their last look at their babies, as Uncle Tom did of his when he
stood by the rough trundle bed and dropped into it great, use-
less tears.
Nay, my friends, don't curse poor Mr. Seth Woodroof,
because he does the horrible, loathsome work of tearing up
the living human heart, to make twine and shoe-strings for
you! It's disagreeable business enough, he will tell you,
sometimes; and, if you must have him to do it for you,
treat him civilly, and don't pretend that you are any better
than he.
But the good trade is not confined to the Old Dominion, by
any means. See the following extract from a Tennessee paper,
the Nashville Gazette, November 23rd, 1852, where Mr.
A. A. McLean, general agent in this kind of business, thus
makes known his wants and intentions:
I want to purchase immediately twenty-five likely NEGROES--male and
female--between the ages of 15 and 25 years; for which I will pay the highest
price in cash.
A. A. McLean, General Agent, Cherry Street.
Nov. 9.
Mr. McLean, it seems, only wants those between the ages of
fifteen and twenty-five. This advertisement is twice repeated in
the same paper, from which fact we may conjecture that the
gentleman is very much in earnest in his wants, and entertains
rather confident expectations that somebody will be willing to
sell. Further, the same gentleman states another want.
I want to purchase, immediately, a Negro man, Carpenter, and will give a good
price.
Sept. 29. A. A. McLean, Gen'l Agent.
Mr. McLean does not advertise for his wife and children, or
where this same carpenter is to be sent--whether to the New
Orleans market, or up the Red River, or off to some far bayou
of the Mississippi, never to look upon wife or child again. But,
again, Mr. McLean in the same paper tells us of another want:
A Wet Nurse. Any price will be given for one of good character, constitu-
tion, &c. Apply to
A. A. McLean, Gen'l Agent.
And what is to be done with the baby of this wet nurse?
Perhaps, at the moment that Mr. McLean is advertising for
her, she is hushing the little thing in her bosom, and thinking,
as many another mother has done, that it is about the brightest,
prettiest little baby that ever was born; for, singularly enough,
even black mothers do fall into this delusion sometimes. No
matter for all this--she is wanted for a wet nurse! Aunt Prue
can take her baby, and raise it on corn-cake, and what not. Off
with her to Mr. McLean!
See, also, the following advertisement of the good State or
Alabama, which shows how the trade is thriving there. Mr.
S. N. Brown, in the Advertiser and Gazette, Montgomery,
Alabama, holds forth as follows:
S. N. Brown takes this method of informing his old patrons, and others waiting
to purchase Slaves, that he has now on hand, of his own selection and purchasing,
a lot of likely young Negroes, consisting of Men, Boys, and Women, Field Hands,
and superior House Servants, which he offers and will sell as low as the times will
warrant. Office on Market-street, above the Montgomery Hall, at Lindsay's Old
Stand, where he intends to keep slaves for sale on his own account, and not on com-
mission; therefore thinks he can give satisfaction to those who patronized him.
Montgomery, Ala., Sept. 13, 1852. twtf (J.)
Where were these boys and girls of Mr. Brown selected? let us
ask. How did their fathers and mothers feel when they were
“selected?” Emmeline was taken out of one family, and George
out of another. The judicious trader has travelled through wide
regions of country, leaving in his track wailing and anguish. A
little incident, which has recently been the rounds of the papers,
may perhaps illustrate some of the scenes he has occasioned:
A negro woman belonging to Geo. M. Garrison, of Polk Co., killed four of her
children, by cutting their throats while they were asleep, on Thursday night, the
2nd instant, and then put an end to her own existence by cutting her throat. Her
master knows of no cause for the horrid act, unless it be that she heard him speak
of selling her and two of her children, and keeping the others.
The uncertainty of the master in this case is edifying. He
knows that negroes cannot be expected to have the feelings of
cultivated people; and yet, here is a case where the creature
really acts unaccountably, and he can't think of any cause except
that he was going to sell her from her children.
But, compose yourself, dear reader; there was no great harm
done. These were all poor people's children, and some of them,
though not all, were black; and that makes all the difference in
the world, you know!
But Mr. Brown is not alone in Montgomery. Mr. J. W.
Lindsey wishes to remind the people of his depot.
At my depot, on Commerce-street, immediately between the Exchange Hotel and
F. M. Gilmer, Jr.'s Warehouse, where I will be receiving, from time to time,
large lots of Negroes during the season, and will sell on as accommodating terms
as any house in this city. I would respectfully request my old customers and
friends to call and examine my stock.
Montgomery, Nov. 2, 1852. Jno. W. Lindsey.
