FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]I greatly regret, after visiting Washington for this purpose, to find that the returns of the Census of 1860, are not yet sufficiently verified and digested to be given to the public. I have therefore had to fall back upon those of 1850. The rate of increase of the slave population in the meantime is stated at 25 per cent.[2]SeeAppendix, A 2.[3]Official Census—Compend., p. 94.[4]Messrs. Neill Brothers, cotton merchants of New Orleans, the most painstaking collectors of information about the cotton crop in the country, state, in a recent circular, that many of the Mississippi cotton plantations last year, after an extraordinary fertilizing flood, produced sixteen bales to the hand. The slaves on these plantations being to a large extent picked hands, as I elsewhere show, the production per head was fully eight bales.[5]In a careful article in theAustin State Gazette, six and a quarter cents is given as the average net price of cotton in Texas. The small planters, having no gins or presses of their own, usually have their cotton prepared for market by large planters, for which service they of course have to pay.[6]There have been much larger aggregate crops since, and the price may be a cent more to the planter, but the number of slaves drawn to the larger plantations in the meantime has increased in quite equal proportion.[7]Census Compend., p. 95.[8]The average size of plantations in the South-west, including the farms and “patches” of the non-slaveholders, is 273 acres (p. 170, C. Compend.). Cotton plantations are not generally of less than 400 acres.[9]Compendium, p. 176.[10]Evidence from Virginian witnesses is given in theAppendix, A.[11]“There is a small settlement of Germans, about three miles from me, who, a few years since (with little or nothing beyond their physical abilities to aid them), seated themselves down in a poor, miserable, old field, and have, by their industry, and means obtained by working round among the neighbours, effected a change which is really surprising and pleasing to behold, and who will, I have no doubt, become wealthy, provided they remain prudent, as they have hitherto been industrious.”—F. A. Clopper(Montgomery Co.), Maryland, in Patent Of. Rept., 1851.[12]William Chambers has published the article in a separate form, with some others, under the title of ‘American Slavery and Colours.’ Mr. Russell, of theTimes, has given a later case at Montgomery.[13]A slaveholder writing to me with regard to my cautious statements on this subject, made in theDaily Times, says:—“In the States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, as much attention is paid to the breeding and growth of negroes as to that of horses and mules. Further South, we raise them both for use and for market. Planters command their girls and women (married or unmarried) to have children; and I have known a great many negro girls to be sold off, because they did not have children. A breeding woman is worth from one-sixth to one-fourth more than one that does not breed.”[14]Mr. Ellison, in his work, ‘Slavery and Secession,’ gives the annual importation of negroes, for the ten years ending 1860, into seven of the Southern Slave States, from the Slave-breeding States, as 26·301[15]Mr. Wise is reported to have stated, in his electioneering tour, when candidate for Governor, in 1855, that, if slavery were permitted in California, negroes would sell for $5,000 apiece.[16]“An Ingenious Negro.—In Lafayette, Miss., a few days ago, a negro, who, with his wife and three children, occupied a hut upon the plantation of Col. Peques, was very much annoyed by fleas. Believing that they congregated in great numbers beneath the house, he resolved to destroy them by fire; and accordingly, one night when his family were asleep, he raised a plank in the floor of the cabin, and, procuring an armful of shucks, scattered them on the ground beneath, and lighted them. The consequence was, that the cabin was consumed, and the whole family, with the exception of the man who lighted the fire, was burned to death.”—Journal of Commerce.[17]From 1850 to 1860, the rate of increase of the free population has been 16·44 per cent; of the slave, 3·88. (From a recent official statement of the Census Office.) A somewhat parallel case to that of the Virginia slaveholder is that of a breeder of blooded stock. A Flying Dutchman is used upon occasion as a charger, but under no pressure of the harvest will you find him put before the cart. I have more than once heard the phrase used, “Niggers are worth too much” to be used in such and such work. Instances of this are given hereafter.[18]See ‘Patent Office Report, 1852.’[19]Not something to eat but punishment with an instrument like a ferule.[20]TheRichmond Americanhas a letter from Raleigh, N.C., dated Sept. 18, which says: “On yesterday morning, a beautiful young lady, Miss Virginia Frost, daughter of Austin Frost, an engineer on the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, and residing in this city, was shot by a negro girl, and killed instantly. Cause—reproving her for insolent language.”[21]In the city of Columbia, S.C., the police are required to prevent the negroes from running in this way after the military. Any negro neglecting to leave the vicinity of a parade, when ordered by a policeman or any military officer, is required, by the ordinance, to be whipped at the guard-house.[22]A ship’s officer told me that he had noticed that it took just about three times as long to have the same repairs made in Norfolk that it did in New York.[23]“Old Man” is a common title of address to any middle-aged negro in Virginia whose name is not known. “Boy” and “Old Man” may be applied to the same person. Of course, in this case, the slave is not to be supposed to be beyond his prime of strength.