S4 



FARRIERS' REGfSTER 



[No. 



own back-doors, as the whole colony is inter-flow- 

 ed by the most noble iiav'io'iible rivers in the world. 

 However, this good properly is attended with this 

 ill consequence, that beintr so well seated at home, 

 they have no nmbiiion to (ill a metropolis, and as- 

 sociate torrether: they require no bourses, or meet- 

 ings about trade; a letter will bargain lor them, and 

 the general run of the market determines the price 

 of the cotiuiiodity. For this reason, the capitals, 

 and other towns in these two co!f)nies, arc very 

 plightlv peopled, and very badly situated, and re- 

 markable for little else than the residence of the 

 governors, and the meeting of the three estates, 

 governor, council, and assembly. The principal 

 pieetings ol' the country are at their court-houses", 

 ae they call them; which are their courts of justice, 

 pnd where as much idle wrannling is on toot, ol- 

 ten, as in an}'' court in Westminster-Hall. The 

 lowyera have an excellent time here, and if a man 

 ja a clever fellow, that way, it is a sure step to an 

 estate, It is necessity that has driven the practi- 

 tioners of the law hither, from Europe, and other 

 partsof America, and I remember lew that had not 

 made it very well worth their while. Thus inno- 

 cence and truth, white-robed innocence and hea- 

 venly truth, can seldom find a retreat to dwell in. 

 Distracted with their adversaries barefaced at- 

 tempts, it is in vain they seek the most distant 

 ekies: pale-visaged guilt, and wily fraud, still pur- 

 sue their flowery steps, determined to spare no 

 means to work their unhappiness. 



Wherever you travel in Maryland (as also in 

 Virginia and Carolina) your ears are constantly 

 astonished at the number of colonels, majors, and 

 captains, that you hear mentioned: in short, the 

 whole country seems at first to you a retreat of 

 heroes; but alas! to behold tlie musters of their 

 niilitia, would induce a man to nauseate a sash, 

 and hold a sword, lor ever, in derision. Diversity 

 o( weapons and dresses, unsizeableness of the men, 

 and want of the least grain of discipline in their of- 

 ficers or them, make the whole scene litde better 

 than Dryden has expressed it: 



And raw in fields the rude militia swarms; 

 Mouths without hands, maintain'd at vast expense, 

 In peace a charge, in war a weak defence: 

 Stout, once a year, they march a blust'rlng band, 

 And ever, hut in times of need, at hand; 

 Of seemins; arms, they make a short essay. 

 Then hasten to get drunk, the bus'ness of the day. 



Indeed, now, 1 fancy the Carthagening reaiment, 

 by returning some of its veterans, will give a better 

 face to these matters. 



Holding land by the tenure of defending it, seems 

 to be as ancient as time itself; and certainly nothino- 

 ean endanger a country m.ore, than an army of mer^ 

 eenaries, who perhaps are quite unconcerned in the 

 public property, and have nothing to fight tor but 

 their pay. How necessary then is it, that the mili- 

 tia in ihese colonies should be well disciplined! since 

 they have no regular troops allowed them, and can- 

 not well maintain a considerable body long t hem- 

 eel ves. Even at this time they are alarmed with 

 an Indian excursion, and numbers are marched to- 

 wards the back ot the province to defend the out- 

 eettlements. Their government is much respected 

 by them, and one may, on tlie whole, say, they are 

 fin happy people. The negroes live as easily as in 

 ?iny other part of America, and at set times have a 



pretty deal of liberty in their quarters, * as they are 

 called. The argument of the reasonableness and 

 legality, according to nature, of the slave-trade, has 

 been so well handled on the negative side of the 

 question, that there remains little (or an author to 

 say on that head; and that captives taken in war, 

 are the property of the captor, as to lile and person, 

 as vvas the custom amongst the Sp.arlims, who, 

 like the Americans, perpetuated a race of slaves, 

 by marrying them to one another, 1 think, has 

 been fully disproved: but allowing some justice 

 in, or, at least, a great deal of necessity lor, mak- 

 ing slaves of this sable part of the species, surely, 

 I think, Christianity, gratitude, or, at least, good 

 policy, is concerned in using them well, and in 

 abridging them, instead of giving them encour- 

 agement, of several brutal and scandalous cus- 

 toms, that are too much practiced: such is the giv- 

 ing them a number of wives, or, in short, setting 

 them up for stallions to a whole neighborhood; 

 when it has been proved, 1 think, unexcepiiona- 

 bly, that polygamy rather destroys than multiplies 

 the species; of which we have also living prools 

 under the eastern tyrants, and amongst the natives 

 of America; so that it can in no manner answer 

 the end, and were these masters to calculate, they 

 would find a regular procreaiion would make them 

 greater gainers. A sad consequence ot this prac- 

 tice is, that their children's morals are debauched 

 by the frequency of such sights, as only fit them 

 to become the masters of slaves. This is one bad 

 custom amongst many others; but as to their gen- 

 eral usage of them, it is monstrous and shocking. 

 To be sure, a new negro, | if he must be broke, 

 either from obstinacy, or, which I am more apt to 

 suppose, fi-om the greatness of soul, will require 

 more hard discipline than a young spaniel: you 

 would really be surprised at their perverseness; 

 let an hundred men shew him how to hoe, or 

 drive a wheelbarrow, he will still take the one by 

 the bottom, and the other by the wheel; and they 

 often die before they can be conquered. They 

 are, no doubt, very great thieves, but this may 

 flow from their unhappy, indigent circumstances, 

 and not fi'om a natural bent; and when they have 

 robbed, you may lash them hours before they will 

 confess the fact. However, were they not to look 

 upon every white man as their tormentor; were a 

 slight fault to be pardoned now and then; were 

 their masters, and those adamantine-hearted over- 

 seers, to exercise a little more persuasion, compla- 

 cenc)', tenderness and humanity towards them, it 

 might, perhaps, improve their tempers to a greater 

 degree of traclability. Such masters, and such 

 overseers, Maryland may with justice boast; and 

 Mr. Bull, the late lieutenant governor of Carolina, 



* A negro quarter, is a number of huts or hovels, built 

 at some distance from the mansion-house; where the 

 negroes reside with their wives and families, and cul- 

 tivate, at vacant times, the little spots allowed them. 

 They are, indeed, true pictures of slavery, which be- 

 gets indolence and nastiness. 



t A negro just purchased from the Guinea-man. It 

 is really shocking to be present at a mart of this sort; 

 where the buyers handle tliem as the butchers do beasts 

 in Smithfield, to see if they are proof in cod, flank, and 

 shoulders. And the women, who have plantations, I 

 have seen mighty busy in examining the limbs, size, 

 and abilities of their intended purchases. I do not 

 speak this of Maryland; for I never saw a lady at mar- 

 ket there, but have elsewhere in America. 



