The cotton kingdom : a traveller's observations on cotton and slavery in the American slave states : based upon three former volumes of journeys and investigations by the same author : vol. 2 / by Frederick Law Olmsted

THE
COTTON" KINGDOM
A TRAVELLERS OBSERVATIONS ON COTTON AND SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAN SLAVE STATER
BlSBt tJPO THBZB TORMTB VOLCXH O JOCBmi AHD BT THX UXX AOTHOB.
BT
FEEDEEICK LAW OLMSTED.
nr TWO VOLUMES. VOL. n.
NEW TOBK: "~ PUBLISHED BY MASON BROTHERS,
C tad T 1CRBCEB STREET.
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON * CO., 47 LUDGATH HILL 1861.

Eatend, according to the Act of Congreaft, in the year 1891, by MASON BROTHERS,
In the Clerk OOce at the District Court of the United State* for the Southern Dfctriet at New York.
3
A. ALTOEB, 5 VaiMlewat*r-t.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAOffi
3ouTii-\\'E3TK:;N LOHSIAXA .VXD EASTEIIX TEXAS . .

CHAPTER II. A Tiiip IXTO xor.THEr.:; MISSISSIPPI . . . . .59.'

CHAPTER III.

THE IJfTEIlIOU COTTON^ MSTRICTS -- CEXTEAL MISSISSIPPI, ALA

BAMA, ETC. . .

.

.

.

.

.

.81

CHAPTER IT.
THE EXCEPTIONAL LAUfiE PLASTKflS ..... 143

CHAPTER V.
SLAVERY I.V ITS PROrEHTT ASPECT. -- MOKAT. AXD BELIGIOCS
ixsTp>rcTiox or THE SLAVFS, ETC. .... 184.

CHAPTER. TT. uY AS A rooi: LAW SYSTEM ..... 23C

IT

CONTEXTS.

CHAPTER VII.
COTTOX SUPPLY AND WHITE LABOUR IS THE COTTOX CLIMATE 252

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COXDITIOX AXD CHARACTER OF T1JE PRIVILEGED CLASSES

OF THE SOUTH

....... 272

CHAPTER IX.
THE DAXGER OF THE SOUTH ...... 338

APPENDIX (A.)
THE COXDITIOX OF VIRGINIA.---- STATISTICS .... 364

APPENDIX (B.)

THE 8LAVE TRADE IX VIRCIX1A .

.

.

.

.

. 372

APPENDIX (C.)
COST OF LABOUR IS THE BORDER STATES .... 380

APPENDIX (D.)

STATISTICS OF THE GEORGIA SEABOARD

.... 385

INDEX TO THE WORK

.--.... 393

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

CHAPTEE I.
SOUTH-WESTERN LOUISIANA AOT) EASTERN TEXAS.
NacogdocJws.--In this town of 500 inhabitants, we found there was no flour. At San Augustine we had inquired in vain at all the stores for refined sugar. Not satisfied with some blankets that were shown us, we were politely recom mended by the shopkeeper to try other stores. At each of the other stores we were told they had none: the only blankets in town we should find at --------'s, naming the one we had just quitted. The same thing occurred with several other articles.

Houston, County.--This day's ride and the nest were through a very poor country, clay or sand soil, bearing short

oaks and black-jack. We passed one small meadow, or

prairie, covered with coarse grass. Deserted plantations ap peared again in greater numbers than the occupied. One farm, near which we stopped, was worked by eight field hands.

The crop had been fifty bales ; small, owing to a dry season.

The corn had been exceedingly poor. The hands, we noticed,

came in from the fields after eight o'clock.

The deserted houses, B. said, were built before the date of

Texan Independence. After Annexation the owners had

TOl. II.

B

2

COTTON AXI> SLAVERY.

moved oil to beiter^lands in the "West. One house he pointed out as having been the residence of one of a band of pirates who occupied the country thirty or forty years ago. They had all been gradually killed.
During the day we met two men on horseback, one npon wheels, and passed one emigrant family. This was all the motion npon the principal road of the district.
The second day's camp was a few miles beyond the town of Crockett, the shire-town of Houston County. Not being able to find corn for our horses, we returned to the village for it.
We obtained what we wanted for a day's rest, which we proposed for Sunday, the following day, and loaded it into our emptied hampers. We then looked about the town for cur rent provisions for ourselves. We were rejoiced to find a Ger man baker, but damped by finding he had only molasses-cakes and candies for sals. There was no flour in the town, except the little of which he made his cakes. He was from Ham burgh, and though he found a tolerable sale, to emigrants prin cipally, he was very tired of Crockett, and intended to move to San Antonio among his countrymen. He offered us coffee, and said he had had beer, but on Christmas-day a mass of people called on him; he had " treated" them all, and they had finished his supply.
'We inquired at seven stores, and at the two inns for butter, flour, or wheat-bread, and fresh meat. There was none in town. One innkeeper offered us salt beef, the only meat, ex cept pork, in town. At the stores we found crackers, worth in New York 6 cents $. pound, sold here at 20 cents; poor raisins, 30 cents; Manilla rope, half-inch, 30 cents a pound. When butter was to be had it came in firkins from New York, although an excellent grazing country is near the town.

Trinity Bottom.--On landing on the west side of the

f.

ROUTE ACROSS EASTEBS TEXAS.

3

Trinity, we entered a rich bottom, even in winter, of an almost tropical aspect. The road had been cut through a cane-brake, itself a sort of Brobdignag grass. Immense trees, of a great variety of kinds, interlaced their branches and reeled with their own rank growth. Many vines, especially huge grape-vines, ran hanging from tree to tree, adding to the luxuriant confusion. Spanish moss clung thick everywhere, supplying the shadows of a winter foliage.
These bottom lands bordering the Trinity are among the richest of rich Texas. They are not considered equal, in degree of fetness, to some parts of the Brazos, Colorado, and Gnadaloupe bottoms, but are thought to have compensation in reliability for steady cropping.
We made onr camp on the edge of the bottom, and for safety against our dirty persecutors, the hogs, pitched our tent wiihin a large hog-yard, putting up the bars to exclude them. The trees within had been sparingly cut, and we easily found tent-poles and fuel at hand.
The plantation on which we were thus intruding had just been sold, we learned, at two dollars per acre. There were seven hundred acres, and the buildings, with a new gin-house, worth nearly one thousand dollars, were included in the price. With the land were sold eight prime field-hands. A quarter of the land was probably subject to overflow, and the limits extended over some unproductive upland.
When field-hands are sold in this way with the land, the family servants, who have usually been selected from the fieldhands, must be detached to follow the fortunes of the seller. When, on the other liand, the land is sold simply, the whole body of slaves move away, leaving frequently wives and chil dren on neighbouring plantations. Such a cause of separation must be exceedingly common among the restless, almost nomadic, small proprietors of the South.
B2

4

COTTOS A>T> BLAVEBY.

But the very word "sale," applied to a slave, implies this crnelty, leaving, of course, the creature's whole happiness to hi3 owner's discretion and humanity.
As if to give the lie to our reflections, however, the rascals here appeared to be particularly jolly, perhaps adopting Mark Tapley's good principles. They were astir half the night, talking, joking, and singing load and merrily.
This plantation had made this year seven bales to the hand. The water for the house, we noticed, was brought upon heads a quarter of a mile, from a rain-pool, in which an old negresa was washing.

At an old Settler's.-- The room was fourteen feet square, with battens of split boards tacked on between the broader openings of the logs. Above, it was open to the rafters, and in many places the sky could be seen between the shingles of the roof. A rough board box, three feet square, with a shelf in it, contained the crockery-ware of the es tablishment; another similar box held the store of meal, coffee, sugar, and salt; a log crib at the horse-pen held the corn, from which the meal was daily ground, and a log smoke or store-house contained the store of pork. A canopybed filled one quarter of the room; a cradle, four chairs seated with untanned deer-hide, a table, a skillet or bakekettle, a coffee-kettle, a frying -pan, and a rifle laid across two wooden pegs on the chimney, with a string of patches, powder-horn, pouch, and hunting-knife, completed the furni ture of the house. We all sat with hats and overcoats on, and the woman cooked in bonnet and shawl. As I sat in the chimney-corner I could put both my hands out, one laid on the other, between the stones of the fire-place and the logs of the wall.
A pallet of quilts and blankets was spread for us in the

BOTJTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.

5

i

lean-to, just between the two doors. "We slept in all our

clothes, including overcoats, hats, and boots, and covered en

tirely with blankets. At seven in the morning, when we

threw them off, the mercury in the thermometer in our

saddle-bags, which we had used for a pillow, stood at 25

Fahrenheit.

We contrived to make cloaks and hoods from our blankets,

and after going through with the- fry, coffee and pone again,

and paying one dollar each for the entertainment of ourselves

and horses, we continued our journey.

CaldweTl.--Late in the same evening we reached a hamlet, the " seat of justice " of Burleson County. We were obliged to leave our horses in a stable, made up of a roof, in which was a loft for the storage of provender, set upon posts, without side-boarding, so that the norther met with no ob
struction. It was filled with horses, and ours alone were blanketed for the night. The mangers-were very shallow
and narrow, and as the corn was fed on the cob, a consider able proportion of it was thrown out by the horses in their efforts to detach the edible portion. With laudable economy, our landlord had twenty-five or thirty pigs running at large in the stable, to prevent this overflow from being wasted.
The " hotel" was an unusually large and fine one; the principal room had glass windows. Several panes of these were, however, broken, and the outside door could not be closed from without; and when closed, was generally pried open with a pocket-knife by those who wished to go out. A great part of the time it was left open. Supper was served in another room, in which there was no fire, and the outside door was left open for the convenience of the servants in passing to and from the kitchen, which, as usual here at large bouses, was hi a detached building. Supper was, how-

6

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

ever, eaten with such rapidity that nothing had time to freeze on the table.
There were six Texans, planters and herdsmen, who had made harbour at the inn for the norther, two German shop keepers and a young lawyer, who were boarders, besides OUT party of three, who had to be seated before the fire. We "kept coats and hats on, and gained as much -warmth, from the friendly manner in which we drew together, as possible. After ascertaining, by a not at all impertinent or incon siderate method of inquiry, where we were from, which way we were going1, what we thought of the country, what we thought of the weather, and what were the capacities and the cost of our fire-arms, we were considered as initiated members of the crowd, and " the conversation became general."
The matter of most interest came up in this wise: " The man made a white hoy, fourteen or fifteen years old, get up and go out in the norther for wood, when there was a great, strung nigger fellow lying on the floor doing nothing. God ! I liad an appetite to give him a hundred, right there."
" TVhy, you wouldn't go out into the norther yourself, would you, if you were not obliged to ?" inquired one, hvnghingly.
" I wouldn't hare a nigger in my house that I was afraid to set to work, at anything I wanted him to do, at any time. They'd hired him out to go to a new place next Thursday, and they were afraid if they didn't treat him well, he'd run away. If I couldn't break a nigger of running away, I woTddn't have him any how."
" I can tell you how you can break a nigger of running away, certain," said another. " There was an old fellow I ased to know in Georgia, that always cured his so. If a nigger ran away, when he caught him, he would bind his knee over a lo.g, and fasten him so he couldn't stir; then

BOUTE ACBOSS EASTERN TEXAS.

7

he'd take a pair of pincers and poll one of his toe-nails out by the roots; and tell him that if he ever run away again, he would pull out two of them, and if he run away again after that, he told them he'd pull out four of them, and so o, doubling each time. He never had to do it more than twice--it always cured them."
One of the company then said that he was at the present time in pursuit of a negro. He had bought him of a rela tive in Mississippi, and had been told that he was a great runaway. He had, in fact, run away from his relative three times, and always when they caught him he -was trying to ffi-f back to Illinois;* that was the reason he sold him. " He offered him to me cheap," he continued, " and I bought him because he was a first-rate nigger, and I thought per haps I could break him of running away by bringing him down to this new country. I expect he's making for Mexico now. I am a-most sure I saw his tracks on the road alout twelve miles back, where he was a-coming on this way. Night before last I engaged with a man who's got some firstrate nigger dogs to meet me here to-night; but I suppose the cold keeps him back," He then a=ked us to look out for him as we went on west, and gave us a minute description of him that we might recognize him. He was " a real black nigger," and carried off a double-barrelled gun with him. Another man, who was going on by another road westward, ofiered to look for him that way, and to advertise him. Would he be likely to defend himself with the gun if he should try to secure him ? he asked. The owner said he had no doubt he would. He was as humble a nigger when he was at work as ever he had seen; but he was a mighty resolute nigger--there was no man had more resolution. " Couldn't I induce him to let me take the gun by pretend-
* Maay freemen have been kilnnpped ia Illinois anO sold into

8

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

ing I wanted to look at it, or something ? I'd talk to him

simple; make as if I was a stranger, and ask him about the

road, and so on, and finally ask him what he had got for a

gun, and to let me look at it." The owner didn't believe

he'd let go of the gtm; he was a " nigger of sense--as much

sense as a white man; he was not one of your Mnkey-headed

niggers." The chances of catching Tifrn were discussed.

Some thought they were good, and some that the owner

might almost as well give it up, he'd got such a start. It

was three hundred miles to the Mexican frontier, and he'd

have to make fires to cook the game he would kill, and could

travel only at night; but then every nigger or Mexican he

could find would help him, and if he had so much sense, he'd

manage to find out his way pretty straight, and yet not have

white folks see him.

We slept in a large upper room, in a companj of five, with

a broken window at the head of our bed, and another at our

side, offering a short cut to the norther across our heads.

We were greatly amused to see one of our bed-room com

panions gravely spit in the candle before jumping into bed,

explaining to some one who made a remark, that he always,

did so, it gave him time to see what he was about before it

went out.

~~

The next morning the ground was covered with sleet, and

the gale still continued (a pretty steady close-reefing breeze)

during the day.

We wished to have a horse shod. The blacksmith, who

was a white man, we found in his shop, cleaning a fowling-

piece. It was too d----d cold to work, he said, and he was

going to shoot some geese; he, at length, at our urgent

request, consented to earn a dollar; but, after getting on his

apron, he found that we had lost a shoe, and took it off again,

refusing to make a shoe while this d----d norther lasted,

ROUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.

9

for any man. As he had no shoes ready made, he~~~absolutely turned us out of the shop, and obliged us to go seventy-five milea further, a great part of the way over a pebbly road, by which the beast lost three shoes before he could be shod.
This respect for the north wind is by no means singular here. The publication of the week's newspaper in Bastrop was interrupted by the norther, the editor mentioning, as a sufficient reason for the irregularity, the feet that his print ing-office was in the north part of the house.

A usfin.--Before leaving Eastern Texas behind us, I must add a random note or two, the dates of which it would have been uncivil to indicate.
We stopped one night at the house of a planter, now twenty years settled in Eastern Texas. He was a man of some education and natural intelligence, and had, he told us, an income, from the labour of his slaves, of some & 4,000. His residence was one of the largest houses we had seen in Texas. It had a second story, two wings and a long gallery. Its windows had been once glazed, but now, out of eighty panes that originally filled the lower windows, thirty only remained unbroken. Not a door hi the house had teen ever refurnished with a latch or even a string; when they were closed, it was necessary to claw or to ask some one inside to push open. (Yet we happened to hear a neighbour express ing serious admiration of the way these doors fitted.) The furniture was of the rudest description.
One of the family had just had a haemorrhage of the lungs; while we were at supper, this person sat between the big fire place and an open outside door, having a window, too, at his side, in which only three panes remained. A norther was blowing, and ice forming upon the gallery outside. Next day

10

COTTON A>T> SLAVERY.

at breakfast, the invalid was unable to appear on account of a " bad turn."
On our supper-table was nothing else than the eternal fry", pone and coffee. Butter, of dreadful odour, was here added by exception. Wheat flour they never used. It was " too much trouble."
We were waited upon by two negro girls, dressed in shorfwaisted, twilled-eotton gowns, once white, now looking as if they had been worn by chimney-sweeps. The water for the family was brought in tnbe npon the heads of these two girls, from a creek, a quarter of a mile distant, this occupation filling nearly all their time.
This gentleman had thirty or forty negroes, and two legiti mate sons. One was an idle young man. The other was, at eight years old, a swearing, tobacco-chewing btdly and ruffian. We heard him whipping a puppy behind the house, and swearing between the blows, his father and mother being at hand. His language and tone was an evident imitation of his father's mode of dealing with his slaves.
" I've got an account to settle with you; I've let you go about long enough; 111 teach you who's your master; there, go now, God damn you, but I havn't got through with you yet."
" You stop that cursing," said his father, at length, " it isn't right for little boys to curse."
" What do you do when you get mad ?" replied the boy; " reckon you cuss some; so now you'd better shut up."

In the whole journey through Eastern Texas, we did not see one of the inhabitants look into a newspaper or a book, although we spent days in houses where men were lounging about the fire without occupation. One evening I took up a paper which had been lying unopened upon the table of the

KOUTE ACEOSS EASTEBJT TEXAS.

11

inn where we were staying, and sniffed to see how painfully news items dribbled into the Texas country papers, the loss of the tug-boat " Ajax," -which occurred before we left Xew York, being here just given as the loss of the " splendid steamer Oeax."
A man who sat near said--
" Reckon you've read a good deal, hain't you ?" "Oh, yes; why?"
" Keckoh'd you had." "Why?"

" You look as though you liked to read. Well, it's a good thing. S'pose you take a pleasure in reading, don't you ?"
" That depends, of course, on what I hare to read. I suppose everybody likes to read when they find anything interesting to them, don't they ?"
" No; it's damn tiresome to some folks, I reckon, anyhow, 'le.-s you've got the habit of it. Well, it's a good thing; you am pass away your time so."

The sort of interest taken in foreign affairs is well enough illustrated by the views of a gentleman of property in Eastern Tfxas, who was sitting with us one night, " spitting in the fire," and talking about cotton. Bad luck he had had--only four bales to the hand; couldn't account for it--bad luck ; and next year he didn't reckon nothing else but that there would be a general war in Europe, and then he'd be in a pretty fix, with cotton down to four cents a pound. Corse those Turks ! If he thought there would be a general war, he would take every d----d nigger he'd got, right down to New Orleans, and sell them for what they'd bring. They'd
never be so high again as they were now, and if there should come a general war they wouldn't be worth half as much next ear. There always were infernal rascals somewhere in the v> rl'l trying to prevent anjionest man from getting a living.

12

OOTTOS ASD 8LAVZBT.

Oh, if they got to fighting, he hoped they'd eat each other up. They just ought to be, all of them--Turks, and Rus sians, and Prussians, and Dutchmen, and Frenchmen---just be put in a bag together, and slung into hell. That's what he'd do with them.

Remarking, one day, at the house of a woman who was brought up at the North, that there was much more comfort at her house than, any we had previously stopped at, she told us that the only reason the people didn't have any comfort here was, that they wouldn't take any trouble to get any thing. Anything that their negroes could make they would eat; but they would take no pains to instruct them, or to get anything that didn't grow on the plantation. A neighbour of hers owned fifty cows, she supposed, but very rarely had any milk- and scarcely ever any butter, simply because his people were too lazy to milk or chum, and he wouldn't take the trouble to make them.
This woman entirely sustained the assertion that Northern people, when they come to the South, have less feeling for the negroes than Southerners themselves usually have. We asked her (she lived in a village) whether she hired or owned her servants. They owned them all, she said. "When they first came to Texas they hired servants, but it was very troublesome; they would take no interest in anything; and she couldn't get along with them. Then very often their owners, on some pretext (ill-treatment, perhaps), would take them away. Then they bought negroes. It was very ex pensive: a good negro girl cost seven or eight hundred dollars, and that, we must know, was |i great deal of money to be kid out in a thing that might lie, right down the next day and die. They were not much better either than the hired servants.

EOUTE ACB03S EASTEEN TEXAS.

13

Folks up North talked about how badly the negroes were treated ; she wished they could see how much work her girls did. She had four of them, and she knew they didn't do half so much work as one gcod Dutch girl such as she used to have at the Xorth. Oh ! the negroes were the laziest things in creation; there was no knowing how much trouble they gave to look after them. Up to the North, if a girl went out into the garden for anything, when she came back she would clean her feet, but these nigger girls will stump right in and track mud all over the house. What do they care ? They'd just as lief clean the mud after themselves as anything else-- their time isn't any value to themselves. What do they care for the trouble it gives you ? Not a bit. And you may scold 'em and whip 'em--you never can break 'em into better
habits. I asked what were servants' wages when they were hired
out to do housework ? They were paid seven or eight dollars a month ; sometimes ten. She didn't use to pay her girl at the North but four dollars, and she knew she would do more work than any six of the niggers, and not give half so much trouble as one. But you couldn't get any other help here but niggers. Northern folks talk about abolishing slavery, but there wouldn't be any use in that; that would be ridicu lous, unless you could some way get rid of the niggers. "Why, they'd murder us all in our beds--that's what they'd do. Why, over to Fannin, there was a negro woman that killed her mistress with an axe, and her two little ones. The people just flooked together, and hung her right up on the spot; they ought to have piled some wood round her, and burned her to death; that would have been a good lesson to the rest. We afterwards heard her scolding one of her girls, the girl made some exculpatory reply, and getting the best of the argument, the mistress angrily told her if she said

14

COTTOX A:ST> SLAVERY.

another word she would have two hundred lashes given her. She came in and remarked that if she hadn't felt so nervous she would have given that girl a good whipping herself; these niggers are so saucy, it's very trying to one who has to take care of them.
Servants are, it is true, " a trial," in all lands, ages, and nations. But note the fetal reason this woman frankly gives for the inevitable delinquencies of slave-servants, "Theii time isn't any value to themselves !"
The women of Eastern Texas seemed to us, in general, far superior to their lords. They have, at least, the tender hearts and some of the gentle delicacy that your "true Texan " lacks, whether mistresses of slaves, or only of their own frying-pan. They are overworked, however, as soon as married, and care gives them thin faces, sallow complexions, and expressions either sad or sour.
Another night we spent at the house of a man who came here, when a boy, from the North. His father was a mechanic, and had emigrated to Texas just hefore the war of Independence. He joined the army, and his son had been brought up--rather had grown up--Southern fashion, with no training to regular industry. He had learned no trade. What need ? His father received some thousand acres of land in payment of his services. The son earned some money by driving a team ; bought some cattle, took a wife, and a house, and now had been settled six years, with a young family. He had nothmg-fo So but look after his cattle, go to the nearest town and buy meal and coffee occasionally, and sell a few oxen when the bill was sent in. His house was more comfortless than nine-tenths of the stables of the North. There were several windows, some of which were boarded over, some had wooden shutters, and some were entirely open. There was not a pane of glass. The doors were closed with

BOCTE ACKOSS EASTERN TEXAS.

15

difficulty. "We could see the stars, as -we lay in bed, through the openings of the roof; and on all sides, in the walls of the room, one's arm might be thrust out. Notwithstanding, that night the mercury fell below 25 of our Fahrenheit thermometer. There was the standard food and beverage, placed before us night and morning. We asked if there was much game near him ? There were a great many deer. He saw them every day. Did he shoot many ? He never shot any; 'twas too much trouble. When he wanted " fresh," 'twas easier to go out and stick a hog (the very words he used). He had just corn enough to give our horses one feed --there was none left for the morning. His own horses could get along through the winter on the prairie. He made pets of his children, but was cross and unjust to his wife, who might have been pretty, and was affectionate. He was with out care--thoughtless, content, with an unoccupied mind. He took no newspaper--he read nothing. There was, indeed, a pile of old books which his father had brought from the North, but they seemed to be all of the Tract Society sort, and the dust had been undisturbed upon them, it might have been, for many years.

Manchac Spring.--We found a plantation that would have done no discredit to Virginia. The house was krge and well constructed, standing in a thick grove, separated from the prairie by a strong worm-fence. Adjacent, within, was the spring, which deserved its prominence of mention upon the maps. It had .been tastefully grottoed with heavy limestone rocks, now water-stained and mossy, and the pure stream came gurgling up, in impetuous gallons, to pour itself in a bright current out upon the prairie. The foun tains of Italy were what came to mind, and "Fontana de Manciocco " would have secured a more natural name.

16

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

Everything about the house was orderly and neat. The proprietor came out to receive us, and issued orders about the horses, which we felt, from their quiet tone, would be obeyed without our supervision. When we were ushered into a snug supper-room and found a clean table set with wheatbread, ham, tea, and preserved fruits, waited on by tidy and ready girls, we could scarce think we had not got beyond the bounds of Texas. We were, in fact, quit, for some time to come, of the lazy poverty of Eastern Texas.

Lower Gvadalotipe.--Not finding a suitable camping place, we stumbled, after dark, into a large plantation upon the river bottom.
The irruption of our train within the plantation fences caused a furious commotion among the dogs and little ne groes, and it was with no little difficulty we could explain to the planter, who appeared with a candle, which was instantly blown out upon the porch, our peaceable intentions. Finally, after a general striking out of Fanny's heels and the master's boots, aided by the throwing of our loose lariats into the confused crowd, the growling and chattering circle about us was sufficiently enlarged and subdued for us to obtain a hear ing; and we were hospitably received.
" Ho, Sam ! You Tom, here! Call your missus. Suke ! if you don't stop that infernal noise I'll have you drowned ! Here, Bill! Josh! some of you! why don't you help the gentleman ? Bring a lantern herte ! Packed, are you, sir. Hold on, yon there; leave the gun alone. Now, clear out with you, you little devils, every one of you! Is there no one in the house ? St! after 'em, Tiger! Can't any of you find a lantern ? Where's Bill, to take these horses ? What are you doing there ? I tell you to be off, now, every one of yon! Tom ! take a rail and keep 'em off there!"

EOUTE ACROSS EASTERN TEXAS.

17

In the mickt of the noise we go through the familiar mo-

*, and land our saddles and hampers upon the gallery,

tlieu follow wliat appears to be the headmost negro to the

stable, and give him a hint to look well out for the horses.

This is our first reintroduction to negro servants after our

German experiences, and the contrast is most striking and

di.-sagreeable. Here were thirty or forty slaves, but not an

order could be executed without more reiteration, and threats,

and oaths, and greater trouble to the master and mistress,

than would be needed to get a squadron under way. We

heard the master threaten his negroes with flogging, at least

six times, before we went to bed. In the night a heavy rain

came up, and he rose, on hearing it, to arrange the cistern

spout, cursing again his infernal niggers, who had turned it

off for some convenience of their own. In the morning, we

heard the mistress scolding her girls for having left articles

outside which had been spoiled by the wet, after repeated

orders to bring them in. On visiting the stables we found

the door fastened by a board leaned against it.

All the animals were loose, except the mule, which I had

fastened myself. The rope attached to my saddle was stolen,

and a shorter one substituted for it, when I mentioned the

fact, by which I was deceived, until we were too far off to

return. The master, seeing the horses had yet had no fodder,

called to a boy to get some for them, then, countermanding

his order, told the boy to call some one else, and go himself

to drive the cows out of the garden. Then, to another boy,

he said, " Go and pull two or three bundles of fodder out of

the stack and give these horses." The boy soon came with

.two small bundles. " You infernal rascal, couldn't you tote

more fodder than that ? Go back and bring four or five

bundles, and be quick about it, or I'll lick you." The

boy walked slowly back, and returned with four bundles more.

VOL. n.

o

18

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

Bat on entering at night we were struck with the air of comfort that met us. We were seated in rocking-chairs in a well-furnished room, before a blazing fire, offered water to wash, in a little lean-to bed-room, and, though we had two hours to wait for our supper, it was most excellent, and we pasf=ed an agreeable evening in intelligent conversation with onr host.
After his cariosity about us was satisfied, we learned from him that, though a young man, he was an old settler, and had made a comfortable fortvjie by his plantation. His wife gave us a picturesque acco^ni. of their waggon journey here with their people, and described the hardships, danger^, and privations they had at first to endure. Now they were far more comfortable than they could have ever hoped to have been in the State from which they came. They thought their farm the best cotton land in the world. It extended across a mile of timbered bottom land from the river, then over a mile of bottom prairie, and included a large tract of the big prairie "for range." Their field would produce, in a favourable season, three bales to the acre; ordinarily a bale and a half: the "bale " 400 Ibs. Thev had always far more than their hands could pick. It was much more free from weeds than the States, so much so, that three hands would be needed there to cultivate the same area as two here ; that is, with the same liands the crop would be one-third greater.
Brit so anxious is every one hi Texas to give all strangers a favourable impression, that all statements as to the extreme profit and healthfulness of lands must be taken with a grain of allowance. We fotrnl it very difficult, without impertinent persistence, to obtain any unfavourable facts. Persons not interested informed us, that from one-third to one-half the cotton crop on some of these rich plantations had l>een cut off

BOtTE ACBOSS EASTEON TEXAS.

19

by the worm, on several occasions, and that negroes suffered much with dysentery and pneumonia.
It cost them very little to haul their cotton to the coast or to get supplies. They had not been more sickly than they would have boen on the Mississippi. They considered that their steady sea-breeze was almost a sure preventive of such diseases as they had higher up the country.
They always employed German mechanics, and spoke well of them. Mexicans were regarded in a somewhat unchristian tone, not as heretics or heathen, to be converted with flannel and tracts, but rather as vermin, to be exterminated. . The lady was particularly strong in her prejudices. White folks and Mexicans were never made to live together, anyhow, and the Mexicans had no business here. They were getting so impertinent, and were so well protected by the laws, that the Americans would just have to get together and drive them all out of the country.

On the Chockolate.--" Which way did you come ?" asked some one of the old man.
. From ------."
" See anything of a runaway nigger over there, anywhar ?" " Xo, sir. What kind of a nigger was it ?" " A small, black, screwed-up-faced nigger." " How long has he been out ?" " Xigh two weeks." " Whose is he ?" ' " Judge ----'s, np here. And he cut the judge right bad. Like to have killed the judge. Cut his young master, too." " Beckon, if they caught him, 'twould go rather hard v;itli him." " .Reckon 'twould. We caught him once, but he got away
c2

20

COTTOX AND SLAVEKY.

from us again. We was just tying his feet together, and he give me a kick in the face, and broke. I had my six-shooter handy, and I tried to shoot him, but every barrel missed fire. Been loaded a week. We shot at him three times with rifles, bat he'd got too far off, and we didn't hit, but we most have shaved him close. We chased him, and my dog got close to him once. If he'd grip'd him, we shotdd have got him ; but he had a dog himself, and just as my dog got within about a yard of him, his dog turned and fit my dog, and he hurt him so bad we couldn't get him to run him again. We run him close, though, I tell you. Run him out of his coat, and his boots, and a pistol he'd got. __ But 'twas getting towards dark, and he got into them bayous, and kept swimming from one side to another."
" How long ago was that ?" " Ten days." " If he's got across the river, he'd get to the Mexicans in two days, and there he'd be safe. The Mexicans'd take care of him." " What made him run ?" " The judge gave him a week at Christinas, and when tibe week was up, I s'pose he didn't want to go to work again. He got unrulv, and they was a goin' to' whip him." ""Xow, how much happier that fellow'd V been, if he'd just stayed and done his duty. He might have just worked and done his duty, and his master'd 'a' taken care of him, and given him another week when Christmas come again, and he'd V had nothing to do but enjoy himself again. These niggers, none of 'em, knows how much happier off they are than if they was free. Xow, very likely, hell starve to death, or get shot." " Oh, the judge treats his niggers too kind. If he was

1

BOITE ACBOSS EASTERN TEXAS.

21

stricter with them, they'd have more respect for him, and be more contented, too."
" Never do to be too slack with niggers."

We were riding in company, to-day, "with a California drover, named Bankin. He was in search of cattle to drive across the plains. He had taken a drove before from Illinois, and told us that people in .that State, of equal circumstances, lived ten times better than here, in all matters of comfort and refinement^ He had suffered more in travelling^ in Texas, than ever on the plains or the mountains. Not long before, in driving some mules with his partner, they came to a house which was the last on the road for fourteen miles. They had nothing in the world in the house but a few ears of com, they were going to grind in their steel mill for their own breakfast, and wouldn't sell on any terms. " We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, but we actually could get nothing. The only other thing in the cabin, that could be eaten, was a pile of deer-skins, with the hair on. We had to stake our mules, and make a fire, and coil around it. About twelve o'clock there came a norther. We heard it coming, and it made us howl. We didn't sleep a wink for cold."

Houston.--We were sitting on the gallery of the hotel. A tall, jet black negro came up, leading by a rope a downcast mulatto, whose hands were lashed by a cord to bis waist, and whose face was horribly cut, and dripping with blood. The wounded man crouched and leaned for support against one ofthe columns of the gallery--faint and sick.
" What's the matter with that boy ?" asked a smoking lounger.
" I run a fork into his face," answered the negro.
" What are his hands tied for ?"

22

COTTON A>.T> SIAVEBY.

" He's a runaway, sir." "Did yon catch him?" "Yes, sir. He was" hiding in the hay-loft, and when I went up to throw some hay to the horses, I pushed the fork down into the mow and it struck something hard. I didn't know what it was, and I pushed hard, and gave it a turn, and then he hollered, and I took it out." "What do you bring him here, for ?" " Come for the key of the jail, sir, to lock him up." " What!" said another, " one darkey catch another darkey ? Don't believe that story." " Oh yes, mass'r, I tell for true. He was down in our Lay-loft, and so you see when I stab him, I have to catch him." " Why, he's hurt bad, isn't he ?" " Yes, he says I pushed through the bones." " Whose nigger is he ?" . " He says he belong to Mass'r Frost, sir, on the Brazos." The key was soon brought, and the negro led the mulatto sway to jail. He walked away limping, crouching, and writh ing, as if he had received other injuries than those on his face. The bystanders remarked that the negro had not probably told the whole story. We afterwards happened to see a gentleman on horseback, and smoking, leading by a long rope through the deep mud, out into the country, the poor mulatto, still limping and crouching, his hands manacled, and his arms pinioned. There is a prominent slave-mart in town, which holds a large lot of likely-looking negroes, waiting purchasers. In the windows of shops, and on the doors and columns of the hotel, are many written advertisements, headed " A likely negro girl for sale." ' Two negroes for sale." " Twenty negro boys for sale." etc.

BOCTE ACEOSS EASTERN TEXAS.

23

South-eastern Texas.--We were unable to procure at Hou ston any definite information with regard to our proposed route. The known roads thence are those that branch northjvard and westward from their levee, and so thoroughly within line? of business does local knowledge lie, that the eastern shore is completely terra incognita. The roads east were said to be bad after heavy rains, but the season had been dry, and we determined to follow the direct and the distinct road, laid down upon our map.
Now that I am in a position to give preliminary information, however, there is no reason why the reader should enter this region as ignorant as we did.
Our route took us by Harrisburg and San Jacinto to Liberty, upon the Trinity; thence by Beaumont to the Sabine at Tur ner's ferry; thence by the Big "Woods and Lake Charles to Opelousas, the old capital of St. Landry Parish, at the western head of the intricate navigation from New Orleans.
This large district, extending from the Trinity Eiver to the bayous of the Mississippi, has, throughout, the same general characteristics, the principal of which are, lowness, flatness, and wetn&ss. The soil is variable, but is in greater part a loose, sandy loam, covered with coarse grasses, forming level prairies, which are everywhere broken by belts of pine forests, usually bordering creeks and bayous, but often standing in islands. The surface is but very slightly elevated above the sea ; I suppose, upon an average, less than ten feet. It is, consequently, imperfectly drained, and in a wet season a krge proportion is literally covered with- water, as in crossing it, even in a dry time, we were obliged to wade through many miles of marshy pools. The river-bottoms, still lower than the general level, are subject to constant overflow by tide water, and what with the fallen timber, the dense undergrowth, the mire-quags, the abrupt gullies, the patches of rotten or

24

COTTON AM) SLAVERY.

floating corduroy, and three or four feet of dirty salt water, the roads through them are not such as one would choose for a morning ride. The country is sparsely settled, containing leas than one inhabitant to the square mile, one in four being a slave.
The many pools, through which the usual track took us, were swarming with venemous water-snakes, four or five black moccasins often lifting at once their devilish heads above the dirty surface, and wriggling about our horses' heels. Beyond the Sabine, alligator holes are an additional excitement, the unsuspicious traveller suddenly sinking through the treacherous surface, and sometimes falling a victim, horse and all, to the hideous jaws of the reptile, while overwhelmed by the engulfing mire in which he lurks.
Upon the whole, this is not the spot in which I should prefer to come to light, burn, and expire; in fact, if the nether regions, as was suggested by the dream-gentleman of Nachitochea, be " a boggy country," the avernal entrance might, I should thinly -with good probabilities, be looked for in this region.
We passed, on both sides the Sabine, many abandoned farms, and the country is but thinly settled. We found it impossible to obtain any information about roads, and fre quently went astray upon cattle paths, once losing twenty miles in a day's journey. The people were chiefly herds men, cultivating a little cotton upon river-banks, but ordinarily only corn, with a patch of cane to furnish household sugar. We tried in vain to purchase corn for our horses, and were told that " folks didn't make corn enough to bread them, and if anybody had corn to give his horse, he carried it in his hat and went out behind somewhere." The herds were in poor condition, and must in winter be reduced to the verge of starvation. We saw a few hogs, converted, by hardship, to

BOUTE ACEO6S EASTERN TEXAS.

25

figures so unnatural, that we at first took them for goats. Most of the people we met were old emigrants, from Southern Louisiana and Mississippi, and more disposed to gaiety and cheer than the Texan planters. The houses showed a ten dency to Louisiana forms, and the table to a French style of serving the jerked beef, which is the general dish of the country. The meat is dried in strips, over smoky fires, and, if untainted and well prepared, is a tolerably savoury food. I hardly know whether to chronicle it as a border barbarism, or a Creolism, that we were several times, in this neighbour hood, shown to a bed standing nest to that occupied by the host and his wife, sometimes with the screen of a shawl, sometimes without.
We met with one specimen of the Virginia habit of " dip ping," or snuff-chewing, in the person of a woman who was otherwise neat and agreeable, and observed that a young lady, well-dressed, and apparently engaged, while we were present, in reading, went afterward to light her pipe at the kitchen fire, and -had a smoke behind the house.
The condition of the young men appeared to incline de cidedly to barbarism. "We stopped a night at a house in which a drover, bringing mules from Mexico, was staying; and, 'with the neighbours who had come to look at -the drove, we were thirteen men at table. When speaking with us, all were polite and respectful, the women especially so ; but among one another, their coarseness was incredible. The master of the house, a well-known gentleman of the county, who had been absent when we arrived, and at supper-time, came afterwards upon the gallery and commenced cursing furiously, because some one had taken his pipe. Seeing us, he stopped abruptly, and after lighting the pipe, said, in a rather peremptory and formal, but not nncourteous tone: " Where are you from, gentlemen ?"

26 _

COTTOJT AM> ffLAVZBT.

" From Beaumont, sir, last." " Been out West ?" "Yes, sir." " Travelling ?' "Yes, sir." After pausing a moment to make up his mind-- " Where do you live when you are at home, gentlemen, and what's your business in this country ?" " We live in New York, and are travelling to see the country." "How do yon like it?" " Jnst here we find it flat and wet." " What's your name ?" "Olmsted"."
" And what's this gentleman's name ?' " Olmsted." " Is it a Spanish name ?" "Xo, sir." He then ahrnptly left us, and the young men entertained one another with stories of fights and horse-trades, and with vulgar obscenities. Shortly he returned, saying-- " Show you to bed now, gentlemen, if yon wish." " We are ready, sir, if you will be good enough to get a light." "Alight?" "Yes, sir." "AJiyTitf" "Yes, sir."
"Get a light?" "Yes, sir." "Well" (after a moment's hesitation), " I'll get one." On reaching the bed-room, which was in a building adjoin*

BOUTE ACBOSS EA8TZBX TEXAS.

27

ing, he stood awaiting onr pleasure. Thanking him, I turned to take the light, but his fingers were the candlestick. He continued to hold it, and six young men, who had followed us, stood grouped around while we undressed, placing our clothes upon the floor. Judy advanced to lie down by them. One of the young men started forward, and said--
" I've got a right good knife." " What ?" " I've got a right good knife, if you want it." " What do you mean ?" " Xothing, only I've got a right good knife, and if you'd like to kill that dog, I'll lend it to you." " Please to tell me what you mean ?" " Oh, nothing." " Keep your dog quiet, or I'll kill her," I suppose was the interpretation. When we had covered ourselves in bed, the host said-- " I suppose you don't want the light no more ?" " Xo, sir;" and all bade us good night; but leaving the door open, commenced feats of prolonged dancing, or stamp ing upon the gallery, which were uproariously applauded. Then came more obscenities and profanities, apropos to iandango frolics described by the drovers. As we had barely got to sleep, several came to occupy other beds in our room. They had been drinking freely, and continued smoking in bed. Upon the floor lay two boys of fourteen, who continued shouting and laughing after the others had at length become quiet. Some one soon said to one of them-- " You h'ad better stop your noise; Frank says hell be damn'd if he don't come in and give you a hiding." Frank was trying to sleep upon the gallery. " By ----," the boy cried, raising himself, and drawing a coat from under the pillow, " if he comes in here, 111 be damn'd

28

COTTON AKD SLAVERY.

if I don't HI1 him. He dare not come in here. I would like to see him come in here," drawing from his coat pocket a revolver, and cocking it. " By ----, you may come in here now. Come in here, come in here I Do you here that ?" (revolving the pistol rapidly). " ----- dairm me, if I don't kill you, if yon come near the door."
This continued without remonstrance for some time, when he lay down, asking his companion for a light for his pipe, aud continuing the noisy conversation until we fell asleep. The previous talk had heen much of knife and pistol fights which had taken place in the county. The same boy was obliging and amiable the next morning, assisting us to hring in and saddle the horses at our departure.
One of the men here was a Yankee, who had lived so long in the Slave States that he had added to his original ruralisms a very complete collection of Southernisms, some of which were of the richest we met with. He had been in the Texas Bangers, and, speaking of the West, said he had teen up round the head of the Guadaloupe " heaps and cords of times," at-the same'time giving us a very picturesque account of the county. Speaking of wolves, he informed us that on the San Jacinto there were " any dimensions of them." Obsti nacy, in his vocabulary, was represented by " damnation cussedncss." He was unable to conceive of us in any other light than as two peddlers who had mistaken their ground in coming here.
At another house where we stopped (in which, by theway, we ate our supper by the light of pine knots blazing in the chimney, with an apology for the absence of candles), we heard some conversation upon a negro of the neighbourhood, who had been sold to a free negro, and who refused to live with him, saying he wouldn't be a servant to a nigger. All agreed that he was right, although the man was well known

LOUISIANA.

29

to be kind to bis negroes, and would always sell any of them \vho wished it. The slave had been sold because he wouldn't mind, " If I had a negro that wouldn't mind," said the woman of the house, " I'd break his head, or I'd sell him ; I wouldn't have one about me." Her own servant was stand ing behind her. " I do think it would be better if' there wasn't any niggers in the world, they .do behave so bad, some of 'ein. They steal just like hogs."

South-western Louisiana.--Soon after crossing the Sabine, we entered a " hummock," or tract of more fertile, oak-bearing land, known as the Big Woods. The soil is not rich, bat produces cotton, in good seasons nearly a bale to the acre, and the limited area is fully occupied. Upon one plantation we found an intelligent emigrant from Mississippi, who had just bought the place, having stopped on his way into Texas, because the time drew near for the confinement of his wife. Many farms are bought by emigrants, he said, from such temporary considerations: a child is sick, or a horse exhausted; they stop for a few weeks; but summer comes, and they conclude to put in a crop, and'often never move again.
It was before reaching the Big Woods, that alligator-holes were first pointed out to us, with a caution to avoid them. They extend from an aperture, obliquely, under ground, to a large cavern, the walls of which are puddled by the motions of the animal; and, being partly filled with water, form a comfortable amphibious residence. A horseman is liable, not only to breaking through npar the orifice, but to being preci; 'itatcd into the den itself, where he will find awaiting him, a disagreeable mixture of mire and angry jaws. In the deep water of the bottoms, we met with no snakes; but the pools were everywhere alive with them. We saw a great variety

30

COTTON AMD SLAVZBY.

erf long-legged birds, apparently on friendly terms with all the reptiles.
A day's journey took us through the Big "Woods, and across Calcasieu tu Lake Charles. We were not prepared to find , the Caleasieu a superb and solemn river, two hundred and thirty yard* across and forty-five feet deep. It is navigable for forty miles, but at its month has a bar, on which is some times only eighteen inches of water, ordinarily thirty inches. Schooners of light draft ascend it, bringing supplies, and taking out the cotton raised within its reach. Lake Charles is an insignificant village, npon the bank of a pleasant, clear lakelet, several miles in extent.
From the Big Woods to Opelousas, there was no change in tne monotonous scenery. Everywhere extended the immense moist plain, being alternate tracts of grass and pine. Nearer Opelou.Mas, oak appears in groups with the pine, and the soil is darker and more fertile. Here the land was mostly taken up, partly by speculators, in view of the Opelousas Railway, then commenced. But, in all the western portion of the dis trict, the land is still government property, and many of the people squatters. Sales are seldom made, but the estimated price of the land is fifty cents an acre.
Some of the timbered land, for a few years after clearing, yields good crops of corn and sweet potatoes. Cotton is seldom attempted, and sugar only for family use. Oats are sometimes grown, but the yield is small, and seldom thrushed from the straw. We notl one field of poor rye. So wet a region and so warm a climate suggested rice, and, were the land snfficientlv fertile, it would, doubtless, become a staple production. It is now only cultivated for home use, the bayou bottoms being rudely arranged for flowing thf> crop. But without manure no profitable return can be obtained from breaking the prairie, and the only system of manuring

LOUISIANA.

31

in use is that of ploughing np occasionally the cow-pens of the herdsmen.
The road was now distinctly marked enough, but had fre quent and embarrassing forks, \vhich occasioned us almost as much annoyance as the clouds of musquitoes which, east of the Sabine, hovered continually about our horses and our heads. Notions of distance vre found incredibly vague. At Lake Charles we were informed that the exact distance to Opelousas was ninety-six miles. After riding eight horn's, we were told by a respectable gentleman that the distance from hia house was one hundred and twenty miles. The next evening the distance was forty miles; and the following evening a gentleman who met us stated first that it was " a good long war;" next, that it was "thirty or forty miles, and damn'd long ones, too." About four miles beyond him, we reached the twentieth mile-post.
Across the bayous of any size, bridges had been constructed, but su rudely built of logs that the traveller, where possible, left them for a ford.
The people, after passing the frontier, changed in every prominent characteristic. French became the prevailing language, and French the prevailing manners. The gruff Texan bidding, " Sit up, stranger; take some fry !" became a matter of recollection, of which " Monsieur, la soupe est servie,'' was the smooth substitute. The good-nature of the people was an incessant astonishment. If we inquired the way, a contented old gentleman waddled out and showed us also his wile's house-pet, an immense white crane, his big crop of peaches, his old fig-tree, thirty feet in diameter of shade, and to his wish of " bon voyage " added for each a bouquet of the jessamines we were admiring. The homes were hoiiies, not settlements on speculation; the house, sometimes of logs, it, is true, but hereditary logs, and more often of smooth lumber.

32

COTTOy AND SLAVERY.

with deep and spreading galleries on all sides for the coolest comfort. For form, all ran or tended to run to a peaked and many-chimneyed centre, with, here and there, a suggestion of a dormar window. Nr>t all were provided with figs and jes samines, but each had souie inclosnre betraying good intentions.
The monotonous landscape did not invite to loitering, and we passed but thro-e nights in houses by the road. The first was that of an old Italian-French emigrant, known as " Old Man Corse." He had a name of his own, which he recalled for us, hnt in forty years it had been lost and superseded by this designation, derived from his birth-place, the island of Corsica. This mixture of nationalities in language must be breeding for future antiquaries a good deal of amusing labour. Next day we were recommended to stop at Jack Bacon's, and, although we would have preferred to avoid an Ameri can's, did so itithcr than go further, and found our Jack Bacon a Cn-..]^, named Jacques Btguin. This is equal to
Tnckapaw and Xalatush, the general pronunciation of Attakapas and Xachitoches.
The house of Old Man Corse stood in the shade of oaks, figs, and cypresses, upon the bank of a little bayou, looking out upon the l>road prairie. It was large and comfortable, with wide gulleries and dormar windows, supported by a negro-hut and a stable. Ornamental axe-work and rude decorative joinery were abundant. The roof was of large split shingles, much warped in the sun. As we entered and took seats by the fire, the room reminded us, with its big fire-place, and old smoke-stained nnd time-toned cypress beams and ceiling, and ita rude but comfortable aspect, of the
Acadian fireside:
"In doors, warm by tlie widc-monthed firc-phce, i'ily the farmer S*t ia hid i-lbow-cluiir, and watched how the flames and the smoke-wreaths Struggled together, like foes in a turning city. Behind him, Sodding: .im! m .<-ki-v4 alon<r the wall, with gestures fantastic.

LOUISIANA.

33

Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into tlai knoss, Faces, clumsily carve<l in ouk, on Ihe back of his arm-chair, Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates on the dresser Caught and rcfit-ctcd the flame, us shields of armies the suiuhuie."

Tlie tall, elderly, busy housewife bustled about with pre

parations for supper, while we learned that they had been

settled here forty years, and had never had reason to regret

their emigration. The old man had learnt French, but no

English. The woman could speak some " American," as she

properly termed it. Asking her about mosquitoes, we re

ceived a reply in French, that they were more abundant

some years than others ; then, as no quantitative adjective of

sufficient force occurred to her, she added, " Three years ago,

oh ! heaps of musquitoes, sir, heaps ! worse as now."

She laid the table to the last item, and prepared everything

nicely, but called a negro girl to wait upon us. The girl

st<d quiet LeLind us, the mistress helping us, and practically

anticipating all our wants.

The supper was of venison, in ragout, with a sauce that

savoured of the south of France; there was a side dish of

hominy, a jng of sweet milk, and wheat-bread in loaf--the

first since Houston.

In an evening smote, upon the settle, we learned that tlwre

were many Creoles about here, most of whom learned English,

and had their children taught English at the schools. The

Americans would not take the trouble to learn French. Thev r
often intermarried. A daughter of their own was the wife of

an American neighbour. We asked if they knew of a dis

tinct people here called Acadians. Oh yes, they knew many

settled in the vicinity, descended from some natiqn that came

here in the last century. They had now no peculiarities.

There were but few free negroes just here, but at Opelousas

and Xigqerville there were many, some of whom were rich

voi., n.

-

n

34

COTTOX AM) SLAVERY.

and owned slaves, though a part were unmixed black in colour. They kept pretty much by themselves, not attempting to enter white society.
As we went to look at our horses, two negroes followed us to the stable.
" Dat horse a Tennessee horse, mass'r," said one. " Yes, he was torn in Tennessee." "Born in Tennessee and raised by a Dutchman," said the other, sotto voce, I suppose, quoting a song. " Why, were you born in Tennessee ?" I asked. " Xo, sar, I was born in dis State." " How comes it you speak English so much better than your master ?" " Ho, ho, my old mass'r, he don' speak it at all; my missus she speak it better'n my raass'r do, but you see I war raised on de parara, to der eastward, whar thar's heaps of 'Mericans ; so I lamed it good." He spoke it, with a slight accent, while the other, whom he called Uncle Tom, I olnerved did not. I asked Uncle Tom if he was born in the State. "JVo, sar! I was born in Varginny! in ole Varginny, ma=a'r. I was raised in ------ county [in the West]. I was twenty-two year ole when I came away from thar, and I've been in this country, forty year come next Christmas." " Then you are sixty years old." " Yes, sar, ainos' sixty. But I'd like to go back to Yarginuy. Ho, ho! I 'ould like to go back and live in ole Varginny, again." ' Why so ? I thought niggers generally liked this coun try bent--I've been told so--locan?e it is so warm here." " Ho, ho ! it'.s mo*' too warm here, some time, and I can't work at my trade here. Sometimes fur three months I don' go in my shop, on'y Sundays to work for mysef."

LOUISIANA.

35

" What is your trade ?" " I'm a blacksmith, nmss'r. I used to work at blacksmithing all the time in olo Yirginny, ironin' waggons, and shoein' horses for the folia that work m the mines. But here, can't get nothun' to do. In this here sile, if you sharpen np a plough in the spring o' the year, it'll last all summer, and horses don' want shoeing once a year, here on the parara. I've got a good rnass'r here, tho'; the ole man ain't hard on his niggers." " Was your master hard in Virginia ?" " Well, I wos hired to different mass'rs, sar, thar, afore I wos sole off. I was sole off to a sheriffs sale, rnass'r: I wos sole for fifteen hunerd an' fifty dollars; I fetched that on the block, cash, I did, and the-man as bought me he brung me down here, and sole me for two thousand two hunerd dollars." " That was a good price; a very high price in those days." " Yes, sar, it was that--ho, ho, ho! It was a man by the name of ----, from Tennessee, what bought me. He made a business of goin' roun' and buyin' up people, and bringin' 'em down here, specnlatin' on 'em. Ho, ho! he did well that time. But I'd 'a' liked it better, for all that, to have stayed in ole Yarginny. 'Tain't the heat, tho' it's too hot here sometimes ; but you know, sarj I was bom and raised in Yar ginny, and seems like 'twould be pleasanter to live thar. It's kJiuler natural to people to hanker arter the place they wos raised in. Ho, ho! I'd like it a heap better, tho' this ole man's a good mass'r; never had no better mass'r." " I suppose you became a Catholic after you got here ?" " Yes, sar " '(hesitatingly). " I suppose all the people are Catholics here ?" " Here ? Oh, no, sar; they was whar I wos first in this
country; thpy wrw (ill Cnfiolirs there." P2

36

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

" Well, they are all Catholics here, too--ain't they ?" "Here, sar? Here, sar? Oh, no, sar !" " Why, your master is not a Protestant, is he ?" After two deep groans, he replied in a whisper: "Oh, sar, they don' hare no meotin' o' no kind, roun' here!" " There are a good many free negroes in this country, ain't there ?" ""What! here, sar? Oh, no, sar; no such good luck as that in this country." " At Opelousaa, I understood, there were a good many." "Oh, but them wos born free, sar, under old Spain, sar." " Yes, those I mean." "Oh, yes, there's lots o' them; some of 'em rich, and some of 'em--a good many of 'em--goes to the penitentiary --you know what that is. White folks goes to the penitenti'ry, too--ho! ho !--sometimes." " I hare understood many of them were quite rich." " Oh, yes, o' course they is: they started free, and ain'f got nobody to work for but theirselves; of course they . gets rich. Some of 'em owns slaves--heaps of 'em. That ar ain't right." "Not right! why not?" " "Why, you don' think it's right for one nigger to own another nigger! One nigger's no business to sarve another. It's bad ecough to have to sarve a white man without being paid for it, without having to sarve a Wack man." " Don't they treat their slaves well ?" "No, Par, they don't. There ain't no nations so bail masters to niggers as them free niggers, though there's some, I've heard, wos very kind ; but--I wouldn't sarve Vm if they wos--no!--Does you live in Tennessee, mass'r ? No--in New York."

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37

"There's heaps of Quakers in New brk} ain't there, nWr ?"
"No--not many." "I've always heard there was." " In Philadelphia there are a good many." " Oh, yes! in Philadelphia, and in Winchester, and in New Jarsey. I know--ho ! ho ! I've heen in those coun tries, and I've seen 'em. I wos raised nigh hy Winchester, and I've been all about there. Used to iron waggons and shoe horses in that country. Dar's a road from "Winchester to Philadelphia--right straight. Quakers all along. Eight good people, dem Quakers--ho! ho !--I know."* We slept in well-barred beds, and awoke long after sun rise. As soon as we were stirring, black coffee was sent into us, and at breakfast we had cafe an lait in immense bowls in the style of the cremeries of Paris. The woman remarked that our dog had slept in their bed-room. They had taken our saddle-bags and .blankets with them for security, and Jndy had insisted on following them. "Dishonest black people might come here and get into the room," explained the old man. " Yes; and some of our own people in the house might come to them. Such things have happened here, and you never can trust any of them," said the woman, her own black girl behind her chair. At Mr. B^guin's (Bacon's) we stopped on a Saturday night: and I was obliged to feed my own horse in the morn ing, the negroes having all gone off before daylight. The proprietor was a Creole farmer, owning a number of labourers, and living in comfort. The house was of the ordinary

* Evidently an allusion to the " underground railroad," or smnegling of run away slaves, which is generally supposed to be managed mainly by Quakers. This shows how knowledge of the abolition agitation must be carried among the slaves to the mo>t remote districts.

38

COTTOK ASD SLAVERY.

Southern doable-cabined style, the people speaking English, intelligent, lively, and polite, giving us good entertainment at the usual price. At a rade corn-mill belonging to Mr. B 'guin, we had noticed among the negroes an InJum boy, in negro clothing, and about the house were two other Indians --an old man and a young man ; the first poorly clad, the other gaily dressed in a showy printed calico frock, and worked buckskin leggings, with beads and tinsel ornaments, a great tnrban of Scotch shawl-stuff on his head. It appeared they were Choctaws, of whom a good many lived in the neighbourhood. The two were hired for farm labour at three bits (37J cents) a day. The old man had a, field of his own. in which stood handsome corn. Some of them were indus trious, but none were steady at work--often refusing to go on, or absenting themselves from freaks. I asked about the boy at the milL He lived there and did work, getting no wages, bat "living there with the niggers." They seldom consort; our host knew but one case in which a negro liad an Indian wile.
At Lake Charles we had seen a troop of Alahamas, riding through the town with baskets and dressed deerskins for sale. They were decked with feathers, and dressed more showily than the Choctaws, but .in calico: and over their heads, on horse-back--enrions progress of manners-- all carried open, black cotton unibreflas.

Our last night in this region was spent in a house which we reached at sundown of a Sunday afternoon. It proved to be a mere cottage, in a style which has grown to be common along onr road. The walls are low, of timber and mud ; the roof, high, and sloping from a short ridge in all directions : and the chimney of sticks nnrt mml. Tl:e space is divided into one long liv.n ;-r >.:.:. '.;;v'jig ;> kit^hoji at one end and a

LOUISIANA.

39

at the other. As wo rode np, we found only a little boy, who answered us in French. His mother was milking, and his father ont hi the field.
We rode on to the fence of the field, which enclosed twenty acres, planted in cotton, corn, and sweet potatoes, and waited until the proprietor reached us and the end of his furrow. He stopped before replying, to unhitch his horse, then gave consent to our staying in his house, and we followed his lep.d to the yard, where we unsaddled our horses. He was a tall, stalwart man in figure, with a large intellectual head, but as uninformed, we afterwards discovered, as any European pea sant ; though he wore, as it were, an ill-fitting dress of rude in dependence in manner, such as characterises the Western man.
The field was well cultivated, and showed the best corn we had seen east of the Brazos. Three negro men and two women were at work, and continued hoeing until sunset. They were hired, it appeared, by the proprietor, at foul- bits (fifty cents) a day. He was in the habit of making use of the Sundays of the slave.? of the neighbourhood in this way, paying them sometimes seventy-five cents a day.
On entering the house, we were met by two young boys, gentle and whining in manner, coming up of their own accord to offer us their hands. They were immediately set to work by their father at grinding corn, in the steel-mill, for supper. The tak seemed their usuaLone, yet very much too severe for their strength, as they were slightly built, and not over ten years old. Taking hold at opposite sides of the winch, they ground away, outside the door, for more than an hour, con stantly stopping to take breath, and spurred on by the yoice of the papa, if the delay were long.
They spoke only French, though understanding questions in English. The man and his wife--an energetic but worn woman--spoke French or English indifferently, even to one

40

' COTTOX A2JD SLAVERr.

another, changing, often, in a single sentence. He could not tell us which was his mother tongue; he had always been as much accustomed to the one as to the other. He said he wa.? not a Frenchman, but a native, American-born; but afterwards called himself a "Dutch-American," a phrase he was unable to explain. He informed us that there were many " Dutch-French " here, that is, people who were Dutch, but who spoke French.
The room into which we were ushered, was actually with out an article of furniture. The floor was of boards, while those of the other two rooms were of trodden clay. The mud-walls had no other relief than the mantel, on which stood a Connecticut clock, two small mirrors, three or four cheap cups and saucers, and a paste brooch in the form of ;i cross, pinn?d upon paper, as in a jeweDer's shop. Chairs were brought in from the kitchen, having deer-hide seat?, from which sprang forth an atrocious number of fresh fit-as.
We had two or three hours to wait for our late supper, and thus more than ample time to converse with our host, who proceeded to twist and .light a shuck cigar. He made, he said, a little cotton, which he hauled ten miles to be ginned and baled. For this service he paid seventy-five cents a hundred weight, hi which the cost of bagging was not in cluded. The planter who baled it, also sold it for him, send ing it, with his own, to a factor in Xew Orleans, by steamboat from Xiggcrville, just beyond Opelousas. Beside cotton, he sold every year some beef cattle. He had a good many cows, but didn't exactly know how many. Corn, too, he sometimes sold, but only to neighbours, who had not raised enough for themselves. It would not pay to haul it to any market. The same applied to sweet potatoes, which were considered worth seventy-five cents a barrel.
The " range" was much poorer than formerly. It was

r

IA)UI8TANA.

41

crowded, and people would have to take their stock somewhere else in fonr or fire years more, or they would starve. He didn't know what was going to become of poor folks, rich people were taking up the public land so fast, induced by the proposed railroad to New Orleans.
More or less stock was always starved hi winter. The worst time for them was when a black gnat, called the " eyebreaker," comes out. This insect breeds hi the low wood lands, and when a freshet occurs in winter is driven out in swarms upon the prairies, attacking cattle terribly. They were worse than all manner of mnsquitoes, flies, or other in sects. Cattle would herd together then, and wander wildly about, not looking for the best feed, and many would get killed. But this did not often happen.
Horses and cattle had degenerated much within his recol lection. No pains' were taken to improve breeds. People, now-a-days, had got proud, and when they had a fine colt would break him for a carriage or riding-horse, leaving only the common scurvy sort to run with the mares. This was confirmed by our observation, the horses about here being wretched in appearance, and the grass short and coarse.
When we asked to wash before supper, a shallow cake-pan was brought and get upon the window-seat, and a mere rag offered us for towel. Upon the supper-table, we found two wash-bowls, one filled with milk, the other with molasses. We asked for water, which was given us in one battered tin cup. The dishes, besides the bacon and bread, were fried eggs and sweet potatoes. The bowl of molasses stood in the centre of the table, and we were pressed to partake of it, aa the family did, by dipping in it bits of bread. Bnt how it was expected to be used at breakiast, when we hud bacon and potatoes, with spoons, but no bread, I cannot imagine, the family not breakfasting with us.

42

COTTON AUD SLAVEBT.

The night was warm, and musquitoes swarmed, but we carried with us a portable tent-shaped bar, which we hung over the feather bed, upon the floor, and rested soundly amid their mad singing.
The distance to Opelonsas, our Frenchman told us, was fifteen miles by the road, though only ten miles in a direct line. We found it lined with farms, whose division-fences the road always followed, frequently changing its course in so doing at a right angle. The country was very wet and unat tractive. About five miles from the town, begin plantations on an extensive scale, upon better soil, and here were krge gangs of negroes at work upon cotton, with their hoe^.
At the outskirts of the town, we waded the last pool, nnd entered, with a good deal of satisfaction, the peaceful shaded" streets. Beaching the hotel, we were not so instantly struck as perhaps we should have been, with the overwhelming ad vantages of civilization, which sat in the form of a landlord, slapping with an agate-headed, pliable cane, his patent lea ther boots, poised, at easy height, upon one of the columns of the gallery. We were suffered, to take off onr saddle-hairs, and to wait until waiting was no longer a pleasure, before civilization, wringing his cane against the floor, but not re moving his cigar, brought his patent leathers to our vicinity.
After some conversation, intended as animated upon one side and ineffably indifferent on the other, our horses obtained notice from that exquisitely vague eye. but a further introduc tion was required before our persons became less than trans] arent, for the boots walked away, and became again a sub ject of contemplation upon the column, leaving us, with onr : adlle-bags, upon the steps. After inquiring of a bystander if this glossy individual were the actual landlord, we attached i.im in a tone likely to produce either a revolver-shot or a room, but whose effect was to obtain a removal of the ci^ar

LOUISIANA.

43

and a gentle survey, ending in a call for a boy to show the gentlemen to number thirteen.
After an hour's delay, we procured water, and were abont to enjoy very necessary ablutions,, when we observed that the door of our room was partly of uncurtained glass. A shirt was pinned to this, and ceremonies were about beginning, when a step came down the passage, and a gentleman put his hand through a broken pane, and lilted the obstruction, wishing " to see what was going on so damn'd secret in number thir teen." When I walked toward him hurriedly, in puris naturafibus, he drew hastily and entered the next room.
On the gallery of the hotel, after dinner, a fine-looking man --who was on the best of terms with every one--familiar with the judge--and who had been particularly polite 'to me, at the dinner-table, said to another:
" I hear you were very unlucky with that girl you bought of me, last year ?"
" Yes, I was; very unlucky. She died with her first child, and the child died, too."
" Well, that was right hard for you. She was a fine girl. I don't reckon you lost less than five thousand dollars, when she died."
" Xo, sir, not a dollar less." " Well, it came right hard upon you--just beginning so." " Yes, I was foolish, I suppose, to risk so much on the life of a single woman; but I've got a good start again now, for all that. I've got two right likely girls ; one of them's got a fine boy, four months old, and the other's with child-- and old Pine Knot's as hearty as ever." " Is he ? Hasn't been sic-k ut all, eh ?"
" Yes; he was sick very soon after I bought him of yon; but he got well soon."
" That's right. I'd rather a nigger would be sick early,

44

COTTON' AND SLAVERY.

1

after he comes into this country; for he's bonnd to be accli

mated,- sooner or later, and the longer it's put off, the harder

it goes -with him."

The man was a regular negro trader. He told me that he

had a partner in Kentucky, and that they owned a farm

there, and another one here. His partner bought negroes, as

opportunity offered to get them advantageously, and kept them

oh their Kentucky farm; and he went on occasionally, and

brought the surplus to their Louisiana plantation--where he

held them for sale.

" So-and-so is very hard upon you," said another man, to

him as he still" sat, smoking his cigar, on the gallery, after

dinner.

" "Why so ?" He's no business to complain ; I told him just

exactly what the nigger was, before I sold him (laughing, as

if there was a concealed joke). It was all right--all right.

I heard that he sold him again for a thousand dollars; and

the people that bought him, gave him two hundred dollars to

let them off from the bargain. I'm sure he can't complain of

me. It was a fair transaction. He knew just what he was

buying."

An intelligent man whom I met here, and who had been

travelling most of the time during the last two years in

Louisiana, having business with the planters, described the

condition of the new slaveholders and the poorer planters as

being very miserable.

He had sometimes found it difficult to get food, even when

he was in urgent need of it, at their houses. The lowest

class live much from hand to mouth, and are often in

extreme de.-titntion. This was more particularly the case

with those who lived on the rivers ; those who resided on the

prairies were seldom so much reduced. The former now live

only on those parts of the river to which the back-swamp ap-

.,

LOUISIANA.

45

preaches nearest; that is, where there is but little valuable land, that can be appropriated for plantation-purposes. They almost all reside in communities, very closely housed in poor cabins. If there is any considerable number of them, there is to be always found, among the cluster of their cabins, a church, and a billiard and a gambling-room--and the latter ia always occupied, and play going on.
They almost all appear excessively apathetic, sleepy, and stupid, if you see them at home; and they are always longing and waiting for some excitement. They live for' excitement, and will not labour, unless it is violently, for a short time, to gratify some passion.
This was as much the case with the women as the men. The women were often handsome, stately, and graceful, and, ordinarily, exceedingly kind; but languid, and incredibly indolent, unless there was a ball, or some other excitement, to engage them. Under excitement, they were splendidly ani mated, impetuous^ and eccentric. One moment they seemed possessed by a devil,"ind the next by an angel
The Creoles* are inveterate gamblers--rich and poor alike. The majority of wealthy Creoles, he said, do nothing to improve their estate; and are very apt to live beyond their income. They borrow and play, and keep borrowing to play, as long as they can; but they will not part with their land, and e;?pecially with their home, as long as they can help it, by any sacrifice.
The men are generally dissolute. They have large families, and a great deal of family affection. He did not know that they had more than Anglo-Saxons ; but they certainly mani fested a great deal more, and, he thought, had more domestic

* Creole means simply native of the region, but in Louisiana (a vast region purchased, by the United States, of France, for strategetic reasons, and now pro posed to be filibustered away from us), it generally indicates French blood.

46

COTTON &SD SLAVEBT

happiness. If a Creole farmer's child marries, he will build a house for the new couple, adjoining his own; and when another marries, he build.^ another house--so, often his whole front on the river is at length occupied. Then he begins to build others, back of the first-- and so, there gradually forms a little village, wherever there is a large Creole family, owning any considerable piece of land. The children are poorly educated, and are not brought up to industry, at all.
The planters living near them, as their needs increase, lend them money, and get mortgages on their land, or, in some way or other, if it is of any value, force them them to part with it Thus they are every year reduced, more and more, to the poorest lands; and the majority now are able to get but a very poor living, and would not b? able to live at all in a Northern climate. They are nevertheless--even the poorest of them--habitually gay and careless, as well as kind-hearted, hospitable, and dissolute--working little, and spending much of their time at church, or at balls, or the gaming-table.
There are very many wealthy Creole planters, who are as cultivated and intelligent as the better class of American planters, and usually more refined. The Creoles, he said, did not work their slaves as hard as the Americans; but, on the other hand, they did not feed or clothe them nearly as well, and he had noticed universally, on the Creole plantation?, a large number of " used-up hands "--slaves, sore and crip] led, or invalided for some cause On all sugar plantations, he said, they work the negroes excessively, in the grinding season; often cruelly. Under the usual system, to keep the fires burning, and the works constantly supplied, eighteen hours' work was required of every negro, in twenty-four-- leaving but six for rest. The work of most of them, too, was very hard. They were generally, during the grinding season, liberally supplied with food and coffee, and were induced, as

LOUISIANA.

47 -

much as possible, to make a kind of frolic of it; yet, on the Creole plantations, he thought they did not, even in the grinding season, often get meat
I remarked that the law, in Louisiana, required that meat should be regularly served to the negroes.
" 0, those laws are very little regarded." " Indeed ?" "Certainly. Suppose you are my neighbour if you maltreat your negroes, and tell me of it, or I see it, am I going to prefer charges against you to the magistrates ? I might possibly get you punished according to law; but if I did, or did not, I should have you, and your family and friends, far and near, for my mortal enemies. There is a law of the State that negroes shall not be worked on Sundays ; but I have seen negroes"*at work almost every Sunday, -when I have been in the country, since I have lived in Louisiana.* I spent a Sunday once with a gentleman, who did not work his hands at all on Sunday, even in the grinding season ; and lie had got some of his neighbours ta help him build a school-honse, which was used as a chi|rch on Sunday. He said, there was not a plantation onveithfer side of him, as far as he could see, where the slaves were not generally -worked on Sunday; but that, after the church was started, several of them <juit the practice, and made their negroes go to the meeting. This made others discontented; and after a year or two, the planters voted new trustees to the school, and these forbid the house to be used for any other than school purposes. This was done, he had no doubt, for the purpose of breaking np the meetings, and to lessen the discontent of the slaves which were worked on Sunday.

* I nlso saw slnres nt work every Sunday that I was in Louisiana. The law jxrraits slaves to be woiked, 1 believe, on Sunday; but requiies that some com pensation shall be made to them when the/ are--such aa a subsequent holiday.

48

COTTON AJJD SLAVERY.

It was said that the custom of working the negroes on Sunday was much less common than formerly; if so, he thought that it must have formerly been universal.
He had lived, when a boy, for several years on a farm in Western New York, and afterwards, for some time, at Kochester. and was well acquainted with the people generally, in the valley of the Genesee.
I asked him if he thought, among the intelligent class of formers and planters, people of equal property lived more happily in N.ew York or Louisiana. He replied immediately, as if he had carefully considered the topic, that, with some rare exceptions, fanners worth forty thousand dollars lived in far greater comfort, and enjoyed more refined and elegant leisure, -than planters worth three hundred thousand, and " that formers of the ordinary class, who laboured with their own hands, and were worth some sis thousand dollars, in the Genesee valley, lived in far greater comfort, and in all re spects more envkbly, than planters worth forty thousand dol lars in Louisiana. The contrast was especially favourable to the New York farmer, in respect to books and newspapers. He might travel several days, and call on a hundred planters, and hardlv see in their houses more than a single newspaper a-piece, in most cases ; perhaps none at all: nor any books, except a Bible, and some government publications, that had been franked to them through the post-office, and perhaps a few religious tracts or school-books.
The most striking difference that he observed between the Anglo-Americans of Louisiana and New York, was the .impulsive and unreflective habit of the former, in doing business. He mentioned, as illustrative of this, the almost universal passion among the planters for increasing their negro-stock. It appeared evident to bin\ that the market price of negroes was much higher than the prices of cotton

LOUISIANA.

49

and sugar warranted; but it seemed as if no planter ever made any calculation of that kind. The majority of planters, he thought, would always run in debt to the extent oftheir credit for negroes, whatever was asked for them, without making any calculation of the reasonable prospects of their being able to pay their debts. When any one made a good crop, he would always expect that his next one would be better, and make purchases in advance upon such expectation. When they were dunned, they would attribute their inability to pay, to acci dental short crops, and always were going ahead risking everything, in confidence that another year of luck would favour them, and a big crop make all right.
If they had a full crop, probably there would be good crops everywhere else, and prices would fall, and then they would whine and complain, as if the merchants were to blame for it, and would insinuate Ui&t no one could be expected to pay his debts when prices were so low, and that it would be dangerous to press such an unjust claim. And, if the crops met with any misfortune, from floods, or rot, or vermin, they would cry about it like children when rain fell upon a holi day, as if they had never thought of the possibility of such a thing, and were very hard used.*

* Ti>e following resolutions were proposed (I am not sure thnt they xveie adopted) in the Southern Commercial Convention, at New Orleans, in 180.1:
"aolctd,--That this Convention strongly recommen.l the ChamWis nt Commerce and Commission Merchants of our Southern and South-western cities to adopt such a system of laws and regulations as will put a stop to the dangerou* practice, heretofore existing, of making advances to planters, in anticipation of their crops--i practice entirely at variance with evnythiog like safety in business transactions, and tending directly to establish the relations of master and stow between the merchant and planter, by bringing the latter into the most abject ami servile bondage.
"Pesoleed,--That this Convention recommend, in the most urgent manner,
fh.it the planters of the Southern and South-western States "patronize exclusivelj
our home merchants, and that our Chambers of Commerce, and merchants gene-

VOL. U.

E

50

COTTOK

SLAVERY.

He had talked with many sugar-planters who were strong Caha war and annexation men, and had rarely found that any of these had given the first thought to the probable effect the annexation of Cuba -would have on their home interests. It was mainly a romantic excitement and enthusiasm, inflamed by senseless appeals to their patriotism and their combativeBess. They had got the idea, that patriotism was necessarily associated with hatred and contempt of any other country but their own, and the only foreigners to be regarded with favour were those who desired to surrender themselves to us. They did not reflect that the annexation of Cuba would necessarily be attended by the removal of the duty on sugar, and would bring them into competition with the sugar-planters of that island, where the advantages for growing cane were so much greater than in. Louisiana.
To some of the very wealthy nlsnfars Wno favoured the movement, and who were understood to have taken some of the Junta* stock, he gave credit for greater sagacity. He thought it was the purpose of three men, if Cuba could be annexed, to get possession of large estates there : then, with the advantages of their greater skill in sugar-making, and better machinery than that which yet was in use in Cuba, and with much cheaper land and labour, and a far better climate for cane growing than that of Louisiana, it would be easy for them to^ accumulate large fortunes in a few years ; but he thought the sugar-planters who remained in Louisiana would be ruined by it.

rallr, exert all their influence to exclude foreign agent* from the purchase and sale if produce in any of our Southern and South-western diin.
" Frsolred, further,--That this Convention recommend to the legislatures of the Southern and ^ruth-western States to pass laws, making it a penitentiary offence for the planters to ask of the merchants to make such pecuniary advance!."
* The-Junta-was a filibustering conspiracy against Cuba.

LOUISIANA.

51

The principal subscribers to the Junta stock at the South, he thought, were laud speculators; persona who expected that,
hy now favouring the movement, they would be able to obtain from the revolutionary government large grants of land in the island aa gratuities in reward of their services or at nomi nal prices, which after annexation would rise rapidly in value; or persons who now owned wild land in the States, and who thought that if Cuba were annexed the African slave-trade would be re-established, either openly or clandestinely, with the States, and their lands be increased in value, by the greater cheapness with which they could then be stocked with labourers.
I find these views confirmed in a published letter from a Louisiana planter, to one of the members of Congress, from that State; and I insert an extract of that letter, as it is evi dently from -a sensible and far-thinking man, to show on how insecure a basis rests the prosperity of the slave-holding interest in Louisiana. The fact would seem to be, that, if it were not for the tariff on foreign sugars, sugar could not be produced at all by slave-labour; an'l that a discontinuance of sugar culture would almost desolate the State.
" The question now naturally cornea up to yon and to me. Do we Lonisianians desire the possession of Cuba ? It is not what the provision dealers of the West, or the shipowners of the North may wish for, but what the State of Louisiana, as a State, may deem consistent with her best intcre*s. My own opinion on the subject is not a new one. It was long ago expressed to high officers of our Government, neither of whom ever hesitated to acknowledge that it was, in the main, correct. Tha; opinion was and is, tltat Vie acquisition of Cnba would prore file ruin of our State. I found this opinion on the following reasons : Cuba has alread ; land enough in cultivation to produce, when directed hy American skill, energy, and capital, twenty millions of tons of sugar. .In addition to this she has virgin soil, only needing roads to bring it, with a people of the least pretension to enterprise, into active working, sufficient nearly to double this: all of which would be soon brought into productiveness were it our own. with the whole American market free to it. If any man snppuge* that the culture of sujjor in our State can be su^amed in the fucc of
E -2

L

52

CCTTOX J^0> SLA.VZBT.

fiave only to say that lie can suppose anything-. Tv"e hare very nearly, if not quite, eiphty millions invested in the sugar culture. My idea is that three-fourth of thii tcnulil, K far at the State if concerned, be annihilated at a Wow. Tlie planter who is in debt, would find his negroes and machinery sold and despatched to Cuba fur him, and he who is inde pendent would go there in self-defence. What will become of the other portion of the capital? It consists of kind, on which I maintain there can be produced no other crop but sujrar, under present auspices, that will bear t!;e contest with cocoa.* and the expense and risk of Jevecs, as it reiSinU th> larger part of it, and the difficulty of transportation for the rvmainuer. Bat supposing that it will be token np by some other cultiva tion, that in any case must be a work of time, and in this case a very lonj time for unaeelimated men. It is not unreasonable, then, to suppose that .this whole capital will, for purposes of taxation, be withdrawn from Ijoii:si;m;i. From whence, then, is to come the revenue for the support of our State government, for the payment of the interest on OUT debt, and " tiie eventual tvdemptiou of the principal ? Perhaps repudiation may he recommended ; but yon and I, my dear sir, are too old-fashioned to roh iu that manner, or in any other. The only resort, then, is double taxation on the cotton planter, which will drive him, without much difficulty, to Texas, to Arkansas, and Mississippi."

Washington.--The inn, here, when we arrived, was well filled with gnests, and mv friend and I were told that we must sleep together. In the room containing our bed there were three other beds; and although the outside of the house was pierced with windows, nowhere more than fonr feet apart, not one of them opened ont of .onr room. A door opened into the hall, another into the dining-room, and at thrside of our bed was a window into the dining-room, through which, betimes in the morning, we could, with our heads on our pillows, see the girls setting the break&st-tables. Both the doors were provided with glass windows, without curtains. Hither, about eleven o'clock, we " retired." Soon afterwards,
* Cocoa is grass mu-h more pernicious, and more difficnlt of extirpation when it once gets footing upon a sugar pl.mtition, than the C<u.ida thistle, or any otbr weed known at the Xorth, i-'eveia! plantations have been roinrd hr it, and given up t worthless by their cwner>.

WASHINGTON.

53

hearing something moving under the bed, I asked, " Who's there ?" and was answered by a girl, who was burrowing for eggs; part of the stores of the establishment being kept in boxes, in this convenient locality. Later, I was awakened by a stranger attempting to enter my bed. I expostulated, and he replied that it was his bed, and nobody else had a right to his place in it. Who was I, he asked, angrily, and where was his partner? "Here I am," answered a voice from another bed; and without another word, he left us. I slept but little, and woke feverish, and with a headache, caused by the want of ventilation.
While at the dinner-table, a man asked, as one might at the North, if the steamer had arrived, if there had been " any fights to-day ?" After dinner, while we were sitting on the gallery, loud cursing, and threatening voices were heard in the direction of the bar-room, which, as at Nachitoches, was detached, and at a little distance from the hotel. The company, except myself and the other New-Yorker, immediately ran towards it. After ten minutes, one returned, and said--
"I don't believe there'll be any fight; they are both cowards."
" Are they preparing for a fight ?" " 0, yes; they are loading pistols in the coffee-room, and there's a man outside, in- the street, who has a revolver and a knife, and who is challenging another to come out. He swears hell wait there till he does come out; but in my opinion hell think better of it, when he finds that the other feller's got pistols, too." " What's the oc*?asion of the quarrel ?" " Why, the man in the street says the other one insulted him this morning, and that he had his hand on his knife, at the very moment he did so, so he couldn't reply. And now he says he's ready to talk with him, and he wants to have

54

COTTON AND SLATEBT.

Mm come out, and as many of his friends as are a mind to, may come with him; he's got enough for all of 'em, he says. He's got two revolvers, I believe."
We did not hear how it ended; hut, about an hour after wards, I saw three men, with pistols in their hands, coming from the bar-room.
The next day, I saw, in the streets of the same town, two bop running from another, who was pursuing them with a large, open dirk-knife in his hand, and every appearance of ungovernable rage hi his foce.
The boat, for which I was waiting, not arriving, I asked the landlady--who appeared to be a German Jewess--if I could not have a better sleeping-room. She showed me one, which she said I might use for a single night; but, if I remained another, I must not refuse to give it up. It had been occupied by another gentleman, and she thought he might return the next day, and would want it again; and, if I remained in it, he would be very angry that they had not reserved it for him, although they were under no obligation to him. " He is a dangerous man," she observed, " and my husband, he's a quick-tempered man, and, if they get to quarrelling about it, therll be knives about, sure. It always frighteas me to see knives drawn."
A Texas drover, who stayed over night at the hotel, being asked, as he was about to leave in the morning, if he was not going to have his horse shod, replied:
"So sir! it'll be a damn'd long spell 'fore I pay for having a horse shod. I reckon, if God Almighty had thought it right hosses should have iron on thar feet, he'd a put it thar himself. I don't pretend to be a pious man myself; but I a'nt a-goin' to run agin the will of God Almighty, though thar's some, that calls themselves ministers of Christ, that does it"

55
CHAPTEE IT.
A TEIP INTO NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI.
Viclaiburg, March 1S&.--I arrived at this place last night, about sunset, and was told that there was no hotel in the town except on the wharf-boat, the only house used for that purpose baring been closed a few days ago on account of a diflerence of opinion between its owner and his tenant.
There are no wharves on the Mississippi, or any of the southern rivers. The wharf-boat is an old steamboat, with her paddle boxes and machinery removed and otherwise dis mantled, on which steamboats discharge passengers and freight. The main deck is used as a warehouse, and, in place of the furnace, has in this case a dram shop, a chandler's shop, a forwarding agency, and a telegraph office. Overhead, the saloon and state-rooms remain, and with the bar-room and clerk's office, kitchen and barber's shop, constitute a stationary though floating hostelry.
Though there were fifty or more rooms, and not a dozen guests, I was obliged, about twelve o'clock, to admit a stranger who had been gambling all the evening in the saloon, to occupy the spare shelf of my closet. If a disposition to enjoy occasional privacy, or to exercise a choice in one's room-mates were a sure symptom of a monomania for incen diarism, it could not be more carefully thwarted than it is at all public-houses in this part of the world.
Memphis, March 2W/i.--I reached this place to-day in forty-eight hours by steamboat from Vicksburg.
Here, at the " Commercial Hotel," I am favoured with an unusually good-natured room-mate. He is smoking on the bed--our bed--now, and wants to know what my business is

56

COTTOS- AXD SLAVERY.

here, and whether I carry a pistol about me; also whether I believe that it isn't lucky to pky cards on Sundays; which I do most strenuously, especially as this is a rainy Sunday, and his second cigar is nearly smoked out.
This is a first-class hotel, and has, of course, printed bills of iare, which, in a dearth of other literature, are not to be dropped at the first glance. A copy of to-day's is presented on the opposite page.
Being in a distant quarter of the establishment when a crash of the gong announced dinner, I did not get to the table as early as some others. The meal was served in a large, dreary room exactly like a hospital ward; and it is a striking illustration of the celerity with which everything is accomplished in our young country, that beginning with the soup, and going on by the fish to the roasts, the first five dishes I inquired for--when at last I succeeded in arresting one of the negro boys--were " all gone ;" and as the waiter had to go to the head of the dining-room, or to the kitchen, to a~<?ertain this fact upon each demand, the majority of the company had left the table before I was served at all. At length I said I would take anything that was still to be had, and thereupon was provided immediately with some grimy bacon, and greasy cabbage. This I commenced eating, but I no sooner paused for a moment, than it was suddenly and surreptitiously removed, and its place supplied, without the expression of any desire on my part, with some other Memphitic chef d'oeuvre, a close investigation of which left me in doubt whether it was that denominated "sliced pojratoe pie," or " Irish pudding."
I congratulate myself that I have lived to see the day in wliich an agitation for reform in our GREAT HOTEL SYSTEM has been commenced, and I trust that a Society for the Eevival of Village Inns will ere long form one of the features of the Mav anniversaries.

