4P ' -
PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY 1 COH8TIm AHO THBtOJI QJP XK 8T1TE8-.THBT "MUST BSPRESURTCD." VOLUME X. NUMBER
WILLIAM W. nHLIEN, ' ' TERMS 93 PER AWltlTfll,
gjroi? PJQPJigr. ,iiniLiiuiijL-JLL " KALBI payable: ijt advajvcii.
THE NORTH CAROLINA STANDARD
IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT
THREE DOLLARS PER ANWUM, IN VANCE.
Those persons who remit by Mail (postage paid) Five
Dollars, will be entitled to a receipt for Six Dollars,
or two years subscription to the Standard one copy
two years, or two copies one year.
For four copies, : : : $10 00
ten " : 20 00
" twenty" ' 36 09
The same rate for six months.
(0-Any person procuring and forwarding five subscribers,
with the cash ($15), will be entitled to the Standard
one year free of charge.
Advertisements, not exceedingourfren lines, will
be inserted one time for One Dollar, and twenty-five
cents for each subsequent insertion ; those of greater
length, in proportions Court Orders and Judicial Ad
vertisements will be charged twenty-five per cent
higher than the above rates. A deduction of S3 1-3
per cent will be made to those who advertise by the
year. QfJ- If the number of insertions be not marked
on thorn, they will be continued until ordered out
Letters to the Editor must come free of pottage, or they
may not be attended to.
LETTER OF Mr.
OF MISSISSIPPI,
Relative to the annexation of Texas : in reply to the call
of the people of Carroll connty, Kentucky, to commu
nicate his views on that subject
CONTINUED.
The importance of Texas is thus described by
Mr. Clay, in his speech of the 3d of April, 1820 : accept the re-annexation, is to resurrender the
"All the accounts concurred in representing j Territory of Texaa, and redismember the valley
Texas to be extremely valuable. Its superficial j of the West. Nay, more: under existing cir
extent was three or four times greater than that i cumstances, it is to lower the flag of the Union
of Florida. The climate was delicious; the soil before the red cross of St. George, and to surren-
fertile : the margins of the rivers abounding in i
living-oak ;
and the country ad muting oi easy :
It possessed, moreover, if he were j
settlement.
not misinformed,
Gulf of Mexico.
one of the finest ports m the j
The productions of which it j
was capable, were suited to our w;mts. 1 he un
fortunate captive of St. Helena wished tor ships, j
commerce, and colonies. We have them all, if i
we do not wantonly throw them away. The !
colonies of other countries are separated from j
them by vast seas, requiring great expense to pro-
tect them, and are neia suoieci ioa consiam nsa.
I I A. - A I
of their being torn from their grasp. Our colo-
nies, on the contrary, are united to, and form a by the refusal of reannexation, to mutilate and
part, of our continent; and the same Mississippi, ; dismember the valley of which she is a part; or
froin whose rich deposite this best of them (Louisi-1 that Kentucky would curtail the limits of the re
ana) has been formed, will transport on her bo- public, or diminish its power and strength and
som the brave, the patriotic men from her tributa- ( glory. It cannot be that Kentucky will wish to
ry streams, to defend and preserve the next most 'see any flag except our own upon the banks of
valuable the province of Texas." "He was I the Sabine and Arkansas and Red river, and with
not disposed to disparage Florida ; but its intrinsic j in a day's sail of the mouth of the Mississippi,
value was incomparably less than that of Texas" tand the outlet of all her own commerce in the
In the letter of instructions from Mr. Madison, ; Gulf. Many of her own people are within the
as Secretary of State, of the 29tb July, f803, he limits of Texas, and its battle-fields are watered
savs " the acquisition of the Florid.is is still to be ' with the blood of many" of her sons. Jt was her
pursued." He adds, the exchange of any part of own intrepid Milam, who headed the brave three j solidation and disunion have thereby been render
western Louisiana, which Spain may propose for j hundred who, armed with rifles only, captured ed equally impracticable. Each government, con
;i the cession of the Floridas," " is inadmissible." , the fortress of Alamo, defended by heavy artillery fiding in its own "Strength, has less to apprehend
: In intrinsic value there is no equality. " We ; and thuteen hundred of the picked troops of Mex
are the less disposed also to make sacrifices to ob- j ico, under one of their best commanders. And
tain the Floridas ; because their position and the : will Kentucky refuse to re-embrace so many of her
manifest course of events guaranty an early and j own people ? nor permit them, without leaving
reasonable acquisition of them." In Mr. Madi- Texas, to return to the American Union? And
son's iKter, also, as Secretary of State, of the 8th j
Julv. 1804. he announces the opposition of Mr
- 7 j
Jefferson " to a perpetual relinquishment ot any
territory whatever east of the Rio Bravo. In
the message of President Houston of the 5th May,
1837, he says that Texas contains "four-fifths of
..... J . . ISM s Ml
al! the live oak now in the worio. uotton win
be its great staple, and some sugar and molasses
will be produced. The grape, the olive, and in
digo, and cocoa, and nearly all the fruits of the
s w . .
