The Continental Monthly, Vol V. Issue III. March, 1864 | Page 4

from 1790 to 1860,
compared with that of Maryland, is still greater than that of
Massachusetts. The law is inflexible wherever slavery disappears.
Population of New Jersey in 1790, 184,139, in 1860, 672,035, being an
increase of 264 per cent. (264.96) for New Jersey, of 225 per cent.
(225.06) for Massachusetts, and for Maryland 114 percent. (114.88).
The ratio of increase per square mile from 1790 to 1860 was:
Massachusetts, 48.55 in 1790, and 157.82 in 1860; Maryland, 28.74 in
1790, and 61.76 in 1860; and New Jersey, 22.01 in 1790, and 80.70 in
1860. Thus, while Maryland from 1790 to 1860, little more than
doubled her ratio of increase per square mile (28.74 to 61.76), and
Massachusetts little more than tripled her ratio (48.55 to 157.82), New
Jersey very nearly quadrupled hers (22.01 to 80.70). It must be
conceded, however, that the natural advantages of New Jersey are far
greater than those of Massachusetts, whose material and intellectual
progress, in defiance of such serious obstacles, now is, and most
probably forever will be, without a parallel. Now the area of New
Jersey is but 8,320 square miles; the soil of Maryland is far more fertile,
the hydraulic power much greater, the shoreline much more than
double, viz.: 531 for New Jersey, to 1,336 for Maryland; while New
Jersey, with rich iron mines, has no coal, and one third of her area is
south of the celebrated Mason and Dixon's line, the northern boundary
of Maryland. While the Free States have accomplished these miracles
of progress, they have peopled eleven vast Territories (soon by
subdivision to become many more States), immigration to which has
been almost exclusively from the North as compared with the South.

The Slave State which has increased most rapidly to the square mile of
all of them from 1790 to 1860, has had a smaller augmentation per
square mile than that Free State which has increased most slowly per
square mile during the same time of all the Free States, and the result is
the same as to wealth and education also. Under the best circumstances
for the Slave States, and the worst for the Free States, this result proves
the uniformity of the rule (like the great law of gravitation), knowing
no exception to the effect of slavery in depressing the progress of States
in population, wealth, and education.
The isothermals of the great Humboldt (differing so widely from
parallels), which trace the lines of temperature on the earth's surface,
prove, as to heat, the climate of the South (running a line from
Charleston to Vicksburg) to be substantially the same as that of Greece
and Italy-each, in its turn, the mistress of the world.
The Census of 1860 exhibits our increase of population from 1790 to
1860 at 35.59 per cent., and of our wealth 126.45. Now, if we would
increase the wealth of the country only one tenth in the next ten years,
by the gradual disappearance of slavery (far below the results of the
Census), then our wealth being now $16,159,616,068, the effect of
such increase would be to make our wealth in 1870, instead of
$36,593,450,585, more than sixteen hundred millions greater, and in
1880, instead of $82,865,868,849, over three billions six hundred
millions, or more than three times our present debt.
Before the close of this letter, it will be shown that the difference, per
capita, of the annual products of Massachusetts and Maryland exceeds
$150. As to the other Southern States, the excess is much greater. Now,
if the annual products of the South were increased $150 each per capita
(still far below Massachusetts) by the exclusion of slavery, then
multiplying the total population of the South, 12,229,727, by 150, the
result would be an addition to the annual value of the products of the
South of $1,834,456,050, and in the decade, $18,344,580,500. This
change would not be immediate, but there can be no doubt that with the
vastly greater natural advantages of the South, the superiority of free to
slave labor, the immense immigration, especially from Europe to the

South, aided by the Homestead Bill, and the conversion of large
plantations into small farms, an addition of at least one billion of
dollars would be made in a decade, by the exclusion of slavery, to the
value of the products of the South.
Having considered the relative progress in population of Massachusetts
and Maryland, I will now examine their advance in wealth.
By Tables 33 and 36, Census of 1860, the value of the products of
Massachusetts that year was $287,000,000; and of Maryland,
$66,000,000. Table 33 included domestic manufactories, mines, and
fisheries (p. 59); and Table 36, agricultural products. Dividing these
several aggregates by the total population of each State, the value of
that year's product of Massachusetts was