Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1844-07-18

swamp, another n coal field. hundreds of others cover
ed with the waters of rivers, lakes and inland seas;
but ON the whole, taking the good with the bad. the
city pavcrncn, and the turnpike road. and the wood
land with the arabic farm. in the long average, six
acres Of land IA he west of Euope, are barely sufh-
cient To- raise food for 9 haman being. Beyond this,
with the strictcSt economy, and highest skill, and
most unfincting industry, European. lands have not
gone. Indeed, long before the population reaches tins
point. voluntary eng alton begins with those no
have the means; and when the point Is fully reached,
the guardians of the poor are busy f%rcighting ships
10 carry of their paupers.
But all these Europeans do not live by agriculture.
One half at least, - the books say. I've in the cities
and towns. in London with It's millions. in Paris. Vi
emma. &c. where tradc~mcn can flourish without oc-
cupying their shares Of the land. Not - our Amcri-
can slaves; they, a we have seen. must live in the
country, and use mp their fll proportion # the soil.
And hence a., we know. there are no lnrgc towns n
slave States. except such as are supported BY COM
mercc with airold. More than fifteen sIXtcenths Of
all the inirabitant~ Of those States, as shown by the
last census. Ike on farms.
Remembering now that the slave. Whatever hi, en-
81 lvngnt. produces loss and wastes more than the
freeman. and add il u The fact that from the nature of
his only occupation. he requires more land. and II VIII
be- easy to see that # six acre, on the average. are re-
quircd 10 support a freeman. who works for himself. a
good deal mere VIII be necessary 10 make food for a
human being under Tie ignorant, lazy, aud ~thr.fsless
culture of a slave.
IT las Dttn SAID. ana VII: a1farcnt tFuiii. that from
t~liirty-fvc to f,rty in the square nile. is about rs large
a population A. Slave labor can support. The riheiBS
of England began to be freed when tie population at
tanned tIi> rate. many hundred year, ago. Delaware,
where slavery j. nearly worn out, the entire number
IF It's slaves beng but 1850. has an avcra &c Of little
over thirty-fyc and those parts of Maryland and
Virginia. which have approached this average. find
slave labor unproductive, and scarcely more than adc-
quatc To- is own support.
Here. then we have the two extremes. Slave
~ begins 10 be Il bad business for the master when
the country becomes so thickly settled that on the av-
cragc of III pcople~arc living on Il square mile OF land;
and when the average reaches ITO, mere dbor, wlc-
thcr bond or free, * unable To support itself, but i
forced to rely in whole or in part on the skill and
charity Of others.
When Will these numbers lac reached in our South
crn States Iii j. a mere question Of arithmetic, and
an easy one. We know what the population Of the
Slave States were in 1880. lSO0. 1910, lS20, 1880 and
$50, and can easily calculate the rate of the Increase.
TINS rate has varied somewhat sometime rising as
ligh as 3} per cent. for a period often years; sometimes
sinking To about 2J4. when causes happened to encou-
"a c emigration more than usual. The average has
been about 30 per cnt.-tha i to say, Mt the end of
every ten years 100 inhabitants have been found
where 100 used to be. Thus III 1870 the slave popu-
lation was about two millions; in 800 about two
millions six hundred thousand in $50 something
less than three millions and a half; in l-20 four mil
Lon, and Il half; in $50 five millions and three
quarters and in $50, n little over seven millions
and a third. If the population shall continue to IN
crease III the Southern States. "a II has done thus far,
IL will have reached twenty five millions by the year
lS-7, and about the year 1896 Will not be less than
seventy millions. So far is plain enough. There is
no mistake III the calculation, nor in the facts on
which it rests. Examine them as we may. the result
is as we have Just stated in loS7, twenty-five mil
lons-in 1926, seventy millions. Now mark the con-
clu>Ion.
The entire area of the Slave States and Slave Ter
friforicS cnuu.iuu IN Delaware the District of toIum-
bia, and the Floridas, is little less than 63o,OO
square miles. A population of twenty-five millions
on this area. such as viii be on it in l-S7, gives 40
persons to the square mile a population OF 40 mil
lions. such "a IT Will have III 1876, an average TO the
square mile of 40.
1t is a startling fact, but VIC cannot escape from it.
In ISL. i3 years from the time at which we are
writing. the average value Of the slaves labor throug-
out the South Will be little more than adequate to his
support in 1926. less than - years, it VIII be inn
possible for slavery to subsist except as a burthcn on
the maatcr. The politician who fancifully ina gines
that a freeman l. most apt to be fond of liberty If
Graded in n land of slaves, may mourn over 80 early a
downfall of his cherished institution and the aboli-
zionist may perhaps doubt. whether ii l. worth while
To work So hard a. he l. dong. IN the YAM magma
nation of fastening what must necessarily come so
soon. But there l. the fact for them To ponder on
those are nov, living who VIII see the last of negro
slavery in the United States.
En-. when this time shall have come. what Is to be
the l,t Of he negroes In l>S7. when their value
has become Questionable. they Will number eight and
a half millions; by the year 1926. the period before
which the emancipation must take place.. they Will
equal twen;v-four millions of souls. What i to be
done in the next forty-three years with these eight
millions and n half Of unproductiye lahorerS; what In
tho next ciglty-two. with these twenty-four millions
Of paupers!
Here arithmetic fails. Shall they be cmancipated
on the sol mat bred them They viii cover It with
pauper.,m. with rapine and de>olatlon. Their mas
tiers Impoverished by the depreciation and ultimate de-
>~tructiol 81 their property. with plantations entGm-
bcred and incapable If profitable calturc.-haw are
ttcv 70 support in the poor house or BIZ p~arochlal re-
LET those VINO before constituted Their wealth
Shall they be retained in II ondagcl The slaves f
faakrurt nlastcrs. vaIleies> themselves 1t SONY
II lew in a different form IN in~uPportable tax for
raupcr.~m N those who themseive> are pqupers.
Stall the. bc invited u migrate 10 the north and
west OHIO has already closed her dor against
:homby laws making Il pcnalton Introduce a tree negro
without indemntinr the State against the risk Il his
becoming 4 Pauper. Pennsylvania ha> ainehaeI AtI
Constitution - a - preclude the possibility Of any
bat I white man becoming a citizen. in the eastern
and mere northern states. and in Canada. where this
phlhntArophv Is most rife. the negro cannot 1--we ;
the climate DESTROYS him. In Massachusetts. though
the negro and the white man are equally freemen ana
citizens there. of thrce-quarier> OF a million OF Inhao-
itants but eight thousand are negroes.
What. then. IS To be the fate Of the negro OF our
S,,,be-, States Remain as he IS. he cannot. HIS
cord ,ion must change-but what Is the change TO be !
Where is he 70 ro-what 10 be his condition Three
four,hs of a century, and the question Will have been
decided. for good or for evil. Nor can we blind our
selves to ITS consequences. either to our southern
brethren or to the Union-to the white man or 10 the