Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-05-30
PlcKENs COURT HOUSE, S c, SATURDAY, MAY 80, 1857,
The Material Prosperity of the South.


Failing in everything else, abolition IA
naucism is seeking to depreciste the institu>
tion of slavery by false arguments rs TO the
relative prosperity" Of the Northern and
Southern States, addressed to the cupidity
rather than the patriotism of the people. =
Population is estimated MS wealth, and not
the comparative independence and comfort
of those who constitute that population
The starving prices of labor are never taken
into account, so there is population" and
upon this basis dozen Massachusetts chin
ney sweeps or factory operatives, working
for the pittanco necessary to bear subsis
tance, are counted rs equal TO dozen in.
dependent and prosperous Tennessee agri.
cultursts or mechanics. 1t matters not
with them how many novels ofpoverty there
may be in the prospect. so they are looked
upon by the gorgeous palaces of wealth !;
and these poorand dcmoralized masses are
deluded into the belief that Southern slave.
ry is in compoltion with them and consti.
tuies the great curse of the country.
1t has been with deep regret that we
have seen many of the Know Nothing pm.
pcrs of the South echong this cuckoo song
of Abolilionism, to the effect that "popula.
ton" is the great desideratum to be arrived
Mt in free government, as constituting the
true basis of prosperity and happiness with
the people. The most prominent among
the number are the acknowledgements,
the Baltimore American, Richmond Whip
and Louisville Journal countenanced and
copied from by the Nashville Banner and
other papers in Tennessee.
The condition of "poor old Virginia is
regarded by these professed philanthropsts
rs deplorable in The extreme, and she has.
therefore, received the largest shnre of their
mawkish sympathy. They speak in feeling
terms of her exhausted and waste lands !;
her unpregrcssive population; her heavy
debt, and the heavy tide Of emigration that
is setting off for the open territories of the
West. The Inference deduciblc from all
this is, in abolition phrase, "the curse Of
slavery"
The frank and manly course of The Dem
ocratic papers Of the North, upon this sub.
ject. presents striking and pleasing con
trast. National, bold and patriotic, they
yield no trucking subscrviency to anti. slave.
ry fanaticism, but make for the South de-
fence against these assaults that have been
encouraged by n portion of our own journals,
as full and unconditional MS we could make
Tor ourselves. Prominent among this class
OF Northern Democratic papers are the Gin
cinnati Enquirer, the Boston Post, the New
York Day Book, and the Journal of Com.
mcrcc. 3'.
We have been led TO these remarks by,
recent.article headed Southern Progress"
in the last mentioned journal, defending the
slave States against this character Of as
sauIts, from which we make tie following
extract: ~
A leading element of their aggressive
plans is dcaunciation. Their mnxim is TO
"spare noarrows." There are journals in
this city which take the liberty OF participa.
ling in this spirit Of calumny, and they tx.
port it Europe, so that the people there
are rrisIed. A false impression i+Uaade--
we fear we might add, is sought to be made
touching the material prosperity Of the
South, The Abolionists, not satisfied with
inundating the South with incendiary pub.
locations, as they did some years ago "bear
false witness to the world, of the inferior
condition Of the Southern States They
have accused old Virginia of decrepiude.
Formerlyitwns customary to venerate age,
and at least admire il for what it had done /;
but all the peerless statesmen OF that won
derfu commonwealth, who have laid the
country and the world under obligation to
them. are TO pass for nothing. and their an.
cient motherto be yituperated, as if she had
got the slave trade instead of her English
and Northern traduccrs, wherens, in her
colonial days, she protested against it, but
we pyerruletifand fettered NotwilhstanJ.
ing all these adverse influences, Virginia is
progressive, disclosing an amount of wealth
truly surprising. The official records of the
re- assessment of her lands show gain of
nearly one hundred naiiiicns OF property in
six yearB The assessment. Of 1850 made
tl,e aggregate va,ue. Of real estate TO be
$276,98o,22e. .Thato lSoG proves the
value TO be S313,124,005, showing an in.
crease of sos, ,733, 500. These, toe must
be considered moderate figures, because the
heavy taxation for internal Improvements
produced an unusually low estimate Of the
value of f,real ,estate.5 Farms estimated at
800 per acre, have been sold for more than
double That figure :. one as high rs &c.,
Fair Judges consider $4,000 900 as not an
extfasagaut valuation OF the real estate Of
Virginia. Wbileeotber States freely draw
from the United States Treasury, She can
afford-fron pride Of principlc--to look to
heaps,of gold in it, ready for her, without
deigning to touch il, While free Sates
come as suppic0nts for grants of lands for
hilroads, SHE relies on her own resources,
and is going steadily forward in developing
lheac 'rasohreae - Unsbu;IIo TToso,,s