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LETTER V.

DEAR BROTHER:

The longer I reflect upon involuntary slavery, the more I abhor it, as being a combination of the most flagrant injustice and cruelty. It makes an innocent man the property of another, who may, if he please, deprive him of all the comforts of life, and subject him to a thousand sufferings. This appears to me as most unjust and cruel, when I consider that the very best of men are fallen.creatures, and, as such, naturally disposed to tyranize over the subjects of their power. The history of the world is but one general display of tyrannical oppression-every nation has been made to agonize beneath the weight of cruel despotism-every sect or party, that has in any age been vested with absolute power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, has manifested a strong tendency towards tyranny. Indeed, such corrupt tendency marks the whole character of a fallen man, and is often displayed where the God of nature, seems to have placed the strongest guard against it—parents, frequently break over the strong barrier of natural affection, and oppress their own offspring. It is true, that some men are more humane than others, yet even such are liable to tyranize, in some instances, over the subjects of their power. Hence David, though one of the most humane princes of antiquity, exercised most horrible tyranny in the case of Uriah: and, the personal attendants of the Savior, though they had heard from his sacred lips the most tender lessons of compassion, were anxious to

command fire down from heaven, in order to consume

at once a whole city!

tions of the very best

Thus we see how the corrup

of men, occasionally triumph

Hence, we

over them, and, with dreadful impetuosity, hurry them into scenes of most shocking cruelty! conclude that the very best of men are disqualified for the proper exercise of such absolute power as involuntary slavery confers on the proprietor of slaves. And how much less the worst of men are qualified for the suitable exercise of such power, will appear more evidently, while we consider the immense degree to which it extends.

I. The law of involuntary slavery makes the slave the property of his master, who is no more bound to supply his natural wants, than he is to supply those of his beasts. But notwithstanding the slave is shoved down to the rank of the beast, he is still a man, and needs comfortable clothing to shield him from the chilling blasts of winter, as well as for the sake of decent appearance. And this the master is not bound to give him, but may either clothe him in rags, or turn him naked, as an inordinate love of gain may dictate. Hence in some parts of Alabama, you may see slaves in the cotton fields without so much as even a single rag upon them, shivering before the chilling blasts of mid-winter. In some sections of Old Virginia, they have been seen naked as in the hour of their birth, attending on their master's table. And doubtless the like may be seen in South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi-Indeed in every slaveholding states many slaves suffer extremely, both while they labor and while they sleep, for want of clothing to keep them warm. Often they are driven through frost and snow without either stocking or shoe

until the path they tread is dyed with the blood that issues from their frost-worn limbs! And when they return to their miserable huts at night they find not there the means of comfortable rest; but on the cold ground they must lie without covering, and shiver, while they slumber.

In connexion with their extreme sufferings occasioned by want of clothing I shall notice those which arise from the want of food. As the making of grain is the main object of their mancipation, masters will sacrifice as little as possible in giving them food. It often happens that what will barely keep them alive, is all that a cruel avarice will allow them. Hence, in some instances, their allowance has been reduced to a single pint of corn each during the day and night. And some have no better allowance than a small portion of cotton seed!! And in some places the best allowance is a peck of corn each during the week, while perhaps they are not permitted to taste meat so much as once in the course of seven years, except what little they may be able to steal! Thousands of them are pressed with the gnawings of cruel hunger during their whole lives —an insatiable avarice will not grant them a single comfortable meal to satisfy the cravings of nature! Such cruelty far exceeds the powers of description !*

*Alas poor, hapless slaves are doom'd to toil,
With naked limbs, beneath the direful rage
Of fiercely burning suns, and chilling blasts
That beat upon them with alternate strokes ;
While long years of fierce starvation onward
Roll, with lingering pace, and the grating wheels
Of time, that measure out the dreary span
Of hard, servile life, scarcely seem to move,
And the toil-worn and weatherbeaten flesh
Longs for the peaceful, lasting sleep of death,
And seeks a shelter, in the silent grave,
From hunger, toil and raging elements.

D

You tell me that 'If the poor negroes were set free, they would either starve or turn to highway robbing." But certainly their situation could not be worse than it now is with regard to starvation and robbing. Thousands of them are really starving in a state of slavery, and are under the direful necessity of stealing whatever they can find, that will satisfy the cravings of hunger; and I have little doubt but many actually starve to death. Should they starve when free the fault would, in some measure, be their own, and should they steal they could be punished for it, in the same manner that white thieves are punished for their thefts.

II. The slaveholder has it in his power, to violate the chastity of his slaves. And not a few are beastly enough to exercise such power. Hence it happens that, in some families, it is difficult to distinguish the free children from the slaves. It is sometimes the case, that the largest part of the master's own children are born, not of his wife, but of the wives and daughters of his slaves, whom he has basely prostituted as well as enslaved. His poor slaves are his property and therefore must yield to his lusts as well as to his avarice! He may perpetrate upon them the most horrid crimes, and they have no redress! The wretched slave must, without a murmuring word, give up his wife, or daughter, for prostitution, should his master be vile enough to demand her of him! It must be a horrid crime for any State to give one man such power over another, and such crime has every slaveholding State committed. I am far from wishing to intimate that this power is generally so grossly exercised as it might be. Some slaveholders are, doubtless, as chaste as any other people, and conscientiously endeavor to preserve the

chastity of their slaves; but I wish to show the extent of the power with which they are vested, and the shocking manner in which it is sometimes exercised.

In addition to this, we may remark, that the proprietors of slaves have it in their power to crowd the males and females together, in such a manner as is calculated to induce criminal intercourse, and to the great disgrace of human nature, this is sometimes done for the base purpose of breeding slaves for market, as though they were mere animals and not human beings!

In this place I will further remark, that slavery not merely puts the chastity of the slave in the power of the master, but also exposes it to attacks from every lecherous class of men. Slaves cannot bear testimony against people that are white and free-hence a wide door is opened for the practice, both of violence and seduction without detection; and the consequences of this are exceedingly manifested in every slaveholding country-every town and its vicinity soon become crowded with mulattoes. In this respect slavery is the very sink of filthiness, and the source of every hateful abomination. It seems to me astonishing that any government, much more that of the United States, should sanction such a source of monstrous crime as slavery evidently is! And I am still more astonished that you, my Brother, should countenance it in the least degree, either in theory or practice! It is fraught with such horrible abominations as ought to shock you, and cause you to shrink from its first approaches. I would rather beg my bread from door to door, long as I live, than enslave, even the meanest of my fellow creatures. My soul abhors the crime.

I intend to dwell more upon the horrors of slavery in my next.

FAREWELL BROTHER.