"A paper in this city, which professes that the free soil party do not aim to attack the inst.i.tution of slavery in those states where it exists, unblushingly published a few days since the proceedings of a meeting of free negroes, held on the occasion of the arrival here of a quant.i.ty of runaway negroes from some of the Southern States. We say, unblushingly, because more than usual prominence was given to the proceedings in its columns.
"Now, there is no difference, under the Const.i.tution and laws, between stealing negroes from Kentucky and stealing horses from Kentucky. The Const.i.tution of the United States and the laws of Kentucky hold one not less criminal than the other; and a paper in this city would be just precisely as justifiable in publishing the proceedings of a horse stealing society as the proceedings of a negro stealing society. There is not less guilt involved in the one than the other.
"For our own part we are disposed to call things by their right names. We believe that he who would be guilty of aiding and abetting the escape of a negro from his master, would not hesitate to steal any other property if he could do it with equal safety to himself. The fact that slaveholding is a sin does not change the nature of the offense, because the Bible doctrine of submission to the powers that be, is a plain and unequivocal duty. Negro stealing is as much a violation of the law of G.o.d as of the law of a Southern State.
"But we have not much faith in the Christianity of those abolitionists who steal negroes. And the receiver of stolen goods is equally guilty with the thief. Tom Corwin was not far out of the way (and it must be conceded that Mr. Corwin has had abundant opportunities to know) when he declared that "they (the abolitionists) are a whining, canting, praying set of fellows who keep regular books of debit and credit with the Almighty." "They will," he says, "lie and cheat all the week, and pray off their sins on Sunday. If they steal a negro, that makes a very large entry to their credit, and will cover a mult.i.tude of peccadilloes and frauds. This kind of entry they are always glad to make, because it costs them nothing."
"But," adds Mr. Corwin, and this is the severest cut of all, "when they cannot steal a negro they give something in charity for the extension of the gospel, and then commence a system of fraud and cheating, till they think they have balanced accounts with their G.o.d."
For once we believe Mr. Corwin has told the truth."
CHAPTER IV.
Would the condition of the slaves be ameliorated by emanc.i.p.ation, under existing circ.u.mstances; supposing they continue, either in the slave, or free States? This is a grave question, and so far as I am capable, I shall endeavor to give it a candid and impartial answer.
Having resided both in slave and free States, I presume that I have had as good an opportunity of forming a correct opinion on the subject as most of others. It has long been my settled conviction, that the condition of the slaves in the United States, would be in no respect bettered by emanc.i.p.ation in their present condition, under existing circ.u.mstances; supposing that they continue residents of the United States. It is in my view, no longer problematical; for I consider it a settled question, that their condition would in no respect be improved by emanc.i.p.ation; but on the contrary, I contend, that the condition of the free negroes in both the slave and free States, is far worse than that of the Southern slave. I shall again appeal to historical facts--past experience--and universal observation. Throughout the slave States, ever since slavery has existed on this continent, conscientious and benevolent persons have, from time to time emanc.i.p.ated slaves; and that too, in many instances, under the most favorable circ.u.mstances. And what was the result? In nine cases out of ten, and I think it probable, that in ninety-nine out of a hundred, their conditions were evidently made worse thereby. This is an indisputable fact, well known throughout the South. I resided forty-four years in the slave States, and had as favorable opportunities as any man living, for forming correct opinions on the subject, and I do here most solemnly aver, that of the hundreds of manumitted slaves, that came under my immediate observation, few, comparatively very few, appeared to be benefited by the change. The condition of a large majority of the free blacks in Tennessee and Virginia, who fell under my observation, was deplorable, and farther South, I suppose, that it was still worse. I practiced medicine among them for twenty years, and conversed freely with them; in some instances on the subject of their emanc.i.p.ation, and they frequently admitted, that they were in a more comfortable condition while they were slaves.
