In view of similar results spreading their
baleful influence over the once beautiful, pros-
perous, and glorious State of Virginia, Charles
James Faulkner, in the Virginia House of
Delegates, on the 20th of January, 1832, indig-
nantly exclaimed :

"Does the slaveholder, while he is enjoying
his slaves, reflect upon the deep injury and
incalculable loss, which the possession of that
property inflicts upon the true interests of the
country ? Slavery, it is admitted, is an evil ;
it is an institution which presses heavily against
the best interests of the State. It banishes free
white labor ; it exterminates the mechanic, the
artisan, the manufacturer. It deprives them of
occupation. It deprives them of bread. It



150 SOUTH AND NOETH.
converts the energy of a community into indo-
lence, its po-wer into imbecility, its efficiency
into weakness.