[24]I have since seen a pack of negro-dogs, chained in couples, and probably going to the field. They were all of a breed, and in appearance between a Scotch stag-hound and a fox-hound.[25]A South Carolina View of the Subject.(Correspondence of Willis’s Musical World, New York.)—“Charlestown, Dec. 31.—I take advantage of the season of compliments (being a subscriber to your invaluable sheet), to tender you this scrap, as a reply to a piece in your paper of the 17th ult., with the caption: ‘Intolerance of coloured persons in New York.’ The piece stated that up-town families (in New York) objected to hiring coloured persons as servants, in consequence of ‘conductors and drivers refusing to let them ride in city cars and omnibuses,’ and coloured boys, at most, may ride on the top. And after dwelling on this, you say, ‘Shame on such intolerant and outrageous prejudice and persecution of the coloured race at the North!’ You then say, ‘Even the slaveholder would cry shame upon us.’ You never made a truer assertion in your life. For you first stated that they were even rejected when they had white children in their arms. My dear friend, if this was the only persecution that your coloured people were compelled to yield submission to, then I might say nothing. Are they allowed (if they pay) to sit at the tables of your fashionable hotels? Are they allowed a seat in the ‘dress circle’ at your operas? Are they not subject to all kinds of ill-treatment from the whites? Are they not pointed at, and hooted at, by the whites (natives of the city), when dressed up a little extra, and if they offer a reply, are immediately overpowered by gangs of whites? You appear to be a reasonable writer, which is the reason I put these queries, knowing they can only be answered in the affirmative.“We at the South feel proud to allow them to occupy seats in our omnibuses (public conveyances), while they, with the affection of mothers, embrace our white children, and take them to ride. And in our most fashionable carriages, you will see the slave sitting alongside oftheir owner. You will see the slave clothed in the most comfortable of wearing apparel. And more. Touch that slave, if you dare, and you will see the owner’s attachment. And thus, in a very few words, you have the contrast between the situation of the coloured people at the North and South. Do teach thedetestableAbolitionist of the North his duty, and open his eyes to the misery and starvation that surround his own home.Teach himto love his brethren of the South, and teach him to let Slavery alone in the South, while starvation and destitution surround him at the North; and oblige,“Baron.”[26]The mother of this young man remonstrated with a friend of mine, for permitting his son to join a company of civil engineers, engaged, at the time, in surveying a route for a road—he would be subject to such fatiguing labour, and so much exposure to the elements; and congratulated herself that her own child was engaged in such an easy and gentleman-like employment as that of hotel-clerk and bar keeper.[27]Official Census Report, pp. 309, 299, 317.[28]Husks of maize.[29]From the Southern Cultivator, June, 1855.—“Children are fond of the company of negroes, not only because the deference shown them makes them feel perfectly at ease, but the subjects of conversation are on a level with their capacity; while the simple tales, and the witch and ghost stories, so common among negroes, excite the young imagination and enlist the feelings. If, in this association, the child becomes familiar with indelicate, vulgar, and lascivious manners and conversation, an impression is made upon the mind and heart, which lasts for years—perhaps for life. Could we, in all cases, trace effects to their real causes, I doubt not but many young men and women, of respectable parentage and bright prospects, who have made shipwreck of all their earthly hopes, have been led to the fatal step by the seeds of corruption which, in the days of childhood and youth, were sown in their hearts by the indelicate and lascivious manners and conversation of their father’s negroes.”From an Address of Chancellor Harper, prepared for and read before the Society for the Advancement of Learning, of South Carolina.—“I have said the tendency of our institution is to elevate the female character, as well as that of the other sex, for similar reasons.“And, permit me to say, that this elevation of the female character is no less important and essential to us, than the moral and intellectual cultivation of the other sex. It would, indeed, be intolerable, if, when one class of society is necessarily degraded in this respect, no compensation were made by the superior elevation and purity of the other. Not only essential purity of conduct, but the utmost purity of manners. And, I will add, though it may incur the formidable charge of affectation or prudery,a greater severity of decorum than is required elsewhere,is necessary among us. Always should be strenuously resisted the attempts, which have sometimes been made, to introduce among us the freedom of foreign European, and, especially, of continental manners. Let us say: we will not havethe mannersof South Carolina changed.”[30]From the Charleston Standard, Nov. 23rd, 1854.—“This abominable practice of trading with slaves is not only taking our produce from us, but injuring our slave property. It is true the owner of slaves may lock, watch, and whip, as much as he pleases—the negroes will steal and trade as long as white persons hold out to them temptations to steal and bring to them. Three-fourths of the persons who are guilty, you can get no fine from; and, if they have some property, all they have to do is to confess a judgment to a friend, go to jail, and swear out. It is no uncommon thing for a man to be convicted of offences against the State, and against the persons and property of individuals, and pay the fines, costs, and damages, by swearing out of jail, and then go and commit similar offences. The State, or the party injured, has the cost of all these prosecutions and suits to pay, besides the trouble of attending Court: the guilty is convicted, the injured prosecutor punished.”