The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-02-24

will awaken to their distress, and by diffasing
light and liberality among their opPressors, or
at lengthby his discriminating thunder manifest
his attention to things Of this world, and that
they are not left TO the guidance OF blind
fatality.
al am very sensible of the honor you propose
to me, Of becoming a member of the society
for the abolition Of the slave trade. You know
that nobody wishes more ardently to see an abo-
ltion, not only of the trade but OF the condition
Of slavery; and certainly nobody will be more
willing TO encounter every sacrifice for that OBJ
ject. But the influence and information Of the
friends TO this proposition in France will be lar
above the need Of my association"
That immortal orator and great and good
man, Patrick Henry. in letter to Rob't Pleas
ants, referring to slavery, says:
al believe a time piH come, icAen an o,pOrfa-
nifty tciI be offered 10 abolish this asntable euiI
Everything we can do Is 10 improve IL, il II
happens in our day; IL not, let us transmit to
our descendants, together with our slaves, pity
for their unhappy lot. and our abhorrenee for
slavery. IL we cannot reduce this wished for
reformation to practice, let Us treat the unhappy
victims with lenity. II Is the furthermost adj
vance we can make towards justice, il is a debt
we owe to the purity of our religion, to show
that il is at variance with that law which war
rants slavery. | know not where to stop.
could say many things on the subject; q serious
view Of which gives gloomy perspective to
future times."
Again, in the debates in the Virginia Con-
vention, he declared:
al repeat it again, that it would rejoice my
very soul that every one Of my fellow beings
was emancipated. As we ought with gratitude
to admire that decree Of Heaven, which has
numbered us among the free, We ought to
lament and dsplore the necessity of holding our
fellow-meB In bondage"
The late ex-Prssident Monroe, in speech in
the Virginia Convention, said:
1--WE have found that this evil hss prsyed
upon the very vtals Of the Union; and has
been prejudcial TO all the States in which IL has
existed"
IL we make a more general comparison Of the
slave and free States, we still find the facts
against slavery. For example-it appears from
the last census that the number Of white per-
sons who cannot read and write compared with
the whole white population is, in the New Eng
land States, one to every five hundred and eighty
five; in the State Of New York one to fifty-six,
and in Pennsylvania one to fifty, whereas the
number in the slave States averages one TO sew
enteen, and, in the State of Virginia one to every
twelve and ahslf, Of the white inhabitants. In
addition 10 this, when we take into considera-
ton that nearly the whole of the coIored poPu-
lation in the slave States are without the priv
ilege Of education-what a. mass Of ignorance
do we find within their borders,
The evils complained Of are not confined TO
any one State-they extend to all sections OF
our country where a large proportion Of the
population is composed of slaves. In proof Of
this, we cite the language of the elOquen,
ex-senator Preston, of South Carolina. In a
speech delivered some years since at Columbia
in reference to a proposed railroad, he says:
"No Southern man can journey (as he had
lately done) through the Northern States, and
/ witness the prosperity, the industry, the spirit
which they exhibit, the seduious cultivation OF
/ all those arts by which life is rendered comfor-
table and respectable, without feelings Of deep
sadness and shame, as he remembers his own
neglected and desolate home. There no dwell
ling is to be seen abandoned, not a farm uncul-
tivated. Every person and everything performs
| part toward the grand result; and the whole
II
factories and canals, and railroads and edifice.
and towns and cities. We of the South are mis-
taken in the character of these people, when We
think Of them only as pedlars in horn fiints anC
bark nutmegs. Their energy and enterprise ars
| directed 10 all objects great and small within
their reach. Their numerous railroads and o,hel
modes Of expeditions INSTRUMENTATION knj
the whole country into closely compactec
mass, through which the productions Of com.
mere and Of the press, the comforts of life ana
/ the m@>n. of kno wledge are universally difFu.a
while the close Intercourse Of business and o
travel makes all neighbors, and promotes ,
common interest and common sympathy"
| SHOW different the condition of these thinU
in the South, Here the face of the countr,
wears the aspect Of premature old age and decay
No improvement 10 seen going on, nothing i
done for postsrity. No man thinks of anythin.
beyond the present moment"
This picture, drawn by the hand of master
is unhaPPily too true! Its fidelity cannot .,
questioned, and it is in vain for interested mill
ticians to attribute it to any other cause thar
that of slavery. And how can it be otherwise
in land where one half the population is re-
duced almost to the condition Of beasts of bur
den-intentionally and systematically shut ou
from every means of improvement, and when 1
large portion of the other half is nurtured from
infancy in habits Of idleness and extrayig.nce
Ii is in vain to tell US that railroads and canal
will secure our prosperity, for they canno
change the character of our population nor III,
habits of our people. 1t is useless for us I.
hold conventions and listen to the best means o
preserving the balance of trade-for the balsnc,
will always be against US while capital anC
labor are shut out by general contempt fol
labor.
Unjust then be evident.tha the want Of en-.
terPrise, the aversion to labor, and;the. absence
Of general education, so often complained of BY
Southern men as existing to depIorabIe extern
in the Southern States, can be attributed only
to the system of slavery; which, to use the Ian.
guage Of distinguished virginian, i. ga mil.
dew that has blighted in its course every region
it has touched from the creation Of the world ["
In viewing the effects Of slavery on some of In,
richest sections Of our country, we are remind.
ed Of the language of the Prophe, when speak.
ing of the ravages committed by lOcusts: Ia.
land before them IS as the garden Of Edea--S.-
hind them 10 a desOlate rilderness.'
To conclude our general view on the produc.
tive capabilities Of the free and slave States, we
subjOin the following table, taken from the CEN
sus Of 1910:
>, Slare States Free States
n 1aluware and cutlery $3I3,162 6,07s,s04
Cotton Goods 3,724.447 - 695 sO6
SnA 90 3,O96 $50
Wooien 90 ls3I6,ls4 l9,420, sig
Glass of all kinds 1880 BOO 400