to his cell and the hangman. In this situation he did not, however, forsake himself; and it was now, when prejudice and persecution had spent their last arrow on him, that he seemed to put on his proper nature, to vindicate not only his innocence, but the moral equality of his race, and those mental energies which the white man's pride would deny to the shape of his head and the woolliness of his hair. Main

taining the most undeviating tranquillity, he conversed with ease and cheerfulness, whenever his benevolent counsel, who continued his kind attentions to the last, visited his cell. I was present on one of these occasions, and observed his tone and manner, neither sullen nor desperate, but quiet and resigned, suggesting whatever occurred to him on the circumstances of his own case, with as much calmness as if he had been uninterested in the event; yet as if he deemed it a duty to omit none of the means placed within his reach for vindicating his innocence. He had constantly attended the exhortations of a Methodist preacher, who, for conscience sake, visited 'those who were in prison; and, having thus strengthened his spirit with religion, on the morning of his execution, breakfasted, as usual, heartily; but before he was led out, he requested permission to address a few words of advice to the companions of his captivity. 'I have observed much in them,' he added, 'which requires to be amended, and the advice of a man in my situation may be respected.' A circle was accordingly formed in his cell, in the midst of which he seated himself, and addressed them at some length, with a sober and collected earnestness of manner, on the profligacy which he had noted in their behaviour, while they had been fellow-prisoners; recommending to them the rules of conduct prescribed by that religion in which he now found his support and consolation.

"Having ended his discourse, he was conducted to the scaffold, where having calmly surveyed the crowds collected to witness his fate, he requested leave to address them. Having obtained permission, he stept firmly to the edge of the scaffold, and having commanded silence by his ges

tures, 'You are come,' said he; 'to be spectators of my sufferings: you are mistaken; there is not a person in this crowd but suffers more than I do. I am cheerful and contented, for I am innocent.' He then observed, that he truly forgave all those who had taken any part in his condemnation, and believed that they had acted conscientiously from the evidence bebefore them; and disclaimed all idea of imputing guilt to any one. He then turned to his counsel, who, with feelings which honoured humanity, had attended him to the scaffold; 'To you, Sir,' said he, 'I am indeed most grateful: had you been my son, you could not have acted by me more kindly:' and observing his tears, he continued; "This, Sir, distresses me beyond any thing I have felt yet: I entreat you will feel no distress on my account: I am happy. Then praying to Heaven to reward his benevolence, he took leave of him, and signified his readiness to die; but requested he might be excused from having his eyes and hands bandaged: wishing, with an excusable pride, to give this final proof of his unshaken firmness: he, however, submitted, on this point, to the representations of the sheriff, and died without the quivering of a muscle.

William Crafts, mentioned in the preceding narrative, has been recently numbered with those that were and are not. His career though not long, appears to have been highly honourable. Though his political opinions were not popular, his acknowledged talents procured his repeated election to a seat in the General Assembly of his native state. In this situation, he rendered important services to his constituents. He was early distinguished for his love of letters, and laboured assiduously to diffuse among others, a similar taste. To use his own language, he felt that "knowledge was the life blood of republics," that the eagle was the bird of light, as well as of liberty. In the legislature he always advocated every measure which had for its object, the encouragement of scientific and literary institutions. And to his powerful eloquence, the peor of South Carolina, are deeply indebted for the means of literary instruction.

In the preceding numbers, a concise view has been taken of the slavery of the ancient world, as well as of the branch of African slavery which properly belongs to that quarter of the globe. We have seen that among the nations of antiquity, the institution was generally mitigated, either by positive laws, or established usages, so as to lose its most repulsive features, and place its victims in a situation approximating to that of the class who were denominated free. And that the domestic slavery of Africa is so mild as to be scarcely distinguishable from freedom.

To estimate the burden of slavery correctly, we must compare the condition of the slaves with that of the freemen of their own age and country, not of those who enjoy a more limited or more ample share of civil and poli

than the one, who, though subjected to similar privations, beholds his lot but little below the general doom. We may therefore conclude that negro slavery, as existing in the United States and British West Indies, if not actually more mitigated than among any other people, ancient or modern, must be in effect more degrading and oppressive than any other with which we are acquainted, from its contrast with the high degree of civil and political freedom by which it is surrounded. Our plaudits of liberty, though sweetly musical to ourselves, must grate harsh discord on the ears of the slave.

