The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent. (Port Gibson, Claiborne Co., Miss.) 1848-18??, 1850-08-30

GVen TIE Tree NegToeS Ol Tue SIX OIlglIldl sidFc
States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, only
show an annual increase of two per cent, but
the deficiency is fully accounted for in the mi
grations of free negroes from the old to the new
slave States.
But turning from these common place details,
and casting our eyes upon the columns portray
| ing the progress Of free negroistn, in those of
the free States which border on, or are almost
equally accessible to the slave States, and 10!
what wonders and contrasts strike and astonish
us! The very minimum of increase in the sew
en- middle free States, reaches to 8 ga per cent.
per atnum. while Massachusetts, with her great
free negro thoroughfare Of Boston, reaches no
higher than seven.eighths of oHe per cent. per
annum! Why, at the rate of 3 34 per cent
per annum, they would double every twenty
seven years, and it is but one quarter of one
per cent. per annum less than the rate of in
crease of the white population of the United
States, and falls but that much short therefore,
Of doubling itself in every twenty-five years!
So much for the minimum of increase.
But what are we to say of the nlGrimum OF
increase in these States, of this the most slug
gsh and unthrity class of people within our
borders? On turning to the rolls for Illinois
|
absorbed and deeply intent upon the manufac-
turing of free negroes, and increasing their store
at the amazing rate of upwards OF sixteen per
cent. per annum, each, and as no community OF
living mothers ever vet gave births in quadru-
piles, it was plain that these fabled procreations
were but the spoils of felonious plunder, and
under the morals of the Free.soilers, that num-
bers give law, and thefts give title, numerous
s1aAf
ers; and, in association with the vest and
worthliest that shame the earth, they are hid
den away in the chrysallis as fugitives from la.
Dor, but soon to emerge and take wing as fugi-
tives from Justice! Only to think Of an increase
of sixteen per cent. per annum, the quadruple
of that of the United States, and which would
double the free negro population of those States
every six-and-a-quarter years! But why should
dwell on these cases, when there stands Ohio
augmenting her free negroes out Of the South's
fugitive slaves, until her rate Of increase per
! annnm, has actually attained to 81 per cent,
which would nearly double them seven times in
twenty-five years, or more than double them
every four wears; and even such marvel is lost
J in the wonder that there stands Indiana by her
side. conspicuous over alb in the unexampled
! augmentation Of her free negroes up to 81 l-3
! per cent. per annum! At this rate of increase,
instead of doubling like the population of the
: United States, once in 25 years, the free negro
population Of Indiana doubles, and has doubled
itself in that time fifteen times, and in word,
; doubles itself every other year, with u l3 per
2 cent per annum Of increase to spare!
These vast augmentations of free negroes in
these ominous localities, will have one good ef-
: feet all over the land They will unmask this
' enormty to all mems gaze, and point to the
materials out of which they have been wrought.
t None can doubt where the great body Of these
materials came FROM Had all the free negroes
of New England been emptied into the lap o.
: these midland States, they would not have ac'
0 counted for tythe of the augmentation above
E the natural increase. It is not q possible case
: that that population, and in that region, should
have increased bY the natural and usual means
: at as high rate annually as three per cent j
e is scarcely credible that it could have reached
e two per cent. there and by these means; and I
passes my belief, that the increase ever did Of
e could have reached two-and- a-half per cent
: there Nevertheless, that may have my data
e and deductions free from any possible cavil,
s shall waive the lesser mean designed to derive
b from comparing the rates of annual increase
between New England and the original slave
y States, and adopt the rate Of two.and-a-half pc
cent per annum as the mean for ascertalnlng the
), augmentations of free negroes in the midland
| States over and above the usual and natura
;, means: That is to, say, that after allowing two
5 and.a half per cent for the natural and usua
r increase, marking all augmentations beyond 1t a.
$ excess, and marking that excess itself, as trut
: exponent of the real numbers of the fugitive
i slaves within the designated localities.
It Twill not elaborate this paper by showing tht
8 process BY detail. No one need put his faith, Ell
ther in my skill or my fairness. The. figures arr
before IAN, and he must cypher out the result 70
: himself
find the excessive augmentations of free ne
groes (fugitire slares) beyond the natural an
usual means. in the States now to be named, t
be as follows:
New York Sc per cent.
, excess over 10 per ct 5, ,734 Fugitiue slGrsS
New JERSEY IL per cent;
: excess over 2 l-2 per ct 1921 do. do.
Pennsylvania 5.3-4 per CT;
; excess over IL per CT; 9,602 do. do.
; Ohio 81 per cent: excess
over 2 IL per cent l4,033 DO. do.
Indiana 81 3.4 per ct; ex-
( cess over 2 IL per cent. 6,5O2 do. po.
Illinois l6 Ia per cent; ex-
cess over IL per cent 1885 do. do.
Michigan Is 2-3 per cent;
;. excess over IL per ct. 497 do. do.
; Total fugitive slaves in the
above estimates 46,224 in 80 years
Z Add the estimated number
of fugitive slaves from
1910 to 1850, upon the
2 ratio shown bet. 1880
and lS4O l5.4OO in 10 years
:, Total fugitive slaves from
1910 10 1850, 6l.624 in 30 years
5 Number Of fugitive slaves
escaping TO the States
= annually ,540
: Having thus asceftaned the number OF lug
tive slaves escaping into these States, the ne1
p thing to be done is, to assign them rateabl
. value; and, it should be noted, that in ninetee
cases out of twenty. the fugitives are the mos
5 valuable description OF slaves, young men. art
zans, mecha nics--the intelligent, the robust, tn
8 healthy. After striking off so per cent of th
present average market rate Of slaves of that dt
scription $3.50 per head Will be found yer
moderate valuation, and will show the losses ag
gregateIy and annually as follows:
To 81 .624 fugitive slaves valued at
$3.50 each S27,750,0O
- - for -