Hon. John Taylor, of Caroline Co. Virginia, one | escape the charge of wishing to make out a of the largest slaveholders in the state, President" strong case" when we put the proportion at one. of the State Agricultural Society, and three eighth of the whole number of slaves, which times elected to the Senate of the United States, would be three hundred and fifty thousand. says, in his " Agricultural Essays," No. 15. P. 57, "This necessary class of men, (overseers,) are bribed by agriculturalists, not to improve, but to impoverish their land, by a share of the crop for one year. The greatest annual crop, and not the most judicious culture, advances his interest, and establishes his character; and the fees of these land-doctors, are much higher for killing than for curing. The most which the land can yield, and seldom or never improvement with a view to future profit, is a point of common consent, and mutual need between the agriculturist and his overseer. Must the practice of hiring a man for one year, by a share of the crop, to lay out all his skill and industry in killing land, and as little as possible in improving it, be kept up to commemorate the pious leaning of man to his primitive state of ignorance and barbarity? Unless this is abolished, the attempt to fertilize our lands, is needless." Philemon Bliss, Esq. of Elyria, Ohio, who lived in Florida, in 1834-5, says, Without drawing out upon the page, a sum in addition for the reader to "run up," it is easily seen that the slaves in the preceding classes, amount to more than ELEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND, exclusive of the deaf and dumb, and the blind, many of whom, especially the former, might be profitable to their "owners." Now it is plainly for the interest of the "owners" of these slaves, or of those who have the charge of them, to treat them cruelly, to overwork, under-feed, half-clothe, half-shelter, poison, or kill outright, the aged, the broken down, the incurably diseased, idiots, feeble infants, most of the blind, some deaf and dumb, &c. It is besides a part of the slave-holder's creed, that it is for his interest to treat with terrible severity, all runaways and the incorrigibly stubborn, thievish, lazy, &c.; also for those who hire slaves, to over work them; also for overseers to overwork the slaves under them, when their own wages are increased by it. We have thus shown that it would be "for the interest," of masters and overseers to treat with habitual cruelty more than one million of the slaves in the United States. But this is not all; as we have said already, it is for the interest of overseers generally, whether their wages are proportioned to the crop or not, to overwork the slaves; we need not repeat the reasons. "It is common for owners of plantations and slaves, to hire overseers to take charge of them, while they themselves reside at a distance. Their wages depend principally upon the amount of labor which they can exact from the slave. The term " good overseer," significs one who can make the greatest amount of the staple, cotton for instance, from a given number of hands, besides raising sufficient provisions for their consumption. He has no interest in the life of the slave. Hence the fact, so notorious at the south, that negroes are driven harder and fare worsements, going to show that it is for the interest under overseers than under their owners. Neither is it necessary to re-state the argu of slaveholders, who cultivate the great southto overwork periodically all their slaves, and ern staples, especially cotton, and the sugar cane, habitually the majority of them, when the de-, mand for those staples creates high prices, as has been the case with cotton for many years, with labored estimate to get at the proportion of little exception. Instead of entering into a the slaves, affected by the operation of these and the other causes enumerated, we may say, that they operate directly on the "field hands," employed in raising the southern staples, and indirectly upon all classes of the slaves. Finally, we conclude this head by turning the objector's negative proposition into an affirmative one, and state formally what has been already proved. It is for the interest of slaveholders, upon their own principles, and by their own showing, To TREAT CRUELLY the great body of their slaves. OBJECTION VI. THE FACT THAT THE SLAVES MULTIPLY SO RAPIDLY PROVES THAT THEY ARE NOT INHUMANLY TREATED, BUT ARE IN A COMFORTABLE CONDITION.' To this we reply in brief, 1st. It has been already shown under a previous head, that, in considerable sections of the slave states, especially in the South West, the births among slaves are fewer than the deaths, which would exhibit a fearful decrease of the slave population in those sections, if the deficiency were not made up by the slave trade from the upper country. 2d. The fact that all children born of slave mothers, whether their fathers are whites or free colored persons, are included in the census with the slaves, and further that all children born of white mothers, whose fathers are mulattos or blacks, are also included in the census with colored persons and almost invariably with slaves, shows that it is impossible to ascertain with any accuracy, what is the actual increase of the slaves alone. 