The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-10-25
America in Il territory embracing the sam

4
| year, Thus We see that about one in every
| ten of our population We're either wholly or
| in part supported at the public expense. This
| is independent of large number supported
| by private charity for which our citizens are
! proverbial. The number of criminals con
| victed within the year in the Metropolitan
| district was'5',ejs thus showing that crime Il
| n natural attendant upon poverty.
| This magnitude of pauperism and crime
| should be looked sqUarely in the face, rs a
| thing we DO not find to any great extent 10
| the slave labor States. Though freedom is
| the normal condition of the white man he
| drags at every step the CALLING chaIns of inie
| rlority In social life. Here, among one mil
| lion two hundred thousand people, one per
| son in every ten is wholly. or i'll part aided
| by public charity. Would it not be better TO
! reflect seriously on this condition Of social
| life before we make war on the institution IN
| der which the ph ySica! comforts of the laHOr-
| ing classes are we'll provided for The fact
| that within the last quarter OF 4 century tue
| slave population has about d0uhled-incrraSp
| from TWO TO fonr mill s-sho VS. thai IN pi!N-
! slVaI comforts and general GOOD treatIT e Z
| they have little to complain Of That they
| are happier than the Tree blacks, both North
| and South, no one can trrthEuiy deny that
| they are better cared for Ia sickness, have
more of the necessaries OF life, than the great
body OF the lahOring white class III the free
States, is equally evident.
| When the above was titen, Naw York
! had not begun TO feel the privations of war
| The state of things this winter will be ten
| times worse But it is not alone with refer
ence to the war that we would commend ii to
attention. II may serve to correct the uni
| versal delunion--a delusion which has pre-
| vailed even among outselves-;hat great AZ
gregations Of wealth and population. such g
are presented in the city life Of the free States
are reliable indications of tx general happi-
| ness and prosperity, and, rs such to be dc
! sired in our own country.
| Onr own people, who have visited the North
i'll days gone by, have been greatly impressed
with the outside splendor Of everything they
| saw. They never saw the inside life They
| did not know that one in every ten OF that
population was supported al the public eX-
penee. They stood upon the steps of the As
Tor House and 81 Nicholas and saw crowds of
well dressed people passing from morning till
night Suppose they could also have seen :
procession pass by, composed of all the pAupers
| of New l0rk-an army numbering one hun
| dred and forty fonl thousand nine hundred and
| thirty-siX men, women, and children-ra ragged,
| furnished, hollow iaWed, wretched begGaIs ;.
| Or, to cnlishten still farther the intelligence Of
| our Southern visitor, suppose, after he had re
| called himself at the fashionable places OF
amusement, and looked in upon tie colleges
and common schools, and bad prepared himself
| to hold forth on his return to the South about
the superior provision made in the North for
| the education and moral advancement Of the
masses; suppose that he could have been en-
terained with a torch-lisht procession of the
| criminals of New York city--an army Of fifty
| thousand nine hundred and dsiNty-eigh thieves,
| burglars ruiians, rioters, incendiarics, and
murderers what would he have thought Of
| that glance at the inner life Of great city
| And then he would not have seen half no,
not fourth. OC the paupers, the mu,Iiiuie
thai is avoweiiy rauper is bGt a small portion
aud that The happiest portion, of the poor of
New York. There are vast numbers whose
incessant labor obtains barely enough to keep
soul and body together; who know not how
soon they may be deprived even of that means
of support, poor as ii is; who struggle to keep
up decent appearance, and TO make some pro-
vision for the future OF families who are dearer
To them than themselves What auxieties
gnaw their hearts what fears and apprehcn.
sions, wearing deep lines in their faces, care
worn turrows which even the hand OF death
| cannot always smooth. The lew monopolize
vast iortunes-the many condemned to preca-
| rious subsistence or absolute wants the IN
| varying condition Of ely life. So too, in re-
gard 10 the nominal criminals. The iilly-uine
thousand ackno vled4cd criminals Of New
York are but small proportion of the actual
| criminals Of that city. the mi.Iionaires WHO
| have acquired their fortunes by swindling and
| dishonesty areas detestable thieves as any pick
| pockets whose tnces figure in the Rogues' Cad
| iery, and some of them inferior to pickpockets
| III intelligence au1 good manners. Many Of
| the rich men Of New York have cheated and
| robbed their way from the sewers 10 the Fifth
| Avenue as unde,liably as others have cheated
| and robbed their way to the Penitentiary
| by what base arts has Bennett himself
crept into fortune There is not rogue in
| Sing Sing with a heart more corrupt, and a
| face that better fits the inside Of prison bars
| than the proprietor of the New York Herad
| Nor, among the crimes Of which the law takes
| no cognizance, and which, in that region, 20
unwhipt Of justice, who shall calculate the
| number of seductions, the murder of female
innocence, and the vice and misery that fol
low III it's train ! And vet, it is this kind of
life which IA certain class OF philosophers las
always held up 70 the South az the acme of
human happiness and prosperity, and the gar
ish outside of which has made superficial Oh
servers Of the South DISCONTINUED with q state
of society in which pauperism s unknown,
criminals few, female virtue respected, nud the
physical and moral welfare OF the people, az
whole, better than that of any equal number
of people on any other part OF the earths = sur
face.
II we deaire 10 preserve unimraired our
pure Southern civilization, and the dignity and
integrity Of Southern character, we should not
indulge in idle repinings that the South has no
large cities, and is mainly An agricultural peo-
pie. We hope TO see no one city absorbing
the commerce and trade Of the new Govern
ment. We want no New York, or London,
or farjs to give political, moral, or social tone
to people now pare, Just, brave, proud, and
honorable. Commerce and manufactures we
may and ought to have, but orr chief depend
ence must be that wonderful soii which pro-
duces such a vast diversity of the richest pro-
duets of the earth, and which rewards with
health, plenty, and happiness those who make
it their reliance.
THz N0RTHERS PBodRsNag PoR CoAsr IN
AsIos.-A correspondent of the Griffin (Ala.l
Hoy Ce1sygts Statss of ha 3oth nj says the