tropics will be grown there also. In Texas are
valuable mines of gold and silver; the silver mine
of San Saba having been examined and found to
be among the richest in the world.
In the recent debate in the British Parliament,
Lord Brougham said : "The importance of Tex
as could not be overrated. It was a country of
the greatest capabilities, and was in extent full as
large as France. It possessed a soil of the finest
and most fertile character, and it was capable of
producing all tropical produce; and its climate
was of a most healthy character. It had access
to the gulf, to the river Mississippi, with which
it communicated by means of the Red river."
The possession of Texas would ensure to us the
trade of Santa Fe and all the northern States of
Mexico. Above all, Texas is a large and indis
pensable portion of the valley of the West. That
valley once was all our own ; but it has been dis
membered by a treaty formed when the West
held neither of the high executive stations of
the government, and was wholly unrepresented in
the cabinet at Washington. The Red river and
Arkansas, divided and mutilated, now flow, with
their numerous tributaries, for many thousand
miles, through the territory of a foreign power;
and the West has been forced back along the gulf,
from the Del Norte to the Sabine. If, then, it be
true that the sacrifice of Texas was made with
painful reluctance, all those who united in the
surrender will rejoice at the reacquisition.
This is no question of the purchase of new
territory, but of the re-annexation of that which
once was our own. It is not a question of the ex
tension of our limits, but of the restoration of
former boundaries. It proposes no new addition
to the valley of the Mississippi; but of its reunion
and all its waters, once more, under our domin
ion. If the Creator had separated Texas from
the Union by mountain barriers, the Alps or the
Andes, these might be plausible objections; but
he has planed down the whole valley, including
Texas, and united eery atom of the soil and
every drop of the waters of the mighty whole.
He has linked theirs with the great Mississippi,
and marked and united the whole for the domin
ion of one government and the residence of one
people; and it is impious in man to attempt to dis
solve this great and glorious Union. Texas is
a part of Kentucky, a portion of the same great
alley. It is a part of New York and Pennsyl
vania, a part of Maryland and Virginia, and Ohio
and of all the western States, whilst the Tennes
see unites with it the waters of Georgia, Alabama,
nd Carolina. The Alleghany, commencing its
course in New York, and with the Youghiog
any, from Maryland, and Monongahela, from
Virginia, merging with the beautiful Ohio at the
metropolis of western Pennsylvania, embrace the
streams of Texas at the mouths of the Arkansas
and Red river, whence their waters flow in kind
red union to the gulf And here let me say, that
New York ought to reclaim for the Alleghany
4t true original name, the Ohio, of which ft is a
part, and so marked and called by thai name in
the British maps, prior to 1776, one of which is
inline possession of the distinguished representa
tive from the Pittsburg district of Pennsylvania.
The words " Ohio" and u Alleghany,1 in two dif
ferent Indian dialects, mean clear, as designating
truly, in both cases, the character of the water of
both streams ; and hence ft is that New York is
upon the Ohio, and truly stands at the head of the
valley of the West. The treaty which struck
Texas from the Union, inflicted a blow upon this
mighty valley. And who will say that die West
shall remain dismembered and mutilated, and that
the ancient boundaries of the republic shall never
be restored? Who will desire to check the
young eagle of America, now refixing her gaze
upon our former limits, and replanting her pin
ions for her returning right? What American
will say, that the flag of the Union shall never
wave again throughout that mighty territory;
and that what Jefferson acquired, and Madison re
fused to surrender, shall never be restored ? Who
will oppose the re-establishment of our glorious
constitution, over the whole of the mighty valley
which once was shielded by its benignant sway?
