Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1858-10-22
From the Cincinnati Commercial.l
The North and south.

OIL cOmmunNtes1 90 men see themselves
as they are seen by others. e cry state
of society. besides the one TO which We
are accustomed, bears 20 us the appear.
ance Of transition and imperfection and
there is nothing more difficult TO attain
than that cosmopolitan feeling which per
mitsA man. i'm his estimate OF other peo>
pie. to distinguish between unlikeness aud
interiority. and to render equal justice to
every race Of men and every variety OF
ciSlization. In almost every case-flr
the want Of that knowledge which only
comes from observation of any other
mea make their own country, their own
State, county, town. village, the standard
by which they assume to measure every
other. Even the pecuIiarilics Of their
own condition they expect to find else
where. orr not finding, are ready to COM
plain; while the peculiariIies Of others are
at once set down as defects. whose exist
ence would, in their estimation, render a
residence among them intolerable.
Between the state Of society in the nor
theru and that in the southern members
of the American Union, there are differ
enees, the spirit of which the citizens of
neither section can fully comprehend
Upon one side the general consciousness
that unity of race aud individual freedom
is the normal condition Of socIety-that
the manners and customs to which they
origin are such as are best calculated to
promote progress and secure happiness.
and that every departure therefrom, not
only brings discomfort to the party per-
hitting such variance. but is an imper-
lection which it is its duty to remedy as
soon as possible; upon the other side. a
consciousness equally general supplies
ground for the opinion that the highest
enjoyment Of freedom in one race requires
the involuntary servitude Of another
that such servi' ude is therefore not only
lustihAble but natural, and that Whatever
habits. individual or social, grow out Of
this state of things. are not merely pro
per under the circumstances. but would
be SO under any other that could be i'm.
agined.
There are certain conditions that &C
company Southern slavery that meu resi-,
ding in the northern States never appear
TO understand until rLey have come in
contact with the institution. They look
upon slavery as bond. which is mains
tanned solely by coercion upon one side,
auN POu Tue huu nave little
or no conception of that process. by which
the master and the slave are ha, mouized.
assimilated. and made mutually necessa-
ry. to the extent that the dissolution OF
the tenure would be- injurious 10 both
Once IN contact with slavery, and the
northern man-thaL is to say il his per
spicacity is stronger than his prtiud,ces
-discoVers this Immediately. He now
sees it more strongly than his slave own
or, and finds that. while it seems TO give
no disturbance to him. il would, Of all
things. be most irksOme to himself In
reality. the fact that the master il Of the
two. the dependant party. is the thing
which first strikes the northern man in
the slave states-at least in the old ones.
Compared with his ancestors for thou
sands OF years. the slave in Kentucky.
Virginia and Tennessee, is a rich man
He has as much liberty. more protection.
and, as general rule. less abuseSi. II
his work is harder, he is better fed cloth
ed and lodged-has no care uprl d his
mind-Instead of being slaughtered aud
eaten, as he would be in the laud Of his
forefathsrs. on the approach of old age.
he has q master whose duty il is to take
care of him. But this is not all !; the
whole economical movement Of the SOU
thern States is graduated to the gait Of the
negro. This is thing, which. to one
accustomed to the brisk pace OF northern
industry. is percepuble in moment. II
is here that the African is seen in his
true character as the ruling element Of
southern productive instrumentalities-
So far from being able to bring the slave
up-to his own speed, the master has been
compelled to come down himself TO the
lazy shamble Of his human property; aud
this IS percsptlble not simply in his in
dustrlal but in his intellectual operations
They who work fast think fast while
they whose movements are necessarily
slow will fall into mental habits to cor
respond with the physical. In fact. the
words master and slave convey 10 the
north ideas very different from those that
are justified by the reality. In a great
many Individual cases. it is the master
who is the real servant; and in far the
most important interest Of society-uhe
industrlal-the collective inertia of the
negro Is greater than all the power that
can be brought to overcome it. Here is
the reason why it is-ss it has been ire
quenIly charged-that the master bred
at the north is is so much moro severe
and exacting than the master bred at the
south. The former is accustomed to
make calculations. aud to require his in.
struments to conform to them; the latter,
unable to secure conformity. saves him
self the trouble of calculating. The one
attempts to drive the negro. the other
permits the negro to drive him. Slavery
therefore here makes it's appearance as
the agency by which the master class al
the south is educated-the 'moulder of
the intellectual and in,iusIrinl hahitndas