Texas Land, Soil, and Productions [pp. 184-189]

TEXAS LAND.
uniting power" is not perceptible in those religious bodies in
which the Christianity of this country is generally supposed to
reside, nor can it appertain to them until the above causes of con troversy are removed. If it be true that the Rule of Faith given
by God to man must be equally applicable to the whole human
race irrespective of the color of the body or the strength of the
mind, then it would appear that the future status of the negro may
decide the questions at issue, and furnish the experimentum crucis
of the two Rules of Faith which have so long guided and mris guided a distracted world. If the result should be the union of
all sects in one church, aud the supreme authority of that church
as the guardian and dispenser of revealed truth and the sole um pile in religious controversy, then indeed would Christianity
ascend to much higher ground, and from her new eminence might
wield the greatest possible influence on the religious destiny of the
negro. She has only to confess her weakness in order to become
strong; she has only to humble herself in order to be exalted;
but whether her exalted powers would be strong enough to arrest
the decline of the negro is a speculative question which need not
be considered here, for her reformation must in all probability,
occur too late to rescue the black race from the dreadful disaster
impending over them. For, observe, that the religious decline
and fall of the negro will be the cause; the reformation of religion
the result,-and as the effect can in no wise precede the cause, so
neither can it modify or remove it.
Here let us pause, feeling assured that the negroes of the
Southern States must relapse into barbarism to the extent of
losing the Christian religion, but in the ardent hope that this loss
to the African may eyentuate in the greatest gain to the whole
human race; and let us defer to some other occasion the consideration of the very manifest causes which have heretofore constrained the black mian's faith, and screened' the African slave
from the imnpending fate of the African freedman.
ART. XII.-TEXAS LAND, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.
Richardson's Almanac for Texas from which we quoted largely in our January number, contains a table of the assessed value of landsin the several counties which will be very useful to those contemplating emigration to that
Empire State.
The average valuation ranges between $4 to $6 in Austin, Brazonia, Colorado, Fayette and Grimes. The valuations are under $1 in Hamilton, Hardin,
Live Oak, Sabine and Uvalde.
The value per acre is put at 10 cents in Webb, 15 cents in Star, as the
lowest; $9.07 in Fort Bend and $9.20 in Wharton. County, the highest in the
State.
The following general account of Texas is given by Mr. Richardson:
It will be seen, firom the description given in this work of the
various counties of Texas, that there are many of the most neces
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