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Mr. Hough - I have recently received a letter from my correspondent...

Mr. Hough - I have recently received a letter from my correspondent... image Mr. Hough - I have recently received a letter from my correspondent... image Mr. Hough - I have recently received a letter from my correspondent... image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
May
Year
1841
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

From the Friend of Man. Peterbobo, April C, 1841. Mr. Houcn - I have recently received j a letter from my correspondent, who ' sides in Tennessee. That your readers ' may confide the more in his representations, I would remark that he is a gentleman of great intelligence and great moral worth. James G. Birney, who, when he hved at the South, was well acquainled with him, holds him in high estimation. I The extensive landed property of my i respondent in Tennessee and in other of I the slave states is the occasion of eling a great deal, and of his witnessing l much ofthe real character oí slavery.- i Ile writes me freely and witheut reserve. ' I wish I could send his letters entire to the I press. But to do so would be at the t ous hazard of his personai safety. The following are extracts from my I correspondent's last letter. Very ' lully yours, GERRIT SM1TH. 1 Marcb 22d, 1S41. r "In the printedcopy of my letter in the Friend of Man, Jan. 19th, I discover two I srrors, which, il mine, escnped my p Lion. I should have said North Carolina, nstead of Mississippi, as the Sfate ( red to by Mr. . In epeaking of 1 his County asopposed to slavery, I meant n o have said:A very large proportion who d wn slaves are oppoeedj while but few h ire despotic slaveholdcrs.' Colored r ions, even if free, are not permitted to own s laves at the South. o1 "The public sentiment here revolts at b uch barbarities; butit should be la ed, that we are n a district where there Pf ire but few slaves, and one more Si ncd on the subject than most otbere at is he South. Cases of equal cruelty are it. onstantly taking place in South ec a, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi; in N set in all the cotton-growing parts ofthe hi louth, where they are put under owners. wi L wngoner with whom I am acquainted eofrom county, by the name of , passed here some thrco or four days sinco, on his roturn from Augusta, Ga., stated tnat on his way he staid at the houae oC John bmith. Smith had an overseer, who str.pped a negro man, tied his hands (ogelher, drew them over his knees, ran a stnck through above his arma, then with one ofthose slave-driver's whips, struclc nnn three times; ihe whip cut entireiy through the skin, which, being sirained, spread open. IIe then took a lighter whip and whipped him to a jelly, to use his own language, from his head to his feet All this was for a report, which thu owner liad heard, viz: that thc negro said that tho overseer should not whip him a secoml time, which the negro declared then and the next day to be entireiy untrue. Cases of these enormoua cruelties are so constantly reachingus from South Carolina, Jat they excite a Hule attention." 'There is a planter at , Jefferson county, by the name of , from bouth Carolina, who has about 40 sla ves, who adopled this despotic system of discipline. He nrst hired a Tennessee overseer, with whornl am somewhalacquainted bul who resigned his office very soon, as he could not be as cruel as his employer requirod. then brought oí e from South Carolina. The neighborhood was so shocked with his cruelües, that several planters waited on , and told him that it must be discontinued.- paid some attention to the remoostrance, but ie sufficiently barbarous yet. He complains of the country as being to free him. Report saya he has purchased latida in Texas. Some two weeks ago, while on my way to I was compelled lo stop at the house of in a severe rain. He is one of the despots of the County, though keeping a public house. I had never stopped with him. I had several times coaversed with him on the subject of slavery. I met with ro harsh treatment.- His professtons were friendly to me individually, though he said hard things of the. abolitionists. I should think he had about twenty slaves, ciothed in rags- some of them barefoot in this cold March rain. Oa Sabbath morning, while breakfast was preparing, a slave carne to the door and, spoke to him. He took a leather-covered whip with a lash about twelve inches long, cailed here a wagoner's whip. With thi he stepped into his yard, and whipped some Hve or six of his slaves. Every blow could be counted. I should suppose they were as severe as a strong man could make them; perhaps averaged about twen ty to each slave. He returned, laid by the the whip, the family coutinued their engagements as usual, no more excited thaa if he had been to the door to speak to his slave. What their offences