cannot lie, and in giving these I confine myself to what has come under my own personal observation. Yet I hoped to have found the facts exaggerated. I had heard of females stripped and exposed to the insulting gaze and cruel lash of the driver. I have seen a woman, a mother, compelled in the presence of her master and mistress, to hold up her clothes, and endure the whip of the driver on the naked body for more than twenty minutes, and while her cries would have rent the heart of any one, who had not hardened himself to human suffering. Her master and mistress were conversing with apparent indifference. What was her crime? She had a task given her of sewing which she must finish that day. Late at night she finished it; but the stitches were too long, and she must be whipped. The same was repeated three or four nights for the same offence. I had heard of the whippingpost, and the extent of its use. I have seen a man tied to a tree, hands and feet, and receive three hundred and five blows with the paddle, [a piece of oak timber three and a half feet long, flat and wide at one end,] on the fleshy parts of the body. Two others received the same kind of punishment at the time, though I did not count the blows. One received two hundred and thirty lashes. Their crime was stealing. One of them had asked for meat, saying that he could not work without it. He was refused the meat, and with a few others killed and secreted a hog of his master's. They had nearly finished the pork, when it was found, and being charged with stealing it, they did not deny it, but one of them remarked with unusual firmness, that he must have meat, he could not work on [corn] bread. (His master owns from eighty to one hundred hogs.) I have frequently heard the shrieks of the slaves, male and female, accompanied by the strokes of the paddle or whip, when I have not gone near the scene of horror. I knew not their crimes, excepting of one woman, which was stealing four potatoes to eat with her bread! So much have I seen on one plantation. Of the general treatment of the slaves, I can judge only from a few facts which I accidentally learn. Masters are not forward to publish their "domestic regulations," and as neighbors are usually several miles apart, one's observation must be limited. Hence the few instances of cruelty which break out can be but a fraction of what is practised. A planter, a professor of religion, in conversation upon the universality of whipping, remarked that "a planter in Gwho had whipped a great deal, at length got tired of it, and invented the following excellent method of punishment, which I saw practised while I was paying him a visit. The negro was placed in a sitting position, with his hands made fast above his head, and feet in the stocks, so that he could not move any part of the body. The master retired, intending to leave him till morning, but we were awakened in the night by the groans of the negro, which were so doleful that we feared he was dying. We went to him, and found him covered with a cold sweat, and almost gone. He could not have lived an hour longer. Mr. found the 'stocks' such an effective punishment, that it almost superseded the whip."

I do not believe there have been five slaves freed in Florida since its cession to the United States. The Spanish laws favored emancipation, but as one old negro expressed it, "Nobody gets free since Spanish times." The laws of Florida, sanctioned by the United States general government, forbid emancipation. I mentioned to one negro that I had heard of a man in East Florida who allowed his slaves wages, and when they amounted to his price and interest, the slaves were free; says he, "that man was no American, I reckon. He must have been a Yankee or a Spaniard."

Another instrument of torture is sometimes used, how extensively I know not. The negro, or, in the case which came to my knowledge, the negress was compelled to stand barefoot upon a block filled with sharp pegs and nails for two or three hours. In case of sickness, if the master or overseer thinks them seriously ill, they are taken care of, but their complaints are usually not much heeded. A physician told me that he was employed by a planter last winter to go to a plantation of his in the country, as many of the negroes were sick. Says he-"I found them in a most miserable condition. The weather was cold, and the negroes were barefoot with hardly enough of cotton clothing to cover their nakedness. Those who had huts to shelter them were obliged to build them nights and Sundays. Many were sick and some had died. I had the sick taken to an older plantation of their master's, where they could be made comfortable, and they recovered. I directed that they should not go to work till after sunrise, and should not work in the rain till their health became established. But the overseer refusing to permit it, I declined attending on

them further." "I was called," continued he, "by the overseer of another plantation, to see one of the men. I found him lying by the side of a log in great pain. I asked him how he did, 'O,' says he, I'm most dead, can live but little longer.' How long have you been sick? 'I've felt for more than six weeks as though I could hardly stir.' Why didn't you tell your master you was sick? 'I couldn't see my master, and the overseer always whips us when we complain. I could not stand a whipping. I did all I could for the poor fellow, but his lungs were rotten. He died in three days from the time he left off work." The cruelty of that overseer is such that the negroes almost tremble at his name. Yet he gets a high salary, for he makes the largest crop of any other man in the neighborhood, though none but the hardiest negroes can stand it under him. "That man," says the doctor, "would be hung in my country" [Germany].-Letters to the Editor of the Ohio Atlas, from Tallahassee, Florida, May, 1835

ASA A. STONE.

