Tables of Crime-Foreign Misrepresentation of the South. 595 lation of 3,049,457. Free colored population, 47,937. She has three State Penitentiaries, in which, in the year ending the 1st of December, 1851, were received 658 convicts, of whom 556 were white, and 62 colored, as nearly as can be ascertained from the reports. This gives a ratio of one white convict for every 5,304 white persons, and one colored convict for every 772 of the colored population; being 6.86 to 1. Remaining in prison one white convict for 1,713 white persons, and one colored convict for every 225 free colored persons in the state, being in the proportion of 7.62 to 1. tion of crime among the colored population of New-Jersey, Connecticut and Indiana, determined, in the same way, to be 12.47 to 1; and the average, among the eight states named above, to be 9.11 to 1, among the whites of those states. If we take the average proportion of crime among the colored population of Maryland and Virginia, we shall find it to be 7.23 to 1 among the whites; while the like average of the six free states, to wit, Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, NewYork, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Indiana, will be 10.90 to 1. From this we may infer, that there is 46 per cent. more crime committed by the free colorIn New-Jersey in 1850, the white ed population of those states, than by population was 466,240. Free colored the same class of population in Marypopulation, 23,093. On the 1st January, land and Virginia. 1850, the Penitentiary of New-Jersey contained white convicts, 134. Free colored population, 51. But the number received the preceding year is not given in the report. Thus it will be seen, that the ratio of imprisonments among the white people is one for every 3,554, and among the free negroes one for every 17.85 of the colored population. Being the proportion of 7.84 to 1. In Connecticut, in 1850, the white population was 363,305. On the 1st January, 1850, the Penitentiary of Connecticut contained white convicts, 128. Free colored convicts, 51. If we add the rate of increase which occurred before 1850 to the free colored population of that year, we shall find in Virginia at this time 57,824 free negroes and mulattoes. The proportion of males and females over 21 years of age, will be found to be 24,519; and those over 55 amount to 4,355, leaving between the ages of 21 and 55 years, 20,164 taxable persons. For convenience, we will put the males and females each at 10,082. $50,410 By the provisions of the Senate bill, the ratio of one white convict for every 2,838 white persons, and one free colored conviet for every 159 of the colored population, being 17.85 to 1. In Indiana, in 1850, the white population was 977,628. Free colored population, 10,788. Convicts in the Penitentiary of that state, on the 30th of November, 1849-white, 116; free colored, 15; ratio of whites, one to 8,427; colored, one to 719; being in the proportion of 11.72 to 1. For convenience, I have thrown the results above mentioned into the form of tables-Nos. 1 and 2. By No. 1, it will be seen that the proportion of crime committed among the free colored population of Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New-York, as determined by the annual average number of felons received in prison, is as 7.71 to 1, among the white population. No. 2, gives the proportion as determined by the number of felons remaining in prison, in the same states to be, as 7.49 to 1. The latter table, also, gives the propor ....10,085 40,325 would produce... 10,085 Deduct from this sum 20 per cent.. 2,016 8,069 Present tax, on seals attached to reg isters of freedom...... Sum raised from free persons of color by these taxes.. out of the treasury under the act of 4,723 53,114 30,000 $83,114 At $75 each, this sum would remove upwards of one thousand free persons of color annually. And if it be the design to give every portion of the state the equal benefit of the funds appropriated, it is quite certain that much less than $75 would be inadequate to the object designed. The removal of one thousand a year C. S. MORGAN. No. I.-A Table of Crimes, giving the Annual Rate of Imprisonments to the Population and the Proportion between the Crimes of White Persons and Free Persons of Color: In the two years from 1st of October, 1850, to 30th of September, 1852, according to the population of 1850, the rate was, annually..1 to 13,565....1 to 2,159..... 6.33 to 1 [From this it will seen the increase among the whites was 83 per cent, and among the free persons of color 50 per cent.] Massachusetts.-The rate of convicts received in the penitentiary of that state, in the ten years ending the 30th of September, 1850, to the average population, was In the year ending the 30th of September, 1851, the rate of convicts received in the Massachusetts penitentiary, for the year ending the 30th of November, 1852, according to the population of 1850, was.. .1 to 7,587....1 to 727..... 