[31]From an Address to the people of Georgia, by a Committee of the State Temperance Society, prior to the election of 1855.—“We propose to turn the 2,200foreigngrog-shop keepers, in Georgia, out of office, and ask them to help us. They (the Know-Nothings) reply, ‘We have no time for that now—we are trying to turnforeignersout of office;’ and when we call upon the Democratic party for aid, they excuse themselves, upon the ground that they have work enough to do in keeping these foreigners in office.”From the Penfield (Ga.) Temperance Banner, Sept. 29th, 1855.“OUR SLAVE POPULATION.“We take the following from theSavannah Journal and Courier, and would ask every candid reader if the evils referred to ought not to be corrected. How shall it be done?“‘By reference to the recent homicide of a negro, in another column, some facts will be seen suggestive of a state of things, in this part of our population, which should not exist, and which cannot endure without danger, both to them and to us. The collision, which terminated thus fatally, occurred at an hour past midnight—at a time when none but the evil-disposed are stirring, unless driven by necessity; and yet, at that hour, those negroes and others, as many as chose, were passing about the country, with ample opportunity to commit any act which might happen to enter their heads. In fact, they did engage, in the public highway, in a broil terminating in homicide. It is not difficult to imagine that their evil passions might have taken a very different direction, with as little danger of meeting control or obstacle.“‘But it is shown, too, that to the impunity thus given them by the darkness of midnight, was added the incitement to crime drawn from the abuse of liquor. They had just left one of those resorts where the negro is supplied with the most villanously-poisonous compounds, fit only to excite him to deeds of blood and violence. The part that this had in the slaughter of Saturday night, we are enabled only to imagine; but experience would teach us that its share was by no means small. Indeed, we have the declaration of the slayer, that the blow, by which he was exasperated so as to return it by the fatal stab, was inflicted by a bottle of brandy! In this fact, we fear, is a clue to the whole history of the transaction.’“Here, evidently, are considerations deserving the grave notice of, not only those who own negroes, but of all others who live in a society where they are held.”[32]In Cuba every slave has the privilege of emancipating himself, by paying a price which does not depend upon the selfish exactions of the masters; but it is either a fixed price, or else is fixed, in each case, by disinterested appraisers. The consequence is, that emancipations are constantly going on, and the free people of colour are becoming enlightened, cultivated, and wealthy. In no part of the United States do they occupy the high social position which they enjoy in Cuba.[33]Contemptible; from the root Fripper, to wear out.—Webster.[34][From the New Orleans Picayune.]“Fifty Dollars Reward.—Ran away from the subscriber, about two months ago, a bright mulatto girl, named Mary, about twenty-five years of age, almost white, and reddish hair, front teeth out, a cut on her upper lip; about five feet five inches high; has a scar on her forehead; she passes for free; talksFrench, Italian, Dutch, English, and Spanish.“Andre Grasso.“Upper side of St. Mary’s Market.”[35]The private establishments, in which stocks of slaves are kept for sale in New Orleans, are called jails.[36]“THE GLOBE BALL ROOM,Corner of St. Claude and St. Peter Streets, abreast of the Old Basin,WILL OPEN THIS EVENING, October 16, when a Society Ball will be given.No ladies admitted without masks.Gentlemen, fifty cents—Ladies, gratis.Doors open at 9½ o’clock. Ball to commence at 10 o’clock.No person admitted with weapons, by order of the Council.A superior orchestra has been engaged for the season.The public may be assured of the most strict order, as there will be at all times an efficient police in attendance.Attached to the establishment is a superior Bar, well stocked with wines and liquors; also, a Restaurant, where may be had all such delicacies as the market affords.All ladies are requested to procure free tickets in the Mask Room, as no lady will be admitted into the ball-room without one.A. WHITLOCK, Manager.”[37]A gentleman in an inland Southern town said to me, “I have now but one servant; if I should marry, I should be obliged to buy three more, and that alone would withdraw from my capital at least three thousand dollars.”[38]It is only on the best plantations that the seed-cane is selected with this care. On another plantation that I visited during the planting season I noticed that the best part of the stalk had been cut off for grinding, and only the less valuable part saved for seed; and this, I apprehend, is the general practice. The best cuttings probably produce the most vigorous plants.[39]John Randolph, of Roanoke, himself a slaveholder, once said, on the floor of Congress (touching the internal slave-trade): “What are the trophies of this infernal traffic? The handcuff, the manacles, the blood-stained cowhide.What man is worse received in society for being a hard master? Who denies the hand of sister or daughter to such monsters?”[40]The State Superintendent lately recommended that two out of three of the Directors of Common Schools in Louisiana should be required to know how to read and write; and mentioned that in one parish, instead of the signature the mark of twelve different directors was affixed to a teacher’s certificate.

