Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-07-08
From the Charleston Mercury.
THE EDGEFIELD ADVERTISER.

at is also argued that our institution OF do
mestic serritude is beginning to totter to its fall
and some of the border States are pointed to as
presenting the most melancholy proof of the
reasonableness of these prophetic fears And
vet it is patent that the institution was never be-
fore so blessed of Heaven with success and pros
perity as it is this very day; it is shown BY the
newspaper exponents of Virginia and Missouri
(which should certainly be received as good au'
thority in their own cases. that anti,slavery
tendencies were never weaker within the borders
of these two States
Our contemporary, in the above extract, deals
a little in the poetical We have never said that
"the institution of domestic servitude is begin
ming to totter to its fall on account of the con-
dition of our Southern frontier States, or from
any other cause. We fully believe his assertion
"that frmer conviction never before possessed
the entire Southern mind of the morality as we'll
as the expediency of the institution of slavery"
although we cannot see "that the intelligence OF
Christendom is becoming more liberal towards
this institution" No external influences will
ever support the slavery of the South. Internal
convictions and internal power can alone perpet'
uate it. These have deepened and strengthened,
we think, from the assaults which have been
made upon them. But it does not follow, that
whilst this is true of the whole South as. a Sec
ton, it may not also be true that in certain 10.
calities, the institution of domestic servitude
may not be growing weaker. We have asserted
that in our opinion, this institution in the from
tier Southern States is weaker than it has been ;
and from inevitable causes if left free to work,
is destined to grow still weaker Our contem'
porary denies this, and appeals to "the newspa-
per exponents of Virginia and Missouri (which
should certainly be received as good authority in
their own cases) to prove that anti-slavcry ten
dencies were never weaker within the borders OF
those States"
Now, in the first place, is it to be expected
would it be polite in the newspapers of the from
tier Southern States, if they do feel that the In
stitution of slavery is growing weaker, to express
their opinions? Would the expression of such
opinions do good? Would it not rather help to
hasten on the catastrophe of emancipation?
Would it create confidence or frmness amongst
the shareholders? Would they not feel more
than ever disposed to sell their slaves to the fur
ther South, and thus leave fewer interested in
maintaining the institution and would not the
efforts along their frontier to steal away their
slaves, and to hasten the ingress of free white
population for supplying the labor of the country
and driving out slavery, be strengthened and in,
creased? We do not remember to have seen
any speculations in the newspapers of the from
tier States upon the question, whether the insti'
tuition Of slavery was becoming feebler or stron,
ger within their limits or whether the border
counties, where the annaul pecuuiary loss and
personal annoyance is great, increase in the
number of slaves held or the desire to hold them.
According to our reading, they have simply, said
nothing upon the subject, whilst they have hear
| tho itca1f The iuht
For under sucha discussion there are great causes
at work. which they could not ignore, and which
must, if things 60 on as they are now advancing,
make Virginia and Missouri free States. The Ad-
vertiser, in speaking of the frontier Southern
States mentions only Virginia and Missouri. Why
has he omitted Maryland? IfMaryland is slave
State, Virginia is not a frontier State from the
mouth of the Potomac to the mountains. He
obterates Mason and Dixou's line, and comes
to the Potomac for the Northern limit of the
frontier slave States. He is right. Maryland
can no longer be considered as a slave State.
But has it not occurred to him, that the same
causes which have gradually made Maryland a
free State, are also operating in Virginia and
Missouri, and must, in the course oftime, produce
the same result. Let US briefly advert to few
OF these causes.
The high price of slaves Is there any pur.
suit of agriculture or manufacture in Virginia
or Missouri which can make slave labor profta-
bic at 5000 round per slave, when open to the
competition of free labor? Must not such pri.
ces, in all probability carry the slaves of Virgi.
MIA and Missouri down to the South for the cul-
tivation Of her tropical productions, whilst their
places will be supplied by cheaper free labor ?
| But suppose that the slaves of Virginia are re.
tanned at the same ratio as they have heretofore
been-being an increase of two per cent-thc
whole population increases at the rate of ten
and fifteen per cent, independent of the foreign
immigration which will flow more rapidly in,
just in proportion, as by this predominance Of
the free population, Virginia becomes free
State. 1t is this view of things which has en-.
couraged the Thayers of the North to look upon
Virginia as already ripe for their Abolition de-
signs; and we see from Wheeling paper and
one in Norfolk, that they have, by no means,
been received in parts of Virginia with reluctant
assent. Add to this general cause, the increa.
sing uncertainty of slave property in Virginia
along her fronter-from the increasing facility
of escape across her borders, afforded by Aboli.
tionists to fugitive slaves-and can there be a
doubt that "anti-slavery tendencies" instead of
being "weaker," must 60 on Strengthening every
of weakness as regards the institution, peculiar
to herself. Several counties in the northeastern
part of the State, settled by emigrants from
neighboring Abolition States, are almost entirely
Abolition; and in the southern portion of the
State there are counties, settled by foreign emf.
grants, Just as anti-savery in their views as those
at the North She has fewer slaves in proper
ton to the white population than Virginia.
-. G.
large native and foreign white population. At
the late city election the Abolitionist organized
their force this issue, and elected all the city
authorities. They have set up several presses to
support their policy. At the last sitting of the
State Legislature their Representatives boldly
urged the abolition of slavery in Missouri The
Philistines are then upon them, and the agitation
exists. But the great fact which must settle the
doom of Missouri as a slave State, is the triumph
of the Abolitionists in Kansas. In the Address
put forth last summer, by the pro-slavery party
in Kansas, calling for aid from the South, they
distinctly urge that their cause is the cause of
the whole South, for if Kansas becomes free
State, Missouri, surrounded as she will be on
three sides by free States, must be abolitionised.
Nor is this all. The Indian Territory must fol.
low, making four more free States. We agree
with the pro-slavery men of Kansas, that these
results are inevitable. What does the Advertiser
think of them? Does it favor Governor Walkers
proceedings in Kansas? We ask the question,
because if the Advertiser has said anything con.
demnatory of them, it has escaped our reading.
If he condemns them, then we respectfully sub.
mit that he must take back his assertion "that
anti-slavery tendencies were never weaker on the
border" of Missouri, or he will stand selfconyic