fellow-creatare is criminal in so depriving him, and he who withholds is no less criminal in withholding.”

SHAKSPEARE says: ” A man is master of his liberty.” kgain, he says:  It is the curse of Kings, to be attended By slaves, that take their humnors for a warrant To break within the bloody house of life, And, on the winking of authority, To understand a law; to know the meaning Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns More upon humor than advised respect.” a I “Heaven will one day free us from this slavery.” Again: “Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets; Some to the common pulpits, and cry out, Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement” cOWPER says: “Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free. They touch our country and their shackles falL That’s noble. and bespeaks a nation proud And jeal)ous of the blessing. Spread it then, And let it circulate through every vein Of all your Empire, that where Britain’s power Is felt, miankind may feel her mercy too!” 247 g

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. MILTON asks:  “Where is the beauty to see, Like the sun-brilliant brow of a nation when free I” Again, he says: “If our fathers promised for themselves, to make themselves slaves, they could make no such promise fer us.” Again: “Since, therefore, the law is chiefly right reason, if we are bound to obey a magistrate as a minister of God, by the very same reason and the very same law, we ought to resist a tyrant, and minister of the devi.” D. JOHNSON says: h No man is by nature the property of another. The rights of nature must be some way forfeited before they can justly be taken away.” DR. PRICE says: “If you have a right to make another man a slave, he has a right to make you a slave.”

BLACKSTONE says: “If neither captivity nor contract can, by the plain law of nature and reason, reduce the parent to a state of slavery, much less can they reduce the offspring.) Again, he says: ” The primary aim of society is to protect individuals in the enjoyment of those absolute rights which were vested-in them by the immutable laws of nature. Hence it follows that the first and primary end of human laws is to maintain those absolute rights o individuals. 248

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TESID[OIY OF THE N.TIONS. Again: “If any human law shall allow or require us to ccmmit crime, we are bound to transgress that human law, or (Ise we must offend both the natural and divine.” COKE says: “What the Parliament doth, shall be holden for naught, whenever it shall enact that which is contrary to the rights of nature.” HAMPDEN says: “The essence of all law is justice. What is not justice is not law; and what is not law, ought not to be obeyed.” HARRINGTON says: “All men naturally, are equal; for though nature with a noble variety has made different features and lineaments of men: yet as to freedom. she has made every one alike, and given them the same desires.” FORTESCUE says: “Those rights which God and nature have established, and which are therefore called natural rights, such as life and liberty need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested iiu every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human power has any authority to abridge or destroy them.

unless the owner himself shall commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.” Again, he says: ‘The law, therefore, which supports slavery and opposes liberty, must necessarily be condemned as cruel, for every feeling of human nature advocates liberty. Slavery is introduced by human wickedness, bu4 God advocates liberty, by the nature which he has given to man’ 11* 249

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS BROUGHAM says: “Tell me not of ights-talk not of the property of the planter n his slaves. I deny the right; I acknowledge not the property. In vain you tell me of laws that sanction such a claim.

There is a law above all the enactments of human codes, the same throughout the world, the same in all times; it is the law written by the finger of God on the hearts of men; and by that law. unchangeable and eternal, while men despise fraud, and loathe rapine, and abhor blood, they shall reject with indignation the wild and guilty phantasy that man can hold property in man.” THE VOICE OF IRELAND. BURKE says: ” Slavery is a state so improper, so deg,rading, and so ruinous to the feelings and capacities of human nature, that it oug,ht not to be suffered to exist.”

CURRAN says: .I speak in the spirit of British law, which makes liberty commensurate with and inseparable from British soil; which proclaims even to-the stranger and the sojourner, the moment he sets his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is holy and consecrated by the genius of Universal Emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no matter what complexn, incompatible with freedom, an Indian or African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery, the moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; and he stands redeemed, regenerated and disenthrall!3 bythe irresistible geius of Universa:-E.maneipation”’ $50.

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. rhe Dublin University Magazine for December, 1856, says: ” The United States must learn, from the example of Rome, that Christianity and the pagan institution of slavery cannot coexist together.

The Republic must take her side and choose her favorite child; for if she love the one, she must hate the other.” THE VOICE OF SCOTLAND. BEATTIE
says: ”’ Slavery is inconsistent with the dearest and most essential rights of man’s nature; it is detrimental to virtue and industry; it hardens the heart to those tender sympathies which form the most lovely part of human character; it involves the innocent in hopeless misery, in order to procure wealth and pleasure for the authors of that mYisery; it seeks to degrade into brutes beings whom the Lord of Iheaven and Earth endowed with rational souls, and created for immortality; in short, it is utterly repugnant to every principle of reason, religion, humanity, and con.science. It is impossiblefor a considerate and unprejudiced mind, to think of slavery without horror.” MILLER says:  ” The human mind revolts at a serious discussion of the subject of slavery. Every individual, whatever be his country or comrplexion, is entitled to freedom.” MACKNIGHT
says: Men-stes.ers are inserted among the daring criminals against whom the law of God directed its awful curses. These were persons who kidnapped men to sell them for slaves; and this practice seems inseparable from the other iniquities and oppressions of slavery; nor can a slave dealer easily keep free from this cr;iminality, i indeed the receiver is as bad as the thief.” 251

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TESTIMONY OF TRE NATIONS. THE VOICE OF FRANCE. LAFAYETTE says: “I would never have drawn my sword in the cause o America, if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery.I Again, while in the prison of Magdeburg, he says: “I know not what disposition has been made of my plantation at Cayenne; but I hope Madame de Lafayette will take care that the negroes who cultivate it shall preserve their liberty.” O.

LAFAYETTE, grandson of General Lafayette, in a lets ter under date of April 26th, 1851, says: “This great question of the Abolition of Negro Slavery, which has my entire sympathy, appears to me to have established its importance throughout the world. At the present time, the States of the Peninsula, if I do not deceive myself, are the only European powers who still continue to possess slaves; and America, while continuing to uphold slavery, feels daily, more and more how heavily it weighs upon her destinies.” MONTESQUIEU asks: “What civil law can restrain a slave from running away, since he is not a member of society?” Again, he says: “Slavery is contrary to the fundamental principles of all socie ties.”

Again: In democracies where they are all upon an equality. slavery is contrary to the principles of the Constitution.” . 252 i I

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TESTIMONY, C THE NATIONS. Again: “Nothing puts one nearer the condition of a brute than a waya to see freemen and not be free.” Again:’; Even the earth itself, which teems with profusion under the cultivating hand of the free born laborer, shrinks into barrenness from the contaminating sweat of a slave.” LOUIS X. issued the following edict: ” As all men are by nature free born, and as this Kingdom is called the Kingdom of Franks, (freemen) it shall be so in reality. It is therefore decreed that enfranchisement shall be granted throughout the whole Kingdom upon just and reasonable terms.” BUFFON says: “It is apparent that the unfortunate negroes are endowed with excellent hearts, and possess the seeds of every human virtue. I cannot write their history without lamenting their miserable condition.” “‘Humanity revolts at those odious oppressions that result from avarice.” ROUSSEAU says: “The terms slavery and right, contradict and exclude eacb other.” BRISSOT says: “‘Slavery, in all its forms, in all its degrees, is a violation of divine lawr and a degradation of human nature.”

THE VOICE OF GERMANY. GROTIUS says: “Those are m’en-stealers who abduct, keep, sell or buy slaves or free men. To sPeal a mtn is the highest kind of theft” 1253

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TESTItMONY’ OF THE NATIONS. GOETHE says: Such busy multitudes I fain would see Stand upon free soil with a people free.” LUTHER ays: $ LUnjuist violence is, by no means, the ordinance of God, and thereftore can bind no one in conscience and right, to obey, whether the command comes from pope, emperor, king or master.” An able German writer of the present day, says, in a recent letter to his friends in this - nntry ” Consider that the cause of American liberty is the cause of universal liberty; its failure, a triumph of despotism everywhere. Remember that while Amnericain liberty is the great argument of European Democracy, Amierican savery is the greater arguliment of its despotism. Remember that all our actions should be governed by the golden rule, whether individual, social, or political; and no government, and, above all, no republican government, is safe in the hands of men that practically deny that rule. Will you support by your vote a sy)stem that recognizes property of man in man? A system which sanctions the sale of the child by its own father, regardless of the purpose of the buyer? What need is there to present to you the unmitigated wrong of slavery? It is the shame of our age that argument is needed against slavery. “Liberty is no exclusive property; it is the property of mankind of all ages. She is imnmortal, though crushed, can never die; though banished, she will return; though fettered, she will yet be free.”

THE VOICE OF ITALY. CICERO says: - By the grand laws of nature, all men are borr free, and this law is universally binding upon all men.” I t 254

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TESTIIONY OF THE NATIONS. Again, he says: “Eternal justice is the basis of all human laws.” Again: ” Law is not something wrought out by man’s ingtnuity, nor is it a decree of the people, but it is something eternal.

governing the world by the wisdom of its commands and prohibitions.”

Again: “Whatever is just is also the true laws nor can this true law be abrogated by any written enactments.” Again: ; If there be such a power in the decrees and commands of fo()ls, that the nature of things is changed by their votes, why do they not decree that what is bad and pernicious shall be regarded as good and wholesome, or why, if the law can make wrong right, can it not make bad good?” Again: “Those who have made pernicious and unjust decrees, have made anything rather than laws.” Again: ” The law of all nations forbids one man to pursue his advaLtage at the expense of another.” LACTANTIUS says: “Justice teaches men to know God and to love men, to love %nd assist one another, being all equally the children of God.” -LEO X. says — ” Not only does the Christian religion, but nature herself cry out against the state of slave-Y.”….I 955

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. THE VOICE OF GREECE. SOCRATES says: Slavery L a system of outrage and robbery.” ARISTOTLE says: ” It is neither for the good, nor is it just, seeing all men are by nature alike, and equal, that one should be lQrd and master over others.” POLYBIUS says: ‘ None but unprincipled and beastly men in society assume the mastery over their fellows, as it is among bulls, bears, and cocks.” PLATO says: ” Slavery is a system of the most complete injustice.” From each of the above, and from other nations, additional testimony is at hand; but, for reasons already assigned, we forbear to introduce it. Corroborative of the correctness of the position which we have assumed, even Persia has a voice, which may be easily recognized in the tones of her immortal Cyrus, who says: ” To fight, i. order not to be made a slave, is noble.” Than Great Britain no nation has more heartily or hon. orably repented of the crime of slavery-no nation, on the perception of its error, has ever acted with more prompt magnanimity to its outraged and unhappy bondsmen. Entered to her credit, many precious jewels of liberty remain in our possession, ready to be delivered when called for; of their value some idea may be formed, when we state that the)y are filigreed with sinch names as Wilber.

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TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS. force, Buxton, Granville, Grattan, Camden, Clarkson, Sharp, Sheridan, Sidney, Martin, and Macaulay. Virginia, the Carolinas, and other Southern States, which are provided with eep7?‘blican (!) forms of governnient, and which have abolished freedom, should learn, friom the history of the monarchal governments of the Old World, if not from the example of the more liberal and enlightened portions of the New, how to abolish slavery. The lesson is before them in a variety of exceedingly interesting forms, and, sooner or later, they must learn it, either voluntarily or by compulsion.. Virginia, in particular, is a spoilt child, having been the pet of the General Government for the last sixty-eight years; and like most other spoilt children, she has become froward, peevish, perverse, sulky and irreverent-not caring to know her duties, and failing to perform even those which she does know. Her superiors perceive that the abolition of sla very would be a blessing to her; she is, however, either too ignorant to understand the truth, or else, as is the more probable, her false pride and obstinacy restrain her from acknowledging it. What is to be done? Shall ignorance, or prejudice, or obduracy, or willful meanness, triumph over knowledge, and liberality, and guilelessness, and laudable enterprise? No, never I Assured that Vir ginia and all the other slaveholding States are doing wrong every day, it is our duty to make them do right, if we have the power; and we believe we have the power now resident within their own borders. What are the opinions, generally, of the nor.slaveholding whites? Let them speak. 257

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. CHAPTER VI. TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES, Run hence, proclaim. cry it about the streets, Some to the common pulpits, and cry out, Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!” IN quest of arguments against slavery, we have perused the works of several eminent Christian writers of different denominations, and we now proceed to lay before the reader the result of a portion of our labor. As it is the special object of this chapter to operate on, to correct an.l cleanse the consciences of slaveholding professors of religion, we shall adduce testimony only from the five churches to which they, in their satanic piety, mostly belong-the Presbyterian, the Episcopal, the Baptist, the Methodist, and the Roman Catholic-all of which, thank Heaven, are destined, at no distant day, to become thoroughly aboli, tionized. With few exceptions, all the other Christian sects are, as they should be, avowedly and inflexibly opN posed to the inhuman institution of slavery. The Congregational, the Quaker, the Lutheran, the-Dutch and German Ref( rmed, the Unitarian, and the Universalist, especially, ai l all honorable, able, and eloquent defenders 258,

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHUR(HES. of the natural rights of man. We will begin by intro ducing a mass of PRESBYTERIAN TESTIMONY. The Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia, one of the most learned Presbyterian preachers and commentators of the day, says: ” There is a deep and growing conviction in the minds of the mass of mankind, that slavery violates the great laws of our nature; that it is contrary to the dictates of humanity; that it is essentially unjust, oppressive, and cruel; that it invades the rights of liberty with which the Author of our being has endowed all human beings; and that, in all the forms in which it has ever existed, it has been impossible to guard it from what its friends and advocates would call’abuses of the system.’ It is a violation of the first sentiments expressed in our Declaration of Independence, and on which our fathers founded the vindication of their own conduct in an appeal to arms. It is at war with all that a man claims for himself and for his own children; and it is opposed to all the struggles of mankind. in all ages, for freedom. The claims of humanity plead against it. The struggles for freedom everywhere in our world condemn it. The instinctive feeling in every mian’s own bosom in regard to himself is a condemnation of it. The noblest deeds of valor, and of patriotism in our own land, and in all lands where men have struggled for freedom, are a condemnation of the system. All that is-noble :n man is opposed to it; all that is base, oppressive, and cruel pleads for it. “The spirit of the New Testament is against slavery, and the principles of the New Testament, if fairly applied, would abolish it. In the New Testament no man is commanded to purchase and own a slave; no man is commended as adding anything to the evidences of his Christian character, or as performing the appropriate duty of a,Christian, for owning one. No where in the New Testament is the institution referred to as a good one, or as a desirabl e one. It is commonly-indeed, it is almost uni 259

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TESTI3ONY OF THE CHUR-HES. versally-conceded that the proper application of be principles of the New Testament would abolish slavery everywhere; or that. the state of things which will exist when the Gospel shall be fairly applied to all the relations of life, slavery will not be found amiong those relations. Let slaverv be removed from the church. and let the voice of the church. with one accord, be lifted up in favor of freedom let the church be wholly detached from the institution, and let there be a(dol)ted by all its ministers and members an interpretation of the Bible-as I believe there may be and ought to bethat shall be in accordance with the deep-seated principles of our nature in favor of freedom, and with our own aspirations for liberty, and with the sentiments of the world in its onward progress ill regard to human rights. and not only would a very material O)jectionl against tihe Bible be taken away-and one which would be fatal if it were well founded-but the establishment of a very strong argument in favor of the Bible, as a revelation from God, would be the direct result of such a position.” Thomas Scott, the celebrated English Presbyterian Corn mentator, says: “To numnber the persons of men with beasts, sheep. and horses as the stock of a firmi, or with bales of goods, as the catlgo of a ship, is, no doubt, a most detestable and anti-Christian practice.” From a resolution denunciatory of slavery, unanimously adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in 1818, we make the following extract: “We consider the voluntary enslaving of one part of the human race by another as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human nature, as uitterly inconsistent with the law of God. which requires us to l(ve our neighl)tr as ourselves, and as totaill% irrecconc(ilable with the spirit and principles of thle Gospel of Christ, which enjoins that’all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.’ * We rejoic that the church to which we belong commenced. as early 260

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TEe.‘OY OF THE CHURCHES. as a:l, -A:‘er;.A his country, the good work of endeavoring to put an,.nd to h,~iery, and that in the same work many of its meiibers have ever since been. and( now are, among the nmost ative.

vigorous, and efficienit Iabovrts. We earniestly exhort them to continu. e, an(l, if possible, to increase, their exertions to effect a total abolti.on of slavery.” A Committee of the Synod of Kentucky, in an address to the Presblyterians of that State, says: “That our negroes will be worse off, if emancipated, is, we feel, but a speciouis Ipretext for lulling our own pangs of conscielice, and aniswering the argument of the philanthropist. None of us believe that God has so created a whole race that it:s betterfor them to remain in perpetual bondage.” EPISCOPAL

TESTIMONY. BISHOP HORSLEY says: “Slavery is injustice, which no consideration of policy can extenuate.” BISHOP BUTLER says: ‘“Despicable as the negroes may appear in our eyes, they are the creatures of God, and of the race of mankind, for whom Christ died, and it is inexcusable to keep them in ignorance of the end for which they were made, and of the means whereby they may become partakers of the general redemption.” BISHOP

PORTEUS says: “The Bible classes men-stealers or slave-traders among the murderers of fathers and mothers. and the most profane criminals on earth.” Jolti Jay, Esq., of the City of NewYork a most exemplary Episcopalian-in a patmphlet entitled ” Thoughts on 261 4b - I

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. the Duty of the Episcopal Church, in Relation tc Slavery,” says: Alas! for the expectation that she would conform to the spirit of her ancient mother! She has not mtnerely remained a mnute and careless spectator of this great conflict of truth and justice with hypocrisy and cruelty, but her very priests and deacons may be seen minist,ring at the altar of slavery, offering their talents and influence at its unholy shrine: and openly repeating the awful blasphemy, that the precepts of our Saviour sanction the system of American slavery. 11er Northern clergy, with rare exceptions, whatever they may feel on the subject, rebuke it neither in publie nor in private, and her periodicals, far from advancing the progress of abolition, at timnes oppose our societies, impliedly de fending slavery, as not incompatible with Christianity, and occasionally withholding information useful to the cause of freedom.” A writer in a late number of” The AntiSlavery Church man,”

published in Geneva, Wisconsin, speaking of a car tain portion of the New Testament, says: “This passage of Paul places necessary work in the hatnds of Gospel ministers. If they preach the whole Gospel, they must preach what this passage enjoins-and if they do this, they must preach against American slavery. Its being connected with politics does not shield them.

Political connections cannot place sin under protection. They cannot throw around it guards chat the public teachers of morals may not pass. Sin is a violation of God’s law-and God’s law must be proclaimed and enforced at all hazard. This is the business of the messenger of God. and if anything stands in its way, it is his right, rather it is his solemn commission, to go forward-straightway to overpass the lines that would shut him out, and utter his warnings. tMany sins there are. that, in like manner, might be shielded. Fashion, and rank. and business, are doing their part to keep much sin in respectability, and excuse it firom -the attacks of God’s ministers. But what are tb,se. that they should seal a minister6
slips-‘twhat more are the w Fes ot -oliticians?” 262

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TE8TIMONY OF TH/ CHURCHES. For further testimony from this branch of the Christian system, if desired, we refer the reader to the Rev. Dudley A.

Tyng, the Rev. Evan M. Johnson, and the Rev. J. McNamara, a l Broad Church Episcopalians, whose magic eloquence and irresistible arguments bid fair, at an early day, to win over to the paths of progressive freedom, truth, justice and humanity, the greater number of their High and Low Church brethren. BAPTIST TESTIMONY. Concerning a certain text, the Rev. Mr.

Brisbane, once a slaveholding Baptist in South Carolina, says - “Paul was speaking of the law as having been made for men stealcrs. WVhere is the record of that law? It is in Exodus xxi. 16, and in these words:’ IIe that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his possession, he shall surely be put to death.’ IIere it will be perceived that it was a crime to sell the man, for which the seller must suffer death. But it was no less a crinme to hold him as a slave, for this also was punishable with death. A man nmay be kidnapped out of slavery into freedom. There was no law against that. And why? Because kidnapping a slave and placing him in a condition of freedomn, was only to restore him to his lost rights. But if the man who takes himn becomes a slaveholder. or a slave seller, then he is a criminal, liable to the penalty of death, because he robs the man of liberty. Perhaps some will say this law was only applicable to the first holder of the slave. that is, the original kidnapper, but not to his successors who might have purchased or inherited him. But wlMat is k’Jnapping? Suppose I propose to a neighbor to give him a certain sum of money if he will steal a white child in Carolina and deliver him to me. He steals him; I pay him the money upon his delivering the child to me. Is it not my act as fully as his? Am I not also the thief? But does it alter the case whethez I agree before hand or not. to pay him for tho 263

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TESTIMONY OF TLE CHURCHES. child 7 Hle steals him, and then sells him to me. Ile is found by his parents in my hands. Will it avail me to say I purchased him and paid my Tnfney for him’? Will it not be asked, Do you not know that a wli.te person is not merchantable? And shall I not have to pay the damage for detainiing that child in my service as a slave?

Assuredly, not only in the eyes of the law, but in tbe judgment of the whole community, I would be regarded a crimkial. So when one man steals another and offers him for sale. 11o one, in view of the Divine law, can buy him, for the reason that the Divine law forbids that man shall-in the first place be ma(le a merchantable article. The inquiry must be, if I buy, I buy in violation of the Divine law, and it will not do for mie to plhal that I bought him. I have him in possession, and that is enoulh., God condemns me for it as a man-stealer. 3ly having him in possession is evidence against me. and the Mosaic law says, if he be found in my hands, I must die. Now, when Paul said tie law was made for men-stealers, was it not also saying the ltw wvas made for slaveholders? I am not intending to apply tikis term in harsh spirit. But I am bound, as I fear God to sl[ak what I am satisfied is the true meaning of the apostle.” In his “Elements of Moral Science,” the Rev. Francis Wayland, D.D., one of the most erudite and distinguished Baptists now living, says: “Domestic slavery proceeds upon the principle that the mas ter has a right to control the actions, physical and intellectual, of the slave. for his own, that is, the master’s individual benefit; and, of course, that the happiness of the master, when it comes in competition with the happiness of the slave, extinguishes in the latter the right to pursue it. It supposes, at best, that the relation between master and slave, is not that which exists be tween man and man, but is a modification, at least, of that which exists between man and the brutes. Now, this manifestly supposes that the two classes of beings are created with dissirmilar rights: that the master posseses rights which hate never been conceded by the slave; and that 264

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TESTYtONY OF THE CHCRC-IES. the slave has no rights at all over the means of happiness which God has given him, whenever these means of happiness can be rendered available to the service of his master. It supposes that the Creator intended one human being to govern the physical, intellectual and moral actions of as many other human beings as by purchase he can bring within his physical power; aind that one human being may thus acquire a right to sacrifice the lhappiness of any number of other human beings, for the purpose of promoting his own. Slavery thus violates the personal liberty of man as a physical, intellectual, and moral being. “It purports to give to the master a right to control the physical labor of the slave, not for the sake of the happiness of the slave, but for the sake of the happiness of the master. It subjects the amount of labor, and the kind of labor, and the remuneration for labor, entirely to the will of the one party, to the entire exclusion of the will of the other party.

“But if this right in the master over the slave be conceded there are of course conceded all other rights necessary to insure its possession.

Ilence, inasmuch as the slave can be held in this condition only while he remains in the lowest state of mental imbecility, it supposes the master to have the right to control his intellectual development, just as far as may be necessary to se cure entire subjection. Thus, it supposes the slave to have no right to use his intellect for the production of his own happiness; but, only to use it in such manner as may conduce to his master’s profit. Ard, moreover, inasmuch as the acquisition of the knowledge of his deity to God could not be freely made without the acqui,tion of other knowledge, which might, if universally diffused, endanger the control of the master, slavery supposes the master to have the right to determine how much knowledge of his duty a slave shall obtain, the manner in which he shall obtain it, and the manner in which he shall discharge that duty after he shall have obtained a knowledge of it.

It thus subjects the duty of man to God entirely to the will of man; and this for the sake of pecuniary profit. It renders the eternal happiness of the one party subservient to the temporal happiness of the other. And 265
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TESTIMONY OF THE CURCHES. this principle is commonly carried into effect in ~ evelt.lding countries. If argument were necessary to show that such a system as this must be at variance with the ordinance of God, it might be easily drawn from the effects which it produces both upon morals and national wealth. Its effects must be disastrous upon the morals of both parties. By presenting objects on whom passion may be satiated without resistance and without redress, it cultivates in the master, pride, anger, cruelty, selfishness and licentiousness. By accustoming the slave to subject his moral principles to the will of another, it tends to abolish in him all moral distinction; and thus fosters in him lying, deceit, hypocrisy, dishonesty, and a willingness to yield himself up to minister to the appetites of his master. The effects of slavery on national wealth, may be easily seen from the following considerations: Instead of imposing upon all the necessity of labor, it restricts the number of laborers, that is of producers, within the smallest possible limit, by rendering labor disgraceful. It takes from the laborers the natural stimulus to labor, namel] the desire in the individual of improving his condition; and substitutes, in the place of it, that motive which is the least operative and the least constant, namely, the fear of punishment without the consciousness of moral delinquency. It remove,s. as far as possible, from both parties, the disposition and the motives to frugalitvy. Neither the master learns frugality from the necessity of labor, nor the slave from the benefits which it confers. And here, while the one party wastes from ignorance of the laws of acquisition, and the other because he can have no motive to economy, capital must accumulate but slowly, if indeed it accumulate at all. No country, not of great fertility, can l(ng sustain a large slave population. Soils of more than ordinary fertility can not sustain it long, after the richness of the soil has been exhausted. Hence, slavery in this country is acknowledgedl to have impoverished many of our most valuable districts; and, hence, it is continually migrating from the older settlements, to those new and untilled regions, where tl acocumulated tzanure of centuries of vegetation 266

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TES!MONY OF Tiz CHNCHES. has formed a soil, whose productiveness may, for whI le, sustain a system at variance with the laws of nature. Many of our free and of our slaveholding States were peop!ed at about the same time.

The slaveholding States had every advantage, both in soil and climate, over their neighbors. And yet the accumulation of capital has been greatly in favor of the latter. If any one doubts whether this difference be owing to the use of slave labor, let him ask himself what would have been the condition of the slaveholding States, at this moment, if they had been inhabited, from the beginning, by an industrious yeomanry; each one holding his own tand, and each one tilling it with the labor of his own hands. The moral precepts of the Bible are diametrically opposed to slavery. They are, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself and all thin,s whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.

The application of these precepts is universal. Our neighbor is every one whlorn we may benefit. The obligation respects all things whatsoever. The precept, then, manifestly, extends to men, as?nen, or mten in every condition; and if to all things whatsoever, certainly to a thing so important as the right to personal liberty. Again. By this precept, it is made our duty to cherish as tender and delicate a respect for the right which the meanest individual posseses over the means of happiness bestowed upon him by God, as we cherish for our own right over our own means of happiness. or as we desire any other individual to cherish for it. New, were this precept obeyed, it is manifest that slavery could not in fact exist for a single instant. The principle of the pre cept is absolutely subversive of the principle of slavery. That of the one is the entire equality of right; that of the other, the entire absorption of the rights of one in the rights of the other. If any one doubts respecting the bearing of the Scripture pre cept upon this case, a few plain questions may throw additional light upon the subject. For instance, Do the precepts and the spirit of the Gospel allow me to de. rive my support from a system which extorts lat or from my fel low-men, wi hout allowing them any voice in the equivalent which they shal receive; and which can only be sustained by 2el

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. keeping them in a state of mental degradation, aRTd by shuttig them out, in a great degree, from the means of salvation?

Would the master be willing that another person should subject him to slavery, for the same reasons, and on the same grounds, that he holds his slave in bondage? “Would the Gospel allow us, if it wert in our power, to reduce our fellow-citizens of our own color to slavery? If the gospel be diametrically opposed to the prizciple of slavery, it must be opposed to the practice of slavery; and therefore, were the principles of the gospel fully adopted, slavery could not exist. “The very course which the gospel takes on this subject, seems to have been the only one that could have been taken, in order to effect the universal abolition of slavery. The gospel was designed, not for one race, or for one time, but for all races, and for all times. It looked not at the abolition of this form of evil for that age alone, but for its universal abolition. Hence, the important object of its Author was, to gain it a lodgment in every part of the known world; so that, by its universal diffusion among all classes of society, it might quietly and peacefully modify and subdue the evil passions of mnen; and thus, without violence, work a revolution in the whole mass of mankind. “If the system be wrong, as we have endeavored to show, if it be at variance with our duty both to God and to man, it must be abandoned. If it be asked when, I ask again, when shall a man begin to cease doing wrong? Is not the answer, immediately? If a man is injuring us, do we ever doubt as to the time when he ought to cease? There is then no doubt in respect to the time when we ought to cease inflicting injury upon others.

