SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
6S 
being cited cited before judge Lynch, if I omit the sins of 
deeper die, being not material, in as much as my argu- 
ment is not for them. By their annoying interference 
with our rights, they have p ovoked the extreme slavery 
" soundness” above eompLined of, and so much to the 
injury of the slave. Besides the many other cases that 
could be given, to prove the injury they have done, the 
one under discussion is as strong as any. When our 
people were Jet alone, they abolished the African sLve 
trade, years before the time limited by the constitution of 
the United States when Congress was allowed to do it. 
And but for their driving some of our people into extreme 
“soundness,” no one in, the South would now be advocat- 
ing the measure. For, when left to view the measure 
on its merits, our people were ahead of many at the 
North in its abolition. It is consoling to reflect, that 
while the abolitionists have done this evil, they have un- 
wittingly strengthened slavery in the States. For, I think 
it plain that several of the border slave, would have been 
free States, but for abolition thefts and other intermedling 
with slaves. They have provoked examination of the 
question, to the strengthening of the institution at home 
and abroad, and which has result^’d in arguments scrip- 
tural, moral and political in favor of the institution that 
otherwise would have lain dormant. If time and space 
would permit, many pages could be filled with the evi- 
dence. During this century, speeches and compositions 
in the schools were commori in condemnation of slavery 
It is within the memory of men now living, that July 
toasts were given by slave holders in favor of the free- 
dom of the slave, and at the Court Houses of the strongest 
slave counties &c. &c. But a few years ago, the Missouri 
compromise was almost universally acquiesced in if not 
approved, but it has fallen before the arguments provoked 
by the abolitionists. Thus have devils been cast out 
through the prince of devils. 
The leading reason given for the introduction of wild 
Africans is, the want of labor in the slave States. But a 
greater want, and which their introduction would aggra- 
vate — is plenty of rich, good, cheap, land. It won’t do 
to say that they are required to improve the land. We 
have experience to prove they do the contrary. Negroe 
were introduced into Wilkes county from Virginia, but 
instead ofimproving, they wore out and exhausted the soil, 
and went first to the Uen new counties between the Oc- 
mulgce and Oconee, wore out and exhausted those; were 
then carried to Alabama and Mississippi, and have nearly 
w’orn out those States, and now are ready to wear out 
the Mississippi bottom, if it can be done — Arkansas, 
Texas and all other slave soil in creation. 
It is folly to say what men ought to do for the good of 
the country : they vnlL do that which is for their present 
benefit, as regardless of the country as if it were anybody 
else’s country. We, sometimes, wonder how we got 
along in the world when there were no rail roads, steam- 
boats and the thousand othe-- labor saving machines, that 
this age is heir to. When coffee was from twenty five to 
fifty cents per pound, common calico one dollar a yard, 
salt at two dollars a bushel, and every thing else in pro 
proportion. The solution is that there was plenty of 
•heap fresh land, on which the men only could make an 
abundance of every thing to eat and take holiday every 
Saturday besides. And all the women, black and white, 
remained in the house engaged in domestic manufactures. 
We are often cited to the many crowded villages and 
towns as the evidence of the prosperity of a country. 
Perhaps the country as distinguished from the people may 
be prosperous. But I prefer a prosperous, happy people, 
let the country show as it may. 
Whenever there is population sufficient to support 
rail roads, and such like conveniences, and maintain the 
independence of the country, we have enough. And thanks 
to the fruitfulness of our women, white' and black, (ex- 
cuse me for not saying ladies, as the fashion is,) we are 
likely to have enough home-made folks, without encour- 
aging the introduction of any more outlandish people, 
whiir or black. It is enough to take crae of those we 
have. Having lost Kansas, we cannot hope to have any 
nioie slave territory, utiJ we hardly 'have room now for 
our own home made negroes. The slave holder must 
have land in abundance. We know that from experience. 
Confine him to small territory and he is but the keeper 
of a poor house, but with his broad acres he is as inde- 
pendant as a feudal lord, and quite as respectable, if he 
could appreciate his position. But 1 forget, this is advo- 
cating aristocracy, for wealth is aristocracy accord- 
ing to those who obtain the sweet voices of the 
sovereign people. If you have property and wish 
to be a favorite of legislation get rid of it, become 
a vagabond, a supporter of grog shops, and your 
great merit and worthiness will be discovered t hrough 
your rags, which your decent clothing concealed. Above 
all, become criminal, and then your advantages will fol- 
low you to the courts; you will then have more challenges 
of jurors than the State on your trial. If the judge com- 
mit any error for you, you can carry the case to the 
supreme court, but if against you the error cannot be 
reversed — with many other advantages too tedious to 
mention. 
Then, if the advantages of room are to avail in the 
argument, it must be shown to benefit the poor man. We 
all know, through newspapers, and other sources, what 
abject creatures the poor in over-populated countries are, 
but your poor man with, room a plenty, is an enviable 
piece of fuzzy headed humanity. He can, after whetting 
his appetite with a bottle of strychnine whiskey, with a 
stomach that grinds like a corn and cob crusher, take his 
wheelbarrow of provender, washing it down with a gourd 
of milk, or skillet of sassafras tea sweetened with molas- 
ses, without a grunt, and sleep it off like a negro, breath- 
ing like a blacksmith’s bellows, with a chorus of steam 
engine snores, waking in the morning, not only without 
a head ache, but even a yawn. And after he rises, blow- 
ing on the frosty air a current of vapor from his lungs 
equal to a tar kiln. And if the precipitated strychnine 
should kill young chickens in the yard, and the heat of 
the current thaw the frost and snow like t he escape steam 
from the cylinder cock of an engine, yet there is room for 
him to snort, and, thanks to space, room to dodge the 
sirocco too. If he were to hear of the price of coals he 
would think you meant common charcoal. And as for 
water, he has a branch full at the back of his lot for 
nothing, but for which he has not much use, except to 
cool the strychnine in his stomach, and cook his dinner. 
He holds washing one’s face, for pride and putting on 
airs, and would never be guilty of such dandyism, except 
to make a blaze on his Irontispiece through the soot and 
lightwood smoke, to show, that if not exactly a white 
man, he is not a nigger. Though it might take half a 
day’s parboiling to loosen the scales on his hide, still, 
they are made of smoke and out door dirt, quite innocent 
compared to the mange of poor houses and hospitals. If 
I am to be governed by the legislation of sovereign san- 
culotts, let it be of such butt cuts rather than the spur 
ends of creation. 
Not counting the whites, twenty-five years will double 
our home-made negroes, and have exhausted mor^thac 
half the land now in cultivation. I'hen it will bedifficult for 
many masters to support their poor dependants. And ip. 
the lifetime of the child now born, it will be as difficult to 
get a ten acre patch, as a cotton plantaiion now. I have 
thought if providenre ever desigiied that slavery in our 
country should become extinct, this crowding the coun- 
try would be one of the two ways by which it is to be 
