Virginia Argus

FOR THE VIRGINIA ARGUS.

O fortunati nati, sua si bona norint!

O happy Virginians, if they knew their own good!

INHABITING a country, rich in the variety of its productions, possessing the utmost exuberance of soil, added to a mild and delightful climate, embracing a considerable extent of sea coast, interspersed with innumerable streams, and happily placed at too remote a distance from savage and ambitious Europe, to endanger your being embroiled in her mad and sanguinary strifes. With a government, too, founded on the freest principles, guided by the wisest policy, and animated with the noblest sentiments, to what an unbounded degree of national prosperity may you not aspire by a wise and prudent line of conduct!--Such, citizens of Virginia, are the fascinating prospects that lie before you; such the means of rendering yourselves happy. Is it not then enough to excite the astonishment of all the world to behold a people thus fortunately situated, wantonly risquing the loss of this almost more than human felicity, by blindly cherishing a fatal error in their policy, calculated to destroy their most flattering hopes, and to envelope in clouds and darkness the brightest prospects that ever dawned upon the rising destinies of an infant nation?

Avarice first conceived, and the mercenary genius of the British government, lost to all sense of justice and humanity, first adopted the infamous project of trampling on the rights of human beings and dragging into distant slavery, amidst her infant colonies, the sable sons of Africa--Or was it, that like Lucifer among the fallen Angels, she saw and envied the growing lustre of these rising states, and determined to abridge the period of their happiness by throwing destructive temptation in your way. For this your warriors girt themselves for battle--your bayonets thickened o'er the ensanguined plain, & by a happy effort of courage and of virtue, the bands of her tyrannic power were burst asunder and United America rose up to a level with the other nations of the earth.

Yet do you not perceive the work is incomplete, and that this evil, at first imposed against your will, is now voluntarily kept up, a disgrace to your principles, and a blot upon the annals of your country? How long then will you, deluded with false notions of imaginary wealth, be contented to languish under the debilitating influence of this execrable policy? Why longer hesitate to give the last finishing stroke to the noble structure which you have reared upon the gothic ruins of monarchy, and which has cost, in its accomplishment, such an ocean of your choicest blood and such a world of treasure?--O, citizens of Virginia, suffer not this evil to continue among you--banish from your land this remnant of despotism. Do you not perceive that instead of being benefited, you are actually impoverished by this iniquitous possession? View your towns, your villages, the state of the arts and sciences among you--your commerce, manufactures and your improvements in agriculture--compare your situation with that of your sister states in the north and east--there these things seem to flourish with an unexampled degree of vigor--here every thing feeble and enervated, wears the sickly countenance of misery and wretchedness.

If a person accustomed to see men act only in conformity with the simple dictates of reason, was to be told that there was a nation whose government and the principles they professed were the freest on earth; and that generally speaking, in the regulation of their political concerns, they appeared to be guided by the wisest policy, but who, notwithstanding, retained a large portion of the human race in bondage;--whom they not only employed to labor on their farms and at the ruder arts but even as domestics about their persons--that these slaves, generally idle and addicted to all kinds of vice, entertain a rooted aversion to their masters, take no interest in their welfare and having no inducement to labor (being rendered incapable of acquiring property.) are obliged to be driven to every thing they do and treated with a considerable degree of rigor--that nothing was more visible than the pernicious effects of this system--impolitic as unjust, on their tempers, manners, morals, and in rendering their whole lives, one continued series of inquietude, vexation and disappointment--that so far from adding any thing to their wealth, it actually served to impoverish them, by preventing, in a great measure, the migration thither, of such foreigners, as may justly be ranked among the most useful members of society, to wit: farmers, mechanics and laborers, whilst two thirds of their lands lie waste and uncultivated, yielding no profit and bearing no proportion in value to lands of equal quality in other countries--that their fields, generally cultivated in the most wretched manner, seldom afford more than a scanty subsistence to their miserable owners, and not unfrequently, even bring them in debt--that neither their persons nor property are ever secure from the danger of insurrection and the peace of their country, kept continually at hazard--that all these things are seen and known, and yet so far from attempting any thing for their relief, they not only remained perfectly careless of consequences, but some, even set a high value upon this pernicious property.--I say, let such a man as this, be assured of these facts, and then let me ask, what kind of opinion would be be likely to entertain of this people? Yet is not all this and worse, the condition of the infatuated inhabitants of such of the free and independent states of enlightened America as tolerate this outrage of human rights?

If there is any person who doubts that we are impoverished by the holding of slaves, and wishes to have a demonstration of the fact, let him set down and make a fair calculation of the present value of his lands and slaves and see what they will amount to--then, upon a supposition that a change of circumstances had taken place, and, instead of a pack of idle, vicious slaves to plague and torment him all his days, his lands, overspread with honest & industrious tenants, were all cut down and thrown into the highest state of cultivation, bearing a price equal to what lands of similar quality are worth in other countries, or even in the northern and eastern states, where there are no slaves--let him compare the present amount of both, with what his lands, alone, would then be worth, and he would no longer have any reason to doubt the truth of the assertion; saying nothing of the incalculable advantages he would derive in point of happiness and personal security. For instance, a man owns 1000 acres of land, worth 40s. per acre, with only two or three hundred acres cleared upon it, and thirty slaves, about one third of whom may be supposed to be children, incapable of service, and of course, only a charge--and about one half of the balance women and house servants, worth all together, we may say, about

2500

So that his lands will be worth

2000

And his slaves

2500

Making the present value of his whole estate worth in lands & slaves 4500

It is not denied that there were other causes of the war, but only contended that this was one and not the least important.