were was unknown tp me. There is always enough with such despots. Even should there be no other, they eay it 19 best to keep thetiL 'cowed.'" "There is uneasiness in Kentucky, this State and North Carolina, and in 'all of them a majority of the legal voters are opposed to slavery. Marshali's letters, published in the Louisville Journal have. probably reached you. I have seen bul one, that in the paper of Feb. -3. The Kentucky travelers teil that the amislayery influence there is on the gain . It is in this State. Many good men are discussing it opely . There are some who cali themselves abolitionists. Of tho number is my excellent frierid, , Esq.fc Cashier of the Bank in . He freed his slavep, and hc ussured me he thought it no dishonor to be known as an abolilionist. A faraijy of slaves have latcly been freed in , they were owned by the Clerk of the Court. I ihinlc there wero about 15. About the same number owned in , by a Mr. , ivill probably be takeu to Indiana and made (ree. Mr. is offer ing his place for sale for that purpose. My good friend, Judge - r-, snys in a few )oars all will be made free. When I saw 'him last week, I loaned him your reply to Mr. Clay. Ele assured me it was his iutention to ivrite to you. This, unirnportatil as it may ippear, is worihy of some regard, as it ,vill do nnich to show that the most inteligent men ut ihe Soulh have much resect for the abolitionists. - "Lnst week Esq., of , North Carolina, stopped here on his return from Texas, where he had been fur some nor.ths, seitling the estáte of a son who ied there. He spent a night with us on is way out. J found him an interesting ïan, strongly opposed to slavery. He asiircd me ho hud long exerled himself to venhrow it in North Carolina. He has sen seven years a member of the Legisture, and assured me that he knew the )inion of most of ihe leuding men of that tate on the subject. He stales that there now a mnjority in the State opposed to . He was much gratified when 1 assur1 him that our anti-tlavery people of the orth would be glad to correspond with m. I gave him your address. You ill probably receive a letter from him on. If the tax is toogreat on your time some of our fricnds will, I hope, find it convenient to correspond with him. If I am not mistaken, a door is wow opened, which, if rightly improved, will give us access to the whole anti-slavery influence in North Carolina. All that is wanting there to makeit effectual, is to makc it active and energetic." "I think the resolution of the Abolitionista at the North, to act polilically, exceL lent. Assure our pro-slavery friends, that we will rcmember them at the polls, and they will soon beconr.e sparing ofiheir abuse. Ifgenerally adopted at the North, it will find its way across Mason and Dixon's line, and then the days of slavery are numbered." A large proportion ot the Presbyterian and Methodist clergymen that I am acquainted with at the south, are opposed to slavery. Most ofthem are humble, piou9, self-denying men." "I am sorry to say, that we have some pro-slavery clergymen in this State. A- mong the most consnicuous is an editor of a political paper published at Jonesboro, in E. Tennessee. His name is William G. Brownlowe. But few papers leave his office without some deuunciations of the abolitionists. A year last February, he made one of a delegation from Washington county to the Knoxville Whig Convention. With some, I may say many, good traits of character, ho is excitable ;ind indiscreet. On his way, at Greenville, he procured a red flannel petticoat, carried il himself on a pole some 20 feet long as an expression of contempt for a slander on General Harrison. Sucha strango exhibitiondrew squads of both parties out lo ?ee what was passing. When he saw focos, he called to them, with a familiar sang froid, "Look here you rascáis.'1 As the roads were bad, they had some 20 or 30 miles to ride on the Sabbath. Yet JMr. Browniowe carried his flag to the door of his hotel in Knoxville, in the afiernoon. - In the excitement on Monday evening, he drunk loo freely. His severe personal remarles soon brought him into a quarrel wilhone ofihe adverse party. It wassaid that in this his adversary was the aggressor. Brownlowe sent to Ballimore, by General Wm. Brazzlelon, for a select pistol. Soon after receiving it, he met his adversary in the street for a personal encounter. But his -foe got the first shot, and wounded himseverely in thethigh. Tliis man (his adversary) gives a detailed account of these transactions, with the cxception of drinking too freely at Knoxville, and states that he yet preaches - in his paper. I have heard that he would nol be permitted to remain in the Methodist Church without reformation, but as yet I have nol heard of his expulsión, This is here a very unusual case. But the proslavery clergy at the Soulh, as at the North, sometimes act apparenily in the absence of religious infïuences."