the labours of the field, as well as handi- slave; or from that which is allotted to craft employments. a domestic slave, and the slave for sale? "A. I would state that they are not all vendible, as I understand the laws of Africa: and that there is the most marked difference in the appearance be "As this visible difference of treatment is a point of importance, on which, though a great misconception of the case prevails in the public mind, I am not aware of any contradiction in the tes-tween the domestic slaves and those intimony between the contending parties, tended for sale. Those intended for it may perhaps be allowable to cite, by sale I have always seen in a chain, and way of clear illustration, a passage or confined. two in that evidence, from which, on all controverted subjects, I so rigidly abstain, the testimony adduced by abolitionists. The liberty may be further justified, because I shall cite them, not || chain? from the spontaneous account of any witness brought forward to support a previous statement of the party producing him, but from the unpremeditated answers given at the bar of the House of Lords by a highly respectable witness, under a cross-examination : "Q. Do you state that to be univer sal in all the countrics you have visited, that the slaves that are the subjects of sale, are universally distinguished by a "A. I never saw any whom I was given to understand were the subjects of sale, or whom I could understand to be the subjects of sale, who were not confined in some manner. "Q. Are you now speaking of slaves brought down to the factories of the Slave Traders for the immediate purpose of sale; or do you speak of all the slaves who are the subjects of sale wherever they may be found about the houses or "A. I never could understand, notwithstanding many enquiries I have made on the subject, that any slaves for sale were kept in the hands of any upon the coast but slave-factors. "Q. Have you made any inquiry, which enables you to judge what proportion the slaves in that country bear to the freemen ? "A. I have frequently made the at-plantations of their masters? tempt to ascertain that proportion. I made it an object in every place which I happened to visit; but so much alike in their appearance, in their treatment, and in the conduct observed towards them, are the domestic slaves in that "Q. Have you been any considerable country and the freemen, that I found it way up the country, so as to have an opimpracticable, unless I went to make in-portunity of seeing how, and by whom, dividual investigations, to ascertain that proportion. "Q. You therefore have not been called to discriminate between slaves and freemen, as you found them in the families of the natives whom you visited? “A. I never was able to discriminate between the son and the domestic slave of any chief. field-labour is performed? "A. I have; and field-labour is performed by free people, and by the domestic slaves, jointly and indiscriminately "Q. Do you mean to say that the slave who is the subject of sale never performs the field-labour? "I would again state, that I never "Q. Do you know whether any dif knew any African chief keep upon his hands slaves intended for sale. That I ferent species of labour is allotted to a freeman, from that which is allotted to a | understood, however, that in one part of the country, where a number of slaves had been brought down expecting a market, which, in consequence of the breaking out of the war they did not obtain, that a number of the slaves so brought down were purchased and employed for one season in cultivating rice. "Q. Whether you saw any of the persons you have been describing, and if you did not see them, did you see any of them in chains? "I have already said that I never saw any person whom I understood to be intended for sale, at work.' (Evidence of Zachary Macaulay, Esq. formerly Go vernor of Sierra Leone, taken at the bar of the House of Lords on the bill for partially abolishing the Slave Trade in 1799. Printed evidence, 289, 290.) fact, was found liable to an obvious objection: for it was admitted that the articles brought down to the coast, were paid for by a barter of European goods which went back into the interior country: if, therefore, all the porters were sold, it was naturally asked, who carried back the returns? "To escape from this difficulty, the witness answered-'I think I stated that they were not all sold that brought down the goods; and I naturally pre sume, that for a tooth of ivory of a hundred weight, we may find goods to purchase it that will not weigh ten pounds; consequently, nine-tenths of the carriage, upon that presumption, will not be wanted back again.' "Q. Do you mean then that a part of the slaves can carry back into the inmodities brought down by the whole? terior country the returns for the com 88.) "The important distinction established by these remarks and citations, may