Slavery and the Constitution Part 8

Candler, the sheriff of Montgomery County, Md. in an advertis.e.m.e.nt now before us, states that he has seized on execution, and will sell "for cash only" at the Court House door in Rockville, "_one stallion, Red Buck_, and _one negro boy, John_"![P] To bring the case nearer home:--in the "New England Weekly Journal" of August 27, 1733, printed in _Boston_, we find the following advertis.e.m.e.nt:--

"SEVERAL LIKELY YOUNG NEGROES, best Barbadoes sugars, very good Bohea tea, bag Hollands, fine cambric muslins, and sundry other merchandise, to be sold by Hugh Hall, Esq."[Q]

In the "Boston Gazette" of October 21, 1734:--

"TO BE SOLD BY ----, Several likely young negroes, lately imported,--as men, women, boys. Also choice raisins of the sun, gunpowder, Newcastle gla.s.s, in crates and boxes."

Not only are slaves thus placed on the same level with other property, but they are treated in the same manner. As our horse-jockeys not infrequently color their horses, or put on false tails, for the sake of enhancing their value, so similar arts are practised by the slave-jockeys of the South! Wm. W. Brown thus describes a part of his duties, whilst hired to the slave-trader Walker ("Narrative," pp. 42, 43):

"In the course of eight or nine weeks, Mr. Walker had his cargo of human flesh made up. There was in this lot a number of old men and women, some of them with gray locks. We left St. Louis in the steamboat Carlton, Captain Swan, bound for New Orleans. On our way down, and before we reached Rodney, the place where we made our first stop, I had to prepare the old slaves for market. I was ordered to have the old men's whiskers shaved off, and the gray hairs plucked out, where they were not too numerous, in which case he had a preparation of blacking to color it, and with a blacking-brush we would put it on. This was new business to me, and was performed in a room where the pa.s.sengers could not see us. These slaves were also taught how old they were by Mr. Walker; and, after going through the blacking process, they looked ten or fifteen years younger; and I am sure that some of those who purchased slaves of Mr. Walker were dreadfully cheated, especially in the ages of the slaves which they bought."--Pp. 45, 46: "The next day we proceeded to New Orleans, and put the gang in the same negro-pen which we occupied before. In a short time the planters came flocking to the pen to purchase slaves. Before the slaves were exhibited for sale, they were dressed and driven out into the yard. Some were set to dancing, some to jumping, some to singing, and some to playing cards. This was done to make them appear cheerful and happy. My business was to see that they were placed in those situations before the arrival of the purchasers, and I have often set them to dancing when their cheeks were wet with tears."

Can such treatment result in any thing but brutalizing every n.o.ble faculty? If advertis.e.m.e.nts of stallions and boys, blood-horses and men and women, blooded colts and young slave-girls, are considered so very similar as to be placed in the same paragraph, or alongside each other, how great a difference can there be in the treatment by the public of the two kinds of stock? Is the auction-block a scene for cultivating the affections of a poor slave-girl? Are the coa.r.s.e and unfeeling jests there perpetrated calculated to increase her purity, or strengthen her moral sensibilities? Treat a man as you would have him to be, is a good maxim. Respect him, and he will respect himself. Continually disregard his holiest and best purposes, and in time he will do the same.

What but pecuniary profit does the speculator in horses look to? What other object has the speculator in men, women, and children, in view?

Whatever mammon bids the slave-trader do, will be done. How much more than this, or will any thing more than this, be done? Will such a person consider as of any consequence the broken hearts of husbands and wives, of parents and children, who are torn by this terrible trade from all they hold dear in life, so long as their bodies are sound, strong, and healthy; so long as the investment retains its market-value? Of what consequence is deep, heart-felt agony to a speculator? Is he whose idol is gold to be turned from his purpose merely by the foolish wailing of a woman whose heart-strings are breaking? Do the cries of children made orphans, and of parents made childless, by his acts, move the heart of that man who makes his living by buying parents and children, husbands and wives, at the lowest prices, and by selling them, "singly or in lots to suit," to whomsoever will give the highest price?

The following is a well-known extract front an Address (p. 12) published by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky to the churches under their care, in 1835:--

"Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the agony often witnessed on such occasions proclaim, with a trumpet-tongue, the iniquity of our system. There is not a neighborhood where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from all that their hearts hold dear."

In the "New Orleans Bulletin," we find the following "Slavery as it is,"

p. 168):--

"NEGROES FOR SALE.--A negro woman, 24 years of age, and has two children, one eight, and the other three years. _Said negroes will be sold separately or together, as desired._ The woman is a good seamstress. She will be sold low for cash, or _exchanged for groceries_. For terms apply to MAYHEW, BLISS, & CO.

1, Front Levee."

A similar advertis.e.m.e.nt will be found in the "New England Weekly Journal" (Boston), April 9, 1733; printers, S. Kneeland and T. Green:--

"A VERY LIKELY NEGRO WOMAN, that has a child of _about six weeks old, to be sold, either with or without the child_. Inquire of the printers hereof."

The following was a standing advertis.e.m.e.nt, a few years since, in the Charleston (S. C.) papers:--

"ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NEGROES FOR SALE.--The subscriber has just arrived from Petersburg, Virginia, with one hundred and twenty likely young negroes, of both s.e.xes and every description, which he offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.

"The lot now on hand consists of plough-boys; several likely and well-qualified house-servants, of both s.e.xes; several women with children; small girls, suitable for nurses; and _several small boys, without their mothers_. Planters and traders are earnestly requested to give the subscriber a call previously to making purchases elsewhere, as he is enabled, and will sell as cheap or cheaper than can be sold by any other person in the trade.

"Hamburg, S.C. Sept. 28, 1838. BENJAMIN DAVIS."

