Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-03-21
FROM THE CITY OF WASHINGTON GAZETTE.

The same spirit that first Induced the
importation Of slaves into these states
when colonies, now opera es to the in
PRODUCTION of them beyond the Misslssip
pl. 1t is 8hirU greedy Qgam. This
is the bane of the American character.
New settlers from the south press on
westwardly, under the influence OF idea
OF speedy fortunes and as the gradual
accumulation of wealth does not ente
into their calculations, they are in hur-
ry, and require slaves whom they can
compel to tear open the bosom Of the
earth, in which they seek the means Of
Immediately acquiring riches equal to
those OF many an European prince. 1t
is this moral malady that blasts the re-
putatlon of our countrymen, by laying
them open to the consures Of the more
refined part Of the civilized world.
Is It not a rcproach to the slave hold
ers OF the United States, that, willis,
they, under a republican government,
are using all their efforts to extend and
perpetuate slavery, the Emperor OF Rus
be adopting measures to release the
numerous vassals OF his vast empire
from bondage? 1t is in vain to disguise
the fact; the citizens Of the slave hold
ing states do not desire that the condi-
ton OF the blacks should be changed ;
they wish to retain them in thraldom.
They abhor the thought of labor; and ii
solitary individual here and there
springs up amidst the gloom OF that sub
lection in which the African race is held,
only tends to shew US more distinctly
how intensely dark that scene oil servi-
tude is.
The river Ohio washes the shores OF
two slave holding states, and OF three
states composed offreemen. The fourth
census will shew how the growth OF the
former is retarded, and that of the latter
promoted, by the difference which e%-
lists between them with regard to slave
and free population. IN Ohio, i'll In
diana, i'll Illinois, labor is honorable.
Even the wcalthiest do not dlsdain per-
soDaIly to attend 10 agricultural and
other manly pursuits. 1t Is there that
human nature is truly elevated. With
no slaves by his side, The freeman walks
abroad, respectable and independent,
however poor.
Compare Pennsylvania with Virginia.
Pennsylvania contains about 10000
square miles of territory. The terrific
ry of Virginia is estimated at 10000
square miles. Thus Virginia is much
larger than Pennsylvania, and the repfe-
sentaton of the former compared to that
of the latter, at the adoption ofthe federal
constitution, in 1888, was ten TO eight.
The representation of the two states Is
now equal, notv outstanding Virginia has
the advantage OF counting three-Riths OF
her slaves as electors. New I DIRK has
run still further ahead. tthe adoption
ofthe constitution she had but sig repre-
sentatives in Congress. She has now
twenty seven; and her territorial limits
do not include $4,000 square miles; not
more, indeed, than about $4,000. In
1898 Virginia stood at the head OF the
Union. She is now in the second rank.
1t is the slave population that weighs her
down; and every new census Will de-
monstrate that she sinks lower and lower
in the political scale Of the Union.
What strange fatality is it that thus in
duces the slave states to cling to the
cause of their own degradation The
finger OF II eaven itself seems to point to
the means of removing the evil which
preys upon them. The nations OF
Christendom have combined to put an
end to the African slave trade On the