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Show 124 DESPOTISJ\T brought into cultivation, arc genera1ly of in:ferior value and price to the adjoining wild lands wh1ch must be cleared up before they can be planted. Every crop taken from a field diminishes its value; and as the number of successive crops which can be taken without reducing the land to a state uf barrenness, is not great, the diminution in its value, is sufficiently !apid. 'rhis is one cause of the sparseness of populat1on at the south. No planter ever thinks he has land enough. Knowing that he destroys a quantity every year, he is anxious still to enlarge his domain so as to be certain of having a supply sufficient to meet the consumption. Almost the only wealth in the southern states consists in lands and slaves. Bnt slaves arc only valuable as cultivators of the soil; and as the productive power of the soil diminishes, the value of slaves must decline' with the decreasing amount which they are able to produce. 'rhe inevitable consequences to which this system of agriculture must finally lead, are sufllciently obvioui. The soil in its whole extent, being at length exhausted, the slaves will hardly be able to produce enough for their own support. 'I'hey will cease to possess any marketable value; and the entire mass of the population will sink down into a state of miserable poverty, from which they can emerge only by a complete change of manners and habits, and a tho-rough revolution in the social system. . Nor is this period by any means so chstant as mal: at first appear. For though the superficial extent ol the-slave holding states is very great, the quanuty of [arid which they afiord of suaicient natural fertdlly to admit of being cultivated according to tl_1e southern method, is not great. Deduct the moun tams, the morasses and the vast pine barrens, and but a moderate extent of land wJll remain, a part of which has alrca?Y been exhausted and deserted, and all of which, With the exception of some alluvial tracks, along tl~e water courses, is of a. description not fitted long. to Withstand the destructive processes of southern agnculture. IN Ai\TERICA. 125 This progress of pauperism, presents itself under very difiE:rent aspects, in difiE:rcnt states of the union according to the antiquity of their settlement and th~ density of their population. In the newer ~tates in which the proportion of virgin land is still very gr~at to a superficial view it is altogether non-apparent: Its early operation suggests nothing but ideas of public prosperity and increasing wealth. Bnt there is a certain point where the tide turns. 'I'he spendthrift, so long as h1s money holds out, has the appearance and enjoys the reputation of abundant riches. It is only when his resources begin to fail, that the reality of his condition, and the true nature of his conduct become apparent. Virginia is the oldest of the slave states. All the rest are treading in her footsteps. From her unfortunate condition at the present moment it is easy to portend what theirs must presently become. Eastern Virginia, including all that portion of the stale east of the Blue Ridge, presented to the original colonists, a most inviting country. Washed on one side by a spacious bay, into which poured numerous rivers, broad, deep and navigable, all the lower part of the state had received from the hand of nature such unusual facilities of water communication, that hardly a point could be found twenty miles distant from navigable waters; and for the most part, every plantation had its landmg place. These numerous rivers were stored and still continue to be stored with such an abundance of fish, fowl and oysters as might alone sullice to support a numerous population. Above the falls of the rivers was a hilly diversified country, generally rich, and if II had some barren tracts, allording spots of the most exuberant fertility. When Eastern Virginia first began to be settled, it afforded beyond all questioQ, the richest and most desirable country any where to be found along the Atlantic coast of the union. 'I'he cultivation of tobacco soon became so profitable, that the more industrious of the colonists grew 11* |