Who will wish again to curtail the limits of this
great republican empire, and again to dismember
the glorious valley1 of the West? Who will re
fuse to replant the banner of the republic, upon
our former boundary, or resur render the Arkan
sas and Red river, and retransfer the coast of the
gulf? Who will refuse to heal the bleeding
wounds of the mutilated West, and re-unite the
veins and arteries, dissevered by the dismember
ing cession of Texas to Spain ? To refuse to
der the Florida pass, the mouth of the Mississippi,
the command ol the Mexican gull, and hnally
Texas itself, into the hands of England.
As a question of money, no State is much more
deeply interested in the reannexation of Texas
than your own great commonwealth of Kentucky.
there, it Texas becomes part of the Union, will
be a great and growing market for her beef and
pork, her lard and butler, her flotsr and corn ; and
there, within a very short period, would be found
a ready sale for more than a million dollars in
value, ot her balerope and hemp find cotton-Lag-
Iging. Nor can it be that Kentucky would desire
if war should ever again revisit our country,
Kentucky knows that the steady aim of the west
ern riflemen, and the brave hearts and stout hands
within the limits of Texas, are, in the hour of
danger, among the surest defenders of the coun
try, and especially of the valley of the West
The question of reannexation, and of the restora
tion of ancient boundaries, is a much stronger
case than the purchase of new territory. It is a
stronger case also than the acquisition of Louisi
ana or Florida ; not only upon the ground that
these were both an acquisition of new territory,
but that they embraced a foreign people, dissimi
lar to our own, in language, laws, and institutions,
and transferred without their knowledge or con-
sent, by the act of a European king. More es
pecially, in a case like this, where the people of
Texas occupy a region which was once exclusive
ly our own ; and this people, in whom we ac
knowledge to reside the only sovereignty over
the whole and every portion of Texas, desire the
reannexation that we cannot re-establish our
former boundaries, and restore to us the whole or
.
any part ot the territory u men was once our
own, is a proposition, the hare statement ot which
is its best refutation.
Let us examine, now, some ofthe objections urg
ed against the reannnexalion of Texas. And
here, it is remarkable that the objections to the
purchase of Louisiana are the same now made
in the case of Texas ; yet all now acknowledge
the wisdom of that measure; and to have ever
opposed it, is now regarded as alike unpatriotic
and unwise. And so will it be in the case of
Texas. The measure will justify itself by its re
sults ; and its opponents will stand in the same
position now occupied by those who objected to
the purchase of Louisiana. The objections, we
have said, were the same, and we will examine
them sparately. 1st. The extension of territory;
and 2d. the question of slavery.
As to the extension of territory, it applied with
much greater force to the purchase of Louisiana.
That purchase annexed to the Union a territory
double the size of that already embraced within
its limits ; whilst the reannexation of Texas, ac
cording to the largest estimates, will add but one
seventh to the extent of our territory. The high
est estimate of the area of Texas is but 318,000
square miles, whilst that of the rest of the Union
is 2,000,000 square miles. Now, the British ter
ritory, on our own continent of North America,
exclusive of the West Indies, and north of our
noithern boundary, is 2,800,000 square miles,
being 500,000 more than that of our whole Un
ion, with Texas united. Indeed, we may add
both the Californias to Texas and unite them all
to the Union, and still the area of the whole will
be less than that of the British North American
possessions. And is it an American doctrine
that monarchies or despotisms are' alone fitted
for the government of extensive territories, and
that a confederacy of States must be compressed
within narrower limits? Of all the forms of gov
ernment, our confederacy is most specially
adapted for an extended territory, and might, with
out the least danger, but with increased security,
and vastly augmented benefits, embrace a conti
nent. Each State, within its own limits, controls
all its local concerns, and the general government
chiefly those .which appertain to commerce and
our foreign relations. Indeed, as you augment
the number of States, the bond of union is strong
er ; fbr the opposition of any one State is much
less dangerous and formidable, in a confederacy
of thirty States.'than of three. On this subject ex
perience is the best test of truth. Has the Union
been endangered by the advance in the numbeYof
States from thirteen to twenty-six? Look also at
all the new States that have been added to the
Union since the adoption of the constitution, and
tell tne what one of all of them, either in war or
peace, has ever failed most faithfully to perform
its duties ; and what one of them has ever propos
ed or threatened the existence of the government,.
