“Many people seem to think that the Pilgrim Fathers were the first who settled upon our shores, and therefore that they ought to be entitled, in a particular manner, to our remembrance and esteem.“This is not the case, and we herewith present to our readers a list of settlements made in the present United States, prior to that of Plymouth:1564. A Colony of French Protestants under Ribault settled in Florida.1565. St. Augustine[8]founded by Pedro Melendez.1584. Sir Walter Raleigh obtains a patent and sends two vessels to the American coast, which receives the name of Virginia.1607. The first effectual settlement made at Jamestown, Va., by the London Company.1614. A fort erected by the Dutch upon the site of New-York.1615. Fort Orange built near the site of Albany, N. Y.1619. The first General Assembly called in Virginia.1620. The Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock.”
“Many people seem to think that the Pilgrim Fathers were the first who settled upon our shores, and therefore that they ought to be entitled, in a particular manner, to our remembrance and esteem.
“This is not the case, and we herewith present to our readers a list of settlements made in the present United States, prior to that of Plymouth:
1564. A Colony of French Protestants under Ribault settled in Florida.
1565. St. Augustine[8]founded by Pedro Melendez.
1584. Sir Walter Raleigh obtains a patent and sends two vessels to the American coast, which receives the name of Virginia.
1607. The first effectual settlement made at Jamestown, Va., by the London Company.
1614. A fort erected by the Dutch upon the site of New-York.
1615. Fort Orange built near the site of Albany, N. Y.
1619. The first General Assembly called in Virginia.
1620. The Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock.”
FREEDOM AND SLAVERY AT THE FAIR.
WHAT FREEDOM DID.
At an Agricultural Fair held at Watertown, in the State of New-York, on the 2d day of October, 1856, two hundred and twenty premiums, ranging from three to fifty dollars each, were awarded to successful competitors—the aggregate amount of said premiums being $2,396, or an average of $10.89 each. From the proceedings of the Awarding Committee we make the following extracts:—
WHAT SLAVERY DID.
At the Rowan County Agricultural Fair, held at Mineral Springs, in North Carolina, on the 13th day of November, 1856, thirty premiums, ranging from twenty-five cents to two dollars each, were awarded to successful competitors—the aggregate amount of said premiums being $42, or an average of $1.40 each. From the proceedings of the Awarding Committee we make the following extracts:—
Besides the two hundred and twenty premiums, amounting in the aggregate to $2,396, freedom granted several diplomas and silver medals; besides the thirty premiums amounting in the aggregate to $42, slavery granted none—nothing. While examining these figures, it should be recollected that agriculture is the peculiar province of the slave States. If commerce or manufactures had been the subject of the fair, the result might have shown even a greater disproportion in favor of freedom, and yet therewould have been some excuse for slavery, for it makes no pretensions to either the one or the other; but as agriculture was the subject, slavery can have no excuse whatever, but must bear all the shame of its niggardly and revolting impotence; this it must do for the reason that agriculture is its special and almost only pursuit.
The reports of the Comptrollers of the States of New York and North Carolina, for the year 1856, are now before us. From each report we have gleaned a single item, which, when compared, the one with the other, speaks volumes in favor of freedom and against slavery. We refer to the average value per acre of lands in the two States; let slavocrats read, reflect, and repent.
In 1856, there were assessed for taxation in the State of
NEW YORK,
In 1856, there were assessed for taxation in the State of
NORTH CAROLINA,
It is difficult for us to make any remarks on the official facts above. Our indignation is struck almost dumb at this astounding and revolting display of the awful wreck that slavery is leaving behind it in the South. We will however, go into a calculation for the purpose ofascertaining as nearly as possible, in this one particular, how much North Carolina has lost by the retention of slavery. As we have already seen, the average value per acre of land in the State of New York is $36.97; in North Carolina it is only $3.06; why is it so much less, or even any less, in the latter than in the former? The answer is,slavery. In soil, in climate, in minerals, in water-power for manufactural purposes, and in area of territory, North Carolina has the advantage of New York, and, with the exception of slavery, no plausible reason can possibly be assigned why land should not beat leastas valuable in the valley of the Yadkin as it is along the banks of the Genesee.
The difference between $36.97 and $3.06 is $33.91, which, multiplied by the whole number of acres of land in North Carolina, will show, in this one particular, the enormous loss that Freedom has sustained on account of Slavery in the Old North State. Thus:—
Let it be indelibly impressed on the mind, however, that this amount, large as it is, is only a moity of the sum that it has cost to maintain slavery in North Carolina. From time to time, hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars have left the State, either in search of profitable, permanent investment abroad, or in the shape of profits to Northern merchants and manufactures, who have become the moneyed aristocracy of the country by supplying to the South such articles of necessity, utility, and adornment, as would have been produced at home but for the pernicious presence of the peculiar institution.
