Negro slavery is the foulest blot on the character of the American government, and their spiteful treatment of those who have obtained their freedom, represents the “free-borns” in a most ungracious point of view. It justifies a stranger in concluding that the strong arm of compulsion has wrested these oppressed creatures from their iron grasp; and that, like the Egyptians of old, their bond slaves have departed much against their will. What! are these blacks indebted to their neighbours, and is it for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction, that all classes unite in heaping reproaches on their heads? Truth compels me to declare, that the christian whites owe to their sable brethren a debt that they can never, never liquidate; and those who have laboured to rivet their galling fetters, will answer for it in that day, when some from among the most abject negroes in the States, shall shine in the splendour of coronation garments.
But a haughty spirit of contemptuousness seems to prevail among those, in whose composition dulness and ill nature predominate. Thus the Americans of this order, despise the English; the resident English despise the Irish; the Irish unite with all the rest in despising the Negroes: whom these despise I cannot tell, but probably all the rest together.
A magnanimous mind will seek no excuse for treating the defenceless with cruel contempt; and, while I freely admit the vanity of these negroes is boundless, I contend that it is not to be cured by an indiscriminate administration of ill treatment. Their advance in civilization will be marked by a corresponding contempt for those frivolities, which they now so much admire, and no doubt, they will ultimately lay them aside.
A peep into a negro ball room, as at present conducted, would certainly provoke the risibility of a philosopher. I myself, was never so highly favoured, but shall present my readers with a description, as nearly as I can recollect it, given by a gentleman; just observing from what I have seen of their mode of dressing on occasions of festivity, that I believe the representation to be correct.—“Dark dandies, so starched and stayed as to appear perfectly inflexible, dressed in the very tip of fashion, with their poor heads beaming with all the lustre that Rowland’s Macassar can dispense, may here be seen paying their devoirs to their sable belles. These last, arrayed in fashionables fresh from France; the articles of dress themselves preposterous, and ill adapted to display the attractions of the wearers, by their tasteless combination, magnify the absurdity ten-fold. Here, some nymph, assuming the name of Thalia or Aurora, may be observed, with fingers, ears, and wrists, ringed and jewelled with a sample of all the tinsel trumpery of Birmingham; on her head waves a huge plume of white ostrich feathers; while her dark ancles are dimly visible through a pair of British flesh-coloured silk stockings; and her waist so tightly compressed, as to give her figure the contour of an hour-glass.” Poor creatures! they will some day know better—till then, these things may be regarded with the passing tribute of a smile.
Respecting this treatment of negroes, by their former owners, the whites of America, I desire to be understood as speaking in general terms. Some, I know, have kind masters, but all general rules admit of individual exceptions. That negro enjoys a great advantage who lives under kind superiors; but, if his race be held in contempt by the whole neighbourhood, he has still the mortifying consciousness of knowing that he will be obnoxious to indignity and insult, so long as he retains his colour.
The greater part of the negroes are servants still. Those of them that are steady receive excellent wages—from eight to twelve dollars per month, with board, for a man; and from six to ten for a woman. Those who are not in service, chiefly wander about the city carrying their convenient apparatus for sawing wood for fuel, and, as they are seldom employed for a longer period than two hours together, this is a lazy life. I am sure the very bones of some must ache with idleness. Thus it will appear that although they are the hewers of wood and drawers of water to the whole community, they are not generally overworked. Under existing circumstances, they are not likely to rise in the scale of society: I did not notice a negro among the hundreds of carmen employed in this city.
This numerous class, the carmen, keep each a horse and cart, which they own and drive; and, as the merchants keep neither horses nor vehicles, they do all the commercial conveyance work in the city. They are not hired by any particular employer for any specified time, but like hackney coachmen with us, are called when required. Their carts are much lighter than ours; and with the assistance of four moveable posts and a chain, they contrive to dispense with both sides and ends. Their horses are generally very good; they appear light, and when occasion requires, move as swiftly as our coach horses.
The heavier kind of goods are usually disposed in smaller packages, and the whole of the business equipage seems, to my judgement, much lighter and more convenient than with us. Their porters, carmen, and helpers of all kinds move with greater alacrity; and, although I admit I am not a competent judge in such matters, I consider the Americans surpass us in these affairs.
Their vessels of all descriptions appear much cleaner and handsomer than ours; and this superiority is maintained throughout all classes, from a Liverpool Packet to a Long Island market boat. A Yankee vessel, see her where you may, can be told among a thousand others; she lies upon the water like a swan, and in the midst of shipping from all nations, she appears like a swallow among other birds.
Their steam ships are also very large, and most beautifully fitted up and furnished. But now a passage across the Atlantic may be effected by steam, the naval affairs of the whole world will, perhaps, undergo a complete revolution: yet this would be more speedily effected, were the steam apparatus perfectly free from danger.