Abraham Booth, an eminent theological writer of the Baptist persuasion, says: “I have not a stronger conviction of scarcely anything,‘ban that slaveholding (except when the slave has forfeited his liberty by crimes against society) is wicked and inconsistent with Christian character. So me it is evident, that whoever would purchase ar innosnt )sark man to make him a slave, would 268

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. with equal readiness purchase a white one for the same pu pose could he do it with equal impunity, and no more disgrace.” At a meetidg of the General Committee of the B.-ptists of Virginia, iL 1789, the following resolution was offered by Eld. John Leland, and adopted: “Resolved, That slavery is a violent deprivation of the rights of nature, and inconsistent with republican government, and therefore we recommend it to our brethren to make use of every measure to extirpate this horrid evil from the land; and pray Almighty God that our honorable legislature may have it in their power to proclaim the great jubilee, consistent with the principles of good policy.” METHODIST

TESTIMON. John Wesley, the celebrated founder of Methodism, says: “M Men buyers are exactly on a level with men stealers.” Again, he says: “

American Slavery is the vilest that ever saw the sun; it constitutes the sum of all villanies.” The learned Dr. Adam Clarke, author of a voluminous commentary on the Scriptures, says: “Slave-dealers, whether those who carry on the traffic in human flesh and blood; or those who steal a person in order to sell hlim into bondage; or those who buy such stolen men or womnen, no matter of what color, or what country; or the nations who legalize or connive at such traffic; all these are men-stealers, and God classes them with the most flagitious of mortals.” One of the rales laid down in the Methodist Discipline as amended it 1781, was as f)llows: ,269

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. “Every member of our Society who has slaves in his possession, shall, within twelve months after notice given to him by the assistant, legally execute and record an instrument, whereby he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession.” Another rule was in these words: “No person holdiig, slaves shall in future be admitted into Sxiety, or to the Lord’s Supper, till he previously complies witk these rules concerning slavery.” The answer to the question-” What shall be done with those who buy or sell slaves, or give them away”-is couched in the following language: “They are immediately to be expelled, unless they buy tnem on purpose to free them.” In 1785, the voice of this church was heard as follows: “We do hold in the deepest abhorrence the practice of slavery, and shall not cease to seek its destruction, by all wise and prudent means.” In 1797, the Discipline contained the following whole.

some paragraph: “The preachers and other members of our Society are re quested to consider the subject of negro slavery, with deep attention, and that they impart to the General Conference, through the medium of the Yearly Conferences, or otherwise) any important thoughts on the subject, that the Conference may have full light, in order to take further steps towards eradicating this enormous evil from that part of the Church of God with which they are connected. The Annual Conferences are directed to draw up addresses for the gradual emancipation of the slaves, to the legislatures of those States in which no general lawIs have been passed for that purpose. These addresses shall urge, in the most respectful but pointed manner. the necessity of a law 270

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. ft the gralual emancipation of slaves. Proper committees shall be appointed by the Annual Conferences, out of the most respectable of our friends, for conduo.ing the business; and presiding elders, ellers, deacons, and traveling preachers, shall procure as many proper signatures as possible to the addresses, and give all the assistance in their power, in every respect, to aid the committees, and to forward the blessed undertaking. Let this be continued from year to year, till the desired end be accomplished.” CATHOLIC TESTIMONY. It has been only about twenty years since Pope Greg ory XVI. immortalized himself by issuing the famous Bull against slavery, from which the following is an extract:  ” Placed as we are on the Supreme seat of the apostles, and acting, though by no merits of our own, as the vicegerent of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, through his great mercy, condescended to make himself man, and to die for the redemption of the world, we regard as a duty devolving on our pastoral functions, that we endeavor to turn aside our faithful flocks entirely from the inhuman traffic in negroes, or any other human beings whatever. * In progress of time, as the clouds of heathen superstition became gradually dispersed, circumstances reached that point, that during several centuries there were no slaves allowed amongst the great majority of the Christian nations; but with grief we are compelled to add, that there afterwards arose, even among the faithful, a race of men, who, basely blinded by the appetite and desire of sordid lucre, did not hesitate to reduce, in reniote regions of the earth, In dians, negroes, and other wretched beings, to the misery of sla very; or, finding the trade established and augmented, to assist the shameful crime of others. Nor did many of the most glori ous of the Roman Pontiffs omit severely to reprove their con duct, as injurious to their Souls’ health, and disgraceful to the Christian name, Among these may be especially quoted the bull of Paul III which bears the date of the 29th of May, 1537

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES. addressed to the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledc, and another still more comprehensive, by Urban VIII., dated the 22d of April, 1636, to the collector Jurius of the Apostolic chamber in Portu gal, most severely castigating by name those who presumed to subject either East or West Indians to slavery, to sell, buy, cx change, or give them away, to separate them from their wives and children, despoil them of their goods and property, to bring or transmit them to other places, or by any means to deprive them of liberty. or retain them in slavery; also most severely castigating those who should presumne or dare to afford council, aid, favor or assistance, under any pretext, or borrowed color, to those doing the aforesaid; or should preach or teach that it is lawful, or should otherwise presume or dare to co-operate, by any possible means, with the aforesaid. * Where fore, we, desiring to divert this disgrace from the whole confines of Christianity, having summoned several of our venerable broth ers, their Eminences the Cardinals, of the Hi. R. Church, to our council, and, having maturely deliberated on the whole matter, pursuing the footsteps of our predecessors, admonished by our apostolical authority, and urgently invoke in the Lord, all Chris tians, of whatever condition, that none henceforth dare to subject to slavery, unjustly persecute, or despoil of their goods, Indians, negroes, or other classes of men, or be accessories to others, or furnish them aid or assistance in so doing; and on no account henceforth to exercise that inhuman traffic by which negroes are reduced to slavery, as if they were not men, but automata or chattels, and are sold in defiance of all the laws of justice and humanity, and devoted to severe and intolerable labors. We further reprobate, by our apostolical authority, all the above-described ofences as utterly unworthy of the Christian name; and by the samne authority we rigidly prohibit and interdict all and every individual. whether ecclesiastical or laical. from presuming to defend t}la,t commerce in negro slaves under pretence or borrowed color, or to teach or publish in aliy manner., plublicly or privately, tihings contrary to the admonitions which we have given in these letters. “And, inally, that these, our letters, may be rendered more apparent to all, and that no person inay allege any ignorance 272

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TESTIMONY OF TH -CHURCHES. thereof we decree and order that it shall be published according to custom, and copies thereof be properly affixed to the gates of St. Peter and of the Apostolic Chancel, every and in like manner to the General Court of Mount Citatorio, and in the field of the Campus Florae and also through the city, by one of our heralds, according to af)resaid custom. “Given at Rome, at the Palace of Santa Maria Major, under the seal of the fisherman, on the 3d day of December, 1837, and in the ninth year of our pontificate. “Countersigned by Cardinal A.

Lambruschini.” We have already quoted the language of Pope Leo X., who says: ” Not only does the Christian religion, but nature herself cry )ut against the State of slavery.” The Abbe Raynal says: ” He who supports slavery is the enemy of the human race. He divides it into two societies of legal assassins, the oppressors and the oppressed. I shall not be afraid to cite to the tribunal of reason and justice those governments which tolerate this cruelty, or which even are not ashamed to make it the basis of their power.” From the proceedings of a Massachusetts Antislavery Oonvention in 1855, we make the following extract: “Henry Kemp, a Roman Catholic, came forward to defend the Romish Church in reply to Mr. Foster. He claimed that the Catholic Church is thoroughly antislavery-as thoroughly as even his friend Foster.” Thus manfully do men of pure hearts and noble minds, whether in Church or State, and without regard to sect or party, lift up their vcices against the wicked and pernicious institution of human slavery. Thus they speak, and thus 12*

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TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCHES they are obliged to speak, if they speak at l1; it is only the voice of Nature, Justice, Truth, and Love, that issues from them. The divine principle in man prompts him to speak and strike for Freedom; thie diabolical principle within him prompts him to speak and strike for slavery. From those churches which are now-as all churches ought to be, and will be, ere the world becomes Christian ized-thoroughly imbued with the principles of freedom, we do. not, as already intimated, deem it particularly necessary-to bring forward new arguments in opposition to slavery. If, however, the reader would be pleased to hear from the churches to which we chiefly allude-and, by the bye, he might hear from them with much profit to himself -we respectfully refer him to Henry Ward Beecher, George B. Cheever, Joseph P. Thompson, Theodore Parker, E. H. Chapin, and H. W. Bellows, of the North, and to M D. Conway, John G. Fee, James S. Davis, Daniel Wilson, and W. E. Lincoln, of the South. All these reverend gentlemen, ministers of different denominations, feel it their duty to preach against slavery, and, to their honor be it said, they do preach against it with unabated zeal and success. Our earnest prayer is, that Heaven may enable them, their cotemporaries and successors, to preach against it with such energy and effect, as will cause it to disap. pea-forever?rom ti e soil of our Republic. 274 I

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BIBLE TESTMIONY. CHAPTER VII. BIBLE TESTIMONY. EVERY p-rO,,n who has read the Bible, and who has a pl.per understanding of its leading moral precepts, feels, in lIs own conscience, that it is the only original and complate antislavery textbook. In a crude state of societyin a barbarous age-when men were in a manner destitute of wholesome laws, either human or divine, it is possible that a mild form of slavery may have been tolerated, and even regulated, as an institution clothed with the importance of temporary recognition but the Deity never ap proved it, and, for the very reason that it is impossible for him to do wrong, he never will, never can approve it. The worst system of servitude of which we have any account in the Bibl -and, by the way, it furnishes no account of anything so bad as slavery (the evil-one and his hot home aloine excepted)-was far less rigorous and atr)cious than that now established in the Southern States of this Confederacy. Even that system, however, the worst, which seems to have been practiced to a considersable extent by thlose venerable old fogies, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was rne of the monstrous inventions of Satan 275

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27 6 BIBLE TESTIMONY. that God “winked” at; and, to the mind of the biblical scholar, nothing can be more evident than that Hle deter mined of old, that it should, in duo time, be abolished. To say that the Bible sanctions slavery is to say that the sun loves darkness; to say that one man was created to domineer over another is to call in question the justice, mercy, and goodness of God. We will now listen to a limited number of the PRECEPTS AND SAYINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabit, ants thereof.” “Let the oppressed go free.” “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” “Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.” “The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.”

“Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.” “Do justice to the afflicted and needy; rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” “Execute judgment and justice; take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God.” “Therefore thus saith the Lord; ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth”

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KBLI TlONY. 277 ITe that stialeth a man. and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.” “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry, but shall not be heard.” “

He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Blaker.” “I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of Hosts.” “As the partridge setteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.” And now we will listen to a few selected PRECEPTS AND SAYINGS

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Call no man master, neither be ye called masters.”

“All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to ycu do ye even so to them.” “Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.” “Do gocd to all men, as ye have jpportunity.” “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” “If thou mayest be made free, use it rather.” “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Same years ago a clerical lickspittle of the slave power

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BIBrz TESTIMONY. had the temerity to publish a book or pamphlet entitled “Bible Defence of Slavery,” which the Baltimore Sun, in the course of a caustic criticism, handled in the following manner:  “Bible defence of slavery! There is no such thing as a Bible defence of slavery at the present day. Slavery in the United States is a social institution, originating in the convenience and cupidity of our ancestors, existing by State laws, and recognized to a certain extent-for the recovery of slave property-by the Constitution. And nobody would pretend that, if it were inexpedient and unprofitable for any man or any State to continue to hold slaves, they would be bound to do so on the ground of a “Bible defence” of it. Slavery is recorded in the Bible, and approved, with many degrading characteristics. War is recorded in the Bible, and approved, under what seems to us the extreme of cruelty. But are slavery and war to endure for ever because we find them in the Bible? or are they to cease at once and for ever because the Bible inculcates peace and brotherhood?” Thus, in the last five chapters inclusive, have we introduced a mass of antislavery arguments, human and divine, that will stand, irrefutable and convincing, as long as the earth itself shall continue to revolve in its orbit. Aside from unaffected truthfulness and candor, no merit is claimed for anything we have said on our own account. With the best of motives, and in the language of nature more than that of art, we have simply given utterance to the honest convictions of our heart-being impelled to it by a long-harbored and unmistakable sense of duty which grew stronger and deeper as the days passed away. If half the time which has been spent in collecting and arrTanging these testimonies had been occupied in the compos;ti)n of original matter, the weight of paper ad 278

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BIBLE TESTIMONY. binding and the number of pages would have been much greater, but the value and the effect of the contents would have been far less. From the first, our leading motive has been to convince our fellowe-citizens of the South, nonslaveholders and slaveholders, that slavery, whether considered in all its bearings, or, setting aside the moral aspect of the question, and looking at it in only a pecuniary point of view, is impolitic, unprofitable, and degrading; how well, thus far, we have succeeded in our undertaking, time will, perhaps, fully disclose. In the words of a contemporaneous German writer, whose language we readily and heartily endorse, “It is the shame of our age that argument is needed against slavery.” Taking things as they are, however, argument being needed, we have offered it; and we have offered it from such sources as will, in our honest opinion, confound the devil and his incarnate confederates. These testimonies, culled from the accumulated wisdom of nearly six thousand centuries, beginning with the great and good men of our own time, and running back through distant ages to Saint Paul, Saint John, and Saint Luke, to Cicero, Plato, and Socrates, to Solomon, David, and Moses, and even to the Deity himself, are the pillars of strength and beauty upon which the popularity of our work will, in all. probability, be principally based. If the ablest writers of the Old Testament; if the eloquent prophets of old; if the renowned philosophers of Greece and Rome; if the heavenly-minded authors and compilers of the New Testament; if the illustrious poets and prosewriters, hei -es, statesmen, sages of all nations, ancient 279

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BIBLE TESTIMONY. and modern; if God himself and the hosts of learned ministers whom he has commissioned to proclaim his word-if all these are wrong, then we art wrong; on the other hand, however, if they are right, we are right; for, in effect, we only repeat and endeavor to enforce their precepts. If we are in error, we desire to be corrected; and, if it is not asking too much, we respectfully request the advocates of slavery to favor us with an expose of what they, in their one-sided view of things, conceive to be the advantages of their favorite and peculiar institution.

Such an expose, if skillfully executed, would doubtless be re garded as the funniest novel of the times-a fit production, if not too immoral in its tendencies, to be incorporated into the next edition of D’Israeli’s curiosities of literature. 280

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FREN FIGARES AND SLAVE CHAPTER VIII. FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. UNDER this heading we propose to introduce the remain der of the more important statistics of the Free and of the Slave States;-especially those that relate to Commerce, Manufactures, Internal Improvements, Education and Religion. Originally it was our intention to devote a separate chapter to each of the industrial and moral interests above-named: but other considerations have so greatly encroached on our space, that we are compelled to modify our design. To the thoughtful and discriminating reader, however, the chief statistics which follow will be none the less interesting for not being the subjects of annotations. At present, all we ask of proslavery men, no matter in what part of the world they may reside, is to look these figures fairly in the face. We wish them to do it, in the first instance, not on the platforms of public debate, where the exercise of eloquLence is too often characterized by violent passion and subterfuge, but in their own private apartments, where no eye save that of tLe All-seeing One will rest upon them, and where, in considering the relations which they sustain to the past, the present, and the 281

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. future, an opportunity will be afforded them of securing that most valuable of all possessions attainable on earth, a conscience void of offence toward God and man. Each separate table or particular compilation of statistics will afford food for at least an hour’s profitable reflec. tion; indeed, the more these figures are studied, and the better they are understood, the sooner will the author’s object be accomplished,-the sooner will the genius of Univer3al Liberty d:.pel the dark clouds of slavery. 282

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New Jermt;y………. New York……….. Ohio…………….

Pe’iisylvania…….. Rhode Island…….. Vernmont…………

Wisconsin……….. 4,2)2.615 $167,520,6.3 $236,847.810 TABLE NO. XXVII.

;ONNAGE, EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF THE SLAVE STATES 1855. Stato Tonnage ExportL ImportL tlabama………… lrkansas…… )elaware………..

Florida………….. . eorgia…………. Ke:tuceky………..

Louisiana……….. Nlaryland………… M i ssissippi……….

Missiouri…………. North Carolina…….. South Carolina…….

Teiniessee………… Texas…………… Virginia…………. 433,818

12i, 00,250 916,961 I:. 4,37 9,928 $107,180,688 i 121,0‘20 1,401,221

91,607 397,768 51,038 6,915 15,624 4.,-)2.,615 687 113,731,238 847,143

6,274,338 3:.‘6,023 2,89.5,46C 174,057 $167,52)0,6!‘3 1,473 164,776.511

600,656 15,300,9.35 5:36,387 591,593 48,159 $2%,6,84 7-.810 Statea Tonnage. 36,274 19,186 14,835 29,505 22,680 204,149 234,805 2,475 60,592

60,077 60,935 8,404 8,812 92,788 I 855,517 Exports. $14,270,585 68,087

1,403,594 7,5it:3,519 55,367,962 10,3‘35,981 ImportL $619,964 5,821

45,9!.J8 273,716 12,9I00,821 7,788,949 1,661 243,083 1,588,542 262.5138

855,405 $2~,586,52‘8

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RFREE FIGURES ND SLA. TABLE NO. XXVIII. PRODUCT OF MANUFACTURES IN THE

FREE STAiES-1850. St~ates. California……….. Connecticut……….

Illiniois………….. Indiana………….. Iowa…………..

Maine………….. Massachusetts…….. Mlichigan………… New Hampshire…… New Jersey………. New York…………

Ohio……………. Pennsylvania……… Rhode Island…… 2

Vermont…………. Wisconsin…….. $842,586,058 $430,240,051 780,576

TABLE NO. XXIX. PRODUCT OF MANUFACTURES IN THE SLAVE STATES1850. Biates.

of Anneal Capital IIandm Capital invested. 1$3,450, 9606 324,0Ot 2,978,945

547,060 5,460,483 12,350,734 5,3‘18,074 14,753,143 1,833,420 9,079.),6!.5

7,.25),)22. 6.05(i,86.5 6,1975,279 53,’),:20 18,109,993 $95,029,879

States. Alabama………… Arkansas……….. Delaware…………

Florida…………. Georgia…………. Kentucky………..

Louisiania……….. Marylaud……….. Mississippi……………..

Mi.ssuri………… 9.. N,inth Caroliiia……. South Caroliia…….

T.nuiesse………… Texas.,…………. Virginia………… I I I 284
v -o-f - -A- -n-n- -u-a-I ‘roduct& $12,862,522 45,110,102 17,236,073

18,922,651 3,551,78,3 21,664,135 151,13 i, 145 10,976,89,1 23,164,50,3

39,713,586 237,597,249 62,647,259 155,044,910 22,093,258 8,570,920

9,293,068 $842 586 058 Capit,-Il liiv”ted. $1,006.197 23,890,348

6,386,,‘487 7”941,602 .292,87,5 14,700,452 83,351-,612 6,534,250

18,242,114 22,184,7;iO 99,904,405 29,019,538 94,473,810 12,923,176

5,001,377 3,382,148 $430 240,051 Ilands .employed. .3,964 47,770 12,065

14,342 1,707 28,0i-8 165,938 9,290 27,092 37,.‘ill 199,349 51,489 146,766

20,881 8,445 6,089 780576 Val. of Ana-aal products. $4;538,878 607,436

4,619,296 668,338 7,086,525 24,688,483 7,320,948 82,477,702 2,972,038

23,749,265 9,111,245 7,0 6’i,.5 1 3 9,728,438 1,16.5,538 29,705,387

$16,413)027 Hands employedl 4,’.986 903 3,889 99). 8,37,Q 21,38.1 6,41-37

80’ 124 8;173 16 q5D 12,414 7,009 1 2,0 3’-) 1.066 I. 29,109 161,733

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REE FIGURES AD SLAV& BLEF NO. SD RAILROADS 1854-1857 CaIals., miles, 1854.

States. California…………. Connecticut…………

Illinlois…………. JItdiana…………… Iowa………………

Mlaine…………… WI assachusetts……… Michigan………….. Newv Hampshire…….. Netv Jersey………… New York………….

Ohlio………… Pennsylvania.. Rhode Island……….

Vermuonit…………… Wisconsin…………. Railroads, Cost of Rai1miles, 1857. roads, 1865. ,, 22’ 600 $25,224,191 2,52)4 55,66-3,6,56

1,806 29,585,923 253 2,300,000 442 13,749,021 1,285 59 167,781 600

22,370,397 645 15,860,949 472 13:840.030 2,7O0 111,882.503 2,869

67,798,202 2,407 94,657,675 85 2,614,484 515 17,9L98,835 629 5,600,000

17,855 $538,313,647 TABLE NO. XXXI. MILES OF CANALS AND RAILROADS IN THE

SLAYE STATES 1854-1857. States Alabama………….. Arkansas………….

Delaware……………4 Florida……………. Georgia……………

I(entucky…………. Louisiana…..0 2… 1 Maryland……. 16

Mississippi………… Missou,‘i………….. North Carolina……..

South Carolina……… Tennessee…………. Texas……….. 5 6, Virginia…………, t Ramilr oads, miles, 1857. 484 120 86 1,062 306 263

697 410 189 612 706 508 57 1,479 e,sbg Cost of Rallroads, 1855…o $3,986,208 600,000 250,000 17,034,802 6,179,072 1,731,000 12,65-,833

4,520,000 1,000,000 6.847,213 1’,547,093 10,4836 610 16,466,250 285 61 100

367 50 100 11 147 989 921 936 3,682 Canals 18

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FREE FIGERES AN) SLAVE. TABLIE NO. XXXII. BANK CAPITAL IN THE FREE AND IN

THE SLATE STATE.  1855. Free Statos. I Slave Statee. Ca.lifornia…….

Alabama…….. $2,296,400 Conlitecticut….. $1;5,597,891

Arkansas……… Illinois………. 2,513,790 Delaware…… 1,393,175

Indiana……….. 7,281,934 Florida………. Iowa… Georgia…._

13,413.,100 Mlaiiie……….. 7,301,252 Ke:itucky…….. 10,.’:6t.717 I assachusetts…54, 492,66 0 L ouisian a…… 20,179),107

Michigan……….. 980,416 Maryland…….. 10,411.874 New Hampshire..

3,626,000 AMississiipi……240,165 New Jerey……. 5,314.885 Missouri…

1,215,398 New York……. 83,773,288 North Carolina… 5.205,073

Ohio…………7,166,581 South Carolina… 16.603,253 Pennsylvania….

19,864,825 Teinnessee…….. 6,717,848 Rhode Island…. 17,511,162

Texas………. Vern)ont……….. 3,275,656 Virginia……… 14,033,838

Wisconsin………. 1,400,000 Total….. $230,100,340 Total…..

$102,078,940 TABLE NO. XXXIII. MIILITIA FORCE OF THE FIREE AND THE SLAVE

STATES-1852. Free StateL Slave State Calliornia Alabama 76,62

Alabama…….. Arkansas……. Delaware…….. Florida………

Geor-ia……… Kentucky……. Louisiana…… Miaryland…….

NMississippi…… MwJierss 3 7…….. North Carolin a… South Carolina… Tt-nitessee 7….. Texas……….. Virginia…….

California……. Colnectictt…… Illinois………. Indiana……….

Iowa……….. Maine,………. Ma^-saci usetts…. M1 ichi gTan……..

New Hampshire.. N.-w Jersey…… New York…….. Olhio……….I Pennisylvania…. Rhode Island….. Vermnont……… Wisconsin……..

51,649 170,359 53,918 62,588 119,690 63,938 32,151 39,171 265,293 176,455

276,070 14,443 23,915 32 203 1,881,841 I 2.86 Free State& I Slave EJtatft, . 76,662 17,137 9,2.L9 12.12:’,) 6 7,,‘i 1 2 81.810 43,823 46,86,1 36,08.1

61,1‘100 7.9,448 65,209 71,252 I.ct,766 125,1:,)S 7911,-876 Total…

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New-Jersey…………… 31,495 NewYork………….5.. 542,498

Ohio………………. 167,958 Pennsylvania………….. 217,293 Rhode Island……………..80,291 Vermont……………… 36,314

Wisconsin…………… 33,538 $1,719,513 $1,719,513 $4,670.25 $2,608,295

TABLE NO. XXXV. POST OFFICE OPERATIONS IN THE SLAVE STATES-1855. States.

St6aOmldP.s Total Postage C(t of Trans C,t of Traln. the mails. 226.816

117,659 9,243 77,.55:3 216,003 144,161 133.810 1.92.743 170,785 ]85,096

148,249 192.2l6 116.091 209,936 245,692 $2,-85,958 Alabama…………….

Arkansas……………. l)elaware……………..

Florida………………. Georgia……………..

Kentucky……………. Louisiana…………….

Maryland…………….. Mississippi…………..

Missouri…………… North Carolina……….. South Carolina……….. Tennessee………….. Texas……………….

Virgil ia……………. Tot,al Post.,Ige collected. $;104,514 30,664

19,614 19,275 149,063 130.067 133,753 191.485 78,739 139,652 72,759 9

1,600 103,686 70,436 217,861 $1,558,198 I 109,697 1,383,157 452,613

583.013 58,624 92,816 112,903 $4,67 i0.725 80,(84 481,410 421,870 251,833

13,891 64,437 92,842 $2,608,295 . itampg s~old. $44,514 8,941 7,298 8,765

7.3,880 65,694 50,778 77,743 31,182 53,742 34,2,36 47,368 48,377 24,5:40

96,799 , SM;845 Stateis.

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAE. TABLE NO. XXXVI; PUBLIC SCHIIOOLS OF TIHE FREE

STATES1850. - LateL Numer Teces Pupil& States Calif,)rnia…………..

Continecticut………….. Illinois………………

Indiana……………… Iowa………………..

Maine………………. Massachusetts……….. Michigan…………….

New Hampshlire………. New Jersey………….. New York……………

Ohio……………….. I’ennsyl vania………… Rhode Island………… Vermont……………. Wisconsin…………… TABLE

NO. XXXVII. PU3LIC SCIIHOOLS IN THE SLAVE STATES1850. states.

Alabama…………….. Arkan sas…………….. De laware…………….89 Florida……………….

Georgia…………….. Ke ntucky…………… Louisiana…………..

Marylatind……………. Mississippi…………..

Missouri…………….. North Caroliia……….. South Carolina……….. Teinnessee…………… Texas………………

Vir’gini……………2 Teachers 1,195 355 214 73 1,265 2,306 822 986 826

1,620 2,730 -739 2,819 860 2,997 .,01 I 288 Number. 2 1,656 4,052 4,822

740 4,042 3,679 2,71i 2,381 1,473 11,580 11,661 9,061 416 2,731 1,423

62,433 Teachers. 2 1,787 4,248 1 4,860 ‘828 5,540 4,443 3,231 3,013 1,574

13,965 12,886 10,024 618 4,173 1,529 72,621 Piipil& 4.9 71.269 125,725

161,500 29,556 192,815 176.475 110,455 75,64.3 . 77,930 675,221 484,153 4

1 f,: 7 0 C, 2.‘3,130 93,457 58,817 2,769,901 Namber. 1,152 35.3 194 69

1.251 2,234 664 898 782 1,570 2,6-57 724 2,6iO 1 349 I.: 2,930 Pupils.

28,380 8,493 8,970 1,878 32,705 71,429 1 25,046 83’ill 18 746 61,754

104.095 17‘838 104‘111.1 7 946 ,67:353 591,Ul - la,my I

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New Jersey……………… New York……………….

Ohio……………………. Pennsylvania……………. Rhode Island……………. Vertimont………………..

-.Wisconsilln………………. -*2 14,911 8,888,284 TABLE N-. XXXIX.

LIBRARIES OTIHER THAN PRIVATE IN Tag SLAVE STATES-. 1850. te& Number.

Volumen. O’tate& Alabama……………….. Arkansas………………..

Dellaware………………….? - — lorida………………….

Georgia. Kentucky……………… Louisiana………………..

Maryland……………. Mississippi………………

Missouri……………….. North Carolina…………… South Carolina…………… Tennessee………………. Texas…………….

Virginia…. Vola9es. “10,623 420 1 17,960 2 660 31,788 7WL6 -: 2t 12,0

21787. 75-,056 11T 649,50‘2 18 I 1, -,820 18(~,826 - 363,400 104,342

64,641 21,020 3,888,234 128 11,013 852 893 96 96 72 14,911 Number. 66 17 7

88 80 I 10 124 117 97 38 26 S4 12 64 .i,,. - d~5 _ &

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE TABLE NO. XL. - NEWSPAPBRS AND PERIODICALS

PUBLISHED IN T-YE FREE STATES,-1850. StateL Number. Copie~~~~~~~~w -s Print-Copaes Prn ued annually. States. California…………….

Connecticut………….. Illinois………………

Indiana……………… Iowa………………..

Maine………………. Massachusetts…………

Michigan……………. New Hampshirc………. New Jersey…………..

New York………….. Ohio……………….. Pennsylvania…….. -..

Rhode Island…………. Vermont………………. Wisconsin……..4, 1,790 - 334,146,281 TABLEF NO. XLI. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS PUBLISHED

IN THE SLAVE STATES1850. Siat Number. Copies Priii Copies Printed annually. _,-. . _~ States, Alabama……,……

Arkansas…………….. Delaware…………… Florida’…

Georgia…,7.. Kentucky 6 8 Louisiana..5.. -, Maryland 8 -

Mississilppi………….. Mlissouii…….-……-. North arolina…….

South Carolina……….. Tennessee…………….

Texas………………. Virginia…………… 704 81,038,69 704

81,0>38,698 I 290 Number. 7 7611,200 4,267;932 5,1.02,276 4,316,828 - 1

612,800 4:203,064 . 8,247,736 8,067 552 4,098:678 115,385’ 473 30,473’ 407

84,8.98,6 i 2 2,756 950 2,667:662 2,665,487 46 107 107 29 202 58 38 61 48

261 309 19 35 46 Number. 60 9 10 10 61 62 55 60 61 51 46 60 34 87

2,662,741 - 877,0001 421.200 31-41800 4,070,8G8 1, 61582,838 12,416,224 -

19,612’ 724 1,75-2,,504 6,195.560 2,020,664 7,145,930 6,940,750 1,296,924

- 9,223,068

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.w,~a,l~ fi [1re……….. -893 2,064 New Jersey….’ - 8,370 5,878 New York………….. 23,241 68,052 Ohio…………………. 51,968 9,062

Pennsylvania………….41,944 24,989 Rho*de Island……….. 981 2,359

Vermont…………….. 565 5,624 Wisconlsin……………. l, 4,902

248’,?725 173,790 TAB13LE NO. XLIII. IiLITERATE -WHITE ADULTS IN THE SLAYE

STAT 1850. States. atjva Fore1g TotaL States. Alaban-a..

Alabama……………… Arkatisas…………….

Delaware…………….., Florida………… Geor”ia……….

Kentucky……………… Louisiana…………….

Maryland……………. ‘ ississippi…………..

Missouri……………. North Carolina…………. South Carolina………. Teiiessee……………. Texas…….. -.. 2,8. 1,2

Virginia……………1 Forelgn. 139. 404 - 295 .: - 406 2,347 6,271 - 81

1l,861 840 ~;.. 104 505 2,488’ 1,137 1q,856 2;o57. 14,248 - 91,293 6i,030

I 1 66,928 8,340 6,189 6,361 422,515 :N’ative,i - 83,618 16,792 -:4,132 -

8,564 ‘ o0,794 64,840 - 14,950 .17,364 13,32.1 -:34,420 ‘73,226 15,580

-77,017 - 8,037 76,$68 4d93,02 TotaL - 33,757 16,8!9 - 4~6 .,859 41,200

2-1,221 20,815 13,405 36,281 ‘73,566 -.15,684 77,522 10,525 77,005

612,882

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. TABLE NO. XLVI. POPULAR VOTE FOR PRESIDENT BY THE

FREE STATES 85. States Republican. American. Democratic. Fremo,nt.

