300 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



I hope the day may never arrive when I 

 the citizens of \his great Republic shall 

 'become like the sluggish Turk, indifferent 

 to, or like the Russian serf, ignorant of 

 the great principles of political economy. 



But enough of politics; it was as a 

 'farmer that I intended to address an agri- 

 cultural paper, and if I have been diverted 

 : from my course, I may find an excuse in 

 the agricultural address I proposed to re- 

 view. The gist of Mr. Bruce's discourse, 

 the only portion perhaps which has ex- 

 cited the public attention, is contained in 

 his observations upon the important and 

 interesting subject of slave labor in Vir- 

 ginia. I will say nothing of the peculiar 

 delicacy that surrounds this subject at this 

 particular period; I will say nothing of 

 the impolicy of re-opening a topic which, 

 by common consent, has been buried, 

 whilst the unauthorized interference of 

 ruthless fanatics makes it dangerous to 

 ■discuss it; but admitting the right of 

 every citizen to judge of the propriety of 

 such a course, I shall endeavor to show 

 that Mr. Bruce's views have been con- 

 ceived in haste and lack that serious and 

 grave consideration with which this sub- 

 ject, if approached at all, should be care- 

 fully treated. I think Mr. Bruce's argu- 

 ment may be expressed in much fewer 

 words than he has used to convey it. If 

 I understand it, it is this. There are 

 other portions of the world where agri- 

 cultural labor yields greater returns than 

 it does in Virginia ; therefore, the Vir- 

 ginian is advised to remove his slaves to 

 those more favored regions. 



That some portions of the earth are 

 by Providence more blessed than others, 

 is unquestionable; though that any stand 

 higher in the category than Eastern Vir- 

 ginia, may well be doubted. It is this 

 oblivion of proximate blessings, and the 

 tendency to see an El Dorado in every 

 distant prospect, that renders us a nation 

 of Arabs, and induces us to spend a life 

 of migration in search of blessings that 

 exist only in the vista of the future. This 

 spirit is the curse of the country, and 

 with it Mr. Bruce seems to be fully im- 

 bued. All the tender ties of home are to 

 be severed ; all the feelings of patriotism 



are to be forgotten in this vain and illu- 

 sive wandering afier wealth. Oh no, 

 says Mr. Bruce, it is only the negro that 

 is to be expatriated ; the white man is to 

 remain at home. But who is to set limits 

 to this spirit when once it is aroused? — 

 The same argument that would induce 

 the locomotion of one species of labor 

 would justify the removal of all, and its 

 progress, instead of being arrested by the 

 canefields of Louisiana, could only find 

 its termination in the all-absorbing mines 

 of Potosi. 



It is a general principle of political eco- 

 nomy that labor will flow into the most 

 profitable channel, and it is the complaint 

 of Mr. Bruce that the slave labor of Vir- 

 ginia does not follow this general rule. — 

 Let us see whether in the first place this 

 exception to the rule really exists, and if 

 it does, whether it is supported by reasons 

 founded in justice, or only rests, as Mr. 

 Bruce supposes, upon ignorance and error. 

 We will give the gentleman credit for his 

 statistics and his figures. He shows that 

 the labor of a negro man will yield in 

 Louisiana a profit of $320, whilst in Vir- 

 ginia it would return only $100; that 

 the negro hires in Virginia for only $50 

 per annum, whilst in Louisiana he will 

 bring $200. Alas for the weakness of 

 human nature ! this all-absorbing love of 

 gain needs no incentive from the silvery 

 tongue of the orator of Halifax. Were 

 it indeed true that the farmer of Virginia 

 could convert his fifty dollars of slave la- 

 bor into two hundred, even at the expense 

 of those humane considerations that Mr. 

 Bruce seems to value so lightly, I am 

 afraid there would be too few of us able 

 to resist the temptation of coining con- 

 science into money. Not that I mean 

 that even if this calculation were correct, 

 it would ensnare a large portion of the 

 humane slaveholders of Virginia. God 

 forbid ! No, I believe the complaint of 

 Mr. Bruce, that many even of those who 

 are satisfied of the pecuniary advantage 

 of the scheme, fail to realize its benefits,, 

 is made not without reason. Still, I say, 

 let not this calculation delude even those 

 who look to pecuniary profit alone. — 

 There are many items that Mr. Bruce 