A majority of the slaves in the Southern States are professedly pious; the free negroes more rarely so. A majority of the slaves appear to be honest; a majority of the free blacks are petty thieves, drunkards, liars and gamblers. I have frequently known slaves set at liberty on account of their piety and other good qualities, and within a few years most of them would undergo a change for the worse--frequently, in fact, become vicious in the extreme. One instance I will here record. A gentleman in Western Virginia, by name Carter, held a slave, Absalom by name. Absalom became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He began praying in public a short time after his admission into the church. Soon he was licensed to exhort, next to preach. All this occurred, I believe, within less than eighteen mouths. He was powerful in prayer, and eloquent in exhortation. No one doubted his piety. He was prospectively liberated by a will. Carter, however, told him verbally, about this time, that he had made provisions in his will for his liberation, and that henceforth he could go where he chose, and do as he pleased. That he was a free man. What was the consequence? It was not long before a young lady belonging to a respectable family, was delivered of a mulatto child. On being questioned as to the child"s paternity, she stated that it was parson Absalom"s. Those interested, immediately called on him, and he frankly confessed that he was the father of the child. Poor Absalom, he was promoted by the church, set at liberty by his master; caressed and eulogized by the white brethren--it was too much for him--he could not bear it--until finally, he was "lifted up with pride," and "fell into the condemnation of the devil." Then might the church mourn, "O Absalom, my son! how art thou fallen." This is not an isolated case; many similar ones fell under my observation, but I cannot stop here to record them. In the city of Knoxville, East Tennessee, where I last resided while in the South; there were several hundred free negroes, and I could readily distinguish a free negro from a slave when I met him in the street. The slaves, to use Southern parlance, looked fat, saucy, happy and contented, while the free blacks, with a few exceptions, had a miserable and dejected appearance. When slaves are liberated in the South they immediately become stupid, indolent and improvident, though they were previous to their liberation, industrious and economical. If previous to their liberation they were pious, they frequently become vicious; if temperate while slaves, they often become drunkards, after they obtain their freedom; if honest, thieves; if truthful, liars. There are exceptions, I admit, and they are but few exceptions. These are undeniable facts--melancholy truths--would to G.o.d that it had fallen to the lot of some one else to record them.
I have endeavored, in the preceding pages, to show that the condition of the slaves of the South; so far from being improved; is made worse by emanc.i.p.ation under existing circ.u.mstances. Free negroes meet with but little sympathy in the South, and with still less in the North. A residence of a few years in the slave and also in the free States, will satisfy anyone of the truth of this remark. Free negroes are more odious to Northern than to Southern people. In all the varied and multifarious relations of social life, they are told to stand aside.
Under no circ.u.mstances, social, civil or religious, can the white man and the African, meet on terms of equality and reciprocity. They are debarred from social intercourse with the whites. They are not suffered to become, so far as I know, members of any secret society, a.s.sociation or organization, whatever. Beside the white man at the hospitable board, they cannot, they dare not sit; and to a seat in the white man"s parlor, and social converse, they dare not aspire. The carpet of the white man was not spread for them, and around his cheerful hearth, before his crackling fire, there is no place for them. They are not suffered to partic.i.p.ate in any of the festivities or amus.e.m.e.nts of their more highly favored white brethren. If they are admitted into the same crowd, they must not commingle with the whites; they are required to stand to one side. If they are admitted into the same house, a separate apartment is a.s.signed to them, and if to the same table, they are taught to wait in patience until the white man is satiated; and then to be content with the fragments and crumbs. If they enter the same church, a separate bench, or a separate apartment in the church is allotted to them; for beside the white man they dare not sit, while engaged in devotional exercises. The black man"s children are not gathered together in the same school room, with the white man"s. They are denied in free, as well as in slave States, the right of suffrage, or any partic.i.p.ation, whatever, in civil affairs.
All this is true of free, as well as slave States, with a few exceptions. The free negro in no respect betters his condition, by taking up his residence in a free State. In some respects it is made worse by the change. They are offcasts from society--loathed and despised, wherever they go. Nature has interposed an impa.s.sable barrier, between the white and the black man. It is not alone tho black skin, and the woolly hair of the African that render him so odious to the Anglo-Saxon. The two races are diverse, mentally and morally--in their social qualities, habits, tastes and feelings. I shall not stop here to draw a contrast in detail, but after a few remarks I shall pa.s.s on.
The African differs from the Anglo-Saxon in his physical conformation, by his black skin, his curly hair, his flat nose and broad flat foot.
Nor is he less distinctly marked by his mental characteristics.
