man to sell his own children to human flesh-mongers,
it is often the dictate of humanity for him to do so;
for, unless he does this, he must not only whip them
himself, but must stand by and see one white son
tie up his brother, of but few shades darker com-
plexion than himself, and ply the gory lash to his
naked back; and if he lisp one word of disapproval,
it is set down to his parental partiality, and only
makes a bad matter worse, both for himself and the
slave whom he would protect and defend.

 

  Every year brings with it multitudes of this class
of slaves.  It was doubtless in consequence of a knowl-
edge of this fact, that one great statesman of the
south predicted the downfall of slavery by the in-
evitable laws of population.  Whether this prophecy
is ever fulfilled or not, it is nevertheless plain that a
very different-looking class of people are springing up
at the south, and are now held in slavery, from those
originally brought to this country from Africa; and
if their increase do no other good, it will do
away the force of the argument, that God cursed
Ham, and therefore American slavery is right.  If the
lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scriptur-
ally enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south
must soon become unscriptural; for thousands are
ushered into the world, annually, who, like myself,
owe their existence to white fathers, and those fa-
thers most frequently their own masters.

 

  I have had two masters.  My first master's name
was Anthony.  I do not remember his first name.
He was generally called Captain Anthony--a title
which, I presume, he acquired by sailing a craft on
the Chesapeake Bay.  He was not considered a rich
slaveholder.  He owned two or three farms, and about
thirty slaves.  His farms and slaves were under the
care of an overseer.  The overseer's name was
Plummer.  Mr. Plummer was a miserable drunkard,
a profane swearer, and a savage monster.  He always
went armed with a cowskin and a heavy cudgel.  I
have known him to cut and slash the women's heads
so horribly, that even master would be enraged at
his cruelty, and would threaten to whip him if he
did not mind himself.  Master, however, was not a
humane slaveholder.  It required extraordinary bar-
barity on the part of an overseer to affect him.  He
was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slave-
holding.  He would at times seem to take great pleas-
ure in whipping a slave.  I have often been awakened
at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks
of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up
to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she
was literally covered with blood.  No words, no tears,
no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move
his iron heart from its bloody purpose.  The louder
she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where
the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest.  He
would whip her to make her scream, and whip her
to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue,
would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin.
I remember the first time I ever witnessed this hor-
rible exhibition.  I was quite a child, but I well re-
member it.  I never shall forget it whilst I remember
any thing.  It was the first of a long series of such out-
rages, of which I was doomed to be a witness and a
participant.  It struck me with awful force.  It was
the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of
slavery, through which I was about to pass.  It was
a most terrible spectacle.  I wish I could commit to
paper the feelings with which I beheld it.

 

  This occurrence took place very soon after I went
to live with my old master, and under the following
circumstances.  Aunt Hester went out one night,--
where or for what I do not know,--and happened to
be absent when my master desired her presence.  He
had ordered her not to go out evenings, and warned
her that she must never let him catch her in com-
pany with a young man, who was paying attention
to her belonging to Colonel Lloyd.  The young man's
name was Ned Roberts, generally called Lloyd's
Ned.  Why master was so careful of her, may be
safely left to conjecture.  She was a woman of noble
form, and of graceful proportions, having very few
equals, and fewer superiors, in personal appearance,
among the colored or white women of our neighbor-
hood.

 

  Aunt Hester had not only disobeyed his orders in
going out, but had been found in company with
Lloyd's Ned; which circumstance, I found, from