ion from a gentleman who witnessed the fact, that in one of the
slave states, a white man, having married one of his female slaves,
after she had borne him several children, sold the whole of them
together as he would a drove of cattle; and it is said such instances
are frequent. A _gentleman_ brought with him from the southward to
_Philadelphia_, (the city of brotherly love,) his half brother, the son
of his father by a slave, and attempted to sell him! He was happily
prevented from executing his sacrilegious design by the interposition of
a respectable citizen, who also procured the legal restoration of
freedom to the darker _faced_ brother.

23. In the course of a journey through Virginia, from the city of
Washington towards James' river, of about 150 miles, going and returning
by different routes, I had frequent opportunities of conversing with the
possessors and overseers of slaves, and others, and of observing the
general effects of the present system of slavery, upon the morals and
prospects of the white population. On combining the facts which
presented themselves, I was involuntarily led to this deduction: that
the present mode, with occasional exceptions, of managing slaves, and of
educating the successors to those who now hold dominion over them, must,
eventually and _inevitably_, result, by a progressive ratio, unless
reformed, in the poverty, bankruptcy and chagrin of a large portion of
the posterity of the existing proprietors of even the most extensive
slave estates in the country! This state of things has, to a certain
extent, already commenced. I was informed of some ancient and immensely
rich slave possessions, and shewn some of the subdivided portions of
them, the present numerous heirs of which, are obliged to contract
increasing debts annually, in order to maintain the magnificent style of
living, and the habits of _amusement_ and _sport_, which had been
imposed on them by their ancestors. In conversation with a gentleman at
Charlotteville, I advanced this problem:--Suppose an individual, (who
prefers sport and extravagance to prudence and happiness) becomes
possessor of 1000 slaves, and 10,000 acres of ground; if he bequeaths
his estate to ten heirs, they will receive each 1000 acres of ground and
perhaps 125 slaves. Pursuing this ratio, each descendant of the third
generation will inherit 100 acres of land and about 25 slaves, and the
fourth 10 acres, with 2 slaves. If the slaves should multiply
p