Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1853-01-13
Condition of the Slaves.

6pologsts OF Slavery to assume the defensive,
and as, in so doing, they are, in all places, even
in the Senate of the Nation, now boldly pro-
nouncing that work an exaggerated picture, and
an entirely false representation of the condition
of the slaves in the Southern States, we have
thought 1t might not be amss, at this time, to
furnish our readers with the results Of our own
observations on the subject, during residence
of between three and four years in one of the
Northern S,ayeholding States, that they may
have some additional means of judging for them.
selves And in considering the subject, we
will present our statements under the three heads
Of food, clothing and treatment.
As regards the food with which the slaves are
generally furnished in the States in which our
personal observations extended-Virginia, Mary
land and Delaware, it certainly would be con-
sdered by all Northern laborers and employers
as NEST poor and scanty, and of the most coarse
and insufficient kind, One peck of corn meal is
there held to be a fair portion for an lult slave
for one week and he is allowed no more. This
would be we'll enough, if they were supplied
with potatoes and meat; but they are not, and
have to make this allowance of meal their chief
living, baking it, in the absence of all ovens and
pans, in the Goals and embcrs Of their un1oored
and mud plastered log cabins, in the same man.
ner as some of our first settlers used to roast
potatoes The Irish potatoe is not raised to any
= Al -. k,,ta ntor
thing when it it is; nor are sweet potatoes raised
except in gardens, and in very small quantities
for the planters own table; so that the slaves
get no potatoes of any kind and all the animal
food they get except what they steal, and the
wild game they occasionally catch, such as pos
sums and rabbits, consists Of few sailed fish.
The planters are in The habit of sending tour
horse teams, every Spring, to the Potomac, or
their other great rivers, TO obtain ayeary sup
ply of alewives, sort of sea sucker, which they
net in any quantities, throw them into terces,
without dressing, we think salt. head up, and
transport back to their plantations, at cost,
probably, less than dollar per hundred. These
picked fish, weighing from one-half pound to
pound apiece, are doled out to the slaves, one
fish TO each, every day, to serve as meat to. go
with their peck of meal, being seven per week,
and costing not over seven cents, which added
to ten cents the full cost of the peck OF meal,
makes the cost Of the board of the slave one
shilling per week The house servants, it is
true, fare better being allowed some OF The
laayings of their masters tables but the field
hands rarely get any meat, unless quantity OF
pork or beef Is found spolt or spoliag, when it
is distributed off to the slaves, who are thankful
to get it at that The offlls of beef and pork,
at the butchering season., are also distributed
in the same manner, and the slaves have
thankful time of it, but these being only coca.
sonal benefits, they then fall back on their peck
of meal aud seven fish per week, which ale gem
orally the main and only food furnished them by
their masters, the whole Keeping costing not
over $40, per year.
Their clothing, like their feed, is also of the
most mcagre character. SIX yards OF the coarses'
cotton cloth for shirts, costing, perhaps AZ cents,
and as many more of coarse, undressed I'nsey
woolsey, for pants and jackets, costing probably
SO, 90, all made up by slave seamsreeses, al the
further cost Of another dollar or two, constitute
their clothing for the coolest half of the year
while a suit of all cotton, at still less cost, Is
their only outfit for the warm season. These
I'll ,r cbooc ot tho
best, and some apology FOR hat or cap, make
up the whole yearly wardrobe of the most prot
liable male slave, the utmost expense beng
within Sl5-whlch added to the estimated Cos
of feeding him, $40, make the amount Of all his
master does for him but $500 per annum.
In relation to their treatment. we don see how
any impartial observer can give it any better Oh
higher character than the treatment we give ou
cattle and horses. In the constant goarding up,
lashng and beating of the oversecr, in the field
it is no better, and in the continual outpouTng o
his curses and insulting epthets, it is as much
worse as the nature Of the one is higher than the
ether. 1t is not, to be sure, every horse or OK
nor perhaps half them, that need the application
of the whip TO keep them at their best efforts
aud so it is with the slaves Some, though very
mass Of them are driven through their da lily
tolls beneath the overseer's uplifted lash, which
falls on every laggard- whether such by stub
bornneSs, feebeness, for want of suitable food
ur ifiness for few udrrtted to be sick wniie
they can stand, and when they TALL they are LEFT
10 crawl off, as soon as they can, to their cabins
to be attended by those who, with few excep
tons, are angels Of mercy to the slave in bis
troubies--the ladies' of the South. This kind Of
the administration of the lash, however, is moi
called whipping. That is reserved for parcu
tagging and laziness-such, for instance, d,
stealing, wilfu dsobedenoe, refusing to imp
cate others, &C.; when the offenders hands arc
tied, his back stripped, and fro,a forty to one
hundred lashes are administered on the nakec
skin. Aud there is scarcely plantation in the
whole South, where these merciiess whipping.
' WY y0"'1 "ui ou' '" 1--WE VI WHICH
probably, are for what the slaves do moi consJe,
stealIng--tbe taking from their lnusters articles
OF food, which are derived from their own labor
such as bacon. pigs, poultry &c These whip
pings, 1t Is true, are not often fatal, but they are
most cruelty severe, and force from the anfFre
the most piercing oatcries. And sometimes thew
do result in death. A case O! this ktsd occurred
IN the County adjoining the one in which we
were located where a planter whipped negro
I'LL he died under the lash We also heard y
reliable man, who had once been an eyersecr Of
zen. wade Hampton, say that he once cav the
ueheral draw pistol on one of his negroes far
being saucy, and shoot him dead on the s0,,