[1]I greatly regret, after visiting Washington for this purpose, to find that the returns of the Census of 1860, are not yet sufficiently verified and digested to be given to the public. I have therefore had to fall back upon those of 1850. The rate of increase of the slave population in the meantime is stated at 25 per cent.

[2]SeeAppendix, A 2.

[3]Official Census—Compend., p. 94.

[4]Messrs. Neill Brothers, cotton merchants of New Orleans, the most painstaking collectors of information about the cotton crop in the country, state, in a recent circular, that many of the Mississippi cotton plantations last year, after an extraordinary fertilizing flood, produced sixteen bales to the hand. The slaves on these plantations being to a large extent picked hands, as I elsewhere show, the production per head was fully eight bales.

[5]In a careful article in theAustin State Gazette, six and a quarter cents is given as the average net price of cotton in Texas. The small planters, having no gins or presses of their own, usually have their cotton prepared for market by large planters, for which service they of course have to pay.

[6]There have been much larger aggregate crops since, and the price may be a cent more to the planter, but the number of slaves drawn to the larger plantations in the meantime has increased in quite equal proportion.

[7]Census Compend., p. 95.

[8]The average size of plantations in the South-west, including the farms and “patches” of the non-slaveholders, is 273 acres (p. 170, C. Compend.). Cotton plantations are not generally of less than 400 acres.

[9]Compendium, p. 176.

[10]Evidence from Virginian witnesses is given in theAppendix, A.

[11]“There is a small settlement of Germans, about three miles from me, who, a few years since (with little or nothing beyond their physical abilities to aid them), seated themselves down in a poor, miserable, old field, and have, by their industry, and means obtained by working round among the neighbours, effected a change which is really surprising and pleasing to behold, and who will, I have no doubt, become wealthy, provided they remain prudent, as they have hitherto been industrious.”—F. A. Clopper(Montgomery Co.), Maryland, in Patent Of. Rept., 1851.

[12]William Chambers has published the article in a separate form, with some others, under the title of ‘American Slavery and Colours.’ Mr. Russell, of theTimes, has given a later case at Montgomery.

