For every circumstance favourable to American character and institutions, even Basil Hall is good authority: and, if we do not mistake, for we have not his work at hand, after becoming acquainted with the situation of the slaves in the South from personal observation, he declares, in so many words, that if it were in his power to do it, he would not give them their freedom.
It has been asked why the slaves occasionally run away from their masters if they are so happy. Everybody knows that mankind, whether bond or free, are prone to become discontented with the station in which they are placed. Finding themselves not happy where they are, they long to seek happiness elsewhere, in some situation in which they fondly imagine it resides; for every disappointment in the pursuit only increases our ardour to continue the game, and the last lesson of life is, that happiness is not to be found in this world. To chase it from one imaginary point to another; to pursue it through every variety of pleasure and occupation, is the lot of man. No argument can therefore be drawn against any state of society, from the fact that many, or, if you please, all, are anxious to escape from it; because, so long as there is one which seems to present greater allurements, it is the law of our nature to aspire to its possession. Such is the longing of the slave to be free, because he imagines that, like his master, he will be a gentleman, and enjoy all the fancied delights of idleness and luxury. His absconding is therefore only a proof that, like all the rest of mankind, he is discontented with his lot, envies that of others, and runs the universal race after the same shadows that delude the world.
Do these pictures and this declaration of a prejudiced traveller accord with those of the abolitionists, or with the fictitious horrors with which slavery has been invested in the United States? On the contrary, do they not distinctly indicate that the benign spirit of religious and political liberty has operated here, as well as everywhere else, to mitigate the sufferings of mankind, and strip slavery of all its most obnoxious features? Compare the situation of the people described in the foregoing letters and extracts, with that of the class of Africans from whom they are descended; and for this purpose we shall lay before the reader some extracts from Mungo Park, who, it will be remembered, finally fell a victim to the treachery and barbarism of those who are now the objects of such intense sympathy.
It should be borne in mind that the slaves of the United States are the posterity of those Africans, who, by capture in war, and other circumstances, had become hereditary bondmen in their own country, and whose posterity would have remained so to this day had they continued there. A comparison of their respective condition and treatment will therefore enable us to decide whether they have lost or gained by the transfer to this country, and consequently whether their happiness has been increased or diminished. Our object is not to challenge any credit to the free civilized white man of the United States, for treating his slaves more kindly than the African barbarian, but to show that nothing has been lost to the sum of human happiness by that transfer. The abolitionists rely on solitary cases, unsupported by any proof whatever; we shall adduce an example, on the testimony of one whose authority has never been questioned. It relates to a female slave of the tribe of the Jallonkas, and occurred while Mr. Park was travelling with a party through the wilderness of that name. They were pursued by a hostile tribe; many of their slaves were dispersed in the woods; a party was sent in search of them, and, among others, says Mr. Park—
"They likewise brought with them poor Nealee, whom they found lying in a rivulet. She was very much exhausted, and had crept to the stream in hopes to defend herself from the bees, by throwing water over her body; but this proved ineffectual, for she was stung in the most dreadful manner. When the slatees had picked out the stings as far as they could, she was cooled with water, and then rubbed with bruised leaves; but the wretched woman obstinately refused to proceed farther, declaring she would rather die than walk another step. As entreaties and threats were used in vain, the whip was at length applied; and after bearing patiently a few strokes, she started up and walked with tolerable expedition for four or five hours longer, when she made an attempt to run away from the coffle, but was so very weak that she fell down on the grass. Though she was unable to rise, the whip was a second time applied, but without effect; upon which Karfa told two of the slatees to place her on the ass which carried our dry provisions; but she could not sit erect, and the ass being very refractory, it was found impossible to carry her forward in that manner. The slatees were, however, most unwilling to abandon her, the day's journey being nearly ended; they therefore made a sort of litter of bamboo canes, upon which she was placed, and tied with slips of bark; this litter was carried on the heads of two slaves, one walking before the other, and they were followed by two others, who relieved them occasionally.
"At daybreak poor Nealee was awakened, but her limbs were now become so stiff and painful that she could neither walk nor stand; she was therefore lifted like a corpse upon the back of the ass, and the slatees endeavoured to secure her in that situation by fastening her hands together under the ass's neck, and her feet under the belly, with long strips of bark; but the ass was so very unruly, that no sort of treatment could induce him to proceed with his load; and as Nealee made no exertion to prevent herself from falling, she was quickly thrown off, and had one of her legs much bruised. Every attempt to carry her forward being thus found ineffectual, the general cry of the coffle was, Kang-tegi Kang-tegi, 'cut her throat, cut her throat,' an operation I did not wish to see performed, and therefore marched onward with the foremost of the coffle. I had not walked above a mile, when one of Karfa's domestic slaves came up to me with poor Nealee's garment upon the end of his bow, and exclaimed, Nealee Affilita—' Nealee is lost.' I asked him if the slatees had given him the garment as a reward for cutting her throat; he replied, that Karfa and the schoolmaster would not consent to that measure, but had left her on the road, where undoubtedly she soon perished, and was probably devoured by wild beasts."