Fillmore. Buchanan. TotaL California……. 20,339 35,113 51,925 107,877

Connecticut… 42,715 2,615 34,995 80,325 Illinois………. 96,189 37,444

105,848 238,981 Indiana……… 94,375 22,886 118,670 235,431

Iowa………… 43,954 9,180 36,170 89,304 Maine………….67,379 3,325

39,080 109,781 M assachusetts… 108,190 19,626 39,240 167,056

Michigan…….. 71,762 1,660 52,136 12;5,558 New Hampshire.. 38,345 422

32,789 71],556 New Jersey…… 28,338 24,115 46,943 99.396 New York…..

276,907 124,601 195.878 597,:89 O hio………… 187,497 28,126 170,874

386,497 Peninsylvania.. 147,510 82,175 230,710 460,o95 Rhode Island….

11,467 1,675 6,580 19,722 Verm on t o…….. 39,561 545 10,569 50,675

Wisconlsin……. 66,090 579 52,843 - 119,512 1,340,618 3(q3,590 1,224,750

2,958,958 TABLE NO. XLVII. .NT BY THE SLAVE STATES-1856. American.

Denmocratic. FilInoro. Buch:inan. 28,552 46,739 75,291 10,787 21,910

32,697 6,175 8,004 14,487 4,833 6,358 11,191 42.228 56,578 98,806 67,416

74,612 1,42,372 20,709 22,164 42,873 47,460 39,115 86,856 24,195 35,446

59.641 48,524 58,164 106 688 36,886 48,246 85,I132 66,178 73,638 139,816

15,244 28,757 44,001 60,278 89,826 150,395 479,465 609,587 1,090,24

Alabano a……. Arkansas Delaware…….. 308 Florida………

Geor,_,ia……… Kentucky……. 31.4 Louisiana….! Maryland……. 281

Miss;issip~pi… Al issouri No-th Carol ina South Carolina*. Tennessee….

Tex as……….. Virgiuia… 291 1 *, -1,19~ e No lopular vote. 299

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.,….*i1a…………………….,,,ov,, Ohio.. - 5,860,0591 South Carolina…. 907,785 Pennsylvania,.. 11,853,291i Tennessee………

2,181,476 Rhode Island…. 1,293,6(01 Texas…………. 1,246,961

Vermont………. 1,251,655 Virginia……. 408,944 W isconsin………..

512,552i 2,902,220 Total……. $67,773,477! Total…. $21,674,581 TABLEI NO.: XLIX PATENTS ISSUED ON NEW INVENTIONS IN THIE FREE AND IN TIIE ELAVE

STATES-1856. S Slavo State Alabaman……… 11 Arkansas,..

Delaware……… 8 Florida…………. 3 Georgia” 1 3 I. 14
eor~ai…………..18 Kentucky…….. 26 Louisiana……. 30

Mlaryland…..-‘… 41 Mississippi -….. MisNswuris……….iss.u. 82

North Carolilna 9. 3 South Carolina… - 10 Teinessee…… 23

Texas………… 4 Virginia…………. 42 Total….. 268

Califi)rnia….:..’ Comltecticut……….. -Illinois………

Indiana…… Ioiwa.. ;M Waine……… !.-. M~assachusettS; -….

Maichi’aan..e.a…… New Hampshire… New Jers ey……. New York..f……. -Ohio…….. Peo nsyl vanlia, -.?..*. Rlhode Island…..

Vernllnt…….. Wisce lsiu.-……. Total,…… I1 Free Stae Ii 134’ ) _

142 93 67 14 ~ 42 331 -22 43 502 139 267 i8 385 -;933 1,929

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. TABLE NO. L. BIBLE CAUSE AND TRACT’ CAUSE IN TIHE

FREE STATES-1855. States Gontril,u. for Oontribu. for Contribu. for the Tract Cause. 1 I.$ 5 15,872 3,786 1,491 2,005 2,981 11,492 1,114 1,288

3,546 61,233 9,576 12,121 2,121 2,867. 474 $131,972

Califonia…………………….. C.,nlecticut……………………

1Illir,ois…………………….. Iniiaiia……………………….

Iowa………………………. m aine.. Man…………………….

Massachusetts…………… -. Michigan…………………….

New-liampshire……………… New-Jersey………………….

NewYork………………….. Ohio………………. 5…….

Pennsylvania…………………. Rhode Island………………..

Vermont…………………….. Wisconsin…………………..

$319,667 $131,972 TABLE NO. LI. BIBLE CAUSE AND TRACT CAUSE IN TIlE SLAVE

STATES 1855. Cotrb f - Oontr ibu. for Stt8 th Bil as.teTatCue Alabama………………….. Arkan.sas……………………

Delaware……………………. Florida……………………….

Georiia…………………….. Kenrtucky……………………

Louisiana…………………… Maryland…………….. 8,9 5, Miss;issippi…………………. Mi.~so’ri…………………… North Carolina……………… South Carolilla……………….

Tennessee………………………

Texas……………………………. Virnia…………………

Co)ntri-bu. for the T, act Cause. 4,77 110 16.3 5 1,468 1,366 1,099 5,3‘65

267 936t 1.419 3.222 1,8-07 12t 6,894 - $24,725 I I I’ I 295 Contril,u.

for !the Bible Cause. i $11,900’ I i. 2. 4 1 528 28,403 6,755 - 4,216

6,449 43,444 5,554 6,271 15,475 l23,386 25,758 2-5,360 2.669 5,709 4,790

$319,667 States. Contribu. f(,r the Bible Catise. $3,,351 2,J-50 1,037

1,957 4,532 5,956 1.810 1 8.909 11067 1 4,711 6,197 3,984 8,383 . 3,985

9,296 $68,125. States.

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. TABLE NO. L. BIBLE CAUSE AND TRACTr CAUSE IN TIHE

FREE STATES-1855. States. Coutril~u. for Contribu. for Contrileu. fo r !the Bible Cause. $1,900 - 24,4528 28,403 6,755 4,216 6,449 43,444 5,554

6,271 15,475 123,386 25,758 2.5,360 2.669 5,709 4,790 $319,667

Califoi-nia………………………. C’~nnecticut……………..

Illiriois…………………….. Indliana………………………

Iowa………………………. Maine…………………….

Massachusetts………………… Michigan…………………….

New-lIampshire……………… New-Jersey………………….

NewYork………………….. Ohio……………………….

Pennsylvania…………………. Rhode Island………………..

Vermont…………………….. Wisconsin…………………..

Contribu. for the Tract Cause. . $ 5 15,872 3,786 1,491 2,005 2,981 11,492

1,114 1,288 3,546 61,233 9,576 12,121 2,121 2,867. 474 $131,972 $319,667

$131,972 TABLE NO. LI. BIBLE CAUSE AND TRACT CAUSE 1N TIIE SLAVE

STATES-1855. Cotib o C()ntn bu. for Alabama…………………

Arkansas…………………… Delaware…………………….

Florida……………………… Georgia……………………

Kenrtucky…………………… Louisiana…………………… Mary land…………………. Mississippi………………….

MI,ssouri…………………….. North Carolina…………………..6…. Southl Caroliia……………….

Tennessee………………….. Texas…………………………

Virgnia………………… I6C,2ntr-ibu. for tile Tract Cause. 4,77 110

163 5 - 1,468 1,366 1,099 6,3’,65 2(i7 1.419 3.222 1,8 07 127 6,89.1 -

$24,725 I i I I 295 States. Contribu. f( r the Bible Catise. $13,1315 1

2,950 1,0.”,7 1,957 4,532 5,9.56 1.810 8,.qO9 I iO67 4,711 1 6,197 3,984

8,.‘383 1 3,985 9,296 $68,125;-. let ates.

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FREE FIGURES A.ND) SLAVE. TABLE NO. I,II. MISSI:NARY CAUSE AND

COLONIZATION* CAUSE IN TIIE FREE STATES-1855-1856. C,ontributions for Coloniza. p)ur., 1858 1 1 $’ 1 9,233 543 34 3 1,719 1,422 4 1,130 3,261

24,371 2,687 4,287 2,125 304 806 $51,930 California……………

Connecticut…………. Illinois………………

Indiana…………….. Iwa……………….. Maine………………

Massachusetts……….. M ichigan…………….. New Hampshire………. New Jersey………….. New York……………

Ohio……………….. Pennsylvania………… Rhode Island…………

Veinont……………. Wisconsin…………… f Contrlbutions for i Miss’y pur-pos3es, 1855. $ 192 48,044 10.040 4,705 1,750 13,929 128,505

4,935 11,963 19,946 172,1115 19,890 43,412 9,440 11,094 2,216 $‘502,174 -

T’AB1, I” NO). LIII. M’SIONARY CAUSE AND COLONIZATION* CAUSE IN THE SLAVE

STATES-.1855-1856. Contributions for Contributions for Miss’y purposes, 1855. Coloniza. pur., 1856 ..,963 $1,113 455. 1 1,003 250 340 13 9,846

5,323 6,953 4,436 334 871 - 20,677 406 4,957 2,177 2,712 313 6,010 969

15,248 129 4,971 1,611 349 6 22,106 10,000 $101,934 $27,618 izing free 5lacks in Liberia i I 296 Stall,eiL states. Alabaffia…………….

Ai-kanp,as……………. Delaware..-…. Fiorida………………

Georgia……………… Kentucky…………… Louisiana……………

Mitryland……………. MiSSIEKippi…. Missouri…………….

NorthCarolina………… South Carolina……….. TeDnesse,-…….

Texas………………. * For colo

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. TABLE NO. LIV. DEATHS IN THE FREE STATES 18-.*

13tates. Nuber of Rtio to the Nusl)e deaths. living. California…….

Connecticut…… 5,781 64.13 Illiniois………………… 11,619 73.28

Indiaia…………………. 12,728 77.65 Iowa……………….. 2,044

94.03 Maine………………. 7,545 7 7.29

Maissachu,etts……………… 19,414 51.23 Michigan……………….

4,520 88.19 New Hampshire………. 4,268 - 74.49 Newv Jersey………………. 6,467 75 70 New York………………. 44,339

69 85 Ohio………………… 28,949 68.41 Pennsylvania…………

28,318 81.63 Rhode Islaid………………. 2,241 65.83

Vermiont…………….. 3,132 100.13 Wisconjsin………………. 2,884

105.82 184.249 72.91 TABLE NO. LV. DEATIHS IN THE SLAVE STATES-l1850.#

Number of | deaths. 9,084 2,9r7 .1,209 933 9,920 15,206 11,948 9,594 8,711

12,211 10.207 7,997 11.759 !.. 3,046 19,053 - .._ 133,865 ,pf this Table see the ne Ratio to the 8umbe2 living. 84.94 70.18 75.71 93.67 91.93 64.60

42.85 60.77 69.93 5a.81 85.12 83.59 8-5834 69.79 74.61 71 852 L Fi par”.

-., 297 States,. Arlabas m………….. Delawa re…….

Florida……………… Georgia………………

Kentucky…………… Louisiana…… Maryland……………. M
ississippi………….. Missouri…………….. North Carolina……….. S(,ttuh Carolina……….. Tennessee……………

Texas….. Virgin:………………

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FREE FIGUTES A.%D SLAVE. …..TABL: - - LVI. FREE WHITE MALE PERSONS OVER

FIFTEEN YEARS OF AGE ENGAOGED IN AOGRICULTURAL AND OTHER OUTDOOR LABOR IN

THE - - - gLAy8T-ATF-s 1850.6: ~ - - – - - - - - ~No.. e a No_.._. _ r.

T _ a woo. engaged in Agriultured, 67, 742 28,436 6,225 6,472 82,107

110,119 11,624 24,672 60,028 64,292 76,.338 37,612 115,844 24,987 97,654

8, 80,iS,052 ‘  80 05 215,968! 109,2 Too hot in the South, and too unhealthy there-white men “can’t stand it”-negroes only can endure the heat -of Southern climes I How often are our ears insulted with such wickedly false assertions as these I In what degree of latitude-pray tell us-in what degree of -latitude do the rays of the sun become too calorific for white men’? Certainly in no part of the United States, for in the extreme South we find a very large number of nonslaveholding whites over the age of fifteen, who derive their entire support from manual labor in the open fields. The sun, that bugbear of slaveholding demag(~gues, shone on more than one-mil’ion of free white laborers-mostly agriculturists-ij{
ihi slave St.tes in 1850, exlusive of 298 No. engaged iii otb,er outdoor lal-)or. 4,1$4. 2,.598 11.054 2 0 8, .,I 1 4 6k. 5,823, 21,876 6 9.91, 1

6,7 ,5 22,713, 33,928; 215,968 ;. -, States. TotaL, 74,971 34,032 10,409

8,070 ..93,161 ‘36,427 65,851 q2 .98.214 44 603 1.32,i 39 47,700 582

1,019,020 -klabama…………….. Arl,-An.,aS……. ,vare Goi-gia Kentucky………….. Louisiana Maryland Miss,ouri………………

North Carolina St)utli C4rolitia Teii-nc-ssee………………

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. tnose engaged in commerce, trade, manufactures, the me chanic arts, and mining. Yet, notwithstanding all these instances of exposure to his wrath, we have had no intel ligence whatever of a single case of corp de soeil. Ala bama is not too hot; sixty-seven thousand white sons of toil till her soil. Mississippi is not too hot; fifty-five thou sand free white laborers are hopeful devotees of her out door pursuits. Texas is not too hot; forty-seven thousand free white persons, males, over the age of fifteen, daily perform their rural vocations amidst her unsheltered air. It is stated on good authority that, in January, 1856, native ice, three inches thick, was found in Galveston Bay; we have seen it ten inches thick in North Carolina, with the mercury in the thermometer at two degrees be ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_.. low zero. In January, 1857, while the snow was from three to five feet deep in many parts of North Carolina, the thermometer indicated a degree of coldness seldom exceeded in any State in the Union-thirteen degrees below zero. The truth is, instead of its being too hot in the South for white men, it is too cold for negroes; and we long to see the day arrive when the latter shall have entirely receded from their uncongenial homes in America, and given full and undivided place to the former. Too hot in the South for white men I It is not too hot for white women. Time and again, in different counties in North Carolina, have we seen the poor white wife of the poor white husband, following him in the harvest-field from morning till night, binding up tlhe grain as it fell from his cradle. In the immediate neighborhood from which we,ail, there are not less than thirty young 299

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. women, nor slaveholding whites, between the ages of fi. teen aid twentyfive-some of whom are so well known ta us that we could call them by name-who labor in the fields every summer; two of them in particular, near neighbors to our mother, are in the habit of hiring themselves out-during harvest-time, the very hottest season of thie year, to bind wheat and oeats-each of them keeping up wish the reaper; and this for the paltry considerati’on of twentyfive cents per day. That any respectable man-any man with a heart or a soul in his composition-can look upon these poor toiling white women without feeling indignant at that accursed system of slavery which has entailed on them the miseries of poverty, ignorance, and degradation, we shall not do ourself tlhe violence to believe. If they and their husbaids, and their sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters, are not righted in some of the more important par.

ticulars in which they have been wronged, the fault shall lie at other doors than our own. In their behalf, chiefly, lhave we written and compiled this work; and until our ob)ject shall have been accomplished, or until life shall have been extinguished, there shall be no abatement in our efforts to aid them in regaining the natural and minalienable prerogatives out of which they have been go infamoisly swindled. We want to see no more plowing, or hoe[g, or raking, or grain-binding, by white women in the Soutern States; employment in cotton-mills and other factories would be far more profitable and congenial to them, and this they shall have within a short period aftei slavery shall have baon abolis.hed. 33o

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. Too hot in the South for white men I What is the testimony of relialble Southrons themselves? Says Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky: “In the extreme South, at N’ew Orleans, the laboring menthe stevedores and hackmen on the levee, where the heat is intensified by the proximity of the red brick buildings, are all white men, and they are in the full enjoyment of health. But how about Cotton? I am informed by a friend of mine-himself a slaveholder, and therefore good authoritythat in Northwestern Texas, among the German settlements, who true to their national instincts, will not employ the labor of a slave-they produce more cotton to the acre, and of a better quality, and selling at prices from a cent to a cent and a half a pound higher than that produced by slave labor.” Says Gov. Hammond, of South Carolina: “The steady heat of our summers is not so prostrating as the short, but frequent and sudden, bursts of Northern summers.” In an extract which may be found in our second chapter, and to which we respectfully refer the reader, it will be seen that this same South Carolinian, speaking of “not less than fifty thousand” nonslaveholding whites, says”most of these now follow agricultural pursuits.” Says Dr. Cartwright of New Orleans:  ” Here in New Orleans, the larger part of the drudgery-work requiring exposure to the sun, as railroad-making, street-paving, dray-driving,, ditching and building, is performed by white people.” To the statistical tables which show the number of deaths in the free and in the slave States in 1850, we would dire st special attention. Those persons, particu 301 I

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAV. larly the propogandists of negro slavery, who, heretofore, have been so dreadfully exercised on account of what they have b)een pleased to term “the insalubrity of Southern * climes,” W-ill there find something to allay their fearful apprehensions. A critical examination of said tables will disclose the fact that, in proportion to population, deaths Qou,r more frequently in Massachusetts than in any South ern State except Louisiana; more frequently in New York than in any of the Southern States, except Maryland, Mis souri, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas; more frequently in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, and in Ohio, than in either Georgia, Florida, or Alabama. Leaving Wisconsinj and Louisiana out of the account, and then comparing the bills of mortality in the remaining Northern States, with those in the remaining Southern States, we find the differ ence decidedly in favor of the latter; for, according to this calculation, while the ratio of’deaths is as only one to 74.60 of the living population in the Southern States, it is as one.to 72.39 in the Northern. Says Dr. J. C. Nott, of Mobile “Ileat, moisture, animal and vegetable matter are said to be the elements which produce the diseases of the South. and yet the testimony in proof of the health of the banks of the lower portion of the Mississippi River, is too strong to be doubted, not only the river itself but also the numerous bayous which me ander through Louisiana. Here is a perfectly fiat alluvial coun try, covering several hundred miles, interspersed with intermina ble jakes, ltgunes and jungles, and still we are informei by Dr. Cartwright, one of the most acute observers of the day, that this country is exempt from miasmatic disorders, and is extremely healthy. Ilis assertion has been confirmned’a me by hundreds of witnesses, and we know from our own observation, that the population present a robust and healthy appearance.”’ 302

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FREE FlrURES AND SLA VZ. But the best part is yet to come. In spite of all the blatant asserti{,s of the o’ligarchy,‘that the climate’ of the South was arranged expressly for’the negroes, and that the negroes were created expressly to:inhabit it as the healthful servitors of other men, a -carefully kept register of all the deaths that occurred in Oharleston, South Caroliita, for the space of six years, shows that, even in that locality which is generally regarded as so unhealthy, the annual mortality was much gr,eater among the blacks, in proportion to population, than among the whites. Dr. Nott himself shall state the facts. He says: “The average mortality for the last six years in Charleston for all ages is 1
in 51, including all classes. Blacks alone 1 in 44; whites alone, 1 in 58-a very remarkable result, certainly. This mortality is perhaps not an unfair test, as the population during the last six years has been undisturbed by emigration and acclimated in -a-greater proportion than at any former period.” Numerous other authorities might be cited in proof of the general healthiness of the climate south of Mason and Dixon’s line. -

Of 127-remarkable cases of Ainerican longevity, published in a recent edition of Blake’s Biographical Dictionary, 68 deceased;centenarians are.

credited to the Southern States, and 59 to the Northern-the list being headed with Betsey Trantham, of Tennessee-a white woman, who died in 1834, at the extraordinaily advanced age of 154 years “‘l.. s * -He. r-is - I-af,,*t | 303 r-I -T. .L.

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. TABLIE NO. LVII. NATIVES OF THE SLAVE STATES IN

THE FREE STATES, AND NATIVES OF THE FREE STATES IN THE SLAVE STATES.

-1850,. ‘Natives ofthe Slave States. States. 24,055 Alabama……….

1,890 Arikans.as………. 144,809 DI)elaware……….. 176,581

Florida…………. 8 31,392 Georgia………. 458 Kentucky…… 2,980

Louisiana………. 3,634 Marylandd……….. 215 Mississippi……..

4,110 Missouri………. 12,625 North Carolina….. 1.52,319 South Carolina….. 47,180 Tennesee………. 982 Texas…………. 140

Virginia……….. 6,353 609,223. Natives ofthe Free States. 4,947 7,965

6,996 1,718 4,249 31,340 14.567 23,815 4,517 56,664 2,167 2,427 6,571

9,982 28,999 205,924 Sitate& California……. Co>nnecticut………..

Illinois…….. Indiana………… Iowa………….. Maine………….

Massachusetts….. Michigan……….. New-tHampshire……

New-Jersey…….. NewYork……… Ohio…………..

Pennsylvania…….. Rhode Island…… Vermont…………

Wisconsin……… 609,223 205,924 This last table, compiled from the 116th page of the Compendium of the Seventh Census, shows, in a most lucid and startling manner, how negroes, slavery and slaveholders are driving the native nonslaveholding whites away from their homes, and keeping at a distance other decent people. From the South the tide of emigration still flows in a westerly and north-westerly direction, and it will continue to do so until slavery is abolished. The following remarks, which we extract from an editorial article that appeared in the Mumphis (Tenn.) Buletin near the close of the year 1856, are worth considering in this connection: “We have never before observed so large a number of immi 304

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FREE FIGURES AND S;AVE. grants going westward as are crossing the river at this po’nt daily, thetwc ferry boats-sometimes three-going crowded from early morn unil the boats cease making their trips at night. It is no uncommon sight to see from twenty to forty wagons encamped on the bluff for the night, notwithstanding there.has been a steady stream goinI across the river all day, and yet the -ry is, still they come.” About the same time the Cassville (Geo.) Standard spoke with surprise of the multitude of emigrants crowd ing the streets of that town bound for the far West. Prof.

B. S. Hedrick, late of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, says: “Of my neighbors, friends and kindred, nearly onehalf have left the State since I was old enough to remember. Many’:s the time I have stood by the loaded emigrant wagon, and given the parting hand to hose whose faces I was never to look upon again. They were going to seek homes in the free West, knowing, as they did, that free and slave labor could not both exist and prosper in the same community. If any one thinks that I speak without knowledge, let him refer to the last census. lHe will there find that in 1850 there were fiftyeight thousand native North Carolinians living in the free States of the West-thirtythree-thousand in Indiana alone. There were, at the same time, one hundred and eighty thousand Virginians living in the free States. Now, if these people were so much in love with the’institution,’ why did they not remain where they could enjoy its blessings? “From my knowledge of the people of North Carolina, I believe that the majority of them who will go to Kansas during the next five years, would prefer’that it should be a free State. I am sure that if I were to go’here I should vote to exclude slavery.” For daring to have political opinions of his own, and because he did rot deem it his duty to conceal the face solo

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FREE FIGURF AND SLAVE. that-he loved liberty better than slavery, the gallant au “thor of the extract above quoted was peremptorily dismissed from his post of analytical and agricultural chemist in the university of North Carolina, ignominiously subjected-to the indignities of a mob, and’then savagely driven beyond the borders-of his native State. His villainous persecutors, if not called to settle their accounts in another world within thi next ten years,‘will probably survive to repent of the enormity of their proslavery folly’ TABLE NO. LVIII. VALUE OF THE SLAVES

AT $400 PER HEAD.-1850.* Value of the S1 aves Val. of Real and Per. Lat $400lpe otheSadv Estate, les the vatl. of at $400 per head. ~ slaves at $400 pl head. $137,137.600 $81,066,732 18,840,000 21,001,025 916,000: 17,99,863 llri,724,000 7,474.734 -?152.(;672 8O 1,)2, 2,914 84-,3.)2:400

217,’)’)3.056 97,923,600 1.36,075,164 r86,147, )00 18:,.00.164 -

123,951,200 105,000,000 o34,968,00 102 278q,907 1 15,41.),200 111, 381.272

153,993,600 134,264,094 95,783.600 111,671,104 -23.264,400 32..097,940

189,011,200 202,634,638 $1,280,145,600 $1,655,945,137 TABLES 34 and 35
show that, on account of the pitiable poverty and ignorance of slavery, the mails were transported throughout the Southern States, during the year * t is intended that this Table shall be considered in connection with T’rables XX nd XXI, on page 80. 3A)6 States. Alabama……………..

Arkansas…,……. Delaware…,..’ ” Florida…………….. Georgia.

Kei)tucky…………… Louisiana. Marvland.. North Carolina….,.

,,South Carolina.,… Tennessee……….. Texas………..

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. 1855, at anD extra cost to the General Government of more than six hundred thousandS dollars! - in the free StateS, postages were receivedto the amount of more than two millions of dollars over and above the cost of transportation. To.lDr. G. B]3ailey, editor of the.

Natioal Era, Washington city, D. C., we are indebted for the following useful and interesting statistics, to which some of our reacers will doubtless have frequent occasion to refer - PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED

STATES. Appointed…. March 4,3 1789 George Washington, Virginia. ” 3.

1797 March 4. 1797 March 4, 1797 John Adams, Massachusetts. “3, 1801 Jh dm,B March 4,1801 iMarch 4 1801 Thomas Jefferson, Virginia. 3, 1809 March 4,. 1809 3 4 James M adison, Virginia. “3. 1817 March 4, 1817 March -4, 1817 James Monroe, Virinia. ” 3. 1825 March 4, 1825’John Q. Adams, Mazssachusetts. “3. 1829 March 4, 1829 8 Andrew Jackson, Tennessee. “3, 1837.. March 1, 1837 ~March 87 Martin Van Buren, New York. ” 3, 1841 March 4 1841 184 William H. Ilarrison, Ohio. “3, -1845 Mar -b 4, 1845 184 James K. Polk, 7ennessee. “,18,49 March 4. [849 “r 34 1~53 1 Zachary Taylor, Louisiana. 31 I S-3 l~ir~ch 4, 12353 Ianc 4 1 Franklin Pierce, New Hampshtre. ” 3, 1857 Marc;h 4, -185 Mar3; 4 19; James Buchanan, Pennsylvania. At the-loe of the term for1 which Mr. B1chaan is elected, At’the W’?o~ of the term for which Mr. Buchanan is elected, 307

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. it will have been seventy-two years since the organization of tne present Governmnent. In that period, there have been eighteen elections for Presi dent, the candidates chosen in twelve of them being Southern men and slaveholders. in six of them Northern men and non slaveholders. No Northern man has ever been reelected, but five Southern men have been thus honored. Gen. Harrison, of Ohio, died one month after his inauguration, Gen. Taylor, of Louisiana, about four months after his inauguration. In the former case, John Tyler, of Virginia, became acting President, in the latter, Millard Fillmore. of New York. Of the seventy-two years, closing with Mr. Buchanan’s term, should he live it out, Southern men and slaveholders have occupied the Presidential chair forty-eight years and three months, or a little more than two-thirds of the time. THE SUPREME COURT. The judicial districts are organized so as to give five judges to the slave States. and four to the free, although the population, wealth, and business of the latter are far in advance of those of the former. The arrangement affords, however, an excuse for constituting the Supreme Court, with a majority of juidges ft -:an the slaveholding States. M E M B ERS. Chief JusticeR. B. Taney, Maryland.

Associate Justice-J. M. Wayne, CGeorgia. s” ” John Catron, Ten’)essee. ‘ “

P. V. Daniel, Virginia. ” John A. Campbell. Alabama. ” ”’ John McLean, Ohio. 4” ” S. Nelson, NAew lork. A” R. C. Grier, Pen,7qylvania. ” ” B. R.

Curtis, Massachusetts. Reporter-B. C. HIoward, Maryland. Clerk-II T.

Carroll, D. C. 308

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVLE. SECRETARIES OF STATE. The highest office in the Cabinet is that of Secretary of State, who has under his charge the foreign relations of the country. Since the year 1789, there have been twenty-two appointments’ to the office-fourteen from slave States, eight from free. Or, counting by years, the post has been filled by Southern men and ,aveholders very nearly forty years out of sixty-seven, as follows: Appointed. Sept. 26, 1789, Thomas Jefferson, Virgiria. Jan. 2,1794, E.

Randolph. Virginia. Dec. 10, 1795, T. Pickering, Massachusetts. May 13, 1800, J. Marshall, Virginia. March 5, 1801, Jatnes Madison, Virginia.

March 6, 1809, R. Smith, Maryland. April 2. 1811, James Monroe, Virginia.

Feb. 28, 1815, ” ” March 5; 1815, J. Q. Adams, Massachusetts. March 7, 1825, Itenry Clay, Kentucky. March 6, 1829, Martin Van Buren, Naew York.

May 24,1831, E. Livingston, Louisiana. May 29,1833, Louis McLane, Delaware. June 27,1834, J. Forsyth, Georgia. March 5, 1841, Daniel Webster. Massachusetts. July 24, 1843, A. P. Upshiir, Virginia. March 6, 1844, J. C. Calhoun, South Carolina. March 5, 1845, James Buchanan, Pentsylvani. March 7, 1849, J. M. Clayton, Delaware. July 20, 1850. Daniel Webster, Massao7i.tsetts. Dec. 9, 1851, E. Everett, Massachu etts. March5, 1853 W. L. Marcy, New York. PRESIDENTS PRO TEM. OF THE SENATE. E,ce the year 1809, every President pro tem. of the Senate of the united States has been a Southern man and slaveholder, with the exception of Samuel L.

Southard, of New Jersey, who held the office for a very short time, and Mr. Bright, of Indiana,who has held t for one or tw, secions, we believe, having been elected, 309

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ilarcn 6, 1 I UV Dec. 2, 1799 March 3, 1801 Dec. 7, 1801 March 3, 1807

Oct. 26, 180-March 3, 1811 March 4, 1811 Jan.19, 1814 Jan. 19, 1814 March 2, 1815’ Dec. 4,1815 Nov. 13, 1820 Nov. 15. 1820 March 3, 1821 Dec. 3, 1821 March 3, 1823 Dec. 1, 1823 March 3, 1825 Dec. 5, 1825 March 3. 1827

Dec. 3, l1827 9 June 2, 1834 June 2, 1834 March 3, 1835 Dec. 7. 1835 March 3, 1839 Dec. 16, 1839 Marcl 31, 1841 May 31, 1841 Ma’ch 3, 1843 M Theodore Sedgwick, ifass. M Nathaniel Macon, N. Car. MJ. B. Varnum, Mlasqachusett#.

