CHAPTER VII..

Condition of Slaves in the United States.

THE extent of slavery in the different slave-holding states of this union, may be seen by the following table, digested from the census of 1830.

The states in which slavery prevails, have been distinguished for their affluence. Notwithstanding the policy of the national government has borne heavily upon the South, notwithstanding the occasional depression of her staples, and the proverbially unfortunate pecuniary habits of her citizens, that portion of the union may still be regarded as pecu

liarly favoured. The slave-labour of the South has thus far practically disproved the theories of the North; and demonstrated that the institution of slavery, whatever objections may be alleged against it, is not calculated to diminish the national wealth, or retard the national prosperity. It will be seen hereafter, that the South pays nearly one-third of the revenue of the government; and of the one hundred millions of dollars annual exports sent from the country, nine-tenths are raised by the South. Of the productiveness of slave-labour, who can, after a knowledge of these facts, affect a doubt? The North, as well as the South, is enriched by that labour; and should any disastrous occurrences disturb the institutions of the South, not only the whites and negroes of the slave-holding states would sink into poverty and suffering, but the decayed manufactures, shrunken commerce, and ruined prosperity of the North, would show how near and vital is the connexion of the different sections of our common country.

Every country must have its labourers, men who are willing to be directed by the mind and capital of others, and to undergo, in consideration of support, the physical toil requisite for the attainment of the goods of life. In the North, this labour is done by the poor; in the South, by the negro. In both, the labourer is forced to endure the privations of his condition in life. In the North, not only is his toil severe, but poverty and anxiety attend him in his humble path in life. His family must be sustained; his wife attended in sickness; his children supported in youth. His means are often inadequate to his wants. He is bowed down by the consciousness of inequality, and haunted by the fear of the prison. Incertitude and anxiety are with him each hour of his life; and when sickness or age steals upon him, it often finds him without resources or hope. Thus is he dogged through life by poverty,

ness.

fear, humiliation and oppression (for the title of freeman does not protect the poor from oppression) and dies with the unhappy consciousness that for his children is reserved the same lot of wretchedThe labourer of the South knows none of these evils. He is scarcely acquainted with the meaning of the word care. He never suffers from inordinate labour-he never sickens from unwholesome food. No fear of want disturbs his slumbers. Hunger and cold are strangers to him; and in sickness or age he knows that he has a protector and a friend able and willing to shield him from suffering. His pleasures are such as his nature enjoys, and are unrestricted. He enjoys all the privileges which his simple heart craves, and which are wholesome for him. Thus protected from all the other has to fear, and secured in the enjoyment of all he desires-he is as happy as circumstances can render him.

We are aware that certain pseudo philanthropists affect great concern for the benighted state of the negro, and condemn the enactments which, in some of the states, discourage his education. We may be permitted to remark, that, but for the intrusive and intriguing interference of pragmatical fanatics, such precautionary enactments would never have been necessary. When such foes are abroad, industrious in scattering the seeds of insurrection, it becomes necessary to close every avenue by which they may operate upon the slaves. It becomes necessary to check or turn aside the stream, which instead of flowing healthfully upon the negro, is polluted and poisoned by the abolitionists, and rendered the source of discontent and excitement. Education, thus perverted, would become equally dangerous to the master and the slave: and while fanaticism continue, its war upon the South, the measures of necessary precaution and defence must be continued.

The situation of the slave is, in every particular,

incompatible with the cultivation of his mind. It would not only unfit him for his station in life, and prepare him for insurrection, but would be found wholly impracticable in the performance of the duties of a labourer. However, those who regard the absence of education in the negro with such peculiar compassion, would do well to assure themselves that the free blacks of the North, and even a large class of the white labourers, are, in this particular, superior to him. The charity of these fanatics is generally of so expanded and ambitious a character, that it overlooks worthy objects of benevolence at their feet, to light upon some scheme of thwart and ill-omened philanthropy abroad.

The absence of science is no misfortune to the slave. He is averse to study; and, with every advantage, seldom makes sufficient progress to render education a source of pleasure or profit to him. Inert and unintellectual, he exhibits no craving for knowledge; and prefers, in his hours of recreation, indulgence in his rustic pleasures to the pursuit of intellectual improvement. It has been a question, whether the pains or enjoyments of a cultivated mind preponderate. The extended expanse of the mind, if it is opened to more of the sunshine' of heaven, is exposed also to more of its gloom; and as, in this life, our sky is more frequently clouded than clear, the prerogative, however ennobling, is perhaps a source of more anxiety than enjoyment. Be this as it may, the negro never suffers from the thirst for knowledge. Voluptuous and indolent, he knows few but animal pleasures; is incapable of appreciating the pride and pleasure of conscious intellectual refinement; and passes through existence, perhaps with few of the white man's mental enjoyments, but certainly with still fewer of his harassing cares and anxieties. The dance beneath the

shade surpasses, for him, the groves of the academy; and the simple tones of the banjo have charms which even the lyre of Phoebus could not rival.

Misguided or malevolent writers have endeavoured to produce an impression in the North that the slaves of the South are debarred the privilege of public worship. So far is this statement from being based on truth, that it may be doubted whether the free blacks in the North, under the immediate wing of the abolitionists, enjoy the same religious advantages, or profit by them to the same extent. Clergymen are encouraged by the citizens of the Southern states to visit and preach to their slaves; and the cause of religion was, and unless the mad course of the abolitionists has checked it, still is, rapidly advancing in the South. The clergy of the South are equally distinguished for their zeal and ability; and labour, with commendable activity, in the vineyard thus opened to them. The absence of all temporal cares in the mind of the slave, fits him to receive religious impressions; and may, perhaps, account for the success of the ministry in their efforts among that portion of our population. Of the numerous and exemplary clergy of the South, not a man can be found willing to sanction the course of the Northern fanatics, to represent the condition of the slaves in an unfavourable light, or to breathe a word to countenance the calumnies of the abolitionists. They imitate the example of our blessed Saviour, who, instead of preaching abolition to the slaves, went among them breathing the spirit of humility and peace, and directing them to "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's." When the soi disant philanthropists do likewise, they will cease to be objects of alarm and abhorrence to the people whose tranquillity they have so recklessly endangered.

Since the recent manifestations of a determination