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Selections: Down South

Selections: Down South image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
March
Year
1845
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Extract of a letter toGeorge W. Clark, ot NV.v York, from his brother, now a resident of Misstssipfii: sÜear Brolher,My vie.vs of stavery arÖ" not much changed; I ahvnys considered t tL cúrselo the countiy. M y more intímate ac-' quaintance with it li&s not tentled to make mo thlrik olherwise. lts tendency id only evil and tliat continually. It fusiers crime in ts most' hideous foriri's, b!unt8 all thé finer' ftiëlings of huraánity, and sinlcs man below thé brille. The negro is treated ns a beast. ÍÍ" thé" planter fe?dg weli, ii ia' that he may get thê Tiore work out of hig slave: and thfen' if the s!ave does not obey the oversf?er, the lastí i applied, and ofien mot unmercifully. My' heart bleeds för the jioor Biave. Surely hia Hffi ia any lhig but pieaöant, or even tolerable He labor?, and toils, and dicst and gxes uhmourned to his hole in the groitnd. And not unfrequently, husbands and wives, parents and chüdren, brothers and sistersaresepatated and iiold apart nevefagaih i'o see or hèar from each othcr. There are three blacks to one whitehere. Tio stitte öPsociety is bad in the exiremp, and mostsö romain vvhiíeslavery lasts. There is iittle or none of ihat kind andfriend ly feeling liere which existsat the North.- All the people seem 1 o care about is to make money and get ricb, and they care but littlo howtheend s attained. A man, to be genteel here. must get tfrunk occasionally, fighr, - and !;ill his feifow in mortal combat. He tben begina to be a man of cons'qencel The Sabbiithls irlinost eniirely disregarded. The stores are left open, and the negroes do ' the most of iheir trading on that day; in fact t is the most busintus day in the week. Before I carne here it was seMom they attemplcd ■ to s'wg at all in the church to which I " ed myselT; and not imfroquenlly I have to sing the hyfnn tfirough alone. Such a thing as a ■ prayer meeting iöspldotu known. We have a hot nnd sickly cliinate, and the iliseases of this country are fi:r more rapid and fatal than ai the North. It is not uncommon, here to see a hearty, robust person taken sick and ie in a few dayti. They sre generalij taken whh ciuI.s and fever, This is theform which most the diseases of th:s climatesume in Uie comme.ncement. We might betler die at once tíian to be long sick iiere, fora cali from tbedóctor in the vltageis Jive doiJars, and every rriile's Iravel or.t dollar; ar.d yo-.i hnd Letter live llmn rftV, ifyou ' can, for n common coffin costs the pretty sum of $T5! nnd olher things in proportion. I think ony man who can et bread enough to ' eat. vvhile onjoying heakh ai. Lhe Nonh, üad belter nót come here." And yet, wo-ikl yon believe t, Ibis man u not an abolltiomat! After eiving, n ano'hcr part of his letter, a grnph:c descriptiun of tho ' evils of slavery, fie adds:' 'I tííiñk it hard, however, to belter their condiúon; at least Tam of opinión immediate emancipation would on!y nSoke a bad matter vorsen Erought np as slaves in Ibis country are, like brutes, in entire ignorence, thry ars ' unfiíted tu cake proper care of theniselves.- ." To mako slaves of them, tbey must bebroughV vv in igiwnmce. Tlierefore, takin slavery as we findït. I um of opinión, as I before said you cannot better the conditionof theslaves' by turning tbeni loose to shift for the'n" sel ves."

Article

Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News