J. lenry Clay, Kentucky.. ! Langdon Cheves, S. Car. o 1 Henry Clay, Kentucky. J. W. Taylor, NewYork. MP. B. Barbour, Virginia. Henry Clay, Kentucky. J. W. Taylor, NewYork. A. Stevenson, V r a. \Joh n Bell, Tennessee. James K. Polk, Tennessee. R-c, W i. T. Hunter, e irge ni M 314

J n White. Tennesee. - I:

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FREE FIGTURES AND SLAVE. J. W. Jones, Virginia. Dec. 4, 1843 March 3.

1845, Dec. 1. 1845 March 3, 1847 Dec. 6, 1847 March 3. 1849 Dec. 22, 1849

March 3, 1851 jec. 1, 1851 March 3, 1853 Dec. 1, 1853 March 3. 1855 Feb.

28, 1856 March 3, 1857 M J. 1W. Davis, Indiana. MR. C. Winthrop, Ma. DHe -owell Cobb, Georgia. ‘ Linn Boyd, Kentucky. F Nathaniel P. Banks, Mass.

POSTMASTERS-GENERAL. Appointed Sept. 26. 17-89, S. Osgood, Afasgachusetts.

Aug. 12, 1791, T. Pickering, Massachmetts. Feb. 25, 1795, J. Habershatn, Georgia. Nov. 28, 1801, G. Granger, Connecticut. March 17.1814, R. J.

Meigs, Ohio. June 25, 1823, John McLean, Ohio. March 9, 1829. W. T. Barry, Kentucky. May 1, 1835, A. Kendall, Kentucky. May 18, 1840, J.‘I. Niles, Connecticut. March 6,1841, F. Granger, New York. Sept. 13,1841, (C. A.

Wickliffe, Kentucky. March 5, 1845, C. Johnson, Tennessee. March 7. 1849, J. Collamer, Vermon. July 20, 1850, N. K. hlall, Nlew York. Aug. 31,1852, S. D. Hubbard, Connecticut. March 5, 1853, J. Campbell, Pennsylvania.

Sectionalism does not seem to have had much to do with this D:partment )r with that of the Interior, created in 1848,‘4. 311 11 6s is

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. SECRETARIES OF THE INTERIOL Appointed March 7, 1849, T. Ewing, Ohio. July 20, 1850, J. A. Pearce, MAlaryland. Aug. 15, 1850, T. M. T. MceKennon, PennsylvantL Sept. 12,1850, A. H. H. Stuart, Virginia. March 5,1853, R. McClelland, Michigan. ATTORNEYS-GENERAL.

Appointed Sept. 26, 1789, E. Randolph, Virginia. June 27, 1794, W.

Bradford. Pennsylvaniza. Dec. 10, 1795, C. Lee, Virginia. Feb. 20, 1801, T. Parsons, Massachusetts. March 5, 1800, L. Lincoln, Massachusetts. March 2, 1805, R. Smith, Maryland. Dec. 23,1805, J. Breckinridge, Kentucky. Jan.

20, 1807, C. A. Rodney, Pennsylvania. Dec. 11, 1811, W. Pinkney, Maryland.

Feb. 10,1814, R. Rush, Pennsyltcania. Nov. 13, 1817, W. Wirt, Virginia.

March 9, 1829, J. McPherson Berrien, Georgia July 20,1831, Roger B. Taney, Mlaryland. Nov. 15, 1833, B. F. Butler, New York. July 7, 1838, F. Grundy, Tennessee. Jan. 10, 1840, H. D. Gilpin, Pennsylvania. March 5,1841, J. J.

Crittenden, Kentucky. Sept. 13,1841 H. S. Legare, South Carolina. July 1, 1843, John Nelson, Maryland. Mar,ch 5, 1845, J. Y. Mason, Virginia. Oct.

17, 1846, N. Clifford, Maine. June 21, 1848, Isaac Toucey, Connecticut.

March 7,1849, R. Johnson, Maryland. July 20, 1850, J. J. Crittenden, Kentucky. March 5 1853, C. Cushing, Massachusetts. 812 I

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY. the post of Secretary of the Treasury, although one o’ great ii,portance, requires financial abilities of a high order, which are more frequently found in the North than in the South, and affords tittle opportunity for influencing general politics. or the questions springing out of Slavery. We need not therefore be surprised tc learn that Northern men have been allowed to discharge its da’t.2s some forty-eight years out of sixty-seven, as follows: ‘.ppointed Sept. 11, 1789, A. HIamilton, New York. Feb. 3, 1795, O. Wolcott, Connecticut. Dec. 31, 1800, S. Dexter, Massachusetts. May 14, 1801, A.

Gallatin, Pennsylvania. Feb. 9. 1814: G. W. Campbell, Tennessee. Oct. 6, 1814, A. J. Dallas, Pennsylvvania. Oct. 22, 1816, W. H. Crawford, Georgia.

March 7,1825, R. Rush, Pennsylvania. March 6,1829, S. D. Ingham, Pennsylvania. Aug. 8, 1831, L. McLane, Delaware. May 29, 1833, W. J.

Duane, Pennsylvania. Sept. 23,1833, Roger B. Taney, Maryland. June 27,1834, L. Woodbury, New Hampshire. March 5,1841, Thomas Ewing, Ohio.

Sept. 13, 1841, W. Forward, Pennsylvania. March 3, 1843, J. C. Spencer, New York. June 15, 1844, G. M. Bibb, Kentucky. March 5, 1845, R. J.

Walker, Mississippi. March 7,1849, W. M. Meredith, Pennsylvania. June 20, 1850, Thomas Corwin, Ohio. March 5,1843, James Guthrie, Kentucky.

SECRETARIES OF WAR AND THE NAVY. The Slaveholders since March 8th, 1841, a period of n(arly sixteen years, have taken almost exclusive supervision of the Navv. Northern men having occupied the Secretaryship only two 14 313

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. years. Nor has any Northern man been Secretary of War since 1849. Considering that nearly all the shipping belongs to the free States, whlich also supply the seamen, it does seem remarkable that Slaveholders should have monopolized for the last six. teen years the control of the Navy. SECRETARIES OF WAR. Appointed Sept. 12, 1789, Henry Knox, Massachusetts. Jan. 2, 1795, T. Pickering, Massachusetts. Jan. 27, 1796, J. Mcllenry, Maryland. May 7, 1800, J. Marshall, Virginia. May 13.

1800, S. Dexter, Massachusetts. Feb. 3, 1801, R. Griswold, Connecticut.

March 5,1801, H. Dearborn, Mlassachusetts. March 7, 1802, W. Eustis, Massachusetts. Jan. 13, 1813, J. Armstrong, New York. Sept. 27, 1814, James Monroe, Virginia. March 3, 1815, W. 11. Crawford, Georgia. April 7, 1817, G. Graham, Virginia. March 5, 1817, J. Shelby, Kentucky. Oct, 8, 1817, J. C. Calhoun, South Carolina March 7, 1825, J. Barbour, Virginia.

May 26,1828, P. B. Porter, Pennsylvania. March 9, 1829, J. H. Eaton, Tennzessee. Aug. 1. 1831, Lewis Cass, Ohio. March 3, 1837, B. F. Butler, New York. March 7, 1837, J. R. Poinsett, South Caroliiw March 5, 1841, James Bell, Tennessee. Sept. 13, 1841, John McLean, Ohio. Oct. 12, 1841, J. C. Spencer, New York. March 8, 1843, J. W. Porter, Pennsylvania. Feb.

15, 1844, W. Wilkins, Pennsylvania. March 5,1845, William L. Marcy, New York March 7, 1849, G. W. Crawford, Georgia. July 20, 1850, E. Bates, Missouri. Aug. 15, 1850, C. M. Conrad, Louisiana. March 5, 853, Jefferson Davis Mississippi. 314

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY. Appointed May 3, 1798, G.

Cabot, M.ssachusetts. May 21, 1798, B. Stoddart, Massachusetts. July 15,1801, R. Smith, Maryland. May 3, 1805, J. Crowninshield, Massachusetts.

March 7, 1809, P. Hamilton, South Carolina. Jan. 12,1813, W. Jones, Pennsylvania. Dec. 17,1814, B. W. Crowninshield, Massachusett. Nov. 9, 1818, Smith Thompson, New York. Sept. 1, 1823, John Rogers, Massachusetts.

Sept. 16, 1823, S. L. Southard, New Jersey. March 9, 1819, John Branch, North Carolina. May 23,1831, L. Woodbury, New Hampshire. June 30, 1834, M.

Dickerson, New Jersey. June 20, 1838, J. K. Paulding, New York. March 5, 1841, G. F. Badger, North Ca7olina. Sept. 13,1841, A. P. Upshur, Virginia.

July 24,1843, D. Ilenshaw, Mlassachusetts. Feb. 12,1844, T. W. Gilmer, Virginia. March 14 1844, James Y. Mason, Virginia. March 10, 1845, G.

Bancroft, Massachusetts. Sept. 9,1846, James Y. Mason, Virginia. March 7, 1849, W. B. Preston, Virginia. July 20,1850, W. A. Graham, N. Carolina.

July 22, 1852, J. P. Kennedy, Marylanid. March 3, 1853, J. C. Dobbin, N.

Carolina. RECAPITULATION. Presidency.-Southern men and Slaveholders, 48 ve tra 3 months; Northern men, 23 years 9 months. Pro. Ten:. Presidency of thle Senate.-Since 1809, held by Southern men and Slaveholders, except for three cr four sessions by Northern men. Speakersh,p of the Housc.-Filled by Southern men and Slaveholders forty-three years, Northern men, twentyfive. 315

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. Sutireme Court. A majority of the Judges, including lhief Justice, Southern men and Slaveholders. Secretaryship of State.-Filled by Southern men and Slave. holders forty years, Northern, twentyseven. Attorney Generalship.-Filled by Southern men and Slaveholders forty-two years, Northern men, twentyfive. IWar and NAavy.-Secretaryship of the Navy, Southern men and Slaveholders, the last sixteen years, with an interval of two years. WILLIAM HENRY HURLBUT, of South Carolina, a gentleman of enviable literary attainments, and one from whom we may expect a continuation of good service in the eminently holy crusade now going on against slavery and the devil, furnished not long since, to the Edinburgh RBeview, in the course of a long and highly interesting article, the following summary of oligarchal usurpations-showing that shareholders have occupied the principal posts of the Government nearly two-thirds of the time: Presidents - - - Judges of the Supreme Court Attorneys-General - - Presidents of the Senate -

Speakers of the tIouse - Foreign Ministers - - As a matter of general interest, and as showing that, while there have been but 11
nonslaveholders directly befcile the people as candidates for the Presidency, there have been at least 16 slaveholders who were willing to serve their country in the capacity of chief magistrate, the fillowi,,g tabl may be here introduced:  b.L 6 11 out of 16 - 17 out of 28 14 out of 19 -. 61 out of 77 21 out of 33 - 80 out of 134

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. RESULT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION’ IN THE UNITED

STATES FROM 7796 TO 185 Year. Name of Candidate. 1796 John Adams - Thomas Jefferson - - 180 Thomas Jefferson 1800 John Adams - 1804 Thomas Jefferson 1804 Charles C. Pinckney - 1808 James MAadison Charles C. Pinckney - 1812

James Madison De Witt Clinton - - 1816 James Monroe - aufus King - - -

1820 James Monroe - No opposition but one vote - Andrew Jackson* - 1824J

John Q. Adams - - W. H. Crawford - l Henry Clay - - 18281 Andrew Jackson -

John Q. Adams - - rAndrew Jackson - ,,,2, Hlenry Clay - 4 1832 John Floyd - - William Wirt - - Martin Van Buren - William H. Harrison 18361 HIugh L.

White Willie P. Mangum - - Daniel Webster - I William H. Harrison - 840

Martin Van Buren - 1844 James K. Polk - Henry Clay - - 1848 Zachary Taylor Lewis Cass - - Franklin Pierce - - 1852 General Winfield Scott James Buchanan - - 1856 John C. Fremont - Millard Fillmore - - * No choice by the people; Jol n Q. Adams elected by the House of Rerresco tatives. 31]

Elect’l vot. 71 68 73 64 - 162 14 .128 45 - 122 89 183 _ 34 -

218 _ - 99 84 41 37 - - 178 83 - - 5219 49 - - 11 _ 7 ‘- e 170

_ 73 26 - 11 - - 14 234 - 60 - 170 - - 105 - 163 - - 127 .254 _

492 _ 174 - 114 _ 8

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. AID FOR KANSAS. As a sort of accompaniment to tables, 50, 51, 52 and 53, we will here introduce a few items which will more filly illustrate the liberality of Freedom and the niggardliness of Slavery. From an editorial article that appeared in the Richm)nd (Va.,) Dispatch, in July, 1856, bewailing the closefistedness of slavery, we make the following extract: “Gerrit Smith, the Abolitionist, has just pledged himself to give $1,500 a month for the next twelve months to aid in establishing Freedom in Kansas. He gave, but a short time since, at the Kansas relief meeting in Albany, $3,000. Prior to that, he had sent about $1,000 to the Boston Emigrant Committee. Out of his own funds, he subsequently equipped a Madison county company, of one hundred picked men, and paid their expenses to Kansas. At Syracuse he subscribed $10,000 for Abolition purposes, so that his entire contributions amount to at least $40,000.” An Eastern paper says: ” The sum of $500 was contributed at a meeting at New Bedford on Monday evening, to make Kansas free. The following sums have been contributed for the same purpose: $2,000 in Taunton: $600 in Raynham: $800 in Clinton: $300 in Danbury, Ct. In Wisconsin, $2,500 at Janesville: $500 at Dalton: $500 atthoWomen’s Aid Meeting in Chicago: $2,000 in Rockford, Ill.” A telegraphic dispatch, dated Boston, Janiuary 2, 1857, informs us that “The Secretary of the Kansas Aid Committee acknowledges the receipt of $42,678.” Exlusive of the amounts above, the readers of the New sis

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. York T’ribune have contributed about $30,2 00 for the purpose of securing Kansas to Freedom; and, with the same object ill view, other individuals and societies have, from time to time, made large contributions, of which we have failed to keep a memorandum. The legislature of Vermont has appropriated $20,000; and other free State legislatures are prepared to appropriate millions, if necessary. Free men have determined that Kansas shall be free, and free it soon shall be, and ever,so remain Harmoniously the work proceeds. Now let us see how slavery has rewarded the poor, ignorant, deluded, and degraded mortals-swaggering lickspittles-who have labored so hard to gain for it “a local habitation and a name” in the disputed territory. One D. B. Atchison, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Border Ruffians, shall tell us all about it. Over date of October 13th, 1856, he says: “Up to this moment, from all the States except Missouri, we have only received the following sums, and through the following persons: $152 ~ 500 500 $1,152.” On this subject, further comment is unnecessary. Numerous other contrasts, equally disproportionate, might be drawn between the vigor and munificence of freedom and the impotence and stinginess of slavery. We will, however, in addition to the above, advert to only a single instance..During the latter part of the summer of 319

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FREE l’IGURES AND SLAVE. 1855, the citizens of the niggervilles of Nclfolk and Portsmouth, in Virginia, were sorely plagued with yellow fever. Many of them fell victims to the disease, and most of those who survived, and who were not too unwell to travel, left their homes, horror-stricken and dejected. To the horror of mankind in general, and to the glory of freemen in par. ticular, contributions in money, provisions, clothing, and other valuable supplies, poured in from all parts of the country, for the relief of the sufferers. Portsmouth alone, according to the report of her relief association, received $42,547 in cash from the free States, and only $12,182 in cash from all the slave States, exclusive of Virginia, within whose borders the malady prevailed. Including Virginia, the sum total of all the slave State contributions amounted to only $33,398. Well did the Richmond Exzaminer remark at the time-” we fear that generosity of Virginians is but a figure of speech.” Slavery I thy name is shame I IN

CONNECTION with tables 44 and 45 on page 292, it will be well to examine the following statistics of Congressional representation, which we transcribe from Reynold’s Political Map of the United States: UNITED

STATES SENATE. 16 free States, with a white population of 13,238,670, have 32 Senators. 15 slave States, with a white population of 6,.186,477, have 30 Sena’ )rs. Sc that 413,708 free men of the North enjoy but the same political privileges in the U. S. Senate as is given to 206,215 slave propagandists” 320

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The fbee States have a total of 144 members. The slave States have a total of 90 members. One free State Representative represents 91,935 xic men and women. One slave State Representative represents 68,725 white men and women. Slave Representation gives to slavery an advantage over free dom of 30 votes in the House of Representatives. CUSTOM-HOUSE RECEIPTS.-1854. Free States,………………………………… $60,010,489 Slave States……………………………… 5,136,969 Balance in favor of the Free States,………………… $54,873,520 A contrast quite distinguishable! THAT THE apologists of slavery cannot excuse the shame and the shabbiness of themselves and their country, as we have frequently heard them attempt to do, by falsely asserting that the North has enjoyed over the South the advantages of priority of -settlement, will fully appear from the following table: FREE STATES. 1614. New-Yorkfirst settled by the Dutch. 1620. Massachusetts settled by the Puritans. 1623.

New-HIampshire settled by the Puritans. 1624. New-Jersey settled by the Dutch. 1635. Connecticut settled by the Puritans. 1636. Rhode Island settled by Roger Williams. 168. Pennsylvania settled by William Penn.

1791. Vermont admitted into the Union. 1802. Ohio admitted into the Union.

1816. Indiana admitted into the Union. — 14* 321

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAV t818. Illinois admitted into the Union. !820. Maine admitted into the Union. [836. Michigan admitted into the Union. 1846.

Iowa admitted into the Union. 1848. Wisconsin admitted into the Union.

1850. California admitted into the Union. SLAVE STATES. 1607. Virg lia first settled by the Englislh. 1627. Delaware settled by the Swedes and Fin..; 1635. Maryland settled by Irish Catholics. 1650. North Carolina settled by the English. 1670. South Carolina settled by the Huguenots.

1733. Georgia settled by Gen. Oglethorpe. 1782. Kentucky admitted into the Union. 1796. Tennessee admitted into the Union. 1811. Louisiana admitted into the Union. 1817. Mississippi admitted into the Union. 1819. Alabama admitted into the Union. 1821. Missouri admitted into the Union. 1836.

Arkansas admitted into the Union. 1845. Florida admitted into the Union.

1846. Texas admitted into the Union. In the course of an exceedingly interesting article on the early settlements in America, R. K. Browne, formerly editor and proprietor of the San Francisco Evening Journal, says: ” Many people seem to think that the Pilgrim Fathers were the first who settled upon our shores, and therefore that they ought to be entitled, in a particular manner, to our remembrance and esteem. This is not the case, and we herewith present to our readers a list of settlements lade in the present United States, prior to that of PlVmouth ,q” 2

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FREE FIGURES AND - SLAVE. 1564. A Colony of French Protestants under Ribaul. settled mtn Florida. 1565. St. Augustine* founded by Pedro Melendez. 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh obtains a patent and sends two vessels to the American coast, which receives the name of Virginia. 1607. The first effectual settlement made at Jamestown, Va., by the London Company.

1614. A fort erected by the Dutch upon the site of NewYork. 1615. Fort Orange built near the site of Albany, N.Y. 1619. The first General Assembly called in Virginia. t620. The Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock.”

FREEDOM AND SLAVERY AT THE FAIR. WHAT FREEDOM DID. At an Agricultural Fair held at Watertown, in the State of NewYork, on the 2d day of October, 1856, two hundred and twenty premiums, ranging from three to fifty dollars each, were awarded to successful competitors the aggregate amount of said premiums being $2,396, or an average of $10.89 each. From the proceedings of the Awarding Committee we make the following extracts: Best HIlorse Colt, George Parish, - $25.00 Best Filly, J. Staplin, - - - 20.00 Best Brood Mare, A. Blunt, - - 25.00 Best Bull, Wm. Johnson, - 25.00 Best Heifer, A. M. Rogers, - 20.00 Best Cow, C. Baker, - - - 25.00 Best Stall-fed Beef, J. W. Taylor, - 10.00 Best sample Wheat, Wm. Ottley, -.

5.00 Best sample Flaxseed, II. Weir, - - 3.00 Best sample Timothy Seed, E.

S. Hayward - 3.00 est) Best Team of Oxen, Hiram Converse. 50.00 st) Best sample Sweet Corn, L. Marshall, - 3.00 Aggregate amount of twelve premiums, - - - $214.00 An arerage of $17.83 each. * The oldest town in the United States. “Z 323 (iii (Lowe

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. WHAT SLAVERY DID. At the Rowan County Agricultural Fair, held at Mineral Springs, in North Carolina, on the 13th day of November, 1856, thirty premiums, ranging from twentyfive cents to two dollars each, were awarded to successful competitors -the aggregate amount of said premiums being $42, or an average of $1.40 each. From the proceedings of the Awarding Committee we make the following extracts: T.

A. Burke, - - James Cowan, - - M. W. Goodman, - J. F. McCorkle,- - J. F.

McCorkle, - T. A. Burke,- - - S. D. Rankin, - - M. W. Goodman, - J. J.

Summerell, - Thomas Barber, - - (Highest) Best pair Match Horses, R. W.

Griffith, - - (Lowest) Best lot Cabbage, Thomas IHyde - Aggregate amount of twelve premiums, An average of $1.36 each. Besides the two hundred and twenty premiums, amount, ing in the aggregate to $2,396, freedom granted several diplomas and silver medals; besides the thirty premiums amounting in the aggregate to $42, slavery granted none -nothing. While examining these figures, it should be recollected that agriculture is the peculiar province of the slave States. If commerce or manufactures had been the subject of the fair, the result might have shown even a greater disproportion in favor of freedom, and yet there Th 324 Best Horse Colt, Best Filly, Best Brood Mare Best Bull. Best Heifer, Best Cow, Best Stall-fed Beef, Best,Sample Wheat, Best lot Beets, Best lot Turnips, $2.OC

2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 1.00 50 25 25 2.00 - 25 $16.25

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. would have been some excuse for slavery, for it:nakes no pretensions to either the one or the other; but as agriculture was the subject, slavery can have no excuse whatever, but must bear all the shame of its niggardly and revolting impotence; this it must do for the reason that agriculture is its special and almost only pursuit. THE

REPORTS of the Comptrollers of the States of New York and North Carolina, for the year 1856, are now before u3. From each report we have gleaned a single item, which, when compared, the one with the other, speaks volumes in favor of freedom and against slavery. We refer to the average value per acre of lands in the two States; let slavocrats read, reflect, and repent.

In 1856, there were assessed for taxation in the State of NEW YORK, Acres of lanld.. Valued at. Average value per acre In 1856, there were assessed for taxation in the State of NORTH CAROLINA, Acres of land.. Valued at.

Average value per acre It is difficult for us to make any remarks on the official facts above. Our indignation is struck almost dumb at this astounding and revolting display of the awful wreck that slavery is leaving behind it in the South. We will however, go into a calculation for the purpose of ascer 825 30,080,000 $1,112,133,136 , $36.97 32,450,560

$98,800,636 $3.06

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. taining as nearly as possible, in this one parti(ilar, how much North Carolina has lost by the retention oe, slavery.

As we have already seen, the average value per acre of land in the State of New York is $36.97; in North Carolina it is only $3.06; why is it so much less, or even any less, in the latter than in the former? The answer is, ,lavery. In soil, in climate, in minerals, in water-power for manufactural purposes, and in area of territory, North Carolina has the advantage of New York, and, with the exception of slavery, no plausible reason can possibly be assigned why land should not be at east as valuable in the valley of the Yadkin as it is along the banks of the Genesee. The difference between $36.97 and $3.06 is $33.91, which, multiplied by the whole number of acres of land in North Carolina, will show, in this one particular, the enormous loss that Freedom has sustained on account of Slavcry in the Old North State. Thus: 32,450,560 acres a $33,91….

$1,100,398,489. Let it be indelibly impressed on the mind, however, that this amount, large as it is, is only a moity of the sum that it has cost to maintain slavery in North Carolina. From time to time, hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars have left the State, either in search of profitable, permanent investment abroad, or in the shape of profits to Northern merchants and manufactures, who have b( come the moneyed aristocracy of the country by supplyiLg to the South such articles of necessity, utility, and adornment, as would have been produced at home but for the pernicious presence of the peculiar institution. $26

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FREE FIGURES AIND SLAVE. A reward of Eleven Hundred Millions of Dollars.s offered for the conversion of the lands of North Carolina into free soil.

The lands themselves, desolate and impovcrished under the fatal foot of slavery, offer the reward. ilow, then, can it belmade to appear that the abolition of slavery in North Carolina, and, indeed, throughout all the Southern States-for slavery is exceedingly inimical to them all-is not demanded by every consideration of justice, prudence, and good sense? In 1850, the total value of all the slaves of the State, at the rate of four hundred dollars per head, amounted to less than one hundred and sixteen millions of dollars. Is the sum of one hundred and sixteen millions of dollars more desirable than the sum of eleven hundred millions of dollars?

When a man has land for sale, does he reject thirtysix dollars per acre and take three? Nonslaveholding whites I look well to your interests I Many of you have lands; comparatively speaking, you have nothing else.

Abolish slavery, and you will enhance the value of every league, your own and your neighbors’, from three to thirtysix dollars per acre. Your little tract containing two hundred acres, now valued at the pitiful sum of only six hundred dollars, will then be worth seven thousand. Your chil dren, now deprived of even the meagre advantages of common schools, will then reap the benefits of a collegiate education. Your rivers and smaller streams, now wasting their waters in idleness, will then turn the wheels of multitudinous mills. Your bays and harbors, now tianknown to commerc(e, will then swarm with ships from 327

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. every enlightened quarter of the globe.:N-on-slaveh,1jding whites I look well to your interests I’ Would the slaveholders of North Carolina lose anything by the abolition of slavery? Let us see. According to their own estimate, their slaves are worth, in round numbers, say, one hundred and twenty millions of dollars.

There are in the State twenty-eight thousand slaveholders, owning, it may be safely assumed, an average of at least five hundred acres of land each-fourteen millions of acres in all. This number of acres, multiplied by thirtythree dollars and ninety-one cents, the difference in value between free soil and slave soil, makes the enormous sum of four hundred and seventy-four millions of dollars-showing that, by the abolition of slavery, the slaveholders themselves would realize a net profit of not less than three hundred and fifty-four millions of dollars I Compensation to slaveholders for the negroes now in their possession I The idea is preposterous. The suggestion is criminal. The demand is unjust, wicked, monstrous, damnable. Shall we pat the bloodhounds of slavery for the sake of doing thema favor? Shall we fee the curs of slavery in order to make them rich at our expense? Shall we pay the whelps of slavery for the privilege of converting them into decent, honest, upright men? No, never I The nonslaveholders expect to gain, and will gain, something by the abolition of slavery; but slaveholders themselves will, by far, be the greater gainers; for, in proportion to population, they own much larger and more fertile tracts of land, and will, as a matter of course, receive the lion’s share of the increase in the value of not only real estate, hut also of other gen. 328

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FREE FIGURES AND SLAVE. uine property, of which they are likewise the principal owners. How ridiculously absurd, therefore, is the objection, that, if we liberate the slaves, we ruin the masters I Not long since, a gentleman in Baltimore, a native of Ma, ryland, remarked in our presence that he was an abolitionist because he felt that it was right and proper to be one; “but,” inquired he, “are there not, in some of the States, many widows and orphans. who would be left in destitute circumstances, if their negroes were taken from them?” In answer to the question, we replied that slavery had already reduced thousands and tens of thousands of nonslaveholding widows and orphans to the lowest depths of poverty and ignorance, and that we did not believe one slaveholding widow and three orphans were of more, or even of as much consequence as five nod slaveholding widows and fifteen orphans. “You are right,” exclaimed the gentleman, “I had not viewed the subject in that light before; I perceive you go in for the greatest good to the greatest number.” Emancipate the negroes, and the ex-slaveholding widow would still retain her lands and tenements, which, in consequence of being surroundnd by the magic influences of liberty, would soon render her far more wealthy and infinitely more respect able, than she could possibly ever become while trafficking in human flesh. The fact is, every slave in the South costs the State in which he resides at least three times as much as he, in the whole course of his life, is worth to his master. Slavery benefits no one but its imnmediate, individual owners, and them only in a pecuniary point of view, and at the sacri 329

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FR]EE FIGURES AND SLAVE. fice of the dearest rights and interests of the whole mass of nonslaveholders, white and black. Even the masters themselves, as we have already shown, would be far better off without it than with it. To al! classes of society the institution is a curse; an especial curse is it to those who own it not. Nonslaveholding whites I look well to your interests I $30

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O”ERCIAL CES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. CHAPTER IX. COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN

COMMERCE. OUR theme is a city-a great Southern importing, ex, porting, and manufacturing city, to be located at some point or port on the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia or Virginia, where we can carry on active commerce, buy, sell, fabricate, receive the profits which accrue from the exchange of our own commodities, open facilities for direct communication with foreign countries, and establish al. those collateral sources of wealth, utility, and adornment, which are the usual concomitants of a metropolis, and which add so very materially to the interest and import ance-of a nation. Without a city of this kind, the South can never develop her commercial resources nor attain to that eminent position to which those vast resources would otherwise exalt her, According to calculations basedupon reasonable estimates, it is owing to the lack of a great commercial city in the South, that we are now annually drained of more than One Hundred and Twenty Millions of Dollars I We should, however, take into consideration the negative loss as well as the positive. Especially should we think of the influx of emigrants, of the visits of strangers and cosmopolites, of the patronage to hotels and 331

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32 COMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN ( OMMERCE. public halls, of the profits of travel and transportation, of the emoluments of foreign and domestic trade, and of numerous other advantages which have their origin exclusively in wealthy, enterprising, and densely populated cities.

