1S37] 



F A 11 M L: U S ' R E G I ST E K 



85 



is an instance, amongst nnany, ofthe same, in that 

 province. But, on the coiitran'. I remember an in- 

 Klance ofa late sea officer, then resklent in a n(>ii;h- 

 boriM<T colony, that li)r a mere peccadillo, ordered 

 Ills slave to be tied up, and ibr a whole hour di- 

 verted himself witii the wretches iiroaus; struck 

 at the mournlul sound, with a (iiend, I hastened to 

 the noise, where ihe brute was be<riiminir a new 

 scene of barbarity, and belabored the creature so 

 Jon<i with a larize cane, his overseer beiu<i tired 

 with the covvskm, * tiiat he remained without 

 pense and motion. Happily he recovered, but, 

 alas! remained a spectacle of horror to liis death; 

 his master deceased soon after, and, perhaps, may 

 meet him, ichere the wicked cease from troubling, 

 and the weary be at rest: where, as our inmiorlal 

 Pope sillies, 



No fiends torment, no christians thirst for gold. 



# % # 7p Tt^ -^ 



The convicts that are transported here some- 

 times prove very worthy creatures, and entirely 

 tbrsake their lurmer follies; but the trade has for 

 some time run in another channel; and so many 

 volunteer servants come over, especially Irish, 

 that the other is a commodity pretty much blown 

 upon. Several of the best planters, or their an- 

 cestors, have in the two colonies, been originally 

 ofthe convict-class, and therefore, are much to be 

 praised and esteemed for forsaking their old cour- 

 ses: and heaven itself, we are told, rejoices more 

 over one sinner thai repenteth, than over 'ninety 

 and nine that never went astray. They tell many 

 stories of some of these people in these colonies, 

 one of which 1 commit to writing, as I had it iiom 

 the very person himself, wlio is the chief in the 

 story. 



About sixty years ago, Capt. , master of 



walking through Lincoln's-lnn-Felds, 

 beheld a verj' pretty child, about six years of age, 

 bewailing himself ibr the loss of lus lather, whom 

 he had some liow or other strayed from: he sooth- 

 ed the child, persuaded him to dry his tears, and 

 told liim he had orders from his tiither, wlio was 

 just set out lor the country, to bring him to him. 

 The innocent victim, without thoijght of harm, 

 followed his deliverer, as he thought him, who 

 carried him in the stage coach to Bristol, and there 

 immediately put him on board his vessel, which 

 sailed a Ibrtnight after for this part oi' the world. 

 Still fed up with hopes of seeing his hither, and 

 that he was going but a small trip by water, where 

 he was, and indulged by the captain, in all he de- 

 sired, the time slipt away, till the brute made ap- 

 pear, by the vilest actions, liis accursed design: 

 The |jid aufi'ered much, but his innocer.ce render- 

 ed him incapable to judge of the propriety of such 

 actions, and he was acquiescent. When he arriv- 

 ed at the end of his voyage, being very ill, he sold 



* A cowskin is so called, from being; a large thong 

 from the hide of that animal, twisted into the shape of 



a Swish horse-whip, and as hard as a bull's . The 



common method is to tie them up by the hands to the 

 branch of a tree, so that their toes can hardly touch the 

 ground; but in the West-Indies, they are so habituated 

 to ill-usage, and their spirits so sunk, that the overseer 

 need only bid them cast up their arms over their heads, 

 which the poor creatures readily do, and then the tor- 

 turer taking a run to him, lashes him; and this disci- 

 pline is repeated sometimes forty times: hardly a negro 

 but bears the marks of punishment in large scars on his 

 back and sides. 



him to a planter for fourteen years, for twelve guin- 

 eas. The j)lanler, a man of great humanity, tak- 

 ing a fancy to the child, heard his siiu|)le tale, and 

 perceived the villany, but not till the vessel had 

 sailed. JJe inquired his name, and just so much 

 he could tell him, and sent over to advertise him 

 in the public pa[)ers; but before this design could 

 be completed, near two years ela|;sed, from his 

 first being kidnapped, when, probahly, his lather 

 and mother were both dead, and, perhaps, the 

 cause of iheir death, this accident. Jn short, his 

 master liked the youth more and more, who was 

 sober and dilligent, and married him to an oidy 

 daughter, leaving him at his decease his whole 

 substance. Thirty years elapsed, and though un- 

 der great pain for his ignorance of his parents, yet 

 happy in his family and affairs, he lived with great 

 content; W'hen a ship with convicts coming in, he 

 went to purchase some servants, and the idea of 

 his barbarous captain was so impressed in his 

 mind, that he knew him at first sight, and bought 

 him eagerly; it appearing, afterwards, a notorious 

 crime had brought him into those circumstances, 

 and entirely ruined iiim. As soon as he brought 

 him home, he carried him into a private room, and 

 locked himself in with him; but what words could 

 express the wretches confusion and astonishment, 

 when he understood whose hands he had fallen 

 into! for he had no notion belbre of the gentle- 

 man's being the same, that, when a lad, he had 

 used so vilely. Struck with remorse, and the fear 

 of punishment, he fell on his knees and begged 

 forgiveness. It was in vain, he was interrogated 

 about his master's parents; he knew as little of 

 them as himself; the master enraged, ordered him 

 to be locked into an upper room, resolving to keep 

 him to the hard service he deserved the remainder 

 of his Wt'e; but the next morning he was found 

 stabbed to the heart, with a knife that had been 

 incautiously left in the room; and so despairingly 

 finished a wretched life. The gentleman is now 

 near seventy, and very hearty and well. 



[7b be continued.^ 



INTRODUCTION OF TURNIP HUSBANDRY IN 

 ENGLAND. 



A correspondent of the Boston Courier, speak- 

 ing of the introduction of the sugar beet into this 

 country, makes some forcible remarks on the pro- 

 digious impulse which the prosperity of a nation 

 may receive by the introduction of a single new 

 plant, which he illustrates by the following' histori- 

 cal fact: — 



In an early part ofthe reign of George the First, 

 the cultuie ofthe turnip was limited, in England to 

 a few gardens, as that of the beet now is with us, 

 and used almost exclusively for culinary purposes. 

 That monarch, in one of his visits to his electorate 

 of Hanover, was attended by his secretary of state, 

 LordTownsend; whilst residing there, (his noble- 

 man was struck by the appearance of extensive 

 fields devoted to the culture of turnips, as food for 

 cattle and sheep; impressed with the belief that 

 this method might be introduced with advantage 

 into his own country, he, belbre leaving Germany, 

 took care to provide himself with seed, and, on his 

 return, earnestly recommended to his tenants a 

 practice, Avhich, in Hanover had been found to 

 produce the most favorable results. His w'ishes 



