public advantage. And, more than that, these unfortunate slaves, the engines of their wealth, are scarcely fed or clothed in any way bordering on humanity. Their common allowance of food, is said to be about one quart of corn per day! Thus miserably fed, they are consequently driven to theft by the first law of nature, and subject the country to perpetual depredation. How little wealth has contributed towards human improvement, appears sufficiently obvious throughout this adventitiously opulent section of the Union. Time appears here only made to be lavished in amusement. Is the uncertainty of human life so great in this climate, as to leave no leisure for any thing beyond dissipation? The only serious pursuit, appears to be the amassing and spending of that wealth which is wrung from the luckless toil of so many unfortunate Africans, doomed to an endless task, which is even entailed upon their posterity. "O slavery, though thousands in all ages have drank of thee, still thou art a bitter draught!"
An evil, however, which has been so long established, {240} cannot be eradicated at a single blow. The abolition of domestic slavery must be a work of time. Let an age be chosen at which it shall cease to operate; say a limit of 28 or 30 years. Let the negroes be sent into the civilized world with the rudiments of education, and the means of obtaining a livelihood. After acquiring their freedom, it is highly probable, that they would still continue to seek the employment of their former masters, and the neighbourhood in which they were born. The project of transporting the free negroes to the country in which they originated appears extremely rational, and ought to be promoted by every means in the power of the public. We are sensible that the negroes who remain in the society