3d. The fact that thousands of slaves, generally in the prime of life, are annually smuggled into the United States from Africa, Cuba, and elsewhere, makes it manifest that all inferences drawn from the increase of the slave population, which do not make large deductions, for constant importations, must be fallacious. Mr. Middleton of South Carolina, in a speech in Congress in 1819, declared that "THIRTEEN THOU SAND AFRICANS ARE ANNUALLY SMUGGLED INTO THE SOUTHERN STATES." Mr. Mercer of Virginia, in a speech in Congress about the same time declared that " Cargoes," of African slaves were smuggled into the South to a deplorable extent. Mr. Wright, of Maryland, in a speech in Congress, estimated the number annually at FIFTEEN THOUSAND. Miss Martineau, in her recent work, (Society in America,) informs us that a large slaveholder in Louisiana, assured her in 1835, that the annual importation of native Africans was from thirteen to fifteen thousand. The President of the United States, in his message to Congress, December, 1837, says, "The large force under Commodore Dallas, [on the West India station,] has been most actively and efficiently employed in protecting our commerce, IN PREVENTING THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES," &c. &c. and ages, been violated whenever the inducements That both the south and north swarm with men less scrupulous,' every one knows. The Norfolk (Va.) Beacon, of June 8, 1837, has the following: "Slave-Trade.-Eight African negroes have been taken into custody, at Apalachicola, by the U. S. Deputy Marshal, alleged to have been imported from Cuba, on board the schooner Empe. ror, Captain Cox. Indictments for piracy, under the acts for the suppression of the slave trade, have been found against Captain Cox, and other parties implicated. The negrocs were bought in Cuba by a Frenchman named Malherbe, formerly a resident of Tallahassee, who was drowned soon after the arrival of the schooner." The following testimony of Rev. HORACE MOULTON, now a minister of the Methodist Epis copal Church, in Marlborough, Mass. who resided some years in Georgia, reveals some of the secrets of the slave-smugglers, and the connivance of the Georgia authorities at their doings. It is contained in a letter dated February 24, 1839. "The foreign slave-trade was carried on to south, notwithstanding a law had been made some considerable extent when I was at the some ten years previous to this, making this traffic piracy on the high seas. I was somewhat acquainted with the secrets of this traffic, and, I suppose, I might have engaged in it, had I so de. sired. Were you to visit all the plantations in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, I think you would be convinced that the horrors of the traffic in human flesh have not yet ceased. I was surprised to find so many that could not speak English among the slaves, until the mystery was explained. This was done, when I learned that slave-cargoes were landed St. Augustine. They could, and can still, in my on the coast of Florida, not a thousand miles from opinion, be landed as safely on this coast as in “It is believed that African negroes have been any port of this continent. You can imagine for repeatedly introduced into the United States. yourself how easy it was to carry on the traffic The number and the proximity of the Florida between this place and the West Indies. When ports to the island of Cuba, make it no difficult landed on the coast of Florida, it is an easy matmatter; nor is our extended frontier on the Sa-ter to distribute them throughout the more southbine and Red rivers, at all unfavorable to the ern states. The law which makes it piracy to smuggler. Human laws have, in all countries traffic in the foreign slave trade is a dead letter; The New Orleans Courier of 15th February, 1839, has these remarks: and I doubt not it has been so in the more south- | ern states ever since it was enacted. For you can perceive at once, that interested men, who believe the colored man is so much better off here than he possibly can be in Africa, will not hesitate to kidnap the blacks whenever an opportunity presents itself. I will notice one fact that came under my own observation, which will convince you that the horrors of the foreign slavetrade have not yet ceased among our southern gentry. It is as follows. A slave ship, which I have reason to believe was employed by southern men, came near the port of Savannah with about FIVE HUNDRED SLAVES, from Guinea and Congo. It was said that the ship was driven there by contrary winds; and the crew, pretending to be short of provisions, run the ship into a by place, near the shore, between Tybee Light and Darien, to recruit their stores. Well, as Providence would have it, the revenue cutter, at that time taking a trip along the coast, fell in with this slave ship, took her as a prize, and brought her up into the port of Savannah. The cargo of human chattels was unloaded, and the captives were placed in an old barracks, in the fort of Savannah, under the protection of the city authorities, they pretending that they should return them all to their native country again, as soon as a convenient opportunity presented itself. The ship's crew of course were arrested, and confined in jail. Now for the sequel of this history. About one third part of the negroes died in a few weeks after they were landed, in seasoning, so called, or in becoming acclimated-or, as I should think, a distemper broke out among them, and they died like the Israelites, when smitten with the plague. Those who did not die in seasoning, must be hired out a little while, to be sure, as the city authorities