A TRIP rSTO SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI.

57

COMMERCIAL HOTEL

BY D. COCKEELL.

BILL OF FARE.

MARCH 2O.

SOUP. Oyster.
FISH. Red.
BOILED.
Jole and Green. Ham. Corned beef. Bacon and turnips. Cod6>h i-gg ssuce. Beef heart rfg sance. Lettf mutton caper sance. Barbecued rabits. Boiled tongue.
ROAST.
Vtal.
R'MSt pig.
M uicnvie ducks. Kentucky beef. Mutton. Barbecued ghost. Rufe* bear meat. Rufet pork.
EKTBEES. Frlrasee pork. Calf feet moihroom eance. Bear sausagM.
Harrtc me trip. Stew-U muttun. Browned rlc<. Calf fret maileira sance. Stewed turkey wine saoce. Glbkt> vollvoa. Mutton omelett. Beefs heart fricasecd. Chees*- nucaroni. -Chicken clwfa robert sauce. Bre^t ihicken majeira sauce. Beef kidney plcktv sauce. Cod fUb baked. Calf bead wine sauce.
IBTTIT.
Almonds. Ra>ins. 1'ecanj.

VEGETABLES.
Boiled cabbage. Turnips. CoW .Laugh. Hot slaugb. I'k-kled bceu. Creole hominy. Crout cabbage. Q>-9ler plant fried. Parsnepa gravied. Stewed paraneps. Fried cabbage. Sweet potatoes Bplced. Carrot. Snect potatoes baked. Cabbage Muffed. Onions, boiled. Irish potatoes creamed and mashed. Irish potatoes browned. Boiled ahellols. Scolloped carrota. Boiled turnips drawn batter. Wait* beans.

PASTRY.

Cornmt pies.

Lemon costard.

Rice podding.

Cocoanat [H.

Cranberry pies.

Siced potato |>ie.

Chess cake.

Irish puddtoff.

Orange custard.

~~

Cranberry Hhapea.

Green peach tirta.

Green praih puff paste.

Grape tarts.

Buckle berry plea.

Ponnd cake.

Rbeubarb tarta.

Plum tarts.

Calves feet jelly.

Blamonge.

Umnge jelly

A stage-coach conveyed the railroad passengers from the hotel to the station, which was a mfle or two out of town. As we were entering the coach the driver observed with a

58

COTTON A>*D SLAVERY.

Mephistophelean smile that we " needn't calkTate we were gwine to ride very for," and, as soon as we had got into the country he stopped and asked all the men to get out arc! walk, for, he condescended to explain, " it was as much as his hosses could do to draw the ladies and the baggage." "It was quite true; the horses were often obliged to stop, even with the diminished load, and as there was a contract between myself and the proprietors by which, for a stipulated sum of money by me to them in hand duly paid, they had under taken to conrey me over this ground, I thought it would have been no more than honest if they had looked out beforehand to hare either a stronger team, or a better road, provided. As is the custom of our country, however, we allowed our selves to be thus robbed with great good-nature, and waded along ankle-deep in the mud, joking with the driver arid ready to put our shoulders to the wheels if it should be necessary. Two portmanteaus were- jerked off in heavy lurches of the coach; the owners picked them up and carried them on their shoulders till the horses stopped to breathe again. The train of course had waited for us, and it con tinued to wait until another coach arrived, when it started twenty minntes behind time.
After some forty miles of rail, nine of us were stowed away in another stage coach. The road was tad, the weather foul. We proceeded slowly, were often in imminent danger of being npset, and once were all obliged to get out and help the horses drag the coach out of a slough; but with smoking, and the occasional circulation of a small black bottle, and a gene ral disposition to be as comfortable as circumstances would allow, four hours of coaching proved less fatiguing than one of the 31-Tent3ated rail-cars.
Among the passengers wes a "Judge," resident in the vicinity, portly, dignified, and well-informed; and a young

A TRIP IKTO NORTHERN* MISSISSIPPI.

59

man, who was a personal friend of the member of Congress from the district, and who, as he informed me, had, through tLe influence of this friend, a promise from the President of honourable and lucrative employment trader Government. He was known to all the other passengers, and hailed by every one on the ncd-side, by the title of Colonel. The Judge was ready to converse about the country through which we were j assing. and while perfectly aware, as no one else seemed to be, that it lore anything but an appearance of prosperity or attractiveness to a stranger, he assured me that it was really improving in all respects quite rapidly. There were few large plantations, but many small planters or rather formers, for cotton, though the principal source of cash in come, was much less exclusively an object of attention than in the more southern parts of the State. A krger space was occupied by the maize and grain crops. There were not a few small fields of wheat. In the afternoon, when only the Colonel and myself were with him, the Judge talked about slavery in a candid and liberal spirit. At present prices, he said, nobody could afford to own slaves, unless he could engage them almost exclusively in cotton-growing. It was undoubtedly a great injury to a region like this, which was not altogether well adapted to cotton, to be in the midst of a slaveholding country, for it prevented efficient free labour. A good deal of cotton was nevertheless grown hereabouts by white labour--by poor men who planted an acre or two, and worked it themselves, getting the planters to gin and press it for them. It was not at all uncommon for men to begin in this way and soon purchase negroes on credit, and eventually become rich men. Most of the plantations in this vicinity, indeed, belonged to men who had come into the country with nothing within twenty years. Once a man get a good start with negroes, unless the luck was much against him, nothing

60

COTTO2T AXD SLATEBT.

but his own folly could prevent his becoming rich. TLo increase of bis negro property by births, if he took good care of it, must, in a few years, make him independent. The worst thing, and the most difficult to remedy, was the deplor able ignorance which prevailed. Latterly, however, people were taking more pride in the education of their children. Some excellent schools had been established, the teachers generally from the North, and a great many children were sent to board in the villages--county-seats--to attend them. /This was especially true of girls, who liked to live in the villages \rather than on the plantations. There was more difficulty in making boys attend school, until, at least, they were too old to get much good from it.
The " Colonel " was a rough, merry, good-hearted, simple- . minded man, and kept all the would-be sober-sides of our coach body in irrepressible laughter with queer observations on passing occurrences, anecdotes and comir songs. It must be confessed that there is no charge which the enemies of the theatre bring against the stage, that was not duly illustrated, and that with a broadness which the taste of a metropolitan audience would scarcely permit. Had Doctor ---- and Doctor ---- been with me they would thereafter for ever have denied themselves, and discountenanced in others^ the use of such a means of travel. The Colonel, notwithstand ing, was of a most obliging disposition, and having ascertained in what direction' I was going, enumerated at least a dozen families on the road, within some hundred miles, whom he invited me to visit, assuring me that I should find pretty girls in all of them, and a warm welcome, if I mentioned Ids name.
He told the Judge that his bar-bill on the boat, coming up from Xew Orleans, was forty dollars--seventeen dollars the frst night But he had made money--had won forty dollars

A TRIP IXTO NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI.

Gl

of one gentleman. He confessed, however, that he had lost fifteen by another, " but he saw how he did it. He did not want to accuse him publicly, but he saw it and he meant to write to him and tell him of it. He did not want to insult the gentleman, only he did" not want to hare him tfrinV that he was so green as not to know how he did it."
While stopping for dinner at a village inn, a young man came into the room where we all were, and asked the coach man what was to tie paid for a trunk which had been brought for him. The coachman said the charge would be a dollar, which the young man thought excessive. The coachman denied that it was so, said that it was what he had often been paid; he should not take less. The young man finally agreed to wait for the decision of the proprietor of the line. There was a woman in the room; I noticed no loud words or angry tones, and had not supposed that there was the slight est excitement. I observed, however, that there was a pro found silence for a minute afterwards, which was interrupted by a jocose remark of the coachman about the delay of our dinner. Soon after we re-entered the coach, the Colonel referred to the trunk owner in a contemptuous manner. The Judge replied in a similar tone. " If I had been in the driver's place, I should have killed him sure/' said the Colonel. With great surprise, I ventured to ask for what reason. "Did not you see the fellow jrat hig hand to his breast when the driver denied that he had ever taken less than a dollar for bringing a trunk from Memphis ?"
" Xo, I did not; but what of it ?"
" Why, he meant to frighten the driver, of course." " You think he had a knife in his breast ?" " Of course he had, sir." " But you wouldn't kill him for that, I suppose ?"

62

COTTOX AST SLAVEEY.

" When a man threatens to Mil me, you wouldn't hare me wait for him to do it, would yon, sir ?"
The roads continued very heavy; some one remarked, "There's been a heap of rain lately," and rain still kept ialling. We passed a number of cotton waggons which had stopped in the road ; the cattle had been turned out and had strayed off into the woods, and the driTers lay under the tilts asleep on straw.
The Colonel said this sight reminded him of his old campmeeting days. " I used to be very fond of going to campmeetings. I used to go first for fun, and, oh Lord! haint I had some fun at camp meetings ? But after a while I got a conviction--needn't laugh, gentlemen. I tell you it was sober business for me. Ill never make fun of that. The truth just is, I am a melancholy case; I thought I was a pious man once, I did--I'm damn'd if I didn't. Don't laughat what I say, now; I don't want fcn made of that; I give you my word I experienced religion, and I used to go to the meetings with as much sincerity and soberness as anybody could. That was the time I learned to eing--learned to pray too, I did; could pray right smart I did rtn'nV I was a con verted man, but of course I ain't, and I 'spose 'twamt the right sort, and I don't reckon I shall have another chance. A gentleman has a right to make the most of this life, when he can't calculate on anything better than roasting in the next. Aint that so, Judge? I reckon so. You mustn't think hard of me, if I do talk wicked some. Can't help it."
I was forced by the stage arrangements to travel night and day. The Colonel told me that I should be able to get a good supper at a house where the coach was to stop about midnight --" good honest fried bacon,jand hot Christian corn-bread-- nothing like it, to fill a man up and make him feel righteous. You get a heap better living up in this country than you can

A TRIP nrro KOKTHEHN MISSISSIPPI.

63

at the St. Charles, for all the fuss they make ahout it. It's lucky you'll have something better to travel on to-night than them French friterzeed Dutch flabbergasted hell-fixins: for you'll have the--------" (another most extraordinary series of imprecations on the road over \vhich I was to travel).
Before dark all my companions left me, and in their place I had but one, a young gentleman with whom I soon became very intimately acquainted. He was seventeen years old, se he said; he looked older; and the son of a planter hi the " Yazoo bottoms." The last year he had " follered overseein'" on his father's plantation, but he was bound for Tennessee, now, to go to an academy, where he could learn geography. There was a school near home at which he had studied read ing and writing and ciphering, but he thought a gentleman ought to have some knowledge of geography. At ten o'clock the nest morning the stage-coach having progressed at the rate of exactly two miles and a half an hour, for the previous sixteen hours, during which time we had been fasting, the supper-house, which we should have reached before midnight, was still ten miles ahead, the driver sulky and refusing to stop until we reached it. We had been pounded till we ached in every muscle. I had had no sleep since I left Memphis. We were passing over a hill country which sometimes appeared to be quite"thickly inhabited, yet mainly still covered with a pine forest, through which the wind moaned lugubriously.
I had been induced to torn this way * in my journey in no slight degree by reading the following description in a statis tical article of De Bow's Eeview:
" Tlie settling of this region is one among the many remarkable events in the history of the rise of the Western States. Fiftten yenrs ago it was an Indian wilderness, anil now it lias reached and passed in its population, other portions of the Stato of ten times its age, and this population, too, one of the finest in all the West Great attention has been given to schools a-.id education, and here, [at Memphis,] has been located tho

L

64

COTTOS ASK SLAVEBY.

University of Mississippi; so amply endowed by the State, and now jnst going into operation under the auspices of some of the ablest profi-.-^ >ra from the eastern colleges. There is no overgrown wealth aiuoii il.i in, and vet no squalid poverty ; the people being generally comfortable, sub stantial, and independent fanners. Considering its climate, soil, w<altli, and general character of its inhabitants, I should tliint no more desimMo or delightful residence could be found than among the hills and sunny Viilli ys of the Chickasaw Cession."*
And here among the Mfa of this Paradise of the South west, we were, Tazoo and I--he, savagely hungry, as may Le guessed from his observations upon " the finest people of the West," among whose cahins in the pine-wood toiled our stage-coach.
The whole art of driving was directed to the discovery of a passage for the coach among the trees and through the fields, where there were fields, adjoining the road--the road itself being impassable. Occasionally, when the coachman, daring the night, fonnd it necessary, owing to the thickness of the forest on each side, to take to the road, he would first leave the coach and make a survey with his lantern, sounding the rnts of the cotton-waggons, and finally making out a channel by guiding-stakes which he cut from the underwood with a hatchet, usually carried in the holster. If, after diligent sounding, he found no passage sufficiently shallow, he would sometimes spend half an hour in preparing one, bringing rails from the nearest fence, or cutting brushwood for the purposer We were but once or twice during the night called upon to leave the coach, or to assist in road-making, and my companion frequently expressed his gratitude for this--grati tude not to the driver but to Providence, who had made a country, as he thought, so unusually well adapted for stagecoaching. The night before, he had been on a much worse road, and was half the time, with numerous other passengers, engaged in bringing rails, and prying the coach out of sloughs.
* See " Rfcom CPS ;" a) tii-'.e, ' Mississippi," etc.

A TRIP INTO XOBTHERX MISSISSIPPI.

65

They had been obliged to keep on the track, because the water

was up over the adjoining country. Where the wooden

causeway had floated off, they had passed through water so

deep that it entered the coach body. With our road of to-day,

then, he could only express satisfaction; not so with the resi

dents upon it. " Look at 'em!" he would say. " Just look at

'em! What's the use of such people's living ? 'Pears to me

I\l die if I couldn't live better 'n that. When I get-to he

representative, I'm going to have a law made that all such

kind of men shall be took up ty the State and sent to the

pe:iitentiary, to make 'em work and earn something to support

their families. I pity the women; I haint nuthin agin them;

they work hard enough, I know; but the men--I know how

'tis. They just hang around groceries and spend all the money

they can get--just go Tound and live on other people, and

play keerds, and only go home to nights; and the poor

women, they hev to live how they ken."

" Do you think it's so ? It is strange we see no men--only

women and children."

li Tell you they're off, gettin' a dinner out o' somebody.

Tc-11 you I know it's so. It's the way all these people do.

Why there's one poor man I know, that lives in a neighbour

hood of poor men, down our way, and he's right industrious,

but he can't get rich and he never ken, cause all these other

poor mc-n live on him."

" What do you mean ? Do they all drop in about dinner

time?"

' Xo, not all on 'em, but seme on 'em every day. And

they keep borrowin' things of him. He haint spunk enough to

insult 'em. If he'd just move into a rich neighbourhood and

jest be a little sassy, and-not keer so much about what folks

said of him, he'd get nch; never knew a man that was indus

trious and sassy in this country that didn't get rich, quick,

VOL. n.

B"

66

COTTOX AKD SLAVERY.

and get niggers to do his work for him. Anybody ken that's smart. Thar's whar they tried to raise some corn. Warn't no com grew thar; that's sartin. Wonder what they live on ? See the stalks. They never made no corn. Plowed right down the hill! Did you ever see anything like it ? As if this sile warn't poor enongh already. There now. Just the same. Only look at 'em ! Tears like they never see a stage afore. This ain't the right road, the way they look at us. No, sartin, they never see a stage. Lord God! see the bahies. They never see a stage afore. No, the stage never went hy here afore, I know. This damn'd driver's just taken us rotmd this way to show off what he can do and pass away the time before breakfast. Couldn't get no breakfast here if he would stop--less we ate a baby. That's right! step out where you ken see her good; prehaps youll never see a stage again; better look now, right sharp. Yes, oh yes, sartin ; fetch oot all the babies. Haint you got no more ? Well, I should hope not. Xow, what is the use of so many babies ? That's the worst on't I'd get married to-morrow if I wasn't sure I'd hev babies. I hate babies, can't bear 'em ronnd me, and won't have 'em. I would like to be married. I know several gals I'd marry if 'twarn't for that. We , it's a fact. Just so. I hate the squallin' things. I know I was born a baby, but I couldn't help it, could I ? I wish I hadn't been. I hate the squallin' things. If I had to hev a baby round me I should kill it."
" If you had a baby of your own, you'd feel differently about it."
" That's what they tell me. I s'pose I should, but I don't want to feel differently. I hate 'em. I hate 'em,"
The coach stopped at length. We got out and found our selves on the bank of an overflowed brook. A part of the bridge was broken up, the driver declared it impossible to ford

A TRIP INTO NORTHERS MISSISSIPPI.

67

the stream, and said he should return to the shanty, four miles back, at which we had last changed horses. We per suaded him to take one of his horses from the team and let us see if we could not get across. I succeeded in doing thia without difficulty, and turning the horse loose he returned. The driver, however, was still afraid to try to ford the stream with the coach and mails, and after trying our best to per suade him, I told him if he returned he should do it without me, hoping he would be shamed out of his pusillanimity. Tazoo joined rue, but the driver having again recovered the horse upon which he had forded the stream-, turned about and drove back. We pushed on, and after walking a few miles, came to a neat new Loose, with a cluster of old cabins abont it. It was much the most comfortable establishment we had seen during the day. Truly a " sunny valley " home of northern Mississippi. We entered quietly, and were received by two women who were spinning in a room with three outside doors all open, though a fine fire was burning, merely to warm the room, in a large fire-place, within. Upon our asking if we could have breakfast prepared for us, one of the women went to the door and gave orders to a negro, and in a moment after, we saw six or seven black boys and girls chasing and clubbing a hen round the yard for our benefit. I regret to add that they did not succeed in making her tender. At twelve o'clock we breakfasted, and were then accommodated with a bed, upon which we slept together for several hours. When I awoke I walked out to look at the premises.
The house was half a dozen rods from the high road, with a square ya.-d all about it, in one corner of which was a small enclosure for stock, and a log stable and corn-crib. There were also three negro cabins; one before the house, and two behind it. The house was a neat building of logs, boarded over and painted on the outside. On the inside, the logs were
F2

68

COTTON ASD SLAVERY.

neatly hewn to a plane face, and exposed. One of the lower rooms contained a bed, and but little other furniture; the other was the common family apartment, but also was furnished with a bed. A door opened into another smaller log house in the rear, in which were two rooms--one of them the family dining-room; the other the kitchen. Behind this was still another log erection, fifteen feet square, which was the smoke-house, and in which a great store of bacon was kept. The negro cabins were small, dilapidated, and dingy; the walls were not chinked, and there were no windows--which, indeed, would hare teen a superfluous luxury, for there were spaces of several inches between the logs, through which there was unobstructed vision. The furniture in the cabins was of the simplest and rudest imaginable kind, two or three beds with dirty clothing upon them, a chest, a wooden stool or two made with an axe, and some earthenware and cooking appa ratus. Everything within the cabins was coloured black by smoke. The chimneys of both the house and the cabins were built of splinters and clay, and on the outer side of the walls. At the door of each cabin were literally " heaps " of Lahies and puppies, and behind or beside it a pig-stye and poultry coop, a ley-rub, and quantities of home-carded cotton placed upon boards to bleach. Within each of them was a woman or two, spinning with the old-fashioned great wheel, and in the kitchen another woman was weaving coarse cotton shirting with the ancient rude hand-loom. The mistress herself was spinning in the living-room, and asked, when we had grown acquainted, what women at the Xorth could find to do, and how they could ever pass the time, when they gave up spinning and weaving. She made the common every-day clothing for all her family and her servants. They only Icnght a few " storegoods " for their " dress-tip " clotLes. She kept the negro girls spinning all through the winter, and at all times when they

\

A TRIP INTO NOETHEBN MISSISSIPPI.

69

wefe not needed in the field. She supposed they would

begin to plant corn now in a few days, and then the girls

would go to work out of doors. I noticed that all the

bed-clothing, the towels, curtains, etc., in the house, were of

homespun.

,

The proprietor, who had been absent on a fishing excur

sion, during the day, returned at dusk. He was a man of

the fat, slow-and-easy style, and proved to be good-natured,

talkative, and communicative. He had bought the tract of

land he now occupied, and moved upon it about ten years

before. He had made a large clearing, and could now sell it

for a good deal more than he gave for it. He intended to

sell whenever he could get a good offer, and move on "West.

It was the be?t land in this part of the country, and he had

got it well fenced, and put up a nice house: there were a

great many people that like to have these things done for

them in advance --and he thought he should not have to wait

long for a purchaser. He h'ke*d himself to be clearing land,

and it was getting too close settled about here to suit him.

He did not have much to do but to hunt and fish, and the

game wa-j getting so scarce it was too much trouble to go

after it. He did not think there were so many cat in the

creek as there used to be either, but there were more gar-fish.

When he first bought this land he was not worth much--had

to run in debt--hadn't but three negroes. Now, he was

pretty much out of debt and owned twenty negroes, seven of

them prime field-hands, and he reckoned I had not seen

a better lot anywhere.

During the evening, all the cabins were illuminated by

great fires, and, looking into one of them, I saw a very pic

turesque family group; a man sat on the ground making a

basket, a woman lounged on a chest in the chimney corner

smoking a |>ipc, and a boy and two girls sat in a bed which

70

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

had been drawn up opposite to her, completing the fireside circle. They were talking and laughing cheerfully.
The next morning when I turned out I found Tazoo look ing with the eye of a connoisseur at the seven prime fieldhands, who at half-past seven were just starting off with hoes and axes for their day's work As I approached him, he exclaimed with enthusiasm:--
" Aren't them a right keen lookin' lot of niggers ?" And our host soon after coming out, he immediately walked up to him, saying:-- " Why, friend, them yer niggers o' yourn would be good for seventy bales of cotton, if you'd move down into our country." Their owner was perfectly aware of their value, and said everything good of them. " There's something rather singlar, too, about my niggers ; I don't know as I ever see anything like it anywhere else." "How so, sir?" " Well, I reckon it's my way o' treatin' 'em, much as any thing. I never hev no difficulty with 'em. Hen't licked a nigger in five year, 'cept mayte sprouting some of the young ones sometimes. Fact, my niggers never want no lookin' arter; they jus tek ker o' themselves. Fact, they do tek a greater interest in the crops than I do myself. There's another thing--I 'spose 'twill surprise you--there ent one of my niggers hut what can read; read good, too--better 'n I can, at any rate." " How did they learn ?" " Taught themselves. I blieve there was one on 'em that I bought, that could read, and he taught all the rest. But niggers is mighrv apt at larnin', a heap more 'n white folks
is.""

I said that this was contrary to the generally received opinion.

A TKDP INTO NOETHEKN MISSISSIPPI.

71

" Well, now, let me tell you," he continued; " I had a boy to work, when I was buildin', and my boys jus teachin' him night times and such, he wam't here more'n three months, and he lamed to read as well as any man I ever heerd, and I know he didn't know his letters when he come here. It didn't seem to me any white man could hare done that; does it to you, now ?
"How old was he?" " Warn't more'n seventeen, I reckon." " How do they get books--do you get them for them ?" " Oh, no; get 'em for themselves." "How?" "Buy'em."
" How do they get the money ?" "Earn it." "How?"
"By their own work. I tell yon my niggers have got more money 'n I hev."
" What kind of books do they get ?" " Religious kind a books ginerally--these stories; and some of them will buy novels, I believe. They won't let on to that, but I expect they do it." They bought them of peddlers. I inquired about the law to prevent negroes reading, and asked if it allowed books to be sold to negroes. He had never heard of any such law-- didn't believe there was any. The Yazoo man said there was such a law in his country. Negroes never had anything to read there. I asked our host if his negroes were religious, as their choice of works would have indicated. " Yes; all on 'em, I reckon. Don't s'pose you'll believe it, but I tell you it's a fact; I haint heerd a swear on this place for a twelvemonth. They keep the Lord's day, too, right tight, in gineral."

72

COTTOS ASD SLAVERY.

" Oar niggers is mighty wicked down in Yallerbush county," said my companion; " they dance."
" Dance on Sunday ?" I asked. "Oh, no, we don't allow that." " What do they do, then--go to meeting ?" " Why, Sundays they sleep mostly ; they've been at work hard all the week, yon know, and Sundays they stay in their cabins, and sleep and talk to each other. There's so many of 'em together, they don't want to go visiting off the place." " Are your negroes Baptists or Methodists ?" I inquired of our host "All Baptists; niggers allers want to be ducked, you know. They ain't content to be just ritch'd with water; they most be ducked in all over. There was two niggers jined the Methodists up here last summer, and they made the minister put 'em into the branch; they wouldn't jine less he'd duck 'em." " The Bible says baptize, too," observed Yazoo. "Well, they think they must be ducked all under, or 'tain't no good." " Do they go to meeting ?" " Yes, they hev a meeting among themselves." " And a preacher ?" " Yes; a nigger preacher." "Oar niggers is mighty wicked; they dance!" repeated Yazoo. " Do you consider dancing so very wicked, then ?" I asked. " Well, I don't account so myself, as I know on, but they do, you know--the pious people, all kinds, except the Tiscopers; some o' them, they do dance themselves, I believe. Do you dance in your country ?" "Yes."

A TBIP INTO KOETHEBN JDB8I8SIPPL

73

" What sort of dances--cotillions and reels ?"

"Yes; what do you?"

" Well, we dance cotillions and reels too, and we dance on

a plank; that's the kind of dancin' I like best"

" How is it done ?"

f*

" Why, don't you know that ? Yoq, stand lace to face with

your partner on a plank and keep a dancin'. Put the plank

up on two barrel heads, so it'll kind o' spring. At some of

our parties--that's among common kind o' people, you know

--it's great fun. They dance as fast a^ they can, and the

folks all stand round and holler, ' Keep it up, John !' ' Go

it, Nance!3 ' Don't yive it up so!' ' Ul<l Viryinny never

tire!' ' Heel and toe, ketch a fire, /' and such kind of obser

vations, and clap and stamp !om."

" Do your negroes dance much ? '

" Yes, they are mighty fond on't. Saturday night they

dance all night, and Sunday nights too. Daytime they sleep

and rest thenfeelves, and Suuday nights we let 'em dance -and

sing if they want. It does 'em good, you know, to enjoy

theirselves."

" They dance to the banjo, I suppose ?"

" Banjos and violins ; some of 'em has got violins."

" I like to hear negroes sing," said I.

" Xiggers is allers good singers nat'rally," said our host.

" I reckon they got better lungs than white folks, they heT

such powerful voices."

We were sitting at' this time on the rail fence at the comer

of a hog-pen and a large half-cleared field. In that part of

this field nearest the house, among the old stumps, twenty or

thirty small fruit tree* had been planted. I asked what sorts

they were.

" I don't know--good kinds tho', I expect; I bought 'em

for that at any rate."

74

COTTON AND SLAVEBY.

" Where did you bay them ?"

" I bought 'em of a feller thai came a peddlin' round here

last fall; he said I'd find 'em good."

," What did yon pay for them ?"

"A bit apiece."

- " That's very cheap, if they're good for anything; you arc

sure they're grafted, arn't yon ?"

" Only by -what he said--he said they -was grafted kinds.

Pve got a paper in the housen he gin mer tells about 'em;

leastwavs, he said it did. Thev's the curose,st kinds of trees

V

'



printed, into it yon ever heerd on. But I did not buy none,

only the fruit kinds."

Getting off the fence I began to pick about the roots of

one of them with my pocket-knife. After exposing the trunk

for five or six inches below the surface, I said, " You've

planted these too deep, if they're all like this. You should

have the ground dished about it or it won't grow." I tried

another, and after picking some minutes without finding any

signs of the " collar," I asked if they had ali been planted so

deeply.

" I don't know--I told the boys to put 'em in about two

feet, and I expect they did, for they fancied to have apple-

trees growin'."

The catalogue of the tree-peddler, which afterwards came

into my possession, quite justified the opinion my host ex

pressed of the kinds of trees desoriled in it. The reader shall

judge for himself, and I assure him that the following is a

literal transcript of it, omitting the sections headed " Ancebus

new," "Camelias," " Ehododendrams," "Bubbs Pa^ony,"

"liosiers," "Wind's flowers of the greatest scarcity," ".Bul

bous Boots, and of various kinds of graines."

A TRTP INTO NOBTHEBN MISSISSIPPI.

75

SPECIAL CATALOGUE
OF THE PLANTS, FLOWERS, SHRUBS IMPORTED BY EOUSSET
HZXBEB OF SEVERAL SOCIETIES.
At Paris (France), boulerord of Hopital, and at Cnambery, faubourg de Moche.

MB ROVSSET beg to inform they are arrived in tliig town, with a Luge as sortment of the most rare vegetable plants, either flowerd on fruit bearer, onion bulbous, seeds, &c., &c. Price very moderate. Tfteir tlore it tittioted

CHOJX D'ARBRES A FRUIT.

CHOICE OF FKCJT TBEE&
PEAR TEF.KS. 1 Oood Txtoisa from Avnncbe. 2 Winter's IVrfume. 3 Siiint'Joun-in-lron.

fi Bergamot trum England. 6 iHicbfss of Angouleme, 7 Goulu-Mo:x-eau. 8 Tarqui.i fear. 9 Summer's Oond (targe) Christian. 10 Goud I urtisk Christian. 11 Grey (Urgi-) Btarre. 12 lUjyjl Brurre I rum England.

1 Bon-Obretien d'ete,

2 -- d'hiver.

3 -- de Pique.

<

4 Doyenne bianc.

6 BvJIe Angevme, fondanle. 7 Cr.issaue d*hivr. 8 L.'iise d'Orl^ana, sncre.
U.'jUcfleur l^tif. 10 Angeliquc de Tour,

1 Borpimutte de MiUn. Groft.
2 -- d'Aiencon, trcn-gro*.
3 Ceunfi gris d'hUer. t -- Aluaolis. fi -- d'H-irdenpont, prcoce. 6 Fortune, fondant. 7 Jtxfpbine, cbair Goe. 8 Martin-sec, sncre. S Hoviire, grid. II) Mu<rut d'ete. 11 Iwyenne d'.mtomne. 12 -- d'hiver. no*. 13 Virgoalteuje fondoote. 1 Beiy-l^mntte. 15 (i

APFLIS.
1 Renetto of Spain. 2 -- Green. 3 Apple Coin. 4 -- Friette. 5 C-drille, whiw. winter's fruit -- red, autumn's frnit. 7 -- red, winter's fruit 8 Violet * ol the Four-Taste. t Rpnetie from England, or Gold-Apple. 10 Guided Reuettc, a yellow backward plant. 11 White -- of u great perlume. 12 Kenrtte, red, "inter's trait.
1 Renettc, yellow, heavy fruit. 2 -- grey, very delicate. 3 -- Princess noble. 4 Afpled'Api. i - d Kve.
6 Winter's Pustoph*.
7 Flein gney teoouillet. 8 Keoette tranc. 9 -- of St. Laurent. 10 Sammers Xunibonrg.
11 rWledu Havre.
12 Belle
1 Violet Apple or of the 4 taste; the fruit may be preserved 2 years.
2 Princ.-sis Renette, of a gold yellow, spotted witb red ot a delicious taste
3 WLite Renette troiu Canada, of wblcb the skin Is lite scales strange by ita size.
4 The Cyibere Apple.
6 The Csvnoite Apple.
6 Apple Trees ith double Bowers. Blooms twice a ycar.Gtmelia'6 flowers like.
106 otliers kinds of Apples of UK uewest choice. Arsicora.
1 The Ladle's Apricots.
2 The IVjck Apncufai.
3 The livj-alApricoK.

76

COTTON A2O> SLAVERY.

4 The Grot Vueg Apricot*. 5 The IVrfirm Aprievta. e IWtutil Apricts7 Aprkats muaaxroooa fran America, of
a gold yelluw, of an enormous tat, and of the pint's apple taste.
PXACH TUB. 1 Peach Gross* Xignonne. 2 -- Bello Beauty.
3 -- Godeaa.
* -- Beauty of JVis, 4 -- From X-iples : said without >tooe, 6 Brnimori. muse last*.
7 Admiral le; BrLIe of Vitry.
8 The ( arze Rant. 9 Mmutranu* Pvie. 10 The Qird.nal, very fonrard. It Gond \V.,rkron. 12 Lentia Botuparte. 13 'IT*- Prince's Hearh, melting in the month. 14 The friMx'j Pemcn from Africa, with
larRO white frait, weeing pound and h.df each ; hearty, new kind. SO others new kinds of Peach Trees.
Pic* TRESS. 1 Plum lamorte.
2 Sirp*se MunsUT.
3 O-iina* with max taste. * 4 Bira> of Tours. 5 Urerti Gace. of a violet colour, 6 I.-irs~ Xiranelle,
7 Green gage, goMed.
8 Imperial, of a violet coloor, 9 Kropre^R. of a while colour. 10 Sie-Catherine, illuw, suger last* like.
CHEIST TRIO.

Gaurra Wntra. 1 Chaaselas of FontaiMbleao, with large
gold grains.
2 Chimn-lM. blaek very good,
3 -- red, of mnac tcste. 4 Verdal, the sweetest and tinest fruit for
desert & White lloscadine grape, or of Fronti-
gnan. 6 Muscat of Alexandrie, muse tast. 7 Cornicboo, white, sweet sogar like, very
good. 8 Toluy, red and while. 9 Verj" from Bordeaux, Urge yellow fruit 10 St. Peter large and fine (raic. 11 K.-d Muacadme Draper.
12 Kaislnut MaUgx
13 The Celeilal Wine Mr**, or the amphibiuus grain, weighing two OUIKVS, the grain of a red tod violet colour.
JfEW SlKAWBERKV PtASta,
1 The Strawberry Cremont.
3 -- -- monster, new kii*L 4 -- -- from Cllili. 6 Caperon of a raspberry taste. 6 ScjrUt from Venose, very lurarJ p!..ut
7 Prince Albert. Iruit of very gmitx beaoty.
8 Grincbxi colalant, rerr larp?. 9 Rwse-Berry. big Iruit and of a loiij: form.
10 Bath clwrj-, very good. 11 'ibe Big Chinese Strawberry, ellv.ng
16 ro a pound, produce frcir all r<-ur roun>), ol tbe pine apple's taste.
12 Vilmoih fulL
MEW FIG TREES OF A Moxsnu'ors Stzit1 THodetu white, of a Urge &izp. 2 lhicbesijf MHAK, green fruit. 3 I>unne-a-I>ieu, blue fruit

1 Cherryftnin the .Vorth. 2 -- R^yal, eive* from 13 to 20 cherries
weihing one pound, 4 differentes 3 Cherry R>'ina Honense. 4 -- Montuvwncy. 5 -- with thort stalk (Grt*<3ubet), 6 -- U MerckT. 7 -- Four for a pound, 8 CVrry Beauty of Choky. 9 -- The KogUah. 10 Q*ny-l>ik.-k. 11 -- Creole vith boncjKrs. 12 -- Bigarrot or monster of new
HexeL
CUUAXT Tina.

4 IA Sanspareiiie, yellow IruiU
The Ftrprtual V?fl/^6rrry Trtf, from Indies producing a fruit Lirp- as n egr. tacte delicious 3 kinds, red, violet and white.
The Riptbrrry Tret from Fatt">f, rwl fmlt, viry ci-id of an extraordinary size, very hearty forward plant
Worry CvTrattt Tree, with large hurtcbei it b-is a great production. It? nuni-roos and long bunches corer entirely the uld wood and looks like grapes; the fruit of a cherry pink colour is very Large and of the best quality.

1 CnrrautThnr with rel bnndies fgrapes). 2 -- -- with white boncbei. 3 Uooaeherrl-! of 1st cbnice ({Uspberries)
. aix ktedtiofalef^ry. 4 Xew kind of currants.* f which the grapes
are a* big a* the wine grape*.

Aspamgut from Africa, new kinds, good to eat the &am* year of their planting (seeds of two yemX low rtnetit* of annnal Ami prrpptual flower's grains al of titcbf n garden g/ains

A TRIP INTO NORTHERN KDSSISSlPPr.

77

PAULNOVIA IXPERIALIS. Magnificent hardy plant from 12 to IS yard* of bigtn: lt leave fine to the nize of 75 to ti centimeter and JIM fine and larg flowers of a line blue, gives when the spring comes, a soft and agreable perfunte.
Baida Uia* ptaxtt Ox amateur trill Jine at M Rot sscr. jtora, a great Hunter qf oOur Platttt oci fruit Tree* of icAicA would t* to long to describe.

NOTICE. Tbe admirable tnd strange plant culled Trvmptttc du Juffcment (Tbe JudgmentTrompette) of that name having nut yet lound It* cUuelfkatlon. This marvellous plant was t*ud to us from Cuina by the clener and courageous botanist c^fleclor M. Fortune, from {'Himalaya, near ummet ot the Cbamalarl Macon. This spkndld pLint deservi-** the first rank among all kinds of plant wlca the botanical Bdence na produce till now In spile of all the new discoveries. This bulbom plant glvi-s ^e> eral steins on tbe tame subject. It grows to the height of 6 feet. It I- fumi-Jred with flowers from bottom to top. llie bod looks by ha from like a big cannon hull of a heavenlr blue. The center i* of an anrora yellewish colour. Tbe vege tation of that ftant IH to loultlull that when it is near to blu*ni It gives a great heat when ta&ing It in hand and when the bud opens It produces a naile Similar to a pistole shot. Im mediately the vegetation ukes fire and bums like alcohol about an hour and a half. The flowera fucceeding one to the other gives the butisfactiun of having flowers during 7 or S month?. Tbe most intense cold can not hurt this plant and can be culvlvsted in pota, in appartmentf or gpeen house*. Wa call the public attention to this plant as a great rarioalry.
Havre--Printed by F. HCF, me de Paria, 89.

"But come," said the fanner, "go in; take a drink. Breakiast'll be ready right smart."
" I don't want to drink before breakfast, thank you." " Why not ?" " I'm not accustomed to it, and I don't find it's wholesome." Not wholesome to drink before breakfast! That was " a new kink " to our jolly host, and troubled him as much as a new " ism " would an old fogy. Not wholesome ? He had always reckoned it warn't very wholesome not to drink before breakfast. He did not expect I had seen a great many healthier men than he was, had I ? and he always took a drink before breakfast. If a man just kept himself well strung up, without eyer stretching himself right tight, he didn't reckon damps or heat would ever do him much harm. He had never had a sick day since he came to thig place, and he reckoned that this was owin' considerable to die good rye whisky he took. It was a healthy trac' of land, though, he believed, a mighty healthy trac'; everything seemed to thrive here. We must see a nigger-gal that he was raisin'; she

78

COTTOS AOT> SLAVERY.

was just coining five, and would pull up nigh upon a hundred

weight.

" Two year ago," he continued, after taking his dram, as

we sat by the fire in the north room, " when I had a carpen

ter here to finish off this house, I told one of my hoys he must

come in and help him. I reckoned he would larn quick, if he

was a mind to. So he come in, and a week arterwards he

fitted the plank and laid this floor, and now you just look at it;

I don't believe any man could do it better. That was two

year ago, and now he's as good a carpenter as you ever see. I

bought him some tools after the carpenter left, and he can do

anvthinjr with 'em--make a table or a chest of drawers or anv-

v

O

*

thing. I think niggers is somehow nat'rally ingenious; more

so 'n white folks. They is wonderful apt to any kind of slight."

I took out my pocket-map, and while studying it, asked

Yazoo some questions about the route East. Not having yet

studied geography, as he observed, he could not answer. Our

host inquired where I was gomg, that way. I sdd I should

go on to Carolina.

i*

" Expect you're going to buy 1 rice-farm, in the Carolinies,

aint you ? and I reckon" you're up here speckylating arter nig

ger stock, aint you now ?"

" "Well," said I, " I would n't moid getting that fat girl of

yours, if we can made a trade. How much a pound will you

sell her at ?"

" We don't sell niggers by the pound in this country."

" Well, how much by the lump ?"

" Well, I don't know; reckon I don't keer about sellin' her

just yet."

After breakfast, I inquired about the management of the

farm. He said that he purchased negroes, as he was able,

from time to time. He grew rich by the improved saleable

value of his land, arising ha part from their labour, and from

their natural increase and improvement, for he bought only

A TBtP INTO NOKTHERK .MISSISSrPPI.

79

such as would be likely to increase in value on his bauds. He had been obliged to spend but little money, being able to live and provide most of the food and clothing for his family and his people, by the production of his farm. He made a little cotton, which he had to send some distance to be ginned and baled, and then waggoned it seventy miles to a market; also raised some wheat, which he turned into flour at a neighbour ing mill, and sent to the same market. This transfer engaged much of the winter labour of his man-slaves.
I said that I supposed the Memphis and Charleston railroad, as it progressed east, would shorten the distance to which it would be necessary to draw his cotton, and so be of much ser vice to him. He did not know that. He did not know as he should ever use it. He expected they would charge pretty high for cam-ing cotton, and his niggers hadn't any thing else to do. It did not really cost him anything now to send it to Memphis, because he had to board the niggers and the cattle anyhow, and they did not want much more on the road than
they did at home. He made a large crop of corn, which, however, was mainly
consumed by his own force, and he killed annually about one hundred and fifty hogs, the bacon of which was all consumed in his own family and by his people, or sold to passing travel lers. In the fall, a great many drovers and slave-dealers passed over the road with their stock, and they frequently camped against this house, so as to buy corn and bacon of him. This they cooked themselves.
There were sometimes two hundred negroes brought along together, going South. He didn't always have bacon to spare for them, though he killed one hundred and fifty swine. They were generally bad characters, and had been sold for fan t by their owners. Sumo of the slave-tValcr.s were high-minded, honourable men, he thought; " high-toned gentlemen, as ever he saw, some of 'em, was."

80

COTTON ASD SLATEBT.

Niggers were great eaters, and wanted more meat than white folks; anil be always gave his as much as they wanted, and more too. The negro coot always got dinner for them, and took what she liked for it; his wife didn't know much about it. She got as mnch as she liked, and he guessed she didn't spare it. When the field-hands were anywhere within a reasonable distance, they always came up to the house to get their dinner. If they were going to work a great way off, they wonld carry their dinner with them. They did as they liked about it. When they hadn't taken their dinner, the cook called them at twelve o'clock with a conch. They ate in the kitchen, and he had the same dinner that they did, right out of the same frying-pan; it was all the same, only they ete in the kitchen, and he ate in the room we were in, with the door open between them.
I brought tip the subject of the cost of labour, North, and Sonth. He had no apprehension that there would ever he any want of labourers at the South, and could not understand that the ruling price indicated the state of the demand for them. He thought negroes would increase more rapidly than the need for their labour. " Xiggers," said he, " breed fester than white folks, a 'mazin5 sight, you know; they begin younger."
" How young do they begin ?" " Sometimes at fourteen, sometimes at sixteen, and some times at eighteen." " Do you let them marry so young as that ?" I inquired. He laughed, and said, " They don't very often wait to be married." "When they marry, do they have a minister to marry them ?" " Yes, generally one of their own preachers." " Do they with you ?" I inquired bf Yazoo. " Yes, sometimes they hev a whi' z minister, and sometimes a black one, and if there arn't neither handy, they gei some of

A TBIP nrro KOETHEEIT MISSISSIPPI.

the pious ones to marry 'em. But then very often they only

just come and ask our consent, and then go ahead, without any

more ceremony. They just call themselves married. But

most niggers likes a ceremony, you know, and they generally

make out to hev one somehow. They don't very often get

married for good, though, without trying each other, as they

gay, for two or three weeks, to see how they are going to like

each other."

I afterwards asked how far it was to the post-office. It was

six miles. " One of my hoys," paid our host, " always gets

the paper every week. He goes to visit his wife, and passes

hy the post-office every Sunday. Our paper hain't come"

though, now, for three weeks. The mafl don't come very re

gular." All of his negroes, who had wives off the place, left

an hour before sunset on Saturday evening. One of them,

who had a wife twenty miles away, left at twelve o'clock Satur

day, and got hack at twelve o'clock Monday.

" We had a nigger once," said Yazoo, " that had a wife fif

teen miles away, and he used to do so; but he did some ras

cality once, and he was afraid to go again. He told us his

wife was so far off, 't was too much trouble to go there, and he

believed he'd give her up. We was glad of it. He was a

darned rascally nigger--allers getting into scrapes. One time

we sent him to mill, and he went round into town and sold

some of the meal. The storekeeper wouldn't pay him for't,

'cause he hadn't got an order. The next time we were in town,

the storekeeper just showed us the bag of meal; said he reck

oned 't was stole; so when we got home we just tied him up

to the tree and licked him. lie's a right smart nigger; ras

cally niggere allers is smart. I'd rather have a rascally nigger

than any other--they's so smart allers. He is about the best

nigger we've got."

"I have heard," said I, " that religious negroes were gene-

VOL. n.

G

L

82

COTTOS AKD 8LAYEBY.

rally the most valuable. I have been told that a third more would be given for a man if he were religious." " "Well, I never heerd of it before," said he. Our host thought there was no difference in the market value of sinners and saints.
" Only," observed Yazoo, " the rascalier a nigger is, the better hell work. Now that yer nigger I was tellin' you on, he's worth more'n any other nigger we've got? He's a yaller nigger."
I asked their opinion as to the comparative value of black and yellow negroes, Ota1 host had two bright mulatto boys among his--didn't thiiJc there was much difference, "but allers reckoned yellow fellows was the best a little; they worked smarter. He would rather have them." Tazoo would not; he " didn't think but what they'd work as well; but he didn't fancy yellow negroes 'round him; would rather have real black ones."
I asked our host if he had no foreman or driver for his ne groes, or if he gave his directions to one of them in particular for all the rest. He did not. They all did just as they plfsvvd, and arranged the work among themselves. They never needed driving.
" If I ever notice one of 'em getting a h'ttle slack, I just talk to him; tell him we must get out of the grass, and I want to hev him stir himself a little more, and then, maybe, I slip a dollar into his hand, and when he gits into the field hell go ahead, and the rest seeing him, won't let themselves be distanced by him. My niggers never want no lookin' arter. They tek more interest in the crop than I do myself, every one of 'em."
Beligious, instructed, and seeking further enlightenment; industrious, energetic, and self directing; well fed, respected, and trusted by their master, and this master an illiterate, in dolent, and careless man! A very different state of things,

f

A TRIP DTTO NOnTHERK MISSISSIPPI.

83

this, from what I saw on a certain great cotton planter's

estate, where a profit of 8 100,000 was made in a single year,

but where five hundred negroes wr re constantly kept under

the whip, where religion was only a pow-wow or cloak for

immorality, and where the negro was considered to be of an

inferior race, especially designed by Providence to be kept in

the position he there occupied! A very different thing; and

strongly suggesting what a very different thing this negro

servitude might be made in general, were the ruling disposi

tion of the South more just and sensible.

About half-past eleven, a stage coach, which had come earlier

in the morning from the East, and had gone on as far as the

brook, returned, having had our luggage transferred to it from

the one we had left on the other side. In the transfer a portion

of mine wa? omitted and never recovered. Up to this time our

host had not paid the smallest attention to any work his men

were doing, or even looked to see if they liad fed the cattle, but

had lounged about, sitting npon a fence, chewing tobacco, and

talkiug with us, evidently very glad to have somebody to con

verse with. He went in once again, after a drink; showed us

the bacon he had in his smoke-house, and told a good many

stories of his experience in life, about a white man's " dying

hard " in the neighbourhood, and of a tree falling on a team

with which one of his negroes was ploughing cotton, " which

was lucky "--that is, that it did not kill the negro--and a

good deal about "hunting" when he was younger and

lighter.

Still absurdly influenced by an old idea which I had

brought to the South with me, I waited, after the coach came

in sight, for Yazoo to put the question, which he presently

did, boldly enough.

/

" Well; reckon we're goin' now. What's the damage T

" Well; reckon seventy-five cents 11 l>e right"

a2

COTTON AMD SLA.YBBY.
CHAPTER IH.
DJTBBIOB COTTOX DISTRICTS--CESTRATi tOSSISSTPPl,
ALABAMA, ETC.
Central Mississippi, May 31s.--Yesterday-was a raw, cold day, wind north-east, like a dry north-east storm at Lome. Fortunately I came to the pleasantest house and household I had seen for some time. The proprietor was a native of Maryland, and had travelled in the North; a devout Metho dist, and somewhat educated. He first came South, as I un derstood, for the benefit of his health, his lungs being weak.
His first dwelling, a rude log cabin, was still standing, and was occupied by some of his slaves. The new house, a cottage, consisting of four rooms and a hall, stood in a small grove of oaks; the iamily were quiet, kind, and sensible.
When I arrived, the oldest boy was at work, holding a plough in the cotton-field, but he left it and came at once, with confident and afiable courtesy, to entertain me.
My host had been in Texas, and after exploring it quite thoroughly, concluded that he much preferred to remain where he was. He found no part of that country where good land, timber, and a healthy climate were combined: in the West he did not like the vicinage of the Germans and Mexicans; more over, he didn't " foncy " a prairie county. Here, in favourable years, he got a bale of cotton to the acre. Kot BO much now as formerly. Still, he said, the soil would be good enough for T"'TM here, for many years to come.
I went five times to the stable without being able to find 8 servant there. I was always told that "the boy" would feed my hors^, and take good care of him, when he came;

THE 1KTERIOR COTTOH DISTRICTS.

85

and so at length I had to go to bed, trusting to this assurance. I went out just before breakfast next morning, and found the horse with only ten dry cobs in the manger. I searched for the boy; could not find him, but was told that my horse had been fed. I said, "I wish to hare him fed more--as much as he will eat." Very well, the boy should give him more. When I went out after breakfast the boy was leading out the horse. I asked if he had given him corn this morning.
" Oh yes, sir." " How many ears did you give him ?" " Ten or fifteen--or sixteen, sir; he eata very hearty." I went into the stable and saw that he had not been fed; there were the same ten cobs (dry) in the manger. I doubted, indeed, from their appearance, if the boy had fed him at all the night before. I fed him with leaves myself, but could not
get into the corn crib. The proprietor was, I do not doubt, perfectly honest, but the negro had1 probably stolen the corn for lus own hogs and fowls.
The next day I rode more than thirty miles, having secured a good feed of corn for the horse at midday. At nightfall I was much fatigued, but had as yet failed to get lodging. It began to rain, and grew dark, and I kept the road with diffi culty. About nine o'clock I came to a large, comfortable house.
An old lady sat in the verandah, of whom I asked if I could be accommodated for the night: " Beckon so," she replied : then after a few moments' reflection, without rising from her chair she shouted, " Gal!--gal!" Presently a girl came.
" Missis ?' "Call Tom!" The girl went off, while I remained, waiting for a more definite answer. At length she returned: " Tom ain't there, missis."

86

COTTOH AND SLAVERY.

"Who is there?" " Old Pete." " Well, tell him to come and take this gentleman's horse." Pete came, and I went with him to the gate where I had fastened my horse. Here he called for some younger slave to come and take him down to " the pen," while he took off the saddle. All this time it was raining, hut any rapidity of movement was ont of the question. Pete continued shouting. "Why not lead the horse to the pen yourself?" I asked. "I must take care of de saddle and tings, massa ; tote "em to de boose whar dey'll be safe. Dese niggers is so treacherous, can't leave nothin' roun' but deyll hook snthing off of it." Next morning, at dawn of day, I saw honest Pete come into the room where I was in bed and 0 stealthily to his yonng master's clothes, probably mistaking them for mine. I moved and he dropped them, and slnnk out to (he next room, where he went loudly to making a tire. I managed to see the horse well fad ui<*ht anJ morning. There were three pretty young women in this house, of good manners and well dressed, except for the abundance of rings and jewelry which they displayed at breakfast. One of them surprised me not a little at the table. I had been offered, in succession, fried ham and eggs, sweet potatoes, apple-pie, corn-bread, and molasses; this last article I de clined, and passed it to the young lady opposite, looking to see how it was to be used. She had, on a breakfast plate, fried ham and eggs and apple-pie, and poured molasses between them.

June Lsf--I stopped last evening at the house of a man who was called " Doctor " by his family, but who was, tojudge from his language, very illiterate. His son, by whom I was

THB UTTEBIOB COTTON DISTRICTS.

87

first received, followed me to the stable. He had ordered a negro child to lead my horse, but as I saw the little fellow could n't hold him I -went myself. He had no fodder (cornleaves), and proposed to give the horse some shucks (cornhusks) dipped in salt water, and, as it was now too late to go further, I assented. Belshazzar licked them greedily, but would not eat them, and they seemed to destroy his appetite for corn, for late in the evening, having groped my way into the stable, I found seven small ears of corn, almost untasted, in the manger. I got the young man to come out and give him more.
The " Doctor " returned from " a hunt," as he said, with no game but a turtle, which he had taken from a " trot line "-- a line, with hooks at intervals, stretched across the river.
The house was large, and in a good-sized parlour or com mon room stood a handsome centre table, on which were a few books and papers, mostly Baptist publications. I sat here alone in the evening, straining my eyes to read a wretchedly printed newspaper, till I was offered a bed. I was very tired and sleepy, having been ill two nights before. The bed was apparently clean, and I gladly embraced it.
My host, holding a candle for me to undress by (there was no candlestick in the house), called to & boy on "the outside to festen the doors, which he did by setting articles of furniture against them. When I had got into bed he went himself into an inner room, the door of which he closed and fastened in the same manner. No sooner was the light with drawn than I was attacked by bugs. I was determined, if possible, not to be kept awake by them, but they soon con quered me. I never suffered such incessant and merciless persecution from them before. In half an hour I was nearly frantic, and leaped from lied. But what to do ? There was no use in making a disturbance about it; doubtless every

88

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

other bed and resting place in the house was full of them. 1 shook out iny day clothes carefully and put them on, and then pushing away the barricade, opened the door and went into the parlour. .At first I thought that I would arrange the chairs in a row and sleep on them; but this I found impracticable, for the seats of the chairs were too narrow, and moreover of deerskin, which was sure to he full of fleas if not of bugs. Stiff and sore and weak, I groeningly lay down where the light of the moon came through a broken window, for bogs feed but little except in darkness, and with my saddle-bags for a pillow, again essayed to sleep. Fleas ! in stantly. There was nothing else to be done ; I was too tired to sit up, even if that would have effectually removed the annoyance. Finally t dozed--not long, I think, for I was suddenly awakened by a large insect dropping upon my eye. I struck it off, and at the moment it stung me. My eyelid swelled immediately, and grew painful, but at length I slept in spite of it. I was once more awakened by a large beetle which fell on me from the window ; once more I got asleep, ' till finally at four o'clock I awoke with that feverish dryness of the eyes which indicates a determination to sleep no more. It was daylight, and I was stiff and shivering ; the tion and pain of the sting in my eyelid had in a great degree subsided. I pushed back the bolt of the outside door-lock, and went to the stable. The negroes were already at work in the field. Belshazzar had had a bad night too : that was evident. The floor of the stall, being of earth, had been trodden into two hollows at each end, leaving a small rough hillock in the centre. Bad as it was, however, it was the best in the stable ; only one in four of the stalls having a manger that was not broken down. A wee little black girl and boy were cleaning their master's horses-- mine they were afraid o They had managed to put some fresh corn in his

J,

THE INTEBIOB COTTON W8TBICT8.

. 89

manger, however, and as he refused to eat, I^took a carry-, comb and brush, and in the next two hours gave him the first thorough grooming he had enjoyed since I owned him. I could not detect the reason of his loss of appetite. I had been advi'sed by an old southern traveller to examine the corn when my horse refused to eat--if corn were high I might find that it had been* greased. From the actions of the horse, then and subsequently, I suspect some trick of this kind was here practised upon me. When I returned to the house and asked to wash, water was given me in a vessel which, though I doubted the right of my host to a medical diploma, certainly
smelt strongly of the shop--it was such as is used by apotheca ries in mixing drugs. The title of Doctor is often popularly given at the South to druggists and venders of popular medi cines ; very probably he had been one, and had now retired to enjoy the respectability of a planter.

June 2nd.--I met a ragged old negro, of whom I asked the way, and at what house within twelve miles I had better stop. 'He advised me to go to one more than twelve miles distant.
"I suppose," said I, "I can stop at any house along the road here, can't I ? They'll all take in travellers ?"
" Yes, sir, if you'll take rough fare, such as travellers- has to, sometimes. They're all damn'd rascals along dis road, for ten or twelve miles, and you'll get nothin' but rough fare. But I say, massa, rough fare 's good enough for dis world; ain't it, massa ? Dis world ain't nothin; dis is hell, dis is, I calls it; hell to what's a comin' arter, ha ! ha ! Ef you 'a prepared ? you says. I don't look much 's if I was prepared, does I ? nor talk like it, nuther. De Lord he cum to me in my cabin in de night time, in de year '45."
"" What ?"
" De Lord! massa, de bressed Lord! He cum to me in

90

COTTON AND SIAVERT.

de night time, in de year '45, and he says to me, says he, ' 111 spare you yet five year longer, old boy!' So -when '50 com round I thought my time had cum, sure; hut as I didn't diej I reckon de Lord has 'cepted of me, and I 'specs I shall be saved, dough I don't look much like it, ha ! ha ! ho ! ho! de Lord am my rock, and he shall not perwail over me. I will lie down in green pastures and take up" my bed in hell, yet will not His mercy circumwent me. Got some baccy, master?"
A little after sunset I came to an unusually promising plantation, the dwelling being within a large enclosure, in which there \vas a well-kept southern sward shaded by fine tree*. The house, of the usual form, was painted white, and the large number of neat out-buildings seemed to indicate opulence, and, I thought, unusual good taste in its owner. A lad of sixteen received me, and said I could stay; I might fasten my horse, and when the negroes came up he would have him taken care of. "When I had done so, and had brought the saddle to the verandah, he offered me a chair, and at once commenced a conversation in the character of entertainer. Nothing in his tone or manner would have indicated that he was not the father of the family, and pro prietor of the establishment. No prince royal could have had more assured and nonchalant dignity. Tet a northern stable-boy, or apprentice, of his age, would seldom be found as ignorant.
"TVhere do you live, sir, when you are at home?" he asked.
"At New York." " New York is" a big place, sir, I expect f "Yes, very big." " Big as New Orleans, is it, sir T " Yes, much bigger."

THE ETTEBIOR COTTON DISTRICTS.

91

" Bigger 'n New Orleans ? It must be a bully city." " Yes; the largest in America." " Sickly there now, sir ?" " Xo, not now; it is sometimes." " Like New Orleans, I suppose ?" "Xo, never so bad as New Orleans sometimes is." " Bigtit healthy place, I expect, sir ?" " Yes, I believe so, for a place of its size." " What diseases do you have there, sir ?" " All sorts of diseases--not so much fever, however, as you have hereabouts." " Measles and hooping-cough, sometimes, I reckon ?" " Yes, 'most all the time, I dare say." " All the time ! People mtist die there right smart. Some is dyin' 'most even" day, I expect, sir ?" " More than a hundred every day, I suppose." " Go.sh ! a hundred every day! Almighty sickly place 't must !>e ?" " It is such a large place, you see--seven hundred thousand people." " Seven hundred thousand--expect that's a heap of people, ain't it ?" His father, a portly, well-dressed man, soon came in, and learning that I had been in Mexico, said, ' I suppose there's a heap of Americans nocking in and setth'ng up that country along on tlie line, ain't there, sir ?" " Xo, sir, very few. I saw none, in fact--only a few Irishmen and Frenchmen, who called themselves Americans. Those were the only foreigners I saw, except negroes." " Xiggers ! "Where were they from ?" " They were runaways from Texas." " But their masters go there and get them again, don't they?"

92

COTTON ASD SLAVEBY.

"No, sir, they can't."

"Why not?"

" The Mexicans are friendly to the niggers, and protect

them."



" Bnt why not go to the Government ?"

" The Government considers them as free, and will not let

them be taken back."

" Bnt that's stealing, sir. "Why don't onr Government make

them deliver them up ? "What good is the Government to us

if it don't preserve the rights of property, sir ? Niggers are

property, ain't th5y ? and if a man steals my property, ain't

the Government bound to get it for me ? Niggers are pro

perty, sir, the same as horses and cattle, and nobody's any

more right to help a nigger that's run away than he has to

steal a horse."

He spoke very angrily, and was excited. Perhaps he was

indirectly addressing me, as a Northern man, on the general

sul>ject of fugitive slaves. I said that it was necessary to

have special treaty stipulations about such matters. The

Mexicans lost their peons--bonnden servants ; they ran away

to our side, but the United States Government never took any measures to restore them, nor did the Mexicans ask it.

"But," he answered, in a tone of indignation, "those are not

niggers, are they ? They are white people, sir, just as

white as the Mexicans themselves, and just as much right to

be free."

My horse stood in the yard till (juite dark, the negroes not

coming in from the' cotton-field. I twice proposed to take

him to the stable, but he said, " No: the niggers would come

up soon and attend to him." Just as we were called to supper,

the negroes began to make their appearance, getting over a

fence with their hoes, and the master called to one to put the horse in the stable, arid to " take good care of him." " I

THE BfTKRIOB COTTON DISTRICTS.

93

want him to have all the corn hell eat," said I. " Yes, ar; feed him well; do you hear there ?"
The house was meagrely furnished within, not nearly as well as the most common New England farm-house. I saw no books and no decorations. The interior wood-work was tLnpainted.
At supper there were three negro girls in attendance--two children of twelve or fourteen years of age, and an older one, but in a few moments they all disappeared. The mistress called aloud several times, and at length the oldest came, bringing in hot biscuit.
" Where's Suke and Bet ?" " In the kitchen, missns." " Tell them both to -come to me, right off." A few minutes afterwards, one of the girls slunk in and stood behind me, as far as possible from her mistress. Pre sently, however, she was discovered. " You Bet, you there ? Come here! come here to me J close to me! (Slap, slap, slap.) Now, why don't you stay in here ? (Slap, slap, slap, on the side of the head.) I know ! you want to be out in the kitchen with them Indians ! (Stop, slap, slap.) Now see if you can stay here." (Slap !) The other girl didn't come at all, and was forgotten. As soon as supper was over my hostess exclaimed, " Now,
you Bet, stop crying there, and do yon go right straight home ; mind you run every step of the way, and if you stop one minute in the kitchen you'd better look out. Begone!" During the time I was in the house she was incessantly scold
ing the servants, in a manner very disagreeable for me to hear, though they seemed to regard it rery little.
The Indians, I learned, lived some miles away, and were hired to hoe cotton. I inquired their wages. "Well, it
costs me about four bits (fifty cents) a day," (including food,

9i

OOTTOK AND SLAVEBY.

probably). They worked well for a few days at a time; were better at picking than at hoeing. " They don't pick so much in a day as niggers, but do it better." The women said they were good for nothing, and her husband had no bnsiness to plant so mnch cotton that he couldn't 'tend it with his own slave hands.
TVhile at table a yonjjg man, very dirty and sweaty, with a ragged shirt and no coat on. came in to supper. He was surly and rnde in his actions, and did not speak a word; he left the table before I had finished, and lighting a pipe, laid himself at fall length on the floor of the room to smoke. This was the overseer.
Immediately after supper the master told me that he was in the habit of going to bed early, and he would show me where I was to sleep. He did so, and left me without a candle. It was dark, and I did not know the way to the stables, so I soon went to bed. On a feather bed I did not enjoy much rest, and when I at last awoke and dressed, breakfast was just ready. I said I would go first to look after my horse, and did so, the planter following me. I found him standing in a miserable stall, in a sorry state ; he had not been cleaned, and there were no cobs or other indica tions of his having been fed at all since he had been there. I said to my host--
" He has not been fed, sir!" " I wonder ! hain't he ? " Well, I'll have him fed. I s'pose the overseer forgot him." But, instead of going to the crib and feeding him at once himself, he returned to the house and blew a horn for a negro; when after a long time one came in sight from the cottonfields, he called to him to go to the overseer for the key of the corn-crib and feed the gentleman's horse, and asked me now to come to breakfast. The overseer joined us as a

^

THE INTEBIOB COTTOH DISTRICTS.

95

supper; nothing was said to him about my horse, and he was

perfectly silent, and conducted himself like an angry or sulky

man in all his actions. As before, when he had finished his

meal, without waiting for others to leave the table, he lighted

a pipe and lay down to rest on the floor. I went to the

stable and found my horse had been supplied with seven poor

ears of corn only.. I came back to ask for more, but could

find neither mister nor overseer. While I was packing my

saddle-bags preparatory to leaving, I heard my host call a

negro to " clean that gentleman's horse and bring him here."

Ad it was late, I did not interpose. While I was putting on

the bridlo, he took off the mosquito tent attached to the

saddle and examined it. I explained why I carried it.

" You wan't want it any more," said he; <r no musquitoes

of any account where you are going now; you'd better give

it to me, sir; I should like to use it when I go a-fishing;

miipquitocs are powerful bad in the swamp." After some

further solicitation, as I seldom used it, I gave it to him.

-Aliuo-it immediately afterwards he charged me a dollar for my

entertainment, which I paid, notwithstanding the value of

the tent was several -times that amount. Hospitality to

travellers is so entirely a matter of business with the common

planters.

I passed the hoe-gang at work in the cotton-field, the

overseer lounging among them carrying a whip; there were

ten or twelve of them ; not one looked np at me. Within

ten minutes I passed five who were ploughing, with no over

seer or driver in sight, and each stopped his plough to gaze

at me.

j

1
i

June 3rd.--Testerdiy I met a well-dressed man upon the

road, and inquired of him if he could recommend me to a

comfortable place to pais the night.

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COTTON AND SLAVERY.

" Tes, I can," said he; " you stop at John Watson's. He is a real good fellow, and Ms wife is a nice, tidy woman; he's
got a good house, and you'll te aa well taken care of there aa in any place I know."
" What I am most concerned about is a clean bed," said I. " Well, you are safe for that, there." So distinct a recommendation was unusual, and when I reached the house he had de.scribed to me, though it was not yet dark, I stopped to solicit entertainment. In the gallery sat a fine, stalwart man, and a woman, who in size and figure matched him well. Some ruddy, iat chil dren were playing on the steps. The man wore a full beard, which is very uncommon in these parts. I rode to a horse block near the gallery, and asked if I could be accommodated for the night. " Oh, yes, yon can stay here if you can get along without anything to eat; we don't hare anything to eat but once a week." " You look as if it agreed with you, I reckon I'll try it for one night" "Alight, sir, alight. Why, you came from Texas, didn't you? Your rig looks like it," he said, as I dismounted. " Yes, I've just crossed Texas, all the way from the Eio Grande." "Hare you though ? Well, I'll be right glad to hear something of that country." He threw my saddle and bags across the rail of the gallery, and we walked together to the stable. "I hear that there are a great many Germans in the western part of Texas," he said presently. " There are a great many; west of the Guadaloupe, more Germans than Americans bom." " Have thev got many slaves ?" "No."
" Well, won't they break off and make a free State down there, by and by ?"
" I should tbinV it not impossible that they might."

IBS ISTE^IOB COTT01T DBTBICT8.

97

" I wish to God they jwould'; I would like right well to go

and settle there if it wak free from, slavery. You see Kansas

and all the Free States sire too far north for me; I was raised

in Alabama, and I don't; want to move into a colder climate ;

but I would like to go iito a country where they had not got

this curse of slavery." j

He said this not kotowing that I was a Northern man.

Greatly surprised, I asped, " What are your objections to

slavery, sir ?" - j

" Objections ! The first's here " (striking his breast); " I

never could bring myself to like it. Well, sir, I know slavery

is wrong, and God '11 p4t an end to it. It 'a bound to come

to an end, and when the end does come, there'll be woe in

the land. And, instead of preparing for it, and trying to

make it as light as possible, we are doing nothing but make

it worse and worse. That's the way it appears to me, and

fd rather get out of these parts before it comes. Then I've

another objection to it. I don't like to have slaves about me.

Now, I toll a nigger to go and feed your horse; I never know

if he's done it unless I go and see; and if he didn't know I

would go and see, and Would whip him if I found he hadn't

fed him, would he feed Him ? He'd let him starve. I've got

as good niggers as anybody, but I never can depend on them;

they will lie, and they Will steal, and take advantage of me in

every way they dare. d>f course they will, if they are slaves.

But lying and stealing iare not the worst of it. I've got a

family of children, and :I don't like to have such degraded

beings round my house frhile they are growing up. I know

what the consequences are to children, of growing up among

slaves:"

I

I here told him that I was a Northern man, and asked if

he could safely utter sucn sentiments among the people of this

district, who bore the, reputation of being among the most

VOL. rt.

98

COTTON AND SLAVEBT.

extreme and fanatical devotees of slavery. " I've been told a hondted times I should be killed if I were not more prudent in expressing my opinions, but, when it comes to killing, I'm as good as the nest man, and they know it I never came the worst ont of a fight yet since I was a boy. I never am afraid to speak what I think to anybody. I don't think I ever shall be."
"Are there many persons here who have as bad an opinion of slavery as you have ?"
"I reckon yon never saw a conscientious man who had been brought up among slaves who did not thinlr of it pretty much as I do--did you f
" Yes, I think I have, a good many." "Ah, self-interest warps men's minds wonderfully, but I don't believe there are many who don't think so, sometimes-- it's impossible, I know, that they don't." Were there any others in this neighbourhood, I asked, who avowedly hated slavery ? He replied that there were a good many mechanics, all the mechanics he knew, who felt slavery to be a great curse to them, and who wanted to see it brought to an end in some way. The competition in which they were constantly made to feel themselves engaged with slave-labour was degrading to them, and they felt it to be so. He knew a poor, hard-working man who was lately offered the services of three negroes for six years each if he would let them learn his trade, but he refused the proposal with indignation, say ing he would starve before he helped a slave to become a me chanic.* There was a good deal of talk now among them

* At Wilmington, North Carolina, on the night of the 27th of July (1857], the frame-work of a new building was destroyed bj a number of persons, and a placard attached to the disjointed lumber, stating that a similar course wo::!d be pursued in all cases, again.-* edifices that should be erected by negro contractors or carpenter?, by ou of whki da,-s ot men the house had been conrtructed. There was a public meeting called a few days afterwards, to take this outrage into coo-

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about getting laws passed to prevent the owners of slaves from having them taught trades, and to prohihit slave-me chanics from being hilled out. He could go ont to-morrow, he snpposed, and in tlie course of a day get two hundred sig natures to a paper alleging that slavery was a curse to the people of Mississippi,; and praying the Legislature to take measures to relieve thdm of it as soon as practicable. (The county contains three times as many slaves as whites.)
He considered a coercive government of the negroes hy the whites, forcing them to labour systematically, and restraining them from a reckless destruction of life and property, at pre sent to he necessary. jOf course, he did not think it wrong to hold slaves, and the jjrofits of their labour were not more than enough to pay a iian for looking after them--not' if he did his duty to them, j What was wrong, was making slavery so much worse than w4s necessary. Negroes would improve very rapidly, if they) were allowed, in any considerable measure, the ordinary incitements to improvement He knew hosts of negroe^ who showed extraordinary talents, considering their opportunities: there wefe a great many in this part of the countr! who could read and write, and calcu late mentally as well athe general run of white men who had been to schools, There were Colonel ----"s negroes, some fifty of them; he did not suppose there were any

sideration, which wits numerously attended. Resolutions were adopted, denounc

ing the act, and the authorities were instructed to offer a suitable reward for Ihe

detection and conviction of the rioter*. " The impression was conveyed at the

meeting," says the n'Uin!ngt</ IffntlJ, " that the act had been committed by

member of an organized association, said to exist here, and to number some two

hundred ,ind fifty persons, aa<! possibly mart, u-ho, an was alleged, to right what

they considered a grievance in the matter of neirro competition with white labour,

had adopted the illegal course of which the act in question was an illustration." "

Proceedings of a similar significance haJ occurred at various points, especially in

Virginia,

----

H "2

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fifty more contented people in the world; they, were not driven hard, and work was stopped three times a day for meak; they had plenty to eat, and good clothes; and through the -whole year they had from Friday night to Monday morn ing to do what they liked with themselves. Saturdays, the men generally worked in their patches (private gardens), and the women washed and mended clothes. Sundays, they nearly all went to a Sabbath School which the mistress taught, and to meeting, but they were hot obliged to go; they could come and go as they pleased all Saturday and Sunday; they were not looked after at alL Only on Monday morning, if there should any one be missing, or any one should come to the field with ragged or dirty clothes, he would be whipped. He had often noticed how much more intelligent and sprightly these negroes all were than the common run; a great many of them had books and could read and write ; and on Sundays they were smartly dressed, some of them better than he or his wife ever thought of dressing. These things were pur chased with the money they made out of their patches, work ing Saturdays.
There were two other large plantations near him, in both of which the negroes were turned out to work at half-past three every week-day morning--I might hear the bell ring for them--and frequently they were not stopped till nine o'clock at night, Saturday nights the same as any other. One of them belonged to a very religious lady, and on Sunday mornings at half-past nine she had her bell rung for Sunday School, and after Sunday School they had a meeting, and after dinner another religious service. Every negro on the plantation was obliged to attend all these exercises, and if they were not dressed clean they were whipped. They were never allowed to go off the plantation, and if they were caught speaking to a negro from any other place, they were whipped.

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They could all of them repeat the catechism, he believed, but they were the dullest, and laziest, and most sorrowful looking negroes he ever saw.
As a general rule, the condition of the slaves, as regards their material comfort, had greatly improved within twenty years. He did not know that it had in other respects. It would not be a bit safer to turn them free to shift for them- 1 selves, than it would have been twenty years ago. Of this he was quite confident. Perhaps they were a little more intelli gent, knew more, but they were not as capable of selfguidance, not as much accustomed to work and contrive for themselves, as they used to be, when they were not fed and clothed nearly as well as now.
Beyond the excessive labour required of them on some plantations, he did not think slaves were often treated with unnecessary cruelty. It was necessary to use the lash occa sionally. Slaves never really felt under any moral obligation to obey their masters. Faithful service- was preached to them as a Christian duty, and they pretended "to acknowledge it, but the fact was that they were obedient just so far as they saw that they must be to avoid punishment; and punishment was necessary, now and then, to maintain their faith in their master's power. He had seventeen slaves, and he did not suppose that there had been a hundred strokes of the whip on his place for a year past.
He asked if there were many Americans in Texas who were opposed to slavery, and if they were free to express themselves. I said that the wealthy Americans there were all slaveholders themselves; that their influence all went to encourage the use of slave-labour, and render labour by whites disreputable. "But are there not a good many northern men there ?" he asked. The northern men, I replied, were chiefly merchants or speculators, who had but one idea, which

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was to make money as fest as they could; and nearly all the little money there was in that country was in the hands of
the largest slaveholders. . If that was the way of things there, he said, there could not be mnch chance of its becoming a Free State. I thought he chances were against it, but if the Germans continued to flock into the country, it would rapidly acquire all the characteristic features of a free-labour community, including an abundance and variety of skilled labour, a home market for a variety of crops, denser settlements, and more numerous social, educational, and commercial. conveniences. There would soon be a large body of small proprietors, not so wealthy that the stimulus to personal and active industry would have been lost, but yet able to indulge in a good many luxuries, to found churches, schools, and railroads, and to attract thither tradesmen, mechanics, professional men, and artists. Moreover, the labourers who were not landholders would be intimately blended with them in all their interests; the two classes not living dissociated from each other, as was the case generally at the South, but engaged in a constant fulfilment of reciprocal obligations. I told him that if snch a character of society could once be firmly and extensively established before the country was partitioned out into these . little independent negro kingdoms, which had existed from the beginning in every other part of the South, I did not think any laws would be necessary to prevent slavery. It might be a slave State, but it would be a free people. On coming from my room in the morning, my host met me with a hearty grasp of the hand. " I have slept very little with thinking of what you told me about western Texas. I thi-nt I shall have to go there. If we could get rid of
slavery in this region, I believe we would soon be the most prosperous people in the world. What a disadvantage it

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must be to have your ground all frozen up, and to be obliged to fodder your cattle five months in the year, as you do at the North. I don't see how you live. I think I should like to
buy a small farm near some town where I could send my children to school--a farm that I could take care of with one or two hired men. One thing I wanted to ask you, are the Germans learning English at all ?" " Oh, yes; they teach the children English in their schools." " And have they good schools ?" " Wherever they have settled at all closely they have. At New Braunfels they employ American as well as German teachers, and instruction can be had in the classics, natural history, and the higher mathematics." "Upon my word, I think I must go there," he replied. (Since then, as I hear, an educationaljnstitution of a high character, has been established by German influence in San Antonio, teachers in which are from. Harvard.)
"When I left he mounted a horse and rode on with me some miles, saying he did not often find an intelligent man who liked to converse with him on the question of slavery. It seemed to him there was an epidemic insanity on the subject. It is unnecessary to state his views at length. They were precisely those which used to be common among all respect able men at the South.
As we rode an old negro met and greeted us warmly. My companion hereupon observed that he had never uttered his sentiments in the presence of a slave, but in some way all the slaves in the country had, he thought, been informed what they were, for they all looked to him as their special friend. "When they got into trouble, they would often come to hini for advice or assistance. This morning before I was up, a negro came to him from some miles distant, who had been working for a white man on Sundays till he owed him three dollars, which, now that the negro wanted it, he said he

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could not pay. He had given the negro the three dollars, for he thought he could manage to get it from the white man
He confirmed an impression I had begun to get of the pnrely dramatic character of what passed for religion with most of the slaves. One of his slaves was a preacher, and a favourite among them. He sometimes went to plantations twenty miles away--even farther--on a Sunday, to preach a funeral sermon, making journeys of fifty miles a day on foot. After the sermon, a hat would be passed round, and he some times brought home as much as ten dollars. He was a notable pedestrian; and once when he had committed some abominable crime for which he knew he would have to be punished, and had run away, he (Mr. Watson) rode after him almost immediately, often got in sight of him, but did not overtake him until the second day, when starting early in the morning he overhauled him crossing a broad, smooth field. "When the runaway parson saw that he could not escape, he jumped up into a tree and called out to him, with a cheerful voice, " I gin ye a good run dis time, didn't I, massa ?" He was the most rascally negro, the wcrst liar, thief, and adulterer on his place. Indeed, when he was preaching, he always made a strong point of his own sinfulness, and would weep and bellow about it like a bull of Bashan, till he got a whole camp meeting into convulsions.

The night after leaving Mr. Watson's I was kindly received by a tradesman, who took me, after closing his shop, to his mother's house, a log cabin, but more comfortable than many more pretentious residences at which I passed a night on this journey. For the first time in many months tea was offered me. It was coarse Bohea, sweetened with honey, which was stirred into the tea as it boiled in a kettle over the fire, by

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.the old lady herself, whose especial luxury it seemed to he. She asked me if folks ever drank tea at the North, and when I spoke of green tea said she had never heard of that kind of tea before. They owned a number of slaves, but the young man looked after my horse himself. There was a good assortment of books and newspapers at this house, and the people were quite intelligent and very amiable.
The next day, I passed a number of small Indian farms, very badly cultivated--the corn nearly concealed by weeds. The soil became poorer than before, and the cabins of poor people more frequent. I counted about ten plantations, or negro-cultivated farms, in twenty miles. A planter, at arhose house I called after sunset, said it was not convenient for him to accommodate me, and I was obliged to ride until it was quite dark. The next house at which I arrived was one of the commonest sort of cabins. I had passed twenty like it during the day, and I thought I would take the opportunity to get an interior knowledge of them. The fact that a horse and waggon were kept, and that a considerable area of land in the rear of the cabin was planted with cotton, showed that the family were by no means of the lowest class, yet, as they were not able even to hire a slave, they may be considered to represent very favourably, I believe, the condition of the poor whites of the plantation districts. The whites of the county, I observe, by the census, are three to one of the slaves; in the nearest adjoining county, the proportion is reversed; and within a few miles the soil was richer, and large plantations occurred.
It was raining, and nearly nine o'clock. The door of the cabin was open, and I rode up and conversed with the occu pant as he stood within. He said that he was not in the habit of taking in travellers, and his wife was about sick, but if I was a mind to put up with, common fare, be didn't care.

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Grateful, I dismounted and took the seat he had vacated by. the fire, while he led away my horse to an open shed in the rear--his own horse ranging at large, when not in use, during the summer.
The house was all comprised in a single room, twenty-eight by twenty-five feet in area, and open to the roof above. There was a large fireplace at one end and a door on each side--no windows at all. Two bedsteads, a spinning-wheel, a packing-case, which served as a bureau, a cupboard, made of rough hewn slabs, two or three deer-skin seated chairs, a Connecticut clock, and a large poster of Jayne's patent medi cines, constituted all the visible furniture, either useful or ornamental in purpose. A little girl, immediately, without having had any directions to do so, got a frying-pan and a chunk of bacon from the cupboard, and cutting slices from the latter, set it frying for my supper. The woman of the house sat sulkily in a chair tilted back and leaning against the logsj spirting occasionally at the fire, but took no notice of me, barely nodding when I saluted her. A baby lay crying on the floor. I quieted it and amused it with my watch till the little girl, having made " coffee" and put a piece of corn-bread on the table with the bacon, took charge of it. -
I hoped the woman was not very ill. " Grot the headache right bad," she answered. "Have the headache a heap, I do. Knew I should have it to-night. Been euttin' brush in the cotton this arternoon, Knew't would bring on my headache. Told him so when I begun." As soon as I had finished my supper and fed Jude, the little girl put the fragments and the dishes in the cupboard, shoved the table into a corner, and dragged a quantity of quilts from one of the bedsteads, which she spread upon the floor, and presently crawl&d among them out of sight for the night. The woman picked up the child--which, though still

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107

a suckling, she said was twenty-two months old--and rnlrsed it, retaking her old position. The man sat with me by the fire, his back towards her. The baby having fallen asleep was laid away somewhere, and the woman dragged off another lot of quilts from the beds, -spreading them upon the floor. Then taking a deep fin pan, she filled it with alternate layers of corn-cobs and hot embers from the fire. This she placed npon a large block, which was evidently used habitually for the purpose, in the centre of the cabin. A furious smoke arose from it, and we soon began to cough. " Most too much smoke," observed the man. " Hope 'twill drive out all the gnats, then," replied the woman. (There is a very minute flying insect here, the bite of which is excessively sharp.)
The woman suddenly dropped off her outer garment and stepped from the midst of its folds, in her petticoat ; then, taking the baby from the place where she had deposited it, lay down and covered herself with the quilts upon the floor. The man told me that I could take the bed which remained on one of the bedsteads, and kicking off his shoes only, rolled himself into a blanket by the side of his wife. I ventured to take off my cravat and stockings, as well as my boots, but almost immediately put my stockings on again, drawing their tops over my pantaloons'. The advantage of this arrange ment was that, although my lace, eyes, ears, neck, and hands, were immediately attacked, the vermin did not reach my legs for two or three hours. Just after the clock struck two, I distinctly heard the man and the woman, and the girl and the dog scratching, and the horse out in the shed stamping and gnawing himself. Soon afterward the man exclaimed, " Good God Almighty--mighty! mighty! mighty !" and jumping up pulled off one of his stockings, shook it, scratched his foot vehemently, put on the stocking, and lay down again with a groan. The two doors were open, and through

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the logs and the openings in the roof, I saw the clonds divide and the moon and stars reveal themselves. The woman, after having been nearly smothered by the smoke from the pan which she had originally placed close to her own pillow, rose and placed it on the sill of the -windward door, where it burned feebly and smoked lustily, like an altar to the Lares, all night. Fortunately the cabin was so open that it gave us little annoyance, while it seemed to answer the purpose of keeping all firing insects at a distance.
When, on rising in the morning, I said that I would like to wash my face, water was given me for the purpose in an earthen pie-dish. Just as breakfast, which was of exactly the same materials as my supper, was ready, rain began to fell, presently in such a smart shower as to put the fire out and compel us to more the table under the least leaky part of the roof.
At breakfast occurred the following conversation:-- "Are there many niggers in New York ?" " Very few."
" How do yon get your work done ?" " There are many Irish and German people constantly coming there who are glad to get work to do." " Oh, and you hare them for slaves ?" " They want money and are willing to work for it. A great many American-born work for wages, too." " What do you have to pay ?" " Ten or twelve dollars a month." " There was a heap of Irishmen to work on the railroad; they was paid a dollar a day; there was a good many Americans, too, but mostly they had little carts and mules, and hauled dirt and sich Eke. They was paid twenty-fire or thirty dollars a month and found." " What did they find them ?"

