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Things At The South

Things At The South image
Parent Issue
Day
18
Month
August
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

There are many instances where ihc slaves arekindly treated,comfortably clotli ed, atv! well fetl. But witli the owtiers of such. the anti-slavery part of our people have liltle cause to apprehend diiliculty. - They do not denounce the abolitionists or speak unkindly o{ thena. Muny of them arezealous advocates for emancipution. - Such elaves have not intellectual culture. Qn the deathof a kind master, should he have neglectcd tonrovide for them by will or ahould he have died indebtcd, they must be sold to the hiyhest bidder. A case of this kind happencd lasi winter in- - County. Mr a kind man to his slaves, died suddenly and in debt. He had nine or ten slaves. Riding mto , I overtook them near the town, walking in a muddy road of a rainy morning. Two vvomen had their chüdren in their arms, (infants.) Their husbiuids had some older ones. Theyware Ured of a walk of eight miles in deep mud- were within Ualf a rnile of the place whorethey wero to be sold, to whom they Icnew not, and to be separated, perhaps, for ever. They appeared to possess fortitudo, with a settled melancholy. They were sold in the court house. I went in for a few minutes. Thcre appeared to be not more than nventy or thirty bidder? most of them from a distance. The firs ofFered was a bo)' about fourteon ycar old - he was sold on a credit of onc yea for $715. The next wos u boy about thsame aye - L70. Thu ne.( a woman with iriíbnt - í think a fracüon ovcr $700. i Her husbnnd was sold to n man from N. Carolina. ít was said tho purchaser assurcd him thal ho should be permilted to come into Tennessee to see his wiíe once a year. EoBsibly the promise may be regarded. The wómen were allowedto rclain thoir infanta. Wilh that they appear ed to think tho claims of huraanity satisfied. Theothers worc scattered to places remóte from each other. I have boon sincc to the house of Mrs. ■ She iMe pears to be a pious vvomnn. Sho said was distressing to her to hve her eolored family scattered so, but she bad no power to prevent it. However mildly 6laves may bc treated, they live in dread of these occurrences, which separate ihern for ever. A year ago there was much discussion in the South, though most in Virginia, about the demand made on Gov. Seward for the surrender of the ''fugitivos from justico.11 Thcre appeared to be some surprise that the Governor did not yield at once. The elections were pending, and times unpropitious. It was said the correspondence was tobe resumed, and no doubt was enteriained of success. The old expedients of raving, bullying, and threatning diaunion, it wns supposed would not a il lo bring New York to terms. I had nuch anxiely for the issue; and greatly to lio honor of your Exeoulive, ho maintained his ground with dignity and (irmness. por once this insolence of the South hns úeen rebuked and compelled to yield. No ircumslance that I recollect has raised !ie Nor'h more.The South appear to feel as though heir power was not as potent a9 they had upposed, and that the INorth may in fuure be less disposed to yield to their uneasonable demnrcds. The repeal ofyour nine monlh's law - the decisión of the Sureme Court of Ohio, and many other ïings indícate a favorable changejn pubic sentiment in the North. Therc are favorable signs even here. - 'he letters of Mr. Gurney to Henry Clay re read attentively by slaveholders. I ïave heard no one of them express an unfavorable opinión of them. For the present state of the South it is a most excelent work. So kind that none could take ofFence atit. The reasoning so clear and 'orcible as to be unanswerablc. I hope t will have a general circulation at the outh. I should think that in the present quiet state of the public mind it would be ead in all paris of the South, and without any special efforttodeslroy it. It was observed by some writer, a year or two ago, ïhat the abolitionists werc more dangerous to their institutions than was generally imagiued. Though few in number they were industrious and persevering. I hope they may continue to de- serve that character. Mr. , of whom I have frequently spoken, showed me a will rawn for a widow a few days since, in vhich she emancipatcd her six slaves at icr death. Mr. , has been in !ie habit of writing a great many wills br the last twenty years. He says a ;reat chango has taken place withiu the ist two years in emancipating slaves; and ïat this disp(,si:ion lo emancípate is on the icrease. Judge has expressed ie same opinión, and others also whosc ituation enabled them to obtain extenive information. Mr. D. has been one of the most fa ithul laborers in tho anti-slavery cause in Sust Tenuessee. He has written much, ind alvvays carries the influence with iim_ ile laments the corrupting influnce in thechurch, and Bavs the church lust be frecd from it. ' boine Oí the Southern clergymen and oliticians represent the South as being united, all as one man, ready to do battle or slavcry at its bidding. Nothing can be farther (rom the trulh. Take ihc whede alaveholding South and they have less than a majority of the legal voters. - It is only by withholding light, and ucting in concert, as a privilegcd order, that thcy maintain the ascendency. This is the reason why they are alarmed when an abolition paper or pamphlet finds its way among theni. Slavery could not bear free diacussion one year in the South, if by any tneans the non slaveholding part of the community should act in concert . It must soon die. If the lime comes, and come it must, when the subject is fairly taken up for djscussion, there are men of ardent feelings who will go to the work as though they vvcre contending for life. SLAYE HUNTI3ÏG}. His history was brielly this. Me was sold to a slaveholder in Virginia, taken on to the west, and traded from one avage to another. Finding