NORTH CAROLINA 149 



prices so much tRe higher. On the other hand the 

 negroes auctioned zealously contradict everything good 

 that is said about them ; complain of their age, long- 

 standing misery or sickness, and declare that pur- 

 chasers will be selling themselves in buying them, that 

 thev are worth no such hisrh bids : because thev know 

 well that the dearer their cost, the more work will be 

 required of them. 



For the betterment of the condition of this class of 

 mankind especially the Quakers in America have for a 

 long time worked, but in vain. Only recently one of 

 them, a member of the Virginia Assembly, had cour- 

 age and philanthropy enough to make a public pro- 

 posal for freeing the negro slaves ; but this time he did 

 not succeed.* However, while the Quakers have been 



* " In Virginia the slavery of the negroes is now effectively 

 " annulled ; no more black slaves may be imported ; schools 

 "have been established for their instruction, and societies 

 " formed to protect them against the severities of their mas- 

 u ters. And in Pensylvania all negro slaves have been declared 

 " free, born in the province since the Declaration of Inde- 

 " pendence. 



For a good many years the spreading abroad of more fa- 

 vorable opinions regarding the negroes has been effected chiefly 

 by Anthony Benezet's A short Representation of the calami- 

 tous State of the enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions. 

 Philadelph. 1766. 8; and D r Rush's Address to the Inhabitants 

 of the British Settlements in America upon Slave-keeping. 

 Philadelphia. 1773. 8. Both spoke out, and were for the 

 rights of humanity and freedom for the negroes; shortly 

 other writings and articles followed, which supported and 

 made better known the position (at first criticized) of these 

 high-minded and philanthropical men. Since that time the 

 betterment of the condition of the negroes has been had con- 

 stantly in view, and it appears now that the effects so long 

 desired are working. 



