Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1845-09-24


any means he supplied, were the slaves to
be emlncipated. Labor can never be
procured in this country on the same terms
as in Europe, until it is as densely settled
as is that continent.
6. Gov. Hammond next refers TO the
charge of cruelty and inhumanity, by which
Abolitionists seek to excite the sympalhies
Of the world against Shareholders. He de-
MES that the stakeholder is irresponsible; :
asserting that he is responsible to God, and
10 the law which secures 10 him his rights.
These laws do not permit him to treat his
slaves with inhumanity; and if they have
| been permitted to grow obsolete, it is be-
cause they are so seldom violated that they
are forgotten. The murder of slave is
punishable with death, and the laws for
bidding teaching slaves to read were pass
ed only in consequence of the Abolition
lists. 1t is the interest of owners to treat
their slaves well and though they are men
of passions like others, and do not any
more than oihers-husbands, parents and
frends-aways restrain themselves, yet
in their efforts to increase the kindness of
the treatment, the owners have been great
y ANNOYED and embarrassed by Abolition
lists, and have been compelled to curtaii
the privileges already granted, and debar-
red from granting others. When Aboll-
tionists will desist, they can again relax
but while these lncendiary efforts are con
tinued, 1t is urged that the discipline must
be made more and more rigorous. Gov.
ii. suggests that instances of excessive
cruelty that so abound in the pages of abo-
Iitlonlsfs, must have been drawn from the
West Indies, inasmuch as nothing of the
kind has ever met his notice during a long
residence in the Southern States. He
says be doubts if a thumb.screw can be
found in America !; that stocks are rarely
used-that logging is neither degrading
nor cruel-that chains and irons are rarely
used, except when slaves have run away
and that far more cruelty is practiced in
the British army and navy than on any
plantation in the South. The treatment
certain offences receive from the SIRE
sponsible master Of the slavc," and from
he courts of justice in England, is thus
contrasted:
If man steals pig in England he
is transported--torn from wife, children,
parents, and sent to the anlipodes, inia.
NOUS, and an outcast forever, though per-
haps he took from the superabundance OF
'rfS nuig'rour, 10 save ri1u lives of his "a.
mishing little ones. If any of our well
fed negroes, merely for the sake of fresh
meat, steals pig, he gets perhaps forty
| stripes. If one of your cottagers breaks
into another's house, he is hung for our
glary. If a slave does the same here. a
few lashes, or perhaps few hours 10 the
stocks settle the matter. Are our courts
or yours the most humane? If slavery
were not in question, you would doubtless
say ours is mistaken lenity. Perhaps it
often is, and slaves too lightly dealt with.
sometimes grow daring. Occasionally tho
rarely, and almost always in consequence
of excessive indulgence, an individual re-
bells. This IS the highest crime he can
commit. It is treason. Ii strikes at the
root of cur whole sy stem. His life is just.
| ly forfeited, though it is never INTENTIONAL
~ taken, unless after trial in our public
courts. Sometimes, however, in captur
ing or in seli.defence, he is unfortunately
killed. But, terminate as it may, the
Aboitionisis raise hue and cry, and an
other shocking case,' is held up to the in.
dfgnation of the world by tender-heartec
male and female phil tnthropists, who woulc
have thought all right had the master:
throat been cut, and would have triumph
ed in it,"
! The facts that the slaves increase more
rapidly than the whites, and that insanity
and suicide are almost unknown among
them, are cited as proof that they do no
exist in that state of abject misery goad
ed by constant inquiries, outraged In thel
affections, and worn down with hardships
which the Abolitionisis depict, and 81
many Ignoran and thoughtless persons re
Iigiously believe" Ii is denied that, ex
) cept in rare cases, painful separations o
families occur, since the effort is Away
made to sell them in companies and keel
families together; and Notwithstanding tn,
/, migratory character of the population
+ Gov. Hammond expresses the belief lhs
, there s. are more families among the slave
3 who have lived and died together withou
loosing single member from their circle
] except by the process of nature, and il
4 the enjoyment of constant, uninterruptet
I communion, than have fourished in III
: same space OF time, and AMONG the sam
9 number Of civilized people in moderr
} times"
7. With regard TO the religious condi
lion of the slaves, he says it is well know
: that majority of the COMMITMENTS ,
e the Methodist and Baptist churches of tn
South are colpred; and that they have tn
: same opportunity for worship as the whites
n Thew have missionaries among then
= .nhnrn tharn n 70 10 nlarnsrr,,r,r, and o., q