pears at Charleston on the part of a slave, the master sends the slave to the gaol, where he is whipped or beaten as the master desires. The Duke of Saxe Weimar, in his travels, mentions that he visited this gaol in December 1825; that the "black overseers go about everywhere armed with cow hides; that in the basement story there is an apparatus upon which the Negroes, by order of the police, or at the request of the masters, are flogged; that the machine consists of a sort of crane, on which a cord with two nooses runs over pulleys; the nooses are made fast to the hands of the slave and drawn up, while the feet are bound tight to a plank; that the body is stretched out as much as possible, and thus the miserable creature receives the exact number of lashes as counted off."-The public sale of slaves in the marketplace at Charleston occurs frequently. I was present at two sales where, especially at one of them, the miserable creatures were in tears on account of their being separated from their relations and friends. At one of them, a young woman of sixteen or seventeen was separated from her father and mother, and all her relations, and every one she had formerly known. This not unfrequently happens, although I was told and believe that there is a general wish to keep relations together where it can be done.

The following extract of a letter from a gentleman at Charleston, to a friend of his at New York, published in the New York newspapers while I was there, contains even a more shocking account of the public sale of slaves here:-" Curiosity sometimes leads me to the auction sales of the Negroes. A few days since I attended one which exhibited the beauties of slavery in all their sickening deformity. The bodies of these wretched beings were placed upright on a table,—their physical proportions examined, their defects and beauties noted. A prime lot, here they go!' There I saw the father looking with sullen contempt on the crowd, and expressing an indignation in his countenance that he dare not speak ;-and the mother, pressing her infants closer to her bosom with an involuntary grasp, and exclaiming, in wild and simple earnestness, while the tears chased down her cheeks in quick succession, I can't leff my children! I won't leff my children!' But on the hammer went, reckless alike whether it united or sundered for ever. On another stand I saw a man apparently as white as myself exposed for sale. I turned away from the humiliating spectacle.

"At another time, I saw the concluding scene of this infernal drama. It was on the wharf. A slave ship for New Orleans was lying in the stream, and the poor Negroes, handcuffed, and pinioned, were hurried off in boats, eight at a time. Here I witnessed the last farewell,the heart-rending separation of every earthly tie. The mute and agonizing embrace of the husband and wife, and the convulsive grasp of the mother and the child, who were alike torn asunder-for ever! It was a living death,-they never see or hear of each other more. Tears flowed fast, and mine with the rest."

'Charleston has long been celebrated for the severity of its laws against the blacks, and the mildness of its punishments towards the whites for maltreating them. Until the late law, there were about seventy-one crimes for which slaves were capitally punished, and for

which the highest punishment for whites was imprisonment in the penitentiary.

A dreadful case of murder occurred at Charleston in 1806. A planter, called John Slater, made an unoffending, unresisting, slave, be bound hand and foot, and compelled his companion to chop off his head with an axe, and to cast his body, convulsing with the agonies of death, into the water. Judge Wild, who tried him, on awarding a sentence of imprisonment against this wretch, expressed his regret that the punishment provided for the offence was insufficient to make the law respected,—that the delinquent too well knew that the arm which he had stretched out for the destruction of his slave was that to which he alone could look for protection, disarmed as he was of the right of self-defence.

But the most horrible butchery of slaves which has ever taken place in America, was the execution of thirty-five of them on the lines near Charleston, in the month of July 1822, on account of an alleged conspiracy against their masters. The whole proceedings are monstrous. Sixty-seven persons were convicted before a court, consisting of a justice of the peace, and freeholders, without a jury. The evidence of slaves not upon oath was admitted against them, and, after all, the proof was extremely scanty. Perrault, a slave, who had himself been brought from Africa, was the chief witness. He had been torn from his father, who was very wealthy, and a considerable trader in tobacco and salt on the coast of Africa. He was taken prisoner, and was sold, and his purchaser would not give him up, although three slaves were offered in his stead. The judge's address, on pronouncing sentence of death on this occasion, on persons sold to slavery and servitude, and who, if they were guilty, were only endeavouring to get rid of it in the only way in their power, seems monstrous. He told them that the servant who was false to his master would be false to his God, that the precept of St. Paul was, 'to obey their masters in all things,' and of St. Peter, to be subject to their masters with all fear,'-and that, had they listened to such doctrines, they would not have been arrested by an ignominious death.' Vol. II. Vol. II. pp. 141-147.

