see only in hot-houses, gave me impressions similar to those which I suppose you experienced on visiting some of the cities on the Mediterranean. I had no sooner sat down to breakfast at the hotel, than I found one black slave at my elbow, fanning away flies with a flapper, and three or four covering the table with a profusion of dishes. On sallying out after breakfast, I found the streets filled with well-dressed and genteel-looking people, and carriages driving about in every direction.-But I must reserve a description of Charleston and its inhabitants till I have become better acquainted with them.

Letter IV.

Charleston, South Carolina, 26th Feb. 1820.

I WROTE to you on the 19th instant, and soon afterwards received an invitation, which I gladly accepted, to accompany a gentleman to his rice plantation, about thirty miles distant. With the interesting character of this excellent and venerable friend, I have already made you acquainted. Descended from one of the old patrician families who form, as it were, the nobility of Carolina, educated at one of our English public schools and universities, and enjoying a high reputation, acquired in arduous military and diplomatic situations, he would be regarded, I am persuaded, as second to few in Europe, as a statesman, a scholar, and a gentleman. I took an early breakfast with him at his handsome townhouse, from whence we proceeded to the ferry. After crossing the bay, we found the General's carriage waiting for us, with a few periodical publications in it, and with led horses, in case we should wish to vary our mode of conveyWe stopped at noon to rest the horses,

ance.

and to take a little refreshment in the woods, and reached the plantation to a late dinner in the evening. The road lay through a pine barren, such as I have already described; and we scarcely passed a creature in the course of the day, except my friend's sister, an old lady, and her two nieces, who were on their way to Charleston, in a large family carriage and four, with a black servant on a mule behind, a Negro woman and child on the footboard, and three or four baskets of country provisions hanging from the axle-tree. They inquired how far they were from the spring, where we had been resting, and where they proposed to take their al fresco repast.

In the morning, I strolled out before breakfast, into the plantation, and saw about twelve female slaves, from eighteen to twenty-eight years of age, thrashing rice on a sort of clay floor, in the same manner as our farmers thrash wheat. It was extremely hot, and the employment seemed very laborious. After breakfast, the General took me over the plantation; and in the course of our walk we visited the little dwellings of the Negroes. These were generally grouped together round something like a farmyard; and behind each of them was a little garden, which they cultivate on their own account.

The huts themselves are not unlike a poor Irish cabin, with the addition of a chimney. The bedding of the Negroes consists simply of blankets, and their clothing is generally confined to a sort of flannel garment, made up in different forms. Those whom I saw at home were cowering over a fire, although the day was oppressively hot, and the little Negroes were sunning themselves with great satisfaction about the door. They all seemed glad to see my friend, who talked to them very familiarly, and most of them inquired after their mistress. I was told that their provisions were prepared for them, and that twice every day they had as much as they asked for of Indian corn, sweet potatoes, and broth, with the occasional addition of a little meat. Besides this, they frequently prepare for themselves a little supper from the produce of their garden, and fish which they catch in the river. On many plantations it is usual to give out their allowance once a week, and to let them cook it for themselves, their fuel costing them nothing but the trouble of gathering it. A nurse and doctor, both Negroes I believe, are provided for them; and making allowance for the sick, the children, &c. I was told that on the rice plantations in that neighbourhood, half the gangs were effective hands.

I heard my benevolent friend order wine, oranges, &c. for some of the invalids; and I believe that I have seen a very favourable specimen of Negro slavery. Yet the picture must ever be a dark one, and when presented to an eye not yet familiar with its horrors, must excite reflections the most painful and depressing. Humanity may mitigate the sufferings of the unhappy victims of the slave system, and habit render them less sensible to their degradation; but no tenderness can eradicate from slavery the evils inherent in its very nature, nor familiarity reconcile man to perpetual bondage, but by sinking him below the level of his kind.

The Negroes usually go to work at sun-rise, and finish the task assigned to them at three or four, or sometimes five or six o'clock in the evening. They have Sunday to themselves, three days at Christmas, one day for sowing their little crop in spring, and another for reaping it in autumn.

In the course of the morning, we saw several plantations in the neighbourhood; on some of which were very handsome residences, with grounds resembling an English park. The live oaks profusely scattered, and often standing alone, contributed greatly to this resemblance.