Content to repose on the bosom of his mother _terra firma_, he is not disturbed by dreams of honor, wealth or fame. He does not with the white man possess that towering ambition, that soars aloft in climes ethereal. There is with the African no motive to spur him to action; no incentive to the acquisition of wealth; no aspiration for power; no desire for honor or fame. Self reliance and enterprise, are the peculiar characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race; on the contrary, the African in his native state, is content with his hut and his palm-leaf shade, and he is now what he was centuries ago; there is no improvement or change whatever. The African under no circ.u.mstances, in any part of the habitable globe, has ever attained a high degree of civilization. "For centuries on centuries, Africa has remained stationary, and at the very lowest stage of civilization, but one remove indeed above brutishness." "Back to that merely animal existence too, the Jamaica blacks are fast retrograding." The African is const.i.tutionally indolent and improvident. Work he will not, so far as he is able to avoid it, nor will he economize what falls into his hands, I do them no injustice. I appeal to facts. Look at the condition of the free negroes, North and South! Look at Africa--behold the African race the world over, and then tell me from whence come their universal poverty, ignorance and degradation. The African possesses none of that sensitiveness--that acuteness of sensibility--that delicacy and refinement of taste, which characterize the white race. There is with the African a predominance of the animal propensities, and with him, their gratification, const.i.tutes the sum total of life and all its enjoyments. He knows no other enjoyment, he has no higher object, or aim. It is therefore, very clear, that abolitionists are contending for an impracticability; that the two races cannot amalgamate and become one people, and enjoy equal rights and privileges; that they cannot live together on terms of perfect equality. The white man has the pre-eminence; it is the gift of G.o.d; and the African is doomed to servitude, until he is removed beyond the white man"s reach. The African is not fully prepared for the enjoyment of liberty. Hence, the universal emanc.i.p.ation of the race, supposing that they were colonized, would be very likely to throw them back into their original barbarism; and the idea of liberating the entire slave population of the Southern States, and letting them loose upon us, is so ridiculous, that it scarcely deserves notice. It would be to us as a moral pestilence; a plague, far worse than all the plagues of Egypt!
Yes, far worse, than frogs and lice, and locusts, and flies, and murrain of beasts, and biles on man, and darkness all combined. Free negroes would then deluge the great Northern cities. It would be as tornadoes and volcanoes let loose upon us. Our country is already deluged with as many vagrants, as she is able to jog along with.
CHAPTER V.
I consider slavery an evil, an individual evil, a national calamity; but I believe that the evil falls more heavily on the master, than on the slave. In order to understand this subject correctly, we must contemplate the African in his native ignorance and dest.i.tution; his brutal barbarism and his savage ferocity. We need but contrast the African in his original state, with the well housed, well clothed, and well fed slave of the United States. I am well aware, that an objection will be urged against this view of the subject, on the ground, that when brought to this country they were deprived of their liberty; and this with some persons is proof positive, that their individual happiness was curtailed thereby. The argument then resolves itself into this; is the happiness of individuals, under all circ.u.mstances, diminished by depriving them of their liberty? I have already attempted to prove, that the happiness of slaves in this country is diminished by attempting to restore them to liberty, and I may again recur to this subject before I close this essay. For this reason, I shall waive, at the present time, the refutation of what I conceive a gross error, unless the objector is satisfied with a few general remarks on the subject. I a.s.sert, without fear of successful contradiction, that neither the happiness of individuals, nor yet of nations, is always augmented by what is sometimes falsely called liberty. It depends wholly on the virtue and intelligence of individuals, and nations, as to whether liberty or servitude will conduce to their happiness and general welfare. We have no doubt, that the condition of the Mexican Republic would be greatly bettered at this time, by placing over them, a humane and politic king. Whoever is incompetent to take care of himself, is fortunate indeed, when he finds a competent individual, who, will perform that office for him.
Show me a nation who are so debased by vice and ignorance, that they are incapable of self-government, and you show me a nation who ought to be ruled by a king or an emperor. Show me an individual, who is incompetent to provide for, and take care of himself, and you show me an individual whose happiness would be augmented by subjecting him to a humane man. Abolitionists, propagandists, and filibusters, would do well to bear these facts in mind. Servitude is sometimes a grievous calamity to the unfortunate slave, for the cruelty and brutality of some masters, better ent.i.tle them to the appellation of demons than men. There are, and ever have been, and ever will be such, but I am happy to believe, that there are comparatively few such monsters among the slaveholders at the present time. I am well aware that but few masters, in the treatment of their slaves, have complied with the requisitions of Divine revelation, but cruelty to slaves is by no means common among slaveholders at the present time.