9.58 to I Maryland. The rate of convicts received in the penitentiary, was, according to the population of 1850.. 1 to 6,527....1 to 488.....13.37 to 1 .1 to 9,285....1 to 1,452..... 6.39 to 1 Pennsylvania-The convicts received in the two penitentiaries of that state in the year ending the 31st of December, 1852, according to the population of 1850, was at the rate of .1 to 11,406....1 to 2,158..... 5.28 to 1 New-York received in her three state penitentiaries, convicts, according to the population of 1850, in the year ending the 1st of December, 1851, at the rate of........ Average.... .1 to 5,304....1 to 772..... 6.86 to 1 7.71 to 1 No. II.-A Table giving the Ratio of White and Free Colored Convicts, remaining in Prison, to the White and Free Colored Population, and the Proportion of Crime between the two Classes: The ratio of convicts remaining in prison to the population. In the Virginia penitentiary, on the 1st of February, 1853, there remained in prison at the rate of....... In the Massachusetts penitentiary, on the 30th of September, 1851, there remained in prison at the rate of... In the Maryland penitentiary, on the 30th of November, 1852, there remained convicts at the rate of.. White per sons. The proportion of crimes of colorad to white persons. Free colered 1 to 5,813.....1 to 625...... 9.30 to 1 to 2,335.....1 to 175......13.00 to .1 to 2,584..... to 500...... 5.16 to 1 In the Indiana penitentiary.on the 30th of September, 1849, according to the census of 1850, there remained in prison at the rate of 1 to 8,427.....1 to 719 .....[1.72 to 1 The three last-mentioned states averaged.. FOREIGN MISREPRESENTATION OF THE SOUTH. Our readers will remember the appearance some months ago of an article in Blackwood, containing many severe strictures upon the slaveholders of the South, as well as upon the subject of slavery at large. We have met with a very satisfactory reply in a late number of the Mobile Tribune, as follows: The January number of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine contains an article entitled "Slavery and the Slave Power in the United States of America," which betrays the most singular ignorance, on .12.47 to 1 9.11 to 1 the part of the writer, of the facts and circumstances connected with the subject on which he undertakes to treat. His very inferences, so unjust in themselves, and so incompatible with the facts stated, evince a mind so contracted in its comprehension, and so thoroughly saturated with its own prejudices, as to be utterly unqualified to do justice to the subject. How such an article, so careless in its statements, and so illogical in its deductions, found its way into a magazine remarkable, if not for the general correctness of its views on public ques Blackwood's Magazine-Increase of Southern Free Population. 597 tions, certainly for the force and adroit- searching for truth has in hunting for ness with which they are advocated, I am at a loss to conceive. items to support his own preconceived theory. Now I deny that the ratio of The whole article appears to have natural increase in the population of the been made up from the study of several North is any greater than in that of the anti-slavery publications, in which truth South-indeed, I doubt whether it is as does not appear to have been a very im- great-and I think nobody can hesitate portant consideration, and it is set off to come to the same conclusion, who with an apparent appeal to comparative considers that the North and Northwest statistics, in which the abuse of figures are, and have been, since the revolution, amounts in one place to positive mis- the great reservoir of the tide of emigra statement, which, with a very slight ex- tion from Europe. Of the total number amination, could have been avoided. I of foreign-born inhabitants in the United will first notice his statistical errors, and States in 1852, 1,965,518 were in those show how entirely incorrect his in- states, while only 245,310 were in the ferences are. South. Here then may be found the real cause of the greater ratio of increase there than here. A portion of this emigration helps to fill up the new states and territories, the balance to supply, in the northern states, the place of the 13,583,328 native population moving West. Of all 6,393,758 this enormous increase, however, not a word is said by those who undertake to compare northern and southern progress, and use the result as an argument against slavery. He gives the following as the respective free populations of the slaveholding and non-slaveholding states at the periods specified : Free states. Slave states. 1840. .9,654,865. .7,290,719. 