Nothing is more evident than the fact, that our people have never entertained a proper opinion of the importance of home cities. Blindly, and greatly to our own injury, we have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars towards the erection of mammoth cities at the North, while our own magnificent bays and harbors have been most shamefully disregarded and neglected. Now, instead of carrying all our money to NewYork, Philadelphia, Boston, and Cincinnati, suppose we had kept it on the south side of Mason and Dixon’s line-as we would have done, had it not been for slavery-and had disbursed it in the upbuilding of Norfolk, Beaufort, Charleston, or Savannah, how much richer, better, greater, would the South have been today I How much larger and more intelligent would have been our population. How many hundred thousand natives of the South would now be thriving at home, ii. stead of adding to the wealth and political power of other parts of the Union. How much greater would be the lumber and length of our railroads, canals, turnpikes, and telegraphs. How much greater would be the extent and diversity of our manufactures. How much greater would be the grandeur, and how much larger would be the number of our churches, theatres, schools, colleges, ly3ums, banks, hotels, stores, and private dwellings. How many more clippers and steamships would we have sailing on

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COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMME.TCE. the ocean, how vastly more reputable would we be abroad, how infinitely more respectable, progressive, and happy, would we be at home. That we may learn something of the importance of cities in general, let us look for a moment at the great capitals of the world. What would England be without London? What would France be without Paris? What would Turkey be without Constantinople? Or, to come nearer home, what would Maryland be without Baltimore? What would Louisiana be without New Orleans? What would South Carolina be without Charleston? Do we ever think of these countries or States without thinking of their cities also? If we want to learn the news of the country, do we not go to the city, or to the city papers? Every metropolis may be regarded as the nucleus or epitome of the country in which it is situated; and the more prominent features and characteristics of a country, particularly of the people of a country, are almost always to be seen within the limits of its capital city. Almost invariably do we find the bulk of the floating funds, the best talent, and the most vigorous energies of a nation concentrated in its chief cities; and does not this concentration of wealth, energy, and talent, conduce, in an extraordinary degree, to the growth and prosperity of the nation? Unquestionably. Wealth develops wealth, energy develops energy, talent develops talent. What, then, must be the condition of those countries which do not possess the means or facilities of centralizing their material forces, their energies, and their talents? Are they not destined $33

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334 COMMERCIAL CITIESS-~uuTHER: COMMERci. to occupy an inferior rank among.he nations f the earth? Let the South answer. And now let us ask, and we would put the question particularly to Southern merchants, what do we so much need as a great Southern metropolis? Merchants of the South, slaveholders I you are theavaricious assassinators of your country I You are the channels through which more than one hundred and twenty millions of dollars$120,000,000-are annually drained from the South and conveyed to the North. You are daily engaged in the unmanly and unpatriotic work of impoverishing the land of your birth. You are constantly enfeebling our resources and rendering us more and more tributary to distant parts of the nation. Your conduct is reprehensible, base, criminal. Whether Southern merchants ever think of the numerous ways in which they contribute to the aggrandizement of the North, while, at the same time, they enervate and dishonor the South, has, for many years, with us, been a matter of more than ordinary conjecture. If, as it would seem, they have never yet thought of the subject, it is certainly desirable that they should exercise their minds upon it at once. Let them scrutinize the workings of Southern money after it passes north of Mason and Dix)li’s line. Let them consider how much they pay to Northcrn railroads and hotels, how much to Northern merchants and shop-keepers, how much to Northern shippers and insurers, how much to Northern theatres, newspapers, and periodicals. Let them also consider what disposition is madle of it after it is lodged in the hands of the North.

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COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMERCE. Is not the greater part of it paid out to Northern tnanufacturers, mechanics, and laborers, for the very articles which are purchased at the N )rth-and to the extent that this is done, are not Northern manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers directly countenanced and encouraged, while, at the same time, Southern manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers, are indirectly abased, depressed, and disabled?

It is, however, a matter of impossibility, on these small pages, to notice or enumerate all the me thods in which the money we deposit in the North is made to operate against us; suffice it to say that it is circulated and expended there, among all classes of the people, to the injury and impoverishment of almost every individual in the South. And yet, our cousins of the North are not, by any means, blameworthy for availing themselves of the advantages which we have voluntarily yielded to them.

They have shown their wisdom in growing great at our expense, and we have shown our folly in allowing them to do so. Southern merchants, slaveholders, and slavebreeders, should be the objects of our censure; they have desolated and impoverished the South; they are now making merchandize of thc vitals of their country; patriotism is a word nowhere recorded in their vocabulary; town, city, country-they care for neither; with them, self is always paramount to every other consideration Having already compared slavery with freedom in the States, we will now compare it with freedom in the cities. I’rom every person as yet unconvinced of the despicable 335

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336 COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMERCE. ness of slavery, we respectfully ask attention to the fol. towing letters, which fully explain themselves: FINANCE DEPARTMENT COMPTROLLERrS 0OFFICE, NewYork, February 17th, 1857.

H1. R. 11lLPER, ESQ., Dear Sir: Your letter to Mayor Wood has been handed to me for an answer, which I take pleasure in giving as follows: The lest assessment of property in this city was made in August, 1856. The value of all the real and personal property in the city, according to that assessment, is $511,740,492. A census of the city was taken in 1855, and the number of inhabitants at that time can be obtained only from the Secretary of Stake. Very truly yours, A. S. CADY. STATE OF NEW-YORK, SECRETARYrS OFFICE, Albany, February 24, 1857. H i.I. HIELPER, ESQ., -

Dear Sir: Y,ours of the 17th February, in regard to the population of the city of New York, is before me. According to the census of 1855 the population was - –..629,810 1850” ” ” -.. 515,547 1845 ” - ” -

..371,223 1840 ” ” ” - –— 312,710 1835” ” “- – - -. 268,089 1830” “

“- - - —.. 197,112 As to the population now, you have the same facilities ofjudging that we have from the above table. Very truly yours, A. N.

WAKEFIELD Chief Clerk.

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COMMERCIAL t:ITIES-SOUTHERN:OMMERCE. MAYOR’S OFFICE, CITY HIALL, Baltimore, December 26, 1856. II. PR. HELPER, ESQ., Dear Sir - His IIonor the Mayor of this City has requested me to reply to your communication of the 24th inst.. addressed to him. requesting answers to certain questions.

In answer to your first interrogatory, I would state that the amount of direct taxation assessed January 1st, 1856, was $102,053,839; the amount of exempt taxation (i. e. property out of the limits of direct tax) assessed at that date was $6,054,733. In reply to your second inquiry, I would state that no census of the city has been taken since 1850. The estimated population at this time is about 250,000. Respectfully Yours, &c., &C., D. H. BLANCHARD, Secretary. OFFICE OF THE MAYOR OF TH7, CITY OF

PHILADELPHIA, December 30, 1856. HI. R. IIELPER, ESQ., Dear Sir: In reply to your note of -the 25th inst., received to-day, I hasten to give you the estimates you ask. Real Estate, 150 millions; it is about onehalf the real value. Its market price is at least 300 million dollars. The Personal Estate is returned at 20 millions; it is over 110 millions. There }has been no census since 1850. The population now is 500,000. Yours truly, —

GEG. VAUX. STATE OF L6tISTANA, MAYORALTY OF NEW ORLEANS, v City iiall, 3d day of Jan’y, 1857. Mr. HI. R. HELPER, NewYork: Dear r - In answer to your note of the 24th December, I beg to refer you to the enclosed abstract for the value of feal estate a slaves according to the lst assessment. 15 ‘037

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338 COMIMERCIAL CITILS-SOU’ 1ER. COEniERCE. There has heretofore been no asse.ssment of personal pr:perty -there having been no tax authorized unitil this year. I’The assessment is now being made and will probably add about $5,000,000 to the assessmenl as stated in the abstract. There has been nu census since the U.S. census of 1850, except an informal census, made in 1852. for the purpose of dividing the city into wards anew. The estimated population now is about 150 to 175,000 inhabitants-permanent population-including the floating population at this season, it would probably reach not less than 210,000 inhabitants. The U. S. census was taken in the summer months, and is very incorrect as to the absolute population of New Orleans. Very respectfully, Your obed’t serv’t, J. B.

WALTON, Secretary. By reference to the abstract of which Mr. Walton speaks, we find that the value of real and personal property is summed up as follows: Ra-E$67,460,115 Sls - 5,183,580 ai — 18,544,300 -

$91,188,195 CrTr HALL, BoSTON, Dec. 31, 1856. Dear Sir. -Yours of the 25th inst., addressed to the Mayor, has been handed to me for a reply-and I would accordingly state that the value of real and personal estate in this city, on the first day of May. A.D. 1856, was $249,162,500. . The census of the city of Boston. on the first day of lIay, A.D 1855, was 162,748
prsons Real Estate, Slaves, capital, - TotaL -

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COMMERCIAL CITIFs-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. The estimated population of the city:f Boston at this dateray January 1st, 1857-is 165,000. Yours, very respectfully, SAML. T. MCCLEARY, City Clerk. ST. Louis, Feb. 27, lb57. H.

R. HELPER, EsQ., NewYork: Dear Sir: In reply to yours of the 9th inst., I beg leave to state, that a census of our population was taken in the spring of 1856 by the Sheriff, and although it was inaccurate, yet the population as returned by him was then 125,500. That his census is too low there is no doubt. Our population at this time is at least 140,000. Our last assessment was made in February, 1856. Value of real and personal estate, is, in round numbers, $63.000,000. Trusting this information will be sufficient for your purpose, I remnain, Yours, &c., JOHN HOW, Mayor.

MAYOR’S OFFICE’ CITY HALL, BROOKLYN, January 24th, 1857. H. R. HELPER

EsQ.,, Sir: The answers to your inquiries are as follows: The last assessment of property in this city was made in August, 1856. The value of all the real and personal property in the city, aocording to thit assessment, is $95,800,440. A census of the city was taken in 1855, and the number of in. habitants. according to it, was 205,.250. The estimated population now is 225,000. The last an,lua report of the Comptroller, together with a 339

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S40 CO’IcIEsClAL cmES-soUTEfln Dmsrc. communication of the MIayor to the Common Council, made on the 5th of Jan.., 1857, have been transmitted by mail to your address, and from them you may be able to obtain any further Lformation you may desire. Yours, respectfully, S. S. POWELL, Mayor. By C.

S. BRAINERD. MAYOR’S OFFICE, 1 Charleston Feb. 16, 1857. IH. R. HELPER, ESQ, (New York,) Dear Sir: Yours of the 9th has just been received, 1 sent you, through the Clerk of Couincil, some time ago, the Annual Fiscal Statement of the Committee on Accounts made to the City Council, which would give somne of the information which you desire. I will have another copy sent you. No census has been taken since 1848. The population at present must be between fifty and sixty thousand. Any information which it may be in my power to furnish you with, will always give me pleasure to supply. Very respectfully, W.51. PORCuHR MILES, Mayor. From a report of the “Annual accounts of the city of Charleston, for the fiscal year ending the 31st of August, 1856,” it appears that the total value of real and personal property, including slaves-nearly half the populationwas $36,127,751. MATOR’S ORFFrICE, Cincinnati, Jan’y 2,1857. Dear Si: In reply to your note of tihe 25th ult., I beg leave to say~‘that the -alue of all the real and personal property in

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COMERCIAL crrIES-SOtTHERN COMMERCE. this city, as assessed for taxation, amounts to $88.810,734. The realty being $60,701,267 the personalty $20,795,203, and the bank and brokers’ capital $7.314,264. The assessment of th( realty was made in 1853; that of the personalty is made i: Mlarch of each year. Our present population is estimated at 210,000. No complet census has been taken since 1850. The total of taxes levied on the above assessment of $88,$10, 734, for city purposes, was $529,727,05. Very respectfully, Your ob’dt. serv’t, H. R. HELPER, ESQ., JAS. J. FARAN

NewYork. Mayor. IMAvOR’S OFFiCO, Louisville, Ky., January 1st, 1857. H.

R. IIF.LPER, ESQ., NewYork’ City, Dear Sir: Your favor 24th ult. is received-contents noted. I will remark in reply, that the taxes of this city are levied only on real estate, slaves, and merchandise, (exclusive of home manufactures.) which are taken at what is supposed t(o be their cash value, but is much less than the real value. Our last assessment was made the 10th January, 1856, and amounted to $31.500,000. There has been no census of this city taken since 1850, our charter requiring that it shall be taken this year. I am now preparing to have it done. It is supposed Louisville at this time has a population of 65 or 70 thousand. I send with this my last annual message to the Gen. Council and accompanying documents. Respectfif ly yours, JOHN BAR,E~. A-layor. Ul

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342 COMMERCIAL CITIS-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. DAILY TRIBUNE OFFICEF l Chicago, May 21, 1857. II. R. HELPER, ESQ. Sir: In the May No. of Ilunt’s Merchants’ Magazine you will final some of your questions answered. The actual cash value of piperty is not taken by the assessors. Citizens are not sworn as to the value of their personal effects, nor is real estate given in at twenty per cent. of its selling cash price. An elaborate estimate of the real value, in cash, of Chicago, which we have seen. puts the real estate at - - - - $125.000.000 Improvements on the same, - -

$24,0f)0.00C Personal prorerty, - - $22,000,000 In 1857 total value, -..$171.000.00C On half a dozen streets in this city lots sell readily at $1,000 tc $1.200 per foot front, exclusive of improvements. A census of the population of Chicago was taken in October, 1853, and in June, 1855, the latter by State authority. That of October‘53 found 60,652; that of June‘55 found 80,509. The best estimate at present makes the number, on May 1st, 1857. tc be 112,000, which is rather under than over the truth.

The amount of building, in the city, is immense, but as quickly as a tenement can be spiked together, it is taken at a high rent; and at no former period has there seemed so rapid an augmentation of population.

Very truly yours, RAY & MIFI)DIT,L, Eds. Ch. Trib. RIC’i’.OND. Va.’ April 25th,‘57. 5 H. R. TIELPER, ESQ., Dear Sir: Yours of the 14th inst. has been received and should have been answered sooner, but it was impossible tc get the information you desired earlier. The value of the real estate in the city of Richmond is $18,000.000. The value of the personal is $191.920. Total value $18.201,920. This does not include slaves, of whom there are 6,472 in the city. The State values each slave at $300

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COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COIMERCE. eael making.$1,941,C00. which, added to the total above, nmakes $20.143.52. The number of inhiabitants-white and black, is 34,612 within the corporationi limits. The assessment was mado in 1855 throughout the whole State. Yours, very respectfully, B. W.

STALRKE. 3IATOR:S OFFICE. Providence, Dec. 31st, 1856. H. R. HFELPER, FSQ., New York, Dear Sir: Yours of 25th is this moment received. You will receive with this a communication from the Chairman of the Board of Assessors, giving the requisite information from that department. I send you this day a census report, taken 1855. which will give you the information asked. Our population at this time is between 50 and 60,000.

Respectfully, JAMES Y. SMITH, Mayor. AssEssoR’s OFFICF, Providence, Dec.

31st, 1856. [I. R. HELPER, ESQ., Dear Sir: Iis Ihonor. the Mayor of this City, has requested mne to answer your communicationr of the 25th inst..

addressed to him, so far as relates to the valuation of this city, &c., which is herewi h pre sented. The valuation of this City in 1856 is as follows: ]teal Estate, - $36,487.116 Personal Estate,.. 21.57-7,400 Total.

$58.064,516 Our last assessment was ordered in June last, and completed on the 1st day 6 September la-t. I IN 343

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844 COMMOERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMMIERur. Rates of taxation $7 75 per $1000. Amount of tax raised $450,000. Respectfully yours, JOSEPH MAIRTIN, Chairman of the Board of Assessors. N -HERALD OFFICF, 2 Norfolk, Va., 28th April, 1857. IH. R. IHEiPER, ESQ., NewYork, Dear Sir: The value of all the real estate, as re-assessed about two months ago, is set down, say, in round numbers, at five and a half niillions. The actual value would bring it somewhat above that rrark. The assessment of the personal property will be completed in three or four weeks hence; but its exact value cannot be arrived at from the fact that a large portion of this -description of property-including slaves-is taxed specifically without regard to its value. It is estimated by the assessors, however, that the personal exceeds the real estate, and may be safely set down at six and a half millions. There has been no census taken since 1850. The State authorities assume the population to be 16;000, but I amn informed by the assessors that 17,000 is a fairer estimate. Ihoping that the information given may answer the purposo for which you require it, I anm, Respectfully yours, R.

G. BROUGHTON. AI’YOR’S OFFICE. Buffalo, March 10, 1857. i Dear Sir:-Yours, of the 9th inst., was received this morning. The answers to your questions are as follows: The last valuation of the property of our city was made in April, 1 q56. Valuati’n of real estate,… $1’ 8.114,040 ” personal estate,.. 7,360.436 Total real and personal, $45,474,476 .Total real and persoiial, $45,474,476

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COIMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN CO3[MERCE. The last census was the State census, taken in the summer of 1855. That showed a population of 74,214; a fair estimate now is 90,000. Respectfully, Your ob’t serv’t, F. P.

STEvrENS. MAYOR’S OFFICE, Savannah, 9th January, 1856. II. R. HELPER, ESQ., NewYork, Dear Sir: In reply to your first interrogatory, I send you the last Mlayor’s report. in which you will find the information you seek.

No census has been taken of the city since 1850. The estimated population is 25,000. Very respectfully yours, J. P. SCREvEN, .Mayor. Fromn the Mayor’s annual report, we learn that the “assessments or value of lands and improvements,” for the year ending October 31st, 1856, amounted to $8,999,015. The value of the personal property is, perhaps, about $3,000,000-total value of real and personal estate $11,999,015. CITY OF

NEw-BEDFORD, Mayor’s Room, 1 mo., 6th, 1857. I. R. IHELPER: Yours of the 4th inst. came to hand this morning. In reply to your inquiries, I will say that the amount assessed on the 1st day of May, 1856, was as follows.

Real Estate, $9.311.500 Personal,…17,735,500 Total, ––- n  -

27,047,00 15* 345

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31s6 CCOM3IERCIAL CITIES-SOUTI-IERN COMMERCE. The returns of a census taken the previ( us autumn gave 20,391 persons, from which there is not probably much change. Respectfully, - GEO. HIIOWLAND, JR. AMayor. MAYOR’S

OFFICE, Wilmington, N. C., May 23d, 1857. I II. R IIELPER, ESQ., NewYork, Dear Sir: I am in receipt of yours of 19th inst. The value of real estate as per last assessment, 1st April, 1856, was $3,350,000 We have no system by which to arrive at the value of personal property: I estimate the amount, however, exclusive of merchandize. at $4,509,000 There has been no-census taken since 1850-the present number of inhabitants is estimated at 10,000. I regret m;- inability to afford you more definite information.

Very respectfully, &c.. O. G. PansLErv, Mayor.

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COH0MERCIAL CITIES-SOUITHER.; C‘0MERCE. From the foregoing communications, we make up the following summary of the more important particulars: NINE

FREE CITIES. W-alth’ lName. Population. Wealth. perpita per capita New York……… 700,000 $511,740,492 $831 Philadelphia…….. 500,000

325,000,000 650 Boston…I…………… 165,000 249,162,500 1,510

Brooklyn………… 225,)00) 95,800,440 425 Cilcinliati……………

210,000 88,810, 734 422 Chicago…………… 12,000 171,000,000 1,527

ProvVidence………. 60,000 58,064,516 967

Buffalo………………90,000 45,474,476 505 New Bedford…….. 21,000

27,047,000 1,288 2,083,000 $1,572,100,158 $754 NINE SLAVE CITIES. w,Vealth Name. Population. Wealth. per cat Balti more……….. 2250, 000

$102,053,839 $408 New Orleans…………. 175,000 91,188,195 521 St.

Louis…………140,000 63,000,000 450 Charlesto………6.. 60,000

36,127,751 602 Louisville…………… 70,000 31,500:000 450

Richmond…………… 40,000 20,143,520 503 Norfolk………….. 17,000

12,000,000 705 Savannah…………… 25,000 11,999,015 480

Wilmington………. 10,000 7,850,000 785 787,000 $375,862,320 $477 Let it not be forgotten that the slaves tnemselves are valued at so much per head, and counted as part of the wealth of slave cities; and yet, though we assent, as we have done, to the inclusion of all this fictitious wealth, it will be observed that the’esidents of free cities are far wealthier, per capitc, than the residents of slave cities. WVe trust the readel will not fa’l tc examine the figures with great care 347

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348 COMMERCIALI CITIES -SOUTHERN COMMER( a. In this age of the world, commerce is an indispensable element of national greatness. Without commerce we can have no great cities, and without great cities we can have no reliable tenure of distinct nationality. Commerce is the forerunner of wealth and population; and it is mainly these that make invincible the power of undying States. Speaking in general terms of the commerce’of this country, and of the great cities through which that commerce is chiefly carried on, the Boston Traveler says: “The wealth concentrated at the great commercial points of the United States is truly astonishing. For instance, one-eighth part of the entire property of this country is owned by the cities of NewYork and Boston. Boston alone, in its corporate limits, oi:ns one-twentieth of the property of this entire Union, being an amount equal to the wealth of any three of the New-England States, except Massachusetts. In this city is found the richest comimunity, per capita, of any in the United States. The next ciy in point of wealth, according to its population, is Providence, (P,. I.,) which city is one of the richest in the Union, having a valuation of fifty-six millions, with a population of fifty thousand.” The same paper, in the course of an editorial article on the “Wealth of Boston and its Business,” says: “The assessors’ return of the wealth of Boston will probably show this year an aggregate property of nearly three hundred millions. This sum, divided among 160,000 people, would give nearly $2,000 to each inhabitant, and will show Boston to be much the wealthiest community in the United States, save New Y(ork alone, with four times its population. The value of the real estate in this city is increasing now with great rapidity, as at least four millions of dollars’ worth of new houses and stores will be built this year. The personal estate in ships, cargoes.

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CLOMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. stocks, &c., is greatly iiereasing with each succeeding year, not withstanding the many disasters and losses constantly occurring in such kinds of property. ” It is impossible to get the exact earnings of the nearly si. hundred thousand tons of shipping owned in-this city. But per haps it would not be much out of the way to set the total amount for 1855 at from fifteen to twenty millions of dollars. This sum l.as probably been earned lby our fleet engaged in the domesti( trad(le. and in comrnmercial transactions with the East and Wes-, Indies, South America, the Pacific. Europe and Africa. The three sources from which the population of Boston is maintained, anla its prosperity continued, are these: Commerce, trade, and manufactures. Its annual trade and sales of merchandise are said now, by competent judges, to amount to three hundred millions of goods per annum, and will soon greatly exceed that vast sum. The annual manufactures of this city are much more in amount than in many entire States in this Union. They amount. according to recent statistics, to nearly seventy-five millions of dollars.” Freeman Hunt, the accomplished editor of I~ it’s ilerchants’ Magaziize, writing on the “Progressive Growth of Cities,” says: “London is now the greatest concentration of human power the world has ever known. Will its supremacy be permanent? or will it, like its predecessors, be eclipsed by western rivals? New-Yorkers do not doubt, and indeed have no reason to doubt, that their city, now numbering little more than onethird of the population of London, will. within the next fifty years, be greater than the metropolis of the British empire. ” New York, with her immediate dependencies, numbers about 900 000. Since 1790 she has established a law of growth which doubles her population once in fifteen years. If this law continues to operate, she may be expected to possess 1,800,000 in 1871, 3,600,000 in 1886, and 7,200.000 in 1901. If twenty years l)e allowed New York as her future period of duplication, she would o,‘ertalke IL,ndon by thl end ()f fifty year.s; ILondon mat 349

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850 COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. then have five millions; NewYork will almost certainly have more than that number. Will the star of empire become stationary at NewYork? The interior plain of North America has within itself more means to sustain a dense population in civilized cominfort than any i)ther region of the world. The star of empire cannot be arrested in its western course before it reaches this plain. Its most promising city at present is Chicago. The law of its growth since 1840
seems o be a duplication within four years. In 1840 it numbered 4,379. In June ofthis year it will contain‘88,000. At the same rate of increase carried forward, it would overtake NewYork within twenty years. If six years be allowed for each future duplication, Chicago would overtake NewYork in thirtythree years. If the growth of Chicago should in future be measured by a duplication of every seven years, it would contain 5:622,000 in foity-two years. “In 1901, fortyfive years from this times the central plain, including the Canadas, will contain about eighty millions of people. Its chief city may be reasonably expected to contain about one-tenth of this population. Before the end of this century the towns and cities of the central plain will contain, with their suburbs, not less than half the entire population; that iV to say, lorty millions.

Ifow these millions shall be apportioned among the cities of that day, is a subject for curious speculation.” A FLEET OF MERCHANTMEN. The Boston Journal, of a late date, says: “About one hundred sail of vessels, of various descriptions, :ntered this port yesterday, consisting of traders from Europe, South America, the West Indies, and from coastwise ports. The waters of the bay and harbor presented a beautiful appearance from the surrounding shores. as this fleet of white-wingt,(l messengers mnade their way towards the city. and crowds of people must have witnessed their advent with great lelight. A more magnificent sight is seldom seen in our harbor.” Would to God that such sights could sometimes be seen

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COMfERCIAL CITTESO-OTZ3RN COM3IERCE. in Southern harbors! When slavery shall cease to paralyse the energies of our people, then ships, coming to us from the four quarters of the globe, will, with majestic grandeur, begin to loom in the distance; our bays will rejoice in the presence of “the white-winged messengers,” and our levees resound as never before with the varied din of commerce. COMMERCE OF NORFOLK. The Southern Argus thus speaks of the ruined commerce of a most despicable niggerville: “We question if any other community, certainly no other in the United States of America, have made greater exertions to resuscitate the trade of Norfolk than the mercantile portion of the inhabitants; in proof of which nineteen-twentieths of those engaged in foreign commerce have terminated in their insolvency, the principal cause of which has been in the unrelenting hostility, to this day, from the commencement of the present century, of the Virginia Legislature, with the cooperation of at least the commercial portions of the citizens of Richmond, Petersburg and Portsmouth.” Hlow it is, in this enlightened age, that men of ordinary intelligence can be so far led into error as to suppose that commerce, or any other noble enterprise, can be established and successfully prosecuted under the dominion of slavery, is, to us, one of the most inexplicable of mysteries. “Come mercial” Conventions, composed of the self-titled lordlings of slavery-Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains, etcetera -may act out their annual programmes of farcical nonsense from now until do)msday; but they will never add one iota to the material m’al, or mental interests of thA 351 0

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352 COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. Soutn,-never can; until their ebony idol shall have been utterly demolished. BALTIMORE-PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. We are indebted to the Baltimore Patrit for the following interesting sketch of the Monumental City as it was, and as it is, and as it may be: “The population of Baltimore in 1790 was 13.503; in 1800, 15.514; in 1810, 35,583; in 1820, 62,738; in 1830, 80,625; in 1840, 110,313; in 1850, 169,054. The increase of inhabitants within two particular decades, will be found, by reference to the above table, to be remarkable. Between 1800 and 1810, the population nearly doubled itself; between 1840 and 1850, the increase was two-thirds; and for the past five years, the numnerical extension of our population has been even more rapid than during the previous decade. We may safely assume that Baltimore contains at the present time not less than 250.000 inhabitants. But the increase in the manufactured products of the State, as shown by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, is a matter of even greater astonishment. The statistical tables cf 1840 estimate the aggregate value of the manufactures of Maryland at $13,509,636-thirteen millionfive hundred and nine thou sand six hundred and thirtysix dollars. In 1850, the value’f the articles manufactured within the limits of the State amounted to $32.593,635-thirty-two million five hundred and ninety-three thousand six hundred and thirtyfive dollars! A signal proof that the wealth of the State has increased with even far greater rapidity than its population. A quarter of a century ago, the sum of our manufactures did not much exceed five millions of dollars per annumn. At this day it may be set down as falling boat little short of fifty millions. These are facts taken from official sources, and therefore understated rather than exceeded. They are easily verified by any one who will take the necessary trouble to examine the reports for himself; and lhey justify us in the assertion th:+, we are but fifteen yea s behind Philadelphia a

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COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. in population, and are only at the same relative distance from her in point of wealth. A change has been going on for some time past in our commercial and] industrial affairs which all may have noticed. but the extent of which is known to but few, and we hazard nothing in saying that this enormous progression must continue, because it is based upon a solid foundation, and therefore subject to no ordinary contingencies. Occupying geographically the most central position on this Continent, with vast mines of coal lying within easy distance to the North and West of us. with a harbor easy of access, and with railroads penetrating by the shortest routes the most fertile sections of the Union, we need nothing but the judicious fostering o)f a proper spirit among our citizens to make Baltimore not only the commercial emporium of the South and West. but also the great coal mart of the Union.

Our flour market is already the most extensive in the known world-we speak without exaggeration, for this also is proven by unquestionable facts.

There is more guano annually brought into our port than into all the other ports of the United States put together, and the demand for this important article of commerce is steadily increasing. Our shipments of tobacco are immense, and as the imprcovement in the depth of the channel of the Patapsco increases, must inevitably become much greater. Such, then, is our present condition as a commercial community, and when we add that our prosperity is as much owing tp our admirable geographical position as to the energy of our merchants and manufacturers, we design to cast no imputation on these excellent citizens, but rather to stimulate them to renewed efforts in a field where enterprise cannot fail of reaping its due reward. Take any common map of the United States and rule an air line across it from Baltimore to St. Louis, and midway between the two it will stiike Cincinnati the great inland centre of trade-traversing at the same time those wonderfully fertile valleys which lie between the latter point and the lississippi river. Now let it be remembered that since the introduction of railways fluvial naviga’)n has been, to a considerable extent, super 3

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854 COMMERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. seded by inland transport, because of the greater speed a.id cer tainty of the latter. Let it be remembered also that the migration westward is incessantly going on, and that with every farm opened within striking distance of a great arterial railway, or its anastomosing branches, a certain amount of fireight must-find its way to the seaboard markets, while the demand f)r manufactured products, and for donmestic or foreign commodities. in exchanige for breadstuffs or raw material, must necessarily increase; thereby adding greatly to the prosperity of the commercial centre towards which articles of export tend, and firom which imports in return are drawn. It would be difficult to estimate the value of what this trade will be fifty years hence. or what the population of Baltimore, situated as she is. will by that time have become. Reasoning from causes to effects, and presuming that ordinary perseverance will be used in promoting the interests of our city, industrially and commercially, we are justified in believing that its progress must be in an accelerated ratio, and that there are those now living who will look back with surprise and wonder at its growth and magnitude, as we have done while comparing its present aspect with that which it exhibited within our own memory.” It is a remarkable fact, but one not at all surprising to those whose philosophy leads them to think aright, that Baltimore and St. Louis, the two most prosperous cities in the slave States, have fewer slaves in proportion to the aggregate population than any other city or cities in the South. Whle tbe entire population of the former is now estimated at 250;000, and that of the latter at 140,000making a grand total of 390,000 in the two cities, less than 6,000 of this latter number are slaves; indeed, neither city is cursed with half the number of 6,000. In 1850, there were only 2,946
slaves in Baltimore, and 2,656 in St. Louis-total in the two cities 5,602; and in

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COM3ERCIAL CITIES-SOUTHERN COMfERCE. both places, thank Heaven, this heathenish class of the population was rapidly decreasing. The census of 1860 will, in all probability, show that the two cities are entirely exempt from slaves and slavery; and that of 18.,0 will, we prayerfully hope, show that the United States at large, a, that time, will have been wholly redeemed from the unspeakable curse of human bondage. What about Southern Commerce? Is it not almost entirely tributary to the commerce of the North? Are we not dependent on NewYork, Philadelphia, Boston, and Cincinnati, for nearly every article of merchandise, whether foreign or domestic? Where are our ships, our mari ners, our naval architects? Alas I echo answers, where? Reader I would you understand how abjectly slaveholders themselves are enslaved to the products of Northern industry?

