8



sorb all the occupations upon which the laboring
part of the white one can live, and they, as a
consequence, will be driven away. When all
the field labor, when all the handicraft-trades,
such as Carpenters, Coopers, Blacksmiths, Shoe-
makers, are engrossed by the slave, an(l taken
away from the resources of the laboring white
man, when in addition to this the hopes and
means of common education are all cut off by
contiguous settlements of slaves over whole dis-
tiictsof country; when this comes to pass, what
earthly consideration can prevent a laboring
man so situated from instantly picking up his
family and going tosome othercommunity where
he might hope to improve and better their condi-
tion Nothing could prevent him. Thus throng
after throng of this class, amongst the very
soundest and best of all, vould pass away from
amongst us, almost as numerous and unreturn-
ing as the passengers to the tomb, and so they
would continue to pass away, until by and by, in
the course of a few generations, the whole popu-
lstion of our slaveholding States would be reduc-
ed to the slaves on the one side, and the masteis
and managers on the other-a disproportion so
great, so palpable to every eye-so suggest ix e to
the slave himself of the fearful secret of his gi-
gantic physical power, that nothing could take
from his heart the temptation to try it, and try it
he would, no matter what the consequences; and
thus catastrophe would follow catastrophe, and
our sunny and happy Snuth would be covered
over with scenes of conflict and of weeping."
  Read the remarks of Charles Fenton Mercer,
the founder of the American Colonization So-
ciety, made in the convention called in 1830,for
amending the Constitution of Virginia:
  "Mr. Chairman, as I descended the Chesa-
peake the other day, on my way to this city,
impelled by a favoring west wind, which, co-
operating with the genius of Fulton, made the
vessel on which Istood literally fly through the
wave before me, I thought of the early descrip-
tions of Virginia, by the followers of Randolph,
and the companions of Smith. I endeavored to
scent the fragrance of the gale which reached
me from the shores of the capacious bay along
which we steered, and I should have thought
the pictures of Virginia which rose to my fan-
cy, not too highly colored, had I not often tra-
versed our lowland country, the land not only
of my nativity, but that of my fathers-and I
said to myself, how much it has lost of its prim-
itive loveliness! Does the eye dwell with most
pleasure on its wasted fields, or on its stunted
forests of secondary growth of pine and cidar
Can we dwell without mournful regret on the
temples of religion sinking in ruin, and those
spacious dwellings whose dsors once opened by
the hand of liberal hospitality, are now fallen
upon their portals, or closed in tenantless si-
lence Except on the banks of its rivers, the
march of dessolation now saddens this once
beautiful country. The cheerful notes of pop-
ulation have ceased, and the wolf and wild deer,
no longer scared from their ancient haunts,
havedescended fromthe mountains to the plains.



They look on the graves of our ancestors, and
traverse their former paths. And shall we do
nothing to restore this once lovely land There
was a time when the sun in his course shoneon
none so fair!"
  Extending our view still farther South, into
whatever quarter of the country we may,where
a large proportion of the population is compos-
ed of slaves, and the picture becomes more and
more gloomy. In proof of this, we cite the
language of the eloquent ex-Senator Preston,
of South Carolina. In a speech delivered some
years since at Columbia in reference to a pro-
posed railroad, he says:
  "No Southern man can journey (as he had
lately done) through the Northern States, and
witness the prosperity, the industry, the spirit
which they exhibit, the sedulous cultivation of
all those arts by which life is rendered comfort-
able and respectable, without feelings of deep
sadness and shame, as lie remembers his own
neglected and desolate home. There no dwel-
ling is to be seen abandoned, not a farm uncul-
tivated. Every person and everything perform
a part toward the grand result; and the whole
land is covered with fertile fields, with manu-
factories and canals, and railroads and edifices



  A gentleman by the name o1 Elwood Fsher, of Cin.
chnnati Ohio has come to the rescue of the pro-slavei y
party In Kentucky, and has shown that there prevails a
universal mistake astothe Nsealth of Virginia  He has
proven that Virginians know noihing about themselves-
that in spite ofalt they say Virginia is highly prosperous-
that in fact Ler people are the wealthiest in the world!
Mr. Fisher estimates the whole property of Virginia at
600,000,)00, he does not saythat ihi, is the assessed val-
ue but gives it as the estimate or Mr lies made In 1831.-
Why does Mr. Fisher go so far back as 1831 for the v; lue
of the property of Virginia Has Virg nia not iriprovedf"
The reason is plain. Prof. D. w -was a spc Culator in In.
ternal improvement schemes, atid he nmde the estimate
of the wvealth of Virginia hch best suited 5Mr. Fisheil's
purpose. But let us look a litle at Mr. Fisher's cipher.
ing. In the note to page 6 ol his ranpihlet he say:
"That (the property) of Virginia was computed at the
amomuntnuwassumed in IS34 by ProfDew. I have seen no
officialstatement. Butifshe'l'axesotherp operty as high
as it groes, the total must now tair exceed that estimate,
asinl8t7sletaxed.262,317adult slaves at 80,741 who
are worth about 44,000 O(;O, and taxas her other prop-
erty, real and peraonal,354,451,exelusive of nierchant's
stock."
If 232,317 Virginia slaves are worlh as Mr. Fisher says
t00,0u,uOO- thenr each slave is worth ,6s65 30(!)
The truth is there is no assessed value of property in
Virginia as there la in Kentuck!,. Nothing is taxed there
ad valorem except land. Naves, horses and evety thinu
exceptlant are taxed specifically-just as goltd watches
are in Kentucky. Slaves in Virginia arec - '. 32 uts. a
head, horses 10 cts.,and so on. I his M r. Fisher must
have known-for the A mejican Almanac to which he re-
fers shows it. Giving the nuriber of slaves and the tax
paid on them-Mr. Fisher has undertaken the wonderful
problem as ascertainuig their value! This reminds us ol
the boy who wasnoiking away atithe follo'aingsum-"-f
a pound ofbutter cOsttix pence how niuch does a pound
of soap come to"
Oh, Oh. Mr. Fisher,you live in afree State and mistook
your calling hen Lou began to estimate the value of
slaves. We in Kentucky think our slaves are worth
inure than those in Virginia- but we value surs at an av.
I erage a little more than 300 ap ece  You make the Vir.
ginia slaves worth five lires as much as ours!"  If you
will but let us estimate the wealth ot New York as you
have the slaves of Virginia, her wealth instead of being
63' 699,993 will be nearer 3,163,499,965!