A reward of Eleven Hundred Millions of Dollars is offered for the conversion of the lands of North Carolina into free soil. The lands themselves, desolate and impoverished under the fatal foot of slavery, offer the reward. How, then, can it be made to appear that the abolition of slavery in North Carolina, and, indeed, throughout all the Southern States—for slavery is exceedingly inimical to them all—is not demanded by every consideration of justice, prudence, and good sense? In 1850, the total value of all the slaves of the State, at the rate of four hundred dollars per head, amounted to less than one hundred and sixteen millions of dollars. Is the sum of one hundred and sixteen millions of dollars more desirable than the sum of eleven hundred millions of dollars? When a man has land for sale, does he reject thirty-six dollars per acre and take three? Non-slaveholding whites! look well to your interests! Many of you have lands; comparatively speaking, you have nothing else. Abolish slavery, and you will enhance the value of every league, your own and your neighbors’, from three to thirty-six dollars per acre. Your little tract containing two hundred acres, now valued at the pitiful sum of only six hundred dollars, will then be worth seven thousand. Your children, now deprived of even the meagre advantages of common schools, will then reap the benefits of a collegiate education. Your rivers and smaller streams, now wasting their waters in idleness, will then turn the wheels of multitudinous mills. Your bays and harbors, now unknown to commerce, will then swarm with ships fromevery enlightened quarter of the globe. Non-slaveholding whites! look well to your interests!
Would the slaveholders of North Carolina lose anything by the abolition of slavery? Let us see. According to their own estimate, their slaves are worth, in round numbers, say, one hundred and twenty millions of dollars. There are in the State twenty-eight thousand slaveholders, owning, it may be safely assumed, an average of at least five hundred acres of land each—fourteen millions of acres in all. This number of acres, multiplied by thirty-three dollars and ninety-one cents, the difference in value between free soil and slave soil, makes the enormous sum of four hundred and seventy-four millions of dollars—showing that, by the abolition of slavery, the slaveholders themselves would realize a net profit of not less than three hundred and fifty-four millions of dollars!
Compensation to slaveholders for the negroes now in their possession! The idea is preposterous. The suggestion is criminal. The demand is unjust, wicked, monstrous, damnable. Shall we pat the bloodhounds of slavery for the sake of doing them a favor? Shall we fee the curs of slavery in order to make them rich at our expense? Shall we pay the whelps of slavery for the privilege of converting them into decent, honest, upright men? No, never! The non-slaveholders expect to gain, and will gain, something by the abolition of slavery; but slaveholders themselves will, by far, be the greater gainers; for, in proportion to population, they own much larger and more fertile tracts of land, and will, as a matter of course, receive the lion’s share of the increase in the value of not only real estate, but also of othergenuine property, of which they are likewise the principal owners. How ridiculously absurd, therefore, is the objection, that, if we liberate the slaves, we ruin the masters! Not long since, a gentleman in Baltimore, a native of Maryland, remarked in our presence that he was an abolitionist because he felt that it was right and proper to be one; “but,” inquired he, “are there not, in some of the States, many widows and orphans who would be left in destitute circumstances, if their negroes were taken from them?” In answer to the question, we replied that slavery had already reduced thousands and tens of thousands of non-slaveholding widows and orphans to the lowest depths of poverty and ignorance, and that we did not believe one slaveholding widow and three orphans were of more, or even of as much consequence as five non-slaveholding widows and fifteen orphans. “You are right,” exclaimed the gentleman, “I had not viewed the subject in that light before; I perceive you go in for the greatest good to the greatest number.” Emancipate the negroes, and the ex-slaveholding widow would still retain her lands and tenements, which, in consequence of being surrounded by the magic influences of liberty, would soon render her far more wealthy and infinitely more respectable, than she could possibly ever become while trafficking in human flesh.
The fact is, every slave in the South costs the State in which he resides at least three times as much as he, in the whole course of his life, is worth to his master. Slavery benefits no one but its immediate, individual owners, and them only in a pecuniary point of view, and at the sacrificeof the dearest rights and interests of the whole mass of non-slaveholders, white and black. Even the masters themselves, as we have already shown, would be far better off without it than with it. To all classes of society the institution is a curse; an especial curse is it to those who own it not. Non-slaveholding whites! look well to your interests!
Our theme is a city—a great Southern importing, exporting, and manufacturing city, to be located at some point or port on the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia or Virginia, where we can carry on active commerce, buy, sell, fabricate, receive the profits which accrue from the exchange of our own commodities, open facilities for direct communication with foreign countries, and establish all those collateral sources of wealth, utility, and adornment, which are the usual concomitants of a metropolis, and which add so very materially to the interest and importance of a nation. Without a city of this kind, the South can never develop her commercial resources nor attain to that eminent position to which those vast resources would otherwise exalt her. According to calculations based upon reasonable estimates, it is owing to the lack of a great commercial city in the South, that we are nowannuallydrained of more than One Hundred and Twenty Millions of Dollars! We should, however, take into consideration the negative loss as well as the positive. Especially should we think of the influx of emigrants, of the visits of strangers and cosmopolites, of the patronage to hotels andpublic halls, of the profits of travel and transportation, of the emoluments of foreign and domestic trade, and of numerous other advantages which have their origin exclusively in wealthy, enterprising, and densely populated cities.