Mr. Lindsey is going to be receiving, from time to time, all
the season, and will sell as cheap as anybody; so there's no fear
of the supply falling off. And, lo! in the same paper, Messrs.
Sanders & Foster press their claims also on the public notice.
The undersigned have bought out the well-known establishment of Eckles and
Brown, where they have now on hand a large lot of likely young Negroes, to wit:
Men, Women, Boys and Girls, good field-hands. Also, several good House Ser-
vants and Mechanics of all kinds. The Subscribers intend to keep constantly on
hand a large assortment of Negroes, comprising every description. Persons
wishing to purchase will find it much to their interest to call and examine previous
to buying elsewhere.
April 13. Sanders & Foster.
Messrs. Sanders & Foster are going to have an assortment also. All their negroes are to be young and likely; the trashy
old fathers and mothers are all thrown aside like a heap of pig-
weed, after one has been weeding a garden.
Query: Are these Messrs. Sanders & Foster, and J. W.
Lindsey, and S. N. Brown, and McLean, and Woodroof, and
McLendon, all members of the church, in good and regular
standing? Does the question shock you? Why so? Why
should they not be? The Rev. Dr. Smylie, of Mississippi, in a
document endorsed by two Presbyteries, says distinctly that the
Bible gives a right to buy and sell slaves.*
If the Bible guarantees this right, and sanctions this trade,
why should it shock you to see the slave-trader at the com-
munion-table? Do you feel that there is blood on his hands--
the blood of human hearts, which he has torn asunder? Do
you shudder when he touches the communion-bread, and when
he drinks the cup which “whosoever drinketh unworthily
drinketh damnation to himself?” But who makes the trade?
Do not you? Do you think that the trader's profession is a
healthy one for the soul? Do you think the scenes with which
he must be familiar, and the deeds he must do, in order to keep
up an assortment of negroes for your convenience, are such things
as Jesus Christ approves? Do you think they tend to promote
his growth in grace, and to secure his soul's salvation? Or is it
so important for you to have assorted negroes that the traders
must not only be turned out of good society in this life, but run
the risk of going to hell for ever, for your accommodation?
But let us search the Southern papers, and see if we cannot
find some evidence of that humanity which avoids the separation
of families, as far as possible. In the Argus, published at
Weston, Missouri, Nov. 5, 1852, see the following:
I wish to sell a black girl, about 24 years old, a good cook and washer, handy
with a needle, can spin and weave. I wish to sell her in the neighbourhood of
Camden Point; if not sold there in a short time, I will hunt the best market; or
I will trade her for two small ones, a boy and girl.
M. Doyal.
Considerate Mr. Doyal! He is opposed to the separation of
families, and, therefore, wishes to sell this woman in the neigh-
bourhood of Camden Point, where her family ties are--perhaps
her husband and children, her brothers or sisters. He will
not separate her from her family if it is possible to avoid it;
that is to say, if he can get as much for her without; but, if he
can't, he will “hunt the best market.” What more would you
have of Mr. Doyal?
How speeds the blessed trade in the State of Maryland?--
Let us take the Baltimore Sun of Nov. 23, 1852.
Mr. J. S. Donovan thus advertises the Christian public of the
accommodations of his jail:
The undersigned continues, at his old stand, No. 13, Camden St., to pay the
highest price for Negroes. Persons bringing Negroes by railroad or steamboat
will find it very convenient to secure their Negroes, as my Jail is adjoining the
Railroad Depot and near the Steamboat Landings. Negroes received for safe
keeping.
J. S. Donovan.
Messrs. B. M. and W. L. Campbell, in the respectable old
stand of Slatter, advertise as follows:--
We are at all times purchasing Slaves, paying the highest cash prices. Per-
sons wishing to sell will please call at 242, Pratt St. (Slatter's old stand.) Com-
munications attended to.
B. M. & W. L. Campbell.
In another column, however, Mr. John Denning has his
season advertisement, in terms which border on the sublime:
I will pay the highest prices, in cash, for 5000 Negroes, with good titles, slaves
for life or for a term of years, in large or small families, or single negroes. I will
also purchase negroes restricted to remain in the State, that sustain good characters.
Families never separated. Persons having Slaves for sale will please call and see
me, as I am always in the market with the cash. Communications promptly at-
tended to, and liberal commissions paid, by John N. Denning, No. 18, S. Fre-
derick-street, between Baltimore and Second streets, Baltimore, Maryland. Trees
in front of the house.
Mr. John Denning, also, is a man of humanity. He never
separates families. Don't you see it in his advertisement? If
a man offers him a wife without her husband, Mr. John Denning
won't buy her. Oh, no! His five thousand are all unbroken
families; he never takes any other; and he transports them
whole and entire. This is a comfort to reflect upon, certainly.
