Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-06-15
Review of EllWOOd Fisher.

This lecture in defence Of slavery has been
ably reviewed by a southerner, who sees no
such blessings in the institution as have been
discovered by this pseudo Quaker.
Now the main drift of Mr.. Fishers srgu-
ment is 10 show that slavery is a blessing,
because it promotes the accumulation Of
wealth. "The first object Of civilised %Ille,"
aiys he, on p. 4, is TO accumulate wealth,
as on that depends improvement in science
and the arts, and the supply Of the multiple
ed wants Of society,""
Having made this the test point, in order
to determine whether an institution such as
slavery is good or evil, he then proceeds 10
make out that slavery promotes the accumu-
lation of wealth in the Southern States, and
is therefore a blessing to them. But he
could not make this out-or rather he could
not find even a plausible way of seeming
to make out something like it, if he conSid-
cred the slaves as human beings, or as consti-
tuting any part Of the population Of the coun-
try for then, when hs came to divide the
aggregate wealth of States by their popula-
ton, his Southern States would he found in
arrear, even when slaves were valued as a
pant Of their wealth. But when he deducted
them from the population, after adding them
10 the wealth, then he found two or three
slave States which seemed 10 be weallhier
than two or three free States, in proportion
to free population, and on these partial and
seeming results he founded his conclusion
that slavery promotes the accumulation Of
wealth in the Southern States.
Now, if it were proved to demonstration
that slavery promotes the wealth Of slave-hol-
ders, or even Of the free population of a State,
slavery might still be an evil and deplom-
BILE thing on account Of the wrong inflicted
on the slaves, and the check that it imposes
on the increase Of population, the develop
ment of the resources Of the country, the
diffusion of knowledge, and the cultivation Of
arts and literature.
But apart from the question-whether the
accumulation Of wealth is the proper test Of
the benefits of slavery-we deny altogether
the justice and propriety of Mr.. Fishers
mode of the estimating the comparative
wealth of States, by adding the value of the
slaves to the sum of other wealth, and sub
tracing their number from the population,
used in calculating the average wealth of
the community. 1t is easy TO show that the
whole population Of the States compared
ought 10 be used in the calculation or, if a
certain class Of people be deducted in one of
the States, the corresponding class ought TO
be deducted in the other. The slaves in
Virginia do the same sorts Of labor, and &C.
cupy the same situation as the hired laborers
in the free States. The difference between
them is, that hired men work by contract for
wages, while slaves do the SAINT work with
out contract, for whatsoever their masters
may choose to allow them. The hired labor
er may hold property, but generally posses
SEES little Of it; the slave can have no proper
ty, but is commonly allowed to use the ne.
cessary supply for his physical wants.
Every civilized society is composed chief
ly of two classes-capiialiSis, who employ
the labor of others, and hJorers, who work
for the capitalists. Some, ii is true, are both
capitalists and laborers that is, they work
with their own capital, like the small farmer
who cultiyates his land by his own labor
But these make no difference in the present
case. Every free State has a class OF hired
ldbOrers, who do The same part for their en-
ployeTs that slaves do for their MASTERS
The object of the present inquiry is to know
whether the system Of employing free labor
is or is not more productive Of wealth than
the system u employing slave labor. We