or the dissolution ot the Union ? No rebellion or
insurrection has ever raised its banner wkhin their
limits, nor have traitorous or union-dissolving
conventions, in war or in oeace. ever been assem
bled within the boundary of any-of the new Sta
of the West; but m peace, they have nobly a
faithfully performed all their duties to the Uuio
and m vvar tBfpjftt pmjr has ped before an
ardent patriotism, and all have rushed to the stan
dard of their common country'; From the shores
of ihe Atlantic aridlhe lakes Of the North ; from
the banks of the Thames and the St. Lawrence,
to those of the Alabama and the Mississippi; from
the snows of Canada to the sunny plains of the
South the soil of the Union is watered with the
.... - . . . . . .
blood of the brave and patriotic citizen soldiers of
the West. A-ad is it England would persuade us
our territory and population will be too great to
permit the reannexation of Texas ? Let us see how
stands the case with herself and other great pow
ers of the world. The following facts are pre
sented from the most recent geographies :
British empire area, 8,100,000 square miles;
population 200,000,000.
Russian empire area, 7,500,000 square miles;
population 75,000,000.
Chinese empire area, 5,500,000 square miles;
population 250,000,000.
Brazil area, 3,000,000 square miles; popula
lation 0,000,000.
United States (including Texas) area, 2,318,
000 square mfles; population 19.000?000.
Here is one monarchy, the British empire,)
nearly four times as large as the United States, in
cluding Texas; and one monarchy and three des
potisms combined, largely more than ten limes,
our area, also including Texas; and to assert, un
der these circumstances, that our government is to
be overthrown or endanp-ered by an addition of
w aa
one-seventh to its area, is to adopt the exploded ar
gument of kings and despots against our system
of confederated States. "v
President Monroe, a citizen of one of the old
thirteen States, in his message of 182$ thus speaks
of the effects of the purchase of Louisiana :
"This expansion of our population, and acces
sion of new States to our Union, have had the
happiest effect on all its highest Interests. That
it has eminently ' augmented our resources, and
added to our strength and respectability as a pow
er, is admitted by all. It is manifest, that by en
larging the basis of our system,
the number of States, the system
and increasing
itself has been
greatly strengthened in both its branches. Con-
from the other : and in consequence, each, enjoy
ing a greater freedom of action, ts rendered more
efficient for all the purposes for which it was in
stituted." It is the system of confederate States,
united, but not consolidated, and incorporating the
great principle which led to the adoption of the
constitution of reciprocal free trade between ail
the Slates that adapt such a government to the
extent of a continent The greater the extent of
territory, the more enlarged is the power, and the
more augmented the blessings of suh a govern
ment. In war it will be more certain of success,
and therefore wars will be less frequent; and in
peace, it will be more respected abroad, and enjoy
greater advantages at home, and the less unfavora
ble will be the influence on its prosperity, of the
hostile policy of foreign nations. It may then
have a home market, which, as the new and ex
changeable products of various soils and climates
are augmented, will place its industry less within
the controlling influence of foreign powers. Es
pecially is this important to the great manufactur
ing interest, that its home market, which is almost
its only market, should be enlarged and extended
j by the accession of new territory, and an augment-
en population, embraced within the boundanes or
the Union, and therefore constituting a part of the
domestic market By the census of 1840, the to
tal product of the mining and the manufactures of
the Union, was $282,194,985; and of this vast
amount, by the treasury report, but 89,469,962
was exported, and found a marketabroad. Almost
its only market was the home market, thus de
monstrating the vast importance to that great in
terest of an accession of territory and population
at home.
