n the preceding classes
amount to more than ELEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND, exclusive of the deaf and
dumb, and the blind, some of whom, especially the former, might be
profitable to their "owners";

Now it is plainly for the interest of the "owners" of these slaves, or
of those who have the charge of them, to _treat than cruelly_, to
overwork, under-feed, half-clothe, half-shelter, poison, or kill
outright, the aged, the broken down, the incurably diseased, idiots,
feeble infants, most of the blind, some deaf and dumb, &c. It is
besides a part of the slave-holder's creed, that it is _for his
interest_ to treat with terrible severity, all runaways and the
incorrigibly stubborn, thievish, lazy, &c.; also for those who hire
slaves, to overwork them; also for overseers to overwork the slaves
under them, when their own wages are increased by it.

We have thus shown that it would be "_for the interest_," of masters
and overseers to treat with _habitual_ cruelty _more than one million_
of the slaves in the United States. But this is not all; as we have
said already, it is for the interest of overseers generally, whether
their wages are proportioned to the crop or not, to overwork the
slaves; we need not repeat the reasons.

Neither is it necessary to re-state the arguments, going to show that
it is for the interest of slaveholders, who cultivate the great
southern staples, especially cotton, and the sugarcane, to overwork
periodically _all_ their slaves, and _habitually_ the majority of
them, when the demand for those staples creates high prices, as has
been the case with cotton for many years, with little exception.
Instead of entering into a labored estimate to get at the proportion
of the slaves, affected by the operation of these and the other causes
enumerated, we may say, that they operate _directly_ on the "field
hands," employed in raising the southern staples, and indirectly upon
all classes of the slaves.

Finally, the conclude this head by turning the objector's negative
proposition into an affirmative one, and state formally what has been
already proved.

_It is for the interest of shareholders, upon their own principles,
and by their own showing, TO TREAT CRUELLY the great body of their
slaves._

Objection VI.--THE FACT THAT THE SLAVES MULTIPLY SO RAPIDLY PROVES
THAT THEY ARE NOT INHUMANELY TREATED, BUT ARE IN A COMFORTABLE
CONDITION

To this we reply in brief, 1st. It has been already shown under a
previ