The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-03-24

y
y Their social condition is by no meal
}. 50 bad. They are under the protection
the people of kentucky, the most human
and gentle masters in the world. They al
well fed and clothed. Their tasks al
moderate. Their young and old and sic
: are tenderly nursed. Many are taught I
. read the word Of God and to obey its III,
! giving precepts. Amidst prevailing ignol
ance. many are Intelligent amidst abound
ing degradation, many are brightly virtuous
Yet as mass. they are utterly degraded
The Perpetualists insist that they are unf
for freedom. and the emancipaiors are con
strained to admit the fact. They numbe
nearly two hundren thousand strong, abou
one-fourth Of our entire population. They
are distributed. unequally, in every county
and neighborhood. They cultivate our farms
they servein oar houses. They prepare on
food; they wait at our tables they come
into our bed chambers. They are the nurse.
and playmates Of our children. They are
with US and yet not Of US together and not
together. They peUade society by their
sooly vices, but are no, themselves per-
vsded by its redeeming spirit. Their
ignorance is surrounded but not penetrated
by our Intelligence. Their degradation is
touched, at all points, by institutions in
stinct with life, but these impart no vital
force, no upheaying impulse to the stupid
negro mind. Their population is a vast
foul mass Of semi-barbarism, stagnating in
the bosom OF christian civilisation like the
Dead sea in the midst Of the land of Ca.
naan.
As to the influence OF this state OF things
on the blacks themselves have nothing to
say. My argument is, that black popu-
lation so large and so degraded must be
detrimental to the whites. Labor and
wealth ere two of the main pillars Of the
social system. Wealth perverted or labor
degraded must prejudice the welfare Of the
community. The laboring population is
the substratum on which every great society
rests. Its debasement in Kentucky inflicts
grevious wounds on its white employees
But the Journal calls on the emancipators
to point out these evils. Possibly We may
be able to do so--perhaps we cannot
We may not have the sagacity to detect
them or the graphic skill to make them
palpable to our antagonists; but you may
rely upon it that evils--monstIous and in
tolerable evils-beset the system. We
may not be able to discover the subtle
poison which turks in the crimson fountains
Of life, but rest assured, the poison is hid
den there. Great evils do, and by inevita-
BILE and inexcusable necessity, must afflict
the white people where such black popu-
lation prevails.
| may, hereafter. attempt in an humble
way, to state some Of these evils. The
limits Of this communication will allow me
only to show that the evils which the Jour.
nal supposes to attend the system Of free
labor are also felt under the opposite sys-
ten. As an example. let me mention pau
perism. The Journal Of February % con-
tains a glowing description Of the pros
perity OF Kentucky. 1t is there stated that
''she has no paupers." Now it is curious
commentary on this part OF the picture.
that, in the very paper containing it. is an
editorial article calling on the citizens Of
the sixth ward in Louisville to rePlenish
the exhausted treasury Of their society for
the relief of the poor 1t is well known.
also. that similar associations exist in nearly
every ward in the city. The council has
made large appropriations to their funds.
Beggary walks the streets and duplicates
us at our dwellings. Our newspapers, at
certain seasons Of the year, and none more
eloquently than the Journal, plead for the
poor. A very short walk will bring us
into the presence Of poverty. from vice and
misfortune, as squalied and piteous as can
be found in Cincinnati o. New York. Let
me ask again. what are the old and worn
out and decrepit slaves but paupers! Is
there a plantation in Kentucky or family
holding any considerable number Of ser
wants upon which paupers are not quarter
ed! We have few poor-houses in name.
but how many Of our kitchens and negro
cabins are poor-houses in fact! Indeed one
Of the most urgent economical evils Of
slavery lies in The extraordinary number oil
unproductive and pauPer servants whom the
proprietor is bound to support. Added TO
this is the fact, well-known to every in
telligent citizen Of kentucky, that though
no large public provision is made for the
white poor, yet pauperism itself is no stran-
ger to our soil. The report Of The Second
Auditor shows lhat more than four hundred
IDIOTS we're supported during the last year
from the treasury Of the State, atan expense
Of nearly nineteen tboussnd dollars. Be-
sides. ia is prepnsierons to parade the PoPu-
lation OF the poor-houses in free State,
and infer that il is overrun with paupers,
and that slave State has none because it
has no poor-houses, or rather because its
poor.ho are scattered over all the farms
in the country. By similar reasoning we
might prove that Ohio has no idiots, IL there
be no returns Of their numbers in the audi
tors report, and no public provision be
made Tor their relief; and that there are no
deaf or blind or insane persons in Texas.
because it has established no asylums for
their reception. The number Of persons
afflicted with poverty, insanity. and idiocy
is apparently very large in the best govern
ed States. for the reason that public pro-
vision is made for their relief and their
numbers appear in statistical reports. In
other countries these unhappy people either
suffer ia obscurily, OF are consigned 20 the
care Of private benevolence. and no public
record is made Of their condition.
Similar remarks apply to the statistics Of
crime. Il il stated in Mr.. Elwood Fishers