[13]A slaveholder writing to me with regard to my cautious statements on this subject, made in theDaily Times, says:—“In the States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, as much attention is paid to the breeding and growth of negroes as to that of horses and mules. Further South, we raise them both for use and for market. Planters command their girls and women (married or unmarried) to have children; and I have known a great many negro girls to be sold off, because they did not have children. A breeding woman is worth from one-sixth to one-fourth more than one that does not breed.”

[14]Mr. Ellison, in his work, ‘Slavery and Secession,’ gives the annual importation of negroes, for the ten years ending 1860, into seven of the Southern Slave States, from the Slave-breeding States, as 26·301

[15]Mr. Wise is reported to have stated, in his electioneering tour, when candidate for Governor, in 1855, that, if slavery were permitted in California, negroes would sell for $5,000 apiece.

[16]“An Ingenious Negro.—In Lafayette, Miss., a few days ago, a negro, who, with his wife and three children, occupied a hut upon the plantation of Col. Peques, was very much annoyed by fleas. Believing that they congregated in great numbers beneath the house, he resolved to destroy them by fire; and accordingly, one night when his family were asleep, he raised a plank in the floor of the cabin, and, procuring an armful of shucks, scattered them on the ground beneath, and lighted them. The consequence was, that the cabin was consumed, and the whole family, with the exception of the man who lighted the fire, was burned to death.”—Journal of Commerce.

[17]From 1850 to 1860, the rate of increase of the free population has been 16·44 per cent; of the slave, 3·88. (From a recent official statement of the Census Office.) A somewhat parallel case to that of the Virginia slaveholder is that of a breeder of blooded stock. A Flying Dutchman is used upon occasion as a charger, but under no pressure of the harvest will you find him put before the cart. I have more than once heard the phrase used, “Niggers are worth too much” to be used in such and such work. Instances of this are given hereafter.

[18]See ‘Patent Office Report, 1852.’

[19]Not something to eat but punishment with an instrument like a ferule.

[20]TheRichmond Americanhas a letter from Raleigh, N.C., dated Sept. 18, which says: “On yesterday morning, a beautiful young lady, Miss Virginia Frost, daughter of Austin Frost, an engineer on the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, and residing in this city, was shot by a negro girl, and killed instantly. Cause—reproving her for insolent language.”

[21]In the city of Columbia, S.C., the police are required to prevent the negroes from running in this way after the military. Any negro neglecting to leave the vicinity of a parade, when ordered by a policeman or any military officer, is required, by the ordinance, to be whipped at the guard-house.

[22]A ship’s officer told me that he had noticed that it took just about three times as long to have the same repairs made in Norfolk that it did in New York.

[23]“Old Man” is a common title of address to any middle-aged negro in Virginia whose name is not known. “Boy” and “Old Man” may be applied to the same person. Of course, in this case, the slave is not to be supposed to be beyond his prime of strength.

[24]I have since seen a pack of negro-dogs, chained in couples, and probably going to the field. They were all of a breed, and in appearance between a Scotch stag-hound and a fox-hound.

[25]A South Carolina View of the Subject.(Correspondence of Willis’s Musical World, New York.)—“Charlestown, Dec. 31.—I take advantage of the season of compliments (being a subscriber to your invaluable sheet), to tender you this scrap, as a reply to a piece in your paper of the 17th ult., with the caption: ‘Intolerance of coloured persons in New York.’ The piece stated that up-town families (in New York) objected to hiring coloured persons as servants, in consequence of ‘conductors and drivers refusing to let them ride in city cars and omnibuses,’ and coloured boys, at most, may ride on the top. And after dwelling on this, you say, ‘Shame on such intolerant and outrageous prejudice and persecution of the coloured race at the North!’ You then say, ‘Even the slaveholder would cry shame upon us.’ You never made a truer assertion in your life. For you first stated that they were even rejected when they had white children in their arms. My dear friend, if this was the only persecution that your coloured people were compelled to yield submission to, then I might say nothing. Are they allowed (if they pay) to sit at the tables of your fashionable hotels? Are they allowed a seat in the ‘dress circle’ at your operas? Are they not subject to all kinds of ill-treatment from the whites? Are they not pointed at, and hooted at, by the whites (natives of the city), when dressed up a little extra, and if they offer a reply, are immediately overpowered by gangs of whites? You appear to be a reasonable writer, which is the reason I put these queries, knowing they can only be answered in the affirmative.“We at the South feel proud to allow them to occupy seats in our omnibuses (public conveyances), while they, with the affection of mothers, embrace our white children, and take them to ride. And in our most fashionable carriages, you will see the slave sitting alongside oftheir owner. You will see the slave clothed in the most comfortable of wearing apparel. And more. Touch that slave, if you dare, and you will see the owner’s attachment. And thus, in a very few words, you have the contrast between the situation of the coloured people at the North and South. Do teach thedetestableAbolitionist of the North his duty, and open his eyes to the misery and starvation that surround his own home.Teach himto love his brethren of the South, and teach him to let Slavery alone in the South, while starvation and destitution surround him at the North; and oblige,“Baron.”