* Laboring white men, who know the value of their personal rights, and duly appreciate the respect attached to their profession, will not be found willing to settle in a country where little or no discrimination, is made between the laboring free man and the laboring slave--
Now, upon a supposition that he was divested of all his slaves, the statement would be, Value of the whole estate £4500

Deduct price of slaves,

2500

Leaving a balance equal to the

2000

amount of his land, of

Upon which sum add 6 prices (which is tho't not to exceed the

6

proper ratio,)

And they will then be worth 12,000

Now in order to see what would be gained by the change, deduct present amount of both lands and slaves from the enhanced value of the land produced by the change, and the result will be 4500l. found to be a clear gain of 7500l.

Enough having been said, it is presumed, to satisfy any rational man of the impolicy, taking it in every point of view, of suffering any longer so great an evil to remain amongst you, hopes are entertained that some plan will be adopted for the gradual removal of them from the country.

Should this be determined upon, despair not of being able to effect your purpose. Union and energy, alone are required :--Indeed, if ever there was a case wherein the united energies of a people were required to achieve any particular thing, surely the extricating yourselves from your present situation in the highest degree merits such exertions.

By the Census of 1790, the number of slaves in Virginia, was found to be about

292,627

By the Census of 1800, a period of ten years,

: J

345,796

Increase during that time,

53,169

* Mean ratio of increase annually 5,316

Which number sent off every year, would of course stop their further increase, & any addition would sink so much of the principal. Upon a supposition that the number of males & females are equal (far in fact there is but very little difference) we shall have 172,898 males and as many females.

And if we allow sixty years as the mean period of life, and divide it into twelve periods of five years each, we shall have of each sex, between each period 14,408 ;

But as the age in which women generally breed, is from fifteen to forty years (equal to 5 periods : and the age in which males may be said to be able bodied men, is from twenty to forty five years, equal also to 5 periods: we may state the number of breeding women and able bodied men to be about 72,040 each, or 144,080 being about 3-7ths of their whole number : now the 20th part of 144,080 is 7,204, to which if we add 5,316, the annual increase, it will make a sum equal to 12,520, which number annually sent off, would clear the country in less than twenty years.t Taking the principal number 7,204, from the able bodied men and breeding women, and the increase 5,316, from the children, in order to keep the different families united as much as possible ; for the ratio of decrease would be equal to the ratio of increase.

As to the expense attending their removal, as no certain calculation can be made, we must content ourselves with one merely suppositious, premising it to be bro't pretty near the truth, viz--allowing 300 tons of shipping for every 500 persons, it would amount to 7,500 tons at 20s. per month, equal to 7,500l. and for a three month's voyage, will amount to

7500l. X 3, equal to 22,500l.

Provision for 1 year for 12,520 persons at 6l. each,

75,120l.

97,620l.

Other contingent charges such as tools, utensils, &c.

6000

Total, 103,620

In order to carry the plan into execution the United States should be prevailed upon to take up the subject. To purchase a tract of country of the natives somewhere on the shores of Africa to superintend the settlement until their population and mental qualifications would allow of self government and to supply the means necessary to carry the design into compleat effect. On our part we should make legal provision for assessing and levying according to the number & value which each individual possesses, say for the first year, one twentieth; for the second, one nineteenth, &c. which should be freely given up by their owners, as it has been already shown, they would be real gainers by it in the end; and this levy should be so regulated that he who had but few should be deprived of them precisely in the same time with him who had many. Objections, that the United States will not be found willing to part with their money for purposes from which they can never expect to derive any benefit; and that, if we were to be gratified, all the other states, holding slaves, would call for similar aids, will appear to be entirely frivolous, when we come to reflect that all the states are bound mutually to protect, defend, aid and assist each other : that in all the U. States there are not much more than 800,000 ; nearly one half of which are owned by

The actual annual increase is in a compound ratio of rather more than 1 1-2 per cent.

As some years have elapsed since the taking the last census perhaps it would now be necessary to raise the number in a similar proportion to 15,000, annually.

Perhaps in the neighborhood of Sierra Leona, where it is understood a settlement has already been made by the British, of some of the negroes taken from us during our revolutionary war, who possess the same habits and manners, speak the same language, and are actually connected to them by all the ties of birth and consanguinity.
Virginia, and that 30,000 annually transported would remove them from all the states in the same space of time, and that the same vessels which carried them out, could, by spreading over Europe, soon return with as many white persons, composed of useful artisans, laborers, &c. all which would not cost the U. States over half a million of dollars a year, including every expense; but the fact is that there is little hopes of all the states holding slaves coming into the measure at once, although it would redound very much to the general interest if they were, for so long as any state continues to hold slaves, just so long will the general tranquility be kept at hazard ; and it is confidently believed that the expense of transportation at this time, would not be near equal to what the United States would have to encounter at some future and distant period, should any serious commotion then arise. In short, as to the obligation, there is no doubt; as to the expense, it will be trifling, and if the present opportunity is suffered to pass away, such another may never again return. By the gradual manner in which they would be sent away, they would run no risk of suffering by famine, their minds would be accustomed by degrees to the change, and we, filling up with whites in nearly the same proportion in which we parted with the blacks, would only become sensible of it by the innumerable advantages we should daily derive.

As to the blacks, possessed of all the useful arts, we should soon behold them, under the fostering genius of America, springing up into a great nation, traversing every ocean with their ships, and gladly assisting us in the humane undertaking of transporting to a land of liberty, their friends and countrymen. As to the country itself; nothing need be said, every one knows that it embraces all the most delightful climates, is composed of the richest soil and needs only the hand of industry to make it yield almost every thing that grows upon the habitable globe.