Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1856-04-08
For lie Enquirer.
BISHOP MEADE on SLAyERY.-INo. I'LL
We GALL FOR THE PROOF.

To Bishop MEADE OF VIRGINIA:
You think that slavery has been injurious to the
cause OF agriculture in Virginia. II you look only
to the profits of the land owner il YOU would .nuI.
ze the OK that treadeth out the straw" You are right
Capital Is more exacng and cruel and pays far less
to lis hlrengs than masters allow to slaves Sel.in.
terest, domestic affection and the law of the land
combine to induce and compel masters TO trent and
support decently all their slaves old and young,
healthy, sick Or infrm. In McCuocli's Adam Smith,
school book Of high authority, we are Informed,
that forty years ago. the better class of aborers in
ireland ate meat not uttener than month; tho
6.t!er class in England, twice or three times week.
Things, you know, have grown much worse since
The riots, and incendiarism, which occurred in the
farming districts of England 30 often about and af.
ter the year 1875, prove this. The following is the
latest evidence OH this subject:
From the North British Review for November
"lHE RURAL POPULATION NJ ESGLASD.- lIuve
we not come upon very paradise of rural secIusion!
Is It not spot to be chosen b. those who are intend
ing To while away existence among the nrver.tiring
sweets OF country life But let step little
way, and overtake the group Of children TINT is just
now crossing Tue common. Alas! yet should We not
refrain from expressing the sad feelings which the
first sight Of these infant shadows has Awakened feel
lngs heightened by contrast for ately We were ma
king our way through fourth class street, where the
prime necessities of life nre amply provided for. BE.
| sides, If We look second time at these shrunken
torms-sucl is the beneiiCcnce of the CreatOr-we
that childhood will have its Smiles its laugh its gam
OOls under conditions even the most fornrn. More.
over, there s Notwithstanding that famsed, watcry
look there is, tnkng the group altogether-.here IL
al air OF pure ristciiy-iherc is an innocence, com
parativcly and modest prnpricty-there is n re-
spec,iulness in their Gtyle aud department which is
greatly III their favor when thought OF III comparison
with the bold unreverenal sauciness Of the infant
Hercules of manufacturing towns.
but look al these unfurunates-the infant serfs OF
neglected rural district! Luuk at them physologi
caliy-ubserve their ank, coor'ss hair, screenIn.
the sunken eye, and trailing upon the bony neck
look at the hollow cheeks, ths candle.ie arms, anl
the ummuscular shanks which serve the young
chins tOr legs! But not these children breathing
pare atmosphere! Are they not natures own =
Yes, but there is thing wanting to themone
nous word clears up the mystery: Starvatun Not,
indeed, such starvation brings the sorrows OF sad
lot to speedy end bat such truss its piuing sui
fcrMgs out, through the overhad0wcd years of child
hood and youth--tIr0ugh those spaslnodlr years OF
manhood during which the struggle 10 exist wears an
apcc; o rugged rgor and then through that residue
of early dcrreptitude, haggard, bent idiotlic, which
is indeed unblcssed end of lnblessed exis:ence
This rural population does pretty well If the futher
be able bodied aud sober, the mother managing
through the summer season Of wheat hoeng, hay
making. and wheat harvest; that IL TO say when the
labor ui the mother and her children come. in 10 swell
little the weekly wages. Daring these weeks sume
thing of needed clohng is obtained. rent is paid mp
and pttancB of animal food, weekly is added to the
| bread and the ten, aud the potato ot the seven.
at wUnld be- doing II wrong 10 our worthy farmer
friends, aud tu the rural sporting gentry, to affirm that
| these mIserables are actually dying of want.-No,
they not dying, rs nSueS,s must be held
before they may be buried-wouIl 10 God they were
they are lie liYinS-hry living TO show what
eNtreniticS men, women and children may endure. aud
yet mol die; what they hold 10 b. worse. not 10
betake themselves 10 ''he union" Bnt how do these
same men, women and chidreI pass five months OF
the year, Gladly wO-ld cne tnd them curlcd round
like he'd ehcGs, aud ALTERNATING in hollow trees, i'll
rabbit burrows, lost To consciousness. eshoGd,
indeed. count it a miracie it, on May mu.iung, we
were To zee 4 group OF human bciags start up alive
from the sward, along with the paigus aud the
cowsps. But i, is InuCh !esa than miracle 30 see
the people vi depressed rural diatrct stepping alive
out Of ire winter months!
