Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-12-01

wants. but this is chiefly on the interior and rolling lands, where rarely more than six bales to the hand are grown. In the Mississippi bot. tom, where the great yields are to be found. not more than one out of twenty planters makes these necessaries at home; they alleye that it Is cheaper to purchase these things, than to set apart the land and force essential to their pro duction.
 It may be stated as a general rule, then. that whenever an average of ten bales to the hand Is produced, the items of meat and corn are procured from abroad; and, therefore, if ten bales to the band are to be taken as the aver. age in all the cotton regions it must be conpled with the condition that bacon and bread are not made at home.
 From the gross result of $500 to the hand, therefore must all the cost of domestic con sumption be subtracted. This consumption is perhaps more considerable than one unversed in plantation details would incline to believe. It has a mountainous look to the eyes of the Responding planter, and maunts up under his ruefnl nose, until, finally, from three hundred to three hundred and fifty dollars, more than comprehend the annual value of negro's la | Dor at the south.
 | In fact, do not believe 1 exceed the truth. when l state that there is hardly planter in the cotton country who would not accept S25O per annum as the fair equivalent of negros services
 In sugar, the gross receipts are considerably larger than in cotton; but they are frightfully reduced by the inhuman catalogue of plantation expenses The dulest grower of sugar ex- plodes into eloquence when he enlarges on the barbarous style in which these expenses de- plete his yearly income.
 On the tbo \, ,f q Mississippi river, nothing is raised, and every thing is bought Added to this, considerable capital IS on the sugar places, necessarily in vested in machinery, and this machinery re- qulres the unguent ofa large annual appropria- ton to keep it smoothly in play. So that eve- rythlng considered, it may be safely concluded that the net receipts of a cotton and sugar place with an equal number of hands, do not, for any gwen tune, very materially vary.
 but to put the comparison on the most liber- al footing for the South, the average per hand wilt be raised and for every negro employed on cotton or a sugar place. it will be allowed that the planter nets the sum of S4O0 per an mum. Compare this with the calculated value oi negro's work ia the higher latitude, and there Is exhibited in favor of the planter, in western states or territories an annual balance of SfO0 per hand
 Now, from this balance, a great and vital fact Is elicited. It is this. That admitting the climate, south, to be even one hundred per cent better for the negro than the climate north, vet. that African slavery in one would be as remun- erative as African slavery in the other For allow that ust half as many negroes are born at the north as are born at the south, or that for every one that dies at the south, two die at the north; nevertheless, one negro'S services at the north is equivalent to the work of two negro's at the south, it follows, on either sup position, that the net proceeds of negro labor in one would equal the net proceeds of negro la bor n the other section.
 Tn the face of facs like these, it must be al. lowed that the objection of climate sinks into subordinate importance
 believe that the facts, collated in the pre- ceding paragraphs, % far to establish the pro- position, that for all objections heretofore ad- vanced, our plan of slavery would work in the western country with highly satisfactory results The only thing which m ght obstruct its trum- phant operation, is, that the demand for negroes would not meet with a sufficient suppl y- Therefore, in the third and last division, the discussion em mbraces-
 |" 4 brief consideration of he re. epening ofhe s'quetrode as connecteI wih Me stccesst;A in- troFucton of s1aUe ldbor into Me Western Siates ona ter1jtHries."
 All of the ethical aspects of this subject have been scrutinized with such searching candor and treated with so much ability by MT. Spratt of South Carolina, that shall considcrit sheer " as a question of policy Mir. Spratt's exposi- tions have as thoroughly established the sound morality of the trade, that proceed, with the abstract right of the traffic taken as conced ed.
 IL has been seen that with negroes at their present prices, it would be profitable to employ them on the grain farms of the west. But as things now are, the western supply of negroes would have to be obtained from the south and situated as that section is, it could not stand the draught The south is already pinchea for labor, and the smallest subtraction from her working class would send the price of negroes to a monstrous height. The west and south would thus be forced into a competition for the possession of slaves, and in this struggle. the west, though now fhe more profitable field for African slaves, would, in the end be incuraby defeated. That such would be the issue of the contest, few considerations suffice to demon strate.
 Cotton has become one of the necessities of the world, the daily substance and the lives of thousands, and the political peace, and commer- cial importance of nations, measurabv depend upon its successful culture. Suppress it for q single twelve months, and such mad cries would burst loose from the famished lips of England as might shake the stability of her ancient throne. A
 The southern states are the principal pro- ducers of this commodity. They control its foreign and domestic markets and therefore. any cause which tends to increase or lessen the expense of producing cotton in America, in- ltes or depreSses its market value. But be- ing necessity, it must be had and since it must be had. no expense can defeat its cultva- | ton. Thus 1t follows that however grelt the price of negroes may become, vet as negroes are essential to the production of cotton, the price of cotton must inexorablv keep pace with the value of slaves. If, therefore, from any cause, the price of negroes were to reach 5000 per head, they would yet be employed on the south ! ern plantations, and the price of cotton would of necessity advance in proportion.
 With regard to the products of the west, on the other hand very material difference is to be observed. The price of grain would not 1 necessarily vary with the price of negroes for the conclusive reason that the cultivation of grain would not necessarily depend on the la bor of negroes. White men do, and white men could again answer all agricultural demands.- Obviously then, negroes at the north above a certain price, would cease to be productive cap- tai. It may be set down as a consequence then that whenever the north and the south bid for African slaves, the south will assuredly bear them off
 The sovereign, and the only means of pre-. venting this conflict of interests, is to reopen the trade with Africa. All inharmonious col isions would thus be avoided, the prices of ne- groes would fall to a moderate standard the entire west could be amply supplied, and the great hiatus, wrought by southern importation in the negro population of Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia would be rapidly filled up
 To the southern man, it would be useless to enlarge upon the many and multiplying advan- tages that would accrue to southern interests under the active operation of the slave trade- The hugely increased value of new lands, the redemption of old lands, the rapid multiplca. l ton of slave holders, and the general enrich ment of the south, resulting from this traffic have been urged so cogently, and with such a luminous array of details that it would be worse than vain to advocate them here.
 It is to the happy influence which the trade might exercise upon the states and territorie; of the west, that the attention of the southern