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prohibition exists; but in our southern states, a coloured inhabitant of Pennsylvania or N. England, cannot support a claim to his kidnapped wife or child, without invoking the aid of his whiter neighbours. If a small community of coloured persons should be formed in any of the non-slave-holding states, where would be their remedy in case any of their number should be clandestinely conveyed to a southern market? And are not the children in numerous families of that people now in very nearly the same situation?

FLORIDA.

The following extract from Gadsden's Address to the Florida Institute, enumerates products as numerous and valuable as are to be found in any region of the world.

"Florida is no less remarkable for the natural, than the foreign productions which have been found congenial to her soils. All the varieties of pulse, the tuberous and the esculent roots, the farinaceous grains, wheat, barley, rye, oats, and the millets, peas, beans, yams, and potatoes, have been cultivated to great advantage. Cottons, the black and the green seed, produce, as is natural to the climate; and the experiments in sugar cane have been crowned with no ordinary success. The banana, the plantain, the pine-apple, the cocoa-nut, and most of the tropical fruits, flourish near the southern extremity, and may, it is believed, be gradually naturalized to the northern limit; some few experiments near St. Augustine have been very encouraging. Figs, oranges, limes, lemons, and all the varieties of citrons, nectarines, peaches, olives and pomegranates, thrive in the eastern section of the territory, as if indigenous; and if any conclusions to equal results from the similarity of soils and climate can be relied on, a well grounded expectation may be entertained, that almonds and the palms, all the varieties of the grapes and the oleaginous grains which have contributed alike to the luxury, the comfort, and wealth of the south of Europe, and of the countries washed by the Mediterranean, may be successfully introduced into Florida."

The North American Review remarks, that the acquisition of Florida is one of the most important occurrences of our history. The acquisition of Louisiana, indeed, was hardly complete without it, nor could there be any security to the south-western frontier, while Florida remained in foreign hands, and opened a way to one of the most vulnerable parts of the U. States. Its acquisition, after a negociation which had baffled the skill of our ablest statesmen for thirty years, entitles Mr. Adams, by whom the negociation was conducted, to a praise second only to Mr. Jefferson's for the purchase of Louisiana. Florida is rapidly peopling and improving. The address referred to above, is from the press of a settlement three years old. The township granted General La Fayette adjoins that of Tallahassee, and is probably to be soon surrounded by one of the most fruitful regions not only of the United States, but of the world. In the event of the completion of the great Florida canal, the citizens of this territory will possess every incentive to industry which a free and enterprising people can wish.-Balt. American.

EQUALITY.

The slaves in Virginia give that state seven representatives in congress. The free white population of Virginia is only so much larger than the white population of Massachusetts as to entitle her to two more representatives; and yet the former has nine more than the latter.

The white population of North Carolina is not so great by 100,000 as that of Massachusetts; and yet that state has as many congressmen as Massachusetts.

The number of white inhabitants in South Carolina is not so great as that of Maine by 60,000-but South Carolina has two more representatives in congress than we have. The free population of Maine is about 300,000 -that of Georgia only 189,000; and yet Georgia has as many representatives as Maine.

Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Maryland, with an aggregate of one million of freemen send as many

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seriously disposed, but not a professor of religion. He has now eight brothers and sisters living in Frankfort, Franklin county, Kentucky, all slaves, and all, excepting one, members of a Baptist church in that place.

About a year after his conversion, Reuben was married to a slave, who had been kidnapped in Maryland, and sold to a planter in his neighbourhood. She was also hopefully pious. While they lived together, she became the mother of two children; but about four years after their marriage, she and one of the children, aged eight months, were sold without his knowledge, and transported to a distant Spanish territory, and with so much secrecy, that he had no opportunity even to bid her a last farewell. "This,' said he, 'was the severest trial of my life, a sense of sin only excep

ted. I mourned and cried, and would not be comforted.

After several months, however, the hope of meeting her and my children again in the kingdom of God, when we should never be separated, together with a promise from my master that I should at some future time go and see her, in some measure allayed my grief, and permitted me to enjoy the consolations of religion."-The other child is now a slave in Kentucky, though the father has often endeavoured in vain to purchase his freedom.

About six years since, having hired his time of his master for five years previous, at 120 dollars a year, Reuben had succeeded, by trafficking in rags, and in other ways, in collecting a sum sufficient for the purchase of his own freedom, for which he paid 700 dollars, and not only so, but he was enabled, with his surplus earnings, to build him a brick house, and to provide it with convenient accommodations. By the dishonesty of his former master, however, all was taken from him.