If you would, fix your mind on a Southern “gentleman”-a slavebreeder and human-flesh monger, who professes to be a ChlristianrL I Observe the routine of his daily life. See him rise in the morning from a Northern bed, and clothe himself in Northern apparel; see him walk across the floor on a Northern carpet, and perform his ablutions out of a Northern ewer and basin. See him uncover a box of Northern powders, and cleanse his teeth with a Northern brush; see him reflecting his physiog. nomy in a Northern mirror, and arranging his hair with a Northern comb See him dosing himself with the mendicaments of Northern quacks, and perfuming his handker. chief with Northern cologne. See him referring to the time in a Northern watch, and glancing at tne news in a Northern gazette. See him and his family sitting in 355

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356 1COMMERCIAL CTIES SOUTHERN COMMRCE. Northern chairs, and singing and praying out of Northern books. See him at the breakfast table, saying grace over a Northern plate, eating with Northern cutlery, and drink ing from Northern utensils. See him charmed with the melody of a Northern piano, or musing over the pages of a Northern novel. See him riding to his neighbor’s in a Northern carriage, or furrowing his lands with a North ern plow. See him lighting his segar witli a Northern match, and flogging his negroes with a Northern lash. See him with Northern pen and ink, writing letters on Northern paper, and sending them away in Northern envelopes, sealed with Northern wax, and impressed with a Northern stamp. Perhaps our Southern “gentleman” is a merchant; if so, see him at his store, making an unpatriotic use of his time in the miserable traffic of Northern gimcracks and haberdashery; see him when you will, where you will, he is ever surrounded with the industrial products of those whom, in the criminal inconsistency of his heart, he execrates as enemies, yet treats as friends His labors, his talents, his influence, are all for the North, and not for the South; for the stability of slavery, and for the sake of his own personal aggrandizement, he is willing to sacrifice the dearest interests of his country. As we see our ruinous system of commerce exemplified in the family of our Southern “gentleman,” so-we may see it exemplified, to a greater or less degree, in almost every other family throughout the length and breadth of the slaveholding States. We are all constantly buying,and selling, and wearing, and using Northern merchandise. at a dour e expense to both ourselves and our neigik

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CO3IERCIAL’CMES-SOUTHERN COMMERCE. bors. If we but look at ourselves attentively, we shall find that we are all clothed cap a p iii Northern habilaments. Our hats, our caps, our cravats, our coats, our vests, our pants, our g,loves, our boots, our shoes, our under-garment-all come from the North; whence, too, Southern ladies procure all their bonnets, plumes, and flowers; dresses, shawls, and scarfs.; frills, ribbons, and ruffles; cuffs, capes, and cliars. True it is that the South has wonderful powers of endurance and recuperation; but she cannot forever support the reckless prodigality of her sons. We are all spendthrifts; some of us should become financiers. We must learn to take care of our money; we should withhold it from the North, and open avenues for its circulation at home. We should not run to NewYork, to Philadelphia, to Boston, to CincinDati, or to any other Northern city, every time we want a shoe-string or a bedtead, a fish-hook or a handsaw, a tooth-pick or a cotton-gin. In ease and luxury we have been lolling long enough; we should now bestir ourselves, and keep pace with the progress of the age. We must expand our energies, and acquire habits of enterprise and industry; we should arouse ourselves from the couch of lassitude, and inure our minds to thought and our bodies to action. We must begin to feed on a more substantial diet than that of proslavery politics; we should leave off our siestas and post-meridian naps, and employ our time in profitable vocations. Before us there is a vast work to be accomplished-a work which has been accumulating on our hands for many years. It is no less a work than that of infusing the spirit of liberty into all (,ur 3.7

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858 COMMERCIAL C1IES SOUTHERN COMMERCE. systems of commerce, agriculture, manufactures, government, literature, and religion. Oligarchal despotism must be overthrown; slavery must be abolished. For the purpose of showing how absolutely Soiathern “gentlemen,” particularly slaveholding merchants, are lost to all sense of true honor and patriotism, we will here introduce an extract from an article which appeared more than three years ago in one of the editorial columns of the leading daily newspaper of the city of NewYork. It is in these words: ‘ Southern merchants do indeed keep away from NewYork for the reason that they can’t pay their debts; there is no doubt that if the jobbers of this city had not trusted Southern traders for the past three years, they would be a great deal better off than they are. * Already our trade with Canada is becomning as promising, sure, and profitable, as our trade with the South is uncertain, riskful, and annoying.” Now, by any body of men not utterly debased by the influences of slavery, this language would have been construed into an invitation to stay at home. But do Southern merchants stay at home? Do they build up Southern commerce? No I off they post to the North as regularly as the seasons, spring and fall, come round, and there, like cringing sycophants, flatter, beg, and scheme, for favors which they have no money to command.

The better classes of merchants; and indeed of all other people, at the North, as elsewhere, have too much genuine respect for themselves to wish to have any dealings whatever with those who make menhandise of human beings. Lijited as is our acquaintance in the city of NewYork,

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COMMERCIAL CITrEsSOLTHERV COMMERCE. we know one firm there, a large wholesale house, that nmakes it an invariable rule never to sell goods to a mer chalint firom the slave States except for cash. Being well acquainted with the partners, we asked one of them, on one occasion, why he refused to trust slavedriving merchants. “Because,” said he, “they are too long-winded and uncertain; when we credit them, they occasion us more loss and bother than their trade is worth.” Nowslaveholders of the South I recollect that slavery is the only impediment to your progress and prosperity, that it stands diametrically opposed to all needful reforms, that it seeks to sacrifice you entirely for the benefit of others, and that it is the one great and only cause of dishonor to your country. Will you not abolish it? May Heaven help you to do your duty I 359

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36Q FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDe. CHAPTER X. FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY

THE WAYSIDE. FINDING that we shall have to leave unsaid a great many things which we intended to say, and that we shall have: to omit much valuable matter, the product of other pens than our own, but which, having collected at considerable expense, we had hoped to be able to introduce, we have concluded to present, under the above heading, only a few of the more important particulars. In the first place, we will give an explanation of the reason WHY THIS WORK WAS NOT PUBLISHED IN BALTIMORE. A considerable portion of this work was written in Bal timore; and the whole of it would have been written and published there, but for the following odious clause, which we extract from the Statutes of Maryland: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That after the passage of his act, it shall not be lawful for any citizen of this State, knowingly to make, print or engrave, or aid in the making, printing or en-raving, within this State, any pictorial representation. or to write or print, or to aid in the writing or printing any pamphlet, newspaper, handbill or other paper of an inflammtatory character, and having a tendency to excite diseon

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F C rS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. tent -r stir up insurrection amongst the people of color of ths State, or of either of the other States or Territories of the United States. or lnowin)gly to carry or send, or to aid in the carryinD or sendiing the same for cerculation anmon-st the inhabitants of either of the other States or Territories of the United States, aid ary person so offending shlall be guilty of a felony, and shall on conviction be sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary of this State, for a period( not less than ten nor more than twenty years, from the time of sentence pronounced on such person.”-,Act passed Dec.

1831. See 2nid Dorsey, page 1218. Now so long as slavehlolders are clothed with the man tie of office, so long will they continue to make laws, like the above, expressly calculated to bring the nonslaveholding whites under a system of vassalage little less onerous and debasing than that to which the negroes themselves are accustomed. WThat wonder is it that there is no native literature in the South? The South can never have a literature of her own until after slavery shall have been abolished. Slaveholders are too lazy and ignorant to write it, and the nonslaveholders even the few whose minds are cultivated at all-are not permitted even to make the attempt. Down with the oligarchy I Ineligibility of slaveholders-never another vote to the trafficker in buhan flesh I LEGISLATIVE ACTS AGAINST

SLAVERY. In his Compendium of the Seventh Census, Mr. DeBo\v has compiled the following useful and highly interestiag facts: “The Continental Congress of 1774 resolved to discontinue thl slave trade, in. w ich resolution they were anticipated by the Con- - 16 3fjl

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362 FACTS AND.ARGU3MENTS BY THE WAFS1DE ventions of Delegates of Virginia and North (,arolina. In 1789 the Convention to frame the federal Constitution looked to the abolition of the traffic in 1808. On the 2nd of March, 1807, Congress passed an act against importations of Afriicans into the United States after January 1st, 1808. An act in Great Britain in 1807
also made the slave trade unlawful. Denmark forbid the introduction of African slaves into her colonies after 1804. The Congress of Vienna, in 1815, pronounced for the abolition of the trade. France abolished it in 1817, and also Spain,.but the acts were to take effect after 1820.

Portugal abolished it in 1818. “In Pennsylvania slavery was abolished in 1780. In New Jersey it was provisionally abolished in 1784; all children born of a slave after 1804 are made free in 1820. In Massachusetts, it was declared after the revolution, that slavery was virtually abolished by their Constitution, (1780). In 1784 and 1797, Con necticut provided for a gradual extinction of slavery. In Rhode Island, after 1784, no person could be born a slave. The Consti tutions of Vermont and New ltampshire, respectively, abolished slavery. In New York it was provisionally abolished in 1799, twenty eight years’ ownership being allowed in slaves born after that date, and in 1817 it was enacted that slavery was not to exist after ten years, or 1827. The ordinance of 1787 forbid slavery in the territory northwest of the Ohio.” Besides the instances enumerated above, slavery has been abolished in more than forty different parts of the world within the last half century, and with good results everywhere, except two or three West India islands, where the negro population was greatly in excess of the whites; and even in these, the evils, if any, that have followed, are not justly attributable to abolition, but to the previous demoralization produced by slavery. In this connection we may very properly introduce the testimony of a West India planter to the relative advantages of Free over Slave Labor. Listen to Char]es Petty

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FACTS AND ARGUMIENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. john, -f Barbadoes, who, addressing himself to a citizen of ou own country, says: I In 1834, 1 came in possession of 257 slaves, under the laws of England, which required the owner to feed, clothe. and furnish them with medical attendance. With this number I cultivated my sugar plantation until the Emancipation Act of August 1st, 1838, when they all became free. I now hire a port:on of those slaves, the best and cheapest of course, as you hire men in the United States. The average number which I employ is 100, with which I cultivate more land at a cheaper rate, and make more produce than I did with 257
slaves. With my slaves I made from 100 to 180 tons of sugar yearly. With 100 free negroes I think I do badly if I do not annually produce 250 tons.

If, in the forty and more instances to which we havo alluded, the abolition of slavery had proved injurious in a majority of cases, the attempt to abolish it elsewhere might, perhaps, be regarded as an ill-advised effort; but, seeing that its abolition has worked well in at least fourteen-fifteenths of all the cases on record, the fact becomes obvious that it is our duty and our interest to continue to abolish it until the whole world shall be freed, or until we shall begin to see more evil than good result from our acts of emancipation. THE TRUE FRIENDS OF

THE SOUTH. Freesoilers and abolitionists are the only true friends of the South; slaveholders and slavebreeders are downright enemies of their own section. Antislavery men are working for the Union and for the good of the whole world; proslavery lien are working for the disunion of the States, and for the  od of nothing except themselves. Than 363

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864 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. such men as Greeley, Seward, Sumner, Clay, and Birney, the South can have no truer friends-nor can slavery have tnore implacable foes. For the purpose of showing that Horace Greeley is not, as he is generally represented by the oligarchy, an inveterate hater of the South, we will here introduce an extract from one of his editorial articles in a late number of the New York Tribure-a faithful advocate of freedom, whose circulation, we are happy to say, is greater than the aggregate circulation of more than twenty of the principal proslavery sheets published at the South: “Is it in vain that we pile fact upon fact, proof on proof, showing that slavery is a blight and a curse to the States which cher,sh it? These facts are multitudinous as the leaves of the forest; -onclisive as tie demonstrations of geometry.

Nobody attempts t,) refute them, but the champions of slavery extension seem de,xrnmined to persist in ignoring them. Let it be understood tl-len, once for all, that we do not hate the South, war on the South, nor seek to ruin the South, in resisting the extension of slavery. We most earnestly believe human bondage a curse to the South. and to all whom it affects; but we do not labor for its overthrow otherwise than through the conviction of the South of its injustice and mischief. Its extension into new Territories we determinedly resist, not by any means from ill will to the South, but under the impulse of good will to all mankind. We believe the establishment of slavery in Kansas or any other Western Territory would prolong its existence in Virginia and Maryland, by widening the market and increasing the price of slaves, and thereby increasing the profits of slavebreeding. and the consequent incitement thereto. Those who urge that slavery would not go into Kansas if permitted, wilfillyv shut their eyes to the fact that it has gone into Missouri, lying in exactly the same latitude, and is now strongest in that north-western angle of said State. which was covertly filched from what is now Kansas within tb last twenty years. Even if the growth of hemp, corn

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F/ACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY TIIE WAY SIDL and tobacco were not so profitable in Eastern Kansas, as it evidently must be, the growth of slaves for more Southern consumption would inevitably prove as lucrative there as in Virginia and Maryland, which lie in corresponding latitudes, and whose chief staple export to-day consists of negro bondmen destined for the plantations of Louisiana and Mississippi, which could be supplied more conveniently and cheaply from Kansas than from their present breeding-places this side of the Alle,ghanies. Whenever we draw a parallel between Northern and Southern production, industry, thrift, wealth, the few who seek to parry the facts at all complain that the instances are unfairly selectedthat the commercial ascendancy of the North, with the profits and facilities thence accruing, accounts for the striking preponderance of the North. In vain we insist that slavery is the cause of this very commercial ascendancy-that Norfolk and Richmond and Charleston might have been to this coventry what Bostonl NewYork and Philadelphia now are, had not slavery spread its pall over and paralyzed the energies of the South.” This may be regarded as a fair expression of the sentiinents of a great majority of the people nol th of M[ason and Dixon’s line. Our Northern cousins “do not hate the South, war on the South, inor seek to ruin the South;” on the coptrary, they love our particular part of the nation, and, lie dutiful, sensible, upright men, they would promote its interests by facilitating the abolition of slavery. Success to their efforts! SLAVERY THOULGHrFUL-SIGNS OF CONTRITION. The real condition of the South is most graphically described in the following dolefuil admissions from the Charleston Standard: ‘ In its every asp(,ct our present condition is provircial. We have within our li -uits no solitary metropolis of interest or ideas 365

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S66 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE W~YSIDE. -rot marts of exchange-no radiating centres of opinion. Whatever we have of genius and productive energy, goes freely in to swell the importance of the North. Possessing the material which constitutes two-thirds of the commerce of the whole country, it might have been supposed that we could have influence upon the councils of foreign States; but we are never taken into contemplation. It might have been supposed that England, bound to us by the cords upon which depend the existence of four millions of her subjects, would be considerate of our feelings; but receiving her cotton from the North. it is for them she has concern, and it is her interest and her pleasure to reproach us. It might have been supposed, that, producing the material which is sent abroad, to us would come the articles that are taken in exchange for it; but to the North they go for distribution, and to us are parcelled out the fabrics that are suited to so remote a section. Instead, therefore, of NewYork being tributary to Norfolk, Charlestoni, Savannah or New Orleans, these cities are tributary to NewYork. Instead of the merchants of NewYork standing cap in hand to the merchants of Charleston, the merchants of Charleston stand cap in hand to the merchants of NewYork.Instead of receiving foreign ships in Southern waters, and calling up the merchants of the country to a distribution of the cargo, the merchants of the South are hurried off to make a distribution elsewhere. In virtue of our relations to a greater system, we have little development of internal interests; receiving supplies from the great centre, we have made little effort to supply ourselves. We support the makers of boots, shoes, hats, coats. shirts, flannels, blankets, carpets, chairs, tables, mantels, mrats, carriages, jewelry, cradles, couches, coffins, by the thousand and hundreds of thousands; but they scorn to live amongst us. They must have the gaieties and splendors of a great metropolis, and are not content to vegetate upon the dim verge of this remote frontier. As it is in material interests, so it is in arts ind letters-our pictures are painted at the North, our books ale published at the North, our periodicals and papers are printed at the Ncrth. We ap even fed on police reports and villany from the North. The r pers published at he South which ignore the questions at issue

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FACTS A\ND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. between the sections are generally well sustained; the books which expose the evils of our institution are even read with avidity beyond our linmits, but the ideas that are turned to the cotiluition of the South are intensely provincial. If, as things now are, a man should rise with all the genius of Shakspeare, or Dickens.

or Fielding, or of all the three combined, and speak from the South, he would not receive enough to pay the costs of publication. If publishled at the South, his book would never be seen or heard of, and published at the North it would not be read.So perfect is our provincialism, therefore, that enterprtse is forced to the North for a sphere-talent for a market-genius for the ideas upon which to work-indolence for ease, and the tourist for attractions.” This extract exhibits in bold relief, and in small space, a large number of the present evils of past errors. It is charmingly frank and truthful. DeQuincey’s Confessions of an opium eater are nothing to it. A distinguished writer on medical jurisprudence informs us that “the knowledge of the disease is half the cure;” and if it be true, as perhaps it is, we think the Standard is in a fair way to be reclaimed from the enormous vices of proslavery statism. PROGRESS OF

FREEDOM IN THE SOUTH. “Now, by St. Paul, the work goes bravely on.” As well might the oligarchy attempt to stay the flux anid reflux of the tides, as to attempt to stay the progress of Freedom in the South.

Approved of God, the edict of the genius of Universal Emancipation has been proclaimed to the world, and nothing, save Deity himself, can possibI)ly reverse it. To connive at the perpetuation of slavery is to disobey the commands of HIeaven. Not to be an 361

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368 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY TIIE WAYSIDE abolitionist is to be a wilful and diabolical instrument of the devil. The South needs to be fice, the South wants to be free, the South shall be free! The following extracts from Southern journals will show that the glorious light of a better era has already begun to penetrate and dispel the portentous clouds of slavery.

The Wellsburg (Va.) Herald, an independent paper, referring to the vote of thirteen Democrats from That section, refusing, in the Virginia Legislature, in 1856, “to appropriate money from the general treasury for the recapture of runaway slaves,” says: “We presume these delegates in some degree represent their constituents. and we are thereby encouraged and built up in the confidence that there are other interests in Virginia to be seen to besides those pertaining to slavery.” A nonslaveholding Southron, in the course of a communication in a more recent number of the same journal, says: ” Ae are taxed to support slavery. The clean cash goes out of our own pockets into the pockets of the slaveholder, and this in many ways. I will now allude to but two. If a slave, for crirnme is put to death or transported, the owner is paid for him out of the public treasury, and tnder this law thousands are paid out ev(Wy year. Again, a standing army is kept up in the city of Richmond for no other purpose than to be ready to quell insurrection among the slaves; this is paid for out of the public treasury annually. This standing army is called the public guard, but it is no less a standing army always kept up. We will quote from the acts of 1856 the expense of these two items to the State, on the 23d and 24th pages of the Jets:-‘ To pay for.slaves executefd and transported, $22,000;”to the public guard at Richmond, $24.000.’ This. be it noticed, is only for one year, riak

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FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE VAYSIDE. ing near $50,000 for these two objects in one year; lut it can be shown by the present unequal plan of taxation between slave property and other property. that this is but a small item of our cash pocketed by the slaveliolders; and yet some will say wo have no reason to complain.” The editor of the Wheeling Gazette publishes the follow. ing as his platform on the slavery question: “Allying ourself to neither North nor South, on our own hook we adopt the following platform as our platform on this question, from which we never have and never will recede. We nmay FALL on it, but’A-ILL NEVER LEAVE IT. The severance of the General Government from slavery. The REPEAL of thefugitive slave law. The REPEAL of the Nebraska Kansas Bill. Aro more slave territories. THE

PURCHASE. AND MANUMISSION OF SLAVES IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMIBIA, OR THE

REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT TO FREE TERRITORY.? ~ Says the Baltimore Clipper: ‘ The South is contending for, and the North against, the extension of slavery into the territories; but we do not think that either side would consent to dissolve the Union about the negro population-a population which we look upon as a curse to the nation, and should rejoice to see removed to their native clime of Africa.” The National Era, one of the best papers in the country, published in Washington City, D. C., says: “The tendency of slavery to diffuse itself, and to crowd out free labor, was early observed by American patr’)ts, N(orth and South; and Mr.

Jefferson, the great apostle of Republicanism, made an effort, in 1784, to cut short the encroaching tile of barbaric despotism, li-prohibiting slavery in all the -teriitories of 16’ 360

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70 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY rtEI WAYSIDE. the Union, down to thirty-one degrees of latitude, which was then our Southern boundary. htis beneficent purpose failed, not for want of a decisive majority of votes present in the Congress of the Confederation, but in consequence of the absence of the delegates from one or two States, which were necessary to-4he constitutional majority. When the subject again came up, in 1787, Mr.

Jefferson was Minister to France, and the fiamous ordinance of that year was adopted, prohibiting slavery North and West of the Ohio river. Between 1784 and 1787, the strides of slavery westward, into Tennessee and Kentucky, had become too considerable to admit of the policy of exclusion; and besides those regions were then integral parts of Virginia and North Carolina, and of course they could not be touched without the consent of those States. In 1820, another effort was made to arrest the progress of slavery, which threatened to monopolize the whole territory west of the Mississippi. In the meantime the South had apostatized from the faith of Jefferson. It had ceased to love universal liberty, and the growing importance of the cotton culture had caused the people to look with indifference upon the moral deformity of slavery; and, as a matter of course, the politicians became its apologists and defenders. After a severe struggle a compromise was agreed upon, by which Missouri was to be admitted with slavery, which was the immediate point in controversy; and slavery was to be excluded from all the territory North and West of that State. ” We have shown, from the most incontestable evidence, that there is in slave society a much greater tendency to diffuse itself into new regions, than belongs to freedom, for the reason that it has no internal vitality. It cannot live if circumscribed, and mnust, like a consumptive, be continually roving for a change of air to recuperate its wasting energies.” In the Missouri Legislature, in January, 1857, Mr. Brown, of St. Louis, proved himself a hero, a r atriot, and a statesman, in the following words: “I am a FreeSoiler and I don’t deny it. No word;r vote of sinel skilf Bier ii.ri to the benefit of such a monstrous doctrine

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FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE W. YSIDE. a~ the extension of Slavery over the patrimony of the free white laborers of the country. I am for the greatest good of the greatest number, and against the system which monopolizes the free and fertile territory of our country for a few slaveholders, to the exclusion of thousands upon thousands of the sinewy sons of toil. The time will come, and perhaps very soon, when the people will rule for their own benefit anl notfor that of a class which, numerically.speaking, is insignificant. I stand here in the midst of the assembled Legislature of Mlissouri to avow myself a FreeSoiler. Let those who are scared at n-nes shrink from the position if they will. I shall take my stand in favor of the white man. Here in Missouri I shall support the rights, the dignity and tihe’ welfare of the 800,000 nonslaveholders in prefere,,e to upholding and perpetuating the dominancy of the 30,00o slaveholders who inhabit our State.” The St. Louis Democrat, in an’ editorial article, under date of January 28, 1857, entitled itself to the favorable regard of every true lover of liberty, by talking thus boldly on the subject of the “Emancipation of Slavery in Missouri”’: “Viewing the question as a subject of State policy, we will veliture to say that it is the grandest ever propounded to the people. If it were affirmed in a constitutional convention, and thoroughly carried out without any violation of vested rights, Missouri. in a few years subsequent to its consummation, would be the foremost State on the American continent. Population would flow in from all sides were the barrier of negro slavery once removed, and in place of 80,000 slaves, we should have 800,000 white men, which, in addition to the porulation we would have at that time, would give us at once an-aggregate of two millions. Is’Missouri ambitious of political power?-a power whichl is slipping away from the South. The mode of acquiring it it found. We are not rash enough to attempt a description of o,ir condition if the element of free labor were introduced. The earth would give up its hidden treasures at its bidding as the sea 371

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3 42 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. w:‘11 give up its dead; and the soil would bloom more luxui Pantly than if it drank the dews of iermon nightly; ten thousand k1 els would vex our rivers, towns along their banks would grow imlo cities, and St. Louis would soon unite in itself the attributes of the greatest commercial manufacturing and literary metropolis in the world. Let it be remembered that we have every inanimate element of wealth and power within our limits, and that wc require only labor-free labor-for we need not say that servile la,or is inadequate.

* There need be no pernicious agitation, and evbn if there should, it is the penalty which we cannot avoid paying at some tirae; and it is easier to pay it now, than in the future. Who that watches passing events and indications, is not sensible of the fact that great internal convulsions await the slave States? Beater to grapple with the danger in time, if danger there be, and avert it, than wait until it becomes formidable. One thing is certain, or history is no guide: that is, that slavery cannot be perpetuated anywhere. An agitation now would be the effort of the social system to throw off a disease which had not touched its vitals; hereafter it would be the struggle for life with a mortal sickness. But we do not apprehend any agitati(on more violent than has been forced upon us for years by the proslavery politicians. Agitating the slavery question, has been their constant business, and nothing worse has resulted from it than their elevation to office-no very trifling evil, by the way-and the temporary subjugation of Kansas. Besides, we know that all the free States emancipated theii slaves, and England and France theirs suddenly; and we havf yet to learn that a dangerous agitation arose in any instance.” In addition to all this, it is well known, and we thank Hecaven for the fact and for the indication, that, at the election held for Mayor of St. Louis, in April, 1857, the Abolition candidate, himself a native of Virginia, was triumphantly elevated to the chief magistracy of the city. Three cheers for St. Louis I nine for Missouri I tlii-tv.-nu for tke S. th

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-ACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. In reference to the late election in St. Louis, in which the Emancipation party triumphed, the Wheeling (Va.) Intelligencer says: “These elections do demonstrate this fact, beyond a cavil, that the sentiment of the great majority of the people of this UniGn is irrevocably opposed to the extension of slavery; that they aie deteimnined, if overwhelming public sentiment can avail anything, another slave State shall not be admitted into the coifederacy. And why are they so determined? Because they believe, and no,t only believe, but see and know, that slavery is an unmitigated curse to the soil that sustains it.

They know this, because they see every free State outstripping every slave State in all the elements that make a people powlerful and prosperous; because they see the peopl)le in the one educated and thrifty, and in the other ignorant and thriftless; because they have before their eves a State like our own, once the vern Union itself almost in importance, to-day taking her rank as a fifth rate power.” Nonslaveholders of the South!

fail inot to support the papers-the Southern papers that support your interests. Chief amongst those papers are the St. Louis (Mo.) Demo crat, the National Era, published in Washington City, D. C., the Baltimore Clipper, the Wheeling (Va.) Intelligencer, and the Wellsburg (Va.) Herald.

A RIGHT FEELING IN TIHE RIGHT QUARTER. There is but one way for the oligarchy to perpetuate slavery in the Southern States, and that is by perpetuating absolute ignorance among the nonslaveholding whites. This it is quite impossible for them to do. God has scattere d the seeds of knowledge throughout every portion of the South, and they are, as might have been expected, beginnilng to take roe in her fertile soil. The following ex 373

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FACrTS AND ARGUUENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. tracts from letters which have been received since we commenced writing this work, will show how powerfully the spirit of freedom is operating upon the minds of intelligent, thinking men in the slave States. A Baltimorean, writing to us awhile previous to the last Presidential election, says: “I see that the Trustees of the University of North Carolina have dismissed Prof. Hedrick for writing a letter in favor of Republican principles. Oh, what an inglorious source of reflection for an American citizen! To think, to know that our boasted liberty of speech is a myth, an abstraction. To see a poor professor crushed under the feet of the tyrannical magnates of slavery,v for daring to speak the honest sentiments of his heart. Where is fanaticism now, North or South? Oh, my country, my country, whither art thou tending?

Truly we have fallen upon degenerate days. God grant that they may not be like those of ancient Greece and Rome, the forerunners of oi,r country’s ruin.” In a letter under date of November 1, 1856, a friend who resides in the eastern part of North Carolina, says: ” In the papers which reached me last week I notice that our own State has been disgrace(d 1by a juilto of proslavery hot-spurs, who had the audacity to meet in Raleigh for the express purpose of concocting measures for a dissolution of the Union. It appears that the three leading spirits of this cabal weie the present governors of three neighboring States-three treasonable disturbers of the public peace, who, under the circumstances, should, in my opinion, have been shot dead upon the spot! I have each of their names noted down in my memorandum, and I shall certainly die unsatisfied, if I do not live to hear of their being thoroughly tarred and feathered, and ridden on a rail, by the nonalaveholding whites, agains whose welfare their machinations 374

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FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAXYSIDE. have been chiefly leveled.. Rely upon it, that, if they do not soon sneak away into their graves, a day of retributive justice will most assuredly overtake them.” A native and resident of one of the towns in western North Carolina, under date of March 19, 1857, writes to us as follows: :’ While patrolling a few nights ago I was forcibly struck with the truthfulness of the remarks contained in your last letter.  Here I am, a poor but sober and industrious man, with a family dependent on me for support, and after I have finished my day’s labor, I am compelled to walk the streets from nine in the evening till three in the morning, to restrain the roving propensities of other people’s’property’-niggers. Why should I thus be deprived of sleep that the slaveholder may slumber? I frankly acknowledge my indebtedness to you for opening my eyes upon this subject. The more I think and see of slavery the more I detest it. * I am becoming restless, and have been debating within my own mind whether I had not better emigrate to a free State.

