The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-03-23

generally decently clothed, and some favorite ones
are richly dressed, but those on the plantations, cs
peciaAy in their Dress if it can be called Dress ex-
hlblt the most haggard and squalid appearance.
have frequently seen those of both sexes more
than two-thirds naked. have seen from forty
to sixty, male and female, at work in field, MANY
of both sexes with their bodies entirely naked
and did not exhibit signs of shame more than cat
tie, AS | did not so among them much on the
plantations, have had but few opportunities for
examining the backs of saves-but have frequent
ly passed where they were at work, and been oc-
casionay present with them and in almost every
case there were marks of violence on some parts
of them-every age, sex and condition being La
bic to the whip. son of the gentleman with
whom boarded, young man about twenty years
of age, had plantation and eight or ten slaves,
He used to boast almost every night of whipping
some one of them. One day he related to me
case of whipping an old negro-I should judge
90 years ofage. He said he called him up to fog
him for some (real or supposedly offence, and the
poor old man, being pous, asked the privilege of
said he granted him the favor, and to use his own
expression "The old niger knelt down and pray
ed for me and then got upand took his whipping"
Did not the cry of this old man reach the ear of
the Lord of Sabbaoth Surely God will Judge
the oppressor and avenge the oppressed. In rela-
ton to Negro huts will say that planters usually
own large tracts ofland, from one to ten thousand
acres. They have extensive clearings and beau
tful mansion house-and generally some forty or
fifty rods from the dwellingare situated the Negro
cabins, huts, built of logs in the rudest manner.
Some consist of polls rolled up together and COW
cred with mud or clay-many of them not as
comfortable as Northern pig-stes You ask if
slaves appeared happy or wished for freedom. I
will give you one case which occurred where l
boarded in Georgia. think it was fair sample
of the feelings of all intelligent slaves, or nearly
all. A young man about rs years old was owned
by the gentemans wife, and purchased his time
of his mistress, paying $3.50 per annum, for the
privilege of working for himself He was very
intelligent man and had saved more than $1,000
besides paying for his time. He used to embrace
every opportunity for pleading with his mistress
to sell him his freedom. For long time she de-
clined setting price. His anxiety was so great
he said he would suffer his arm to be cut off if he
could obtain his object. He succeeded in pur-
chasing his freedom before | left for $1,000. |
believe these to be the feelings of almost every in
telligent slave. Those who arc the best inform
boy III i
the policy Of the Shareholder in keeping the slave
in the greatest ignorance. Of the morals of the
slave | cannot speak very favorably. Lying and
theft are very common vices of course. AS to the
laziness of the slave it may be stated that those
on the plantations have their tasks and must per-
form them or suffer the consequences. But with
no motive to labor but compulsion, of course they
will do as little as possible. Their task, however,
| do not think equal to what we call common
days work ofthe laboring man at the North. The
system is every way calculated to corrupt the NOR
ais of the slave. They have no inducement to
work but the whip and of course work but enough
to escape the lash. If lying secures this it an
swers equally well-yea, better. They are gen.
SIdilJ III vi HlOTdllLy
although there are some exceptions, and have
known many honest upright christians among
them. You ask if they appeared modest and
chaste. The slaves on the plantations possess but
poor notions of modesty and chastity. They ap-
pear to realize but little about such terms-indeed
chastity with slave is well nigh contradiction
in terms. When the rearing of slaves for the
market is made as lucrative as it is for to raise
horses or cattle, we must set it down that chasti-
ty is not word found in a southern vocabulary.
You ask if there are many slaves of mixed blood.
l think may say with safety that more than one
third of the slave population is of mixed blood
especially in the northern slaveholding states,
where the rearing Of slaves for the southern mar
ket is great object, The mixture does indicate
an extensive intercoure between the white males
and coored females. And the surest and speediest
method of stopping amalgamaton would be to
abolish slavery. Now, in fact, it is considered of
but little if any disparagement for gentleman to