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109

" Oh, blanket and shoes, I expect; they put up kind o' tents like for 'em to sleep in altogether."
" What food did they find them ?" " Oh, common food; bacon and meaL" " What do they generally give the niggers on the planta tions here ?" " A peck of meal and three pound of bacon is what they call 'lowance, in general, I believe. It takes a heap o' meat on a big plantation. I was on one of William R. King's plantations over in Alabamy, where there was about fifty niggers, one Sunday last summer, and I see 'em weighin' outen the meat. Tell yon, it took a powerful heap on it. They had an old nigger to weigh it out, and he warn't no ways partickler about the weight. He just took and chopped it off, middlins, in chunks, and he'd throw them into the scales, and if a piece weighed a pound or two over he wouldn't mind it; he never took none back. Ain't r tjgera all-fired sassy at the North r " No, not particularly." " Ain't they all free, there ? I -team so." "Yes."
" Well, how do they get alor g when they's free ?" " I never have seen a greaf many, to know their circum stances very welL Eight abr at where I live they seem to me to live quite comfortably ; more so than the niggers on these big plantations do, I s1 juld think." . " Oh, they have a migl cy hard time on the big plan tations I 'd ruther be de .d than to be a nigger on one of these big plantations." " Why, I thought they were pretty well taken care of on them." The mtrn and his wife both looked at me as if surprised, and smiled.

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COTTOK AND SLAVERY.

" Why, they are well fed, are they not ?" " Oh, but they work 'em so hard. My God, sir, in pickin' time on these plantations they start 'em to work 'fore light, and they don't give 'em time to eat." " I supposed they generally gave them an hour or two at noon." " No, sir; they just carry a piece of bread and meat in their pockets and they eat it when they can, standin' up. They have a hard life on 't, that's a fact. I reckon you can get along about as well withouten slaves as with 'em, can't you, in New York ?" " In New York there is not nearly so large a proportion of very rich men as here. There are very few people who ferm over three hundred acres, and the greater number--nineteen out of twenty, I suppose--work themselves with the hands they employ. Yes, I think it's better than it is here, for all concerned, a great deal. Folks that can't afford to buy niggers get along ^ great deal better in the Free States, I tln'nV and I guess that those who could afford to have niggers get along better without them." " I no doubt that's so. I wish there wam't no niggers here. They are a great cuss to this country, I expect. But 'twonldn't do tcTfree 'em; that wouldn't do nohow!" " Are there many people here who think slavery a curse to the country?" " Oh, yes, a great many. I reckon the majority would be right glad if we could get rid of the niggers. But it wouldn't never do to free 'em and leave 'em here. I don't know anybody, hardly, in favour of that. Make 'em free and leave 'em here and they'd steal everything we made. Nobody couldn't live here then." These views of slavery seem to be universal among people of this class. They were repeated to me at least a dozen times.

THE INTERIOB COTTON DISTRICTS.

Ill

" Where I used to live [Alabama], I remember when I V was a boy--must ha' been abont twenty years ago--folks was dreadful frightened about the niggers. I remember they built pens in the woods where they could hide, and Christmas time they went and got into the pens, 'fraid the niggers was risin'."

"I remember the same time where we was in South Carolina," said his wife; " we had all our things put up in bags, so we could tote 'em, if we heerd they was comin' our way."
They did not suppose the niggers ever thought of rising now, but could give no better reason for not supposing so than that "everybody said there warn't no danger on 't now."
Hereabouts the plantations were generally small, ten to twenty negroes on each ; sometimes thirty or forty. Where he used to live they were big ones--forty or fifty, sometimes a hundred on each. He had lived here ten yedrs. I could not make out why he had not accumulated wealth, so small a family and such an inexpensive style of living as he had. He generally planted twenty to thirty acres, he said; this year he had sixteen in cotton and about ten, he thought, in corn. Decently cultivated, this planting should have produced him five hundred dollars' worth of cotton, besides supplying him with bread and bacon--his chief expense, apparently. I sug gested that this was a very large planting for his little iamily; he would need some help in picking time. He ought to have some now, he said; grass and bushes were all overgrowing bim ; he had to work just like a nigger; this durnation rain would just make the weeds jump, and he didn't expect he should have any cotton at all. There warn't much use in a man's trying to get along by himself ; every thing seemed to set in agin him. He'd been trying to hire somebody, but he couldn't, and his wife was a sickly kind of a woman.-

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wife reckoned lie might hire some help if he'd look round sharp.
My horse and dog were as well cared for as possible, and a " snack " of bacon and corn-bread was offered me for noon, which has been unusual in Mississippi. When I asked what I should pay, the man hesitated and said he reckoned what I had had, wasn't worth much of anything ; he was sorry he could not have accommodated me better. I offered him a dollar, for which he thanked me warmly. It is the first instance of hesitation in charging for a lodging which I have met with from a stranger at the South.

Northern Alabama, June 15th.--I have to-day reached a more distinctly hilly country--somewhat rocky and rugged, but with inviting dells. The soil is sandy and less frequently fertile; cotton-fields are seen only at long intervals, the crops on the small proportion of cultivated land being chiefly corn and oats. I notice also that white men are more com monly at work in the fields than negroes, and this as well in the cultivation of cotton as of corn.
The larger number of the dwellings are rude log huts, of only one room, and that unwholesomely crowded. I saw in and about one of them, not more than fifteen feet square, five grown persons, and as many children. Occasionally, how ever, the monotony of these huts is agreeably varied by neat, white, frame houses. At one such, I dined to-day, and was comfortably entertained. The owner held a number of slaves, but made no cotton. He owned a saw mill, was the post master of the neighbourhood, and had been in the Legis lature.
I asked him why the capital had been changed from Tuscalooea to Montgomery. He did not know. " Because Mont gomery is more central and easy of access, probably," I

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suggested. "Xo, I don't tbinV that had anything to do

with it." " Is Tuscaloosa an tmhealthy place ?" " No, sir ;

healthier than Montgomery, I reckon." ""Was it then

simply because the people of the southern districts were

stronger, and used their power to make the capital more con

venient of access to themselves ?" " Well, no, I don't think

that was it, exactly. The fact is, sir, the people here are not

like you northern people ; they don't reason out everything

so. They are fond of change, and they got tired of Tusca

loosa ; the Montgomery folks wanted it there and offered to

pay for moving it, so they let 'em have it ; 't was just for a

change." " If there really was no tetter reason, was it not

rather wasteful to give up all the public buildings at Tusca

loosa ?" " Oh, the Montgomery people wanted it so bad they

promised to pay for building a new State House ; so it did

not cost anything."

Qnite on a par with the economics of southern commercial

conventions.

I passed the night at the second framed house that I saw

during the day, stopping early in order to avail myself of its

promise of comfort. It was attractively situated on a hill

top, with a peach orchard near it. The proprietor owned a

dozen slaves, and " made cotton," he said, " with other crops."

He had some of his neighbours at tea and at breakfast;

sociable, kindly people, satisfied with themselves and their

circumstances, which I judged from their conversation had

been recently improving. One coming in, remarked that he

had discharged a white labourer whom he had employed for

some time past ; the others congratulated him on being

" shet " of him ; all seemed to have noticed him as a bad,

lazy man; he had often been seen lounging in the field,

rapping the negroes with his hoe if they didn't work to suit

him. " He was about the meanest white man I ever see,"

VOL. n.

i

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said a woman; " he was a heap meaner 'n niggers. I reckon niggers would come somewhere between white folks and such as he." " The first thing I tell a man," said another, " when I hire him, is, ' if there's any whippin' to he done on this place I want to do it myself.' If I saw a man rappin' my niggers with a hoe-handle, as I see him, domed if I wouldn't rap him--the lazy whelp."
One of the negroes complimented my horse. "Dar's a heap of genus in dat yar boss's head!" The proprietor looked after the feeding himself.
These people were extremely kind; inquiring with the sim plest good feeling about my domestic relations and the purpose of my journey. When I left, one of them walked a quarter of a mile to make sure that I went upon the right road. The charge for entertainment, though it was unusually good, was a quarter of a dollar less than I have paid before, which I mention, not as Mr. De Bow would suppose,* out of grati tude for the moderation, but as an indication of the habits of the people, showing, as it may, either closer calculation, or that the district grows its own supplies, and can furnish food cheaper than those in which attention is more exclusively given to cotton,,
June 17th.--The country continues hilly, and is well popu lated by farmers, living in log huts, while every mile or two, on the more level and fertile land, there is a larger farm, with ten or twenty negroes at work. A few whites are usually working near them, in the same field, generally ploughing while the negroes jioe.
About noon, my attention was attracted towards a person upon a ledge, a little above the road, who was throwing up earth and stone with a shovel. I stopped to see what the purpose of this work might be, and perceived that the shoveller
* Set De Bow's Review, for August, 1857 p. 117.

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115

was a woman, who, presently discovering me, stopped and called to others behind her, and immediately a stoat girl and two younger children, with a man, came to the edge and looked at me. The woman was bareheaded, and otherwise half-naked, as perhaps needed to be, for her work would hare been thought hard by our stoutest labourers, and it was the hottest weather of the summer, in the latitude of Charleston, and on a hill-side in the full face of the noon sun. I pushed mv horse up the hill until I reached them, when another man appeared, and in answer to my inquiries told ma that they were getting out iron ore. One was picking in a vein, having excavated a short adit; the other man picked looser ore exte rior to the vein. The women and children shovelled out the ore and piled it on kilns of timber, where they roasted it to make it crumble. It was then carted to a forge, and they were paid for it by the load. They were all clothed very meanly and scantily. The women worked, so far as I could see, as hard 63 the men. The children, too, even to the youngest--a boy of eight or ten--were carrying large lumps of ore, and heaving them into the kiln, and shovelling the finer into a screen to separate the earth from it.
Immediately after leaving them I found a good spot for nooning. I roped my horse out to graze, and spread my blanket in a deep shade, I noticed that the noise of their work had ceased, and about fifteen minutes afterwards, Jude suddenly barking, I saw one of the men peering at me through the trees, several rods distant. I called to him to come up. He approached rather slowly and timidly, examined the rope with which my horse was fastened, eyed me vigilantly, and at length asked if I was resting myself. I replied that I was; and he said that he did not know but I might be sick, and had come to see me. I thanked him, and offered him a seat upon my blanket, which he declined.
i2

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Presently he took up a newspaper that I had been reading, looked at it for a moment, then he told me he couldn't read. " Folks don't care mnch for edication round here; it would be better for 'em, I expect, if they did." He-, began then to question me closely about my circumstances--where I came from, whither I was going, etc.
When his curiosity was partially appeased he suddenly laughed in a silly manner, and said that the people he had been working with had watched me after I left them; they saw me ride up the hill and stop, ride on again, and finally take off my saddle, turn my horse loose and tote my saddle away, and they were much frightened, thieving I most be crazy at least. When he started to come toward me they told him he wouldn't dare to go to me, but he saw how it was, well enough--I was just resting myself.
" If I should run down hill now," said he, " they'd start right off and wouldn't stop for ten mile, reckoning you was ' arter me. That would be fun; oh, we hare some good fan here sometimes with these green folks. There's an amazin' ignorant set round here."
I asked if they were foreigners. ' Oh, no ? they are common, no account people; they used to lire over the hill, here; they come right nigh starvin' thar, I expect." They had not been able to get any work to do, and had been "powerful poor," until he .got them to come here. They had taken an old cabin, worked with him, and were doing right well now. He didn't let them work in the vein --he kept that for himself--but they worked all around, and some days they made a dollar and a half--the man, woman, and children together. They had one other girl, but she had to stay at home to take care of the baby and keep cattle and hogs out of their " gardien." He had known the woman

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when she was a girl; " she was always a good one to work. She'd got a voice like a bull, and she was as smart as a wild cat; bat the man warn't no account."
He had himself followed this business (mining) since he was a young man, and could earn three dollars a day by it if he tried; he had a large family and owned a small farm: never laid up anything, always kept himself a little in debt at the store.
He asked if I had not found the people " more friendly like " up in this country to what they were down below, and assured me that I would find them grow more friendly as I went farther North, so at least he had heard, and he knew where he first came from (Tennessee) the people were more friendly than they were here. " The richer a man is," he continued, pursuing a natural association of ideas, " and the more nig gers he's got, the poorer he seems to live. If yon want to fare well in this country you stop to poor folks' housen; they try to enjoy what they've got, while they ken, but these yer big planters they don' care for nothing but to save. Now, I never calculate to save anything; I tell my wife I work hard, and I mean to enjoy what I earn as fast as it comes."
Sometimes he " took up bee-huntin' for a spell," and made money by collecting wild honey! He described his manner of finding the hives and securing the honey, and, with a hushed voice, told me a " secret," which was, that if you carried three leaves, each of a different tree (?) in your hand, there was never a bee would dare to sting you.
I asked about his children. He had one grown-up son, who was doing very well; he was hired by the gentleman who owned the forge, to cart ore. He had nothing to do but to drive a team; he didn't have to load, and he had a nigger to take care of the horses when his day's teaming was done.
His wages were seven dollars a month, and board for him-

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self and wife. They ate at the same table with the gentleman, and had good living, beside having something out of the store, "tobacco and so on--tobacco for both on 'em, and two people uses a good deal of tobacco yon know; so that's pretty good wages--seven dollars a month besides their keep and tobacco." Irishmen, he informed me, had been employed occasionally at the forge. " They do well at first, only they is apt to get into fights all the time; bnt after they've been here a year or two, they get to feel so independent and keerless-Kke, you can't get along with 'em." He remained abont half an hour, and not till he returned did I hear again the noise of picking and shovelling, and cutting timber.
At the forges, I was told, slave labour is mainly employed-- the slaves being owned by the proprietors of the forges.
I spent that night at a large inn in a village. In the morning as I sat waiting in my room, a boy opened the door. Without looking up I asked, " Well ?"
" I didn't say nutLin', sar," with a great grin. "What are you waiting there for?" "Please, massa, I bleve you's owin' me suthin', sar." " Owing you something? .What do you mean ?" " For drying yer clothes for yer, sar, last night" I had ordered him immediately after tea to go up stairs and get my clothes* which had been drenched in a shower, and hang them by the kitchen fire, that they might be dry if I should wish to leave early in the morning. When I went to my bedroom at nine o'clock I found the clothes where I had left them. I went down and reported it to the landlord, who directly sent the boy for them. In the morning, when I got them again: I found they were not dry except where they were burned. I told Tn'm to be gone; but with the door half open, he stood putting in his head, bowing and grinning. " Please, sar, massa sent me out of an errand, and I was afeard you would be gone before I got back; dat'a

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the reason why I mention it, ear; dat's all, sar; I hope you 11
skuse me, sar." During the afternoon I rode on through a valley, narrow
and apparently fertile, bat the crops indifferent. The general social characteristics were the same that I met with yester
day. At night I stopped at a large house having an unusual
number of negro cabins and stables about it. The proprietor, a hearty old fanner, boasted much of his pack of hounds, saying they had pulled down five deer before he had had a shot at them. He was much interested to hear about Texas, the Indians and the game. He reckoned there was " a heap of big varmint out thar."
His crop of cotton did not average two hales to the hand, and corn not twenty bushels to the acre.
He amused me much with a humorous account of an oyster supper to which he had been invited in town, and his attempts to eat the "nasty things " without appearing disconcerted before the ladies.
An ojd negro took my horse when I arrived, and half an hour afterward, came to me and asked if I wanted to see him fed. As we walked toward the stables, he told me that he always took care not to forget gentlemen's hosses, and to treat them well; "then," he said, bowing and with emphasis, " they looks out and don't forget to treat me well."
The same negro was called to serve me as a candlestick" at bedtime. He held_the candle till I got into bed. As he re tired I closed my eyes, but directly afterward, perceiving the light return, I opened them. Uncle Abram was bending over me, holding the candle, grinning with his toothless gams, winking and shaking his head in a most mysterious manner.
" Hush! massa," he whispered. " Ton hain't got some thing to driuk, hi dem saddle-bags, has you, sar ?"

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The farmer told me something about " nigger dogs;" they didn't use foxhounds, but bloodhounds--not pure, he thought, bat a cross of the Spanish bloodhound with the common hounds, or curs. There were many men, he said, in the country below here, who made a business of nigger-hunting, and thqy had their horses trained, as well as the dogs, to go over any common fence, or if they couldn't leap it, to break it down. Dogs were trained, when pups, to follow a nigger-- not allowed to catch one, however, unless they were quite young, so that they couldn't hurt him much, and they were _ always taught to hate a negro, never being permitted to see one except to be put in chase of him. He believed that only two of a pack were kept kenneled all the time--these were old, keen ones, who led the rest when they were out; they were always kept coupled together with a chain, except when trail ing. He had seen a pack of thirteen who would follow a trail two days and a half old, if rain had not fallen in the mean time. "When it rained immediately after a negro got off, they had to scour the country where they supposed he might be, tfll they scented him.
When hard pushed, a negro always took to a tree ; some times, however, they would catch him in an open field. When this was the case the hunter called off the dogs as soon as he could, unless the negro fought --" that generally makes 'em mad (the hunters), and they'll let 'em tear him a spell. The owners don't mind having them kind o' niggers tore a good deal; runaways ain't much account nohow, and it makes the rest more afraid to ran away, when they see how they are sarved." If they caught the runaway within two or three days, they got from 8 10 to 820; if it took a longer time, they were paid more than that; sometimes $ 200. They asked their own price; if an owner should think it exorbitant, he supposed, he said in reply to an inquiry, they'd turn the

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nigger loose, order him to make off, and tell his master to catch his own niggers.

Sunday.--I rode on, during the cool of the morning, about eight milea, and stopped for the day, at a house pleasantly situated by a small stream, among wooded hills. During the forenoon, seven men and three women, with~ their children, gathered at the house. All of them, I concluded, were nonslaveholders, as was our host himself; though, as one told me, "with his five boys he makes a "heap more crop than Mrs.----, who's got forty niggers." "How is that?" "Well, she's a woman, and she can't make the niggers work; she won't have a overseer, and niggers won't work, yon know, unless there's somebody to drive 'em."
Our host, when I arrived, had just been pulling weeds out of his potato patch, which he mentioned as an apology for not being a little clean, like the rest
Beside the company I have mentioned, and the large family of the house, there was another traveller and myself to dinner, and three bountiful tables were spread, one after another.
The traveller was said to be a Methodist preacher, but gave no indication of it, except that he said grace before meat, and used the Hebrew word for Sunday. He was, however, a man of superior intelligence to the others, who were ignorant and stupid, though friendly and communicative. He asked me " what a good nigger man could be bought for in New York;" he didn't seem surprised, or make any further inquiry, when I told him we had no slaves there. Some asked me much about crops, and when I told them that my crops of wheat for six years had averaged twenty-eight bushels, and that I had once reaped forty from a single acre, they were am*zed beyond expression, and anxious to know how I " put

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it in." I described the process minutely, which astonished them still more; and one man said he had often thought they might get more -wheat if they put it in differently; he had thought that perhaps more -wheat would grow if more seed were sown, but be -never tried it. The general practice, they told me, was to sow wheat on ground from which they had taken maize, without remo-ving the maize stumps, or ploughing it at all; they sowed three pecks of wheat to the acre, and then ploughed it in--that was all. They used the cradle, but had never heard of reaping machines; the crop was from five to ten bushels an acre; ten bushels was extraordinary, six was not thought bad. Of cotton, the ordinary crop was five hundred pounds to the acre, or from one to two bales to a hand. Of maize, usually from ten to twenty bushels to the acre; hist year not over ten ; this year they thought it would be twenty-five on the best land.
The general admiration of Jude brought tip the topic- of negro dogs again, and the clergyman told a story of a man who hunted niggers near where he lived. He was out once with another man, when after a long search, they found tho dogs barking up a big cottonwood tree. They examined the tree closely without finding any negro, and concluded that the dogs must have been foiled, and they were about to go away, when Mr.----, from some distance off, thought he saw a negro's leg very high up in the tree, where the leaves and moss were thick enough to hide a man lying on the top of limb with his feet against the trunk. He called out, as if be really saw a man, telling him to come down, but nothing stirred. He sent for an axe, and called out again, saying he would cut the tree to the ground if he didn't come down. Thf-r^ was no reply. He then cut half through the tree on onr rid*-, and was IcginniDg on iLo otLcr, when the negro halloed out that if he would stop he would come down. He

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stopped cutting, and the negro descended to the lowest limb, which was still far from the ground, and asked the hunter to take away his dogs, and promise they shouldn't tear him. But the hunter swore he'd make no conditions with him after having been made to cut the tree almost down.
The negro said no more, but retained his position until the tree was nearly cut in two. When it began to totter, he slid down the trunk, the dogs springing upon him as soon as he was within their reach. He fought them hard, and got hold of one by the ear; that made them fiercer, and they tore him till the hunter was afraid they'd kill him, and stopped them.
"Are dogs allowed to tear the negroes when they catch them ? " When the hunters come up they always call them off, unless the nigger fights. If the nigger fights 'em that makes 'em mad, and they let 'em tear him good," said the clergyman. There were two or three young women present, and the young men were sparking with them in the house, sitting on the beds for want of sofas, the chairs being all in use outside ; the rest of the company sat on the gallery most of the time, but there was little conversation. It was twice remarked to me, " Sunday's a dull day--nothing to do." As the Methodist and I were reading after dinner, I noticed that two or three were persuading the others to go with them somewhere, and I asked where they purposed to go. They said they wanted to go over the mountain to hunt a bull. "To shoot him T " Oh, no, it's a working bull; they got his mate yesterday. There ain't but one pair of cattle hi this neighbourhood, and they do all the hauling for nine families." They belonged, together with their waggon, to one mnn, and the rest borrowed of him. They wanted them this week to cart in their oats. The stray bull was driven in toward nigbt, yoked with an other to a waggon, and one of the women, with her family, got

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into the waggon and was carried home. The bul!*- were fractious and had to be led by cna min, while another urged them forward with a cudgel.
Last night by the way a neighbour came into the house of Uncle Abram's master, and in the course of conversation about crops, said that on Sunday he went over to John Brown's to get him to come out and help him at his harvesting. He found four others there for the same purpose, but Jolin said he didn't feel well, and he reckoned he couldn't work. He offered him a dollar and a half a day to cradle for him; but when he tried to persuade him, John spoke out plainly and said, " he'd be d--d if he was going to work anyhow;" so he said to the others, " Come, boys, we may as well go; you can't make a lazy man work when he's determined he won't." He supposed that remark made him mad, for on Thursday John came running across his cotton patch, where he was plough ing. He didn't speak a word to him, but cut along over to his neighbour's house, and told him that he had shot two deer, and wanted his hounds to catch 'em, promising to give him half the venison if he succeeded. He did catch one of them, and kept his promise.
This man Brown, they told me, had a large family, and lived in a little cabin on the mountain. He pretended to plant a corn patch, but he never worked it, and didn't make any com. They reckoned he lived pretty much on what corn and hogs he could steal, and on game. The children were described as pitiably, " scrawny," half-starved little wretches. Last summer his wife had come to one of them, saying they had no corn, and she wanted to pick cotton to earn some. He had let her go in. with the niggers and pick She kept at it for two days, and took her pay in corn. Afterward he saw her little boy " toting " it to the mill to be ground--much too heavy a load for him.

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I asked if there were many such vagabonds. " Yes, a great many on the mountain, and they make a heap of trouble. There is a law by which they might be taken np [if it could be proved that they have no ' visible means of support'] and made to work to support their families; but the law is never used." Speaking of another rnn-n> one said: " Hell be here to breakfast, at your house to dinner, and at Dr. ----'s to supper, leaving his family to live as best they can." They " reckoned " he got most of his living in that way, while hia family had to get theirs by stealing. He never did any work except hunting, and they "reckoned" he killed about as many shoats and yearlings as deer and turkeys. They said that this sort of people were not often in temperate ; they had no money to buy liquor with; now and then, when they'd sold some game or done a little work to raise money, they'd have a spree; but they were more apt to gamble it off or spend it for fine clothes and things to trick out their wives.

June -- . To-day, I am passing through a valley of thin, sandy soil, thickly populated by poor farmers. Negroes are rare, but occasionally neat, new houses, with other im provements, show the increa'ring prosperity of the district. _ The majority of dwellings are small log cabins of one room, with another separate cabin for a kitchen; each house has a well, and a garden inclosed with palings. Cows, goats, mules and swine, fowls and doves are abundant The people are more social than those of the lower country, falling readily into friendly conversation with a traveller. They are very ignorant; the agriculture is wretched and the work hard. I have seen three white women hoeing field crops to-day. A spinning-wheel is heard in every house, and frequently a loon)

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is clanging in the gallery, always worked by women ; every one wears homespun. The negroes have much more individual freedom than in the rich cotton country, and are not unfrequently heard singing or whistling at their work.

Tennessee, June 2Mh.--At nightfall I entered a broader and more populous valley than I had seen before during the day, but for some tune there were only small single room log cabins, at which I was loath to apply for lodging. At length I reached a large and substantial log house with negro cabins. The master aat in the stoop. Tasked if hecould accommodate me.
" "What do you want ?" " Something to eat for myself and horse, and room to sleep under your roof." " The wust on't is," he said, getting up and coming toward me, " we haven't got much for your horse." " You've got corn, I suppose." " No, hain't got no corn but a little that we want for our selves, only just enough to bread us till corn comes again." " Well, you have oats ?" "Hain't got an oat." " Haven't you hay T Xo."
" Then I must go further, for my horse can't travel on fodder."
" Hain't got nary fodder nuther." Fortunately I did not have to go much further before I came to the best house I had_seen during the day, a large, noat, white house, with negro shanties, and an open log cabin in the front yard. A stout, elderly, fine-looking woman, in a cool white muslin dress sat upon the gallery, fanning herself Two little negroes had just brought a pail of fresh water, and she was drinking of it with a gourd, as I came to

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the gate. I asked if it would be convenient for her to accommodate me for the night, doubting!}', for I had learned to distrust the accommodations of the wealthy slaveholders.
u Oh yes, get down; fasten your horse there, and the niggers will take care of hrm when they come from their work. Come up here and take a seat."
I brought in my saddle-bags. "Bring them in here, into the parlour," she said, "where they'll be safe." The interior of the house was furnished with unusual comfort. " The parlour," however, had a bed hi it. As we came out, she locked the door. We had not sat long, talking about the weather (she -was suffering much from the heat), when her husband came. He was very hot also, though dressed coolly enough in merely a pair of short-legged, unbleached cotton trousers, and a shirt with the bosom spread open--no shoos nor stockings. He took his seat before speaking to me, and after telling his wife it was the hottest day he ever saw,' squared his chair toward toe, threw it back so as to recline against & post, and said gruffly, " Good evening, sir; you going to stay here to-night ?" I replied, and he looked at me a few moments without speaking. He was, in faet, so hot that he spoke with difficulty. At length he got breath and asked abruptly: "Yon a mechanic, sir, or a dentist, eh--or what ?"
Supper was cooked by two young women, daughters of the master of the house, assisted by the two little negro boys. The cabin in front of the house was the kitchen, and when the bacon was dished up, one of the boys struck an iron triangle at the door. " Come to supper," said the host, and led the way to the kitchen, which was also the supper-room. One of the young ladies took the foot of the table, the other seated herself apart by the fire, and actually waited on the

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table, though the two negro boys stood at the head and foot, nominally waiters, but always anticipated by the Cinderella, when anything was wanted.
A big lout of a youth who came from the field with the negroes, looked in, but seeing me, retired. His father called, but his mother said, " 't wouldn't do no good--he was so bashful."
Speaking of the climate of the country, I was informed that a majority of the folks went barefoot all winter, though they had snow much of the time four or five inches deep, and the man said he didn't think most of the men about here had more than one coat, and they never wore any in winter except on holidays. " That was the healthiest way," he reckoned, "just to toughen yourself and not wear no coat; no matter how cold it was, he didn't wear no coat."
The master held a candle for me while I undressed, in a large room above stairs; and gave me my choice of the four beds in it. I found one straw bed (with, as usual, but one sheet), on which I slept comfortably. At midnight I was awakened by some one coming in. I rustled my straw, and a voice said, " Who is there in tfiia room ?"
" A stranger passing the night; who are you ?" " All right; I belong here. I've been away and have just come home." He did not take his clothes off to sleep. He turned out to be an older son who had been fifty miles away, looking after a stray horse. "When I went down stairs in the morning, having been wakened early by flies, and the dawn of day through an open window, I saw the master lying on his bed in the " parlour," still asleep in the clothes he wore at supper. TTia -wife was washing her face on the gallery, being already dressed for the day; after using the family towel, she went into ihe kitchen, but soon returned, smoking a pipe, to her chair in the doorway.

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\et everything betokened an opulent and prosperous man --rich land, extensive field crops, a number of negroes, and considerable herds of cattle and horses. He also had capital invested in mines and railroads, he told me. TTia elder son -spoke of him as " the squire."
A negro woman assisted in preparing breakfast (she had probably been employed in the field labour the night before), and both the young ladies were at the table. The squire ob served to me that he supposed we could buy hands very cheap in New York. I said we could hire them there at moderate
wages. He asked if we couldn't buy as many as we wanted, by sending to Ireland for them and paying their passage. He had supposed we could buy them and hold them as slaves for a term of years, by paying the freight on them. "When I had corrected him, he said, a little hesitatingly, " You don't have no black slaves in New York ?" " No, sir." " There's niggers there, ain't there, only they're all free T " Yes, sir." " Well, how do they get along so ?" " So iar as I know, the most of them live pretty comfortably." (I have changed my standard of comfort lately, and am inclined to believe that the majority of the negroes at the North live more comfortably than the majority of whites at the South.) " I wouldn't like that," said the old lady. "I wouldn't like to lire where niggers was free, they are bad enough when they are slaves: it's hard enough to get along with them here, they're so bad. I reckon that niggeis are the meanest critters on earth; they are so mean and nasty " (she expressed disgust and indigna tion very strongly in her face). " If they was to think them selves equal to we, I don't think white folks could abide it-- they're snch vile sancy things." A negro woman and two boys were in the room as she said this.

North Carolina, July 12th.--I rode late last night, there

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being no cabins for several miles in which I was willing to spend the night, until I came to one of larger size than usual, with a gallery on the side toward the road and a good stable opposite it, A man on the gallery was about to answer (as I judged from his countenatice), "I reckon you can," to
my inquiry if I could stay, when the cracked voice of a worryM woman screeched out from within, " We don't foller taMn' in people."
" So, sir," said the man, " we don't foller it." " How fer shall I have to go T " There's another house a little better than three quarters of a mfle further on." To this house I proceeded--a cabin of one room and a loft, with a kitchen in a separate cabin. The owner said he never turned anybody away, and I was welcome. He did not say that he had no corn, until after supper, when I asked for it to feed my horse. The iamily were good-natured, intelligent people, but very ignorant. The man and his wife and tie daughters slept below, the boy and I in the cock-loft. Supper and breakfast were eaten in the detached kitchen. Yet they were by no means poor people. The man told me that he had over a thousand acres of rich tillable land, besides a large extent- of mountain range, the most of which latter he had bought from time to time as he was able, to prevent the settlement of squatters near his valley-land. " There were people who would be bad neighbours, I knew," he said, " that would settle on most any kind of place, and everybody wants to keep such as far away from them as they can." (When I took my bridle off, I hung it up by the stable-door; he took ic down and said he'd hang it in a safer place. " He'd never Lad anything stolen from here, and he didn't mean to havp-- it wa? just as well not to put temptation tafore peoj.-lc," rJid hs took it into the house and put it under his bed.)

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Besides this large tract of land here, he owned another tract of two hundred acres -with a house upon it, rented for one-third the produce, and another smaller farm, similarly rented; he also owned a grist mill, which he rented to a miller for half the tolls. He told me that ho had thought a good deal formerly of moving to new countries, but he had been doing pretty well and had stayed here now so long, he didn't much think he should ever budge. He reckoned he'd got enough to make him a living for the rest of his life, and he didn't know any use a man had for more'n that.
I did not see a single look in the house, nor do I think that any of the family could read. He said that many people here were talking about Iowa and Indiana; "was Iowa (Hiaway) beyond the Teries ?" I opened my map to show him where it was, but he said he " wasn't scollar'd enough'' to understand it, and I could not induce him to look at it. I asked him if the people here preferred Iowa and Tndmnfl to Missouri at all because they were Free States. " I reckon," he replied, " they don't have no allusion to that. Slavery is a great cuss, though, I think, the greatest there is in these United States. There ain't no account of slaves up here in the west, but down in the east part of this State about Fayerteville there's as many as there is in South Carolina. That's the reason the West and the East don't agree in this State ; people out here hates the Eastern people."
" Why is that ?" " Why you see they vote on the slave basis, and there's some of them nigger counties where there ain't more'n four or five hundred white folks, that has just as much power in the Legislature as any of our mountain counties where there'll be some thousand voters." He made further remarks against slavery and against slave holders. When I told hi") that I entirely agreed with him,
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and said farther, that poor white people were usually far Letter off in the Free than in the Slave States, he seemed a little surprised and said, " New York ain't a Free State, is it f
labourers' wages here, he stated, were from fifty cents to one dollar a day, or eight dollars a month. " How much by the year ?" " They's never hired by the year."
" Would it be g 75 a year?" . "Twouldn't be over that, anyhow, but 'tain't general for people to hire here only for harvest time ; fact is, a man couldn't earn his board, let alone his wages, for sis. months in the year." "But what do these men who hire out during harvest time do during the rest of the year; do they have to earn enough in those two or three months to live on for the other eight or

" "Well, they gets jobs sometimes, and they goes from one place to another."
"But in winter time, when you say there's not work enough to pay their board T
" Well, they keeps a goin' round from one place to another, and gets their living somehow."
" The feet on't is," he said at length, as I pressed the inquiry, " there ain't anybody that ever means to work any in this country, except just along in harvest--folks don't keep working here as they do in your country, I expect."
" But they must put in their crops ?" " Yes, folks that have farms of their own, they do put m their craps and tend 'em, but these fellows that don't have farms, they won't work except in harvest, when they can get high wages [ g 8 a month]. I hired a fellow last spring for six months ; I wanted him to help me plant and tend my com. Yon see I had a short crap last year, and this spring I had to pay fifty cents a bushel for corn for bread, and I didn't

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want to get caught so again, not this year, so I gin this fellow g 6 a month for six months-- g 36 I gin him in hard silver."
" Paid it to him in advance ?" "Yes, he wouldn't come 'less I'd pay him right then. Well, he worked one month, and maybe eight days--no, I don't fhinlr it was more than six days over a month, and then
he went away, and I hain't seen a sight on him since. I expect I shall lose my money--reckon he don't ever intend to come back; he knows I'm right in harvest, and want him now, if ever I do."
" What did he go away for ?" " Why, he said he was sick, but if he was, he got well mighty easy after he stopped working." " Do you know where he is now ?" " Oh, yes, he's going round here."
"What is he doing?"
" Well, he's just goin' round." " Is he at work for any one else 7" " Beckon not--no, he's just goin' round from one place to
another." . At supper and breakfast surprise was expressed that I declined coffee, and more still that I drank water instead of milt. The woman observed, "'twas cheap boarding me." The man said he must get home a couple more cows; they ought to drink milV more, coffee was so high now, and he believed millr would be just as healthy. The woman asked the price of coffee in New York; I could not tell her, but said I believed it was uncommonly high; the crops had been short She asked how coffee grew. I told her as well as I was able, but concluded by saying I had never seen it grow ing. "Don't you raise coffee in New York?" she asked; " I thought that was where it came from."
The butter was excellent. I said so, and asked if they

134

COTTON AOT> SLAVERY.

never made any for sala The woman said she could make " as good butter as any ever was made in the yarth, but she couldn't get anything for it; there warn't many of the mer chants would buy it, and those that did, would only take it at eight cents a pound for goods." The man paid the only thing he could ever sell for ready money was cattle. Drovers bought them for the Xew York market, and lately they were very high--four cents a pound. He had driven cattle all the way to Charleston himself, to sell them, and only got four cents a pound there. He had sold corn here for twelve and a half cents a bushel.
Although the man could not read, he had honoured letters by calling one of his children " Washington Irving;" another was known as Matterson (Madison ?). He had never tried manuring land for crops, bnt said, " I do believe it is a good plan, and if I live I mean to try it sometime."

July 16$.--I stopped last night at the pleasantest house 1 have yet seen in the highlands; a framed house, painted white, with a log kitchen attached. The owner was a man of superior standing. I judged from the public documents and law books on his table, that he had either been in the Legislature of the State, or that he was a justice of the peace. There were also a good many other books and newspapers, chiefly of a religions character. He used, however, some singularly uncouth phrases common here. He had a store, and carried on farming and stock raising. After a conversa tion about his agriculture, I remarked that there were but few slaves in this part of the country. He wished that there were fewer. They were not profitable property here, I pre sumed. They were not, he said, except to raise for sale; but there were a good many people here who would not 1 ave them if they wero profitable, and yet who were abundantly

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135

able to buy them. They were horrid things, he thought; he would not take ono to keep it if it should be given to him. 'Twould be a great deal better for the country, he believed, if there was not a slave in it. He supposed it would not be right to take them away from those who had acquired pro perty in them, without any remuneration, but he wished they could all be sent out of the country--sent to Liberia. That was what ought to be done with them. I said it waa evident that where there were no slaves, other things being equal, there was greater prosperity than where slavery supplied the labour. He didn't care so much for that, he said; there waa a greater objection to slavery than that, in his mind. He was afraid that there was many a man who had gone to the bad world, who wouldn't have gone there if he hadn't had any slaves. He had been down in the nigger counties a good deal, and he had seen how it worked on the white people. It made the rich people, who owned the niggers, passionate and proud, and ugly, and it made the poor people mean. " People that own niggers are always mad with them about something; half their time is spent in swearing and yelling at them."
"I see you have 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' here," said I; " have you read it ?"
"Oh, yes." "And what do you think of it ?" " Think of it ? I think well of it." " Do most of the people here in the mountains think as you do about slavery ?" " Well, there's some thinks one way and some another, but there's hardly any one here that don't think slavery's a curse to our country, or who wouldn't be glad to get rid of it." I asked what tle people about here thought of the Nebraaka Bill. He cou'.dn t suy what the majority thought.

136

COTTOS HD SLAVERY.

"Would people moving firom here to Nebraska now, be likely to vote for the admission of slavery there ? He thonght not ; " most people would much rather live in a Free State." He told me that he knew personally several persons who had gone to California, and taken slaves with them, who had not been able to bring them lack. f There were one or two cases where the negroes had been induced to return, and these instances had been made much of in the papers, as evidence that the slaves were contented.
" That's a great lie," he said ; " they are not content, and nine-tenths of 'em would do 'most anything to be free. Its only now and then that slaves, who are treated unusual kind, and made a great deal of, will choose to remain in slavery if freedom is put in their way." He knew one man (giving his name) who tried to bring two slaves back from California, and had got started with them, when some white people sus pecting it, went on board the ship and told him it was against the law to hold negroes as slaves in California, and his ne groes shouldn't go back with him unless they were willing to. Then they went to the slaves and told them they need not return if they preferred to stay, and the slaves said they had wanted very much to go back to North Carolina, yet they would rather remain in California, if they could be free, and so they took them ashore. He had heard the slave owner himself relating this, and cursing the men who interfered. He had told him that they did no more than Christians were obliged to do.
I overtook upon the road, to-day, three young men of the poorest class. Speaking of the price of land and the profit of farming, one of them said, believing me to be a southerner--
" We are all poor folks here; don't hardly make enough to keep ns in liquor. Anybody can raise as much com and hogs on the mountains as he'll want to live on, but there ain't DO

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THE HIGHLANDERS.

luV

rich people here. Nobody's got any black ones--only three or four; no one's got fifty or a hundred, like as they have down in the East." "It would be better," interrupted another, somewhat fiercely, " there warn't any at all; that's my mind about it; they're no business here ; they ought to be in their own country and take care of themselves, that's what I believe, and I don't care who hears it.'' But let the reader not be deceived by these expressions; they indicate simply the weakness arid cowardice of the class represented by these men. It is not slavery they detest; it is simply the negro competition, and the monopoly of the opportunities to make money by negro owners, which they feel and but dimly comprehend.

If you meet a man without stopping, the salutation here always is, " How d'ye do, sir ?" never " Good morning;" and on parting it is, " I wish you well, sir," more frequently than " Good-bye." You are always commanded to appear at the table, as elsewhere throughout the South, in a rough, peremptory tone, as if your host feared you would try to excuse yourself.
" Come in to supper." "Take a seat." " Some of the fry ?" " Help yourself to anything you see that you can eat."
They ask your name, but do not often call you by it, but hail you " Stranger," or " Friend."
Texas is always spoken of in the plural--" the Texies." "Bean't the Texiea powerful sickly?"
" HI" is used for " vicious." '' Is your horse ill ?" " Not that I am aware of. Does he appear so ?" " No; but eome horses will bite a stranger if he goes to handling on 'em."
" Is your horse ill ?" " No, I believe not." " I see he kind o' drapt his ears when I came up, 'zif he was playful."
Everybody Fvo met in the last three counties--after ascer-

138

COTTON AXD SLAVEBT.

tailing what parts I came from, and which parts I'm going to, where I rot my horse, what he cost, and of what breed he is, what breed the dag is, and whethor slie's followed me all the way from the Texies, if her feet ain't worn out, and if I don't think I'll have to tote her if I go much farther, and if I don't want to give her away, how I like the Texies, etc.--has asked me whether I didn't see a man by the name of Baker in the Texies, who was sheriff of ------'-- county, and didn't behave exactly the gentleman, or another fellow by the name of --------, who ran away from the same county, and cut to the Teries. Fve been aked if they had done fighting yet in the Texies, referring to the war with Mexico, which was ended ten years ago. Indeed the ignorance with regard to everything transpiring in the world outside, and the absurd ideas and reports I hear, are quite incredible. It cannot be sup posed that having been at home in 3few York, there should be any one there whom I do not personally know, or that, having passed throngh Texas, I should he unable to speak from per sonal knowledge of the welfare of every one in that State

North-eastern Tennessee, ----.--Xight before last I spent at the residence of a man who had six slaves ; last night, at the home of a farmer without slaves. Both houses were of the best class common in this region ; two-story framed buildings, large, and with many beds, to accommodate drovers and waggoners, who, at some seasons, fill the houses which are known to be prepared with stalling, corn, and beds for them. The slaveholder was much the wealthier of the two, and his house originally was the finer, but he lived in much less comfort than the other. His house was in great need of repair, and was much disordered ; it was dirty, and the bed given me to sleep in was disgusting. He and Iris wife made the signs of pious people, but were very morose

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THE HIGHLANDEBS.

139

or sadly silent, when not scolding and re-ordering their servants. Their son, a boy of twelve, was alternately crying and bullying his mother all the evening till bed-time, because his father had refused to give him something that he wanted. He slept in the same room with me, but did not come to bed until after I had once been asleep, and then he brought another boy to sleep with him. He left the candle burning on the floor, and when, in five minutes after he had got into bed, a girl came after it, he cursed her with a shocking volu bility of filthy blackguardism, demanding why she had not come sooner. She replied gently and entreatingly, " I didn't think you 'd have more 'n got into bed yet, master John." The boys were talking and whispering obscenity till I fell asleep again. The white women of the house were very negligent and sluttish in their attire; the food at the table badly cooked, and badly served by negroes.
The house of the farmer without slaves, though not in good repair, was much neater, and everything within was well-ordered and unusually comfortable. The women and girls were clean and neatly dressed; every one was cheerful and kind. There was no servant. The table was abundantly supplied with the most wholesome food--I might almost say the first wholesome food--I have had set before me since I was at the hotel at Natchez; loaf bread for the first time ; chickens, stewed instead of fried; potatoes without fat; two sorts of simple preserved fruit, and whortleberry and black berry tarts. (The first time I have had any of these articles at a private house since I was in Western Texas.) All the work, both within and without the house, was carried on regularly and easily, and it was well done, because done by parties interested in the result, not by sen-ants interested only to escape reproof or punishment
Doubtless two extreme cases were thus brought together,

140

COTTOS AND SLAVERY.

but simflar, if less striking, contrasts are found the general

role, according to my experience. It is a common saying

with the drovers and waggoners of this country, that if you

wish to he well taken care of, yon must not stop at honses

where they have slaves.



The man of the last described house was intelligent and an

ardent Methodist. The room in which I slept was papered

with the " Christian Advocate and Journal," the Methodist

paper of New York.* At the slaveholder's house, my bed

room was partially papered with " Lottery Schemes."

The free labouring farmer remarked, that, although there

were few slaves in this part of the country, he had often

said to his wife that he would rather be living where there

were none. He thought slavery wrong in itself, and deplorable

in its effects upon the white people. Of all the Methodists

whom he knew in North-eastern Tennessee and South-western

"Virginia^ he believed that fully three fourths would Le glad

to join the Methodist Church North, if it were " convenient."

They generally thought slavery wrong, and believed it the

dnty of the church to favour measures to bring it to an eud.

He was not an Abolitionist, he said; he didn't think slaves

could be set free at once, but they ought to be sent back to

their own country, and while they were here they ought to

be educated. He had perceived that great injustice was done

by the people both of the North and South, towards each

other. At the South, people were very apt to believe that

* RELIGIOX ix VIRGINIA.--A mass meeting of citizens of Taylor county, Virginia, was held at Cooth=>vit!e recently, at which the following, among other resolutions, wns posseH unanimously:
"That the fire Cftristvm AJr^rt,-s. pvljlishwl in the cities of Xew York, Pitt^b'irj, Cincinnati, ?-t. Louix, and Chicago, having become Abolitiwi slwets rf the nuki-st character, we ask our it,ir>momvf>;tlth' attorneys and jost-masten to examine them, and, if found to be of an unlawful character, to deal with them and thr agents as the laws of oar State dire< t."-- fT-nMnyton Sepublic.

THE HIGHLANDERS.

141

the Northerners were wanting not only to deprive them of their property, but also to incite the slaves to barbarity and murder. At the North, people thought that the negroes were all very inhumanely treated. That was not the case, at least hereabouts, it wasn't. If I would go with him to a camp meeting here, or to one of the common Sunday meetings, I would see that the negroes were generally better dressed than the whites. He believed that they were always well fed, and they were not punished severely. They did not work hard, not nearly as hard as many of the white folks; they were fat and cheerful. I said that I had perceived this, and it was so generally, to a great degree", throughout the country; yet I was sure that on the large plantations it was necessary to treat the slaves with great severity. He " ex pected " it was so, for he had heard people say, who had been on the great rice and cotton plantations in South Carolina, that the negroes were treated very hard, and he knew there was a man down here on the railroad, a contractor, who had some sixty hands which_ he had hired in Old Virginny (" that's what we call Eastern Virginia here "), and everybody who saw them at work, said he drove them till they could hardly stand, and did not give them half what they ought to hare to eat. He was opposed to the Nebraska Bill, he said, and to any further extension of slavery, on any pretext; the North would not do its Christian duty if it allowed slavery to be extended; he wished that it could be abolished in Ten nessee. He thought that many of the people who went hence to Kansas-would vote to exclude slavery, but he wasn't sure that they would do it generally, because they would consider themselves Southerners, and would not like to go against other Southerners. A large part of the emigration from this part of the country went to Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa : those States bring j.referreJ to Missouri, because they

142

COTTON AND SLAVEEY.

were Free States. There were fewer slaves hereabouts now, than there were when he was a boy. The people all thought slavery wrong, except, he supposed, some slaveholders who, because they had property in slaves, would try to make out to themselves that it was right. He knew one rich man who had owned a great many slaves. He thought slavery was wrong, and he had a family of boys growing up, and he knew they wouldn't be good for anything as long as he brought them up with slaves; so he had told his slaves that if they wanetd to be free, he would free them, send them to Liberia, and give them a hundred dollars to start with, and they had all accepted the offer. He himself never owned a slave, and never would own one for his own benefit, if it were given to 'him, "first, because it was wrong; and secondly, because he didn't think they ever did a man much good."
I noticed that the neighbours of this man on each side owned slaves; and that their houses and establishments were much poorer than his.

VALLEY OF THK LOWER mSSISSITH.

143

CHAPTEB IY.
THE EXCEPTIOXAL LAEQE PLANTERS.
Feliciana.*--A deep notch of sadness marks in my me mory the morning of the May day on which I rode out of the chattering little town of Bayou Sara, and I recollect little of its immediate suburbs .but the sympathetic cloud-shadows slowly going before me over the hill of St Francis. At the top is an old French hamlet
One from among the gloomy, staring loungers at the door of the tavern, as I pass, throws himself upon a horse, and over taking me, checks his pace to keep by my side. I turn towards him, and being full of aversion for the companionship of a stranger, nod, in such a manner as to say, " Tour eqnaility is acknowledged; go on." Not a nod; not the slightest de flection of a single line in the austere countenance; not a ripple of radiance in the sullen eyes, which wander slowly over, and, at distinct intervals, examine my horse, my saddlehags, my spurs, lariat, gloves, finally my face, with such stem deliberation that, at last, I should not be sorry if he would speak. But he does not; does not make the smallest response to the further turning of my head, which acknow-
* " This latter received its beautiful and expressive name from its beautifully variegated surface of hills and valleys, and its rare combination of all the qualities that are most desired in a planting country. It is a region of almost fairy beanty and wealth. Here are some of the weiltliicst and most intelligent planters and the finest plantations in the Siate, the region of princely taste and more than patriarchaJ hospitality," etc.--XorinaiCs \nc Orleans.

144

COTTOX AND SLAVERY.

ledges the reflex interest in my own mind; bin eyes rest as fixedly upon me as if they were a dead man's. I can, at length, no longer endure this in silence, so I ask, in a voice attuned to his apparent humour--
" How fer to Woodvffle T The only reply is a slight grunt, with an deration of the

" You don't know?" . "No."
" Never been there." "No."
" I can ride there before night, I suppose ?" No reply.
"ood walker, your horse ?" Not a nod. " I thought mine pretty good." Not a sneer, or a gleam of vanity, and Belsha7zar and I wanned up together. Scott's man of leather occurred to my mind, and I felt sure that I could guess my man's chord. Cotton! I touched it, and in a moment he became animated, civil; hospitable even. I was immediately informed that this was a famous cotton region: " when it was first settled np by 'Mericana, used to be reckoned the gardying of the world. The almightiest rich sile God Almighty ever shuck down. All on't owned by big-bugs." Finally he confided to me that he was an overseer for one of them, " one of the biggest sort." This greatest of the local hemipteras was not now on his plantation, but had "gone North to Paris or Saratogy, or some of them places." Wearing no waistcoat, the overseer carried a pistol, with out a thought of concealment, in the fob of his trousers. The distance to Woodville, which, after he had exhausted his subject of cotton. I tried again to ascertain, he did not know, and

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THE VALLZT Of THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI.

would not attempt to guess. The ignorance ot the more bru

talized slaves is oftci described by saying of them that they

cannot count above twenty. 1 find many of the whites but little more intelligent. At all events, it is rarely that you

meet, in the plantation districts, a man, whether white or

black, who can give you any clear information about the roads,

or the distances between places in his own vicinity. While

in or near Bayou Sara and St. Francisville, I asked, at diffe

rent times, ten men, black and white, the distance to Wood-

ville (the next town to the northward on the map). None

answered with any appearance of certainty, and those who

ventured to give an opinion, differed in their estimates as much

as ten miles. I found the actual distance to be, I think, about

twenty-four miles. After riding by my side for a mile or two

the overseer suddenly turned off at a fork in the road, with

hardly more ceremony than he had used in joining me.

For some miles about St. Francisville the landscape has an

open, suburban character, with residences indicative of rapidly

accumulating wealth, and advancement in luxury, or careless

expenditure, among the proprietors. For twenty miles to the

north of the town, there is on both sides a succession of large ' sugar and cotton plantations. Much land still remains un

cultivated, however. The roadside fences are generally hedges

of roses--Cherokee and sweet brier. These are planted first

by the side of a common rail fence, which, while they are

young, supports them in the manner of a trellis; as they

grow older they fall each way, and mat together, finally form

ing a confused, sprawling, slovenly thicket, often ten feet in

breadth and four to six feet high. Trumpet creepers, grape

vines, green-briers, and in very rich soil, cane, grow up

through the mat of roses, and add to its strength. It is not

as pretty as a more upright hedge, yet very agreeable, and,

at one or two points, where the road was narrow, deep, and

VOL. II.

L

J46

COTTON JtSD BLAYEBT.

lane like, delightful memories of TlngfeTM! \vere brought to mind.
There were frequent groves of magnolia grandiflora, large trees, and every one in the glory of full blossom. The mag nolia does not, however, mass well, and the road-side woods were much finer, where the beech, elm, and liquid amber formed the body, and the magnolias stood out against them, magnificent chandeliers of fragrance. The large-leaved mag nolia, very beautiful at this season, was more rarely seen.
The soil seems generally rich, though much washed off the higher ground. The ploughing is directed with some care not to favour this process. Young pine trees, however, and other indications of rapid impoverishment, are seen on many plan tations.
The soil is a sandy loam, so friable that the negroes always working in large gangs, superintended by a driver with a whip, continued their hoeing in the midst of quite smart showers, and when the road had become a poaching mud.
Only once did I see a gang which had been allowed to dis continue its work en account of the rain. This was after a heavy thunder shower, and the appearance of the negroes whom I met crossing the road in returning to the field, from the gin-house to which they had retreated, was remarkable. First came, led by an old driver carrying a whip, forty of the largest and strongest women I ever saw together ; they were all in a simple uniform dress of a bluish check stuff, the skirts reaching little below the knee ; their legs and feet were bare ; they carried themselves loftily, each having a hoe over the shoulder, and walking with a free, powerful swing. Behind them came the cavalry, thirty strong, mostly men, bnt a frw of them womon, two of whom rode astride on the plough mules. A lean nnd vigilant white overseer, on a brisk pony, brought up the rear. The men wore small blue Scotch

THE VALLET OF THE LOWEB MISSISSIPPI.

147

bonnets; many of the women, handkerchiefs, turban fashion, and a few nothing at all on their heads. They were evidently a picked lot. I thonght that every one would pass for a " prime " cotton hand. - The slaves generally of this district appear uncommonly well--doubtless, chiefly, because the large incomes of their owners enables them to select the best from the yearly exportations of Virginia and Kentucky, but also because they are systematically well fed.
The plantation residences were of a cottage class, sometimes, but not usually, with extensive and tasteful grounds about them.
An old gentleman, sensible, polite, and communicative, who rode a short distance with me, said that many of the proprietors were absentees--some of the plantations had dwellings only for the negroes and the overseer. He called my attention to a field of cotton which, he said, had been ruined by his over seer's neglect. The negroes had been allowed at a critical time to be careless in their hoeing, and it would now be im possible to recover the ground then lost. Grass grew so ram pantly in this black soil, that if it once got a good start ahead, you could never overtake it. That was the devil of a rainy season. Cotton could stand drouth better than it could grass.*

* " KIXK PBOSPECT FOR HAY.--While tiding by a ficlJ the other day, which looked as rich and green as n Sew England nu-adow, we observed to a man sitting on the fence, * You have a fine prospect for hav, neighbour.* ' Hay ! that's cottonsir,' saH he, with an emotion that'betrayed an eicitcment which we cared to pro, vote no further; for we had as soon spoil with rattlesnake in the blind dajs of August as a farmer at this sea.-on of the year, badly in the grass. * * *
" All jesting aside, we have never known so poor prospect for cotton in this teaon. In some instances the fields are clean and well worked, but the cotton is diminutive in size and sickly in appearance. We have seen some fields so foul that it was almost imr.ossible to tell what had been planted.
"All this backwardness is attributable to the cold, wet weather that we have had almost consfcintlv since the pl.mting se.ison commenced. When there was a warm spell, it was raining so that ploughs could not run to any advantage; so* bettic the cold and the rain, the cotton c. up U very unpromising. " * *
L2

H8

COTTOK AJ.-D 6LAVEKV.

The. mclosureg are not often of less area than a hundred acres. Fewer than fifty negroes are seldom found on a plan tation ; many muster by the hundred. In general the fields are remarkably free from weeds and well tilled.
I arrived shortly after dusk at Woodville, a well-built and pleasant court-town, with a small but pretentious hotel Court was in session, I fancy, for the house was filled with guests of somewhat remarkable character. The landlord was inattentive,and, when followed up, inclined to be uncivil At the ordinary supper and breakfast alike there were twelve men beside myself, all of them wearing black cloth coats black cravats, and satin or embroidered waistcoats ; all, too, sleek as if just from a hairdressers, and redolent of perfumes, which really had the best of it with the exhalations of the kitchen. Perhaps it was because I was not in the regulation dress that I found no one ready to converse with me, and could obtain not the slightest information about my load, even from the landlord.
I might have left "Woodville with more respect for this de corum if I had not, when shown by a servant to my room, found two beds in it, each of which proved to be furnished with soflal sheets and greasy pillows, nor was it without reiterated demands and liberal cash in hand to the servant, that I succeeded in getting them changed on the one I selected. A gentleman of embroidered waistcoat took the other bed as it was, with no apparent reluctance, soon after I had effected my own arrangements. One wash-bowl, and

" The low, flat lands this Tear hare suffered particularly. Thoroughly sarcmreJ all the time, and often orerrloweil, the crops on them are small and sicklv. while the weeJs and gra.-s are luiririorrs ai.il rank.
"\ week or two of dry hot weather will mak a R-onHerful ohange in our agricultural prospect-, but we hnve no :<!M that anv sort of s*aons could bring "the cotton to nwe thno aa ;treJ7i? crop." //(./-na-ij^ (JM7.*s. June 2-2, I8.>1.

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THE VAIXEY OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI.

149

a towel which had already been used, was expected to answer for both of us, and would have done so but that I carried a private towel in my saddle-bags. Another re quirement of a civilized household wag wanting, and its only substitute unavailable with decency.
The- bill was excessive, and the black ostler, who had left the mud of yesterday hanging all along the inside of Belahazzar's legs, and who had put the saddle on so awkwardly that I resaddled him myself after he had brought him to the door, grumbled, in presence of the landlord, at the smallness of the gratuity which I saw fit to give him.

The country, for some distance north of Woodville, is the most uneven, for a- non-mountainous region, I ever saw. The road seems well engineered, yet you are nearly all the time mounting or descending the sides of protuberances or basins, ribs or dykes. In one place it follows along the top of a crooked ridge, as steep-sided and regular for nearly a quarter of a mile, as a high railroad embankment. A man might jump off anywhere and land thirty feet below. The ground being too rough here for cultivation, the dense native forest remains intact.
This ridge, a man told me, had been a famous place for robberies. It is not far from the Mississippi bottoms.
" Thar couldn't be," said he, " a better location for a feller that wanted to foller that business. There was one chap there a spell ago, who built himself a cabin t'other side the river. He used to come over in a 'dug-out. He could paddle his dug-out up the swamp, you see, to within two mile of the ridge j; then, when he stopped a man, he'd run throngh the woods to his dug-out, and before the man could get help, he'd be t'other side the Mississippi, a sittin' in hia housen as honest as you be."

150

COTTON ASD SLATEET.

The same man had another story of the ridge:-- " Mr. Alien up here caught a runaway once, and started to take him down to Woodville to the jail. He put him in irons and carried him along in his waggin. The nigger was peaceable and submissive till they got along onto that yer ridge place. When they got thar, all of a sudden he gin a whop like, and over he went twenty foot plum down he side of the ridge. 'Fore Alien could stop his hoss he'd tumbled and rolled himself 'way out of sight. He started right away arter him, but he never cotched a sight on him again." Not far north of the ridge, plantations are found again, though the character of the surface changes but little. The hill-sides are carefully ploughed so that each furrow forms a contour line. After the first ploughing the same lines are followed in subsequent cultivation, year in and year out, as long as enough soil remains to grow cotton upon with profit. On the hills recently brought into cultivation, broad, serpen tine ditches, having a fell of from two to four inches in a rod, have been frequently constructed : these are intended to pre,vent the .formation of gullies leading more directly down the hill during heavy rains. But all these precautions are not folly successful, the cultivated hills, in spite of them, losing soil every year in a melancholy manner. I passed during the day four or five large plantations, the hill-sides worn, cleft, and channelled like icebergs; stables and negro quarters all abandoned, and everything given up to nature and decay. In its natural state the virgin soil appears the richest I have ever seen, the growth upon it from weeds to trees being invariably rank and rich in colour. At first it is expected to bear a bale and a half of cotton to the acre, making eight or ten bales for each able field-hand. But from the cause de scribed its productiveness rapidly decreases.

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Originally, much of this country was covered by a natural growth of cane, and by various nutritious grasses. A good northern farmer would deem it a crying shame and siu to attempt to grow any crops upon such steep slopes, except grasses or shrubs which do not require tillage. The waste of soil which attends the practice is much greater than it would be at the North, and, notwithstanding the unappeasable demand of the world for cotton, its bad economy, considering the subject nationally, cannot be doubted.
If these slopes were thrown into permanent terraces, with turfed or stone-faced escarpments, the fertility of the soil might be preserved, even with constant tillage. In this way the hills would continue for ages to produce annual crops of greater value than those which are at present obtained from them at such destructive expense--from ten to twenty crops of cotton rendering them absolute deserts. Bat with negroes at fourteen hundred dollars a head, and frc.3h land in Texas at half a dollar an acre, nothing of this sort can be thought of. The time will probably come when the soil now washing into the adjoining swamps will be brought back by our descend ants, perhaps on their heads, in pots and baskets, in the manner Hue describes in China,--and which may be seen also in the Rhenish vineyards,--to be relaid on these sunny slopes, to grow the luxurious cotton in.
The plantations are all large, but, except in their size and rather unusually good tilkge, dispky few signs of wealthy proprietorship. The greater number have but small and mean residences upon them. Ko poor white people live upon the road, nor in all this country of rich soils are they seen5 except en voyage. In a distance of seventy-five miles I saw no houses without negro-cabins attached, and I calculated that there were fifty slaves, on an average, to every white femily resident in the country under my view. (There is a

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small sandy region about "Woodvflle, which I passed through after nightfall, and which, of course, my note does not include.)
I called in the afternoon, at a house, almost the only one I had seen during the day which did not appear to be the residence of a planter or oyerseer, to obtain lodging. No one was at home but a negro woman and children. The woman said that her master never took in strangers; there was a man a few miles farther on who did; it was the only place she knew at which I was likely to " get in."
I found the place : probably the proprietor was the pooiest white man whose house I had passed during the day, but he had several slaves; one of them, at least, a very superior man, worth fully g2,000.
Just before me, another traveller, a Mr. S., from beyond Natchez, had arrived. Learning that I was from Texas, lie immediately addressed me with volubility.
" Ah! then yon can tell us something about it, and I would be obliged to you if you would. Been out west about Antonio? Eanchering's a good business, eh, out west there? Isn't it ? Slake thirty per cent, by it, eh ? I hear so. Should think that would be a good business. How much capital ought a man to have to go into ranchering, good, eh ? So as to make it a good business ?"
He was a middle-aged, well-dressed man, devouring tobacco prodigiously; nervous and wavering in his manner; asking questions, a dozen at a breath, and paying no heed to the answers. He owned a plantation in the bottoms, and another on the upland; the latter was getting worn out, it was too unhealthy for him to live in the bottoms, and so, as he said, he had had " a good notion to go into ranchering. Just for ease and pleasure."
" Fact is, though, I've got a iamily, and this is no country

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for children to be raised in. 'All the children get such foolish notions. I don't want my children to be brought up here. Ruins everybody. Does sir, sure. Spoils 'em. Too bad. 'Tis so. Too bad. Can't make anything of children here, sir. Can't sir. Fact."
He had been nearly persuaded to purchase a large tract of land at a point upon a certain creek where, he had been told, was a large court-house, an excellent school, etc. The waters of the creek he. named are brackish, the neighbouring country is a desert, and the only inhabitants, savages. Some knavish speculator had nearly got a customer, but could not quite prevail on him to purchase until he examined the country personally, which it was his intention soon to do. He gave me no time to tell him how felse was the account he had had, but went on, after describing its beauties and ad vantages--
"Bat negro property isn't very secure there, Fm told. Eowis't? Know?"
" Not at all secure, sir; if it is disposed to go, it will go': the only way you could keep it would be to make it always contented to remain. The road would always be open to Mexico ; it would go when it liked."
" So I hear. Only way is, to have young ones there and keep their mothers here, eh ? Negroes have such attach ments, you know. Don't you think that would fix 'em, eh ? No ? No, I suppose not. If they got mad at anything, they'd forget their mothers, eh ? Yes, I suppose they would.
Can't depend on niggers. But I reckon they'd come back. Only to be worse off in Mexico--eh ?" "'Nothing but----"
" Being free, eh ? Get tired of that, I should think. Nobody to take care of them. No, I suppose not. Learn to take care of themselves."

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Then he turned to our host and began to ask him about his neighbours, many of whom he had known when he was a boy, and been at school with. A sorry account he got of most. Generally they had run through their property; their lands had passed into new hands; their negroes had been disposed of; two were now, he thought, " strikers " for gamblers in Natchez.
"What is a striker?" I asked the landlord at the first opportunity.
" Oh ! to rope in fat fellows for the gamblers; they don't do that themselves, but get somebody else. I don't know as it is so; aB I know is, they don't have no business, not till late at night; they never stir out till late at night, and no body knows how they live, and that's what I expect they do. Fellows that come into town flush, you know--sold out their cotton and are flash--they always think they must see every thing, and try their hands at everything--they get hold of 'em and bring 'em in to the gamblers, and get 'em tight for 'em, you know."
"How's ------ got along since his father died ?" asked Mr. S.
" "Well, ----'s been unfortunate. Got mad with his over seer; thought he was lazy and packed him off; then he undertook to oversee for himself, and he was unfortunate. Had two bad crops. Finally the sheriff took about half his niggers. He tried to work the plantation with the rest, but they was old, used-up hands, and he got mad that they would not work more, and tired o' seein' 'em, and 'fore the end of the year he sold 'em all."
Another young man, whom he inquired about, had had his property managed for him by a relative till he came of age, and had been sent North to college. "When he returned and got into hia own bauds, the first year he ran it in debt

J

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g 16,000. The income from it being greatly reduced under his management, he had put it back in the care of his relative, but continued to live upon it. " I see," continued our host, " every time any of their teams pass from town they fetch a barrel or a demijohn. There is a parcel of fellows, .who, when they can't liquor anywhere else, always go to him."
" But how did he manage to spend so much," I inquired, " the first year after his return, as you said,--in gambling ?'
" Well, he gambled some, and run horses. He don't know anything about a horse, and, of course, he thinks he knows everything. Those fellows up at Natchez would sell him any kind of a tacky for four or five hundred dollars, and then after he'd had him a month, they'd ride out another and make a bet of five or sis hundred dollars they'd beat him. Then he'd run with 'em, and of course he'd lose it."
" But sixteen thousand dollars is a large sum of money to be worked off even in that way in a year," I observed.
" Oh, he had plenty of other ways. He'd go into a bar room, and get tight and commence to break things. They'd let him go on, and the next morning hand him a bill for a hundred dollars. He thinks that's a smart thing, and just laughs and pays it, and then treats all around again."
By one and the other, many stories were then told of simi lar follies of young men. Among the rest, this:--
A certain man had, as was said to be the custom when running for office, given an order at a grocery for all to be " treated " who applied in his name. The grocer, after the election, which resulted in the defeat of the treater, presented what was thought an exorbitant bill. He refused to pay it, and a lawsuit ensued. A gentleman in the witness box being asked if he thought it possible for the whole number of people taking part in the election to have consumed the quantity of liquor alleged, answered--

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COTTON AXD SLAVEBT.

"Hoy Goad ! Judge!" (reproachfully): " Tea, sir PWhy, I've been charged for a hundred and fifty drinks 'fore break fast, when I've stood treat, and I never thought 'o disputin' it."
At supper, Mr. S., looting at the daughter of our host, said--
" What a pretty girl that is. My dear, do you find any schools to go to, out here--eh ? I reckon not. This isn't the country for schools. There'll not be a school in Mississippi .Yore long, I reckon. Nothing but Institutes, eh ? Ha! ha! ha I Institutes, humph! Don't believe there's a school between this and Natchez, is there ?'
"Xo, sir." " Of course there isn't."* " What sort of a country is it, then, between here and Natehez ?" I asked. " I should suppose it would be well settled." " Big plantations, sir. Nothing else. Aristocrats. Swellheads, I call them, sir. Nothing but swell-heads, and you can't get a night's lodging, sir. Beyond the ferry, 111 be bound, a man might die on the road 'fore he'd get a lodging
with one of them. Eh, Mr. N.? So, isn't it? 'Take a stranger in, and 111 clear you out!' That's the rule. That's

* " Sectional excitement" had given a great impetus to educational projects in the South, and the Mississippi newspapers about this time contained numerous advert>i*ments of a similar character to the following :
"C.itnot-x INSTITUTE--FOB Yorxo LAPIM; MACOS, XoxruEE Corxri-, MiS3:S51FPI.--W. Iv. PoiSDKCTEB, A.M., Principal and Proprietor.--The above tH;h.>o!, funne.-Iv known as the 'Macnn Kemale Institute," will be reopcuiil on the fi.st ot'October, I8o~, with an entirely new corps of trachea from Principal do-.TM. H.ir:n:r pnn-ha^eo1 the property at public ale, and thus become solt pnprict'jr, the Pi incipal has tl^termined to nse all means he can now command, as well as he may tealize for several years yet to come, in building, refitting and procuring such appurtenances as shall enable him to contribute his full quota, as a profes sional man, to the progress of the great cause of ' SOCTII tax EDUCATION.' "

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what they tell their overseers, eh? Yes, sir; just so inhos pitable as that. Swell-heads.' Swell-heads, sir. Every plantation. Can't get a meal of victuals or a night's lodging from one of them, I don't suppose, not if your Me depended on it. Can you, Mr. N. ?"
" "Well, I believe Mr. ----, his place is right on the road, and it's half way to the ferry, and I believe he tells his over seer if a rnpn comes and wants something to eat, he must give it to him, but he must not take any pay for it, because strangers must have something to eat. They start out of Katchez, thinking it's as 'tis in other countries; that there's houses along, where they can get a meal, and so they d9n't provide for thems$lss, and when they get along about there, they are sometimes desperate hungry. Had to he something done."
"Do the planters not live themselves on their planta tions ?"
" Why, a good many of them has two or three plantations, bat they don't often live on any of them."
" Must have ice for their wine, you see," said Mr. S., " or they'd die. So they have to live in Natchez or New Orleans. A heap of them live in New Orleans."
" And in summer they go up into Kentucky, do they not ? I've seen country houses there which were said to belong to cotton-planters from Mississippi"
" No, sir. They go North. To New York, and Newport, and Saratoga, and Cape May, and Seneca Lake. Somewhere that they can display themselves mere than they do here. Kentucky is no place for that. That's the sort of people, sir, all the way from here to Natchez. And all round Natchez, too. And in all this section of country where there's good land. Good God ! I wouldn't have my children educated, sir, among them, not to have them as rich as Dr. ----, every one

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of them. Yon can know tLeir children as far off as yon can see them. Yonng swell-heads ! You'll take note of 'em in Natchez. You can tell them by their walk. I noticed it yesterday at the Mansion House. They sort o' throw out their legs as if they hadn't got strength enough to lift 'em and put them down in any particular place. They do want so bad to look as if they weren't made of the same clay as the rest of God's creation."
Some allowance is of course to be made for the splenetic temperament of this gentleman, but facts evidently afford some justification of his sarcasms. This is easily accounted for. The ferce of the vulgar-rich has its foundation in Mississippi, as in New York and in Manchester, in the rapidity with which certain values have advanced, especially that of cotton, and, simultaneously, that of cotton lands and negroes.* Of course, there are men of refinement and cultivation among the rich planters of Mississippi, and many highly estimable and intelligent persons outside of the wealthy class, but the number of such is smaller in proportion to that of the iinmoral, vulgar, and ignorant newly-rich, than in any other part of the "United States. And herein is a radical difference between the social condition of this region and that of the sea-board slave States, where there are fewer wealthy families, but where among the few people of wealth, refinement and education are more general
I asked how rich the sort of men were of whom he spoke.

* As "A SOL'TIICRX LATTER," writing for H-u-ptr's WceMy (February, 1839}, observes: " Th sudden acquisition of wealth in the cotton-growing region of the United States, in many instances by planters commencing with very limited means, is almost miraculous. Patient, indiu-trious, frugal, and self-denying, nearly the entire amount of their cotton-crops is devoted to the increase of their capital. The result is, in a few years large estates, as if by magic, are accnranJated. T!ie fortunate proprietors then build fine houses, and surround themselves with comforts and luxuries to wlach they were strangers in their earlier years c: care and toil."

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159

" Why, sir, from a hundred thousand to ten million."

" Do you mean that between here and Xatchez there are

none, worth less than a hundred thousand dollars ?"

" No, sir, not beyond the ferry. _ Why, any sort of a plan

tation is worth a hundred thousand dollars. The niggers

would sell for that."

"How many negroes are there on these plantations ?"

" From fifty to a hundred."

" Never over one hundred ?"

" No; when they've increased to a hundred they always

divide them; stock another plantation. There are sometimes

three or four plantations adjoining one another, with an

overseer for each, belonging to the same man. But that

isn't general. In general, they have to strike off for new

land."

-'

" How many acres will a hand tend here ?" " Abont fifteen--ten of cotton, and five of corn; some pre tend to make them tend twenty." " And what is the usual crop ?" " A bale and a half to the acre on fresh land and in the bottom. From four to eight hales to a hand they generally get: sometimes ten and better, when they are lucky." " A bale and a half on fresh land ? How much on old ?" " Well, you can't tell. Depends on how much it's worn and what the season is so much. Old land, after a while, isn't worth bothering with." "Do most of these large planters who live so freely, antici pate their crops as the sugar planters are said to--spend the money, I mean, before the crop is sold ?" " Yes, sir, and three and four crops ahead generally." " Are most of them the sons of rich men ? are they old estates?" " No, sir; lots of them v;ere overseers once."

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COTTON ANT) SLAVEEY.

"Have yon noticed whether it is a feet that these

large properties seldom continue long in the same family?

Do the grandsons of wealthy planters often become poor

men ?"

" Generally the sons do. Almost always their sons are

fools, and soon go through with it."

" If they don't Vill themselves before their fathers die,"

said the other.

" Yes. They drink hard and gamble, and of coarse that

brings them into fights."

This was while they were smoking on the gallery after

supper. I walked to the stable to see how my horse was

provided for, and took my notes of the conversation. When

I returned they were talking of negroes who had died of

yellow fever while confined in the jail- at Natchez. Two of

them were spoken of as having been thus " happily released,"

being under sentence of death, and unjustly so, in their

opinion.

. A man living in this vicinity having taken a runaway while

the fever was raging in the jail at Xatchez, a physician ad

vised him not to send him there. He did not, and the negro

escaped; was some time afterward recaptured, and the owner

having learned from him that he had been once before taken

and not detained according to law, he made a journey to in

quire into the matter, and was very angry. He said, " When

ever you catch a nigger again, you send him to jail, no matter

what's to be feared. If he dies in the jail, you are not re

sponsible. You've done your duty, and you can leave the

rest to Providence."

" That was right, too," said ATr. P. " Yes, he ought to a'

minded the law. Then if he'd died in jail, he'd know 'twasn't

his fault."

v

- "Next morning, near the ferry house, I noticed a set of

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1C1

* The following is a characteristic newspaper item of this vicinity:-- From the West Fdiciani Whij.-- "On Saturday last, a runaway negro was tilled in the palish of East Baton Rouge, just below the line of this parish, under the following circumstances : Two citizens of Port Hudson, learning that a negro was at work on a flat boat, loading with sand, just below that place, who was suspected of being a runaway, went down in a skin*" for the purpose of arresting

him. " Havin^ seized him and put him into the skiff they started back, but had not
proceeded for wh<-n the negro, who had been at the oars, seizH a hatchet and assaulted oue of them, wounding him very seriously. A scuffle ensued, in which both parties fell overboard. They were both rescued by the citizen pulling to them with the skiff. Finding him so unmanageable, the negro was put ashore, and the parties returned to Port Hudson for arms and a pack of negro dog-, and started ai,-n'n with the intention to capture him. They soon got on his ttail, and when found a^.iin he was standing at bay upon the outer ed^e of a large laft of drift wnod, aniie<l with a club and pistol.
"In this ]sition he bade defiance to men and dogs--knockfhg the latter into the water with his dub, aud resolutely threatening death to any man who approached him. Finding him obstinately determined not to surrender, one of his pursuers shot him. He fell at the third fire, and so determined was he not to be captured, that when an effort was made to rescue him from drowning he made letik with his club, and sunk waring bis weapon in angry defiance at hia pursuers. He refused to give the name of his owner."

TOL. n.

M

162

COTTON AM) SLAVERY.

1

He then drew two small revolvers, hitherto concealed under his clothing, and began to examine the caps. He was certainlv a nervous man, perhaps a madman. I suppose he saw some expression of this thought in my face, for he said, placing them so they could he easily taken up as he lay in bed, " Sometimes a man has a use for them when he least expects it. There was a gentleman on this road a few days ago. He was going to Natchez. He overtook a runaway, and he says to him, ' Bad company's hetter'n none, boy, and I reckon I'll keep you along with me into Jfatchez.' The nigger appeared to be pleased to have company, and went along, talking with him, very well, till tLey came to a thicket -place, about six miles from Natchez. Then he told him he reckoned he would not go any further with him. ' "What! you black rascal,' says he ; 'you mean yon won't go in with me ? Yoa step out and go straight ahead, and if you turn your face till you get into Natchez, I'll shoot you.' 'Aha! massa,' says the nigger, mighty good-natured, ' I reckon you 'aint got no shootin' irons ;' and he bolted off into the thicket, and got away from him."
At breakiast, Mr. S. came late. He bowed his head as he took his seat, and closed his eyes for a second or two; then, withdrawing his quid of tobacco and throwing it in the fire place, he looked round with a smile, and said:--
" I always think it a good plan to thank the Lord for His mercies. I'm afraid some people'Il think I'm a member of the church. I aint, and never was. Wish I was. I am a Son, though [of Temperance ?] Give me some water, girl. Coffee first. Xever too soon for coffee. And never too late, I say. Wait for anything but coffee. These swell-heads drink their coffee after they've eaten all their dinner. I want it with dinner, eh? Don't nothing taste good without coffee, I reckon."

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Before he left, he invited me to visit his plantations, giving me careful directions to find them, and saying that if he should not have returned before I reached them, his 'wife and hia overseer would give me every attention if I would tell them he told me to visit them. He said again, and in this connection, that he believed this was the most inhospitable country in the world, and asked, " as I had heen a good deal of a traveller, didn't I think so myself ?" I imswered that my experience was much too small to permit me to form an opinion so contrary to that generally held.
If they had a reputation for hospitality, he said, it could only be among -their own sort. They made great swell-head parties; and when they were on their plantation places, they made it a point to have a great deal of company; they would not have anything to do if they didn't. But they were all swell-heads, I might be sure; they'd never ask anybody but a regular swell-head to see them.
His own family, however, seemed not to be excluded from the swell-head society.
Among numerous anecdotes illustrative of the folly of his neighbours, or his own prejudices and jealousy, I remember none which it would be proper to publish but the following:--
"Do you remember a place you passed ?" [describing the locality].
"Yes," said I; "a pretty cottage with a large garden, with some statues or vases in it."
"I think it likely. Got a foreign gardener, I expect. That's all the fashion with them. A nigger isn't good enough for them. Well, that belongs to Mr. A. J. Clayborn.[?] He's got to be a very rich man. I supjxise he's got as many as five hundred people on all his places. He went out to Europe a few years ago, and sometime after he came back, he came up to Xatchez. I was there with my wife at the same
M2

J64

OOTTOK AND SLAVERY.

time, and as she and Mrs. Clayborn came from the same section of country, and used to know each other when they were girls, she thought she must go and see her. Mra. Clayborn could not talk about anything but the great people they had seen in Europe. She was telling of some great nobleman's castle they went to, and the splendid park there was to it, and how grandly they lived. For her part, she admired it so much, and they made so many friends among the people of quality, she said, she didn't care if they always stayed there. In feet, she really wanted Hr. Clayborn to buy one of the castles, and be a nobleman himself. 'But he wouldn't,' says she; ' he's such a strong Democrat, you know.' Ha! ha! ha! I wonder what old Tom Jeff, would have said to these swell-head Democrats."
I asked birn if there were no poor people in this country. I could see no houses which seemed to belong to poor people.
" Of course not, sir. Every inch of the land bought up by the swell-heads on purpose to keep them away. But you go back on to the pine ridge. Good Lord! I've heard a heap about the poor folks at the North; but if you ever saw any poorer people than them, I should like to know what they live on. Must be a miracle if they live at all. I don't see how these people live, and I've wondered how they do a great many times. Don't raise corn enough, great many of them, to keep a shoat alive through the winter. There's no way they can live, less they steal"
At the ferry of the Homochitto I fell in with a German, originally from Dnsseldorf, whence he came seventeen yeais ago, first to New York; afterward he had resided successively in Baltimore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Pensacola, Mobile, and Natchez. By the time he reached the last place he had lost all his money. Going to work as a labourer in the town, he soon earned enough again to set him up as a trinket peddler;

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and a few months afterward he was able to buy " a lectio coach-dray." Then, he said, he made money fast; for he wool*! go back into the country, among the poor people, and sell them trinkets, and calico, and handkerchiefs, and patent medicines. They never had any money. "All poor folks," he said; " dam poor; got no money; oh no; but I say,' dat too bad, I don't like to balk you, my frind ; may be so, you got some egg, some fedder, some cheeken, some rag, some sass, or some skin vot you kill.' I takes dem dings rot they's got, and ven I gets my load I cums to Natchez back and sells dem, alvays dwo or dree times so much as dey coss me; and den I buys some more goots. Not bad beesnes--no. Oh, dese poor people dey deenk me is von fool ven I buy some dime deir rag vat dey bin vear; dey calls me de ole Dutch cuss. But dey don't know nottin' vot it is vorth. I deenk dey neever see no money; may be so dey geev all de cheekeii vot they been got for a lee.tle breaspin vot cost me not so much as von beet Sometime dey be dam crazy fool; dey know not how do make de count at alL Yees, I makes some money,

'From the Homochitto to the suburbs of Natchez, a good half-day's ride, I found the country beautiful; fewer hills than before, the soil very rich, and the land almost all inclosed in plantations, the roadside boundaries of which are old roseledges. The road is well constructed, and often, in passing through the hills, with high banks on each side, coped with thick and dark, but free and sportive hedges, out of which grow bending trees, brooding angle-like over the traveller, the sentiment of the most charming Herefordshire lanes is repro duced. There are also frequent oak-woods, the trees often of great height. Sometimes these have been inclosed with neat palings, and slightly and tastefully thinned out, so as to form

166

COTTON AXD SLAVERY.

noble grounds around the residences of the planters, which are always very simple and unostentatious wooden houses. Near two of these are unusually good ranges of aegro-houses. On many of the plantations, perhaps most, no residence is visible from the road, and the negro quarters, when seen, are the usual comfortless log-huts.
"Within three miles of the town the country is entirely occupied by houses and grounds of a villa character; the grounds usually paltry with miniature terraces, and trees and shrubs planted and trimmed with no regard to architectural or landscape considerations. There is, however, an abundance of good trees, much beautiful shrubbery, and the best hedges and screens of evergreen shrubs that I have seen in America. The houses are cheap and shabby.
I was amused to recognize specimens of the " swell-head " fraternity, described by my nervous friend, as soon as I got into the villa district. First came two boys in a skeleton waggon, pitching along with a racking pony, which ran over Jude; she yelped, I wheeled round, and they pulled up and looked apologetic. She was only slightly hurt, but thereafter gave a quicker and broader sheer to approaching vehicles than her Texas experience had taught her to do.
Then came four youthful riders, and two old, ron '-looking men, all upon a match-trot; the young fellows screaming, breaking up, and swearing. After them cantered a mulatto groom, white-gloved and neatly dressed, who, I noticed, bowed politely, lifting his hat and smiling to a very aged and ragged negro with a wheelbarrow and shovel, on the foot path.
Ifext came--and it was 8 swelteringly hot afternoon--an open carriage with two ladies taking an airing. Mr. S. had said that the swell-heads had " got to think that their oH maumy niggers were not good enough for their young ones;" and here, on the front seat of the carriage, was a white and

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veritable French bonne, holding a richly-belaced baby. The ladies sat back, good-looking women enough, prettily dressed, and excessively demure. But the -dignity of the turn-out chiefly reposed in the coachman, an obese old bkck man, who had, by some means, been set high up in the sun's face, on the bed-like cushion of the box, to display a great livery top-coat, with the \vontcd capes and velvet, buttoned brightly and tightly to the chin, and crowned by the proper emblazoned narrow-brimmed hat; his elbows squared, the reins and whip in his hands, the sweat in globules all over his ruefully-decorous face, and his eyes fast closed in sleep.
The houses and shops within the town itself are generally small, and always inelegant. A majority of the names on the signs are German; the hotel is unusually clean, and the servants attentive; and the stable at which I left Belsliazzar is excellent, and contarns several fine horses. Indeed, I never saw such a large number of fine horses as there is here, in any other town of the size. At the stable and the hotel there is a remarkable number of young men, extraordinarily dressed, like shop-boys on a Sunday excursion, all lounging or sauntering, and often calling at the bar; all smoking, all twisting lithe walking-sticks, all " talking horse."
But the grand feature of Xatchez is the bluff, terminating in an abrupt precipitous bank over the river, with the public garden upon it. Of this I never had heard; and when, after seeing my horse dried off and eating his oats with great satisfaction--the first time he has ever tasted oats, I suppose, and I had not seen them before for many months--I strolled off to see the town, I came upon it by surprise. I entered a gate and walked up a slope, supposing that I was approach ing the ridge or summit of a hill, and expecting to see beyond it a corresponding slope and the town again, continuing in terraced streets to the river. I suddenly found myself on

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the very edge of a great cliff, and before me an indescribably vast expanse of forest, extending on every hand to a hazy horizon, in which, directly in front of me, swung the round, red, setting sun. Through the otherwise unbroken forest, the Father of Waters had opened a passage for himself forming a perfect arc, the hither shore of the middle of tLe curve being hidden under the crest of the cliff, and the two ends lost in the vast obscurity of the Great West. Over looked from such an eminence, the size of the Mississippi can be realized--which is difficult under ordinary circum stances ; but though the fret of a swelling torrent is not wanting, it is perceptible only as the most delicate chasing upon the broad, gleaming expanse of polished steel, which at once shamed all my previous conceptions of the appearance of the greatest of rivers.
Coming closer to the edge and looking downward, you see the lower town, of Natchez, its roofs with water flowing all around them, and its pigmy people wading, and labouring to carry upward their goods and furniture, in danger from a rising movement of the great water. Poor people; " emi grants and niggers " only.
I laid down, and would have reposed my mind in the infinite vision westward, but was presently disturbed by a hog which came grunting near me, rooting in the poor turf of this wonderful garden. I rose and walked its length. Little more has been done than to inclose a space along the edge, which it would have been dangerous to build upon, to cat out some curving alleys now recaptured by the grass and weeds, and to plant a few succulent trees. A road to the lower town, cutting through it, is crossed by slight wooden foot-bridges, and there are some rough plank benches, adorned with stencilled " medical" advertisements. Some shrubs are planted on the crumbling face of the cliff, so Bear the top

[

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that the swine can obtain access to them. A man, bearded and smoking, and a woman with him, sitting at the extreme end, were the only visitors except myself and the swine.

