the families of the owners, there may be 2,000,000 persons in the dominant class or order.

"This oligarchy has governed the whole country, and governs it now with a sway of increasing demands and exactions. Of seventeen presidential elections, natives of slave states have carried thirteen, and natives of free states four. Of the life of our government, forty-nine years have been passed under slaveholding chief magistrates, and eighteen under non-slaveholders. They have always had a majority of the judges of the supreme court of the United States. The population, the arts, the sciences, commerce, inventions, copyrights, manufactures, all are with the free states. Yet the slave states hold, and have always held the judiciary. They almost monopolised the army and navy when appointments were open. At this moment, though there are sixteen free states, and fifteen slave states, a majority of the senate are slaveholders. To make a long story short, there has never been a question between the slave power and the free power, on the floor of congress, in which the slave power has not triumphed.

'I will not go over the recital of the successive defeats of freedom and aggressions of slavery. The subjugation of Kansas is the latest triumph. The subjugation of free speech is its object now. At first, you recollect, no man can have forgotten, the right of petition was denied. For that John Quincy Adams perilled all a public man has to peril, and life itself. Next, through resolves of congress and platforms of both the great parties, they tried again to suppress free speech. Now, they chastise it by violence, in the very sanctuary of its refuge. No man has received a national nomination that is not acceptable to them. No man can be confirmed in a national office, from Secretary of State or minister at St James's to the

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humblest postmaster, that is not satisfactory to them. Mr Everett's appointment at St James's hung in suspense because he was suspected of having uttered, somewhere, a sentiment hostile to slavery and its interests. The country is one vast Dionysius's ear. Every whisper in the closet is transmitted and punished. Before parting to-night, let me ask any doubting friend, if there be one here, what provocation more he proposes to wait for? They have added slave states by a coup d'état; will you wait until they have added Cuba or Central America? They have tried to force slavery on Kansas; will you wait until they have succeeded? They have violated one solemn compact; how many more must they violate, before you will assert your right? They have struck down a senator in his place. Some of their presses have designated the next victim; will you wait until he has fallen ??

The assault by Mr Brooks did not escape reproof in the House of Representatives. He resigned, and was re-elected. Although his conduct so far met with the approval of his constituents, although fêted and lauded, Brooks was probably conscious that an indelible stain would rest on his reputation. At Washington, in the early part of the session 1856-7, he is said to have encountered cold looks from former acquaintances. His fate was remarkable. He was suddenly seized with an inflammation of the throat, resulting in croup. By this fatal disease, his life was abruptly and painfully terminated, January 27, 1857-an event which, from all the associated circumstances, could hardly fail to send a chill through that department of southern society which had indiscreetly applauded his outrage.

BLACK LAWS AND USAGES.

THE Condition of slaves in the United States has been so luminously described in the recent works of Mrs Stowe and others, that further explanations do not seem to be necessary. It is now pretty well known, that, by the laws of the southern states, a slave, whatever be his colour, belongs as a piece of movable property to his master, who may sell him, put him to any kind of labour he deems advisable, appropriate his earnings, and feed, clothe, and retain him in an abject servitude till the end of his days. Like one of the lower animals, a slave is a 'chattel personal,' a thing without rights; his duty being unqualified submission to the will of his proprietor. To carry out the comparison with the lower animals, the slave cannot legally marry. He may indeed go through the ceremonial of marriage, but the tie is altogether invalid. As regards progeny, the law is, that children follow the condition of the mother; children born in slavery, therefore, are the property of the owner. A slave can raise no suit at law on claim of damage or assault. If injured by a third party, his master may alone sue for damages, in the same manner as if he complained of an injury done to his horse. The master may punish his slave without mercy; whip, cudgel, brand, and torture him as he thinks fit. Though owners may not lawfully and wilfully put their slaves to death, practically, according to all accounts, they occasionally do so, through the impulse of passion, to the sacrifice of their property. At all events, whatever cruelties are perpetrated on a southern estate, no slave can bear

witness against them, for legally he is not permitted to make a declaration on oath against whites. Worthless, unfriended, it appears to be still a question in law whether he is a reasonable being.

The natural increase of slaves on a plantation causes a continual pressure on the means of owners. More are born than are wanted for local purposes, and the overplus, as a matter of necessity, must be sold to traders for transfer to public markets; and on such occasions there occur most distressing separations among members of families. There is, however, reason to believe, that in many instances, planters part with their servants with reluctance, and only under the pressure of extreme necessity. We do not mention the fact from our own knowledge, but from what we heard stated in America, that in some cases, masters are relieved of an embarrassment, by slaves asking to be sold; the slaves in such cases being influenced by the false representations of decoy-negroes sent to recruit for labourers. That there frequently exists the most kindly feeling between the families of proprietors and their slave dependents, is undeniable; and it is the spectacle of this harmony between master and servant, that fascinates travellers in the South, and induces them to declare that slavery is by no means so bad a thing as it is usually represented.

Unhappily, the slave has no security in the indulgence of his proprietor. He is at all times liable to be sold on account of the death, insolvency, not to speak of the ordinary necessities, of his owner; and may at any moment be precipitated from a state of comparative comfort to a condition of utter wretchedness. Some owners, affected by the evils of slavery, would, though at a great pecuniary sacrifice, emancipate their slaves, and so leave them to assume the status of free labourers. But, independently of a general dislike of

free labour in the South, there are laws to check the benevolent intentions of slave-owners. Emancipations take place in particular circumstances, and by tolerance in certain states; but as a general rule, an owner desiring to liberate his slaves would need to send them into the free states or out of the country. Were he to emancipate them in defiance of this law, without exiling them, they would be seized and sold by the public authorities; by which arrangement liberation is, to a great extent, impracticable. These difficulties, however, cannot be deemed an apology for slavery. If owners were generally disposed to adopt means for securing freedom to their slaves, they could surely agitate for a reconsideration of the state laws which at present hamper their operations. According to southern notions, the freeing of slaves is immoral-a crime against social order. The slaves, consequently, are not allowed to purchase their own freedom, by the savings of extra industry. The whole earnings of a slave belong to his master; unless by particular favour, he can retain nothing for himself. In Brazil, as was the law in the British West Indies, slaves are humanely entitled to certain holidays, which are at their own disposal, by which arrangement they are enabled to cultivate small patches of land, and accumulate wherewith to buy their freedom. In the United States, the slaves can legally claim no holidays; though a week at Christmas is usually granted, and in most quarters they are allowed to be at rest on Sunday. This denial of the power of labouring to buy themselves from their owners, forms a feature in American slavery which distinguishes it from aught in ancient or modern times. The slavery of Russia is liberty itself, in comparison. A natural result is the desire to escape, in defiance of all precautions to the contrary. Large numbers flee from