be further supported from the same body of evidence last referred to, as fur"A. I suppose they do, nearly so. nished on the part of the slave traders. But I suppose that there are domestic slaves always among them, as well as "Capt. Oldermont, one of the Liver those who are to be sold, who are not pool witnesses, who had been upwards sold, except on the commission of some of twenty years in the Slave Trade, in-crime.' (Same printed Evidence, 87, cidentally, but clearly, disclosed this privilege of the ordinary or native slaves, whom he, like others, calls domestics. "It had been a point in the examina-native slaves of Africa, are generally tion, whether the carriers of ivory from unalienable, I refer to the long examinathe interior to the sea coast, were sold, tion of Capt. Hume, in the same printed together with their burthens; a fact evidence, especially from page 56 to 60. which the Liverpool party, with their It will be found well worth the curiusual ingenuity, tried to establish, as an osity of persons unused to the perusal argument that the gum and ivory trade, of such testimony; but it is too long for depended on, and must fall with, the insertion here, and would be injured by abbreviation.” Slave Trade;-but the proposition of "If any doubt still remains in the mind of the reader, whether the domestics, of DEPARTURE OF THE SHIP INDIAN CHIEF. We owe it, we think, to these emigrants to state, that during the three or four months that they have been detained (the greater part of them) in this The ship Indian Chief, Captain Cochran, chartered by the American Colonization Society, sailed from this port on Wednesday last, the 15th inst. for the Society's settlement at Cape Mont-place, waiting for the vessel in which serado, on the Coast of Africa. She takes out one hundred and fifty-four free people of colour, with supplies for the Colony, the frames of five large buildings which the government intends, to provide for the accommodation of a number of captured Africans who will be sent out hereafter in another vessel, 'the frames of two long boats for the trade of the rivers, and other things. She takes out also, Dn. PEACO, a surgeon of the navy, a gentleman of professional skill, who will act in the double character of an agent of the government, and a physician to the people. they were to embark, they have, with hardly a single exception, displayed a degree of patience, humility, and good order, that entitles them to our warmest praise. And nothing indeed, can more strongly evince their affection for this enterprise than the plain fact, that under all the circumstances of discouragement in which they were placed, and assailed as they were, in some instances, with artful temptations, not one of them was found to flinch from sailing. We are gratified also to record in this place, that the citizens of our borough have shown their usual kindness and charity to the emigrants. Our community indeed is too small to favor that sort of benevolent excitement which we observe was displayed in Boston on the altogether wise perhaps to make any public parade of our feelings, in our southern cities, on such occasions. We are glad, however, to be able to state, that we did not send these people away from our shores without some proofs of that sympathy which it surely became us to feel. The emigrants, we understand, are a chiefly from the counties of Perquimans, Pasquotank, and Chowan, in our neighbor State of North Carolina. About fifty of them are sent out, decently furnish-sailing of the Vine; nor would it be ed for the voyage, by the friends under nd whose care they have heretofore been living. Eleven are the freedmen of the Rev. John D. Paxton, of Prince Edward county, in this State, given over to the Society to transport them; one the donation in like manner of Dr. Webb, of the Great-Bridge, near this sa place, and one of the Rev. Cave Jones, of New York. They go out for the most part in families, and are of all ages, but chiefly young men and women, boys and girls, with a few old persons and young infants. Among the men are some good mechanics; but the greater part of them have been used to handle the plough and hoe. With the industrious habits which we understand they bave manifested, we have no doubt they will do well in their new country. In this view, we are happy to state that our citizens, and some individuals of Smithfield and Suffolk, gave them liberal donations of clothes and farming utensils, and other things of which they were in want. And we are particularly gratified to add, that on the day before her sailing, the reverend gentlemen of the clergy, of different denominations, went on board the ship, then dropped down below the forts, with a few gentlemen and ladies, friends of the Society, in company, to see the emigrants, and give them a parting prayer. We understand, from one who was present, that the services, on the