Nothing is more evident than the fact, that our people have never entertained a proper opinion of the importance of home cities. Blindly, and greatly to our own injury, we have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars towards the erection of mammoth cities at the North, while our own magnificent bays and harbors have been most shamefully disregarded and neglected. Now, instead of carrying all our money to New-York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Cincinnati, suppose we had kept it on the south side of Mason and Dixon’s line—as we would have done, had it not been for slavery—and had disbursed it in the upbuilding of Norfolk, Beaufort, Charleston, or Savannah, how much richer, better, greater, would the South have been to-day! How much larger and more intelligent would have been our population. How many hundred thousand natives of the South would now be thriving at home, instead of adding to the wealth and political power of other parts of the Union. How much greater would be the number and length of our railroads, canals, turnpikes, and telegraphs. How much greater would be the extent and diversity of our manufactures. How much greater would be the grandeur, and how much larger would be the number of our churches, theatres, schools, colleges, lyceums, banks, hotels, stores, and private dwellings. How many more clippers and steamships would we have sailing onthe ocean, how vastly more reputable would we be abroad, how infinitely more respectable, progressive, and happy, would we be at home.
That we may learn something of the importance of cities in general, let us look for a moment at the great capitals of the world. What would England be without London? What would France be without Paris? What would Turkey be without Constantinople? Or, to come nearer home, what would Maryland be without Baltimore? What would Louisiana be without New Orleans? What would South Carolina be without Charleston? Do we ever think of these countries or States without thinking of their cities also? If we want to learn the news of the country, do we not go to the city, or to the city papers? Every metropolis may be regarded as the nucleus or epitome of the country in which it is situated; and the more prominent features and characteristics of a country, particularly of the people of a country, are almost always to be seen within the limits of its capital city. Almost invariably do we find the bulk of the floating funds, the best talent, and the most vigorous energies of a nation concentrated in its chief cities; and does not this concentration of wealth, energy, and talent, conduce, in an extraordinary degree, to the growth and prosperity of the nation? Unquestionably. Wealth develops wealth, energy develops energy, talent develops talent. What, then, must be the condition of those countries which do not possess the means or facilities of centralizing their material forces, their energies, and their talents? Are they not destinedto occupy an inferior rank among the nations of the earth? Let the South answer.
And now let us ask, and we would put the question particularly to Southern merchants, what do we so much need as a great Southern metropolis? Merchants of the South, slaveholders! you are the avaricious assassinators of your country! You are the channels through which more than one hundred and twenty millions of dollars—$120,000,000—are annually drained from the South and conveyed to the North. You are daily engaged in the unmanly and unpatriotic work of impoverishing the land of your birth. You are constantly enfeebling our resources and rendering us more and more tributary to distant parts of the nation. Your conduct is reprehensible, base, criminal.
Whether Southern merchants ever think of the numerous ways in which they contribute to the aggrandizement of the North, while, at the same time, they enervate and dishonor the South, has, for many years, with us, been a matter of more than ordinary conjecture. If, as it would seem, they have never yet thought of the subject, it is certainly desirable that they should exercise their minds upon it at once. Let them scrutinize the workings of Southern money after it passes north of Mason and Dixon’s line. Let them consider how much they pay to Northern railroads and hotels, how much to Northern merchants and shop-keepers, how much to Northern shippers and insurers, how much to Northern theatres, newspapers, and periodicals. Let them also consider what disposition is made of it after it is lodged in the hands of the North.Is not the greater part of it paid out to Northern manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers, for the very articles which are purchased at the North—and to the extent that this is done, are not Northern manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers directly countenanced and encouraged, while at the same time, Southern manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers, are indirectly abased, depressed, and disabled? It is, however, a matter of impossibility, on these small pages, to notice or enumerate all the methods in which the money we deposit in the North is made to operate against us; suffice it to say that it is circulated and expended there, among all classes of the people, to the injury and impoverishment of almost every individual in the South. And yet, our cousins of the North are not, by any means, blameworthy for availing themselves of the advantages which we have voluntarily yielded to them. They have shown their wisdom in growing great at our expense, and we have shown our folly in allowing them to do so. Southern merchants, slaveholders, and slave-breeders, should be the objects of our censure; they have desolated and impoverished the South; they are now making merchandize of the vitals of their country; patriotism is a word nowhere recorded in their vocabulary; town, city, country—they care for neither; with them, self is always paramount to every other consideration.