NATCHEZ, May 24, 1835.

No one here thinks that the slaves are seldom over-driven and under-fed. Every body knows it to be one of the most common occurrences. The planters do not deny it, except perhaps to Northerners, whom they take to be uninformed on the subject-or when on some particular occasion they wish to carry a point. True, they try to make the thing appear as fair as possible, and are in the habit of holding it up to themselves and others in its most favorable light. But then, no planter of intelligence and candor denies that slaves are very generally badly treated in this country. I wish to be understood now at the commencement, that intending as I do that my statements shall be relied on, and knowing that, should you think fit to publish this communication, they will come to this country, where their correctness may be tested by comparison with real life, I make them with the utmost care and precaution. But those which I do make are made without the least apprehension of their being controverted. It occurs to me that perhaps one reason why the public mind at the North is no more satisfied on this subject is, that the facts and statements respecting slavery at the South have not been of a sufficiently general application. Particular instances of hard-driving, ill-feeding, severe-flogging, and other cruelties have been given without making any statements from which a definite conception of the extent and frequency of such treatment could be formed. I hope to avoid this, and to give such facts as will enable you to form a correct, and as far as may be, an accurate idea of slavery as it really exists in the Southwest.

It is seen here undoubtedly in its worst form in the United States, and I shall not vouch for the correctness of my statements when applied to any other section than this-say the four states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Portions of the northern parts of the two former states might also be excepted.

A few days ago I was talking with an overseer of a plantation, the owner of which has universally the reputation of being a good master, and treating his slaves unusually well in every respect. The slaves themselves testify to this, and they say that the overseer is not as hard as most of them are. This overseer, speaking of the work on the place, said, it was a little behind, but he was pushing the hands up to it. Says he "I crowded them up to-day till some of the women fairly cried." And then added, "it is pretty severe." Meaning, not that it was severe compared with the general usage, but in itself considered-for he always represents himself as not being as severe as most overseers. This same man, and many other overseers and owners, have told me that throughout the country, on plantations having fifty hands, the number of floggings during the press of hoeing and cotton picking, average one or two a day, and frequently fifteen or twenty are flogged at once, particularly in the time of cotton picking. My observations and inquiries on this subject have been such, that I feel no hesitation in saying that as a general thing there is at least the above number of floggings daily on plantations of that size, and this barely on the score of work. I ask, then, does this look like not being "over-driven?" But to go more into particulars: Mr., a planter who resides about fourteen miles above Natchez, says, "They generally treat their slaves very

well in his neighborhood." Hear how. "On a plantation of fifty hands it is common in cotton picking time to have a negro whipped every night, and frequently two or three, for not doing the required amount of work. I have myself whipped fourteen or fifteen of a night, or, rather, had my driver do it. They always lie down and receive it on their bare back and buttock. If they are uneasy they are sometimes tied; the hands and feet being stretched out to a stake driven for the purpose. But they are usually held by other negroes. In a bad case, one takes hold of each hand and each foot, and another holds or sits on his head. If they don't hold him well, give them a cut or two with the whip, and I warrant you they will hold him still enough if they have to take their teeth." So much for the testimony of a planter with respect to the driving of slaves in a neighborhood where they are "very well treated." With regard to the process of getting slaves up to their ne-plus in cotton picking, the same man says: "There is no specified quantity which is required of each hand; but measures are taken to find out how much each can do when put to his possibilities. Sometimes $1 or some other prize is set up to the one who will pick most cotton in a day. A smaller prize is proposed to second rate hands, and so on. If this does not succeed with all, they are whipped up all day to make them do their best. When they think they have got a fellow up to high water mark, as it is called, they weigh the cotton he has picked during the day; then they weigh it every night afterwards, and if he falls short any considerable amount, he is flogged. The number of lashes given is from thirty to two hundred." This is done with a whip from seven to nine feet in length, made by plaiting leather over a short sock above two feet long, and then continued out into a long heavy lash. It is an instrument of terrible severity. Its crack can be heard distinctly from half a mile to a mile. The preceding facts and statements respect the general practice with regard to driving. There are many exceptions to the general rule on both sides; some are much more mild and some as much more severe. As evidence of the latter, I will state one fact out of many within my knowledge, which, however, I did not receive from an overseer or owner. It came, however, from such a source that I have no doubt of its correctness. The overseer on Mr. -'s plantation near Natchez, two or three years ago, found some difficulty in getting his hands to pick as much cotton in a day as he wished. Accordingly he took to the whip. He commenced on Wednesday and whipped all his hands, (about fifty,) twice round; Thursday he whipped them all three times; and Friday he whipped them all once. Saturday he was absent. Monday he returned and whipped ten of the hands once, and so tapered down to the common whipping level. Some few probably escaped some of the floggings each day; but not enough to be noticed by my informant in his statement, though he resided on the place at the time, and was intimately acquainted with the particulars. The floggings were regular, and of course ranged from thirty lashes upwards.