See, also, the Democrat, published in Cambridge, Maryland,
Dec. 8, 1852. A gentleman thus proclaims to the slaveholders
of Dorchester and adjacent counties that he is again in the
market.
I wish to inform the slaveholders of Dorchester and the adjacent counties that
I am again in the Market. Persons having negroes that are slaves for life to dis-
pose of will find it to their interest to see me before they sell, as I am determined to
pay the highest prices in cash that the Southern market will justify. I can be
found at A. Hall's Hotel in Easton, where I will remain until the first day of July
next. Communications addressed to me at Easton, or information given to Wm.
Bell in Cambridge, will meet with prompt attention.
Wm. Harker.
Mr. Harker is very accommodating. He keeps himself in-
formed as to the state of the Southern market, and will give the
very highest price that it will justify. Moreover, he will be on
hand till July, and will answer any letters from the adjoining
county on the subject. On one point he ought to be spoken
to. He has not advertised that he does not separate families.
It is a mere matter of taste, to be sure; but then, some well-
disposed people like to see it on a trader's card, thinking it has
a more creditable appearance; and, probably, Mr. Harker, if he
reflects a little, will put it in next time. It takes up very little
room, and makes a good appearance.
We are occasionally reminded, by the advertisements for run-
aways, to how small an extent it is found possible to avoid the
separation of families; as in the Richmond Whig of Nov.
5, 1852.
We are requested by Henry P. Davis to offer a reward of 10 dollars for the
apprehension of a negro man named Henry, who ran away from the said Davis'
farm near Petersburg, on Thursday, the 27th October. Said slave came from near
Lynchburg, Va., purchased of--Cock, and has a wife in Halifax county, Va.
He has recently been employed on the South Side Railroad. He may be in the
neighbourhood of his wife.
Pulliam & Davis, Aucts., Richmond.
It seems to strike the advertiser as possible that Henry may
be in the neighbourhood of his wife. We should not at all
wonder if he were.
The reader by this time is in possession of some of those
statistics of which the South Carolinian speaks when he says:--
We feel confident, if statistics could be had to throw light upon the subject,
we should find that there is less separation of families among the negroes than
occurs with almost any other class of persons.
In order to give some little further idea of the extent to which
this kind of property is continually changing hands, see the
following calculation, which has been made from sixty-four
Southern newspapers, taken very much at random. The papers
were all published in the last two weeks of the month of
November, 1852.
The negroes are advertised sometimes by name, sometimes in
definite numbers, and sometimes in “lots,” “assortments,” and
other indefinite terms. We present the result of this estimate,
far as it must fall from a fair representation of the facts, in a
tabular form.
Here is recorded, in only eleven papers, the sale of eight
hundred and forty-nine slaves in two weeks in Virginia; the
State where Mr. J. Thornton Randolph describes such an event
as a separation
of families being a thing that “we read of in
novels sometimes.”
States where Published. Number
of Papers
consulted. Number
of Negroes
advertised. Number
of
lots. Number of
Runaways
described.
Virginia 11 849 7 15
Kentucky 5 238 1 7
Tennessee 8 385 4 17
S. Carolina 12 852 2 7
Georgia 6 98 2 ...
Alabama 10 549 5 5
Mississippi 8 669 5 6
Lousiana 4 460 4 35
64 4,100 30 92
In South Carolina, where the writer in Fraser's Magazine dates from, we have during these same two weeks a sale of eight
hundred and fifty-two recorded by one dozen papers. Verily, we
must apply to the newspapers of his State the same language
which he applies to “Uncle Tom's Cabin:” “Were our views
of the system of slavery to be derived from these papers, we
should regard the families of slaves as utterly unsettled and
vagrant.”
The total, in sixty-four papers, in different States, for only two
weeks, is four thousand one hundred, besides ninety-two lots, as
they are called.
And, now, who is he who compares the hopeless, returnless
separation of the negro from his family, to the voluntary separa-
tion of the freeman, whom necessary business interest takes for
a while from the bosom of his family? Is not the lot of the
slave bitter enough without this last of mockeries and worst of
insults? Well may they say in their anguish, “Our soul is
exceedingly filled with the scorning of them that are at ease,
and with the contempt of the proud!”
From the poor negro, exposed to bitterest separation, the law
jealously takes away the power of writing. For him the gulf of
separation yawns black and hopeless, with no redeeming signal.
Ignorant of geography, he knows not whither he is going, or
where he is, or how to direct a letter. To all intents and pur-
poses it is a separation hopeless as that of death, and as final.
The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin Page 47