7



hundred and sixty-five or two hundred and seven-
ty dollars to the hand.
  And in the old slave States, South of the Po-
tomac, the average is about 130 dollars to the
hand. This, according to our calculation, is
rather above the average for East Virginia, but
below that for West Virginia. The average for
all Virginia is about 138 dollars.
  Thus it appears by the best evidence which
the case admits of, that the farmers of the mid-
dle States, with their free labor, produce more
than twice as great a value to the hand, as the
farmers and planters of theoldslave States; and
that even the New Euglanders, on their poor soils
and under their wintry sky, make nearly forty
per cent more to the hand, than the old South-
erners make in the sunny South,' with the ad-
vantage of their valuable staples, cotton and
tobacco.
  In Maryland, the result is intermediate be-
tween the average of the North and that of the
South; and this agrees strikingly with her condi-
tion as a half-slave State; for lower Maryland
is cultivated by negroes, and has a languishing
agriculture, as well as a stationary population:
but upper Maryland is cultivated by free labor,
and has a thriving agriculture with a growing
population.
  These results, founded on the best evidence,
and confirmed by general observation, are for
substance indubitably correct, and cannot be
overthrown.
  Now it is admitted on all hands, that slave
labor is better adapted to agriculture, than to
any other branch of industry; and that, if not
good for agriculture, it is really good for Poth-
ing
  Therefore, since in agriculture, slave labor is
proved to be far less productive than free labor-
slavery is demonstrated io be not only unprofita-
ble, but deeply injurious to the public prosperity.
  We do not mean that slave labor can never
earn any thing for him that employs it. The
question is between free labor and slave labor.
He that chooses to employ a sort of labor, that
yields only half as much to the hand as another
sort would yield, makes a choice that is not only
unprofitable, but deeply injurious to his inter-
est.
  If we now compare Virginia with New York,
the disadvantages of slavery will appear in a
still more striking point of view. One of the
citizens of our State, Thomas F. Marshall, in a
pamphlet published in 1840, daaws the follow-
ing comparison between Virginia and New
York:
  "In 1790, Virginia, with 70,000 square miles
of Territory, contained a population of 749,308,
New York, upon a surface of 45,658 square
miles contained a population of 344,120. This
statement exhibits in favor of Virginia a differ-
ence of 405,188 inhabitants, which Is double
that of New York and 68,000 more. In 1830,
after a race of 40 years, Virginia Is found to
contain 1,211,405 souls, and New York 1,918,.
608, which exhibits a difference in favor of New



York of 707,203. The increase on the part of
Virginia will be perceived to be 453.187, starting
from a basis more than double that of New
York. The increase ofNew York upon a basis
of 310,120 has been 1,578,301 human beings.-
Virginia has increased in a ratio of 61 percent.,
and New York in that of 566 per cent. The
total amount of property in Virginia, u nder the
assessmentof 1838, was 211,930,508. The ag-
gregate value of Real and Personal property in
New York, in 1839, was 654,000,000, exhibit-
an excess in New York over Virginia of 442,.
066,492. Statesmen may differ about policy,
or the means to be employed in the promotion
of the public good, but surely they ought to
agree as to what prosperity means. I think
there can be no dispute that New York is a grea-
ter, richer, more prosperous and powerful State
than Virginia.
  What has occasioned tho difference There
is but one explanation of the fact I have shown.
The clog that has staidthe march of herpeople,
the incubus that has weighed down her enter-
prise, strangled her commerce, kept sealed her
exhaustless fountains of mineral wealth, and
paralysed her arts, manufactures and improve-
ment, is Negro Slavery."
  We thus perceive that slavery produces the
same melancholy result in Virginia as we have
pointed out as existing in Maryland. But bad
as the condition of Virginia is, a still more
gloomy state of things is before her. She now
gains her support principally by selling slaves
to other States. This trade, in the present state
of things,is to her of the most vital importance,
but it places her at the mercy of the States with
which she carries on the traffic. These States
have drained off the dark waters which would
have overwhelmed her. But now some ofthem
show an inclination to shut out the stream
from themselves, Itmust then roll back and
spread desolation over the face of that ancient
Commonwealth. She will be reduced to a con-
dition worse than any which herworstememies
could wish for her. Sooner or later this state
of things must come. Too many of her citizens
seem to think that they can keep off this dark
cloud by shutting their eyes. If they continue
to do so, its thunders will burst upon their ears
when it is too late for them to avoid the storm.
  Look upon the gloomy picture of the ultimate
effect of slavery on all classes, drawn by Gov
McDowell, of Va. in the speech which he recent-
ly delivered in Congress. He says:
  "Not only is the increase of the black race
greater under all circumstances than that of the
white, because of the absence, in their case, of
all prudential restraint, but when no emigration
is allowed to keep down that excessive growth,
will follow, of course, that that race will nb.