Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-10-11
INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY UPON THE
N0N-sLAvEHOLDING PEOPLE
OF THE SOUTH.


The following is from tie recent letter Of Francis
p. Blair, of Maryland, from which we quoted
some very candid declarations last week, relative
TO the opinions and purposes Of the Republican
Party. Mr., Blair depicts the evil with cloarness
and force; but what Of his remedy? Why, sim
ply q return in good faith by to the original com
promise, viz. TO "allow representation in Con-
gress to the owners Of slaves in the South, for
threc'hfths of that species of population, in con-
sideration that all the territories of the United
States shall be consccrated to freedom. Such is
Mr.. Blair's own statement Of the question, and
this after he has most cOnclusiyely proved a few
sentences above, that, all this debasement of the
Donslaveholding whites, comes directly and neces-
sarily from This Constitutional concession Of pow.
or to the shareholders. This seems an amendment
of the old song, that "the hair Of the SAINT dog
will cure its bite" 1t is the infiction Of a new
bite to cure an old wound. We have no faith in
this sort of practice.
Mr.. Blair says:
I hold that the strongest bar against disunion, Is
the preservation OF the territories from slave settle.
ment. TO OK plain this some reference to the cohdi-
tiOn of those states, where the multiplication OF
slaves has made their owners masters OF the
government and the soil, is necessary. Governor
Hammond, a loading ullifer of South Carolina,
and one OF the greatest supporters OF the slave IN
terest, cannot be suspected Of exaggcrating. the
mischief il works on the nOn-slaveholdiug whites.
Here is his testimony as to their condition., in an
address before the South Carolina Institute, in
1850;
"Tbey obtain a precarious subsistence by occa-
sional iobs, by hunting, by fishing, by plundering
fields or folds, and too often by what's in its effects
far ~worse-trading with slaves, and seducing them
to plumber for their benefit"
Mr. Tarver another southern writer of distinc.
lion, %sustains this statement in q paper on the
subject of domestic manufactures in the South:
"The free population Of the South may be diyi-
ded into two classes-the stakeholder and the non
Shareholder. | am not aware that the relative
numbers Of these two classes have ever been as
certained in any of the States, but am satisfied
that the on-slavehol far Cutnumber the slave
holders--perhaps by three to one. In the more
southern portion Vf this region the non-slavehold-
ers possess, generally, but very small means, and
the land which they possess is almost universally
poor, and SO sterile that a scanty subsistence is all
that can be derived from its cultivation; and the
more fertile soil, being in the possession Of the
stakeholder, must ever remain out OF the power Of
those who have none"
In treating Of the same project (manuiacturinG
establishmcnts) as n means OF redeemlng the
white population of the South holding no slaves
and thrown out of employment by being driven
from the culture of the soil by them, the Hon. j
Dumpkin, of Georgia, says:
at is objected that these manufacturing estab
lishments will become the hot-beds of crime. y
But | am by no means ready to cOncede that oui
poor, degraded, halfied, halfclothed, and ignoran
population-without Sabbath-schools or any other
kind of instruction, mental or moral, or without
any just appreciation Of character-wlll be lnJur
ed by giving them employment, which will bring
them under the oversight Of employers, who vii
inspire them with selfrespect by taking au inter
est in their welfare"
MI. VIM. Gregg in a paper before the South Car
Dina Institute, handling the same subject, remarks
that .any man who is an observer of things cOulC
hardly pass through our country without 5eing
struck with the fact that all the capital, enterprise
and intelligence is in d directing slave labor; and the
consequence is, that a large portion of our poor
white people are wholly neglected, and are suffer
ed to while away an existence in a state but one
step in advance of the Indian of the forest. 1t is
an evil of vast magnitude, and nothing but Q
change in public sentiment will effect its cure"
j. II. Taylor, of Charleston. South Carolina
pursues this topic of the destitution of the mass o
whites in that State, and points to the dangers t.
be apprehended from it. We take this passag,
from i in De Bows Review, the editor of which i
distinguished for his full information Of the stat
of the South
$50 long as these poor but industrious peopl
could see no moGe of living except by a degrading
operation of work with the negro upon the plants
ton, they were content to endure life in its mos
discouraging forms, satisfied they were ADORE tn
slave, though faring often worse than he. But tn
progress of the world is onward and though il
some sections it is slow, still it is '0nwdrd,' and th'
great mass of our poor white population begin t.
understand that they have rights, and that they
too, are entitled to some of the sympathy whicl
falls upon the suffering. They are fast learning
that there is an almost infinite world of industr,
opened before them, by which they can elevate
themselves and their families from wretchednes
and ignorance, to competence and intelligence. |
is this great upheaving of our masses that we hav
to fear, so far as our institutions are concerned"
These paragraphs are only scraps from volume
of evidence borne by the ablest men of the South
which prove that slave labor under the direction G
the rich, educated and powerful class, has reduce
the laboring white population to straits that max
it ian evil of great magnitude" only to be cure
by "a change of public sentiment" Now | turl
to that "change of public sentiment" as exhibited
in the leading organs of the SOutA-the Richmond
Enquirer and Richmond Examiner-to show wha
remedy they propose for the oppression which
weighs down the white aborer, who, without lane
of his own, is obliged to enter into competition
with slave-!abOr, directed by an educated master
with slaves and capital and unlimited power to
command. The following passages are from late
editorials in the presses which speak for the mill
fers of Virginia. They appeared during the last
session of Congress, to instruct it in the new thee.
ry. This is from the Richmond Enquirer:
"Untl recently. the defence Of slavery has Ia
bored under great difficulties, because its apologist:
for they were merely apOlogists, took half-Ha az
ground. They confined the defence to mere negr1
slarery, thereby giving up the slavery principle
admitting other forms Of slavery to be wrong, an,
yielding up the authority of the Bible, and of tn
history, practices, and experience of mankind
Human experience, showing the universal success
of slave society, and the universal failure of fire
society, was unayailing to them, because they wei
precluded from employing it, by admitting SLAYER
in the abstract to be wrong. The defence of mel
negro slavery involved them in still greater diff
Guilty. The laws of all the Southern States just
fed tho holding white men in slavery, provide
that through the mother they were descended. how
ever remotely, from a negro slave. The brigf
m~ulattoes, according ty their theory, were wron!
fully held in slavery.
"rhe line of defence, however, is changed nov
aud the North is completely coInered, aud dun