brine, spirits of turpentine, &c. poured over the gashes to increase the torture; that they are often stripped naked, their backs and limbs cut with knives, bruised and mangled by scores and hundreds of blows with the paddle, and terribly torn by the claws of cats, drawn over them by their tormentors; that they are often hunted with blood hounds and shot down like beasts, or torn in pieces by dogs; that they are often suspended by the arms and whipped and beaten till they faint, and when revived by restoratives, beaten agam till they faint, and sometimes till they die; that their ears are often cut off, their eyes knocked out, their bones broken, their flesh branded with red hot irons; that they are maimed, mutilated and burned to death over slow fires. All these things, and more, and worse, we shall prove, by the testimony of scores and hundreds of eye witnesses, by the testimony of slave-holders in all parts of the slave states, by slaveholding members of congress and of state legislatures, by ambassadors to foreign courts, by judges, by doctors of divinity, and clergymen of all denominations, by merchants, mechanics, lawyers and physicians, by presidents and professors in colleges and professional seminaries, by planters, overscers and drivers. We shall show, not merely that such deeds are committed, but that they are frequent ; not done in corners, but before the sun; not in one of the slave states, but in all of them; not perpetrated by brutal overseers and drivers merely, but by magistrates, by legislators, by professors of religion, by preachers of the gospel, by governors of states, by "gertlemen of property and standing," and by delicate females moving in the highest circles of society." 66 Tiberius, Claudius, and Caligula, began the exercise of their power with singular forbearance, and each grew into a prodigy of cruelty. So averse was Caligula to bloodshed, that he refused to look at a list of conspirators against his own life, which was handed to him; yet afterwards, a more cruel wretch never wielded a sceptre. In his thirst for slaughter, he wished all the necks in Rome one, that he might cut them off at a blow. Domitian, at the commencement of his reign, carried his abhorrence of cruelty to such lengths, that he forbad the sacrificing of oxen, and would sit whole days on the judgment-seat, reversing the the unjust decisions of corrupt judges; yet afterwards, he surpassed even Nero in cruelty. Commodus began with gentleness and condescension, but soon became a terror and a scourge, outstripping in his atrocities most of his predecessors. Maximinus too, was just and generous when first invested with power, but afterwards rioted in slaughter with the relish of a fiend. History has well said of this monarch, 'the change in his disposition may readily serve to show how dan gerous a thing is power, that could transform a person of such rigid virtues into such a monster.' "AMALGAMATION !" What is slavery? It is a system of general licentiousness! whole. sale amalgamation! The Western Luminary, a Kentucky paper, says, "universal licentiousness prevails among the slaves. Chastity is no virtue among them; its violation neither injures female character in their own estimation, or that of their master or mistress: nc instruction is ever given, no censure pronounced. I speak not of the world: I speak of Christian families generally." James A. Thome of Kentucky, says, "It is a well known fact that the slave lodgings, (in villages) are exposed to the entrance of strangers every hour of the night, and that the sleeping apartment of both sexes are common." The Synod of South Carolina and Georgia in their Report, Dec. 1833, stated as follows: " Chastity in either sex, is a rare virtue. Such is the universality and greatness of the vice of lewdness, that to those who are acquainted with slave countries, not a word need be said; all the consequences of this vice are to be seen, not excepting infanticide itself." The Rev. J. D. Paxton, of Virginia, (now missionary in Palestine,) says, "The condition of the females is such (under irresponsible absolute power of their owners) that promises, and threatenings, and management can hardly fail to conquer them They are entirely dependent on their master." Hear, hear, ye northern mothers, who have slave-holding sons! "And that licen. tiousness prevails to a most shameful extent, is proved from the ra pid increase of mulattoes!" The law is all on the side of the mas ter or white, for "any slave, male or female, or any negro, bond or free, to resist or strike a white person in Georgia, he or she shall have their ears cropt." (Stroud's