ly
occasions great outrages upon the common charities of our nature. The
discretion rested in a court of two or three freeholders, or a single
magistrate, over the persons of the accused is often exercised with
great severity. In Stroud's Slave Laws, we have an account of the
burning to death of a negro woman, under a law of South Carolina, so
late as 1820. (See page 124, in the note.)

It appears also that the mental improvement of the slave is a thing
generally deprecated by the master, and in some cases provided against
by law. (See Niles's Register, April 21, 1821.)

How deplorable must be the state of that community, which supposed its
safety to depend on keeping one half of its members totally ignorant,
and not even able to read the Holy Scripture.

How contrary to the nature of man? how offensive in the sight of that
God who "_has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the
face of the earth_!"

It furthermore appears that in transporting slaves from one part of
the nation to another, either in the domestic slave trade or in large
bodies by removals of planters, &c. they are usually chained and
handcuffed, or otherwise manacled, like the vilest criminals, &c. &c.

In considering the treatment of slaves, your committee deem it
necessary to notice the amount and quality of labour required of them.
In some cases this is known to be extremely severe, and attended with
many aggravating circumstances. Such as scarcity of supplies which are
sometimes insufficient, and frequently of very inferior quality:
exposure to disease, and want of proper attention in the incipient
states of sickness. The cultivation of rice one of the great staples
of the Carolinas, is an instance to illustrate this point. Mr. Adams
in his Geography says, "the cultivation is wholly by negroes. No work
can be imagined more laborious or more prejudicial to health. They are
obliged to stand in water often times mid-leg high, exposed to the
scorching heat of the sun, and breathing an atmosphere poisoned by the
unwholesome effluvia of an oozy bottom and stagnant water."

It appears therefore, that in the treatment of slaves in general, as
well as in the legal provisions respecting them, the interest,
convenience, security and inclinations of the master, constitute the
only object in view; the comfort or even safety or health of the slave
makes no part of the consideration, any further than it is supposed,
to promote one or the other