Litchfield enquirer., 1857-08-20
The Slave States.

l slave breeding states of the union, and supplies /! yearly large quota of the bone and sinew which gather in the harvests of Louisiana and Miss. Her contribution on this occasion was composed wholly of lads and girls from l4 to 20 years of age, Well clad and well and appa- rently wcn fed. They sat in a circle all the evening in the middle of the main deck, under the dim light of the lamp swinging from the ceiling, their arms round one anothcrs' waists, some of the yonnger ones sleeping on their elders knees, the majority singing snatch es of Methodist hymns. They were seldom able to get out more than one or two lines of the words, but this utyer caused any stop in that came into his head, and the others fol- lowed up the strain. Thus, the line,
 We are passing away like a long summers day, would be followed by
 took my broder by the han,
 An led him to de promised Ian
 Groups of white men surrounded them discussing their points in connection with the markets and politics ard tie slaves didn't seem to feel in the least abaSlled by their scru- tiny, or affected by their own situation, though it would be lard 70 imagine cloudier future than that of a boy or gir, just entering life in the hands of negro dealer bound South. From this point white servants or walters were nowhere to be seen. 'Ni1gcrs every where, nigyers of al varieties, ky-lookng ngacrs. 'fvrorious-loohin@ triggers, merry ng- ge"s, sad triggers, niggers lr;ght with intel- gencc, triggers steeped ill stupidity, niggers horribly ugly, ni"gcrs barely endurabie, but all cowcd, submissive and attentive Their humility was tine more striking from its coa- traSt with the independent bearing of the whites. the perfect inequality which seems to reign between al who have no negro blood in their veins h Virginia and North and South Carolina, was in what is popu|arIy supposed to be the ariStocrdtc region of the American Un!oa. Il r", th' Sonthern papers assure Us, are 60 he iolnl the Amer can ,,It,"men, par ercclleRcc, as Iistirgi cu from the Northern routiefs, the sna.!-istei farmers and gTa y mechani"s, of Massachusetts, and Connecticut, whom free s0cicty is scor"fdlly described as producing in abuntlance. l ain giving my inl- pressions, of conrse on y of the sur acc Of soc- ety. aud only of that portion of its surface with which one comes in contact in railways anu steamhOat5 out the fact is that, at least ! to the traveller on the wing, the ar>tocratic element in the populat ton is nowhere visible. From E lJinor to Montyo ncr,, in lis state, , in no species of conveyance did 1 meet with more than two persons wio jn.lging from dress manners and conversation, wonld in EngIaud be called g"ntIen,cn.' ccntiae this ob>crya- ton speca l: to tic slave region Ii is not true of New Engand There may be hun dred and one reasons, every one Of Chem a good one why my experience has been peculiar t11 Baltimore southward, bore no manner of re- ] seinhance. to anything which the looscst, and widest radical n the Old World would call genteman!y.' They were dirty; in every re- sl,ect. They were shaJbiiy dressed they i chewcd tobacco and spat it's juice in showers : they talked slang they seemed never to nave washed any portion of their persons ill their lives 1u south Carolina, the chosen home of cnlsaI'y, sat in a ca:rage in which the mud, formed hy years of dust and Gceans of saliva was thr'c inches de p on the floor, in company with men into whose presence most Euglsii i ladies would be afra d to venture. l sat at i breakfast and dinner side by side with individu- , als who whatever their other qualities. had cer- tainiy no more claims to gentility than chim- ney sweeps or cab dTiv ITS and we were wait i cd on with defcrerce and aSsiduity which our English Johns would do we'll to initiate, by negroes, who certainly in all the endow
 ments which gave men social standing in an aristocratic country, save birth alone, seemed to me to he just as good company and vast deal more entertaining, than those they served i The arstocracy of race, l think never appear ed under more ludicrous aspect. l draw no conclusions from this in any way dero@atory to the general character of the people, compared
 With those ot any other country. But must say that do feel warranted in drawing from 1t tue conclusion that the 'gentility' argument on which the Southern press has placed great stress in its defence of slavery, is a silly delu- 1 sion'
 The same correspondent observes that it is curious to see how the passion for dress and above all for French fashions in it, has pene- trated to every nook and corner of the country : am staying in a hotel, in which all the chairs are made of deal in which there is an average of three beds in every cold bare white
 washed room in which I am waited upon by
 filthy negroes in which my looking-glass is 1 nailed to the wall, and is only four inches by four. Two-thirds of men ill the little town board in 1t, and before each meal wash in two tin basons, and arrange their hair at a glass in
 the hail with the same comb and brush, sus- pended tlersfrom by stout cord. How they
 board may be guessed from the fact that l sat down at breakfast this morning at seven o'clock, with sixty gentemen,' and that with 'h ten minutes of the ringing of the bell, by ! watch, there was not soul at table but my self aud two others. All had eaten and gone. There was not clean shirt to be seen among the whole party, and yet every one of them wore black, shabby coat, of Partisan cnt, and the thinuest and lightest boots that could pos slbly be got to hold together; Our parlour is