occasion, aided, no doubt, by the interest of the scene, were very solemn and impressive. It was impossible, indeed, we can easily conceive, to see such a group of human beings, embracing all the relations and charities of life, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters, all about to sail from our shores forever, and under such peculiar circumstances, without feeling the deepest sympathy in their situation, and the most lively interest in all their future fates. We must take this occasion to say again, that we do most cordially approve of the plan of the Society. We are no enthusiasts, indeed, (as we perceive it is the pleasure of some to call the friends of the cause,) but, with the evidence, daily increasing, which we have before us, of the perfect practicableness of colonizing these people in the land of their fathers, of their own ardor in the undertaking, and of the happy effects which may be fairly expected to flow from its achievement, we should look upon ourselves as exposed to a still more serious charge than that of a want of sober sense-a want of common humanity-if we did not feel and avow our hearty interest in its success. Let our Colonization Societies, and their friends, continue to pursue their great object, with that moderation and prudence which the nature of their engage ment so forcibly suggests, and they cannot fail, we should think, to enlist all hearts and hands in their cause. OPINION OF THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA. by a majority of 41 votes. No doubt, we believe, is entertained of the concurrence of the Senate. The bill was sustained by an able speech from Mr. Upshur and was supported also by Mr. May, Mr. Winston, and Mr. Blackburn. The last named gentleman observed, It is well known that this dis-siderable debate, passed the house inguished State, early suggested the plan of African Colonization, to the National Government; that many of its most enlightened citizens have given their sanction and aid to the objects of our Society, and that an appropriation of 500 dollars was made by the Legislature, the last year, for the benefit of the settlement in Liberia. We are glad to perceive that the subject has been again before the House of Delegates, and again received their marked approba-and most laudable purpose. But Rome tion. A bill for an additional appropriation of articles manufactured in the penitentiary, was brought in by Mr. Upshur, and after con "That he would vote for it with greater pleasure, were the sum larger. He had made up his mind to vote for 4 or 5000 dollars to support this noble was not built in a day. Could he believe would resemble some of the little Colthat a century hence, this Colony onies that two centuries since were placed on the shores of this Continent; it would cheer his dying hour. This had been connected with the Missouri black, if not as pretty as white, was at least as substantial. At all events negroes were men?" The policy of Virginia towards the Colonization Society, appears to be established, and we may surely expect much from a state so intelligent and powerful. SLAVE TRADE. Every thing which may be contribute to the suppression of this trade, must be read with interest by humane and christian people. The nations are gradually combining for its extinction. "The Christian Gazette, of Dec. 3, contains the official news of a treaty concluded on the 9th of Nov. last, between the king of Sweden and Norway and the king of Great-Britian, relative to the slave trade. The king of Sweden engages to cause penal laws to be passed, as soon as possible, against this traffic. The vessels which are suspected, are reciprocally liable to be visited by the ships of war of the contracting parties, and subject to confiscation, in case the suspicions should prove to be well founded. Two tribunals shall be es tablished, one on the Swedish Island of St. Bartholomew, the other at Sierra Leone, on the coast of Africa, to decide in the actions which shall be brought in consequence of the capture of ships, and to adjudge the indemnities to be given, in case of detentions without due grounds." FROM AFRICA. We know, however, that the wise of this world, men of rare gifts and eminent acquisitions, are often arrayed in hostility to the enterprizes of benevolence, and would stop, if possible, the Charist of the King of kings. But we labour hopelessly to check the spirit of the age. The Almighty hand has given impulse We copy, from the New-York ||tion to the decrees of Heaven! Observer, the following very interesting intelligence from Africa. It is gratifying to a Christian to observe the developements of the Divine purposes, in reference to the propagation of Christianity, and to see the rapid fulfilment of those predictions which assure us that all nations shall rejoice in the =light, and submit to the power of the Truth. How vain is opposi-to the movements of the day. |