The North-Carolinian., 1861-02-23
Gbe Wortk Garolinian.
Read nd Rer.ct

Resd ssnd Reject
Inc following article. with some omissions an
Slight alterations, is from the pen of j. d. De
Bow, Of LouSIant
The SlavehoIdincs and Non-Slaveholdin,
Interest OF the South a Unit.
" hen IN charge of the national census office
several years since, found that it had been state,
10y Abolition Senator from his seat that the nun,
Der OF shareholders at the South did not exceed so
900. CodVinced that it gross misreprcsen
tatlon OF the facts, caused careful examination
OF the returns to be made, which fixed the actua
numb at 347,255 [ communicated the nforna
ton, Ey note, to Senator CasS who read it in the
Senate first called attention the fact that te
number EN- raced slavehoiing families and that tc
arrive at the actual number of Shareholders it woll,
bc necessary to multiply by the proportion of per-
sons which the census showed to family When
this W rs done, the number wclled to about 2 OoO
900.
Since these results were made public I have had
reason to THINK that the separ ration Of the sched
OF the slave and the free was calculate to lead to
omissions Of the single properties aud that on this
account it would be safe to put the number of a1ci
nea at 3/o,OoO and the number of actual sav eol-
GERS at about two million and a quarter
Assuming the published returns however to be
correct 1t will appear that third of the popula-
tion oi the en!re South are Shareholders. The ave
rage number Of slaves is nine 20 each holder and
one half OF the whole number Of holders are in pos
session OF less than five slaves.
1t viii thus appear that the Shareholders of the
South, 50 f'r from constituting numerically an in
slGllhca1lt portion Of its people, as has been ma
Indignantly allcdsed make up aggregate greater
III relative proportion than the holders of every
other spcl,s of property Whatever in any part OF
the word; and that OF no other properly can it b
SAID, with equal truthiu Ines, that lteres
OF the whole community.
y llilst III the Southern State. every Third family
are Shareholders, bat family in evelv three AM,
halt families in Maine, \. Hamp hire AlassuclIu-
srtts and Connecticut, are holders Of agricultural
land. and III EUROPEAN States the proportion is al
most indefinitely less. The proportion which tho
>4y,hollcr, Of The South bear to entire populu-
tiun i greater tian that Of the of lnnl ho-
So Agricultural stock STATE bank or other cort.o-
ration securities anywhere else No political
mist Will deny this Nor is that all, Even in The
States which among the largest slavell 'ldnG;
s uth Carolina Georgia and 1ennt s~ee, the lana
lropricors ontnunber nearly two t" i'll rel'tivc
proportion the owners Of the same property
Maine, MasSn hu>e t. ant toAne, ticut aid II tht
average number OF slaves held by ctch family
throughout the Son'h be put ninc and ii tlail
Of the W,inle number of shareholders under five
slaves it Will bp seen how prcpo>trrous is the allie
cation Of our enemies, that the sllyehodng class l.
organ zcd wealthy arIstocracy. The poor man
Of tile South the hol-"rs of one to five slaves,
AMI it would be equally consistent with truth and
Justice to tillt they represent, III reality: its
savcholling interest.
The fact DC n. conceded that there IS very la! sc
class Of persons in the savoldny States WHO have
direct lership III that property, 1t may be we'll
asked, upon wkat principle greater anfaS"ll'sm
can be presumed betw,c them and their fellow
citizens thai, there exists among the larger class OF
nnn-lan.l-oxncr, il the FREE. States ana the landed
instance, it does in the other and if patriotism and
public spcit t" be measured upon so low stand
ara as this the social fabric At the North IS in far
greater danger Of dissolution than 1t is here.
Though [ protest against the false dc,r; ling
standard to which Northern orators and statesmen
have reduced the measures Of patriotism which is
to be expected from FREE and enlightened people,
and in the nam" OF the non-s.arehol.I OF the South
fling buck the insolvtnt charge that they are only
hound to their country by the consideration ofit>
'-loaves and fishes, and would be found d"reict in
,>la,
that they needy in circumstances, think
it but easy show that the interest Of the poorest
non-Slaveholdcr among us is to make common Cause
with and die in the last trenches in defence of the
slave property Of his more favored reighbor
The non-slavehoders of the South may be clas-
scd either such desire and are capable Of pur
chasing slaves, such as have the means to pur-
chase and do not because OF the absence OF the mo-
tive to do prefcrring to hire or employ cheaper
white labor. \ class conscicntiously objectlng to
the ownership Of this property does not exist at the
South, for all such scrupleS have long since been
silenced by the profound and unanswerabic argu-
which Yankee controversy has driven our
statesmen, popular orators, and clergy. Cpon the
sure testimony of Gods holy Book, aud upon the
principle OF universal polity, they have defended
and Justified the institution.
As the competition of free labor with slave labor
IS the gst of the argument used by the opponents
of slavery, and it is upon this they rely in sup
port of Il future social conflict in midst, it is |
clear that in where the competition c1nnot !
posSlt ly exist, the argument, whatever weight 1t
Now from what such ,ompetitiou be aronSd !
i'll our cities Are not ali the interest of the
chant and those whom ne employs of necessity up
the side of the shareholders The products
which he buys, the commodities which he sells, the |
profits which he realizes, the hopes which sustain
him Of future fortune, all spring from this source
and from no other The cities towns and VILLAGE,
of the South are but many agencies for convert
ing the products of slave labor into the products
other labor obtained from abroad, and as in every
other agency, the interest of the agent is that the
principle shall have as much possible to SELL and
be enabled as much as possible to buy. In the alb
sence of every other source of wealth at the South
its mercantile interests are interviewer with those
of slave labor almost to be identical What is |
true of the merchant is true of the clerk, the dray-
man, the laborer whom he employs-the. .mechan-
ic who builds his houses, the lawyer who argues !
his causes, the physician who heals the teacher, |
the preacher, etc, etc.
And an illustration of the truth of this is furn-
ished in the city of New York-amost much |
dependent upon Southern slavery any city in the |
South-which records majority of nearly $4,000