The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-04-19

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS,

'hH'ha"S hVui kCuCIu1 gUNeTuTHent. IL
states that the Enquirer endeavors to show
| that the public lands are not worth having.
and that if distributed among the States they
would prove a burthen on their treasures in
| stead OF source of profit, and argues that the
Enquirer's logic leads irresistibly TO the con-
clusion that those lands should be ceded at
once to the States in which they lie; for why
should the general government continue to ex.
pend two millions of dollars annually in the
administration of the public domain over and
above its receipts from that source, when the
new States ready and willing to relieve il
Of this burdeni These two millions are raised
by duties on imposts, which the Enquirer
says are paid nearly all by the South, and the
Times asks if the South is not most outrage
ously and unjustly taxed to pay for the ad-
ministraiion of the public lands.
The Times gives extracts from prize es.
slaves, written by Rev. Thomas F. Scott, of
Columbus, Geo, the premium for which was
offered by the Southern Central Agricultural
Society. The leading principles inculcated
by the writer's OF all the essays on the broach-
ed theme are: that the duty of the master and
slave are correlalive that while the master is
| entitled to the obedience of the slave, he is
bound to provide for his religious and moral i'm.
provement; that his discipline should be 6rm,
mild and considerate-that he should treat him
justly-eneourage in him industry and good
conduct, crafty taste for innocent amuse.
ments, aud make ample provision for the ply
| steal wellbeing OF the slave in comfortable
houses, good clothing, abundant and nutritious
food, and kind care of sick, young and
| old. The committee proudly adduce this fact
| as refutation of the calumnies that ignorant
missionaries and malevolent fanatics are heap
ing upon generous people who, placed un.
der circumstances of great difficulty, are ear
nestly and manfully seeking for a rational and
safe solution of one of the greatest problems
of the age.
The Wing says that the recent vote upon
the tax bill exhibits a rare specimen ofDemo-
| cratic legislation, and thinks it will prove ra-
ther frai hobby for political capital to go be-
fore the people and boast Of having voted
| against the tax bill, while they supported the
appropriations to internal improvement made
by the legislature.
The Wig has also two or three brief no.
tces of tlilemmas, alleged to have resulted to
MIR. Pierce's administration from the carrying
out of the "spoils principle" of the Demo.
cratic party.
The Mail, in On able article on " Emigration
from Virginia." deprecates, with much point
and eloquence, the migrations of her sons TO
other lands-beseeches the hardy tillers of
Virginia TO stand by the venerable "old Com,
| monwealth'' cling to the graves of their
fathers, and preserve even with greater jealou.
| sy than they guard the sleeping dust, the stea-
dy virtues, the proud loyalty to Virginia, and
the seIf-reliance by which their fathers were
disting guished-and argues that brighter day
is dawning on the Commonwealth, and that
the recent session of the legislature has shown
an increasing disposition for the improvement
of the State.
The Enquirer replies al length to the Ian.
guage of the Whig, and of the Whig party in
the recent legislature of Virginia, in adyoeat
ing the distribution of the public lands amoGs
the States on, as it alleges, the following basis:
"To take 70 accounts of lands that have
heretofore beer gratuitously surrendered to the
new States, amounting to more than eighty.
four millions of acres. Further, and before
considering the old States at all, TO donate to
the new States all the public lands within their
borders, amounting TO thirty one millions OF
acres more; and after thus coolIy donating ore
hundred and fifteen acres exclusively to the
new States, then to divide other public lands
among the States in the ratio-not of their
population-but of their representation in the
lower House of Congress, according to an ar
bitrary rule which ignores, and treats as nought
two ffths of the slave population of the South"
- The most delicious of all our exchanges
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