Having already compared slavery with freedom in the States, we will now compare it with freedom in the cities. From every person as yet unconvinced of the despicablenessof slavery, we respectfully ask attention to the following letters, which fully explain themselves:—
Finance Department Comptroller’s Office,New-York, February 17th, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—Your letter to Mayor Wood has been handed to me for an answer, which I take pleasure in giving as follows:The last assessment of property in this city was made in August, 1856.The value of all the real and personal property in the city, according to that assessment, is $511,740,492.A census of the city was taken in 1855, and the number of inhabitants at that time can be obtained only from the Secretary of State.Very truly yours,A. S. Cady.State of New-York, Secretary’s Office,Albany, February 24, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—Yours of the 17th February, in regard to the population of the city of New York, is before me. According to the census of1855thepopulationwas629,8101850"""515,5471845"""371,2231840"""312,7101835"""268,0891830"""197,112As to the population now, you have the same facilities of judging that we have from the above table.Very truly yours,A. N. Wakefield,Chief Clerk.Mayor’s Office, City Hall,Baltimore, December 26, 1856.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir—His Honor the Mayor of this City has requested me to reply to your communication of the 24th inst., addressed to him, requesting answers to certain questions.In answer to your first interrogatory, I would state that the amount of direct taxation assessed January 1st, 1856, was $102,053,839; the amount of exempt taxation (i. e. property out of the limits of direct tax) assessed at that date was $6,054,733.In reply to your second inquiry, I would state that no census of the city has been taken since 1850. The estimated population at this time is about 250,000. Respectfully Yours. &c., &c.,D. H. Blanchard,Secretary.Office of the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia,December 30, 1856.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:In reply to your note of the 25th inst., received to-day, I hasten to give you the estimates you ask.Real Estate, 150 millions; it is about one-half the real value. Its market price is at least 300 million dollars.The Personal Estate is returned at 20 millions; it is over 110 millions. There has been no census since 1850. The population now is 500,000.Yours truly,G. Vaux.State of Louisiana. Mayoralty of New Orleans,City Hall, 3d day of Jan’y, 1857.Mr. H. R. Helper,New-York:Dear Sir:—In answer to your note of the 24th December, I beg to refer you to the enclosed abstract for the value of real estate and slaves according to the last assessment.There has heretofore been no assessment of personal property—there having been no tax authorized until this year. The assessment is now being made and will probably add about $5,000,000 to the assessment as stated in the abstract.There has been no census since the U. S. census of 1850, except an informal census, made in 1852, for the purpose of dividing the city into wards anew.The estimated population now is about 150 to 175,000 inhabitants—permanent population—including the floating population at this season, it would probably reach not less than 210,000 inhabitants. The U. S. census was taken in the summer months, and is very incorrect as to the absolute population of New Orleans.Very respectfully,Your obed’t serv’t,J. B. Walton,Secretary.
Finance Department Comptroller’s Office,New-York, February 17th, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—
Your letter to Mayor Wood has been handed to me for an answer, which I take pleasure in giving as follows:
The last assessment of property in this city was made in August, 1856.
The value of all the real and personal property in the city, according to that assessment, is $511,740,492.
A census of the city was taken in 1855, and the number of inhabitants at that time can be obtained only from the Secretary of State.
Very truly yours,A. S. Cady.
State of New-York, Secretary’s Office,Albany, February 24, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—
Yours of the 17th February, in regard to the population of the city of New York, is before me. According to the census of
As to the population now, you have the same facilities of judging that we have from the above table.
Very truly yours,A. N. Wakefield,Chief Clerk.
Mayor’s Office, City Hall,Baltimore, December 26, 1856.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir—
His Honor the Mayor of this City has requested me to reply to your communication of the 24th inst., addressed to him, requesting answers to certain questions.
In answer to your first interrogatory, I would state that the amount of direct taxation assessed January 1st, 1856, was $102,053,839; the amount of exempt taxation (i. e. property out of the limits of direct tax) assessed at that date was $6,054,733.
In reply to your second inquiry, I would state that no census of the city has been taken since 1850. The estimated population at this time is about 250,000. Respectfully Yours. &c., &c.,
D. H. Blanchard,Secretary.
Office of the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia,December 30, 1856.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:
In reply to your note of the 25th inst., received to-day, I hasten to give you the estimates you ask.
Real Estate, 150 millions; it is about one-half the real value. Its market price is at least 300 million dollars.
The Personal Estate is returned at 20 millions; it is over 110 millions. There has been no census since 1850. The population now is 500,000.
Yours truly,G. Vaux.
State of Louisiana. Mayoralty of New Orleans,City Hall, 3d day of Jan’y, 1857.
Mr. H. R. Helper,New-York:Dear Sir:—
In answer to your note of the 24th December, I beg to refer you to the enclosed abstract for the value of real estate and slaves according to the last assessment.
There has heretofore been no assessment of personal property—there having been no tax authorized until this year. The assessment is now being made and will probably add about $5,000,000 to the assessment as stated in the abstract.
