The good appearance and gaiety of the negroes at Monticello attested the humanity of their master, if so noble a character had need of an attestation; all those with whom I conversed assured me that they found themselves perfectly happy, and were not subject to bad treatment; that their task was light, and that they cultivated the grounds of Monticello with greater satisfaction, because they were nearly certain of not being torn from their homes to be sent elsewhere, during Mr. Jefferson’s life. This conversation proved to me that, notwithstanding what some persons say, it is possible to excite in slaves a love of labour and gain their affections; this infallible mode would be to attach them to the soil, and teach them to consider themselves as an inalienable part of the property to which they belong; to assure them in short, that they should enjoy the ameliorations or embellishments created by the sweat of their brows; when they knew that their natal soil was to nourish them to the end of their days, they would be attached to it, and take pleasure in rendering it productive. The masters themselves would have more regard for beings whom they would no longer consider as beasts of burden, which are to be gotten rid of, if the owner have not talent to guide them. Obliged to keep them, he would take more care of their moral and physical improvement; then those horrible markets would cease, which pitilessly breaking the ties of nature and affection, tear the infant from its mother, separate the wife from the husband, the brother from the sister, the unfortunate from the friends to which at least they were united by the same chain.
The objections to general and immediate emancipation are unanswerable; the objections to gradual emancipation are subject to discussion; but the objections against changing slavery into servitude, appear to be easy of refutation. The government of the United States has given a great lesson to the whole world in abolishing and punishing as a capital crime the trade in slaves. Virginia has acquired great claims upon the gratitude of the friends of humanity in opposing from her infancy the importation of slaves into her territory; but many palms still remain to be merited in this career of justice and philanthropy; the first to be decreed, will belong in my opinion to the states which shall first replace the slaves by servants.
Before leaving Mr. Jefferson, we went with him to visit the University of Virginia, at Charlotteville; he conveyed us thither in a very elegant calash, made by negroes on his own place; it appeared to be very well made, and in its construction I found a powerful argument against those who pretend that the intelligence of negroes can never be raised to the height of the mechanic arts.
Every thing had been prepared at Charlotteville, by the citizens and students, to give a worthy reception to Lafayette. The sight of the Nation’s Guest, seated at the patriotic banquet, between Jefferson and Madison, excited in those present an enthusiasm which expressed itself in enlivening sallies of wit and humour. Mr. Madison, who had arrived that day at Charlotteville to attend this meeting, was especially remarkable for the originality of his expressions, and the delicacy of his allusions: before leaving the table, he gave a toast, “To liberty, with virtue for her guest, and gratitude for the feast,” which was received with transports of applause.
After dinner, we visited the establishment; it is composed of two parallel lines of small buildings, all of different architecture; at the extremity is another building, constructed after plans of the Parthenon at Athens, reduced to one-fifth of the original dimensions, containing the library, and a vast circular saloon for public meetings. All these different buildings have been superintended by Mr. Jefferson himself, who passed several hours daily either among the workmen, or amidst the pupils and professors, who all profited by his wise counsel.
Before taking leave of the youth of Charlotteville, and its respectable professors, one of the latter took us into a little hall where he showed us a rattlesnake moving at freedom, upon the floor. It was caught a few days previous, in the woods, and was intended as a present for Mr. George Lafayette, who had expressed a desire to obtain one. We contemplated with pleasure this dangerous reptile, whose piercing eye, supple movements, livid body, crossed by broad black bands, and sounding tail, would doubtless have inspired sentiments of another nature, if we bad not known that his venom had been rendered harmless, by the extraction of the canulated fangs, through whose instrumentality this animal so subtlely introduces its poison into the veins of the victims it strikes. The poison of the rattlesnake is so violent, that it is said frequently to produce death in less than half an hour. The possibility of obtaining an efficacious remedy against the bite of this reptile, has long been, and still is doubted; however, Doctor Thacher affirms positively, in his excellent Military Journal of 1776, that the employment of olive oil and mercury perfectly succeeded in his hands, in saving the life of a soldier bitten by a rattlesnake.
Notwithstanding the happiness enjoyed by general Lafayette in the company of his old friend Mr. Jefferson, he was obliged to leave him, because other affections and other engagements still called him from numerous points. Of this vast republic, of which we have not yet visited but a small part, although since our landing we have constantly travelled at the rate of nearly forty miles a day. From Monticello we went to Montpelier, the charming residence of the ex-president Madison; there we found with some slight shades of difference the same habits and virtues as at Monticello.
The career of Mr. Madison has a surprising conformity with that of Mr. Jefferson, with whom he was always connected by the warmest friendship. Like his illustrious friend, Mr. Madison, early devoted himself to the study of law, and while still young, was called upon by his fellow-citizens to defend their dearest interests in the legislative assembly; like him he was distinguished by his oratorical talent, and the boldness of his conceptions, in that congress which immortalized itself in declaring the country independent. Like him he was twice called by the people to the chief magistracy of the republic, and moreover, during a part of his administration, he had to sustain a foreign war, which terminated gloriously; like him, finally, in leaving the government-house of the United States, he retired to cultivate his fields, and devote himself to letters, which he had never wholly relinquished, amid the multifarious occupations of his active political life.
Mr. Madison at the time of our visit was seventy-four years of age, but his well preserved frame contained a youthful soul full of sensibility, which he did not hesitate to show, when he expressed to general Lafayette the pleasure he felt at having him in his house. Although the habit of reflection and application, give to his countenance an aspect of severity, all the impressions of his heart are rapidly depicted in his features, and his conversation is usually animated with a gentle gaiety. Mrs. Madison also contributes much by the graces of her mind, and the amenity of her character to exalt the excellence of that frank hospitality with which strangers are received at Montpelier.
The four days passed with Mr. Madison were agreeably employed in promenades over his beautiful estate, and still more agreeably by our evening conversations, particularly concerning all the great American interests, which are so dear to general Lafayette. The society which at this time habitually assembled at Montpelier, was almost entirely composed of the neighbouring planters, who for the most part appeared as well versed in all great political questions as in agriculture. Lafayette, who though perfectly understanding the disagreeable situation of American slaveholders, and respecting generally the motives which prevent them from more rapidly advancing in the definitive emancipation of the blacks, never missed an opportunity to defend the right which all men without exception have to liberty, broached among the friends of Mr. Madison the question of slavery. It was approached and discussed by them frankly, and in a manner to confirm me in the opinion I had previously formed concerning the noble sentiments of the majority of Virginians upon this deplorable circumstance. It appears to me, that slavery cannot exist a long time in Virginia, because all enlightened men condemn the principle of it, and when public opinion condemns a principle, its consequences cannot long continue to subsist.