New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-02-05

Letters Of Gov. H.nnond oil c. 70 Thomas cistsos.
4 To I've Editor # TAI nevae.
SIR The number of shareholders in the Slave
States Of this Union as ascertained by the census
returns of 1850 was three hundred and forty seven
| thousand FIVE hundred and twenty-five An average
of FIVE persons and seven tenaNs to family, as as
sumed by the Superintendent Of the census, would
give 1880, s94 the number Of 'ersons interested
Shareholders in their own right, by iamy reia-
tion The whole number of whtes IN the slave
holding States being 6, pa, 4ls, the slavehoiding
proportion is a fraction short of - per cen1
The Superintendent Of the census, Professor
De Bow, says of the number, 347, 525, ra urned -
Shareholders:
& s assS. . s sts. %. a.. "a
xiii about baaae' each other for As pAOIs Sosa 90 t'sss
re-. ne parig S.'s. .lass IA ds,s.t ce.a,s ~ q ~
ss % s % ;1.sss S ss os s q. .s 1850 -. ~
Larger prcpeytiss."
The addition of those who are " savehircrt'
merely, to the category of slaveowners, must, 4
think, swell their number much more than 10
diminished by the exclusion Of those who are in
"teres,ed conformity with others in slave prop
"erty" Such instances of copjoint interest win
occur most frequently in the family relations.
already taken into the account, when we multi
Piled the number of shareholders returned By five
and seven tenths. A comparison Of the returns
from Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Viz
ginia, where slsvehirng is much practised, with
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, where it is
less practised, shows the following results:
Maryland, Virginia, and the District Of Colum-
bis, with 566,5s3 slaves, return y, 5S4 slave
owners. Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana,
with S97, 53l slaves, return 73,06l slave
owners. The relative excess Of slaveowners re-
turned in Virginia, Maryland and the District Of
Columbia, must be attributed, in part, to the in
clusion of relatively larger number of "slsve-
hirers." Upon the whole, it may safely DO CEN
cluded that at least seven tenths of the whites in
the Slave States, are not slsveOwners, either in
their own right, or by family relation. The num-
Der of white males in the Slave States. aged
twenty-one years and upward, in 1850. was
l,49O,S9
Considering that the number Of BAT ,525. re-
turned as slaveowners, is subject to some deduc-
tons, and considering that of the savsowners
many are females and Minors II is probable that not
exceeding one fifth of the white male adults Of the
Slave States own slaves.
The non-slayeholdng whites of the South, being
not less than seven tentbs of the whole number OF
whites. would seem to be entitled to some in
ouiry into their actual condition; and especially.
as they have no real political weight or considers
ton in the country, and little opportunity to speak
for themselves. have been for twenty years o
reader of Southern newspapers, and reader and
hearer OF Congressional debates but in oil that
time. do not recolect ever to have seen or heard
these non savehoding whites referred to by South
ern gentlemen as constituting any part ofwhat they
call "Me South" When the rights of the South,
or its wrongs, or its policy or its interests, or Its
institutions are spoken of, reference Is always in
tended to the rights wrongs, policy, interests and
institutions of the three hundred and forty'seven
| thousand Shareholders. Nobody gets into Con-
eress from the South but by their direction; no
body speaks at Washington for any Southern inter-
eat except theirs. Yet there is, at the South,
quite another interest than theirs; embracing from
two to three times as many white people; and, a.
We shall presently see, entitled to the deepest sym
patty and commiseration, in view of the material,
intellectual and moral priyations to which it has
been subjected the degradation to which it has al
ready been reduced, and the still more fearful
degradation with which it is threatened by the In
eytable operation of existing causes and Influences
From a paper on Domestic Manufactures In
g the South and West" published by N. Tarver
of Missouri in l647, / make the following ex-
tracts:
The free population Of the South may be divided into two
eases-he sls,ehoder and the non stakeholder am not
that the relative these classes have
aEeertained Of the 5ates but am stsned tnat
The outnumber the slsyehoders-perhsps
~ ,Lea no one In the Southern portion Of this region,
the possess generally but very smsh means
and the land they possess almost universally poor and
40 .,eTe that ssny subsistence 10 all that can DO derived
from and the more fertile soil being m the pos
. son Of the savehode remain out Of the power
This Of things great dswbsck and bear. heavily
H. e0uison of Tespecabls position 10 The scale
difficult that they decline the hopeless pursuit. and
any of them see habits Of deDess aud become
The slno passive subjects OF all its consequences And
that have observed OF late years mas an e'deht
deterioration taking place In this part OF the population, the
ge portion of il being educated lees industrious and
In view less respectable than hsil ancestors
r. In an eminent degree the the STAKEHOLDER that
ry 70 and should be opened this
population and that announcement should DO gwen 70
@ bjs than the
To the savehodng class Of the population OF the South
b.n 10 The cass The former almost
the wealth of the country The preservation o. tSn wes
Is subject highest consideration to those who possess IT,
This picture is distressing and discouraging; dis
tressDg, in that it exhibits three fourtbs Of tho
whites of the South substantially destitute of prop
erty driven upon soils so sterile that only scanty
subsistence is obtsinabe from them, depressed in
moral energies, finding the pathway to respectable
ity 30 difficult that they decline the hopeless pur->
suit. ceasing to struggle, and becoming the almosk
nassive subjects of the consequences OF idenessJ