be opened to such an avenue as the NewYork and Erie Rail-road. This thorough fare is constructed upon the very narrow principle of the wide guage, for the exclusive benefit of the city of New York, and to prevent any beneficial union with the works of Pennsylvania, the width of whose railways requires different engines and cars. Confining her to Dunkirk, until Philadelphia shall have reached the port of Erie, with a railway which she is resolved to construct, the western roads of the guage common to Ohio, will converge at the same terminus, and their cars, by a better and shorter route, will pass directly to Philadelphia, leaving to New-York only that portion of trade which is specially destined for a northern mart. Such an arrangement secures to Philadelphia the commerce concentrated at Erie, as she has already secured that of the upper lakes at Cleveland. By her connections with Cincinnati and Wheeling, she will appropriate to herself much of that southern custom which is intended to enrich the metropolis of the state of Maryland.

This

cellent engineer, by whom it has been capitally located on the shortest line which nature permits, with light gradients, and built in the best manner, and at the least possible expense. undertaking has been well sustained by popular appreciation, and by the liberality of public and private assistance. It will literally redeem the pledge of its original friends, that no debi should be incurred in its prosecution, and that the great work should be carried on and finished by means alone of subscriptions to the capital stock. This policy, which was declared to be fundamental, has been faithfully observed; and the capital of the company, now nearly if not fully subscribed, must prove, so unlike all previous efforts in Pennsylvania, a paying stock, greatly beyond the legal interest of money, and of consequence universally in demand.

The successful completion of this enterprise will create a motive or incitement to the construction of a great railway, which shall connect Sunbury with Erie. Such a work will control the destinies of that mighty commerce with It is by means of the Pennsylvania which Philadelphia will be enriched by railway to Pittsburgh, prolonged west. the intermediate country and the northwardly to St. Louis, joining Cleveland west, concentrated at the lake, its on one side, and Wheeling and Cincin northern terminus. Those disjointed nati on the other, and stretching through links, which the continuity of the chain Kentucky to Nashville, and ulterior requires, between Harrisburg and Sunpoints, that Philadelphia will enjoy the immense trade of the Upper Lakes, of the Ohio, of the Upper Mississippi, and of their numerous, beautiful, and teeming tributaries. The improvements of New-York cannot offer a competition with Philadelphia, for the trade of that expansive region, of which these cities and towns form the natural drains, or the grand foci. Cleveland is 175 miles, and Cincinnati 249 miles nearer to Philadelphia than New-York; and the remoter points of junction beyond maintain these relative distances. The completion of the railway, now nearly finished, which is to connect these rich and wide domains to Philadelphia, will form a marked era in her history. It will be the epoch not merely of the commencement of an intimate intercourse with the West and its dependencies, but the time when other enterprises are to spring into life.

No untoward accident has ever marred the prospects of the Pennsylvania rail-road, which has been blest in an ex

bury, will be speedily undertaken, so as to form an unbroken connection with these interesting and fertile regions. No doubt can be entertained that Philadelphia will shake off all apathy and unconcern, and rouse herself to the magnitude of a present and impending danger. The cars of the New-York and Erie railway are now in the vicinity of the town of Erie in Pennsylvania, and menace Philadelphia with the abstraction of her trade in her own state, and at one of the most copious sources of its supply.

That selfish and exclusive policy which suggested the six-teet guage in opposition to the general guage of the country, will, in the presence of a rival, produce the natural effect of illiberality, in cutting off a profitable union between that railway and the western roads. It indeed prevents the single evil which this short-sighted policy proposed alone to redress, the diversion of merchan

* John Thompson, Esq.

Western Trade-New-York and Erie Rail-Road.

