this unproductive labor. Now we must earnestly ask an explanation of these phenomena, upon the principle that slave labor is unproductive. There are other causes, too, which have operated in concert with the Federal Government, to depress the South. The climate is unhealthy, and upon average, perhaps one- tenth of the labor is suspended during the sickly months. There is a great deal of travelling, too, from this cause to the North, which abstracts the capital from the South, and spreads it over the North. The emigration from the South to the West, as we have before seen, is very great and very injurious; and added to all this, the standard of comfort is much higher in the slaveholding than the non-slaveholding States.* All these circumstances together, are sufficient to account for the depressed condition of the South, without asserting that slave labor is valueless. * In the Virginia debate, it was said that the slow progress of the Virginia population was a most unerring symptom of her want of prosperity, and the inefficacy of slave labor. Now we protest against this criterion, unless very cautiously applied. Ireland suffers more fr want and famine than any other country in Europe, and yet her pop÷flation advances almost as rapidly as ours, and it is this very increase which curses the country with the plague or famine. In the Highlands of Scotland, they have a very sparse population, scarcely increasing at all; and yet they are much better fed, clothed, &c., than in Ireland. Malthus has proved, that there are two species of checks which repress redundant populations-positive and preventive. It is the latter which keeps down the Scotch population; while the former, always accompanied with misery, keeps down the Irish. We believe, at this time, the preventive checks are in full operation in Virginia. The people of this State live much better than the same classes to the North, and they will not get married unless there is a prospect of maintaining their families in the same style they have been accustomed to live in. We believe the preventive checks may commence their operation too soon for the wealth of a State, but they always mark a high degree of civilization-so that the slow progress of population in Virginia turns out be her highest eulogy. But we believe all other causes as dust in the balance," when compared with the operation of the Federal Govern ment. How does it happen that Louisiana, with a greater propor. tional numbers of slaves than any other State in the Union, with the most insalubrious climate, with one-fourth of her white population spread over the more northern States in the sickly season, and with a higher standard of comfort than perhaps any other State in the Union, is nevertheless one of the most rapidly flourishing in the whole southern country? The true answer is, she has been so fortunately situated as to be able to reap the fruits of Federal protection. "Midas's wand" has touched her, and she has reaped the golden harvest. There is no complaint there of the unproductiveness of slave labor. But it is time to bring this long article to a close; it is upon a subject which we have most reluctantly discussed; but, as we have already said, the example was set from a higher arter; the seal has been broken, and we therefore deter.ned to enter fully into the discussion. If our positions be true, and it does seem to us they may be sustained by reasoning almost as conclusive as the demonstrations of the mathematician, it follows, that the time for emancipation has not yet arrived, and perhaps it never will. We hope, sincerely, that the intelligent sons of Virginia will ponder before they move-before they enter into a scheme which will destroy more than half Virginia's wealth, and drag her down from her proud and elevated station among the mean things of the earth, and when, Sampson-like, she shall, by this ruinous scheme, be shorn of all her power and all her glory, the passing stranger may at some future day exclaim, The Niobe of nations-there she stands, "Friendless and helpless in her voiceless woe." Once more, then, do we call upon our statesmen to pause, ere they engage in this ruinous scheme. The power of man has limits, and he should never attempt impossibilities. We do believe it is beyond the power of man to separate the elements of our population, even if it were desirable. The deep and solid foundations of society cannot be broken up by the vain fiat of the legislator. We must recollect that the laws of Lycurgus were promulgated, the sublime eloquence of Demosthenes and Cicero was heard, and the glorious achieve ́ments of Epaminondas and Scipio were witnessed, in countries where slavery existed-without for one moment loosening the tie between master and slave. We must recollect, too, that Poland has been desolated; that Kosciusko, Sobieski, Scrynecki, have fought and bled for the cause of liberty in that country; that one of her monarchs annulled, in words, the tie between master and slave, and yet the order of nature has, in the end, vindicated itself, and the dependence between master and slave has scarcely for a moment ceased. We must recollect, in fine, that our own country has waded through two dangerous wars-that the thrilling eloquence of the Demosthenes of our land has been heard with rapture. exhorting to death, rather than slavery,-that the most libe ral principles have ever been promulgated and sustained, ir our deliberate bodies, and before our judicial tribunals—anċ the whole has passed by without breaking or tearing asunde the elements of our social fabric. Let us reflect on thes things, and learn wisdom from experience; and know tha the relations of society, generated by the lapse of ages, canno be altered in a day, 2590 UNIV. OF MICHIGAN, 8 1813 |