Nor is it only the mining and manufacturing
interests that would feel the influence of such a
new and rapidly augmenting home market; but
agriculture, commerce, and navigation, the pro
ducts of the forest and fisheries, the freighting and
ship-building interests, would all feel a new im
pulse; and the great internal communications, by
railroads and canals, engaged in transporting our
own exchangeable products, would find a great
enlargement of their business and profits, and lead
onward to the completion of the present and the
construction of new improvements thus identi
fying more closely all our great interests, bring
ing nearer and nearer to each other the remotest
portions of the mighty whole, multiplying their
trade and intercourse, breaking down the barriers
of local and sectional prejudice, and scouting the
thought of disunion from the American heart, and
leaving the very term obsolete. Indeed, if we
measure distance by the time in which it is tra
versed, this Union, with Texas reannexed, is
much smaller in territory than the Union was at
the adoption of the constitution. Then, the. jour
ney from the capital to the then remotest corner of
the republic could not be traversed in left tfian a
month; while now, much less than one-half that
time will take us to the mouth of the Del Norte,
the extreme southwestern limit of Texas. Such
are the conquests which, steam has already effect
ed, upon the water and upon the land and, when
we consider the wonderful advance which they
are still making, we must begin to calculate a
journey upon land, by steam, from the Atlantic to
the Del Norte, by hours, and not by weeks or
months. And he who, under such circumstan
ces, would still say that Texas was too large or
distant for reannexation to the Union, must have
been sleeping since the applicaiion of steam to lo
comotion. But if Texas is too large for incorporation into
ihe Union, why is not Oregon also, which is near-
ly double the size of Texas ? and if Texas is too
remote, why is not Oregon also, when ten days
will take us to the mouth of the Del Norte,
whereas three months by land, and five months by
sea, must be required fpr the journey to the mouth
of the Columbia. Texas, also, is a part of the
valley of the Mississippi, watered by the some
streams, and united with it by nature, as one and
indivisible; whereas Oregon is separated from
os by mountain barriers, and pours its waters
into another and distant ocean. And if Ore
gon, although disputed, and occupied by a for
eign power, ifr, as I believe it to be, in truth
and justice, all our own, Texas was once, and
for many years, within our limits, and may now
again become our own by the free and unani
mous consent, already given, of ail by whom it
is owned and occupied. I have not thus contrast
ed Texas and Oregon with, a view to oppose the
occupation of -Oregon f"r I have always been the
ardent triend- of that measure. I'advocated it m a
speech published idng before I became a member
of the Senate, and now, since the death of the
patriotic and lamented Linn, I am the oldest sur
viving member of the special committee of the
Senate which has pressed upon that body, for so
many years, the- immediate occupation of the
whole Territory of Oregon. There, upon the
shores of the distant Pacific, if my vote can ac
complish it, shall be planted the banner of the
Union ; and, with my consent, never shall be sur
rendered a single point of its coast, an atom of its
soil, or a drop of all its waters. But while 1 am
against the surrender of any portion of Oregon, I
am also against the resur render of the territory
of Texas; for, disguise it as we may, it is a case
of resurrender, when it once was all our own,
and now again is ours, by the free consent of those
to whom it belongs, already given, and waiting
only the ceremony of a formal acceptance. Let
not those, then, who advocate the occupation of
Oregon, tell us lhat Texas is too distant, or too in
accessible, or too extensive for American occupan-
fcy. .Let the friends ol Oregon reflect, also, that
lexas, at the head of the Arkansas, is contigu
ous to Oregon, and within twenty miles of the
pass which commands the entrance ih sough all
lhat territory, and the occupation of whichpass
by a foreign power, would separate the people
and Territory of Oregon from the rest of the Un.
ion, and leave them an easy prey lo the army ol
an invader. In truth, Texas is nearly as indis
pensable for the safe and permanent occupation of
Oregon, as it is for the security of New Orleans
and the Gulf
The only remaining objection is the question of
slavery. And have we a question which is lo
curtail the limits of the republic to threaten its
existence to aim a deadly blow at all its great
and vital interests to court aliance3 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 an-
; cient boundary to resurrender a mighty territory,
land invite to its occupancy -the deadliest fin truth,
the only) foes this government has ever encoun
tered? Is ami -slavery to do all this? And is it
so to endanger New Orleans, and the valley and
i commerce and outlet ol the West that we would
hold them, not by our own strength, but by the
slender tenure of the will and of the merfcy of
Great Britain? If anti-slavery can effect all this,
may God, in his infinite mercy, save and perpetu
ate this Union ; for the efforts of man would be
feeble and impotent The avowed object of this
party is the immediate abolition of slavery. For
this, they traverse sea and land; for this, they
hold conventions in the capital of England; and
iherc they brood over schemes of abolition, in as
sociation with British societies; there they join in
denunciations 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 this
party, if not vanquished, must overthrow the gov
ernment, and dissolve the Union. This party
propose the immediate abolition of slavery thro'
out the Union. If this were practicable, let us
look at the consequences. By the returns of the
last census, the products of the slaveholding States,
in 1840, amounted in value to 8404.429.638.
