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BY JAMES R. MORRIS. ' ; WOODSFIELD, OHIO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1844. ; VOLUAlli I. 1SUMBK11 23.
' ' . ,
- ;. " . : From the Indiana State Sentinel.'
LETTER FROM GENERAL JACKSON.
The following letter from General Jackaon wa
received a few days aince by a citizen'of this coun
ty. At tlje request of aeveral citizena to whom ita
contenta were communicated,' we take great pleas
ure in giving it to the public.
; v , JHermitaoe, June, 24, 1844,
Sim ! I am in receipt of your letter of the 1Kb
inatant, and, though in bad health myself, cannot
forego the pleasure of saying a few words in reply
tO it -i . , .', -X,;" ' ', -.'.', ;' '.v
-. You request my opinion of the nominations re-
- cently made at Baltimore by the democratic party.
. I am entirely satisfied - with them, and have no
-doubt, if the gentlemen nominated are elected;
that the people will find their administration true
to the old republican landmarks, and every way
worthy of their support.
Mr. Polk was raised in my neighborhood, arid
went into public life as a Jeffersonian democrat
To the great principles of that illustrious reformer
of our system of government he has been ever
faithful; and has proved himself on many trying
occasions the able advocate of popular rights, and
the sagacious friend of the measures which were
necessary to defeat the machinations of the federal
party. ' Hia moral character is pure; his capacity
for business great; and to extraordinary powers of
labor, both mental and physical, he unites that tact
and judgment which are so requisite to the sue
cessful direction of such an office as that of chief
magistrate of a free people.
With Mr. Dallas I am notso intimately acquaint
ed, but from what I knew of him when he repre
sented Pennsylvania in the' Senate of the United
States, and was charged with high public trusts in
various other important stations at home and abroad
it cannot be doubted that he equally deserves the
confidence and admiration of the people. The fa
vors that have been conferred upon him by the
Keystone State, whose citizens are distinguished
for love of order, and for the support only of what
is calculated to spread the blessings of equal laws,
aria proof that he has all the characteristic which
are needed in a crisis like this, to rally the sound
feelings of the country at large.
' , I thank you, sir, ior the solicitude you have ex
pressed for my personal welfare. My race is near
ly rua I am now not able to attend to the duties
of correspondence without the aid of an amanuen
sis; but I thank God for the privilege yet accorded
to me of comprehending the designs ol the federal
'party. As long as I live I will "warn my country
against the dangers which will attend the success
of Mr. Clay's proposition to establish another
mammoth bank; to break down the security which
'the people possess in the veto power given to the
President by the constitution ; to change the system
of taxation under which we have so long prosper
'ed, by admitting the principle claimed in his bill
for the distribution of the proceeds of the public
lands; and lastly, to prevent the annexation of Tex
as to the United States for it cannot be denied
that his position on this question is utterly at war
with the true interests of bis country. He says
virtually that Texas ought not to be admitted into
. the Union while there is a respectable and con
aiderable portion of our citizens opposed to it On
such a condition it is obvious annexation can never
take place. British influence had considerable and
respectable advocates in this country in our revo
lutionary war, and in our second war with her
. Will it ever be without them ? Never. As long
. there are fanatics in religion, as long as there are
. . diversities and differences in human opinion re.
specting the forms of government and the rights of
the people, auch advocacy will be found resisting
the advance of institutions like ours, and laboring
' to incorporate with them the features of an opposite
, system;
. r Who does not see that the people oi the United
States are competitors with the people of England
in the manufacturing arts, and iu carrying the trade
of the world? and-that the question is soon to be,
if it be not already, whether Texts and Oregon
are to be considered as auxiliaries to American or
British interests? whether these vast and fertile re-
, gions are to be settled and worked by our posterity,
blessed by republican government, or are tu"be
, come the theatre of British enterprise,', and . 'hus
add another link to the vast colonial chain by which
' that great monarchy upholds its lords and nobles,
' and extract from suffering million the earnings of
their labor? ,
' .Nor is the question altered by the alleged inter
est of Mexico in the Texas territory. , As far as
treaties are concerned, good faith is not involved in
cur decision. If the proposition were to annex
Mexico with her assent, Texas could not complain.
