The comforts of the slave, in his established domicil, are probably overrated, as well as the misery usually attendant upon a judicial sale, in order to heighten the colouring of the picture. It is, however, safe to conclude that the evil thus pathetically described, is sufficiently grievous to call for immediate and ample redress. How far the case is changed or the suffering diminished by a sale and dispersion of the negroes at the option of the master, or in execution of his will, is perhaps not easily determined. To a mind little conversant with the technicalities of slavery, it would appear that the evil, as far as the

must have tended towards the end proposed by the historian, an attachment of the slaves to the soil. Under that law, land and slaves were answerable for debts of equal degree, and might of course be sold together. -In 1797, four years after the publication of his history, the author, then a member of parliament, brought forward a motion for a repeal of the act complained of; urging, in support of his motion, similar complaints with those contained in the history.-The friends of abolition, without much examination of the subject, gave credit to the representation, and a bill was immediately passed in accordance with his suggestion.

The repealing act however, does not even profess to attach the slaves to the soil, or to direct that lands and slaves shall be sold together, or that either shall be exempt from sale; but merely repeals so much of the former act as relates to negroes. The slaves were thus left, in regard to sale, under the unrestrained operation of colonial usages and laws: and there is good reason to believe, that no attempt has yet been made, by any of the local legislatures, to place the slaves on the ground of villeins regardant, or in any other way to redress the grievances so pathetically deplored.

slaves are concerned, is in the liability to be sold, rather than in the particular manner in which the sale should be effected.

"The distress and terror among a gang of Negroes, when the marshal's deputy, with his dogs and other assistants, comes to levy in a large way, cannot be conceived by those who, happily for themselves, have never been spectators of such scenes, and can scarcely be described by those who have witnessed them. I was once on a coffee mountain (staying for a few days with a brother clergyman, who had permission to reside there,) on which were about seventy or eighty negroes. The proprietor was much in debt, and was aware that one or two of his largest creditors had for some time wished to make a levy on his slaves to pay themselves; but by keeping his gates locked, and the fences round the dwelling house and negro-houses in good repair, he had hitherto baffled the Argus eyed deputy and his deputies. The night after I arrived on the property, however, I was awaked, about an hour before daylight, by a great noise, as of arms, with cries of women and children. In a few minutes a private servant came to my window and informed me, that it was the marshal's deputies making a levy on the negroes, and that the noise proceeded from the clashing of weapons; for some of the slaves, he said, had stoutly resisted. I then alarmed my friend, and we determined to go out to see that no improper use was made of the tremendous power given to these Cerberuses. By the time we arrived at the negro-houses the resistance had ceased; for the negroes being divided, had been over

come by the myrmidons of the law. One poor fellow, however, was being dragged along like a thief by a fierce and horrid looking Irishman, who had been one of M'Gregor's freebooters, and who when we came near, grasped his victim more tightly, and brandished his broad sword over the poor creature with the grin and growl of a de

mon.

"Many of the men escaped from the property, and some few others, with some women, secreted themselves among the coffee trees, till the party had gone off with their prey. They secured, however, ten or twelve men, and many of the women and children, amounting in the whole to between thirty and forty, who were huddled together on the outside of the principal fence, and presented such a heartrending scene as I never witnessed before, and should be very sorry ever to witness again. Some of the children had lost their mothers and some of the mothers had been torn away from a part of their children; for some of the little urchins also escaped. One woman in particular, a housewoman, had six or seven children: two or three of them were seized, and the others escaped; but the youngest, an infant, had been caught, and she wept aloud and very bitterly for it, saying, that she must give up herself if the child was not got back, for she could not live separated from it. There were many a bitter cry and sad lament among the women and children, for they loved their master, who was kind, and had excellent provision grounds for them: but most of the men were dogged and sullen, and only wanted arms to obtain their freedom from the savage whites and their associates, who

now guarded them. As it was, two or three of the poor fellows were wounded; and I was assured by a free brown man, who was looking after the property in the master's absence, that had the proprietor been there, there would have been sad work, and very likely murder; for it was an illegal levy, and the resistance would have been desperate under their master's eye and voice. They were tied together, or hand-cuffed, and driven off the same morning to Spanish-Town gaol, a distance of twenty miles; but as they had been seized before sunrise, and the fence had been also broken through, both of which are illegal, the owner obtained their enlargement shortly after and they were allowed to go back to the spot they loved. I might here remark, that the labour is much lighter on a coffee mountain tha on a sugar estate, and that the negroes are not required to be up so much at night, to pick and cure coffee, as they are to make sugar; where, therefore, they have good provision grounds, as they had on this mountain I have been speaking of, they are much more comfortable, and less harassed than on a sugar estate.”—Bickell's Picture of Slavery.

