124 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



maintained from his very arrival without any of that prelimi- 

 nary expenditure for food or for utensils, w^hich a free artisan 

 would have to incur. He is, moreover, transferred instanta- 

 neously to the county, nay, to the very parish, where there 

 was most want of such a hand : if not by his first sale, by his 

 second, he is sure to be shifted into the most expedient station 

 which the region aftbrds. The difficulty of conveying infor- 

 mation to the unlettered is the only real obstacle to the ar- 

 rangement of these migrations on a principle of personal con- 

 sent. Voluntary colonists could be gotten by the myriad, did 

 they but know the lot that awaits them. 



From the moment a negro is for the first time sold by auc- 

 tion, it is preposterous to call him a slave. He is become in 

 the strict legal sense of the word a vassal. He is ascribed to 

 the soil, and can invoke its nutritious aid, by law, during sick- 

 ness, famine, or decrepitude. He has climbed a step in hu- 

 man society. His sale by auction has conferred not only that 

 civil right which is represented in England by a certificate of 

 settlement ; but also a right of property over those savings, 

 which a wise employment of his leisure never fails to bestow. 

 He can acquire a peculium, a distinct personal property, which 

 may serve for the purchase of his freedom, or which, if he 

 dies unenfranchised, will descend share and share alike to his 

 children. The proprietor lodges, feeds, clothes, supplies the 

 luxuries of rum and tobacco, and takes the produce of nine 



