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Show TR VELS TilT OUGIT A: b ... c 1 Inn 1 ht u,' :1 t he puh'i [, hools .1nd univerfities in Enghml, where, tn.·i the ttnl rtu,,<liC war whi h fc· :uatecl the colont 'S ftom her, the V o 11 ,,. rn 11 \ ·et-c n :ry r-~111. l'<lllv ctlticatctl; al'd c ' L' 1 flill :t few arc i~·nt l t.:, '· ' " ~hcre: as the vu1 ration for th ·1t c<1 tnt ry from whence their ancdlors c.un~, ancl ,;ith vltich tb ·y were them~ ·lv' · for a long time afterwards 0 1 ncelcd, i~ I . no meatlS yet c. ti n(rui{hcu. Thcr · i·; by no r 1cans io great a di ijxuity now, however, amon,)l the inb.tl•itn;1t. ,Jf the Northern Neck, as W<lS formerly, an 1 it is becOL. 1ing lt C, :1ntl lds perceptible every year, many of the large cHat~..s h.1vin~r b ...· en divided itl conf.·qwr1ec of the removal of the proprietors to (J ot 1 r part· of the conntry tlut were more healthy, and many more on al·coui t ot the prcient bws of Virginia, which do not p..?rmit any on-: fon to inherit the landed eftatcs of the father to the exclufion of his bw,hcrs. The J rincipal plJ.nter· in Virginia, have nc::dly every thing they can want ou their own cftates, Amon gO: their flJ.ves arc found t.:tilors, !11ocmak ·rs, carrentcrs, fmiths, turners, wheelwrights, weaver , tanners, &c. I have fcen patterns of excellent con.ril: woollen cloth made in the country by flavcs, and a variety of cotton manuf:1Ctmcs, amongfi: the refr good nankeen. Cotton grow~ 1 ere extremely well; the plants arc often killed by froft in wint r, but they always produce abundantly the firfl: year in which they arc fown. The cotton fron1 which nankeen is made is of a particular kind, naturally of a y llowi{h colour. The large dl tes arc managed by fi,._wards and ovcrfeers, the proprietors juH amuf\ng themfdvcs with fc ing what is going forward. The work is done wholly by Haves, whofc numbers arc in this part of the: country more than double that of white pcrfons. The flaves on the large plantations arc in general very well provi ed for, and treated with mildncfs. During three months nearly, that I was in Virginia, but two or three i.nflances of ill treatment towards them came under my abfcrvation. Their quarters, the name whereby their habitations arc called, arc ufllally fituatcd one or two hundr d yard· from the dwcllin,. houfe, which gives the appearance of a village to the refidcnce of C"Cr; planter in Vir inia; when the efratc, however, is fo large as to be divided into fevcral C 0 N D I T I 0 N 0 F ' LAVEs. fever.:tl fomns, then fcp~lrat quar ers arc attached to the houfe of the ovet (~..: T on c.u.:h f:u·m. A· joi ni n_: their little ha b . tation~·, the fla ve c.:onnnonly have firl:lll gardens ant! yard.; for poultry, vhich arc all thl.ir awn property; tl1 ey have ample titre to attend to their own oncc1 n ·~, and their gardens arc p-cncral!y foun l well fiocked, and their flock s of poultry numerous. Udidcs the food they raifc for them fclves, th 'f. are allowed libcr.1l rations of J;dtcd porl· an l Indi~ln cM·n. l\1any of lu:'ir little huts arc comfonal>ly furr1ifh d, and they arc tht.:n (;.; lvcs, in rc 1 c1,1 1, extremely well clothed. In iho1 t, their condition is by no means fo wretched as might be imagined. They arc fore d to work erl.lin hours in the day; but in return they arc clothed, clictccl, ar d lodgl.d comfortably, and Javed all anxiety ::tbout p rovifion for th<.:ir oH~pring. Still, however, let the conditi n of a flave be made ever fo comfort.tbk, as long a. he is confcious of being the property of another man, who Ius it in his paw -r to difpofc of him according to the di.tl:ates of apricc; as long as he h ars people around him talking of the blcfTtngs of 1ibcrty7 and confiders that he is in a fiatc of bondage, it is not to be fuppofcd thal he can f..:cl equally happy with the freeman. It is immaterial under what form ilavery prcicnts itCdf~ whenever it appear:> there is ample caufc [()r humanity to weep at the fight, and to Luncnt that men can be foun l fo forgetful of their own fituations, as to live regardlcfs of the feclino ·s of their f, llow cr atures. With rcCpecl to the policy of holding .fl.tvcs in any country, on account of the dcpr<tvity of morals which it necdfarify occafions, befidcs the many o_thcr evil confcquenccs attendant upon it, fo much has already b en fud by others, that it is nccdlcfs here to make any comments on the fuhjcct. The number of the flavc incr ales moft rapidly, fo that there is fcarcely any cflate but what i ovcdl:ocketl. This is a cir umfbnce complained of by every planter, as th maintenance of more than arc rcquifltc for the ulturc of the dbte is attended w.ith great cxpcncc. Motives of humanity deter them from felling the poor creature , or turning them adrift from the fpot where they have been born and brou ht up, in the midft of fri nds and reb ions. What |