But we all know that the treaty argument is not
only inapplicable, but incapable of use in the de
' termination of the question, either as it affects us,
Mexico Br other power. Texas' is independent
of Mexico made so by the power of her arms, in
the same sense that we became independent of
, Great Britain. She! independent of Mexico in
another sense : that is in never having constituted
a part of Mexico, except by a compact which the
latter has violated, and which compact would nev
er have been formed if the United States had per-
formed Its duty.' ; ' ' ' ,; .'
'"" But, without pursuing this view of the subject
it is enough for us to look at the question as it is
. ' practically presented to us. Texas tells us she is
anxious to come into the Union. Being originally
a part of our Union, knowing that ahe cannot exist
happily as a State without the protection of our
Jaws, that her geographical position,' well as
' the character and interest of ber citizens, necessari
ly attach them to our territory; and feeling, as we
' may well suppose she does, a greater concern for
- the fate of our free institutions than she can' for
.'' those of any monarchy, she is desirous that her fer
tile lands and genial climate should share the glo-
' rious instrumentality of cherishing and maintaining
.' the blessings of freedom. ' I this unnatural? Can
ft be wise for us to torn a deaf ear to her entreaty,
1 because Lord Aberdeen and Lord Brougham, as
British statesmen, chooselo withhold their Consent
-. . . .- .-.i... :..;.! j,) j;
. I !:.?'. :' i t l!.ty'w-tdv-?iTi:ii x'
and indulge in vague apprehension respecting the
effect of the measure on this Scheme of abolishing
slavery ? Shame, shame on such patriotism !
Shame on the credulity which can be duped by
such flimsy pretence! '
The' Air"-' " eople cannot be deceived in this
manner. ' -w t-"t the real object of Eng.
land is to y of the United States,
and lessen . . . . r l j compete with JSngland
as a Oaval power, and as a growing,' agricultural,
manufacturing, and commercial country. They
know that Lord Aberdeen, in the midst of thous
ands and thousand ot starving subject of the Brit'
Uh monarchy, is more anxious, or ought to be, to
relieve the want of those wretched people than he
can be to alter the relation subsisting between the
white and black races of this country or Texas.
The American people know this : and they will
disappoigt me if they neglect, or rather if they per
mit, those charged with the administration if their
national interests, to let slip the opportunity now
offered of cementing their union, and promoting
the general causes of their prosperity and happi.
ness by the annexation of Texas.
. Iam, very tr'.uy,
, Your obed't servant,
ANDREW JACKSON.
MR. WALKER ON ANNEXATION.
The following is that portion of Senator Walk.
er's letter on the annexation of Texas which treat
of the question of
' SLAVERY.
' The only remaining objection is the question of
slavery. And have we a question which is to cur
tail the limits of the republic to threaten its ex
istence to aim a deadly blow at all its great and
vital interests to court alliance with foreign and
with hostile powers to recall our commerce, and
expel our manufactures from bays and rivers that
once were all our own to strike down the flag of
the Union as it advances towards our ancient boun
daryto surrender a mighty territory, and invite
to its occupancy the deadliest (in truth the only)
foes this govenmeot has ever encountered? Is
anti-slavery to do all this? And is it so to endan
ger New Orleans, and the valley and commerce
and outlet of the west, that we would bold tbem,
not by our own strength; but by the slender tenure
of the will and of the mercy of Gieat Britain? If
anti-slavery can effect all this, may God, in his
infinite mercy, save and perpetuate this UnioDj
for the efforts of man would be feeble and impo
tent. Tbrf, avowed object of this party is the
immediate abolition of slavery. For this, they
traverse sea and land; for this they hold conven
tions in the capital of England; and there they
brood over schemes of abolition, in association
with British societies; there tbey join in denun
ciations of their countrymen, until their hearts
are filled with treason; and they return home,
Americans in name, but Englishmen in feelings
and principles. Let us all, then, feel and know,
whether we live north or south, that (his party,
if not vanquished, must overthrow the govern
ment, and dissolve the Union.' This party propose
the immediate abolition of slavery throughout the
Union. If this were practicable, let us look at
the consequences. By the return of the last
census, the products of the slaveholding States, in
iftjft. amounted In value to 8404,429,638. These
products, then, of tliO aouisi, JSH't hv alone ena.
