Keowee courier. (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, May 25, 1849, Image 1
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I ^
KEOWEE COURIER.
* ? ' '? '
" TO THINK OWN 6RLF IIK TltUK, AND IT MUST FOLLOW, AS THR NIGHT TUB DAT, THOU UAti'sT NOT TI1BN HE FALSN TO ANV HAN."
VOL.. 1. PICKENS COURT HOUSE, S. C. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1810. NO. 2<
THE
KGOWEE COURIER,
PKINTED AND PUBLISHED W'KKKLY BY
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J. W. NORRIS, JE., ) ?...
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Written fob tiik Kkowke Courier.
LIFE.
Life,?what in lifo ? when nobly borne,
Tho brightest boon tho Goda can give,
And though the brave heart may Lk3 torn,
It still exulting dares to live.
O theul how moan it is to weep,
When bursting tempest round ua ravo,
And call on Death to liide us deep,
From Life and Fato witlun the grave.
Such coward spirits howl to feel,
The lash tlmt whips the Harlot's slave;
But only such to Fortune kneel,
Sho cannot hero subdue tho brave.
The youthful brow may wrinkled grow.
And sorrow turns dark hair *o gray,
Stout forms may bond witli weary woo
And watching, in iito'a toilHomo way.
But npito of Fate and Fortune's brunt,
The loyal bear them nobly still,
Defy the Gorgons front to front
And bravely dare their worst of ill.
Then troubled Bpirit checr the up,
Though dark as death tliy lot may fall,
If firmly drained the bitter oup
Which Fate presents, shall loose its gall.
ANGUS.
Pickens 0. H., May 21,1849.
EXTRACT FROM A LECTURE ON
THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.
Delivered before the Young Men's Mercantile
Library association of Cincinnati,
Ohio, January 16,1849.
BY elwoud WISHER.
Let us first examine tho condition of
the white people of tho two sections.
Tho State of Massachusetts for instance,
\b generally regarded as one of
the most successful and flourishing of the
"Nnrth : find is rnnRtjintl\r rofnrrnrl in Ktr
J - ~ w, -J,
the newspapers as a model for nil the
others, and very frequently as a taunt to
the Southern. If, however, wo compare
this favorite of the North, with Maryland,
a State of similar territorial extent, and
one of the Southorn States, we shall find
the latter to bo decidedly superior in
wealth in proportion to the number of her
citizens. According to the census of
1840, Maryland had a free population
of 380,282, and in 1847 hor property
was assessed av *202,272,650.* Massachusetts
in 1840 had a nonulation nf *73*7 -
i r '' ''
609, and her property now is only $300,000,000.
Taking these two assessments
as the basis of comparison, and it appears
that the average property of a free person
in Maryland was $531, whilst in
Massachusetts it is now, in the palmiest
days she has ever seen, only $400 per
head?the freeman of Maryland bc;ng about
25 per cent, tho richer.
The States of New York and Virginia
are both of great territorial extent, and
not materially unequal in that respect.?
Now York is also regarded habitually, as
g\T\A r\r?4
uuv u> I>uc giniiucat puuuuw Ui net? Ill*
stitutions?and the present condition of
Virginia is continually referred to, as a
striwng and melancholy result of slavery.
Her poverty, her ignorance, her idlcne
her aecay, and her misery arc the thres.
bare topics of modern political philosophyhere
and abroad. Let u now con^
,jJR sider the facts. Her free population in
1840, according to the pensus, was 790,
eiu. ana aer property 18 now about
$800,000,000.f The population of Now
York in 1840 was 2,428,921, and in 1841
her property w assessed at $032,609,903.
The average property of a free white person
in Virginia is $758; in New York it
is only $260, or a little more than oncthird.
.
Virginia, instead of being poor and in
in need of the pity of the much poorer
r\f -t?-- ? ?
|n<iiumviuil vm ?nu i'VIHI, qirOHJIS tilt)
iricheet community in the work!. The
average wealth of the people of Great Brit i
ain may be about the same, but; it is not
near so productive, and I think it demon*
* American Almanac.
fOhio Auditor's Report.
.
strablo tlint no people on earth livo in a
condition of greater comfort and enjoyment
than those of Virginia. Nor is there
any reason to fear a decline in her wealth.