These products, then, of the South, must have
alone enabled it to furnish a home market for all
the surplus manufactures of the North, as alas a
ma rket for the products of its forests and fisheries;
and giving a mighty impulse to all its commer
cial and navigating interests. Now, nearly all
these agricultural products of the South which ac
complish all these great purposes, is the result of
slave labor; and, strike down these products by
the immediate abolition of slavery, and the mark
ets of the South, for want of the means to pur
chase, 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 ves
sels would lot at their wharves for want of ex
changeable products to carry; the building of
ships would cease, and the grass would grow in
many a street now enlivened by an active and pro
gressive indusiry. In the interior, the railroads
and canals would languish for want of business ;
and the factories and manufacturing towns and
cities, decaying and deserted, would stand as blast
ed monuments of the folly of man. One univer
sal bankruptcy would overspread the country, to
gether with all the demoralization and crime
which ever accompany such a catastrophe; and
the notices at every corner would point only to
sales on execution, by the constable, the sheriff,
the marshal, and the auctioneer ; whilst the beg
gars would ask us in the streets, not for money,
but for bread. Dark as the picture may be, it
could not exceed the gloomy reality. Such would
be the effects in ihe North; whilst in the South,
no human heart can conceive, nor pen describe,
the dreadful consequences. Let us look at anoth
er result to the North. The slaves being eman
cipated, not by the South, bul by the North, would
fly there for safety and protection ; and three mil
lions of free blacks would be thrown at once, as
if bv a convulsion of nature, upon the States of
the North. They would come there to their
friends of the North, who had given them free
dom, to give them also habitation, food, and cloth
ing; and, not having it lo give, many of them
would perish from want and exposure; whilst the
wretched remainder would be left to live as they
rourd, by theft or charity. They would still be a
degraded caste, free only in name, without the re
ality of freedom. A few might earn a wretched
and precarious subsistence, by competing with the
white laborers of the North, and reducing their
wages to the lowest point in the sliding scale of
starvation and misery ; whilst the poor-house and
the jail, the asylums of the deaf and dumb, the
blind, the idiot and insane, would be filled to over
flowing ; if, indeed, any asylum could be afforded
to the millions of the negro race whom wretched
ness and crime would drive to despair and madness.
That these are sad rea Ikies, is proved by the
census of 1840. Lannex in an appendix a table,
compiled by me entirely tatbe official returns
of the census of 1840, except : to prisons 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
ots, and insane, of the negroes in the non-slave-holding
States, is one out of every 96 ; in the
slaveholding States, it is one out of fevery 672, or
seven to one in favor of the sjavijjarspect,
as compared wkh the free 4hf6iP
2d. The number of whites, deaf and dumb,
blind, idiots, and insane, in thTnon-slaveholdiB-g
states, is one in every, &oi, Dcing nearly six to
one against the free blacks in the same States.
3d. The number of negroes who are deaf and
dumb, blind, idiots, and insane, paupers, and in
prison in the non-sla veholding States, is one oat of
every 6, and in the slaveholding States, one ont of
every 154; 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 twelve, and in
s'aveho.'tiing Florida, by the same returns, is one
of every eleven hundred and five; or ninety-two
to one, in favor of the slaves of Florida, as com
pared with the free blacks of Maine.
By the report of the secretary of state of Mas-"!
saefcusetts (ot the 1st November, 1843) to the
legislature, there were then in the county jails, and
houses of correction in that State, 4j020 whites,
and 364 negroes; and adding the previous returns
of the State prison, 255 whites and 32 blacks;
making in all 4,275 whites, and 396 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 re
turns of the census of 1840, and their own offi
cial returns to their own legislature, one out of
every thirteen of the free blacks of Massachu
setts was either deaf and dumb, blind, idiot, or
insane, or in prison ihus proving a degree of
debasement and misery, on the part of the col
ored race, in lhat truly great Slate, which is
appalling. In the last official report to the le
gislature of the warden of the penitentiary of
eastern Pennsylvania, he says: "The whole
numoer or prisoners received irom the opening
of the institution, (October 25, 1829,) to January
1st, 1843, is 1,623; of these, 1,004 were white
males, 533 colored males; 27 white females.