life a burden ie attempted to escape, and was several times recapturcd and whtppedj lic sluted to , that they had whipped bina as many as 500 lashes at one time. - so thathc is covered with ridges from his hcad to his fcet. His last escape was from Apalachacola Iky. Ho soon feil in company with one who had probably escaped from Arkansas. Their plan was to (bllow the mountains to the free states. - They were so much -- that thoy made slow progress. One winter they lived in a cave on the mountains, and subsisted mainly on dry corn, which they parched by their fire. At oihcr limes thcy wcre followed by dogs, and narrowly escaped being caught. One night, after a fatigttiDg day's work, thoy era W led into a pen whero therc was a quantity of husks. Very soon after they lay down they weresurroqndeil by a cnmpany of men and dogs. They brokc through and were followed by the dogs. Tlicy ca lied to the dogs as if lo set them on something ahead - this succecded, and the dogs ran past, doing them no harm. T hoy were often supplicd with provisions by other ölaves. S une times they suiFercd wilh hunger. They saw plenty of game, but could not take it Tor want of a gun. They were on the great Smuky Mountain, Cocke Co. and found thcmselvcs pursuod by men and dogs. - Thcyran until they came to the Big Pigeon rivcr. The ico was running in the rivêr at ihe time. They plunged in and swam across. The doga and the more eavage men could not stand socold a bath and gave up the pursuit. The night was cold, and they were hungry, without iire, wet, and tlieir cloths froze on them. The poor fellow stated to that, in al! hts sufterings, that night was the most severe, and bcought him the nearest to death. - They wandered about a few days lorigcr, and seeing a hunter at a distance by the name , they went to him and voluntarily surrendered themselves. All who havo seen this man describe him as a man of the first order of natural talents, ind of strict integrity of character. VVhen I met , inquiring for hjm ie said, "He isa smarter man than I am." Vlr. said that his veracity was so strict that he would always teil the truth though against himself. Th e re are thousands whose iives would be parallel wilh his. In Mississippi they are hunted with blood hounds. lia slave attompts lo run, the pursuers shoot him down. This 'ertile state is sufl'cring as if under the curse of Rea yen. Dr. tells me that as many ns one iifth of t'ueplantations are abandoned and it seems to be generally understood, that the State is without uharaclcr at home, or credit abroad.MU. mHNEYS CHABACTEK AT TUE SJUTH. 1 ani happy to hoar that my friend Birney is married. No oneof his friendscan more sincerely rejoicc in his happiness. - My acquaintance bregad withhim n Alajama. He was then in ihe fropt rank of lis profession at thu bar. The higliesi lionurs of the state were within his reach if he would havc accepled ihera. I next knew him while in Kentucky. While I was in the stage in company vvith s!aveholders between Maysville and Lexíngtón they spokeof his paper intended to be publislied nt Ddnville,and said he should not survive the second number ifliedid the firsl. I thought it my duty lo npprise him o( his dangcr by letter - but 1 ain mortified to recullect thnt it conlained a censuro on aboütionists for going ahead of public sentiment. I soon became convinced thal Mr. Birooy was ri:ht, and have only iegfjBUed that I could not do more for u cause in whieh so mucli is involved. 1 liope most sincerely that he may yel be President of the United States. líe has talents ofthe first order, firmness and independence, vih all tho qualifications necessary for the Chief Magistracy ofthis great nalion. From thc Free Labor Advocate (Ind.) Pcru,Cthmo'. 29th} 1841.Sume two months ago a woman bv thc parné ol" Nancy Byers, a resident of Arkansas, carne on a visit to her father'd, irr Bennington.Delawarc Co.O., and brought with her a little sluve girl about nine yeafs oíd. On being apprised of the fací, some of us pul measures n train to oscertain whether 6he held the girl as a slave or not. After making several fruiiless atternpts, ve at leny.h obiained the necssary evidence - a writ of Habeas Corpus was issued and the girl brought before Judge Biundige, one oí' the ussociate judgbs of this count}', and a legal investigation 5011e iiito, and the girl declared free by the court. The }lea set up by the dcfendent was, that ihe mother of the child had given her to the defendent, with the request that the defendent would keep her and provide íor UHtil she was eighteeiiyears oíd. But ít was proved on the other hand that the child was bought, with her mother and a little brother, for the sum of thirteen hundred dollars, and brought to this state a slave, and Ihat it was the intention of the defendent to take her back to Arkansas. A suitable home was provided for the Lir), and she sent to school. But we soon fuund that it would not be safe for her to remaní here, and she was accordingly con veyed to a place of safety. Thus it is with this mueh injured, and hunted race, in this land of boasted freedoin, there is ío rest to the soles of their feet until they set them on British soil, even though thcy noy be declared free by the laws of the and. Our own citizens turn kidnappers xnd thcy have to fice. Let abolitionists jvery where beon the alert, and see that he slaves which are brought into the state jy their maslers are not suffered to be taien out again . Much may be done by the yigilénce of abolitionists, to re&cuu the victims of oppression in this way and to provent our laws being trampled upon with impunity, by the lordly slaveholder A. L. BENED1CT. OCrThomas Whitemaish, of Northampton, Mass., is now feeding four millions of silk worms. In the last Congress, out of 29 G menvbers, about 40, or one inseven werc professors of religión. Letters have been received at Boston from Calcutta, which is nearly on !he oppositc sido of the globe, in cight weeks.