According to the census returns of 1840,
Virginia, with a free population of less
than one third of that of New York, and
a capital something less, produced from
the various branches of her industry.
more than half the product of New York;
and as the total population of Virginia,
slave and free, is only about, half that of
New York, it is clear, that after deducting
the annual consumption of both, Virginia
will have a larger proportional surplus
remaining to augment the stock of /
her permanent property.
If now we examine the relative condition
of the new States, the same results
are apparent. Tho States of Kentucky
and Ohio lie side by side, and are of similar
climate, fertilitv and extent?the. nro
' ortionof rich land being, however, less
in Kentucky. Their ago is also nearly
the same, Kentucky having been admitted
as a State about eleven years before
Ohio. Ohio is considered the most prosperous
State in the West, and is continually
contrasted with Kentucky for the
purpose of illustrating the blighting effects
of slavery on the latter. Let us see
viri +1 ? wUnf
if ivil TT 11(11; ir<UJUII.
In 1840, Kentucky had a free population
of 507,570 and her property amounts,
according to her t^x assessment
of 1848, to about 272,84/.OOC.J Ohio,'
in 1840, had a population of 1,510,457,
and her assessment, last year waa 421,0G7,991.f
The average value of property
belonging to each free person in
Kentucky is $450?in Ohio it is only
$270, or more than one third less: and I
OvS the population of Ohio is now still
greater in proportion to that of Kentvicky
than in 1830, the difference in favor of the
latter is still more.
Nothing is more common than the
opinion that the price of land in Kentuckyis,
in consequence of slavery, much lower
than in Ohio. I have examined the Auditor's
reports of both States, which pre
ovuvin uiHtui viii3 vuiuuuuii ui tin tneir
lands. In Kentucky the average value
is about seven dollars per acrc, in Ohio
it is about elevon, and I am very confident
that the quality of Ohio land is to
that superior?as in Kentucky there is a
large mountain region for which Ohio
has nothing equivalent. Thus, then, it
is manifest that tho free people of the
slavcholding States?of those States
which aro uniformly regarded as the vie
urns 01 poverty ana ruin?arc all richer,
much richer, than those of the nonslaveholding
States which have been usually
considered as the most flourishing members
of this confcderncy, and the most
prosperous communities the world ever
saw. Such at least is tho testimony of
official, documents on tho subject?-the
highest authority that exists. For I have
taken nearly all these statements of the ]
property of the several States alluded j
to, from the assessments made by public
officers, for the collection of taxes. Of
the accuracy of the valuations, it is of
course impossible to speak from personal
knowledge; but those of Ohio and Kentucky
are, according to my opportunities I
of observation, as nearly correct as need
be desired. And as to the other States
the chances of error are perhaps as great
on one side as the other.
In the slaveholding States, slaves are
*1 1- mi v
ui i/uumu lm-iuucu in niu property. AI11S
is sometimes objected to but I think without
reason. The question is, which is the
most profitable investment of capital?in
land and slaves?as is usual in the slaveholding
States?or inland alone, or commerce
and manufactures, as in the Northern
States? And this question is almost
universally decided in favor of the latter.
In the South, according to its laws, the
slave is flEs available to his owner for the
purposes of property, as any other property.
The North has held, however, that
this peculiar species of property, instead
of being profitable to the owner, has been
impoverishing and ruinons. And in contradiction
to this T hnrn slinwn flint in
every community whero ii. exists there
wealth abounds to a far greater extent
than in the States from which it is excluded,
whatever may he thoir climate, soil, or
territory. But even if the assessed value
of all the slaves in Kentucky, Virginia,
and Maryland, were left out of their
schedule of thfeir property, the white peoplo
of thoso States would remain wealthier,
on an average, than thoso of Ohio,
New York, and Massachusetts.
