in the United States in Fifty Years. 



Ill 



of 7,534,431, on an area of 629,500 square miles ; and their com- 

 parative density, both as to the whole number and the slave portion, 

 may be seen in the following 



Table, showing the Density of Population in the Slaveholding States. 



The slaveholding States and Territories, then, taken together, 

 have an average population of not quite twelve to the square mile, 

 of which somewhat more than one-third are slaves ; and they, as 

 well as the free portion, are very unequally distributed over these 

 States. 



To ascertain when the population of those States will attain a 

 density which will make slave labour unprofitable, let us inquire, 

 first, into that precise degree of density which reduces the price of 

 labour to the cost of its maintenance ; and secondly, into the future 

 rate of increase of those States. 



L To answer our first inquiry, we have but scanty materials. 

 In those countries of Europe in which slavery has been abolished, 

 history seems to be entirely unacquainted with the motives of the 

 abolition, and it is left only to conjecture to infer that it was because 

 it was no longer gainful to the master. Supposing this fact estab- 

 lished, we have no authentic data for determining the density of 

 population, and still less for estimating the state of husbandry, which 

 must be taken into the account ; since a population of 50 to the 

 square mile in the 12th and 13th centuries, when slavery was 

 abolished in England, might be equal to twice or thrice as many 

 at the present day, by reason of the increased productiveness of 

 the soil. It is, however, clear, that slavery is still profitable in 

 Russia, and that it would be unprofitable in every part of western 



