New-York daily tribune., 1859-07-09
VIRGINIA FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE
1RADR.

III mas peen supposed lHal the tulFu C'osco "c'o
pretty efectuay protected oeanst the disgrace of
the revival Of the African save-trade, if BY nothing
else, at least by the selfinterest of the existing
body of shareholders. They would never consent,
it has been said, to the revival of traffic the d.
rect tendency and avowed object of which is to re
duce the price Of slaves. thereby impoverlshing
themselves to the amount of that reduction Even
should the cotton planters be inclined to consider
as to this matter, their interest rs purchasers
rather than as holders of slayes; it has been sup
posed that the slsve.exporting States would at
least present steady front to the project of bring
ing Africa into competition with them. This view
of the case seems plausible enough, but indications
are constantly presenting themselves that it cannot
be relied upon, and that if the revival of the Ar-
can slaye-trade is to be prevented We must rely
not upon Southern planters or upon Southern poll
ticians, but on ourselves to do it.
There ,ppears in the June nun ber of De Bows
Review, a remarkable article bearing upon this
subject Its from the pen of Edmund Rufiin, the
distinguished sgricuturist Of Virginia, who BY his
writings bis experiments and his practical example,
has done so much to revive and improve the agri-
culture of that State. He begins by denying that
the present high prices OF hired slaves in Virginia,
are, as is commonly supposed, proofs of the pros
porous condition of agriculture. The icreased
price of land does, indeed indicate preceding
prosperous and improving condition Of agriculture,
but is no evidence that with this enhanced price of
land especially if joined to an enhanced cost of
labor this state Of prosperity and improvement will
continue. Within the la,t twenty or thirty years,
mainly in consequence of improved fertility from the
application of certain manures, agricultural profits
in Virginia have largely increased, resulting In
rise in the price of land perhaps to the extent of
forty per cent In the last fifteen years the price of
slaves has risen fully hundred per cent, or
from 5000 to $1,000 for young and able
hsnds This increase of price, however, has
not been caused by the actual increase OF
the value Of their labor and their products
at home, but almost entirely BY their higher
value, and the greater demand for them in the
cotton growing States Already the price of slaves
exceeds, except in some few extraordinary cases,
the profits of their labor in Virgins, and to the
extent of that excess has already checked sg-
ricultura investments, and has begun 10 make It
sek felt on the price of land. No new undertaken
can afford 10 buy slaves for investment in sgricul-
ture in Virginia, without some counterysillng re-
duction in the cost of the other necessary capital
stock and such reduction can only be found or
made in the land. The more the price of slaves
rises, il will operate in fun proportion to reduce
the price of land and by rendering the cultivation
less perfect, by the withdrawal of labor sent of
to the South, TO reduce the net profits II is sup
posed that the annual draft made upon the slave
lsbor of Virginia already exceeds in numbers the
annual increase by birth. This loss must contn-
uslly increase with the potency of the producing
causes, and in sn increasing ratio; aod sooner or
later the operation must remove 90 many
slaves as necessarily 10 DESTROY the insti-
tuition of negro Slavery within the limits
of Virgins. II is, indeed, suggested BY the oP-
porents of Slavery that when this end is reached,
new colonization of the desolate and abandoned
territory might, and would be effected, on free
labor basis. But to resch that position the COM
monweal.h must first pass through various condi-
,ions of loss and calamity, the gradual deprivation
of necessary agricultural labor, lands reduced
more and more in price, deprived of the necess,ry
means of fertilization badly TILED, and large tracts
thrown entirely out Of cultivation; the emigration
of numerous shareholders and of the weathes. and
mostndusrious ofthe inhabitants, because agricul-
tural cspital would 10 longer yield profit, and
the general deterioration, social, moral and intel
lec,ual Of the remaining diminished population;
and when all this ruin had been accomplished,
then the cure would begin BY the introduction Of
a new lsboring class Of foreigners and Yankees,
the keeping Of whom away from the State. Mr.