Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1853-04-02

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AGENTS.
PosrMAsTERs throughout the State of Virginia are au
thorizedto act agents and liz era commissions grant
ed upon all monies received.
Mr.. ]. T. BRGHTwELL- of Danville is our specia
gent In that section of the State.
SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
The publishers of the Messenger have put
forth an excellent number for April. The leading
article, entitled CHARITY that does not begin at
Home" is a strong, ..manly, and well written de-
fence Of. Southern institutions and society against
the assaults of foreign abotionists. The blind
maiguity and laundering ignorance of these i'm
pertinent intermediates are sklfully and forcibly
exposed by the Reviewer. The publishers inform
us that this essay is from the pen Of one of the
most elegant writer's in the Southern States.
Our readers will perhaps recolect, that in the
January number of Blackwood's Magazine, there
appeared long article on ''Slavery and the
Slave power in the United States" wherein it
was stated that the free population of the slave
States had diminished in the last ten years by
nearly million. The writer was led into this
extraordinary bunder by misprint in the
American Almanac, from which work he copied
his statistics. We have here striking illustra-
ton of the ignorance that prevails abroad, even
among the educated classes of society, respect-
ing the affairs of this country. Had the Black
wood essayist when he sat down to write his
diatribe against American slavery, possessed
general knowledge of the population statistics
of the United States, he could never Il ave been
misled by so gross typographical error that to
which we have alluded he would have seen at
glance that there was O. mistake somewhere,
and wouldhave tested the accuracy of the figures
in the American Almanac. by a. comparison with
other authorities. But the writer, when he un-
dertook the task of '.using up slavery and slave
holders, no doubt profoundly ignorant of his
subject aud therefore cramn,ed for the occasion
Having no previous knowledge of what he was
writing about he very naturally chung with ser
vile tenacity to the very letter Of his xt-book'
and thus put himself completely at the mercy of
careless compositors and proof-readers. "One
would suppose (says the writer in the Messenger)
that so startling fact rs dimnution in ten years
by nearly ore-seventh of our whole white popu-
|
at least serious remark on our own side of the
Atlantic. This startling check to the prosperity
of so large portion of the Union could scarce.
ly have failed to excite some inquiry. Strange,
that tbs whisper of it has not passed among our
selves! Strange that the cry of it has not echoed
over the world A decrease of population in a
proportion unheard of except in wretched Ire
land, is sweeping our Southern lands at rate
which in less than another half century must leave
in lieu of our Iuxuriaut fields bowling wilder
ness-in lieu of our rich baryests barren desola-
tion-and yet no voice has been raised in pity, in
triumph, or in dread To the great Backwood
it has been left to discover the mares next, and
to raise TIE Deums the desolating effects of
slavery"
| On this false hypothesis that the free popula-
ton OF the Southern States had materially de-
clined whilst the slave population had largely
increased in the last ten years, the British re-
viewer built the edifce of his argument. He
traced the .'fnger of Providence in this signiE-
cant fact and argued that a fearful retribution
awaited the slayehoIdng States-tbat the day
would inevitably come when the white race
would be overpowered by the black, and the
bloody drama of St. Domingo be re-enacted on
our soil.
The Reviewer in the Messenger very success
fully exposes the laundering absurdity of these
specuations. We copy his concluding remarks
on this branch Of the subject:
/ The fact is, that the increase of our population
| in the slave we'll as the free States, is
nous that of the North, owing to the larger in
hux of emigration is indisputably the greatest; but
| the difference is not 50 large as we had imagined
previous to examination of the subject. To the
| free States have been added within few years,
/ Iowa, Wisconsin,, and California; with these ad
| dtious, we find the increase Of the sum total of
/ their population is, between the periods of the
| two ceususes, from 9.654,S65 to Is, 434 $50, an
enormous accumulation of 80 per cent. To the
slaves States had been added only Texas the
| emigration to the South is confessedly much less
than to the Northern and Western States, Black
wood says there is money! and yet we find, in the
same ten years. an increase in their free popula-
tion from 4,733, 707 to 6,393,755 which is within
fraction of 35 per cent. Somuch for the
| diminishing free population of our slave States
| An actual Increase of nearly 35 per cent !
| As further proof of the walton carelessnes
+, ofthe Backwood statements, we find Ia page or
| two beyond the calculation we have ust referred
| to-, comparative statement of the numbers and
increase of the free and slave population OF the
States generally under the various decimal n
suses which have been taken. La every of
them our calculating reviewer, who seems to
have singularly hating intellect to fig
ures, gives as the of the free populatiun what
| the American Almanac set him the example of
| doing Ia single case) the sum fthe a0ioLe and
! the consequence is, if we add what he gives as
the last sum total ofour free population, %, $751;
207, to his sum total OF the slave popuIa ion viz