By others again, it is contended, that
in estimating the average wealth of individuals
in a community, tho slaves ought
to bo included as persons, and left out as
property. This, I think, is also an error
for the reason before stated. Where it U
contended that the white man ought to
JKy. Auditor^ Report, 1848.
abandon slave property bccause it makes 1
liim pcx)r, or prevents him from getting I
rich, it is absurd to assert that he not only 1
has no property in his slave, but that otii- ]
er property belongs equally to him. Hut '
if for anv other Duraose or vinw of nnliii- i
* 1 1 . ~ ' ?? 1?1"
cal economy, the slave be included with
the freeman in averaging the property of i
a State, it will even then appear that in >
the Suites I have considered, the South- c
em are still wealthier than the Northern, 1
counting the slaves as persons and deduct- 8
ing them from the property. So that in i
no aspect of the question whatever, is t
there any foundation in fact for the pop- 1
ular delusion, that tho Southern States, c
or any of them, are either now or hereto- t
fore, or likely to be hereafter inferior to t
their Northern neighbors in wealth?but c
the reverse. s
The. triiimnli nf Snnfli nvn nnfn?mv?PA??/l I i
w. vvv?v>(Vk?? VUWipilOVtlllU 1
capital in the accumulation of wealth be- *
ing established as a fact, demands of us *
an investigation of its causes?and this, I i
think will materially elucidate the cliarac- '
ter of modern civilization, and particularly
that which has been developed in tho United
States.
The original methods of acquiring
wealth, adopted by men on their organization
into community, was by conquest '
or c-mmercc. ilence the almost exclu- <
sively military character of one great class 1
of the ancient States, which resulted in t
the universal empire successively of the t
Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman f
governments ; and hence the rise of Tyre t
and Carthage. Ilcnce, also, in the middle
ages, the empire of Charlemagne,
and the lonir protracted efforts of Fnim-n 1
to conquer England, and England to conquer
I" ranee?and the wealth of Venice,
Genoa, and Holland. At a later period <
when the arts had made more progress, '
manufactures were included in the means i
of creating wealth. The policy of England
has combined the three?conquest, i
commerce, and manufactures?and by <
these she has succeeded in the construe- 1
tion of an empire which, for extent of ter- I
ritory and wealth, 1ms never hiul a paral- <
lei. The policy of England 1ms been 1
dictated by her insular position. This i
rendered it necessary for her to acquire 1
the empire of the sea to he secure from
invasion by great continental powers; and
with the dominion of the sea, it was easy
to establish a great colonial empire. The
growth of sucn a great, power in com
merce, was the strongest possible stimu- I
lus to progress in the arts and manufactures
; hence her success in them. But
an extraordinary developement of commerce
and manufactures has always resulted
in the concentration of large masses
of people in cities, which causes inequality
of condition, great depravity of
morals, great increase of want, and of
crime; consequences that arc fatal in the
fir of. f r\ HVvAvftr 1
vu uuui ^ 111 J^llY CI UlllL'llltS, HIIU I
finally to independence in nations. This I
tendency has been so ol ions and univeri
sal among the great States of all ages, as
to have caused the belief that communities,
like individuals, contain within themselves
the seeds of dissolution which must
ultimately bring them to the dust.
Buc whether we consider a State as a
moral being, whose essence consists in the
i principles on which it is constructed, and
therefore not necessarily mortal, orwheth
I w n\-, irjjniu it us u mure creuuire 01 ine
race or persons that founded or inhabit
it, and therefore transient, there can be
no doubt that its prosperity is seriously
impaired by the evils referred to, that
generally attend the progress of civilization.
. Rural life has always been celebrated
by the poets for its innocence.
"God made tho country nnd man made tho
! But it is a kind of life that has seldom
been thought, favorable to the accumulation
of wealth?the first want of civilization.
It is also usually associated with
rudeness of manners. Hence the votaries
of fort une and society preferred the
city, and if to these we add the vast multitude
who seek the immediately gratification
of their appetites and passions,
which cities afford, at the hazard of future
want, we havo a clear solution of tho
undue tendency to city at the expense of
country life*. This great evil, sufficient
of itsolf to dUt a stigma on civilization and
even ultimately to destroy it was for the
first time successfully encountered and
conquered by iho institutions of the
South; and in tho great achievement
Virginia^Jed the way. Amongst the car
I iy wi'iie ueiuers oi Virginia worn many
| of the Cavaliers who had beer, driven into
exile by the triumphs of the Roundheads
and of Croyiwell. The Cavaliers were of
the country party in England, the cities
and towns were more generally devoted
to tiie Roundheads. The Cavaliers of
Vi^iufa seem to have brought over with
| them irom England a hostility even to
| the mode? of life of the enemies they left j
*
X'hintl them, as the settlers of New Engand,
on the other hand, from thcRoundlCads,
became highly commercial. These
jeculiaritics wore exhibited in a striking
nanner in the progress of the two cololies.