Such Il laboriug cass ID loss expensive than negro
slaves, and eaye1 iarsor profits to the land owner
In that sOnse Virginia agriculture has been injured by
slavery. But we know that yuu think that the best
system vi agriculture, which, whilst it yields the
largest crops gives tho same time, ,ko .apOrers
who produce the crops, the higheS. wages and most
enhances their we-eing social, moral and religious.
Mr. Dickens. az cEGtonist himself, said lately that
the aE9ring class OF England was "a heavy mass of
poverty ignorance aud crime Such it is every where
in Western Europe. Such il would beao,ne at once in
Virginia. if our slaves were i55raie. Because capital
exacts more frclp !aborers than human masters,
and does rot protect them at all for the poor house
the last refuge of The poor supported entirely by
tho poor. Thus the laborns poor besides support
ing themselves the rich, and the government, are
burdened with the support also ot tho e, worthless
aud iniirIn Of their own Glass. Capital produces
nothing, labor every thing. The profits OF capital
are but {. TAX which it exacts OF labor. The man
who makes twenty thousand dollars and lives on its
interest, rents, profits, commands labor bat psTs
it nothing. lie lives by the power Of iaEatoa, which
capital endOws him with. iterce, free lGbOrers are
slaves without, meat5.g. They labor under the disa
biities of sayes, buthaye none of their rights. They
aannct call on the capitalist iur protection and sup.
port. On the other hand capitalists are masters,
without tha burdens and obligations Of masters-they
Jar and do enforce the poor 10 work for ham,-and
in dense populations, may proscribe the terms Lew
ever iuhuinan. No law, 10 self nsre. 40 domestic |
affection, inGrveneS TO set INIT: 70 the sCrewng pro-
cess of overworki-; and under.paying them If you
would eSo.sh slavery you must abolish private pro-
perty, or capital which is the most cruel and iniol.
cradle of oil masters So say all the socialist and
aboitonists of Europe and America. You must |
also abolish marriage, because the ignorant aud
worthless, without masters " check them, will op.
press most c.uellY their wives and children. Slave.
ry is as ye. the only institution which has been dis
covered that will any degree protect, uphold nnd
relieve the lahorng class from the oppressive bur-
den whioh capital, skill and free competition combine
TO cast upon them.
That il does not furnish full and adequate res:,
may be owing purity to defects inherent IN auma,l
nature partly to defects of the law AID in some mea
sure, to clergy who are got sufficiently vglant and
bold, in ferettnS out aud ceusuins all abuses Of
power C the iauly relations, whether by husbands.
tatliers or masters.
We have insensbly dgressed from the subject cf
the influence OF slavery Virginia agriculture, aad
will now return lit. First, however, lie: Us cs your
attention to the Mosaic law which you will find not
only in 25th Levtcus, bu; in other books of Moses,
forbiddng tho profits of capital, except from the
stranger. Aristotle, aud most OF the ancents, oppo
sed the taking OF interest money "because money
does not breed" Moses saw, for it was revealed 10
him. that capital or property bred or increased OF
E,rI,i
Science, after struggle Of than three thousand
years, s just bng!:.g 10 understand and to tha
necessity sur the prohibition of Moses. The profits |
CT capital may degenerate into uuleTabe form Of
seryitudeare certain 50 10 degenerate where slavery
does not protect the llborng class. Where slaves
are abundant. whore they constitute the aborln. |
class so saye no doubt that the proits OF capital aud
free competition, are healthy snulants which pro-
mote accumulation, skill invention aEd eIe.gy. They
were probably not otnumerOus in JudeH, aud the nunc
ton was intended 10 protect the fee aboring poor.
Ii is not propounded universal law for all times
and peoples.
The agriculture Of all the slave States is in great
raea3ure, the result of Virginia slavehnldng-S in
truth, Virginia agriculture. Her sons, with their
slaves have, in great measure, settled and reduced
to cultivation, Georgia, ifur Georgia contained few
inhabitants at the tune of the Tevoutiou,j Kentucky,
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, |
Arkansas and Missouri. All this they have affected
chiefly since the revolution, besides settling and
bringing into cultivation the Western part of their
own State
Look at the agricultural products of Virginia, OF
the Western ana South Western slave States. Recoi-
,ect that the savage had be expelled, woods til-
ed houses TO be built and lands enclosed and you must
agree with us that slavery in Virginia has greatly pro-
moed the cause OF agriculture and promoted 10 the
OF mark ind il general; fur the saveoldIn2
South does much 10 clotlie and feed mink kind. Inc
free Nugthw hes been settled chiefly by iocegn