and 58 colored females I" or
one out of every
?54 oi tne wnite, and one out ot every
sixty-
four of the negro population; and of the white
female convicts, one out of every 16,288; and of
ihe colored female convicts, one out of every
349 in one prison, showing a degree of guilt and
debasement on the part of the colored females, re
volting and unparalleled. When such is the de
basement of the colored females, far exceeding
even that of the white females in the most cor--rupt
cities of Europe, extending, too, throughout
one-half the limits of a great State, we may
begin to form some idea of the dreadful condi
tion of the free blacks, nnd bow much worse it
is than that of the slavs, whom we are asked
to liberate and consign to a similar condition of
guilt and misery. Where, too, are these ex
amples? The first is in the great State of Mas
sachusetts, that for 64 years, has never had a
slave, and whose free black population, being
5,463 in 1790, and but 8,669 at present, is near
ly the same free negro population, and their de
scendants, whom for more than half a century
she has strived, but st rived in vain, to elevate
in rank and comfort and morals. The other
example is the eastern half of the great State of
Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, and the
Quakers of the State, who, with an industry
and humanity that never tired, and a charity that
spared not time or money, have exerted every ef
fort to improve the morals and better the condition
of their free black population. But where are the
great results? Let the census and the reports of
the prisons answer. Worse incomparably worse,
than the condition of the slaves, and demonstrat
ing that the free black, in the midst of his friends
in the North, is sinking lower every day in the
scale of want and crime and misery. The regu
lar physicians' report and review, published in
1040, says the "facts, then, show an increasing
disproportionate number of colored prisoners in
the eastern penitentiary." In contrasting the con
dition, for the same year, of the penitentaries of
all the non-sla veholding States, as compared wilh
all the slaveholding States in which returns are
made, I find the number of free blacfrs is fifty-four
to one, as compared with the slaves, in proportion
to population, who are incarcerated in these pris
ons. J here are no paupers among the slaves,
whilst in the non-slaveholding States great is the
number of colored paupers.
' From the Belgian statistics, compiled by Mr.
0.uetelet the distinguished secretary of the Royal
Academy of Brussels, it appears mat in Belgium
the number of deaf and dumb was one out of
every 2180 persons; in Great Britain one out of
every 1,539; in Italy, one out of every 1,539;
and in Europe, one out of every 1.474. Of the
blind, one 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, as to the blind,
are given. Belgian Annuaire, 1836, pages2l3.
215, 217. But the table shows an average in
Europe of one of every 1,474 of deaf and dumb,
and of about one out of every 1,000 of blind ;
whereas our census shows, of the deaf and dumb
whites of the Union, one out of every 2, 193 ; and
of the blacks in the non-slavehoMing States, one
out of every 656 ; also, of the blind, one out of
every 2,821 of the whites of the Union, and one
out of every 516 of the blacks in the non-slaveholding
States. Thus we have not only shown
the condition of the blacks of the non-slaveholding
States to be far worse than that of the slaves
of the South, but also far worse than the condi
tion of the people of Europe, deplorable as that
may be. It has been heretofore shown that the
free blacks in the nonsla veholding States were be
coming, in an augmented proportion, more debas
ed in morals as they increased in numbers; and
the proposition is truein other respects. Thus, by
the census of 1830, the numberoT deaf and dumb
of the free blacks of the non-slaveholding States,
was one out of every 996 ; and & blind, one out
of every 893; whereas we have seen, by the
census of 1840, the number of free blacks, deaf
and dumb, in the non-steveholding Stales, was
one out of every 656 ; and of blind, one oat of
every 516. In the last tea years, tnen, the aiaira-
ing feci is proved, thai the proportionate nt mber
of free black deaf and dumb, and also of blind,
has increased about fifty per tent. No statement
as to the insane or idiots is given in the census of
1830.
Let ns now examine the future inerdftte of
free blacks in the States adjoining the slavehojd?
ing States, if Texas is not reannexed to the Union.
By the census of 1790, the number of free blacks
in the States (adding New York) adjoining- tho
slaveholding Stales, was 13,953. In the Statts
(adding New York) adjacent to ihe slaveholding
States, the number of free block, by the census of
1840, was 148, 107 ; being aa aggregate increase
of nearly eleven to one in Nexy York, New Jer
sey, Pensylvania, Obio, Indiana, and Illinois.
