The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-08-01

power unequaIled in the growth of nations.
And, sir, well knowing that African slavery has
produced so many benefits to all-even to the
negro himself-it is proper that ! should tell
YOU plainly, that we do not ourselves intend to
abolish slavery, or permit you to do it. Nor do
we intend to permit you to place us in shackles,
with view to force us TO abolish it in the
future, or to increase your sec ional power for
such objects. Nor do we intend to put our
selves in jeopardy, to provide for the erection OF
Presidential platforms to secure abolition votes
in making Presidents.
l have recently, Mr.. Chairman, got hold of
proofs, taken in England, to show the condition
of farm laborers in that country, wherein the
amount of wages paid in the greater part OF
Europe to this class of laborers, (white men, is
set down in money, and then table showing
the amount of the different kinds OF food a
weeks wages would purchase in each country
referred to; and / find that in England, France,
Germany, and Prussia, these wages will not buy
as much food as our hardest Southern masters,
who weigh and measure, allow TO their negroes.
The negroes are housed, clothed, and waited on
in sickness; in addition to this, abundance OF
good food; while the hired white European
wages, and feed upon the residue. Which of
these is most slave? And what is slavery?
An English tailor thought that the worst posi-
BILE form of slavery "where the laws were so
made, that an honest, capable, and industrious
man obtained the least amount OF his own labor
for his own use" And if you will consult
Dickens, an English author of celebrity, you
will discover that much greater amount of the
:..:,xS - &c, baalfl off ha Drpssad
out of hired servant, than ever was, or could
be squeezed out Of one that is owned for the
very reason that hired horse is harder used and
less fed, and does not live long as one that is
owned ~
These things are so we'll understood among
the lordlings of over-taxed and under-fed Eu-
rope, that hey, to divert the attention Of their
own people from wrongs and oppression at
home, have raised this howl about the enOrmity
Of negro slavery in America And our Northern
people, some for one object, some for another,
have taken up the same cry here, and brought
this crisis upon our country.
This, sir, has made it my duty to examine into
their claims to superior wisdom, honesty, mo-
ralty, and humanity" for their institutions over
ours
We will begin with the older Northern States.
These all did have black slaves once but find
ing them not profitable in their climate, they sold
them to the South and converted the money IN
to capital of some ,rt; interest-bearing stocks,
lands, houses, &c. And now, sir, they have
nearly made slaves of the white hired laborers,
to pay the interests, rents, and profits upon the
same capital 1t would be easy to prove, sir,
that the interest upon the price OF a negro sl1ve,
sold ut any time, would forever make white
an impoverished dependent who afterwards had
to paw it. / shall append a short list OF capital
lists in England and Massachusetts,, which fully
illustrates my proposition, and may excite the
philanthropy of all honest men to investigate
how the masses in those countries are to escape
the bondage to capital to which they are now
subjects Let us, therefore, proceed with New
York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, where
commerce has had its sway in tempting the
heart to knavery, and manufactures to despot.
ism over the hired laborer-the one in bargaining
for interest and profits. the other in reducing
wages. Let us see how matters stand i'll refer.
ence to poverty, crime, and immortality, in these
great arts Of commerce, civilization, and refine
ment.
The New York papers tell us, that in the
last twelve months nearly eleven thousand per.
sons have been arrested for crime, and of these
arrests seven hundred and fifty-three were fol
personal violence upon helpless females
greater amount of depravity, immortality ano
crime in single city in one year, than has beer
charged in all of the Southern States together
against black and white for ten years Crimes
too. are charged against the refined inhabitants
of cities which would make cornfied negro
blush to hear named, and the nature thereof ex.
planned.
There is gentleman over the way, sir, Mr.,
]. G. KING who attributes this great amount OF
crime in New York to the large foreign pauper
immigration from Europe, Mr. K. assented.
This, however, will not explain it. for the crime
and immortality charged against "New York,
and other eastern cities, are committed anon
slavehating and not slaveholding people. The
criminals themselves, even by his showing, come
from slaye-hating Europe. and commit thel
crimes among you and there, as with you, th'
system of hired labor has first made them pau
pers and then criminals, reducing them SO low
in morals that they regard neither right no
Reconsideration crime, and suffering being
more abundant where they come from, than il
the Northern cities to which they go. But, sir
this thing never has happened, never VIII o.
could happen where the laborer in domestic
service is owned No man, sir, owning negroes
would be allowed to live in Southern State
49,, >.~''-
ING, or shelter, while he had cents worth o
the slaves or even his own labor to live upoI
himself Can you say as much for the. cities
where you have the profits of hired labor II
plenty? You know you cannot. Look at thu
reports sent here by the sewing women OF Phila
dslphia They state that these poor women tot
from daylight until long after dark, making
clothes for market and the merchants or deal
ers give from eighteen to twenty cents q day
out of which food and clothing for themselve:
and helpless children must be had, and also thu
princely landlord takes his house-rent The.
state further, sir that they are often compelled
to put out their little children to work, to assis
in earning support at that tender age, whel
Southern negro children play md gambol il
shade or sunshine, as best suits them, in which
manner of life, Che boys from neglect frequently
become rogues and the girls do worse
Follow this subject little further, and see
the fruits of this system Of Generalization in the
present conduct Of the fire companies in the
sTne negro laborer in the Southern States
when allowanced, has one bushel Of meal and nj
teen pounds of bacon per month, with good sup
ply Of vegetables, should he use them. lhis gives
II u