Law, page 97.) In Kentucky they shall have 30 lashes on their bare back. In Georgia, for the first of fence any punishment not extending to life or limb, and death for the second offence. (Prince's Digest, 450.) Public opinion at the south favors licentiousness and amalgamation. Mr. Madison avowed that "the licentiousness of Virginia plantations, stopped just short of destruction; and that it was understood that the female slaves were to become mothers at fifteen." Thomas Jefferson Randolph declared in the Virginia House of Delegates, that Virginia was one grand menagerie, where men are to be reared for market, like oxen for the shambles;"" and that some of the best blood of Virginia runs in the veins of their slaves." 66 Miss Martineau, in her "Views of Society in America" says, a southern clergyman declared that the very general connexion of white gentlemen with their female slaves, introduced a mulatto race whose numbers would become dangerous, if the affections of their white parents were permitted to render them free; and many were waiting until the amalgamation of the races should involve a sufficient number to put an end to slavery"!!-Furthermore, "the wife of a planter in the bitterness of her heart declared, that a planter's wife was only "the chief slave of the harem," Hear, hear! ye mothers, who think it would be a pretty thing for your daughters to marry slave-holders, and have slaves to wait upon them: " Every young man in New-Orleans, early selects a beautiful quadroon girl for his mistress, and establishes her in one of those pretty peculiar houses, whole rows of which may be seen in the ramparts!" How is it with northern young men who go to the south, and buy themselves female domestics, as is of every day's occurrence." This is one of the peculiarities of the southern institutions. It is a very convenient, fashionable, and profitable way of increasing their stock of human chattles! Hear Mr. Gholson of Virginia, in the Legislature of that State, Jan. 18, 1831, reported in the Richmond Whig. "It has always been considered by steady, old fashioned people, that the owners of land had a reasonable right to its annual profits; the owner of orchards to their annual fruits; the owner of brood mares to their product; and the owner of females slaves to their increase! and I do not hesitate to say that in their increase consists much of our wealth!" Henry Clay, before the Colonization Society, in 1829, says, "It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the United States, would slave labor be generally employed, if the proprietor were not tempted to RAISE SLAVES BY THE HIGH PRICE OF THE SOUTHERN MARKET, WHICH KEEPS IT UP IN HIS OWN." 66 In 1836, 40,000 slaves were sold out of Virginia at an average price of $600. Rev. J. W. Douglass, of Fayetteville, N. C. says, upwards of 60,000 passed through a little western town for southern market, in 1835. What a speculation for slave breeders! and temp. tation for Yankees who go to the south to get money, and buy fe. male domestics!! S, A. Forral, Esq. says negresses when young and likely, are often a matter of speculation, 800 or 1000 dollars being obtained for them. It is an occurrence of no uncommon nature to see a Christian (?) father sell his own daughter and the brother his own sister by the same father!" A northern merchant, while on a business tour at the south, lately wrote a letter to his partners saying "he had seen a young woman sold at public auction for seven thousand and five hundred dollars!" The purchaser, a young man, declared he would give ten thousand dollars rather than lose her! Whether the sale was made on northern account" we are not in formed. Perhaps wives, mothers and daughters at the north may try to believe that their husbands, sons and lovers, are proof against the enticements and destructive influences of the " peculiar institutions of the south?" How is it? do we not hear them pleading for them; telling what a good institution slavery is; sanctioned by the Bible; a good old, oriental patriarchal system of concubinage? And if decency would permit, facts might be adduced to show how northern men are implicated in the slave-holding licentiousness of the south, that would make the ears of northern mothers and wives tingle. Thomas Jefferson says, "that man must be a prodigy, who, surrounded by such circumstances, can retain his manners and morals undepraved." Would not northern churches, wives, mothers and daugh ters, do well to be jealous of those who go from the north into the "den of sorrows," the slave-holding states? Can a man go upon hot coals and his feet be not burned?-Charter Oak. |