* If Ilive,-I am determined tooppose slavery somewhere-here or elsewhere.

It will be impossible for me to keep my lips sealed much longer. Indeed, I sometimes feel that I have been remiss in my duty in not having opened them ere now. But for the unfathomable ignorance that pervades the mass of the poor, deluded. slavery-saddled whites around me, I would not suppress my sentiments another hour.” Again, under date of April 7, 1857, he says: “I thank God that slavery will, in my opinion, soon be abolished. I wish to Heaven I had the ability to raise my voice successfully in favor of a just system to abolish it. I would indeed be rejoiced to have an opportunity to do something to relieve the South of the awful curse. Fear not that you will meet with no sympathizers in the South. You will have hosts of friends on every side-even in this town, if I am not greatly mistaken, a 375

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36 FACrS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. large majority of the citizens will add an enthusiastic Aimen! to ycur work.” We might furnish similar extracts from other letters, but these, we think, are quite sufficient to show that the millennium of freedom is rapidly dawning throughout the benighted regions of slavery. Coveted events are happening in charming succession. All we have. to do is to wait and work a little longer. THE

ILLITERATE POOR WHITES OF THE SOUTH. Had we the power to sketch a true picture of life among the nonslaveholding whites of the South, every intelligent man who has a spark of philanthropy in his breast, and who should happen to gaze upon the picture, would burn with unquenchable indignation at that system of African slavery which entails unutterable miseries on the superior race. It is quite impossible, however, to describe accurately the deplorable ignorance and squalid poverty of the class to which we refer. The serfs of Russia have reason to congratulate themselves that they are neither the negroes nor the nonslaveholding whites of the South. Than the latter there can be no people in Christendom more unhappily situated. Below will be found a few extracts which will throw some light on the subject now under consideration. Says William Gregg, in an address delivered before the South Carolina Institute, in 1851: “From the best estimates that I have been able to make, I put dowr the white people who ought to work, and who do) not.

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FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE VAYSIDE. or who are so employed as to be wholly unproductive to the State, at one hundred and twentyfive thousand. Any man who is an observer of tlhings could hardly pass through our country.

without being struck with the fact that all the capital, enterprise, and intelligence. is employ3ed in directing slave labor; aind the consequence is, that a large portion of our poor white people are wholly neglected, and are suffered to while away an existence ill a state but one step in advance of the Indian of the forest. It is an evil of vast magnitude, and nothing buta change in public sentiment will effect its cure. These people must be brought into daily c)ontact with the rich and intelligent-they must be stimulated to mental action, and taught to appreciate education and the comforts of civilized life; and this, we believe, may be effected only by the introduction of manufactures. My experience at Graniteville has satisfied me that unless our poor people can be brought together in villages, and some means of employment afforded them. it will be an ttterly hopeless effort to undertake to educate them. We have collected at that place about eight hundred people, and as likely looking a set of coun,try girls as may be found-industrious and orderly people, but deplorably ignorant, three-fourths of the adults not being able to read or to write their own names. It is only necessary to build a manufacturing village of shanties, in a healthy location, in any part of the State, to have crowds of these people around you, seeking employment at half the compensation given to operatives at the North. It is indeed painful to be brought in contact with such ignorance an-I degradation.” Again he asks: “Shlall we pass unnoticed the thousands of poor, if norant, degraded white people among us, who, in this land of ulenty, live in comparative nakedness and starvation? Many a one is reared in proud South Carolina, from birth to manlioo,t, who has never passed a month in which he has not, sonme part of the time, been stinted for meat. Many a mother is there who will tell you that her children are but scantily provided with hQtad, 37T

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378 FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE and mush more scantily with meat; and, if they be c ad with comfortable raiment, it is at the expense of these scanty allowances of food. These may be startling statements, but they are nevertheles true; and if not believed in Charleston, the members of our legislature who have traversed the State in electioneering campaigns can attest the truth.” In an article on “Manufactures in South Carolina,” published some time ago in DeBgw’s Review, J, H. Taylor, of Charleston (S. C.) says: “There is in some quarters, a natural jealousy of the slightest innovation upon established habits, and because an effort has been made to collect the poor and unemployed white population into our new factories, fears have arisen that some evil would grow out of the introduction of such establishments among us. * The poor man has a vote as well as the rich man, and in our State the number of the former will largely overbalance the latter. So long as these poor but industrious people can see no mode of living except by a degrading operation of work with the negro upon the plantation, they will be content to endure life in its most discouraging forms, satiAtie(l that they are above the slave, though faring often worse than he.” Speaking in favor of manufactures, the Hon. J. H. Lumpkin, of Georgia, said in 1852: It is objected that these manufacturiing, establishments will become the hot-beds of crime. But I am by no means ready to concede that our poor, degraded, half-fed, half-clothed, and ignorant population-without Sabbath Schools, or any other kind of instruction, mental or moral. or without any just appreciation of character-will be injured by giving them employment, which will bring them under the oversight of employers, whc will inspire them with sclf-:espect by taking an interest in theii welfare.’

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FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. In a paper on the “Extension of Cotton and Woo Facto. ries at the South,” Mr. Steadman, of Tennessee, says: ” In Lowell, labor is paid the fair compensation of 80 cents a day for men, and $2 a week for, women, beside board, while in Tennessee the average compensation for labor does not exceed 50 cents per day for men, and $1,25
per week for women.” In the course of a speech which he delivered in CQngress several years ago, Mr. T. L. Clingman, of North Carolina, said: “Our manufacturing establishments can obtain the raw material (cotton) at nearly two cents on the pound cheaper than the New-England establishments.

Labor is likewise one hundred per cent. cheaper. In the upper parts of the State, the labor of either a free man or a slave, including board, clothing, &c., car be obtained for from $110 to $120 per annum. It will cost at least twice that sumn in New-England. The difference in the cost of female labor, whether free or slave, is even greater.” The Richmond (Va.) Dispatch says: ” We will only suppose that the ready-made shoes imported into this city from the North, and sold here. were manufactured in Richmond. What a great addition it would be to the means of employment!

How many boys and females would find the means of earning their bread, who are now suffering for a regular supply of the necessaries of life.” A citizen of New-Orleans, writing in DeBow’s ReView, says: “At present the sources of employment open to females (save in menial offices) are very limited; and an inability to procure suitable occupation is an evil much to be deplored, as tending iII its consequences to produce demoralization.

Thile superior grades of female labor may be considered such as imply a necessity for 879

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FACTS AND ARGIM.:N’TS BY THE WAYSIDE education on the part of the employee, while the menial Xlass is geniierally reg,arded as of the lowest; and in a slave State, ihis standard is’in.the lowest depths, a lower deep,’ from the fact. tat. by association, it is a reduction of the white servant to the level of their colored fellow-menials.” Black slave labor, though far less valuable, is almost invariably better paid than free white labor. The reason is this: The fiat of the oligarchy has made it fashionable to have negroes around,” and there are, we are grieved to say, many nonslaveholding whites, (lickspittles,) who, in order to retain on their premises a hired slave whom they falsely imagine secures to them not only the appearance of wealth, but also a position of high social standing in the community, keep themselves in a perpetual strait. Last Spring we made it our special business to ascertain the ruling rates of wages paid for labor, free and slave, in North Carolina. We found sober, energetic white men, between twenty and forty years of age, engaged in agricultural pursuits at a salary of $84 per annum-including board only; negro men, slaves, who performed little more than half the amount of labor, and who were exceedingly sluggish, awkward, and careless in all their movements, were hired out on adjoining farms at an average of about $115 per annum, including board, clothing, and medical attendance. Free white men and slaves were in the employ of the North Carolina Railroad Company; the former, whose services, ill our opinion, were at least twice as valuab)le as th-services of the latter, received only $12 per month each; the masters of the latter received $16 per montl for every slave so employed. Industrious, tidy 880

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FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE VAYSIDE. white girls, from sixteen to twenty years of age, had much difficulty in hiring themselves out as domestics in private families for $t10 per annum-board only included; negro “enches, rslaves, of corresponding ages, so ungraceful, stupid’tnd filthy that no decent man would ever permit ,ne of thern to cross the threshold of his dwelling, were in &risk deraand at from $65 to $70 per annum, including victuals., clothes, and medical attendance. These are facts, and in considering them, the students of political and soc;ial economy will not fail to arrive at conclusions of their own. Notwithstanding the greater density of population in the free States, labor of every kind is, on an average, about one hundred per cent. higher there than it is in the slave States. This is another important fact, and one that every nonslaveholding white should keep registered in his mind. Poverty, ignorance, and superstition, are the three leading characteristics of the noni-slaveholding whites of the South. Many of them grow up to the age of maturity, and pass through life without ever owning as much as five dollars at any one time. Thousands of them die at an advanced age, as ignorant of the common alphabet as if it had never been invented. All are more or less impressed with a belief in witches, ghosts, and supernatural signs. Few are exempt from habits of sensuality and intemperance. None have anything like adequate ideas of the duties thich they owe either to their God, to themselves, or to their fellowmen. Pitiable, indeed, in the fullest sense of the term, is their condition. It is the almost utter lack of an education that has re. 381

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382.FACTS AND ARGUMENTS BY THE WAYSIDE. duced them t) their present unenviable situation. In the whole South there is scarcely a publication of ally kind devoted to their interests. They are now completely under the domination of the oligarchy, and it is madness to suppose that they will ever be able to rise to a position of true manhood, until after the slave power shall have been utterly overthrown.

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. CHAPTER XI. SOUTHERN LITERATURE. IT is with some degree of hesitation that m e add a chapter on Southern Literature-not that the tl,eme is inappropriate to this work; still less, that it is an unfruitful one; but our hesitation results from our conscious inability, in the limited time and space at our command, to do the subject justice.

Few, except those whose experience has taught them, have any adequate idea of the amount of preparatory labor requisite to the production of a work into which the statistical element largely enters; especially is this so, when the statistics desired are not readily accessible through public and official documents. The author who honestly aims at entire accuracy in his statements, may find himself baffled for weeks in his pursuit of a single item of information, not of much importance in itself perhaps, when separately considered, but necessary in its connection with others, to the completion of a harmnonious whole. Not unfrequently, during the preparation of the preceding pages, have we been subjected to this delay and annoyance. The following brief references to the protracted prepar.

atory labors and inevitable delays to which authors are 383

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. subjected, may interest our readers, and induce them to regard with charity any deficiencies, either in detail or in general arrangement, which, owing to the necessary haste of preparation, these concluding pages of our work may exhibit: Goldsmith was engaged nine years in the preparation of “The Traveller,” and five years in gathering and arranging the incidents of his “Deserted Village,” and two years in their versification. Bancroft, the American Historian, has been more than thirty years engaged upon his History of the United States, from his projection of the work to the present date; and that History is not yet completed.

Hildreth, a no less eminent historian, from the time he began to collect materials for his History of the United States to the date of its completion, devoted no less than twentyfive years to the work.

WVel)st-er, our great lexicographer, gave thirtyfive years of his life in bringing his Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language to the degree of accuracy and complete. ness in which we now find it. Dr. John W. Mason, after ten years’ labor in the accumulation of materials for a Life of Alexander Hlamilton, was compelled to relinquish the work on account of impaired healtb. Mr. James Banks, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who recently delivered a lecture upon the Life and Character of Flora McDona’d, was eighteen years in the collection ol his materials. 381.

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OTI-IERN LITERATURE. Oulibicheff, a distinguished Russian author, spent twentyfive years in writing the Life of Mozart. Examples of this kind might be multiplied to an almost indefinite extent. Indeed, almost all the poets, prosewriters, painters, sculptors, composers, and other devotees of Art, who have won undying fame for themselves, have don, so through long years of earnest and almost unremitted toil. We are quite conscious that the fullness and accuracy of statement which are desirable in this chapter cannot be attained in the brief time allowed us for its completion; but, though much will necessarily be omitted that ought to be said, we shall endeavor to make no statement of facts which are not well authenticated, and no inferences from the same which are not logically true. We can only promise to do the best in our power, with the materials at our command, to exhibit the inevitable influence of slavery upon Southern Literature, and to demonstrate that the accursed institution so cherished by the oligarchy, is no less prejudicial to our advancement in letters, than it iq destructive of our material prosperity. What is the actual condition of Literature at the South? Our question includes more than simple authorship in the various departments of letterS, from the compilation of a primary reader to the prodlttion of a Scientific or ThA-d logical Treatise. We comprehend in it all the activities engaged in the creation, publication, and sale’of books and periodicals, from the peony primer to the Wavy folio, and from the dingy, coarsd-typed weekly paper, to thb ‘arge, well-filled daily. 385 17

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SOWTflERN LITERATURE. It were unjust to deny a degree of intellectua tctivity to the South. It has produced a few good authors-a few competent editors, and a moderately large number of clever magazinists, paragraphists, essayists and critics Absolutely, then, it must be conceded that the South has something that may be called a literature; it is only when we speak of her in comparison with the North, that we say, with a pardonably strong expression, “The South has no literature.” This was virtually admitted by more than one speaker at the late “Southern Convention” at Savannah. Said a South Carolina orator on that occasion: “It is important that the Southl should have a literature of her own, to defend her principles and her rights;” a sufficiently plain concession that she has not, now, such a literatuire. But facts speak more significantly than the rounded periods of Convention orators. Let us look at facts, then. First, turning our attention to the periodical literature of the South, we obtain these results: By the census of 1850, we ascertain that the entire number of periodicals, daily, semi-weekly, weekly, semi-monthly, monthly and quarterly, published in the slave States, including the Dis trict of Columbia, were seven hundred and twenty-two.

These had an aggregate yearly circulation of ninety-two million one hundred and sixty-seven thousand one hundred and twenty-nine.

(‘.2,167,129). The number of periodicals, of every class, published in the nonslaveholding States (exclusive of California) was One thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, with an aggregate yearly circulation of three hundred and thirtythree’million three hundred and eighty-six thousand and eighty-one. (333,386,081). 3,86

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SOUTIHERN LITERATURE. We are awal e that there may be inaccuracies in i ne foregoing estimates; but the compilers of the census, not we, are responsible for them. Besides, the figures are unquestionably as fair for the South as for the North; we accept them, therefore, as a just basis of our comparisons. Nearly seven years have elapsed since these statistics were taken, and these seven.years have wrought an immense change in the journalism of the North, without any corresponding change in that of the South. It is noteworthy that, as a general thing, the principal journals of the free States are more comprehensive in their scope, more complete in every department, and enlist, if not a higher order of talent, at least more talent, than they did seven years ago. This im provement extends not only to the metropolitan, but to thE country papers also. In fact, the very highest literary ability, in finance, in political economy, in science, in sta tism, in law, in theology, in medicine, in the belles-lettres, is laid under contribution by the journals of the nonslaveholding States. This is true only to a very limited degree of Southern journals. Their position, with but few exceptions, is substantially the same that it was ten years ago. They are neither worse nor better-the imbecility and inertia which attaches to everything which slavery touches, clings to them now as tenaciously as it did when Henry A.

Wise thanked God for the paucity of newspapers in the Old Dominion, and the platitudes of “Father” PRitchie were recognized as the political gospel of the South. They have not, so far as we can learn, increased materially in number, nor ill the aggregate of their yearly circulation.

In the free States ro week passes that does not add to the num 387’

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. ber of their journals, -nd extend the circle of their readers and their influence. Since the census tables to which we have referred were prepared, two of the many excellent weekly journals of which the city of NewYork can boast, have sprung into being, and attained an aggregate circulation more than twice as large as that of the entire newspaper press of Virginia in 1850-and exceeding, by some thousands, the aggregate circulation of the two hundred and fifty journals of which Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, could boast at the time above-mentioned. In this connection, we beg leave to introduce the folluwing letter, kindly furnished us by the proprietors of the N.Y. Tribune, in answer to enquiries which we ad dressed to them: TRIBUNE OFFICE. NEw YORKic 30th May, 1857. Mr. IT. R. HELPER, Sir: In answer to your inquiry we inform you that we employ in our building one hundred and seventy-six persons regularly: this does not include our carriers and cartmen, nor does it include the men employed in the Job Office in our building. During the past year we have used in printing The Tribune, Fortyfour thousand nine hundred and seventy nine (44,979) reams of paper weighing two million three hundred and ten thousand one hundred and thirty (2,310,130) pounds. We publish one hundred and seventy-six thousand copies of our weekly edition, which goes to press, the second form, at 7 1-2 o’clo ik. A. M. and is finislle(t at 2 A. IM. the next morning. Our mailers require eighto.en to nineteen hours to mail our Weekly, which makes from thirty to hirty-two cart loads. Very respectfully, GREEI.EY & MCELRATH. 388

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. Throughout the nonslaveholding States, the newspaper or magazine that has not improved during the last decade of years, is an exception to the general rule. Throughout the entire slaveholding States, the newspaper or magazine that has improved during that time, is no less an exception to the general rule that there obtains. Outside of the larger cities of the South, there are not, probably, half a dozen newspapers in the whole slaveholding region that can safely challenge a comparison with the countrypress of the North. What that countrypress was twenty years ago, the countrypress of the South is now. We do not deny that the South has produced able journalists; and that some of the newspapers of her principal cities exhibit a degree of enterprise and talent that cannot fail to command for them the respect of all intelligent men. But these journals, we regret to say, are marked exceptions to the general condition of the Southern press; and even the best of these fall far below the standard of excellence attained by the leading journals of the North. In fact, whether our comparison embraces quantity only, or extends to both quantity and quality, it is found to be immeasurably in favor of the nonslaveholding States, which in journalism, as in all other industrial pursuits, leave their slavery-cursed competitors at an infinite distanice behind them, and thus vindicate the superiority of free institutions, which, recognizing labor as honorable, secure its rewards for all. The literary vassalage of the South to the North constitutes in itself a most significant commentary upon the diatribes of tha former concerning “a purely Southern 889

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. literature.” To begin at the beginning-the Alphabetical Blocks and Educational tables from which our Southern abecedarian takes his initial lesson, were projected and manufactured in the North. Going forward a step, we find the youngling intent in spelling short sentences, or gratifying his juvenile fondness for the fine arts by copy ing the wood-cuts from his Northern primer. Yet another step, and we discover him with his Sanders’ Reader, his Mitchell’s Geography, his Emerson’s Arithmetic, all produced by Northern mind and Northern enterprise. There is nothing wrong in this; it is only a little ridiculous in view of the fulminations of the Southern proslavery press against the North. Occasionally however we are amused by the efforts of the oligarchs to make their own schoolbooks, or to root out of all educational textbooks every reference to the pestilential heresy of freedom. A “gen.

tleman” in Charleston, S. C. is devoting his energies to the preparation of a series of proslavery elementary works, consisting of primers, readers, &c.-and lo I they are all printed, stitched and bound north of Mason and Dixon’s line! A single fact like this is sufficient to overturn whole folios of theory concerning the divinity of slavery. The truth is, that, not schoolbooks alone, but works of almost every class produced by the South, depend upon Northern enterprise and skill for their introduction to the public Mr. DeBow, the eminent Statistician, publishes a Southern Review, purporting to be issued from New Orleans. It is printed and bound in the city of New York. WVe clifi the following paragraph from a recent number of the Vicksburgh (M,iss.) Whig: 390

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. - SOUTHERN ENTERPRIZ.-Even the Mississippi Legislature, at its late session allowed its laws to go to Boston to be printed, and made an appropriation of $3.000 to pay one of its members to go there and read the proof sheets instead of having it done in the State.

and thereb:y assisting in building up a Southern publishing house. What a commnentary on the Yankee-haters!” The Greensboro (N. C.) Patriot thus records a similar contribution, on the part of that State, to “the creation of a purely Southern Literature:” “We have heard it said, that those who had the control of the printing of the revised Statutes of North Carolina, in order to save a few dimes, had the work executed in Boston, in preference to giving the job to a citizen of this State. WVe impugn not the motives of the agents in thi’s matter; but it is a little hltumiliating that no work except the commonest labor, can be done il North Carolina; that everything which requires a little skill, capital, or ingenuity, must be sent North. In the case under consideration. we have heard it remarked, that when the whole bill of expenses connected with the printing of the Revised Statutes in Boston was footed up, it only amounted to a few thousand dollars more than the job would have cost in this State.

But then we have the consolation of knowing that the book camefrom the North, and that it was printed among theabolitio)zists of Boston; the peculiarfrien(Is of North Carolina and the South generally.-Of course we ought to be willing to pay a few extra thousands in consideration of these important facts!” Southern divines give us elaborate “Bible Arguments;”

Southern statists heap treatise upon treatise through which the Federal Constitution is tortured into l’l inoinstrous shapes; Southern novelists bore us ad’.fin-?iu with pictures of the beatitudes of plantation life and the negro-quarters; Southern verse-wrights drone out their 391

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. drowsy dactyls or grow ventricous with their turgid heruics all in defence of slavery,-priest, politician, novelist, bardling, severally ringing the changes upon “the Biblical institution,” “the conservative institution,” “the humanizing institution,” ” the patriarchal institution”-and then-have their books printed on Northern paper, with Northern types, by Northern artizans, stitched, bound and made ready for the market by Northern industry; and yet fail to see in all this, as a true philosophical mind must see, an overwhelming refutation of their miserable sophisms in behalf of a system against which humanity in all its impulses and aspirations, and civilization in all its activities and triumphs, utter their perpetual protest. From a curious article in the “American Publishers Circular” on ” Book Making in America,” we give the fol lowing extracts: It is sorewhat alarming to know that the number of houses now actually engaged in the publishing of books, not including periodicals, amounts to more than three hundred. About threefowths of these are engaged in Beston, NewYork, Philadelphia, and BaItimore-the balance being divided between Cincinnati. Bualo, Aauburn, Albany, Louisville, Chicago. St. Louis, and a few other places. There are more than three thousand booksellers whe dispense the publications of these three hundred, besides six or seven thousand apothecaries. grocers, and hardware dealers, wlt connect literature with drugs, molasses, and nails.

” The best printing in America is probably now done in Cambridge; the best cloth binding in Boston, and the best calf and inorocco in NewYork and Philadelphia. In these two latter styles we are, as yet, a long distance from Heyday, the pride of London. His finish is supreme. There is nothing between it and perfection. ‘ Books hare multinlied to such an extent in our country, that 89e

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. it now takes 750 paper mills, with 2.000 engines in cons-ant operation, to supply the printers, v ho work day and night, elndeavoring to keep their engagements with publishers. These tireless mills produced 270,000,000 pounds of paper the past year, which immense supply has sold for about $27,000,000. A pound and a quarter of rags were required for a pound of paper, and 400,000.000 pounds were therefore consumed in this way last year. The cost of manufacturing a twelve months’

sup ly of paper for the United States, aside from labor and rags, is computed at $4,000,000. * “The Hlarper establishment, the largest of our publishing houses, covers half an acre of ground. If old Mr. Caxton, who printed those stories of the Trojan war so long ago, could follow the Ex-Mayor of NewYork in one of his morning rounds in Franklin Square, he would be, to say the least, a little surprised. IIe would see in one room the floor loaded with the weight of 150 tons of presses. The electrotyping process would puzzle him somewhat; the drying and pressing process would startle him; the bustle would make his head ache; and the stock-room would quite finish him. An edition of IIarpers’ Monthly Magazine alone consists of 175,000. Few persons have any idea how large a number this is as applied to the edition of a book. It is computed that if these magazines were to rain down, and one man should attempt to pick them up like chips, it would take him a fortnight to pick up the copies of one single number, supposing him to pick up one every second, and to work ten hours a day.” “

The rapidity with which books are now manufactured is almost incredible. A complete copy of one of Bulwer’s novels, published across the water in three volumes, and reproduced here in one, was swept through the press in NewYork in fifty hours, and offered for sale smoking hot in the streets.

The fabulous edifice proposed by a Yankee from Vermont, no longer seems an iinpossibilitv.‘Build the establishment according to my plan.’ said he;‘drive a sheep in at one end, and hie shall imme diately come out at the other, four quarters of lamb. a felt hat, a leather apro a. and a quarto Bible.’” S93 17*

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SOUTIIERN LITERATUTRE. The busi less of the MAessrs. Harper, whose establishment is referred to in the foregoing extract, is probably mrore generally diffused over every section of this country than that of any other publishing house. From enquiries recently made of them we learn that they issue, on an average, 3,000 bound volumes per day, throughout the year, and that each volume will average 500 pages-making a total of about one million of volumes, and nat less than five hundred millions of pages per annum. This does not include the Magazine and books in pamphlet form, each of which contains as much matter as a bound volume.Their bills for paper exceed $300,000 annually, and as the average cost is fifteen cenits per pound, they consume more than two millions of pounds-say one thousand tons of white paper. There are regularly employed in their own premises about 550 persons, including printers, binders, engravers, and clerks.

These are all paid in full once a fortnight in bankable money. Besides these, there are numerous authors and artists in every section of the country, who furnish manuscripts and illustrations, on terms generally satisfactory to all the parties interested. The Magazine has a monthly circulation of between 175,000 and 200,000, or about two millions of copies annually. Each number of the Magazine is closed up about the fifth of the month previous to its date. Three or four days thereafter the mailing begins, commencing with more distant subscribers, all of whom are supplied before any copies are sold for delivery in NewYork. The iiitention of the } iblishers is, t,At it shall be delivered as nearly 894

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SOUTHERN LITERATUIRE.F as possibl( on the same day in St. Louis, New-Orleans, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Boston, and NewYork. It takes from ten to twelve days to dispatch the whole edition, (which weighs between four and five tons,) by mail and express. Their new periodical, ” Harpers’

Weekly,” has, in a little more than four months, reached a sale of nearly 70,OOC copies. The mailing of this commences on Tuesday night and occupies about three days. Ex-Mayor Harper, whom we have found to be one of the most affable and estimable gentlemen in the city of NewYork, informed us, sometime ago, that, though he had no means of knowing positively, he was of the opinion that about eighty per cent. of all their publications find final purchasers in the free States-the remainder, about twenty per cent., in the slave States. Yet it is probable that, with one or two exceptions, no other publishing house in the country has so large a per centage of Southern trade. Of the “more than three hundred houses engaged in the publication of books,” to which the writer in the “American Publishers’

Circular” refers, upwaids of nine-tenthls of the number are in the nonslaveholding States, and these represent not less than ninety-nine hundredths of the whole capital invested in the business. Baltimore has twice as many publishers as any other Southern city; and nearly as many as the whole South beside. The census returns of 1850 give but twenty-four publishers for the entire South, and ten of these were in Maryland. The relative disproportion which then existed in this branch of enterprise, between the North and the South, still 391)

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. exists; or, if it has been changed at all, that change is in favor of the North. So of all the capital, enterprise and industry involved in the manufacture of the material that enters into the composition of books. All the paper manufactories of the South do not produce enough to supply a single publishing house in the city of NewYork.Perhaps “a Southern Literature” does not necessarily involve the enterprises requisite to the manufacture of books; but experience has shown that there is a somewhat intimate relation between the author, printer, paper-maker and publisher; in other words, that the intellectual activity which expresses itself in books, is measurable by the mechanical activities engaged in their manufacture.Thus a State that is fruitful in authors will almost necessarily be fruitful in publishers; and the number of both classes will be proportioned to the reading population. The poverty of Southern literature is legitimately shown, therefore, in the paucity of Southern publishers. We do not deny a high degree of cultivated talent to the South; we are familiar with the names of her sons whose genius has made them eminent; all that we insist upon is, that the same accursed influence which has smitten her industrial enterprises with paralysis, and retarded indefinitely her material advancement, has exerted a correspondiug influence upon her literature. How it has done this we shall more fully indicate before we close the chapter. At the “Southern Convention” held some months since at Savannah, a good deal was said about “Southern literature,” and many suggestiomns made in reference to the best means for its promotion. One speaker thought that 396

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. “they could get textbooks at home without going to either Old England or New England for them.” Well-they can try. The effort will not harm them; nor the North either. The orator was confident” that the South had talent enough to do anything that needs to be done, and independence enough to do it.” The talent we shall not deny; the inderendence we are ready to believe in when we see it. When she throws off the incubus of slavery under which she goes staggering like the Sailor of Bagdad under the weight of the Old Man of the Sea, she will prove her independence, and demonstrate her ability “to do anything that needs to be done.” Till then she is but a fettered giant, whose vitals are torn by the dogs which her own folly has engendered. Another speaker, on the occasion referred to, half-unconsciously it would seem, threw a gleam of lighit upon the subject under discussion, which, had not himself and his hearers been bat-blind, would have revealed the clue that conducts from the darkness in which they burrow to the day of redemption for the South. Said he: ” Northern publishers employ the talent of the South and of the whole country to write for them, and pour out thousands annually for it; but Southern men expect to get talent without paying for it. The Southern Qtarterly Review and the Literary M.es.seger are literally struggling for existence, for want of mate. rial aid. * It is not the South that builds up Northern literatnre-they do it themselves. There is talent and mind and poetic genius enough in the South to build up a literature of a hig.h order; but Southern publishers cannot get mioney enough to assist them in their enterprises. and. therefore. the Southl has no literature 397

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SOUTHERN LITERATULTRE. here are truits. “Southern men expect to get tale.

it without paying for it.” A very natural expectation, con sidering that they have been accustomed to have all their material wants supplied by the uncompensated toil of their slaves. In this instance it may seem an absurd one, but it results legitimately from the system of slavery. That system, in fact, operates in a two-fold way against the Southern publisher: first, by its practical repudiation of the scriptural axiom that the laborer is worthy of his hire and secondly, by restricting the circle of readers through the ignorance which it inevitably engenders. How is it that the people of the North build up their literature? Two words reveal the secret: ittelligence-compensation. They are a reading people-the poorest artizan or day-laborer has his shelf of books, or his daily or weekly paper, whose contents he seldom fails to master before retiring at night; and they are accustomed to pay for all the books and papers which they peruse. Readers and payers-these are the men who insure the prosperity of publishers. Where a system of enforced servitude prevails, it is very apt to beget loose notions about the obligation of paying for anything; and many minds fail to see the distinction, morally, between compelling Sambo to pick cotton without paying him wages, or compelling Lippincott & Co. to manufacture books for the planter’s pleasure or edification upon the same liberal terms. But more than this-where a system of enforced servitude prevails, a fearful degree of ignorance prevails also, as its necessary accompaniment. The enslaved masses are, of course, thrust back from the fountains of knowledge by the sti Ing arm of law, while the poor 398

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. nonslaveholding classes are almost as effectually excluded fiom the institutions of learning by their poverty-the sparse population of slaveholding districts being unfavorable to thie maintenance of free schools, and the exigencies of their condition forbidding them to avail themselves of any more costly educational privileges. Northern publishers can” employ the talent of the South and of the whole country to write for them, and pour out thousands annually for it,” simply because a reading population, accustomed to pay for the service which’it receives, enables them to do so. A similar population at the South would enable Southern publishers to do the same. Substitute free labor for slave labor, the institutions of freedom for those of slavery, and it would not long remain true that ” Southern publishers cannot get money enough to assist them in their enterprises, and therefore the South has no literature.”