As it frequently happens that husband and wife are held by different proprietors, the breaking up of a gang in consequence of the decease or insolvency of their owner, must often dissolve for life those matrimonial ties, which, in civilized society, form the sweetest solace of life.-No marvel then that among persons, liable at all times, to this cruel separation, the matrimonial bond should be held extremely loose. The general profligacy of manners, prevalent among the

West Indian slaves, has been frequentassigned as a cause of their decrease, But independently of the example of their superiors, that profligacy must be greatly increased, if not originally produced, by the precarious tenure by which all their domestic comforts are held.-The poor untutored slave can hardly form a proper estimate of the sanctity of the marriage covenant, when he beholds it lightly dissolved by his more enlightened proprietor.

The incident of negro slavery above noticed, if not peculiar to that species of servitude, is by no means the common lot of slaves. Instances to the contrary, both in ancient and modern times, and among people reputed barbarous, are noted in the preceding numbers. The slaves among our half civilized ancestors of the middle ages, appear to have been generally of the class denominated villeins regardent, who were attached to the soil and not liable to separation from it; and such are at this day the slaves of Poland and Russia.

Plantation slaves, not only in the Spanish and Portuguese, but in the French Islands also, are real estate, attached to the soil they cultivate, and not liable to be seized and sold to satisfy the debts of their owners.

With regard to domestics, the power of alienation, where it prevails, is modified by various restrictions, founded on humanity towards the slaves. There is a wise and merciful provision in the Code Noir which prohibits the selling of the husband without the wife, the parents without the children, and vice versa. Sales made contrary to this regulation, if by process of law under seizure for debts, are declared void; but if voluntary on the part of the master, the wife or husband, children

or parent, though expressly retained by the seller, pass by the same conveyance to the purchaser, and may be claimed without any additional price. The most express and solemn stipulation between the parties, contrary to this rule, has been adjudged to be void. No such limitation of the master's power is found in the codes of any British sugar island.

Of the liability of slaves to be seized and sold, separate from the lands they cultivate at the suit of creditors, for the payment of the master's debts, it is believed no precedent can be found in any part of the ancient world, nor can any be found where such a liability would be productive of so much practical evil, as in the countries under review.-There more than in any other place, the planters are struggling with difficulties and burdened with debts, and their property fluctuating from hand to hand.

In the United States, with a partial exception in the state of Louisiana,*

* In a law of Louisiana, passed in 1806, it is provided, that "slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall be, as such, subject to be mortgaged according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate." By the civil code they are pronounced immoveable property; and therefore it would appear that when slaves, and the land on which they are located, belong to the same proprietor, they are not liable to be separated by process of law.

In the same state it is enacted, that "if at a public sale of slaves, there happen to be some who are disabled, through old age or otherwise, and who have children, such slaves shall not be sold but with such of their children as they may choose to go with." Unfortunately this humane provision, has shared the fate to which, almost all the laws, designed for the protec

much greater number of slaves, than he can profitably employ. If in such case one supernumerary slave may be sold or given away, why not an

hundred ?

stances.*

As, however, slaves are, with very few exceptions, liable to be sold to any one who may choose to purchase them, and an open market for their sale remains in several of the south