593

dise, once in its cars, from their destina- set, no calculation made of their adtion into the city of New-York. By vantages, which would not be deemed forming a barrier, as it does, to the flow vain or extravagant. The various treasof all tributaries to its own stream, the ures of the state will seek a market in invidious design will be thwarted or its own metropolis, and the untold wealth countervailed, by turning these currents of the fruitful regions beyond, surpassing into the swelling channel of a railway in extent and fertility half the area of leading to Philadelphia. But the line cultivated Europe, will be poured at her from Erie to Philadelphia, being 90 feet. With these aids and the facilities miles shorter than that to New-York, presented by her noble river, the commust determine the direction of the merce of Philadelphia requires but the trade, whenever and as soon as the op- sustaining hand of an earnest home-bred portunity of a transit hither shall be pride; it solicits but attention to the dicpresented. tates of imperious duty to be all that her local wants demand, all that honest ambition may covet, all that reasonable hope can justify.

With such means of intercourse, such of trade and travel to and with the West, North and South, no value can be

ART. VIII.-SLAVERY AND SLAVE STATISTICS OF THE SOUTH, ETC.

STATISTICS OF NEGRO POPULATION NORTH AND SOUTH-FOREIGN MISREPRESENTATION OF THE SOUTH-NASHVILLE AND MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, ETC.

A DOCUMENT has lately appeared in the Richmond Enquirer, which embodies so many instructive statistics in relation to the negro population of that state, which may in some sense be applicable to all of the southern states, that we think its incorporation into the Review a public service. The relative condition of the free blacks north and south presents a commentary upon the pseudophilanthropic negro-Tom book-making spirit of the day, which is worth fifty elaborate arguments in defence of the slaveholder. Upon the question of colonizing, we have never been able to come to as sanguine conclusions as some of our friends, or to perceive how, as a system, it could become of more than very limited application.

RICHMOND, VA., March 25, 1853. DEAR SIR:-In reply to your inquiry in relation to the crimes of free negroes and mulattoes, I will, with great pleasure, give you the most reliable information to be gleaned from the public documents at hand. But, it is to be regretted, that most of the prison reports, (otherwise full and interesting,) are quite defective in the main facts most intimately connected with the subject of inquiry. Enough, however, may be collected from the criminal records, of both slave and free states, to establish the

low grade of morals so generally attributed to this class of

persons. That you may have the facts, in the most convenient form for comparison, the white and free colored population, and the white and free colored convicts, will be given, respectively, of several slave and free states, with some explanatory remarks, beginning with the statistics of our own state. The white population of Virginia, in 1840, was 740,968; in 1850, was 895,304; average for ten years, 818,136.

In the ten fiscal years commencing the 1st of October, 1840, and ending the 30th of September, 1850, there were received in the Penitentiary 352 white convicts. If we average them at 36 per annum, we shall have a ratio of one convict for every 23,003 white persons in

the state.

The free colored population of Virginia, in 1840, was 49,834; in 1850, 53,829; annual average, 51,826.

In these ten years, (beginning the 1st of October, 1840, and ending 30th Sept. 1850,) 159 free colored convicts were received in the Penitentiary. If we make the average 16, we shall find the ratio is one convict for 3,201 free persons of color, exhibiting the proportion of crime among them as 7.18 to 1 among the white people of the state.

Tables of Crime-Foreign Misrepresentation of the South.

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.

595

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 preced ing 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. Being a ratio of one white conviet for every 2,838 white persons, and one free colored convict 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. Conviets 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

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.

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
would so far exceed the annual increase
as to give assurance of the final suecess
of this great and benevolent enterprise.
I am, very truly, your ob'nt serv't,
C. S. MORGAN.

GEORGE E. DENEALE, ESQ.,
Senate of Virginia.

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:

Virginia.-The ratio of convicts received in the penitentiary. annually, for ten years, ending 30th of September, 1850, to the average population, was..

In the two years from 1st of October, 1850, to 30th of September, 1852, according to the population of 1850, the rate was, annually.. I to 13,565....1 to 2,159..... 6.33 to I [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 pemtentiary 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,

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...

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..

In the two Pennsylvania penitentiaries, there remained in prison on the 31st of December, 1852, at the rate of..

In the three New-York penitentiaries for the year ending the 1st of
December, 1851, there remained in prison..

Average of the five states above named..

In the New-Jersey penitentiary, on the 1st of January, 1850, there remained in prison, according to the population of 1850, at the rate of.....

In the Connecticut penitentiary, on the 1st of January, 1850, there remained in prison at the rate of.

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.....11.72 to I