This is taken from the "Jackson (Tenn.) Telegraph," Sept. 14, 1838:--

"COMMITTED TO THE JAIL OF MADISON COUNTY, a negro woman, who calls her name f.a.n.n.y, and says she belongs to Wm. Miller, of Mobile. She formerly belonged to John Givins, of this county, who now owns several of her children. DAVID SHROPSHIRE, Jailer."

How strong was that poor mother's love! She had toiled all the way from Mobile to the county where her children lived, and the laws of a Christian country consigned her to the jail! Perhaps, in her loneliness, she remembered some oral instruction like this (Jones's "Catechism," pp.

125,126):

"Q. Should mothers and fathers very tenderly love their children?--A. Yes.

Q. And, as they receive their children from the Lord, is it not their duty and privilege to present them unto the Lord in his own appointed ordinance, and to train them up for his church and service?--A. Yes....

Q. What should they teach them to do every night and morning?--A.

Pray to G.o.d.

Q. What book should parents early make their children acquainted with, and out of which diligently instruct them?--A. The Holy Bible.

Q. Is it the duty of parents to pray with and for their children continually?--A. Yes.

Q. Is it their duty to warn their children of bad company, and keep them out of it?--A. Yes."

Poor slave-mother! very tenderly indeed did you love your children. But, in your agony, you forgot that it was wicked to run away,--even for the sake of teaching them to pray night and morning! How thankful, then, ought you to be to G.o.d, that, in his great mercy, he was willing to punish your transgression in this world, instead of the next!

We never so deeply feel the brutalizing effects of slavery as when we reflect upon its peculiarly degrading influences upon woman. On some accounts, we would gladly pa.s.s over this point in silence; but so atrocious a wrong should rest upon the heart of every one.

It is an established maxim of trade, that the supply eventually equals the demand. If the trade happens to be in men and women; in one way or another, men and women will be supplied to meet the demand. There is a great demand for slaves in the Southern and South-western States, because slave-labor is very profitable there. "The domestic cannot compete with the South-western demand for slaves," says a writer in the leading Democratic paper of Virginia ("Richmond Enquirer," Nov. 13, 1846). The slaves in the South and West do not increase fast enough to supply the demand. The foreign slave-trade is piracy. The only resource, therefore, which is left to those States is a domestic slave-trade with the Northern Slave States; where, to meet the demand, they resort to breeding slaves! _Woman is degraded into a breeder!_

Mr. Gholson, of Virginia, in his speech in the legislature of that State, Jan. 18, 1832 (see "Richmond Whig"), says:--

"It has always (perhaps erroneously) been considered by steady and old-fashioned people, that the owner of land had a reasonable right to its annual profits; the owner of orchards, to their annual fruits; the owner of _brood mares_, to their product; and the owner of _female slaves, to their increase_. We have not the fine-spun intelligence nor legal ac.u.men to discover the technical distinctions drawn by gentlemen. The legal maxim of '_Partus sequitur ventrem_'

is coeval with the existence of the rights of property itself, and is founded in wisdom and justice. It is on the justice and inviolability of this maxim that the master foregoes the service of the female slave; has her nursed and attended during the period of her gestation, and raises the helpless and infant offspring. The value of the property justifies the expense; and I do not hesitate to say, that in its increase consists much of our wealth."

Hon. Thomas M. Randolph, of Virginia, formerly governor of that State, in his speech before the legislature in 1832, said:--

"_It is a practice, and an increasing practice, in parts of Virginia, to rear slaves for market._ How can an honorable mind, a patriot, and a lover of his country, bear to see this ancient dominion converted into _one grand menagerie, where men are to be reared for market, like oxen for the shambles_!"

President Dew, of William and Mary's College, speaking of the annual exportation of slaves from Virginia, says:--

"A full equivalent being thus left in the place of the slave, this emigration becomes an advantage to the State, and does not check the black population as much as at first view we might imagine; because it furnishes every inducement to the master to attend to the negroes, to _encourage breeding_, and to cause the greatest number possible to be raised," &c.

"_Virginia is, in fact, a negro-raising State for other States._"

Henry Clay, in his speech before the Colonization Society in 1829, says:--

"It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the United States would slave-labor be generally employed, if the proprietor were not tempted _to raise slaves by the high price of the Southern market, which keeps it up in his own_."

"It is a melancholy fact," says the same writer in the "Richmond (Va.) Enquirer," Nov. 13, 1846, "that negroes have become the only _reliable staple_ of the tobacco-growing sections of Virginia, the only reliable means of liquidating debts foreign and domestic."

The following advertis.e.m.e.nt is taken from the "Charleston (S.C.) Mercury" ("Slavery as it is," p. 175):--

"NEGROES FOR SALE.--A girl, about twenty years of age (raised in Virginia), and her two female children, one four and the other two years old; is remarkable strong and healthy, never having had a day's sickness, with the exception of the small-pox, in her life.

The children are fine and healthy. _She is very prolific in her generating qualities, and affords a rare opportunity to any person who wishes to raise a family of strong and healthy servants for their own use._

"Any person wishing to purchase will please leave their address at the Mercury office."

Does any reader exclaim there must be some mistake; it is impossible that such a notice could be inserted in the _leading political paper_ of South Carolina? Will he feel any more convinced by reading this, taken from the "_Boston_ Evening Post" of September 10, 1744?--

"TO BE SOLD,--A likely negro wench, about 25 years of age, that can do all sorts of household work, especially cookery; _is very hearty and strong; has proved her faculty at propagation_, and is very fluent in the English language. Inquire of the printer."

Slavery is said to have existed in a _mild_ form in Ma.s.sachusetts! And yet we find in our own history parallels to some of the most brutal atrocities which can be perpetrated on any human being. So essentially the same is the character and effect of slavery, wherever it exists!