cut off; pregnant females ripped open; legs broken, and hands severed from the arm, as if for the purpose of getting the armlets, or some other trifling ornament; little children mutilated and horribly mangled; many in whom the spark of life had become quite extinct; some who were still struggling in the agonies of death, and crawling about among the dead. One brutal savage was seen deliberately cutting off the breasts of a female, whom he had thrown down upon the ground for the purpose."

Our object in these quotations, is merely to suggest, what is very well known, the exceedingly barbarous state of the African Continent, and the savage nature of the African himself in his native land-as we have taken upon us to state, in the text, that it is better to be a slave in America, than a free man in Africa—not to justify bondage, however, but to view things in the lights of comparison.

The miserable condition of the human beings, that are doomed to labour in the British manufactories, has been sufficiently exposed by the investigations of the British Parliament.

The number of paupers in Europe, independently of Great Britain, is estimated at 11,000,000; the number of those, whom the least remission of labour, or diminution of wages, or the product of their toils, would at once reduce to want, is 50,000,000; and the number of actually indigent, 17,000,000.

In the kingdom of Hungary the rights of the peasantry rest on an ordinance of Maria Theresa, some of which are as follow:

"The peasants are forbid to collect money, or natural productions, and the offenders are to be punished with twenty-four strokes of the cane.

"The peasants are not allowed to collect Knoppern

Galls, nor to knock down acorns, as they belong entirely to the landlord; but are prohibited as contraband, and the offenders are further to be punished with three days' hand labour.

"Peasants are not to carry a gun, nor to keep sportingdogs, under penalty of three days' hand labour.

"When a peasant, out of idleness, or carelessness, after being called to his labour, does not come to it, he is to be punished with twelve strokes of a cane.

If any peasant shall sell flesh meat from another place, or cut up and sell flesh meat, thereby taking away the profits of the shambles from the landlord, this shall be considered as contraband, and the peasant shall be further punished with three days' hand labour.

“The widows of deceased peasants must observe the order of the twenty-first article of the Seventh of King Uladislaus, which orders that, if they marry again, they must not quit their homes without permission of their landlord; otherwise their whole property will be at his disposal.”

The landed property of Hungary, and most of that of Germany, belongs to the nobility; and the peasants generally are subjected to a severe, and often to a cruel bondage.

Mr. Coxe says of Russia :-" Peasants belonging to individuals are the private property of the landholders, as much as implements of agriculture, or herds of cattle; and the value of an estate is estimated, as in Poland, by the number of boors, not by the number of acres In Russia, the person who harbours another's vassal is subject to a heavy fine. With respect to his own demands upon his peasants, the lord is restrained by no law, either in the exaction of any sum, or in the mode of employing [them. He is absolute master of their time, and of their labour. Some he employs in agriculture; a

few he makes his menial servants, and perhaps without wages; and from others he exacts an annual payment. Several instances of these exactions fell under my own observation: a mason, who was rated at six pounds sterling per annum; a smith, at twelve; and others as high as twenty. With regard to any capital they may have acquired by their industry, it may be seized, and there is no redress; as, according to the old feudal law which still exists, a slave cannot institute a process against his master. Hence it occasionally happens, that several peasants who have gained a large capital, cannot purchase their liberty for any sum, because they are subject, as long as they continue slaves, to be pillaged by their masters."

Thus, we see, there is slavery all the world over, in civilised and barbarous countries. Africa itself is full of it, and of the worst sort. Europe is full of it. There is something that looks like slavery in her manufactories, in Great Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere. Asia is covered with it; and it seems to have been discovered, that there are five millions of slaves in British India, held under the proper slave tenure, not to speak of the general condition of the population under British jurisdiction in that quarter of the globe, the great portion of which might well envy those slaves in civilised countries, who are provided by their masters. Imagination may work upon a name; sound judgment looks at the reality. There is less of slavery in America, than in any other part of the world; and too much, certainly, so long as there is any. We have shown, that we have no taste for it. We detest it; we abhor it; and will use all our influence to bring it to an end. We are born and educated to hate slavery; and we have never seen any reason to entertain a more favourable opinion. But we detest it

*Coxe's Travels in Russia.

most when the reality is maintained, and the shadow chased; when luxury fattens on its sweat and fevered blood, while the cant of hypocritical disclaimer turns its eye-balls to heaven, or looks far off to another land, weeping a sympathy which feels not for the misery that lies at its own door.

NOTE N. Page 150.

Disposal of American Slavery.

Since writing Chapter XI. on the question-How can American slavery be disposed of?—we have accidentally met with the following Documents, which suggest precisely the same principle, nearly in the same form of application, with that which we have displayed towards the conclusion of this chapter, for the disposal of American slavery. We were not aware it had ever been proposed, and are gratified in being sustained by the authority of such names, as the Hon. Rufus King, Chief Justice Marshall, and James Madison.

In the Senate of the United States, February 18th, 1825:

"Mr. King, of New York, rose, and said, that in offering the resolution he was about to submit, though it was a subject of great national importance, he did not desire to debate it, nor did he offer it with a view to present consideration. He submitted it as a matter for the future consideration of the Senate, and hoped it would be received by all parts of the House, as one entitled to its serious attention. He then laid on the table the following resolution:

"Resolved by the Senate of the United States of America-That as soon as the portion of the existing

funded debt of the United States, for the payment of which the public land of the United States is pledged, shall have been paid off, then and thenceforth, the whole of the public land of the United States, with the nett proceeds of all future sales thereof, shall constitute and form a fund, which is hereby appointed, and the faith of the United States is hereby pledged, that the said fund shall be inviolably applied to aid the emancipation of such slaves within any of the United States, and to aid the removal of such slaves, and the removal of such free persons of colour, in any of the said States, as by the laws of the States respectively may be allowed to be emancipated, or removed to any territory or country without the limits of the United States of America."

This resolution was ordered to be printed, and stands in the Journals of the Senate.

CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL has left the following record on this document :

:

"On this subject, I have always thought, and still think, that the proposition made by Mr. King, in the Senate, is the most unexceptionable, and the most effective, that can be devised. The fund would probably operate as rapidly as would be desirable, when we take into view the other resources which might come in aid of it; and its application would be, perhaps, less exposed to those Constitutional objections which are made in the South, than the application of money drawn from the Treasury, and raised by taxes. The lands are the property of the United States, and have heretofore been disposed of by the Government under the idea of absolute ownership."

JAMES MADISON, who, as is known, was President of the United States, made the following remarks on this subject:

"In contemplating the pecuniary resources needed for