As an ill.u.s.tration of the inhuman experiments sometimes tried upon slaves, in respect to the _kind_ as well as the quality and quant.i.ty of their food, we solicit the attention of the reader to the testimony of the late General Wade Hampton, of South Carolina. General Hampton was for some time commander in chief of the army on the Canada frontier during the last war, and at the time of his death, about three years since, was the largest slaveholder in the United States.
The General"s testimony is contained in the following extract of a letter, just received from a distinguished clergyman in the west, extensively known both as a preacher and a writer. His name is with the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
"You refer in your letter to a statement made to you while in this place, respecting the late General Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, and task me to write out for you the circ.u.mstances of the case--considering them well calculated to ill.u.s.trate two points in the history of slavery: 1st, That the habit of slaveholding dreadfully blunts the feelings toward the slave, producing such insensibility that his sufferings and death are regarded with indifference. 2d, That the slave often has insufficient food, both in quant.i.ty and quality.
"I received my information from a lady in the west of high respectability and great moral worth,--but think it best to withhold her name, although the statement was not made in confidence.
"My informant stated that she sat at dinner once in company with General Wade Hampton, and several others; that the conversation turned upon the treatment of their servants, &c.; when the General undertook to entertain the company with the relation of an experiment he had made in the feeding of his slaves on cotton seed. He said that he first mingled one-fourth cotton seed with three-fourths corn, on which they seemed to thrive tolerably well; that he then had measured out to them equal quant.i.ties of each, which did not seem to produce any important change; afterwards he increased the quant.i.ty of cotton seed to three-fourths, mingled with one-fourth corn, and then he declared, with an oath, that "they died like rotten sheep!!" It is but justice to the lady to state that she spoke of his conduct with the utmost indignation; and she mentioned also that he received no countenance from the company present, but that all seemed to look at each other with astonishment. I give it to you just as I received it from one who was present, and whose character for veracity is unquestionable.
"It is proper to add that I had previously formed an acquaintance with Dr. Witherspoon, now of Alabama, if alive; whose former residence was in South Carolina; from whom I received a particular account of the manner of feeding and treating slaves on the plantations of General Wade Hampton, and others in the same part of the State; and certainly no one could listen to the recital without concluding that such masters and overseers as he described must have hearts like the nether millstone. The cotton seed experiment I had heard of before also, as having been made in other parts of the south; consequently, I was prepared to receive as true the above statement, even if I had not been so well acquainted with the high character of my informant."
2. QUANt.i.tY OF FOOD
The legal allowance of food for slaves in North Carolina, is in the words of the law, "a quart of corn per day." See Haywood"s Manual, 525. The legal allowance in Louisiana is more, a barrel [flour barrel]
of corn, (in the ear,) or its equivalent in other grain, and a pint of salt a month. In the other slave states the amount of food for the slaves is left to the option of the master.
Thos. Clay, Esq., of Georgia, a slave holder, in his address before the Georgia Presbytery, 1833.
"The quant.i.ty allowed by custom is _a peck of corn a week_!"
The Maryland Journal, and Baltimore Advertiser, May 30, 1788.
"_A single peck of corn a week, or the like measure of rice_, is the _ordinary_ quant.i.ty of provision for a _hard-working_ slave; to which a small quant.i.ty of meat is occasionally, though _rarely_, added."
W.C. Gildersleeve, Esq., a native of Georgia, and Elder in the Presbyterian Church, Wilksbarre, Penn.
"The weekly allowance to grown slaves on this plantation, where I was best acquainted, was _one peck of corn_."
Wm. Ladd, of Minot, Maine, formerly a slaveholder in Florida.
"The usual allowance of food was _one quart of corn a day_, to a full task hand, with a modic.u.m of salt; kind masters allowed _a peck of corn a week_; some masters allowed no salt."
Mr. Jarvis Brewster, in his "Exposition of the treatment of slaves in the Southern States," published in N. Jersey, 1815.
"The allowance of provisions for the slaves, is _one peck of corn, in the grain, per week_."
