UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
out
from
or,
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
slave-holder, published in 1847 an address tween fiveand twenty țhere are not quitefive at
to the people of Virginia, showingthatslavery
any school or college ; while out of twenty-five
such children in the free states,there are more
is injurious to publicwelfare, in which
than fifteenat
he shows the influenceof slavery in school or college.
producing In the slave states,of the free white population
a decreaseof the whitepopulation. He says
: that is over twenty years of age, there is almost
one-tenth part that are unable to read and write }
It appears that,in the ten years from 1830 to while in the free states there is not quiteone in
1840,Virginialost by emigration no fewer than one hundred and fifty-six who is deficien to that
three hundred and seventy-five thousand of her degree.
people; of whom East Virginia lost three hundred
In New Englandthere are but few bom therein,
and four thousand, and "West Virginiand more than twentyyears of age, who are unable
seventy-onethousand. At this rate, Virginia to read and write ; but many foreigners
supplies the West, every ten years, with a arrive there with no education,and thus swell the
populationequal in number to the population number of the illiterate, and diminish the apparent
of the State of Mississippi in 1840. * * * * * effectof her free institutions. The South has few
"
She has sent we should rather say, she has such emigrants ; the ignoranceof the Southern
driven
" her soilat least one-thirdof all the States,therefore, is to be ascribed to other causes.
emigrants who have gone from the old states to The Northern men who settle in the slave-holding
the new. More than another third have gone from states have perhapsabout the average culture of
the other old slave states. Many of these multitudes,
the North,and more than that of the South. The
who have leftthe slave states,have shunned South,therefore, gainseducationally from immigration,
the regions of slavery, and settled in the free
as the North loses.
by sad experience, that a countryof slaves was
not the country for them. It isa truth, a certain
countries of the West. These were generally in-
and enterprising white men, who found,
dustrious
truth țhat slavery drives freelaborers" farmers, will show the relativeeffectsof the respective in-
mechanics and all,and some ofthe best ofthem,too
of the North and South. In Connecticut
of the country, and fillstheir places with negroes.
there are 163,843free persons
over twenty
years of age ; in South Carolina, but 111,663.In
*****
Even the common mechanical
trades do not flourish in a slave state. Some
mechanical
operations must, indeed,be performedwho are unable to read and write,while in South
in every civilizedcountry; but the general rule in Carolina there are 20,615free white persons over
the South is,to importfrom abroad every fabricated
twentyyears of age unable to read and write. In
thing that can be carried in shipsșuch as South Carolina,out of each 626 free whites more
household furniture,boats,boards,laths,carts, than twentyyears of age' there are more than 58
ploughs, axes, and axe-helves ; besides innumerable whollyunable to read or write ; out of that number
other things, which free communities are accustomed
of such persons
in Connecticut, not quite two !
freemen come with their ships,carry
timber and pig-iron, work them up, supplytheir
own wants with a part, and then sell the rest at a Indeed,in one of the slave states this is not a
goodprofit in the Southern markets. Now, although
matter of mere inference ; for in 1837 Gov. Clarke,
mechanics,by setting up their shops in of Kentucky, declared in his message to the legislature
the South,could save allthese freights and profits, that " one-third of the adult population
yetso it isthat Northern mechanics will not settle were unable to write their names ;" yetKentucky
"
in the South, and the Southern mechanics are undersold
hasa school-fund," valued at "1,221,819,while
by theirNorthern competitors.
South Carolina has none.
One sign
In regardto education, Rev. Theodore
of this want of ability even to read, in
the slave states,is too striking to be passedby.
Parker gives the following statistics, in his The staplereadingof the least-cultivatedAmericans
" isthe one
newspapers, of the lowest forms of
literature, though one of the most powerful,read
In 1671,SirWilliam Berkely, Governor of Virginia,
even by men who read nothing else. In the slave
said, " I thank God that there are no free states there are publishedbut 377 newspapers,
schools nor printing-presses (inVirginia), and I and in the free 1135. These numbers do not express
hope we shall not have them these hundred years." the entire difference in the case ; for,as a
In 1840,in the fifteenslavestates and territories, general rule țhe circulationof the Southern newspapers
there were at the various primaryschools 201,085
is 50 to 75 per cent, less than that of the
scholars ; at the various primaryschools of the North. Suppose,however,that each Southern
free states,1,626,028. The State of Ohio alone newspaper has two-thirds the circulationof a
had,at her primaryschools,17,524more scholars Northern journal, we have then but 225 newspapers
than all the fifteenslavestates. New York alone for the slave states ! The more
"
valuablejournals
had 301,282 more.
the monthlies and quarterlies are
In the slave states thereare 1,368,325freewhite almost entirely in the free States.
childrenbetween the ages of fiveand twenty; in The number of churches,the number and character
the free states,3,536,689such children. In the of the clergy who
"
Letterson Slavery," p. 65:
slave states,at schools and colleges, there
301,172 pupils; in the free states, 2,212,444
pupils at schools or colleges Ṭhus, in the slave
Rtates. nut of tvvnntv-fivn frp" white nhildrfn be-
are
187
Among the Northern States Connecticut, and
among the Southern States South Carolina, are to
a greatdegreefree from disturbing influencesof
this character. A comparisonbetween the two
stitutions
Connecticut there are but 526 persons over twenty
to make for themselves. What is most More than the sixth partof the adult freemen of
wonderful is,that the forestsand iron mines of South Carolina are unable to read the vote which
the South supply, in greatpart țhe materials out will be deposited at the next election. It is but
of which these thingsare made. The Northern fair to infer that at least one-third of the adults
home the of South Carolina,if not of much of the South,are
unable to read and understand even a
newspaper.
published
labor for these churches,
are other measures of the intellectualand moral
condition of the people.The scientificcharacter
of the Southern clergyhas been alreadytouched
on. Let us comnare the more external facts.