Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-04-06
For the Advertiser.
REVIVAL OF THE SLAVE TRADE-NO. XI

For the Advertiser.
REVIVAL OF THE SLAVE TRADE-N0. X
"The par must be carried into Africu."
Having disposed Of the general question as to
the ability OF the present slave States of this
Union, either aloue, in conjunction with Mexico
and Central America to probably subSist and em-
ploy millions more Africans for thousands of
years. or until population shnll have attained 100
or 200 to the squarc milo, lot US now consider
whether il the slave trade were revivod the iusti-
tuition of slavory could be established in our terri
following propositions arc, maintain,
l. That if the slave trado had never been closed
none of the old Northern States, except may bc
those of New England, would have ever abolished
slavery.
Q. That perhaps none Of the New FREQ States
would have failed to establish it.
3. That if the slave trade were now revived
slavery would be established in all or noarly all
Of both the Territories aud Free States.
AS all tho issues here raised naturally run into
collectively instead of in detail.
In the first place, social phenomena are governed
by as fixed laws, as those of tho physical world.
Man With all hi. god-like faculties and fierce pas.
,ionsas as much an even quantity rs any other
mobile clement iu nature and if left free to work
out his happiness in his own way, he will seek it
in the most obvious paths, according to the rulos
prescribed by the Divine Creator. Hence it is
only in obedience to the laws Of climate that p0pu-
lstion is always impellcd Southteard unless re-
strained, or diverted by sono adverse influence
Tho specification Of n few simple Fncts will pufice
to demonstrate this. Less lnbur Gun be performed
in Northern latitude than in n Southern, because
snow and extreme cold exist for many months of
each yenr in high latitudes. The same labor pro-
duces much less in Northern climate than in
Southern one, on account Of the variety of pro-
ducts being smaller and tho soason for their growth
being 50 much shorter in the North than in tho
South, and from many other facts which will resdi-
ly occur upon little reflection, Labor also con-
sumes much more of what it does produce, in tho
North than in the South. It requires more fnod
because larger quantity is necessary to supply tho
fuel for animal heat Any one cats moro during
winter, than in summer, in the same latitude.
The people of the tropics take but two very light
and mostly Vegetable meals in the twenty four
hours Labor needs thicker nnd warmer ciothing
in Northern climate. 1t also demands more
fuel and better ahelter against the unfriendy ele-
mcnts In addition to oil this uan forever desires
to inhabit country, where he can fool cnnforta-
bls at all times against inhospitsble weather. The
result is that although most men in cmigrating,
theoretically, prcfor to get bUme in the same
latitude ne thoir old ono yet they unconscvusy
drift Southwark.
Then as the time for labor is shorter, rs the
yield of labor is lcss-ss the subsistence Of labor
is more sxpensire-as the elements uro more un-
prontous in cold climate than in warm one,
it is ouly natural that population. should gravitatc
Southwark Accordingly We find that the denscy
populous Empires Of Montezums and Atuhualpa
were neither ef thom more than 20 degrees from
the Equator, and that the Southern parts of Europe,
IS we'll ss Of Asia are now and have always boon
| thckly peopled, much more SO than tho Northern.
AS man cannot subsist except by the swoat of Somc
body's brow-ns he strives 10 .ubsist, rs well as
opjoy the lu1uries Of lfo without an sweat Of hi, own
brow-as power itself is swoot, and slavery there.
fore the normal relation, which he will impe.e
upon all the labor he can control, it follows that
population will not ouly move S"uthward but thu,
it will also establish and preserve slavery there
until the institution ceases to be proflablc--until
tho excess of pr"ductuu over subsistence is so
small to make tho slave valucle,s when cmauci-
patton will either take place Ur the slave will he
carried Nurthward where his labur will produce
more profit in u less thickly sc.tled country.
1t Was by the operation Of those causes that
emancipation, or aboishmont of white ,lavery
commenced in the South Of Europe and moved
Northward. But in the United Stutes-this nats.
raj law Of migration-tbis law Of slnvcry in othur
words hus been reversed by emancipation COIN
lnencing in the North, whence it is moving South
ward with almost irrcsistable pressure which
shows that there ia something rrong-thnt the
laws which have governed slavery frcm the earli-
est recorded tmo have been dernngcd in some
uny, and contend that tho derangng cause has
been tho closing Of the slave trndc in $685.
But while slavery aud emancipation have both
been moving Suuthward, white population at least
q. far rs foreign emigration is cuncurucd may Le
said tp hayo beun moving Northcard, agnin rcvcr-
sing tho universal law Of migration to countries
where land is both cheap and fertile. Not only
has the huge wave Of the European Exodus rolled
into the North to swell her population, but the
nasiues of tho North have also been driven back
or damed up, in face of tho fact that il only equal
pecuniary and political inducements arc offered
In Northern and Southern cline, the lattor will
always be preferred on account Of its greater qs.
niaiity I contend that this anomaly in the move.
ments Of white population In the United States
has likewise haen brought sbou. by the abolish.
ment of tho slave trade.
Previous to the political explosion known ns tho
French Revolution foreign omigrants, elected to
settle ut the South, because they could then get
not only genial climate, but also rich and choap
add, together with cheap slHre laGor. The white
population of tho North dlif,cd Suuhwzrd for the
same ressons. Every wiite mnn wliu then srttlcd
Mt the SOUTH cnu! buy nesrous Mt importers price,
Il. 70 hut ,I,,,I. 9 !,
Tho rusc-that Charleston tourished Big tho Queen
City Of tho West. She had i..uro commerce. than
Bnl;imnro, Phila,lclphiu, New York or Boston,
After the French Revolution summoned all Europe
to ur,ns, emigration tho,ce to our shores almost
ceased, rs nun remained ut hume either from pa
lriotym or compulsiun to light thor country's bst-
,ios, nor did it revive until after tho fall Of Nspo-
leou But in the meantime the sluve trade ut the
South had boon closed. Still, up 10 the tmo of its
closing uud for some years subsequent, Northern
men had continued to como Snuthward, other
with their Slayos in search Of better climate and
better land, with their skill and capital to got
good clmnte-good land and cheap slavo labor
OH the spot.
But when tho wars of Europe ended, white emil
grafton to the South from either Eurupc or the
North ended also. The slave trade had thcp boon
closed ssyun years aud with its ousng closed also
the prosperity of tho South aud the prosperity of
Charleston. Her Shipping and commerce fled.
Her infant manufactures declined. Her wharYes
wers deserted. Her supply Of capital, of white
masters aud nrtizans from Europe and the North
ceased. Even her supply Of African laborers for
the Agriculture of the interior cnmc no more.
Labor being tho source Of all wealth and tho
stream of European labor which then flowed into
tho United States all touching the continent at The
North remained tbero, in defiance of the ountrolI.
Ing law which makes population move Southwark,
II left FREQ to oboy Its own impulses, and tho blight
Of stsgnation fell upon tho Palmetto City, whils
alI non became busne and prosperity in New York,