With such influences upon them, with such a character, with such education, with such associations, as I described in my last letter, it is not surprising that Southerners say that the condition of the slave who is subject to some wholesome restraint, and notwithstanding his improvidence is systematically provided for, is preferable to that of the free black. The free black does not in general feel himself superior to the slave, and the slaves of the wealthy and aristocratic families consider themselves in a much better and more honorable position than the free blacks. I have heard their view of the matter expressed thus “_____ dirty free niggers!—got no body to take care of ’em.”

It is for this reason that slaves of gentlemen of high character, who are [122] treated with judicious indulgence, and who can rely with confidence on the permanence of their position, knowing that they will be kindly cared for as they grow old, and feeling their own incapacity to take care of themselves, do often voluntarily remain in slavery when freedom is offered them, whether it be at the South, or North, or in Africa. A great many slaves that have been freed and sent to the North, after remaining there for a time, have of their own accord, returned to Virginia, and their report of the manner in which negroes are treated there, the difficulty of earning enough to provide themselves with the luxuries to which they have been accustomed, the unkindness of the white people to them, and the want of that thoughtless liberality in payments to them which they expect here from their superiors, has not been such as to lead others to pine for the life of an outcast at the North. Among those so returning, have been many of Mr. Randolph’s slaves, I understand.

And here let me say, as I am most happy to do, that I am convinced that the real kindness of heart and generosity of the people of Virginia, makes practically of no effect their unjust, cruel and cowardly laws with regard to free negroes—unjust, because they interfere with a man’s quiet possession of the rewards of his own labor—cruel, because they separate friends, break up families, and make men homeless outcasts among strangers—cowardly, because they attempt to throw upon others a danger and evil which is the natural result of the peculiar constitution of their own society.

The spread of intelligence of all kinds among the slaves is remarkable. A planter told me that he had frequently known of his slaves going twenty miles from home and back during the night, without their being missed at all from work, or known at the time to be off the plantation. Another told me that he had been frequently informed by his slaves of occurrences in a town forty miles distant, where he spent part of the year with his family, in advance of the mail, or any means of communication that he could command the use of. Also, when in town, his servants would sometimes give him important news from the plantation, several hours before a messenger dispatched by his overseer arrived.

I do not wish to be understood as intimating that the slaves generally would not like to be freed and sent to the North, or that they are ever really contented or satisfied with slavery; only that as having been deprived of the use of their limbs from infancy, as it were, they are not such fools as to wish now suddenly to be set upon their feet, and left to shift for themselves. They prefer, if they have sufficient worldly wisdom, to secure at least plain food and clothing, and comfortable lodging, at their owner’s expense, while they will return as little for it as they can, and have only the luxuries of life to work for on their own account. It is not easy to deprive them of the means of securing a good share of these.

These luxuries to be sure, may be of very degrading character, and such as, according to our ideas, they would be better without. But their tastes and habits are formed to enjoy them, and they are not likely to be content without them.

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But, to live either on their own means, or the charitable assistance of others, at the North, they must dispense with many of them. It is as much as most of them—more than some of them, with us—can do, by their labor, to obtain the means of subsistence, such as they have been used to being provided with, without a thought of their own, at the South. And if they are known to indulge in practices that are habitual with them, they will not only lose the charity, but even the custom, of most of their philanthropical friends; and then they must turn to pilfering again, or meet that most pitiful of all extremities—poverty from want of work. Again: Suppose them to wish to indulge in their old habits of sensual pleasure, they can only do so by forsaking the better class of even their own color, or by drawing them down to their own level. In this way, Slavery, even now, day by day, is greatly responsible for the degraded and immoral condition of the free blacks of our cities, and especially of Philadelphia. It is, perhaps, necessary that I should explain that licentiousness and almost indiscriminate sexual connection among the young is very general, and is a necessity of the system of Slavery. A Northern family that employs slave domestics, and insists upon a life of physical chastity in its female servants, is always greatly detested; and they frequently come to their owners and beg to be taken away, or not hired again, though acknowledging themselves to be kindly treated in all other respects. A slave owner told me this of his own girls hired to Northern people.

That the character and condition of some is improved by coming to the North, it is impossible to deny. From a miserable half barbarous, half brutal state they have been brought to the highest civilization. From slaves they have sometimes come to be intelligent, cultivated, free-thinking, independent-minded, and good and even great men. Frederick Douglass is a great man, if poetry, eloquence and vigorous original thought make greatness. He is but little less great that the vindictive energy with which he pursues the enemy that prevents his being recognized as so, that even taboos him from the society of the cultivated and refined, sometimes carries him beyond the bounds of calm reason and good taste.