Strange and paradoxical as it may appear, there is reason to believe, that those nations who plume themselves most highly on their refinement and humanity, and are most scrupulously

the iron rod of slavery with a more rigid and relentless grasp than any other people under whose dominion the hapless negro has been permitted to fall.

The treatment of slaves among the Spaniards and Portuguese of the western world, is generally admitted to be much more humane than among the English and Dutch. At Brazil, the curates appointed by law as the defenders of negroes, can, like the Athenian and Roman magistrates, rescue the slaves from cruel and tyrannical owners, by a judicial sale. Among the Spaniards, previously to the late revolutions, manumissions could not be refused, on the payment of a sum fixed by the law. The slaves were even permitted to purchase their freedom for a day in the week; by which means, with industry and economy, the whole might be gradually redeemed. The policy as well as humanity of such a provision, requires only to be intimated in order to be seen.

As negro slavery, as well as our common law, was bequeathed to us by our political parent, a brief review of its present state, as existing in law and practice, in the British Colonies, will be attempted; together with some parallels in the legal condition of slaves in the United States. I do not here inquire what class, either as regards complexion or origin, are subjected to the servile yoke; but merely what is the legal condition of those who are thus subjected. The classes who are or may be held in slavery, and the tenure by which they are held, will be reserved for a subsequent number.

The master is the sole arbiter of the kind and degree and time of labour, to which the slave shall be subjected; and of the subsistence, or means of obtaining a subsistence, which shall be given in return.*

For the legal condition of the slaves in the British West Indies, I am

Hence when the master is in embarrassed circumstances, it is reasonable to suppose that the labour exacted approaches as near the limits of the negro's physical powers as it can be brought by the terrors of the lash; and that the support allowed is reduced nearly as low as the nature of the case will admit. This, indeed, (appears to be admitted by the West Indians themselves, in their official reports; and as the planters are well known to be generally in debt, the life of a West Indian slave must be a scene of drudgery, to which few parallels can be found among the civilized nations of the earth.

In addition to the labour exacted by the terror of the lash, during the six working days, and, through several months of the year, during the half of the night, the West Indian slaves are usually compelled to appropriate the remaining day of the week to the cultivation of their own provision grounds. Though in this employment they are no longer followed by the driver's whip, yet a motive little less imperious urges them to exertion. Their masters, instead of assigning them a

chiefly indebted to the Slavery of the British West India Colonies, &c. by James Stephens, Esq. of London, and for the laws of the United States, to a manuscript work, now offered for publication, by George M. Stroud, of the Philadelphia Bar. The former work, being already before the public, needs no encomium of mine. The latter is a well digested compilation, comprising in a small compass a large amount of information, which, taken in connexion with the notes and observations of the writer, must prove highly interesting to such readers as are desirous of obtaining, at a small expense of money and time, an acquaintance with this momentous subject.

sufficient quantity of food ready prepared, as a remuneration for their six days' labour, generally allow them a small portion of arable land, from which they are expected to derive their principal supply. And to obtain a support such as nature demands, the poor slaves must employ in this species of labour, the day which, among Christian nations, is usually considered as sacred to devotion or repose. The complaint of the poet,

Even Sunday shines no Sabbath day to me,

would be, in their mouths, emphatically true; being, in all probability, the most actively employed of the seven. For voluntary labour, or that which is impelled by hope as well as fear, is generally the most ardent, and though least felt as it passes, must contribute in the greatest degree, to the exhaustion of the physical powers. "In Jamaica," says Bryan Edwards, "the negroes are allowed one day in a fortnight, except in crop,* besides

* The time of crop signifies the time the mills are grinding cane to make sugar; which continues, according to Bickell and others, nearly half the year. During that time the allowance of a day in the fortnight is withheld, and one half of the night, or the whole of the alternate nights, added to the season of labour. What number of holidays are usually allowed in practice, I am not informed; but the laws of Jamaica, supposing them faithfully observed, do not appear to secure, in addition to a day in two weeks out of crop, more than four or five in the year; and so anxious has the legislature of Jamaica appeared to restrain the excess of indulgence, that the masters are prohibited by law from granting two holidays in succession, except at Christmas, when two and no more are permitted. See Consolidated Slave Act, section 18. It may be added, that notwithstanding their unremitted labour during the

