Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-07-06
From the New York World.
PROBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE NEGRO

RACE.
We have already shown by statistics collected
before the civil war begsn and by reasonings on
those statistics completed by the head OF the CEN
| sas bureau before the emancipation proclamation
was published, that the negro population OF the
United States were likely to follow Though At
slower pace) in the same road by which our In.
dian tribes are advancing to certain extinction
We are now to show that emancipation will has
| ten this result
part of our proof must still depend on the fig.
| ures of the census report Between the years
| 1850 and 1860 the free negro population Of our
| Northern cities declined and the total increase
ofthB whole free negro population VI the country
was less than half as great in proportion as the
increase OF the slaves and this IN spite OF the fact
thst the free negroes were recruited by large num-
| bcrs of manumitted and fugitive slaves. These
| facts prove that state OF freedom checks the
growth ofthe negro population.
There was perhaps never people so favorably
situated for allowing the provocative principle It's
| fullest vlg0r as were the negroes in Q state Of
slavery In state Of freedom many men do not
marry at all and many Others defer marriage till
late period, from doubts OF their ability to sup.
port family. Among the slaves this prudential
check had no place; or, 10 express II 10 Mathu'
sian language: population never pressed upon the
| means of subsistence. The slave population has,
accordingly, multiplied without any Interpolation
/ of the voluntary check. But even in this favo:-
4
than two.thirds as great in proportion as that OF
/ the white population Of the country the whites
| increasing 80 per cent, and the slaves little
i more than 90 per cent A part Cf the disparity Is
| due 70 white Immigration but the differences Is
much greater than immigra ion accounts for:
The chief cause is, undoubtedly, the licentlous
| habits Of the negroes. or the colored popula-
/ ton, Sc Ia per cent are mqlattOes. Tlis pro-
/ geny of selfoonvicted RIGHTEOUSNESS prove, by
Implication the ilegitimacy of at least an equal
proportion Of the pure blacks for 1t Is not to be
supposed that the negresses practice more virtue
| toward their own race than toward the white1-
i This RIGHTEOUSNESS operates as an immediate
i check on population by rendering the females
| less prolific; and as remote, bgt mora efficient
1 check, by reason OF the diminished tenacity of
| existence of q mulattO stock. II has been shown
| By researches in the West Indies, aud confirmed
| by the results of observation everywhere, that
l mulattoes seldom propagate beyond the third
generation; and that even in the frat generation,
| they are more subject 70 disease, with larger
| prQportiolate mortality, than pure looded ne.
| groes, While, therefore, the Southern slaves
/ were more favoraby situated for procreation than
| any other people that ever existed, their moral
| degradation was more powerful check than the
| difficulty of supporting family, and consequent
postponement Of marriage, among our white
population:
their increase which has heretotore existed will be
| reinforced by the prudential check. The prefer.
ence given by the employers of labor TO the more
| energetic and capable white roces will keep the
| negro population constantly pressing upon the
means of subsistence and this, the greatest aud
most certain Of all checks to population, will be.
gin at once TO act on the negroes with force and
steadiness unfet by any other class of the people
Of tie United States. When our populst on be.
comes dense, and ts rapid progress is arrested by
| the causes which operate In old countries, the
feeblest will fall first; and the decsying remnants
then left OF the negroes will easily succumh.
What we have described would take place even
II emancipation had been gradual, and prepared
for by wise precautions. but its suddenness, and
the general destituton prevailing in the South at
the time II takes places will terribly aggravate its
evils and accelerate the steps by which the ne.
groes are doomed % extinction. Perhaps one.
third Of the emancipated ore children, incapable
under any circumstances, Of taking care OF them.
selves. thrown loose without protectors, in the
very crisis of destitution amounting In large
sections, 10 dearth, they will be swept away by
scores OF thousands their parents, in many cases,
perishing with them. This work of destruction
Is already proceeding with great rapidity. The
arrangement of Southern industry is so great that
little will be raised this year, and the next year
will also be q year of scarcity in the South. A
people above all Others untitled TO struggle with
difficulties, commence their life of freedom In o
state Of absolute beggary, and in community
which has wasted all its resources in long war.
A more unfavorabl combination Of circumstances
cannot he imagined. The figures of the next
census may, therefore, be expected to tell fear
| full tale OF determination.
But even worse evils (if worse be possIble)
| seem to be in store for this doomed race. The
history of Europe, up till within the last two or
three centuries, exhibits frequent visitatons Of
| terrible and wasting forms of pestilsnce, which
swept of aud thinned out its population by
wholesale. Historians and physicians universal
ly agree in accounting for the frequent viJtat.on
| OF those Ecourges, In former times by the fact
that famines were more frequent in early periods
when industry was less productive. prolonged
dearth 30 debiltates the constitution OF people
who have subsisted on insufficient or unwhole.
some food, that they fall an easy prey to pest.
ence Considering the scarcity that prevails in
the South. and that its pressure will fall mainly
on the blacks, 1t will not be surprising IT. the
South is swept by some terrible epidemic be-
fore which the negroes will fall, like grass before
| the mowers scythe.
The demagogues who are attempting to turn the
negro TO still further political account prepar
| ing for him danger of still another character.
Sudden emancipation would, under any circum'
stances be attended with great hardship and suf.
| ferinR and sudden emancipation in period OF
| exhaustion and scarcity must increase the pres.
sure Of these hariships ten fold. And just in this
state of things the negroes are set on, by their
pretended friends, to claim the elective franchise;
and taught TO believe 1t panacea for ell their Ills
Ii is not likely they will get the suffrage, and quite
certain that the demagogues will keep stimulating
| them TO claim 1t. These poor ignorant creatures
| knowing that they are miserable aud made TO be-
| lieye that certain remedy Is uDjustly Withheld,
| will speedily come TO hate the whites and rise
| against them. When matters are brought to this
pass the day of their doom draws nigh. ~ am
Obliged TO confess" said the philosophic De
Tocdueve, shat do not regard the abolition Of
| - slavery as means OF warding OF the struggle
a. of the two races in the United States" The
demagogues who are olamoring for negro suffrage
arc unWittingly doing their utmost to presipitate
this struggle. When 1t comes, there can be no
| donbt as n which race will 90 to the wall.