I have said that I regarded the evils of slavery as falling most heavily on the slaveholders; in other words, on the white population.
Slavery begets idleness; idleness begets vice; and vice plunges individuals into-wretchedness, degradation and infamy. In some of the slave States, the slaves perform most of the labor, consequently children are brought up in idleness. The inevitable consequence is, that a large majority of them, long before they arrive to adult age, are deplorably vicious. It is in the extreme Southern States, that this evil is most apparent.
The demoralizing influence of slavery is not so great in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Western Virginia. The evil falls mostly on the male population; females not being exposed to the same temptations.
The boy is let loose at an early age, and runs into all manner of excesses; not so with the girl; for from childhood to adult age, she is ever under the eye of her mother; and I do not suppose, that for intelligence, beauty and refinement, the world can produce a set of females superior to the Southern ladies; though, the manner in which they are brought up, their habits and modes of life, too often incapacitate them for the active duties inc.u.mbent on mothers.
It has been stated as one of the effects of slavery, that it renders men proud, haughty and tyrannical. There may be some truth in the remark, but I am well satisfied, that there is not so much as some suppose. In contrasting the character of the white population in the slave and free states, it is somewhat difficult to ascertain the precise influence of the inst.i.tution of slavery, in moulding and shaping Southern character. We must, in an investigation of the subject, take into consideration the influence of climate North and South, and various other influences less obvious, though not less certain to leave their impress on human character. I have neither time, nor s.p.a.ce, for a thorough examination of the subject, and must, therefore, after stating some facts, leave the reader to arrive at his own conclusions. Southern people are proverbially liberal and hospitable. No Southerner can fail, after a short residence in the North, to observe opposite traits of character in Northern people; and the Southerner, after emigrating to the North, is soon forced, in self defence, or rather prompted by the laws of self preservation, to close up the avenues of his liberality, and a.s.sume an att.i.tude, or rather take a position in society, unknown to him while a resident of a Southern clime. The liberality of Southern people too often leads them into recklessness in the management of their pecuniary transactions, which frequently results in embarra.s.sment and ruin. A Southerner to his friend, never says _no_. He promptly and cheerfully complies with his request, and, truly, the giver, if not more "blessed," appears to be more happy than the receiver. Whatever they do, they seem to do it cheerfully. They act as if they esteemed it a singular favor, to have it in their power to relieve a friend. A Southern man will part with his last dime to aid a friend, though, he may be forced, in less than twenty four hours, to borrow money himself. I long lived among them, embarra.s.sed by a series of unprecedented misfortunes, and their generosity I shall never forget. I shall carry the recollection of it to my grave; it will, no doubt, soothe me on my dying bed. Dear friends of the sunny South, in an evil hour I was separated from you, and what I have suffered since both in body and mind, G.o.d only knows.
Ah! I could tell a _tale_, but I forbear. There is a marked contrast in the manner in which strangers are treated North and South. Every stranger in the South is presumed to be an honest man, until he proves himself to be a rogue. Every stranger in the North, is presumed to be a rogue, until he proves himself an honest man. Another Southern peculiarity is, that no one can attack the character of another, without incurring the risk of loosing his life. The slanderer in the South is an outlaw, and the injured party incurs but little more risk in stabbing, or shooting him, than he would in shooting a mad dog; for public opinion justifies the deed, and a jury of his fellow citizens will acquit him. This is literally and emphatically true, if the female is the injured party. In the latter case, any relation or friend is at liberty, to silence forever the tongue of the slanderer.
If he that slanders a female is in danger, he that seduces her runs a risk tenfold. A few days previous to my leaving the city of Knoxville, Tenn., an old man, by name M., walked into the court-house, (court in session) and deliberately shot down a gentleman, by name N. He lived after the discharge of thirty-six buckshot into his body, but a few minutes. N. was an official character, and one of the most popular men in the county, and though I remained in the city but a few days after the perpetration of the atrocious act, I discovered that nine-tenths of the community justified him in the horrible deed. It was not long before I received information, that the murderer of N. was acquitted.
The crime of N. was seduction. Similar occurrences are frequent in the South.