And now, Mr. Editor, I leave you and your readers to judge whether the slaves at the South are over-driven, and whether this is the kind of usage that free laborers at the North would like to submit to. I now proceed to show that they are underfed. But, in the first place, I will say that the stories that have been sometimes circulated at the North, about the planters at the South feeding their slaves on cotton seed, are all a humbug. There may have been some instances of the experiment's being tried; but that it is commonly, or even occasionally brought into regular practice, is false. The general rule of feeding is to give just what will supply the demands of nature, and no more. Slaves are almost universally allowanced. Their rations are usually a peck of meal, and three or three and a half pounds of meat a week. This is dealt out on some plantations weekly, and on others daily: which is the more common practice, I am not able to say. Some add a half pint or a pint of molasses a week. As a general thing, the bread stuff is given them ground, and not whole, as has been sometimes represented. On most plantations there is a cook, who prepares their breakfast and dinner, which are always eaten in the field. Their suppers they prepare for themselves after they return from work. Some allowance them only in meat, giving what meal they want; the general rule, however, is a peck of meal and three pounds of meat a week. This allowance is frequently very much shortened when corn or meat is scarce or high. So that on almost every plantation, the hands suffer more or less from hunger at some season of almost every year. have conversed with some very candid slaves on this subject; and they say that they can do very well on a peck

of meal and three and a half pounds of meat a week, except in the winter, when their appetites are keener, and crave particularly more meat. This accords with universal experience. The appetite is always keener, particularly for flesh, in cold weather than in hot. They say, moreover, that they by no means always get their full allowance, and that they often suffer much from hunger. The truth of this I could establish by a multitude of facts from various sources. But aside from the occasional underfeeding that takes place on most plantations, there are many who are notorious as overdrivers and underfeeders, and are talked about as such: so that if the northern folks deny that this often the case, they deny what their better informed neighbors at the South openly talked about as notorious. Why, a few days ago I heard a planter and his wife talking about the health of a neighboring plantation. The lady entertained the opinion that it was sickly, and as evidence mentioned the large number of negroes that died during last summer. The gentleman replied, that it was no wonder, the owner starved them so much. His principle was, if he had not corn enough, to make it last." And this I know to be a principle very extensively acted upon. Here I would remark, that such facts as these are constantly coming to light in multitudes, from the every day conversation of planters. In Louisiana, the treatment of slaves, in almost all respects, is doubtless worse than in any other part of the United States. There, short feeding is very common. And it is true, that among the old French planters, the corn, instead of being ground, is given out in the ear, and the slaves left to dispose of it as they can. They are also in many cases allowed no meat, but have Saturday afternoon for fishing, &c., when the work is not too crowding to forbid it. This, however, is very common; and then-yes, and then-"what must poor nigger do ?" I will mention a fact to illustrate this statement. It was told me by the-captain of a boat with whom I am well acquainted, and whom I know to be a man of genuine integrity. He was passing down the Mississippi with a flat boat load of pork. As he was floating along the levee near the shore, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, he saw a negro whose emaciated countenance and downcast look attracted his attention. He hailed him and entered into conversation with him. Among other things he asked him where he was from. "O master," says he, "thank God, from good old Kentucky." "Had you rather live in Kentucky than here?" "Oh yes, master, there I had plenty to eat, but here I am most starved. I have not tasted meat for months." By this time several others had made their appearance, who joined the first in his testimony about starvation. The captain now commenced throwing out a few joints and other bits of not much account, for their relief. On seeing this, several others ran down from the neighboring quarters to share the spoils. But scarce had they reached the levee, when a white man appeared also, raving and swearing most furiously, and seizing a club about the size and length of a common hoop pole, he commenced mauling them over the head with all his might. Two or three he knocked down on the spot, and others escaped severely wounded. It is not from such isolated facts as these that I draw my conclusions respecting the commonness of bad feeding: I mention this to give a specimen of the nature and extent of the suffering. It is from other data that I judge of its prevalence. I will now give a brief recapitulation. On a few plantations there is no suffering for want of food, such as it is, though on all it is so coarse and so unvaried, that the poorest laborers at the North would most bitterly complain of it. On the majority of plantations, the feeding supplies the demands of nature tolerably well, except in the winter, and at some other occasional times. There is always a good deal of suffering on them from hunger in the course of the year. On many plantations, and particularly in Louisiana and among the French planters, the slaves are in a condition of almost utter famishment during a great portion of the year. And now, I ask, are not the slaves also underfed? Let a man pass through the plantations where they fare best, and see fifty or sixty hands, men and women, sitting right down on the furrows where their food cart happens to overtake them, and making their meal of a bit of corn bread and water, and he will think it is rather hard fare. This is not unfrequently the case on plantations where they are considered well fed. For it will be seen that three and a half pounds of meat would allow but a very small slice if used at every meal. But let us look at it in its best form. A bit of corn bread, three ounces of meat, and a little molasses. And this, morning, noon, and night-night, noon, and morning. Suppose a contractor on one of our northern canals or rail roads were to give his hands this fare, what