There has been no census since the U. S. census of 1850, except an informal census, made in 1852, for the purpose of dividing the city into wards anew.
The estimated population now is about 150 to 175,000 inhabitants—permanent population—including the floating population at this season, it would probably reach not less than 210,000 inhabitants. The U. S. census was taken in the summer months, and is very incorrect as to the absolute population of New Orleans.
Very respectfully,Your obed’t serv’t,J. B. Walton,Secretary.
By reference to the abstract of which Mr. Walton speaks, we find that the value of real and personal property is summed up as follows:—
City Hall, Boston,Dec. 31, 1856.Dear Sir:—Yours of the 25th inst., addressed to the Mayor, has been handed to me for a reply—and I would accordingly state that the value of real and personal estate in this city, on the first day of May, A.D. 1856, was $249,162,500.The census of the city of Boston, on the first day of May, A.D. 1855, was 162,748 persons.The estimated population of the city of Boston at this date—say January 1st, 1857—is 165,000.Yours, very respectfully,Saml. T. McCleary,City Clerk.St. Louis,Feb. 27, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York:Dear Sir:—In reply to yours of the 9th inst., I beg leave to state, that a census of our population was taken in the spring of 1856 by the Sheriff, and although it was inaccurate, yet the population as returned by him was then 125,500. That his census is too low there is no doubt. Our population at this time is at least 140,000.Our last assessment was made in February, 1856. Value of real and personal estate, is, in round numbers, $63,000,000.Trusting this information will be sufficient for your purpose, I remain,Yours, &c.,John How,Mayor.Mayor’s Office. City Hall, Brooklyn,January 24th, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Sir:—The answers to your inquiries are as follows:The last assessment of property in this city was made in August, 1856.The value of all the real and personal property in the city, according to that assessment, is $95,800,440.A census of the city was taken in 1855, and the number of inhabitants, according to it, was 205,250.The estimated population now is 225,000.The last annual report of the Comptroller, together with acommunication of the Mayor to the Common Council, made on the 5th of Jan., 1857, have been transmitted by mail to your address, and from them you may be able to obtain any further information you may desire. Yours, respectfully.S. S. Powell,Mayor.ByC. S. Brainerd.Mayor’s Office,Charleston, Feb. 16, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,(New York,)Dear Sir:—Yours of the 9th has just been received, I sent you, through the Clerk of Council, some time ago, the Annual Fiscal Statement of the Committee on Accounts made to the City Council, which would give some of the information which you desire. I will have another copy sent you.No census has been taken since 1848. The population at present must be between fifty and sixty thousand.Any information which it may be in my power to furnish you with, will always give me pleasure to supply.Very respectfully,Wm. Porcher Miles,Mayor.
City Hall, Boston,Dec. 31, 1856.
Dear Sir:—Yours of the 25th inst., addressed to the Mayor, has been handed to me for a reply—and I would accordingly state that the value of real and personal estate in this city, on the first day of May, A.D. 1856, was $249,162,500.
The census of the city of Boston, on the first day of May, A.D. 1855, was 162,748 persons.
The estimated population of the city of Boston at this date—say January 1st, 1857—is 165,000.
Yours, very respectfully,Saml. T. McCleary,City Clerk.
St. Louis,Feb. 27, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York:Dear Sir:—
In reply to yours of the 9th inst., I beg leave to state, that a census of our population was taken in the spring of 1856 by the Sheriff, and although it was inaccurate, yet the population as returned by him was then 125,500. That his census is too low there is no doubt. Our population at this time is at least 140,000.
Our last assessment was made in February, 1856. Value of real and personal estate, is, in round numbers, $63,000,000.
Trusting this information will be sufficient for your purpose, I remain,
Yours, &c.,John How,Mayor.
Mayor’s Office. City Hall, Brooklyn,January 24th, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Sir:—
The answers to your inquiries are as follows:
The last assessment of property in this city was made in August, 1856.
The value of all the real and personal property in the city, according to that assessment, is $95,800,440.
A census of the city was taken in 1855, and the number of inhabitants, according to it, was 205,250.
The estimated population now is 225,000.
The last annual report of the Comptroller, together with acommunication of the Mayor to the Common Council, made on the 5th of Jan., 1857, have been transmitted by mail to your address, and from them you may be able to obtain any further information you may desire. Yours, respectfully.
S. S. Powell,Mayor.ByC. S. Brainerd.
Mayor’s Office,Charleston, Feb. 16, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,(New York,)Dear Sir:—
Yours of the 9th has just been received, I sent you, through the Clerk of Council, some time ago, the Annual Fiscal Statement of the Committee on Accounts made to the City Council, which would give some of the information which you desire. I will have another copy sent you.
No census has been taken since 1848. The population at present must be between fifty and sixty thousand.
Any information which it may be in my power to furnish you with, will always give me pleasure to supply.
