The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-01
SOUTHERN DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN IN
MIGRANTS.

ton under save.labor institutions. Sometimes
however, companies of such immigrants, at
tracted by the climate of the South, have formed
colonies in certain portions of it, but they rarely
meet with cordial welcome. In Texas, moi
long since, an attempt was made by some OF
Its newspapers to arouse an excitement against
the French colonists there, on the ground that
they cherished sentiments unfriendly to Slavery
and the German settlers in Texas have more
than once fallen under the suspicion CT the pro.
slavery party.
| The New York Herald states, that lately. sew.
eral Italian and French refugees have been set
tied in Virginia. under favorable circumstances,
through the influence of the American Indus
trial Association of New York. Some of the
Italians were recently released from an impris.
onment of seven years, to which they had been
condemned for their participation in the revo-
luton of l847. Others were members of the
Italian legion in the Crimea. They have al
ready, says the Herald, produced good i'm
preston by their department, and the intelIi-
gence and alacrity with which they entered on
their work-for which their military training,
and their labor in the trenches before Sebasto-
pol, peculiarly qualify them" The same paper
adds
"a company in this city offer strong INDUCE
ments for the settlement of emigrants III n
g;nia. and another company in New England,
with loo, 900 acres, are making similar arrange
ments for the colonization of free labor in the
same State"
One might suppose that Virginia would well
IN zbn N,
buy her WORKOUT lands, to restore their vitality,
and make them productive-men, who must
add to her population and enterprise. Why
should she not secure portion of the stream of
free immigration which is rolling its full tide
through the free States
But, let us hear what the Richmond We
Enquirer, the leading Southern organ of the
Party which stood up for the rights Of foreign
immigrants in the late canvass, has to say of
these colonizing movements
90 arrangements for the colonizing of free
labor in Virginia. These words at once ar
rest our attention, and reveal the secret of the
thing. 1t is the first visible operation Of the
| society for the propagation of Abolitionism in
the State of Virginia.
CHOW shall our people meet the movement
| Shall the Abolitionists of New York and Bos-
| ton be permitted to scatter their free labor ,
colonies over Virginia, until they succeed in
planting an Anti-Slavery population in our
midst? Shall they be allowed thus to intro
duce hostile element in the bosom Of the
State, in opposition to its interests and in active
alliance with its enemies?
"These inquiries address themselves to the
people of Virginia with peculiar emphasis at
the present moment. The energies of our in
sttutions are taxed to resist the pressure Of
external aggression. In the remoter northern
and western counties of this State, the security,
and consequently the value, Of slave properly,
are well nigh destroyed, by the depredations Of
Abolition kidnappers. At the same time, we
have reason to suspect the Vaccinations of
Yankee emissaries in the bosom of this State,
and to apprehend some possible demonstration
of violence from our slaves. While all these
concurrent causes are operating with such eff
feet to inDair tho stability of our institutions
and our social security, shall we permit these
free labor colonies to add another and a
I stronger hostile i1f 1eace to tho power arraign
ed against IS!
The character Ok these inrni rants opposes
depndent OBJECTION 3 aelEt EDftr9 9 G4a On
iit.~l ep!prjts, 9yjsen from Europe for Meil
revolutionary ci9}s4ce, md h from the H.
! feeti0Hs atmosphere - SoD,s imildL c0l0ny
t1",ie Instruments, 'qGee3 Anti-SIGrery
PrOp99 ism Soate are ordinary Offenders
against tie Secmityof life aad prOpe,ty; others
are soldiers, achom deSpotiSm diSn,iSSes from,
its serrice-tbe U0gdb0nds Of the earth IN the
pay Of AbOltionisn, and precipitated here
upon as to destroy the Ualue Of our property
and the security Of oar institutions.
"The impudence of this attempt on the part
of the Abolitonists of New York and Boston,
IN
to polIute orr soil ruth the presence Of then
rabbIe Of paupers and criminals, pyocokes re
6uke and retaliation. The danger lciM ,chich
they threaten oar institutions, calls TOR the in
reference Of the Legislature. 1t IS an ercep
tionGL case, and may be managed without I'M
pugning the liberal principles Of eur policy o
naturalization"
Now, is net this beautiful? A year or two
ago, small colony of emigrants from New
York bought tract of land in this District
settled upon it, put up comfortable houses, ant
since then have been contributing by their in
dustry to our markets. 1t was business ope
ration, and what interest was damaged by it?
AT various times, emigrants from New Y orl
have colonized themselves in northern coun
ties of Virginia, redeeming the land by thei
hardy, well.directed industry; has the Ok
Dominion been placed in imminent peril b.
these farmers? Some OF the en,erprisin2
capitalists of New Jersey have bought up large
tracts of forest III Virginia, for the sake Of til,
timber. Other capitalists in other Northern
States, seeing immense tracts of waste lands
in its southern counties advertised, have Dough!
them at low prices, and, like practical men
anxious to make their investments profitable
have been trying to induce Northern farmers
to go and settle on them. To imagine tina
) their object ia philanthropic, that they in
: tended to aboltionize Virginia or confer an
other special benefit on Virginia, that they in
, tend in fact, anything else than " fair bust
ness transaction" is to render them undu
credit. The notion is decidedly unsophisti
Gated,
Then, as to these poor foreign refugees, fin,
instr ,ments Of Anti Slavery Propagandsm
/, are tAey not2 It's 50 common for the Italians
to be AntiSlavery reformegs! What has tn,
/ American Industrial Association of New YorI
: to do with Abolitionism The article of th
Enquirer bctrays a mind i'll at ease with it
! position, Ignorant of the real condition O