The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1826-11-30
For the Ip,da,ngtonidn.
NEGRO eLAvEEY.--No. y.
TO THE CITIZENS OF DELAWARE.


TO THE CITIZENS OF DELAWARE.
In the proceeding numbers concise view
has been taken of the slavery Of the ancient
world, as we'll as of the branch Of African
slavery which properly belongs to that
quarter Of the globe. We have seen that a.
mong the nations Of antiquity, the institution
was generally mitigated, either by positive
laws, or established usages. so as to lose its
most repulsive features, and place its victims
in situation, approximating to that of the
class who were denominated free. And that
the domestic slavery Of Africa is so mild
as to be scarcely dstinyuishable from free
dom.
To estimate the burden of slavery correct
~, we must compare the condition of the
slaves with that of the freemen, of their own
age and country, not Of those who enjoy
more limited or more ample share OF civil
and political freedom. Every thing is esti-
mat,d by comparison; and the man who is
deprived of every civil right. while all a.
round him are baskins in the sunshine Of
freedom, must feel the fangs of servi-
tudc much more poignantly than the one,
who, though subjected to similar privations,
beholds his lot but little below the general
doom. We may therefore conclude that
negro slavery, as existing in the U. States
and British West Indies, il not actually
more mitigated than among any other peo-
pie. ancient or modern, must be in effect
more degrading and oppressive than any O.
tber with which we are acquainted, from
its contrast with the high degree of civil and
political freedom by which ii is surrounded
Our plaudits of liberty, though sweetly mu-
sical to ourselves, must crate harsh discord
OH tie ears Of the slave.
Strange and paradoXical as it may appear
there is reason TO believe, that those nations
who plume themselves most highly on thel,
refinement and humanity, and are most
scrupulously jealous oftheir own liberty, still
hold the iron rod Of slavery with more RI
gid and relentless grasp than any other peo-
pie, under whose dominion the baplcss nc
gro has been permitted to fall.
The treatment of slaves among the Span
iaIds and Portuguese of the western world
is generally admitted to be much more hui
name than among the English and Dutch.-
At Brazil, the curates appointed by law as
the defenders of negroes, can, like the A.
thenian and Roman magistrates, rescue the
slaves froin cruel and tyrannical owners, BY
judicial sale. Among the Spaniards, pre-
viously to the late revolutions, manumissions
could not be refused, on the payment Of q
sum fixed by the laws. The slaves were e.
ven permitted to purchase thcir freedom for
a day in the week; by which means, with
industry and economy, the whole might be
gradually redeemed. The policy as we'll as
humanity of such a provision, requires OH
ly to be intimated in order to be seen.
AS negro slavery, as we'll as our commo
law, was bequeathed to us by our political
parent, brief review OF its present state il
the British colonies will be attempted.
The master is the sole arbiter of the kind
and degree. and time of labour, to which the
slave shall be subjected; and of the subsis-
tence, or means of obtaining a subsistence
which shall be given in returns
Hence when the master is in embarrassed
circumstances, 1t is reasonable to suppose
that the labour exacted approaches as near
the limits Of the negroes physical powers
as it can be brought by the tervors of the
lash; and that the support allowed is re-
duced nearly as low as the nature ofthe case
will admit. This, indeed, appears to be
admitted by the West Indians themselves
in their official reports; and as the planters
are well known to be generally in debt,
the life of Yves. Indian slave must be a
scene of drudgery, to which few parallels can
be found among the civilized nations of the
earth.
The masters authority is little less arbi-
trary, in relation to the degree and kind of
punishment to which the slave shall be sub
jected, than to the labour exacted; and this
power of arbitrary punishment, is exercised
not only by the master himself. whose inter-
est, in the life and health of the slave. might
assign some limits to the wantonness Of pow