Very respectfully,Wm. Porcher Miles,Mayor.
From a report of the “Annual accounts of the city of Charleston, for the fiscal year ending the 31st of August, 1856,” it appears that the total value of real and personal property, including slaves—nearly half the population—was $36,127,751.
Mayor’s Office,Cincinnati, Jan’y 2, 1857.Dear Sir:—In reply to your note of the 25th ult., I beg leave to say that the value of all the real and personal property inthis city, as assessed for taxation, amounts to $88,810,734. The realty being $60,701,267; the personalty $20,795,203, and the bank and brokers’ capital $7,314,264. The assessment of the realty was made in 1853; that of the personalty is made in March of each year.Our present population is estimated at 210,000. No complete census has been taken since 1850.The total of taxes levied on the above assessment of $88,810,734, for city purposes, was $529,727,05.Very respectfully,Your ob’dt. serv’t,Jas. J. Faran,Mayor.H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York.Mayor’s Office,Louisville, Ky., January 1st, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York City,Dear Sir:—Your favor 24th ult. is received—contents noted. I will remark in reply, that the taxes of this city are levied only on real estate, slaves, and merchandise, (exclusive of home manufactures,) which are taken at what is supposed to be their cash value, but is much less than the real value. Our last assessment was made the 10th January, 1856, and amounted to $31,500,000.There has been no census of this city taken since 1850, our charter requiring that it shall be taken this year. I am now preparing to have it done. It is supposed Louisville at this time has a population of 65 or 70 thousand.I send with this my last annual message to the Gen. Council and accompanying documents.Respectfully yours,John BarbeeMayor.Daily Tribune Office,Chicago, May 21, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.Sir:—In the May No. of Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine you will find some of your questions answered. The actual cash value of property is not taken by the assessors. Citizens are not sworn as to the value of their personal effects, nor is real estate given in at twenty per cent. of its selling cash price. An elaborate estimate of the real value, in cash, of Chicago, which we have seen,puts the real estate at$125,000,000Improvements on the same,$24,000,000Personal property,$22,000,000In 1857 total value,$171,000,000On half a dozen streets in this city lots sell readily at $1,000 to $1,200 per foot front, exclusive of improvements.A census of the population of Chicago was taken in October, 1853, and in June, 1855, the latter by State authority. That of October ’53 found 60,652; that of June ’55 found 80,509. The best estimate at present makes the number, on May 1st, 1857, to be 112,000, which is rather under than over the truth. The amount of building, in the city, is immense, but as quickly as a tenement can be spiked together, it is taken at a high rent; and at no former period has there seemed so rapid an augmentation of population.Very truly yours,Ray & Medill,Eds. Ch. Trib.Richmond, Va.April 25th, ’57.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—Yours of the 14th inst. has been received, and should have been answered sooner, but it was impossible to get the information you desired earlier. The value of the real estate in the city of Richmond is $18,000,000. The value of the personal is $191,920. Total value $18,201,920. This does not include slaves, of whom there are 6,472 in the city. The State values each slave at $300each—making $1,941,600, which, added to the total above, makes $20,143,520. The number of inhabitants—white and black, is 34,612 within the corporation limits. The assessment was made in 1855 throughout the whole State.Yours, very respectfully,B. W. Starke.Mayor’s Office,Providence, Dec. 31st, 1856.H. R. Helper. Esq.,New York,Dear Sir:—Yours of 25th is this moment received. You will receive with this a communication from the Chairman of the Board of Assessors, giving the requisite information from that department. I send you this day a census report, taken 1855, which will give you the information asked. Our population at this time is between 50 and 60,000.Respectfully,James Y. Smith,Mayor.Assessor’s Office,Providence, Dec. 31st, 1856.H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—His Honor, the Mayor of this City, has requested me to answer your communication of the 25th inst., addressed to him, so far as relates to the valuation of this city, &c., which is herewith presented.The valuation of this City in 1856 is as follows:Real Estate,$36,487,116Personal Estate,21,577,400Total,$58,064,516Our last assessment was ordered in June last, and completed on the 1st day of September last.Rates of taxation $7 75 per $1000.Amount of tax raised $450,000.Respectfully yours,Joseph Martin,Chairman of the Board of Assessors.Herald Office,Norfolk. Va., 28th April, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York,Dear Sir:—The value of all the real estate, as re-assessed about two months ago, is set down, say, in round numbers, at five and a half millions. The actual value would bring it somewhat above that mark. The assessment of the personal property will be completed in three or four weeks hence; but itsexactvalue cannot be arrived at from the fact that a large portion of this description of property—including slaves—is taxed specifically without regard to its value. It is estimated by the assessors, however, that thepersonalexceeds thereal estate, and may be safely set down at six and a half millions.There has been no census taken since 1850. The State authorities assume the population to be 16,000, but I am informed by the assessors that 17,000 is a fairer estimate.Hoping that the information given may answer the purpose for which you require it, I am,Respectfully yours,R. G. Broughton.Mayor’s Office,Buffalo, March 10, 1857.Dear Sir:—Yours, of the 9th inst., was received this morning. The answers to your questions are as follows:The last valuation of the property of our city was made in April, 1856.Valuationof real estate,$38,114,040"personal estate,7,360,436Total real and personal,$45,474,476The last census was the State census, taken in the summer of 1855. That showed a population of 74,214; a fair estimate now is 90,000.Respectfully,Your ob’t serv’t,F. P. Stevens.Mayor’s Office,Savannah, 9th January, 1856.H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York,Dear Sir:—In reply to your first interrogatory, I send you the last Mayor’s report, in which you will find the information you seek.No census has been taken of the city since 1850.The estimated population is 25,000.Very respectfully yours,J. P. Screven,Mayor.
