Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-07-16
From tlts National Era. az
he sI1alIc1l OF tic ii orthern EsIaYe atn1ea.

LRfom tltssN atl5na, EFa.l,,
The PslIcy ofsthcs II ortherns slave 9tntes.z
air. Rufin, formerly the. editor of.the sSoutd-
e1sls LitsrGry fesssng ger, and distinguished
agriculturist, publishes an article in De 92l0ss
Regie90 for June the object ofwhich is to show
the necessity OF reopening the African slave [
trade. He states that Virginia is losing her. I
Mt therate oftwentys thousand
sperannum, and that rs consequence the agri.s
couture of the Statesis far less than itwould be
slfthese negroes could be retained in the State |
He has no wish to see their places supplied by !
immigrants from Europe and from the free
States. Mr.. Ruffn is a lover of Slavery par Sc
and cannot bear the thought Of seeing Old Yir- I
#ginia transformed into a free State.
Hetnust be#aware that, with the high and
continually rising price of cotton, the only
remedy for whathe5 deems the evil ofdenuding |
Virginia. fiber slave population is the revival
Of the slave trade. Virginia slaves are worth a
thousand to twelve hundred dollars; and if ma
tive Africans can besprocured at third or |
fourth Of that price, tits evident that the drain
upon zVirginlaa will cease.
Mr.. Ruttin thinks that the places OF the de-.l
parted slaves cannot be supplied by white i'm.
migrants for many years; and that ln5the mean
time agriculture must suffer materially, and the
pricesof land must fall. But, unluckily for this
Pro-Slayery view Of the case, it is utterly uM-
supported by facts The history of the States
/ from which Slavery has gradually receded
proves just the contrary, viz: that white labor
Immediately steps in to ill up the vacuum made
4 by the departed slaves, that agriculture i'm
iproves, and that the value OF land cnhancessi in
a rapid. ratio. Delaware and Maryland, and the
portion Of Virginia which lies in the vicinity
/ of.this city, furnish striking examples of this.
I truth. Slavery is rapidly eYanishing, and the
demand for labor has 6roughtin much larger
supplyzof free white labor than was furnished.
The consequence is, that great cities with com.
merce andzmanufactures are springing up on
Southern soil; the price of land is daily aug
I mentlng, and improvement i'll every form is
| taking the place of the sluggish system of Sa-
j very Thesonly portions of Mary land in which
1.-THE stuporzof the olden times is to be seen are
those which, by the cultivation of tobacco, are
i enabled to retain their slave population. To-
bacco brings high price, which will Justify the
employment Of slave labor; and the effect is to
keep several Of the naturally finest counties of
the State in the condition they occupied fifty
iyears ago. The northern counties, whose soil
land climate will not invite the employment OF
8 slave. labor, are rapidly improving. and bccon-
ling assimilated to the adjacent free State OF
A Pennsylvania.
The counties Of. Fairfax and Prince William,
lin Virginia. which#e on the Potomac near this
lefty, furnish another striking illustration of=the
linvigorating influence of free Labor
& SlaveryShad# completely exhausted them. Ii
had robbed thcm=of their natural fertility, and
left them barren wastes But about twslvc=or
fteen wears TO ier-
aa purchases OF land tnoninal
suns nn.s process mas continued to so for
.9 u.s. that at the
Of Of taf5fSxl OF Northern origin, and theyauc
&fn ~ ss'9ereasea5 ten tolc.
s.;n;. counties o. Eastern sr
tn. them Immigrants isgoing forward. They are
raIaally the Shareholders, and re-
tbo Wnlcn they had wasted TO more
;'an Us lTlsl1ne lerlltlty Western Virginia,
~ slavery has never taken deep root,
Sasi So oelg populated with Tree labor from the
EUROPE ana thus driving the in
to make an impression upon1thc minds mi
5lonly of the people of Virginia and Maryland
ibut Of the slave States in which grail, flourish
les better thar. cotton and sugar They cannot
fail to perceive that Slavery is transient insti
tuition, wth=them at least, Whatever e he
with the Gulf States; and when this conycton