Swearing, gambling and drunkenness, are the most common vices among Southern men; and slander, detraction, and a species of low detestable swindling in business transactions, are the vices most obvious in the North. The better part of Southern society are regulated and controlled, to a great extent, by certain laws of honor and rules of social etiquette. A Southerner is more likely to inquire, is it honorable or dishonorable, than is it morally right or wrong? They rigidly observe those rules and regulations which govern society, in their social intercourse. I will close this chapter with some remarks on slave labor; its effects on the agricultural interests of the South, &c.
It is a trite remark that slave labor is unproductive, when compared with labor performed by free white citizens; and that the agricultural interests of the country have suffered by the introduction of slave labor, &c.
The fact is admitted by all, but the reason is not very clear to every one. Many cannot comprehend, why it is, that the farmer who pays his laborers nothing, should be less prosperous than his neighbor, who pays his laborers from ten to fifteen dollars per month. The idea that those who work slaves, pay nothing for their labor; or in other words, that slave labor costs a man nothing, is incorrect. If a farmer breeds and raises slaves, it is at a cost of at least a thousand dollars per slave. If he purchases a slave with his money, the slave frequently costs him one thousand dollars. If we suppose his money worth ten per cent interest, per annum, the amount of the interest on the purchase money, is one hundred dollars per annum. Here is eight dollars and thirty-three and one-third cents per month, that the farmer is paying for labor. To this add fifty dollars per annum for clothing, viz., four dollars and sixteen and two-third cents per month; making an aggregate of twelve dollars and fifty cents per month, that the farmer expends for slave labor. During a residence of forty four years in the South, I never knew the time when white laborers could not be procured for that amount, and frequently for less. To this we may fairly add at least twenty-five per cent for loss of time by sickness, loss of slave property by death, physician"s bills, &c., so that we may put down slave labor at fifteen dollars per month. Fifty per cent more, than white labor ordinarily costs in the slave states. This is a fair statement of the case. But the disadvantages of slave labor do not stop here. As a general rule, land cultivated by white laborers, will produce from twenty-five to fifty per cent more than land cultivated by slave labor. This is owing to the careless, slovenly manner in which slave labor is performed. To this we may add the destruction of farming utensils and implements of husbandry, over and above what occurs in the hands of white laborers; and also the injury inflicted on horses, mules and oxen; the loss of stock for the want of proper attention, regular feeding, &c.
None can comprehend the force of my remarks so well, as the practical farmer. Well does he understand the vast expense incurred, and the loss that is sustained, by the careless and reckless wear and tear, and destruction of farming utensils and machinery--the improper treatment of horses--inattention to hogs, cattle, &c. Slaves are remarkable for their listlessness and indolence, and the little interest they manifest in anything. Many of them perform their round of labor with as little apparent concern or interest, as the horses or mules which they drive before them. There are, I admit, exceptions, but as a general rule, my remarks hold good. I never owned a negro, but I frequently employed them as cooks, washerwoman, &c., and many years observation satisfied me, that as a general rule, that when left to themselves, they consumed, or rather wasted, one-third more precisions than would have sufficed for my family under the management and supervision of an economical white woman.
It is a notorious fact, well known to every one who has had opportunities of making observations, that in those parts of the United States where the operations of farming have been confided mostly to slaves, the lands are exhausted of their fertility and have become barren and unproductive. Some lands are now in this condition, which were originally the finest in the United States. Eastern Virginia is a good sample of the effects of slave labor on the fertility of lands. This all results from the ignorance, carelessness and inattention of those to whom the operations of farming are confided. All soils are capable of improvement by judicious culture, and the interests of farmers, individually and collectively, as well as the interest of every American citizen, requires at their hands to so cultivate their lands as to augment their fertility; and not solely with a view to their present productiveness. It is a duty inc.u.mbent on them as good citizens; a duty they owe to themselves; to their posterity; to the nation; to the world.
CHAPTER VI.
