Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-09-14
Correspondence Of the Evening post.l

IN wealth and population now wish to
/ glance at the commercial and social progress
and condition Of our two states, and the cause
oil the great difference in their position and
prosperity.
In l160, or sixteen years before the Decla-
ration of American independence, the foreign
imports into Virginia were $50. 900 pounds
sterling. At tho same time the imports into
New York were only ls9, 900 pounds.
In 1857 the imports into New York had
increased to S57 900 900 while those of our
good commonwealth had fallen of to $780,
200. Last year the figures stood, New York
Sl95, 900 900; Virginia 81 $50 900. Colo
mel Benton, in bis Thirty Years' View -
gives in single parcnthess the cause of this
astonishing difference. lie SAYS II cause Of
this disparity was the " defeat of seamcn in
the South (for mariners cannot be made of
saves') The Colonel might have added
that there were few other useful services
which could he well performed hv that class
and in the words of Pope he might have said
with more truth than poetry,
" The day
Makes man slave. takes half his worth away"
And he might also have added, in yindicn-
tlon OF the rctributive Justice of the great
and good Governor of the Universe, that in
the crime Of slavery, as in all other crimes.
the amount of real suffering consequent and
resulting to the wrongdoer. is not lasa than
Una: lnllIctcd upon the poor victim for the
ch'Ih oi olavery. like most other chains, has
TWO ends, and whenever man fdstens the one
around the ancle Of his feIlow-man, the other
ana the heavier end, by the inscrutable but
inevitable operation of an overruling Provi-
dence, becomes fastened upon himself. and
galis' corrodes and acerates his body until
the IRON enters into his very soul In Weem's
HE OF Marion we find the noble old hero. in
one oi his moments of philosophical rc1ec-
tlon' estimating the losses Of South Carolina
occasioned by the revolutionary struggle As
one Item he sets down the number Of slaves
Killed during the war and carried off by the
British at $500 per head As another item
he puts down the number of whites at the
moderate estimate of $3.50 each. A calm
consideration of the subject might perhaps
render this estimate less absurd than it ar-
pears at hrst blush. One of the most wither-
ing influences of slavery is the stamp of de-
sradaton which 1T puts upon honest and
useiui labOr, and the countenance, to say the
least, which it gives to idleness and effem
nate indulgences
All experience has shown that manufac.
lures and the arts cannot make rapid pro-
Sress under despotism. Nearly every attempt
to establish them in the slave states has
proved an utter abortion. Georgia. it was
at one time thought, might be an exception,
but the failures there Of the last year have
ended the delusion, and hardly anybody will
hereafter try to employ slave labor, except
IN planting and agriculture, and the ruder
arts intimately connected with those branches
OF business. The skill requisite for the finer
arts and manufactures is entirely inconsis-
hn 1
cessary to insure the safety of this very SEN
sitive and delicate institution of slavery
knowledge would be as dangerous in the
hands of slaves as gunpowder. The slave
states are, by common consent, regarded as
Almost synonymous with planting and agri- /
cultural states, from their admitted incom-
patioliity with the finer arts and manufac- !
'ures. One of the consC quences of the ab- /
'ence OF arts and manufactures, and the coar.
er and more negligent agriculture incident
o that absence, is very scattered popula-
ION, Virginia has only twcnty-three people
o the square mile; New York has sixty
even, anu Massachusetts one hundred and
wenty-slz. As an aggravation of this inc
Iuality, more than one-third of the people of
llgnla are persons Of color, and denied. by
evere legal penalties, the privileges of edu-
.'uon' Hence the population legally en-
arms are so large in the slave states, us to
make distinct system, like that of New
.ork or New England impracticable, and
therefore, we find few schools, and those few
o expensive as to be generally beyond the
cach oil common people In my part of Nir-
inia the usual price of board and tuition,
or boy ten years old, is from sis to $50
ler month We see in such state of society
he most substantial reasons for the preva-
ence OF Ignorance, and why our southern
tates foot up 50 large number of white men
nd women who are unable to read and write.
But perhaps the greatest social evil result
nS from the system is the common and ne
cssary subJcctlon of slave women, many Of
hem young spriShtly and comely, to the alb
oiute control OF boys and young men with
ii the ardor Of youthful passions, Who can
oubt the natural consequences Or who
would wonder al the determination expressed
o me by well-iniormed and very intelligent
layeholdinS mother, who told me she was
esolved to send her sons to the North for
heir education, because their domestic
abits would be so much better guarded there
han they possibly could be at home Now
$ the moral and intellectual education of our
hildren is matter of such vast concern to
very parent who loves his offspring, how i'm
ortant that surrounding systems and cir
umstances should be favorable
And who can doubt that the possession of
rbitrary power, from the cradle to the grave,
: uniriendly to the cultivation of the kind
harities, the gentle ciyiities and the sweet
menities which grace the highest and the
oblest style of character. Reason and OBJ
ervation alike proclaim the greater adyan.
ages OF freedom, and good degree of social
nd political equality to aid in forming these
nnobllnS attributes so seldom found to
ourlsh in the soil of slavery. The practice
despotism must inevitably be calculated to
1rm tyrannical habits Of harshness and
everity.
In view of these considerations, how desi
able that those mighty states, just spring
* into existence Ill the great west, the
lture homes of our children and our child
'n's children, should be founded in freedom,
nd guided and animated by the spirit Of
edru Rollins glorious motto of "Liberty.
quality and Fraternity" For one, look
18th admiration at the struggles which the
lends OF freedom are making ut this event
Il crisis and with horror at the demonac
wings ot our Atchisons and Stringfelows,
ho, Ike band of Catalines, would will
lely destroy every thing lovely and beautiful
l our country, and even the glorious Union |
sell with all its substantial blessings and
allowed associations, to CRAFTY the malig-
ant desire of elevating themselves upon the
rostrate form of Liberty, and of seeing the
lack nag Of slavery wave in triumph over us
~ my God how utterly insignificant have
cen all former questions of public policy ag.
ated in this country for the last forty years,
hen compared with the sublime issues await
x us IN the coming contest
but 1t Is oonsoling that our cause is he
dam 81. -
atrick Henry, There is lust God in
eoyen who presides over the destinies of
itions, and will fight our battles for us if
G aredctiye, yigilLnt and brave. Do not be-
eve either that those who now inhahit and
10 and OF Washington and jefferson will all
rovo recreaut to the principles of 70.
o-No The spirit Of Mammon and the
over OF despotism are not all prevailing in
le sunny South, and at this time many an