304 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of dollars, to be invested in lands in Eastern 

 Virginia; to be settled and cultivated entirely 

 by white labour. , 



And this society is headed by that rank 

 Black Republican, Mr. Thayer, who was for- 

 merly actively engaged in the organization of 

 the Kansas Aid Society. 



Now, I ask, Mr. Editor, what will be the re- 

 sult if this project is carried into effect? The 

 answer is apparent ; in the first place there 

 will be an increase of not less than 16,000 white 

 inhabitants thrown into our midst at once, and 

 with all their northern prejudices, all their ab- 

 olition principles, and violent oppositon to our 

 Southern institutions, they will be so many 

 firebrands in our midst, contaminating our ne- 

 groes, by working upon their excitable and ig- 

 norant minds; estranging them from their mas- 

 ters, and inducing them by their insiduous de- 

 vices to abandon their homes and take passage 

 on the underground railroad constructed for 

 them ; and in the short space often years they 

 will have accomplished their aim in making 

 Virginia a free State. 



Virginians may hoot at the idea, but I tell 

 you, sir, that they can and will do it if they 

 are not crushed in the bud. Let them once get 

 themselves fully established, and they will have 

 a strong and hearty co-operation from the Wes- 

 tern section of the State, and with their united 

 efforts they will entice the poor negroes from 

 the protection of his master, and the comforts 

 of home, and cast him on the cold world to — 

 die. 



But is there no way to stop this invasion of 

 our rights ? I think there is. Let Virginians 

 but be true to themselves, and to their dear na- 

 tive State, and they can preserve and protect 

 their dearest rights. 



Let every father in the State educate his sons 

 as farmers, instilling into them from their ear- 

 liest infancy the beauties of agriculture in 

 every branch, teaching them by precept and 

 example to love their native State dearer than 

 all the world beside ; and endeavour to discard 

 from their minds all ideas of emigrating either 

 South or West, but remain firm at their post, 

 rising above every difficulty, proving themselves 

 true Virginians by endeavoring to restore the 

 worn out soil of the State that it may bring 

 forth and blossom as the rose. 



Young Virginian. 



A correspondent sent us the above last month, 

 and we received it too late for the April num- 

 ber of the Planter. Since then a friend has 

 sent us a copy of the Herald and called our 

 special attention to a letter of Mr. Thayer's 

 therein, in which he avows a purpose to colo- 

 nize different parts of Virginia with companies 

 of Yankees, who are to settle among us on 

 purely business principles, and without any 

 philanthropy in the case. Our correspondents 



evidently think it a case in which the views of 

 the farmers should be expressed, and one of 

 them, as has been seen, appeals to them through 

 our columns. 



The only reluctance we feel to engage in the 

 question proceeds from the principles on which 

 this paper is conducted, which impel it to re- 

 frain studiously from anything that may be 

 supposed to have a political aim or bearing. — 

 This matter, it is true, is one which should rise 

 to the dignity of a social, and moral, and eco- 

 | nomical question, and we shall attempt so to 

 treat it in the brief* response we propose to 

 make to the gentlemen who have " called us 

 out." 



In the first place, then, we have to say that 

 at present we do not anticipate any particular 

 harm from the proposed colonization of Eli 

 Thayer and company. We think all history 

 and the very principles of every society prove, 

 that even where a country is conquered and 

 overrun by invaders, it gives more impres- 

 sion by the impact than it receives. The 

 principles of the British constitution at this 

 day, and the language and manners of tha^ 

 people prove that the Anglo-Saxon element 

 predominates over the Norman. The Common 

 Law has nearly absorbed the civil law ; the 

 Parliament is the legitimate successor of the 

 Wittenagemote ; and the feudal system of 

 continental Europe has left but few traces on 

 Great Britain, though it was forced on it by 

 what seemed at the time an iron hand. Its 

 best features, including primo geniture, which, 

 for that country is the best mode of landed dis- 

 tribution, are the most that remain. Two cen- 

 turies ago, these same British people of such 

 exclusive individuality themselves began to 

 colonize India ; and though they have held 

 sway almost ever since over the most abject 

 people in the world, they have not yet cracked 

 the crust of caste, though they have been in. 

 cessantly hammering at it. The larger expe- 

 rience of Rome is to the same effect. If we 

 might condense her history into one sentence, 

 we should say, that overrunning all the world 

 she colonized herself to death. How could it 

 be otherwise ? 



One nation cannot in a day transfuse itself into 

 another ; and yet it is only by daily contact of 

 multitudes that great changes are wrought in 

 opinion; and then, how slowly! God never 



