"Inquest.—Death from neglect and starvation.—The body of an old negro, named Bob, belonging to Mr. S. B. Davis, was found lying dead in the woods, near Marigny Canal, on the Gentilly Road, yesterday. The coroner held an inquest; and, after hearing the evidence, the jury returned a verdict of 'Death from starvation and exposure, through neglect of his master.' It appeared from the evidence that the negro was too old to work any more, being nearly seventy; and so they drove him forth into the woods to die. He had been without food for forty-eight hours, when found by Mr. Wilbank, who lives near the place, and who brought him into his premises on a wheelbarrow, gave him something to eat, and endeavoured to revive his failing energies, which had been exhausted from exposure and want of food. Every effort to save his life, however, was unavailing, and he died shortly after being brought to Mr. Wilbank's. The above statement we publish, as it was furnished us by the coroner."—Sept. 18, 1855.
This is the truth, then—is it not?—The slaves are generally
sufficiently well-fed to be in tolerable working condition;
but not as well as our free labourers generally are: slavery,
in practice, affords no safety against occasional suffering for
want of food among labourers, or even against their starvation
any more than the competitive system; while it withholds
all encouragement from the labourer to improve his faculties
and his skill; destroys his self-respect; misdirects and debases
his ambition, and withholds all the natural motives
which lead men to endeavour to increase their capacity of
usefulness to their country and the world. To all this, the
occasional suffering of the free labourer is favourable, on the
whole. The occasional suffering of the slave has no such
advantage. To deceit, indolence, malevolence, and thievery,
it may lead, as may the suffering—though it is much less
likely to—of the free labourer; but to industry, cultivation of
skill, perseverance, economy, and virtuous habits, neither the
suffering, nor the dread of it as a possibility, ever can lead
the slave, as it generally does the free labourer, unless it is by
inducing him to run away.
