Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-12-01

that the average in the slave states IS fully one per cent larger than the ratio of increase in the { free-soil states. Before enumerating the causes which may possibly explain this desparitv, 1t may be contenled in the very teeth of the diff ference that, even admitting it it stands. un- softened by explanation acknowledging the fact of the greater southern increase just as it
 s recorded without examining into the reasons of the smaller northern increase vet. that no , fatal discredit thereby attaches to the colder climate, and that ratio of increase of two her cent per annum, so far as the question of lati. tude is involved iusti6es the employment of any slave population, among whom such rate of increase is observed.
 But there are circumstances to be considered in connection with this question of northern per centage which greatly qualify the sienii- canoe of the statistics by which this per centage is determined
 The hrst great explanatory fact which of itself would solve the question, is furnished in the condition of the negro population at the nortE.
 The inexorable history of the negro, when emancipated from the restraints of slaverv-- his lnveterate instincts tn vagabondage his pro- found and invinehe indolence. his unconquer- able desire far self-indulgence his degrading, superstitious, and his inevitable descent into barbarlsm-have been urged often by onr writers, and illustrated by so many startling ex- amples from abroad. that it is not deemed necessary to discuss them here. They address themselves to us from every place where eman- cipaton has been tried and from no where. more eloquentv than from the free negroes of the north. Isolated by bitter clasa- proscrip- ton, and unmpeled by the magnetism of superior will to provide for daily wants, they l aN-bi boJ of poverty. which rarely distress the eye
 Under such a condition of thirgs the marvel is, not that the ratio is so small nor that it is as large as it is, but that there is any ratio of i increase at all. Yet there is ratio of increase and that, too, of two per cent. per annum; and the question arises. if the negroes of the north have thus multiplied under abnormal circum- stances, how fast would they increase, if the guards and fostering protection of humane system of servitude were extended over them? Nor are we left only to speculate upon their improved welfare under such a change of gov ernment. A state of things, analogous to the one proposed and now existing in the northern slave states, illustrates and practically exem- pliies the happy workings of such govern ment.
 In Maryland and in Delaware and in the mountainous regions of Virginia and Kentuckv, the climate is to the full as inclement as in the northern states and territories When. there fore. it is shown that, in these laitudes. the brawniest and the heal'hiest nerroes of the southern country are grown, no reason appears why they should not, under slavery, thrive as heartily in the free soil communities.
 This description of the negroes in the bor. der slave states will be ndorsed by every man who has had occasion to criticsa their condi- l oO6 h., of .la advocate the utter fatality of cold to negro prosperity.
 Another prominent cause, in the solution of the small increment in the free states, is sup piled by the mixed character of their colored race. Perhaps the truth of no hypothesis in physiology is more generally attested than that hvbrds are mainly unproductive, and strongly disposed to absolute harrenness All of ani- mated nature teens with examples of ifs truth. Illustrations of it are to be observed wherever one type is crossed upon another. Added to a want of fertility. characteristic feature of the mongrel, is lack of nervous vigor and general physical stamen. These traits are especially eXemplified in the mixed progeny of the whites and blacks, and of a consequence, in this pro genv, are exhibited great bodily i'll health, and a large per centum of early deaths
 Keeping in view the unprod of this class, we find that, whereas. in the slavehold- ing states the mulattoes constitute proportion of only one-ninth in the negro population they make LID in the non-~la veholding states one half of their coored inhabitants. With so large an unproductive element in the population of one section, and so small an unproductive ele- ment in the population of another section. it is no matter of surprise that the rate of increase in one should be murh heavier than the ratio of increase in the other. On the contrary, the burden is rather thrown on the south to show why, in the face of hi fact, the comparative ratio of her increase n t larger than itis
 Having discussed the rate of fecunltv in the northern states, and the causes eucidating 1t, the other element which enters into the de- termination of average increase naturally pre- sents itself. It has been seen upon what excel lent grounds the grclter procreation among the southern slaves is based; and it is now left to compare the rates of mortality among the ne- groes of the two regions.
 Conceiving, that for the purpose now in view | the climate of the extreme northern slave states fairly represents the climate of the western states and territories, have selected in the f,l- lowing comparison, the average rate of nor taty in the states of Delaware, Marvland, Mis- Souri, and Virginia, and like average in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi. Alabama and
  of mortality in a southern and a northern lati- tude
 Average per centum of mortality in
 Delaware, Maryland, Missouri
 and Virginia. 1.482 In Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama
 and Georgia l723
 The larger fruitfulness of the southern is thus, to some extent, offset bythe smaller nor tallty of the northern states; for although none are born at the south, yet fewer, in given time, die at the north
 Looking at all these facts, it seems not un- warrantable to believe, that if, in place of the mixed aud diseased negro class at the north, a pure and vigorous type was substituted, and over this a slave administration erected. the present disparity in the rates of increase of the free and slayeholding states would notably disappear.
 Another argument, which, though it only negatively combats the flea that cold is fatal to negroes, is yet in positive conflict with the received opinion that they must thrive in the tropics IS realized in the state of the British West Indies.
 On the basis of the received opinion the ar gumentin favor of the West Indies, as compar- ed with the United States, would be correctly stated, thus:
 ne nearer negro IS to the equator, the more thrifty he is. San Domingo is nearer to the equator than the United States; therefore, the negroes in San Domingo are more thrifty than the negroes in the United States
 This Is the argument uf the doctrine put in its simplest form: and yet, how appallinglv do the statements of travellers, and the facts of sta- tistics, contradict and belle its conclusion. In contrast with the unr:vaed prosperity of the American negro, Ssn Domingo presents pie ture of thorough de>tituton, and nosome wretchedness, which, 1t is to be hoped, offends the eye no where else on the inhabitel earth.
 Statistical records show us that fol every one negro imported into the United s ates, from eight to ten are now to be found: where as, for every five imported to the Isle of San Domingo, but from one to two can at present be discovered.
 Nor s this explained by the affliction of free dom, with which England persecuted her West India possessions. This frightful descent to- wards ultimate depopulaiion was not inaugu- ratei by the act of emancipation passed by the l British Parliament. IL dated from the earli- ! est importation of slaves. and evan ,,nlar tho