l of $600. Another
instance was of a planter near Matanzas, who had a slave taught as a
carpenter; but after learning his trade, the slave got himself
transferred to a master in the city, for the opportunity of working out
his freedom, on holidays and in extra hours. So general is the
enforcement of these provisions that it is said to have resulted in a
refusal of many masters to teach their slaves any art or trade, and in
the hiring of the labor of artisans of all sorts, and the confining of
the slaves to mere manual labor. I heard of complaints of the conduct of
individuals who were charged with attempting to influence the credulous
and too ready slaves to agree to be transferred to them, either to
gratify some ill-will against the owner, or for some supposed selfish
interest. From the frequency of this tone of complaint and anecdote, as
well as from positive assertions on good authority, I believe these
provisions to have considerable efficacy.

As to the practical advantage the slaves can get from these provisions
in remote places; and as to the amount of protection they get anywhere
from the special provisions respecting punishment, food, clothing, and
treatment generally, almost everything lies in the region of opinion.
There is no end to statement and anecdote on each side. If one cannot
get a full and lengthened personal experience, not only as the guest of
the slave-holder, but as the companion of the local magistrates, of the
lower officers on the plantation, of slave-dealers and slave-hunters,
and of the emancipated slaves, I advise him to shut his ears to mere
anecdotes and general statements, and to trust to reasonable deductions
from established facts. The established facts are, that one race, having
all power in its hands, holds an inferior race in slavery; that this
bondage exists in cities, in populous neighborhoods, and in remote
districts; that the owners are human beings, of tropical races, and the
slaves are human beings just emerging from barbarism, and that no small
part of this power is exercised by a low-lived and low-minded class of
intermediate agents. What is likely to be the effect on all the parties
to this system, judging from all we know of human nature?

If persons coming from the North are credulous enough to suppose that
they will see chains and stripes and tracks of blood; and if, taking
letters to the best class of slave-holders, seeing their way of life,
and hearing their dinner-ta