This is the discovery which the South Carolina orator from whom we quote, but narrowly escaped making, when he stood upon its very edge, and rounded his periods with the truths in whose unapprehended mneanings was hidden this germ of redemption for a nation. The self-stultification of folly, however, was never more evident than it is in the current gabble of the oligarchs about a “Southern literature.” They do not mean by it a healthy, manly, normal utterance of unfettered minds, without which there can be no proper literature; but an emasculated substitute therefor, from which the element of freedom is eliminated; husks, from which the kernel has escaped-a body, from which the vitalizing spirit has fled-a literature which ignore- -manhood by confounding 399

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. it with brutehood; or, at best, deals with all sii iles of freedom as treason against the “peculiar institution.” There is not a single great name in the literary annals of the old or new world that could drawf itself to the stature requisite to gain admission into the Pantheon erected by these devotees of the Inane for their Lilliputian deities. Thank God, a “Southern literature,” in the sense intended by the champions of slavery, is a simple impossibility, rendered such by that exility of mind which they demand in its producers as a prerequisite to admission into the guild of Southern authorship. The tenuous thoughts of such authorlings could not survive a single breath of manly criticism. The history of the rise, progress, arnd decline of their literature could be easily written on a child’s smooth palm, and leave space enough for its funeral oration and epitaph. The latter might appropriately be that which, in one of our rural districts, marks the grave of a still-born infant -

“If so early I am done for. I wonder what I was begun for!” We desire to see the South bear its just proportion in the literary activities and achievements of our common country. It has never yet done so, and it never will until its own manhood is vindicated in the abolition of slavery. The impulse which such a measure would give to all in. dustrial pursuits that deal with the elements of material Prosperity, would be imparted also to the no less valuable but more intangible creations of the mind. Take from the iitellect of the.‘outh the incubus which now oppresses it, and its reboiii d would be glorious; the era of its diviner 400

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. inspirations would begin; and its triumphs would be a perpetual vindication of the superiority of free institutions over those of slavery. To Duyckinek’s “Cyclopedia of Amer’can Literature-a sort of Omnniitm-gatherum that reminds one of Jeremiah’s figs-we are indebted for the following facts: The whole number of ” American authors” whose place of nativity is given, is five hundred and sixty-nine. Of these seventynine were foreign born, eighty-seven were natives of the South, and four hundred and three-a vast majority of the whole, first breathed the vital air in the free North. Many of those who were born in the South, received their education in the North, quite a number of whom became permanent residents thereof. Still, for the purposes of this computation, we count them on the side of the South. Yet how significant the comparison which this computation furnishes i Throwing the foreign born (adopted citizens, mostly residents of the North) out of the reckoning, and the record stands,-Northern authors four hundred and three; Southern, eighty-seven-a differenoe of three hundred and sixteen in favor of the North I And this, probably, indicates very fairly the relative intellectual activity of the two sections. We accept the facts gleaned from Duyckinck’s work as a basis, simply, of our estimate: not as being absolutely accurate in themselves, though they are doubtless reliable in the main, and certainly as fair for the South as they are for the North. We might dissent from the judgment of the compiler in reference to the propriety of applying the terin “literature” to much that his compila 401

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. tion contains; but as tastes have proverbially differed from the days of the venerable dame who kissed her cow -not to extend our researches into the condition of things anterior to that interesting event-we will not insist upon our view of the mattei, but take it for granted that he has disentombed from forgotten reviews, newspapers, pamphlets, and posters, a fair relative proportion of “authors” for both North and South, for which “American Litera. ture” is unquestionably under infinite obligations to him I Griswold’s “Poets and Poetry of America” and Thomas Buchanan Read’s “Female Poets of America” furnish evidence, equally conclusive, of the benumbing influence of slavery upon the intellect of a country. Of course, these compilers say nothing about Slavery, and probably never thought of it in connection with their respective works, but none the less significant on that account is the testimony of the facts which they give. From the last edition of Griswold’s conipilatioii, (whi(h contains thl naimes of none of our female writers, hlie having included tlhemn in a separate volLumne) we find the names of one hundred and fortyone writers of verse: of these one was foreign-born, seventeen natives of the slaveholding, and one hundred and twenty-three of the nonslaveholding States. Of our female poets, whose nativity is given by Mr. Read, leyen are natives of the South; and seventy-three of the North!

These simple arithmetical figures are God’s eternal Scripture against the folly and madness of Slavery, and need no aid of rhetoric to give emphasis to the startling eloquence of tb.ir revelations. But, after all, literature is not to be estimated by cubi, 402

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SOUTHERN. ITERATURE. feet or pounds averdupois, nor measured by the l)ushel or the yardstick. Quality, rather than quantity, is the true standard of estimation. The fact, however, matters little for our present purpose; for the South, we are sorry to say, is as much behind the North in the former as in the latter. We do not forget the names of Gayarre, Benton, Simms, and other eminent citizens of the Slave States, who have by their contributions to American letters conferred honor upon themselves and upon our common country, when we affirm, that those among our authors who enjoy a cosmopolitan reputation, are, with a few honorable exceptions, natives of the Free North; and that the names which most brilliantly illustrate our literature, in its every department, are those which have grown into greatness under the nurturing influence of free institutions.

“Comparisons are odious,” it is said; and we will not, unnecessarily, render them more so, in the present instance, by contrasting, name by name, the literary men of the South with the literary men of the North. We do not depreciate the former, nor overestimate the latter. But let us ask, whence come our geographers, our astronomers, our chemists, our meteorologists, our ethnologists,> and others, who have made their names illustrious in the domain of the Natural Sciences? Not firom the Slave States,. certainly. In the Literature of Law, the South can furnish no name that can claim peership with those of Story and of Kent; in History, none that tower up to the altitude of Bancroft, Prescott, Hildreth, Motley and Washington Irving; in Theology, none that can challenge favorable comparise with those of Edwards, Dwight, 403

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SOUTHERN ITERATU’RE. Channing, Taylor, Bushnell, Tyler and Wayland in Fie, tion, none tl at take rank with Cooper, and Mrs. Stowc; and but few that may do so with even the second class novelists of the North;* in Poetry, none that call commnand position with Bryant, Halleck, and Percival, with Whit tier, Longfellow, and Lowell, with Willis, Stoddard and Taylor, with Holmes, Saxe, and Burleigh; and-we might add twenty other Northern names before we found their Southern peer, with the exception of poor Poe, who, within a narrow range of subjects, showed himself a poet of consummate art, and occupies a sort of debatable ground between our first and second-class writers. We might extend this comparison to our writers in every department of letters, from the compiler of schoolbooks to the author of the most profound ethical treatise, and with precisely the same result. But we forbear. The task is distasteful to our State pride, and would lave been entire(ly avoided had not a higher principle urged us to its perfoirmance. It remains for us now to enquire, WHAT HAS PRODUCED THIS

LITERARY PAUPERISMI or THE SOUTH? One single word, most pregnant in its terrible meanings, answers the question. That word is-SLAVERY I But we have been so long accustomed to the ugly thing itself, and have become so familiar with its no less ugly fruits, that the common mind fails to apprenend the connection between the one, as cause, and the other as effect; and * We Soulithons all alory in the literary repuiation of Mr.

Simms; vet we must confess his inferiority to Cool)er, and prejudice alone w%ill refiuse to admit, that. whlile in the art of the noveli.st he is the superi-ior of Mrs. Stowe’ genius he must take position beloc her. 404

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SOUTI-TEIRN LITERArTRE. it therefore becomes necessary to give a moire letailed answer to our interrogatory. Obviously, then, the conditions requisite to a flourishing literature are wanting at the South. These are I. Readers. The people of the South are not a reading people. Many of the adult population never learned to read; still more, do not care to read.

We have been impressed, during a temporary sojourn in the North, with the difference between the middle and laboring classes in the Free States, and the same classes in the Slave States, in this respect. Passing along the great routes of travel in the former, or taking our seat in the comfortable cars that pass up and down the avenues of our great commercial metropolis, we have not failed to contrast the employmenit of our fellow-passengers with that which occupies the attention of the corresponding classes on our various Southern routes of travel. In the one case, a large proportion of the passengers seem intent upon mastering the contents of the newspaper, or some recently published book. The merchant, the mechanic, the artizan, the professional man, and even the common laborer, going to or returning from their daily avocations, are busy with their morning or evening paper, or engaged in an intelligent discussion of some topic of piblic interest. This is their leisure hour, and it is given to the acquisition of such information as may be of imroiate or ultimate use, or to the cultivation of a taste for elegant literature. In the other case, newspapers and books seem generally ignored, and noisy discussions of village and State politics, he tobacco and cotton crops, filibusterism in Cuba, Nicaragua, 105 I

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. or Sonora, the price of negroes generally, and especially of “fiie-looking wenches,” the beauties of lynch-law, the delights of horse-racing, the excitement of street fights with bowieknives and revolvers, the “manifest destiny” theory that justifies the stealing of all territory contiguous to our own, and kindred topics, constitute the warp and woof of conversation. All this is on a level with the general intelligence of the Slave States. If is true, these States have their educated men,-the majority of whom owe their literary culture to the colleges of the North. Not that there are no Southern colleges-for there are institutions, so called, in a majority of the Slave States.Some of them, too, are not deficient in the appointments requisite to our higher educational institutions; but as a general thing, Southern colleges are colleges only in name, and will scarcely take rank with a third-rate Northern academy, while our academies, with a few exceptions, are immeasurably inferior to the public schools of NewYork, Philadelphia, and Boston. The truth is, there is a v ast inert mass of stupidity and ignorance, too dense for individual effort to enlighten or remove, in all communities cursed with the institution of slavery. Disguise the unwelcome truth as we may, slavery is the parent of ignorance, and ignorance begets a whole brood of follies and of vices, and every one of these is inevitably hostile to literary culture. The masses, if they think of literature 1t a11, think of it only as a costly luxury, to be monoplizad by the few. The prol -rtioi: of white adults over twenty years of age, 406

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. ii each State, who cannot read and write, to tile whoIle whlite population, is as follows: Connecticut, 1 to every 568

Louisiana, Vermrnont, 1 ” 473 MIlryland N. Itampshire, 1 ” 310

AMiss.issippi, Massachusetts, 1;’ 166 Delaware, Maine, I ” 108 South Carolina, Michigan, 1 ” 97 Missouri, RPhode Island, 1 ” 67 Alabama, New Jersey, 1 ” 58 Kentucky, New York, 1 ” 56 Georgia, Pennsylvania, 1 ” 50

Virginia, Ohio, 1 ” 43 Arkansas, Indiana, 1 ” 18 Tennessee, IllirnoIs, 1 “

17 North Carolina, In this table, Illinois and Indiana are the only Free States which, in point of education, are surpassed by any of the Slave States; and this disgraceful fact is owing, principally, to the influx of foreigners, and to immigrants from the Slave States. NewYork, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania have also a large foreign element in their population, that swells very considerably this percentage of ignorance.

For instance, NewYork shows, by the last census, a population of 98,722
who cannot read and write, and of this number 68,052 are foreigners; Rhode Island, 3,601, of whom 2,359 are foreigners; Pennsylvania, 76,272, of whom 24,989 are foreigners. On the other hand, the ignorance of the Slave States is princi pally native ignorance, but comparatively few emigrants from Europe seeking a home upon a soil cursed with “the peculiar institution.” North Carolina has a foreign popu. 407 1 to every 38i 1 ” 27
l ” 20 1 ” 18 1 ” 17 1 “, 16 1 “, 15 l ” 134 1 C’ 13 1 ” 12I 1 ” 11~ 1 C”

11 1 ” 7 -

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. lation of only 340, South Carolina only 104, Arkansas only 27, Tennessee only 505, and Virginia only 1,137, who cannot read and write; while the aggregate of native ignorance in these five States (exclusive of the slaves, who are debarred all education by law) is 278,948 I No longer ago than 1837, Governor Clarke, of Kentucky, in his message to the Legislature of that State, dec, lared that “by the computation of those most familiar with the subject, onethird of the adalt population of the State are unable to write their namnes;” and Governor Campbell, of Virginia, reported to the Legislature, that “from the returns of ninety-eight clerks, it appeared that of 4,614 applications for marriage licenses in 1837, no less than 1,047 were made by men unable to write.” In the Slave States the proportion of free white children between the ages of five and twenty, who are found at any school or college, is not quite one-fifth of the whole; in the Free States, the proportion is more than three-fifths. We could fill our pages with facts like these to an almost indefinite extent, but it cannot be necessary. No truth is more demonstrable, nay, no truth has been more abundantly demonstrated, than this: that Slavery is hostile to geneal educatiou; its strength, its very life, is in the ignorance anid stolidity of the masses; it naturally and nec~essrily represes general literary culture. To talk, therefore, of the ” creation of a purely Southern Literature,” without readers to demand, or writers to produce it, is the mere babble of idiocy. II. Aunther thiing essential to the creation of a literature is MENTAL FREEDOM. How much of that is to be found j 408 I

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. in the region of Slavery? We will not say that there is none; but if it exists, it exists as the outlawed antagonist of human chattelhood. Hie who believes that the despo. tism of the accursed institution expends its malignant forces upon the slave, leaving intact the white and (so called) free population, is the victim of. a most monstrous delu sion. One end of the yoke that bows the African to the dust, presses heavily upon the neck of his Anglo-Saxon master. The entire mind of the South either stultifies itself into acquiescence with Slavery, succumbs to its authority, or chafes in indignant protest against its monstrous pretensions and outrageous usurpations. A free press is an institution almost unknown at the South. Free speech is considered as treason against slavery: and when people dare neither speak nor print their thoughts, free thought itself is well nigh extinguished. All that can, be said in defene of human bondage, may be spoken freely; but question either its morality or its policy, and the terrors of lynch law are at once invoked to put down the pestilent heresy. The legislation of the Slave States for the suppression of the freedom of speech and the press, is disgraceful and cowardly to the last degree, and can find its parallel only in the meanest and bloodiest despotisms of the Old0 World.

No institution that could bear the light would thus sneakingly seek to burrow itself in utter darkness. Look, too, at the mobbings, lynchings, robberies, social and political proscriptions, and all manner of nameless outrages, to which men in the South have been subjected, simply upon the suspicion that they were the enemies of Slavery. We could fill page 18 J

409 II

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. after page of this volume with the record of such atrocities. But a simple reference to them is enough. Our countrymen have not yet forgotten why John C. Underwood was, but a few months since, banished from his home in Virginia, and the accomplished Hedreck driven from his College professorship in North Carolina. They believed Slavery inimical to the best interest of the South, and for daring to give expression to this belief in moderate yet manly language, they were ostracised by the despotic Slave Power, and compelled to seek a refuge from its vengeance in States where the principles of freedom are better understood. Pending the last Presidential election, there were thousands, nay, tens of thousands of voters in the Slave States, who desired to give their suffrages for the Republican nominee, John C. Fremont, himself a Southron, but a nonslaveholder. The Constitution of the United States guaranteed to these men an expression of their preference at the ballotbox. But were they permitted such an expression? Not at all. They were denounced, threatened, overawed, by the Slave Power-and it is not too much to say that there was really no Constitutional acion,-that is, no such free expression of political preferences as the Constitution aims to secure-in a majority of the Slave States. From a multiplicity of facts like these, the inference is unavoidable, that Slavery tolerates no freedom of the press-no freedom of speech-no freedom of opinion. To expect that a whole-souled, manly literature can flourish under such conditions, is as absurd as it would be to look for health amid the pestilential vapors of a dungeon, or 4 410 i L

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SOUTHERN LITERATURE. for the continuance of animal life wit out the aid of oxygen. III. Mental activity-force-enterprise-are requisite to the creation of literature. Slavery tends to sluggishness-imbecility-inertia.

Where free thought is trea son, the masses will not long take the trouble of thinking at all. Desuetude begets:ncompetence-the dare-ot soon becomes the cannot. The mind thus enslaved, necessarily loses its interest in the processes of other minds; and its tendency is to sink down into absolute stolidity or sottishness. Our remarks find melancholy confirmation in the abject servilism in which multitudes of the nonslaveholding whites of the South are involved. In them, ambition, pride, self-respect, hope, seem alike extinct. Their slaveholding fellows are, in some respects, in a still more unhappy condition helpless, nerveless, ignorant, selfish; yet vainglorious, self-sufficient and brutal. Are these the chosen architects who are expected to build up “a purely Southern literature?” The truth is, slavery destroys, or vitiates, or pollutes, whatever it touches. No interest of sociefy escapes the influence of its clinging curse. It makes Southern religion a stench in the nostrils of Christendom-it makes Southern politics a libel upon all the principles of Republicanism it makes Southern literature a travesty upon the honora ble profession of letters. Than the better class of South ern authors themselves, none will feel more keenly the truth of our remarks. They write books, but can find for them neither publishers nor remunerative sales at the South The executors of Calhoun seek, for his works, a i 411

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S(oUTHIIEFN LITERATURE. Northern publisher. Ben-ton writes history &nd prepares voluminous compilations, which are given to the world through a Northern publisher. Simms writes novels and poems, and they are scattered abroad from the presses of a Northern publisher. Eighty per cent. of all the copies sold are probably bought by Northern readers. When will Southern authors understand their own interests? When will the South, as a whole, abandoning its present suicidal policy, enter upon that career of prosperity, greatness, and true renown, to which God by his word and his providences, is calling it? “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” Our limits, not our materials, are exhausted. We would gladly say more, but can only, in conclusion, add as the result of our investigations in this department of our sub ject, that Literature and Liberty are inseparable; the one can never have a vigorous existencyitkout being wedge to the other. i 412 i k ‘i 4 i s If

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CONCLUSION. Our work is done. It is the voice of the nonslaveholding whites of the South, through one identified with them by interest, by feeing, by position. That voice, by whomsoever spoken, must yet be heard and heeded. The time hastens-the doom of slavery is written-the redemption of the South draws nigh. In taking leave of our readers, we know not how we can give more forcible expression to our thoughts and intentions than by saying that, in concert with the intelligent free voters of the North, we, the nonslaveholding whites of the South, expect to elevate JOHN C.

FEEMONT, CASSIUS M. CLAY, JAMES G. BImNEY, or some other Southern nonslaveholder, to the Presidency in 1860; and that the patriot thus elevated to that dignified station will, through our cordial cooperation, be succeeded by WITLIAM H. SEWARr, CHARLES SUMNER, JOHN McLEAN, or some other nonslaveholder of the North; and furthermore, that if, in these or in any other similar cases, the oligarchs do not quietly submit to the will of a constitutional majority of the people, as expressed at the ballotbox, the first battle between freedom and slavery-will be fought at home-and may God defend the right I E END. 413 0

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I 11 i 0

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GENERAL INDEX. Abstract of the Author’s Plan for the Abolition of Slavery, 155. Achlenwall, 29. Adams, John Quincy, 239. Agriculture and other outdoor pursuits, number of free white male Southrons engaged in, 298.

Agricultural Products.-See Corn, Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Hay, Cotton, Tobacco, &c. &~. Animals Slaughtered, Value of, 71. Antislavery Letters from native Southrons, 874. Area of the several States and Territories 143. Aristotle, 256. Attorneys-General, 812. Baltimore, Letter from the Mayor of, 837. Baltimore, Past, Present, and Future, 852. Baltimore, Why this Work was not published there, 360. Bancroft, George, 384. Bank Capital of the several States, 286. Banks, James, 384. Baptist Testimony, 263. Barley, 36. Barnes, Rev. Albert, 259. Beans and Peas, 37. Beattie, James, 251. Beeswax and Honey, 64. Benton, Thomas H., 19, 105, 167, 207.

Bible Testimony, 275-Bible Cause Cont:!butions, 29. Birney, James G., 214, 413. Blackstone, Sir William, 248. Blair, Francis P., 105, 167, 213.

Bolling, Philip A., 211. Book Making in America, 392. Booth, Abraham, 268.

Boston, Letter from the Mayor of, 338. Botts, John M., 167. Brisbane, Rev.

Mr., 263. Brissot, 253. Brooklyn, Letter from the Mayor of, 839 Brougham, Lord, 250. Browne, R. K., 322. Buchanan, James, 170. Buckwheat, 37.

Buffalo, Letter from the Mayor of, 344. Buffon, 253. Burke, Edmund, 250.

Butler Bishop, 261.

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GENERAL INDEX Butter and Cheese, 64. Cameron, Paul C., 49, 55. Canals, miles of, in the several States: 28b Cane, Sugar, 53, 65. Cortwright, Dr., of New-Orleans, 301. Catholic Testimony, 271. Chandler, Mr., of Virginia, 211. Charleston, Letter fiom the Mayor of, 340. Chicago, Letter fiom, 342.

Churches, Value of, in the several States, 294 Cicero, 254. Cincinnati, Letter from the Mayor of, 340. Cities, nine Free and nine Slave, 847.

Clarke, Dr. Adam, 269. Clarke, Judge, of Mississippi, 223. Clay, Henry, 205. Clay, Cassius M., 206, 301, 413. Clay, C. C., 56. Clinton, DeWitt, 242. Clover and Grass Seed, 37. Coke, Sir Edward, 249. Colonization Movements, 183. Colonization Cause Contributions, 296. Commercial Cities-Southern Commerce, 33 Comparison between the Free and the Slavt States, 11 Corn, 35, 69. Cotton, 63, 65. Cowper, William, 247. Cragin, A.

H., 190. Curran, John Philpot, 250. Curtis, Mr., of Virginia, 101. Darien (Georgia) Resolutions, 231. Davis, Henry Winter, 167. Deaths in the several States in 1850, 297. DeBow, J. D. B., 30, 50, 83. Dublin University Magazine, 251. Emigration to Liberia, 183. Episcopal Testimony, 261. Etheridge, Emerson, 167, 178. Expenditures of the several States, 80.

Exports, 283. Facts and Arguments by the Wayside, 860. Farmrs, Cash Value of, 71. Faulkner, Charles James, 98, 175. Flax, 62-Flaxseed, 38.

Fortescue, Sir John, 249. Fox, Charles James, 246. Franklin, Benjamin, 235. Free Figures and Slave, 281. Free White Agriculturalists in the Slave States, 298. i I ! I I ! 416 4

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GENERAL INDEX. Freedom and S.avery at the Fair, 323. Freedom in the South, Progress of, 367. Fremont, John Charles, 170, 212, 410), 41. Gaston, Judge, of North Carolina, 225. Garden Products, Value of, 38 Goethe, 254.

Goodloc, Daniel R., 112 G(oldsmith, Oliver, 384. Giahail, William H., 167.

G,aves, CIlvin, 167. Greeley, lioace, 364. Gi-etius, 253. Hsll, Dr.

Jamnes, 182. Hamilton, Alexander, 237. hIammond, Gov., 165, 801. Hampden, John, 249. Harper Brothers, 394. Harrington, James, 249. Hay, 53.

HIedlrick, B. S., Prof., 305, 410. Hemnp, 53, 62. Henry, Patrick, 84, 200.

Hildreth, Richard, 384. Hoffman, HII. W., 167. Honey, 64. Hops, 62.

Ilorsley, Bishop, 261. How Slavery can be Abolished, 123. Hunt, Freeman, 349. Hurlbut, William Henry, 229, 316. Illiterate Poor Whites of the South, 376. Illiterate White Adults, 291, 407 Imp)orts, 283. Indian Corn, 35, 69. Inhabitants to the Square Mile, 143. Inventions, New, Patents issued on, in 1856, 294. Iredell, Judge, 210. Jay, John, Judge, 237. Jay, John, Esq., 261. Jay, William, 239. Jeffcrson, Thomas, 195, 222. Johnson, Samuel, Dr., 248. Kansas, Aid for, 318. I(emnp, Henry, 273. Lactantius, 255. Lafayette, Gen., 252-0. Lafayette, 252. Lawrence, Abbott and Amos, 106. Leigh, Mr., of Virgiu-a, 210. Leo X., 255. Liberia, Emigration 3 1
q3, 4.11

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GENERAL INDEX. Libraries Other than Private, 289. Live Stock, Value of, 71. Locke, John, 246. Louis X., 253. Louisville, Letter from the Mayor of, 341. Luther, Martin, 254. McDowell, Gov., 209. McLane, of Delaware, 215.

Macfarland, Wm. H., 167. Macknight, James, D.D., 251. Madison, Jamnes, 82, 199. Mansfield, Lord, 246. Manufactures, Products of, 284. Maple Sugar, 63. Martin, Luther, 216. Marshall, Humphrey, 167 MIarshall, Thomas, 211, Mason, James M., 223. Mason, John W., 384. Mason, Col., of Virginia, 208.

Massachusetts and North Carolina, 14. Maury, M. F., 213. Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, 221. Methodist Testimony, 269. Miitia Force of the Several States, 286. ~liller, H. W., 167. .vliller, Prof., of Glasgow, 251. Milton, John, 248. Missionary Cause Contributions, 296.

Monroe, James, 200. Montesquieu, 252. Moore, Mr., of Virginia, 101.

Morehead, John M., 167. National Political Power of the Several States, 292. Natives of the Slave States in the Free States, and Natives of he Free States in the Slave States, 304. New.-Bedford, Letter from the Mayor of, 345. New-Orleans, Letter from the Mayor of, 337. ,Newspapers and Periodicals, 290. New-Yolk and Virginia, 12. NewYork and North Carolina, 325. NewYork City, Letter fiom the Mayor of, 336. Norfolk, Letter f om, 344. North American and United States Gazette, 87, 111, 114. North Carolina and Massachusetts, 14. North Carolina and NewYork 325. Northern Testimony, 235. Nott, J. C., Dr. 302, 303. Oats, 35, 69. Oglethorpe, Gen., 230. i I 418

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GENERAL:NDEX. Orchard Products, Value of, 38. Patents Issued on New Inventions, 294. Pennsylvania and South Carolina, 17. Perry, B. F., 229.

Pettyjohn, Charles, 863. Philadelphia, Letter from the Mayor of, 337.

Pinkney, William, 210, 215. Pitt, William, 246. Plato, 256. Polybius, 256.

Pope Gregory XVI., 271. Pope Leo X., 255. Popular Vote for President in 1856, 293. Population of the Several States, 144. Porteus, Bishop, 261.

Postmasters-General, 311. Post Office Statistics, 287. Potatoes, 36, 69.

Powell, Mr., of Virginia, 102. Precepts and Sayings of the Old Testament, 276. Precepts and Sayings of the New Testament, 277. Presbyterian Testimony, 259. Presidents of the United States, 307. Presidential Elections in the U. S. from 1796 to 1856. 317. Preston, Mr., of Virginia, 212. Price, Dr., of London, 248. Providence, Letter from the Mayor of, 343. Railroads, Miles of, in the Several States, 285. Randolph, John, of Roanoke, 201. Randolph, Thomas M., 202. Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, 202.

Randolph, ]eeyton, 204. Randolph, Edmund, 204. Raynal, The Abbe, 273.

Raynor, Kenneth, 167, 169. Recapitulation of the Quantity and Value of Bushlel-Measure Pro. ducts, 39-40. Recapitulation of the Quantity and Value of PoundMeasure Pro ducts, 65. Recapitulation of the Value of Farms and Domestic Animals, 72. Real and Personal Property, 80. Reid, Mr., of Georgia, 233. Revenue of the Several States, 80. Rice, 53, 65. Richmond, Letter from, 342. Ritchie, Thomas, 92, 105. Rives, Mr., of Virginia, 101, 104. Rousseau, 253. Ruffin, Judge, of North Carolina, 224. Rre, 36, 69, 2.

419

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GENERAL INDEX. Savannah, Lettcr from the Mayor of, 845. Schools Public, 288. Scott, Thomas, (Commen;ator), 260. Secretaries of State, 309.

Secretaries of the Interior, 312. Secretaries of the Treasury, 313.

Secretaries of War, 314. Sec’etaries of thle Navy, 315. Sliaksreare, 247.

Slavelolders, Number of, in the United States, 146. Slaves, Value of, at $400 per head, 306. Slavery, Leoislative Acts aaainst, 361. Slavery Thoughtful-Signs of Contrition, 365. Smith, Gerrit, 318. Socrates, 256.

South Carolina and Pennsylvania, 17. Southern Literature, 383. Southern T1estimony against Slavery, 188. Sti)eake,s of the Ilouse of Representatives, 310. St. Louis, Letter frorm the Mayor of, 339. Stanly, Edward, 167. States, the Seveial, when First Settled, 321-322. Statistics, Science of, 29, 30. Stuait, A Tl. I., 167. Sum)mers, Mlr., of Virginia, 212. Supremie Court Judcres of, 308. T,arver, M., 164. Taylor, Wim. C., L.L.D., 29. Territories, toe, Area and Population of, 145. Testiinony of the Nations, 245. Testiimoiy of the Chuiches, 258. Tobacco, 53, 62. 78.

Toiiinaze of the Several States, 283. Tract Cause Contributions, 295.

Unideriwood, John C., 410. Virginia aud New-Yoik, 12. Votes cast for President in 1856, 293. [2983. Votes, Classification of, Polled at the Five Points Precinct in 158, WValker, Robert J., 105. Warren, Joseph, Gen., 242. Washington, George, Gen., 193. Wayland, Francis, D.D., 264.

Wealth of the Several States, 80. Webster, Daniel, 240. Webstei, Noah, 117, 241, 384. Wesley, John, Rev., 269. Weston, George M., 164. Wheat, 35, 69, 78. Whyl the North has surpass’d the South. Wise lHenry A., 13, 9(‘, 102. 420 k i I I i I I

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