445 



lie offices at one time under the govern- 

 ment of the United States, and one of 

 them as a judge iu] courts of justice, I 

 thought him a very proper man to give 

 information on the subject. He acknow- 

 ledged that offences of that kind were so 

 lightly looked at in the American courts, 

 that it was not worth any man's while to 

 bring the thief to justice. And he ob- 

 served, that he did not mean to say that 

 Congress were rogues themselves ; but he 

 must confess, that they countenanced a great 

 many men who were. For the highest of 

 crimes, these sort of men were condemned 

 to the wheel-barrow, to work on the high- 

 ways, as a punishment : but that is no real 

 punishment to a negro, who is a slave, and 

 brought up to such bondage ; it is his cus- 

 tomary way of life in the farmer's or plant- 

 er's employ, where they arc under the 

 control of an overseer, w^ho makes them 

 do it. And although persons who are not 

 accustomed to the employ of slaves, think 

 k a cruelty for those negroes to be under 