As I am writing there is a bustle in the street. A young man is being lifted up and carried into the bar-room. He is insensible. A beautiful mare, from which he has evidently been thrown, is led back from around the corner, quivering with excitement.

I could find no reading-room; no recent newspapers except The Naichez Free Trader, which has nothing but cotton and river news and steamboat pnfis; no magazines but aged Harpers; and no recent publications of any sort are for sale or to be seen at the booksellers'; so, after supper, I went to the bluff again, and found it most solemnly beautiral; the young moon shining through rents in.the clouds: the great gleaming crescent of water; the dim, ungapped horizon; the earth sensibly a mere swinging globe.
Of all the town, only five Germans, sitting together, but smoking in silence, had gathered for this evening worship.
As I returned up the main street, I stopped opposite a house from which there came the sound of excellent music-- a violin and piano. I had heard no music since I was in Western Texas, and I leaned upon a lamp-post for an hour, listening. Many stopped near me for a few minutes, and went on. At length, a inon who had remained some trnie> addressed me, speaking in a foreign tongue. " Can't you speak English ?" said I.
" You are not an American T "Yes."
"I should tank it not." " I am; I am a New Yorker."

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" So ?--0 yes, perhaps, but not as country."
"What are you?" "Italian." "Dayou live here?"
"Yes."
" Are there many Italians in Natchez ?" "Yes--some many--seven. All big dam rascaal. Yes. Ha! ha ! ha ! True. Dam rascaal all of us." " What do you do for a living here ?" "" For me~ it is a cigar-store; fruit; co'nfectionary." "And the rest?" " Oh, everytzing. I don't expect dem be here so much long now." Why--what will they do ?" " Dey all go to Cuba. Be vawr zair soon now. AH go. All dam rascaal go, can go, ven ze vawr is. Good ting dat for Natchez, eh ? Yes, I tzink," He told me the names of the players; the violinist, an Italian, he asserted to be the best in America. He resided in Natchez, I understood, as a teacher; and, I presume, the town has metropolitan advantages for instruction in all fashionable accomplishments. Yet, with a population of 18,601, the number of children registered for the public schools and academies, or " Institutes," of the county seat, is but 1,015 , and among these must be included many sent from other parts of the State, and from Arkansas and Louisiana; the public libraries contain but 2,000 volumes, and the churches seat but 7,700.* Franklin, the next county in the rear of the county in

* This mar be compared with the town of Springfield, county of Sangammoo, Illinois, in which, with a population of 19,228 ^nearer to that of X.itch,.z thu any other town I observe in the Free States), the number of registeied school children is 3,300, the public libraries contain 20,000 volumes, and the churcho can accommolate 28,'JOO sjtten.

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wliich Natchez is situated (Adams), has a population of 0,000, and but 132 children attending school.
Mr. Eussell (North America: its Agriculture and Cli mate, page 258) states that he had been led to believe that " as refined society was to be found at Natchez as in any other part of the United States;" but his personal observa tion is, that " the chief frequenters of the best hotel are low, drunken fellows." I find a crowd of big, silly boys, not drunk, but drinking, smoking, chewing, and betting, and a few men who loot like dissolute fourth-rate comedians, who hare succeeded in swindling a swell-mob tailor.

The first night after leaving Natchez I found lodging with
a German, who, when I inquired if he could accommodate me, at once said, "Yes, sir, I make it a business to lodge
travellers." He had a little farm, and owned four strong negro men
and a woman with several children. All his men, however, he hired out as porters or servants in Natchez, employing a white man, a native of the country, to work with him on his farm.
To explain the economy of this arrangement, he said that one of his men earned in Natchez 30 a month clear of all expenses, and the others much more than he could ever make their labour worth to him. A negro of moderate intelligence would hire, as a house-servant, for #200 a year and his board, which was worth $8 a month; whereas he hired this white fellow, who was strong and able, for #10 a month; and he believed he got as much work out of him as he could out of a negro. If labour were worth so much as he got for that of his negroes, why did the white man not demand more ? Well--he kept him in whisky and tobacco beside hia wages, and he was content. Most folks here did not like

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white labourers. They had-only been used to hare niggere do their work, and they did not know how to manage with white labourers; bat he had no difficulty.
I asked if eight dollars would cover the cost of a man's board ? He supposed it might cost him rather more than that to keep the white man; eight dollars was what it was generally reckoned in town to cost to keep a negro; niggen living in town or near it were expected to have " extras;" out on the plantations, where they did not get anything hut bacon and meal, of course it did not cost so much. Did he know what it cost to keep a negro generally upon the planta tions ? It was generally reckoned, he said, that a nigger ought to have a peck of meal and three pounds of bacon s week; some didn't give so much meat, but he thought it would be better to give them more.
"You are getting rich," I said. "Are the Germans generally, hereabouts, doing well ? I see there are a good many in Xatchez."
" Oh yes; anybody who is not too proud to work can get rich here.v
The next day, having ridden thirty tedious miles through a sombre country, with a few large plantations, about sii o'clock I called at the first house standing upon or near the road which I have seen for some time, and solicited a lodging. It was refused, by a woman. How far was it to the next house ? I asked her. Two miles and a half. So I found it tu be, but it was a deserted house, falling to decay, on an abandoned plantation. I rode several miles further, and it was growing dark, and threatening rain, before I came in sight of another. It was a short distance off the road, and approached by a private lane, from which it was separated by a grass plat. A well dressed man skxxi between the gate and the house. I stopped and bowed to him, but he turuad

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his back upon me and walked to the house. I opened a gate and rode in. Two men were upon the gallery, but as they paid no attention to my presence when I stopped near them, I doubted if either were the' master of the house. I asked, "Could I obtain a lodging here to-night, gentlemen ?" One of them answered, surlily, "No." I paused a moment that they might observe me--evidently a stranger benighted, with a fetigned horse, and then asked, " Can you tell me, sir, how far it is to a public-house ?" "I don't know," replied the same man. I again remained silent a moment. " Xo public-houses in this section of the country, I reckon, sir," said the other. " Do you know how far it is to the next house on the road, north of this ?" " No," answered one. " You'll find one about two miles, or two miles and a half from here," said the other. " Is it a house in which I shall be likely to get a lodging, do you know ?' " I don't know, I'm sure."
" Good night, gentlemen; you'll excuse me for troubling you. I am entirely a stranger in this region."
A grunt, or inarticulate monosyllable, from one of them, was the only reply, and I rode away, glad that I had not been fated to spend an evening in such company.
Soon afterward I came to a house and stables close upon the road. There was a man on the gallery playing the fiddle. I asked, " Could you accommodate me here to night, sir ?" He stopped fiddling, and turned his head to ward an open door, asking, ""Wants to know if you can accommodate him?" "Accommodate him with what?" demanded a harsh-toned woman's voice. "With a bod of course--what do you s'pose--ho! ho ! ho!" and he went on fiddling again. I had, during this conversation, observed ranges of negro huts behind the stables, and perceived that it must be the overseer's house of the plantation at which I

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tad previously called. " Like master, like man," I though^ and rode on, my inquiry not having been even answered.
I met a negro boy on the road, who told me it was about two miles to the next house, but he did not reckon that I would get hi there, " How far to the next house beyond that "f" " About four miles, ^sir, and I reckon you can get in there, master; I've heerd they did take in travellers to that place."
Soon after this it began to rain and grow dark; so dark that I could not keep the road, for soon finding Belshazzar in difficulty, I got off and discovered that we were following up the dry bed of a small stream. In trying to get back I probably crossed the road, as I did not find it again, and wandered cautiously among trees for nearly an hour, at length coming to open country and a fence. Keeping this in sight, I rode on until I found a gate, entering at which, I followed a nearly straight and tolerable good road full an hour, as it seemed to me, at last coming to a large negro "settlement."
I passed through it to the end of the rows, where was a cabin larger than the rest, facing on the space between the two lines of huts. A shout brought out the overseer. I begged for a night's lodging; he was silent; I said that I had travelled far, was much fatigued and hungry; my horse was nearly knocked up, and I was a stranger in the country; I had lost my road, and only by good fortune had found my way here. At length, as I continued urging my need, he said--
" Well, I suppose "you must stop. Ho, Byron ! Here, Byron, take this man's horse, and put him in my stable. 'Light, sir, and come in."
Within I found his wife, a young woman, showily dressed --a caricature of the fashions of the day. Apparently, they

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had both been making a visit to neighbours, and bnt just come home. I was not received kindly, but at therequest of her husband she brought out and set before me some cold corn-bread and fat bacon.
Before I had finished eating my supper, however, they both quite changed their manner, and the woman apologized for not having made coffee. The cook had gone to bed and the fire was out, she said. She presently ordered Byron, as he brought my saddle in, to get some " light-wood " and make a fire; said she was afraid I had made a poor supper, and set a chair by the fire-place for me as I drew away from the table.
I plied the man with inquiries about his business, got him interested in points of difference between Northern and Southern agriculture, and soon had him in quite a sociable and communicative humour. He gave me much overseer's lore about cotton culture, nigger and cattle maladies, the right way to keep sweet potatoes, etc.; and when I proposed to ride over the plantation with him in the morning, he said he " would be very thankful for my company."
I think they gave up their own bed to me, for it was double, and had been slept in since the sheets were List changed; the room was garnished with pistols and other arms and ammu nition, rolls of negro-cloth, shoes and hats, handcuffs, a large medicine chest, and several books on medical and surgical subjects and farriery; while articles of both men's and women's wearing apparel hung against the walls, which were also decorated with some large patent-medicine posters. One of them is characteristic of the place and the times.*

* "THE WASBISGTOS REMEDIES--To PLASTERS Axr> OTHERS.--These Remedies, now offered to the public under the title of the Washington l.'emedies, uv composed of ingredients, man? of which are not even known to Botany. No ajiothecary has them for sale ; they are supplied to the subscriber by the native nd-men of Louisiana. The recipes by which they are compounded have descended

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"We had a good breakfast in the morning, and immediately afterward mounted and rode to a very large cotton-field, where the whole field-force of the plantation was engaged.
It was a first-rate plantation. On the highest gronnd stood a large and handsome mansion, but it had not been occupied for several years, and it was more than two years since the overseer had seen the owner. He lived several hundred miles away, and the overseer would not believe that I did not know him, for he was a rich man and an honourable, and had several times been where I came from--New York.
The whole plantation, including the swamp land around it, and owned with it, covered several square miles. It was ftrar miles from the settlement to the nearest neighbour's house. There were between thirteen and fourteen hundred acres under cultivation with cotton, corn, and other hoed crops, and two hundred hogs running at large in the swamp. It was the intention that corn and pork enough should be raised to keep the skves and cattle. This year, however, it has been found necessary to purchase largely, and such was probably usually the case,* though the overseer intimated the

to the present possessor, M. A. MlCKLEJonx, from ancestors who obtained than from the fiiendly Indian tribes, prior to and during the Revolution, and they at now offered to the pnblic with that confidence whk-h has fen gained from a aowlcdge of the fitcl that during so Inns: a series of years there has never beffl knowc an instance in whK h they have failed to perform a speedy and permanent cure. The subscribers do not profess these remedies will care frery disarrangement of the human system, but in such as are enutneratod below they feel they cannot &il. The direction* for use hare only to be strictly followed, and however despairing the patient may have been he will 6ml cause for blissful hope and renewed life.
" These preparations are no Sorthern patent hvmbuy, but are manufactured in New Orleans by a Creole, who has long used them in private practice, rescuing many unfortunate victims of disease from the grare, after they have been given up bj thrir physicians as incurable, or have been tortured beyond endurance of
laceration and painful operations." * The bacon is alrocut entirely imported from the Xortheru States, as well

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owner had been displeased, and he " did not mean to be caught so bad again."
There were 135 slaves, big and little, of which 67 went to field regularly--equal, the oYerseer thought, to fully 60 prime hands. Besides these, there were 3 mechanics (blacksmith, carpenter, and wheelwright), 2 seamstresses, 1 cook, 1 stable servant, 1 cattle-tender, 1 hog-tender, 1 teamster, 1 house servant (overseer's cook), and one midwife and nurse. These were all first-class hands; most of them would be worth more, if they were for sale, the overseer said, than the best field-hands. There was also a driver of the hoe-gang who did not labour personally, and a foreman of the plough-gang. These twouacted as petty officers in the field, and alternately in the quarters.
There was a nursery for sucklings at the quarters, and twenty women at this time who left their work four times each day, for half an hour, to nurse their young ones. These womon, the overseer counted as half-hands--that is, expected to do half the day's work of a prime field-hand in ordinary condition.
He had just sold a bad runaway to go to Texas, he happened to remark. He was whipping the fellow, when he turned and tried to stab him--then broke from him and ran away. He had him caught almost immediately with the dogs. After catching him, he kept him in irons till he had a chance to sell him. His niggers did not very often run

a considerable quantity of Indian corn. This is reckoned bad management by inteJli^cnt planters. * * * On this plantation as muoh Indian corn was raised as was iievJed,. but little bacon, which WAS mostly imported from Ohio. The sum annually pMd for this article was upwards of eight hundred pounds. Large plantations are not suit"! to the rearing of hogs ; for it is found Almost impos sible to prevent the Degrees from stealing and roasting '.he pig*." Mi. Russell, visiting the plantation of a f.ieud near Natchez.--Xortk Ainerura : its . \ijrlcMiu-e, eii, p. 265.

TOL. U.

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away, he said, because they had found that he was almost sore to catch them. As soon as he saw that one was gone he put the dogs on, and if rain had not just fallen, they would soon find him. Sometimes they did manage to outwit the dogs, hut then they almost always kept in the neighbour hood, because they did not like to go where they could not sometimes get back and see their families, and he would soon get wind of where they had been ; they would come round their quarters to see their families and to get food, and as soon as he knew it, he 'would find their tracks and put the dogs on again. Two months was the longest time any of them ever kept out. He had dogs trained on purpose to run after niggers, and never let out for anything else.
We found in the field thirty ploughs, moving together, turning the earth from the cotton plants, and from thirty to forty hoers, the latter mainly women, with a black driver walking about among them with a whip, which he often cracked at them, sometimes allowing the lash to fall lightly upon their shoulders. He was constantly urging them also with his voice. All worked very steadily, and though the presence of a stranger on the plantation must have been a. most unusual occurrence, I saw none raise or turn their heads to look at me. Each gang was attended by a " watertoter," that of the hoe-gang being a straight, sprightly, plump little black girl, whose picture, as she stood balancing the bucket upon her head, shading her bright eyes with one hand, and holding out a calabash with the other to maintain her poise, would have been a worthy study for Murillo.
I asked at what time they began to work in the morning. " Well," said the overseer, " I do better by my niggers than most. I keep 'em right smart at their work while they do work, but I generally knock 'em off at 8 o'clock in the morn ing, Saturdays, and give 'em all the rest of the day to them-

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selves, and I always gives 'em Sundays, the whole day. Pickin' time, and when the crap's bad in grass, I sometimes keep 'em to it till about sunset, Saturdays, but I never work 'em Sundays."
"How early do you start them out in the morning, usually?"
" Well, I don't never start my niggers 'fore daylight, less 'tis in pickin' time, then maybe I get 'em out a quarter of an hour before. But I keep 'em right smart to work through the day." He showed an evident pride in the vigilance of his driver, and called my attention to the large area of ground already hoed over that morning ; well hoed, too, as he said.
" At what time do they eat "r" I asked. They ate " their snacks " in their cabins, he said, before they came out in the morning (that is before daylight--the sun rising at this time at a little before five, and the day dawning, probably, an hour earlier); then at 12 o'clock their dinner was brought to them in a cart--one cart for the plough-gang and one for the hoegang. The hoe-gang ate its dinner in the field, and only stopped work long enough to eat it. The plough-gang drove its teams to the " weather houses "--open sheds erected for the purpose in different~parts of the plantation, under which were cisterns filled with rain water, from which the water-toters carried drink to those at work. The mules were fed with as much oats (in straw), com and fodder as they would eat in two hours; this forage having been brought to the weather houses by another cart. The ploughmen had nothing to do but eat their dinner in all this time. All worked as late as they could see to work well, and had no more food nor rest until they returned to their cabins.* At half-past nine o'clock the

* This would give at this season hardly less than sixteen hours of plodding
lahonr, relieved by Lut one short interval of rest, during the daylight, for the hoe-
;..: It i.-i not improbable. I was accustomed to rise early and ride late, resting H- 2

1

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drivers, each on an alternate night, blew a horn, and at ten visited every cabin to see that its occupants were at rest, and not lurking about and spending their strength in fooleries, and that the fires were safe a very unusual precaution; the negroes are generally at liberty after their days -work is done tfll they are called in the morning. When washing and patching were done, wood hauled and cut for the fires, corn ground, etc., I did net learn: probably all chores not of daily necessity were reserved for Saturday. Custom varies in this respect. In general, with regard to fuel for the cabins, the negroes are left to look out for themselves, and they often have to go to " the swamp " for it, or at least, if it has been hanled, to cut it to a convenient size, after their days work is done. The allowance of food was a peck of corn and four pounds of pork per week, each. When they could not get "greens" (any vegetables) he generally gave them five pounds of pork. They had gardens, and raised a good deal for themselves; they also had fowls, and usually plenty of eggs. He added, " the man who owns this plantation does more for his niggers than any other man I know. Eveiy Christmas he sends me up a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars [equal to eight or ten dollars each] worth of molasses and coffee, and tobacco, and calico, and Sunday tricks for em. Every family on this plantation gets a barrel of molasses at Christmas."*

luring the heat of the dny, while in the cotton district, but I always found the negroes in the field when I first looked out, and generally had to wait for the no-jroes to come from the field to hare my horse fed when I stopped for the night. I am told, howerer, and I bvlieve, that it U usi:al in the hottest weather, to j^ve a rest of xa hoar or two to all hands at nw>n. I nerer happened to see it Jone. The legal limit of a slaves days work in South Carolina is fifteen hours.
* 1 was tuld by a gentleman in Xorth Carolina, that the custo:n "f supplying molasses to negroes in Mississippi, was usually mentioned to those sold away fiom his port of the country, to reconcile tl.:- tn TM".: thither.

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Beside which, the overseer added, they are able, if they choose, to buy certain comforts for themselves--tobacco for instance--with money earned by Saturday and Sunday work. Some of them went into the swamps on Sunday, and made boards (which means slabs worked out with no other instru ment than an axe). One man sold last year as much as fifty dollars' worth.
Finding myself nearer the outer gate than the " quarters," when at length my curiosity was satisfied, I did not return to the house. After getting a clear direction how to find my way back to the road I had been upon the previous day, I said to the overseer, with some hesitation, " Yon will allow me to pay you for the trouble I have given you ?" He looked a little disconcerted by my putting the question in this way, but answered in a matter-of-course tone, " It will be a dollar and a quarter, sir."
This was the only large plantation I had an opportunity of seeing at all closely, over which I was not chiefly conducted by an educated gentleman and slave owner, by whose habitual impressions and sentiments my own were probably somewhat influenced. From what I saw in passing, and from what I heard by chance of others, I suppose it to have been a very favourable specimen of those plantations on which the owners do not reside. A merchant of the vicinity recently in New York tells me that he supposes it to be a iair enough example of plantations of its class. There is nothing remarkable in its management, so far as he had heard. When I asked alx/ui the molasses and Christmas presents, he said he reckoned tV overseer must have rather stretched that part of his story, but the owner was a very good man. A magistrate of the district, who had often been on the plantation, said in answer to an inquiry from me, that the negroes were very well treated upon it, though he did not think they were extraordinarily so. His

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comparison was with plantations in general.* He also spoke well of the overseer. He had been a long time on this plan tation--I think he said ever since it had begun to be cultivated. This is very rare; it was the only case I met with in. which an overseer had kept the same place ten years, and it was a strong evidence of his comparative excellence, that his employer had been so long satisfied with him. Perhaps it was a stronger evidence that the owner of the
negroes was a man of good temper, systematic and thorough in the management of his property.!
The condition of the fences, of the mules and tools, and tillage, which would have been considered admirable in the best fanning district of Xew York--the dress of the negroes and the neatness and spaciousness of their " quarters," which were superior to those of most of the better class of plantations on which the owners reside, all bore testimony to a very unusually prudent and provident policy.
* In De Bow's ' Resources of the South,' rol. i., p. 150, a table is. furnished byg cotton-planter to show that the expenses of raising cotton are " generally greatly nuderrated." It is to be inferred that they certainly are not underrated in the table. On "a well improved ami prorwrly organized plantation," the expense of feeding one hundred negroes, " as deduced from fifteen years' experience " of the writer, is asserted in this table to he $750 per annum, or seven dollars and half each; in this sum is included, however, the expenses of the " hos|x'ta! and the overseer's table." This is much I&s than the expense for the same purposes, if the overseer's .-.ccotrat was true, of the plantation above described. Clothing, shoes, bedding, wc&s for gatherinj cort./n, and so forth, are estimated by the same authority to cost an eq':al sum--$ 7.50 for each slave. I have just paid on aomint of a day labourer on a farm in Xew York, his board hill, he being a bachelor living at the house of another InVh labourer with a family. The chiirge is twenty-one time* as large as that set down for the slave.
t " I was informed that some su<-ce*rul piasters, who held several estates in this neijhfiour'inoJ f_N~;itchi-z] mnd > it a rr.!e to c/n'/yc tJnfir mtrsecrs etf'j year, on the principle that th? t'co years' sorviVe system is sure to spoil them."-- RussflTs S"wt.'t America: its Ayric^'lt-'i-c, etc., p. ^i>S.
* Overseers are changed every year; a few remain four or five years, but the average time they remain on the same plant-.tion does not exceed two years."--
AyricuitMrwt, vol. iv.. p. 351.

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I made no special inquiries about the advantages for education or means of religious instruction provided for the slaves. As there seems to be much public desire for definite information upon that point, I regret that I did not. I did not need to put questions to the overseer to satisfy my own mind, however. It was obvious that all natural incitements to self-advancement had been studiously removed or ob structed, in subordination to the general purpose of mating the plantation profitable. Eegarding only the balance-sheet of the owner's ledger, it was admirable management.. I am sorry to have to confess to an impression that it is rare, where this is the nppermost object of the cotton-planter, that an equally frugal economy is maintained; and as the general character of the district along the Mississippi, which is especially noticeable for the number of large and very pro ductive plantations which it contains, has now been sufficiently illustrated, I will here present certain observations which I wish to make upon the peculiar aspect of slavery in that and other districts where its profits to the owners of slaves are most apparent.

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CHAPTER V.
SLAVERY IS ITS PBOPZBTY ASPECT -- MORAL AND BELIGIOTJB
N OT THE SLATES, ETC.
IN a hjlly part of Alaban-a, fifty miles north of the principal cotton-growing districts of that State, I happened to have a tradesman of the vicinity for a travelling companion, when, in passing an unusually large cluster of negro cabins, he called my attention to a rugged range of hills hehind them which, he said, was a favourite lurking-ground for runaway negroes. It afforded them numerous coverts for concealment during the day, and at night the slaves of the plantation we were passing would help them to find the necessaries of existence. He had seen folks who had come here to look after niggers from plantations two hundred miles to the south, ward. " I suppose, " said he, " 't would seem kind o' barbarous to yon to see a pack of hounds after a human being ?"
" Yes, it would." " Some fellows take as much delight in it as in rannin' a fox. Always seemed to me a kind o' barbarous sport." [A panse.] " It's necessary, though." " I suppose it is. Slavery is a custom of society which has come to us from a barbarous people, and, naturally, bar barous practices have to be employed to maintain it." " Yes, I s'pose that's so. But niggers is generally pretty well treated, considering. Some people work their nigger? too hard, that's a feet. I know a man at ----- ; he's a mer chant there, and I have had dealings with him; he's got

THE PBOPERTY. ASPECT OP SLAVERY.

185

three plantations, and he puts the hardest overseers he can get on them. He's all the time a' buying niggers, and they gay around there he works 'em to death. .On these small plantations, niggers ain't very often whipped bad; but on them big plantations, they've got to use 'em hard to keep any sort of control over 'em. The overseers have to always go about armed; their life wouldn't be safe, if they didn't. As 't is, they very often get cut pretty bad." (Cutting is knifing; it may be stabbing, in south-western parlance).
He went on to describe what he had seen on some large plantations which he had visited for business purposes--indica tions, as he thought, in the appearance of "thepeople," that they were being " worked to death." " These rich men," he said, " are always bidding for the overseer who will make the most cotton ; and a great many of the overseers didn'hfijire for anything but to be able to say they've made so many bales in a year. If they make plenty of cotton, the owners never ask how many niggers they kill."
I suggested that this did not seem quite credible ; a negro was a valuable piece of property. It would be foolish to use him in such a way.
" Seems they don't think so," he answered. " They are always bragging--you must have heard them--how many bales their overseer has made, or how many their plantation has made to a hand. They never think of anything else. You see, if a man did like to have his niggers taken care of, he couldn't bear to be always hearing that all the plantations round had beat his. He'd think the fault was in his overseer. The fellow who can make the most cotton always gets paid the best."
Overseers' wages were ordinarily from #200 to 600, but a real driving overseer would very often get #1,000. Sometimes they'd get 1,200 or #1,500. He heard of #2,000 being

18G

corros AND SLAVERY.

paid one fellow. A determined and perfectly relentless man --I can't recall his exact words, which were very expressive --a real devil of an overseer, would get almost any wages ho'd ask; because, when it was told round that snch a man had made so many bales to the hand, everybody would be trying to get him.
The man who talked in this way was a native Alabazrtian, ignorant, but apparently of more than ordinarily reflective habits, and he had been so situated as to have unusually good opportunities for observation. In character, if not in detail, I must say that his information was entirely in accordance with the opinions I should have been led to form from the conversations I heard by chance, from time to time, in the richest cotton districts. That his statements as to the bad Hianagement of large plantations, in respect to the waste of negro property, were not much exaggerated, I find frequent evidence in southern agricultural journals. The following is an extract from one of a series of essays pubEshed in The Cotton Planter, the chief object of which is to persuade planters that they are under no necessity to employ slaves exclusively in the production of cotton. The writer, Mr. M. W. Phillips, is a well-known, intelligent, and benevolent planter, who resides constantly on his estate, near Jackson, Mississippi:--

"I have known many in the rich planting portion of Missianppi espe cially, anil otht-rs elsewhere, who, acting- on tlie policy of the IKJV in the fable, who 'killed the 500*- for the pollen </,' accumulated property, yet amoti those who have Tbliwl solely on tlioir product iu lane! and im^rovf* I donbt if this be the true policy of plantation economy. With the former everything has to bend, give way to 1 inre crops of cotton, land has to !>< cultivated wet or dry. negroes to work, colil or hot. Large crops plantedand they mn.it be cultivated, or done so after a manner. When dhu-nsu
cornea about, aa, for instance, cholera, pneumonia, flus, and other violent diseases, these are more subject, it secmeth to me, than others, or even if not, there is le&a vitality to work on, and, therefore, in like situations and

THE PBOPEBTr ASPECT OF SLAVERY.

187

similar iu severity, they must sink with more certainty ; or even should the animal economy rally under all these trials, the neglect consequent upon tliis ' cut and cover' policy must result iu greater mortality. Another objection, not one-fourth of the children lorn are raised, and perhaps not over two-third;) arc born on tliv place, which, undi r a different policy, might be expected. And this is not all : hands, and teams,and land must wear out sooner : admitting this to be only one year sooner in twenty years, or that lands and negroes ore lees productive at forty than at forty-two, we see a heavy loss. Is this not so ? I am told of negroes not over thirty-five to forty-five, who look older than others at forty-five to fifty-five. I know a man now, not short of sixty, who might readily be taken for forty-five; another on the same pluee full fifty (for I have known both for twenty-eight years, and the lust oue for thirty-two years), who could be sold for thirtyfive, and these negroes are very leniently dealt with. Others, many others, I know and have known twenty-five to thirty years, of whom I can speak of as above. As to rearing children. I can point to equally as strong caseg ; ay, men who are,' aa it were," of one fumily, differing as much as four and eight bales in cropping, and equally as much in raising young negroes. The one scarcely paying expenses by his crop, yet iu the past twenty-five years raising over seventy-five to a hundred negroes, the other buying more than raised, and yet not as many as the first.
" I regard the 'just medium ' to be thp correct point. Labour is conducive to health ; a lieidtliy woman will rear most children. I favour good and fair work, yet not overworked so as to tax the animal economy, that the woman cannot rear healthy children, nor should (lie father be over-wrought,
that his vital powers be at all infringed upon. "If the policy be adopted, to make an improvement in laud visible, to
raise the greatest number of healthy children, to make an abundance of provisio'i, to rear a portion at least of work horses, rely on it we will soon find by our tax list that our country is improving. * * *
"Brethren of the South, we must change our policy. Orerseers are not interetteil in rafting children, or meat, in impracing land, or improriuyproductire qualities of seed, or animal*. Many of them do not care ichellttr property IMS depreciated or improred, >o (hey hace made a crop [of cotton] to boast of.
"As to myself, I care not who has the credit of making crops at Log Hall; and I would prefer that an overseer, who has been one of my family for a year or two. or more, should be benefited; but this thing is to be known an;! well understood. I plant such fit Ida iu sueli crops as I see fit ; I plant acres in corn, cotton, oats, potatoes, etc., as I selei-t, ami the general
policy of rest, cultivation, etc., must be preserved which I lay down. A self-willed overseer may fraudulently change somewliat in the latter, by
not carrying out orders--that I cannot help. What I Lave written, I have written, and think I can substantiate."

188

COTTON JUID SLAVERY.

From the SoufTtern Agriculturist, voL ir., page 317:--
" OVEBSEEB8.
* * * " When they seek a place, they rest their claims entirely on the number of bags they have heretofore made to the hand, ami generally the employer unfortunately recognized the justice of such claims.
"Xo wonder, then, t!.at the overseer de=ircs to Lave entire control of the plantation. Xo wonder he opposes all ex|>erimcnts, or, if they are per sisted iu, neglects them : pr&* everything at the end nf the lath ; pays no attention to the firk. exctpt to keep (ln:ui in the jield ire laity as jtotJtMe; andf dr<c** thetii out tigain at thejirtt moment, awl forces suckles* find breeders to (he utmost. He tint no nther tnterett than to inake a It'rj cotton crop. And if thia does not please von, and induce you to increase his wages, he kno^s men it will please, aji>l secure him a situation with."
From the Columbia South Carolinian :--
* * * " Planters may be divided into two great classes, viz.. those who attend to their lnuinessi, and those who do not. And this creates corresponding- classes of overseers. The planter who does not manage his own business must, of i-onrsc, surrender everything into thfi hands of his overseer. Such a planter usually rates the merits of the overseer exactly in proportion to the numln-r of !<rs of cotton he makes, and of course the overseer cares for notliiiiir l>nt t> make a lartre crop. To Ijim it is of no cons qaence that the old hands are worked do\vn, or the yonn;? ones overstr.uued ; that thu breeding womtn miscarry, and the sucklers lose their chiMren ; tl.at the male* are broken down, the plantation tfiola destroyed, the stock neglected, and the land* ruined : so that he h<a the rfquieite number of mtlw toy*, all is orerlookeil; he is re-employed at an advanced salary, nd his reputation increased. Everybody knows that by such a course, a crop may be increased by the most inferior ovirscer.in any given year, unless his predecessors have so entirely exhausted the resources of the plantation, that there is no part of the capital left which can be wrought up iuto current income. * * * Having once had the sole mnuagcmt nt of a plantation, and imbibed the idea tl.at the only test of good planting is to make a lar^e crop of cotton, an overseer becomes worthless. He will no longer obey orders; he will not stoop to details; lie scorns all improve ments, and icili not adopt any other plan of planting than simply to work lands, neprroes, and muli-s to the top of their bent, which necessarily proves fatal to every employer who will allow it. "It seems scarcely credible, that any man owning- a plantation will so abandon it and his people on it entirely to a hirelhur, no matter what his confidence in him is. Yet there arc numbers who do it habitually; and I have even known overseers to stipulate that their employers should not give any order, nor interfere in any way with tin ir ii.ain.-4i mt nt of the phuitali-iii. There are also some proprietors of considerable property and pretea-

j

THE PEOPERTY ASPECT OF SLAVERY.

189

sion to being planters, who give their overseer a proportion of the crop for his wages ; thus bribing him by the strongest inducements of self-intercut, to overstrain and work down everything committed to his charge.
"Xo planter, who attends to his own bushiest*, can dispense with agents and sub-agents. It is impossible, on a plantation of any size, for tho proprietor to attend to all the details, many of which are irksome and laborious, and he requires more intelligence to assist him than slaves usually possess. To him, therefore, a good overseer is a blessing. But an overseer who would answer the views of such a planter is most difficult to find. The men engaged in that occupation who combine the most intelli gence, industry, and character, are allured into the service of chose who place all power in their hands, and are ultimately spoiled."
An English traveller writes to the London Daily Neics
from Mississippi (1857) :--
"On crossing the Big Block river, I left the sandhills and began to find myself in the rich luuni of the valley of the Mississippi. The plantations became larger, the clearings more numerous and extensive, and the roads less hilly, but worse. Along the Yazoo river one meets with some of the richest soil in the world, and some of the largest crops of cotton in the Union. My first night in that region was passed at the house of a planter who worked but few hands, wjis a fast friend of slavery, and yet drew for my benefit one of the most mournful pictures of a slave's life I have ever met with. He said, and I believe truly, that the negroes of small planters arc, on the whole, well treated, or at least as well as the owners can afford to treat them. Their master not unfrequeutly works side by side with them in the fiel'U. * * * But on the large plantations, where the business is carried on by an orerseer, and everything is conducted with military strictness aii'l discipline, he described matters as being widely different. The future of tlte oreneer depends allofjethrr on the quantity of cotton he is aUe to make up for the market. Whether the owner be resident or non resident, if the plantation be large, and a great number of Lands be cmployed upon it, the overseer gets credit for a large crop, and blame for a small one. His pro$t^Uo:ial reputation depends in a great measure upon the number of bales or hogsheads he is able to produce, and u ither his education iior his habits arc such as to render it likely that he would allow any consideration for the negroes to stand in the way of his advancing it. His interest is to get as much work out of them ns they can possibly perform. His skill consists in knowing exactly how hard they may be driven without incapacitating them for futc exertion. The larger the plantation the less chance there is, of course, of the owner's softening the rigour of the overseer, or the sternness of discipline by personal interference. So as Mr. H ---- said, a vast mass of the slaves pass their lives, from the moment they are able to go afield in the picking season till they drop worr

190

COTTON AND 8LATZEY.

out into the grave, in incessant labour, in all sorts of weather, at all seasons of the year, without any other change or relaxation than is furnished by sickness, without the smallest hope of any improvement either in their condition, in their food, or iu their clothing, which are of the plainest and coarsest kind, and indebted solely to the forbearance or good temper of the overseer for exemption from terrible physical suffering. They are ni to bed at nine o'clock, almost immediately after bolting the food which they often have to cook after coming home from their day's labour, and are rung oat of bed at fonr or five in the morning. The interval is one long round of toil. Life lias no sunny spots for them. Their only refuge or consola tion in this world is in their own stupidity and grossnisi. The nearer thi-y are to the K-ast, the happier they are likely to be. Any mental or moral rise is nearly sure to bring nuhappiness with it"
The same gentleman wites from Columbus :--
" One gcta better glimpses of the real condition of the negroes from con versations one happens to overhear than from what is told to one's-solf-- above all, when one U known to be a stranger, and particularly an English man. The cool way in which you hear the hanging of niggers, the shooting of niggers, and the neef-ssity for severe discipline among niggers talked of in bar-rooms, speaks volumes as to the esact state of the case. A nogro was shot when running away, near Greensboro*, a small town on my road, the day before I passed through, by a man wlio had received instructions from the owner to take him alive, and alioot him if he resisted. I he;>.nl the subject discussed by some loafers' in the bar, while getting my horse fed, and I found, to my n-j small--I do not know whether to say horror >T amusement--that the point in dispute was not the degree of tu<>n:l guilt incurred by the murderer, but the degree of loss and damage for which lie had rendered himself liable to the owner of the slave in departing from the letter of his commission. One of the group summed up the arguments on both sides, by exclaiming, * Well, this shootin' of aiggeia should be put a stop to, that's a fact.' The obvioos inference to be deduced from this observation was, that ' nigger shootin" was a slight contravention of police regulations--a little of which might be wiukcd at, but which, in this locality, had been carried to such an extent as to call for the interference of the law."
I do not think that I have ever seen the sudden death of a
negro noticed in a Southern newspaper, or heard it referred to in conversation, that -the loss of property, rather than the
extinction of life, -was not the evident occasion of interest.
Taming over several Southern papers at this moment, I fell at once upon these examples:--

THE PBOPKKTY ASPECT OF 8LATEBY.

191

"We are informed that a negro man, the property of Mr. "William Mays, of this city, was killed lost Thursday by a youth, the son of Mr. William Payne, of Campbell county. The following are the circumstances, aa we have received them. Two sons of Mr. Payne were shooting pigeons on the plantation of Mr. Mays, about twenty miles from this place, and went to the tobacco-house, where the overseer and hands were housing tobacco; one of the buys had a string1 of pigeons and the other had none. On reaching the house, the negro who was killed asked the boy who had no pigeons, ' where his were." He replied that ho killed none, but could kill him (the negro), and raised hia gun aud fired. The load took effect in the head, aud caused death in a few hours. The negro teas a raluaWe one. Mr. Jfay had refuted 31,200/or him."--LyncJtburg Virginian.
" A valuable negro boy, the property o/Vf. A. Phipps, living in tbe npper end of this county, was accidentally drowned in the Holston river a few days ago.'1-- RogersriHe Times.
"Mr. Tilghman Cobb's bam at Ee<lfiml, Va., was set fire to by lightning on Friday, the llth, and consumed. Two negroes and three horses perished in the flames."--Nne Orleans Daily Creecent.
I have repeated these accounts, not to convey to the reader's mind the impression that slaves are frequently shot by their masters, which -would be, no doubt, a mistaken inference, but to show in what manner I was made to feel, as I was very strongly in my journey, that what we call the sacredness of human life, together with a great range of kindred instincts, scarcely attaches at all, with most white men, to the slaves, and also in order to justify the following observation:--that I found the lives and the comfort of negroes, in the rich cottonplanting districts especially, habitually regarded, by all classes, much more from a purely pecuniary point of view than I had ever before supposed they could be; and yet that, as property, negro life and negro vigour were generally much less carefully economized than I had always before imagined them to be.
As I became familiar with the circumstances, I saw reasons for this, which, in looking from a distance, or through the eyes of travellers, I had not been able adequately to ap preciate. I will endeavour to state them:--

192

COTTOS ASD SLAVEET.

It is difficult to handle simply as property, a creature possessing human passions and human feelings, however debased and torpid the condition of that creature may be; while, on the other hand, the absolute necessity of dealing with property as a thing, greatly embarrassed a man in any attempt to treat it as a person. And it is the natural result of this complicated state of things, that the system of slave-man agement is irregular, ambiguous, and contradictory; that it is never either consistently humane or consistently economical.
As a general rule, the larger the body of negroes on a plantation or estate, the more completely are they treated as mere property, and in accordance with a policy calculated to insure the largest pecuniary returns. Hence, in part, the greater proportionate profit of such plantations, and the ten dency which everywhere prevails in the planting districts to the absorption of small, and the augmentation of large estates. It may be true, that among the wealthier slave-owners there is oftener a humane disposition, a better judgment, and a greater ability to deal with their dependents indulgently and bountifully, but the effects of this disposition are chiefly felt, even on those plantations where the proprietor resides perma nently, among the slaves employed about the house and stables, and perhaps a few old favourites in the quarters. It is more than balanced by the difficulty of acquiring a personal interest in the units of a large body of slaves, and an acquaint- ' ance with the individual characteristics of each. The treat ment of the mass must be reduced to a system, the ruling idea of which will be, to enable one man to force into the same channel of labour the muscles of a large number of men of various and often conflicting wills.
The chief difficulty is to overcome their great aversion to labour. They have no objection to eating, drinking, and resting, when necessary, and no general disinclination to

THE PBOPERT1 ASPECT OF SLAVERY.

10j

receive instruction. If a man own many slaves, therefore,

the faculty which he values highest, and pays most for, in

an overseer, is that of making them work. Any fool could

see that they were properly supplied with food, clothing, rest,

and religious instruction.

The labourers we see in towns, at work on railroads and

steamboats, about stations and landings; the menials of our

houses and hotels, are less respectable, moral, and intelligent

than the great majority of the whole labouring class of the

North. The traveller at the South has to learn that there

the reverse is the case to a degree which can hardly be

sufficiently estimated. I have been obliged to think that

many amiable travellers who have received impressions-Kith

regard to the condition of the slaves very different from mine,

have failed to make a sufficient allowance for this. The

rank-and-file plantation negroes are not to be readily made

acquaintance with by chance or through letters of intro

duction.

I have described in detail, in former chapters, two large

plantations, which were much the best in respect to the

happiness of the negroes, of all that I saw in the South. I

am now about to describe what I judged to be the most

profitable estate that I visited. In saying this I do not

compare it with others noticed in this chapter, my observa

tions of which were too superficial to warrant a comparison.

It was situated upon a tributary of the Mississippi, and

accessible only by occasional steamboats ; even this mode of

communication being frequently interrupted at low stages of

the rivers. The slaves upon-it formed about one twentieth

of the whole population of the county, in which the blacks

considerably outnumber the whites. At the time of my

visit, the owner was sojourning upon it, with bis family and

several invited guests, but hi-; usual residence was upon a "

VOL. rr.

.

o

iJ-i

COTTOX AND SLATEEV.

small plantation, of little productive value, situated in a neighbourhood somewhat noted for the luxury aud hospitality of its citizens, and having a daily mail, and direct railroad and telegraphic communication with New York. This was, if I am not mistaken, his second visit in five years.
The property consisted of four adjoining plantations, each with its own negro-cabins, stables, and overseer, and each worked to a great extent independently of the others, but all contributing their crop to one gin-house and warehouse, and all under the general superintendence of a bailiff or manager, who constantly, resided upon the estate, and in the absence of the owner, had vice-regal power over the overseers, controlling, so fax as he thought fit, the economy of all the plantations.
The manager was himself a gentleman of good education, generous and poetic in temperament, and possessing a capa city for the enjoyment of nature and a happiness in tLc bucolic life, unfortunately rare with Americans. I found him a delightful companion, and I have known no man with whose natural tastes and feelings I have felt, on so short acquaint ance, a more hearty sympathy. The gang of toiling negroes to him, however, was as essential an element of the poetry of nature as flocks of peaceful sheep and herds of lowing kine, and he would no more appreciate the aspect in which an Abolitionist would see them, than would Virgil have honoured the feelings of a vegetarian, sighing at the sight of flocks and herds destined to feed the depraved appetite of the carnivorous savage of modern civilization. The overseers were superior to most of their class, and, with one exception, fcink, honest, temperate, and industrious, but their feelings toward negroes were such as naturally result from their occupation. They were all married, and lived with their families, each in a cabin or cottage, in the hamlet of the

J

r

THE FBOPEBTY ASPECT OP SLAYEBY.

195

slaves of which he had especial charge. Their "wages varied from g 500 fo a 1,000 a year each.
These five men, each living more than a mile distant from either of the others, were the only white men on the estate, and the only others within several miles of them were a few skulking vagabonds. Of course, to secure their own personal safety and to efficiently direct the labour of such a large number of ignorant, indolent, and vicious negroes, rules, or rather habits and customs, of discipline, were necessary, which would in particular cases be liable to operate unjustly and cruelly. It is apparent, also, that, as the testimony of negroes against them would not be received as evidence in court, that there was very little probability that any excessive severity would be restrained by fear of the law. A provision of the law intended to secure a certain privilege to slaves, was indeed disregarded under my own observation, and such infraction of the law was confessedly customary with one of the overseers, and was permitted by the manager, for the reason that it seemed to him to be, in a certain degree, justi fiable and expedient under the circumstances, and because he did not like to interfere unnecessarily in such matters.
In the main, the negroes appeared to be well taken care of and abundantly supplied with the necessaries of vigorous physical existence. A large part of them lived in commo dious and well-built cottages, with broad galleries in front, so that each family of five had two rooms on the lower floor, and a loft. The remainder lived in log huts, small and mean in appearance, but those of their overseers wore little better, and preparations were being made to rc-pLicc all of these by neat boarded cottages. Eac-h family had a "fowl-house and hog-sty (constructed by the negr<>es themselves), and kept fowls and swine, feeding the latter during the summer on weeds and fattening them in the aiituian on corn, stolen (this was men-

196

COTTON A2TD SLAVEKT.

turned to me by the overseers as if it were a matter of course) from their master's corn-fields. I several times saw gangs of them eating the dinner which they had brought, each man for himself, to the field, and observed that they generally had plenty, often more than they could eat, of bacon, corn-bread, and molasses. The allowance of food is weighed and mea sured under the eye of the manager by the drivers, and distri buted to the head of each family weekly: consisting of--for each person, 3 pounds of pork, 1 peck of meal; and from January to July, 1 quart of molasses. 3Iontb.lv, in addition, 1 pound tobacco, and -4 pints salt. Xo drink is ever served bnt water, except after unusual exposure, or to ditchers work ing in water, who get a glass of whisky at night All hands cook for themselves after work at night, or whenever they please between nightfall and daybreak, each family in its own cabin. Each family has a garden, the products of which, to gether with eggs, fowls, and bacon, they frequently sell, or use in addition to their regular allowance of food. Most of the families buy a"barrel of flour every year. The manager endeavours to encourage this practice; and that they may spend their money for flour instead of liquor, he furnishes it to them at rather less than what it costs him at wholesale. There are manv poor white's within a few miles who will always sell liijuor to the negroes, and encourage them to steal, to obtain the means to buy it of them. Tlie.se poor whites are always spoken of with anger by the overseers, and they each have a standing offer of much more than the intrinsic value of their land, from the manager, to induce them to move away.
The negroes a.l?o obtain a good Jenl of .ramo. They set traps for raccoon-, rabbit*, and turkeys : and I once heard the st(.-ck-teni!er complaininc: t!::it he had detected one of the vagalond whites ptcaliii.i.' a trrby v.-liirh had b en caught in his pen. I several tiiae; ,vi..: !: ;-f ;::n:irv, while m the plan-

THE PBOPEBTr ASPECT OF SLAVERY.

197

tation, that had been purchased of the negroes. Tlie stocktender, an old negro, whose business it was to ride about in the woods and keep an eye on the stock cattle that were pastured in them, and who was thus likely to know where the deer ran, had an ingenious "way of supplying himself with venison. He lashed a scythe blade or butcher's knife to the end of a pole so that it formed a lance; this he set near a fence or fallen tree which obstructed a path in which the deer
habitually ran, and the deer in leaping over the obstacle would leap directly on the knife. In this manner he had killed two deer the week before my visit.
The manager sent to him for some of this venison for his own use, and justified himself to me for not paying for it on the ground that the stock-tender had undoubtedly taken time which really belonged to his owner to set his spear. Game taken by the field-hands was not looked upon in the same light, because it must have been got at night when they were excused from labour for their owner.
The first morning I was on the estate, while at breakfast with the manager, an old negro woman came into the room and said to him, " Dat gal's bin bleedin' agin' dis mornin'."
" How much did she bleed ?'
" About a pint, sir."
"Yery well; I'll call and see her after breakfast." " I come up for some sugar of lead, masser; I gin her some powdered alum 'fore I come away."
'' Yery well; you can have some."
After breakfast the manager invited me to ride with him on his usual daily round of inspection through the planta tions.
On reaching the nearest " quarters," we stopped at a house, a little larger than the ordinary cabins, which was called the loom-house, in which a dozen negroes were at work making

198

COTTOS AND SLAVEBT.

shoes, and manufacturing coarse cotton stuff for negro cloth ing. One of the hands so employed was insane, and most of tlie others were cripples, invalids with chronic complaints, or unfitted by age, or some infirmity, for field-work.
From this we went to one of the cabins, where we found the sick woman who had been bleeding at the lungs, with the old nurse in attendance upon her. The manager examined and prescribed for her in a kind manner. When we came oat he asked the nurse if any one else was sick.
" Oney dat woman Carline." " What do you think is the matter with her ?" ""Well, I don't tink dere's anyting de matter wid her, masser; I mas' answer you for true. I don't tink anyting de matter wid her, oney she's a little sore from dat whippin' she got." We went to another cabin and entered a room where a woman lay on a bed. groaning. It was a dingy, comfortless room, but a mnsquito bar, much patched and very dirty, covered the bed. The manager asked fhe woman several times what was the matter, but could get no distinct reply. She appeared to be suffering great pain. The manager felt her pulse and looked at her tongue, and after making a few more inquiries, to which no intelligible reply was given, told her he did not believe she was ill at all At this the woman's groans redoubled. " I have heard of your tricks," continued the manager; " you had a chill when I came to see you yesterday morning; you had a chill when the mistress came here, 'and 'you had a chill when the master .came. I never knew a chill to last the whole day. So youTl just get np now and go to the field, and if you don't work smart, you'll get a dressing; do you hear ?" We then left. The manager said that he rarely--almost never--had occasion to employ a physician for the people.

r
THE PBOPERTY ASPECT OF SLAVERY.
Never for accouchements; tlie women, from their labour in the field, were not subject to tlie difficulty, danger, and pain which attended women of the better classes in giving birth to their offepring. (I do not suppose that there was a physician within a day's journey of the plantations.)
Near the first quarters we visited there was a large black smith's and wheelwright's shop, in which a number of mechanics were* at work. Most of them, as we rode up, were eating their breakfast, which they wanned at their fires. "Within and around the shop there were some fifty ploughs which they were putting in order. The manager inspected the work, found some of it faulty, sharply reprimanded the workmen for not getting on faster, and threatened one of them with a whipping for not paying closer attention to the directions which had been given him.
The overseer of this plantation rode up while we were at the shop, and in a free and easy style, reported to the manager how all his hands were employed. There were so many at this and so many at that, and they had done so much since yesterday. "There's that girl, Caroline," said the manager ; " she's not sick, and I told her she must go to work ; put her to the hoeing; there's nothing the matter with her, except she's sore with the whipping she got. You must go and get her out." A woman passing at the time, the manager told her to go and tell Caroline she must get up and go to work, or the overseer would come and start her. She returned in a few minutes, and reported that Caro line said she could not get up. The overseer and manager rode toward the cabin, but before they reached it, the girl, who had probably been watching us from the window, came out and went to the field with her hoe. They then returned to me and continued their conversation. Just before we left the overseer, he said, " I think that girl who ran away last

200

OOTTOK ASO SLAVERY.

week was in her cabin last night." The manager told me, as -we rode on, that the people often ran away after they have been whipped, or something else had happened to make them angry. They hide hi the swamp, and come in to the cabins at night to get food. They seldom re-main away more than a fortnight, and when tLoy come in they are whipped. The woman, Caroline, he said, had been delivered of a dead child . ab^ut six weeks before, and had been complaining and getting rid of work ever since. She was the laziest woman on the estate. This shamming illness gave him the most disagreeable duty he had to perform. Jsegrccs were famous for it. " If it was not for her Lad character," he continued, " I should fear to make her go to work to-day; but her pulse is steady, and her tongue perfectly smooth. We have to be sharp with them ; if we were not, every negro on the estate would be a-bed."
TVe rode on to where the different gangs of labourers were at work, and inspected them one after another. I observed, as we were looking at one of the gangs, that they were very dirty. " Xegroes are the filthiest people in the world," said the manager; " there are .some of them who would not keep clean twenty-four hours at a time if you gave them thirty suits a year." I asked him if there were any rules to maintain cleanliness. There were not, but sometimes the negroes were told at night that any.one who came into the field the nest morning without being clean .would be whipped. This gave no trouble to those who were habi tually clean, while it was .in itself a punishment to those who were not, as they wore obliged to spend the night in washing.
They were furnished with two suits of summer, and one of winter clothing each ye-jr. Besides which, iiH.si of them got presents of holiday finery (culico drers,v, h;::.-'J]-f-x-1 k-5<, etc.),

THE PROPERTY ASPECT OF SLAVER \".

201

and purchased more for themselves, at Christmas. One of the drivers now in the 6eld had on a uniform coat of an officer of artillery. After the Mexican war, a great deal of military clothing was sold at auction in New Orleans, and much of it was bought by the planters at a low price, and given to their negroes, who were greatly pleased with it.
Each overseer regulated the hours of work on his own plantation. I saw the negroes at work before sunrise and after sunset. At about eight o'clock they were allowed to stop for breakfasi, and again about noon, to dine. The length of these rests was at the discretion of the overseer or drivers, usually, I should say, from half an hour to an hour. There was no rule.
The number of hands directed by each overseer was con siderably over one hundred. The manager -thought it would le letter economy to have a white man over every fifty hands, but the difficulty of obtaining trustworthy overseers prevented it. Three of those he then had were the best he had ever known. He clescrilied the great majority as being passionate, careless, inefficient men, generally intemperate, and totally unfitted for the duties of the position. The best overseers, ordinarily, are young men, the sons of small planters, who L ke up the business temporarily, as a means of acquiring a little capital with which to purchase negroes for them selves.
The ploughs at work, both with single and donHe mule teams, were generally held by women, and very well held, too. I watched with some interest for any indication that their sex unfitted them for the occupation. Twenty of them were ploughing together, with double teams and heavy ploughs. They were superintended by a negro man who carried a whip, which he frequently cracked at them, permitting no dawdling <r delay at iLc turning; and they twitched ther'r plouglis

202

COTTOK AND SLA7EBT.

around on the head-land, jerking their reins, and yelling to their mules, with apparent ease, energy, and rapidity. Throughout the South-west the negroes, as a rule, appear to be worked much harder than in the Eastern and Northern Slave States. I do not tliiufc they accomplish as much in tae same time as agricultural labourers at the North usually do, but they certainly labour much harder, and more unre mittingly. They are constantly and steadily driven up to their work, and the stupid, plodding, machine-like manner in which they labour, is painful to witness. This was especially the case with the hoe-gangs. One of them numbered nearly twu hundred hands (tor the force of two plantations was work ing together), moving across the field in parallel lines, with a considerable degree of precision. I repeatedly rode through the lines at a canter, with other horsemen, often coming upon them suddenly, without producing the smallest change or in terruption in the dogged action of the labourers, or causing one of them, so far as I could see, to Hit an eye from the gi-juncl. I had noticed the same tiling with smaller numbers before, but here, considering that I was a stranger, and that strangers could but very rarely visit the plantation, it amazed me very much. I think it told a more painful story than any I had ever heard, of the cruelty of slavery. It was emphasized by a tall and powerful negro who walked to and fro in the rear of the line, frequently cracking his whip, and calling out in the surliest manner, to one and another, " Shove your hoe, there! shove your hoe !" But I never saw him strike any one with the whip. -
The wlnp was evidently in constant use, however. There were no rules on the subject, that I learned; the overseers and drivers punished the negroes whenever they deemed it neces sary, and in such manner, and with such severity, as they thought fit "If you don't work faster,"-or "If you don'k

THE PHOPEKTr ASPECT OP SLAVERY.

203

work better," or "If you don't recollect what I tell you, I will have yon flogged," I often heard. I said to one of the overseers, " It must be disagreeable to have to punish them as much as you do ?" " Yis, it would be to those who are not used to it--but it's my business, and L think nothing of it. Why, sir, I wouldn't mind killing a nigger more than I would a dog." I asked if he had ever killed a negro ? " Xot quite that," he said, but overseers were often obliged to. Some negroes are determined never to let a white man whip them, and will resist you, when you attempt it; of course you must kill them in that case.* Once a negro, whom he was about to whip in the field, struck at his head with a hoe. He parried the blow with his whip, and, drawing a pistol, tried to shoot him; but the pistol missing fire, he rushed in and knocked him down with the butt of it. At another time, a negro whom he was punishing insulted and threatened him. He went to the house for his gun, and as he was returning, the negro, thinking he would be afraid of spoiling so valuable a piece of property by firing, broke for the woods. He fired at once, and pat six buck-shot into his hips. He always carried a bowie-knife, but not a pistol unless he anticipated some unusual act of insubordination. He always kept a pair of pistols ready loaded over the mantel-piece, however, in case they should be needed. It was only when he first came upon a plantation that he ever had much trouble. A great many overseers were unBt for their business, and too easy and slack with the negroes. When he succeeded such a man, he had

* " On Monday ln>t, as Jnm^ Alien (overseer on Frotliro's plantation at St. Maurice1) was punishing n ne-^i'o" bov named Jack, for stealing hoS, the bov ran off l-eiore the oxvi-stH-r Ij;wl ch:u>t;se<l him sufficiently for the offriice. He was immediately pur-tied by the oivix;er. who succeeileil in catching him, when the nfro drew a knife aiM inHii-t^i a te:rible cash in hi-: abdomen. The wounds of the overseer were dreas<tl ly !>!*. Stt-jh--ns, who pronounces it a very critical case, bat still entvituins hope nf hi? recovery."---Viii'/ii'/ccAcs Chronicle,

1

204

COTTOK A>*D SLAVERY.

hard work for a time to break the negroes in; but it did not take long to teach them their pkce. His conversation on the si'.bject was exactly like what I have heard said, again and apain, by northern shipmasters and officers, with regard to soainen.
I happened to see the severest corporeal punishment of a negro that I witnessed at the South while visiting this estate, I suppose, however, that punishment equally severe is com mon ; in fact, it must be necessary to the maintenance of adequate discipline on every large plantation. It is much more necessary than on shipboard, because the opportunities of hiding away and shirking labour, and of wasting and in juring the owner's property without danger to themselves, are far greater in the case of the slaves than in that of the sailors, but, above all, because there is no real moral obligation on the part of the negro to do what is demanded of him. The sailor performs his duty in obedience to a voluntary contract; the slave is in an involuntary servitude. The manner of the over seer who inflicted the punishment, and his suliseojuent conver sation wich me about it, indicated that it was by no mean; unusual in severity. I had accidentally encountered him, and he was showing me his plantation. In going from one side of it to the other, we had twice crossed a deep gully, at the bottom of which was a thick covert of brushwood. We weie crossing it a third time, and had nearly passed through the brush, when the overseer suddenly stopped his horse exclaim ing, " 'What's that ? Hallo! who are you, there ?"
It was a girl lying at full length on the ground at the bot tom of the gnl'y, evidently intending to hide herself from ns in the bushes.
" Who are you, there ?" "Sam's Sail, sir." " What are you skulking there for?"

THE PROPEBTY ASPECT OP SLATEBT.

205

The girl half rose, but gave no answer. " Have you been here all day ?" "No; sir." " How did yon get here ?" The girl made no reply. " Where have you been all day ?" The answer was unintelligible. After some further questioning, she said her lather acci dentally locked her in, when he went out in the morning. " How did you manage to get out ?" " Pushed a plank off, sir, and crawled out" The overseer was silent for a moment, looking at &e girl, and then said, " That won't do; come out here." The girl arose at once, and walked towards him. She was about eighteen years of age. A bunch of keys hung at her waist, ^yLich the overseer espied, and he said, " Your father locked you in; bat you have got the keys." After a little hesitation, she replied that these were the keys of some other locks; her father had the door-key. Whether her story were true or false, could 'have been ascertained in two minutes by riding on to the gang with wliich her iather was at work, but the overseer had made up his mind. " That won't do;" said he, " get down." The girl knelt on the ground; he got off his horse, and holding him with his left hand, struck her thirty or forty blows across the shoulders with his tough, flexible, " raw-hide " -whip (a terrible instnuuent for the purpose). They were well laid on,at arm's length, but with no appearance of angry excitement on the part of the overseer. At every stroke the girl winced and exclaimed, " Yes, sir!'' or " Ah, sir!" or " Please, sir!" not groaning or screaming. At length he stopped and said, " Now tell me the truth." The girl repeated the same story. "You have not got enough

2l)G

fiOTTOX AND SLAVEBT.

yet,"' said lie; " pull up your clothes--lie down." The girl without any hesitation, -without a word or look of remon strance or entreaty, drew closely all her garments under her shoulders, and lay down upon the ground with her face toward the overseer, who continued to flog her with the raw hide, across her naked loins and thighs, with as much strength as before. She now shrunk away from him, not rising, but writhing, grovelling, and screaming, "Oh, don't sir! oh, please stop, master! please, sir! please, sir! oh, that's enough, master! oh, ~Lord! oh, master, master! oh, God master, do stop ! oh, God, master! oh, God, master!"
A young gentleman of fifteen was with us; he had ridden in front, and now, turning on his horse, looked back with an expression only of impatience at the deky. It was the first time I had ever seen a woman flogged. I had seen a man cud gelled and beaten, in the heat of passion, before, but never flogged with a hundredth part of the severity used in this case, I glanced again at the perfectly passionless but rather grim business-like face of the overseer, and again at the young gentleman, who had turned away ; if not indifferent lie had evidently not the faintest sympathy with my emotion. Only my horse chafed. I gave him rein and spur and we plunged into the bushes and scrambled fiercely up the steep acclivity. The screaming yells and the whip strokes had ceased when I re-ached the top of the bank. Choking, sobbing, spasmodic groans only were heard. I rode on to where the road, coming diagonally up the ravine, ran out upon the cottonfield. My young companion met me there, and immediately afterward the overseer. He laughed as he joined us, and said :
" She meant to cheat me out of a clay's work, and she haa done it, too."
" Did yon succeed in getting another story from her ?" I asked, as soon as T could trust myself to speak.

THE PEOPERTY ASPECT OF SLAVER V.

207

"Xo; she stuck to it." " Was it not perhaps true ?" "Oh no, sir; she slipped out of the gang when they were going to work, and she's been dodging about all day, going from one place to another as she saw me coming. She saw us crossing there a little while ago, and thought we had gone to the quarters, but we turned back so quick, we came into the gully before she knew it, and she could do nothing but he down in the bushes." "I suppose they often slip off so." " Xo, sir; -1 never had one do so before--not like this ; they often run away to the woods, and are gone some time, but I never had a dodge-off like this before." " Was it necessary to punish her so severely ?" "Oh yes, sir," (laughing again.) "If I hadn't, she would have done the same thing again to-morrow, and half the people on the plantation would have followed her example. Oh, you've no idea how lazy these niggers are; you Northern people don't know anything about it. They'd never do any work at all if they were not afraid of being whipped." We soon afterward met an old man, who, on being closely questioned, said that he had seen the girl leave the gang as they went to work after dinner. It appeared that she had been at work during the forenoon, but at dinner-time the gang was moved, and as it passed through the gully she slipped out. The driver had not missed her. The overseer said that when he first took charge of this plantation, the negroes ran away a great deal--they disliked him so much. They used to say, 'twas hell to be on his place; but after a few mouths they got used to his ways, and liked him better than any of the rest. He had not had any run away now for some time. When they ran away they woxiJd generally return within a fortnight. If many of them went off, or if

208

COTTOK AXD SLAVE!:*.

they stayed out long, he would make the rest of the force work Sundays, or deprive them of some of their usual privileges until the runaways returned. The negroes on the plantation could always bring them in if they chose to do so. They depended on them for their food, and they had only to stop the supplies to oblige them to surrender.

Accepting the position of the overseer, I kne\v that his method was right, but it was a red-hot experience to me, and has ever since been a fearful thing in my memory. Strangely so, I sometimes think, but I suppose the feet that the delicate and ingenuous lad who was with me, betrayed not even the slightest flush of shame, and that I constrained myself from the least expression of feeling of any kind, made the impression hi my brain the more intense and lasting.
Sitting near a gang with an overseer and the manager, the former would occasionally call out to one and another by name, in directing or urging their labour. I asked if he knew them all by name. He did, but I found that the manager did not know one hi five of them. The overseer said he generally could call most of the negroes on a planta tion by their names in two weeks after he came to it, but it was rather difficult to learn them ou account of there being so many of the same name, distinguished from each other by a prefix. " There's a Big Jim here, and a Little Jim, and Eliza's Jim, and there's Jim Bob, and Jim ClarLsy."
" 'What's Jim Clarisy ?--how does he get that name ?" " He's Clarisy's child, and Bob is Jim Bob's father. That fellow ahead there, with the blue rag on his head, his name ia Swamp ; he always goes by that name, but his real name is Abraham, I believe; is it not, ifr. j Manager] ?" "His name is Swamp on the plantation register--that's all I know of him."

THE PEOPERTT ASPECT OF SLAVERY.

209

" I believe his name is Abraham," said the overseer; " he

told ine so. He was bought of Judge ----, he says, and he

t>l<l me his master called him Swamp because he ran away so

much. Ho is the worst runaway on the place."

I inquired alwit the increase of the negroes on the estate,

and the manager having told me the number of deaths and

births the previous year, which gave a net increase of four

per cent.--on Virginia estates it is often twenty per cent.--I

asked if the negroes began to have children at a very early

age. " Sometimes at sixteen," said the manager. " Yes,

and at fourteen," said the overseer; " that girl's had a child "

--pointing to a girl that did not appear older than fourteen.

" Is she married ?" " No." " You see," said the manager,

"negro girls are not remarkable for chastity; their habits

indeed rather hinder them from having children. They'd

have them yonnger than they do, if they would marry or live with but one man, sooner than they do.* They often do not

have children till they are twenty-five years old."' "Are

those who sec married true to each other ?" I asked. The

overseer laughed heartily at the idea, and described a dis

gusting state of things. Women were almost common pro

perty, though sometimes the men were not all inclined to

acknowledge it; for when I asked: "Do you not try to

discourage this ?" the overseer answered: " Xo, not unless

they quarrel." " They get jealous and quarrel among them

selves sometimes about it," the manager explained, "or

come to the overseer and complain, and he has them

punished." "Give all hands a damned good hiding," said

the overseer. " You punish for adultery, then, but not for

" Mr. Russell makes an observation to the same effect with regard to the Cuba

plantations, p. 230. On the large cotton plantations there are frequently more

men than women, men heinj bought in preference to women for cotton picking.

The contrary is usually the rase on the small plantations, where the profits of

hrceding negroes are constancy in view.

VOL. n.

.

p

210

COTTOS AXJ) SLAVERY.

f
fornication?" "Yes," answered the manager, but "No,"

insisted the overseer, " we punish them for quarrelling; if

they don't quarrel I don't mind anything about it, but if it

makes a muss, I give all four of 'em a warning."

Biding through a krge gang of hocrs, with two of the

overseers, I observed that a large proportion of them ap-

peared to be thorough-bred Africans. Both of them thought

that the "real black niggers" were about three-fourths of

Jhe whole number, and that this would hold as an average on

Mississippi and Louisiana plantations. One of them pointed

out a girl--" That one is pure white; you see her hair ?"

(It was straight and sandy.) " She is the only one we have

got." It was not uncommon, he said, to see slaves so white

that they eonld riot be easily distinguished from pure-blooded

whites. He had never been on a plantation before, that had

not more than one on it.* "Now," said I, "if that girl

should dress herself well, and run away, would she be sus

pected of being a slave ?" (I could see nothing myself by

which to distinguish her, as she passed, from an ordinary poor

white girl.)

" Oh, yes; you might not know her if she got to the

North, but any of us would know her." "How?"

" By her language and manners." " But if she had been brought up aa house-servant T " Perhaps not in that case."

* "A woman, calling herself Violet Lucilow, was arrested a few days ago, and commftted to jail, .n the s;:pps;'tinn th.it she was a runaway slave belonging to A. M. Motley, of Cft-hnr oncntr, Teias, who had offered through our columns reward of fifty Hollars for her apprehension. Ou beinf brought before a justice of the peace, she stated that she was a while worn .n, and claimed her liberty. Shf sfcites that she is a daus;litor of Jeremiah Ludiuw, of Pike county, AI.-tb.tmA, and W;i> brought from thnt roi-ntry in IS.~3, f,y Clenigo ("o]. who {migrated to Tias. After arriviiijx in Texas, she was sol I by < loor^e Cope to a Doctor Terry, in Cpshur county, Teias, anJ was suvn niter sold by him to a Mrs, Hagen, or Hagens, of the

THE PBOPERTY ASPECT Of SLAVERY.

211

The other thought there would be no difficulty; you could always see a slave girl quail when you looked in her eyes.
I asked if they thought the mulattoes or white slaves were weaker or less valuable than the pure negroes.
" Oh, no; I'd rather have them a great deal," said one. ""Well, I had not," said the other; "the blacker the better for me." "The white ones," added the first, "are .more active, and know more, and I think they do the most work." " Are they more subject to illness, or do they appear to be of weaker constitutions ?" One said they were not, the other that they did not seem to bear the heat as well. The first thought that this might be so, but that, nevertheless, they would do more work. I afterwards asked the manager's opinion. He thought they did not stand excessive heat as well as the pure negroes, but that, from their greater activity and willingness, they would do more work. He believed they were equally strong and no more liable to illness; had nc-ver had reason to think them of weaker constitiition. They often had large families, and he had not noticed that their

same county. Violet says that she protested against each sale made of her, declar ing herself .1 free woman. She names (leor^e Gilmer, Thomas Rogers, John Garret, and others, renoVnN of 1'ike cmnty, Al.ib.im.-i, as |iersons who have known her from infancy as the daughter of one Jeremiah J.udlow and I!ene Martin, a wtfon- at the time of her birth, and as bdii a free white woman, and her father a free white man. Violet is about instituting legal proceedings for hvr freedom."-- Slirrrffrtrt Southwestern.
" Some days since, a woman named Pelas^ie was arrested as a fugitive slave, who has lived for more than twelve years in this city as a free woman. She was K> reailr whit~that few could det:t any traces of her African descent. She was arrest oil at the instance of a man named llabv, who claimed her as belonging to an estate of which he is heir-at-law. She was conveyed to the First District guard house for safe keying, and while there Uie stalled to Acting Recorder Filleul that she was free, had never belonged to Kahy, and had !>een in tin- full and unquestioned enjoyment of her freedom in this city for the alove-mentioBed period. She also stated that she had a house, ivell fumjMieJ, which she WAS in the habit of letting out in rooms."--Neic Orleans /'iccrym*.
p2

212

COTTON AHD SLAVERY.

children were weaker or more .subject to disease than other*. He thought that perhaps they did not Lave so many children as the pure negroes, but lie had supposed the reason to l:o that they did not begin bearing so young as JLe others, unil tills was because they were more attractive to the men, and perhaps more amorous themselves. He knew a great many mukttoes laving together, and they generally had large and healthy families.
Afterwards, at one of the plantation nurseries, where there were some twenty or thirty infants and young children, a number of whom were evidently the offspring of white fathers, I asked the nurse to point out the healthiest children to mo, and of those she indicated more were of the pure than of the mixed breed. I then asked her to show me which were the sickliest, and she did not point to any of the latter. I then asked if she noticed anv difference in this respect between the bkck and the yellow children. " "Well, dey do say, master, dat de yellow ones is de sickliest, but I can't tell for true dat I ever see as dey was."
Being with the proprietor and the manager together, I asked about the religious condition of the slave*. There were " preachers " on the plantations, and they had some religions observances on a Sunday ; but the preachers were the worst characters among them, and, they thought, only made their religion a cloak for habits of especial depravity. They were, at all events, the most deceitful and dishonest slaves on the plantation, and oftenest required punishment. The negroes of all denominations, and even those who ordinarily made no religious pretension.5!, would join together in exciting religious observances. They did not like to have white men preach on the estate; and in future they did not intend to permit them to do so. It excited the negroes so much as to greatly inter fere with the subordination ~ and order which were necessarv

r

BELIGIOITS INSTRUCTION OP SLAVES.

213

to obtain the profitable use of their labour. They would be singing and dancing every night in their cabins, till dawn of day, and utterly unfit themselves for work.
With regard to the religious instruction of slaves, widely different practices of course prevail. There are some slave holders, like Bishop Polk of Louisiana,* who oblige, and niitny others who encourage, their slaves to engage in re ligious exercises, furnishing' them certain conveniences for the purpose. Among the wealthier slaveowners, however, and in all those parts of the country where the enslaved portion of the population outnumbers the whites, there is generally a visible, and often an avowed distrust of the effect of religions exercises upon slaves, and even the preaching of white clergymen to them is permitted by many with re luctance?. The prevailing impression among us, with regard to the important influence of slavery in promoting the spread of religion among the blacks, is an erroneous one in my opinion. I have heard northern clergymen speak as if they supposed

* " Bishop Polk, of Louisiana, was one of-the guests. He assured me thnt he bad la-en all over the country on Red Kivcr, the scene of the fictitious suflrfiiigs of 'Uncle Torn.' an-i that hi; had found the temporal and spiritual welfare of the aegioes w-ll rare! for. Hi! h;id confirmed thirty black persons near the situation assigned to Le^rer's estate. He is himself the owner of four hundred slaves, whom he endc.ivuurs to biitv.^ up in a religious manner. He tolerates no religion on his estate but that of the Church. He baptizes all the children, and teaches them the Catechism. All. without exception, atteud the Church service, and the chanting is creditably performed by them, in the opinion of their owner. Ninety of them are communicants, marriages are celebrated according to the Church ritual, and the state of morals is sitisthrtnry. Twenty infuufcs had been baptized by the bishop just before his de)rture from home, aad he had left his whole estate, his keys, &c., in the sole chnrjjo. of one of hi-s slaves, without the slightest apprehension of loss or damage. In judging of the position of this Christian. pr,'':itc as a slave-owner, the Kuijlish rea !er must bear in mind th.-it, by the laws of Louisiana. emaEicipntion h:is been reuderinl all but mvpraclicaMe, aud. tb:it. if pr.u'tK5ibK', it woul ( n-it ntH-e<-arilv be, in nil cases, an act of merry or of justice." -- TV H-.-dv/i H'u-fJ /.'.rixi't&J. l!y the l.Vv. Homy Casivall, M.A., author of "Am rial ,\ul the Ami.-ric.in t':i ircli," etc. OxlbrJ, Joha Henry I'arker, 1854.

214

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a regular daily instruction of slaves in the truths of Chris tianity to be general. So far is this from being the case, that although family prayers were held in several of the fiftv planters' houses in Mississippi and Alabama, in which I passed a night, I never in a single instance saw a field-hand attend or join in the devotion of the family.
In South Carolina, a formal remonstrance, signed by over three hundred and fifty of the leading planters and citizens,, was presented to a Methodist clergyman who had been chosen by the Conference of that State, as being a cautious and discreet person, to preach especially to slaves. It was hia purpose, expressly declared beforehand, to confine himself to verbal instruction in religious truth. " Verbal instruction," replied the remonstrants, "will increase the desire of the black population to learn. * * * Open the missionary slnice, and the current will swell in its gradual onward advance. We thus expect a progressive srjsfem of improvement will be introduced, or will follow from the nature and force of cir cumstances, which, if not checked (though it may be shrouds-d in sophistry and disguise), witt ultimately revolutionize our civil institutions."
The missionary, the Rev. T. Tnpper, accordingly retired from the field. The local newspaper, the Grenvifle Jfouniaineer, in announcing his withdrawal, stated that the great bodv of the people were manifestly opposed to the religious instruction of their slaves, even if it were only given orally.
Though I do not suppose this view is often avowed, or consciously held by intelligent citizens, snch a formal, distinct, and effective manifestation of sentiment made by so important an integral portion of the slaveholding body, cannot be sup posed to represent a merely local or occasional state of mind; and I have not been able to resist the impression, that even where the economy, safer}-, and duty of some sort of religious

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education of the-slaves is conceded, so much caution, reserva tion, and restriction is felt to be necessary in their instruction, that the result in the majority of cases has been merely to famish a delusive clothing of Christian forms and phrases to the original vague superstition of the African savage.
In the county of Liberty, in Georgia, a Presbyterian minister has been for many years employed exclusively in
labouring for the moral enlightenment of the skves, being engaged and paid for this especial duty by their owners. From this circumstance, almost unparalleled as it is, it may be inferred that the planters of that county are, as a body, remarkably intelligent, liberal, and thoughtful for the moral welfare of the childlike wards Providence has placed under their care and tutorship. According to my private in formation, there is no body of slaveowners more, if any as much so, in the United States. I heard them referred to with admiration of their reputation in this particular, even as far away as Virginia and Kentucky. I believe, that in no other district has there been displayed as general and longcontinued an interest in the spiritual well-being of the negroes. It must be supposed that nowhere eke are their circumstances more happy and favourable to Christian nurture.*
* Iu White's ' Statistics of Georgia' (page 3771, the citizen* of Liberty county an characterized as " unsurpassed tor the great attention paid to the duties of religion.**--Dr. Stevens, in his * History of Georgia,' describes them as " worthy of thi'ir sires," who were, " the moral and intellectual mAility of the province," "whose acces-ion was an ln>n<>i:r to (ieorjjin, and has ever prove I one of its rii he<t blessing."--In the binjrnjihy of General ^crivens the county of Lil>erty is tlesipiati-d " proud spot of (Uiirgti's soil!"--Dr. J. M. B. Harden, in a medical report uf the county, says : "The use uf intoxicating drinks has te*rnalnio>t entirely given up " by its |>eop!e.-- White sirs ('Statistics,'p. 37.!), " The people of Liberty, from their <?arlie*t settlement, have paid much attention to the subject of education. Excellent schools are found in differ, nt portions ot the county, and it Ji bei:eveJ a gie.itrr number of vount; men frum UlxMty oaduate at our colleges than from any [otlier] section of Georgia. Indeed, it has been proverbial for furmulling able ministers and instructors."

COTTON AND SIAVEK1.
After labouring thirteen years with a zeal and judgment wluch had made him famous, this apostle to the slaves of Liberty was called to the professorship of theology in the University of South Carolina. On retiring from his field of labour as a missionary, h^ addressed a valedictory sermon to his patrons, which La-; bv. n published. While there is no nn' -.sing despondency or ab-vucc of proper gratitude for such results as have rewarded lii* protracted labour, visible in this document, the summing up is not such as would draw unusual cheers if given in the report of an African missionary at the Tabernacle or Eseter Hall, Without a word on which the most vigilant suspicion could rest a doubt of his entire loyalty to the uttermost rights of property which might be claimed by those whom he addressed, he could not avoid indicating, in the following passages, what he had been obliged to see to be the insurmountable difficulty in the way of any vital elevation of character among those to whom he had been especially charged to preach the Gospel wherewith Christ blessed mankind :--
"They [his pastoral charjre] are, in the language of Scripture, 'your money.' They are the sonrce, the means of your wealth; by their labour do yon obtain the necessaries, the conveniences, ami comforts of life. The increase of them is the general sfnti'lnrd of your worldly prosperity: vritliont them you would be comparatively poor. TJieij are coiitfiiveiitly eo'ryftt after and detired at property, and irteii po&c&ed, mutt le so take* care nf and manaytd tw to le matff prfiidUe.
*J>nir, it is exceedingly difficult tn tiso them as money; to treat tlx-m as prop< rty, and at the same timt- render to them that which is just and eqaal as immortal :ind accomitable beings, and aa htirs of the grace of life, eiHially with ourR-lvcs. They are as'^ooiat'-d in onr business, and thuughta, and feelings, with Ial*>ur, an-1 interest, mitl gain, and wealth. Under the influence of the powerful fei-Hns of self-interest, there is a tendency to view and to treat tht-m as instmments of labour, aa a means of wealth, and to fjrj*ct or pass over lightly, the fact that they are what they arc, under the eye and government of Gi*l. There is a tendency to rcat t-ati-fit-1 with very small and miserable efforts for their moral improvement, in'! to

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give one's self but llitlo trouble to correct immoralities and reform wicked practiced and habits, should they Jo their work quietly and profitably, and eujuy health, and go on to multiply aud increase upuu the earth."

This is addressed to a body of "professing evangelical CKristians," in a district in which more is done for the elevation of the slaves than in any other of the South. What tiiey are called to witness from tlieir own experience, as tlic tendency of a system which recognizes skves as absolute property, mere instruments of labour and means of wealth, " exceedingly difficult" for them to resist, is, I am well con vinced, the entirely irresistible effect upon the mass of slaveholders. Fearing that moral and intellectual culture may injure their value as property, they oftener interfere to prevent than they endeavour to assist their skves from using tae poor opportunities that chance may throw in their way.
Moreover, the missionary adds:--

' The current of the convcrstlS.-ni r.n-1 of business in society, in respect to negroes, runs in the channel of interest, and thus increases the blindiii-si and insensibility of owners. * * * And tin's custom of society acts also mi the u< groe-, who, seeing, :>' 1 more tli.iti seeing, fcetimj and kitoiciny, tJt<it tlte'r fitciii-rs iryfirtl ami lrt.nl Uu'iH an tlt>:*r Hi'mry--a yro^eritj only--
are inclined to lose sight of their better character and higher interests, and, in their iguoruncc aud depravity, to estimate tl.euiselves, and religion, sucl virtue, no higher tliau t!:eir owners do."

Again, from the paramount interest of owners in the property quality of these beings, they provide them only such accommodations for spending the time in which they are not actively employed, as shall be favourable to their bodily health, and enable theni to comply with the commaDdmont, to " increase and multiply upon the r-artlj/' without regard to their moral health, without caring much for their obe dience to the more pure and spiritual commands of the Scripture.-.

L

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COTTON A3TO HLA.VEET.

"The consequent mingling up of husbands and wires, children and youths, banishes the privacy and modesty essential to domestic peace and purity, and opens wide the door to dishonesty, oppression, violence, and profligacy. The owner may see, or hear, or know little of it. His servants may appear cheerful, and go on in the usual vray, and enjoy health, and do liis will, yet their actual moral state may be miserable. * * * If family ivl'tt'fiiu are w>t pr&trr. lavl protected, we cannot look for any considerable il&jr?e nf moral and religiotti improtfment."
It mnst be acknowledged of slavery, as a system, not only in Liberty county, but as that system finds the expression of tlie theory on which it is based in the laws of every Southern State, that family relations are not preserved and protected Tinder it As we should therefore expect, the missionary finds that
"One of the chief causes of the immorality of negroes arises from the indifference both of themselves and of their owners to family relations."
Large planters generally do not allow their negroes to marry off the plantation to which they belong, conceiving " that their own convenience and interest, and," says the missionary, " the comfort and real happiness of their people" ~ are thereby promoted. Upon this point, however, it is but just to quote the views of the editor of the Southern Ayriculfut'iisf, who, in urging planters to adopt and strictly main tain such a regulation, says: " If a master has a sen-ant, and no suitable one of the other sex for a companion, he had better give an extra price for such an one as his would be willing to marry, than to have one man owning the husband, and the other the wife."
But this mode of arranging the difficulty seems not to have occurred to the Liberty comity missionary; and while arguing against the course usually pursued, he puts the following, as a pertinent suggestion :--
"Admitting tiuit tlii-y :iro pi-oplc linn'rKr their preferences as well as . Others, <intl tltere ? a *>';>;>?'/, run that love which is the foundation and essence of the ui.arri.igr stsit<- be lor.-i-ly"

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Touching honesty and thrift among the negroes, he says:"

"While some discipline their people for every act of theft committed against their interests, they have no care whatever what amount ofpilfering and stealing- the people carry on among tlieuifelres. Hence, in some places, thieves tlirive and honest men suffer, until it becomes a practice ' to keep if you can what is your owu, an;l get all you can besides that is your neighbour's. Things come to such a pass, that the saying of the negroes is literally true, 'The people live upon one another.' "

Referring to the evil of intemperance, it is observed:

"Whatever toleration masters use towards ardent spirits in others, they are generally inclined to use none in respect to their servants; and in efffctinsr tliis reformation, musters and mistresses should set the example; for without example.-, precepts and persuasions are powerless. Nor can force effect this reformation as surely and perfectly as persuasion --appealing to the eharucti r and happiness of the sen-ant himself, the appeal recognizes him in such a manner as to produce self-respect, and it ten'ls to give elevation of conduct and character. I will not dwell upon this point."