Mayor’s Office,Cincinnati, Jan’y 2, 1857.
Dear Sir:—In reply to your note of the 25th ult., I beg leave to say that the value of all the real and personal property inthis city, as assessed for taxation, amounts to $88,810,734. The realty being $60,701,267; the personalty $20,795,203, and the bank and brokers’ capital $7,314,264. The assessment of the realty was made in 1853; that of the personalty is made in March of each year.
Our present population is estimated at 210,000. No complete census has been taken since 1850.
The total of taxes levied on the above assessment of $88,810,734, for city purposes, was $529,727,05.
Very respectfully,Your ob’dt. serv’t,Jas. J. Faran,Mayor.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York.
Mayor’s Office,Louisville, Ky., January 1st, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York City,Dear Sir:—
Your favor 24th ult. is received—contents noted. I will remark in reply, that the taxes of this city are levied only on real estate, slaves, and merchandise, (exclusive of home manufactures,) which are taken at what is supposed to be their cash value, but is much less than the real value. Our last assessment was made the 10th January, 1856, and amounted to $31,500,000.
There has been no census of this city taken since 1850, our charter requiring that it shall be taken this year. I am now preparing to have it done. It is supposed Louisville at this time has a population of 65 or 70 thousand.
I send with this my last annual message to the Gen. Council and accompanying documents.
Respectfully yours,John BarbeeMayor.
Daily Tribune Office,Chicago, May 21, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.Sir:—
In the May No. of Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine you will find some of your questions answered. The actual cash value of property is not taken by the assessors. Citizens are not sworn as to the value of their personal effects, nor is real estate given in at twenty per cent. of its selling cash price. An elaborate estimate of the real value, in cash, of Chicago, which we have seen,
On half a dozen streets in this city lots sell readily at $1,000 to $1,200 per foot front, exclusive of improvements.
A census of the population of Chicago was taken in October, 1853, and in June, 1855, the latter by State authority. That of October ’53 found 60,652; that of June ’55 found 80,509. The best estimate at present makes the number, on May 1st, 1857, to be 112,000, which is rather under than over the truth. The amount of building, in the city, is immense, but as quickly as a tenement can be spiked together, it is taken at a high rent; and at no former period has there seemed so rapid an augmentation of population.
Very truly yours,Ray & Medill,Eds. Ch. Trib.
Richmond, Va.April 25th, ’57.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—
Yours of the 14th inst. has been received, and should have been answered sooner, but it was impossible to get the information you desired earlier. The value of the real estate in the city of Richmond is $18,000,000. The value of the personal is $191,920. Total value $18,201,920. This does not include slaves, of whom there are 6,472 in the city. The State values each slave at $300each—making $1,941,600, which, added to the total above, makes $20,143,520. The number of inhabitants—white and black, is 34,612 within the corporation limits. The assessment was made in 1855 throughout the whole State.
Yours, very respectfully,B. W. Starke.
Mayor’s Office,Providence, Dec. 31st, 1856.
H. R. Helper. Esq.,New York,Dear Sir:—
Yours of 25th is this moment received. You will receive with this a communication from the Chairman of the Board of Assessors, giving the requisite information from that department. I send you this day a census report, taken 1855, which will give you the information asked. Our population at this time is between 50 and 60,000.
Respectfully,James Y. Smith,Mayor.
Assessor’s Office,Providence, Dec. 31st, 1856.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,Dear Sir:—
His Honor, the Mayor of this City, has requested me to answer your communication of the 25th inst., addressed to him, so far as relates to the valuation of this city, &c., which is herewith presented.
The valuation of this City in 1856 is as follows:
Our last assessment was ordered in June last, and completed on the 1st day of September last.
Rates of taxation $7 75 per $1000.
Amount of tax raised $450,000.
Respectfully yours,Joseph Martin,Chairman of the Board of Assessors.
