Year: 1859




attempted to descritc9 Do the waters in
deed wash out all unholy thoughts, and can
the budding beauty of eighteen summers
come out of the bath unscathed, and retire
| without an effort into her former cold pro-
priety as soon as her skin is dry and her
skirt resumed? If such be the peculiar
property of the waves, what primitive,
unsophisticated, innocent race the much
| belied Merrnaids must be-particularly if
there are any Mermen among them L.



Condition of Southern slaves.


The condition of Southern slaves, as
viewed by Northern writer, is communi-
Gated to the Hartford Times in the following
letter:


| Northern agitation is sustained by SYM
pathy for the Southern slave. AS to what
| stirs up that agitation, there are different
| opinions. My lesson in coming south is
that Abolitionism is thrown away. Every
Northerner, when he is set down in slave
! State, begins to look about for the "misera-
bles;" but he can find none When first
got over the line into Kentucky, Maryland
| and Virginia, thought the mldncss or the
apparent absence of slavery there was ow-
ing to the proximity of the free States.-
But in the extreme South | find everything
the same; indeed, there is singular same
ness in the system everywhere. 1t seems
more like spontaneous and natural growth,
| independent of statutes and conventional
isms. The regard of the white for the ne
gro, and his treatment of him, is about the
\ same everywhere, and the demeanor of the
| black toward the white, in every State, is as
uniform as though they had all been cduca-
ted to it in one school.


All the remarks L make on this subject
will be general, and not partial DO not
say that the present system of slavery here
is the natural state Of the negro, or that
think it permanent. l think its form will
naturally grow freer as the owner comes to
understand, scientifically, the constitution
of the slave, and as the slave advances
We know that it is self-evdent that free
dom is the true and only true clement of
progress and perfection to all things The
slavery here, however, need hardly be called
slavery. There is just about legal restraint
enough upon the black race to keep them
together, protect them, and to keep them in
dustrious enough for their own good. You
will nowhere here see any positively intiiet-
ed injuries upon the slave Except his slave
ry). True, his manhood is taken away. ex-
cept as it can be made subservient to his
masters manhood. His higher earthly
hopes are not permitted to rise, and he has
not much stimulus for ambition; but he is
saappy, and has ten xsimes more privileges
than he avails himself Of Sadness upon
the face of negro Is very rare picture,
but it is frequently engravcn deeply upon
the masters face.


The responsibility Of the health, life. good
order and respectability of many negroes
upon the master, is no mean one, and many
are the fortunes ruined ana households
broken up by too lax government and too
much sympathy on the part of masters
Law, public opinion and individual sympa-
thy, all hold the stakeholder rigidly respon-
sible for the good treatment of his slaves
The man who treats his niggers badly is
the most summed; and the most disgrace
ful of all epithets is this one applied to him.
Nothing hurts an owner so much as to sep
arate his negroes--they ere not fully and
practically considered transferable stock
Nothcrners cannot understand the peculiar
jealousy, sensitiveness and tenacity with
which shareholders grip to this kind of
property. When one is taken i'll. he is
waited on by the doctor in preference to any
of the owners family. The negroes are
aware of this regard for their persons, and
they enjoy it. Nothing will so quickly
arouse an owners bloody passions as the
abuse of his negro by another man. When
a negro complains to his master of abuse.
the latter feels it as incumbent upon him to
demand satisfaction as though his personal
honor was impeached. There are three
things for which Southerner will quickly
draw his knife call him liar, insult fc-
male, or abuse his nigger.


About whipping. Ihad not heard a blow
struck since have been in the South until
forty eight hours ago, by the keeper Of this
hotel, man formerly Of Jefferson county,
New York. Whipping isan institution here,
OF course, but resorted to with reluctance,
and considered by both master and slave in
about the same light as boss and laborer in
the North consider docking" wages for mis-
demeanors. The guarantee for the safety
of the black man in the South is that en-
denic good nature and sympathy of the
southern heart. 1t may sometimes he pas
sionate, but is not willingly cruel. The
southerner is himself independent, and he
is magnani,nous enough to regard the indi-
vidual rights of others, black and white
The negro has rights here that the white
dare not overstep, and they are sensitive as
to those rights. The southerner has more
respect for negro under the principle of
slavery than the northerner. When the
northerner gets down here he begins to trifle
with the negro, and regards him with cold,
disrespectful, unsympsthizing feeling (the
same as free negroes are treated at the Northl.
! nearly forgot recent occurrence near
here, which illustrates the regard between
master and servant. Col Bond, of Georgia,
millionaire, a gentleman Of the highest So
cial refinement and position, and one of the
leading men Of the State, lost his life SIM
\ ply in retaliation upon man for abusing
his negro.


! The negroes have many perouisites
amounting to luxuries. They 90 to church
Sabbaths, sometimes in new silks. They
are always provided with place of wor-
ship, and often white people Of the highest
respectability mingle devoutly with them at
) the foot of the altar. No longer ago than
yesterday saw the tears Of the black and
white mingle at church, and the eudearine
address to them Of my dear brethren and
sisters" came from the lips Of refined
white minister. This scene forcibly i'm.
pressed me that the black man has not manv
truer friends than the southern master. I
have seen enough to come to this declaYs-
ton: that the Southern States Of America
are the natural paradise Of the negro.


A few words as to the general character Of
the negro. 1t is good nature, contentment,
affection, intellectual inbecility, predomi.
nance Of the sentiments, and the sensation.
I al over Judgment. and love of luxurv enae