Litchfield enquirer., 1856-10-02
n1hanan DootrinsE

II S.sf 'nr tvo since sundry tables inustrafiye of siv somparstise growth of the Free and Slave
 sssssss. coupling in the same parallel New Y ork
 ~;th Vireinia, in order to show the disastrous taa.ences of dave labor with the hitter. The
 s.raIt has been shaup controversy, in which !. Sbe pfeSlsyery preM take the ground that r s1ha eeeses,a independent of the one we desigs nod 65oount for the non.progrcss of the ma frrjsl i1l6gests of Virginia the main one be- ine wSDto of enterprise. intelligence, and indus ,stfy among the owners of the soil The latter, weuced hardly say, is cause, but it is sec ea4lssy one, pfoduced by that great first cause, prfsissence ip the employment of involuntary iabDr. - ss s--"-s a-'ss
 Let us recall the faets, and then produce the .eyidepce that shall associate them with their Virginia and New York were incorporated into the Fedefsl Union at the same time, the Soemsr btingipg one.fourth more territory than tho latter. Nature bestowed every advantage upon the soothermost of the two. The miIder climate. while t shovered more fecund fertility upon tho coil was still 70 far from tropical heat, as to leave the arm of labor its original vigor. The staplss of North and South, of New York and of the Carolinas, grow thrifty side by side. lts vast forests, exhsustless qnarries, opnlent god mines, seemed to promise means of inter psl improvement, embellishment, and .af1uence, w:th which its Northern rival could not hope to conpete. It's inland waters opened. every portion q the State to traffic and intercourse. its sesports and hsrbors were deemed the best on tho coast and Norfolk, equaling in popula- tioa md exceeding in trade the City of New yoek, threatened to become the metropolis of tho Western world Then. the population of Virginia was seven hundred and forty eight tbousaad, three hundred and eight more than double that of New York. Now. the popula- sion of New York is four million, against one million five hundred thousand in Virginia Then Virguia exported 8, l30,875 of. her pro ducts, while New York exported but two mil lion, five hundred and Eve thousand, four hun dred and sixty five. Now Virginia exports eight million, while New York exports ninety million. Norfolk the rival of New York city, hos now only fifteen thousand inhabitants, while it's competitor has seven hundred thou sand. Then land was worth more in Virginia than i0 New York. Now farms may be bought within 6ify miles of the Capital of the United States for five dollars an acre while no farm worth having can be bought within fifty miles of this city for less than one hundred asd twen- ty five dollars per acre. Nor in such points oi contrast do we best discover the decline of sur Southern neighbors The traveller is eve sywhere shocked with evidences of decay, ruin, and desoIation. Houses dilapidated and aball- q doned; farms neglected and unproductive {; &itg streets overgrown with grass, and oppres- ssiseiy silsnt i; her single aport languid and 1Ittse freqdeuted immense tracts Of land unre- selni1sed, and other vast tracts, once improved, ret0ming to its primitive wiIdness the ab- ssnte ofmechanicai aud manufacturing indus. atsy and the oniiiprescnce of slaves in mart
 and market, iu port and on plantation repre-. senting the entire labor of the community these arc bat few of the painful symptoms of decline which the observer encounters Ut every stage ol . tour through Virginia Inasinuch as the op
 portunities of greatness were in the first instance 5 a.l On sh side of u Southern Stat, the con ditions attending the start of the two being n all respects equal, Slavery excepted, how car
 we avoid the conclasian that Slavery is answer able for the facts [ Tho donkey of the OK l, l6ftl carrier, that was strong enough not only to draw on inference, but !" anything else it reason,n was more than match for those who srcpudiate conviction SO palpable.
 But we arc not confined to our own logica
 processcs for thg demonstration of this question E We have the highest evidence, the evidence o
 yirgnisns themselves, men of the largest wis dotii and closest observation, that the decay o, tho State is owing to theperpetuation of Slave. ry In 1889, Mir. Randolph moved in the Leg. islaturc a'resclution looking to the adoption of somc plan for the gradual abolition of Slavery. The resolution drought on an elaborate discus sIon, elicting the fact that no member of the body in either House deuied that Slavery was a great moral aud social evil, and the source oi '. Che prevailing desolation, observable in every .scction of the State. Among the other ora bors who made Anti-Slavery speeches, strong enoagh to hang dozen Abolitionists who might xo to Richmond and repeat them there, Was James McDowcil Afterwards Governor of the &kats, and who distinguished himself as mem
 ber of the XXXth aud XXXfst Congresses
 by hI elcqosaee aad<s sbhsy ia debate Mir
 ave know that the blesings sof our posi-
 tioa. soil and climate are countervailed by the apathy of ouf public counsels, and by our cx. t|uaivs reliance .upon invcluntary labor. Oul Interest and senses proclaim. the progress q
 general decline gconscience and experience st test that SlaSeEy is its principal cause. Do we contsmplate YiSrinia juatly when we regard he, d meagre, haggsrd sesd eufeebled, with decrepi tuds stealing upon her limbs, as given over to lsanness snd .mpotency. and as wasting away under ths impr0vidence and inactivity which seternelly accompany the fatal institution which