Now, by the census and table above given, the agv
gregate number pf free blacks w ho were deaf nrwl
dumb, blind, idiot cr insane, paupers, or in prisons,
in the non-slaveholding States, was 26,342, or one
in every six of the whole number. Now if ihe
free black population should increase in the some
ratio, in the aggregate, in New York, New Jer
sey, .Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
from 1840 to 1890, as it did from 1790 to 18
. I f vit I. . a. -
tne aggregate tree Diack population m tnetoTV
States would be, m 1890, 1,600,000; in iS
800,000; in 1853, 400,000, and the aggregnw
number in these six States of free blacks, nccoid
ing to the present propoi tion, who would then be
deaf and dumb, blind, idiot or insane, paupers or
in prison would be, in 1890, 266.666; in 1685
133,333 ; and in 1853, 66,666; being, a we have
seen, one-sixth oi the whole number. XVow, if
the annual cost of supporting these free blacks
in these asylums, and other houses, iflteluding
interest on the sums expended in their erection, and
for annual repairs, and the money- disbutsedgr
the arrest, trial, conviction, and transportation of
the criminals, amounted to fifty dollars for each,
the annual tax on the people of these states on ac
count of these free blacks would be, in 1890, $13,
333,200; in 1865, $6,666,600 f and in 1853, 33,
333,300. Does, then, humanity require that we should
render theiilacks more debased and miserable, by
this process of abolition, with greater temptations
to crime, wilh more of real guilt and less of actu
al comforts? As the free blaeks are thrown mora
and more upon the cities of the' North, and com
pete more there with the white laborer, the conffi
tion of the blacks becomes worse and more peril
ous every day, until we have already seen, ihn
masses of Cincinati and Philadelphia rise lo e.p I
the negro race beyond their limits. Immediate
abolition, whilst it deprived the South of the means
to purchase the products and manafacturcs of the
North and West, would fill those Statts with an
inundation of free black population, that Would be
absolutely intoFerabTe, Immediate abolition, then,
has but few advocates; but if emancipation rJ
not immediate, bat only gradual, whilst sldviy
existed to any great extent in the si .vt holding
States bordering upon the States of the North
and West, this expulsion, by gradual abolition,
of the free blacks into the States immediately
north of them, would be very considerable,
and rapidly augmenting every year. If this pro
cess of gradual abolition only doubled the num
ber of free blacks, to be thrown upon the States of
the North and West, then, a reference to the tabhs
before presenleel, proves that ihe number of free
black 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 annual expenses to the people of
these six States, on account of the free blacks
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 December, 1843, that w 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 houses, and bring
ing destruction upon the laboring portion of our
people." Dr. Duncan also, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
in his speech in Congress on the oth January,
1844, declared the result of abolition would be to
inundate the North with free blacks, described by
him as "paupers, beggars, thieves, assassasin?, nnl
desperadoes; all, or nearly all, pennilness and des
titute, without skill, means, industry, or persever
ance to obtain a livelihood ; each possessing
and cherishing revenge for supposed or ran I
wrongs. No man's fireside, .person, family, or
property, would be safe by "day and night It
now requires the whole energies of the 4aw and
the whole vigilance of the police of all our 'prin
cipal cities to restrain and keep in subordination
the few stragglingree negroes which now infect
them." If such be the case now, what will be tho
result when, by abolition, gradual or immediate,
the number of these free negroes shall be doubled
and quadrupled, and decupled, in the more north
ern of the slaveholding States, before slavery had
receded from their limits, and nearly the whole of
which free black population would be thrown on
the adjacent non-slaveholding States. Much, if not
all of this great evil, will be prevented by the re
annexation of Texas. Since the purchase of Lou
isiana and Florida, and the settlement of Alabama
and Mississippi, themave been carried into this
region, as the census demonstrates, from ihe Stales
of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, dhd Kentucky,
half a million of slaves, including their descendants,
that otherwise would now be within the limits of
those four States. Such has been the result as to
have diminished, in two of these States nearest to
the North, the number of their slaves far below
what they were at the census of 1790, and tohave
reduced them at tho census of 1840, in DcleWare,
to the small number of 2,605. Now, if we double
the rate of diminution, as we certainly will by the
reannexation of Texas, slavery will disappear from
Deleware in ten years, and from Maryland in
twenty, and have greatly diminished in Virginia
Kentucky. As, then by the reannexation, slave
ry advances in Texas, it must recede to the same
extent from the more northern ofthe slaveholding
Slates; and consequently, the evil to the northern
Slates, from the expulsion into them of free blacks,
by abolition, gradual or immediate, would there
by be greatly mitigated, if not entirely preTentexl
In the District of Columbia, by the drain to the
new States and Territories of the South and South
west, the slaves have been reduced from 6,1 19 in
1830, to 4,694 in 1840; and if, by the reannexa
tion, slavery, receded in a double ratio, then h
wouh disappear altogether from the District in
twelve years; and that question, which now occu
pies so much of the time of Congress, and threat
ens so seriously the harmony, if not the existence
of the union, would be at rest by the reannexation
V