“We at the South feel proud to allow them to occupy seats in our omnibuses (public conveyances), while they, with the affection of mothers, embrace our white children, and take them to ride. And in our most fashionable carriages, you will see the slave sitting alongside oftheir owner. You will see the slave clothed in the most comfortable of wearing apparel. And more. Touch that slave, if you dare, and you will see the owner’s attachment. And thus, in a very few words, you have the contrast between the situation of the coloured people at the North and South. Do teach thedetestableAbolitionist of the North his duty, and open his eyes to the misery and starvation that surround his own home.Teach himto love his brethren of the South, and teach him to let Slavery alone in the South, while starvation and destitution surround him at the North; and oblige,

“Baron.”

[26]The mother of this young man remonstrated with a friend of mine, for permitting his son to join a company of civil engineers, engaged, at the time, in surveying a route for a road—he would be subject to such fatiguing labour, and so much exposure to the elements; and congratulated herself that her own child was engaged in such an easy and gentleman-like employment as that of hotel-clerk and bar keeper.

[27]Official Census Report, pp. 309, 299, 317.

[28]Husks of maize.

[29]From the Southern Cultivator, June, 1855.—“Children are fond of the company of negroes, not only because the deference shown them makes them feel perfectly at ease, but the subjects of conversation are on a level with their capacity; while the simple tales, and the witch and ghost stories, so common among negroes, excite the young imagination and enlist the feelings. If, in this association, the child becomes familiar with indelicate, vulgar, and lascivious manners and conversation, an impression is made upon the mind and heart, which lasts for years—perhaps for life. Could we, in all cases, trace effects to their real causes, I doubt not but many young men and women, of respectable parentage and bright prospects, who have made shipwreck of all their earthly hopes, have been led to the fatal step by the seeds of corruption which, in the days of childhood and youth, were sown in their hearts by the indelicate and lascivious manners and conversation of their father’s negroes.”From an Address of Chancellor Harper, prepared for and read before the Society for the Advancement of Learning, of South Carolina.—“I have said the tendency of our institution is to elevate the female character, as well as that of the other sex, for similar reasons.“And, permit me to say, that this elevation of the female character is no less important and essential to us, than the moral and intellectual cultivation of the other sex. It would, indeed, be intolerable, if, when one class of society is necessarily degraded in this respect, no compensation were made by the superior elevation and purity of the other. Not only essential purity of conduct, but the utmost purity of manners. And, I will add, though it may incur the formidable charge of affectation or prudery,a greater severity of decorum than is required elsewhere,is necessary among us. Always should be strenuously resisted the attempts, which have sometimes been made, to introduce among us the freedom of foreign European, and, especially, of continental manners. Let us say: we will not havethe mannersof South Carolina changed.”

From an Address of Chancellor Harper, prepared for and read before the Society for the Advancement of Learning, of South Carolina.—“I have said the tendency of our institution is to elevate the female character, as well as that of the other sex, for similar reasons.

“And, permit me to say, that this elevation of the female character is no less important and essential to us, than the moral and intellectual cultivation of the other sex. It would, indeed, be intolerable, if, when one class of society is necessarily degraded in this respect, no compensation were made by the superior elevation and purity of the other. Not only essential purity of conduct, but the utmost purity of manners. And, I will add, though it may incur the formidable charge of affectation or prudery,a greater severity of decorum than is required elsewhere,is necessary among us. Always should be strenuously resisted the attempts, which have sometimes been made, to introduce among us the freedom of foreign European, and, especially, of continental manners. Let us say: we will not havethe mannersof South Carolina changed.”