There is yet another evil growing out of slavery which I must notice before I bring my remarks to a close on this topic. I allude to the degraded condition of a portion of the white population in the slave States. There are, throughout the slave States, a cla.s.s of the white population who are so debased by ignorance and vice, that the slaves are in many respects their superiors. They are about on a par with the free negroes. About the larger cities in the North, a similar cla.s.s may be found, a majority of whom are free negroes and foreigners. The poverty, vice, ignorance and degradation of this cla.s.s of persons, in the South, is a sore evil, and demands the attention of every Christian philanthropist in the Southern States. This, I conceive, has originated partly from the compet.i.tion of slave and free labor, but mainly, I presume, from the a.s.sociation of this cla.s.s with the African population. There are other agencies, no doubt, which have contributed to debase and brutalize this cla.s.s of the white population, but I judge, that the causes above indicated, are the princ.i.p.al ones. Some will, no doubt, attribute this in part to the disparity between the lower cla.s.ses in the South, and what they choose to term the slaveholding aristocracy. They will contend, that the vast difference between the higher and lower cla.s.ses in the South, results in the deterioration of the latter. There is some plausibility in the argument, and it may be that there is some truth in it, but such individuals have forgotten that the same agency is in active operation in the free as well as the slave States. I am aware that men of wealth do not feel themselves under any obligation to a.s.sociate with their less fortunate neighbors, the world over. It is one of the characteristics of human nature. But men of wealth in the Southern part of the United States, are not more haughty, distant and overbearing, than the same cla.s.s in other parts of the Union. On the contrary, there is an urbanity about Southern slaveholders, that enables the lower cla.s.ses to approach them with less embarra.s.sment than they feel when they attempt to approach the frigid, stiff, and less polite Northerner. Gentlemen and ladies, in the Southern part of the United States, are accustomed to treat every one that approaches them, rich or poor, with a degree of civility and courteous ease, that is unknown among the same cla.s.s in any other part of the civilized world. Their blandness and kindness cannot fail to make the poor man feel happier and better. If he is forced to approach them for the purpose of soliciting aid, he is seldom turned away empty. They are universally liberal and hospitable. Having practiced medicine among them twenty years, I have no recollection of a solitary instance in which any of them made a long face, when I made out a long bill for services. I will here relate some anecdotes which will serve to ill.u.s.trate Southern character. Being pressed at a certain time for two hundred dollars, and not having time at my disposal to collect it, and having rendered important services for a wealthy citizen near the town in which I resided; I seated myself at my table, with an intention of making out a bill against him that would liquidate the claim against myself. With considerable difficulty, I at length screwed up the bill to two hundred dollars, and off I posted to his house. I found him at home and presented the bill; not without some misgivings, that perchance he might take exceptions to the amount charged for services.
But I was disappointed, for after looking over the bill a few moments, he remarked, "why sir, you have not charged me half enough; you ought to have charged me five hundred dollars." He paid the bill, made me a present of fifty dollars, and told me that if I needed money at any time to "call and get it." At another time I was employed by a gentleman to attend his son, who had been, for several years previous to that time, subject to epileptic attacks. The fee, per visit, was stipulated at the outset, and I was paid for each visit before leaving the house, according to contract. I attended the young gentleman near two years, and during the time was pressed for money and borrowed one hundred dollars of the old gentleman, and executed my note for that amount. Some years after I had dismissed my patient, I called for my note, and presented the amount, princ.i.p.al and interest. The gentleman handed me the note, but refused to receive the money, and when I pressed him to take it, he replied, "No sir, I shall not receive the money, I always intended to give it to you, provided that you cured my son, and I presume he is well."
On a bright sunny morning, when a boy, I was seated on a rock watching a flock of lambs, that were frisking and skipping about in a meadow.
An old lady by name S., and a gentleman by name M., met within a few yards from where I sat. After the usual salutations; "Well, Mrs. S.,"
said the gentleman, "I understand that you have sustained a heavy loss by fire." "Yes," replied Mrs. S. "Well I am very sorry to hear it, and I intend to send you a wagon load of provisions, &c., shortly." "I thank you Mr. M., but don"t trouble yourself about the matter, for we have already received twice as much as we lost by the fire." I will relate yet another.
A wealthy gentleman being informed that a poor Irish widow in his neighborhood was likely to suffer for provisions; went immediately to her cabin in order to ascertain her condition. When about taking his leave, he remarked to the widow, "if she would send over, she could have some Irish potatoes, and any other articles of food that her family needed."
"Bless your dear soul," replied the widow, "when you undertake to do a good and charitable deed, and sarve the Lord Jasus, if you expect a blessing on your soul, don"t half do the thing, and leave a poor widow to do the other half. Go home and send the potatoes, and send some meat to cook with the potatoes, and send meal to make bread, to eat with the meat; and then may ye expect a blessing on yer soul." The gentleman returned home and complied with her request.
