e living free in the swamps and everglades
of Florida. There the ancestors of some of them had lived ever since the
early part of the eighteenth century, rearing families, carrying on
farms, and raising cattle. They had two hundred and fifty men fit to
bear arms, led by chiefs brave and skilful. The story of the Exiles of
Florida is one of painful interest. The testimony of officers of the
army who served against them is, that they were more dangerous enemies
than the Indians, fighting the most skilfully and standing the longest.
The tax-commissioner before referred to, who was a resident of
Charleston during the trial and execution of the confederates of Denmark
Vesey, relates that one of the native Africans, when called to answer to
the charge against him, haughtily responded,--"_I was a prince in my
country, and have as much right to be free as you!_" The Carolinians
were so awe-struck by his defiance that they transported him. Another,
at the execution, turned indignantly to a comrade about to speak, and
said, "_Die silent, as I do!_" and the man hushed. The early newspapers
of Georgia recount the disturbances on the plantations occasioned by
these native Africans, and even by their children, being not until the
third generation reduced to obedient slaves.

Nowhere has the deterioration of the negroes from their native manhood
been carried so far as on these Sea Islands,--a deterioration due to
their isolation from the excitements of more populous districts, the
constant surveillance of the overseers, and their intermarriage with
each other, involving a physical degeneracy with which inexorable Nature
punishes disobedience to her laws. The population with its natural
increase was sufficient for the cultivation of the soil under existing
modes, and therefore no fresh blood was admitted, such as is found
pouring from the Border States into the sugar and cotton regions of the
Southwest. This unmanning and depravation of the native character had
been carried so far, that the special agent, on his first exploration,
in January, 1862, was obliged to confess the existence of a general
disinclination to military service on the part of the negroes; though it
is true that even then instances of courage and adventure appeared,
which indicated that the more manly feeling was only latent, to be
developed under the inspiration of events. And so, let us rejoice, it
has been. You may think yourself wise, as you note the docility of