d u r i n g e xpenses, w hen they are sick, and in providing for their g eneral comfort, when he knows that he w i l l n ot be ultimately c ompensated. There may not be numerous instances of positive v iolation o f the duties of humanity, but every one knows the difference b etween a negligence, which is not c r i m i n a l , a nd a watchful v igilance stimulated by interest, which allows no want to be u nsupplied. T he effect o f this relaxed attention to the offspring w i l l be to reduce the rates of general increase of the slave portion o f our population, whilst that of the other race, not s ubject to the s ame neglect, w i l l i ncrease and f ill up the void. A s till g reater effect, f rom the diminution of the value of labor, w i l l be that of voluntary e mancipations; the master being now anxious to relieve himself f rom a burthen, without profit, by renouncing his right of property. O ne or two facts w i l l i llustrate some o f these principles. P r i o r to the a nnexation of L ouisiana to the United States the supply of slaves f rom A frica w as abundant. T h e price of a dults w as generally about $100, a p rice less than the c ost o f r aising a n infant. T h e n it was b elieved that the climate of that province was unfavorable to the r earing o f n egro c hildren, and comparatively few were raised. A fter the U . States abolished the slave trade, the price of adults r ose v ery considerably, greater attention was consequently bestowed on their children, and now no where is the A f r i c a n female m ore p rolific than she is in L ouisiana, a nd the climate of no one of t he Southern States is supposed to be m ore f avourable to rearing the o ffspring. T h e serfs of R u s s i a possess a m arket value inferior to t hat o f the A f r i c a n slaves of the U . States; a n d ^ l t h o the L o r d i s n ot believed to be bound to provide for the support of his dependent, as the A m e r i c a n master is for his slave, voluntary manumissions of the serf are very frequent, influenced i n sonic d egree n o d oubt by his inconsiderable value. W hat h as tended to sustain the price of slaves i n the U . States h as been, that very fact of the acquisition of L ouisiana, b ut especially the increasing demand for cotton,and the c onsequent i ncrease o f its cultivation. T h e price of cotton, a much m ore e xtensive o bject o f culture than sugar cane, regulates the price of slaves as u n erringly as any one s ubject w hatever is regulated by any standard. A s i t rises in price, they r i s e ; as it f alls, t hey f all. B ut the m ultiplication o f slaves, by n atural c auses, must s oon be much greater t han the increase of the demand for them, to say nothing of the p rogressive decline which has taken place, i n that great Southern s taple, w ithin a few years, and which there is no reason to believe w i l l be permanently arrested. Whenever the demand for t he cultivation of sugar and cotton c omes to be f ully s upplied, the p rice of slaves w i l l b egin to decline, and as that demand cannot p ossibly k eep p ace w ith the supply, the price w ill d ecline m ore a nd m ore. F a r m i n g agriculture cannot sustain i t ; for it is believed t hat n owhere i n the farming portion of the U . S'ftcs would slave l abor be generally employed, i f the proprietor were not tempted to r aise s laves by the high price of the Southern market, which keep* i t up i n his own.
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