Whatever the faults of Southern slaveholders may be, and they are many, these are redeeming traits in their characters; nor are they so devoid of sympathy for their slaves, as is generally supposed in the North. I know that they are represented by a certain cla.s.s in the North, as a set of tyrants, ruling their slaves with a rod of iron.
All such representations are untrue, for a majority of them seldom correct an adult slave with the rod, except as a punishment for some flagitious crime, for which a white man would be fined or imprisoned, or else, confined in the State penitentiary.
Go to the field, and there you will find the aged slave and his master, busily engaged in the same employment; listen to their kind and familiar converse. Direct your steps from thence to the parlor, and there behold the aged house-woman and her mistress, seated side by side. Listen to the soothing and affectionate tones of this amiable lady, and behold the happy, joyful countenance, of this aged African.
Cast your eyes around the splendid mansion, and behold the indiscriminate groups of white and black children, chattering, skipping, jumping, wrestling or rolling over the fine Turkey carpet.
If freedom was tendered to these aged slaves, what think you, would they accept it? No, they would spurn the offer with indignation. They are happier than their masters or mistresses, and they well know it.
They are provided for; partake of the same food, while they are exempt from the cares which perplex and embarra.s.s, and too often embitter the lives of those who have charge of families. A large majority of the slaves in the Southern States are contented and happy. This will appear to many, no doubt, improbable. Nevertheless, it is true. If African character was generally better understood, it would silence much of that clamor and agitation of the subject, which is so annoying to all patriotic, peaceable and good citizens. The African desires but little, and aspires to but little; consequently it requires but little to render, him happy. Happiness consists in the gratification of our appet.i.tes, pa.s.sions and propensities. Those of the African, occupy but a small s.p.a.ce; therefore but little is necessary to satisfy him. On the contrary; the appet.i.tes, pa.s.sions and propensities of the Anglo-Saxon are boundless; therefore, much is requisite for their happiness, or otherwise to satisfy them. For this reason, an individual may be miserable, though he possess all the comforts and luxuries that the world can afford; and he may be happy with a bare sufficiency of coa.r.s.e food and coa.r.s.e clothing. He that is satisfied with what he has, is happy; be it little or much. Slaves, as a general rule, are happy in a state of servitude, because in a state of servitude they have all that they desire--all to which they aspire.
Hence the evils of slavery, so far as the slave is concerned, are more in appearance than reality, because the African is happy under circ.u.mstances, in which an Anglo-Saxon would be miserable.
In the present condition of the African race they are happier as slaves, than they would be as free men, because they are incapable of providing for themselves, and are therefore incompetent to enjoy the rights and privileges of free men.
I could fill a volume with anecdotes, which ought to make those who vilify and traduce slaveholders blush for shame; but I have neither time nor s.p.a.ce at present. I will, however, relate one and pa.s.s on. I visited professionally, many years ago, an aged infidel. A more benevolent man I have seldom seen. Humanity appeared to be a const.i.tuent element in his composition, and kindness an innate principle of his heart. In one corner of the yard, in a log cabin, lived a pious old slave with his family. It was the custom of the old slave to pray in his family every night before retiring to bed. Old ma.s.sa was never forgotten in his prayers. He never failed to present him before a throne of grace. The old infidel never doubted the sincerity of his slave, nor yet the purity of his motives, though he sincerely believed that it was all delusion. He had listened for many years to the prayers of this slave, and could distinctly hear the slave pray for "old ma.s.sa." Some years after my first visit to this worthy old gentleman, he was suddenly taken very ill. I was again summoned to his aid. All my efforts availed nothing; he must die. All hopes of his recovery were abandoned. Then did the prayers of the poor old slave become long and loud. "Ma.s.sa must die, and must he die unprepared? O Lord, spare him--O Lord, convert him--O Lord, save him,"
was the prayer of the slave. While the slave was praying an arrow pierced the infidels heart, and he cried aloud for mercy. The slave was invited into the house, and he knelt at the bed-side of his dying master, and there pet.i.tioned a throne of grace in his behalf. The old infidel made a profession of religion, and shortly afterwards died happy.
CHAPTER VII.
There is another point of view, in which slavery must be viewed by every patriot, as a national curse. I allude to the agitation and sectional hatred, which it engenders. This is a grievous misfortune.