He will not dwell on this point ; yet, is it not evident that until this point can be dwelt upon, all effort for the genuine Christianization of the negro race in the South must be ineffectual ?
The benefit to the African which is supposed to be in cidental to American slavery, is confessedly proportionate to the degree in which he is forced into intercourse with a superior race and made subject to its example. Before I visited the South, I had believed that the advantages ac cruing from slavery, in th:3 way, far outweighed the occasional cruelties, and other evils incidental to the system. I found, however, the mental and moral condition of the ne groes, even in Virginia, and in those towns and districts con taining the krgest proportion of whites, much lower than I had anticipated; and as soon as I had an opportunity to examine one of the extensive plantations of the interior, although one

220

COTTOX A3?D SLAVEET.

inherited by its owner, and the home of a large and \irtuoui wliite fiuniiy, I was satisfied that the advantages arising to the blacks from association with tLeir white masters were very inconsiderable, scarcely appreciable, for the great majority of the field-hands. Even tha overseer had barely acquaint ance enough with the slaves, individually, to call them by name; the owner could not determine if he were addressing one of hia own chattels, or whether it was another man's property, he said, when by chance he came upon a negro off the work. Much less did the slaves have an opportunity to cultivate their minds by intercourse with other white peojxle. "Whatever of civilization, and of the forms, customs, and shib boleths of Christianity, they were acquiring by example, and through police'restraints, might, it occurred to me, after all, but poorly compensate the effect of the systematic withdrawal from thfin 01 all the usual influences which tend to nourish the moral nature and develops the intellectual faculties, in savages as well as in civilized free men.
This doubt, as my ^Northern friends well know, for I had habitually a~snme;l tLe opposite, in all previous di-cus-sions of the slavery question, was unexpected and jaiuful to me. 1 resisted it long, and it was not till I had been more than twelve months in the South, with my attention constantly fixed npon the point, that I ceased to suspect that the cir cumstances which .brought me to it were exceptional and deceptive. It grew constantly stronger with every op portunity I bad of observing the condition, habits, aud character of slaves whom I could believe to present lair examples of the working of the system with the majority of those subject to it upon the krge plantations.

The frequency with which the slaves use religious phrases of ill kin:!^ the readiness with which they engage in what

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are deemed religious exercises, and fall into religious ecstaciea. with the crazy, jocular manner in which they often talk of them, are staking and general characteristics. It is not afc all uncommon to lienx them refer to conversations which they allege, and apparently believe themselves_to have had with Christ, the apostles, or the prophets of old, or to account for some of their actions hy attributing them to the direct influ. enco of the Holy Spirit, or of the devil. It seems to me that this state of mind is fraught with more danger to their masters than any to which they could possibly have teen brought by general and systematic education, and by the un restricted study of the Bible, even though this involved what is so much dreaded, but which is, I suspect, an inevitable ac companiment of moral elevation, the birth of an ambition to look out for themselves. Grossly ignorant and degraded in mind, with a crude, undefined, and incomplete system of theology and ethics, credulous and excitable, intensely super stitious and fanatical, what better lield could a cunning mono maniac or a sagacious zealot desire in which to set on foot an appalling crusade ?
The African race?, compared with the white, at least with the Teutonic, have greater vanity or love of approbation, a stronger dmmatic and demonstrative character, more excita bility, less exact or analytic minds, and a nature more ?cnsuons, though (perhaps from want of cultivation) less refined. Tlipy take a real pic-asure, ior instance, such as it is a rare thing for a white man to bo able to feel, in bright and strongly contrasting colours, and in music, in which nearly all are proficient to some extent. They are far less adapted for steady, uninterrupted labour than we are, but excel us in feats demanding agility and tempestuous energy. A Mississippi steamboat manned by negro deck-hands will wood up a tldrd <picker than one maimed by the same number of whites; bnt

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white labourers of equal intelligence and under equal stimulus 'will cut twice as much wood, split twice as many rails, and hoe a third more corn in a day than negroes. On many plantations, religious exercises are almost the only habitual recreation not purely sensual, from steady dull labour, in which the negroes are permitted to indulge, and generally all other forms of mental enjoyment are discouraged. Keligions exercises are rarely forbidden, and a greater freedom to indi vidual impulse and talent is allowed while engaged in them than is ever tolerated in conducting mere amusements or edu cational exercises.
Naturally and necessarily all that part of the negro's nature which is otherwise suppressed, hursts out with an in tensity and vehemence almost terrible to witness, in forms of religious worship and communion; and a " profession" of piety which it is necessary to make before one can take a very noticeable part in the customary social exercises, is almost universal, except on plantations where the ordinary tumul tuous religious meetings are discouraged, or in towns where other recreations are open to the slaves.*
Upon the value of the statistics of " coloured church mem bership," which are often used as evidence that the evils of

* The following newspaper paragraph rnJicnte, tlic wholesale way ill whiih sla^fe; may be nominally Chvisti.tnizM :--
" REVIVAL AMONG THK SL.vvr.s.--Rev. J. M. C. Breaker, of B-aufort, S.C., writes tn the F!o"t!iem B'lf'tiat, that within the hut thiee months he hasliar.t'zpH by immersion three hrntir.-i and fifty ]:ei#ous. n!J ,,f them, fi?.' <t fi'v Wt'>-t>f.H\ nf'jnxs. Tbe* <-onTprsion< we: e the res-i !t of a reviv;\! hit h has been in progress during the last six months. On the lith inst., he baptize^ two hundreJ and twenty-three converts--all blacks but thi<w--nnj the ci-retnony. althorch performed with -lue deliberation, oct'up:f<i only one hour and five minutes. This is neaily fivir a minnt", and Mr. Breaker con-M(>rs it a demonstration that the three thousand conrerfel on the dav of IVut'^-ost couM easily have )XH?Q baptized by the twch-e apostles--each taking tro huadu-il and fifty--in JIB hour and tliiitefTi minutes.**

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slavery are fully compensated by its influence in- Christianiz ing the slaves, some light is thrown by the following letter from the white pastor of a town church in that part of the South in which the whites are most numerous, and in which the negroes enjoy the most privileges.

" To (he Editor of tlit Ki\7mx>nd (Virginia) RAigiotu Herald.
* * * "The truth is, the teachings of the pulpit 'at least amon Baptists') have nothing to do with the matter. Let mo furnish a case in proof. Of two churches which the writer serves, his immediate predecessor was pastor for about twenty-five years. It would be only necessary to give his name, to furnish the strongest and most satisfactory assurance that nothing which ever fell fruui his lips roulJ be construed into the support of ignorance, superstition, or fanaticism. During the five or six years I have served these churches, whatever may have lx-en my errors and failings (and I am ready to admit tluit they have been numerous and grievous enough, in all conscience), I know I have never uttered a suitiment wLich could lie tortured into the support of the sujx rstitions pre vailing among the Coloured people. And yet in both these churches, the coloured members are as superstitious and fanatical us they arc elsewhere. Indeed, this was to !_> csjx-cti.il, for I certainly claim no superiority over my brethren in the ministry, an-1 I am satisfied tl^at many of them arc fur bitter qualified than I am to expose error and to root out superstition. This state of things, then, is not due to the teachings of the pulpit. Nor is it the result of private instructions by masters. Indeed, these last have been afforded so sparingly, till within a few years since, that they conld produce but little effect of any sort. And, bi sides, those who own ser vants, and are willing to teach them,arc far too intelligent to countenance superstition in any way. I repeat the inquiry, tl.en, Why is it that so many of our coloured members arc ignorant, superstitious, and fanatical ? It is the effect of instructions received from leading men among themselvrs, and the churches aro responsible for this effect, in so fur as they receive into fellowship those who have listened to thisc iiiitructiong, ground their hopes upon them, and guide their lives by them. Whatever we njav sav against superstition, so long as we receive into our churches thoce who lire its slaves, they will believe that we think them Christians; and naturally re-lying on our judgment as expressed by their reception, the}- will live delude 1, ami die but to l>c lost
But some one will MIV. ' We never receive coloured persona when they manifest th< 8<'.sujx.>r.-t!ti.;>id--when they tilk of visions, dreams, sounds,' etc. This is right as . a.- it goes. In every sucli case they should be injected. Cut superstition nf :i f.it-d chumctcr often esists where nothing

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:? sail abont dreams an-1 visions. It is just as iti!!r superstition.- t-i trat i:i pr.:yera and feeling as in Jnams and visions. And this is t'.u <.rt of snp-.-rst:tion which now prevails among the coloured people. Ti.ey have fon:: I that sights nn.l sounds will not answer before the whites, auJ now (TfSOTving these, perhaps, for some chosen auditory of their ovrn colour}, tin v substitute prayers and feelings. In illustration permit rue to reeonl, in ::o spirit of levity, tlje stereotyped experience which generally passes cnrr. nt, and, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, introduces the coloured caniiMate into the church. The pastor is informed, by on'e of the 'coloured ili aeons,' ti.at a man wishes to ufft-r to the church wifh a view to baptism. T::e fact is announced, a meeting of the church called, and the candidate corn, s forward.
* P"ftor.--* Well, Jol.n, tell me in a few words, in yonr own way, yonr Ti-Iigiuiw experience. What have been your feelings, and wliat arc yonr prr sent l.ojics anljiurposea?'
" JiJ.n.-- ' I sec otl.cr rtople trying, and so IthSught I would try too, as I \.n'\ a sr.nl to save. So 1 weut to pray, and the more I pray the wus I felt: so I ktjit on praying, and the more I pray the wua I felt. I felt Iie;ivy--I felt a wcijl.t--and I kept on praying till at last I felt light-- I felt c:sy--I f,It like I loved all Christian people--I felt like I loved everybody.'
. Now this is positively the whole of the experience wliich is jrenerally rtL-.ted l.y coloured cindidates for baptism. Ti-ere may he a slight varia tion of cxr.rrss'on noTT and then, but the sense is almost invariably the same. On this cxpirienco,hum.lrcdg have been received into t';c churches -- I 1 avc received m;:ny ujx)u it myself. I nm somewhat cnriouj to know liow i:ir.ny cf t!.e seventy, fcptlzed l.y my gool brother IXIL hy, told tliis fc!?. 111 w:;mir.t not li ss thun fifty. Have any of us been riglit in re ceiving ]>crsons on MUh a relation as this? In the whole of it, there is
not one word of gospel, in t cue word about sorrow for sin, not one word aiwut faith, not one word about Christ. I know thut ull these tilings arc sulfcx (jumtly i.ruu;.'ht out by quc.stious ; and were tl.is not the <-ase. I have no idc-a that the candi Ute would be in any instance received. S"t Cint tlifg-t ynostiont maybe unJenfoftd, they are ma' 1.f. ne^dfarily 'leading <lue*t''iM*,' sac!, as snjrjrest t!:eir answers ; and consequently tliese answers are of comparatively little value. * * * I am aware that, as brother Bughy siissn'sta^ private i:istrui'tii.ns hy masters have been too much neglected. Hut tl:*te can aecrrmj'l.'tJi lut little yocii, to long cu th^y are eounterartad by Of ttnch'ttrjf nf leading coloured mcmltn, tn teJtoee cteics. after all ourejorts, (ke coloured jjf(,j,le iciU hare most confidence.'
^
Xot tlie ssialk-st sng-^ostion, I observe, in all the long
article -from wliicli the a?ve is derived, is ventured, that the

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negroes are capable of education, or that their religious con dition would improve if their general enlightenment of mind were not studiously prevented.
" I have often heard the remark made," says the Ber. C. C. Jones, in a treatise on the " Bcligious Instruction of Slaves," printed at Savannah, Georgia, 1812, "by men whose standing and office in the churches afforded them abundant opportunity for observation, that the more they have had to do with coloured members, the less confidence they have been compelled to place in their Christian pro fessions."
A portion of a letter written for publication by the wife of the pastor of a church in the capital of Alabama, given below, naively reveals the degree of enlightenment prevailing among the Christianized Africans at a point where their means of in struction arc a thousand timea better than they are on an average throughout the country.

"Having talked to him seriously, and in the strongest light hcM up to
him the enormity of tl;e crime of forsaking his lawful wife and taking another, Cully replied, most earnestly, and not taking in at all the idea of guilt, but deeply distressed at having offi ndcd his master :
"'Lor, Massa Hiiry, what was I to do, sir? She tuk all I could git, and more tevi, sir, to put on lier back ; and tcllm' de (rnf, sir, dress herself as no poor man's wife l,av' nny right to I 'monstr.itrd wid her, massa, but to no purpose ; and den, sir, w'y I jis did all a decent man could do--Icf her, sir. for Amis oder nigger better off'an I is.'
" Twau no use. Colly could not be aroused to conscientiousness on the subject.

"Xot one in a thousand, I suppose, of these poor crcnturrs have any conception whatever of the sanctity of marriage; n^r can they he nwdo to have; vet, Btrunge to say, t'.xy are perfect models of eonJHiral fidelity and devotion while the temporary bondage lasts. I have known tl.em to Wi'.lk miles after a hard day's work, not only occasionally, but every night, to see the old woman, and cut her wood fur her, etc. But to see the cool ness with which they throw off the yoke is diverting in the extreme.
" I was accosted one morning in my husband's study by a respectablelooking uegro woman wlnt rnetkly imjnind if Mr. B. w;;Rat Lome.

YD! . II.

Q

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COTTON A>n>

"' So, he is not. Ls it anytl.ing particular yon want ? --perhaps I cam help you.'
" ' Yes, ma'am ; it's pnrticfcler business wid himself.' " Having goad reason to believe it was the- old story of a ' mountain in lalwnr and brought frth a mouse,' I j>resstd tJ.c qiu-StiL.ii, parti} to SITU JUT better half some of the petty annoyances to which he was almost daily subjected by liis sable flock, and partly, I own, to gratify'a becc.ming and laudable curiosity, after all this show of mystery. Behold the answer in plain, English, or rather nigger English. "'I came to ask. please ma'am, if I nii;.'ht have another husband.' "Just at this crisis the oracle entend, trim, having authority by a few spoken words, to join together those whom no man may put asunder, these poor people aimply iuiiigine liira gifted witL equal power to annul tlie con tract with & breath of his mouth. "I was heartily amused to find tl.nt this woman was really no widow,as I had supposed, but merely from caprice, or some reason satisfactory to herself, no doubt, tm>k it into her head to drop li<-r present spouse mid look out for another. The matter was referred to the 'Qiwrtirly C in ference,' where an amusing scene occurred, which resulted in the dis comfiture, of the disconsolate petitioner, who returned to her home rather crest-fallen.
"These Quarterly Conference ilelmtis, for flights of oratory, and sui>crlativeness of diction, begg;tr all description. Be it undcretocxi, that negroes, as a class, liave more 'business ' t-> attend to than nny otlur people--that is, provided they can fh< reby get a c!:ance to speak 'fore white folks.' To make a speech is glory enough for Sambo, if he happen to have the ' gift of sb;' and to speuk before the preuoher is an honour unparalleled. Aud, by the way, if the preacher l.ave will and wit enough to manage and control the discordant elemtnt= of a negro Quarterly Conference, he will be abundantly rewarded with such ro=pc-ct and gratitude as a man seldom ffiay lay claim to. Tiiey account him but a vi ry little ' lower than the angels;' and their lives, their fortunes, ami theirgarml honour, are equally l.is at command. But wo be to the unfortunate pastor who treats them with undue indulgence ; they will besiege him daily and hourly with their |K try ; ffnirs, and their l>Usin< ss meetings will be such a monojioly of liis t 'lie at.d patience, that but for the fareie;il chnr.iet r of the same, making tin m more like dramatic entertainments than sober realities, he would l>e ,"n <le.-pair. Far into the short I.ours of luoniing will they sprvchify and jn.,.-:iit;,, until nothing but the voice of stern authority, iu a tone of com!..;i:.d not to be mistaken, can -stop the current."
An Alabama gentleman whom I qnestioned with regard to
the chastity of the so-called pious slaves, confessed, that four
negro women had borne children in his own house, all of

r

BEUGIOUS rxsTutrcnos OF SLATES.

227

them at the time mambers in good standing of the Baptist church, and none of them calling any man husband. The only negro man in the house was also a church member, and he believed that he was the father of tLe four children. He said that he did not know of more than one negro woman whom he could suppose to be chaste, yet he knew hosts who were members of ehurches.*
A Northern clergyman who had been some years in another town in Alabama, where also the means of instruction offered the slaves were unusually good, answered rny inquiry, What proportion of the coloured members of the churches in the town had any clear comprehension of the meaning of the articles of iaith which they professed ? " Certainly not more than one in seven."
The acknowledgment tbat "the coloured people will, in spite of all our eSbrts, have more confidence in the views of leading coloured members," made by the writer of the letter taken from the " Religious Herald," has been generally made by all clergymen at the South with whom I have conversed. A clergyman of the Episcopal Church, of very frank and engaging manners, said in my presence that he had been striving for seven years to gain the confidence of the small number of Africans belonging to his congregation, and with extreme humility he had been lately forced to acknowledge that all his apparent success hitherto had been most delusive.

* "A smnll farmer," who "has had control of negroes for thirty years and hasten puisuing his jjio.^nt M'steni with them ibr twenty years/' audwho "own ing bt;t a fen sl.-ires is Me," as he ob.-*nres, "to do better by them" than large fhntei-s, lotting to Mr. De Bo-, *ay# " 1 have tried faithfully to bienk up immo rality. 1 hare not known an roth to be sworn for a long time. I know of no <j: an -filing, 1:0 willing hju>li iwmi-s, nud but little stealing. Habits of amalga* mat inn, I cMiiut stvp. I (au only ohevk it in name. I am willing to be taught, for I hnve tiii even-thinar I know." He has his field-negroes attend his own family pi aye; s on Sunday, prayer meetings at four o'clock Sunday mornings, etc.-- Ik: fru'c's J.'rfjtirces, vol. ii., p. :i37.
Q2

228

COTTON ^T> SLAVERY.

When asked how lie accounted for it, Le at once ascribed, it to the negro's habitual distrust of the white race, and in discussing tLe causes of thus distrust he asked how, if he pre tended to believe that the Bible was the Word of God, addressed equally to all the human race, he could explain to a negro's satisfaction why he should fear to put it directly into his hands and instruct him to read it and judge for him self of his duty ? A planter present, a member of his church, immediately observed that these were dangerous views, and advised him to te cautious in the expression of them. The laws of the country forbade the education of negroes, and the church was, and ho trusted always would remain, the bulwark of the laws. The clergyman replied that he had no design to break the laws, but he must say that he considered that the law which withheld the Bible froia the negro was un necessary and papistical in character.*
The "Methodist Protestant," a religious newspaper edited by a clergyman, in Maryland, where the slave popu lation is to the free only in the ratio of one to twenty-five, lately printed an account of a slave auction in Java (trans lated from a Dutch paper), at which the father of a skve Sunily was permitted to purchase his wife and children at a nominal price, owing to the humanity of the spectators. The account concluded as follows :--

"It wonM be difficult to describe the Joy experienced by fhcse slaves on hearing the fall of the hammer which thus gave them thtir liberty :

* The ">o?:rhe:7? I^es-brterjan/* in reriewini; s*.me ob>ej rnfJo-ns mr.Je Kt-fr.e .1 South Caioliai Bib'e Society, in whk-h it haJ loon i:rgfi that it' :.!.ITC> \ve.e )*rm:ttil to rea'i the Bible, they wouH learn from it to he more MibmWro tn tl.e authority which the State gives the master ovei- 'them, says th:^t the speaker " .-eerns to be uninformed of the fact that the Scriptures are real in our churches every Sabbath day. and thoe very passages which inculcate the lehitive Juties of mastei.-i and servants in consequence of their textual, i.t. legally prescribed connec tions, are mvrr fref<ent!'j revl than any other portions of the Bible."

EELtCI INSTRUCTION OF SLATES.

229

and tLis j\v \va.< furi.'u.: ^merited by the prescnU given them by nnniIxrs of ti.e siK'otutor.-, hx -rde-r tlr.it they mi^ht be ablu to obt.au a subtistenc-v till such thin- as ti-iy could procure employment.
" Tin .-x- are t!ic acts uf a nolle, generosity that deserves to be remem bered, and which, at the sr.me tiiue, testify that the inhabitants of Java bcu'iu to abhor tin- crying itijtutioc of slavery, and are willing t > entertain incasun-s for its iib.)lit:on."
To give currency to such ideas, even in Man-land, would be fatal to what ministers call tlieir " influence," and which they everywhere value at a rather dangerous estimate; ac cordingly, in the editorial columns prominence is given to the following salve to the outraged sensibilities of the subscribers:
"SLAVE ACCTHJX rs JAVA.
"A brief arti'-lo, with thin head, ap[>cnrs on the fourth page of our paper tii;V \vrck. It is of ii c-hiM of iirticli-d wi- utrer selrrt, Ixfansc the)' are v<'ry i -~t. n mannfaetnred by ixirngnipliigfa for a purpose, and are nut reliable. It was put in by our printer in plaee of somet!iin<r we had marked out. We ili'l not sec tUis oljeftionable substitute until the outside form was worked oft', and arc therefore not responsible for it."*
The habitual caution imposed on clergymen and public tencliers must, and obviously does have an important second ary effect, similar to that usually attributed by Protestants to papncy, upon the minds of all the people, discountenancing and retarding the free 'and fearless exercise of the mind upon subjects of a religious or ethical nature, and the necessity of accepting and apologizing for the exceedingly low morality of the nominally religious slaves, together with the iamiliarity with this immorality which all classes acquire, renders the existence of a very elevated standard of morals among the whites almost an impossibility.f
In spite of the constant denunciations Ly the Southern
* Oi<;:<n:.4*J action for the abolition of slavery in the isl.ind of Java, has since been anthi-atlcallv ipport.-d.
t Tu i-c it happened tu eorne to my knowle.lje that sons of .1 planter, by whom I tvns lolled while on this journey--la Isot'fi.urtevn or sixteen--\vhoweresupposed to have slept in (he same room with me, really spent the niprht, till after daybreak, in the aegro callus. A southern merchant, visiting New York, to whom I ex-

230

COTTOX AND SLAVERY.

newspapers, of those who continued to patronize Northern educational institutions, I never conversed with a cultivated Southerner on the effects of slavery, that he did not express a wish or intention to have his own children educated where they should be free from demoralizing association with slaves. That this association is almost inevitably corrupting and dangerous, is very generally (I may say, excepting by the extremest ianatics of South Carolina, universally) admitted. Now, although, the children of a few wealthy men may, for a limited .period, be preserved from this danger, the children of the million cannot be. Indeed it requires a man of some culture, and knowledge of the rest of the world, to appreciate the danger sufficiently to guard at all diligently against it. If habitual intercourse with a hopelessly low and immoral class is at all bad in its effects on young minds, the people of the South are, as a people, educated subject to this bad influence, and must bear the consequences. In other words, if the slaves must not be elevated, it would seem to be a necessity that the citizens should steadily degenerate,
Change and grow more marked in their peculiarities with every generation, they certainly do, very obviously. " The South " has a traditional reputation for qualities and habits in

pressed the view I had been led to form of the evil of Javery in fhfe war, replied rftit he thought I over-estimated the evil to boys on the plantations, but th.tt it was imrossible to over-estimate it in towns. " I have personal knoxvledge," he continued, " that there are but two lads, sixteen rears oM. in oor town, [_ small market town of Alabama,] who have not already had occasion to resort to remedies for the penalty of licentiousness." " When on my brothel's plantation, just befoie J came North," said another Southern merchant, on his annual visit to New York, " I was informed thiit each of his family-sei vants were suffering from ----, and I ascertain**! that each of my brother's children, gills and bors, had been informed of it, and knew how and from whom it had bt*n acquired. The negroes being their familiar companions, J tried to jet my bi other to send them North with im to school. I told him he might as well have them educated in a brothel at once, as in the wny they were growing up."

RELIGIOUS EfSTKTCTIOJI OF SLATES.

231

which I think the Sonthern people, as a^ whole, are to-day more deficient than any other nation in the world. The Southern gentleman, as we ordinarily conceive him to be, is as rare a phenomenon in the South at the present day as is the old squire of Greoflry Crayon in modern England. But it is unnecessary to argue how great must be the influence, upon people of a higher origin, of habitual association with a race systematically kept at the lowest ebb of intellect and morals. It has been elaborately and convincingly described by Mr. Jefferson, from his personal experience and observation of his neighbours. What he testified to be the effect upon the Virginians, in his day, of owning and associating with slaves, is now to be witnessed to a far greater and more deplorable extent throughout the whole South, but most deplorably in districts where the slave population predomi nates, and where, consequently, the action of slavery has been most unimpeded.*
* JetTerson fails to enumerate, among the evil* of slavery, .one of its influences whiih I am inclined to think a> di>tmct anil as baneful to us nationally as any oth<?:\ How r.in men retain the most esspntbl quality of trt:e mauliood who daily, without i emnstrance or interference, sec men beaten, whose position renders effective i-eiistincre totally impracticable--and not only men, but women, too .' Is it not partially the result nt* this, that self-respect seldom soems'fo suggest to an ancry man at the South that he should use anvthiiijr like maijnaniinitT ? that he should be careful to secure fair play for his opponent in a quarrel ? A gentleman of veracity, now living; in the South, toU me that among his friends h bad once numbered two young men, who were themselves iiitimnte fiiwids, till one of them, takiuj offi-n-'-e at some foolish words uttered by the other, clialUmjred him. A large crowd assembled to see the duel, which took place on a piet-e of prairie grouni. The combatants came armed with riile<, aud at the H.>t interchange of .-hols the challenged man fell disabled by * ball iu the thigh. The other, throw ing down his rifle, walkel toward him, and kneeling by his sid**, drew a bowie knife, and deliberately butchered him. The crowd of bystanders not only per mitted this, but the execrable assassin still lives in the community, has since marvieJ, and, as far as my infomnaat could judge, his social position has been rather advanced than otherwise, from thus dealing with his enemy. In what oth-r Kngli-h--iu what other civilized or half-civilize! community would_such cowanlly atrocity have been endured ?

232

COTTOX ASD SLAVERY.

"What proportion of the larger cotton plantations are resided upon by their owners, I am unaUe to estimate with confidence. Of those having cabin accommodations for fifty slaves each, -which came under my observation from the road, while I was travelling through the rich cotton district border ing the Mississippi rfirer, I think more than half were un provided with a habitation which I could suppose to be the ordinary residence of a man of moderate wealth. I should judge that a large majority of all the slaves in this district, were left by their owners to the nearly unlimited government of hireling overseers the greater part of the time. Some of these plantations are owned by capitalists, who reside per manently and constantly in the North or in Europe. Many are owned by wealthy Virginians and Carolinians, who reside on the " show plantations " of those States--country seats, the exhausted soil of which will scarcely produce sufficient to feed and clofhe the resident slaves, whose increase is constantly removed to colonize these richer fields of the Weat.
A still larger number are merely occasional sojourning places of their owners, who naturally enough prefer to live, as soon as they can afford to do so, where the conveniences and luxuries belonging to a highly civilized state of society are more easily obtained than they can ever be in a country of large plantations. It is rare that a plantation of this class can have a dozen intelligent families residing within a day's ride of it. Any society that a planter enjoys on his estate must, therefore, consist in a great degree of permanent guests. Hence the name for hospitality of wealthy planters. A large plantation is necessarily a retreat from general society, and L? used by its owner, I ain inclined to think, in the majority of cases, in winter, as Berkshire villas and farms are in summer by rich people of New York and Boston. I

THE PBOPEKTY ASTECT OF SLAVERY.

233

have never been en a plantation numbering fifty field-hands, the owner of which was accustomed to reside steadily through the year upon it. Still I am aware that there are many such, and possibly it is a minority of them who are regularly absent with their families from their plantations during any consider able part of the year.
The summer visitors to our Northern watering places, and the European tourists, from the South, are, I judge, chiefly of the migratory, wealthy class. Such persons, it is evident, are much less iiifluer.ced in their character and habits, by association with slaves, than any other at the ' Sonth.
The number of the very wealthy is, of course, small, yet as the chief part of the wealth of these consists in slaves, no inconsiderable proportion of all the slaves belong to men who deputize their government in a great measure to overseers. It may be computed, from the census of 1850, that about one half the slaves of Louisiana and one third that of Mississippi, belong to estates of not less than fifty slaves each, and of the.se, I believe, nine-tenths live on plantations which their owners reside upon, if at all, but transiently.
The number of plantations of this class, and the propor tion of those employed upon them "to the whole body of negroes in the country, is, as I have said, rapidly increasing At the j resent prices of cottcn the large grower has such ad vantages over the small, that the owner of a plantation of fifty slaves, favourably situated, unless he lives very reck lessly, will increase in wealth so rapidly and possess such a credit that he may very soon establish or purchase other plantations, so that-at his death his children may be provided fo: without reducing the effective force of negroes on any divi sion of his landed estate. The excessive credit given to snch planters by negro dealers and tradesmen renders this the

234

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

more practicable. The higher the price of cotton the higher

is that of negroes, and the higher the price of negroes the

less is it in the power of men of small capital to buv them.

Large plantations of course pay a much larger per centage

on the capital invested in them than smaller ones; indeed

the only plausible economical defence of slavery is simply

an explanation of the advantages of associated labour, advan

tages which are possessed equally by large manufacturing

establishments in which free labourers are brought together

and employed in the most effective manner, and which I

can see no sufficient reason for supposing could not be made

available for agriculture did not the good results flowing

from small holdings, on the whole, counterbalance them.

If the present high price of cotton and the present scarcity

; of labour at the South continues, the cultivation of cotton

|

on small plantations will by-and-by become nnusnal, for the

same reason that hand-loom weaving has become unusual in

the farm houses of Massachusetts.

Bnt whatever advantages large plantations have, they

accrue only to their owners and to the buyers of cotton; the

mass of the white inhabitants are dispersed over a greater

surface, discouraged and driven toward barbarism by them,

and the blacks upon them, while rapidly degenerating from

all that is redeeming in savage-life, are, it is to be feared,

gaining little that is valuable of civilization.

In the report of the Grand Jury of Bichland District,

South Carolina, in eighteen hundred and fifty-four, calling

for a re-establishment of the African slave trade,* it is

observed : " As to the moralty of this question, it is scarcely

necessary for ua to allude to it ; when the fact is remarked

* Uirhhixl Di.-trift contains seven thousand white, and thirteen thousand s!sre popt:Ut:u. The I.Ypoit is publish* 1 in the C/utflc*lin St-znJii-tf, October 12th, 18.-U.

^

THE PBOPEBTT ASPECT OF SLAVERY.

235

that the plantations of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas have been and are daily settled by the removal of skves from the more northern of the Slave States, and that in consequence of their having been raised in a more healthy climate and in most cases trained to pursuits totally different, the mortality even on the best-ordered farms is so great thnt in many instances the entire income is expended in the purchase of more slaves from the same source in order to replenish and keep up those plantations, while in every case the condition of the slave, if his life is spared, is made worse both physically and morally. * * * And if you look at the subject in a religious point of view, the contrast is equally striking, for when you remove a slave from the more northern to the more southern parts of the slaveholding States, you thereby diminish his religious opportunities."
I believe that this statement gives an exaggerated and calumnious report of the general condition of the slaves upon the plantations of the States referred to--containing, as they do, nearly one half of the whole slave population of the South --but I have not been able to resist tie conviction that in the districts where cotton is now grown most profitable to the planters, the oppression and deterioration of the negro race U much more lamentable than is generally supposed by those who like myself have been constrained, by other con siderations, to accept it as a duty to oppose temperately but determinately the modern policy of the South, of which this is an immediate result. Its effect on the white race, I still consider to be infinitely more deplorable.

236

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

CHAPTER VI.

SLAVERY AS A POOR-LAW SYSTEM.
Is the year 1846 the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States addressed a circular of inquiries to' persona engaged in various businesses throughout the country, to ob tain information of the national resources. In reply to this circular, forty-eight sugar-planters, of St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana, having compared notes, made the following statemeat of t'ae usual expenses of a plantation, which might be expected to produce, one year -with another, one hundred hog?hf-aJs of sugar:--

H->ast!iolJ and family expenses .. .. .. .. Ovvrec-er's salary .. .. .. .. .. .. F'Xxi anil clothing for 15 working hands, at $30 ..
Food and c-Iotl.inrz for 15 uld nccrocs and children, at S15 1} per cent, on capital invested '.which is about $ lO.OOOj,
to keep it in repair .. .. .. .. ..

$1,000 400 450 225
GOO

50 lio-rshcads sugar, at 4 cents per pound 'net

P'rX-OClli;

..

..

..

..

..

25 hogsheads sugar, at 3 cents ptr pound (net

proceed)

.. .. .. .. ..

2.5 UoTsheads sugar, at 2 cents per pound (nut

proceed-*,

-- .. .. .. ..

4,000 gallons of molasses, at 10 cents .. ..

2,675
52,000
750
500 400 -------- 3,650

Leaving a profit of-. .. .. .. .. .. 975

r

SLAVERY AS A POOIl-LAW SYSTEM.

237

Another gentleman furnished the following estimate of the expenses of one of the larger class of plantations, working one hundred slave-?, and producing, per annum, four to five hundred hogsheads of sugar:--

Oiviwer .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Physician's attendance (by contract, *3 a head, of all

ages! .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Yearly rop;iir.i to online, eopp;. r work, resetting of sugnr

kcttlc-s-, etc., t lenst .. .. .. .. ..

Eiimctr,'hiring ;;r:iulii]jrge<ison

.. .- ..

Pork, DO ponii'ls pir day--say, per annum, 90 hogs

heads, at c 12 .. - -

Hi-ops

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Clothing, tvro full suits per annum, shoes, caps, hats,

and luO blankets, at least * 15 per slave .. f.

Muk-s or borsea, and cattle to replace, at least .. ..

Implements of husbandry, iron, nails, lime, etc., at least

Factor's commission, 2i per cent.

.. .. ..

$1,500
300
900 200
1,080 80
1,500 500
1 ,000 500

$7,560

(It should be noticed that in this estimate the working force is considered as being equal, in first-class hands, to but one-third of the whole number of slaves.)
In the report of an Agricultural Society, the work of one hand, on a well-regulated sugar-estate, is put down at the cultivation of five acres--producing 5,000 pounds of sugar, and 12-3 gallons of inola^se^; the former valued on the spot at5i cents per pound, and the latter at 18 cents per gallon --together, S 297.50. The annual expenses, per hand, in cluding wages paid, horses, mules, and oxen, physician's bills, etc., gl 05. An estate of eighty negroes annually costs S 8,330. The items are as follows--Salt meat and spirits, J5830; clothing, S 1,-00; medical attendance and medi cines, S400 ; Indian corn, #1,090 (total for food and drink of negroes, and other live stock, 24 per head of the negroes, per annum. For clothing gin) ; overseer and sugar-maker's

238

COTTOS AST> SLAVEET.

salary, 1,000; taxes 300. The capital invested in 1,200 acres of land, with its stock of slaves, horses, nrales, and working oxen, is estimated at 147,200. One-third, or 400 acres, being cultivated annually in cane, it is estimated, will yield 400,000 pounds, at 5i cents, arid 10,000 gallon? ' molasses at 18 cents--together 23,800. Deduct anntial expense, as before, 8,330, an apparent profit remains cf . 15,470 or 10 3-7 pr cent, interest on the investment. - - The crop npon which these estimates were based, has been considered an uncommonly fine one.
These estimates are all made by persons anxious to maintain the necessity of protection to the continued production of sugar in the United States, and who are, therefore, under strong temptation to over-estimate expenditures.
In the first statement, the cost of clothing and boarding a first-rate, hard-working man is stated to be S30 a year. A suit of winter clothing and a pair of troupers for summer, a blanket for tedding, a pair of shoe? and a hat, must all at least be included under the head of clothing; and these, however poor, could not certainly cost, altogether, less than 10. For food, then, 20 a year is a large estimate, which is 5A cents, a day. This is for the best hands; light hands are estimated at half this cost. Does the food of a first-rate labourer, anywhere in the free world, cost less ? The lowest price paid by agricultural labourers in the Free States of America for board is 21 cents a day, that is, lc50 a week; the larger part probably pay at least twice as much as this.
On most plantations, I suppose, but by no means on all, the slaves cultivate " patches," and raise poultry for themselves. The produce is nearly always sold to get money to buy to bacco and Sunday finery. But tli^e additions to the usual allowance cannot be said to be provided for them by their masters. The labour expended in this way for themselT8B

J,

SLAVERY AS A POOK-I..-.AV SYSTEM.

239

does not average half a day a week per slave; and many planters will not allow their slaves to cultivate patches, be cause it tempts them to reserve" for and to expend in the night-work the strength they want employed in their service during the day, and also because the produce thus obtained is made to cover much plundering of their master's crops, and of his live stock.* The free labourer also, in addition to his board, nearly always spends something for luxuries--tobacco, fruit, and confections, to say nothing of dress and luxuries and recreations.
The fact is, that ninety-nine in a hundred of our free labourers, from choice and not from necessity--for the same provisions cost more in Louisiana than they do anywhere in the Northern States--live, in respect to food, at least four times as well as the average of the hardest-worked slaves on the Louisiana sugar-plantations. And for two or three months in the year I have elsewhere shown that these are worked with much greater severity than free labourers at the North ever are. For on no farm, and in no factory, or mine, even when double wages are paid for night-work, did I ever hear of men or women working regularly eighteen hours a day. If ever doae, it is only when some accident makes it especially desirable for a few days.
I have not compared the comfort of the light hands, in which, besides the aged and children, are evidently inclnded
* "Mo.st persons allow their negroes to cultivate a small crop of their, own. For .1 number of re:i*ons the practice is a bad one. It is next to impossible to keep them from working the ciop on the SaLlnth. They labour at night when they shouM ! at rest. " There is no suing more than to give them the fame amount; for, like all other animals, the nfgro is only capable of doing a certain amount of work without injir.y. To this point he may be wovked at his regular task, and any labor.- bfycnil thi* is nn injury to both master and slave. They will ]l!r to a-l'.l to whnt cotton or rnrn th--y liavc maje. If they tell the crop iiiid trade for them^-h-i-*, thev are n|>t to b: rh^teti out of rt gootl purtiY-n of' their Itbour, T?n v will have ranm* things in their pv.-ves^ion, witler colour of pim-ha^1*, iii U L kai/w ..vt vvht-thcr th. v have uuns.1 houestl^."---SixdAtrn Ctlticjlvi:

240

conos AXD SLAVERY.

most of the females of the plantation, with that of factory girls and apprentices; bat who of those at the North was ever expected to find board at four cents a day, and obliged to save muney enough out of sueh an allowance to provide him or herself with clothing ? But that, manifestly and beyond the smallest doubt of error (except in favour of fr'--e labour), expresses the condition of the Loui-daua slave. Forty-eight of tae m^st worthy planters of the State attest it in an official doituaent, published by order of Congres3.
Tliere is no rea -on for supposing that the slaves are much, if any, better fed ebewhere than in Louisiana. I was expre-aly told in Virginia that I should find them better fed in Louisiana than anywhere else. In the ?ame Report of Mr. Secretary Walker, a gentleman in South Carolina teGtifies that he considers that the " famishing " (food and clothing)
of " full-tasked hands " costs 15 a year.* Tne United States army is generally recruited from oar
la! oaring class, and a well-conditioned and respectable labourer is not very often induced to join it. The following, taken from an advertisement, for recruits, in the Richmond
Enquirer, shows the food provided: " Daily R'dions.--One and a quarter pounds of beef, one
and three-sixteenths pounds of bread; and at the rate of eight quarts of beans, eight pounds of sugar, four pounds of Qoflfee. two quarts of salt, four pounds of candles, and four ( pounds of soap, to every hundred rations."
From an advertisement for slaves to be hired by the year, to work on a canal, in the Daily Georgian :
" Weekly Allowance.--They will be provided with three and a half pounds of pork or bacon, and ten quarts of gourd swd corn per week, lodged in comfortable shanties, and attended by a skilful physician."

Vi.,

r

SLAVERY AS A POOR-LAW SYSTEJL

241

The expense of boarding, clothes, taxes, and so forth, of a

male slave, is estimated by Bobert C. Hall, a Maryland

planter, at S45 per annum; this in a climate hut little

milder than that of New York, and in a breeding state. By

3. D. Messenger, Jerusalem, Virginia : " The usual estimate

for an able-bodied labourer--three barrels of corn, and 250

pounds of well-cured bacon, seldom using beef or pork; peas

and potatoes substitute alx>ut one-third the allowance of

bread" (maize). By E. Gr. Morris, Ainherst County, Va.:

"Not much beef is used on our estates; bacon, however, is

used much more freely, three pounds a week being the usual

allowance. The quantity of milk used ^y slaves is frequently

considerable."--Pat. Office Report, 1848."

On the most valuable plantation, with one exception,

which I visited in the South, no meat was regularly provided

for the slaves, but a meal of bacon was given them " oc

casionally,"

Louisiana is the only State in which meat is required, by

law, to be furnished the slaves. I believe the required ration

is four pounds a week, with a barrel of corn (flour barrel of

ears of maize) per mouth, and salt. (This law is a dead

letter, many planters in the State making no regular pro

vision of meat for their force.) In North Carolina the law

fixes " a quart of corn per day " as the proper allowance of

food for a slave. In no other States does the law define the

quantity, but it is required, in general terms, to be sufficient

for the health of the slave; and I have no doubt that suf

fering from want of food is rare. The food is everywhere,

however, coarse, crude, and wanting in variety; much more

so than that of our prison convicts.

Does argument, that the condition of free-labourers is, on

the whole, better than that of slaves, or that simply they are

generally better fed, and more comfortably provided, seem to

TOL. II.

E

242

COTTON AND SLAVEHY.

any one to be unnecessary? Many of our newspapers, of the largest circulation, and certainly of great influence arnon" people--probably not very reflective, but certainly not fools-- take the contrary for granted, whenever it suits their purpose. The Southern newspapers, so far as I know, do so, without exception. And very few Southern writers, on any subject whatever, can get through a book, or even a business or friendly letter, to be sent North, without, in some form or other, asserting that Northern labourers might well envy tho condition of the slaves. A great many Southern gentlemen-- gentlemen whom I respect much for their moral character, if not for their faculties of observation--have asserted it so strongly and confidently, as to shut my mouth, and by assuring me that they had personally observed the condition of Northern labourers themselves, and really knew that I was wrong, have for a time half convinced me against my Ion;,' experience. I have, since my return, received letters to the " same effect: I have heard the assertion repeated by several travellers, and even by Northerner, who had resided long in the South: I have heard it publicly repeated in Tammany Hall, and elsewhere, by Northern Democrats : I have peen it in European books and journals : I Lave, in times past, talcen its truth for granted, and repeated it myself. Such is the effect of the continued iteration of falsehood.
Since my return I have made it a subject of careful and extended inquiry. I have received reliable and unprejudiced information in the matttr, or have examined personally the food, the wages, and the habits of the labourers in more than one hundred different farmers' families, in every Free State (except California), and in Canada. I hare made personal observations and inquiries of the same sort in Great Britain, Germany. France, and Belgium. In Europe, where there are large landed estate?, which arc rented by lordly proprietors to

SLAVERY AS A POOR-LAW SYSTEM.

243

the peasant fanners, or where land is divided into such small portions that its owners are unable to make use of the test modern labour-saving implements, the condition of the labourer, as respects food, often is as bad as that of the slave often is--never worse than that sometimes is. But in gene ral, even in France, I do not believe it is generally or fre quently worse; I believe it is, in the large majority of cases, much better than that of the majority of slaves. And as respects higher tilings than the necessities of life--in their intellectual, moral, and social condition, with some exceptions on large farms and large estates in England, bad as is that of the mass of European labourers, the man is a brute or a devil who, with m'y information, would prefer that of the American slave. As to our own labourers, in the Free States, I have already said enough for my present purpose.
But it is time to speak of the extreme cases, of which so much use has been made, in the process of destroying the confidence of the people of the United States in the freedom of trade, as applied to labour.
In the year 1855, the severest winter ever known occurred at New York, in conjunction with unprecedentedly high prices of food and fuel, extraordinary business depression, unparalleled marine disasters, and the failure of establishments employing large numbers of men and women. At the same time, there continued to arrive, daily, from ?ve hundred to one thousand of the poorer class of European peasantry. JJIany of these came, expecting to find the usual demand and the usual reward for labour, and were quite unprepared to support themselves Tor any length of time unless they could obtain work and wages. There was consequently great distress.
We all did what we thought we could, or ought, to relieve it; and with such success, that not one single case of actual
p. 2

244

COTTON ANT> SLAVERY.

starvation is known to have occurred in a close compacted population of over a million, of which it was generally re ported fifty thousand were out of employment. Those who needed charitable assistance were, in nearly every case, recent foreign immigrants, sickly people, cripples, drunkards, or knaves taking advantage of the public benevolence, to neglect to provide for themselves. Most of those who received assistance would have thrown a slave's ordinary allowance in the jpce of the giver, as an insult; and this often occurred with more palatable and suitable provisions. Hundreds and hundreds, to my personal knowledge, during the worst of this dreadful season, refused to w6rk for money-wages that would have purchased them ten times the slave's ordinary allowance of the slave's ordinary food. In repeated instances, men who represented themselves to be suffering for food refused to work for a dollar a day. A labourer, employed by a neigh bour of mine, on wages and board, refused to work unless he was better fed. " What's the matter," said my neighbour; " don't you have enough ?" " Enough; yes, such as it is." " You have_ good meat, good bread, and a variety of vege tables ; what do you want else ?" " Why, I want pies and puddings, too, to be sure." Another labourer left another neighbour of mine, because, as he alleged, he neVeT" had any meat offered him except beef and pork; he " didn't see why he shouldn't have chickens."
And these men went to New York, and joined themselves to that army on which our Southern friends exercise their pity--of labourers out of work--of men who are supposed to envy the condition of the slave, because the " slave never dies for want of focd."*

* .Among the thousands of applicants for soup, and bread, and fuel, as chwitr, J never saw, during "the famine" in New York, one negro. Five Points Pne laid to me, "The negro seems to be mure provident than the Celt. The poor

J,

SLAVERY AS A POOB-LAW SYSTEM.

245

In the depth of winter, a trustworthy man -wrote us from Indiana:--

"Here, at Rcnsselaer, ft good mechanic, a joiner or shoemaker, for instance--and numbers are needed here--nmy obtain for his labour in one week:

2 bushels of com. 1 bushel of wheat.
5 jiounda of sugar. i jxjund of tea. 10 pouniU of beef.

25 pounds of pork. 1 good turkey. 3 pounds of butter. 1 pound of coffee. 1 bushel of potatoes.

end hive a couple of dollars left in his pocket, to start with the next Monday morning."

The moment the ice thawed in the spring, the demand for mechanics exceeded the supply, and the workmen had the master-hand of the capitalists. In June, the following rates were willingly paid to the different classes of workmen--some of the trades being on strike for higher:--

Boiler-maker .. Blacksmith
Baki-T .. .. ..
Barber .. .. .. Brieklay<-r B'ot-bnildi-r ..
C<*>|>er O.irpenH'rMiimse'; - Confecticmr r . . Ciijur-m.iktT ..
Gii-drivei city cars)
Car-<-oii'Iuctor ,, Rjirijuvr, common Engineer, locuiotive

Dolt.irs per UVrk

1

.. 12 to 20 1 Harness-maker

.. 12 to:iO i Mason

.. 9 to 14 ! Omnibus-driver

.. 7 to 10 ' Printer .. .. ..

.- Hto 15 ! Plumber .. .. ..

lr> ' P:iint<r 'liousr)

.. 8 to 12 : Piiiiiiit'nrte maker ..

15 Pliipwri'jht

.. 8 to 12 ! Sliip-oaulker ..

.. 9 to -15 ISiiip-fiistfncr ..

10 ' Shoentaker

IOJ Si^n painter ..
.. 12 to ir> Sail-maker

15 Tailor .. .. ..

Dollars per Wee'i.
10 .. 10 to 15
JO .. 10 to 25
15 15 .. 10 to H
18 18 )8
1G 4. 25 toSO
15 .. S to 17

blacks aliv.m mon.ige to Vepp them-vlves more decftit anJ comfor(aJi!e thnn the poor uhitrt. They very rv*ly comptvin, or a^k for ciiarity ; anil 1 )wve nf't.'n foucJ thorn sharing tlieii' few! with white people, who were too ]>oo;- to provMe lor thfm--lvo.-." A i;re:it deal of f'.iKclio.'d is ciicj.:!:ited .iud aecrclittii about the stfie, i:;^s nf th-- fnt1 n-;rrot.-> nt the Nurrh. Thrir con lition is batl etwu^li, but uo orse than tliat of ;my men eidicatol ;unl treated ;is they ai'e, must be; and it U, M 20 average, far better than that of tfu: stive.

246

COTTON A2TD SLAVERY.

At this time I engaged a gardener, who had been boarding for a month or two in New York, and paving for his board and lodging g 3 a week. I saw him at the dinner-table of his boarding house, and I knew that the table was better supplied with a variety of wholesome food, and was more attractive, than that of the majority of slaveowners with whom I have dined.
Amasa Walker, formerly Secretary of State in Massachu setts, is the authority for the following table, showing the average wages of a common (field-hand) lal>ourer in Boston (where immigrants are constantly arriving, and where, con sequently, there is often a necessity, from their ignorance and accidents, of charity, to provide for able bodied persons), and the prices of ten different articles of sustenance, at three different periods:--

of LABOUR AXD FOOD AT Bosrox.

1 barrrl floor ..
25 II. snipir, at 9e, 10 rals. molasses, 42 <?. 100 llw. p..rk 14 lle. c-offcc, 12.]c. 28 !>>s. rit-c ..
I busln-l' com mad 1 do rve mi-id SO lha. biirtir. 22c.
20 lUt cLetse. 10c.

DblUra. 9-.><i
2-25 4-25 4-50

1 75 1-23

!

9ti

1-08

6-<'0

2-00

44-00

. gl per day.
Dollars. ! 5 r,0
2 00 2-7')
s-r.0
l-.iO 1-00
65 83 4-8(1 1-00
28-98

D4o-l7la5n.
l1'-t8!20 5-00 5-00
75 62 4-2703 1-40
22-00

Tliis shows that in 1836 it required the labour of thirtyfour and a half days to p:iy for tlie commodities mentioned; while in 1840 it requirr-d only the labour of twenh'-nine days, and in 1843 that of only twenty-three and a half dap to pay

SLAVEBY AS A POOR-LAW SYSTEM.

247

for the same. If we compare tho ordinary allowance of food given to slaves per mouth--as, for\ instance, sixteen pounds pork, one bushel corn meal, and, say one quart of molasses on an average, and a half pint of salt--with that which it JB shown by this table the free labourer is usually able to obtain by a month's labour, we can estimate the comparative general comfort of each.
I am not all disposed to neglect the allegation that there is sometimes great suffering among our free labourers. Our system is by no means perfect; no one thinks it so : no one objects to its imperfections being pointed out. There was no subject so much discussed in New York that winter as the causes, political and social, which rendered us liable to have labourers, under the worst possible combination of circum stances, liable to difficulty in procuring satisfactory food.
But this difficulty, as a serious thing, is a very rare and exceptional one (I speak of the whole of the Free States): that it is so, and that our labourers are ordinarily better fed and clothed than the slaves, is evident from their demands and expectations, when they are deemed to be suffering. When any real suffering does occur, it is mainly a conse quence and a punishment of their own carelessness and im providence, and is in the nature of a remedy.
And in every respect, for the labourer, the competitive system, in its present kwless and uncertain state, is fer preferable to the slave system ; and any labourer, even if he were a mere sensualist and materialist, would" be a fool to wish himself a slave.
One New- York newspaper, having a very large circulation at the South, but a still larger at the Xorth, in discussing this matter, last winter, fearlessly and distinctly declared--as if its readers were expected to accept the truth of the asser tion at once, and without argument--that the only sufficient

248

COTTON* AND SLAVERY.

prevention of destitution among a labouring class was to bs found in slavery ; that there was always an abundance of food in the Slave States, and hinted that it might yet be necessary, as a security against famine, to extend slavery over the pre sent Free States. This article is still being copied by the Southern papers, as testimony of an unwilling witness to the benevolence and necessity of the eternal slavery of working people.
The extracts following, from Southern papers, will show what has occurred in the slave country in the meanwhile :

" For several weeks past, we have noticed accounts of distress among the poor in gome sections of the South, for the want of bread, particularly in Western Georgia, East and Middle Alabama. Over in Coosa, corn-crib* ore lifted nightly: and one poor fellow 'corn thief, lately got vanglii between the logs, and killed ! It is said there are many grain-hoarders in the destitute regions, awaiting higher prici-s '. The I---d pity the poor, for liis brother nun will not have any mercy upon his brother."--Picltij Republican, Cafrtilton, Ala.. June 5, 18."J3.
"We regret tliat we are unable to publish the letter of Governor Winston, accompanied by a memorial to him from the citizens of a portion of Randolph county, showing a sreat destitution of breudstufis in that sec tion, and calling loudly for relief.
"The Claiborne Southerner says,als:i, that jrrf-at destitution in regard to provisions of all kinds, especially corn, prevails in some portions of Perry county."*--S'IHHIJ fivuth, Jackmjnrillr, Ala., 3Iij 20, 1805.
"As for whe:it, the yield in Talladega, Tallapocsi, Chambers, and Macon, is better even than was anticipated. Flour is still high, but a fort night will lower the price very materially. We thiuk that w!:eat islxrand to go down to $1-23 to SI'50 per bnshc-l, though a line article command! now $2"25.
"Having escaped f;.mine--as we hope wo have---we tru?t t1:e planting community of Alibama will never again sufivr themselves to be brought so closely in view of it. Their want of thrift and fort-sight has come remarkably mar placing the whole'eountry in an awful condition. It i only to a kind Providence that we owe a dclivt-nmce from a great cala mity, whii-h would Lave been clearly t;,e result of man's short-sighted ness."--JUWi/jomery Hail, copied in Sacannah Gtvrgiun, June 25, 1S5.~).
"Wheat crops, however, are coming in good, above an average ; bat oate are entirely cut off. I am issuing commissary, this week for tb

SLAVERY AS A POOK-I.AW SYSTEM.

249

coonty, to distribnte some corn bought by tlie Commi?si< nirr s Court, for the destitute of our county ; and could you have witnessed the applicants, and heard their stories, for the last few days, I um satisfied you could draff a picture that would excite the- sympathy of the most selfish heart, lam fixe to confess that I hud no idea of tlie destitution that prevails in this county. Why, sir, what do you think of a widow and her children living, for three days and nights on boiled weeds, called pipptr jjrass?-- yet uch, I am credibly informed, has been the case in Chumliers County." --Pram a Idler to Die editor of tlie Montgomery Ala.'} Journal, from Hon. Samuel Peurson, Judge of Probate, fur Cliamlert County, Alabama.
"FAMINE ix UPPER GEORGIA.--We have sad news from the north part of Georgia. The Dalian Time* says that many people are without corn, or means to procure any. Ami, besides, there is none for sale. In some neighbourhoods, a bushel could not be obtained for love or money. Poor men are offering to work for a perk nf corn a day. If they plead, ' Our children will starve,' they arc answered, 'So will tuinc, if I part with the little I have.* Horses a;id mules arc turned out into the wood.*, to wait for grass, or starve. Tlie consequence is, that those who have land can only plant what they can with the hoe--they caunot plough. It is seri ously ur^ued that, unless assisted soon, many of the poor class of that aectiou will perish.'-- California Paper*
No approach, to anything like such a state of things as those extracts portray (which extended over parts of throe agricultural States) ever occurred, I am sure, in any rural district of the Free States. Even in oiir most thickly-
peopled manufacturing districts, to which the staple articles of food are brought from fer-distant regions, assistance from
abroad, to sustain the poor, has never been asked; nor do I believe the poor have ever been reduced, for weeks together,
to a diet of corn. But this famine at the South occurred in a region where most productive land can be purcliased for from three to seven dollars an acre; where maize and wheat
* In the obscure country papers of Northern Alabama and (leorpa, anJ Western South Carolina, J have seen m.inv more descriptions, similar to tht-se, ot this famine ; bnt I cannot now lay my hand on them. These I have by accident, Dot having taken pains to collect them for this purpose. In a district of the Slave States, where it is boasted that more than a htindrai bushels of maize to the acre ha been ra:.^], and where not one out of live hundred of the people is engaged in any other tlmn agricultural industry, I linve myself bought mnize, which had been raised by five l-v,nrr, in Ohio, nt two doll.us a bushel.

250

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

grow kindly; where cattle,/heep, and hngs, may be pastured over thousands of acres, at no rent; -where fuel has no value, and at a season of tlie year when clothing or shelter is hardly necessary to comfort.
It is a remarkable fact that this frightful famine, un precedented in North America, was scarcely noticed, in the smallest way, by any of those Southern papers which, hi the ordinary course of things, ever reach the North. In the Charleston, Savannah, and Mobile papers, received at our commercial reading-rooms, I have not been able to find any mention of it at all--a single, short, second-hand paragraph in a market report excepted. But these journals had columns of reports from our papers, and from their private corre spondents, as well as pages of comment, on the distress of the labourers in New York City the preceding winter.
la 1837, the year of repudiation in Mississippi, a New Orleans editor describes the effect of the money-pressure upon the planters, as follows :--

"Thevare now left without provisions, ami the means of living and rasing their industry fur the present year. In thi.s dilc runui, planters, whose crops have been from K.'O to 7(1(1 Imles, fiiul theins'-lves forced to siorifiee many of their slaves, in onlf-r to <jet the common nefOsarics of lifi-, for the support of t!ietn*-!vrs ami the rest of their negroes. In uianr places, heavy planters compel their slaves t rish for the iufc:m$ of subsist ence, rather than sell them at -such niiuoiu rates. There are, at this moment, thousands of slaves in Miiuisaippi, that know not where the next morsel is to come from. The muster must be niiueJ, to save the wretches from being starved."
Absolute starvation is as rare, probably, in shivery, as in freedom ; but I do not believe it is more so. An instance is just recorded in the Ncic Orleans Delta. Other papers
omit to notice it--as they usually do facts which it may be feared will do discredit to slavery--and even the DtUa, as will be seen, is anxious that the responsibility of the publica
tion should be fixed upon the~coroner:

r

SLAVERY AS A POOR-LAW SYSTEM.

251

** LSOCEST.--DEATH PROM XEGIEI.T ANT> J-TARVATIO\.--Tin- Vdy of a;i old ne<rro, named l>ob, b-.-looging to Mr. 8. 13. Ihivi-, was IbuuJ lyiu;: dead in

the woods near Marixny Canal, on the Girntilly Road, yesterday. Tlie coroner held an inquest : ami, after hearing the evidence, the jury re turned a vrrdiet i if 'Death In nil starvation and exposure, through mgleet

of Ms master.' It appeared from the evidence that the negro was too old to work any raonv being nearly seventy; and 60 they drove him forth into the woods to die. He had been without food for forty-eight hours, wheu found by Mr. Wilbanfc, who lives near the place, and who brought liiia into hia premises on a wheelbarrow, gave him something- to eat, and endearouru! to revive his failing energies, whieh had bcwi exhausted from ex

posure and want of food. Every effort to save his life, however, was un

availing, a:id he died shortly after being brought to Mr. Wilbank's. The

above statement we publish, as it was furnished us by the coroner."-- Sept. IS. 1855.

This is the trntli, then--is it not ?--The slaves are gene rally sufficiently well-fed to be in tolerable working condition; bnt not as well as our free labourers generally are: slavery, in practice, affords no safety against occasional suffering for want of food among labourers, or even against their starva tion any more than the competitive system ; while it withholds all-rarourugpnient from the labourer to improve his faculties and his skill; destroys his self-respect; misdirects and dfbastN his ambition, and withholds all the natural motives which lead men to endeavour to increase their capacity pf usefulness to their country and the world. To all this, the occasional suffering of the free labourer is favourable, on the whole. The occasional suffering of the slave has no such advantage. To deceit, indolence, malevolence, and thievery, it may lead, as may the suffering--though it is much less likely to--of the free labourer; but to industry, cultivation of skill, perseverance, economy, and virtuous habits, neither the suffering, nor the dread of it as a possibility, ever can lead the slave, as it generally does the free labourer, nnle - it is by inducing him to run awav.

252

COTTOX AXD SLATERS.

CHAPTEE
COTTOU S0FPLT AJTD WHITE LABOUR Df THE COTTOX CLIMATE.
Mr. Bussell,* although he clearly sees the calamity of the South, folly accepts the cotton planter's opinion, that, after all, the'system of slavery is a necessary evil attending upon the great good of cheap cotton. He says : "If the climate had admitted of the growing of cotton on the banks of the Ohio, we should have seen that slavery possessed as great advantages over free labour in the raising of this crop as it does in that of tobacco." If this is so, it is important that it should be well understood why it is so as precisely as possible.
In his Notes on Maryland, Mr. Russell (p. 141) says: ' Though a slave may, under very favourable circmntanor-s, cultivate twenty acres of wheat and twenty acres of Indian corn, he cannot manage more than two acres of tobacco. The cultivation of tobacco, therefore, admits of the concentration of labonr, and thus the guperintt ndcuce and management of a tobacco plantation will be more perfect and less expensive tlan a corn one," And this is the only explanation he offers of the supposed advantage of slave laljour in the cultivation of to bacco (and of consequence in the cultivation of cotton). The chief expense of rating Indian corn is chargeable to planting and tillage, that of tobacco to the seedbed, the transplanting and nursing of the young plants (which is precisely similar to {he same operation with cabbages), the hand-weeding, the
* " N'orth Amend, its Agriculture ar.'l '"Ilni.-ite," hy Hubert Russell, Kilwhiss. E-linbunrh : AA-im .in.l rhrrl.-.* P,!:<.,k, 1S.VT.
J

THE QTJESTION* OF COTTOK SUPPLY.

253

hoeing after the plant has " become too large to work without injuring the leaves by the swingle-trees of a horse plough ;"* "the topping," "the suckering," the selection and removal of valueless leaves, and " the worming," all of them, except hoeing, being operations which can be performed by children and child-bearing women, as they nsnally are in Virginia.!
The chief expense of raising cotton, as of Indian corn, is that of planting and tillage. The principal difference between the method of tillage of cotton and that of Indian corn is occasioned by the greater luxuriance of weeds in the Southern climate and the slow growth of the cotton plant in its early stages, which obliges the tillage process to be more carefully and more frequently performed. For this reason, the area of cotton cultivated by each labourer is less than of corn. The area of corn land to a hand is much over-estimated by Mr. RusselL On the other hand, the only mention he makes of the area of cotton land to a hand (being the statement of a negro) would lead to the conclusion that it is often not over thrre acres, and that fivo acros is extraordinary. Mr. I)e Bow says,J in an argument to prove that the average production per acre is over-estimated, "In the real cotton region, perhaps the average number,of acres per hand is ten."
Mr. Bussell observe-! of worming and leafing tobacco: " These operations can be done as well, and consequently as cheaply, by women and children as by lull-grown men." (Page 142.) After reading Mr. Russell's views, I placed myself, through the kindness of Governor Chase, in commu nication with the Ohio Buird of Agriculture, from which I have obtained elaliorate statistics, together with reports on the subject from twelve Presidents or Secretaries of County Agricultural Societies, as well as from others, 'ihese gentle-

* IV Bow, TO!, iii., p. :>4-. t ^* "<' Cow1* '' lii-^urow," art. Tobacco. J Vul. i., i". 17.">, " Hcfoi'.iccs."

254

COTTON A>T> SLAVERY.

men generally testily tLat a certain amount of labour given to corn will be much better repaid than if given to tobacco. " 3fen are worth too much for growing corn to be employed in strolling through tobacco fields, looking for worms, and even women can, as our iarmers think, find something better to do about the house." Children, too, are thought to be, and doubtless are, better employed at school in preparing themselves for more profitable duties, and this is probably the chief reason why coarse tobacco* cannot be cultivated with as much profit as corn in Ohio, while the want of intelligent, selfinterested labour, is the reason why the corn-field, among the tall broad blades of which a man will work during much of its growth in comparative obscurity, cannot be cultivated with as much profit on soils of the same quality in Virginia as in Ohio. In short, a class of labourers, who are good for nothing else, and who, but for this, would be an intolerable burden upon those who are obliged to support them, can be put to some use in raising tobacco, and, therefore, coarse tobacco continues to be cultivated in some of the principal skveholding counties of Virginia. But this class of labourers is of no more value in cotton culture than in corn culture. Mr. De Bow says: " The South-west, the great cotton region, is newly settled, and the number of children, out of all proportion, less than in negroes [regions ?] peopled by a natural growth of population.! Weak women and children are, in fact, not at all wanted for
* In my Notes on Eastern Virginia, ft was mentioned that a tor.tcco planter informal me that he could not raise the finer sorts of tobacco with profit, because he cot. lii not make his slaves tike pains enough with it; and in certain localities in Chin, having a favourable soil for the production of fine or high-priced tobacco, it appei > that free labour is eugnsred more profitably in the cultivation of tobacco than in (he cultivation of corn. It is the same in parts of Connecticut and of Massachusetts. Except in these limited district-, however, it is found that the Ulbctir of Ohio, as of Connecticut and M:issu<-lu:.~-">, i- more p:<.fit;if>!\- di, .rtfil to thr cultivation of InJian corn and ether TO; - fh .n ft't..b.i<-ni.
t "Resource," p. 175.

r

TTE QUESTION OF COTTOy SUTPLV.

255

cotton culture, the cotton planter's inquiry being exclusively for ' prime boys,' or ' A 1 field-bauds.'"
Thus in every way cotton culture more resembles com cnl ture tban it does tobacco culture. Tbe production of corn is larger in the aggregate, is considerably larger per man engaged in its cultivation, and is far larger per acre in Ohio than in Virginia.* I should, therefore, be inclined to reverse Mr. Russell's statement, and to say that if the climate had admitted of the growing of cotton on both banks of the Ohio, we should have seen that free-labour possessed as great advan tages over slavery in the cultivation of cotton as of corn.
Mr. Kussell echoes also the opinion, which every cotton planter is in the habit of urging, that the production of cotton would have been comparatively insignificant in the United States if it had not been for slave labour. He likewise re stricts the available cotton region within much narrower limits than are usually given to it, and holds that the slave population must soon in a great measure be concentrated within it. As these conclusions of a scientific traveller un-

* Virginia, with 1(>,3(JM35 acres of improved land, jiroJuoKi, according to tie

last census returns, _

35,254,319 bushels of com,

56,8y3/2'27 pounds of tobacco.

Ohio, with 9,851,493 acres of improved land, produced
59,u78,t595 bushels of corn, 10,454,449 pounds of tobacco.

The aggregate value of these two products alone, at present Xew York priot, would be
Ohio. ..... 85,127,223,565 Virginia. . . . $3,564,6^9,385

Actual crops per acre, on the average, as returned by the marshals for 1849-50

(Census Compilation, p. 178;: Corn.

Tobacco.

Ohio ... 36 bushels . . . 7.'!u pounds.

Virginia .18 ,, ... 630 ,,

250

COTTON A>T) SLAVERY.

intentionally support a view which has been lately systemati cally pressed upon manuiacturers arid merchants hoth in Great Britain and the- Free States, namely, that the perpetuation of slavery in its present form is necessary to the perpetuation of a liberal cotton supply, and also that the limit of production in the United States must be rapidly approaching, and conse quently that the tendency of prices must be rapidly upward, tiie grounds on which they rest should be carefully scrutinized.
Mr. Eussell says, in a paragraph succeeding the words just now quoted with regard to the supposed advantages of slave labour in raisin-*so: tobacco :

"The rich nplantl soils of the cotton region afford a profitable iim.-tmcnt for capital, even whc-n cultivated by slaves left to the can' of ovi rseera. The natural increase of the slaves, from two to six per cent.. ;;oe3 far to pay the int'-Kst of the money invested in them. The richest soils of lie uplands are invariably occupied by the largi st plantations, and the
|ial lands on the banks of the western rivers arc so unhealthy for ^labourers that the slaveowners occupy them without competition. Tthe txmks of the western rivers an> now becoming the p^eat cottnuvin;; districts. Taking th< s< facts into consideration, it .-ipjviirs tli:it
Iju.infity of cotti> which would hnn- been raised without slave labour Unifatl Stitt s would have been comparatively insignificant to the
present supply."*

The advantages of slave-lal>our for cotton culture seem from this to have been predicated mainly upon the unwholesomeness to free or white labourers of the best cotton lands, especially of the alluvial lands on the banks of rivers. Beference is made particularly to " the county of "Washington, Mississippi State [which] lies between the Tazoo and Mississippi rivers. * * * The soil is chiefly alluvial, though a considerable portion is swampy and liable to be flooded."!

* ' Xoith America, its fiinj.-it*," etc., p. 280.
f De Bow's " K>!irws." See " Seaboard Slave States," pp. 463 and 586, for iti)tii*r southern

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THE QUESTION OF COTTON ST7PPI.T.

257

Mr. Eussell evidently considers that it is to this swampy con dition, und to stagnant water left by floods, that the supposed insalubrity of this region is to be chiefly attributed. How -would he explain, then, the undoubted salubrity of the bottom lands in Louisiana, which are lower than those of the Mississippi, exposed to a more southern sun, more swampy, and which were origi nally much more frequently flooded, but ha rag been dyked and "leveed," are now inhabited by a white population of several hundred thousand. I will refer to the evidence of an expert:--

"Heat, moisture, animal_and vegetable matter, arc said to be the ele ments which produce the diseases of the South, and yet the testimony in proof of the health of tin- banks of the lower portion of the Mississippi river is too strong to be doubted. Ht re is a perfectly flat alluvial country, covering several hundred miles, interspersed with interminable lakes, lagunes, and jungles, and still we are informed by Dr. Cartwright, one of the most acute observers of the day, that this country is exempt from mias matic disorders, and is extremely healthy. His assertion has been con firmed to me by hundreds uf witnesses; and we know, from our own obser vation, tdat the population presents a robust an:l healthy appearance." (Statistics are given to prove a greater average length of life for the white race in the South than in the Xurth. -- EssAt OS THE VALVE OF LIFE IN THE Some, by Dr. J. C. Nott, of Alabama.

To the same effect is the testimony of a far more trust worthy scientJlic observer, Darby, the surveyor and geographer of Louisiana:--

"Ik-ttrcen the 9th of July, 1805, io the 7f!i of May, 1815, incredible as it may appear to many persons. I actually travelled [in Southern Alabama, Mir-.-iss.ippi, Louisiana, and, what is now, Texas] twenty thousand miles, mo.-tly on foot. During the whole of tliis period, I was nut confined one month, put all my indisjiositions together, and not one moment by any malady attributable to climate. I have slept in the open air for weeks together, in the hottest suiuni' r nights, and endured this mode of life in tlit most matted woods, perhaps, in the- world. During my survey of the Sahhii' riviT, mvsflf, and tin; nn n that attended HIV, existed, for several wiek>, "ii Hush aud fish, witlu.ut bread or *a!t, and witlmtit sickness of any kind. That nine-tenths of the distempers of warm climate may be guarded against, I do not harbour a single doubt.

VOL. II.

S

258

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

" If climate operates extensively upon the actions of human beings, it j princ'ipalJv llft-ir a-tt-iUM-DH-nts that an- reflated by proximity to the tropics. Da:u:in mi^Ut be- culled tin- principal uuinstment of both eeies, in Louisiana. Beholding the airy sweep of a Creole dunce, the length oftime that an assembly will preserve in the sport, at an; season of the year, cold or warm, indolence would be the laat charge that candour Could lodge against such a. people.'"*

" Copying from Montesquieu," elsewhere says Mr. Darby, himself a slaveholder, " climate has been called upon to account for stains on the human character, imprinted by the hand of political mistake. Xo country where Negro Slavery is esta blished but must have parts in the wounds committed on nature and justice."
The unaccKmated whites on the sea coast and on the river and bayou banks of the low country, between which and the sea coast there is much inter-communication, unquestionably s :ffer much from certain epidemic, contagious, and infectious pestilences. This, however, only renders the fact that dense settlements of whites have been firmly established upon them, and that they are remarkably exempt from miasmatic disease, one of more value in evidence of the practicability of white occupation of the upper bottom lands. There are grounds for doubting the common opinion that the negroes at the South suffer less from local causes of disease than whites. (See

* A writer in " Household Words," speaking of the " popular fallacy that a roaa tanuot Jo a hai-d day's work in the climate of India," says:--
"I hare seen as hard work, real bone and muscle woifc, done fcv citizens of the C'nite i Kingdom in the &t.t, as was ever achieved in the col! West, and all npuu rice and currr--not curry and rice--in which the rice has formed the real meal, and the curry has nwrely helped to pve it a relish, as a sort of substantial Kitch ener's zest, or Harvey's sauce. I hare seen, Irit-wisi-, Men.i men, Slal.iban;, and othei~s of the In.dan laliourin^ (In>>^, perfbim a day's woifc that would teiri'y a London JXH tt-r, or crtd-whipper, or a countrv nuvvy, or plct^limnn ; at: I under the dhtx-t ravs of a s:in that ha> ma>Ie a \voodfU jii:ittorm t-o hot tostaii'i on rn thin shots, without liteially dancing with pain, as I have done nuur a day, withrn sii J<-_rees of the line."

J

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THE QUESTION OP COTTOS SUPPLY.

259

" Seaboard Slave States," p. 647.) They may be less suTyect to epidemic and infections diseases, and yet be more liable to other fatal disorders, due to such influences, than whites. The worst climate for unacclimated whites of any town in the United States is that of Charleston. (This, together with the whole of the rice coast, is clearly exceptional in respect of salubrity for whites.) It happens fortunately that the most trustworthy and complete vital statistics of the South are those of Charleston. Dr. Nott, commenting upon these, says that the average mortality, during six years, has been, of blacks alone, one in forty-four; of whites alone, one in fifty-eight. " This mortality" he adds, " is perhaps not an unfair te*t, as the population during the last six years has been undisturbed by emigration, and acclimated in greater proportion than at any previous period." If the comparison had been made between native negroes and native or accli mated whites alone, it would doubtless show the climate to be still more unfavourable to negroes.*
Upon the very district to which Mr. Russell refers, as offer ing an extreme case, I quote the testimony- of a Mississippi statistician:

"The cotton-planters, deserting tho rolling land, arc fast ponring in upon the s.varop. Indeed, the impression of the sicklincss of the South

* Dr. Barton, of Kew Orleans, in a paper read before the Academy of Science of th.it city, say*: " The class of disuses mo<t fatil in the South are mainly of a praYafftfc nature, and embraces fevers and intestinal di-eases, and depends mostly on conditions under the control of m.in, as drainage, the removal of forest growth nf personal exposure and private hygiene. The climate further north is too rijiJ the greater part of the year for personal exposure to the open air, so essentf.il to the pnyivmcnt of hrallh, and when the eitreme* are pre.it and rapid, anithi-r ilass of mnl.iilifs predominate the pulmonary, as well ;is others arising ir.ini n-owdiinr. defective ventilation and filth e.xacting preventive measures from the public authorities with as much urgency as the woist fevers of the
Sooth."
82

260

COTTOX AXD SLAVERY.

generally has been rapidly losing ground [i'. e. among the whites of th South] for some yi-ars hack, and that bh-fe*itig [hi-alth] is now Bouglit with as much confidence on the swamp lands of the Yuzoo and the Mississippi as among the hills and plains of Carolina and Virginia,"--(De Bow'i " Resources," vol. ii, p. 43.}

Dr. Barton says:--

" In another place I hare shown that the direct temperature of the PUU is nut near so great in the South (during the summer as it is at the North. I shall recur to this hereafter. In fiiet, the climate is much more endurable, all the year round, with our refreshing breezes, and particularly in some of the more elevated parts of it, or within one hundred miles of the coast, both in and out of doors, at the South than at the Xorth, which shows most conspicuously the folly of the annual summer migra tions, to pursue an imaginary mildness of temperature, wliich is left at
home."

Mr. Bussell assumes that slave labour tends, as a matter of course, to the formation of large plantations, and that free labour can only be applied to agricultural operations of a limited scope. Of slaves, he says: " Their numbers admit of that organization and di vision of labour which renders slavery so serviceable in the culture of cotton." I find no reason given for this assertion, except that he did not himself see any large agricultural enterprises conducted with free labour, while he did see many plantations of fifty to w l:r,n.lred slave hands. The explanation, in "my judgment, is tLit the cultivation of the crops generally grown in the Free States has hitherto been most profitable when conducted on the "small holding" system ;* the cultivation of cotton is, as a general rule, more profitable upon the "large holding" system.f Undoubtedly there is a point below which it becomes disadvantageous to

* In-l:nn corn has been considered an exception, and there are prol<aUr larger corn fields in Indiana than eottun fields in Mississippi.
f I !;: that plantations or agric'-Jturil operations devoted to a single crop are, as a general raie. profitable in propnrf.on to th..-ir M'ZK in the Free States, unless, indeed, the market is a small one anJ easily ovc/storked, which ii never tbf
cae with the cotton market.

THE QUESTION OF COTTON SUPPLY.

261

reduce the farm in the Free States, and this varies with local circumstances. There is equally a limit beyond which it is acknowledged to be unprofitable to enlarge the body of slaves engaged in cotton cultivation under one head. If cotton were to be cultivated by free labour, it is probable that this number would be somewhat reduced. I have no doubt that the num ber of men on each plantation, in any case, would, on an arerage, much nearer approach that which would be most econo mical, in a free-labour cotton-growing country than in a country on which the whole dependence of each proprietor was on slaves. Is not this conclusion irresistible when we con sider that the planter, if he needs an additional slave hand to those he possesses, even if temporarily, for harvesting his crop, must, in most cases, employ at least a thousand dollars of capital to obtain it ?
Mr. Russell has himself observed that--

"The quantity of cotton which can be produced on a [slave-worked] plantation is limited by the mimKr of hands it can turu into the field during the picking or harvesting of the crop. Like some other agricultaral operations, this is it simple one, though it docs not admit of being done by machinery, as a certain amount of intelligence must direct the hand."

The same is true of a wheat farm, except that much more can be done by machinery, and consequently the extraordinary demand for labour at the wheat harvest is much less than it is on a cotton plantation. I have several times been on the Mississippi plantation during picking time, and have seen how everything black, with hands, was then pressed into severe service; but, after all, I have often seen negroes breaking down, in preparation for re-ploughing the ground for the next crop, acres of cotton plants, upon which what appeared to me to be a tolerable crop of wool still hung, because it had been impossible to pick it. I have seen what was confessed to be many hun-

262

OOTTOH AKD SLAVERY.

dred dollars' worth of cotton thus wasted on a single RedBiver plantation. I much doubt if the harvest demand of the principal cotton districts of Mississippi adds five per cent, to their field-hand force. In Ohio, there is a far larger popula tion ordinarily engaged in other pursuits which responds to the harvest demand. A temporary increase of the number of agricultural labourers thus occurs of not less than forty per cent, during the most critical period.
An analogous case is that of the vintage in the wine districts of France. In some of these the " small holding" or parcellement system is carried to an unfortunate extreme under the influence of what are, pf-rhaps, injudicious laws. The parcels of land are much smaller, on an average, than the smallest class of iarms ordinarily cultivated by free labour in the United States. But can any one suppose that if the slave labour system, as it exists in the United States, prevailed in those districts, that is to say, if the proprietors depended solely on themselves, their families, and their regular servants, as those of Mississippi must, at the picking time, there would not be a disastrous falling off in the commerce of those districts ? Substitute the French system, unfortunate as in some respects it is, for the Mississippi system in cotton grow ing, and who will doubt that the cotton supply of the United States would-be greatly increased ?
Hop picking and cotton picking are very similar operations. The former is the more laborious, and requires the greater skill. "What would the planters of Kent do if they had no one but their regular labourers to call upon at their harvest
season? I observed this advantage of the free labour system exempli
fied in "Western Texas, the cotton fields in the vicinity of the German village of New Braunfels having been picked, when I saw them, far closer than any I had before seen, in fact, per-

r

THE QUESTION OF COTTON SCPPLT.

263

fectly clean, having been undoubtedly gleaned, by the poor emigrants. I was told that some mechanics made more in a day, by going into the field of a slaveowner and picking side by
side with his slaves, being paid by measure, than they could
earn at their regular work in a week. The degree of intelli
gence and of practice required to pick to advantage was found to be very slight, less, very much, than in any single opera
tion of wheat harvesters. One woman was pointed out to me
who had, in the first year she had erer seen a cotton field,
picked more cotton in a day than any slave in the county. I am reminded, as this page is about to be stereotyped, by
observing the letter of a cotton planter in the New Orleans Price Current, of another disadvantage for cotton production,
of slave labour, or rather of the system which slavery induces.
In my volume on Texas, I stated that I was informed by a
merchant that the cotton picked by the free labour of the Germans was worth from one to two cents a pound more than
that picked by slaves in the same township, by reason of its greater cleanliness. From the letter referred to, I make the
following extracts:--
" DEAR SIR : * * * There are probably no set of men engaged in any business of life who take iw little pains and care to inform tlieniselvi s with regard to the character and tjuiility of tin ir Jiuirkctable produce as the cotton-planter. Not one in a thousand knows, nor cares to know, wlictlur the cotton he sends to market is ordinary. goxl ordinary, or middling. Not one in a hundred spends one hour of inch d;iy at his gin in ginning season; never sees the cotton aft< r it is gathered, unless he happens to ride near the scaffold and looks from a distance of a hundred yurds, and declares the specimen very white and clean, wht-n, perhaps, it, on the contrary, may be ,-ery leafy and dirty. * * *
"I hav_- often seen the hands on plantations picking cotton with sacks that would hardly hold stalks, they were so torn and full of holes : these lacks dragging on the ground and gathering up pounds of dirt at every few sti-p,*. The baskets, too, w-re with scarcely any bottoms remaining, having Ix-en literally worn out, the cotton lying on the ground. Indeed, some- overseers do not forbid the hands emptying their cotton on the ijniuiid when their sacks aro full, and they some distance from their

264

COTTON AXD SLAVERY.

boskets. When this cotton is taket np, some dirt must necessarily come with it. When gatucriujr in wet weather, the hands gc t into their baskets with muddy feet, and thus toss in some pounds of dirt, in this way making their task easier. Tliese things are never, or rarely, seen by the proprietor : and, consequently, wLen l.is m- reliant writes him that Ids cottuu ia a little dusty, lie says how can it be? you are surely mistaken.
"X'jw, sir, for all this there ia one simple, plain remedy ; let the planter spend l:ia time ia ginning season at his srin : let him see every load uf cutton as it comes from the field and belbre it goes through the jrin. But, says tf.e mm of leisure, the priu is a dirty, dtisty place. Yes, sir, ami always will ! so, until Vnii remedy the evil Ijy staying there yourself. Yu aiy your ovi-rsc' r is hired to do this dirty work. Yonr orerteer it after ri'iiintilij, fir, awl thu more eslra migtd lit yets in ynnr cotton, the mar IxJe* )ie ir<77 )>are to hruy of linehuj matte nt the end of (lie year. Don't tnut him at ie yin. *
"Probably he has a conditional contract with his employer: grit so way drJI>ir* far all fte make* ortr a cert'i.'n number of biles; that hnemy ezTy indirc*;iitetif to /jnf up a* murjt lenf and dirt, or, if he ix one nf ike dithonf't t,'/i/f, lie iitay atli.l xtonm. iftJieyt/muldalnund in the neiylihourltood.
"\V!iy will not the cotton-planter take pride in liis own prudiictiun ? The merchant prides hhaself on hia wan s; the mechanic on the work of his hands. All seem to pride themselves on the result of their labour except the cotton-planter." * * *

It cannot be admitted tliat the absence in the Free States of that organization and division of labour in agriculture which is found on a large slave-worked plantation is a neces sity attending the u.;e of free labour. . Why should it be any more impossible to employ an army of free labourers in moving the ground with an agricultural design than \rith the intention of constructing a canal or a road, it' it were profit- ' able to so employ the necessary cai-ital ? A. railroad con tractor in one of the best cotton districts- of the United States told me, that having begun his work with negroes, he was substituting Irish and German labourers for them as rapidly as possible, with great advantage (and this near midsummer). But if I were convinced with Mr. Russell upon this point, I should still be inclined to think that the advantages which axe possessed in a free labour state of society equally by the

r

THE QUESTION OF COTTON StTPPLY.