Thus stripped of his property, he left Kentucky and went to New-Orleans, that he might learn something from his wife, and if possible, find and redeem her; but he only succeeded in gaining the painful intelligence that she was dead. He there formed an acquaintance with his present wife, whose former name was Betsey Bond, and they were soon married.-The circumstances of her life are briefly these:

Betsey was born a slave, near Hobb's Hole, Essex County, Virginia, about 1763, was married to a slave at about the age of twenty years. By him she had three children, one of which, together with her husband, died a few years after their marriage. Soon after their death, she was led to reflect on her lost state as a sinner, and after about seven months of deep anxiety, was enabled, as she trusts, to resign herself into the hands of her Saviour, and experience those consolations which he deigns to grant to the broken-hearted penitent.

She gained the confidence and attachment of her mistress, who treated her with much kindness, and was married to a pious servant of the family,

where she remained about nine years. At the close of this period, a planter from the vicinity of Natchez coming to Alexandria, in Virginia, where she then lived, for slaves, she was sold, and carried with eight others to his plantation, leaving her husband behind.

Her new master treated her with great severity, and she was compelled to labour almost incessantly every day of the week, Sabbath not excepted, to save herself from the lash. With this man she lived nineteen years, and he then died, and left his slaves by will, to another planter, who also dying soon after, she was again sold, and transported to New-Orleans, where she arrived about the year 1812.

At the end of two years this master also died, and when his slaves were about to be sold, Betsey succeeded with some difficulty in hiring her time, and in little more than a year, by washing and other labour, she acquired sufficient property to purchase her freedom, for which she paid 250 dollars. Her youngest son, with his wife being also slaves in New-Orleans, she hoped by her industry and economy to obtain money sufficient to purchase them also; but their master refused to part with them.

About six years ago, a large number of slaves were brought to NewOrleans from Virginia, and were about to be offered for sale, and Fanny was among the number. Having become accidentally acquainted with her, previous to the sale, and finding her a sister in Christ, Betsey's feelings were deeply interested, and she resolved to purchase her, and to treat her not as a slave, but as a child and companion.

This determination she communicated to Fanny, and with the aid of a gentleman she succeeded in accomplishing her object. The price was 250 dollars. She paid 200, her all, and obtained a short credit for the remainder. Soon after this, her present husband coming to New-Orleans, as before stated, they were married, and the payment for Fanny was then completed.

By their united industry, they were soon able to build a comfortable house, in which they set apart a room for re

ligious purposes.

Here they assembled with others every Sabbath for the worship of God. But being constantly exposed to be disturbed in their worship, they felt a great desire to go to a free State, where they might enjoy religious privileges unmolested; where they could unite with Christian friends in social prayer and conversation, without a soldier with a drawn sword stationed at their door.

They fixed upon New-York as the desired asylum; and having arranged their concerns, rented their house, and collected their effects, they engaged and paid their passage, which was seventy dollars, and sailed from NewOrleans about the 12th of July, 1825, with pleasing anticipations for a land of freedom and religious privileges.

They suffered much on their voyage through the cruelty of the captain; being exposed without shelter during the whole of the passage, either on deck or in the long boat. In consequence of this exposure, both of the women were taken sick, and in this condition they arrived at New-York, and were landed on the wharf in a land of strangers, their money almost expended, and none to commiserate their sufferings.

After a few days, however, Reuben succeeded in obtaining a miserable cellar in Chapel-street, at sixty dollars annual rent, where he remained until quite recently, supporting the family in their sickness, by his labour as a shoemaker, and by the sale of some of his effects.

On his arrival at this port, his first act was to grant entire freedom to Fanny, giving her liberty to live with him, or to go where she pleased. She chose to remain with him, and now assists in the support of the family by washing and other labour, and nurses her mistress who is evidently declining with the consumption occasioned doubtless by the severity of her treatment on the passage from NewOrleans.

Not being able to pay their rent in advance, owing to their sickness and other expenses, their landlord not long since compelled them to quit their residence; and they have since been

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obliged to put up with still more miserable accommodations in a cellar in Elm-street, where they now reside.

They appear to put their trust and confidence in God, and express their entire belief that all their trials are designed for their good. They seem to be one in sentiment and feeling, and to manifest a spirituality of mind rarely to be found. Every little attention is most gratefully received, and the best of blessings are implored on him who bestows it.

With some assistance from the benevolent, and with what they may receive from New-Orleans for rents, it is believed they may be provided with a comfortable house, and be introduced to those privileges which they so ardently desire. No one of the family can read, though they are all desirous to learn, and from a little attention which friends have given them, it appears that they may be taught without difficulty.

We trust that the mere recital of these facts will be sufficient to awaken the sympathy of our Christian friends, and to induce immediate measures for the relief of the benevolent sufferers. A note from our correspondent informs us that within a few days the health of the sick woman has rapidly declined, owing doubtless to her miserable accommodations, and that she is now apparently in the last stages of the consumption.

In a few weeks at farthest, her spirit will ascend to that world where sorrow and sighing will cease, and all tears be forever wiped from her eyes. We hope that the little remnant of her days on earth will be made happy, and that when she appears at the bar of the Great Judge, she will not have to speak of white men only in the language of accusation.

