Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1855-08-07
THE NEW YORK DAILY TIMES.

('ourtesy requires that should acknoW ledge the
article of tho Times 'for the consideration of the
Richmond Enquirer" We can but admire tho
chivalry, however much we doubt the prudence of
the Times, in still Wanting "the extraordinary acv
y of the human mind" at the North. The act witty Of
Sam Patch at tho Falls Of Passaic, was won
derful, more quixotic suicidal. 1t hos almost up
set all law, morality and religion in the free States
and at all times deprived thom Of their relative inia'
ence in the affairs of the general government. Mems
minds too active at tho North hold the opn'
ions about mon or things, for two years-hencc they
change their legislators whenever they get chance.
aud never are represented by competent or lnuenia
men. The South governs tho Union, because the
North has fixed policy and few experienced states
men. It 10 pit, tue SCUM uors MOI govern e"'"
free State for then there would be no Hrs and anti
rent legislatures, the legitimate fruits oi inc 'o"
great activity Of tho Northern mind. In intellectual
warfare Southern men always conquer Northern
men, because we have fixed fsitl fixed purposes
fixed opinions, while the North has none OF these'
The restless ard frutess activity OF tho Nor'peiH
mind bctrays itself in nothing but deep seafed o'S
satisfaction with the whole organization OF society
In the every day affairs OF domestic economy N"ru
eru men are staid and consistent rs "'u'.
ern men. This dissatisfaction with the "ho'e
structure of society 10 universal in free society! Us
well in Europe hcre. il canuot be that MI - rs'
when all concur that all is wrong. Socialism, III us
every FORM proposes to subvert and reconstruct tue
whole governmental fabric, social, legal, political anu
religious and socialism is more prevalent i'll Gcrma-
NY France and England than even at the North
Tho Tribune lately made matter OF boH't OF lhe
unfxedness Of the Northern mind, as evincInS supe
ror intellectual vigor. The Tribune should oe re
minded that its own constant radicaism and frequent
soncrssts. show that mental activity is sometimes
av;dence Of disease rather than strength Of mind
The large circulation of the Tribune proves that the
disease is epidemic at the North.
We quote the passage from the Tribune, and would
suggest, that the political evil Of tho South Of which
it complains, may be owing to the fact that we are
10, eternally discovering that old opinions were
wrong and "laying them aside as erroneous, or at
least insufficient" The Tribune says:
"However our slaveholding brethren may have
domnoered politically the North in every thing
else speculative political. in religion, literature
| arts science, industry they have been our humble
pupils and imitstors, always certain, however reluc
ant to follow at last, though often far behind
as not unfrequeny to tnke up our dehs as new al
we'll rs true Just are 6er'na'ng to lay them
| ASIDE rs erroneous, or al least INSUFFICIENT"
Now, we readily admit that VIC DO often adopt your
mechanical Inventions but sturdily deny that W.
ever follow you in your muttudnous isms. In al
matters of law, morality, government and religion
the North serves but rs beacon 10 the South. 1.-The
extraordinary activity Of the human mind hos been
chronic disease in Paris for seventy years. Power
~, it is believed, brings it on, aud nothing but blood
letting by Dr. Guillotne, or Napoleon, or Caviag'
nae relieves il. As the disease is less violent at the
North, We hope miider remedies may effect cure
Charles Dickens says, that, in England, "a heavine
mass of poverty, ignorance and crime is always be-
low us."
We proceed to show from quotations from the
North British Review, that this .hcaviug mass has
even cndued clumsy John Bull with extraordinary
mental activity"
| "One cannot now take up French bookseller.
list of Advertisements, whou; seeing tho titles oi
publications. Of all kinds and sizes. devoted to tho
| calculation Of social questions Reorganization du
Travail 'Deetinie Sociale Etudes sur la Priuci.
paes de la Msero; De Ia Condition Physique
and Morale des jeuno Ouveriers. Such are some OF
tho titles of GLASS Of French bonks sufficient to
form library. The thug. in fac:, has become a
profession in France. Men Of all kinds and of all
capacities-men who do not care one farthing about
the condition Of the people, or about the condition OF
goodness and philanthropy, n0T write books full Of
statistics about the working classes and Of plan for
diminishing the amount of social evil. Aud so, too,
in this country. The Condition OF England Ques.
ton has become the arget al which every shallow
willing must aim his shut. All literature seems To
be flowing towards this channel 80 that there seems
to be likelihood that shall suon have no litera-
ture nj all, but literature OF Social reference"
The Reviewer, himself, sensbly concludes, that Il
sociul revolution is necessary and impending.
| The census Of 1850 exhibits constant increase Of
crime and pauperism at the North, dimnution Of
agricultural products soil becoming daily poorer,
with population rapidly increasing in numbers
These are alarming symptoms, and give adInoniton
that soou as the supply Of labor exceeds the de-
mand, there will be blow up Of society the North
"a la Paris." Last winter, in Now York, this state
of things existed tor time and the wheels Of society
stopped work. Sturdy beggars" lived by enforced
charity, and New York merchants shelled out dollars
with more de1terity and haste than Gil Bias did his
reals
The North may be mad but there is q measure in
its madness, for it that "something is rotten in
the State of Denmark and is trying in vain to rec
tify It..
As to the love Of liberty which characterizes
Northern people, we will 50 for insult the intel
leotual capacity Of the Times az TO intimate doubt
that 1t sees clearly, that in all old countries here the
supply Of labor exceeds tho demand, common labor
srs, without masters, far less free than slaYes
Capital exercises all the power over them that mas
tiers do over slaves, without being encumbered with
the obligation to provide for them. slave has
righ.s, valuable rights; he has right to home, to
protection and support from his MASTER in sickness,
infancy and old age ltc always has property rights.
He has valuable Interest in bis mastor's property
and if that fail his masters labor belongs to him; for
law obges the master to support the slave whom the
slave cannot longer support himself Thousands
tens of thousands Of slaves, in the South, sup
ported by the professional earnings Of their masters.
Slaves have, theoretically and practically, all the
rights necessary to increase physical happiness, and
neither intellectual or moral or religious happiness
can exist without material comfort. Free laborers
have no rights, where they have as is generally the
case, no property. From the first liberation of the
Viieps to the present day. all history and all stats-
tic, prove that in old countries their situation is
worso than that OF slaves. Apprehension Of such
state Of things in the future, fully accounts for ond
ustiaes "thc extraordinary activity Of the human
mind at the North
In conclusion, wc arsure the Tunes, il it will e1'
anime the history Of Western Europe in its social
recesses and relations for the last three centuries it
will find, beyond cavil or doubt that this mental rest
le,sness and inquetude of faith and conviction
in everything, is owing solely to the failure OF the
experiment Of free soeety-nn experiment that has
placed the masses in condition, because more
in the power Of the property holders than ever be-
fore, with no obligation on the property holders TO
take care Of them. Hyou can keep population sparse
| and lands abundant, as in Norway and Sweden, and
in al desert and mountainous countries free society
IA ~-- n h;oh