, 1860-09-04
Practical Results of Am u ! "a IN alton in
. tho southern 8iAGfX.


tho southern States.
*.Ob.er,es'' writes from Washington to ths
Ner York 17n.<s an interesting letter on the
relations of Slavery, from which we make the
following extract:
Aside from the perpetual danger and uneasi.
ness witch attends upon American blavery,
there il another evil which besets those coun-
tries = htch tolerate it, even more abhorrent to
the minds Of the dominant race than tbs perils
Of bloodg insurreclioD. ailude to the ama'ga.
nation Of races. The extent Of this danger il
not at oil appreciated, for the reason that the
distinctive features Of the African soon disap-
pear, md then those Of tile corrupted blood
ccase to be designated as coloted. Some of the
most eminent families Of the South are known
10 hare African blood ia their veins; and the
Eumber Of undstinguished whites who are thus
connected could be- counted BY thousands The
odum which attaches to the tains Of African
blood is 80 great that families shake it off as
soon as possible By a change Of residence, and
probably ia name In THU way hundreds Of
free colored people graduate yearly, and pass
themselves elf as pure Anglo sa19ns. So ex-
ten 'ircfy is this system carried on, that the im-
preston has gained ground that the mulatto
rare is incapable of propo2 atiug itsel; whereas,
its ambition has prompted it 10 bleach out, and
cease to carry the mark Of Ham upon its brow.
The fact that persons having negro blood may
work out the stain, and be admitted into the
upper tier OF pGre whitea, rests not merely upon
BY law, in several, it not in all the Southern
States. The Laws OF Virginia, Of North UaroIi-
ma. Of Alabama, and louisiana de. ne the term
mu1atto to be person having negro sncestor
in the third or fourth degree -tor the State
laws differ on this point. If l am not mista-
ken. the Virginia definition confines the term
to those in the third degree. For instance, a
rarJ arh fufh 4vEs Iii ~,
black, is mulatto Of The half blood. 1t f.
male child nf this half blood bear child By a
white man, it has only one fourth negro, ard 4
child Of this quartroon BY white man would
have but one eighth negro blood. After this
degree, If no turther adulixtuTe OF colored
blood takes place, ,he laws Of Virginia regard
the issuc as white. it the mother is free.
How many white people there are in Yir.
gina, who, if the fact we're as honorable as it
is degrading, could trace Their linea.e up to
the purest Congo or Dahomey, it would be dif-
dcult to ascertain. Rut if We recur to the laws
vi population, and remember that there were
fee negroes and mulattoes in Virginia almost
from the year that slavery was introduced, tbs
result will BE- anything but aa.tering to the
vanity Of the second, third aud even fourth
families. Blackstone says: If we only sup-
pose each cauple Of our ancestors to have left,
one with another, two children, and each OF
these children. en- an average, to have left tvo
more, land without such q supposidon the hu-
man species must be daily diminishing,1 We
shall find that alt Of Us have now subeisting
near two hundred and seventy millions Of kind
red ia the fifteenth degree, at the same distance
from the seVel q! CONN o. ancestors as ourselves
are, besides ihoss thst ure one or two descents
nearer TO or further from the common stock,
who may amount to a. many more" Inter.
marriages among the descendants OF common
ancestors would reduce these figures hun
dred or thousand timeA. as Blackstone nd.