The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-11-27
TIE ~ VI =
ADDRESS

oLoliShed iCthOM deutmeH 10 ute TtSht'
avJ interests of shareholders; by HENR,
RrryvER. d. d., Lexington, Va.
What is il but slavery that makes Mary
l.oders Carolinians, and especially old Viz
s;n;ans and new Virginians-fy their coun
e. !, such a rate! Some go because they
dislike slavery and desire to get away from
4. others. because they have gloomy fore
hod;ros of what is to befall the slave States
and wish 20 leave their families in a cosrL
INV Of happier prospects: Others, because
,Lev cannot get profitable employment
among shareholders: others, industrious and
birb-spirited working men, will not stay in
country where slavery degrades the work
ing man: Others 90 because they see that
their country. for some reason, does no.
nrosoer, and that other countries, not far of,
are prospering, and will afford better hopes
Of prosperity to themselves: others, a nu-
merous class, who are Shareholders and can
not live without slaves, finding that they
cannot live longer with them on their worn
out soils, 20 to seek better lands and more
profitable crops, where slave labor may
ret for a while enable them and their chill.
dren 10 live.
But YOU know well, fellow-citizens, that
this perpetual drain of our population, does
not arise from failure Of natural resources
for living in Virginia. How could it, while
so much good soil is yet wilderness, and
so much old soil could be fertilized; and
while such resources for manufactures and
commerce lie neglected!
Had Virginia retained her natural in
crease, or received as many emigrants as she
sent away, from the year 1890 to the present
time. she would now have had three times
her actual population; and, mad all been
iee-men, each labonDg voluntarily, and for
his own benefit, all could have prospered in
her wide and richly-gifted territory.
The true cause Of this unexampled emi-
grafton is, that no branch Of industry -four
ishes, or can flourish among us, 50 long as
slavery is established by law, and the labor
Of the country is done chiefly by men, who
can gain nothing by assiduity, by skill, or
by economy. All the older slaveholdng
States have proved this by sad experience.
We shall make good the assertion by setting
before YOU,
?. 4 oOmParati0e rie,v of the Agricul-
turs, The Manufactures, and tbs Com
msroe, Of The old free States, and he old
Stare Subsequently, Virginia.
Thus We shall lay open the immediate
causes Of the vast emigration from on State,
and Of the slow growth Of West Virginia
and Kentucky, in comparison with the
neighbOHng free countries.
You will observe also, how every class
Of facts that bear at all upon the subject,
lead uniformly to the same conclusion; how
every line OF inquiry always points to slave
~, as the original cause Of inferior prosper.
ty Or Of positive decline.
In our statements We always 90 upon the
best evidence which can be had,-generally
Official documents.
We begin with
The agriculture of the old States.
The census Of 1910 embraces returns oil
the number Of live stock in each State
the estimated quantities Of grain and other
crops raised the preceding year-the value
Of poultry, Of the products OF diaries, or
ohards and market gardens;-the quantities
Of fre-woOd, lumber, tar, &C., sold in each
State;--together with the number Of per-
sons employed in agriculture.
The plan was to obtain complete view
Of the agriculture Of the United States
Many errors undoubtedly exist in these re-
turns, partly from wrong estimates Of the
farmers, partly from the negligence Of the
Deputy Marshals who took the census.-
Some blunders Of the latter are manifest up
On the face Of the returns but these may
sometimes be corrected, If not perfectly, yet
sufficiently for all useful purposes.
Be II observed, that what we want to
know on the present occasion, is not the
quantity to bushel, nor the value to a dol
lar OF the agricultural products Of each
State; but such a comparative view Of what
The lands Of the several States produce, in
quantity and in value, that we may form a
substantially correct judgment Of the rela-
tive PrOductiveneSs Of their agricultural in
dustry. This we can do beyond a reasona-
Die doubt, by judicious use of the census.
Persons acquainted with this sort Of investi-
cations know, that although each farmer in
reporting his crops might commit some er-
for' yet when all the reports came to be
summed up, the errors would tend to bal
ance one another; and that, as the same sorts
Of errors would probably be committed in
al the States, the returns might, on the
whole, be comparatively right, though each
one was positively wrong. Thus, if the re-
Turns Tor Virginia should be one-fourth be
low the truth, and those for New York one
fourth below the truth; each would be eTone-
Gus IN itself, yet the two would truly repre-
sent the comparative products Of agriculture
IN these States: and this is all that we want
IN the present argument. But again, sup.
pose that the errors did not tally so exactly;
ior example, that the returns for Virginia
were one-iourth below the truth, but for N.
York only one-ffth below the truth; yet il
II appeared by the returns, that the agricul
IuTe OF Virginia was only one half as prof
taole as that of New York; though the re
suit would not show accurately hOto much
less Profitable our agriculture was, than that
Of New York; yet il would truly show the
lsct' that it was much less prohtable;.--anc
uils degree Of truth is sufficient for our argu
ment.
Now if any man deny that this suf6cien
degree Of truth can be .deduced from thu
census he is bound to sustain his denial, BY
cOnvlctng the censns Of q greater arnonn