bled it to furnish a home market for all t.he surplus
manufactures ot the north, as also a market
tor the product of it forest and fisheries;
and giving a mighty impulse to all it commercial
and navigating interests. Now, nearly all these
agricultural product of the south, which accom
plish all these great purpose, are the result of slave
labor : and strike down these products by the im
mediate abolition of slavery, and the markets of
the south, for want of the means to purchase, will
be lost to the people of the north, and north and
south will be involved in one common ruin. Yes,
in the harbors of the north, (at Philadelphia, New
York, and Boston,) the vessels would rot at their
wharves, for want of exchangeable product to
carry; the building of ships would cease; and the
grass would grow in many a street, now enlivened
by an active and progressive industry. - In the
interior, the railroads, and canal would languish
for want of business; and the factories and manu
facturing towns and cities, decaying and deserted,
would stand a blasted monuments of the folly of
man. One universal bankruptcy would overspread
the country, together with all the demoralization
and crime which ever accompany such a catastro
phe; and the notice at every corner would point
only to tale on execution by the constable, the
sheriff,. the marshal, and the auctioneer; weile the
beggar would ask us in the street, not for money,
but for bread." Dark as the picture may be,' it
could not exceed the gloomy reality- Such would
be the effect in the (north; while in the south, no
human heart can conceive, nor pen describe the
dreadful oonsequence Let us look at another
result to the north' The slaves, being emancipa
ted, not by the south, but by the north, would fly
there for safety and protection; and three millions
of free blacks would be thrown at once, as if by a
convulsion of nature, upon the State of the north.
They would come there to their friend of the
north, who bad given them freedom, to give them
also habitation, food, and clothing; and, not hav
ing it to give, many ot them would perish from
want and exposure; whilst the wretched remainder
would be left to live as they could, by theft or
charity. ' They would still be a degraded caste,
free only in name, without the reality of freedom.
A few might ear a wretched and precarious sub
sistence by competing with the white laborer of
the north, and reducing their wage to the lowest
point in the sliding scale of starvation and misery;
whilst the poor bouse and the jail, the asylum of
the deaf and dumb, the blind, the idiot and insane,
would be filled to overflowing; if, indeed, any
asylum eouM be afforded the negro race whom
wretchedness and crime would drive to despair and
madness. ", : ;;'.'';;; ,....;... -vi jrnc: -'
That these are sad realities, i proved by the
census of 1840. I annex in an appendix a table,
marked No. 1, compiled by me entirely from the
official returns of the census of 1840, except a to
prison and paupers which are obtained from city
and State returns, and, the results are as follows:
, 1st The number of deaf and dumb, blind, idi
ot, and insane, of the negroes in the non-slave-holding
States, is one out of every 96; iu the
slaveholding States, it one out of every 672
or seven to one in favor of the slaves in this respect
as compared with the free black.
" 2d. ' The number of whites, deaf and dumb,
blind, idiots, and insane, in the non-slaveholding
State, is one in every 561, being nearly six to one
rgainst the free blacks in the same State.
3d. I" The number of negroes who are deaf and
dumb,, blind, idiots and insane, paupers and in
prison in the non-slaveholding States, one out
of every 6, and in the slaveholding States, one
out of every 164; or twenty-two to one against
the free blacks, as compared with the slaves.
