Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-02-21

nearly three times that of the free blacks OF
the North. But these legal rights of the slave
embrace but a small portion Of the privileges
actually enjoyed by him. He has by universal
CUSTOM the control Of much OF his own tme
which is applied, at his own choice and conVe
nience, to the mechanic arts, 10 agriculture, or
to some other profitable pursuit which not
only gives him the power of purchase over
many additional necessares OF life, but over
many of its luxuries, and in numerous cases,
enables him to purchase his freedom when he
desires it. Besides, the nature of the relation
of master and slave begets kindnesses, imposes
duties, land secures their performance,) which
exists in no other relation Of capital and labor.
Interest and humanity cooperate in harmony
for the well being of slave labor. Thus the
monster objection TO our institution Of slavery,
that it deprives labor of its wages, cannot
stand the test of truthful investigation. A
slight examination of the true theory of wages,
will further expose its fallacy. Under system
OF free labor, wages are usually paid III money,
the representative of products-under ours, IN
products themselves. One of your most dis
tinguished statesmen and PATRIOTS President
John Adams said that the difference 10 the
State was Imaginary" "What matters it
(said he) whether a landlord employing ten
aborers on his farm, gives them annually as
much money as will buy them the necessaries
of life, or gives them those necessaries at.short
hand" All experience has shown that if that
be the measure of the wages Of labor, it is
safer for the laborer to take his wages in pro
ducts than in their fuctuating pecuniary value.
Therefore, if we pay in the necessaries and
comforts of life more than any given amount
Of pecuniary wages will buy then our laborer
is paid higher than the laborer who receives
that amount of wages. The most authentic
agricultural statistics of England show that
the wages Of agricultural and unskilled labor
in that Kingdom, not only fails to furnish The
laborer with the comforts Of our slave, but
even with the necessaries of life, and no slave
holder could escape conviction for cruelty to
his slaves who gave his slave no more Of the
necessares of life for his labor than the wages
paid to their agricultural laborers by the noble,
men and gentlemen of England would buy.
Under their system man has become less valu-
able aud less cared for than domestic animals,
and noble Dukes will depopuate whole dis
tricts of men to supply their places with sheep,
and then with intrepid audacty, lecture and
denounce American shareholders.
The great conflict between labor and capital,
under free competition, has ever been how the
earnings Of labor shall be divided between
them. In new and sparsely settled countries,
where land is cheap, and food Is easily pro-
duced, and education and intelligence approx
mate equality labor can successfully struggle
in this warfare with capital But this is an
exceptional and temporary condition of society.
In the Old World this state of things has long
since passed away, and the conflict with the
lower grades of labor has long since ceased.
There the compensation OF unskilled labor
which first succumbs to capital, is reduced to a
point scarcely adequate to the continuance Of
the race. The rate of increase is scarcely one
per cent. per annum, and even at that rate,
population, until recently, was considered a
curse; in short, capital has become the master
oflabor with all the benefits, without the natural
burdens of the relation.
In this division of the earnings of labor
between it and capital, the southern slave has a
marked advantage over the English laborer,
and is often equal to the free laborer of the
North. Here again we are furnished with
authentic data from which to reason. The
census of 1850 shows that, on Cotton estates
of the South, which is the chief branch Of our
agricultural industry, one-half Of the arabic
lands are annually put under food crops. This
half is usually wholly consumed on the farm by
the laborers and necessary animals; out of the
| other half must be paid all the necessary
expenses of production, often including add.
tional supplies of food beyond the produce OF
| the land, which usually equals one-third of the
| residue, leaving but one-third for net rent.
| The average rent of land in the older non-slave
| holding States is equal TO one-thrd of the
| gross product, and it not unfrequently amounts
TO one-half Of it, lin England it is sometimes
even greater,) the tenant, from his portion
paying all expenses of production and the
expenses Of himself and family. From this
statement it is apparent that the farm laborers
of the South receive always as much, and
| frequently greater portion Of the produce OF
the land, than the laborer in the New or Old
England. Besides, here the portion due the
slave is charge upon the whole product OF
capital and the capital itself; il is neither
dependent upon seasons nor subject to acct.
dents, and survives his own capacity for labor
and even the ruin Of his MASTER
But it Is objected that religious instruction
is denied the slave-while il is true that reli
gious instruction and privileges are not enjoyed
by law in all the States the number Of slaves
who are in connection with the different churches
abundantly prove the universally Of their en-.
joyment Of those privileges. And much
larger number Of the race in slavery enjoy the
consolation Of religion than the efforts of the
combined Christian world have been able "a
| convert 10 christianity out OF all the millions
Of their countrymen who remained in their
native land.
The immoralites Of the slaves, and Of those
connected with slavery, are constant themes O
abolition denunciations. They are lamentably
great but it remains 10 be shown that they
are greater than with the laboring poor Of Eng
land, or any other country. And il is shown
that our slaves are without the additional slim
ulant of want to drive them to crime, we have
at least removed from them the temptation and
excuse Of hunger. Poor human nature is here
at least spared the wretched fate OF the utter
prostration Of its moral nature at the feet o.
| It's physical wants. Lord Ashley's report to the
British Parliament, shows that in the capita
Of that empire, perhaps within hearing Of Stat
ford House and Exeter Hall, hunger alone
daily drives its thousands Of men and women
into the abyss of crime.
1t is also objected that our slaves are debarred
the benefits Of education. This objection is
also we'll taken, and is not without force. And
for this evil the slaves are greatly indebted TO
the ENTHUSIASTICALLY in none Of the slave
holding States was it forbidden to teach slaves
to read and write, but the character Of the
/ L. Il A -