[30]From the Charleston Standard, Nov. 23rd, 1854.—“This abominable practice of trading with slaves is not only taking our produce from us, but injuring our slave property. It is true the owner of slaves may lock, watch, and whip, as much as he pleases—the negroes will steal and trade as long as white persons hold out to them temptations to steal and bring to them. Three-fourths of the persons who are guilty, you can get no fine from; and, if they have some property, all they have to do is to confess a judgment to a friend, go to jail, and swear out. It is no uncommon thing for a man to be convicted of offences against the State, and against the persons and property of individuals, and pay the fines, costs, and damages, by swearing out of jail, and then go and commit similar offences. The State, or the party injured, has the cost of all these prosecutions and suits to pay, besides the trouble of attending Court: the guilty is convicted, the injured prosecutor punished.”

[31]From an Address to the people of Georgia, by a Committee of the State Temperance Society, prior to the election of 1855.—“We propose to turn the 2,200foreigngrog-shop keepers, in Georgia, out of office, and ask them to help us. They (the Know-Nothings) reply, ‘We have no time for that now—we are trying to turnforeignersout of office;’ and when we call upon the Democratic party for aid, they excuse themselves, upon the ground that they have work enough to do in keeping these foreigners in office.”From the Penfield (Ga.) Temperance Banner, Sept. 29th, 1855.“OUR SLAVE POPULATION.“We take the following from theSavannah Journal and Courier, and would ask every candid reader if the evils referred to ought not to be corrected. How shall it be done?“‘By reference to the recent homicide of a negro, in another column, some facts will be seen suggestive of a state of things, in this part of our population, which should not exist, and which cannot endure without danger, both to them and to us. The collision, which terminated thus fatally, occurred at an hour past midnight—at a time when none but the evil-disposed are stirring, unless driven by necessity; and yet, at that hour, those negroes and others, as many as chose, were passing about the country, with ample opportunity to commit any act which might happen to enter their heads. In fact, they did engage, in the public highway, in a broil terminating in homicide. It is not difficult to imagine that their evil passions might have taken a very different direction, with as little danger of meeting control or obstacle.“‘But it is shown, too, that to the impunity thus given them by the darkness of midnight, was added the incitement to crime drawn from the abuse of liquor. They had just left one of those resorts where the negro is supplied with the most villanously-poisonous compounds, fit only to excite him to deeds of blood and violence. The part that this had in the slaughter of Saturday night, we are enabled only to imagine; but experience would teach us that its share was by no means small. Indeed, we have the declaration of the slayer, that the blow, by which he was exasperated so as to return it by the fatal stab, was inflicted by a bottle of brandy! In this fact, we fear, is a clue to the whole history of the transaction.’“Here, evidently, are considerations deserving the grave notice of, not only those who own negroes, but of all others who live in a society where they are held.”

From the Penfield (Ga.) Temperance Banner, Sept. 29th, 1855.

“OUR SLAVE POPULATION.

“We take the following from theSavannah Journal and Courier, and would ask every candid reader if the evils referred to ought not to be corrected. How shall it be done?

“‘By reference to the recent homicide of a negro, in another column, some facts will be seen suggestive of a state of things, in this part of our population, which should not exist, and which cannot endure without danger, both to them and to us. The collision, which terminated thus fatally, occurred at an hour past midnight—at a time when none but the evil-disposed are stirring, unless driven by necessity; and yet, at that hour, those negroes and others, as many as chose, were passing about the country, with ample opportunity to commit any act which might happen to enter their heads. In fact, they did engage, in the public highway, in a broil terminating in homicide. It is not difficult to imagine that their evil passions might have taken a very different direction, with as little danger of meeting control or obstacle.

“‘But it is shown, too, that to the impunity thus given them by the darkness of midnight, was added the incitement to crime drawn from the abuse of liquor. They had just left one of those resorts where the negro is supplied with the most villanously-poisonous compounds, fit only to excite him to deeds of blood and violence. The part that this had in the slaughter of Saturday night, we are enabled only to imagine; but experience would teach us that its share was by no means small. Indeed, we have the declaration of the slayer, that the blow, by which he was exasperated so as to return it by the fatal stab, was inflicted by a bottle of brandy! In this fact, we fear, is a clue to the whole history of the transaction.’

