The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-06-21

an air Of inquiry to his friend, who
understands the gesture.
Mr.. A. lived here 10 years ago. l
remember it we'll when | was a child
lie had quite nice place but the land
got so poor that he couldn't get Il living
off it, so he sold out and moved away"
elbow much did he get for the land
and improvements % asks the traveller.
1.-TWO or three dollars an acre"
And hcn the house was suffered to
fall down ?"
"lt couldn't be otherwise, as the land
was too poor 10 support a family"
In many instances, these old places
still bear the names of the original pro-
prize ors. Thus you will hear of the
+" Walker Commons" the d" s eelc Com-
MONS" and the =" Burden Place" Some
times Evolutionary interest is attached
to these old places one house had been
haunted long after it became the habita-
zion of bats and owls; on the doorstep
ofanother a rcputed witch had been found
dead and the dead body of man had
been discovered contiguous TO third.
II is a fact hat, while farm land was
'hus selling for a " song" timber land
would readily bring from eighty to one
hundred dollars per acre, and that for
the plain and simple reason that the
wood could be GU off, made in O fuel,
and sold in the Philadelphia market for
cash. Suppose that slaves had been, at
this period, a marke able commodity,
would not New Jersey have entered into
the business of rearing and selling
them p
This made the holders of these worn
out lands anxious that they should
grow up" and in many cases this
desirable object was effected by artificial
means. Experience had sufficiently
demonstrated which kinds of timber were
best adapted to their exhaus ed condi-
ton, which would thrive most speedily,
and make the largest returns in the
shortest possible time. The transporta
ion of cedar berries and pine seeds was
not left to the winds and birds. Human
hands scattered them, and the lapse of
a few years brought forth vigorous and
abundant grown.
Another cfec, of his state of things
has been the absorption of small farms
into large ones. Little places of few
acres and small house are almost un.
known. Tenant houses are uncommon,
except on very large estates Poverty
is ranger, except among the negroes.
But the purchasers of these worn.ou
farms were suddenly raised to unexpcc cd
wealth, when the discovery of mari, and
the birth Of enterprise, raised the prices
of land.
From these considerations We are led
inevitably to the conclusion that cman-
clpation effected no change in the social
sys EN- of the State, or in the manage
mcnt of landed property. Slavery from
he first had been an cxcrescence tina;
could be readily Topped off. 1t had
never formed component part Of the
civil insti utions of the Sta C. 1T had
been powerless for good or evil, SO far as
general system of husbandry was con-
ccrncd. Had the slaves been valuable
property, or had slave labor been gener-
ally employed when emancipation was
projected and carried out, there can lie
little doubt tina: still greater dcpres-
sion in the price of land, joined TO higher
IA cs of wages, would have proved the
ultimate ruin of many.
Neither was cmanci patton productive
of those benefits to the negroes which
had been an icipated. Being released
from slavery did not train them to act
with usefulness the part of free laborers,
had their former masters been disposed
to employ them, which they we're not.
Yet the negroes emerged from slavery
to freedom under many advantages. BY
an act of the Legislature, passed i'll 17oS,
nine years after the Constitution of the
United States wen; into operation, the
master of every slave was compelled,
under the penalty of fines and inprison-
ment, to have such slave taught to read, ,
and consequen ly the slaves we're better
INSTRUCTED than the free negroes, and
bet or prepared by habits of industry n
get their own living. 1t seems, however,
thai no principle of sclf-dependcnce was
rooted in their minds, and that they
became free rather in name than in fact.
They were transformed in'o a miserable
co'ter population, without moral, social
or political influence, or the means of
independence. Consequently they con-
tinued, though in other circumstances, in
the same state of degradation in which a
long course of slavery had placed them.
In barren and sandy dis rio S, where the
land, even now, is worthless, and where
no white man could or would live, they
congregate in villages of huts, and man
age to pick up a scanty subsistence by
exercising the different employments OF
stealing, begging, and working OCCASION
ally. A negro family in neighborhood
of viii cs is considered a nuisance and
not wi hout cause. The children run
the streets, and pcrpetrae all kinds Of
mischief; while the parents, without
exception, are thriftlcss and inprovident.