1850. This statement is intended to prove that slavery is unfavorable to the growth of population, showing, as the writer says, "that, while in the last ten years, the population of the free states has increased by nearly four millions, that of the slave states, though Texas has been added to them in the interval, has decreased by nine hundred thousand." But, fortunately, the fact relied upon by the writer for his deduction, is an error in the American Almanac for 1852, in which the total population of the slave Pennsylvania....1,724,033 2,301,681..34 states for 1840 is classed under the head New-York.......2,428,901 3,090,022..27 501,793 583,232..16 of free population." I shall give the New-Hampshire. 284,574 317,831..11 table of population as it really was at Vermont... 291,948 313,466.. 7 both periods: I will now proceed to show, from the census tables of 1840 and 1850, that this pretended superiority in progress is either a gross error in calculation or a wilful misrepresentation of actual facts: 1840. Northern free population..... NON-SLAVE-HOLDING STATES. 1840. 1850. Ratio of increase Massachusetts... 737,698 994,271..34 Maine.. Ohio...... .1,519,467 1,977,031..30 Illinois.......... 476,180 858,298..80 SLAVE-HOLDING STATES. ..per et. 66 66 9,654,865 slave Total population of the states.......16,945,584 Virginia... 740,808 894,149..24 318,114 418,763.31%.. 66 513,083..25 reference, to show that his selection was whether in wealth, population, knowl not a fair test. I give six northern edge or political power, for there we states, whose average increase of popu- find the barren little territory of Attica, lation for the last ten years is 21 per with an area of 730 miles only, that is, cent.; while the six southern states I give smaller than the smallest county in Alaaverage 28 per cent. I also set down Ken- bama, supporting a population of 528.000, tucky and Missouri against Ohio and Illi- only 120,000 of which were free, defying nois, and show that the former average 58 and defeating the greatest power then per cent. increase and the latter only 55. known, Persia, sweeping the sea with I also give the whole free population her fleets from Sicily to Cyprus, and from North and South, and show that, with the the mouths of the Nile to the Bosphorus, addition of nearly the whole foreign and producing philosophers and histopopulation, which amounts to 11 per rians, poets, painters and sculptors, warcent. of the whole free population of the riors and statesmen, that for centuries Union, the ratio of increase in population had no equals. And it prevailed also at the North exceeds that at the South when Roman energy and knowledge only 7 per cent. in ten years, or seven- had subdued, and Roman civilization tenths of 1 per cent. in each year. This had enlightened half the earth, during fact would seem to afford some ground the period which is dignified in history for the belief that, aside from the effect with the name of the Great Augustan produced by foreign emigration, the ratio of natural increase is greater at the South than at the North. Age. Those who contend that "slavery is a barrier to progress," are deaf to the voice of history, dead to all experience of the past, and, consequently, blind guides in the future. MEMPHIS.-Before the appearance of our next number, the third Great Southern Improvement Convention will be held at Memphis. Having attended the first two, it is a source of great regret ing engagements render it imperative. We shall take pleasure, however, in furnishing to our readers the fullest material of its proceedings, the substance of its speeches, and the elaborate reports which will no doubt be offered. Success to our enterprising friends, and success But the writer, had he been really in quest of truth, could have found fairer subjects than those he selected, to test his theory that slavery is "a barrier to progress." He need not have intruded upon the domestic precincts of a foreign confederacy, when he could have found, under the shadow of his own government, a much fairer test-the island of that we must be absent now. But pressJamaica. Or, if disposed to wander abroad for the means of ascertaining the truth, he could have found in the imperial dominions of Faustin I. sufficient, not indeed to establish his theory, but to satisfy him of its unsoundness. Those two beautiful islands, Hayti and Jamaica, while slavery was maintained in them, to their glorious and advancing little increased in wealth, commerce, population and civilization. Slavery was abolished, and what followed? Wealth decreasing to poverty, commerce rapidly disappearing, population steadily diminishing, and the unfortunate negroes, who, in the language of philanthropy, had been elevated to the rank of freemen, are fast sinking into that state of barbarism from which slavery alone seems ever to have elevated them. There never was a greater error than the theory adopted by the writer in Blackwood's Magazine, that "slavery is a barrier to progress." On