It is minds of such character originally that slavery is most galling to, and in which the intelligence and energy necessary to obtain freedom is most likely to reside. For this reason the condition and character of the fugitive slaves does not give a fair indication of that of the mass, and yet it surely is not such, take them all in all, as to make it appear that if the great body of slaves should be sent to free States they would be better off than they are now. I doubt if we have reason to think their children would. In my opinion, this is the greatest reproach to slavery, but the fact remains against hasty measures to destroy it.

As to slaves set free by the masters, without any previous education for it and sent to the free States, I have no doubt they often come to great suffering; and if it should be a frequent or general practice, the result would be anything but desirable. I know of one case in which seven were thus permitted to go to [124] Philadelphia, of which five died in three years, two returned to Virginia, and only one remains—of whose condition I am uninformed, but have no reason to think, and do not believe it at all better in any way than when he was a slave.

As to Liberia,it is certainly true that the negroes, either slave or free, are not generally disposed to go there. It is a distant country, of which they can have but very little reliable information, they do not like the idea any more than other people do of emigrating from their native country. But I really think that the best reason for their not being more anxious to go there is that they are sincerely attached in a certain way to the white race. At all events they do not incline to live in communities entirely separate from the whites and do not long for entire independence from them. They have been so long accustomed to trusting the government of all weighty matters to the whites, that they would not feel at home where they did not have them to “take care of them.” As I pointed out before, they do not feel inclined to take great responsibilities on themselves, and have no confidence in the talent of their race for self-government. A gentleman told me that he owned a very intelligent negro who had acquired some property, and that he had more than once offered him his freedom, but he would always reply that he did not feel able to fall entirely upon his own resources, and preferred to have a master. He once offered him his freedom to go to Liberia, and urged him to go there. His reply was to the effect that he would have no objections if the Government was in the hands of white folks, but that he had no confidence in the ability of black people to undertake the control of public affairs.

To conclude this letter, I will tell you what I think the continued existence of Slavery in Virginia depends upon. First—

Upon the very low and degraded condition of the mass of the people. The proportion of those who cannot read and write in the State is more than thirty times as great as in Connecticut. From their want of intelligence they are duped, frightened, excited, prejudiced and made to betray their most direct and evident interests by the more cultivated and talented, spendthrift and unprincipled of the wealthy class. These, who, without the slightest prudence or care for the future of the Commonwealth, live dependent for the means of their selfish extravagance on the slave labor of today, form “public opinion” by their reckless energy.

Meanwhile the truly wise and good men of the State suffer themselves to be left in the background, suffer themselves to appear in a false position, even aid by their apparent countenance of the wicked and foolish, the general expression of attachment to Slavery, because the question, What can be done, is too great for them, and because they really think the only remedy that is proposed would be productive of greater evil than the disease.

No one speaks a word aloud of it, but not a sober, thinking man of the State is there that does not know that Slavery is a Curse upon him and his, and that if it were possible to remove the effect of causes that are not alone in the [125] future or the present, Virginia would be a hundred times richer, a thousand times happier, if Slavery were not.

P. S.—Since I wrote this letter I have been convinced that the sentiment I have described in the last paragraph is even deeper and more general with the mass of the people than I then imagined. I must mention an incident indicative of it. I was standing on the platform of a railroad car at a station where a gang of slaves had been waiting to take our train to proceed South, but the “servant’s car” being full they were left behind. Two men, one of whom I afterwards learned to be a bar-keeper, the other an overseer, stood with me on the platform. As we moved off one said to the other:

“That’s a good lot of niggers.”

“Good! I only wish they belonged to me, I wouldn’t ask for anything else.”

They continued in conversation, starting with this, for some time, though I heard but little of what they said. They were talking of their different occupations, and grumbling that they succeeded no better. One, I heard say, that the highest wages he had ever had was two hundred dollars a year, and that year he did not lay up a cent. Soon after, one of them spoke with much vehemence and bitterness of tone, so I do not doubt their whole previous conversation had had reference to the point.

“I wish to God, old Virginny was free of all the niggers!”

“It would be a d_____d good thing if she was.”

“Yes, and I tell you, it would be a—d_____d good thing for us poor fellows.”

“Well, I reckon it would, myself.”

But, mind you, these same “poor fellows” understand the impracticability of instantly abolishing Slavery and having on their hands a vast population of freed slaves—more degraded and impressible with exciting prejudices than even themselves—as well as any body, and would be the very first to tar and feather an “Abolitionist” if he came to advise them to it.