4th. Taking the two extremes of north and
south, in Maine, the number of negroes returned
as deaf and dumb, blind, insane and idiots, by the
census of 1840, is one out of every 12; and in
slaveholding Florida, by the same returns, is one
of every 1105; or ninety-two to one, in favor of
the slaves of Florida, as compared with the free
black of Maine,
By the report of the Secretary of State of Mas
sachusetts (of the 1st November, 1848) to the
legislature, there were then in the county jails, and
house of correction in that State, 4,020 whites,
and 364 negroes; and adding the previous returns
of the State prison, 255 whites and 82 blacks;
making in all 4,275 whites, and 896 free blacks;
being one out of every one hundred and seventy
of the white, and one out of every twenty one of
the free black population: and by the official returns
of the census of 1840, and their own official returns
to their own legislature, one out of every thirteen
of the free blacks of Massachusetts was either deaf
and dumb, blind, idiot, or insane, or in prison-
thus proving a degree of debasement and misery,
on the part of the colored race, in that truly great
State which is appalling. In the last official report
to the legislature of the warden of the penitentia
ry oi eastern Pennsylvania, he says: "The whole
number of prisoners received from the opening of
the institution, (October 2Stb, 1829,) to January
1, 1843, is 1,622; of these 1,004 were white males,
533 colored males; 27 white females, and 58 col
ored females!" or one out of every 847 of the
white, and one out of every 64 of the negro pop
ulation; and of the white female convicts, one out
of every 16,288; and of the colored female con
victs, one out of every 349 in onepriton, showing
a degree of guilt and debasement on the part of
the colored female revolting and unparalleled.
When such is the debasement of the colored
females, far exceeding even that of the white
female in the most corrupt cities of Europe,
extending, too, throughout one-half the limits of i
a great State, we may begin to form some idea off
tne areaaiui condition ot tne tree blacks, and now
much worse than that of the slaves whom we are
asked to liberate, and consign to a similar condition
of guilt and misery. Where, too, are these exam
ples? The first is in the great State of Massachu
setts, that, for 64 years, has never had a slave, and
whose free black population, being 5,463 in 1790
I and but 8,669 at present, ii nearly the same free
negro population, and their dwcedar!!i, nuOui
for more than half a century she has strived, but
strived in vain to elevate in rank and comfort and
morals. The other example is the eastern halt of
the great State of Pennsylvania, including Phila
delphia and the Quakers of the State, who, with
an industry and humanity that never tired, and a
charily that spared not time or money, have exert-
ed every effort to improve the morals and better
the condition of their free black population. But
where are the great results? Let the census and
the report of prisons answer. Worse, incompar
ably worse, than the condition of the slaves, and
demonstating that the free black in the midst of
hi friend in the north, is sinking lower every
day in the scale of want and crime and misery.
The regular physician's report and review, pub
lished in 1840, ay the '-facts, then, show an tn
creasing disproportionate number of colored pris
oner in the eastern penitentiary." In contrasting
the condition, for the same year of all the non
slaveholding States, as compared with all the slave-
holding Stales in which return are made, I find
the number of free black as fifty four to one, as
compared with the slaves, in proportion to popu
lation, who are incarcerated in these prison.
There are no pauper among the (laves, whilst in
the noa-slaveholding States, great is the number
of colored pauper. :li .
From the Belgian statistics, compiled by Mr.
Quetelet, the distinguished secretary of the Royal
Academy of Brussels, it appears that in Belgium
the number of deaf and dumb was one out of eve
ry 2,160 persons; in Great Britain, one out of
every 1,639; in Italy, one out of every 1,639; and
in Europe, one out of every 1,474. Of the blind,
onej out of every 1,009 in Belgium; one out of
every 800 in Prussia; one out of every 1,600 in
France; and one out of every 1,666 in Saxony;
and no further returns, a to the blind, are given.
Belgian Jnnuaire, 1836, pp. 218, 215, 217.
But the table shows an average in Europe of one
out of every 1,474 of deaf and dumb, and of about
one out- of every 1,000 of blind; whereas, our
census show of the deaf and dumb white cf the
Union, one out of every 2,193; and of the free
blacks, one out ot every 666; also, of the blind,
one out of every 2,821 of the white of the Union,
and one out of every 616 of the blacks in the non
slaveholding State. Thus we have not only
shown the condition of the black of the non
slaveholding States to be far worse than that of the
alavea of the aouth, but also far worse than the 'con
dition of the people of Europe, deplorable a that
may be. ' It has been heretofore shown that the
free black in the non-slaveholding State were
becoming in an augmented proportion, more de
based in moral a tbey increased In numbers; and
tb same proposition, is true (n other respect.
