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labour in the Eastern States, excepting that of the rice plantations in South Carolina, which cannot be performed by white men; indeed, a large proportion of the cotton in the Carolinas is now raised by a free white population. In the grazing portion of these States, white labour would be substituted advantageously, could white labour be procured at any reasonable price.

The time will come, and I do not think it very distant, say perhaps twenty or thirty years, when, provided America receives no check, and these States are not injudiciously interfered with, that Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, (and, eventually, but proba bly somewhat later, Tennessee and South Carolina) will, of their own accord, enrol themselves among the free States. As a proof that in the Eastern slave States the negro is not held in such contempt, or justice towards him so much disregarded, I extract the following from an American work :

"An instance of the force of law in the

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Southern States for the protection of the slave has just occurred, in the failure of a petition to his excellency, P. M. Butler, governor of South Carolina, for the pardon of Nazareth Allen, a white person, convicted of the murder of a slave, and sentenced to be hung. The following is part of the answer of the governor to the petitioners :

"The laws of South Carolina make no distinction in cases of deliberate murder, whether committed on a black man or a white man; neither can I. I am not a law-maker, but the executive officer of the laws already made; and I must not act on a distinction which the legislature might have made, but has not thought fit to make.'

"That the crime of which the prisoner stands convicted was committed against one of an inferior grade in society, is a reason for being especially cautious in intercepting the just severity of the law. This class of our population are subjected to us as well for their protection as

our advantage. Our rights, in regard to them,

are not more imperative than their duties; and the institutions, which for wise and necessary ends have rendered them peculiarly dependent, at least pledge the law to be to them peculiarly a friend and protector.

"The prayer of the petition is not granted. "PIERCE M. BUTLER."

In the Western States, comprehending Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama, the negroes are, with the exception perhaps of the two latter States, in a worse condition than they ever were in the West-India Islands. This may be easily imagined, when the character of the white people who inhabit the larger portion of these States is considered a class of people, the majority of whom are without feelings of honour, reckless in their habits, intemperate, unprincipled, and lawless, many of them having fled from the Eastern States, as fraudulent bankrupts, swindlers, or committers of other crimes, which have subjected

them to the penitentiaries-miscreants defying the climate, so that they can defy the laws. Still this representation of the character of the people inhabiting these States must, from the chaotic state of society in America, be received with many exceptions. In the city of New Orleans, for instance, and in Natches and its vicinity, and also among the planters, there are many most honourable exceptions. I have said the majority: for we must look to the mass-the exceptions do but prove the rule. It is evident that slaves under such masters can have but little chance of good treatment, and stories are told of them at which humanity shudders.

It appears, then, that the slaves, with the rest of the population of America, are working their way west, and the question may now be asked→→ Allowing that slavery will be soon abolished in the Eastern States, what prospect is there of its ultimate abolition and total extinction in America?

I can see no prospect of exchanging slave labour for free in the Western States, as, with the

exception of Missouri, I do not think it possible that white labour could be substituted, the extreme heat and unhealthiness of the climate being a bar to any such attempt. The cultivation of the land must be carried on by a negro population, if it is to be carried on at all. The question, therefore, to be considered is, whether these States are to be inhabited and cultivated by a free or a slave negro population. It must be remembered, that not one-twentieth part of the land in the Southern States is under cultivation; every year, as the slaves are brought in from the East, the number of acres taken into cultivation increases. Not double or triple the number of the slaves at present in America would be sufficient for the cultivation of the whole of these vast territories. Every year the cotton crops increase, and at the same time the price of cotton has not materially lowered: as an everywhere increasing population takes off the whole supply, this will probably continue to be the case for many years, since it must be remem

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