26S

great hop-planters at picking time and tia& petitsproprietaires at vintage, which are also found in our own new States bj the wheat fanner, and which are not found under the present system anywhere at the South, for cotton picking, would of themselves he sufficient to turn the scale hi favour of the freelabour cotton grower.
The error of the assumption by Mr. Russell, that large gangs of unwilling labourers are essential or important to cotton production in the United States, is, I trust, apparent. And as to the more common and popular opinion, that the necessary labour of cotton tillage is too severe for white men in the cotton-growing climate, I repeat that I do not find the slightest weight of fact to.sustain it. The necessary labour and causes of fatigue and vital exhaustion attending any part, or all, of the process of cotton culture does not compare with that of our July harvesting; it is not greater than attends the cultivation of Indian corn in the usual New England method. I have seen a weakly white woman the worse for her labour in the cotton field, but never a white man, and I have seen hundreds of them at work in cotton fields under the most unfavourable circumstances, miserable, dispirited wretches, and of weak muscle, subsisting mainly, as they do, on corn bread. Mr. De Bow estimates one hun dred thousand white men now engaged in the cultivation of cotton, being one ninth of the whole cotton force (numeri cally) of the country.* I have just seen a commercial letter from San Antonio, which estimates that the handful of Germans in Western Texas will send ten thousand bales of cotton, the production of their own labour, to market this season. If it should prove to be but half this, it must be considered a liberal contribution to the needed supply of the year, by
Vol. i., p. 175, "Resources."

266

COTTOS AND SLAVERY.

those who, following Mr. Bussell, have considered Western Texas out of the true cotton region, and taking the troth of the common planters' assertion for granted, hare thought Africans, working raider physical compulsion, the only means of meeting the demand which could be looked to~in the furore of the United States.
It would not surprise me to learn that the cultivation r-f cotton by the German settlers in Texas had not, after all, been as profitable aa its cultivation by the planters employing slaves in the vicinity. I should attribute the superior profits of the planner, if any there be, however, not to the fitness of the climate for negro labour, and its unfitness for white labour, but to the fact that his expenses for fencing, on ac count of his larger fields and larger estate, are several hun dred per cent, less than those of the farmer; to the fact that his expenses for tillage, having mules and ploughs and other instruments to use at the opportune moment, are less than those of the former, who, in many cases, cannot afford to own a single team; to the fact that he has, from experience, a better knowledge of the most successful method of culti vation ; to the feet that he has a gin and a press of his own in the midst of his cotton fields, to which he can carry his wool at one transfer from the picking; by which he can put it in order for market expeditiously, and at an expense much below that falling upon the farmer, who must first store his wool, then send it to the planter's gin and press and have it prepared at the planter's convenience, paying, perhaps, exorbitantly therefor; and, finally, to the fact that the planter deals directly with the exporter, while the fanner, the whole profit of whose crop would not pay his expenses in a joomey to the coast, must transfer his bale or two to the exporter through two or three middle-men, carrying it one

THB QUESTION OP COTTON SCPl'LY.

267

bale at a time, to the local purchaser. Merchants will never give as good prices for small lots as for large. There are reasons for this which I need not now explain. I consider, in short, that the disadvantages of the former in growing cotton are of the same nature as I have before explained with those which long ago made fire-wood of hand-looms, and paupers of those who could be nothing else but handloom weavers, in Massachusetts. Exactly how much is gained by the application of labour with the advantage of capital and combination of numbers over its isolated applica tion as directed by individuals without capital in a slaveholdmg region, I cannot estimate, but no one will doubt that it is considerable. Nevertheless, in all the cotton climate of the United States, if a white farmer has made money without slaves, it will be found that it has been, in most cases, obtained exclusively from the sale of cotton. If cotton is a plant the cultivation of which by free or white labour is especially difficult, how is it that, with the additional em barrassments arising from a lack of capital, his gains are almost exclusively derived from his cotton crop ? But I may be asked, if combination is what is needed to make cotton a source of more general prosperity at the South, why is there no such thing as a joint-stock cotton plantation in Mississippi, as there are joint-stock cotton mills in Massa chusetts, the stock in which is in large part owned by those employed in them ? I ask, in reply, how is it that the com mon way of obtaining breadstuffs in Northern Alabama is to sow three pecks of seed wheat on hard stubble ground, plough it under with unbroken bullocks, led with a rope, and a bnlltongne plough, and finally to garner rarely so much as six bushels from an acre ? How is it that while in Ohio the spin ning-wheel and hand-loom are curiosities, and homespun

268

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

would be a conspicuous and noticeable material of clothing half the white -population of Mississippi still dress in home spun, and at every second house the wheel and loom are found in operation? The same influences which condemn the majority of free labourers in Alabama to hand-looms, homespun, and three hundred pounds of wheat to the acre, as the limit of production, also condemn them to isolated labour, poor soil, poor tools, bad management, " bad luck," small crops, and small profits in cotton culture.
The following passages from a letter published in the New York Times present convincing evidence that it is no peculiarity of the Western Texas climate, but only the exceptional social condition with which its people are faToured, that enables free white labour to be employed in increasing the cotton production of the country. I have ascertained that the author of the letter is known to the editor of the Times, and is esteemed a gentleman of veracity and trustworthy judgment.

" I am well acquainted with Eastern Mississippi, south of Monroe county, and there are few settlements where my name or face is unknown in the following counties, over the greater part of which I have ridden on horse back, to wit: Loundcs, OktiUeha. Clioetaw, Carroll, Attalla, Winston, Jfoxubeo, Kempcr, Nashobn, Leake, Scott, Newton, Lauderdale, Clarie, Smith, and Jasper. After four years' travel through these counties, transacting business with great numbers of their inhabitants, stopping at their houses, conversing nmch with them, and viewing their mode of living, I unhesitatingly answer that white men can and do labour ia the cotton field, from Christmas to Christmas following: ami that there, as elsewhere, prudence, industry, and energy find their universal reward: success and wealth.
" In the comities of Clioetaw, TVinstou, Naahobn, Newton, and Smith, there are very few large plantations ; most of those hiiving slaves holding ~~ but two or three, while tliose who own none are in the majority: yet these are all cotton-growing counties, and the staple of tlieir cotton, poor u their lands are, is equal to the average sold in the Mobile market Where the young farmer is enterprising and go-ahead, hig cotton is usually superior. * * *

THE QUESTION OF COTTON SUPPLY.

269

" The rich lands where white labour, even in small numbers, might be profitable, are either in the hands of large planters, or too heavily timbered for a single man. The only thing now preventing any poor white man in the South from gaining a fair competence, and even
attaining wealth, is his own laziness, Bhiftlcssncss, and ignorance; for the small planters in the counties I have mentioned are deplorably ignorant * * *
"There is one case I remember, which is to the point; the man lives in Choetaw county, and was born in Georgia. He does not own a negro, but baa two boys, one sixteen, the other twelve. With the assistance of thrse boys, and the most imperfect agricultural implements, he made twenty-two bales of cotton, year before last, plenty of corn, and sufficient small grain for himself and family, although the season was more than ordinarily bad in his neighbourhood, while many of his neighbours, with five or six slaves, did not exceed him, and some made even less. He went on to his
place without ten dollars in his pocket, gave his notes for eight hundred dollars, payable in one, two, and three years' time, with interest at six per cent, per annum, and the ensuing year he purchased another one hundred and sixty acres for seven hundred and fifty dollars, also on time. This man is, however, far more intelligent and progressive in farming than those about him; he does not plant as did his grandfather, because his fether did so; but endeavours to improve, and is willing to try an experi ment occasionally.
" In my own county, in Alabama, there is a woman whose husband died shortly ufttr the crop was planted, leaving her without a single servant, and no assistance except from a little son of twelve years of age; yet she went into the field, ploughed and picked her cotton, prepared her ground for the coming crop, and raised a second crop thereon.

My conclusion, from the various evidences to which I have referred, must he a widely different one from Mr. Kussell's, from that which is generally thought to prevail with our leading capitalists, merchants, and manufacturers, and from that which seems to have been accepted by the Cotton Supply Associa tions of Liverpool and Manchester. It is this: that there is no physical obstacle in the way of our country's supplying ten bales of cotton where it now does one. All that is necessary for this purpose is to direct to the cotton-producing region an adequate number of labourers, either black or white, or

270

COTXoX AXD SLAYEKY.

bjth. Xo amalgamation, no association on equality, no vio lent disruption of present relations is necessary. It is not even requisite that Loth black and white should wort in the cotton fields. It is necessary that there should be more objects of in dustry, more varied enterprises, more general intelligence among the people, and especially that they should become, or should desire to become, richer, more comfortable, than they are.
The simple truth is, that even if we view in the brightest light of Fourth of July patriotism, the character of the whites of the cotton-producing region, and the condition of the slaves, we cannot help seeing that, commercially speaking, they are but in a very small part a civilized people. Un doubtedly a large number of merchants have had, at times, a profitable business in supplying civilized luxuries and con veniences to the South. The same is true of Mexico, of Turkey, of Egypt, and of Russia. Silk, cloth, and calico, shoes, gloves, and gold watches, were sold in some quantity in California, before its golden coffers were forcibly opened ten years ago. The Southern supply to commerce and the Southern demand of commerce is no more what it should be, comparing the resources of the South with those of other lands occupied by an active civilized community, than is that of any half-civilized community, than was that of Cali fornia. Give the South a people moderately close settled, moderately well-informed, moderately ambitious, and mode rately industrious, somewhat approaching that of Ohio, for instance, and what a business it would have ! Twenty doubletrack railroads from the Gulf to the lakes, and twenty lines of ocean steamers, would not sufficiently meet its requirements. IVho doubts, let him study the present business of Ohio, and ask upon what, in the natural resources of Ohio, or its position, could, forty years ago, a prediction of its present wealth and

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badness have been made, of its present supply and its present demand hare been made, which would compare in value with the commercial resources and advantages of position possessed to-day by any one of the Western cotton States ?*
* Some one can render a service to civilization by publishing precisely what feudal rights, so called, were abolished in large parts of Germany and Hungary in 1848, and what results to the commerce of the districts affected the greater ftwdom and impulse to industry arising therefrom has had. If I am rightly informed, trade, in many cases, both export and import, has already much mote than quadrupled in value, thousands of peasants now demanding numerous article* tad being able to pay for them, which before only few score or hundred pro prietors were expected to bay

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CHAPTER YQL
THE CONDITION AXD CHARACTER OP THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES OF 'I'UK SOUTH.
SCTCE the growth of the cotton demand has doubled the value of slave labour, and with it the pecuniary inducement to pre vent negroes from taking care of themselves, hypotheses and easy methods for justifying the everlasting perpetuation of slavery have been multiplied. I have not often conversed with a planter about the condition of the slaves, that he did not soon matft it evident, that a number of these were on service in his own mind, naively falling back from one to another, if a few inquiries about matters of fact were ad dressed him without obvious argumentative purpose. The beneficence of slavery is commonly urged by an exposition not only of the diet, and the dwellings, and the jollity, and the devotional eloquence of the negroes, but also by demon strations of the high mental attainments to which individuals are already found to be arriving. Thus, there is always at hand, some negro mathematician, who is not merely held to be far in advance of the native Africans, but who beats most white men in his quickness and accuracy in calculation, and who is at the same time considered to be so thoroughly trust worthy, that he is constantly employed by bis master as an accountant and collecting agent; or some negro whose repu tation for ingenuity and skill in the management and repair of engines, sugar-mills, cotton-presses, or other machinery,

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is BO well established that his services are more highly valued, throughout a considerable district, than any white man's; or some negro who really manages his owner's plantation, his agricultural judgment being deferred to, as superior to that of any overseer or planter in the county. Scarcely a plantation did I visit on which some such representative black man was not acknowledged and made a matter of boasting by the owner, who, calling attention perhaps to the expression of intelligence and mien of self-confidence which distinguished his premium specimen, would cheerfully give me a history of the known special circumstances, practically constituting a special mental feeding, by which the phenomenon was to be explained. Yet it might happen that the same planter would presently ask, pointing to the brute-like countenance of a moping field-hand, what good would freedom be to such a creature ? And this would be one who had been provided from childhood with food, and shelter, and clothing, with as little consideration of his own therefor as for the air he breathed; who had not been allowed to determine for himself with whom he should associate; with what tools and to what purpose he should labour; who had had no care on account of his children; who had no need to provide for old age; who had never had need to count five-and-twenty; the highest demand upon whose faculties bad been to discriminate be tween cotton and crop-grass, and to strike one with a hoe without hitting the other; to whose intelligence, though living in a civilized land, the pen and the press, the mail and the telegraph, had contributed nothing; who had no school ing as a boy; no higher duty as a man than to pick a given quantity of cotton between dawn and dark; and of whom, under this training and these confinements, it might well be wondered that he was found able to understand and to speak the language of human intelligence any more than a horse.

VOL. II.

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corros AOT> SLAVERY.

Again, one would assure me that he had -witnessed in his own time an obvious advance in the quality of the slaves generally; they wvre more active, less stupid, employed a larger and more cz.'.ct vocabulary, and were less superstitious, obstinate, and perverse in their habits of mind than when he was himself a boy; but I had only to presume that, with this rapid improvement, the negroes would soon be safely allowed to take some step toward freedom, to be" assured with much more apparent confidence than before, that in the special quality which originally made the negro a slave, there had been no gain; that indeed it was constantly becoming more evident that he was naturally too deficient in forecasting capacity to be able to learn how to take civilized care of himself.
As a rule, when the beneficence of slavery is argued by Southerners, an advancing intellectual as well as moral con dition of the mass of negroes is assumed, and the high attain ments of individuals are pointed to as evidence of what is to be expected of the mas?, if the system is not disturbed. Suggest that any modification of the system would enlarge its beneficence, however, and an exception to the general rule, as regards the single quality of providence, is at once alleged, and in such a mariner, that one cannot but get the impression that, in this quality, the negro is believed to be retrograding as surely as he is advancing in everything else; and this is one method by which the unconditional perpetuation of the system, as it is, is justified. Such a justification must of course involve the supposition that in the tenth generation of an unremitted training, discipline, education, and custom in abject dependence upon a voluntary provision by others, for every wish of which the gratification is permitted, white men would be able, as a rule, to gain in the quality of providence and capacity for independent self-snpport.

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As to the real state of the case, I find, in my own obser vation, no reason for doubting, what must be expected of those interested, that the general improvement of the slave is usually somewhat overrated, and his forecasting ability under rated. Measures intended to prevent a man from following his natural inclinations often have the effect of stimulating those inclinations; and I believe that the system which is designed not merely to relieve the negro from having any care for himself, but, as far as practicable, to forcibly prevent him from taking care of himself, in many particulars to which he has more or less instinctive inclination, instead of gradually suppressing this inclination, to some extent stimu lates it, so that the Southern negro of to-day, however depraved in his desires, and however badly instructed, is really a man of more cunning, shrewdness, reticence, and persistence, in what he does undertake for himself, than his father was. The healthful use of these qualities (which would constitute providence) is, however, in general, success fully opposed by slavery, and, as far as the slave is concerned,nothing worse than this can be said" of the system. Admitting that, in this view, slavery is not beneficent, or is no longer beneficent, or can be but for a time beneficent to the slave, the present attitude of the South still finds a mode of justification with many minds, in the broad assertion that the negro is not of the nature of mankind, therefore cannot be a subject of inhumanity. This, of course, sweeps the field, if it does anything: thus (from the Day-Book)--

"The wide-spread delusion that Southern institutions are an evil, and their extension dangerous--the notion BO prevalent at the North thai there ia a real antagonism, or that the system of the South is hostile to Northern interests; the weakened union sentiment, and the utter debauchment, the absolute traitorism of a portion of the Northern people, not only to'' the Union, but to Democratic institutions, and to the cause of civilization on this continent; all these, with the minor and moat innumerable mischkfs
T2

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thai this mighty world-wide imposfnre has engendered or drags in its midst, rest upon the dogma, the single assumption, the sole elementary foundation falsehood, that a negro is a black man."

This bold ground is not as often taken at the South as by desperate bidders "Tor Southern confidence among ourselves. I have heard Christian men, however, when pushed for a justification of the sealing up of the printed Bible, of the legal disregard of marriage, of giving power to rascally traders to forcibly separate families, and so on, refer to it as a hypothesis not at all to be scouted under such circumstances. Yet, as they did so, there stood behind their chairs, slaves, in whose veins ran more Anglo-Saxon blood than of any African race's blood, and among their other slaves, it is probable there were many descendants of Nubians, Moors, Egyptians, and Indians, all interbred with white and true negro tribes, so that it would be doubtful if there remained one single absolutely pure negro, to which ani'mal alone their argument would strictly apply. If the right or expediency of denying the means of preparing themselves for freedom to these beings could even be held to be coexistent with the evident preponderance in them of certain qualities of form, colour, etc., the number of those who are held unjustly or inexpediently in the bonds of a perpetual slavery is already quite large in the South, and is gradually but surely increasing--is increasing much more rapidly than are their means of cultivating habits which are necessary to be cultivated, before the manliest child of white men is capable of enjoying freedom.
There are but two methods of vindicating the habit of de pending on the labour of slaves for the development of wealth in the land, which appear to me, on the face of them, entitled to be treated gravely. One of these, assuming the beings held in slavery to be as yet generally incompetent to take care of themselves in civilized manner,-and dangerous

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to the life as well as to the wealth of the civilized people who hold them in slavery, argues that it is necessary for their humane maintenance, and to prevent them from acquiring an increase of the disposition and strength of mind and will which has always been felt a source of danger to the wellbeing of their masters, that all the present laws for their mental repression should be rigidly maintained. It is not to be denied, I think, that there is some ground for this as sumption. Inasmuch as it is also argued that the same necessity requires that these beings, and with them all these laws, should be carried on to territory now free from them, we are called npon to give a sober consideration to the argu ment which is based upon it. This I shall do in the last chapter. The other method to which I refer assumes that by having a well-defined class set apart for drudging and servile labour, the remainder of a community may be preserved free from the demeaning habits and traits of character which, it is alleged, servile and menial obligations and the necessity of a constant devotion to labour are sure to fix upon those who are subject to them. Hence a peculiar advantage in morals and in manners is believed to belong to the superior class of a community so divided. I am inclined to think that there is no method of justifying slavery, which is more warmly cherished by those interested to maintain it, than this, fain sure that there is none which plantrs are more ready to suggest to their guests.*

* From an " Adtiress on Clanatoloyy" before the Academy of Science, Ly f >!.

Barton, of New Orleans:--

*

" The institution of slavery operates by contrast ami comparison ; it elevates

the tone of the superior, adds to its refinement, allows more time to cultivate the

mind, exalts the standard in morals, manners, and intellectual endowments;

operates as a safety-valve for the evil disposed, leaving the upjsr race purer,

while it really preserves from de-gradation, in the scale of civilization, the inferior,

which we see is their uniform destiny when left to themselvef. The slave, constitute

essentially the lowest class, and society is immmsaraWy bcnefitted by having this

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No sensible man among us shuts his eyes to the ignorance, meanness, vice, and misery which accompanies our general prosperity; no class of statesmen, no politicians or dema gogues, no writers deny or ignore it. It is canvassed, pub lished, studied, struggled with, by all honest men, and this not in our closets alone, but in our churches, our legislatures, our colleges, our newspapers, our families. We are constantly .urging, constantly using means for discovering it and setting it forth plainly. We commission able men to make a business of bringing it to the light, and we publish the statistics which their labours supply as legislative documents to be circu-

class, which constitutes the offensive fungus--the great cancer of civilized life--a vast burthen and expense to every community, under surveillance and control; and not only so, bat under direction as an etiicient agent to promote the geiie:al welfare and increase the wealth of the community. The history of the world fnrnishes no institution under similar management, where so much good actually results to the governors and the governed as this in the Southern States of North America."
" It is by the existence of slavery, exempting so large a portion of our citiiras from labour, that we have leisure for intellectual pursuits."-- Gvternor Jlammond in Soatk. Literary Xess.
H Would you do a benefit to the horse or the ox, by giving him a cultivated understanding, or fine feelings ? So far as the mci-e labourer .has the pride, the knowledge, or the ampliations of a free man, he is unfitted for his situation, aivl must doubly feel its infelicity. If there are sordid, servile, and laborious offices to be pel-formed, is it not better that there should be sordid, servile, and laborious beings to perform them?"-- Chancellor Harper ; Add, ess to South Carolina Institute.
" The relations between the North and the South are very analogous to those which subsisted between Greece and the Roman Empire, after the subjugation of Achaia by the Consul Mummius. The dignity and energy of the Roman character, conspicuous in war and in politics, were not easily tamed and adjusted to the arts ot industry and literature. The degenerate and pliant Greeks, on the contraiy, ex celled in the handicraft and polite profe-sions. We learn from the vigoioui inrective of Juvenal, that they were the rocst useful and capable of servants, whether as pimps or professors of rhetoric. Obsequious, dexterous, and leady, the versatile Greets monopolized the business of teaching, publishing, and manu facturing in the Roman Empire--allowing their masters ample leisure for the ten-ice of the State, in the Senate or in the field."--Richmond Enquirer.

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lated at the general expense, in order that our misfortune may be as well known, and as exactly comprehended as possible.
From much of all this, which so painfully and anxiously concerns us, we are told that the Sonth is free. We are told that what we bewail is seen at the Sonth to be the result of a mistaken social system; that the South escapes that re sult by slavery. We do not deny, we daily acknowledge that there are mistakes in our system; we endeavour to remedy them; and we not unfrequently have to acknowledge that in doing so, we hare made some of our bad things worse. Does slavery relieve all ? And without compensation ? We often find, upon a thorough review, that our expedients, while they have for a time seemed to produce very valuable results, have in fact corrected one evil by creating of enhancing another. We have borrowed from Peter to pay Paul. In this way we find investigation and discussion to be constantly essential to prevent errors and mistakes from being exagge rated and persevered in unnecessarily. Thus we--our honestly humane part at least--are ever calling for facts, ever publish ing, proclaiming, discussing the facts of our evil. It is only those whose selfish interest is thought by themselves to be served by negligence, who resist investigation and publi cation, who avoid discussion. Thus we come to habitually associate much activity of discussion, much consideration, much publication with improvement--often no doubt erro neously--still it is natural and rational that when we find no discussion of facts, no publication, no consideration, where we find general consideration and general discussion prac tically prevented by a forcible resistance to publication, we cannot but suspect there is something sadly need ing to be made better. And this last we do find to be the case at the South, and with regard to slavery. Why,

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if their system has such tangible evidence of its advan tages within the personal knowledge of any citizen, do they object to its alleged disadvantages being set forth for con sideration, and, if it should happen, discussion ? True, we may he wrong, we may be mistaken in supposing that this, OUT constant publication and challenge to discussion is a good thing. Perhaps if we were better, we should talk less, know less of what evil remained to be gradually grown out of. It might be found that the constant consideration of our evil had had a bad effect upon us. Bat I have not found that the people of the South are inclined to shut their eyes, and close their ears, and bar their imaginations to the same evil. With the misery which prevails among us, Southerners gene rally appear to be, indeed, more familiar than the most in dustrious of our home philanthropists. Great as it is, it is really over-estimated at the South--over-estimated in the aggregate at least; for it is perhaps impossible to over estimate the sufferings of individuals. South of Virginia, an intelligent man or woman is rarely met who does not main tain, with the utmost apparent confidence, that the people who do the work of the North are, on the whole, harder driven, worse fed, and more destitute of comfort than are the slaves at 4he South, taking an average of both classes ; and this I heard assumed by gentlemen, the yearly cost of maintaining whose own slaves, according to their statement to me, would not equal the average monthly expenses of an equal number of the poorest class of labourers I have ever known at the North. I have heard it assumed by planters, who not only did not themselves enjoy, but who never imagined or aspired to n tithe of the comfort to which most journeymen mechanics whom I have known are habituated. I have heard it assumed by gentlemen, nine-tenths of whose neighbours for a hundred miles around them lived in a manner which, if witnessed at

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the North, would have made them objects of compassion to the majority of our day-labourers.
A gentleman coming up the Mississippi, just after a recent " Sonthern Commercial Convention " at Memphis, says:

"For three days I have been sitting at a table three times a day opposite four of the fire-eaters. * * * It was evident that they were sincere: for the; declared to one another the belief that Providence was directing the South to recommence the importation of Africans, that ahe might lead the world to civilization and Christianity through its dependence upon her soil for cotton. All their conversation was consistent with this. They believed the South the centre of Christianity and the hope of the world, while they had not the slightest doubt that the large majority of the people of the North were much more to be pitied than their own negroes. Exclusive of merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, and politicians, they evidently imagined the whole population of the North to be quite similar to the poor wliite population of the South. Yet they had travelled in the North, it appeared. I could only conclude that their observation of northern working men had been confined to the Irish operatives of some hulf-finished western railroad, living in temporary shanties along the route"'

I have even found that conservative men, who frankly acknowledged the many bad effects of slavery, and confessed the conviction that the Northern Slave States were rainxl by it; men who expressed admiration of Cassias Clay's course, and acknowledged no little sympathy with his views, and who spoke with more contempt of their own fanatics than of the Abolitionists themselves; that snch men were inclined to apologize for slavery, and for their own course in acting politically for its extension and perpetuation, by assuming certain social advantages to exist where it prevailed. " There is a higher tone in Southern society than at the North," they would say, " which is, no doubt, due to the greater leisure which slavery secures to us. There is less anxiety for wealth, consequently more honesty. This also leads to the habit of more generous living and of hospitality, which is so characteristic of the South."

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COTTON AND SLAVERY.

I think that there is a type of character resulting in a secondary way from slavery, of which Mr. Clay is himself a noble example, which attracts admiration and affection in a rare manner. I shall explain this secondary action of slavery by-and-by. I have come to the concision that whatever may be the good results of slavery in the way I shall then describe, this so constantly asserted, so generally conceded, of inducing a " higher tone " of breeding, and especially of nourishing the virtue of hospitality, is chimerical.
Some reader may at once be inclined to say that the South erners whom he haa met are unquestionably better bred people than are common at the North, and that they state as their experience that they do not find that hospitality, that honesty, that guilelessness of dealing one with another among tie people of the North, to which they are accustomed at home. It would remain a question, whether the Southerners whom the reader has met are of a common or an exceptional class; whether it is to slavery, or to some other circumstance, they owe their breeding; whether this other circumstance is dependent on slavery, or whether it may exist (and, if so, whether, when it does exist, it produces the same fruit) quite independently of slavery. It cannot be said that there are no gentlemen and gentlewomen of first water in free countries. A comparison, then, must be a comparison of numbers. I shall, by-and-by, offer the reader some assistance in making a comparison of this kind. And if, as we hear, free-labour society is etill an experiment, and one of the results of that experiment is to be found in the low condition of portions of our community, and it is by comparing this result with the condition of the whites of the South that we must judge of the success of the experiment; it may again be a question of numbers. As to experience of hospitality, that is not a question of quantity or of quality merely. I should wish to

FORMULA FOR JUSTIFYING SLAVEUT.
ask the reader's Southern authorities, " Where and with whom lias your experience been, North and South ?" And if with a similar class and in similar circumstances, I should wish to ask ftirther, " What do you mean by hospitality ?"
I think that the error which prevails in the SJouth, with regard to the general condition of our working people, is much strengthened by the fact, that a different standard of comfort is used by most persons at the South from that known at the North, and that used by Northern writers. People at the South are content and happy with a condition which few accept at the North unless with great complaint, or with expressions of resignation such as are the peculiar property of slaves at the South. If, reader, you had been travelling all day through a country of the highest agricul tural capability, settled more than twenty years ago, and toward nightfall should be advised by a considerate stranger to ride five miles further, in order to reach the residence of Mr. Brown, because Mr. Brown, being a well-to-do man, and a right good fellow, had built an uncommonly good house, and got it well furnished, had a score of servants, and being at a distance from neighbours, was always glad to entertain a respectable stranger--after hearing this, as you continued your ride somewhat impatiently in the evening chill, what consolations would your imagination find in the prospect before you ? My New England and New York experience would not forbid the hope of a private room, where I could, in the first place, wash off the dust of the road, and .make some change of clothing before being admitted to a family apartment. This family room would be curtained and car peted, and glowing softly with the light of sperm candles or a shaded lamp. When I entered it, I could expect that a couch or an arm-chair, and a fragrant cup of tea, with refined sugar, and wholesome bread of wheaten flour, leavened,

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__ .

would be offered me. I should think it likely that I could then hare the snatch of Tannhauser or Trovatore, which had been running faintly in my head all day, fingered clearly out to my entire satisfaction upon a pianoforte. I should then look with perfect confidence to being able to refer to Shake speare, or Longfellow, or Dickens, if anything I had seen or thought during the day had haply led me to wish to do so. I should expect, as a matter of course, a -clean, sweet bed, where I could sleep alone and undisturbed, until possibly in the morning a jug of hot water should be placed at my door, to aid the removal of a traveller's rigid beard. I should expect to draw a curtain from before a window, to lift the sash without effort, to look into a garden and fill my lungs with fragrant air; and I should be certain when I came down of a royal breakfast. A man of these circumstances in this rich country, he will be asking my opinion of his fruits. A man of his disposition cannot exist in the country without ladies, and ladies cannot exist in the country without flowers ; and might I not hope for the refinement which decks even the table with them ? and that the breakfast would be a meal as well as a feed--an institution of mental and moral suste nance as well as of palatable nourishment to the body ? My horse I need hardly look after, if he be a sound brute;--good stables, litter, oats, hay, and water, grooming, and discretion in their use, will never be wanting in such a man's house in the country.
In what civilized region, after such advice, would such thoughts be preposterous, unless in the Slave States ? Not but that such men and such houses, such family and home comforts may be found in the South. I have found them -- a dozen of them, delightful homes. But then in a hundred cases where I received such advice, and heard houses and men so described, I did not find one of the things imagined

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bore, nor anything ranging with them. In my last journey of nearly three months between the Mississippi and the Upper James Kiver, I saw not only none of those things, received none of those attentions, bat I saw and met nothing of the kind. Nine times out of ten, at least, after such a promise, I slept in a room with others, in a bed which stank, supplied with but one sheet, if with any; I washed with utensils common to the whole household; I found no garden, no flowers, no fruit, no tea, no cream, no sugar, no bread; (for corn pone--let me assert, in parenthesis, though possibly, as tastes differ, a very good thing of its kind for ostriches--is not bread: neither does even flour, salt, fet, and water, stirred together and warmed, constitute bread;) no curtains, no lifting -windows (three times out of four absolutely no windows), no couch--if one reclined in the femily room it was on the bare floor--for there were no carpets or mats. For all that, the house swarmed with vermin. There was no hay, no straw, no oats (but mouldy corn and leaves of maize), no discretion, no care, no honesty, at the ---- there was no stable, but a log-pen; and besides this, no other cut-house but a smoke-house, a corn-house, and a range of nigger houses.
In nine-tenths of the houses south of Virginia, in which I was obliged, making all reasonable endeavour to find the best, to .spend the night, there were none of these things. And most of these had been recommended to me by disinterested persons on the road as being better than ordinary--houses where they " sot up for travellers and had things." From the banks of the Mississippi to the banks of James, I did not (that I remember) see, except perhaps in one or two towns, a thermometer, nor a book of Shakespeare, nor a pianoforte or sheet of music; nor the light of a carcel or other good centre-table or reading-lamp, nor an engraving or copy of any kind, of a work of art of the slightest merit. I am not speak-

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ing of what are commonly called "poor whites;" a large majority of all these houses were the residences of share holders, a considerable proportion cotton-planters.
Those who watch the enormous export of cotton from the South, and who are accustomed to reckon up its value, as it goes forward, million on million, hundred million on hundred million, year after year, say that it is incomprehensible, if it be not incredible, that the people of the South are not rich and living in luxury unknown elsewhere. It is asking too mnch that snch statements as I have made should be received without any explanation. I have found this to be so, and so far as the explanation appears in the attendant social pheno mena of the country, I shall endeavour to set it forth, sus taining the accuracy of my report by the evidence of com petent Southern witnesses.
William H. Gxegg, Esq., a distinguished citizen of Charles ton, South Carolina, in a report to the directors of the Graniteville Manufacturing Company of that State, describes at length the condition of the operatives of the company, whom he states to have been drawn originally "from the poor of Edgefield, Barnwell and Lexington districts." These are cotton-growing districts of South Carolina, better supplied than usual with the ordinary advantages of civilized communities. For instance, by reference to the census returns, I find that they are provided with public schools at the rate of one to less than thirty square miles, while within the State, inclusive of its several towns, there is but one public school, on an average, to every forty square miles. There are churches within these districts, one to about seventeen square miles; throughout the State, including Charleston and its other cities, one to every twenty-five square miles. In Georgia the average is one to thirty-two square miles. With the condition of the newer cotton States, in these respects, that of Edgefield,

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287

Bamwell, and Lexington, would be found to compare still more favourably for the poor. In Lexington there is even a theological seminary. What, nevertheless, there is not gene rally available to the people at large, Mr. Gregg indicates by his statement of what advantages they possess who have come to Graniteville.

"When they were first brought together, the seventy-note out of a hundred grown girls who could neither read nor write were a by-word around the country; that reproach has long since been removed. We have night, Sunday, and week-day schools. Singing-masters, musicteachers, writing-masters, and itinerant lecturers all find patronage in Graniteville where the people can easily earn all the necessaries of life, and are iu the enjoyment of the usual luxuries of country life." * * *
" To g-et a steady supply of workmen, a population mnat be collected tckith will regard themtelve* a a community ; and two essential elemciiU are necessary to the building up, moral growth, and stability of such a col lection of people, namely, a church and a school-house." * * *
"I can safely say that it is only necessary to make comfortable hornet iu order to procure families, that will afford labourers of the best kind. A large> manufacturing establishment located anywhere in the State, away from a town and in a healthy situation, will soon collect around it a popu lation who, however poor, with proper moral restrain to thrown around them, will soon develope all the elements of good society. Self-respoct and attachment to the place will soon find their way into the minds of swii. while intelligence, morality, and well directed industry, toM not fail to acquire petition."

What the poor people of Edgefield, Barnwell, and Lexington districts needed was, in the first place, to be led " to regard themselves as a community;" for this purpose the nuclei of "a church and a schoolhouse" are declared to be essential, to which must be added, such other stimulants to improvement as "singing and writing schools, itinerant lecturers," etc., etc. In short, the power of obtaining, as the result of their labour, " the necessaries of life," "the usual luxuries of country life," or, in two words, which cover and include church, school, music and lecture, as well as bread, cleanliness, luxuries and necessities, "comfortable

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homes." It was simply by mating possible to them what before had not been possible, the essential conditions of a comfortable civilized home, that Mr. Gregg was enabled in a few years to announce, as he did, that, " from extreme poverty and want, they have become a thrifty, happy, and contented people."
The present system of American slavery, notwithstanding the enormous advantages of wealth which the cotton monopoly is supposed to offer, prevents the people at- large from having " comfortable homes," in the sense intended by Mr. Gregg. For nine-tenths of the citizens, comfortable homes, as the words would be understood by the mass of citizens of the North and of England, as well as by Mr. Gregg, are, under present arrangements, out of the question.
Examine almost any rural district of the South, study its history, and this will be as evident as it was to Mr. Gregg in the case of those to which his attention was especially called. These, to be sure, contained, probably, a large proportion of very poor soil. But how is it in a district of entirely rich soil ? Suppose it to be of twenty square miles, with a population of six hundred, all told, and with an ordinarily convenient access by river navigation to market. The whole of the available cotton land in this case will probably be owned by three or four men, and on these men the demand for cotton will have had, let us^suppose, its full effect. Their
tillage land will be comparatively well cultivated. Tlieir
houses will be comfortable, their furniture and their food luxurious. They will, moreover, not only have secured the best land on which to apply their labour, but the best brute force, the best tools, and the best machinery for ginning and pressing, all superintended by the best class of overseers. The cotton of each will be shipped'at the best season, perhaps all at once, on a boat, or by trains expressly engaged at the lowest

THE CAUSES AND THE BEMEDT.

289

ntes of freight. It will everywhere receive special attention

and care, because it forms together a parcel of great value.

The merchants will -watch the markets closely to get the

best prices for it, and when sold the cash returns to each

proprietor will be enormously large. Aa the expenses of

raising and marketing cotton are in inverse ratio to the

ntunher of hands employed, planters nearly always imme

diately reinvest their surplus funds in slaves; and as there

is a sufficient number of large capitalists 'engaged in cotton-

growing to make a strong competition for the limited

number of slaves which the breeding States can supply, it is

evident that the price of a slave will always be as high as the

product of his labour, under the best management, on the

most valuable land, and with every economical advantage

which money can procure, will warrant.

But suppose that there are in the district ..besides these

three or four large planters, their families and their slaves,

s certain number of whites who do not own slaves. The

fact of their being non-slaveholders is evidence that they

are as yet without capital. In this case one of two tendencies

must soon be developed. Either being stimulated by the

high price of cotton they will grow industrious, will accu

mulate capital and purchase slaves, and owning slaves will

require a larger amount of knd upon which to work them

than the/ require for their own labour alone, thus being

led to buy out one of the other planters, or to move else

where themselves before they have acquired an established

improvement of character from their prosperity; or, secondly,

they will not purchase slaves, but' either expend currently

for their own comfort, or hoard the results of their labour.

If they hoard they will acquire no increase of comfort or im

provement of character on account of the demand. If they

spend all their earnings, these will not be sufficient, however

VOL. n.

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u

290

COTTOX AXD

profitable their cotton culture may be supposed, to purchase luxuries much superior to those furnished to the slaves of the planters, because the local demand, being limited to some fifty white families, in the whole district of twenty square miles, is not enough to draw luxuries to the neigh bourhood, unless they are brought by special order, and at great expense from the nearest shipping port. Xor is it possible for such a small number of whites to maintain & church or a newspaper, nor yet a school, unless it is one established by a planter, or two or three planters, and really of a private and very expensive character.
Suppose, again, another district in which either the land is generally less productive or the market less easy of access than in the last, or that both is the case. The stimulus of the cotton demand is, of course, proportionately lessened. In this case, equally with the last, the richest soils, and those most convenient to the river or the railroad, if there happens to be much choice in this respect, will assuredly be possessed by the largest capitalists, that is, the largest slaveholders, who may nevertheless be men of but moderate wealth and limited information. If so, their standard of comfort will yet be low, and their demand will consequently take effect very slowly in increasing the means of comfort, and rendering facilities for obtaining instruction more accessible to their neighbours. But suppose, notwithstanding the disadvantages of the district in its distance from market, that their sales of cotton, the sole export of the district, are very profitable, and that the demand for cotton is constantly increasing. A similar condition with regard to the chief export of a free labour community would inevitably tend to foster the intelli gence-and industry of a large nnmber of people. It has this effect with only a very limit; d mrmTr of the inhabitants of a plantation district consisting in large part as they must of

JHE CAUSES AND THE REMEDY.

291

slaves. These labourers may be driven to work harder, arid may be furnished with better tools for the purpose of in creasing the value of cotton which is to be exchanged for the Injuries which the planter is learning to demand for himself, but it is for himself and for his family alone that these luxuries will be demanded. The wages--or means of de manding home comfort--of the workmen are not at all influenced by the cotton demand : the effect, therefore, in en larging and cheapening the local supply of the means of home comfort will be almost inappreciable, while the impulse gene rated in the planter's mind is almost wholly directed toward increasing the cotton crop through the labour of his slaves alone. His demand upon the whites of the district is not materially enlarged in any way. The slave population of the district will be increased in number, and its labour more energetically directed, and soon the planters will find the soil they possess growing less productive from their increasing drafts upon it. There is plenty of rich unoccupied land to be had for a dollar an acre a few hundred miles to the West, still it is no trifling matter to move all the stock, human, equine, and bovine, and all the implements and machinery of a large plantation. Hence, at the same time, perhaps, with an importation from Virginia of purchased slaves, there will be an active demand among the slaveholders for all the re maining land in the district on which cotton can be profitably grown. Then sooner or later, and with a rapidity propor tionate to the effect of the cotton demand, the white popu lation of the district divides, one part, consisting of a few slaveholders, obtains possession of all the valuable cotton land, and monopolizes for a few white families all the advan tages of the cotton demand, A second part removes with its slaves, if it possess any, from the district, while a third con tinues to occupy the sand hills, or sometimes perhaps takes
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292

COTTOJf AND SLAVEBY.

possession of the exhausted land which has been vacated by the large planters, because they, with all their superior skill and advantages of capital, could not cultivate it longer with profit.*
The population of the district, then, will consist of the large landowners and' slaveowners, who are now so few in number as to be unnoticeable either as producers or con sumers ; of their slaves, who are producers but not consumers (to any important extent), and of this forlorn hope of poor whites, who are, in the eyes of the commercial world, wither producers nor consumers. The contemplation from a distance of their condition, is a part of the price which is paid by those who hold slavery to be justifiable on the ground that it main tains a race of gentlemen. Some occasionally flinch for a moment, in observing it, and vainly urge that something should be done to render it less appalling. Touching their ignorance, for instance, said Governor Seabrooke of South Carolina, addressing the Legislature of that State, years ago:--

"Education has been provided by the Legislature, but for one fleas o. the citizens of the State, which is the wealthy class. For the middle and poorer classes of society it has done nothing-, since no organized system has been adopted for that purpose. Yon have appropriated seventy-fire thousand dollars annually to free schools ; but, under the present mode of applying it, that liberality is really the profusion of the prodigal, rather than the judicious generosity which confers real benefit. The few who are educated at public expense in tlioue excellent and truly useful institn-

The business committee of the South Carolina State Agricultural Socwtf reported, Aug. 9, 1855 :--
" Oar old fields are enlarging, our homesteads hare been decreasing feirfiilly in number. * <ft'e arf noj only ]wj ng some of our most wiergetic and useful citizens to supply the bone and sinew of other States, bat we are losing our slave population, which is t}w true wealth of the State, our stocks of hngs, horses, mules, and cattle arc diminishing in tize and decreasing in number, ami our purses re strained for the last c*nt to supply thr-ir places from th<" Noi th-westi-rn State*."

I'HK CAUSES AND THJ5 RHKDY.

203

a, the Arsenal and Citadel Academies [military schools} form almost the only exception to the truth of this remark. Ten years ago, twenty thousand adults, besides childri-n, -Were unable to read or write, in South Carolina. Has our free-school system dispelled any of this ignorance? Are there not any reasonable fears to be entertained that the number has increased since that period '!"
Since then, Governor Adams, in another message to the South Carolina Legislatnre, vainly urging the appointment of a superintendent of popular education, said:--
"Hake, at least, this effort, and if it results in nothing--if, in conse quence of insurmountable difficulties in our condition, no improvement can be made on the present system, ami the poor of the land are hope lessly doomed to ignorance, poverty, and crime--you will, at least, feel conscious of having done your duty, and the public anxiety on the subject will be quieted."
It is not unnatural that there should be some anxiety with at least that portion of the public not accustomed to look at public affairs in the krge way of South Carolina legislators, when the travelling agent of a religious tract society can read from his diary in a church in Charleston, such a record as this:--
" Visited sixty families, numbering two hundred and twenty-one souls over ten years of age; only twenty-three could read, and seventeen write. Forty-one families destitute of the Bible. Average of their going to church, once in seven years. Several, between thirty and forty-five years old, had heard but one or two sermons in their lives. Some grown-up yonths had never heard a sermon or prayer, until my visit, and did not know of sucli a being as the Saviour; and boys and girls, from ten to fifteen years old, did not know who made them. All of one family rushed away when I knelt to pray, to a neighbour's, begging them to tell what I meant by it. Other families fell on their faces, instead of kneeling."*
The following is written by a gentleman, " whose name," says the editor of De Bow's " Beview," " has long been illus trious for the services he has rendered to the South."
" All of you most be aware of the condition of the class of people I allude to. What progress have they made in the last hundred years, and

* DC R?iv'i " Keriew," vol. xviii. p. 790.

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COTTOS A1TD SLAVERY.

what is to be their future condition, unless some mode of employment be dcvued to iniprove it ? A noble race of people ! reduced to a coudltioa bat little above the wild Indian of the forest, or the European gipsy, without education, an;!, in many instances, unable to procure the food necessary to develop the natural man. They seem to be the only class of people in oar State who are not disposed to emigrate to other countries, wliile our wealthy and intelligent citizens are leaving us by scores, taking with them the treasures which have been accumulated by mercantile thrift, as well aa by the growth of cotton and the consequent exhaustion of the soil."

Says Governor Hammond, also of South Carolina, in an address before the South Carolina Institute :--

'According to the best calculations which, in the absence of statistic facts, can be made, it is believed that, of the 3:>0,000 irhite inhab'tants of South drnlina, there aro not less tlian 50,000, whose industry, sucli as it is. and compensated as it is, (3 not, in the present condition of things and dots not promise, hereafter, to be, adequate to procure them, honestly, sncli a support as every white person in this country is and feels himself entitled to.
" Some cannot be said to work at all. They obtain a precarious sub sist nee by occasional jobs, by hunting, by fishing, sometimes by plunder ing fii Ids or folds, and, too often, by what is, in its effects. ir worse-- trailing with slaves, and seducing them to plunder for their benefit."

In another part of the same address, Governor Hammond says, that " 18 or, at the most g 19, will cover the whole necessary annual cost of a full supply of wholesome and palatable food, purchased in the market;" meaning, generally, in South Carolina. From a comparison of these two extracts, it will be evident that g 19 per annnm is high wages for the labour of one-sixth of all the white population of South Carolina--and that one-sixth exclusive of the classes not obliged to labour for tlieir living.
South Carolina affords the fairest example of the tendency of the Southern policy, because it is the oldest cotton State, and because slavery has been longest and most strongly and completely established there. But the same laws are seen in

THE CAUSES AND THE REMEDY.

295

operation leading to the same sure results everywhere. Some

carefully compiled statistics of the seaboard district of Georgia

will be found in Appendix (D), showing the comparative con

dition of the people in the rich sea-island counties, and those

in their rear, the latter consisting in large proportion of poor

or worn-out lands. I, recapitulate here the more exact of

these statistics:--

Population.--X large majority of the whole white popula

tion resides within the barren counties, of which the slave

population is less than one-fourteenth that of the aggregate

slave population of the whole.

Wealth.--The personal estate of the whites of these upper

counties is, on an average, less than one-sixth that of the

others.

Education.--As the wealthy are independent of public

schools, the means of education are scarcely more available

for those who are not rich in one than the other, the school-

houses being, on an average, ten and a half miles apart in the

less populoos, thirteen and three-quarters miles apart in the

more populous. .

_

-

Religion.--It is widely otherwise as to churches. In the

planting counties, there is a house of worship for every

twenty-nine white families ; in the poor white counties, one

for every one hundred and sixty-two white families. Not

withstanding the fact, that to accommodate all, the latter

should be six times as large, their average value is less than

one-tenth that of the others; the one being eight hundred

and ninety-eight dollars, the other eighty-nine dollars.

Commerce.--So wholly do the planters, in whose hands

is the wealth, depend on their factors for direct supplies from

without, the capital invested in trade, in the coast counties, is

but thirty-seven and a half cents to each inhabitant, and in

the upper counties it is~bitt one dollar and fifty cents. From

^1

290

COTTON AVD SLAVERY.

the remarks on temperance it would seem that the most of this capital must be held in the form of whiskey. One " store " in Liberty cotuity, vrhich I myself entered, contained, so far as I could see, nothing but casks, demijohns, decanters, a box of coffee, a case of tobacco, and some powder and lead ; and I believe that nine-tenths of the stock in trade referred to in these statistics is of this character. It was mentioned to me by a gentleman who had examined this district vrith a commercial purpose, that, off the plantations, there was no money in the country--almost literally, no money. The dealings even of the merchants or tradesmen seemed to be entirely by barter. He believed there were many full-groivn men who had never seen so much as a dollar in money in their lives.
The following is a graphic sketch by a native Georgian of the present appearance of what was once the most productive cotton land of the State:--

"The classic lint occupied a lovely spot, overshadowed by majestic Jiickories, towering poplars, and strong-armed oaks. The little plain on which it stood was terminated, at the distance of about fifty feet from the door, by the brow of a hill, which descended rather abruptly to a noble spring, that gushed joyously forth from among the roots of a stately beech, at its foot. The stream from this fountain scarcely burst into view, before it hid itself in the dark shade of a field of cane, which overspread the dale through which it flowed, and marked its windings, until it turned from sight, among vine-covered hills, at a distance far beyond that to which the eye could have traced it, without the help of its evergreen belt. A remark of the captain's, as we viewed this lovely country, will give the reader my apology for the minuteness of the foregoing description : 'These lands,' said he, ' wfll never wear out. Where they lie level, they will be just as good, fifty yeara hence, as they are now.' Forty-two years afterwards, I visited tlie spot on which he stood when lie made the remark. The sua poured his whole strength upon the bald hill which once supported the sequestered school-house; many a deep-washed gully m.t at a sickly bog, where had gashed the limpid fountain : a dying willow rose from the soil which had nourished the venerable beech ; flocks wtndered among the dwarf pine*, and cropped a scanty meal from the vole where the rich cane

THE CAUSES AND THE REMEDY.

297

had bowed and rustled to every breeze, and all around was barren, dreary, and cheerless."*

I will quote from graver authority: Fenner's Southern Medical Reports:--

"The naf vi- soil of Middle Georgia is a rich argillaceous loam, resting on a firm cluy foundation. In some of the richer counties, nearly all the lands have been cut down, and appropriate-*! to tillage; a large maximum of which have been worn out, leaving a desolate picture for the traveller to behold. Decaying tenements, red, old hills, stripped of their native growth and virgin soil, and washed into deep gullies, with here and there patches of Bermuda grass and stunted pine shrubs, struggling for subsistence on what was once one of the richest soils in America."

Let as go on to Alabama, which was admitted as a State of the Union only so long ago as 1818.
In an address before the Chunnenuggee Horticultural Society, by Hon. C. C. Cluy, Jr., reported by the author in De Bow'3 "Beview," December, 18:5, I find the following passage. I need add not a word to it to show how the political experiment of the Carolinas, and Georgia, is* being repeated to the same cursed result in young Alabama. The author, it is fair to say, is devoted to the sustentation of Slavery, and would not, for the world, be suspected of favour ing any scheme for arresting this havoc of wealth, farther than by chemical science : --

" I can show you, with sorrow, in the older portions of Alabama, and in my native county of Madison, the sad memorials of the artless and exhaust ing culture of cotton. Our small planters, after taking the cream off their lands, unable to restore them by -rest, manures, or otherwise, are going further west and south, in search of other virgin lands, which they may and will despoil and impoverish in like manner. Oar wealthier planters, vitli greater meant and no more skill, are buying out their poorer neighbour*, extending tlteir plantations, and adding to their dace force. The tcealtjiy/eic.

* " Georgia Scenes," by the Rev. and Hon. Ju Jge Longstreet, now President of the University of Mtafcissippi. Harper'* edition, p. 76.

298

COTTOJT AND SLAVEKY.

wfto are Me to lirt on smaller profit*, and In yire their tHatted fields rat. are fhn jwthiny nfthe mnny, who are merely independent.
" Of the twenty million* nf dollars anr.mlly realised from the sales of the cotton crop of Alabama, nt urly all n >t exp-,.-nd<Ml in suppnrtini* the p:orlucer is reinvests! iu laml :mJ nr^rof s. Thus the white population has decreased, and the slave increased, almost pari paint in several counties of our State. in 1825, Madison county cast about 3,000 votes; now she cannot cast exceeding 2,300. In trarersiutj flint county one will discorer numerous fartnhourei, once (he nftode i>f imlnijriotw ami intelligent freemen, note oxup!edl/y tlares, or tenantlest, denerteil, and d-Tnpiiluted: lie trill ofaerre JIM*, once fertile, note unfenftd, afjandonfd. rind rorrred icitJi Ifiinte eril harbinger*--foxtat7 and brnom-sedgs ; he fill ff fit? itif*** groiFtnq on the mouldering ipofls of onee thrifty riUayc* : and teill fiid ' one only matter yratps the trhole domain' that onfefurniilied happy hnme for a dozen white famflin. Indeed, a amain/ in it infaitey, ichrre, .fifty yean ago, scarce a forest tree had been felled by the axe of the p'mifrr is ulrendy exhjbitiny the painful tignt of tenility and demy, apparent in Virginia and the Carolina* ; thr frenhnest of tit agricultural glory i gone: tit* rigour of its youth if extinct, nnil the npirit ofdetolalion seem* brooding over it."

What inducement tag capital in railroads or shops or books or tools to move into districts like this, or which are to become like this ? Why, rather, I shall be asked, does it not with draw more completely ? Why do not all, who are able, remove from a region so desolate ? Why was not its impo verishment more complete, more simultaneous ? How is it that any slaveholders yet remain ? The " venerable Edmund Baffin," president of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, shall answer :*

"The causes are not all in action at onee, and in equal progress. The
labours of exhausting culture, also, are necessarily suspended as each of the cultivators' fields is successively worn out. And when tilltfre so ceases, and any space is thus left at rest, nature immediately goes to work to recruit and replace as much as possible of the wasted fertility, until another destroyer, after many years, shall return, again to waste, and in mneh
shorter time than before, the smaller stock of fertility so renewed. TLns the whole territory, so scourged, is not destroyed at one operation. Bnt though these changes and partial recoveries are continually, to some extent

* Address before the South Carolina Institute.

THE CAUSES ADD THE REMEDY.

299

counteracting the labours for destruction, still the latter work IB in general progress. It may require 'as it did in my native region) rubrc than two hundred years, from the first settlement, to reach the lowest degradation. But tliat final resell is not the less certainly to be produced by the eontinned action of the causes."

As to the extent to which the process is carried, Mr. Gregg says :*

u I think it would be within bounds to assume that the planting capital withdrawn within that period [the last twenty-five years] would, judiciously applied, have ilraim d every acre of swamp land in South Carolina, besides resuscitating the old, worn-out Uad, anil doubling the crops--thus more than quadrupling the productive power of the agriculture of the State."

It would be consoling to hope that this planters' capital in the new region to which it is driven were used to better results. Does the average condition of the people of western Louisiana and Texas, as I have exhibited it to the reader in a former chapter, justify such a hope ? When we consider the form in which this capital exists, and the change in the mode of its'investment which is accomplished when it is transferred from South Carolina, we perceive why it does not.
If we are told that the value of one hundred thousand dollars has been recently transferred from Massachusetts to a certain young township of Illinois, we reasonably infer that the people of this township will be considerably benefited thereby. We think what an excellent saw mill and grist mill, what an assortment of wares, what a good inn, what a good school, what fine breeding stock, what excellent seeds and fruit trees, what superior machinery and implements, they will be able to obtain there now; and we know that some of these or other sources of profit, convenience, and comfort to a neighbourhood, are almost certain to exist in all capital so transferred. In the capital transferred from South Caro-
* Fifth Annual Report to Directors of Qrnnitsville Company.

300

COTTOX ANT) SLAVERY.

lina, there is no such virtue--none of consequence. In a hundred thousand dollars of it there will not be found a single mill, nor a waggon load of " store goods;" it will hardly intro duce to the neighbourhood whither it goes a single improveaent, convenience, or comfort. At least ninety thousand dollars of it will consist in slaves, and if their owners go with them it is hard to see in what respect their real home comfort is greater.
"We must admit, it is true, that they are generally better satisfied, else this transfer would not be so unremitting as it is. The motive is the same at the North as at the South, the prospect of a better interest from the capital, and if this did not exist it would not be transferred. Let us suppose tLat, at starting, the ends of the capitalist are obtained equally in both cases, that a sale of produce is made, bringing in cash twenty thousand dollars ; suppose that five thousand dollars of this is used in each case for the home comfort of the owners, and that as much immediate comfort is attainable with it in the one case as in the other. "Wbat, then, is done with the fifteen thousand dollars ? At the South, it goes to pay for a further transfer of slaves purchased in the East, a trifle also for new tools. At the North, nearly all of it will go to im provement of machinery of some kind, machinery of transfer or trade, if not of manufacture, to the improvement of the pro ductive value of whatever the original capital had been invested in, much of it to the remuneration of talent, which is thus ' enabled to be employed for the benefit of many people other than these capitalists--for the home comfort of many people. If five thousand dollars purchased no more comfort in the one case than the other, at starting, in a few years it will purchase double as much. For the fifteen thousand dollars which has gone East in the one case to pay for more labour, will, in the other, have procured good rnaris and cheap transportation of

J

THE CAUSES AND THE REMEDY.

301

comforts, or shops and machinery, and thus the cheap manu facture of comforts on the spot where they are demanded. But they 'who sell the reinforcement of slaves, and to whom comes the fifteen thousand dollars, do they have no increase of home comfort ? Taking into consideration the gradual destruction of all the elements of home comfort which the rearing and holding of those slaves has occasioned in the district from which they are sold, it may Le doubtful if, in the end, they do. Whither, then, does this capital go ? The money comes to the country from those who buy cotton, and somebody must have a benefit of it. Who ? Every one at the South says, when you ask this, it is the Northern merchant, who, in the end, gets it into his own hands, and it is only him and his whom it benefits. Mr. Gregg apparently believes this. He says, after the sentence last quoted from him, describing the transfer of capital to the West from South Carolina :--

"But this ia not all. Let us look for a moment at the course of things among our mercantile classes. Wo shall not have to go much further hack than twenty-five years to connt up twenty-five millions of capital accumu lated in Charleston, anil which lias left us with its enterprising owners, who have principally located in nortlu rn cities. This sum would build factories . enough to spin find weave every pound of cotton mode in the State. bei/Us making railroads to intersect every portion of the up-country, giving busi ness facilities to the remotest points."

How comes this capital, the return made by the world for the cotton of the South, to be so largely in the hands of Northern men ? The true answer is, that what these get is simply their lair commercial remuneration for the trouble of transporting cotton, transporting money, transporting the total amount of home comfort, little as it is, which the South gets for its cotton, from one part of the country to the othfr (chiefly cotton to the coast, and goods returned instead of money from the coast to the plantations), and for the enormous risks and advances of capital which are required in dealing with the

302

COTTOIT ASD SLAVERY.

South. Js this serrice over paid ? If BO, why do not the planters transfer capital and energy to it from the plantations ? It is not so. Dispersed and costly labour makes the cost of trade or transfer enormous (as it does the cost of cotton pro ducing). It is only when this wealth is transferred to the Free States or to Europe that it gives great results to human comfort and hecomes of great value. The South, as a whole, has at present no advantage from cotton, even planters bnt little. The chief remit of the demand for it, as far as they are concerned, is to give a fictitious value to slaves.
Throughout the South-west I found men, who either told me themselves, or of whom it was said by others, that they settled where I found them, ten or fifteen years ago, with scarcely any property beyond half a dozen negroes, who were then indeed heavily in debt, but who were now quite rich men, having from twenty to fifty negroes. Xor is this at all sur prising, when it is considered that cotton costs nothing bnt labour, the value of the land, however rich, being too incon siderable to be taken into account, and that the price of cotton has doubled in ten years. But in what else beside negroes were these rich men better off than when they called them selves poor? Their real comfort, unless in the sense of security against extreme want, or immunity from the necessity of personal labour to sustain life, could scarcely have been increased in the least. There was, at any rate, the same bacon and com, the same slough of a waggon channel through the forest, the same bare walls in their dwellings, the same absence of taste and art and literature, the same distance from schools and churches and educated advisers, and--on account of the distance of tolerable mechanics,' and the difficulty of moving without destruction, through such a rough country, anything elaborate or finely finished--tlie sam? make-sh'it furniture. There were, to he sure, ploughs

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303

and hoes, and gins and presses, and there were scores of very " likely negroes." Whoever sold such of these negroes as had been bought must have been the richer, it will be said. But let us see.
The following picture of the condition of Virginia, the great breeding ground of slaves, is drawn by the last gover nor of that State, Henry A. Wise. It was addressed to a Virginia audience, who testified to its truthfulness.

" Ton have had no commerce, no mining, no manufactures, "You have relied alone on the single power of agriculture--and each agriculture! Your sedge-patches outshine the sun. Your inattention to your only source of wealth has scared the very bosom of mother earth. Instead of having to feed cattle on a thousand hills, you have had to chase the stump-tailed steer through the sedge-patches to procure a tough beef steak. " The present condition of things has existed too long in Virginia. The landlord has-skinned the tenant, and the tenant hag skiuued the land, until
all have grown poor together. I have heard a story--I will not locate it here or tliere--about the condition of the prosperity of our agriculture. I was toll by a gentleman in Washington, not long ago, that he was travelHug in a county not n hundred miles from this place, and overtook one of our citizens on horseback, with, perhaps, a bag of liay for a saddle, without stirrups, and the lending line for a bridle, and he said : * Stranger, whose Louie is that?' 'It is mine,' was the reply. Tiiey came to another. 'Wnose house is that?' 'Mine, too, stranger.' To a third: 'And whose Loose is tliut?' 'That's mine, too, stranger; but don't suppose that I'm so darned poor as to own all the laud about here.' "

But more to the purpose is the following statement of " the venerable Edmund Kuffin," President of the Virginia Agri cultural Society.

"A gang of slaves on a farm will increase to four times their original iimnber in thirty or forty years. If a farmer is only able to feed nd maintain liis slaves, their increase in value may double the whole of his capital originally invested in farming before he closes the temi of an ordi nary life. But few farnid are able to support this increasing expense, and also furnish the necessary supplies to the family of the owner; whence very many owners of large estates, in lands and negroes, are throughout

304

COTTON AXD SULVBRY.

their lives too poor to enjoy the comforts of life, or to incur the expenses necesmry to improve tht ir unprofitable fanning. A man so situated may be said to be a alavt- to his owi: slaves. If <!ie owner is industrious and frugal, he may be abl>- to support the increasing numbers of his slavts, and to beqneath them midiniiirshi d to Iris children. But tlie income 01 few persons increases as fast as their slaves, and, if not, the consequence must be that some of them will be sold, that the others may be supported, and the sale of more is perhaps afterwards compelled to pay debts incurred in striving to put off tl.at dreaded alternative. The slave at first almost starves l:is master, and at last is eaten by him--at least, Le is exchanged for, his value in food.'"

A large proportion of the negroes sold to these South western planters, then, had probably been bought by traders at forced sales in the older States, sales forced by merchants who had supplied tiie previous owners of the negroes, and who had given them credit, not on account of the productive value of their property as then situated, but in view of its cash value for sale, that is, of the value which it would realize when applied to cotton on the new soils of the South west.
The planters of the South-west are then, in ikct, supplying the deficit of Eastern production, taking their pay almost entirely in negroes. The free West fills the deficit of the free Eastern cereal production, but takes its pay in the manu factured goods, the fish, the oil, the butter, and the importa tions of the free East.
Virginia planters owning twenty to forty slaves, and nomi nally worth as many thousand dollars, often seem to live generously; but according to Northern standards, I do not think that the comforts and advantages for a rationally happy life, which they possess, compare with those of the average of Northern farmers of half that wealth. When they do, they must be either supplying slaves for the new cotton fields or living on credit--credit based on nn anticipation of supply ing that market.

THE CAUSES AND THE REMEDY.

305

Of course it cannot be maintained that no one, while living at the South, is actually richer from the effects of the cotton demand. There are a great many very wealthy men at the South, and of planters, as well as land dealers, negro dealers, and general merchants, but, except in or near those towns which are, practically, colonies of free labour, having constant direct communication and intimate relationship with free countries, the wealth of these more fortunate people secures to them but a small proportion of the advantages which belong to the same nominal wealth anywhere in the Free States, while then: number is so small that they must be held of no account at all in estimating the condition of the people, when it is compared with the number of those who are exceedingly destitute, and at whose expense, quite as much as at the expense of their slaves, the wealth of the richer class has been accumulated.
This cannot be rightly deemed extravagant or unjust lan guage. I should not use it if I did not feel satisfied that it was warranted, not only by my own personal observations, but by the testimony of persons whose regard for the pride of the South, whose sympathy with wealthy planters, and whose disposition not to underrate the good results of slavery, if not more sincere than mine, is more certain not to be doubted. I quote, for instance, a single passage from the observations of Mr. Eussell, an English gentleman, who, travelling with a special view of studying the agricultural condition and prospects of the country, was, nevertheless, so much limited in time that he was obliged to trust in a great degree to the observations of planters for his facts.

"In travelling through a fertile district in any of the Southern States, the appearance of tilings forms a great contrast to that in similar districts in the Free States. Durmjj two days' sail on the Alabama river from Mobile to Montgomery, I dul not see so many houses standing together in any one

VOL. II.

X

306

COTTOS ASD BLAVEEY.

spat as could be dignified with the appellation of village :* but I may pofr.bly Ir.ive parsed some at night. There were many places where cotton was shipped and provisions wen- landed, still there wile no sitaia of enter prise to indicate that we were in the heart of a ricli cotton region. * * The planters supply themselves directly through agents in the large 'towns, and comparatively little of the money drawn fur the cotton crop \g speut'in tl.e Southern States. Many of the planters spend their incomes by travelling witli tlieir families in the Northern States or in Europe flaring; the summer, and a large earn is required to pay the hog-raiser in Ohio, the mule-breeder in Kentucky, and, above all, the Northern capitalUts who have vast sums of money on mortgage ov<-r the estates. Dr. Claud the editor of Uie Cotton f'lant fAlabama], assured mr that after all these iteim are paid out of the money received for the whole cotton crop mid su<rar crops of the South, there did not remain one-fourth pint of it to Ix.- tpent in tl.e Southern Stat< s. Hence, tl.e Slave St;;ti s sjon obtain a rouipaiatively afcitionury condition, a:id, fnither, the pro-^lisi- tl.cy make is in proportion to the increase of freemen, velo*; taljour is render* d compa ratively unproductive, seeing tiiat the most fertile land is occupied by slaveholders.^

F questioned the agent of a large land speculation in Mississippi, a Southerner by birth, with regard to the success of small farmers. In reply he made the following statement, allowing me to take notes of it, understanding they were for publication:--

" The majority of our purchasers have been men without capital. To snch we usually sell one hundred and sixty >icres of land, at from two to three dollars an acre, the agreement beinj; to pay in one, two, and three years, with sii per cent, interest. It is very rare that the payments are made when due. and much the largiit projjortion of this class fuil even to pay their interest punctually. M;;ny fail altogether, ai:d quit their farms in about fen years. When crops are pern-rally good, and planters in the same neighbourhood make seven bales to a hand, poor people will not make over two bales, with their whole family. There ia ------ ------, in ---- county, for instance. We K>ld him one hundrd and sixty ;:crt3 of land in 1S43. He haa a family of good-sized boys--young meu now. For

* Mr. Hu^sell uses the Linguae of Kcular.d. Th^re are seveial collectioos of honses on thi~ river bark, thr inhabitants o?' which wor.U ton>Mer it an insult if they should hear such a humble term as " village " applied to their pseuilo towDt and cities.
t "North America ; its Agriculture and Climate," p. 290.

CAUSES AND THE REMEDY.

367

ten years he was never able to pay his interest He sold from two to four bides a yar, but he iliil not gt-t much for it, j"!i<l after taking out tin- cost of b:gins- aud rope, and ginning and pressing, lie bcurccly ever had two hun dred doll.irs a year coming to him, of which lie hud to pay his store bills, chiefly for cofft'e aud uiohisscs, sometimes a little '-loth ing---some years none at all. Thjey made thtir own cloth mostly in the house, but bought sheeting sometimes. He bus made one payment on the principal, from a sale of hogs. Almost the only poor people who have kept up to their agreement have been some near ------.since the cotton factory was started there. It is wonderful what a difference tluit has made, though it's but a picayune affair. People who have no negroes in this country generally raise corn enough to bread them through tlie year, and have hogs enough ranging in the swamps to supply them with bacon. They do not often buy anything1 except eoffi-e mid mohuses and tobacco. They are not generally drunkards, but the men will spend all the money they may have and get gloriously drunk once or twice a yiar, at elections or at court time, when they go to the comity town. I think that two hales of cotton a year is as much as is generally made by people who do not own negroes. Ti:ey are doing well if they net over fifty dollars a year from their lubour, besides supplying themselves witU com. A real smart nun, who tends his crop well, and who knows how it ought to be managed, can make five bales, almost always. Five bales lire worth two hundred ,ind fifty dollars, but it * very rare that a white man makes tliat. They have not got the right kiad of tools, ami they don't know how. Their crops are never half tended. If f >lks grin-rally tended their crops as some do, there would be more than twice us much cotton niisi-d as there is."
With regard to the enlargement of estates by successful planters, Laving stated, what were my impressions, the same
gentleman replied that I was entirely right, and gave an
instance, as follows, from his personal knowledge :--
"J. B. moved into ------ county within my recollection. He has bought out, one after another, and mainly since 18.~>0, more than twenty small landowners, some of them small slaveholders, and they have moved away frotu the vicinity. I do not know how many negroes he lias now, hut several hundred, certainly. ITs surplus must have nvi mired twenty thousand dollars a year for several year.*, and, as far as I know, the wholeis expended in purchasing negroes or hmd. He spends no nioiiiyfur anything else in the county, I am sure. It is a common thing to hear a man say, J. B. l.as bought up jn-xt to me, and I shall have to quit soon.' He never gets the land alongside of a man that within two years he does not bey him ont. In the last ten years I know of but one exception, and that is a man who hns shot two of B.'s niggers who were stealing his corn.
x2

308

COTTOV AND SLAVERY.

This man swears he won't sell at any price, nnd that he will shoot any of J. B s mergers whom tie cutches coming on his place. B.'s niggirsare afraid of him, an<l let him alone. J. B. trill pay more for land than its worth to anybody e1.e, and his negroes arc such thieves that notwxij can live in comfort on any place adjoining one of bis. There are two other men in the county who are constantly buying up the land around there. The white population of the county is diminishing', and the trade of the place [the county town] is not so good as it was ten years ago."
The following is an extract from a letter written by a worthy farmer of Illinois, whose name and address is in my possession, and who is deemed by those who hare known him for many years a sound trustworthy man :--
"What might h made of this country if the people were free, and the lahourer everywhere owned the land, one may speculate upon: and when he sees the homes of Yankees who go thither often with small means, and make old worn-out places blossom and bloom, he begins to suspect that there is something in mi-n as well as in climate.
"Inow come to'spcak of ti.e wealth of the people of the South-western Slave States, and, for fear I may 7* thonglit to exaggerate, I here say I will not tell the whole troth. 111 keep some back for another time. 3fow, men who go through on boats snd ears, and slop in cities and large hotels, know nothing 1o what I do-- I who hate gone among the ptople of every class, I who have stayed with them hundreds of nights, Sundays nd all, and gone to meetings and frolics, and travelled hours in the woods, where sometimes then; was a road, and sometimes not, trying to find a place to stay over night--and, having visittd more than a thousand plan-' tatioas, and sh-pt and eat in I know not how many hovels, and ttlk< d with them all, and, if I choose, can talk precisely as they do, and they wouldn't suspect I was born up North--I say, I think I ought to know something about them.
" The impression which one gets on going South is the general dilapida tion or carelessness which appears, even upon some of the best planta tions. The nice white houses so common at the North, even in the remotest agric.nltnral districts, with green blinds, with clean door-yards, and well kept shmbbenr, snnj barns, <rrecn meadows, and corner schoolhoases, are nowhere seen. The furniture of the houses is of the com monest description; and to make short work with it, I estimate that tLtre are not dt-cent chairs enough in the whole South to give half a set to each family. For there are to-day, and there h;;ve K-en for every day for more than ten years past, more than 30,000 people in Tennessee alone, who have not a foot of land or a bit of work to do. I am speaking of whites, and not of negroes at all. A bushel of corn-meal, a side of bacon, and >

J

THE CAUSES AND THE BEMEDV.

309

little coffee, will be all tlmt a family of tliis class can ever expect to get beforehand, and it is often they get neither coffee nor bacon. If they have a cow, and she " comes up,' they may have milk, bat as for butter, uome have heard of it, some have seen it, few have eaten it And the fact is, many, yea, many who own from two to five slaves, are little better off. I stayed with a man who had fifteen slaves and 400 acres of laud, where liehad lived forty years, and his house was not worth fifty cents; what my fere was you may guess. I hare seen hundreds of families living in log' cabins, ten or twelve feet square, where the children mil around as naked as ever they were born, and a bedstead or chair was not in the house, and never will be. I have seen the children eat wheat and grass, growing in the field. I have seen them eat dirt. I saw children here on my own place, in Southern Illinois, last year, eat dirt, they were BO hungry. Southern Illinois bis been a city of refuge for the poor people of the Slave Status. Folks thought Humbuldt told a big .story when he gave an acconut of the clay-eating Indians of South America. Of course where poverty is so general, and where the slaves are few, the slaves cunnot fare much worse thau their masters. It is generally said by the people of the Slave States that they prefer com bread, but, place the two kinds before them, and you will see which they lil*e best. No elnas of people like corn bread, and no people, as a general tiling, are worth much who can get nothing else. "For the most part, the people of these regions manufacture all their every-day clothing, and their garments look as though they were made for no other purpose th:m to keep them warm and to cover their nakedness: beauty of colouring and propriety in fitting are little regarded. Every man who is not ricli is a shoemaker. Blacksmith-shops are innumerable, and yet I hare sent a boy over eighty miles from shop to shop, and then did not get a horse shod. 3fen call themselves gunsmiths, but they only stock -runs. There are earpenttrs, and cabinet-rankers, and chair-makers, and all this working badly with poor tools. The sum ia, there is no real discipline of mind among th< m, no real ingenuity, no education, no com fortable houses, no good victuals, nor do they know how to cook ; and when 1 ^-o among them, what troubles me most is, they have no gratt, no clover, no hoy " And yet, as fine and well-disposed mra, and as anxious to improve, arcto be found in the South-western States as are to be found anywhere. They are as honest as men ever are, and they will treat a stranger the bef tli. y know how. The trouble is, the large slaveholders have got all tin: good land. There can be no schools, and if the son of a poor man rises above his condition there is no earthly chance for liim. He can only hope to he a slave-driver, for an office is not his, or he must leave and go to a Free State. Were (here no Free State*, the white people of tlte South would to day be slaret."

310

COTTON AOT> SLAVERY.

I will here call upon just one more witness, whose evidence I cite at this point, not merely because, in very few words, having reference to the very heart of the planter's prosperity, it practically endorses all I have said, bat for another reason which will presently appear.
First as to the non-slaveholders :--
"I am not aware that the relative number of these two classes has ever been ascertained in any of the States, but I am satisfied that the nonslavehoMere far outnumber the slaveholders, perhaps by three to one.* In the more southern portion of thia region [ tlie >outh-west,' of which 3fisaissippi is life centre], the non-slaveholders possess generally hut very small mean*, and the land whieh they possess is almost universally poor, and so sterile that a scanty -subsistence is all that can be derived from its cultivation, and the more fertile soil, beingin the hands of the slaveholders, must ever rt main out of the power of those who have none. * * Arvl I lament to say that I have observed of lute years that an evident deteriora tion U taking place in this part of the population, the younger portion of it being less educated, leas industrious, and. in every point of view, less re spectable than their ancestors."--J. O. B. DE Bow, lictoartet o/ the South and TTat, vol. ii. p. 1W.
Again as to the cotton-planters and slaveholders:--
"If one unacquainted with the condition of the South-west were told that the cotton-crowing district alone had sold the cro[i for fifty million dollars for the last twenty years he would naturally conclude tl at tliia must be the richest community in the world. * * * Jjut what would be his surprise when told that so far from living in palaces, many of tliese planters dwell in habitations of the most primitive construetion, and thtse so inartificially built as to be incapable of defending the inmates from the winds and rains of heaven. That instead of any artistkal improvement, thia rude dwelling was surrounded by cotton fit-Ids, or prol-ably liy fit Ids exhausted, washed into gullies, and abandoned; that instead of c-anuLs the navigable streams rtmain unimproved, to the great detriment of transportation; that the common roads of the country w< re scarcely pass able ; that the edifices erected for the purposes of learning and religion were frequently built of logs and covered [roofed] with boards.'--J. O. B. DE Bow, Jtetwrca oftheSvuth, vol. ii. p. 113.

* It was not long since estimated in the Legislature of Kentucky as seven to one in that State.

FORMULA FOB JUSTIFYING SLAVERY.

311

Do a majority of Northern working men dwell in habita tions having no more elements of comfort, even taking differ ence of climate into consideration, than Mr. De Bow ascribes to the residences Of the slaves' owners ? No Northern man can for a moment hold such an opinion. What, then, becomes of the theory by which the planters justify slavery, to themselves and recommend it to us ? If the ennobling luxuries which the institution of slavery secures to the "superior class," and by which it is supposed to be " qualified for the higher duties of citizenship," are, at the most, sugar, instead of molasses, in its coffee; butter, with its pone; cabbage, with its bacon, and two sheets to its bed--and the traveller who goes where I travelled, month after month, with the same experience, cannot help learning to regard these as luxuries indeed,--if " freedom from sordid and petty care*," and " leisure for intellectual pursuits," means a con dition approaching in comfort that of the keeper of a light ship on an outer bar, what is the exact value of such words as "hospitality," "generosity," and "gallantry?" What is to be understood from phrases in such common use as " high toned," " well bred," " generous," " hospitable," and so on, when used in argument to prove the beneficence of shivery and to advocate its extension ?

From De Soic'e lierieia.
"Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, after signalizing himself by two very wordy volumes, abounding in bitterness and prt judice of every sort, and misrepresentations upon the ' Seaboard Slave States,' finding how profitable such literature is in a pecuniary point of view, and what a run is being made upon it thougliout the entire limit* of abolitiondom, vouchsafes us now another volume, entithtl a ' Journey through Texas, ora Saddle-trip on the South-western Frontier.' Here, ngiiin, the opportunity is too tempting to be resisted to revile and abuse the men and the society whose open hospita lity lie undoubtedly enjoyed, and whom we have no doubt, like every other of i.is tribe travelling at tiie South, he found it convenient at the time to flatter and approve. We have now grown accustomed to this, and it a not

512

COTTON AMD SLAVEBY.

at all surprising that here and there it is producing its effect in violent exhibition of feeling like that displayed by our worthy old friend Dr. Brewer, of Montgomery county. Maryland, who persistently refuses, on all occasions, to allow a Yankee even to cross his fields, or like tliat of JoUn Randolph, who said in the House, ' Mr. Speaker, I would not allow one of my servants to buy as much as a toot-horn from one of these I eoplt;.* * * *
"Somewhat further on, the parties rest for the night. -.'For this the charge was SI-25 each person, including breakfast and horse-feed.' At the end of every pa^e or two our tourist repeats these growlings over the enormous exactions. It is the refrain from one cover of the book to the other. Wliat a series of martyrdoms. Could such a journey by any possibility be made * to j>ay ?' Perhaps, friend traveller, you have heard of the lavish hospitality of the South, and imagined that people there moved out upon the high road for tlie sole purpose of sharing the society which gentlemen, like yourself, could furnish, believing even- arrival to be an act of special providence! When you offered to pay the wom.in on Bcil Kiver, and 'feared she was offended by yonr offering her muncr fur her hospitality,'you paid the liighest compliment to the South ; for heaven knows you would have had no such apprehension on the bauks of the Connecticut."
f
I cannot but be gratified that so much importance should have been attached to my earlier volumes as to induce the Superintendent of the Census to devote to their consideration a leading article in the first eoonomico-political review of the country; and I can feel nothing but regret that he should be obliged to attribute to an unworthy motive even those of my labours the result of which he does me the honour to desig
nate as valuable and trustworthy. I have often had occasion to refer to Mr. De Bow, and, I believe, have always done so in a manner consistent with the respect which I feel for the class of men among whom he has had the honourable ambition to rank himself. That a man, while occupying a position which properly belongs to the most able and just-minded statistician in the country, should think it proper to write under his own name in the manner of which the above ex tracts are a sample, about a work which assumes to relate

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OF SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY.

313

calmly and methodically, the result of a personal study of the condition of the people of a certain State, is a note-worthy circumstance in illustration of the present political history of our country. I cite them now, however, chiefly to show what need there is for a discussion upon which I propose to enter, myself, little further than is necessary to enable me to clearly set forth certain facts in their more important significance, the right of publishing which can hardly be denied me, in view of the insinuations made by Mr. De Bow, who in this follows what has got to be a general custom of Southern reviewers and journalists towards travellers with whose expressed judgments upon any matter observed within the skve States they differ. There are numerous homes in the South the memory of which I cherish tenderly. There are numbers of men in the South for whom I have a warm admiration, to whom I feel grateful, whose respect I wish not to lose. There are others for whom I have a quite different feeling. Of a single individual of neither class have I spoken in these two volumes, I believe, by his true name, or in such a manner that he could be re cognized, or his home pointed out by any one who had not been previously familiar with it and with him, being, as a rule, careful to so far differ from the actual order of the events of my journey in narrating them, that facts of private life could not be readily localized. From this rule I do not intend now to depart further than is necessary to exhibit the whole truth of the facts to which I have referred, but since the charge of ingratitude and indelicacy is publicly made against me, as it has frequently been of late against better men on similar grounds, I propose to examine those grounds in the light of certain actual experiences of myself and others, and let it be judged whether there must always exist a pe culiar moral obligation upon travellers to be mealy-mouthed as to the habits of the people of the South, either on account

314

COTTON AND SLATEKT.

of hospitality or in reciprocation of the delicate reserve which, from the tenor of Mr. De Bow's remarks, it might be sup posed was habitually exercised in the Sonth with regard to the habits of their own people. These experiences shall be bjth special and general. What immediately follows is of the former class, bat, in the end, it will be found to have a general significance.
On a hot morning in July a Northern traveller left the town of Lynchbnrg, the chief market-town of Virginia tobacco, and rode eastwardly towards Farmville. Suddenly taken severely fll, and no house being in sight, he turned from the road into the shade of the wood, dismounted, reclined against a sturdy trunk, took an anodyne, which he fortunately had with him, and at length found relief in sleep. Late in the day he awoke, somewhat recovered, but with a sharp head ache and much debilitated. He managed, however, to mount, and rode slowly on to find a shelter for the night. In half an hour the welcome sight of an old plantation mansion greeted his eyes. There was a large court, with shade trees and shrubbery between the road and the house, and in the corner of this court, feeing the road, a small warehouse or barn, in and around which were a number of negroes moving casks of tobacco. A white man, evidently their owner, was superintending their labour, and to him the traveller applied
for lodging for the night. " We don't take in strangers." The traveller informed the planter of his Illness and in
ability to ride further. " You'll have to try to ride as far as the next house, sir ;
we don't take hi travellers here," was the reply. " Eeally I don't feel able. I should not like to put yon
to inconvenience, sir, but I am weak and faint. My horse, too. has eaten nothing since early in the morning."

OF SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY.

315

"Sorry for you, but we have no accommodation for tra vellers here," was the only reply, and the planter stepped to the other side of a tobacco cask.
The traveller rode on. About half an hour afterwards he came in sight of another,house. It was at a distance from the road, and to reach it he was obliged to let down and put up again three different sets of fence-bars. The owner was not at home, and his wife said that they were not accustomed to take in strangers. " It was not far to the next house," ahe added, as the traveller hesitated.
He reached, at length, the next iouse, which proved to be the residence of another large tobacco planter, who sat smoking in its verandah, as the traveller rode near and made his petition.
" We don't take in travellers," was again his answer. The sick man stated his special claims to kindness, and the planter good-naturedly inquired the particulars, asked how far he had ridden, where he got his horse and his dog, whither he was bound, and so on (did not ask where he was born or what were his politics). The traveller again stated that he was ill, unable to ride further, and begged permission to remain for the night under the planter's roof, and again the planter carelessly replied that they didn't take in travellers ; anon, asked hov.' crops were looking further west, and talked of guano, the war news, and the prospect for peaches. Itbecame dusk while the traveller lingered, and the negroes came in with their hoes over their shoulders from the fields across the road, but the pLmter continued chatting and smoking, not even offering the traveller a cigar, till at length the latter said, " If you really cannot keep me to-night, I must go on, sir; I cannot keep my horse much longer, I fear."
" It is not far to the next house."

316*

COTTON AXJ> SLAVE!:}:.

" But I have already called at three houses to-night, sir." " "Well, you see, since the railroad was done, people here don't reckon to take in travellers as they once did. So few come along they don't find their account in being ready for them." The traTeller asked for a drink of water, which a negro brooght in a calabash, bade good night to the planter, and rode on through the woods. Kight presently set in; the road crossed a swamp and was difficult to follow, and for more than an hour he rode on--seeing no house--without stopping. Then crossing water, he deliberated whether he should not bivouac for the night where he was. He had with him a few biscuits and some dried figs. He had not eaten hitherto, hoping constantly to come to a habitation where it might happen" he could get a cup of tea, of which he felt more particularly in need. He stopped, took some nourishment, the first he had tasted in fifteen hours, and taking also a little brandy, gained strength and courage to continue his journey. A bright light soon cheered him, and after a time he made his way to a large white house, in tie rear of which was an old negro woman stirring the contents of a caldron which stood over the fire, by which he had been guided. The old woman had the appearance of a house servant, and he requested her to ask her master if he would favour him with lodging for the night. " Her master did not take in travellers," she said, " besides, he was gone to bed;" and she stirred on, hardly looking at the traveller till he put his hand in his pocket, and, holding forth silver, said-- "Xow, aunty, mind what I tell you. Do you go in to your master, and say to him. ' There is a gentleman outside who says he is sick, and that his horse is tired and has had nothing to eat to-day; that he is a stranger and has been

OF SOCTHERN HOSPITAIJTY.

