oys than multiplies the Species; of which we have
also living Proofs under the Eastern Tyrants, and amongst the
Natives of America; so that it can in no Manner answere the End;
and were these Masters to calculate, they'd find a regular
Procreation would make them greater Gainers. A sad Consequence of
this Practice is, that their Children's Morals are debauch'd by
the Frequency of such Sights, as only fit them to become the
Masters of Slaves. This is one bad Custom amongst many others;
but as to their general Usage of them, 'tis monstrous, and
shocking. To be sure, a new Negro, if he must be broke, either
from Obstinacy, or, which I am more apt to suppose, from
Greatness of Soul, will require more hard Discipline than a
young Spaniel: You would really be surpriz'd at their
Perseverance; let an hundred men shew him how to hoe, or drive a
Wheelbarrow, he'll still take the one by the Bottom, and the
other by the Wheel; and they often die before they can be
conquer'd. They are, no Doubt, very great Thieves, but this may
flow from their unhappy, indigent Circumstances, and not from a
natural Bent; and when they have robb'd, you may lash them Hours
before they will confess the Fact; however, were they not to look
upon every White Man as their Tormentor; were a slight Fault to
be pardon'd now and then; were their Masters, and those
adamantine-hearted Overseers, to exercise a little more
Persuasion, Complacency, Tenderness and Humanity towards them, it
might perhaps, improve their Tempers to a greater Degree of
Tractability. Such Masters and such Overseers, Maryland may with
Justice Boast; and Mr. Bull, the late Lieutenant-Governor of
Carolina, is an Instance, amongst many, of the same, in that
Province: But, on the contrary, I remember an Instance of a late
Sea Officer, then resident in a neighbouring Colony, that for a
mere Peccadillo, order'd his Slave to be ty'd up, and for a whole
Hour diverted himself with the Wretched Groans; struck at the
Mournful Sound, with a Friend, I hasted to the Noise, where the
Brute was beginning a new Scene of Barbarity, and belabour'd the
Creature so long with a large Cane, his Overseer being tir'd with
the Cowskin, that he remained without Sense and Motion. Happily
he recovered, but, alas! deceas'd soon after, and per