iii.
These Slaves are engaged in the cultivation of articles to supply foreign demands, and out of them all, Cotton is the strong pillar upon which Slavery commercially rests in the United States. Think of it—over a million of Slaves engaged in the cultivation of one single article Cotton, averaging more than 220 to a Plantation. Drivers applying the lash at their will upon the tender persons of females as well as males; think again, that five-sevenths of all the Cotton consumed in England is cultivated by these Slaves. The threads of which your garments consist are stained with the blood of the Slave; the driver buries the bloody lash in the quivering flesh of his victims, extorting their unrequited labour to add to your comfort; in order more effectually to do this the Slaves are kept in ignorance. Give them knowledge—they will free themselves. Think of it! You buy chains, handcuffs, and whips, by which the Slaves are punished. Yea, you do more than this: you pay for the Slaves themselves, by purchasing Cotton. Four millions of bales of Slave-grown Cotton are sold in the British market annually; this amount increases as the demand increases. The price of Slaves varies with the price of Cotton. "When Cotton is 14 cents per pound a Slave is worth 1,400 dollars; every cent per pound adds a hundred dollars to the value of the Slave." Such was the statement of Mr. Walker, in which he was quite correct. Hence an immense forced emigration takes place between the Slave States. It is calculated that 30,000 Slaves, or more, are bought and sold annually; tens of thousands of poor Slaves are torn from their husbands, wives, and children, precipitated upon the Cotton-growing States, swelling in many localities an already over-crowded population. On many a Plantation, and in many a Slave-coffle, there is heard