Bancroft tells us :
" But the greatest safeguard of liberty
n Virginia was tho individual freedom of
nind, which formed of necessity, the
haracter of independent land holders
iviner apart on their plantations. In thf>.
ige of commercial monopoly, Virginia had
lot one market town, not one place of
rade. As to all outward appearance it
ooked all like a wild desert, and the mer antile
world, founding its judgment on
lie absence of cities, regarded it as ' one
;f the poorest, miserablest, and worst
ountries in America. It did not seek to
tharc actively in the profits of commerce?
t had little of the precious metals, and
itill less of credit?it was satisfied with
igriculture. Taxes were paid in tobicco;
emittances to Europe were made in tojacco;
the revenue of the clergy, and the
nagistrates of the colony, were collected
n the same currency; the colonial tradesnan
received his pay in stragling parcels
if it: and ships from abroad were obliged
to bo whole months in tho rivers, be'ore
boats visiting the several plantations
>n their banks could pick up a cargo.?
[n the season of a commercial revolution,
he commercial element did not enter into
lie character of the colony. Its inhabiting
4 daily grew more and more averse
x) cohabitation.' "
-1 * < t"
kiuv/u uiu uniiuiuvur 01 Virginia m j
1700?ninety-two years after the colony
ivas founded, and seventy-six before her
Independence?such she has remained.
I have seen a law passed by her Legislature
during the revolutionary war, prohibiting
merchants from serving as Representatives
in the Continental Congress.
But this primitive character of Virginia
could not have been preserved to th?
extent we now behold, hut for peculiar
circumstances. incsoiioi Virginia wns
found to bo adapted to the cultivation of
tobacco, and African slave labor to its cultivation
; and tobacco soon became an
article of commerce. The introduction
of this sort of labor had the effect of excluding,
in a great measure, emigration
from Europe?the emigration which subverted
the ascendency of the Quakers of
Pennsylvania?which has materially mod (
itied the original character of New Eng- j
land, and still more of the new free States \
of the West. And it has been through!
negro slavery that agriculture has been j
made, for the first time in the history of
the world, so profitable and attractive as
to render rural life the favorito of wealth
as well as of the mass of the people?to
make the country instead of the towns t.ho
abode of elegant manners and refined
taste. And this system of Society has
i. 1 1_ .1 At- - -.1 M' *
JMUV.IIH-U uirougiwjunne OlOCV OUllCS O! I
tho South, owing to tho similarity of their
primitive chnrnctcr to that of Virginia?
to her example?to emigration into them
of many Virginians, 'he warmth of the
climate, and to tho culture of cotton,
which is more favorable to the employment
of slave labor than that of tobacco.
Thus, then, we have fifteen Southern
States?one half of (ho number belonging
to tho Union, occupying half our territory?who
present the extraordinary, and,
so far as my researches extend, the unprti'allelled
result of a population which has
acquired greater wealth by agriculture
than any other people in any other manner
; and who have consequently given
ascend v icy within their borders to country
lilo over city, in social and political
power. In Great Britain, the only coun
uy v? muii rmi ut; iHiiiiiJurvu in civiiiKUUUU
with ours, the land holders are indeed a
very wealthy cln.es, perhaps the most so,
hut they have dwellings in Lonnon, and
pass a large part ot the year there. The
land holders of Great Britain also constitute
but a small portion of the population,
[to he continued next week.]
The Pillar ok Sax; ?Lot's Wife.
We recently announced the appearance^
from the press of Gary <fe Hart, of this"
city, "A Narrative of the Late Expedition
to ' e Dead Son," from a diary of
one of the party, edited by Edward P.
Montague. Among others matters of
striking interest which pervade the work,
are the following description and reflections
of nnd upon a landmark of Bible History,
which ennnot but possess a deep
interest to every reader.?-American Courier.