It is an affecting thought that the wrongs of this poor woman, which commenced at her birth, and were inflicted without interruption during the long years of slavery, still followed her on her passage to the land of freedom, and have been finally consummated in this city, the city of her hopes, her fancied asylum from the oppressor.-A Mott.

SLAVE TRADE.-A POEM.

(Continued from page 192.)

Plead not, in reason's palpable abuse,
Their sense of feeling callous and obtuse:
From heads to hearts lies Nature's plain appeal,
Tho' few can reason, all mankind can feel.
Tho' wit may boast a livelier dread of shame,
A loftier sense of wrong refinement claim;
Tho' polish'd manners may fresh wants invent,
And nice distinctions nicer souls torment;
Tho' these on finer spirits heavier fall,
Yet natural evils are the same to all.
Tho' wounds there are which reason's force may
heal,

There needs no logic sure to make us feel.
The nerve, howe'er untutor'd, can sustain
A sharp, unutterable sense of pain;
As exquisitely fashion'd in a slave,
As where unequal fate a sceptre gave.
Sense is as keen where Gambia's waters glide,
As where proud Tiber rolls his classic tide.
Tho' verse or rhetoric point the feeling line,
They do not whet sensation, but define.
Did ever wretch less feel the galling chain,
When Zeno prov'd there was no ill in pain?
In vain the sage to smooth its horror tries:
Spartans and Helots see with different eyes;
Their miseries philosophie quacks deride,
Slaves groan in pangs disown'd by Stone pride.

When the fierce Sun darts vertical his beams,
And thirst and hunger mix their wild extremes;
When the sharp iron wounds his inmost soul,
And his stain'd eyes in burning anguish roll;
Will the parch'd Negro own, ere he expire,
No pain in hunger, and no heat in fire?

For him, when agony his frame destroys, What hope of present fame or future joys? For that have Heroes shorten'd nature's date; For this have Martyr's gladly met their fate; But him, forlorn, no Hero's pride sustains, No Martyr's blissful visions sooth his pains; Sullen, he mingles with his kindred dust, For he has learn'd to dread the Christian's trust; To him what mercy can that God display, Whose servants murder, and whose sons betray? Savage! thy venial error I deplore, They are not Christians who infest thy shores.

O thou sad spirit, whose preposterous yoke The great deliverer Death, at length, has broke! Releas'd from misery, and escap'd from care, Go, meet that mercy man deny'd thee here. In thy dark home, sure refuge of th' oppress'd, The wicked ves not, and the weary rest. And, if some notions, vague and undefin'd Of future terrors has assail'd thy mind; If such thy masters have presum'd to teach, As terrors only they are prone to preach; (For should they paint eternal Mercy's reign, Where were th' oppressor's rod, the captive's chain ?)

If, then, thy troubled soul has learn'd to dread The dark unknown thy trembling footsteps

tread;

On Him, who made thee what thou art, depend; He, who withholds the means, accepts the end.

Nothing is more frequent than this cruel and stupid argument, that they do not feel the miseries inflicted on them as Europeans would do.

This is not said figuratively. The writer of these lines has seen a complete set of chains, fitted to every separate limb of these unhappy, in nocent men; together with instrumentss for wrenching open the jaws, contrived with such ingenious cruelty as would gratify the tender mercies of an inquisitor.

THE

African Observer,

ELEVENTH MONTH, 1827..

SIMONDI'S REVIEW.

The essays on Negro Slavery, are suspended for the present number; their place being supplied by the essay of Simondi, translated from the Revue Encyclopedique, pour Juillet, 1827. With those who are conversant with the French literature of the present time, the character of Simondi will ensure a careful perusal of any production which bears his name. Should the editor obtain a copy of the work whose review is here given, it is probable some extracts may enrich the future numbers of this journal.

REVIEW, BY J. C. L. DE SIMONDI,

Of A Treatise on Legislation, or an Exposition of the Laws, according to which nations advance, decline, or remain stationary; by Charles Compte, counsellor at the royal court of Paris.

The space which we are allowed, is too limited to permit the attempt to furnish a complete analysis of this VOL. I.-29

stupendous work. From the immense variety of facts which it contains, and of knowledge assumed as possessed, this treatise is scarcely susceptible of abridgment into a small number of pages. Besides, although the object of the author is not jurisprudence, as we might suppose from the title, but rather the laws to which man has been subjected by the hand of nature, we ought to acknowledge our want of the requisite acquirements to authorise an opinion on many of the important questions which he has discussed.

But we flatter ourselves, we shall be able to please our readers, and confer a benefit upon society, by detaching from this great work, one important book, a book which of itself composes a great whole, and on which we ardently desire to fix the attention of our cotemporaries. M. Compte has devoted his fourth volume, containing 536 pages to his fifteenth book, which he has entitled, "Of domestic slavery, consi

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