Year: 1868

=
l have thrown together for the occasion wifi
be altogether OF n general and philosophical
character. r9.-A.


The first thing that strikes me as worthy Of
your grave consideration is the great rcfange,
In many respects, which the abolition ofslare.
Ty mas eroughtto southern farms and farmers.
First, IL strikes deadly blow at the system OF
great farms which prevailed amongst us. The
tendency, already visible, will be to break up
the vast domains of the southern planter into
small farms, which, with increasing popula.
tion and agricultural knowledge, will divide
and sub divide into still smaller ones. As this
will be caused by the freeing Of the negro, II
will certainly re-act upon him; for as he
breaks mp the large farms, the small farms
wi break him up and drive him from the
labor. take 1t that these two results win
logically follow each other. i do not know
that free black labor is employed anywhere In
the world where il is poss ible to obtain the
white. The first consequence of the small
farm system will certainly be large increase
in the production, in the value OF real estate
Il rapid Improvement in the methods of cul-
ture and increase in the profits of agriculture
generally. This, presume, no well informed
man will venture to doubt. So long ago as
the days of Cato the senator and the poet
Virgil the principle was recognized, rs we


find both concurring in the maxim :" that It
was grand point in busbandry not to have
too much land in one iarm, for they consi
dered that more profit came by holding little
and tilling it we'll


Whilst this beneiicent result is thus sure to
attend the introduction OF the small-farnr
system, trust may be pardoned for remark.
ing that il will nevertheless scarcely be an
unmixed good. Man is the creature of his
surroundings, and the abolition of the great
farms will work q change in him-gradually


but surely. That princely hospitality, that
domes tic refinement, that high social cultiva-


ton, that political acumen-the result Of


wealth and uninterrupted leisure-the nurs


ing mother Of awise and glorious statesman.


ship: that pure conservatism which was the


sheet anchor of republican liberty; that large


hear ted generosity, that honest pride OF family


and country, which is the basis of 4 nations


glory that female excellence, the most charm.


ing that ever graced the homes or blessed the


hearts of men /; for all of which Virginia and


the Carolinas were famous the world over.
All these will change and measurably disap-
pear. No man can contemplate 1T without
sorrow il IL is done in the doubtful name of
progress. And when this intelligent class of
large land holders-this sturdy dynasty OF
democratic kings lis oyerthrown, history
will be compelled to note that the
strongest pillar of American civilization,
the staunchest supports OF American lib
erty, persisted. There is danger, too, of
moral contraction and Narrowing OF our
southern character, and that our people,
in their changed condition, will embrace the
idea so universally lcorShiPped in progressive
communities-that money is the god OF this
life and the accumulation OF IL the chief end
of man! God forbid that these people should
ever be bound TO the chariot wheels of Ben
Franklin and learn TO esteem his picayune
maxims above the apothegms of Bacon
Nav they never, aerer establish mecca OF
Cape Cod, or cause the odor OF Weuthersfleld
onions TO ascend from their altars of sacrifice
Let us hone, and so teach our children, that
we may not pass from one extreme OF un-
thrifty extravaganza TO the other OF penurious
rneanness. , regard this as q real danger, for
our people to guard against. 1t can be avoid
ed and it should be avoided. In our zeal to
proQresS, to improve our farms and grow rich,
let us be careful to remember the true objects OF
life and the wise lessons of our fathers in re-
gard to them, the culture of high spirit and
nobility Of Soul in our people


The change of labor is equally pregnant
with the important results TO our people. The
small farmers in our midst never used much
negro labor when they could control it as
slave. They will utterly repudiate it when
ever they can command a better. a demand
for white In Dor is the beginning Of immgra-
ton, and the beginning of immigration is the
beginning of the end OF the negro, though that
end is not yet. Competition will not spur him
into energetic action. 1t has never yet done
So and never will. He never, under any cir
cimstances lab1red with sufficient energy to
produce anything beyond the merest subsist-
ence except us a slave. Little did his liberia.
tors know, and less care, that In freeing hlm
they removed the only barrier that protected
him from the inflowing tide of white civiliZa-
tion beneath whose waves he must perish
that his liberty was his doom. The political
privileges accorded him will only hasten his
ruin by. increasing his idleness and filling him
with dissatisfaction toward the numoie paths
of labor for which he is fitted. He is told that
he should not only control the destinies OF a
great nation At the ballot box, but that he Is
eminently qualiiied-without knowing the
alphabet from steam -epSne-to frame
the organic laws of 4 people whose states.
manship is enriched with the experience OF
1000 wears or course he cannot be eX-
pected TO have more sense or honesty thah
those who tell him these Things, ana ne De-
lieves them, and so is spoiled rs laborer.
Notwithstanding, TOO, the vain attempts 10
overcome it by legal-or rather Illegal
enactmentS, the social repusnance 10 Ine olach
man will increase, and the disposition 10 EN-
pIoy him will be less than ever. This Will be
the natural result of the development OF MS
vices and half-suppressed barbarism-the re-
straining hand of his master being removed
greatly increased, as the feeling will be, by the
exp posed position of antagonism TO the WHITES
in TO which he has been forced, and for when
he is really not 10 blame. We have no hatred
10 the blacks-quite the contrary is the real
feeling of all who once owned them as slaves
We therefore haS e no desire to supplant them
as laborers if their labor could be rendered as
prof table as any other But so far 1T has
proved a decided failure, at least in the main
is of industry. 1t is our interest TO
trv that of the white man. If the negro VII!
spur up and compete successfully win the



wise he will 20 down before it that is all. 1t
is a simple proposition, and will be decided by
the law of supply and demand, like all other
matters of human industry.


So much for black labor. Having determined
that it is best for us to try white, the question
arises Where, when, and In Whatquan tltles
shall we introduce it, and how shall we
yeti it? Evidently there is 4 fitness OF things
which should never be lost sight of. First,
What kind of q climate and SOIL nave we, ana
what do we desire TO produce us most proHta-
BILE When we underS tand this we Will nave
an idea where to go for immigration, leaving
the other ques stions, HO,o to get lt started TO
us, and how to introduce it ?--the greatest
ones of all yet TO answer.


Perhaps no land in the world is more IA
vored in regard TO climate than is the Terri
tory composed within the borders OF these
Two States. In the very centre OF the tenn
perate zone, they as nearly avoid the ex tremes
of heat and cold as it is possible 10 conceive
and with q surface gently inclinlng from the
white sands of the Atlantic until 1t lmper-
ceptibIy swels on these western borders into
six thousand feet elevation, even that equioie
can be changed or modifed at
the pleasure of their citizens. Starting from
among the ricefields and palmetto forests al
the mouth Of the Cape Fear, and going OIL
rectly west, the traveller will pass, before ne
reaches the tops Of the mountains, through
climates exactly similar to those OF Nortn ga
rolina proper, Virginia, pennsylvania, Ne"
Y ork, ana Canaaa-uVe huhui GU ieeooi ca
ton being considered equal to degree OF latl-
tude So varied is the climate OF Nortn ,Cafo-
Iina-and that of Virginia is scarcely less So
that believe her productions filled every CO.
lumn for enumeration OF American industry
in the forms of the census taken in 1850, with
the single exception Of the West India sugar
cane The soil OF these two great States Is
equally various. The rich alluyal land OF the
coast the vast swamps, with theirintermina.
bic forests OF cypress; the light, sandy belt OF
the stately long Ieaved pine, marking the an.
Gent shores of pre- Adamite ocean; then
comes the clay and gravel of the undulating
then succeeds the granite soils OF
- ~ pia6 ,,onf and mountain cOuntrv inter-