317

benighted, don't know the roads, is not well enough to ride" farther, and wants to know if you won't be so kind as to let him stay here to-night.' "
" Yes, massa, I'll tell him ; 'twon't do no good, though, and hell he almighty cross."
She went in, returned after a few minutes, seized her paddle, and began Stirling before she uttered the words--
" Says yer ken go on to de store, he reckon." It was after ten o'clock when the traveller reached the next house. It stood close upon the road, and the voice of a woman answered a knock upon the door, and, in reply to the demand, said it was not far to the store, and she reckoned they accommodated travellers there. Finally, at the store, the traveller succeeded in getting admittance, was comfortably lodged and well entertained by an amiable family. Their kindness was of such a character that he felt, in the position of an invited guest, unable to demand and unwilling to suggest any unvolunteered service. There was no indication that the house was an inn, yet the traveller's experience left him little room to hesitate to offer money, nor was there the slightest hesitation on the part of the storekeeper in naming the amount due for the entertainment he had, or in taking it. If the reader will accept the traveller's judgment of himself, he will assume that there was nothing in his countenance, his dre.-a, his language, or his bearing, by which he could readily be distinguished from a gentleman of Southern birth and edu cation, and that he was not imagined to be anything else, certainly not on his first inquiry, at any one of the planta tions where he was thus refused shelter. So far as this inhospitality (for this is, I think, what even the Southern reader will be inclined to call it) needed explana tion, it was supposed to be sufficiently given in the fact that

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the region had, by the recent construction of a railroad through it, approximated the condition of a well-settled and organized community, in which the movements of travellers are so systematized, that the business of providing for their wants, as a matter of pecuniary profit, can no longer he made a mere supplement of another business, but becomes a distinct occupation.
This, then, but a small part of the whole land being thus affected by railroads, was an exception in the South. True; but what is the rule to which this is the exception ?
Mr. De Bow says, that the traveller would have had no apprehension that the offer of money for chance entertainment for the night furnished him at a house on the banks of the Connecticut, would give offence; yet in the Connecticut valley, among people having no servants, and not a tithe of the no minal wealth of the Red River planter, or of one of these Yirginia planters, such has been a frequent experience of the same traveller. Xor has he ever, when calling benighted at a house, anywhere in the State of Connecticut, far from a public-house, escaped being invited with cordial frankness to enjoy such accommodation as it afforded; and this, he is fully convinced, without any thought in the majority of CP =< s of pecuniary remuneration. In several instances a reir.n^.-ration in money h&s been refused in a manner which conveyt-d a reproof of the offer of it as indelicate; and it thus happens that it was a common experience of that, of the possibility of which Mr. De Bow is unable to conceive, that led in no small degree to the hesitation upon vdiich this very comment was made.
This simple faith in the meanness of the people of the Xorth, and especially of Xew England, is no eccentricity of Mr. Be Bow's. It is in accordance with the general tone of literature and of conversation at the South, that penuriousness, diamgenuonaness, knavish cunning, ant, cowardice, and

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hypocrisy are assumed to be the prevailing traits by which they are distinguished from the people of the South--not the poor people of New England from the planters of the South, but the people generally from the people generally. Not the tone of the political literature and of the lower class of the
South, but of its wealthy class, very generally, really of its "better class." Mr. De Bow is himself the associate of gentlemen as well informed and as free from narrow prejudices as any at the South. No New England man, who has travelled at the South, would be surprised, indeed, if, at a table at which he were a guest, such an assumption as that of Mr. De Bow should be apparent in all the conversation, and that the gist of it should be supposed to be so well understood and generally conceded, that he could not be annoyed thereat.
I need hardly say that this reference to Mr. De Bow is continued, not for the purpose of vindicating the North any more than myself from a mistaken criticism. I wish only to demonstrate how necessary it must soon be to find other means for saving the Union than these commonplace flatteries of Southern conceit and apologies for Southern folly, to which we have not only become so accustomed ourselves, as to hardly believe our eyes when we are obliged to meet the facts (as was my own case), but by which we have so successfully im posed upon our friends, that a man like Mr. De Bow actually supposes that the common planters of the teeming and sunny South, are, as a rule, a more open-handed, liberal, and hospi table class than the hard-working farmers of the bleak and sterile hills of Xew England ; so much so, that he feels war ranted not merely in stating facts within his personal know ledge, illustrating the character of the latter and arguing the causes, but in incidentally referring to their penuriousness as a matter of proverbial contempt. Against this mistake, which,

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I doubt not, is accomplishing constant mischief to onr nation, I merely oppose the facts of actual experience. I wish to do so withPtrue respect for the good sense of the South.

Presenting myself, and known only in the character of a chance traveller, most likely to be in search of health, enter tainment, and information; usually taken for and treated as a Southerner, until I stated that I was not one, I journeyed nearly six months at one time (my second journey) through the South.- During all this journey, I came not oftener than once a week, on an average, to public-houses, and was thus generally forced to seek lodging and sustenance at private houses. Often it was refused me; not unfrequently rudely . refused. But once did I meet with what Northern readers could suppose Mr. De Bow to mean by the term (used in the same article), "free road-side hospitality." Not once with the slightest appearance of what Xoah Webster defines hospi tality--the " practice of receiving or entertaining strangers without reward."
Only twice, in a journey of four thousand miles, made in dependently of public conveyances, did I receive a night's lodging or a repast from a native Southerner, without having the exact price in money which I was expected to pay for it stated to me by those at whose hands I received it.

If what I have just narrated had been reported to me before I travelled in the manner I did in my second journey at the South, I should have had serious doubts of either the honesty or the sanity of the reporter. I know, therefore, to what I subject myself in now giving my own name to it. I could not but hesitate to do this, as one would be cautious in acknowledging that he believed himself to have seen the seaserpent, or had discovered a new motive power. By drawing

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out the confidence of other travellers, who had chanced to move through the South in a manner at all similar, however, I have had the satisfaction of finding that I am not altogether solitary in my experience. Even this day I met one fresh from the South-west, to whom, after due approach, I gave the article which is the text of these observations, asking to he told how he had found it in New Engknd and in Mississippi. He replied.

'During four winters, I have travelled for a business purpose two months each winter in Mississippi. I have generally spent the night at houses with whose inmates I had some previous acquaintance. Where I had business transactions, especially where debts were due to me, which could nut be paid, I sometimes neglected to offer payment for my night's lodging, but in no other cnse, and never IP. n single instance, so far as I can now recollect, where I had offered payment, has there been any hesi tation in taking it. A planter might refrain from asking payment of a traveller, but it U universally expected. In New England, as far as tiiy limited experience goes, it is not so. I liave known New England farmers' wives fcikt a small gratuity after lodging travellers, but always with appa rent In sititiun. I have known New England farmers refuse to do so. I have h:nl sumo experience in Iowa; money is there usually fiiot always) taken t'.ir }tx\xiu travellers. The principal difference between the custom at ]>riv.itM houses there and in Alabama and Mississippi being, t'.at in. luwn the farmer seems to carefully reckon the exact value of the produce you liave consumed, and to charge for it at what has often seomi-d to mo an absurdly low rate ; wliile in Mississippi, I liave usually paid from four to six times as much as in Iowa, fi>r similar accommodations. I consider the usual charges of planters to travellers extortionate-, and the custom the reverse of hospitable. I knew of a Kentucky gentleman travelling ~ from Eutaw to Greensboro* [twenty miles] in his own conveyance. Ho was taken sick at the crossing of the Warrior River. It was nine o'clock at night. He averred to me that he called at every plantation on tlio rond, and stated that he was a Kcntnckian, and sick, but was refused lodg ing at each of them."

This the richest county of Alabama, and the road is lined with valuable plantations !
The following is an extract from a letter dated Columbus, Mississippi, November 24, 1856, published in the London Daily Neirs. It is written by an Englishman travelling for

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commercial purposes, and tells -what lie has learned by ex
perience of the exi-tom of tiie co-entry'.
'It i* customary in tr.^i-IU.i throng thw country, where towns are few ,m I t.-.veriw scarcf iiU'l vilv. tg st>p at the planters' houses aionjj the fail, !tjl pay fur your be<l nuil board in the Uiunuug jo** a3 if you had stayed ;it an inn, Ti,e cOstosa is rather repUT.iant to our Old NVorlJ notioru o? ta^At'.Uty, lit it appt-ars to me <m excellent one for both the host nd his guest. Ti.e one feels Ifcss bored by jc-num Js upon I)ig kiudni-as, as aooa as it cftises to be merely a kindness to comply with them, and the otlier lias no fear abuut intruding or being tronWi-wttne wlien he knows La will i:ire to pay for liis euttrtitinmc-nt. It k* rarely, howeVfi", th*t the entrd t-.m be ol'tiined into the bouses of wealthy planters in this way. Xf;cy will x\ot It hotkered dy vaar ri,jts, and, if you apply to tut-m, hare no liesitatioa i politely paaaiajt you on to sucli of their neighbours aa have leaa money ut more generosity."*
Tiie same writer afterwords relates tie following experi ence:--

" Alwut nineteen miles from Canton,! sought lodging tA Big\iUal\ at* anu^ house oa tlJc roudside, inhabited l>y an old gt-ntltffi-in and his two daughters, trj.o jxxaessed " stives and grew no cotton, and whose two sons hud been killed in the 3Iexican war, and wbo, with the loudest profissions uf hospitiilitT, eanfouslf refrained from giving Waself uiiy pcrso'.vv\ truvrt>l in. support of them. He mfonaed me that there was corn in ti.c liusk ia an almost iu*ccess\"blc loft, iVere was fi>ii\er xn wi xm-g*\-.Vabk- sort of a ca^e iu the yard, waU-r in a certain pond about balf a mile oft^ and a corryeomb in certain hole j the wall. Having furnished me with this intelligence, he left me to dra"" my own conclusions as to what my conduct ought to be under the circumstances."
&. catrxralHt, th.e antbor of a well-known standard -work, who has made several tours of observation in the Slave States, lately confided to me that he believed that the popTjtor report of Southern hospitality mast be a popular romance, for never, during all his travels in the South, had he chanced to be eafertained for a single night, except by gentlemen to whom he was formally presented by letter, or \fho had previonsly been under oMi.orations to him, -withont paying for it in BKWT, and to an Amount quite e<p.r.I to the value received. By tiie -wealthier, a BigKt'A errterb.vmmit bad \>en

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refused him, under circumstances which, as must have been evideat to them, reudered bis further progress serio\ssly ia-
convenient. Once, while in company \vifh a foreign natu ralist--a titled man--he had been dining at the inn of a small county-town, -when a certain locally distinguished judge Lad seen Gt to be eloquent afc tie dinner-table upon the advantages of slavery ifl maintaining a class of " high-toned gentlemen," referring especially to the proverbial hospitality of Southern plantations, which he described ss quite a bewilder ment to strangers, and nothing like which was to be found in any co\vfitry \mblessed vntli slavery, car institutions equivalent to it. It so happened that the following night the travellers, on approaching a plantation mansion in quest of lodging-, were surprised to find that they had (alien upon the residence of tiis same judge, who recognized them, and welcomed them and bade them be at home. Embarrassed by a recollection of his discourse of hospitality, it was with some difficulty that one of them, when they were taking leave next morning, brought himself to inquire whafc he might pay for the enter tainment tbey had received. He was at once relieved by the judge's prompt response, "Dollar and a quarter apiece, I reckon."
It is very true that the general custom of the South which leads a traveller to ask for a lodging at any private house lie may chance to reach near nightfall, and to receive a favour able answer not merely as a favour but as a roatter of business, is a convenient one, is one indeed almost necessary in a country so destitute of villages, and where, off certain thoroughfares of our merchants, there are so few traveDers. It is a perfectly respectable and entirely sensible custom, but it is not, as is commonly represented to be, a custom of hos pitality, and it is not at all calculated to induce customs of
tLa aaaa cftizeoa. It is ealev&Aed to
y2

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' make inhospitality of habit and inhospitality of character the general rule; hospitality of habit and of character the exCaption. Yet the common misapplication of the word to this extern is, so far as I can ascertain, the only foundation of tlie arrogant assumption of superiority of character in thu respect of the Southerners over ourselves--the only ground of the claim that slavery breeds a race of more generous and hospitable citizens than freedom.

The difficulty of giving anything like an intelligent and exact estimate of the breeding of any people or of any class of people is almost insurmountable, owing to the vagueness of the terms which must be used, or rather to the quite different ideas which different readers will attach to these terms. The very word which I have employed to designate my present subject has itself such a varied signification that it needs to be defined at the outset. I mean~to employ it in that sense wherein, according to Webster, it covers the ground of "nurture, instruction, and the formation of man ners." It is something more than " manners and customs," then, and includes, or may include, qualities which, if not congenital, are equally an essential part of character with those qualities which are literally in-bred of a man. Such qualities are mainly the result of a class of circumstances, of the influence of which upon his character and manners a Ttia-n^ or a child growing to a man, is usually unconscious, and of which he cannot be independent if he would.
The general difficulty is increased in dealing with the people of the Slave States, because among themselves all terms defining social rank and social characteristics sxt applied in a manner which can be understood only after con siderable experience; and also because the general terms of classification, always incomplete in their significance, fail

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entirely with a large class of Southerners, whose manners have some characteristics which would elsewhere be thought "high bred," if they had not other which are elsewhere universally esteemed low and ruffianly.
There are undoubted advantages resulting from the effects of slavery upon the manners of some "persons. Somewhat similar advantages I have thought that I perceived to have resulted in the Free States, where a family has been educated under favourable influences in a frontier community. There is boldness, directness, largeness, confidence, with the effect of the habitual sense of superiority to most of the commu nity; not superiority of wealth, and power from wealth merely, but of a mind well stocked and refined by such ad vantages of education as only very unusual wealth, or very unusual individual energy, rightly directed, can procure in a scattered and frontier community. When to this- is added the effect of visits to the cultivated society of denser communities ; when refined and polished manners are grafted on a natural, easy abandon; when there is high culture with out effeminacy either of body or mind, as not unfrequently happens, we find a peculiarly respectable and agreeable sort of men and women. They are the result of frontier training under the most favourable circumstances. In the class furthest removed from this on the frontier--people who have grown up without civilized social restraints or encouragements and always under what in a well-conditioned, community would be esteemed great privations--happens, on the other hand, the most disagreeable specimen of mankind that the world breeds j men of a sort almost peculiar to America and Aus tralia ; border ruffians, of whom the " rowdies " of our eastern towns are tame reflections. Cooper has well described the first class in many instances. I know of no picture of the latter which represents them as detestable as I have found them.

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The whole South is maintained in a frontier condition by the system which is apologized for on the ground that it favours good breeding. This system, at the same time, tends to concentrate wealth in a few hands. If there is wisdom and great care in the education of a family thus favoured, the result which we see at the North, under the circumstances I have described, is frequently reproduced. There are many more such fruits of frontier life at the South than the North, because there is more frontier life. There is also vastly more of the other sort, and there is everything between, which degrees of wealth and degrees of good fortune , in education would be expected to occasion. The bad breed of the frontier, at the South, towever, is probably far worse than that of the North, because the frontier condition of the South is everywhere permanent. The child born to-day on the Northern frontier, in most cases, before it is ten years old, will be living in a well organized and tolerably well provided community; schools, churches, libraries, lecture and. concert halls, daily mails and printing presses, shops and machines in variety, having arrived within at least a day's journey of it; being always within an in luencing distance of it. There are improvements, and communities loosely and gradually cohering- in various parts of the South, but so slowly, so feebly, so irregularly, tl.at men's minds and habits are knit firm quite independently of this class of social influences.
There is one other characteristic of the Southerner, whi;-h is far more decided than the difference of climate merely would warrant, and which is fo be attributed not only to the absence of the ordinary restraints and means of discipline of more compact communities in his education, but unquestionably also to the readiness and safety with which, by reason of slavery, certain passions and impulses may be indulged. Every white Southerner is a person of importance;

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must be treated with deference. Every wish of the South erner is imperative ; every belief undoubted; every hate, venge ful; every love, fiery. Hence, for instance, the scandalous fiend-like street fights of the South. If a young man feela ofi'ended with another, he does not incline to a ring and a fair stand-up set-to, like a young Englishman; he will not at tempt to overcome his opponent by logic; he will not be content to vituperate, or to cast ridicule upon him; he is
impelled straightway to strike him down with the readiest deadly weapon at hand, with as little ceremony and pretence of tair combat as the loose organization of the people against violence will allow. He seems crazy for blood. Intensity of personal pride--pride in anything a man has, or which con nects itself with him, is more commonly evident. Hence, in tense local pride and prejudice; hence intense partisanship; hence rashness and over-confidence; hence visionary ambition; hence assurance in debate; hence assurance in society. As self-appreciation is equally with deference a part of what we call good breeding, and as the expression of deference is much more easily reduced to a matter of manners and forms, in the commonplace intercourse of society, than self-appreciation, this characteristic quality of the Southerner needs to be borne in mind in considering the port and manners he commonly has, and judging from them of the effects of slavery.
It must be also considered that the ordinary occupations and amusements of people of moderalo wealth at the North are seldom resorted to at the South, that public entertain ments of any kind, for instance, are impracticable to a sparse population; consequently that where men of wealth are socially disposed, all intercourse with others is highly valued, prepared for, and made the most of. Hence, with these, the act of social intercourse is more highly esteemed, and
is much more frequently carried to a nice perfection of

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manner than it usually is with men otherwise of correspond ing education, and Habits at the North.
In a Northern commnnity a man who is not greatly occu pied with private business is sure to become interested in social enterprises and to undertake duties in them which will demand a great deal of time and strength. School, road, cemetery, asylnm, and church corporations; bridge, ferry, and water companies ; literary, scientific, art, mechanical, agri cultural and benevolent societies; all these things are managed chiefly by the unpaid services of gentlemen during hours which they can spare from their private interests. In the successful operations of such enterprises they find much of the satisfaction of their life. So, too, our young men, who are not obliged to devote their thoughts chiefly to business success, are members and managers of reading rooms, public libraries, gymnasiums, game clubs, boat clubs, ball clubs, and all sorts of clubs, Bible classes, debating societies, military companies; they are planting road-side trees, or damming streams for skating ponds, or rigging diving-boards, or getting up firework displays, or private theatricals; they are always doing something, not conversing for the entertain ment of the moment. Planters, the details of whose business iall into the hands of overseers, and young men of fortune, at the South, have, when at home on the pkntation, nnne of these occupations. Their talents all turn into two channels, politics and sociality; the very paucity of swiety making it the more esteemed and the more carefully used. Social intercourse at the North is a relaxation from the ordinary bent of men's talents; at the South, it is that to which mainly their talents are bent. Hence, with men wLo are otherwise on a par, in respect of natural advantage.-? and education, the Southerner will have a higher standaid of manners than the Northerner, because, with him, social inter-

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coarse is the grand resource to which all other possible occupations of his mind become subordinate. The Northerner, being troubled by no monotony, unquestionably too much neglects at present this, the highest and final art of every type of civilization. In making this comparison, however, it must not be forgotten that it is made between men who are supposed to be equal in all respects, except in the possession of this advantage, and who are equally at leisure from any necessary habitual occupation for a livelihood.
Having conceded to the South certain elements of advan tage in this respect, for a single class, it still remains to inquire where is the greatest weight of advantage for this class, and for all classes of our citizens. In attempting to .make such a general comparison, I shall begin at the bottom "of the social ladder, and return to the class who can in a great degree choose how they will be occupied.
In the North at the Eevolution we scarcely had a distinct class corresponding to the lowest white class of Virginia, as described by Jefferson, our labourers being less ignorant and coarse in their habits, and associating much more familiarly with their betters. "We have now a class more nearly corre* spending to it furnished by the European peasant immigra tion. It is, however, a transient class, somewhat seldom including two generations, and, on an average, I trust, not one. It is therefore practically not an additional class, but, overlooking the aged and diseased, a supplement to our lowest normal ck*s. Out of twenty Irish emigrants, landing in New York, perfectly destitute, of whose history I have been intimately cognizant, only two, both of whom were over fifty years of age, have lived out five years here without beginning to acquire wealth and becoming superior in their ambition and habits to the lowest order, which I believe to include a majority of the whites in the plantation districts of the

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South.* Our' lowest class, therefore, has a higher standard than the lowest class of the Slave States. This, I under stand, is made very evident where the two come together at the West, as hi southern Illinois. The very poorest and lowest New England women who go there are frequently offended by the inconsiderate rudeness and coarseness of the women immigrating from the South, and shocked by their "shiftless," comfortless, vagrant habits, so much so that families have often removed, after having been once esta blished, to escape being bored and annoyed by their Southernborn neighbours.
[Referring to the lowest class, North and South, as the fourth, I class as third, the lowest rant in society, North or South, in which regard is had by its members to the quality of their associates from other than moral motives, or the prejudices of locality, race, sectarianism, and politics. In other words, that in which there is a distinct social selectiveness and pride. I rrn'nV that everywhere in the Free States men of this class would almost universally feel their position damaged--be a little ashamed--if obliged to confess that they did not take a newspaper, or were unable to read it with a clear understanding of the intelligence it was intended to com municate. Allusions to the main facts of American history, to any clause of the Bible, to the provisions of the Constitu tion, and the more important laws, State and National, would be understood in most cases by those whom I refer to as the third class in Northern society. In few families of this class would you fail to find some volumes of the English poets, or some works of great novelists or renowned travellers. No-
* I fear that it must be coufessed that this general rule has now a mu'tituik of exceptions in our large towns, where, in New York, especially, we seem taking some pains tn form a permanent lower class. With the present grnit and ap parently permanent falling off in the European emigration it can hardly last, Dowerer.

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,,..,, of the native population, over twontv

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class of the South generally has seemed to me to be as much more narrow-minded, rude, coarse, " dangerous," and miser able, than the third class of the Free States, as the most sanguine friend of popular education could anticipate from these facts.
The great difference in character between the third class of the Sonth and that of the North, as indicated by their re spective manners, is found in the much less curiosity and ready intelligent interest in matters which have not an imme diate personal bearing in that of the South. Apathetic care lessness rather than simple indifference, or reckless incivility as to your comfort, is what makes the low Southerner a disagreeable companion. It is his impertinent shrewdness which makes you wish to keep the Yankee at a distance. The first seems without object, spiritless; the latter keen to better himself, if with nothing else, with information which he can draw from you, and by gaining your good opinion.
The nest or second class would include, both North and South, those with whose habits and character I am most familiar, and of whom I can speak with the best right to confidence. It would include in New England and Xew York the better educated fanners--these owning, I should say, half the agricultural land--the permanently established manufacturers and merchants of moderate capital; most of the shopkeepers and the better-educated master mechanics and artisan foremen; most of the preachers, physicians, and lawyers (some ranking higher). It would correspond most nearly to what in England would be called the lowermiddle class, but any higher grade being very ill-defined, existing distinctly but in few localities, and rarely recognized as existing at all, it is in a great measure free from the peculiar vulgarity of its English parallel.
The number of those at the South who correspond in
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education and refinement of manners and habits to the average of this class of the North, it will be evident, from a similar mode of reasoning to that before employed, must be very much smaller relatively, either to the territory or the whole white population of their respective regions. s In the comparison commonly made by Southern writers between the condition of the 4 people of a sparsely-settled country and another, it is usually assumed that the advan tages of the latter are confined exclusively to towns, and to large and crowded towns. By, contrasting the evils which concentrate in such, towns with the favourable circumstances of localities where at least wood, water, and air are abundant, and corn enough to support life can usually be got by any one with a little occasional labour, an argument of some force to ignorant people is easily presented. The advantages 'possessed by a people living in moderately well-occupied rural districts, who are even more free from the evils of great towns than their own people, are entirely overlooked by most Southern writers. Such is the condition, however, of more white people in the Free States than the whole white popula tion of the Slave States. A majority of our farmers' daughters can walk from their dwellings to schools of a quality such as at the South can be maintained not twice in five hundred square miles. These schools are practically a part of their homes. Probably, in more than half the families of the South, the children of which are instructed to the least degree which would be considered " respectable," among this second class of the North, private governesses are obliged to be employed, or the children must be for many years at boardingschools. We all know that the young women who go to the South, to meet the demand thus occasioned for home educa tion, are not generally, though they mny be in cases, our own nutsL esteemed and successful instructresses; and we also

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know from their report that their skill and labour has necessarily to be long chiefly employed in laying those simple foundation habits of instructdbility, which our Northern chil dren acquire imperceptibly from association with those of the neighbourhood slightly in advance of them. Churches and the various sub-organizations centreing in them, in which class distinctions are much lost sight of, to the great advan tage of the manners of the lower classes, and little chance of injury to the higher; libraries; literary societies ; lecture arrangements; dramatic and musical, art and scientific entertainments, and also highly educated professional men, with whom, for various purposes, many persons are brought often in contact, are correspondingly more frequent at the North, correspondingly more accessible; in other words, the advantages to be derived from them are cheaper, and so more influential on the manners of the people at large.
The common opinion has been that the Southerners or planters of the class now under consideration, are more social, more generous, more heartily kind and genial than Northerners. According to my experience, the reverse of all this is true, as a general rule. Families live so isolatedly at the South, that any social contact, out of the family, is of course much more eventful and stimulating than it is ordinarily at the North, and this accounts for the common opinion. I could not but think, however, that most persons at the South looked to the voluntary good offices and conversation of others, both within and without their families, for their enjoyment of the world, much less than most at the North. It may be that when in towns they attach a greater value to, and are more careful to make use of the opportunities for social gathering afforded by towns, than are Northerners. In towns they attach more consequence to forms, are more scrupulous in matters of etiquette, more lavish in expenditure for dress, and for certain

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other things which are the signs of luxury rather than luxury itself, such as plate and fancy brands of wines. They make less show of fine art and less pretence of artistic judgment; more of respect and regard for their associates, and of indif ference or superiority to all others.
As to manner or deportment simply, with the same impulse and intention, that of the Southerner will habitually, under ordinary circumstances, be best, more true, more composed, more dignified. I have said that the second class at the North is without the pervading vulgarity of the class to which it most nearly corresponds in England, the reason being that those which constitute it seldom wish or attempt to appear to belong to a superior class, not clearly recognizing a superior class. Individuals, however, very generally have a strong desire to be thought better informed, more ingenious, more witty, as well as more successful in their enterprises than they are, and this stamps them with a peculiar quality of manners vulgarly called " smartness," the absence of which mates Southern men and women generally much more agree able companions than Northerners of the same degree of education and accomplishments in other respects. Not but that snobs abound; of these it will be more convenient to speak under the next division, however.
The traditional " old family," stately but condescending, haughty but jovial, keeping open house for all comers on the plantations of Virginia or South Carolina, is not wholly a myth.
There really was something which, with some sort of pro priety, could be termed a gentry in Carolina and Virginia hi their colony days ; yet of the names which are now thought to have belonged to it, as descended of brave, loyal, and adventurous cavaliers, some I once saw in London upon an old freight-list of a ship outward bound for Virginia, with the addition of tinker and tailor, poacher and pickpocket, all to

336

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he sold for life, or a term of yearg, to the highest bidder when they should arrive. A large majority of the fathers of Vir ginia were unquestionably of this class,
"What was properly to be termed the gentry in Virginia and" South Carolina previous to the Eevolution, was Tery small in number. A large proportion of the families who composed it, and who remained after the Revolution in the country (for many were Tories) have since passed in all their branches through a poverty-stricken period, very dissipating in its influence upon hereditary breeding, novelists and dramatic old servants to the contrary notwithstanding. Many of those who have re tained wealth and family pride in succession to the present time, have undeniably, from various causes, degenerated wofully in breeding. Coarse tastes and brutal dispositions cannot be disguised under a cavalier address, and the most assured readiness in the established forms of polite society. Of the real " old families " which remain at all " well bred " in their qualities, habits, and manners, by reason of their lineage, I think it will be difficult for most readers who have not studied the matter at all to form a sufficiently small esti mate ; call them a dozen or a hundred, what does it matter in a region much larger than the old German empire ? Asso ciating with these are a few hundred more new or recuperated families, in which there is also the best breeding, and in cer tain few parts or districts of the South, to be defined and numbered without difficult}-, there is a wealthy, distinct, . generous, hospitable, refined, and accomplished first class, clinging with some pertinacity, although with too evident an effort, to the traditional manners and customs of an esta blished gentry. There was a gentry in the Jforth as well as in Virginia and Carolina in the colony period, though a less important and numerous one. As the S"orth has been much more pros-

OF BOTJTHZBN BHEEDIHQ.

387

perons, as foe value of its property has much more rapidly

increased than that of the South, the advantages of wealth

have, I believe, been more generally retained in families, and

probahly the number of those who could trace their breeding

in an uninterrupted parental influence from the colonial

gentry, is now larger at the North than the South.

Including new families, in whose habits and manners and

conversation the best bred people of Europe"would find no

thing more offensive and inharmonious with themselves than

might be ascribed to local fashion or a desire to avoid appear

ances which, though perfectly proper in an aristocratic society,

would be snobbish in a republic, there is unquestionably at this

time a very much larger number of thoroughly well-bred

people in the Free than in the Slave States. It is equally

certain that the proportion of such people to the whole popu

lation of whites is larger at the North than the South.

The great majority of wealthy planters who at the present

day assume for themselves a special social respectability and

superiority to the class I have defined as the second, are, as

a general rule, not only distinguished for all those qualities

which our satirists and dramatists are accustomed to assume

fo be the especial property of the newly rich of the Fifth

Avenue, but, as far as I have had opportunity to observe

both classes, are far more generally and ridiculously so than

the would-be fashionable people of New York, or of any other

part of the United States. It is a part of the role they

undertake to act, to be hospitable and generous, as it was

lately that of our fops to be sleepy and critical. They are

not hospitable and generous, however; they know not the

meaning of these terms. They are absurdly ostentatious in

entertainment, and extravagant in the purchase of notoriety;

possibly they have more tact in this than our Potiphars, bat

such has not been my personal observation.

VOL. n.

z

888

OOTIOK AMD RLAYXIT.

CHAPTEB EX.
DASTGEB OF THE SOUTH.
' BEFOK the drent of modem science, any idea of systematic lam of htmvan improvement would have been deemed alike impossible and absurd; bat the constant observation of facts, the exact statistics recorded, the pro gress of science in all departments, has made it possible to conceive of, and probable that there actually exist uniform late* of loefal movement, bated upon any given condition of society. If the elementary tocial condition be different in regard to religion, government, arts, science, industry, the resulting movements of society will be different. Hence, when we have ascertained by accurate observation opon and record of the social pheno mena, that the social movement is uniformly in a certain direction, and that certain results uniformly follow, ve shall know in what element* the conditions of society moat be changed, in order to change the results. Hence, when this law of social movement* is ascertained, the philanthro pist, legislator, and jurist will know pa cicely wl.at most be done, and bow, in order to remove the evils, or reform the wrongs, or produce the results they dtsire. They will know that certain elementary crmditions of society most be changed, and they well know that by removing temptations, or laying restraints, or enlightening the mind, or changing the course of in dustry, or producing new arts, they will chanjre the social tendency, and thns cHange the results. * * * Society, or thut part of it which thinks and sots, can change the result* by changing the elementary condition* which produce them. When yon know exactly what the change ought to be, it is not very difficult to produce it: nor does it follow that because a thou sand crimes must be committed in Ohio, that a thousand particular indi viduals ouat commit them. It is true that the individual frequently acti from motives, bat is it not jnot ea true that the individual frequently seeks these motives, and presents them to himself?"--From the Report of the Ohio State Commissioner of Statistic*. 1839.
" If there is a first principle in intellectual education it is this--that the discipline which does good to the mind is that in which the mind U active, not that in which it is passive. The secret for developing the faculties is to give them much to do, and much inducement to do it.'*--liittt Politic*! Eeimauy.

THE DANOEB Of TBX SOUTH.

339

The field-hand negro is, on an average, a very poor anJ very bad creature, much worse than I had supposed before I had seen him and grown familiar with his stupidity, indolence, duplicity, and sensuality. He seems to be but an imperfect man, incapable of taking care of himself in a civilized manner, and his presence in large numbers must be considered a dangerous circumstance to a civilized people.
A civilized1 people, within which a large number of such creatures has been placed by any means not within its own control, has claims upon the charity, the aid, if necessary, of all other civilized peoples in its endeavours to relieve iteelf from the danger which most be apprehended from their brutal propensities, from the incompleteness of their human sympathies--their inhumanity--from their natural love of ease, and the barbaric want of forethought and providence, which would often induce desperate want among them. Evi dently the people thus burthened would have need to provide systematically for the physical wants of these poor creatures, else the latter would be liable to prey with great waste upon their substance. Perhaps the very best tfiiyig to do would be to collect them into small herds, and attach each herd to a civilized family, the head of which should be responsible for its safe keeping. Such a superintendent should of course contrive, if possible, to make bis herd contribute in some way to the procuring of its necessary sustenance; and if, besides this, he even turned their feeble abilities to such good ac count by his superior judgment, that they actually procured a considerable surplus of food and clothing for the benefit of others, should not Christendom applaud and encourage his ex ertions, even if a certain amount of severity and physical con straint had been found necessary to accomplish this success ?

Let us endeavour to assume a similar difficulty for ourz2

340

COTTON AND SLAVEKY.

selves. let ns suppose that a large part--the proportion varying with the locality--of our own community should next year sufier'from some new malady, the result of which should in no case be fatal, but which should, like the go/Ore of Savoy, leave all who were affected by it permanently injured in their intellects, with diminished bodily activity, and fiercer animal propensities. (I take this method of stating the case, because some of ua who only see the negro as he* exists at the Xorth might find it difficult to imagine him as he is known to the planters.)
Suppose, further, that this malady should be confined to certain families, as if its seed had been received hundreds of years ago by numerous individuals, and only their descend ants (but all of these to the most distant trace of the blood) now suffered from it. Also, that some of our doctors should be of the opinion that the effects of the malady upon the intellect would descend to the children, and to all descendants of those who suffered. Suppose that these unfortunates should be subject to certain hallucinations, that they should be liable to think themselves sane and able to take care of - themselves, and that when possessed with these ideas that they should be quite cunning and dangerous in attempting to exercise the usual prerogatives of sane men.
"What should we do with them ? Finding them in a degree tractable; and sensible enough, after aD, to yield readily, if not cheerfully, to superior force, we might herd them together on a sort of farm-hospitals, and let them earn their living, giving especially capable men charge of many, and rewarding them with good salaries, and ordinary small farmers, smaller numbers, with smaller com pensations for overseeing them ? Of course, we should place every possible legislative guard and check upon these superintendents and overseers to secure

r

THE DANGEB OF THE SOUTH.

341

fair and honest dealing, to prevent them from making per quisites for themselves at the expense of a reasonable comfort in their institutions. Careful instructions to secure economical sustenance, and how to turn snch labour as could be got from the unfortunates to the best account, in defraying the cost of their keeping, would also be framed by talented men and famished each keeper.
And having regard to national wealth, to the tempon. good of the commonwealth, this is about all that common sense would lead us to do, at least through the agency of" government.

Is this all, reader ? You have too much overlooked our small matters of State, if you think so. We hare a few crazy people, a few fools, not enough to be a matter of much consideration to our statesmen or legislators, yet we hare a State system in our dealing with them, such as it is, and such as it is it puts our dealing with them on a little different footing than would the system I have above imagined. What I have imagined is not quite all we have for some time been in the habit of doing when we did anything with this class. And judging from what we have done, it does not seem as if it would be all that we should do in such an emergency as I have sup posed, engaging as it would all the talent of the country to diminish as much as possible the necessary results of the calamity. We should, it appears, call upon onr learned doctors eagerly to study ; we should each of us eagerly observe for our selves whether the fearful infirmity by which so many were incapacitated for their former usefulness, were not only abso lutely incurable, but also absolutely not possible to be alleviated. And if onr observation should satisfy us, if our doctors could

842

OOTTOH ADD SLAVTOT.

not deny that, with judicious treatment, a considerable aQeviation conld be effected, so much so indeed, that with a very large part a close approximation to the normal condition of sane and capable mankind conld be obtained, there are doubtless those amongst us who would think this a danger ous and an infidel presumption. Just as every year some miserable wretch is found in our dark places to have a crazy father or brother whom he keeps in a cage in his garret, and whose estate he takes care of, and who is of the opinion that it will be of no use, but, on the contrary, a manifest defiance of Divine Providence, and most dangerous to life and property to let this unfortunate out of his cage, to sur round him with comforts, and contrive for him cheerful occupa tion, as our State requires shall be done. But would the average common sense and humanity of the people of the Free States allow them to refuse all reduction from their usual annual incomes; refuse to suffer all necessary addition to their usual taxes; refuse to burden their minds with the difficulties of the all-absorbing problem, in order to initiate a remedial system ? Our worst and most cowardly legisla ture would never dare adjourn leaving this duty incompletely performed. There are thousands on thousands of our citizens who would not only spare from their incomes, but would divide their estates for such a purpose. There is not a county that would not submit to the highest war taxes for it.
Suppose that the doctors and that the universal observa tion of the community should determine that the defective class were not only capable of being improved, but tLat so far as their limited intellects permitted, the laws of improve ment ire-re the same for them as for healthy men; that they vrere fbund to be influenced by a liking for food and drink, for the society of each other and of sane men, for the admira tion and respect of each other and of sane men, for their

r

THE DAFOEB OF THE SOUTH.

343

ease, for dancing, for music and other amusements; and that

their imperfect natures could be acted upon, drawn out, and

enlarged by means of these likings. Suppose that it were

found that nearly all of them had still some knowledge of

religion, that although they were inclined sometimes to

consider sane men as their enemies, they were yet, in most

cases, by judicious pky upon their inclinations and disincli

nations, capable of being trained quite beyond the most

sagacious of our domestic animals, even to read intelligently.

Should we, because there -were so many of them, go back

two hundred years in our civilization, denying ourselves the

addition which this capacity would give to their powers of

usefulness, and consequently of economy of maintenance;

denying them the advantages for improvement which we

now in every State give to our hopelessly insane, to our

blind and mute, to our fools, to our worst and most danger

ous criminals.

Why do we not pass laws'forbidding criminals and maniacs

to read ? Our fathers did not allow them to read when

negroes were introduced in Virginia. But every man among

us whom we call well informed, now knows that it is a

profitable business for the State, which has so little profitable

business, even to provide teachers and books for a portion

of her criminals, to allow books and encourage reading with

all. To provide books, to provide physicians, to provide

teachers, to provide halls and gardens of recreations, as stimu

lants to healthful thought for our madmen and our fools; to

this the State is impelled equally by considerations of safety

and of economy. Even Kentucky has its State institution

for the development of manhood in fools born of white

women.

Does not every such man know, too, that, given an improv

able mind with a sound body, possessed of the natural instincts,

344

COTTON AND SUIVERV.

the usual desires, appetites, aversiohs, no matter if at starting the being is even what we call an idiot, a drivelling imbecile, disgusting all who see him, a sheer burden upon society, the process of making him clean in his habits, capable of labour ing with a good and intelligent purpose, and of associating inoffensively with others, is just as certain in its principles and in its progress--infinite progress--as the n.-;v:-ration of a ship or the building of a house ?
This is even so with a cretin, whose body is deformed beyond remedy, whose brain is contracted, whose face is contortel, whose limbs are half paralyzed, whose every organ is defective, and who has inherited these conditions from goitrous parents and grandparents.
Dr. Seguin says: " The idiot wishes for nothing; he wishes only to remain in his vacuity."
Even so thinks Dr. Cartwright of the negro; and surely nothing worse can be thought of him.
But Dr. Seguin adds: " To treat successfully this ill-will [indisposition to take care of himself], the physician wills that the idiot should act and think himself, of himself, and, finally, by himself. The incessant volition of the moral physican urges incessantly the idiot into the sphere of activity of thinking, of labour, of duty, and affectionate feelings."
Is there no such law of progression of capacity for the black imbeciles ? All the laws of the South have the contrary alias: to withdraw them as much as possible from the sphere of selfwilled activity, thought, labour--to prevent the negro from thinking by himself, of himself, for himself; and the principle on which these laws are based is thus defined by Mr. De Bow :--

" The Almighty lisa thought well to place certaja of His creatures in certain fixed -petition* in this world of cam, for what cause He has not seen fit to make quite clear to oar limited capacities; and why an am it

THE DANUEK OJ? THE SOUTH.

345

not a man. ami a man is not an ass, will probably for ever remain a mys tery." " Go-1 made the world; God gave thee thy place, my hirsute brother, and, according to all earthly possibilities and probabilities, it is tby destiny there to remain, bruy as thou wilt. From tbe same gnat power luuv our sable friends, Messrs. Sauilo, Cuffee, & Co., received tiieir position also. . . . Alas, my poor black brother! thou, like thy hirsute friend, nniat do thy braying in vain."*
Are there laws on cor statute-books to prevent asses from
being taught to read ? The Richmond Examiner says--

" These immigrants do not, like our ancestors, fly from religious and political persecution; they come merely as animals in search of a richer and fresher posture. They come to gratify physical want--for moral, intellectual, or religions wants they have not acquired. They will settle in large masses, and, for ages to come, will practise and inculcate a pure 'or rather impure) materialism. Mormonism is a fit exponent, proof, and illustration of our theory. The mass of them are sensual, grovelling, lor-minded agrarians, and nine-tenths of them would join the Mormons, or some such brutal, levelling sect, if an opportunity offered to do so.
"European writers describe a large class of population throughout England and the Continent aa being distinguished by restless, wandering, nomudic hubits, aud by a peculiar conformation of the skull and face. Animal and sensual nature largely predominates, with them, over the moral and intellectual. It is they who commit crimes, fill prisons, aud adorn the gallows. They will not submit to the restraints of luw or religion, nor can they be educated. Prom their restless and lawless habits, we should infer they composed a large part of tho northern immi gration."
If all this were true, and were felt by us to be true, should we think it necessary to put the minds of these beings in fet ters ? Should we hold it to be dangerous if one should under
take to strengthen their intellects, to give them larger ideas ? If all the slaves in the United States were "real Congo
niggers," which not one in a thousand is, and if all real Congo niggers were as incapable, and as beastly, and as savage in their propensities as the very -worst of them are as serted to be, would the method of dealing with them which
* "Resource*," vol. ii.. pp. 197. 198.

346

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

the legislation of the Slave States, and which a large part of the labonr of the Congress and Executive of our nation is directed to the purpose of perpetuating, be felt to be strictly in accordance with sound and well-established economic*' political principles ? The purpose of that legislation is avowed to be merely to secure safety with economy. Would a project for establishing an institution planned upon the principles of the ancient Bedlam and the ancient Bridewell be felt to-day to be completely justified among us, by the statement that highwaymen and maniacs will endanger life and the security of our property if they are not somehow taken care of?
If there had been no Mettray with its Demetz, no Norfolk Island with its Machonochie, no Hanwell with its Connolly, no Abendberg with its Guggenbuhl; if the courage, devotion, and labour of Pinel, Sicard, and Seguin had been in vain; if there had been no progress in the science of civili2ed society since the days of Howard, we might listen with merely silent sadness to such an excuse for debilitating the weak, for hold ing down the fallen; for permitting brutal keepers to exas perate the mad, and mercenary nurses to stupefy the idiotic ; we might, if we saw it to be necessary to preserve a civilized com munity from destruction, even give its object our aid; but with the knowledge which in our time is everywhere else acted upon, it is impossible for us not to feel that such an argument is a specious and a fallacious one, and that no State can long act upon it with safety, much less with economy.
And surely the system by which intellectual demands and . ambition are repressed in the negro is as little calculated to produce the security which is its object, as it is to turn his physical abilities to the most profitable use for his owner. How far it fails in this respect, the extra-legal measures of safety and the semi-instinctive habits of unconscious precaution which pervade Southern society wince. I say unconscious

THE DAKOEB OF THE SOUTH.

847

precaution, because Southerners themselves seem to have gene rally a very inadequate idea of the influence of slavery upon their habits in this way, and this is very natural.
" Every habit breeds unconsciousness of its existence in the mind of the man whom it controls, and this is more true of habits which involve our safety than of any others. The weary sailor aloft, on the look-out, may fell asleep; but, in the lurch of the ship, his hands will clench the swaying cord age only "the more firmly, that they act in the method of instinct. A hard-hunted fugitive may nod in his saddle, but his knees will not unloose their hold upon his horse. Men who live in powder-mills are said to lose all conscious feeling of habitual insecurity; but visitors perceive that they have acquired a constant softness of manner and of voice.
" If a labourer on a plantation should insolently contradict his master, it may often appear to be no more than a reason able precaution for his master to kill him on the spot; for, when a slave has acquired such boldness, it may be evident that not merely is his value as property seriously diminished, hut that the attempt to make further use of him at all, as property, involves in danger the whole white community. ' If I let this man live, and permit him the necessary degree of freedom to be further useful to me, he will infect with his audacity all my negro property, which will be correspond ingly more difficult to control, and correspondingly reduced in value. If he treats me with so little respect now, what have I to anticipate when he has found other equally inde pendent spirits among the slaves ? They will not alone make themselves free, but will avenge upon me, and my wife, and my daughters, and upon all our community, the injustice which they will think has been done them, and their women, and children.' Thus would he reason, and shudder to think what might follow if he yielded to an impulse of mercy.

348

COTTON AST) SLAVEBr.

" To suppose, however, that the master will pause while he thus weighs the danger exactly, and then deliberately act as, upon reflection, he considers the necessities of the case de mand, is absurd. The mere circumstance of his doing so rould nourish a hopeful spirit in the slave, and stimulate him to consider hovr he could best avoid all punishment. Hi-nee the instinct-like habit of precaution with individuals, anil hence the frenzy which often seizes whole communities.
" But ' planters sleep unguarded, and with their bedroom doors open.' So, as it was boasted, did the Emperor at Biarritz, and with greater bravery, because the assassin of Napoleon would be more sure, in despatching him, that there would be no one left with a vital interest to secure punish ment for such a deed: and because, if he failed, Xapoleon dare never employ such exemplary punishment for his enemies as would the planters for theirs. The emperors of the South are the whole free society of the South, and it is a society of mutual assurance. Against a slave who has the disposition to become an assassin, his emperor has a body guard, which, for general effectiveness, is to the Cent Garde as your right hand is to your right hand's glove.
" It is but a few months since, in Georgia or Alabama, a man treated another precisely as Mr. Brooks treated Mr. Sumner--coming up behind him, with the fury of a madman, and felling him with a bludgeon; killing him by the first blow, however, and then discharging vengeance by repeated strokes upon his senseless body.* The man thus pitifully

The Ir.tc Mr. Brooks' character should be honestly considered, now tint I personal enmity toward him is impossible. That he was courteous, accomplishfl? warm-hearted, and hot-blooded, dear as a friend and fearful as an enemy, may tbelieved by all; bat, in the South, his name is yet never mentioned without the temi gallant or courageous, spirited or noble, is also attached to it; and we are obliged to rsk, why insist on this? The truti is, we include a habit of zniod in these terms which slarri y has rendei M,-in a jjrrat degre. olw%1tt> m tkf S^.nt^. TK -

J

THE DANGEB OP THE SOUTH.,

349

abased had been the master of the other, a remarkably con fiding and merciful master, it was said--too much BO. ' It never does to be too slack with niggers.' By such indiscre tion he brought his death upon him. But did his assassin escape ? He was .roasted, at a slow fire, on the spot of the murder, in the presence of many thousand slaves, driven to the ground from all the adjoining counties, and when, at length, his life went out, the fire was intensified until his body was in ashes, which were scattered to the winds and trampled under foot. Then 'magistrates and clergymen' addressed appropriate warnings to the assembled subjects. It was not thought indiscreet to leave doors open again that night.
" Will any traveller say that he has seen no signs of dis content, or insecurity; or apprehension, or precaution; that the South has appeared quieter and less excited, even on the subject of slavery, than the North; that the negroes seem happy and contented, and the citizens more tranquilly en gaged in the pursuit of their business and pleasure ? Has that traveller been in Naples ? Precisely the same remarks apply to the appearance of things there at this moment [the moment of this writing--ft was in 1857],

man who has been accustomed from childhood to see men beaten when they hare no chance to defend themselves ; to hear mt-n accused, reproved, vituperated, who dare not open their lips in self-defence or reply ; the man who is accustomed to see other men whip women without interference, remonstrance, or any expression of indignation, must hare a certaiu quality, which is an essential part of personal honour with us, greatly blunted, if not entirely destroyed. The same quality which we detest in the assa.<sin.ition of an enemy, is essentially constant in nil (Jsverr. It is found in effecting one's will with another, when he cannot, if he would, defend himself. Accustomed to this in every hour of their lives. Southerners do not feel magnanimity and the " fair-play" impulse to be a necessary part of the quality of "spirit," courage, and nobleness. By spirit they apparently mean only passionate rmdktiveuess of character, and by gallantry mere intrepidity.

850

. - OOTTOV AHD BL1YEBT.

" The massacre of Hayti opened in a tall-room. Mr. Co"bden judged there was not the smallest reason in the French king's snrronnding himself with soldiers the day before the hidden force of insubordination broke forth and cast him forth from his kingdom. It is true, however, that the tranquillity of the South is the tranquillity of Hungary and of Poland, rather than of France or the Two Sicilies ; the tranquillity of hope lessness on the part of the subject race. But, in the most favoured regions, this broken spirit of despair is as carefully preserved by the citizens, and -with as confident and un hesitating an application of force, when necessary to teach humility, as it is by the army of the Czar, or the omnipresent police of the Kaiser. In Eichmond, and Charleston, and New Orleans, the citizens are as careless and gay as in Boston or London, and their servants a thousand times as childlike and cordial, to all appearance, in their relations with them as our servants are with us. But go to the bottom of this security and dependence, and you come to police machinery such as you never find in towns under free government: citadels, sentries, passports, grape-shotted canncn, and daily public whippings for accidental infractions of police ceremonies. I happened myself to see more direct expression of tyranny in a single day and night at Charleston, than at Naples [/under Bomba] in a week; and I found that more than half the in habitants of this town were subject to arrest, imprisonmeiit, and barbarous punishment, if found in the streets without a passport after the evening ' gun-fire.' Similar precautions and similar customs may be discovered in every large town in the South.
" Nor is it so much better, as is generally imagined, in the rural districts. Ordinarily there is no show of government any more than at the North: the slaves go about \vith as modi apparent freedom as convicts in a dockyard. There is,

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THE DANGER OF THE SOUTH.

351

however, nearly everywhere, always prepared to act, if not always in service, an armed force, with a military organiza tion, which id invested with more arbitrary and erne! power than any police in Europe. Yet the security of the whites is in a much less degree contingent on the action of the ' patrols' than upon the constant, habitual, and instinctive surveillance and authority of all white people over all black. 1 have seen a gentleman, with no commission or special authority, oblige negroes to show their passports, simply because he did not recognize them as belonging to any of his neighbours. I have seen a girl, twelve years old, in a district where, in ten miles, the slave population was fifty to one of the free, stop an old man on the public road, demand to know where he was going, and by what authority, Order him to face about and return to his plantation, and enforce her command with turbulent anger, when he hesitated, by threatening that she would have him well whipped if he did not instantly obey. The man quailed like a spaniel, and she instantly resumed the manner of a lovely child with me, no more apprehending that she had acted unbecomingly, than that her character had been influenced by the slave's submission to her caprice of supre macy ; no more conscious that she had increased the security of her life by strengthening the habit of the slave to the master race, than is the sleeping seaman that he tightens his clutch of the rigging as the ship meets each new billow.
" There is no part of the South in which the people are more free from the direct action of slavery upon the charac ter, or where they have less to apprehend from rebellion, than Eastern Tennessee. Yet, after the burning of a negro near Knoxville, a few years ago, the deed was justified, as neces sary for the maintenance of order among the slaves, by the editor of a newspaper (the Register), in the following terms : --' It was,' he observed, ' a means of absolute, necessary

352

COTTON AMD SLAVERY.

self-defence, which could not be secured by an ordinary resort

to the laws. Two executions on the gallows have occurred

in this county within a year or two past, and the example

has been unavailing. Four executions by hanging have taken

place, heretofore, in Jefferson, of slaves guilty of similar

offences, and it has produced no radical terror or example for

the others designing the same crimes, and hence any example

less horrible and terrifying would have availed nothing here.'

" The other local paper (the Whig), upon the same occasion,

used the following language:--

" ' We have to say in defence of the act, that it was not per

petrated by an excited multitude, but by one thousand citizens

--good citizens at that--who were cool, calm, and deliberate.'

" And the editor, who is a Methodist preacher, presently

adds, after explaining the enormity of the offence with which

the victim was charged--" We unhesitatingly affirm that the

punishment was unequal to the crime. Had we been there

we should have taken a part, and even suggested the pinch

ing of pieces out of him with red-hot pincers--the cutting off

of a limb at a time, and then burning them all in a heap.

The possibility of his escaping from jail forbids the idea of

awaiting the tardy movements of the law.' [Although one

thousand trusty citizens volunteered to guard him at the

stake.]

" How much more horrible than the deed are these apolo

gies for it. They make it manifest that it was not accidental

in its character, but a phenomenon of general and funda

mental significance. They explain the paralytic effect upon

the popular conscience of the great calamity of the South.

They indicate a necessary tendency of people living under

\

such circumstances to return in their habits of thought to the dark ages of mankind. For wLo, from the outside, can fail to gee that the real reason why mm in tlif middle of the nine-

THE DANGER OF THE SOOTH.

353

teenth century, and in the centre of the United States, are

publicly burned at the stake, is one much less heathenish,

less disgraceful to the citizens than that given by the

more zealous and extemporaneous of their journalistic ex

ponents--the desire to torture the sinner proportionately to

the measure of his sin. Doubtless, this reverend gentleman

expresses the utmost feeling of the ruling mind of his com

munity. But would a similar provocation have developed a

similar avenging spirit in any other nominally Christian or

civilized people ? Certainly not. All over Europe, and in

every Free State--California, for significant reasons, tempo

rarily excepted--in similar cases, justice deliberately takes its

course ; the accused is systematically assisted in defending or

excusing himself. If the law demands his life, the infliction

of unnecessary suffering, and the education of the people in

violence and feelings of revenge, is studiously avoided. Go

back to the foundation of the custom which thus neutralizes

Christianity among -the people of the South, which carries

them backward blindly against the tide of civilization, and

what do we find it to be ? The editor who still retains

moral health enough to be suspected--as men more enlight

ened than their neighbours usually are -- of heterodoxy,

answers. To follow the usual customs of civilization else

where would not be felt safe. To indulge in feelings of

humanity would not be felt safe. To be faithful to the pre

cepts of Christ would not be felt safe. To act in a spirit of

cruel, inconsiderate, illegal, violent, and pitiless vengeance,

must be permitted, must be countenanced, must be defended by

the most conservative, as a ' means of absolute, necessary self-

defence.' To educate the people practically otherwise would

be felt to be suicidal. Hence no free press, no free pulpit,

no free politics can be permitted in the South. Hence every

white stripling in the South may carry a dirk-knife in

VOL. n.

2A

354

COTTON AND gLATKBY.

his pocket, and play with a revolver before he has learned to swim."*
I happened to. pass through Tennessee shortly after this tragedy, and conversed with a man who was engaged in it-- a mild, common-sense native of the country. He told me that there was no evidence against the negro but his own confes sion. I suggested that he might have been crazy. " What if he was T he asked with a sudden asperity. What if he was, to be sure ? The slaves who were brought together to witness his torture were not insane. They were at least capable of instruction. That day they were given a lesson ; were taught to know their masters better; were taught that when ordinary and legal discipline failed, resort would be had to more potent means of governing, them. A better informed man, having regard to the ign6rance of a stranger, might have answered me: " It was of no consequence, prac tically, whether he were sane or mad. We do not wish our slaves to study the right and the wrong of every exciting occurrence. To say that being mad the negro was not responsible, therefore not guilty of a crime, therefore not to be punished, would be proclaiming to them that only that which is wrong is to be dreaded. Whatever offends us, what ever is against our will and pleasure, is what a slave must be made to dread."
Constantly, and everywhere throughout the South, are there occurrences of this significance; I do not say as horrible, though I can answer for it, that no year in the last ten has passed without something as bad;t but constantly and everywhere of the same nature, of the same impulse, the
* From the Introduction to " The Kngiishman in Kansas,' (br the author of "this vrork;.
f Tb:t >Iares hare ever l*eu b^rne-i alive has been indignantly denied. The late Judge Jay told me that he had evidence in hi* possession of negro burnings ererr jea in the last twenty.

J

THE DANGER OF THE SOOTH.

855

same reasoning, the same purposes, the same disregard of principles of society, which no people can ever set aside and not have reason to feel their situation'insecure. It is false, it is the most dangerous mistake possible to assume that this feeling of insecurity, this annihilation of the only possible basis of security in human society, is, in the slightest degree, the result of modern agitation. It is the fundamental law of slavery, as distinctly appears in the decision of Justice Ruffin, of North Carolina, in the case of the State v. Mann.* The American system of slavery from its earliest years (as shown p. 496, "Seaboard Slave States"), and without cessation to the present time, has had this accompaniment. Less in the last twenty years, if anything, than before. Would it not be more just to say that this element of the present system was the cause of agitation ? Must not the determined policy of the South to deal with slavery on the assumption that it is, in its present form, necessary, just, good, and to be extended, strengthened, and perpetuated indefinitely, involve constant agitation as a necessary incident of the means used to carry it out ? I do not say with yon or with me, reader, but with a goodly number of any civilized community ? Do you not, who wish to think otherwise, consider that it will always require what you most deem a superior mind not to be overcome by incidents necessary to the carrying out of this determination ? And will not such agitation give renewed sense of danger, and occasion renewed demands for assurance from us ? I have remarked before that in no single instance did I find an inquiry of the owner or the overseer of a large planta tion about the poor whites of its vicinity fail to elicit an expression indicating habitual irritation with them. This equally with the polished and tranquil gentleman of South Carolina and the rude pioneer settler'of Texas, himself born a
* 2 Devererr's North Carolina Reports, 263.
2A2

356

COTT02T AND SLAVERY.

dirt-eating sand-hiller. It was evident in most cases, and in one it was distinctly explained to me by a Louisianian planter, that the reason of this was not merely the tad effect upon the discipline of the plantation, which was had by the inter course between these people and the slaves, but that it was felt that the contrast between the habits of the former--most of the time idle, and when working, working only for their own benefit and without a master--constantlv offered sugges tions and temptations to the slaves to neglect their duty, to run away and live a vagabond life, as these poor whites were seen to. Hence, one of the acknowledged advantages of very large and isolated plantations, and hence, in part, the desire of every planter to get possession of the land of any poor non-slaveholding neighbour.
As few Southern writers seem to have noticed this, I suppose that few Southerners are aware how universal with planters is this feeling. My attention being early directed to the causes of the condition of the poor whites, I never failed to make inquiries of planters, and of intelligent men espe cially, about those in their neighbourhood; and being soon struck by the constant recurrence of similar expressions with regard to them, I was the more careful to introduce the subject at every proper opportunity, and, I repeat, always with the same result. I am afraid that the feeling of the South to the North is (more or less defined in individual minds) of the same nature, and that the contiguity of a people whose labourers take care of themselves, and laloiir industriously without being owned, can never be felt to be safe by slaveholders. That it mu?t always be looked upon witluipiirflu-nsion, with a sense of danger, more or less vague, ra^re <>r hvs well defined, tut always sufficient to lead to efforts intended to counteract its natural-influence--its in fluence not so much with slaves, certainly not alone with the

THE DANOEB OF THE BOTJTH.

357

but also with that important element of population

which reaps no profit from the good behaviour of the slaves. In De Bow's " Review " for January, 1850, will be found the
following passage in an article discussing the practicability of employing the non-slaveholding whites in factories, the argu

ment being that there will be less danger of their becoming " Abolitionists" under such circumstances tihan at present exists:--

"The great mass of onr poor white population begin to understand

that they have right*, and that they, too, are entitled to some of the

sympathy which falls upon the suffering. They are fest learning that

there is an almost infinite world of industry opening before them by

which they can elevate themselves and their families from wretchedness

and ignorance to competence and intelligence. It is this great up

heaving of our masses that we have to fear, so far as our institutions arc

concerned."



It is, in the nature of things, while slaveholders refuse the slightest concession to the spirit of the age--while, in their

legislation, they refuse to recognize, in the slightest degree,

the principles of social science under which we live, and must live, and which every civilized people has fully adopted, that they should endeavour to make it appear the fault of others that they do not feel assured of safety and at ease with them selves; that they should try to make their own ignorant people believe that it is from without all danger is to be apprehended--all assurance of safety~to be clamoured for-- that they should endeavour to make themselves believe it.*

The rral objt of the systematic mail robbery which is maintained through out the South, and of the censorship of the press which is otherwise attempted, was once betrayed by a somewhat distinguished Southern editor, Duff Green, in the United States Telegraph, in the following words :--
" The real danger of this [slave insurrection] is remote. We believe we have most to fear from the organized action upon the consciences and fear&of the slave holders themselves ; from the insinuation of their dangerous heresies into our schools, our pulpits, and oar domestic circles. It is only by alarming the con sciences of the weak and feeble, and diffusing among our people a morbid sensibility en the question of slavery, that the Abolitionist* can *ccomplih their object."

358

COTTON AND SLAVERY.

Those who seriously propose to stop all agitation on the subject of slavery, by causing the Abolitionists to refrain from proceedings which cause apprehension at the South, by silencing all who entertain sentiments the utterance of which is deemed a source of " danger to Southern institutions," by refraining themselves from all proceedings which will be looked upon with alarm by their fellow-citizens of the Blare States, can know very little of what would be required before the South were satisfied. The destruction of some million dollars' cost in school and text books would be one of the first things, and yet but a small item in the undertaking. Books which directly comment upon slavery are considered compara tively safe, because their purpose being defined, they can be guarded against. As is well understood, it is the insidious attacks of a free press that are most feared. But is it well understood what are felt to be " insidious attacks ?" Some idea may be formed from the following passages which I take, not from the heated columns of a daily newspaper, but from the cool pages of the deliberate De Bow's " Review." The appre hension they express is not of to-day; in the first article from which I quote (which was published in the middle of Mr. ^Pierce's presidential term), reference is made to warnings of the same character which have been sounded from time to time before; and this very number of the " Eeview " contains a testi monial from fifty-five Southern senators and representatives in Congress to the " ability and accuracy " of its " exposition of the working of the system of polity of the Southern States."
" Our text books are abolition books. They are so to tlie extent of their capacity." . . . "We have ben too careless and indifferent to the import of these things."
"And ao long as we use such work.) as ' Wayland's Moral Science,' and the abolition geographies, readers, and histories, overrunning, as they do, with all sorts of sUnderd, caricaturea, and blood thirsty sentiments, let us never complain of their [northern Church people's] use of that transitory romance [ Uncle Tom's Cabin']. Tl*-y set k to array our cUildnn by false

THE DAXGBt OF THE SOUTH.

35!)

ideas, against the established ordinance of God ; and it sometimes takes effect A professor in one of our Southern seminaries, not long since placed in the bands of a pnpil Waylund'o Moral Science,' and informed her that the chapter on slavery was heretical and unecriptnral, and that she would not be examined on that chapter, and need not study it, Ptrhapt she didn't. But on the day of examination she wished her teacher to tell her if that chapter was heretical how she was to know bat they were all so ?' We might enumerate many other books of similar character and tendencies. But we will refer to only oue more--it is Gilbert's A this'--though the real author's name does not appear on the title puge. Ou the title page it is called ' Appleton's Complete Guide of the World ;' published by D. Appleton & Co , New York. This ia an ele'-'oiit and comprehensive volume, endorsed by the Ajijiletona and sent Soat'.i, containing hjdilt-n lessons of the most fiendish and murderous character tliat enraged fanaticism could conceive or indite.* It ia a sort of literary and scientific infernal machine. And whatever the design may have been, the tendency is as shocking as the imagination can picture. . . . Tl.is is the artillery and these the implements England and onr own recreant sister States are employing to overturn the order of society and the established forms of labour that date hack beyond the penning of the decalogue. . . . This book, and many other Northern school-books scattered over the country, come within the range of the statutes of this State, wl.ifh provide for the imprisonment for life or the infliction of the penalty of death upon any person who shall 'publish or distribute' such works; and were I a citizen of New Orleans, this work should not escape the attention of tLe grand jury. Bat need I add more to convince the sceptical of the necessity there is for the production of our own Uxt-books, and. may I not add, our own literature? Why should the land of domestic servitude be less productive in the great works of the mind now than when Homer evoked the arts, poetry, and eloquence into existence ? Moses wrote the Genesis of Creation, the Exodus of Israel, and the laws of man kind? and when Cicero, Virgil. Horace, St John, and St. Paul became the instructors, of the world ?f . . . They will want no cut-throat literature, no fire-brand moral science . . . nor Appleton's Complete Atlas,' to enconragr crimes that would blanch the cheek of a pirate, nor any of the ulcerous and polluting agencies issuing from the hot-beds of abolition fanaticism."

* Elsewhere the Messrs. Appleton are spoken of as " the grctt Abolition pub lisher of New York."
t N'ote the argument, I pry yoo, reader. Why, indeed ? Why is' there not a feeyt Ilia.! ? Are not th Keejws heathen, as Homer was ? Why should nut the Book of Mormon be as good thing as the Palms of DavJtl ? Was not Joseph Smith also a polygamut?

360

COTTON AND HLATBBT.

From en article on educational reform at the Sou&, in the same " Beview," 1856, I take the following indications of what, among other Northern doings, are considered to imperil the South :--

' Lovell's United States Speaker,* the 'National Reader,' the 'Young Ladies'^ Beader,' 'Columbian Orator,' 'Scott's Lessons,' the 'Village Reader,' and numerous others, have been used for years, and are all, in some respects, valuable compilations. We apprehend, however, there are few parents or teachers wlio arc familiar with the whole of their contents, or they would demand expurgated editions for the use of their children. The rifklg tentimentality of the poet Coirper, whose ear became BO ' pained,' and his soul 'sick with every Jay's report of wrong and outrage,' that it made him cry out in agony fcr 'a lodge in some vast wilderness,' where be might commune with howling wolves and panthers on the blessings of liberty <?;, stamps its infectious poison upon many of the pages of these works." ...
" From the American First Class Book, page 185, we quote another more mcdern sentiment, which bears no less higher authority than the name of the great Massachusetts statesman, Mr. Webster:''

Having burnt or expurgated Webster and Cowper, is it to be imagined that the leaders of opinion in the South would yet be willing to permit familiar intercourse between themselves and a people who allowed a book containing-such lines as these to circulate freely ?--

"What is a man If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed ? A beast, no more. Sore, He that made ns with such large diaconne. Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and Godlike reason, To rust unused."

What a dangerous sentiment to come by any chance to a slave! Is it not ? Are you, then, prepared to burn your Snakespeare ? I will not ask if you will haye another book "expurgated," of all passages the tendency of which is to set the bondmen free.

I

THE DANGER OP THE SOUTH.

361

If the security of life and property at the South must for ever be dependent t>n the thoroughness with which the negro population is prevented from acquiring knowledge; from thinking of themselves and for themselves, it will never be felt to be greater than it is to-day. Efforts made to increase this security will of themselves occasion agitation, and agitation must counteract those efforts. Knowledge, know ledge of what is going on elsewhere, of the condition of men elsewhere, of what is thought elsewhere, must have increased currency with every class of mankind in all parts of this continent, as it increases in population, and the movements of its population increase in activity and importance. No human laws, embargoes, or armies and navies can prevent it. Do our utmost, we cannot go hack of the steam-engine, the telegraph, the cotton-gin, and the cylinder press. The South has admitted steamboats and railroads. It was not practicable to stop with these, and bar out all the rest that is peculiar to the nineteenth century. Is it practicable to admit the machinery of modern civilized life, and not stir up its free people ? Is it practicable to stir up its inter mediate class, and keep its lowest torpid? Assuredly the security which depends upon preventing either of these steps can never be permanently increased; spite of all possible further extension of slave territory, and dispersion and dis connection of plantations, it must gradually lessen. As it lessens, the demand upon the nation to supply new grounds of security must increase--increase continually, until a* ' length, this year, next year, or another, they conclusively and hopelessly fail. It may cost us much or it may cost us little to reach that point, but it is inevitably to be reached. It may be after long and costly civil war, or longer and more costly foreign wars, or it may be peaceably, sensibly, and soon, bat it mast come. The annexation of Cuba, interna-

G'

COTTON'

tionnl furtive slave laws,* the African' slave trade, judgments of the Supreme Court, und whatever elsomay bo first asked and given, will not prevent it--nothing tlie Xorth will do, nothing the XY>rth -.an do, will prevent it. The prxsimity of
p. people who cannot hold labour in contempt; who cannot k:*p labourers in ignorance and permanent dependence each npon another roan ; who cannot have an effective censorship of the press, or a trustworthy army of moucfiards, prevents, and must always prevent, the South from standing with the slightest confidence of safety on that policy which it
proclaims to be its only ground of safety. Xothing but a reversal of the current of our Xorthern history for half a century, nothing, in fact, but the enslavement of labour at
the North, could in the nature of things, give that sccority, even temporarily, to tl;e capitalists of labour at the South which they need.t Some demand of the South upon the na-
* From the Oj(>on*>l' (S. C.) JTmft, quoted without dissent iu. theIW>-:T..five South Caiolina p3J*r, ^ C''trL-s!t,n Mercury:--
"Th loss that the South annually sustains by the running of sbves into Canada, is of sufficient impwt.inee to justify her public rnt-n in insisting rjion some action of the Government of the United Stales in the p;finises. And we confess onr surprise that Southern statesnu-n have >ut>rn:tt*'I with so mm-h patience to the annual robbery of thousands of dollars' woith of property to whu-h she ha< as v>! a ri;;ht as tlie land they cultivate. The time is p; npitious for the ae;[Ui-ition of all disputed right* from European povrers. Tiiey cannnot affurj to brenk just now with the Cr.itPii State*. Let our pnblic men move in the mntter, and we ijnestion not tut that the Presiduit and the American Miui.-ter at St. James's will give the murrmtnt a cordial supjorf. Besides, thi-; is a gnld>'D moment whk-h may never velum. IV-!i'iv we get ai:> tins- >our.d man in thi- presidi-r.tial chair, p.-ace may to ra;t<'.e in Et.iope, r.nd the European powers be !>> inclined to look o-ith farour upon the dfiii.ir.ds of AmmVa."
f " While it is far more obvious that negroes sh"i.!d lj shires than white>, for :ln>y are only fit lo lalour, not to diiect; yot the p::ncip!e of slavery is itsrif ri^lit, nnd d<xis not depend upon difference of complexion. Difierence of race, liiiast of la:i;t:are, of habits, and customs, all tend to ren'ler the institution mor? uat;:ial and durable; and although slaves hare been cenerally whites, still the masters and slaves have generally hten of Jifltrent national descent. M"-v> and Arirtotle, the earliest historians, are both authorities in favour of this dirTtier^r' of True, ^i^t r>ot of colour.**--Rtijintmtd Ktt'[n*rcr,

THE DAXGEB CO? THE SOUTH.

363

tion, acquiescence in which it holds essential to its safety,

must then at length be distinctly refused. And when, ten

or twenty years hence, if so be, this shall come to pass, what

then is to happen to us ?

Dissolution ?

This is what many Southern politicians avow, whenever

thev contemplate such a contingency.

Why?

Because it is known that the people of the North are un

willing that the Union should be dissolved, whereas they have

no indisposition to the only course which it will then be possible

for the South to adopt, for the sake of increasing the security

of its citizens, against insurrectionary movements of its slaves.

This plainly would be to arrange a systematic opportunity

and method for the slaves to labour, whenever they chose,

and as much as they might choose, in an orderly, peaceable,

and wise way, for their own release and improvement, each

man for himself and those most dear to him; each man by

himself, independently, openly, with no occasion for com

bination, secrecy, plots, or conspiracy. To prepare, for those

disposed to avail themselves of it, a field, either here or

elsewhere, in which their capability and Godlike reason,

such as it may be, little or great, need not be forced by law to

rust unused, or brighten only to the material advantage of

a master. This I must think to be consciously, even now,

the onlv final course of sati-tv before everv reflective Southern



-



mind. This, or----dissolution, and the chances of war.

[The above was written Wore Mr. Lincoln was sjtoken of as a candidate for the Presidency.]

864
APPENDIX.
(A.)
THX COHDITIOX OF YIBGOTA.--BTATI8TICB.
1.
THE Richmond Enquirer, a strong and influential pro-slavery newspaper of Virginia, in advocating some railroad projecta, thus describes the progress of the State relatively to that of some of the Free States, since the Eevolution. (Dec. 29, 1852.)
" Virrfnia, anterior to the Revolution, and up to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, contained more wealth and a larger population than any other State of this Confederacy. * * *
"Virginia, from being first in point of wealth and political power, has come down-to the fifth in the former, and the fourth in the latter. Xt-w York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Ohio stand ahove her in wealth, and all, hut Massachusetts, in population and political power. Three of these States are literally chequered over with railroads and canals; and the fourth (Massachusetts) with railroads alone. * * *
" But when we find that the population of the single city of NewYork and its environs exceeds the whole free population of Eastern Virginia, and the valley between the Blue Kidge and Alleghany, we have cause to feel deeply for our situation. Philadelphia herself contains a population far greater th.in the whole free population of Eastern Vir ginia. The little Slate of Massachusetts has an aggregate wealth ex ceeding that of Virginia by more than one hundred and twenty-six millions of dollars--a State, too, which is incapable of subsisting its inhabitants from the production of its soil. And New York, which was as much below Massachusetts, at the adoption of the Federal Constitu tion, in wealth and power, as the latter was below Virginia, now exceeds the wealth of both. While the aggregate wealth of Xew York, in 1850, amounted to $1,080,309,216, that of Virginia was. $136,701,082--a difference in favour of the former of $M3,608,134. The unwrought mineral wealth of Virginia exceeds that of New York. The climate and

APPENDIX.

365

soil are tetter; the back country, with equal improvements, would contribute as much."
The same Journal adds, on another occasion-:--
" In no State of the Confederacy do the facilities for manufacturing operations exist in greater profusion than in Virginia. Every condition essential to success in these employments is found here in prodigal abundance, and in a peculiarly convenient combination. First, we have a limitless supply of water power--the cheapest of motors--in localities easy of access. So abundant is this supply of water power that no value is attached to it distinct from the adjacent lands, except in the vicinity of the larger towns. On the Potomac and its tributaries ; on the Rajv pahanniick; on the James and its tributaries; on the Kuanokc and its tributaries; ou the Holston, the Kanawha, and other streams, number less sites may now be found where the supply of water jxswer is suffi cient for the purposes of a Lawrence or a Lowcll. Jior is there any want of material for building at these localities; timber and granite are abundant; and, to complete the circle of advantages, the climate is genial and healthful, and the soil eminently productive. * * * An other advantage which Virginia jiosstsscs, for the manufacture of cotton, is the proximity ofMts mills to the raw material. At the present prices of the staple, the value of ihis advantage is estimated at 10 JX.T cent."
The Lynchburg Virginian, another newspaper of respectability,
having a similar purpose in hand, namely, to induce capitalists
to invest their money in enterprises that shall benefit the State,
observes that--
" The coal fields of Virginia are the most extensive in the world, and her ci! is of the best and purest quality. Her iron deposits are alto gether inexhaustible, and in razny instances so pure that it is malleable in its primitive state; and many of these deposits in the immediate vicinity of extensive coal-fields. She has, too, very extensive dejosirs of copper, lead, and gypsum. Her rivers are numerous and bold, gene rally with fall enough for extensive water power.
" A remarkable foitnre in the mining and manufacturing prospects of Virginia is, the ease and economy with which all h<r minerals are mined; instead of being, as in England and elsewhere, generally im bedded deep within the bowels of the earth, from wl:ich they can be got only with great labour and at great cost, ours are found everywhere on the hills and slopes, with their ledges dipping in the direction of the plains below. Why, then, should not Virginia at once employ at least half of her labour and capital in mining and manufacturing ? Kich-

366

APPENDIX.

mond could as profitably manufacture all cotton and woollen goods as Lowell, or any other torn in New pugland. "VYhy should not Lynclibur^, with all licr i-rom:.*.-;! facility of getting coal and ;>L' metal, manu facture all articl s of iron and steel just as cheaj'ly, and yet as profitably, as any portion <>f tLe Northern States? Why should not every towii ar.d village on the line- of every railriad in the State, erect their shops, "in which tht-v may manufacture a thousand articles of daily consnmption, just as irixjd and cheap as they tuny be made anywhere? * * *
" Dependent upon Eurojx; and the North for almost every yard of cloth, and every coat, and boot, and hat we wear; for our axes, scythes, tubs, and buckets--in short, for everythimr except our bread and meat ! --it must occnr to the-South that^if our relations with the North should ever be severed--and how soon they may be, none can know (may Cud avert it lora!)--we would, in all the South, not be able'to clothe our selves. "We could not fell our forests, plough our fields, nor mow <mr meadows. In fact, we would be reduced to a state more abject than we are willing to look at even prospectively. And yet, with all these things staring us in the face, we shut onr eyes, and go ou blindfold."
At the Convention for the formation of the Virginia State Agricultural Society, in 1852, the draft of an address to the
farmers of the State was read, approved, and once adopted by tlie Convention. The vote by which it was adopted was o;>n afterwards reconsidered, and it was again approved and adpptcd. A second time it was reconsidered ; and filially it was rejected, on the ground that there were admissions in it that would feed the fanaticism of the Abolitionists. ]STo one nrgiicd against it on the ground of the falsity ojr inaccuracy of these admissions. Twenty of the most respectable proprietors in the State, imme diately afterwards, believing it to contain " matter of grave im port," which shonid not l>e suppressed for such a reason, united in requesting a copy of it for publication. In the note of these gentlemen to the author, they express the belief that Virgin :s now "possesses the richest soil, mrst genial climate, an;l cheapest labour on earth." The author ofithe address, in 1i. reply, says : " Fanaticism is a fool for whose vagaries I am n< t responsible. I am a pro-slavery man --I believe it, at this tinn-,
impossible to abolish it, and not desirable if it were possible." The address was accordingly published, and I make the fL.l-
l.j.vinff extracts from it:--

367
" ADDRESS TO T1IE FARMEBS OF V1BOIXIA.
"' Tho Southern States stand foremost in agricultural labour, though they hold but the third rank in population.' At the head of these Southern States, in production, in extent of territory, in climate, in soil, and in population, stands the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is a nation of farmers. ELiht-tcuths of her industry is expended upon the soil; but less than one-third of her domain is in pasturage, or under the plough.
" Out of somewhat more than thirty-nine millions of acres, she tills but little over teu millions of acres, or about twenty-six and a quarter per cent., whilst New York has subdued about forty-one per cent., or twelve arid a quarter out of her twenty-nine and a half millions of acres : and Massachusetts, with her sterile soil aud inhospitable climate, has reclaimed fn>m the forest, the quarry, and the marsh, about fortytwo and a half {>er cent., or two and one-eighth out of her little territory of five millions of acres. Yet, according to the census of 1840, only six-tenths of the labour of New York, and four-tenths of that of Massa chusetts, or, relatively, one-fifth and two-fifths less than our own, is expended m>on agriculture. * * *
"The live st.xik of Virginia arc worth only three dollars and thirtyone cents fur every arable acre ; but in New York they are worth six dollar.-* and seven cents, and in Massachusetts four dollars and fifty-two ceuts.
" The proportion of hay for the same quantity of land is, for Vir^nia, eighty-olio poiuids; for New York, six hundred and seventy-nine pounds; for Massachusetts:, six hundred and eighty-four pounds. * *
" With access to the same markets, nnd with hundreds of mechanics of our own, who can vie with the best Northern manufacturers, we fiud that u\;r implements are inferior, that the New York farmer spends upon his nearly three times as much as we do upon ours, and the Massachu setts farmer more than double. * * *
" Manure is iudispensable to pood husbandry. Judging from the history of agriculture iu all other countries, we may safely :*iy, that inum<r can never attain to .continued perfection where manure is not pr,'. on with an unsparing hand. By far the larger part of this cnn only bi- made hy stock, which should, at the same time, he made the source of profit, at least sufficient to pay the cost of their keep, .<=o that, &///<. t/iiii'fx hfi,,ff "ittvl, it is a safe rule to estimate the condition of a farming district by the amount of live stock it may possess, and tie provision mvk- for their sustenance. Applied in this instance, w see that the NV.v Yi >rk farmer has invested in live stock two dollars and seventy-si:, cents, and the Massachusetts farmer one dollar and twenty-one cents

36S

APPENDIX.

per acre more than the Virginia farmer. IB pasturage we cannot tell the difference. It is well, perhaps, for the honour of the State, that we cannot. But in hay, New York has five hundred and ninety-eight pounds, and Massachusetts six hundred and three pounds more per acre than we have. This, however, does not present the true state of the case. Land-locked by mountain barriers, as yet impassable for the ordinary agricultural staples, or debarred from their production by distance and prohibitory rates of transportation, most of the wealth and exports of many considerable portions of our State consists of live stock alone. What proportion these parts bear to the whole, we have been unable definitely to ascertain ; but it is, no doubt, so great as to warrant us in assuming a much more considerable disparity than the statistics show in the live stock of the whole Atlantic slojie, as compared with Sew York and Massachusetts. And we shall appreciate, still more hizhly, the skill of the Northern farmer, if we reflect that a readier market for every, the most trivial, product of his farm, operates as a constant temptation to break up his rotation and diminish his stock.
" In the above figures, carefully calculated from the data of authentic documents,* we find no cause for self-gratulatien, but some food for meditation. They are not without use to those who would improve the future by the past. They show that we have not done onr part in the brimrins of land into cultivation; that, notwithstanding natural advan tages which greatly exceed those of the two States drawn into parallel with Virginia, we are yet behind them both--that with forty and sixty per cent, respectively of their industry devoted to other pursuits, into which it has been lured by prospects of greater gain, they have done more than we have done. *
" Whilst onr population has increased for the last ten years, in a ratio of 11-66, that of New York has increased in a ratio of 27'32, and that of Massachusetts at the still heavier and more startling rate of 34'S1. With a territorial area thirty per cent, larger than New York, we have but little more than one-third of her Congressional representa tion ; arx? Massachusetts, only one-eighth our size, comes within two of onr number of representatives, we being cut down to thirteen, while she rises to eleven. And thus we, who once swayed the councils of the Union, find our power gone, and our influence on the wane, at a time when both are of vital importance to our prosperity, if not to our safety. As other States accumulate the means of material greatness, and slide past us on the road to wealth and empire, we slight the warnings of dull statistics, and drive lazily along the field of ancient customs, or stop the
* Abstract of the Serenth Census, and the able work of Professor Tucker, on ti:~ ' Progress of the Cuited Stites in Population an,! Wealth."

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369

pio'tyh, to speed the politician--should we not, in too manycases, say with more propriety, the dfmrti/cyiie ?
" State pride is a good thing; it is one mode in which patriotism is manifested. But it is not always a wise one. Certainly not, when it makes us content on small grounds. And when it smothers up im provement in self-satisfaction, it is a most pernicious thiug. We hare much to be proud of in Virginia. In intellect and fitness to command, in personal and social qualities, in high tone and noble bearing, in loyalty, in generosity, and magnanimity, and disinterestedness, above all, in moral purity, we once stood--let us hope, still stand--pre eminent among our sister States. But the possession and practice of these virtues do not comprise our whole duty as men or as citizens. The great decree which has gone forth ordaining that we shall' increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth," enjoins "ifpon us quite other duties, which cannot be neglected with impunity; so we have found out by experience--for we hnve neglected these duties. Aud when we contemplate our field of labour, and the work we have done in it, we cannot but observe the sad contrast between capacity and achievement. With a wide-spread domain, with a kindly soil, with a climate whose sun radiates fertility, and whose very dews distil abundance, we find our inheritance so wasted that the eye aches to behold the prospect."

2.

The Census of 1850 gives the following values to agricultural land in the adjoining States of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

In Virginia.

No. of acres improved lanf) in farms, 10,360,135

,,

unimprove.1,

I5,7yi,17(j

Cash value of farms, 216,401,341!--gSnuacre.

Jn Pennsylvania. 8 ;2,t519 G,294,7'-!8
$407,870,099--$'25an:icre.

Considering that, at the Revolution, Virginia had nearly twice

the population of Pennsylvania, was in possession of much more wealth or disposable capital, and had much the best natural

facilities for external commerce and internal communication, if her political and social constitution had been and hud continued

equally good, and her people equally industrious and enter prising with those of Pennsylvania, there is no reason why the

value of her farms should not have been, at this time, at least equal to those of Pennsylvania. Were it so, it appears that

Virginia, in that particular alone, would now be richer than she is by four hundred and thirty millions of dollars.
If it should be thought that this difference between the value

vcn. 71.

'2 r.