could not afford to keep them on expense doing nothing. As it happened, the man in whose employ I was when the cargo of human beings arrived, hired some twenty or thirty of them, and put them under my care. They continued with me until the sickly season drove me off to the north. I soon returned, but could not hear a word about the crew of pirates. They had something like a mock trial, as I should think, for no one, as I ever learned, was condemned, fined, or censured. But where were the poor captives, who were going to be returned to Afri. ca by the city authorities, as soon as they could make it convenient? Oh, forsooth, those of whom I spoke, being under my care, were tugging away for the same man; the remainder were scattered about among different planters. When I returned to the north again, the next year, the city authorities had not, down to that time, made it convenient to return these poor victims. The fact is, they belonged there; and, in my opinion, they were designed to be landed near by the place where the revenue cutter seized them. Probably those very planters for whom they were originally designed received them; and still there was a pretence kept up that they would be returned to Africa. This must have been done, that the consciences of those might be quieted, who were looking for justice to be administered to these poor captives. It is easy for a company of slaveholders, who desire to traffic in human flesh, to fit out a vessel, under Spanish colors, and then go prowling about the African coast for the victims of their lusts. If all the facts with relation to the African slave-trade, now secretly carried on at the south, could be disclosed, the people of the free states would be filled with amazement." It is plain, from the nature of this trade, and the circumstances under which it is carried on, that the number of slaves imported would be likely to be estimated far below the truth. There can be little doubt that the estimate of Mr. Wright, of Maryland, (fifteen thousand annu. ally,) is some thousands too small. But even according to his estimate, the African slave-trade adds One Hundred AND FIFTY THOUSAND SLAVES TO EACH UNITED STATES' CENSUS. These are in the prime of life, and their children would swell the slave population many thousands annually-thus making a great addition to cach census. 4. It is a notorious fact, that large numbers of free colored persons are kidnapped every year in the free states, taken to the south, and sold as slaves. Hon. GEORGE M. STROUD, Judge of the Criminal Court of Philadelphia, in his sketch of the slave laws, speaking of the kidnapping of free colored persons in the northern states, says— "Remote as is the city of Philadelphia from those slaveholding states in which the introduc. tion of slaves from places within the territory of the United States is freely permitted, and where also the market is tempting, it has been ascertain. ed, that MORE THAN THIRTY FREE COLORED perSONS, MOSTLY CHILDREN, HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED HERE, AND CARRIED AWAY, WITHIN THE LAST TWO YEARS. Five of these, through the kind interposition of several humane gentlemen, have been restored to their friends, though not without great expense and difficulty; the others are still retained in bondage, and if rescued at all, it must be by sending white witnesses a journey of more than a thousand miles. The costs attendant upon law. suits, under such circumstances, will probably fall but little short of the estimated value, as slaves, of the individuals kidnapped." The following is an extract from Mrs. CHILD'S APPEAL, pp. 64–6, "I know the names of four colored citizens of Massachusetts, who went to Georgia on board a vessel, were seized under the laws of that state, and sold as slaves. They have sent the most earnest exhortations to their families and friends, to do something for their relief; but the attendant expenses require more money than the friends of negroes are apt to have, and the poor fellows, as yet, remain unassisted. "A New York paper, of November, 1829, contains the following caution. "Beware of Kidnappers!—It is well understood, that there is at present in this city, a gang of kidnappers, busily engaged in their vocation, of stealing colored children for the southern market. It is believed that three or four have been stolen within as many days. There are suspicions of a foul nature connected with some who serve the police in subordinate capacities. It is hinted that there may be those in some authority, not altogether ignorant of these diabolical practices. Let the public be on their guard! It is still fresh in the memories of all, that a cargo, or rather drove of negroes, was made up from this city and Philadelphia, about the time that the emancipation of all the negroes in this state took place, under our present constitution, and were taken through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, and disposed of in the state of Mississippi. Some of those who were taken from Philadelphia were persons of intelligence; and after they had been driven through the country in chains, and disposed of by sale on the Mississippi, wrote back to their friends, and were rescued from bondage. The persons who were guilty of this abominable transaction are known, and now reside in North Carolina. They may very probably be engaged in similar enterprizes at the present time-at least there is reason to believe, that the system of kidnapping free