64

PRIVILEGES OF SLAVERY EXAMINED.

if fairly paid for, could provide them beyond bare subsistence. It is also true, that "they incur no debts ;" but neither do they ever accumulate a surplus; "they pay no fines," because their penalties are taken from them in stripes; "they fear no bailiffs," but they have often reason to dread the whip of the overseer; "they are not harassed by the restless desire of amassing fortunes," which cuts them off from all the pleasures of advancement in the world by their own industry; and if "their labour is cheerful by day, and their sleep sweet by night," they are, nevertheless, continually in the habit of running away, most foolishly, of course, from all this happiness and contentment; just as sailors desert from ships of war into which they have been impressed, and as debtors and criminals escape from the prisons in which they are confined against their will. This love of freedom is known to be so strong, even among these " happy and contented beings," that nothing is more common than to see, in the daily newspapers, rewards offered for the apprehension of runaways, with the occasional offer of "freedom" to those who may give information of robberies and conspiracies, as the highest reward that can be offered, to tempt slaves to furnish the information required.

All these things make an impression on the mind of a stranger; and, without doubting for a moment that there are many kind masters and mistresses, who do much to make the condition of their slaves easy and tolerable, it cannot but be evident to him, that the great mass of them are not treated so well as many of the brute creation; and that the dogs and horses of their masters are better fed, have less

labour, less punishment, and quite as much of intellectual culture and enjoyment as the slave: for if the one has not the capacity to learn, the other is strictly forbidden to acquire the power to read. This shutting up of all the avenues to knowledge in the slaves, is, no doubt, done with a view to keep them in a state of greater dependence and subordination ; but it is defended on the ground of their utter unfitness for mental improvements, and an entire deficiency of a capacity for education. And yet, according to good authorities, several Catholic bishops have been negroes, one of whom was canonized as a saint at Rome; and a negro was ordained as a priest of the Episcopal Church of England, by Bishop Keppell, at Exeter, in 1765. Instances of hundreds of intelligent and educated free negroes are found in the north; Hayti is governed entirely by educated blacks; and even at the colony of Liberia, founded chiefly by the slaveholders of America themselves, a public newspaper is written and printed by negroes, schools are conducted, and public worship is carried on, as well as in any part of the Union. The pretence of the incapacity of the negro race to receive instruction, must, therefore, be known to many who use it, to be a false one.

The great plea for the continuance of slavery, in this quarter, is, however, that the slaves are wholly unable to maintain and protect themselves, and that it is pure humanity towards the race to keep them in this condition. And yet, so well able are the greatest number of negroes to earn their own subsistence, and conduct their own affairs, that many of them are hired out by their masters to various persons needing

their labour; by which they get so much more than is necessary for their own support, that they maintain themselves out of their wages first, and then hand over the surplus, often amounting to half their earnings, to their masters, as interest or profit on the capital laid out in their purchase. One master mentioned to me his having given 1500 dollars, or £300 sterling for a slave; and when I asked why he paid so large a sum for him, he answered, that the man was fully worth it, because he could earn a handsome income. But when I followed up this question by asking whether the income made by the slave's labour and skill were given to himself, the master replied, without being apparently conscious of the wrong, "Oh, no! his earnings belong to me, because I bought him; and in return for this I give him maintenance, and make a handsome profit besides." It is in this way that the increase of slaves by breeding, as in Sir Roger de Coverley's plantation, adds to a planter's income; but if the slave were free, the earnings would be his own, while now they are taken from him; and if this be not a violation of the scriptural maxim that "the labourer is worthy of his hire," it is difficult to know what would be so.

On this subject, however, the prejudices of the southern people are as inveterate as those of the inhabitants of China or Hindoostan in favour of their ancient customs and superstitions; or as those of certain classes in England, on subjects in which their own personal and pecuniary interests completely blind their judgments.

CHAP. V.

Climate of Charleston-Statistics of health-Culture and manufacture of silk in the southern states-Population of Charleston, free and slaves-Classes, occupations, and character of the whites-Personal appearance and manners-Ancient reputation of South Carolina-Literary taste more prevalent than in the north-Library of Charleston-No divorce ever granted by this State-Early encouragement of Indian intermarriages -Peculiar attention paid to funerals-Literary, religious, and benevolent societies-Public meeting on behalf of seamen.

THE climate of Charleston has been usually considered unhealthy: for it is certain, that in the low country surrounding it, no white person can sleep, during the summer months, without taking the country fever, one of the most malignant type, and most generally fatal; while in the city itself, nearly all the strangers, or new-comers, are subject to the ordinary fever in the autumn, and even natives of the city, if absent for a few years, become as liable to this fever as strangers. A medical gentleman, however, Dr. Logan, in an elaborate article on the climate of Charleston, published in the Southern Literary Journal, makes this bold assertion, that "Charleston, in spite of the exaggerated account of its hot climate, and the sad catalogue of its diseases recorded by Dr. Chalmers, is decidedly one of the healthiest cities on the face of the globe." This assertion is supported, however, by an array of facts and figures, which are sufficiently curious and interesting to be presented to the view of those who may

desire to be informed on the subject; and therefore the following passages from this treatise are transcribed :

"Situated in the latitude of 32° 47′ N. and longitude 80° 00′ 52" W. from Greenwich, and spreading out on a large plain, with the sea open to it in front, and laved by the waters of two spacious rivers on either side, it possesses the most eligible location for a city, and a climate unsurpassed for an agreeable medium between heat and cold, by any city on our southern frontier. Having numerous streets running in straight lines from east to west, and extending from river to river, the best natural means are afforded for draining, which have been judiciously improved by the addition of subterranean drains, through which most of the tide-water flows, so that every nuisance is thoroughly washed out, and the city thus kept free from all impurities. In the rivers Ashley and Cooper, which almost entirely surround the city, rendering it a peninsula, the water is decidedly salt, partaking of all the properties of sea-water as high up as fifteen, and, during droughts, of twenty miles from their mouths. Between these rivers, the ground, for a circumference of twenty miles in the country, is not ten feet higher, at a medium, than the full sea at spring-tides, and the peninsula of Charleston is not seven feet above high-water mark.

"The atmospherical vicissitudes of our city are, nevertheless, sometimes sudden and considerable, although much less so than formerly; for we find that in 1752, as great a difference as 83° on different days of the same year, actually occurred; and frequent instances are on record in which the thermometer fell 50° in less than fifteen hours. Since the year 1751, in which Dr. Chalmers mentions a difference of 46° in the course of sixteen hours, we find no very uncommon fall of the thermometer on record, until the 27th of April, 1813, when there suddenly occurred a difference of 440 in the course of a few hours. In 1819, Dr. Shecut again records a sudden fall in the thermometer of 33° in the course of twelve hours. Such great variations are not now SO common as formerly.

"But the most salutary and perceptible change is in the remarkable diminution of the summer heat. In 1752, the ther