Thus, by the census of 1830, the number of deaf
and dumb of the free blacks of the non-slavehold
ing States was one out of every 996; and of blind,
one out of every 893; whereas, we have seen, by
the census ot 1840, the number of free blacks,
deaf and dumb, in the non-slaveholding states,
was one out of every 656; and of blind, one out of
every 616. In the last ten years, then, the alarm
ing fact is proved, that the proportionate number
of free black deaf and dumb, and also of blind,
hat inereated about fifty per cent. No statement
as to the insane or idiots is given in the census of
1830.
' Let us now examine the future increase of free
blacks in the States adjoining the slaveholding
States, if Texas is not reannexed to the Union.
By the census of 1890, the number of free blacks
in the States (adding New York) adjoining the
slaveholding States, was 13,953. In the States
(adding New York) adjacent to the slave holding
States, the number of free blacks, by the census
of 1840, was 148,107; being an aggregate increase
of nearly 'eleven to one in New Yoik, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Now,
by the census and table above given, the aggregate
number of free blacks who were deaf and dumb,
blind, idiots, or insane, paupers, or in prisons, in
the non-slaveholding States, was 26,342, or one in
every six of the whole number.' Now, if the free
black population should increase in the same ratio,
in the aggregate, in New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, from
1840 to 1890, as it did from 1790 to 1840, the ag
gregate free black population in these six States
would be, in 1890, 1,600,000; in 1865, 800,000;
in 1353, 400,000; and the aggregate number in
these six States of free blacks, according to the
present proportion, who would then be deaf and
dumb, blind, idiots or iusane, paupers or in prison,
would be, in 1890, 266,666; in 1865, 133,333; and
in 1853, 66,666; being, as we have seen one-sixth
of the whole number. Now, if the annual cost
of supporting these free blacks in these asylums,
and other houses, including the interest on the
sum expended in their erection, and lot annual
repairs, and the money disbursed for the arrest,
trial, conviction and transportation of the criminals
amounted to fifty dollars each, the annual tax on
the people of these six states, on account of these
free blacks, would be in 1890, $13,333,200; in
1865, $6,666,600; and in 1853, $3,333,300.
Does, then, humanity require that we should
render the blacks more debased and miserable, by
this process of abolition, with greater temptations
to crime, with more of real guilt, and less of ac
tual comforts? A the free blacks are thrown
more and more upon the cities of the north, and
compete more there with the white laborer, the
condition of the blacks becomes worse and more
perilous every day, until we have already seen the
masses of Cincinnati and Philadelphia rise to expel
we neSro race heyond their limits. Immediate
holition, whilst it deprived the South of the
"":" fiw"" ,uo pnwucui oi me norm jmu
West, would fill those States with an inundation
of free black population that would be absolutely
intolerable. Immediate abolition, then has but
few advocates; but if emancipation were not im
mediate but only gradual, whilst slavery existed
to any great extent in the slaveholding States
bordering upon the States of the florth and
West, this exjulsioc, by gradual abolition, of the
free blacks into the State3 immediately north of
them, would be very considerable, and rapidly
augmenting every year. If this process of gradu
al abolition only doubled the number of free blacks
to be thrown upon the States of the North and
West, then a reference to the tables before presen
ted proves that the number of free blacks in New
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois would be in 1890, 3,200,000; in 1865,
1,600,000; and in 1853, 800,000; and that the an
uual expenses to the people of these six States,
on acccunt of the free black, would be in 1890,
$26,666,400; in 1865, $13,333,200; and in 1853,
$6,666,600.
It was in view no doubt, of these facts, that Mr.
