Squatter sovereign., 1855-02-03

ment, SefnSnneSS would compel the master
to be kind to his slave; it's to his interest
to watch and tend him with care; to nurse
him in sickness, TO guard him against dis
ease, to protect him from injury. AS mere
property, its value is too great to be dis
troyed by cruelty, sacrificed by neglect.
Torture is too expensive luxury to be I'M
diiged In but by fiend. No man In his
senses would treat valuable horse with
cruelty. The Berkshire pig, the. Durham
bull, the blood horse, are all fed, tended
with care; much more is the slave, whose
value is far greater. The abolitionist alone
can afford to indulge in the pleasure of
poisoning his servant for drinking his wine.
fhe death of the hireling is at most
slight Inconvenience to his employer; the
death Of slave is his masters loss.
We have considered slaves as mere
property, to show how absurd are the ra-
wings of fanatics, the idle dreams of poets
and noyelists, which represent SHAREHOLDERS
as not only monsters, but idiots, revelIinr
IN the destruction of their property. But
when it is remembered that the affections
which naturally spring up between the
master and slave, is little less than that of
parent and child, it is easy to explain the
seemingly strange results shown by the
census. The care of the master. made
watchful by affection and interest. puards
them, and preserves them from that physic
al suffering which would produce loss of
the senses; while their real wants all sup
piled, with the simplicity of the child, talk
ing no thought for the morrow, with no
care to disturb them, there is nothing. to
derange their intellect. Kindly treated,
carefully tended, they grow healthy and
happy; unlike the miserable free negro.
they are neither insane nor idiots.
But we have further evidences of the
better condition of the slave. Althouoh
the census does not give us the statistics.
we need them not to show the vast n,un-
Der of paupers to be found among the free
negroes. The instances are rare in which
hey are able to live without labor, without
toiiing for their daily bread in sickness.
IN old age, there is none to care for, to
provide for them. We find in the census
that of the free negroes there are 2l.16O
over the age of sixty. Who shall provide
for these decrepit men, these helpless wo-
men! Left to the cold charity of strangers,
they ingcr out miserable existence.
Not suck is the condition Of the slave:
OF them we find also 114,752 over the age
oil sixty; yet are they for their faithful ser
vices kindly treated by their masters, pet
ted and beloved in their old age by the
very children Of their owners.
The vast number of slaves who attain to
extraordinary old age, greatly exceeding
In proportion the white race in the nom
slaveholding States, is Of itself powerful
argument to show how happy has been
their condition. The non-slaveholding
States, with population Of 13,OO0,0 600,
have but 5641 whites over the age of nine
ty; while Of the slaves, with a population
of only 3,200,412, there are 4l09 over
that age.
vi the moral condition Of the slave, as
contrasted with that of the free negro, the
census also gives us no information. But
so full are the annals of crime, of evidence
on this head, we would waste time in max
ing the contrast. OF the slave we fear
lessly assert that as to all the higher grades
of crime, he will contrast favorably even
with the white man. But 'schil.lren Of a
larger growth" kindly, aflectionate in
their dispositions, their wants all simple,
amply supplied, they have neither the
temptation nor the inclination to commit
crime. They may be led as.ray, they are
easily ruled, they may commit petty tres
pass; but let alone, with none to corrupt
them, they pass through life happy, con-
tented and innocent. -,
On the other hand, the unhappy free
negro, thoughtless and improvident, driven
from the society of the good and virtuous,
an outcast among the vicious, is regarded
as nuisance even y.th abohtionist! He
is not mere nuisance, but the. criminal
statistics. OF the North show, that crime ol
the highest grades, offences which are
puaished by confnemcnt inlthe penetenta.
res, prevail among the negroes to an un-
heard of extent. In Massachusetts, COM
posing less than one-hundredth part Of the
population, they furnish one-tcnth of the
convicts. Ia other States, the proportion
is even greater. In the South, on the
other hand, offenses of this character are
even more rare than among the whites
Negro slavery is no evil to the whit,
race.
ITO be Continued.
By A fellow having spite against ;