persons of color from the northern cities, has been carried on more extensively than the public are generally aware of." GEORGE BRADBURN, Esq. of Nantucket, Mass. a member of the Legislature of that state, at its last session, made a report to that body, March 6, 1839, On the deliverance of citizens liable to be sold as slaves.' That report contains the following facts and testimony. "The following facts are a few out of a VAST MULTITUDE, to which the attention of the undersigned has been directed. "On the 27th of February last, the undersigned had an interview with the Rev. Samuel Snowden, a respectable and intelligent clergyman of the city of Boston. This gentleman stated, and he is now ready to make oath, that during the last six years, he has himself, by the aid of various benevolent individuals, procured the deliverance from jail of six citizens of Massachusetts, who had been arrested and imprisoned as runaway slaves, and who, but for his timely interposition, would have been sold into perpetual bondage. The names and the places of imprisonment of those persons, as stated by Mr. S. were as follows: James Hight, imprisoned at Mobile; William Adams, at Norfolk; William Holmes, also at Norfolk; James Oxford, at Wilmington; James Smith, at Baton Rouge; John Tidd, at New Orleans. 66 "In 1836, Mary Smith, a native of this state, returning from New Orleans, whither she had been in the capacity of a servant, was cast upon the shores of North Carolina. She was there seized and sold as a slave. Information of the fact reached her friends at Boston. Those friends made an effort to obtain her liberation. They invoked the assistance of the Governor of this Commonwealth. A correspondence ensued between His Excellency and the Governor of North Carolina copies of which were offered for the inspection of your committee. Soon afterwards, by permission of the authorities of North Carolina, Mary Smith' returned to Boston. But it turned out, that this was not the Mary Smith, whom our worthy Governor, and other excellent individuals of Boston, had taken so unwearied pains to redeem from slavery. It was another woman, of the same name, who was also a native of Massachusetts, and had been seized in North Carolina as a runaway slave. The Mary Smith has not yet been heard of. If alive, she is now, in all probability, wearing the chains of slavery. "About a year and a half since, several citizens of different free states were rescued from slavery, at New Orleans, by the direct personal efforts of an acquaintance of the undersigned. The benevolent individual alluded to is Jacob Barker, Esq. a name not unknown to the commercial world. Mr. Barker is a resident of New Or leans. A statement of the cases in reference is contained in a letter addressed by him to the Hon. Samuel H. Jenks, of Nantucket." The letter of Mr. BARKER, referred to in this report to the Legislature of Massachusetts, bears date August 19, 1837. The following are extracts from it. "A free man, belonging to Baltimore, by the name of Ephraim Larkin, who came here cook of the William Tell, was arrested and thrown into prison a few weeks since, and sent in chains to work on the road. I heard of it, and with difficulty found him; and after the most diligent and active exertions, got him released-in effecting which, I traveled in the heat of the day, ther mometer ranging in the shade from 94 to 100, more than twenty times to and from prison, the place of his labor, and the different courts, a dis. tance of near three miles from my residence; and after I had established his freedom, had to pay for his arrest, maintenance, and the advertising him as a runaway slave, $29 89, as per copy of bill herewith-the allowance for work not equalling the expenses, the amount augments with every day of confinement. "In pursuing the cook of the William Tell, I found three other free men, confined in the same prison; one belonged also to Baltimore, by the name of Leaven Dogerty: he was also released, on my paying $28 expenses; one was a descendant of the Indians who once inhabited Nantucket his name is Eral Lonnon. Lonnon had been six weeks in prison; he was released without difficulty, on my paying $20 38 expenses-and no one seemed to know why he had been confined or arrested, as the law does not presume persons of mixed blood to be slaves. But for the others, I had great difficulty in procuring what was considered competent witnesses to prove them free. No complaint of improper conduct had been made against either of them. At one time, the Recorder said the witness must be white; at another, that one respectable witness was insuffi. cient; at another, that a person who had been (improperly) confined and released, was not a competent witness, &c. &c. Lonnon has been employed in the South Sea fishery from Nantucket and New Bedford, nearly all his life; has sailed on those voyages in the ships Eagle, Maryland, Gideon, Triton, and Samuel. He was born at Marshpee, Plymouth [Barnstable] coun ty, Mass. and prefers to encounter the leviathan of the deep, rather than the turnkeys of New Orleans. "The other was born in St. Johns, Nova Scotia, and bears the name of William Smith, a seaman by profession. Immediately after these men were released, two others were arrested. They attempted to escape, and being pursued, ran for the river, in the vain hope of being able to swim across the Mississippi, a distance of a mile, with a current of four knots. One soon gave out, and made for a boat which had