Davis, of New York, declared, upon the floor of
Congress, on the 29th of December, 1843, that the
"abolition of slavery in the southern States must
be followed by a deluge of black population to the
North, filling our jails and poor bouses, and bring
ing destruction upon the laboring portion of our
people." . Dr. Duncan .also, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
in hi speech in Congress on the 6th January, 1844,
declared the result of abolition would be to inun
date the North with free blacks, described by him
as "paupers, beggars, thieves, assassins, and des
peradoes; all, or nearly all, penniless and destitute,
without skill, means, industry or perseverance to
obtain a livelihood; each possessing and cherish
ing revenge for supposed or real wrongs No
man' fireside, person, family, or property, would
be safe by day or night It now require the whole
energies of the law and the whole vigilance of
the police of all our principal cities to restrain and
keep in subordination the few straggling free ne
groes that now infest them." If such be the case
now, what will be the result when by abolition,
gradual or immediate, the number of these free
negroes shall be doubled and quadrupled, and de
cupled in the more northern of the slaveholding
States, before slavery had receded from their limit
and nearly the whole of which free black popula
tion would be thrown on the adjacent non-slaveholding
state. ' Much, if not all of thi great
evil will be prevented by . the reannexation of
Texas. Since the purchase of Louisiana and
Florida, and the settlement of Alabama and Mis
sissippi, there have been carried into this region,
as the census demonstrates, from the States of Del
aware, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky half a
million of slaves, including their descendants, that
otherwise would now be within the limits of those
four State. . '
Snch has been the result as to have diminished,
in two of these Slat nearest to the North, the
number of their slaves far below what they were at
the census of 1790, and to have reduced them at
the census of 1840, In Delaware, to the small num-1
ber of 2,605. Now, if we double the rate of dimia
ution, as we certainly will by the re-annextion of
Texas, slavery will disappear from Delaware in ten
years, and from Maryland in twenty, and liuve
greatly diminished in Virginia and Kentucky. As
then, by reannexation, slavery advances in Texas,
it must recede to the same extent from the more
northern of the slaveholding States; and conse
quently, the evil to the northern States, from the
expulsion into them of free blacks, by abolition,
gradual or immediate, would thereby be greatly
mitigated, if not entirely prevented. In the Dis
trict of Columbia, by the drain to the new States
and Territories of the South and- Southwest, the
slaves have been reduced from 6,119 in 1830, to
4,694 in 1840; and if, by the reannexation, slavery
receded in a double ratio, then it would disappear
altogether from the District in twelve years; and
that question, which now occupies so much of the
time of Congress, and threatens so seriously the har
mony, if not the existence of the Union, would be
put at rest by the reannexation of Texas. This re
annexation, then, would only change the locality
of the slaves, and of the slaveholding Stales, with
out augmenting their number. And is Texas to
be lost to the Union, not by the question of the ex
istence of slavery, but of its locality only? If
slavery be considered by the States of the North as
an evil, why should they prefer that' its location
should be continued in States on their border, rath
er than in the more distant portions of the Union?
It is clear that, as slavery advanced in Texas, it
would recede from the States bordering on the free
Stales of the North and West; and thus they would
be released from actual contact with what they con
sider an evil, and also from all influx from those
States of a large and -constantly augmenting free
black population. As regards the slaves, the Afri
can being from a tropical climate, and from the re
gion of the burning sands and sun, his comfort and
condition would be greatly improved, by a trans
fer from northern latitudes to the genial and most
salubrious climate of Texas. There he would nev
er suffer from that exposure to cold and frost,
which he feels so much more severely than any
other race, and there, also, from the great fertility
of the soil, and exuberance ef its products, his sup
ply of food would be abundant If a desire to im
prove the condition and increase the comforts of
theslave really animated the anti-slavery party
they would be the warmest advocates of the rean
nexation of Texas. Nor can it be disguised that,
by the reannexation, as the number of free blacks
augmented in the slaveholding States, they would
be diffused gradually through Texas into Mexico,
and Central and Southern America, where nine
tenths of their present population are already of the
colored races, and where, from their vast prepon
derance iu number, they are not a degraded caste,
but upon a footing, not merely of legal, but what
is far more important, of actual equality with the
rest of the population. Here, then, if Texas is re-
annexed throughout the vast region and salubrious
and delicious climate of Mexico, and of Central and
Southern America, a large and rapidly increasing
portion of the African race will disappear from the
limits of the Union. The process will be gradual
and progressive, without a shock, and without a
convulsion; whereas, by the loss of Texas, and the
imprisonment of the slave population nf the Union
within its present limits, slavery would inrrease in
nearly all the slaveholding States, and a change in
their condition would become impossible; or if it
did take place by sudden or gradual abolition, the
result would as certainly be the sudden or gradual
introduction of hundreds of thousands of free blacks
into the States of the North; and if their condi
tion there is already deplorable, how would it be
when their number there should be augmented
tenfold, and the burden become intolerable? Then
indeed, by the loss of the markets of Texas by the
taxation imposed by an immense free black popula
tion, depressing the value of all property then, al
so, from the competition for employment of the free
blacks with the white laborer of the North, his
wages would be reduced until they would fall to
ten or twenty cents a day, and starvation and mise
ry would be introduced among the white laboring
population. There is but one way in which the
North can escape these evils: and that is the rean
nexation of Texas, which is the only safety-valve
for the whole Union, and the only practicable out
let for the African population, through Texas, into
Mexico and Central and Southern America
There is a congenial climate for the African race.