The following are specimens of American legislation in the state of Georgia.

In case any slave or free person of colour teach any other slave or free person of colour to read or to write either written or printed characters, the free person of colour or slave is punished by fine or whipping; and a white person so offending is punished with a fine not exceeding 500 dollars, and imprisonment in the common gaol. Any slave or free person of colour, or any other person, circulating papers, or bringing into this State, or aiding in any manner in bringing into the State, papers exciting to insurrection, conspiracy, or resistance, any of the slaves or free persons of colour, against their owners or the citizens, is to be punished with death.

Cutting off the ears, and the pillory, are punishments for slaves sanctioned by the legislature of Georgia; but the universal punishment is whipping. The infliction of this punishment, to the extent

of twenty lashes on the bare back, is deemed, in a great variety of cases, of insufficient moment to claim the intervention even of a single magistrate. Any white person, a drunken patrole, an absconding felon, or a vagabond mendicant, is supposed to possess discretion enough to interpret the laws, and to wield the cow-skin or cart-whip for their infraction; and should death ensue by accident, while the slave is thus receiving moderate correction, the Constitution of Georgia kindly denominates the offence justifiable homicide.' Vol. II. pp. 163, 164.

At New Orleans, during Mr. Stuart's residence there, about 1000 slaves were exposed to sale. Of the Black laws of Louisiana, the following are specimens.

The State Legislature,' says Mr. Stuart, have now, on the 16th and 17th days of March (1830), passed two Acts, not many days before I reached New Orleans, containing most objectionable provisions. The first Act provides:-"1. That whosoever shall write, print, publish, or distribute any thing having a tendency to create discontent among the free coloured population of this State, or insubordination among the slaves therein, shall, at the discretion of the Court, suffer death, or imprisonment at hard labour for life.-2. That whosoever shall use language in any public discourse, from the bar, the bench, the stage, the pulpit, or in any place, or in private discourse or conversation, or shall make use of signs or actions having a tendency to produce discontent among the free coloured population in this State, or to excite insubordination among the slaves therein, or whoever shall knowingly be instrumental in bringing into this State any paper, pamphlet, or book, having such tendency as aforesaid, shall, at the discretion of the Court, suffer at hard labour not less than three years, nor more than twenty years, or death.-3. That all persons who shall teach, or permit or cause to be taught, any slave in this State to read or write, shall be imprisoned not less than one nor more than twelve months."

The second Act provides 1. for the expulsion from the State of all free people of colour who came into it subsequently to the year 1807; and then confirms a former law prohibiting all free persons of colour whatever from entering the state of Louisiana. 2d. It sentences to imprisonment or hard labour for life, all free persons of colour, who, having come into the State, disobey an order for their departure. 3d. It enacts, that if any white person shall be convicted of being the author, printer, or publisher of any written or printed paper within the State, or shall use any language with the intent to disturb the peace or security of the same, in relation to the slaves or the people of this State, or to diminish that respect which is commanded to free people of colour for the whites; such person shall be fined in a sum not less than 300 dollars, nor exceeding 1000 dollars, and imprisoned for a term not less than six months, nor exceeding three years: and that if any free person of colour shall be convicted of such offence, he shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding 1000 dollars, and imprisoned at hard labour for a time not less than three years and not exceeding five years, and afterwards banished for life.

' And 4th, It enacts, that in all cases it shall be the duty of the attorney-general and the several district attornies, under the penalty of removal from office, to prosecute the said free persons of colour for violations of the act, or, whenever they shall be required to prosecute the said free persons of colour by any citizen of this state.

These acts are signed by Mr. Roman, speaker of the House of Representatives; by Mr. Smith, president of the Senate; and by Mr. Dupre, governor of the State of Louisiana, all in March, 1832.

