The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1854-07-28
From the New York Herald, July 16.
The South judged by Figures.

| q. nu'SiaVeEy defamation mas al last proVOket
Statistical inquiry into the relative condition of.Ih'
1 Northern and Southern States; and the aston
| Iished hearers of Theodore Parker and William
Lloyd Garrison have learnt for the first time tha
/ religion is more spare and crime more frequent IL
! the Tree States than in the slave. Comparative
! tables compiled from census returns have shown
| that the Southern States with a quarter of mil
| lion less population than the Northern, contain
1856 more churches, and about half many
criminals. OF course il is easy TO suggest rca-
sons for striking discrepancy; the solutions
offered by extreme fanatics IN both sections or the
country are numerous and frequently amusing.
A secessonist organ traces the fact TO the direct
agency Of the slave system, which it recommends
the North TO adopt as the ouly cure for It's social
evils. Northern abolitionst denies The accu-
racy OF the census report-a very safe sort OF
solution OF the difficulty. Others explain the
scarcity Of crime in the South by charging the
Southern police with inefficency, and their courts
with undue eniency to criminals. On both sides
but especially in one section Of the country
the statistical discovery has led much loud dc.
camation, and angry appeals TO feeling. Ii seems
to have exasperated the fanatics Of the Boston
school beyond measure to find that religion thriVes
better under the shadow of the institution which
they are pleased to style the " sum of all evils !"
than IN the pious, moral, and proselytizing COM
muny Of which they themselves conspicuous
HelIOSIS anu OTIRut SUluIDR ISutS. NOI
they be at all reconciled to the fact that such pee
cadllloes thefts, assaults, and murders are twice
as frequent in the society they vaunt as a model,
as in the pted and much abused saveholding
States. They are heartily welcome TO whatever
consolation they may derive from ascrlbiDg these
differences to in the report, the pre-
vaIence of unpunished crime in the South, and
such silly pleas: facts are none the less facts,
and if accidental agencies have heightened the
g., H.
Grafton Of such causes, and still find that SO far
from slavery being subversive Of religion and
provocative Of crime, own experience of this
and other systems Of labor show exactly the
reverse.
O!her statistics confirm the discovery-if it
must be called by that name in Difference to anti.
slavery prejudice. Let US compare two prominent
States, North, the other South-Mussachu-
sets and Tennessee. The latter is the most pop
uous by about SO, 600 souls; the figures being,
al the late census, Massachusetts, 993, 900 inhab
tnnts. Tennessee .O32. .625: Yet the former
State contains 5 $40 paupers, and the latter only
532. 10 Massachusetts there rs one Pauper for
every 200 of her population; IN Tennessee, one
to every 1000. The same contrast is presented
by the returns Of the insane, of whom Massachu
sets contains, ,647, and Tennessee but AS
Whatever connection there may be between slave
ry and religion, or slavery and crime, the dspar-
lunatics at the North and the same classes at the
South, is clearly traceable 10 the effect Of that
institution. A system Of hereditary labor neces-
sarlly precIudes pauperlsm and in grca; mea-
sure reduces the causes which lead to insanity.
In these points slavery has the advantage over
freedom.
But we may 60 further, and, without discus sing
the abstract merits Of either system, assume bold
IS that crime must be what the census shows it to
hp-uooro frac in Uhoro he 10.
borers are free THAI in those where they are the
property oil master. The discipline essential
TO the management of slaves is formidable OBJ.
stacle in the way of the commission of CRIME
The slave who desires 10 rob murder must first
foil the vigilance OF his oversecr before he can
enable himself to perpetrate the crime the free
man is unmatched and unchecked until the crime
has been committed. Opportunities for crime are
rare when it is the duty and interest Of those in
authority to keep perpetual watch their
wants: they occur at every instant where the SER
want, his work finished, has control acknowl- |
edge. In like manner, this vast authority in the |
slave owner imposes on him a grater RESPONSE |
blity for his acts than devolves on one " hose
powers are more limited vicious master knows
thai he sets the example of vice to his slaves, and
that their crime will cost him more than he can
afford The freeman. surrounded by freenen,
has mparatvely insignificant interest in the
virtue Of his dependents. Again, pauperism be.
ing necessarily more frequent where all are self |
dependent, and rarer where the sick and infrm
are gratuItousIy supported by master, one of the
most fruitful sources Of crime must be greater in
free than n slave communities. We shall not
axaggerate if we say that one.half Of The tnefts
committed in the North due TO poverty and
want this stimulus TO crime is entirely wanting
among slaves. Well or sick they are lodged, fed >.
and clothed if every free laborer of the North
we're sure Of as much, Jail calendars would
be much lighter. Another potent spur to crime
IS passion, which habitua restraint and perpetual
servitude must tend TO curb and subdue. The
passions of The freeman must necessarily be more
violent and less easily resisted than those Of the
slave who from his birth has been taught TO yield
every feeling of his own to a masters will. If
all these differences are taken into account, the
disparity between the criminal returns Of the two
sections Of the Union will appear no strange phe-
but an obvious inevitable result of plain
practical causes.
The discussion OF slavery in the North is, un-
der any circumstances, superluous ard idle. No
one wants 10 introduce ii here and We are bound
by our fealty TO the constitution not TO interfere
with il where it now exists. But such discussions
ire worse than idle when they are provoked by
he se assertions and absurd tales Of the aboIi-
ionists. So long the figures show that pauper-
SIN, crime, and insanity more frequent in the
North than in the South, and that religion is less
generally praciiSed here than there, camor and
buse Of Southern insulior are rs impairment