There cold and want and hunger will not drive the
African, as we see it does in the North, into the
poor-house and the jaii, and the asylums of the idiot
and insane. There the boundless and almost un
peopled territory oi Mexico, and of Central and
Southern America, with its delicious climate, and
most prolific soil, renders most easy the mean of
subsistence; and there they would not be a degra
ded caste, but equal among equals, not only by
law, but by feeling and association.
. The medical writers all say, (and experience con
firms the assertion,) that ill-treatment, overwork,
neglect, in infancy and sickness, drunkenness,
want, and crime, are the chief causes of idiocy,
blindness, and lunacy; whilst none will deny that
want and guilt fill the poor-house and the jail
Why is it, then, that the free black is (as the cen
sus proves) much more wretched in condition, and
debased in morals, than the slave? These free
black are among the people of the North, and
their condition is most deplorable in the two great
States of Maine and Massachusetts, where, since
1780, slavery never existed. Now, the people of
the North are eminently humane, religious, and
intelligent What, then, is the cause of the mise
ry and debasement of their free black population?
It is chiefly in the fact that the free blacks, among
their real superior our own white population
are, and ever will be, a degraded caste, free only in
name, without any of the blessings of freedom
Here they can have no pride, and no aspirations
no spirit of industry or emulation; and, in most
cases, to live, to vegetate, is their only desire.
Hence, the efforts to improve their 'condition, so
long made, in Maesachusetb, Pennsylvania,' and
many other States, have proved' utterly unavail
ing; and it grows worse every year, as that popu
lation augments in numbers. In vain do many of
the States give the negroe the right of sufrage, and
all the legal privileges of the whites: the color
marks the dreadful difference which, here, at least,
ages cannot obliterate. The negroes, however
equal in law, are not equal iu fact. They are no
where found in the colleges or universities, upon
the bench or at the bar, in the muster, or the jury--box,
in legislative or executive station; nor doe
marriage, the great bond of society, unite the white
with the negro, except a rare occurrence of such
unnatural alliance, to call forth the scorn ordisgovt
of the whole community. Indeed, I could truly
say, if passing into the immediate presence of tb
Most High, that, in morals and comforts, the free
black is far below the slave; and that, while the con
dition of the slave has been greatly ameliorated,
and is improving every year, that of the free black
(as the official tables demonstrate) is sinking iu
misery and debasement at every census, as, from
time to time, by emancipation and other cause,
they are augmented in number. Can it, then, be
sinful to refuse to change the condition of the slave
to a position of far greater wretchedness and de
basement, by reducing them to the level of the free
negro race, to occupy the asylums of the deaf and
dumb, the blind, the idiot and insane; to wander a
mendicants; to live in pestilent alley and hovel,
by theft or charity; or to prolong a miserable ex
istence in the poor-house or the jail? All history
proves that no people on earth art more deeply
imbued with the love of freedom, and of it diffu
sion every where, among all who can appreciate
and enjoy its blessings, than the people of the
South; and if the negro slave were improved in
morals and comfort, and rendered capable of self
government, by emancipation, it would not be
gradual, but immediate, if the profit of slavery
were ten fold greater than they are.
ADMITTING TEXAS SECURES THS EXTINC
TION OF SLAVERT.