Nothing can be more clear than that neither the liberty of the press, nor the liberty of speech, exist in a state or country where such laws are to be found on the statute-book. The following occurrence proves, pretty convincingly, the truth of this observation. It took place on one of the last days of March, while I was at New Orleans:-A slave was hung there for some trifling offence, but none of the newspapers took the slightest notice of the execution; the editors being naturally afraid that their doing so might be construed into an offence against the laws passed only a few days previously. I only accidentally heard of the execution some days after it happened, and was told there were not thirty persons present at it.

What makes the severity of those laws even more galling is, that their retrospective effect forces into banishment many citizens of New Orleans,-free men of colour,-who were among the most conspicuous defenders of the state during the invasion of the British in 1814.

The enactment against writings was intended to be enforced against the only liberal paper at New Orleans, "Le Liberal," which occasionally inserted articles favourable to the black population.' Vol. II. pp. 243—5.

In the despotic States of the Union,' the liberty of the press has no existence. It is, at least, denied altogether to the coloured population, and in a very considerable degree to the white population; which comes as near to its non-existence as possible. The publication of newspapers in those States, is, consequently, 'not a thriving,' nor a very safe speculation. The Americans of the slave-holding States, Mr. Stuart says,

Conceive that the increasing numbers of their slaves require more coercive laws and greater severity of treatment; and are proceeding on this principle, every year increasing the hardships of their almost intolerable situation, and adding new fetters to those which are already too heavy for them to wear.' Vol. II. p. 251.

The treatment of the free coloured persons is governed by the same base and pusillanimous policy. By an act passed a few years ago by the State of S. Carolina, no free person of colour leaving the State, though merely crossing its boundary, is allowed to return; and the same law declares it uniawful for free persons of colour to come from another State into Carolina. It is now contrary to law, in this State, that even free persons of colour should be educated; they are incompetent witnesses in any case where the rights of white persons are concerned; and their trials

are conducted by a justice of the peace and the freeholders, without the benefit of a jury! A recent law imposes a tax of 100 dollars on any free person of colour coming to Savannah in Georgia, however urgent his business.

'Can there be,' exclaims Mr. Stuart, a more atrocious violation of the principles of liberty, than is contained in such a regulation as this, which may render it impossible for a free man even to visit his father or mother at the point of death? But the prohibition is positive in Louisiana and South Carolina?' Vol. II. p. 155.

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These are the States, our readers will recollect, which, according to Mr. Achilles Murat, are so advantageously distinguished from the Northern, by the frankness, generosity, hospitality,' liberality of opinion,'' unequalled combination of talents,' and 'finish and elegance of manners,' which characterize the white inhabitants. And the leading State' of the South is the one which at the present moment is setting at defiance the Federal Government. Of this State, it is remarked in the Number of the North American Review now before us, that however distinguished, in other times, for intelligence, patriotism, and generosity, it is physically and politically one of the least effective in the Union. With a white population of less than 250,000 souls, of whom at 'least a third are opposed to the project; with a dangerous in'ternal enemy in her bosom ;-unsupported by the co-operation of any other State*, her nearest neighbours being among the most determined opponents of her views;-it is apparent that 'Carolina takes the field against the Union under every disadvantage.' The result of a civil war to such a State, it is not difficult to anticipate. Fearful would be the punishment which it would entail on the haughty oppressor, without, it is to be feared, benefiting the slave. The Carolinians are, however, living on the very crust of a volcano, and the day of vengeance must

come.

With regard to the impending conflict, we will not venture to offer either prediction or speculation of our own; but shall conclude with extracting from an eloquent article on Nullifi cation, in the Number of the North American Review which now lies before us, the following reflections upon the present crisis of the Federal Union; reserving all comment for another opportunity.

* This remains to be seen. The duration and results of this 'conflict,' it is subsequently remarked, 'will depend upon the degree of countenance which Carolina may receive from other States, particularly at the South. We look with some apprehension to the proceedings of Virginia, where the first movements are less satisfactory 'than we could have wished.'

VOL. IX.-N.S.

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