Herald Office,Norfolk. Va., 28th April, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York,Dear Sir:—
The value of all the real estate, as re-assessed about two months ago, is set down, say, in round numbers, at five and a half millions. The actual value would bring it somewhat above that mark. The assessment of the personal property will be completed in three or four weeks hence; but itsexactvalue cannot be arrived at from the fact that a large portion of this description of property—including slaves—is taxed specifically without regard to its value. It is estimated by the assessors, however, that thepersonalexceeds thereal estate, and may be safely set down at six and a half millions.
There has been no census taken since 1850. The State authorities assume the population to be 16,000, but I am informed by the assessors that 17,000 is a fairer estimate.
Hoping that the information given may answer the purpose for which you require it, I am,
Respectfully yours,R. G. Broughton.
Mayor’s Office,Buffalo, March 10, 1857.
Dear Sir:—Yours, of the 9th inst., was received this morning. The answers to your questions are as follows:
The last valuation of the property of our city was made in April, 1856.
The last census was the State census, taken in the summer of 1855. That showed a population of 74,214; a fair estimate now is 90,000.
Respectfully,Your ob’t serv’t,F. P. Stevens.
Mayor’s Office,Savannah, 9th January, 1856.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York,Dear Sir:—
In reply to your first interrogatory, I send you the last Mayor’s report, in which you will find the information you seek.
No census has been taken of the city since 1850.
The estimated population is 25,000.
Very respectfully yours,J. P. Screven,Mayor.
From the Mayor’s annual report, we learn that the “assessments or value of lands and improvements,” for the year ending October 31st, 1856, amounted to $8,999,015. The value of the personal property is, perhaps, about $3,000,000—total value of real and personal estate $11,999,015.
City of New-Bedford,Mayor’s Room, 1 mo., 6th, 1857.H. R. Helper:—Yours of the 4th inst. came to hand this morning.In reply to your inquiries, I will say that the amount assessed on the 1st day of May, 1856, was as follows:—Real Estate,$9,311,500Personal,17,735,500Total,$27,047,000The returns of a census taken the previous autumn gave 20,391 persons, from which there is not probably much change.Respectfully,Geo. Rowland, Jr.Mayor.Mayor’s Office,Wilmington, N. C., May 23d, 1857.H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York,Dear Sir:—I am in receipt of yours of 19th inst. The value of real estate as per last assessment, 1st April, 1856, was $3,350,000We have no system by which to arrive at the value of personal property: I estimate the amount, however, exclusive of merchandize, at $4,509,000There has been no census taken since 1850—the present number of inhabitants is estimated at 10,000.I regret my inability to afford you more definite information.Very respectfully, &c.,O. G. Parsley,Mayor.
City of New-Bedford,Mayor’s Room, 1 mo., 6th, 1857.
H. R. Helper:—
Yours of the 4th inst. came to hand this morning.
In reply to your inquiries, I will say that the amount assessed on the 1st day of May, 1856, was as follows:—
The returns of a census taken the previous autumn gave 20,391 persons, from which there is not probably much change.
Respectfully,Geo. Rowland, Jr.Mayor.
Mayor’s Office,Wilmington, N. C., May 23d, 1857.
H. R. Helper, Esq.,New-York,Dear Sir:—
I am in receipt of yours of 19th inst. The value of real estate as per last assessment, 1st April, 1856, was $3,350,000
We have no system by which to arrive at the value of personal property: I estimate the amount, however, exclusive of merchandize, at $4,509,000
There has been no census taken since 1850—the present number of inhabitants is estimated at 10,000.
I regret my inability to afford you more definite information.
Very respectfully, &c.,O. G. Parsley,Mayor.
From the foregoing communications, we make up the following summary of the more important particulars:—
NINE FREE CITIES.
NINE SLAVE CITIES.
Let it not be forgotten that the slaves themselves are valued at so much per head, and counted as part of the wealth of slave cities; and yet, though we assent, as we have done, to the inclusion of all this fictitious wealth, it will be observed that the residents of free cities are far wealthier,per capita, than the residents of slave cities. We trust the reader will not fail to examine the figures with great care.
In this age of the world, commerce is an indispensable element of national greatness. Without commerce we can have no great cities, and without great cities we can have no reliable tenure of distinct nationality. Commerce is the forerunner of wealth and population; and it is mainly these that make invincible the power of undying States.
Speaking in general terms of the commerce of this country, and of the great cities through which that commerce is chiefly carried on, the BostonTravelersays:—
“The wealth concentrated at the great commercial points of the United States is truly astonishing. For instance, one-eighth part of the entire property of this country is owned by the cities of New-York and Boston. Boston alone, in its corporate limits, owns one-twentieth of the property of this entire Union, being an amount equal to the wealth of any three of the New-England States, except Massachusetts. In this city is found the richest community,per capita, of any in the United States. The next city in point of wealth, according to its population, is Providence, (R. I.,) which city is one of the richest in the Union, having a valuation of fifty-six millions, with a population of fifty thousand.”
The same paper, in the course of an editorial article on the “Wealth of Boston and its Business,” says:—