"Wednesday, April 20, 1848 ?This
morning wo are examining the hills of
Usdom, and seeking with a good deal of
curiosity the ever famous 'Pillar of
which marks thn judgement of Ood upon
Lot's wife. On pniij&g round the shores
of the sea wo saw an immense column,
rounded ond turret-shaped, facing towards,
the south-east. Thi?, wo are told
* *
*
iL*. j? -:i
by our Arabs, was the Pillar of Salt in
which Lot's wife was encased at the overthrow
of Sodom. With some difficulty wo
landed here, and our esteemed commander
and Dr. Anderson obtained specimens
from, and Mr. Dale took a sketch of
it. Our boat's crew landed also, and
their curiosuv was gratified bv their e-ath
* ** ? o" * (
cring specimens, some from its summit
and others from its base. It was measured,
and found to be sixty feet in height,
and forty feet in circumference. Wo
cannot suppose that Lot's wife was a person
so large that her dimensions equalled
those of this column. Many think the
statue of Lot's wife was equal to the pih
lar of salt which the Bible speaks of. Let
that pillar bo where it may, and whatever
be its size, they will not probably credit
that this is the pillar. Their preconceived
notions having much to do with
the matter, they would have every body
think that she was at once transformed
into a column of very fine grained beautifully
white salt, about live feet or a few
inches more in height, and in circumfcr->
ence that of a common-sized person of
the nintccnth century, Be that as it
may, no two minds have, perhaps, formed
exactly the same opinion on this matter
who have not visited this spot. But here
we are, around this immense column,
and we find that it is really of solid rock
salt?one mass of crystallization. It is
in the vicinity which is pointed out in tkc
Bible in relation to the matter in question,
and it appears to bo the only one of its
kind here. And the Arabs of the district
to whom this pillar is pointed out, declare
it to be that of Lot's wife?tho
identical pillar of salt to which the Diblo
has reference?the tradition having been
handed down from each succeeding generation
to their children, as the Americans
will hand down to succeeding generation
the tradition of Bunkers Hill
Monument, in Boston. My own opinion
t \?i
v?* uiu luiibivi i?, iiuii/ ajui> s wiiu nuving
lingered behind, in disobedience to tho
express command of God?given in order
to insure hei safety?that while so
lingering she became overwhelmed in tho
descending fluid, and formed the model
or foundation of this extraordinary column
If it had been produced by com*
mon, by natural causes, it is but right to
suppose that others might be found of a
similar description. One is aofm^lv nhln
to abandon the idea that it stands here as
a lasting memorial of God's punishment of
a most deliberate act of disobedience,
committed at a time when he was about
to show a distinguishing regard for tkc
very person.
Too Good to he Lost.?The Philadelphia
correspondent of the Boston Age
and News, in a late letter, tells the foli
lowing story. Y.Te hope Thornley won't
Li - ... i* ' * 1 ?
urnine us ior priming u: l neara a case
of extreme modesty the other day, so
ertreme that it couldn't be understood.
A lady went into Thorn ley's India rubber
store, and enquired of the fascinating
Mr. T.?"Have you any India rubber
elegy encirclers?" "What did you say,
ma'am?" said the storekeeper, slightly
confounded. "Elegy encircles," repeated
the lady with a blush. Thornley
looked around the store, first at the crrcat
o
piles.of India rubber, then at gutta percnn,
then India rubber cloth, and so on,
but without seeing anything corresponding
to the name. "You're sure its mado
out out of India rubber," said Mr. T., inwardly
declaring that there was nothing
made of that article which ho had not
seen. "Oh, yes;" replied the lady, "Do
you see anything like it?" at length replied
the bewildered fellow. The lady
looked around the well-filled store, and
pf length her eye rested upon a box,
which she blushingly pointed io. What
do you suppose it contained? G-a-rt-c-r-s.
She was soon helped to a pair,
and as she took her leave, it all at once
occurred to Mr. Thornlcy, that garters
were L-c-g encirlera.
A new married couple went to house
1,?? t -o?
IIut 1V.#I1^ nilllTC III JL)IK>IUII> 111 JC uplnr
street. At breakfast next morning
after their entrar.ee, the gentleman said
to his lady. "My dear, this is Poplar
street, arid by putting u (you) in it, it
becomes popular
"And by putting us in it," promptly
replied tn? inay, "it will becomc populous."
A Mighty Constitution.?"Hiram
tjf\y boy," said a fonder father to hie son
" you must be more careful of yourself
than you are. Yo\i have not the Constitution
of some." ".Don't b'lieve it, dad
?don't believe a word on't?I've got
the constitution of n. horso Ttinr* nint
no break up or down on me. Dang it, if
I don't blievc I'vc pot the Constitution oC
the United States!"
4
ft
V 4