been despatched for their recovery, and was saved; the other being a better swimmer, continued on until much exhausted, then also made for the boat-it was too late; he sank before the boat could reach him, and was drowned. They claimed to be freemen. "On Sunday last I was called to the prison of the Municipality in which I reside, to serve on an inquest on the body of a drowned man. There I saw one other free man confined, by the name of Henry Tier, a yellow man, born in New York, and formerly in my employ. He had been confined as a supposed runaway, near six months, without a particle of testimony; although from his color, the laws of Louisiana presume him to be free. I applied immediately for his release, which was promptly granted. At first, expenses similar to those exacted in the third Municipality were required; but on my demonstrating to the recorder that the law imposed no such burthen on free men, he was released without any charge whatever. How free men can obtain satisfaction for having been thus wrongfully imprisoned, and made to work in chains on the highway, is not for me to decide. I apprehend no satisfaction can be had without more active friends, willing to espouse their cause, than can be found in this quarter. Therefore I repeat, that no person of color should come here without a certificate of freedom from the governor of the state to which he belongs. 64 Very respectfully, your assured friend, "JACOB BARKER." "N. B. Since writing the preceding, I have procured the release of another free man from the prison of the third Municipality, on the payment of $39 65, as per bill, copy herewith. His name is William Lockman-he was born in New Jersey, of free parents, and resides at Philadel phia. A greater sum was required which was reduced by the allowance of his maintenance (written labor,) while at work on the road, which the law requires the Municipality to pay; but it had not before been so expounded in the third Muni. cipality. I hope to get it back in the case of the other three. The allowance for labor, in addition to their maintenance, is twenty-five cents per day; but they require those illiterate men to advance the whole before they can leave the prison, and then to take a certificate for their labor, and The preceding letter of Mr. Barker, furnishes grounds for the belief, that hundreds, if not thou. sands of free colored persons, from the different states of this Union, both slave and free from the West Indies, South America, Mexico, and the British possessions in North America, and from other parts of the world, are reduced to slavery every year in our slave states. If a single individual, in the course of a few days, accidentally discovered six colored free men, working in irons, and soon to be sold as slaves, in a single southern city, is it not fair to infer, that in all the slave states, there must be multitudes of such persons, now in slavery, and that this number is rapidly increasing, by ceaseless accessions? The letter of Mr. Barker is valuable, also, as a graphic delineation of the 'public opinion' of the south. The great difficulty with which the release of these free men was procured, notwithstanding the personal efforts of Mr. Jacob Barker, who is a gentleman of influence, and has, we believe, been an alderman of New Or. leans, reveals a 'public opinion,' insensible as adamant to the liberty of colored men. It would be easy to fill scores of pages with details similar to the preceding. We have furnished enough, however, to show, that, in all proba bility, each United States' census of the slave population, is increased by the addition to it of thousands of free colored persons, kidnapped and sold as slaves. 5th. To argue that the rapid multiplication of any class in the community, is proof that such a class is well-clothed, well-housed, abundantly fed, and very comfortable, is as absurd as to argue that those who have few children, must. of course, be ill-clothed, ill-housed, badly lodged, overworked, ill-fed, &c. &c. True, privations and inflictions may be carried to such an extent as to occasion a fearful diminishment of popula tion. That was the case generally with the slave population in the West Indies, and, as has been shown, is true of certain portions of the southern states. But the fact that such an effect is not produced, does not prove that the slaves do not experience great privations and severe inflic. tions. They may suffer much hardship, and great cruelties, without experiencing so great a derangement of the vital functions as to prevent child-bearing. The Israelites multiplied with go for it to another department-to collect which, astonishing rapidity, under the task-masters and is ten times more trouble than the money when burdens of Egypt. Does this falsify the declarareceived is worth. While these free men, with. tions of Scripture, that they sighed by reason of out having committed any fault, were compelled their bondage,' and that the Egyptians made to work in chains, on the roads, in the burning them serve with rigor, and made their lives sun, for 25 cents per day, and pay in advance bitter with hard bondage.' 'I have seen,' said 18 3-4 cents per day for maintenance, doctor's, and other bills, and not able to work half their God, their afflictions. I have heard their greantime, I paid others, working on ship-board, in ings,' &c. The history of the human race shows, sight, two dollars per day. that great privations and much suffering may be J. B." ་ |