The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-03-17
The No rth and the south


The No rth and the south.
Elwood Fisher, Of Cincinnati, a member o.
the Society Of Friends, a native of Virginia, and
disciple Of Mr. Calhoun, lately delivered q
Lecture before the Young Mems Mercantile
Library Association OF that city, con the North
and the South" The Lecture has been publish.
ed, copy transmitted 10 each member Of Con-
gress, and. few days since, Mr.. Bedinger, in
the course Of speech on slavery. made copious
quotations from il. Mr.. Fisher possesses met.
aPhysical intellect, and appears to take great
pleasure in startling the good people with mon
strous propositions and curious parade xes, which
he demonstrates by the incest reasoning, with
admirable GOODNESS and self-complacency
Among the novel propositions he has estab-
lished. to his own completes satisfaction, in this
Lecture. are the following
Slave labor is more productive than Free
Labor.
The slavery ofthe blacks has given the whites
Of the South decided advantage over their
brethren Of the North, an IL regards wealth.
comfort. luxury, natural increase Of population,
intellect, purity, sobriety; so that individual
wealth is greater, civilization higher, pauperism,
and crime and mortality are less, stability and
good order and real intellectual power more
marked, among the former than among the
latter.
different impression, il Is true, has prevail
ed throughout the country, but it is ali mis-
take, as Mr.. Fisher shows by the most coneu.
sive statistics.
Now, ii is not our purpose to examine this
Lecture In its length and breadth; but merely
to characterize 1t as IT deserves, and to show by
a few examples that our judgment is Just. Ii
Is loose In its stateme nts, contradictory i'm its
positions, sophstical In its reasonings, false i'm
its statistics, absurd and inhuman In its conclu-
sions.
In whatever We may say, we intend no dispar-
agement to the South. lnvidious comparisons
are not to our taste. Our love ofcountry is con-
fined TO no section-we cherish prejudice against
none. But, at crisis, when enlightened citi-
zens of the South itself are confessing the evils
Of Slavery, concedng the superior value of Free
Labor, and gradually becoming prepared for
safe aud benefcent revolution, il Is important TO
expose the fallacies and sophistries employed TO
disparage Free as compared with Slave Labor
Our Purpose now is, to show that this Lecture
is not worthy Of any credit.
We proceed at once to particulars.
"When the Constitution of the United States
was adopted, the population Of the two sections
Of the United States was nearly equal-each
being tcontainingD not quite two millions of
inhabitants" "The territory then occupied by
the two was perhaps also nearly equal in ertent
and fertility"
What were "nearly equal in extent?" The
North and the South. But what did they COM
prehend' The thirteen original States, or those
States and the territories belonging to them?
Mr.. Fisher does not say. fthey comprehended
the former alone, then the South had the adyan-
tage Of the North In respect Of territory, TO the
amount of 80 900 square miles-the North com
prising an area Of about 100, 900, the South, an
area Of 2O2 GOO, square miles. II they compre-
hended both States and territories, then the
North had greater extent Of territory than the
South, by so 900 or 90, 900 square miles.
This looseness and indeinileness Of statement
prsciudes anything like close reasoning.
Again:
"Their commerce was about tho same: the
North exporting about 81, SOC, $40, In 1890, and
the South s., 2)0, 500"
Not word said of the Imports Of the two Sec
lions. At this time exports from the South
srn section Of the country are about Ss5, 0OO,- |
BOO, from the North, $73,o00,O00. Suppose a |
politician should quote this fact 10 prove that |
he commerce OF the two sections was about the |
'amo, the advantage being slittle on the side of /
he South, he would be laughed at, and remind
ID that seven. eighths Of the imports entered the
Northern ports, while the tonnage employed in
he exports of The South In nearly all owned at
he Northf Wecannot now turn to any table
II imports for 1870. but we have before MS, In
,eybert's Statistics, an account Of the nett rev.
nue. from imports In 1871, in the States several
y; ard this account shows that nearly two
birds Of the customs were paid In the NORTH
The States South paid $2,274, 656 As, the States
Worth, $4.254,607 49, Another table of the
even,le from customs for ten years, from 1901
o 1870 inclusive, shows thstthe amount receive
in the frse States, was $50, 37 ,77s "a, in the