Sundays and holidays, for cultivating their grounds and carrying their pro-` visions to market. Some of them find time on these days, besides raising provisions, to make a few coarse manufactures, for which they find a ready sale. The most industrious do not, I believe, employ more than sixteen hours in a month in the cultivation of their provision gardens, and in favourable seasons this is sufficient. Sunday is their day of market, and it is wonderful what numbers are then seen, hastening from all parts of the country towards the towns and shipping places, laden with fruits and vegetables, pigs, goats, and poultry, their own property. It is supposed that upwards of 10,000 assemble every Sunday morning, in the market of Kingston, where they barter their provisions, &c. for salted beef and pork, or fine linen and ornaments for their wives and children." Hist. W. Ind. book iv. ch. 5.

If even some of the field negroes can effect what is here indicated, in the few hours allotted to their own disposal, it must be obvious that the system is, some way or other, extremely impolitic, or their masters, who enjoy the profits of their labour during at least six days upon an average in the week, instead of sinking under accumulating debts, must amass estates with unparalleled rapidity. The impolicy of slavery, however, will require, and probably obtain in a subsequent stage of the inquiry, a more distinct consideration.

season of crop, the slaves appear at that time in much higher condition than during the rest of the year. This results from the free use which they make of the nutritious juice of the cane; a fact however which gives some idea of their starving condition through the remaining months of the twelve.

In regard to the means of support, the situation of the West Indian slave presents a strange anomaly to the usual law; his comforts and supplies being nearly in an inverse ratio to the productiveness of the soil. Where the soil is well adapted to the cultivation of canes, the allotments of the slaves are liable to be stinted, whilst their labour, on account of its superior importance is rendered more severe than on thinner soils. In the Bahama Islands, where the land is much exhausted, the slaves are not only more liberally endowed with lots for their own use, but the supplies from their masters are also more copious, than in the Leeward Islands, where sugar is generally cultivated. In the latter islands, the provisions are mostly bought, and hence money or credit is required to obtain them; in the former they are raised on the islands where they are consumed, and hence the embarrassment of the master affects less injuriously the condition of the slave.

In the United States, the situation of the slaves, though in fact much more favourable than in the British islands, is, as far as the laws in most of the slaveholding states are concerned,

very nearly similar. One all-pervading principle runs through the system. The slaves are considered not so much in the light of sentient beings, possessed of inherent rights, but as property over which the right of ownership is either absolute, or to be very cautiously touched. In most of the states, the authority to regulate at discretion the time and degree of labour, as well as the kind and quantity of food, results as a necessary consequence from the nature of the relation between master and slave, and the absence of

any legislative enactment on the subject. In several of them, indeed, there are laws, ostensibly designed to limit this authority-The Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi are of this number.

A law of South Carolina, passed in 1740, designed, as we find by the preamble, to correct abuses then existing, provides, that no slave shall be required to labour more than fifteen hours in twenty-four, during the summer season, nor more than fourteen

during the other half of the year. In Louisiana, a law of 1806, prescribes that the slaves shall be allowed half an hour for breakfast, and two hours for dinner, during one half of the year, and an hour and a half during the other; with the proviso, that half an hour in the day may be deducted from this time, in case the owners cause the meals to be provided for the slaves. But when the labour of the day shall begin or end, the law does not profess to declare. The laws of Georgia and Mississippi prohibit the owners or overseers from exacting from the slaves any labour, (works of absolute necessity and the necessary occasions of the family excepted,) "on the Lord's day usually called Sunday.” In Georgia also, the owner, not the overseer, who shall require of any slave, a greater quantity of work than he is able to food, and otherwise abuse, so as to imperform, and withhold the necessary pair the health of such slave, is liable, upon sufficient information being laid before the grand jury, to be presented and subjected to a criminal prosecution; and if convicted, to be punished with fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court.

In Louisiana every owner is requir