Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1846-03-12
COM MU NICATION

X ~ " NL h " IN l. ~ II l. Il " 4Ns
Messrs. EDITORS have seen in your
paper OF the 9Th instant the conclusion Of
a Report of a Legislative Committee rela-
tive to the Free People of Color of your
county, and descanting Of that class of COM
munlty through the State at large. The
first part Of said Report have not seen );
and with regard to the pro-slavery argu-
ment maintained in the conclusion, have
nothing to say. am, indeed, one of those
who believe the serviIe institution to be in
furious to any community and in all aspects;
but at the same time | believe that in this
country, and for years to come, it is and
will be necessary evil, and that at all
events the question of its preservation or
abatement ress solely with the holders of
that description of property.
But there is in this Report census table
of the white and free black population of
this State, in which the future is conjectured
from the past in manner so entirely extra
ordinary that am DESTROYS to make it the
subject of few remarks. These remarks,
assure you, are prompted by no desire to
|embarrass the action of your county or of
the State on matter already environed by
so many difficulties and perils, both present
and prospective. Much less am actuated
by any tincture of sympathy with the Abo-
litionists-whose spirit believe to be fend-
ish in their leaders, and blind in their no.
nest but ignorant adherents. Least of all
am impelled by feelings of ill-will to the
respected Delegates who drew up that Re-
port, with whom have not even the honor
of acquaintance. But whenever any errone-
Gus statement of grave consequence is made
public, deem it the duty of every citizen
to rectify such statement as publicly as it was
made.
Now the present and future condition of
the slaves, and still more of the free black
population Of Maryland, is beset with SO
many hazards and hardshps, in all views,
that there surely is no need Of exaggeration
to deepen our alarm. Yet in the tabular
estimate, given in the aforesaid Report, Of
the present and future comparative numbers
of the whites and Of the free blacks, are an
which, if we'll grounded, would
be frightful and fairly overwhelming. And
lest some good people of this State, unac-
Cushioned 10 these conjectural calculations
should be scared out Of their senses by
such awful predictions, will first assert
and afterwards proUe that the committee
by following out fallacious principle, have
unwittingly led themselves and their read
ers immeasurably astray, and that their an.
Itlclpative statements are not only inconsls,
tent with each other, but unreasonable
prima facie, and in themselves alone. Now
for the proof
tirat- They are 2r5alaa fccie and in thena
selves unreasonable. For instance, to Won
cester county they assign for the year 1910
Ia probable population ofS74,000 free blacks
and to Washington county $4,000. know
not the exact superficial area of these two
counties; but as the State has only IA, 600
square miles, am certain that neither oil
these counties has 1000, or at least Wor-
Icester has not. They are, then, to contain
Ia population, the first Of 500 to 1000. and
the last of 400 to 700 per square mile
This is obviously next to impossible. For
the most fertile and populous country in
the world never attained density of 400
per square mile, not even in China, Hindos-
tan, or Egypt. And it is probable that the
most fruitful region Of the earth, say Hin
dostan, will not support more than 600 per
square mile, even when the science of So
cial economy and the productive capacity
of the soil shall have been carried to their
utmost pitch. How 500 to 1000 lazy, ig-
norant negroes could maintain themselves
on every square mile in our ungenial eli
mate, passes all wonder. But again: CAL
vert county is to have $4,000 free blacks,
while Prince Georges county, of equal fer
tility and of more than twice the size, is to
have but $4,000, and your county, which
is neither small nor unfruitlul, will have
only 5000, the whites being reduced to
zero! Poor Charles county avho is to live
there? The committee have doomed her
to utter desolation. Hardly were the pro-
phets more severe on ancient Edom
Yet again Baltimore city in A. d. 1910
is to contain 3,408,O00 whites, and (what
think you?) 44,917,O0O free blacks. O,
monstrous! monstrous! More than twice
the present population of all the United
States! Toss in a couple Of millions of
slaves, just for make-weight, "a million is
nothing for the committee and we shall
have fifty millions persons in one city
Drag no more, Babylon! Blush for shame,
Rome! Hide your head, London!-you
are all but villages. London, with its q
100000 inhabitants, would, if lying in a
perfect square, be 6 or miles in length by
as much in breadth Baltimore in 1910
will be 80 miles square! Wonder wha,
will be the price of city lots! But why