“Here, evidently, are considerations deserving the grave notice of, not only those who own negroes, but of all others who live in a society where they are held.”

[32]In Cuba every slave has the privilege of emancipating himself, by paying a price which does not depend upon the selfish exactions of the masters; but it is either a fixed price, or else is fixed, in each case, by disinterested appraisers. The consequence is, that emancipations are constantly going on, and the free people of colour are becoming enlightened, cultivated, and wealthy. In no part of the United States do they occupy the high social position which they enjoy in Cuba.

[33]Contemptible; from the root Fripper, to wear out.—Webster.

[34][From the New Orleans Picayune.]“Fifty Dollars Reward.—Ran away from the subscriber, about two months ago, a bright mulatto girl, named Mary, about twenty-five years of age, almost white, and reddish hair, front teeth out, a cut on her upper lip; about five feet five inches high; has a scar on her forehead; she passes for free; talksFrench, Italian, Dutch, English, and Spanish.“Andre Grasso.“Upper side of St. Mary’s Market.”

[34]

[From the New Orleans Picayune.]

“Fifty Dollars Reward.—Ran away from the subscriber, about two months ago, a bright mulatto girl, named Mary, about twenty-five years of age, almost white, and reddish hair, front teeth out, a cut on her upper lip; about five feet five inches high; has a scar on her forehead; she passes for free; talksFrench, Italian, Dutch, English, and Spanish.

“Andre Grasso.“Upper side of St. Mary’s Market.”

[35]The private establishments, in which stocks of slaves are kept for sale in New Orleans, are called jails.

[36]“THE GLOBE BALL ROOM,Corner of St. Claude and St. Peter Streets, abreast of the Old Basin,WILL OPEN THIS EVENING, October 16, when a Society Ball will be given.No ladies admitted without masks.Gentlemen, fifty cents—Ladies, gratis.Doors open at 9½ o’clock. Ball to commence at 10 o’clock.No person admitted with weapons, by order of the Council.A superior orchestra has been engaged for the season.The public may be assured of the most strict order, as there will be at all times an efficient police in attendance.Attached to the establishment is a superior Bar, well stocked with wines and liquors; also, a Restaurant, where may be had all such delicacies as the market affords.All ladies are requested to procure free tickets in the Mask Room, as no lady will be admitted into the ball-room without one.A. WHITLOCK, Manager.”

[36]“THE GLOBE BALL ROOM,

Corner of St. Claude and St. Peter Streets, abreast of the Old Basin,

WILL OPEN THIS EVENING, October 16, when a Society Ball will be given.

No ladies admitted without masks.

Gentlemen, fifty cents—Ladies, gratis.

Doors open at 9½ o’clock. Ball to commence at 10 o’clock.

No person admitted with weapons, by order of the Council.

A superior orchestra has been engaged for the season.

The public may be assured of the most strict order, as there will be at all times an efficient police in attendance.

Attached to the establishment is a superior Bar, well stocked with wines and liquors; also, a Restaurant, where may be had all such delicacies as the market affords.

All ladies are requested to procure free tickets in the Mask Room, as no lady will be admitted into the ball-room without one.

A. WHITLOCK, Manager.”

[37]A gentleman in an inland Southern town said to me, “I have now but one servant; if I should marry, I should be obliged to buy three more, and that alone would withdraw from my capital at least three thousand dollars.”

[38]It is only on the best plantations that the seed-cane is selected with this care. On another plantation that I visited during the planting season I noticed that the best part of the stalk had been cut off for grinding, and only the less valuable part saved for seed; and this, I apprehend, is the general practice. The best cuttings probably produce the most vigorous plants.

[39]John Randolph, of Roanoke, himself a slaveholder, once said, on the floor of Congress (touching the internal slave-trade): “What are the trophies of this infernal traffic? The handcuff, the manacles, the blood-stained cowhide.What man is worse received in society for being a hard master? Who denies the hand of sister or daughter to such monsters?”

[40]The State Superintendent lately recommended that two out of three of the Directors of Common Schools in Louisiana should be required to know how to read and write; and mentioned that in one parish, instead of the signature the mark of twelve different directors was affixed to a teacher’s certificate.

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