S70

APFESDTS.

of land in Virginia and Pennsylvania is in some degree due to more fertile soils in tlie latter, a similar comparison may bo made with the other adjoining Free State, and old State of New Jersey, the climate of which, owing to its vicinity to the ocean, differs imperceptibly from tliat of Virginia, while its soil is decidedly less fertile, taking both States on an average. The average value of farming-land in New Jersey is recorded at

Give this value to the Virginia farms, and the difference between it and their present value would buy, at a large valua tion, all the slaves now in the State, send them to Africa, provide each iamily of them five hundred dollars to start with when they reached there, and leave still a surplus which, divided among the present white population of the State, would give between two and three thousand dollars to each family.
Some Southern writers have lately objected to comparisons of density of population, as indications of the prosperity of communities. Between two adjoining communities, however, whure there are no restrictions upon the movements of the popu lations, and when the people are so ready to move as both those of Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and of Virginia have shown themselves to be, the price of hind most indicate with consideraMe exactness the comparative value or desirableness of it. all things considered, to live upon. The Virginians do not admit, and have no occasion to do so, that Pennsylvania and New Jersey have any advantage over Virginia, in soil, in climate, or in any natural quality.
3.
In intellectual productions, the same general comparative barrenness is noticeable.
1'rwn tlie Kiclnru/nd W^,iy.
"We receive nearly all our books from Northern or foreign authors-- gotten up, printed by Xurthcrn or fbn-ign publishers--while we have affi'ja.' us numlx-rlc.-a wen ot ri{x' scholarship, profound acquirements, ekgant and forcible writers--men willing to devote themselves to such labour, OH?IJ a Xoutfiern book is not putrviiizcJ. The North usually scowls at it, ridicules it, or damns it with laint praise ; and the South

APPENDIX.

371

takes on a like hue and complexion and neglects it. We have printers aud publishers able, willing, and comix.-h.-nt to publish, but, such is the a^'tt/iif on the i^irt of Southern people, that it involves hazard to .Southern publishers to put them out. Indeed, until recently, almost all the publications, even of Southern books, issued (and that was their only Loj>e of success) tYoui Northern houses. The last chance now of getting a Southern book sold, is to manage to secure the favourable notice ot the Northern press, and then the South buys it. Our maga zines aud periodicals languish lur support."
Mr. Howison, " The Virginia Historian," observes:
" Tlie question might be asked, Where is the literature of Virginia ? and it would not be easily answered. It is a melancholy fact, that her people have never been a reading people. In the mass they have shown aninclitlereuce to polite literature and education iu general, depressing to the mind that wishes to see them resj^ctable aud happy."
" It is with pain," says the same authority, " that we are com pelled to speak of the horrible clond of ignorance that rests on Virginia," and he computes that (1848) there are in the State 1(56,000 yffuth, between seven and sixteen years of age, and of these 126,000 attend no school at all, and receive no education except what can be imparted by poor and ignorant parents. Besides these, he reckons 449,087 slaves and 48,802 free negroes, with few exceptions, wholly uneducated.

" The policy which discourages further extension of knowledge among them is necessary: but the fact remains unchanged, that they exist among us, a huye mass of mind, almost entirely unenliyjdcjuid. Wo fear that the most favourable estimates will leave, in our State, 683,000 rational beings who arc destitute of the merest rudiments of knowledge."

2B2

872
APPENDIX (B.)
THB SiAVK TRADE IX
From Chambfrs'i Journal. " THE exposure of ordinary goods in a store is not more open to the public than are the sales of slaves in Richmond. By consulting the local newspapers!, I learned that the sales take place by auction every morning in the offices of certain brokers, -who, as I understood by the terms of their advertisements, purchased or received slaves for sale on commission.
" Where the street was in which the brokers conducted their busi ness, I did not know; but the discovery was easily made. Rambling down the main street in the city, I found that the subject of my searcl; was a narrow and short thoroughfare, turning off to the left, and terminating in a similar cross thoroughfare. Both streets, lined with brick houses, were dull and silent. There was not a person to whom I conl J put a question. Looking about, I observed the office of a com mission agent, and into it I stepped. Conceive the idea of a large sin [> with two windows, and a door between ; no shelving or counters inside : the interior a spacious, dismal apartment, not well swept; the only furniture a desk at one of the windows, and a brnch at one side of tinshop, three feet high, with two steps to it from the floor. I say, con ceive the idea of this dismal-looking place, with nobody in it but thr<-<? negro children, who, a I entered, were playing at auctioneering each otl.er. An intensely black little negro, of four or five years of age, was standing on the bench, or biock, as it is called, with an equally black girl, about a year younger, by his side, whom he was pretending to sell by bids to another black child, who was rolling about the floor.
"My. appearance did not interrupt the merriment. The little auctioneer continued liis mimic play, and apr^arcd to enjoy the joke r.f selling the girl, who stood demurely by his side.
"'Fifty doHa for de gal--fitty dolla--fifty dolia--I sell dis here fine gal for fifty dolla,' was uttered with extraordinary volubility by the woolly-headed urchin, accompanied with appropriate gestures, in imitati< n, doubtless, of the scene* he hr.d MITI et.acted daily on the spot. I
J

APPENDIX.

373

spoke a few -words to the little creatures, but was scarcely understood and the fun went on as if I had not been present: so I left them, happy in rehearsing what was likely soon to be their own fate.
" At another office of a similar character, on the opposite side of the street, I was more successful. Here, on inquiry, I was respectfully in formed, by a person in attendance, that the sale would take place the lolloping morning at halt-past nine o'clock.
"Next day ] set out accordingly, after breakfast, for the scene of operations, in which there was now a little more life. Two or three persons were lounging about, smoking cigars; aud, looking along the street, I observed that three red flags were projected from the doors of those offices in which sales were to occur. On each flag was pinned a piece of paper, notifying the articles to be sold. The number of lots was not great. On the first was the following announcement:--' Will lc sold this morning, at half-past nine o'clock, a Man and a Boy.'
"It was already the appointed hour; but as no company had as sembled, I entered and took a seat by the fire. The office, provided with a few deal forms and chairs, a desk at one of the windows, and a lil i>ck accessible by a few steps, was tenantlcss, save by a gentleman who was arranging papers at the desk, and to whom I had addressed myself on the previous evening. Minute after minute passed, aud still nobody entered. There was clearly no hurry in going to business. 1 ft It almost like an intruder, and had formed the resolution of de[>arUn<:, in order to look into the other offices, when the person referred to lelt his desk, and came and seated himself opjosite to me at the fire.
"'You are an Englishman,' said he, looking me steadily in the face ; 'do you want to purchase.?^
"' Yes,' I replied, ' I am an Englishman; but I do not intend to purchase. I am travelling about for information, and I shall fetl obliged by yovr letting me know the prices at \vhich negro servants arr sold.'
"' I will do so with much pleasure,' was the answer; 'do you mean field-hands or house-servants f
"' All kinds,' I replied; ' I wish to get all the information T can.' " With much politeness, the gentleman stepped to his desk, and began to draw up a note of prices. This, however, seemed to require careful consideration; and while the note was preparing, a lanky person, in a wide-awake hat, and chewing tobacco, entered, and took tlie cliair just vacated. He liad scarcely seated himself, when, on looking toward* the door, I observed the subjects of sale--the man and boy indicated by the paper on the red flag--enter together, and quietly walk to a form at the back of the shnp, whence, as the day was chilly, they edged

L

374

APPEXDIX

themselves towards the fire, in the corner where I was seated. I was now between the two parties--the white man un the right, and the oKi and jouaj nezro on the left--ami I waited to sec what would take' place.
"The sight of the ne_T,jfS at once attracted the atuutiuu of Wide awake. Chewing with vigour, he kept keenly eyein.; the pair, as if t> > see wliat they were good for. Under this searching iraze, the man and boy were a little aV-ashi-J, but said notUin:*. Tiieir appearance had little of the repulsiveness we are apt to associate with the idea of slaves. They were dressed in a gray woollen coat, pants, and waistcoat, coloured cotton neckcloths, cleau shirts, coarse woolkn stockings, anl stout shuts. The man wore a bkick hat; the boy was bareheaded. Sfovcd by a sudden impulse, Wide-awake left his seat, and roundiag the back of my chair, began to grasp at the man's arms, as if to feel their muscular capacity. He then examined his hands and fingers; and, last of all, told him to open his mouth and show his teeth, which he did in a submissive manner. Having finished these examinations, Wide-awake resumed his seat, and chewed on in silence as before.
"I tiioujrht it was bat fair that I should now have my tnm of inves tigation, and accordingly asked the elder negro what was his a^c. He said he did not know. I next inquired how old the boy was. He said he was seven years ofajje. On asking the man if the boy was his son, he said he was not--he was his coitsin. I was soinz into other ]iarticulars, when the office-keeper approached, ar,d handed me the note he had been preparing; at the same time making the observation that the market was dull at present, and that there never could lie a more favourable opportunity of buying. I thanked him for the trouble which he had taken ; and uow submit a copy of his price-current:

Best Men, 19 to 25 yirs old

Fair Jo. do. do.

Boys, 5 tV*t .

Do., 4 fwt 8 inches

Do., 4 feet 5 inches

..

Do., 4f<wt .

Young Women

..

Girls, 5 feet .....

Do., 4 feet 9 inches Do., 4 feet .

12'Xi to 1300 doll.ITS.
95'J to 1050 850 to 950 n 700 to 8uO M
500. to 600 ?J 375 to 450 19 8'J'O to 1000 J) 750 to 850 J>
700 to 750 J 350 to 450

(signed)

Richmond, Virginia.

"Leaving this document for future consideration, I pass on to

APPENT5IX.

375

history of the Jay's proceedings. It was now ten minutes to ten o'clock, an 1 \Vide-awake and I being alike tired of waiting, \ve went oifiu quest of sales further up the street. Passing the- second office, in which also iiulx!y was to be seen, we were more fortunate at the third. Here according to the announcement on the pa]*r stuck to the flag, there were to be sold, ' A woman and three children ; a young woman, three men, a middle-aged woman, and a little boy." Already a crowd had met, composed, I should think, of persons mostly from the cottonplaatations of the South. A few were seated uear a fire on the righthand side, and others stood round- an iron stove in the m-ddle of the
apartment. The whole place had a dilapidated appearance. From a back window, there was a view into a ruinous court-yard; bej'oiid which, in a hollow, accessible by a side lane, stood a shabby brick house, 0:1 which the word Jail was inscribed in large black letters on a white ground. I imagined it to be a depot for the reception of negroes.
"On my arrival, and while making these preliminary observations, the lots fur sale had not made their appearance. In about five minutes afterwards, they were ushered in, one after the other, under the charge of a mulatto, who seemed to tict as principal assistant. I saw no whips, chains, or any other engine of force. Xor did such ap[>ear to be required. All the lots took their seats on two long forms near the stove; none showed any signs of resistance; nor did any one utter a word. Their manner was that of perfect humility and resignation,
"As soon as all were seated, there was a general examination of their respective merits, by feeling their arms, looking into their months, and investigating the quality of their hands and fingers--this last being evidently an important particular. Yet there vfas no abrupt rudeness in making these examinations--no coarse or domineering language was employed. The three negro men were dressed in the usual manner--in gray woollen clothing. The woman, with three children, excited my peculiar attention. She was neatly attired, with a coloured handker chief bound around her head, and wore a white apron over her gown. Her children were all girls, one of them a baby at the breast three months old, and the others two and three years of age respectively, ri.r_:c'd out with clean white pinafores. There was not a tear or au emotion visible in the whole party. Everything seemed to be con sidered as a matter of course; and the clwng..-"of owners was possibly looked forward to with as much indiifcrcncc; as ordinary hired servants anticijiiite a removal from one employer to another.
" While intending purchasers wore proceeding with personal examina tions of the several lots, I took the liberty of plltting a few questions to the mother of the children. The following was our conversation :--

376

APPENDIX.

" ' Are yon a married woman ? "'Yes, sir.'
" ' How many children have you bad ?' "'Seven.'
" ' Where is your husband ? " ' In Madison county.' "' When did yon part from him '? " ' On Wednesday--two days ago.' "' Were you sorry to part from him ?' "' Yea, sir,' she replied, with a deep sigh; ' my heart was a'moet broke.' "' Why is your master selling you ?' "' I don't know--he wants money to buy some land--suppose Ic sells me for that.' " There might not be a word of truth in these answers, for I had no means of testing their correctness; but the woman seemed to speak unreservedly, and I am inclined to think that she said nothing but what, if necessary, could be substantiated. I spoke, also, to the young woman who was seated near her. She, like the others, was perfectly black, and appeared stout and healthy, of which some of the persons present assured themselves by feeling her arms and ankles, looking into her mouth, aud causing her to stand up. She told me she had several brothers and sisters, but did not know where they were. She said she was a house-servant, and would be glad to be bought by a good master --looking at me, as if I should not be unacceptable. "I have said that there was an entire absence of emotion in the looks of men, women, and children, thus seated preparatory to being solci. This does not correspond with the ordinary accounts of slave-sales, which are represented as tearful and harrowing. My belief is, that none of the parties felt deeply on the subject, or at least that any distress they experienced was but momentary--soon passtd away, and was forgotten. One of my reasons for this opinion rests on a trifling incident which occurred. While waiting for the commence men of the sale, one of the gentlemen present amused himself with a pointer dos, .which, at command, stood on its hind legs, and took pieces of bread from his pocket. These tricks greatly entertained the row of negroes, old and young; and the poor woman, whose heart three minutes tefore was almost broken, now laughed as heartily as any one. "' Sale is coins to commence--this way, eentlemen,' cried a man at the door to a numlicr of loungers outside; and all Laving assembled, tl.o mulatto assistant led the woman and her children to the block, which he helped her to mount. There she stood, with her infant at the breast.

APPEKDIX.

377

and one of her girls at each side. The auctioneer, a handsome, gentle manly personage, took bis \ lace, with one foot on an old deal chair with a broken back, and the other raised on the somewhat more elevated Mock. It was a striking scene.
"' Well, gentlemen,' began the salesman, "here is a capital woman and her three children, all in good health--what do you say for them? Give me an ofter. (Nobody speaks.) I put up the whole lot at 850 dollars--850 dollars--i>50 dollars (speaking very fast)--850 dollars. \Vill no one advance upon that? A very extraordinary bargain, gentle men. A fine, healthy baby. Hold it up. (Mulatto goes up the first step of the Hock ; takes the baby from the woman's breast, and holds it aloft with one hand, so as to show that it was a veritable sucking baby.) That will do. A woman, still young, and three children, all for 850 dollars. An advance, if you please, gentlemen. (A voice bids 8CO.) Tliank you, sir, 860; any one bids more ? (A second voice says, 870 ; and so on the bidding goes as far as 890 dollars, when it stops.) That won't do, gentlemen. I cannot take such a low price. (After a pause, addressing the mulatto) : She may go down.' Down from the block the woman and her children were therefore conducted by the assistant, and, as if nothing had occurred, they calmly resumed their seats by the stove.
" The nuxt lot brought forward was one of the men. The assistant beckoning to him with his band, requested him to come bthind a canvas screen, of two leaves, which was standing near the back window. The man placidly rose, and having been placed behind the screen, was ordered to take off his clothes, which he did without a word or look of remonstrance. About a dozen gentlemen crowded to the s[ ot while the poor fellow was stripping himself, and as soon ns he stood on the floor, bare from top to toe, a most rigorous scrutiny of his person was in stituted. The clear black skin, back and front, was viewed all over for sores from disease; and there was no part of his body left unexamined. The roan was told to open and shut his hands, asked if he could pick cotton, and every tooth in his head was scrupulously looked at. The investigation being at an end, he was ordered to dress himself; and having done so, was requested to walk to the block.
The ceremony of offering him for competition was gone through as before, but no one would bid. The other two men, after undergoing similar examinations behind the screen, were also put up, but with the same result. Nobody would bid for them, and they were all sent back to their seats. It seemed as if the company had conspired not to buy anything that day. Probably some imperfections had been detected in the personal qualities of the negroes. Be this as it may, the auctioneer,

378

APPEXDIX.

perhaps a little ont of temper from his want of success, waited off to Ms desk, and the afiair was so far at an end.
"' This way, gentlemen--this way !' was heard from a voice outside, and the company immediately hived off to the second establishment. At this office there was a young woman, and also a man, for sale. The woman was put up first at 500 dollars; and [/osscssing some recommendable qualities, the bidding for her was run as high as 710 dollars,
at which she was knocked down to a purchaser. The man, alter the customary examination behind the screen, was put up at TOO dollars; but a small imperfection having been observed in his person, no ono would bid for him ; and he was ordered down.
"'This way, sjentlemen,.-this way--down the street, if you please!' was now shouted by a person in the employment of the first firm, to whose office all very willingly adjourned--one migrator}' companv, it will be perceived, serving all the slave-auctions in the place. In going in the crowd, I went to see what should be the fate of the man and bov, with whom I had already had some communication.
"There the pair, the two cousins, sat by the fire, just where I had left them an hour ago. The boy was put up first.
"' Come along, my man--jump tip ; there's a good boy !' said one of the partners, a bulky and respectable looking jerson, with a gold chain and bunch of seals ; at the same time setting on the block. With alacrity the little fellow came forward, aud, mounting the steps, stood by his side. The forms in front were filled by the comi any ; and as I seated myself, I found that my old companion, AYide-awake, was close at hand, still chewing anil spitting at a snsit rate.
"'Now, gentlemen,'said the auctioneer, putting his Land on tie shoulder of the boy, 'here is a very fa.c buy, seven years of aav, warranted sound--<rhat do you sny for him? I put him up at 50u dollars--500 dollars (speaking ijujck, his ri^ht hand raised up, ai.d coming down on the open jalm of his left)--~,i)0 dollars. Any cue say more than 500 dollars? (500 is bid.) 500 (pillars. Xoi;seij.se! Jti.--! lo"k at him. See how high, he is. (He draws the lot iu front of hiir, and shows that the little fellow's head conies up to his breast.) You &.-.;
lie is a fine, tail, healthy boy. Lc ok at his hands.' " Severn! step forward, ami cause the boy to o]x-n and shut his hand :
--the flexibility of the small fingers, black on the one side, and whiti* on the other, being well looked to. The hands, and also the ruonti . having dven satisfaction, an advance is made to 570, tln-n to " tUl.irs.
"'Gentlemen, t!;at is .1 very jo>r ; rice fur a U.y <.f this size. (Ad dressing the !ct)--ln> down, n;y toy, and show them liciw you can rut).

J

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379

" The boy, seemingly happy to do as he was bid, went down from the block, and ran smartly across the floor several times ; the eyes of every
one in the room following him. " ' Now that will do. Get up again. (Boy mounts the block, the
steps being rather deep for his short legs; but the auctioneerkimlly lends him a hand.) Come, gentlemen, you see this is a first-rate lot. (590--600--G10--620--630 dollars are bid.) I will sell him for C30 dollars. (Kight hand coming down on left.) Last call. 630 dollars,
once--630 dollars, twice. (A pause; hand sinks.) Gone!' " The boy having descended, the man was desired to come forward ;
and after the usual scrutiny behind a screen, he took his place on the block.
" ' Well, now, gentlemen,' said the axictioneer,' here is a right prime lot. Look at this man ; strong, healthy, able-bodied ; could not be a better hand for field-work. He can drive a waggon or anything. What do you say for him ? I offer the man at the low price of 800 dollars--he is well worth 1200 dollars. Come, make an advance, if you please. 800 dollars said for the man (a bid) ; thank you; 810 dollars-- 810 dollars--810 dollars (several bids) --820--830--850--SW--going at 860--going. Gentlemen, this is far below his value. A strongboned man, fit for any kind of heavy work. Just take a look at him. (Addressing the lot): Walk down. (Lot dismounts, and waiks from one side of the shop to the other. When about to reascend the block, a gentleman, who is smoking a cigar, examines his mouth with Ids fingers. Lot resumes his place.) Pray, gentlemen, be quick (continues the
auctioneer); I must sell him,and 860 dollars are only bid for the man --860 dollars. (A fa-sh run of bids to 945 dollars.) 945 dollars, once-- 945 dollars, twice (looking slowly round, to see if all were doiic), 945 dollars. Going--going--(hand drops)--gone!'
" Such were a forenoon's experiences in the slave-market of Rich mond. Everything is described precisely as it occurred, without passion or prejudice. It would not have been difficult to be sentimental on a subject which appeals so strongly to the feelings, but I have preferred tellinc: the simple truth. In a subsequent chapter I shall endeavour to offer some general views of slavery in its social and political relations.'

380
APPENDIX (C.)
O06T OT LABOUR DT THK BORDER STATES.
FBOM a native Virginian, who has resided in New York:
" To (he Editor of the N. Y. Daily Times. "SiB--Ton will not object, I thiab, to receive an endorsement from a Southern man, of the statements contained in number seven of' Letters on the Productions, Industry, and Resources of the Southern States' [by Mr. Olmsted], published in your issue on Thursday last * * * " Where you -would see one white labourer on a Xorthem farm, scores of blacks should appear on the Virginian plantation, the best of them nrdy performing each day one-fourth a irftite mar's daily task, and att requiring an incessant loatch to get even this small modicum of labour. Yet they eat as much again as a white man, must have their two suits of clothes and shoes yearly, and although the heartiest, healthiest look ing men and women anywhere on earth, actually lose for their owners or employers one-sixth their time on account of real or pretended sick ness. Be assured, our model Virginia farmer has his hands full, and is not to be envied as a jolly fox-hunting idler, lording it over ' ranks of slaves in chains.' No, sir; he must be up by ' the dawn's early light,' anJ head the column, direct in person the commencing operations, urging, and coaxing; must praise and punish--but too glad to reward the meritofious, granting liberty (V. e. leave of absence) often to his own servant, that he dare not take himself, because he must not leave home for fear something will go wrong ere his return. Hence but too many give up, to overseers or other irresponsible persons, tLe care and management of their estates, rather than undergo such constant annoy ance and confinement. Poor culture, scanty crops, and wom-ont land, is the inevitable result; and yet, harassed and trammeled as they are, no one but a Southerner regards them with the slightest degree of" com passion or evn forbearance; and our good friends, the Abolitionists, would have 'all the rest of mankind' rank them with pirates aud cut throats. But my object in this communication is not to sympathize with nor ask sympathy on behalf of slaveholders. Fur, howiver

APPENDIX,

381

sinning or sinned against, they seem quite able to take their oven part, if molested; and are remarkably indifferent, withal, as to the opinions expressed by ignorant ranters concerning them.

"If I have the ability, my desire is to draw a parallel between the state and condition of Northern and Southern fanners and farming. The Northern farmer does undoubtedly experience a full share of those

troubles and cares attendant even upon the most easy and favourable system of farming; but, sir, can he hare any such responsibility as that resting upon the owner of from 50 to 300 ignorant, lazy negroes ?

*

*

*

*

*

*

" You must plough deep, follow up quickly, and sow with powerful fertilizers, attend closely to the growing crop, gather in rapidly before blight or mildew can come and destroy, says our Northern fanner. On a farm of three hundred acres, thus managed with five hands, two extra during harvest, I can raise thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. Now

picture the condition of him South, and hear his answer. With from

three to fifteen hundred acres of land, and a host of negroes great and

small, his cares and troubles are without end. ' The hands,' able men and women, to say nothing of children, and old ones laid by from age or other infirmity, have wants innumerable. Some are sick, others pretend to be. so, many obstinate, indolent, or fractious--each class

requires different treatment; so that without mentioning the actual daily wants, as provisions, clothing, etc., etc., the poor man's time, and thoughts--indeed, every faculty of mind--must be exercised on behalf of those who have no minds of their own.
" His answer, then, to the Northern farmer is : ' I have not one hand

on my place capable and willing to do the work you name.' They tell

me that ' five of them could not perform the task required of one.' They hare never been used to do it, and no amount of force or persua sion will induce them to try. Their task is so much per day; all oser that I agree to pay them for, at the same rate I allow free labourers--

but 'tis seldom they make extra time, except to get money enough to

buy tobacco, rum, or sometimes fine clothes. Can it be wondered at that systematic farming, such as we see North and East, is unknown

or not practised to any great degree South ? The two systems will not

harmonize.

'R.J. W."

382

APPENDIX.

From a native New Yorker, who has resided in Virginia:
" To the Editor of the JV'eu.- York Daily Times.
"I have read with deep interest the series of letters from the South, published iuyour columns. Circumstances have made me quite familiar
with the field of your correspondent's investigation, much more familiar than he is at present, and yet I am happy to say, that his letters are more satisfactory than any I have ever seen relating to the South. It is now about ten years since, going from this State, I first became fami liar with those facts in regard to the results of slave labour, etc., that yuiir correspondent and his readers are so much surprised at. I Lave fciiked those subjects over as he is doing, with the planters along the shores of the Chesapeake, and on both sides of the James Itiver, through die Ti'.lcwater, tie middlo and the mountainous districts east of the Bine ttid^e, and in many of those rich Counties in the Valley of Vir ginia. 1 may add that, subsequently, spending my winters at the South for ray health, I have become well nigh as familiar with the Brutes of Xi/ith and South Carolina, and Georgia, as I am with Virginia. I have, therefore, alniiat of necessity, given not a little thought to the questions your corresjondent is discussing.
"LI Is statement, in regard to the comparative value of slave and frcelalour, will surprise those who have given little or no attention to the sui>jcct. I wish to confirm his statements on this subject. In K;istcru Virginia I have repeatedly been told that the task of one cord of wood a day, or five cords a week, rain or shine, is the general task, and one of the most profitable day's work that the slave does for his master. And this, it should be remembered, is generally pine wood, cut from trees as straight and beautiful as ever grew. The reason of this 'pro fitableness' is the fact that the labour requires so little mental effort. The <rraud secret of the difference between free and slave labour is, that the latter is without intelligence, and without motive. If the Conner, in Western Xew Yurk, has a piece of work to perform, the first thought is, how it can be done with the least labour, and the most ex]ditiously. He thinks, he plans, before he commences, and while about his labour. His mind laltotiis as much as his body, and this mental labour saves a vast deal of physical labuiir. IVsides this, he is urp^-d on by the strongest motives. He enjoys the products of his lalonr. The more intelligent arnl eani. stliis labours, the richer are his rewards. iSI.-ive labour is exactly the opposite of this. It is unintelligent labour--labour without thought--without plan--without motive. It is little more than brute force. To one who has not witnessed it, it is utterly incon-

Al-PENDIX.

383

CtivaWi! how little labour a slnve, or a company of slaves, will accom plish in a given time. Their awkwardness, their slowness, the utter absence of all skill and ingenuity in accomplishing the work before them, are absolutely painful to one who has been accustomed to seeing work done with any sort of spirit and life. Often they spend hours in doing what, with a little thought, micht be despatched in a few moments, or perhaj s avoided altogether. This is a necessary result of employing labour which is without intelligence and without motive. I hare often thoiuht of a remark made to me by a planter, in New Kent Count}', Virginia. We were riding past a field where some of his hands, were raakiic si sort of wicker-work fence, peculiar to Eastern Virginia. ' There,' said he, in a decidedly fretted tune, ' those " boys " have been---- days in making that piece offence.' I expressed my astonishment that they could have spent so much time, and yet have accomplished so very little. He- assured me it was so--and after a slight pause, the tones of his voice entirely changed, said: ' Well, I believe they have done as well as I wuuld in their circumstances!' And so it is. The slave is without motive, without inducement to exertion. His food, his cluthin,', and all his wants are supplied as they are, without care on his part, and when theso arc supplied lie has nothing more to hope for. He cnn make no provision for old age, he can lay up nothing for his children, he has no voice at all in the disposal of the results of his earnings. What cares he whether his labour is productive or unproductive. His principal care seems to lie to accomplish just as little as j ossil le. I have said that the slaves were without ingenuity--I must qualify that remark. 1 have been amused and astonished at their exceeding inge nuity in avoiding and slighting the work that was required of them. It lias often seemed to iije that their principal mental efforts were in this direction, and I think your correspondent will find universal testi mony that they have decided talent in this line.
"H. \V. P."

In a volume entitled " 2fotcs on Uncle Tom's Cabin; boing a Logical Answer to its Allegations. and Inferences against Slavery as an Institution," by the Rev. E. J. Steams, of Mary land (much, the most thorough, review of that work made from the Southern stand-point), the author, who is a New-Englnndcr by birth, shows, by an elaborate calculation, that in Mtiryland, the cost of a negro, at twenty-one years of age, has been, to the man who raised him, eight hundred dollars. Six per cent. interest on this cost, with one and three-quarters per cent, for

384
life insurance, per ann-ni^ makes the lowest wages of a negro, under the most favourable circumstances, sixty-two dollars a year (or five dollars a month), paid in advance, in the shape of food and clothing. The author, whose object is to prove that the slaveholder is not guilty, as Mrs. Stowe intimates, of stealing the negroes' labour, proceeds, as follows, to show that he pays a great deal more for it than Mrs. Stowe's neighbours in Now England do, for the labour they hire :--
" If now we add to this (what every New-Englander who has lived at the South knows), that Quashy does not do more than one-third, orj at the very utmost, one-half as much, work as an able-bodied labourer on a farm at the North; and that, for this he receives, besides the five dollars above mentioned, his food, clothing, and shelter, with medical attendance and nnrsing when sick, and no deduction for lost time, even though he should be sick for years, while the ' farm-hand' at the Xorth gets only ten or twelve dollars, and has to clothe himself out of it, and pay his own doctor's and nurse's bill in sickness, to say nothing of lost time, I think we shall _come to the conclusion if there has been stealing anywhere^ it has not been from Quashy."--P. 25.
" I recollect, the first time I saw Quashy at work in the field, I was struck by the lazy, listless manner in which he raised his hoe. It re minded me of the working-beam of the engine on the steam-boat that I had just landed from--fifteen strokes a minute; but there was this dif ference : that, whereas the working-beam kept stendily at it, Quashy, on the contrary, would stop about every five strokes and lean upon his hoe, and look around, apparently congratulating himself upon the amount of work he had accomplished.
" Mrs. Stowe may well call Quashy ' shiftless.' One of my father's hired men--who was with him seven years--did more work in that time than an average negro would do in his whole life. Nay, I myself hate done more work in a day,--and followed it up, too--than I ever saw a negro do, and I was considered remarkably lazy with the plough or hoe,"--P. 142.

385

APPENDIX (D.)

BTATI8TIC8 OF THE GEORGIA SEABOARD.

THE notes here following are derived from a volume entitled " White's Statistics of Georgia," a large octavo of seven hundred pages, compiled and published in the State. A special section of the book is devoted to the condition of the trade of each county, while a comparison is also attempted to be given, from the personal observation of the compiler, of the comparative social, moral, and religions properties of the people. Thus, so far as the plan has been thoroughly executed, an estimate is pre sented, not only of the ordinary commercial demand of the citi zens, but, so to speak, of the state of their intellectual and moral market.
The counties referred to by Mr. Gregg are in the second tier from the sea in South Carolina. I shall give statistics from Mr. White, and other authorities named in the note,* with regard to all the second tier counties of Georgia. What of good soil to be brought into cultivation, without a heavy expenditure at starting, there was originally in these counties begun to be first occupied by whites about 1740. It was not till nearly twenty years after this that slavery obtained the slightest footing in them, and it was not till about thirty years ago that they had begun to seriously deteriorate in production. There is yet some rich land upon the alluvial bottoms of the numerous rivers, which, rising above, pass through these counties toward the ocean ; and here many wealthy planters still remain, owning a large number of slaves, and there has been recently a considerable increase of

* The population, following Mr. White, is given in round numbers, from the

State Cnsus of 1845; average personal estate, per family of citizens, .reckoned

from an official return, published in the " Soil of the South " (Columbus, Georgia,

1852, p. 210), the amount given for each county being divided by one-fifth the

cumber of its population (for families). Observations on education a id the cha

racter of the people, from " White's Statistics of Georgia " (gewrally in quotations).

School, library, and church statistics, in figure* from official United States CensiK,

1850.

VOL. n.

2c

38(5

APPENDIX.

production of some parts owing to the employment of capital in draining marshes, the riches of which have previously been con sidered impregnable.* In general, however, this whole range of country is now quite barren, and most of the land at present cultivated will not probably yield one third as large a crop for the same expenditure of labour as would fair Mississippi cotton land. The slaves formerly owned here have therefore been very largely transferred westward, and the land they have worn out is left for the uon-slaveholding whites to make the best of.
As an instinctive contrast, I place in an adjoining column with the statistics of these comities those of the comities which bound each of them on the east. In these there is a mnch larger proportion of rich alluvial soil, and they contain the famous "sea island" cotton plantations, as well as the Georgian rice plantations. The valuable soil is still entirely possessed, as will be evident, by large planters and slave owners, the usual monopolizing effect of slavery being in this instance increased by the peculiar local insalubrity of the coast.

SECOKD TIER COCXTIES.

COAST COtTSTIES.

Buttock Co*ty.--(The Central Bryan County, adjoining BulRailroad, the best conducted road lock county, on the coast,

in all the South, fiasses either " through this county or close be side its northern boundary, for a distance of fifty miles. It is watered by the Ogeechce and Con-

nnnchee and a nnmber of smaller rivers. On the larser rivers there is yet a considerable amount of productive land.)

* The presence of these few planters, with their valuable human property, makes the average nominal wealth of each whit* family, at first sight, appear large. If, however, the slaves bad been appraised at only $600 each, which would be low, they woi.-ld alnne amount in value in some counties to the sum a.-agoed for the whole per.-ou.il property of the citizens. This item is not, there fore, trustworthy, but, in comparing the coast mid second tier counties, it serves 1" show the great difference in the armtyt wealth r.f the citizens of rach. A .-imil.ir division of personal estate, as officially returned for the city of Xew York, would :f $4,660 to each family.

APPENDIX.

387

8BCOND TOSS COTJXTIE9.

COAST COUXTIES.

Population.--Whites, 2,000; Population.--Whites, 1,000;

slaves, 1,000.- Average amount slaves, 2,400. Average amount

of property to each white family, of property to each white family,

$1, 570. State tax for each white $o,30l2 (fourfold what it is in Bul

family, f2.95.

lock county). State tax to each

white family, $7.

_

Mr. White omits his nsnal sta

No statistics of trade, again.

tistics of trade. Both in this and

the adjoining coast county of

Bryan, the poor people, as well as

the planters, are in the habit of

dealing directly with Savannah,

as described in " Seaboard Slave

States," p. 414, and there are pro

bably no established tradesmen in

either.

The soil is described by Mr. Soil.--"The soil, tinder the pre

White as generally poor, with some sent system of culture, cannot,

productive " hummock" and river without rest and manure, be made

tracts.

to produce more than one half as

much as when new." This ap

pears to refer particularly to the

rice plantations.

Education.--" Xb newspapers Education.--There is no acade are taken, and few books read. my, and there are no schools, ex The school fund was once suffi cept those supported by the " Poor

cient to educate many poor chil School Fund " (a State provision

dren, but owing to bad manage for the children of indigent pa

ment it has become exhausted." rents). "The children of the

Thus says Mr. White. The census wealthy are either educated by

returns show, however, a public private teachers or sent to school

school expenditure of f!50 per in the more favoured portions of'

annum, and a private expenditure the country; [the vicinity of Sa of $3,000, divided among fifteen vannah, where there is a celebrated

schools, which is one for eighty square miles. This is so much better than usual, that, with Mr. White's remarks, I am inclined to thiuk it an error.

and well endowed academy, and of Liberty, where there are others, accounts for this 0 the population is too sparse to furnish pupils enough to sustain a regular school"

(large tracts of land being held by

the planters, though wholly unpro-

2c2

388

APPENDIX.

SKXMTD TIES COUNTIES.
Character of the people.--" By industry and economy, they ma nage to supply their wants, which, however, are few. Many rely a great deal on game. * * * As far as temperance is concerned, they are behind the times. "Whis key has its votaries. Those who hare attempted to show the citi zens the folly and ill consequences of intemperance have been insulted and threatened. Even ministers of our holy religion have publicly denounced the motives and efforts of those who have attempted to form temperance societies."
Jieliywn.--" The most numerous [sects] are the Anti-Missionary [hard" shell?] Baptist*." Ten church edifices; average value, 5145. No Sunday school or Qther public libraries.
Tatnatt County. Poimlition.--Whites, 2,000; slaves, ROO. Average amount of property to each white family, $901.
Capital invested in trade, 4,200.

COAST COUKTIE8.
dtictive, to prevent the settlement of poor whites near their negroes, as one in this county informed me). According to the census returns, there were eight schools (one to twenty-five square miles) of all kinds, with an average of twelve pupils each. Total expenditure for each school, $38 per annum.
Character of the people.--No remarks.
. BtHgitm.--The county contains eleven church edifices; average value, $500. No Sunday scLooJ or other public libraries.
Liberty County. Population.--Whites, 2,000; slaves, 6,000. Average amount of property to each white family, $6,330. State tax to each white family, $10. Capital invested in trade, $3,850.

APPENDIX.

389

8BCOSB TLKtt COUNTIES.

COAST COUNTIES.

Soff.--" Light and sandy, except Soil.--''The practice has been

on the streams, which is stiff."

to wear out the virgin soils, aud

clear new lands. * * * Much

waste laud."

Education. -- " Education is Education.--" Excellent schools

neglected." Eight public schools are found. * * * And it is (1 to 148 square miles), with six believed that a greater number of

teen pupils each. Annual cost of young men from Liberty county maintenance of each school, $150. graduate from our cdtteget than No other schools; no Sunday from any other section of Georgia."

school or other libraries.

There are five "academies," with

an average of nineteen pupils each. Five public schools (1 to 160

square miles), maintained at an

average expenditure of $15.40 per

annum each. No libraries found

in the census canvass of 1849. Mr.

White states that the Medway

and Newport Library Society had,

in 1845, "about seven hundred

volumes, in a very had state of

preservation." This library was established by some New England immigrants before the prohibition

of slavery was annulled in the

province. The early settlers of

the county were chiefly from

Massachusetts.

Character of the people.--" So

Character of tJtepeople.--"Ge

ber, industrious and hospitable " nerally upright and virtuous, and

(phrases applied to every county they are unsurpassed for the great

not specially noted as conspicuous attention paid to the duties of for some vice or virtue of its inha religion."

bitants.) Religion.--Sixteen church edi
fices, valued at 938 each. Ac

Seliyion.--Ten church edifices; average value, 51,200.

cording to Mr. White, however,

there are " about thirty churches "

in the county.

Wayne County.

Mtlntosh County, broadest on

the sea.

Population. -- Whites, 930 ; Population.--Whites, 1,300;

390

APPENDIX.

SECOND TIES COOKTTES.

COAST commES.

slaves, 350. Average amonnt of slaves, 4,400. Average amonnt of

property for each white family, property for each white family,

$898.

$7, 287, or eight times as much as in \Vayne.

State tax, $1.23.

State tax, $2.77.

>

,

Capital invested in trade, Capital invested ia trade,

$4,200.

$1,200.

,

So3.--"Generally poor, barren Soft.--Poor turpentine pine land

pine land; when manured, will in the rear; on the Altamaha, "of

produce about twenty bushels of inexhaustible fertility."

corn per acre." Education.--" Few schools ;"

Education.--One academy, with

two academies (one Baptist, and thirty-eight scholars; four public

the other Methodist, probably), schools, twelve and a half miles with thirteen pupils between them. apart, averaging twenty pupils

Four public schools (1 to 148 each. Expense of maintaining

square miles), averaging ten pupils each school, 78 per annum. " The

each ; expense of maintenance not wealthier classes are highly edu

returned.

cated ; but, generally, little inte

rest is felt in the subject of educa

tion."

Character ofthe people.--" High Character of tfte people.--" Like for morality and hospitality;" all parts of Lower Georgia, the

" poor, but honest." At the seat citizens of Mclntosh are generally of justice "are many beautiful intelligent and hospitable."

pine hills, affording 'delightful

summer residences to the wealthy

planters of Glynn" (hence the

academical advantages).

Religion.--Eight church edi Religion.--Twelve cntirch edi

fices ; average value, $240.

fices ; average value, $1,041.

Ware County.--(About one fifth Camtfen County.-- Much the

of this county is occupied by fhe largest part of this county, which

Okefcookee Swamp.)

is L shaped, with but one arm on

the sea, is inland, and unfertile.

Population.-- Whites, 2,000; Population.--Whites, 3,000;

slaves, 300. Average amount of slaves, 4,000. Average amount of

personal property for each white personal property for each white

family, $480.

family, 4,428.

J

APPENDIX.

391

8EOT> TIXR COUJTTIES.

COAST COUNTIES.

State tax, 4.05. Stock in trade, $2,200.
Soil.--" Ligat and tolerably pro ductive."
Education.--"Very little inte rest is taken in the subject of edu cation." !No academies; six public schools (1 to 485 square miles), sixteen pupils each. Wages of teachers, etc^ yearly, $41 each school. Xo Sunday school or other libraries.
Cltaracter of tlte people.--"The citizens are said to be hardy, in dustrious, and honest.*" "Much good might be done by the organi zation of temperance societies."
Keliyion.--Fifteen church edi fices, fourteen miles apart, each accommodating one hundred sit ters, and valued at $56 each.

State tax, $13. "Amount of business done at St. Mary's w about 30,000 per annum," nearly all in lumber, and done by New Englanders Nc other trade statistics. Soil.--"Of celebrated fertility."
Education. -- No remarks on education or character by Mr. White. Four public schools (1 to 280 square miles), with seven teen pupils each, maintained at an average expenditure of (290 per annum. Two academies, with forty-five pupils. Fire Sunday school libraries, with one hundred and ten volumes each.
Character of the people.--No remarks.
Religion.--Ten churches (five of which are in the town of St. Mary's, a beautiful and healthy village, resorted to by consump tives); average value, $850.

I hare purposely omitted Effingham county in the above arrangement, because the adjoining coast county of Chatham contains the city of Savannah, an aggregate agency of northern and foreign merchants, through which is effected the commercial exchanges of a great extent of back country, the population of which can therefore afford no indication as to the point under consideration. Effingham. the county above Chatham, and one of the second tier, is worthy of notice, from some other impor tant exceptional features of its constitution. Owing to the amount of rich soil in the county, along the Savannah river,

392

APPENDIX.

there is a larger proportion of slaves to the whole population than is usual in the second tier, their number being sixteen hundred against only eighteen hundred whites; die non-slave holders, however, appear to possess unusual privileges. There is an academy, with fifty pupils, which Mr. White describes as " a fine school." The public schools, eight in number, are less than eight miles apart, with an average attendance of sixteen pupils. Each school coats one hundred and twelve dollars a year. There are twenty-one churches, less than five miles apart, and valued at over twelve hundred dollars a-picce. Mr. White says that honesty and industry are leading characteristics of the people, who, notwithstanding the poverty of the soil, are generally in comfortable circumstances.
The reason of this is partially the close vicinity of Savannah, affording a cash market for a variety of productions and house hold manufactures, among which, as distinguishing the county from any other in the State, are mentioned finite, silk, fishing lines, and cow-hells, " the latter," Mr. White is told, " superior to any manufactured in the North or in Europe." But an equally important reason for the better character and condition of the people is to be found in the fact that a majority of them * are descendants and heirs of the land of those very early settlers who most strenuously and to the last resisted the introduction of slaves into the colony, being convinced that, if permitted, it would, as they said in their memorials, " prove a scourge " to the poor people who were persuaded to petition for it.| It is most gratifying to perceive that all traces of the habits of industry, honesty, and manly self-reliance, in which they thus educated their children, are not wholly lost in the lapse of a century.
* " White's Statistics," p. 224. t Hewttt, -- ; SesboKd Slav* State*," p. 528.

INDEX.

A&oKiton, effect of low prices of cotton in Alligators, ii., 24; dangen of their hole*.

promoting, i., 201; extent of the

29.

agitation to remote districts, ii., 37; Amalgamation, i., 307.

abolitionist sentiments of a dare- Americans in Texas, ii., 101.

owner in Mississippi, 98; feeling in ' American Agriculturist,', quoted, i_

favour of, in North Carolina, 131.

116.

Abolitionists, danger of poor whites be Annexation of Cuba, its effect on the

coming, ii., 357 ; literature of, 358.

sugar manufacture of Louisiana, ii.,

Advantage ^sapposei) of slave-labour in

50; on the African slave-trade, 51.

cultivating cotton and tobacco, ii., Apparatus used in sugar manufacture,

252.

C, 329.

Advertisements for runaway negroes, i., Aptness of negroes for learning, ii, 70;

157; of slaves for tale, ii., 22.

for mechanical occupations, 78.

Acadians, or poor French habitant in .Association of whites with coloured

Louisiana, i., 338; ii., 33.

people, i., 168, 169, note; the

Adams, Governor, on the want of educa

quadroon society of New Orleans,

tion for the poor, ii., 293.

305.

African races, character of, compared Aristocrats, "swell beads," of Mississippi,

with the Tectonic, ii., 221.

ii., 156, 166.

Agriculture* scientific, on a {arm on Auction, sale of slaves by, at Richmond,

James River, i., 52; wretched im

i., 50; ii., 372.

plements used in North Carolina, Artrsion to labour, difficulty in over

172; successful cultivation of the

coming the negro's, ii., 192.

sn^ar-cane, 322; on a Mississippi

plantation, ii., 201; decay of, in Bacon rating, ii., 176.

Virginia, 303 ; in Slave and Free Bals masque's at New Orleans, i, 304.

States, 387.

Barton, .Dr., on the advantages of slavery,

Alabama, appearance of the country,

ii., 277, note.

i., 27.4; "reasons" for making Bee-hunting, ii., 117.

Montgomery the capital, ii., 112; Big woods, ii., 29.

women getting out iron ore, 115; Bill of fare of an hotel at Memphis,

picture of decay by one of her states

ii., 57.

men, 297.

Blacksmith, an independent, ii., 8.

Alabama Rntr, voyage down the, i., Boarding-house at Washington, i., 28.

275; number of so-called landings, Boat-songs of the negroes on the steam

275; mode of loading cotton,

boats i, 347.

275 ; Irishmen cheaper than niggers, Books, dangerous, ii., 358.

276.

Brazos bottoms, cotton plantations on

Albfmarle, proportion of slaves to whites,

the, i., 14,

i., 116.

Breeding slaves for sale in Virginia, i.,

Alexandria. (Louisiana), yellow fever at,

57 ; early period at which they

i., 357; unenviahle reputation of,

have children, ii., 80.

. 357.

Brook, P. S., ii., 348.

394

INDliX.

Burning alrre of a negro in Eastern | Chastity of so-called pious slaves, ii.,

TennesMe, ii., 249, 351; frequency

2i'6.

of such cases, 354.

Children, bad effects on, from intercourse

with stares, i., 222.

Calcaam River (Texas), ii., 30.

Gtriitinas holidays of the negroes, i.,

Ctouu/d, running of slaves into, ii., 562 ;

97; serenade in San Augustin, 375 ;

lo to UK South by, 362.

prwents to slaves, ii., 180.

Cape Fear Sicer, type of the navigable Church edifices, value of, in Georgia, ii.,

stream* of tbe cotton States, i., 191 ;

38.

passage fiom Fayetteville to Wil- Churches of coloured people in Washing

mingtoo, 191; panic of a steamer's

ton, i-, 36 ; description of a religious

crew, 192; taking in wood, 193;

service in Xew Orleans, 308.

description of the passengers, 194; Claiixrne (Alabama), carious mod* of

featurai of the rirer-banksy 196.

loading cotUm at, i., 275.

Capital transferred, ii., 299 ; wiih North day, Mr. Caaiiu, ii., 281.

ern men, 301.

Climate of cotton lands, reckoned un

Carolina, jVorM, fisheries, i, 149; desolate

suitable for white labourers, ii.,

aspect of the country, 171; want

256.

of means of communication, 181; ' Clothing of slates, i., 46, 105; ii., 200;

degraded condition of white la

fondues* for finery, 201.

bourers, 188 ; general ignorance and Coal, beds of, in VirginU, i., 55; ex

torpidity of the people, 19<i; their

tensive fields of, ii., 365.

causes. 190; aspect of slavery more Coloured Church members, statistics of,

favourable tfcin in Virginia, 191;

ii., 222; hollow ness of their pro*

cultiration of forage crops neglected,

fesMoas 225.

2tX>; wage* of labourers, ii., 132. Columbus (Georgia), i., 273; exleu&iw

Carolina, South, appearance of the

manufactures, 274; rmjuent di*

country, i., 2(M, 215; thinly

tress of white labourers, 274;

peopled, 206; log cabins, 206;

wretched hotel accommodation, 274,

negro-quarters, 2u7 ; repulsive ap Conspiracy to overawe the North, i., 6.

pearance of fieU-haDtJs, 208 ; con Comparison of the moral and social con

versation with an elderly country

dition of the negro, in Slave aid

man in, 217; his ignorance and

Free States, ii., 258.

good-nature, 218, 221; conduct of Corporeal punishment, severe instance of,

two negro-girls, 222 ; plantations,

witnessed, ii, 205.

233 ; negro settlements, 233, 237. Cottage in I.ouisiana, a night spent in,

Carticnjht, Dr., on the peculiar rliinir I

ii., 38; superior manners of the

of negroes, i, 122.

inmates, 39.

Carti, primitiTe style of, in Georgia, i, Cotton, fallacies with roped to its in

231.

fluence, i., 5; the monopoly not

Caaaliert, English, Virginia partly colo

beneficial to the Slave States, 8;

nized by, ii., 335.

negiected resources of the so-called

Cemeteries, negro, i., 224.

cotton States, 12 ; profitable culti

' Chambers' Journal,' on the Virginia

vation, 15; number of slaves en

slave-trade, ii., 372.

gaged in cotton culture, 17; profits

C aractcr, difference of, in North and

of large and small planters, 18;

South, how accounted for, ii., 332,

limited area devoted to its growth,

' etsea.

24; effect of low prices on abo

' Charleston Mercury' quoted, it, 362.

lition, 201; reckles* loading on

Charleston St-uulard,' the, on dishonest : steamboat*, 275; chiefly produced

trading with slaves, i., 253.

in the valley' of the Mississippi,

I larlestun ',S. C.), average roortalit/ of

342; expense of raising, ii., 1X2 ;

whites and negroes at, ii^ 259.

planting and tillage lh chief itruis,

INDEX.

395

253; advsntages of free labour, Dismal Stcamp, i., 144; importance ot

262, 268; possibility of greatly in

the lumber trade, 144; character and

creasing the cotton supply, 26S.

mode of life of slaves employed

Cottfin Pointer,' the, extract from, ii.,

as lumbermen, 146; their supe

186.

riority over field-hands generally,

Cotton-planters, general characteristics

148 ; a refuge for runaway negroes,

of, i., 18, 27t>, 343; their ant of 155.

the comfort* of civilized life, 19, Distances, discrepancies in estimating,

137 ; their hospitality generally a ii, 31.

matter of business, ii., 95 ; sudden Distress, in 1855, in New York, ii., 243;

acquisition of wealth by, 158.

in the Southern States, 248.

Counties of Georgia, statistics of, ii., Dntrt, skill and perseverance of slaves

385.

employed as. i., 151.

" Cracken " of Georgia, religion* service Dogs used for hunting negroes, i., 156;

among the, i., 265; at Columbus, ii., 120, 122, 178, 184.

275.

Domestic tenants, their great value in

Creaks, Fmwh, i., 338; ii., 33; their the South, i., 125; their cost in

passion for gambling, 45; general proportion to white domestics, 125;

character and mode of life, 46.

a .Southern lady's description of her

Crockett ^Eastern Texas), scarcity of household, 126; their carelessness,

provisions at, ii., 2.

131 ; in Eastern Texas, ii., 12; in-

Cr'ielty of negro slaveholders, i, 336.

difference to scolding, 93.

Cuba, emancijwtion law of, i., 257 ; pri- Douglas, Jfrt., on Amalgamation, i., 307.

batile ertect of its annexation on Drapetomania, a disease peculiar to

sugar-planting in Louisiana, ii., 50.

negroes, i., 122.

Drivers, selection of, i., 249 ; their qua

' Daily Ifc'ri, the London' extracts from,

lifications and duties, 249; their

ii., 189, 190 ; letter in, 322.

general character, 250.

Dancing, fondness of negioes for, ii., 72. " Driving" i~, 135; ii., 178, 201.

Dtmger at the South, ii., 338.

Duel, savage conduct and termination of,

Darby, Mr., on the effects of climate,

ii., 231.

ii., 257.

Dutcii-Frenck fanner, conversation with

De Boa-, Mr., his 'Compendium of the a, ii, 39.

Census,' quoted i., 19, 20, 24; his Dysrsthesia jEthiopica, a disease pecu

' Review,' quoted, OD the valley of the

liar to negroes, i., 122.

3IUsisippi, ii., 63 ; on the want of

education, 293; 'Resources of the Economy, political, of Virginia, i., 108.

South,' 182, 227, 265, 310; his Eggs, negroes well supplied with, i.,

charges against the author, 311; on

103, 281; a circalating medium,

negro capacity, 345; on aiiolitionisl

254.

books, 360.

Education, want of provision for, in the-

Deep liner, extensive fisheries, i., 149 ; South, ii., 292.

mode of fishing described, 150; ex Educational projects in Mississippi, ii.,

penditure of gunpowder, 151; re

156; statistics of Northern and

moval of stumps of trees from the

Southern States, 331.

bottom, 151 ; mode of operation, Ellison, Mr., on ' Slavery and Secession/

151; negro divers, 152; cheerful

i., 58, note.

and willing to work, 153.

Engineers, slaves employed as, i., 240.

Deer, ingenious mode of killing, ii., 197. English mechanic at Xew Orleans, con

Deserted pitmintioni in Texas, ii., I.

versation with, i., 296.

Disease* peculiar to negroes, i., 122; Enlightenment of Christianized A rriiann,

malaria, 235; yellow fever, 259;

specimens of- the, ii., 89, 225; a

ii., 260.

j

" pion " negro, 89.

396

INDEX.

Epidemic of 1820, in the Southern ; Georgia, winter climate of, i., 227;

States, i., 258; admirable conduct

"shw plantations," 230; strange

of the slave, 259.

i appearance and language of the

Epitaphs in negro burial-ground, i., 226. ' rustics, 231 ; statistic* of seaboard

Excitement of blacks, at their religious district of, ii., 295, 385; worn-out

meetings, i, 259, 309.

I cotton lands, 296.

Extrataqance and wastefulness of the Germans, their patient industry and

blacks, u, 98.

! docility as labourers, i., 33, 195 ;

" E'jebrca&er," blade gnat so colled, its

in Eastern Teias, ii., 19; in Westetn

attack* oo cattle, ii., 41.

j Texas, 96 ; immigration to Texas,

102 ; their influence, 102; schools,

assertion of the superior material

103; conversation with a persever

condition of Southern slaves to that

ing German, 164; at Xatchez, 171 ;

of Northern and European labourers,

superior quality of the cotton picked

ii., 242.

jI by, 263; cultivation of cotton by,

Fount of 1855, its effect in New York, ' in Texas, 26rt.

ii., 243 ; extracts from Southern Glue-manufact'ver, his reasons for em

newspapers during, 248; bow felt

ploying whites, i., 194.

in the Slave States, 248.

{ Grades of coloured people, i., 294.

farm, in Maryland, described, i., 32; Granitetille Manufacturing Company, ot

on James River, 52 ; description of

South Carolina, improvement in the

a, cultivated by free labour, 9'J ; : condition of their operatives, ii.,

employment of Irishmen, 95.

j 28b\

F'lrm-Janda, comparative value in Slave Grace-yard for negroes, i., 224.

and Free States, i_ 11, 35, 114. i Grew, Mr. W. ~H., quoted, iL, 286,

Farmer, conversation with a free-labour, ' 287,301.

in Tennessee, on slavery, ii., 140. Griscom, Mr. T. B., on slave labour, i.,

" Fast man " in Mississippi, ii., 154.

133, 135.

February weather in Georgia, i., 227. Grog-shops, their evil effects on the

fflidoofi, beanty of the region, ii., 143.

slaves, i., 251; homicide of a negro,

field-kinds on a rice plantation, classifi

253, note.

cation of, i., 246.

Guano, tlie Hon. W. Xewton on tlic

FXthinas of negroes, ii., 200.

beneficial effects resulting from its

fires in the open air, negro fondness for,

introduction, i., 101.

L, 215.

Fishtries in North Carolina, i., 149 ; in Hammmd, Governor, on the influence of

teresting and novel operations, 150.

cotton, i., 7; on slavery, ii., 228.

fleas, mode of destroying by an ingenious Handbill of a North Carolina innkeeper,

negro, i,, 104, note.

i, 1G3.

Food, supplied to the slaves in Virginia, Barptr, Chancellor, on the tendency nf

>., 101 ; on a Georgia rice planta

slavery to elevate the female charac

tion, 244 ; on a Mississippi planta

ter, i., 222; his ' Address,' quoted,

tion, ii., 179, 195 ; generally in the j ii., 278.

Sooth, 240, 241.

' ffarper's Weekly,' quoted, ii., 158.

Frambtzsia, or Taws, slaves peculiarly ' JJemaada Advance,' quoted ii., 147.

subject to, i_, 123.

Highlands, feelings of inhabitants of, with

Free Labour, plantation in Virginia cnl-

regard to slavery, ii., 129, 131,

tirated by, i., 92.

135* their dislike of negro competi

Fruit-trees, supplied by a peddler, ii., 74.

tion, 137; their manners and phrase

Fmterai, negro, in Richmond, i., 43;

ology, 137; general ignorance, 138.

IndJcrooj featares of, 44.

JJiriny a saddle-horse, i., 61; lucid

, Gmrral finhrieTs " rebellion, L. 42.

directions for an intricate journey, S-2.

397

ffogs, raising of, ii, 176; large planta

labourers to be obtained, 95; too

tions Dot suited to, 177.

selt-conh'dent and quarrelsome, 195;

BomochUto ferry, ii., 164.

Germans preferred to them, 195;

Honesty, instances of, among slaves, i.

labourers to negro ruasons, 297.

148, 259 ; ii., 213, note.

Iron-mining in Alabama, ii, 115;

Horses in Xatcbez, ii., 167; objections

conversation with a miner, 116;

of a Texas drover to " iron on their

wages earned, 117.

feet," 54.

Italians at N'atchez, ii., 169; their cha

ffospitatity, reputation of the South for,

racter by one of themselves, 170.

generally unwarranted, ii., 282; in

stances of its refusal, 315.

James Sner, i., 52, 142.

Eotels, at Washington,!., 28 ; Kichmond, Jefferson, on the moral sense of negroes,

51, 55; Sorfolk, 160; Gaston,

i., lOti; on the erila of-slavery, ii.,

lt8 ; Faj-etteTille, 183; specimen

231.

of, in Eastern Texas, ii., 5; first- Jerked beef, preparation of, ii., 25.

das-, at Memphis, 56; bill of fare Jeics, settlement of, in Southern towns,

and its result, 57; at Woodville,

i., 25:.'.

dress-etiquette and wretched ar " Jodel," the musical yell of the South

rangements, 148.

Carolina negro, i., 214.

'Household Words,' extract from, ii., Jones, Bet. C. C~, quoted, ii., 225.

258.

' Journal of Commerce,' letter to, by a

Souses of slave population in Virginia,

Virginian, on the scarcity of labour

i., 87, 104; in South Caroliua,

ers, i., 111.

207; Georgia, 233, 237; Missis

sippi, ii., 68.

Kentucky, negro-tracer of, ii., 44.

Houston County, ii., 1; deserted planta Killing negroes, viewed merely as an of

tions, 1 ; scarcity of provisions, 2 ;

fence against property, ii., 190.

runaway mulatto captured by a

negro, 21.

labour of slaves, compared with that of

Huntitfj a. runaway slave in the back

labourers in Free states, i., 10,137;

country, ii., 161.

ii., 382; influence of the association

in labour of slaves and free-men:,

" Idee of Potasvn," extraordinary com

i., 300; cost of, in tie Border

position of " the best medicine," i.,

States, ii., 380; difierence*between

169.

slave and fr, 382.

Ignorance of a planter's son, ii., 90: of Land, value of, i., 114; ia Virginia and

the father, 91; of a respectable

Pennsylvania, ii., 369.

farmer, 130.

Liberation of slaves on a plantation in

Illinois, a farmer of, on the condition of

Virginia, happy results of, i., 92.

South-western Slave States, ii., 308. Liberia, emigration to, i., 149, 335.

Immersion, fondness of religious negroes Liberty, county of (Georgia), interest of

for, ii., 72.

the planters in the well-being of

Impetuosity of the Southerners, ii., 327.

their slaves, ii, 215; statistics of,

Improvement in th condition of slaves

388.

within the last twenty years, ii., Licentiousness, comparative, of North

101.

. and South, i., 307.

Indian farms in Mississippi, ii., 105. Liquor, traffic with slaves, evils of,

Indians, in Louisiana, ii., 38; costume

i., 251; habit of pilfering to pro.

of Choctaws and Alabama*, 38;

curt it, 252.

hi icd to hoe cotton, 93.

Log-cabin in North Carolina, i., 180; in

Inteltljrnce and industry of negroes on a

South Carolina, 206, 213 ; in East.

Mississippi plantation, ii., 79.

era Texas, 367.

Irish men, employment of, i., 95 ', the best j Log-roads in tin swamp, i., 145.

398

INDEX.

t, Judge, his ' Georgia Scenes," i planters, 158 ; nnmber of slaTes on

quoted, ii.. 297.

a plantation, 159.

Lorcttcs, tl. of New Oi leans, i., 302; Mississippi, feeling in, against slavery,

a qi ,aai-marria|>e, 3u3; economy of! ii.. 98, Iu9; condition of the slaves,

the sy.tern,

Ivl.

Louisiana, l.tws of, favourable to negroes, Mississippi, XortJifrn, remarkable planta-

lol ; a n<>gio*s opinion of, com

tiou in, ii., 67 ; all the neyrws able

pared with Virginia, 334; contrast

to rend, 7u ; their religion and

of manner!: in, and in Texas, ii,, 31;

morals, 71.

good-nature ot'the people, 31; mUer- ifdiile (Alabama), description of, i., 282 ;

a(>ltr condition of the poorer planters,

scarcity of tradesmen nd mechanics,

44; disregard of slave-laws in, 47;

283; chief business of the town,

Sunday-wort, 47; insecurity of i

283 ; English merchants, owners of

slaveholding interest, 51.

stives, 284.

Lumberers, slave, habits an( mode of life ! 3font'ji,mery (Alabama), i., 2T4.

in the swamp, i., 146; superior to ; Morals of white children suffer from as

Offt flares, 148.

sociation with slaves, i, 222, ii.,

in the Dismal Swamp,

229.

143.

* Morcho'LSt Adcocaie,' the, quoted, i.,

almost universal among slaves,

298.

105.

Jful-itta, a runaway, captured by a nepro,

ii., 21 ; their value compared with

Maine T,av, arguments for, in the South,

purr blacks, 82, 211.

i., 253.

Murder of a young lady by a negro girl,

Malaria of rice-fields i., 235.

i., 125, not*.

Management of slaves, inci easing diffi Music, negro fondness for, it., 73, 221.

culty of the, i., 232.

JfandiJC ?pri*t], a well-ordered planta Ifachilaches (Louisiana), i., 358.

tion, ii, 15.

es (E. Texas ,ii., 1 ; difficulty

Maivif'ictuses, beneficial effect of, on the

of procuring needful MIJ plies for our

community, i., 25; ii., '286.

journry, 2.

Marriaije, indifference of negroes to,

of bbcks, ii., 208.

ii, 80.

Notches, aambling at, ii., 154 ; beauty

Maary,'Lieutenant, on the advantageous

of the neighbouring country, 165 ;

situation for commerce of Norfolk

the town rlocnbed. 166; view of

(Viiginia). i., 143.

the Mi*.i<siiipifiom the Bluff, 168;

l snrrei/. ii., 197.

conveisatinn with an Italian at, 169.

ifempltw. ii., 55.

' Satiijottl fnteiliyern.tr,' the, quoted, i.,

l MethoJat Protestant,' the, quoted.

143.

ii.. -22S.

Nebrnska Rill, opinions of, ii., 135, 141.

their opinion on slavery, Xegrues, numbers engaged in cotton <ml-

ii., 14(1 ; their five _ Christian Ad

tue, i, 17; their inci>a>ed value,

vocates.' 14<), note.

~~

26; appearance of, in Virginia, 33 ;

, dislike of Americans to, ii., 19.

an illegal nvetto* at Washing

Political Ecouomy," quoted,

ton, :<ti ; problem of Sorthi-ra pen-

ii.. 338.

tlomi-n with re~pwt to, 61 ; thtir

Miner, cooveration wfth a, ii., 115.

Cluisfrnas holidays, 74 ; bow fh-y

al treasines of X'ii^rinia, ii.. 365.

live in the sw;imp. 9*\ 155; th^ir

r?jfef*t"ti , charge o'', ;ipi:u>t the

cunnins t avi id wmkii.^ tor their

author, ii., :H1.

nia^t*-r>' piotit, 9i* ; all^^o-i iin^i-

>V'tem, slavery n? a, ii., 215.

roiity of -xi>rc!ins: j:h/m- nt. 1' 0;

Kicff, cotton plantations on

kiu-l ti*<'ituteut in Louisiana, 1<<I,

the, u, 13, 17, note; ii.,59; rich;

328, 338 ; proverbial halit u{ lying,

INDEX.

399

105; agrarian notions, 106; nni-

gardens, 153; hotel accommodation,

vernally pilferers, 106 ; their simu

159.

lation'of illness 118; Dr. Ort- ' JfirfuK Argus,' the, quoted, i., 154.

wright's work on their diseases, 122; " Xurt/ier," a, ii., 6; disinclination to

runaways in the swamp, l/>5 ;

labour caused bv, 9.

mcxle of hunting them, 156 ; supe Aott, Dr., hi ' Es.-*ay on the Value of

rior character of those employed in

Lite in the South,* quoted, ii., 257.

the turpentine forest, 188 ; rvpul-

sive apje trance of, on a Carolina Oak-woods, near Matcher, ii., 165.

pLiDtati. n, 208; their love tor Hres Ohio, produce per acre compared with

in the open air, 215 ; occasional in

that of Virginia, ii., 255.

stances of trustwoithines* and intel " Old Family," the traditional, of Vir

ligence, 240 ; employed in the culti

ginia or South Carolina, ii., 335.

vation of rii-e, 243; field-hands, " Oltl M'in Corse" an Italian-French

245; effect nforganization oflabour,

emigrant, ii., 32 ; his '.house and

248; permission to latmtir for them

family, 32; conversation with a

selves after working hours, 251;

negro, 34.

evil effiicts of grng-jtnps, 251 ; ex Old Kettler's, a night at an, in Eastern

citement at religious im-eting*, 2o9,

Texas, ii., 4.

315; their jocosity, 281; engaged, Opelounas (Louisiana), ii., 30.

in cultivation of i-ugiir, 319, 328 ; Overseers, character of, i., 53, 94; if.,

their thoughts of b-iiig free, 334,

184. lt>9; a kind and efficient one

339 ; cajoi-ity for learning, ii., 70,

ou a Carolina plantation, i., 28;

99; mode of woi king in Mississippi,

stringent terms of contract, 254;

178; treated asmeie projierty oo

precaution against uihiue corporeal

large plantations, 192; general cha

puoi-hoient, 251; surly behaviour

racter of, 221. Sec Sltces.

of one in Mississippi, ii., 94; an

Kejro consumption, i.f 123.

other specimen, 143; a night in an

Ncjrv slaveowners in Louisiana, i., 336;

overseer's cabin, 175; wages of,

their cruelty, 336.

185. 195; their want of considera

Negro-traders in Louisiana and Kentucky,

tion for slaves, 189.

ii., 44.

A"w Orleans, arrival at, i., 290; first Passes to negroes, forged, i., 301

impressions, 291 ; the Freoi-h P' i tent Medicines, ii., 175.

quarter, 291; cathedral, 293; mix- j Patent Office Reports for 1847 and

tu re of tacfs, 294 ; a lot of twenty-'

1852, quoted.!., 115.

two negroes, 293 ; number of fiee " Patriarclial institution," a favourable

labourers, 299 ; manners anj morals

aspect of the, i., 236.

of the citizens, 302; association PedJlers of tobacco, i., 209; of cheap

with mulatto and quadroon females,

literature, 345.

302.

Peripneumoniat notha, or cold plague, i.,

Anr 0,-leans Crescent,' quoted, i., 300,

123.

301.

Phillips, Mr. 3f. W., on plantation eco

' Jfef Orleans Delta,' on justice to

nomy, ii., 186,

slaves, ii., 185.

Physical power, necessary to maintaiu

Nevti.n, the Hun. \\~Uloughby, on the

discipline among slaves, i., 124.

introduction of guano, i., 101.

' Picayme, Tue,' quoted, i., 343; ii.,

' line York Times,' letters to, on slave

211.

and f;ee labour, i., 134, 135, ii.,

268.

Plantations in South Carolina described,

KarfM (Virginia;, its filthy condition,

i., 207, 233; in Georgia, 243; in

i., 142; natural advantages for

Louisiana, 317; Creole plantation,

trade and commerce, 143 j market

340; in EaiUra Texu, 372; ii., 9,

400

INDEX.

14; in Mississippi. 67,90; ignorance ' vindicating it, 276; their claims to

of proprietor, 90 ; th most pro 1 high-breeding and hospitality gene-

fitable ot.e visitod, described, 193; rally en warranted, 282; instances

the manager and overseers, 194; 1 of the opposite qualities, 315 et seq.;

arrangements for the slaves, 195; ' their revengeful disposition, 327.

their rate of increase. 209; indiscri 1 Public wrjrship in the Sooth, provisions

minate intercourse, 209; statistics 1 for, i., 259, 261.

of, 236.

(Purchase of a plantation, a gambling

Planters, characteristics o i., 18, 19, I operation, i., 321.

137, 276, 343; comfortless living

of, in Eastern Texas, u., 10, 14; Quadroons at Kew Orleans, their beauty

Creole, in Louisiana, 46; their pas

and healthiness, i., 294. 303 ; their

sion for increasing their negro stock,

cultivated tastes, 303; peculiar

48 ; life of, compared with that of

characteristics of their association

men of equal property in New

with whites, 305.

York, 48 ; cc&Tersation with a Quakers, negro opinion of, ii., 37.

nervoa* planter, 152; bospitaJitr of,

in Mississippi, 163 ; general charac Racing on the Red River, i., 351.

ter of those of the South, 230, 272. Railroads, in Virginia, i., 38, 55; want

Plough-girb, ii,, 201.

of punctuality, 56, 141 ; in North

Polk, Bishop, his description of slarery in

Carolina, 161 ; disregard of ad

the Red River county, ii., 213, note.

vertised arrangements, 167; de

Poor whites in Virginia, i., 81, 95;

sirable improvements, 170; in South

their condition worse than that of

Carolina, 216; their superiority in

the slaves, 83 ; their reluctance to

Georgia, 272.

do the work of slaves, 112; de Ealevjh QSorth Carolina), described, i.,

graded condition of, in the turpen

170; desolate aspect of the country

tine forest, 188; their belief in

around, 171.

witchcraft, 189 ; of South Carolina, Rations of U. S. Army, compared with

231; trading with them injurious

allowances to slaves, ii., 240.

(o the negroes, 252 ; girls employed Bed Hirer, cotton plantations on the, i-,

in the cotton-mills at Columbia,

13; preparations for a voyage .up

273; in Eastern Teas, their dis

the, 343; supper and lerping ar

honesty, 372 ; engaged in iron roin

rangements, 350 ; a good hot, 352.

ing. ii., 115; in Mississippi, 196; Retigi/n, want of levereuce for, i., 26'2 ;

feeling of irritation against, 355.

ii., 89, 104, 220.

Preacher, Mpthodist, tales of "nigger" iyiws condition of the South, i, 2fil;

hunting by, ii., 122.

proportion of ministers to people,

Preacher*, negro, i., 309.

261; rivalry and jeaJous>y of dif

Presbyterian minister, employed by

ferent sei-ts, 262; leligicus instruc

Georgia planters to instruct the

tion to slaves objected to, i'., 214 ;

blacks, ii., 215; his opinion* on

general remarks on religious profes

slavery, 216 et seg.

sions in the slaves, 220.

Price-current of slaves at Richmond,

scrtice in a meeting-house in

Virginia, ii., 374.

i Georgia, i.. 205; in a negro chapel

Progress, comparative, of North and ( at New Orleans, 308.

South, i., 25.

i Remonstrance by Sot. th Carolina planters

Pronunciation, effect of, on names, i!., 32. I against reJipous instruction to

Property aspect of slavery, ii., 183. I negroes, ii., 214.

Pritile-jed cdasa of .the .-outh, their con- I ReriTfd am< .ng the slaves, ii., 222.

dition and character, ii., 272; then1 Sice plantation, a model one visited, i.,

assertion of the beneficence of sla-

235; house servants and field-

Tery, 273; their two methods of

hands, 236; negro-quarters, 237;

INDEX.

401

nursery for black children, 238 ; a Separation of North and Sooth inconsis

rice-mill, 239; burning stubble,

tent with the welfare of either.

243; ploughing, 244 ; food of the

i.,1.

slaves, 244; field gangs, 245; Sermons by negroes, i., 311.

task-work, 247; important duties Settlement, negro, described,!., 237.

of drivers, 249 ; limitalioo of power " Stoat Plantations," i., 230.

of punishment, 251 ; trade on the Sickness, real and feigned, of stares, i.,

plantation, 254.

96, 118; ii., 198, 199.

, Virginia, described, i., 40; Skilled labour, negroes employed in, i.,

railway economy, 42 ; negro funeral,

240.

43; ludicrous oratory, 44; Sunday Sloixry, Jefferson's opinion on, i., 92;

appearance of coloured people, 45;

practicability of rapidly extingnish-

their demeanour to whites, 47;

inj.</255; cruelty a necessity of,

" Slaves for sale or hire," 50; farm

355; strong opinion against, of a

on James Kiver, 52; coal-pit,

Mississippi planter, ii., 98; of a Ten

54.

nessee farmer, 140; necessary to

' Rickmnnd American,' the, quoted, i,,

produce cheap cotton, ii., 252.

125, note ; ' Enquirer," i'-i 364 Slaveholders, opinions of, on slavery, i.,

Whig,' 370.

53, 60, 332, 354 ; ii., 92; Ameri

JR'iffin, Mr. Edmund, quoted, ii., 303.

can, French, and negro slaveowners,

Runawj slmes, i., 119, 155; ii., 7

33, 337.

advertisements of, 157; cure for Slave-mart, at Richmond, i., 50; at

ii., 6 ; pursuit of one, 20 ; hunting

Houston, ii., 22.

with dogs, 120, 122, 178; stocks Slaves, liberated, doing well in Africa,

for punishment of, 161 ; con6ic-t

i., 92; prospects of those going

with a runaway, 1K1, note ; favour

North, 93.

ite lurking-ground for, 183.

Slates, their value as labourers, i., 16,

Susseli, Mr., his 'Xorth America: its

94; as domestic servants, 125;

Agriculture, &c.,* quoted, ii., 176,

causes of the hizh prices given for

note, 182, 25-', 256; mistaken

them, 16 ; number engaged in cul

views ofj with respect to free aoc

tivating cotton, 17; number anno,

slave labour, 252 et seq.

ally exported from slave-breeding to

cotton States, 58; proportion of

workers to dares maintained, 59;

Sabinf Hirer, country on each side de

improvement in their conditions, 94;

scribed, ii., 24; coarseness of the

their food and lodging in Virginia,

inhabitants, 25 ; a night with

102,104; their clothing, 105; sub

gentleman of the country, 25;

ject to peculiar diseases, 122; neces

" figures of speech," 27.

sity of humouring them, 128; have

Son A>i.justi* (Eastern Texas), i, 374 ;

no training as children, 131; work

Presbyterian and Methodist univer

accomplished in a given time, 133;

sities merged in a " Masonic Insti

"driving," 135; increasing difficul

tute," 375.

ties in their management, 252; in

St. Francisn'lk, ii., 143; neighbouring

stance of their trustworthiness, 259 ;

country described, 145 ; appearance

best method of inducing them to

of the slaves, 146.

exert themselves, 328; bad effect

SacannnA (Georgia), commerce and pros

of their association with white la

pects of, i., 273.

bourers, 330 ; and of their dealings

Scripture expressionn, their familiar use

with petty traders, 331: condition

by the negroes, i., 262 ; a dram-

of, on a profitable plantation in Mis

eeller's advertisement, 263.

sissippi, ii., 195; worked hardest in

Seguin, Dr., on the capacity of the negro,

the South-west, 202 ; come nearly

ii., 344.

white, 210; their religious initruc-

VOL. IT. ,

2D

402

INDEX.

tkm, 222; impolicy of allowing' life of the firemen, 350; deck-

them to cultivate patches, 238; I passengers, 350; a race, 351;

auction at Richmond described, 372. j gambling on board, 353.

See yegroa.

Street-fyUs in Louisiana, ii, 53.

Skxtf States, condition of the people, i., Steward, negro, on a rice plantation,

8; not benefited by their cotton

importance of his office, i., 240;

monopoly, 8 ; dearness of slave* j privileges enjoyed by, 24-2.

labour, io, 94; antipathy of the ! Sttbj'yatiun cf the South, its alleged im-

whites to work, 22; small proprvr-! possibility, i., 2.

tion of the area devoted to cotton Suffering, ocauiooal, different effect of,

cultivation, 24; their mal! contri

on the tlave and free labourer, ii.,

bution to the national treasury, 27;

251.

general charscteiistics and features Sugar plantation, in Louisiana, !,, 317;

of tlie country, 85.

the owner's popularity, 318 ; man

Sfare trade, activity of, in Virginia, i.,

sion and offices, 319; arrangements

57 ; difficulty of obtaining statistics,

for the slaves, S2< I; usual expenses

58.

of can-ring on, 321 ; ii.,236; mode

Skepavi-ytrten, unpleasant, it, 87,

of cultivation, i., 323 ; planting th

J O6; abundance of insect vermin, 87 ;

cane, 325; tillage, 327; grinding

mode of keeping away gnats, 107.

the cane, 328; increased labour in

' South Caro/aiiim,' the, on planters and

grinding reason willingly performed

overseers, ii., 188.

-^

by the slaves, 3-.'8; late improve

South, danger ofthe, ii., 338; condition of

ment* in the manufacture, 329.

the negro, 339; Sufhern method I Suggestions for improving the condition

of treatment dangerous,, 344 : on- ! cons-ions habits of precaution, 346 ;

of the negro, and pieparing him for freedom, i., 25.!>.

apparent tranquillity deceptive, 348 ; Sttmnfr and Bi ooks, ii., 348.

police machinery, 350 ; abolitionist S'otday, slave labour on, ii., 47, 181.

literature, 353 ; cause 361; impossibility of

of agitation, acceding to

'[

Sxeepu-ssecdinifnS,thteheN"olratrhgeCs'at roinlintahefiswheorrields,,

the demands of the South, 362;

i., U9.

threat of dissolution, 363; probable " Sxell-hewls," ii., 156, 166.

result, 3fX1.

S>jvthem AfjricnUvrist* the, quoted, Task-'rork general in Georgia and South

ii., 182, 188.

Carolina, i, 247.

' Southern Cuttirirtor,' the, on the effect Texas, its prospect "f becoming a Free

of the somVty of negroes on their I State, ,, 102; influence of the

masters' children, i., 222, note;\ Germans, 102, 103.

on allowing negroes to cultivate' Texas, Eastern, route acms, i., 359; a

"patches," 239, ante.

day in the woods, 359; planlation

Stage-coach rides in North Carolina, i.,

described, 359; a sick chiM, 361 ;

163, 174, 201 ; a swindling driver,

the emigrant rol, 365, 374 ; appear

163; cruelty to hor>es, 175 ; unex

ance of the emierants 3K5; the Ktd

pected comforts ofA pinr-wnod stage-

Lands, 373; Christmas serenade,

bouse, 177; in Mississippi, ii., 64.

375; a planter's residence, ii,, 9 ;

Stage-house at Fayetteville, described, i.,

his comfoitless mode of Ininc, 10;

183.

promising sons, 10; literal y dearth

Steam-boat*: on Cape Fear River, i.,

10 ; interest taken in foreign affair*,

191; on the Alabama River, 275 ; i 11 ; domestic servants 13; a nirht,

passengers, 276; waatefu loess and

with another planter, W; his habits

joviality of the crew, 281; descrip- ' of life, 14, 15; determination of

tion of one on the Red River, j inhabitants to conceal unfavourable

347; deeping arrangements, i>49 :1 facts, 18; hatred of Mexicans, 19.

INDEX.

403

Texas, South-eastern, district described,

and labourer, 112 ; land most rain-

ii., 23; imperfect drain^ee, 23;

able, where proportion of glares to

sparsely settled, 24 ; not a desirable

whites is least, 114; comparative

place of atxvle, 24.

cost of slave and free labour, 117 ;

Tennessee, North-eastern, contrast be

advantages of the latter in wages

tween the homes of a slaveholder

paid, 118 ; in freedom from los* by

and a fanner without slaves, ii.,

disalility, 118; frequency of feigned

138.

illness, 118; peculiar diseases of

Tennessee squire, a nieht with, ii., 128;

negroes, 122 ; means of maintaining

T his notion of buying Irishmen, 729.

discipline, 124; want of the mo

Tobacco, plantation in Eastern Virginia,

tive* to eiertion possessed by free

i., 88; reasons for growing, 88

labourers, 131; influence of slave

negroes not able to cultivate the

system on the habits of the whole

finer sorts, 89, ii., 254; their mode

community, 131; general want of

of payment, i., 98, 140.

civilized comforts, 137; waste of

Tckacco-peddltng in South Carolina, i.,

natural resources, 138, 143; rule

209.

of makeshift, 138; exceptional

Treating in Mississippi, ii., 155.

instances, 139 ; decay of its agricul

Tree-peJdler, hU catalogue ot'"curoest

ture, ii., 303; mineial wealth, 365;

trees,' ii., 75.

\vnt of means of education, 371.

Trinity B Horn, ii, 2; fertility of sur- Virginia, Eastern, its resources neg

. founding lands, 3.

lected, i., 8; poverty of its inhabi

Turpentine forest, character of slaves

tant*, 10 ; descripfion ofa tide, 64 ;

employed in, i., 188.

a stiange vehicle, 65; the school-

house, 65; " Old KieIJi," 6>5 ;

Uinbrelhs carried by Alabama Indians

desolate appearance of the country,

on hor.-eback, ii., 38.

66; a fhrm-hc>i:se, 70 ; a country

' Uncle Tom's Cibin,' conversation on,

" grosry," 72; the court-house,

i., 345, 354; ii., 135.

74; a night at an old plantation

with a churli-h host, 76; the

Vkksb'iryh, ii., 55.

" supper-room" and " sitting-room,*'

Vinjinia, characteristics of the popula

79; piecaiious existence of poor

tion, i.. 39; association of blacks

white larmier*, 81; the " bed

and whites, 40; the Public Guard,

room," 84; the planter's charge

41 ; rebellion or' coloured people in

for his " hospitality," 85; sparse

1801, 42; mode of living of Vir

population, 86; the meeting-house,

ginia gentlemen at home, 89; treat

86; negro quarters, 87; a tobacco

ment of negroes in, 101; rlconomy

plantation, 88.

of Virginia, 108; an Englishman's Fovf",rticro Jlolile to New Orleans, i.,

impressions on landing in the United

285.

St-ites, 108; apparent indifference

to shathv living, lo>j; its causes, Washington, number of visitors at, i., 28;

108; difference of means required

a boarding-house, 28; the market

to procure the same result, 108 ;

place, 34; price of land in the

a similar analogy between the Noith

neighbourhood, 35; number of

and South, Io9; an exceptional

white labourers, 35; chatacter of

case, 109; high price paid for I

the coloured population, 36; an

skilled labour, 110; state of

illegal meeting, 36.

the community as a whole, 111; Watchman, the, on a Carolina planta

complaints of scarcity of h;mds,

tion, i., 240, 242.

111; the employment of whites in Wafer-note, numbers of, ii., 24, 29.

occupations usually performed by 1 West FcKciana Whig,' account of

tiara distasteful both to master ] slaughter of a runaway, ii., 161.

L

404

INDEX.

t/beeace of, on the Southern Witchcraft, belief in, by poor white*,

riren, ii., 55.

i., 189.

, constant nse of the, ii-, 202.

Woman employed in ploughing, ii., 201.

Wkippixg, of coloured preachers of the " Woodi*j " on Cape Feir River, i., 193.

Gospel, t, 226; of a slave girl, Woodviile (Mississippi), ii., 148; dress

ft., 205.

etiquette, 148; neighbourhood de

Wise, Goeenur, on the decay of .Vir

scribed, 149; robberies, 149.

ginia, ii, 303.

WJutfs, some slares hardIv to be distin Yazoo Bottoms, the son of a planter in,

guished from pore-blooded, ii., 210.

ii,, 63 ; journey with him in North

White'$ ' Statistics of Georgia,' ii., 385.

ern Mississippi, 64; his dislike to

WOauagta* (Xorth Carolina), t, 97;

babies, 66.

destructioo of a building ut, be- Ytiioa Frrtr, good conduct ofnegroes at

cao erected by negroes, it, 98.

Savannah during its raging, i., 259 ;

* Witmmjta* Seratd,' quoted, ii^ 99,

at Xatchez, ii., 160.

aote.

J