Rev. Horace Moulton, a Methodist Clergyman of Marlboro, Ma.s.s., who lived five years in Georgia.
"In Georgia the planters give each slave only _one peck of their gourd seed corn per week_, with a small quant.i.ty of salt."
Mr. F.C. Macy, Nantucket, Ma.s.s., who resided in Georgia in 1820.
"The food of the slaves was three pecks of potatos a week during the potato season, and _one peck of corn_, during the remainder of the year."
Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, a member of the Baptist Church in Waterford, Conn., who resided in North Carolina, eleven winters.
"The subsistence of the slaves, consists of _seven quarts of meal_ or _eight quarts of small rice for one week!_"
William Savery, late of Philadelphia, an eminent Minister of the Society of Friends, who travelled extensively in the slave states, on a Religious Visitation, speaking of the subsistence of the slaves, says, in his published Journal,
"_A peck of corn_ is their (the slaves,) miserable subsistence _for a week_."
The late John Parrish, of Philadelphia, another highly respected Minister of the Society of Friends, who traversed the South, on a similar mission, in 1804 and 5, says in his "Remarks on the slavery of Blacks;"
"They allow them but _one peck of meal_, for a whole week, in some of the Southern states."
Richard Macy, Hudson, N.Y. a Member of the Society of Friends, who has resided in Georgia.
"Their usual allowance of food was one peck of corn per week, which was dealt out to them every first day of the week. They had nothing allowed them besides the corn, except one quarter of beef at Christmas."
Rev. C.S. Renshaw, of Quincy, Ill., (the testimony of a Virginian).
"The slaves are generally allowanced: a pint of corn meal and a salt herring is the allowance, or in lieu of the herring a "dab" of fat meat of about the same value. I have known the sour milk, and clauber to be served out to the hands, when there was an abundance of milk on the plantation. This is a luxury not often afforded."
Testimony of Mr. George W. Westgate, member of the Congregational Church, of Quincy, Illinois. Mr. W. has been engaged in the low country trade for twelve years, more than half of each year, princ.i.p.ally on the Mississippi, and its tributary streams in the south-western slave states.
"_Feeding is not sufficient_,--let facts speak. On the coast, i.e.
Natchez and the Gulf of Mexico, the allowance was one barrel of ears of corn, and a pint of salt per month. They may cook this in what manner they please, but it must be done after dark; they have no day light to prepare it by. Some few planters, but only a few, let them prepare their corn on Sat.u.r.day afternoon. Planters, overseers, and negroes, have told me, that in _pinching times_, i.e. when corn is high, they did not get near that quant.i.ty. In Miss., I know some planters who allowed their hands three and a half pounds of meat per week, when it was cheap. Many prepare their corn on the Sabbath, when they are not worked on that day, which however is frequently the case on sugar plantations. There are very many masters on "the coast" who will not suffer their slaves to come to the boats, because they steal mola.s.ses to barter for meat; indeed they generally trade more or less with stolen property. But it is impossible to find out what and when, as their articles of barter are of such trifling importance. They would often come on board our boats to beg a bone, and would tell how badly they were fed, that they were almost starved; many a time I have set up all night, to prevent them from stealing something to eat."
3. QUALITY OF FOOD.
Having ascertained the kind and quant.i.ty of food allowed to the slaves, it is important to know something of its _quality_, that we may judge of the amount of sustenance which it contains. For, if their provisions are of an inferior quality, or in a damaged state, their power to sustain labor must be greatly diminished.
Thomas Clay, Esq. of Georgia, from an address to the Georgia Presbytery, 1834, speaking of the quality of the corn given to the slaves, says,
"There is _often a defect here_."
Rev. Horace Moulton, a Methodist clergyman at Marlboro, Ma.s.s. and five years a resident of Georgia.
"The food, or "feed" of slaves is generally of the _poorest_ kind."
The "Western Medical Reformer," in an article on the diseases peculiar to negroes, by a Kentucky physician, says of the diet of the slaves;