No further south than the eastern shore of Maryland, a regular traffic in slaves is carried on.—A correspondent

that district, mentions, in a letter to the editor," there are now, or have been within a few days past, eight or ten persons at this place, whose avowed object is to obtain slaves. They are almost daily going and com

ted States, an interterritorial traffic in their persons, is prosecuted, to an extent which baffles calculation, and stamps a stigma on our national character. Even where the introduction of slaves, as an article of trade, is legally proscribed, the authority allowed to emigrants intending to settle in any of those states, to bring with them any number of slaves whatever, must open a door for a considerable traffic of this kind. For the emigrant may very soon discover, that he has brought for his own use, a

tion of slaves in the slave-holding districts, have, by some strange fatality, been condemned. Though the parents in this case may not be sold without the children, an evil not very likely to be inflicted where they are superannuated or otherwise disabled from labour, yet the children may be sold without the parents, and thus effect a complete dissolution of the family ties. Every person is also prohibited from selling separately from their mother, the children who shall not have attained the age of ten years. If, however, the mother may be sold without the children, which I believe may be legally done, the great evil remains unredressed.

* See note page 54.

from four to six make this their place of rendezvous for several months of the year, for as one goes off with his booty, another comes to supply his place." In one small county where the trade was not carried on so extensively as in some others, eighty three were recorded in the jailors books in the course of six months, as deposited for safe keeping.* We may, however, presume that a part only of those sold are thus deposited. -So common has this traffic become, that the poor manacled slaves are frequently seen travelling in droves toward the place of their destination, and little or no examination made into the legality of the power by which they are held.-This trade is held in the state of Maryland, to be entirely legal, and may be prosecuted, with impunity, to any extent.

*In the county alluded to, the whole slave population between 14 and 45, in 1820, amounted to 2119. -These ages, probably include most of those who would be confined in jail, in order to be sold, and therefore it would appear that nearly eight per cent. of the most saleable part of the slaves were annually sold.

The transportation of slaves from Baltimore and Alexandria, to the southern ports, appears a regular business. From the latter, three or four small vessels sail once or twice a year, carrying from seventy to an hundred persons. But the number who are conveyed by land, from the neighbourhood of the Potomac, to the states bordering on the Mississippi and the Mexican gulf, can be correctly determined by those only who are connected with the trade.-Two thousand are supposed to be annually transported by land and water, from the District of Columbia, and the adjacent parts of Maryland and Virginia. If in these states, slaves are not raised purposely for sale, they certainly, when raised, compose an important part of the annual exports of the country. A correspondent from Virginia, estimates the returns of cash from the sale of slaves, as nearly equal to those derived from the produce of the soil. How near the truth this estimate is, I have not the means to determine. Though the state of Tennessee is of comparatively recent settlement, there are several hundreds annually exported. They are to be seen travelling in droves of 100 or upwards; those who appear refractory, being frequently chained together in companies of fifteen or twenty.

Where a traffic in slaves is thus actively carried on, and sanctioned by existing laws, those coloured persons who are legally free, must necessarily hold their freedom by a very preca. rious tenure, particularly, where every person tinged with an African die, is presumed to be a slave, unless proved to be free. Such also of this race, as are entitled to their freedom,

at a definite but future period, are peculiarly exposed to the danger of being removed, by this shameful traffic, beyond the power of rescue. Poor, ignorant and friendless, how can the indented black, when sold to a southern trader, and carried to a distant market, where the colour of his skin is legal evidence of his slavery, recover the liberty to which he is entitled? Numerous instances have occurred of free persons, or those who were bound for a limited time, being rendered the objects of this trade.

In the legalized traffic, sufficient evidence appears that the dictates of humanity are frequently so far regarded, as to pay some respect to fa. mily ties, and so to manage the sales as to prevent the disruption of the marriage union: yet it is a lamentable truth, that this most important part of the negro's destiny, is left almost en tirely, to the discretion of the parties to the sale. In our own country, as well as in the British West Indies, the marriages of slaves are seldom registered, or in any manner legally recognized. The union of slaves being thus left to be formed and dissolved by themselves, as fancy or passion may dictate; it is difficult to suppose that a very scrupulous regard should be paid to these feeble and fragile connexions, when the parties become an object of trade. These circumstances, as already observed, must powerfully contribute to the general dissoluteness of manners, so mourn fully prevalent where slavery predo. minates; an evil which is seldom confined to the servile class.

The government of the United States, by identifying the African slave trade with the crime of piracy,