Is slavery, then, never to disappear from the Uni
on? If confined within its present limits, I do not
perceive when or how it is to terminate. It ie
true, Mr. George Tucker, the distinguished Vir
ginian, and professor in their great university,; ha
demonstrated that, in a period not exceeding eigh
ty years, and probably less, from the density of pop
ulation in all the slaveholding States, hired labor
would be as abundant and cheap a slave labor,
and that all pecuniary motive for the continuance
of slavery would then have ceased. But would it, '
therefore, then disappear? No, it certainly would
not; for, at the lowest ratio, the slave would then
number at least ten millions. Could such a mas
be emancipated? And if so, what would be the
result? We have seen, by the census and other
proof, that one-sixth of the fi ee black must be sup
ported at the pnbllc expense; and that, at the loir
rate of $50 each, it would cost $80,000,000 per an
num to be raised by taxation to support the free
blacks then in the South requiring support namely:
1,666,666, if manumission were permitted; but a
such a tax could not be collected, emancipation
would be, as it now is, prohibited by law, and sla
very could not disappear in thi manner, even
when it became unprofitable. No, ten million of
free blacks, permitted to roam at large in the limit
of the South, could never be tolerated. Again,
then, the question is asked, is slavery never to dis
appear from the Union? This is a startling and
momentous question: but the answer is easy, and .
the jjroof is clear; s mil eertainfy disappear if
Texas is reannexed to the Union; not by abolition
but against and in spite of all its frenzy, slowly and
gradually, by diffusion, as it has alteady thus near
ly receded from several of the more northern 'of
the slaveholding States, and as it will continue -
thus more rapidly to secede by the reannexation of
Texas, and finally, in the distant future, without a
shock, without abolition, without a convulsion, dis
appear into and through Texas, into. Mexico and
Central and Southern America. . Thus, that same
overruling Providence that watched over the land
ing of the emigrants and pilgrims at Jamestown and
Plymouth; that gave us the victory in our straggle
for independence; that guided by His inspiration
ihe fraroersof our wonderful constitution; that has
thus far preserved this great Union from dangers
so many and imminent, and is now shielding it from
abolition, its most dangerous and internal! foe will
open Texas as a safety-valve, into and through
which slavery will slowly and gradually recede
and finally disappear into the bou ndles region of
Mexico and Centra and Southern America. Be
yond the Del Norte, slavery will not pass; not on
ly because it is forbidden by law, but because the
colored races there preponderate in the ratio of te
to one over the whites; and holding, a they day
the government, and most of the offices in their
own possession, they will never permit the enslave
ment of any portion of the colored race,- which
makes and executes the laws of the coon try. I
Bradford's Atlas, the facts are given a follow;
"Mexico area, 1,690,000 square miles; pop
ulation 8,000,000 one-sixth white, and all the rest
Indians, Africans, mulattos, umbos, and other
colored races.
"Central America area, 186,000 square milesf
population nearly 2,000,000 one-ixth white, and
thereat negroes, umbos, and other colored races.
South America area, 6,600,000 square miles;
population 14,000,0001,000,000 white, 4,000,
000 Indians; and the remainder, being 9,000,000,
blacks and other colored race.
The outlet for our negro race, through this vast
region, can never be opened but by the raannexa
tion of Texas; but in that event, there, in that ex
tensive country, bordering upon our negro popuy
lation, and tour times greater in area than the whole
Union, with a sparse population of but three to ther
square mile, where nine-tenth of the population at
of the colored races, there, upon that fertile soil, .
and in that delicious climate, so admirably adapted
to the negro race, a all experience ha now clearly
proved, the free black would find a home. There,
also, as slaves, in the lapse of time, from the densi
ty of population and other cause, are emancipated,
they will disappear from time to time west of the
Del Norte, and beyond the limits of the Union.
among a race of their own color; will be dMfueed
throughout this vast region: where tbey writ net
be a degraded caste, and where, a to climate, and
social and moral condition, and all the ItopeeaB)
comforts of life, tbey ceo occupy, among equals,
position they can never attain in any part of this
Union-.
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