480 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



on being the occasion of such 

 dreadful cruelties, confessed that 

 it was himself who had stolen the 

 leather, for which the poor little 

 slave had just paid the forfeit of 

 his life. However void of the 

 feelings of humanity, it may well 

 be supposed that this hard-hearted 

 master was not a little mortified at 

 having wantonly put to death a 

 valuable slave; but such was the 

 protection which that State afford- 

 ed these oppressed fellow-creatures, 

 that the master escaped punish- 

 ment, as is commonly the case on 

 occasions of murder committed by 

 the whites on their black slaves. 



E. W. gave me an affecting 

 account of a black slave, residing 

 ne«r his house, who is a pattern of 

 integrity and industry. Such is 

 the confidence reposed in him by 

 his master, that for many years 

 past it has been his practice to 

 send this slave to Baltimore, with 

 his waggon laden with various 

 kinds of produce, the sale of which 

 he intrusts to this black man ; also 

 the care of receiving and bringing 

 home the money ; by which means 

 it frequently happens that large 

 sums of money pass through his 

 hands. This service he has per- 

 formed so much to the satisfaction 

 of his master, that he scarcely ever 

 ventures to employ any other per- 

 son for these purposes. 



This faithful slave has a wife 

 and a large family of children, who 

 reside in a hut close by his master's 

 house. He is allowed a small por- 

 tion of time weekly to do some- 

 thing for himself and family ; and 

 being frequently employed by the 

 neighbours to do little errands for 

 them in Baltimore, he has, during 

 many years of care, and frequently 

 by hard labour when others were 



at rest, scraped together about 

 200/. He lately made an offer of 

 all this to his master for the free- 

 dom of his family ; but the master 

 absolutely refused to give him his 

 liberty on any condition, alleging 

 that he could not meet with ano- 

 ther in whom he could so confide. 

 The poor man had greatly flat- 

 tered himself with hopes, that 

 considering his time of life, being 

 now about 50 years old, a much 

 smaller sum would have procured 

 his liberty ; and it would indeed 

 have purchased that of almost any 

 other slave in the neighbourhood. 

 On finding his master inexorable, 

 his disappointment and distress 

 were extreme, and, in the anguish 

 of his heart, he determined to 

 leave his wife and children, and 

 take the first opportunity of quit- 

 ting the country for ever. How- 

 ever he concluded first to call on 

 E. W. who had always been his 

 friend and adviser, to inform him of 

 his resolution. E. W. sympathized 

 with him in his affliction, but 

 did not let that suffice ; for he 

 went immediately to the master, 

 and used every endeavour to pre- 

 vail upon him to accept the money 

 offered, and to grant the man and 

 his family their freedom. In order 

 to induce the master's compliance, 

 E. W. represented to him the ex- 

 ceedingly ungenerous return he 

 was making to the poor man for 

 his fidelity and industry ; as the 

 only plea urged by this unfeeling 

 master, for his cruel conduct, was 

 the uprightness and integrity of 

 the slave ! But, alas ! avarice is 

 deaf to all arguments except those 

 of self-interest ; it was therefore 

 in vain that E. W. thus pleaded 

 the cause of suffering virtue ; for 

 the hardened task-master was in- 

 exorable 



