Des Arc citizen., 1859-05-18

| lHsIfuInenI. HNOL oult nO. bHN u given to those who own them, that if they es- l cape into another State, they shall be deliver 1 ed up. Notwithsta nding this clear, and ex- | plicit recognition, Congress has passed law
 making it piracy to import one from Africa In a moral or legal point of view, what IS the difference between bringing slave into Ms | sissippi, from Africa or Virginia. If the one be unlawful why not make the other equally so @ Ha | In this incougruous and paradoxical situa- ton, the government presents the strange DO l sition of encouraging and protecting slavery | in her fundamental law. and having in her l code, extraordinary penal laws against slavery One or the other, is stigma and blur upon our national escutcheon. % .-..,.y En-, | As the one is the act of our fathers, Wno won our liberties and framed our Constitution. and the other the act of their degenerate sons we cannot hesitate as to which should be ex- punged from the statute book. ss
 Slavery occupies not only high and lofty but a sacred position among us. Oar Constitn- ton recognizes and protects it, and our eagle is to defend and shield it. This day, instead of having four war vessels on the coast oi l Africa, to capture and swing up to their yard arms, our seamen as pirates, who go there for negro, our Government ought to have the same force there, for the purpose of shielding | them, under the ample folds of her flag. against the assaults of all nations
 | Instead of hunting up with the harpies oi the law, and charging and eonvieting citizens before the courts, for bringing slaves upon our coasts, they should be planting their can non to protect them when they come, and well come them home, with open arms.
 | We believe slavery not only an element oi national wealth, but of national strength - Four illions of slaves occupying that DOT ton of ourfcouatry almost under the vertical l rays of tropical sun, where it is morally impossible for the Anglo Saxon race to dothe necessary labor, growing not only provisions | for exportation but three million bales of cot ton annually, worth from one hundred ane twenty to one hundred and fifty millions ol dollars, is an argument so gratifying and con l elusive, that it needs no comments or adjuncts | to sustain it.
 Why are negroes now selling for such high | prices? Is it because cotton is so high, or be- | cause their labor is so remunerative It is neither the one or the other, because labor is so scarce. Supply the demand, furnish plenty of laborers, and the price of negroes will gc down at once, nor will it lessen the production of the slave States The planter who work. twenty hands will make as many bales of cot | ton when those hands are worth ten thousand dollars. as when they are worth twenty thou sand. His income, and not the price of hiS labors, is the true criterion and standard of | his wealth.
 If we were all negro traders, and our ne' groes were for sale, the reduction of theil | price would lessen our individual and national I wealth but as we desire to purchase more in- stead of selling those we have, it matters no
 what their price may be, since they will dc the same amount of labor at one price as an- | other
 To show the scarcity of labor in the South 1 and the absolute necessity of more, to de- velop the agricultural and other resources of l our country, and at the same time to elevate our section to the highest condition to whict | it is capable, let us look at the statistics as shown by the census of 1850. The slave | States contain an area of one million of square miles, or six hundred and forty millions oi ! acres of this only one acre in ten has beer improved, and this includes all that has been | fenced, and used for enclosed pasture. | In the South western States, where the best | lands lie, only one acre in twenty has been improved; and in the Mississippi bottom proper, and the bottom lands of many of its | tributaries, not one acre in every hundred has | been improved.
 Lying as these lands do, almost in the tor. rid zone, and much of it covered with water and subject to miasma, &c., it never can, or will be improved, but by the aid of the Afri. can race.
 Out of this immense domain, much of it | the richest and most productive land on tht globe, only five millions have been planted in cotton. Can we not, indeed, ought wt not, very soon, plant ten, yes, twenty mil. lions of this land in cotton, and still havt more than enough left for grain, pasture, tim Der, &c. sd
 He is but short-sighted political econo. mist who does not perceive from these facts that we want more labor in the South, ant that is the main cause why labor is so high. l We have in the State of Mississippi bot tom land enough, which will very soon b. | oJ, ,,oI ta r1l1 in ha1 limits and we have enough on the Missis sippi river and it's tributaries, to employ ever, slave in the United States.
 It is asserted, that these facts taken as true and the result verified, would ruin us by re
 ducing the price of cotton so low, that
 would not pay to grow it. This argumen
 is more spacious than solid: indeed it i
 utterly false. The demand has, and will al ways keep pace with the supply, until yo,
 reach the maximum which the cotton belt i
 capable of producing.
 The highest prices we have received havl
 been upon the largest crops. When the man
 ufacturers know they will get supply, the,
 prepare for it, and divert none of their labo
 or capital.
 Cottonis not only king among the kings o 4 the earth, but isnow, and will continue t clothe the teeming millions of those kings. A treaty has been recently ratified witt
 
 fabric to four hundred millions of her people I It has already, to some extent, supersede
 many articles formerly much used, in fact, \ is threading it's way into, and intermxing it II self into almost every article of clothing nov
 worn. Your wooden goods are often half, an sometimes ee-fourths cotton and many O II your fine sillxs receive their elasticity if nc their stripes from cotton. Your linen shirt
 are now made of cotton, and your silk hat are nearly three-thirds cotton. No dange
 from that source to the cotton grower When you reach six millions of bales, yo will get good prices, and when you reac ten millions of bales, you will realize 2 much. But suppose it were to lower tn
 price of cotton, and bring it down to eigl ] cents, or even lower than that, still we ca , afford to grow it, and make money Giy 2 Eus. then, more and cheap operatives, and W 2 would not only have the will, but be enable to diversity our labor, and improve ou : country. We would build our own vessel , and steamboats, railroads and dirt road r erect manufaetories and foundries, build ou , Ievees and dilSes, beautify and make comfort; 2 ble our dwelling houses and negro cabin f and fling over the whole face of country . smiling cheerfulness which is lways eviden' n of prosperity and happiness.
 f It is asserted, too. that the slave -holders ;, the South should be opposed to re-openiT e this trade. for the reason that it will lesst
 the price of the slaves they now own. Tn