the contrary, it is compatible with the highest degree of civilization. It prevailed three thousand years ago, when the light of science shone from the pyramids of Egypt. The history of the Athenians is a proof that it is not a barrier to progress, city, connected as it is with so many of our pleasantest recollections, and promising as it does, in time, to be a very big city on the banks of the old Father of Waters-which Heaven propitiously grant! We give a few notes in regard to the early history of the city, having already furnished the later statistics. In 1782, the Spanish Government directed W. H. Gayno, then acting Governor of the Territory of Louisiana, to take steps to occupy this portion of the territory. Accordingly, in the spring of 1783, one Benjamin Fry, a German, and an old Indian trader, with a company of men, landed at the mouth of Wolf or False River, just above what is known as Third or Lower Chicasaw Bluff, where was erected a fort called Fort St. Fernando. After the United States Govern. Great Southern Improvement Convention-Memphis-Nashville. 599 ment came into possession of the Terri- almost everything is being manufactured tory of Louisiana, Fort St. Fernando was by improved labor-saving machinery. dismantled by Lieutenant Pike, and A few years ago, cut stone was imported from Cincinnati. Now, the finest Italian, Tennessee and other marbles are being sawed and polished by steam and horse-power in the city, and the elegant and costly products are supplied in large quantities to purchasers at a distance. Fort Pickering established on the lower end of the Bluff. John Overton was the original proprietor of the site of Memphis; but in 1819, he sold one undivided half to Gen. Andrew Jackson and Gen. James Winchester, who proceeded to lay out the town. Gen. Jackson says, in one of his letters, the town was laid here owing to the eligible location, and predicted that it would, in time, be the second city in the Mississippi Valley. It is making rapid strides towards the accomplishment of the prophecy, if increasing activity of every department of trade is any criterion. NASHVILLE-Having said a few words about Memphis, we cheerfully add others in regard to Nashville, a city which, for enterprise, spirit, wealth and refinement, has taken the highest position in the Southwest. In 1840, the population of Nashville was 6,900; in 1850 it was 16,000; now it is estimated variously from 18,000 to 23,000, and it is probably actually about 20.000. Great changes have recently taken place in the elements of its growth. A few years ago scarcely anything was manufactured there otherwise than by hand labor. Now, various engines are throwing up their columns of black smoke in different parts of the city, and Meantime, engine shops, planing mills, trip-hammers, car factories, wagon and plough factories, furniture shops, &c., driven by steam, with powerful and improved machinery, are springing into existence in Nashville and South Nashville, and the hundreds of skilled laborers and artisans employed in them increase the consumption of the farmers' products, and keep the masons and carpenters employed in furnishing new tenements to house them. The hotels are filled with strangers, reaching them daily by railroad or otherwise. The wholesale business of the city has probably been doubled within the last few years. The grocery business has been greatly increased. The city is now as full of population as an egg is of meat. New buildings are rapidly going up, both in the city and the suburbs, and the demand is still for more houses. Nashville, the most beautiful and pleasant city in the Mississippi Valley, has just fairly begun to grow. ART. IX-OREGON AND THE TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON ON THE PACIFIC. THE establishment of a new territorial Northwest Territory," notwithstanding government upon the Pacific out of the the protests of the South, was extended old Oregon territory is another step in over it. In 1850, the statistics of Orethe march of empire, and justifies the gon, as obtained by the census, were as insertion of such facts, in regard to this follows, but up to this time considerable portion of our possessions upon the Pa- changes have no doubt taken place:— cific, as can be brought within the scope of a brief paper. In the year 1846, we published in the Review many interesting porticulars relating to Oregon, then in discussion, upon the authority of Mr. Greenbow, and upon that of many writers who had visited the country. In 1848, the territorial government of Oregon was set up by Congress, comprising all that part of the territory of the United States west of the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the forty-second degree of north latitude. The celebrated "ordinance of 1787, for the government of the POPULATION OF OREGON, 1850. Total whites. Total free colored. |