CHAPTER XVIII.

Slavery in the United States-Number of Slave-owners-Slave-breeding States Account of Virginia-Failure of the Liberian Colony-Population of the United States in 1850-Governor Hammond's Letter to Thomas Clarkson-Dreadful Depression in the Island of Jamaica-Cause of the Abolition of Slavery in the Free States of the Union-Slavery upheld by the Clergy in America-Selling Slaves by Auction.

Having discussed the subject of slavery when treating of the Empire of Brazil, it now only remains that I should give some little account of it as it exists at present in the United States. It may be proper, however, to mention a fact, of which few are aware, that there are not above 300,000 individuals who hold slaves in the United States, so that the property vested in three and a half millions of human beings is all held by that comparatively small body of slave-owners.

And now that the importation of fresh slaves from Africa has been prohibited, the chief part of the trade carried on at present, consists in the rearing of slaves in one province, and selling them in another. The former may be called the slave-breeding States; the latter the slave-using States.

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and part of Kentucky, are the chief provinces employed in rearing slaves for exportation to New Orleans, Alabama, and the valley

of the Mississippi, where, from the great demand, a stout young male slave will bring from £150 to £200 sterling. The trade is carried on in the larger towns of Virginia and Maryland by regular dealers, who purchase the young slaves from those who have either reared them or collected them like sheep from some other quarter, selling them of course again with a profit; and the nature of the trade may be understood from the following advertisements of the Baltimore and Virginian merchants :—

"Cash for Negroes.-The subscriber being desirous of making another shipment to New Orleans, will give a good market price for fifty negroes from ten to thirty years old.-HENRY DAVIS."

"The subscriber wishes to purchase 100 slaves of both sexes, from the age of ten to thirty, for which he is disposed to give much higher prices than have heretofore been given. He will call on those living in the adjacent counties to see any property.-ANSLEY DAvis."

A CARD.

"A. Woolfolk wishes to inform the owners of negroes in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, that he is not dead, as has been artfully represented by his opponents, but that he still lives to give them CASH and the highest prices for their negroes. Persons having negroes to dispose of will please give him a chance, by addressing him at Baltimore, when immediate attention will be paid to their wishes."

"Notice. This is to inform the public generally, that I yet continue in the slave-trade, at Richmond, Virginia, and will at all times buy and give a fair market price for young negroes. Persons in this State, Maryland, or North Carolina, wishing to sell lots of negroes, are particularly requested to forward their wishes to me at this place. Persons wishing to purchase lots of negroes are requested to give me a call, as I keep constantly on hand at this place a great many on sale, and will sell at all times at a small advance on cost to suit purchasers. I have comfortable rooms, with a jail attached, for the reception of the negroes; and persons coming to this place to sell slaves, can be accommodated, and the reception of the company of gentlemen dealing in slaves will conveniently and attentively be received.-LEWIS A. COLLIER."

The more extensive slave-dealers have all a large depôt ! which they call a jail, into which they put their slaves,

and it resembles a prison in every respect, being provided with chains, handcuffs, and other means of preventing escape. Purchasers inspect them in these jails, select those that will suit them, and then make the best bargain they can.

Though slave-traders are a class of men much abused in England, yet, as slaves are property, and must, like all other property, frequently change owners, it necessarily follows that slave-dealers are but the merchants, by whose intervention the article changes hands, and are consequently no more deserving of our censure than the drover who takes the hogs and horses of Tennessee to a market in the Atlantic States.

In 1829, it was estimated that the annual revenue to Virginia from the export of human flesh, was one million and a half of dollars, and in 1832 it had arrived at so high a pitch, that T. J. Randolph declared in the legislature of the State, that Virginia had been converted into "one grand menagerie, where men were reared for market, like oxen for the shambles."

Slave-rearing, in fact, brings now more money into Virginia than all its cotton or tobacco. It generally takes all their labour to clothe and support them, so that the chief profits of the owners are derived from the sale of the young ones. In the year 1613, Mr John Rolf, an Englishman, settled in Virginia, married Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, a celebrated Indian chief. Three years afterwards he took her to England on a visit, where she was treated with great respect, but died the following year at Gravesend, in the 22d year of her age, just as she was about to embark for America. She left a son, who having received his education in England, went over to Virginia, where he lived and died in affluence and honour, leaving behind him an only daughter, whose descendents

are among the most respectable families at present in Virginia.

The brother-in-law of Pocahontas accompanied her to England, and was directed by Powhatan to bring him an exact account of the numbers and strength of the English. For this purpose he provided himself with a bundle of sticks, intending to cut a notch in them for every person he should meet with. On landing at Plymouth he became appalled at the magnitude of his task, but notwithstanding, he notched indefatigably till he entered Piccadilly in London, when he instantly threw away his bundle. On his return to America, being asked by Powhatan how many people there were, he replied, "Count the stars in the sky, the leaves on the trees, and the sands on the sea-shore; for such is the number of the people of England." The whole Indians now in America do not exceed 300,000 individuals.

In the year 1616, the cultivation of tobacco was first introduced into Virginia, and sells there at sixpence the pound. The plant grows to the height of about 5 feet. In 1619 the first convicts, amounting to 100, and called "dissolute persons," were transported from England to Virginia, and were, at that period, very acceptable to the colonists. During that year also, the first cargo of negroes, consisting of 20, was imported from Africa into Virginia, in a Dutch vessel, of whom the Virginians made slaves.

The year 1622 was remarkable for a massacre of the colonists of Virginia by the Indians, which was executed with the utmost subtlety, and without any regard to age or sex. A well concerted attack on all the settlements, destroyed, in one hour, and almost at the same instant, 347 persons, men, women, and children, who were defenceless, and incapable of making any resistance. The

miseries of famine were soon superadded to the horrors of massacre; so that in 1624, out of 80 plantations which were filling a-pace, only 8 remained, and of the 9000 emigrants who had arrived from England, no more than 1800 survived those manifold disasters.

In 1712 a similar massacre was perpetrated by the Indians in the State of Carolina, where a number of Palatines from Germany, who had been reduced to indigence by a calamitous war, took up their residence. The Tuscorora tribe of Indians formed a conspiracy with profound secrecy during that year, to murder and expel this infant colony. Having surrounded their principal town with a breastwork to secure their families, they mustered in it to the number of 1200, and sent out small parties to the different settlements under the mask of friendship. On the night agreed upon for the attack, they entered the houses of the planters, demanding provisions, and pretending to be offended, fell to murdering men, women, and children without mercy or distinction; 137 settlers, among whom were almost all the poor Germans who had lately arrived, having been slaughtered the first night. A few however escaped, and flying to South Carolina, gave the alarm. The Governor of that province immediately sent a force of 600 militia, and 400 friendly Indians of different tribes, to their assistance. In their first encounter with the Tuscorora Indians, they killed 300 and took 100 prisoners. After this defeat the Tuscororas retreated to their fortified town, which they were obliged shortly after to surrender to the commanding officer of the Americans. The Tuscororas having lost 1000 men in this expedition, abandoned the country, and joined the Five Nations, with whom they have ever since remained. After this the infant colony remained in peace, and continued to flourish till 1729, when seven of the largest proprietors sold their pro