would be the consequence? Why they would very probably take the_contractor, give him a sound flogging, tar and feather him, and quit his employ. Every body knows that such a contractor could get nobody to work for him. But "the southern slaves are better off than northern free laborers." The proof is above.

I will now say a few words about treatment and condition in general. That flogging is very common and severe, appears from what has been already said. But those facts were given only in connexion with labor. The picture is not finished. I must now say that floggings for all offences, including deficiencies in work, are frightfully common and most terribly severe. How much is to be added for miscellaneous floggings, to the amount of floggings already stated, cannot be said with any degree of precision. There must of course be a very considerable accession. An overseer from Louisiana says, "On many of the plantations in Louisiana, (and he specified several and gave particulars,) the masters are drunken tyrants, and whip their negroes for the slightest offences, not unfrequently just for the sake of whipping them, if they can find no other occasion. Their field hands, with few exceptions, are whipped all round as often as once a week. They say they will get ugly if they are not whipped as often as that." This is said of those who are particularly severe: though he says there are many of them. Now with respect to the general rule. He says, that "on plantations in Louisiana having fifty hands, the average number of whippings during the whole cotton growing and cotton picking season," (which lasts from April to December,) "is from one to five or six of a day and night." I was careful to make such inquiries into particulars, as to be satisfied that his statements could in the main be relied on. I have since had their truth corroborated from other sources. This overseer plumes himself on being able to manage negroes with but little whipping. He had twenty-two hands, and he says he did not whip more than twelve or fifteen times during picking season. He told me of whipping "one resolute fellow" at the commencement of picking. It was for stealing a few pounds of cotton to put in his daily mess. He first paddled him with a handsaw till he blistered him thoroughly, then whipped him, he thought, about 150 lashes, and wound up by rubbing him with salt. Rubbing with salt and red pepper is very common after a severe whipping. The object, they say, is primarily to make it smart; but add, that it is the best thing that can be done to prevent mortification and make the gashes heal. This lenient man gave me another instance of his whipping. The subject was a woman. He says he alternately paddled with a handsaw, whipped, and talked, for about four hours. He paddled her on her buttock and the soles of her feet, and gave her he does not know how many hundred lashes. I will state one or two more facts, to show more clearly the occasions of floggings, and the manner and severity with which they are given. Last summer, the nurse of a family with whom I am very well acquainted was, for some misdemeanor, put into the stocks and kept there all night. The next morning, feeling more sulky than subdued, she took occasion to throw a large dish of water on one of the children. The master was enraged-sent for four hands from the quarters-had her tied down, and the master's daughter, who gave me the information, says she counted 250 lashes. A few days ago the mistress, who is a respectable member of the Presbyterian church in Natchez, fancied that this same nurse made too free in correcting the children. She flew into a passion-seized the broomstick-struck her three times over the head, and broke it. She then snatched up a pine stick, about an inch square and three feet long-struck her three times over the head with that, and broke it. Such occurrences as these are abundant. Northern free house servants would hardly be willing to exchange their present treatment for such usage.

The clothing of slaves is about on a par with their food. It is of the coarsest articles, and very scanty in amount. However, most of them are clothed. Yet in the worst parts of Louisiana it is not an uncommon thing to see hands working in the field, almost or entirely naked. Their general style of living at home is in keeping with their food and clothing. You will generally find one family occupying a room about twelve or fourteen feet square. In this are two old crazy bedsteads. Sometimes having on them an old dirty mattress or straw bed; sometimes a nest of old, ragged, dirty blankets; sometimes a little loose hay or straw, and sometimes nothing at all. The rest of the room is occupied by a rickety table, a few old stools, boxes, baskets, pots, &c. Chairs are seldom found. You may go to twenty cabins. and not find half a dozen. The very worst holes you can find in the city