A SLAVE-OWNER’S CALCULATIONS AS TO THE COST OF SLAVERY.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 67, 21 March 1843, Page 3

A SLAVE-OWNER’S CALCULATIONS AS TO THE COST OF SLAVERY.

In the course of the protracted conversation to which these topics led, a gentleman from Kentucky, engaged in the growing of corn and grazing of cattle, himself a slave-holder to a considerable extent, and joining in all the denunciations of the Abolitionists, undertook to show that, after all, slavery was a much greater curse to the owners than it was to the slaves, as it absorbed their capital, ate up their profits, and proved a perpetual obstacle to their progressive prosperity. He said he had not only made the calculation, but actually tried the experiment of comparing the labour of the white man and the negro slave ; and he found the latter always the dearest of the two. It took, for instance, 2,000 dollars to purchase a good male slave. The interest of money in Kentucky being ten per cent., here was 200 dollars a-year of actual cost; but to insure his life, it would require at least five per cent, more, which would make 300 dollars a-year. Add to this the necessary expenses of maintenance while healthy, and medical attendance when sick, with wages of white overseers to every gang of men to see that they do their duty, and other incidental charges; and he did not think that a slave could cost less, in interest, insurance, subsistence, and watching, than 500 dollars, or £IOO sterling a-year; yet, after all, he would not do more than half the work of a white man, who could be hired at the same sum, without the outlay of any capital, or the encumbrance of maintenance while sick, and was therefore by far the cheapest labourer of the two.

The same gentleman told us of two instances that had happened on his estate, of ingenious evasions of labour. One man took medicine which he stole from the dispensary, purposely to make himself sick to avoid work; and when examined by the doctor, he was detected in having spread powdered mustard on his tongue to give it a foul appearance. A female slave, to avoid working for her master, produced such swellings in her arm, as to excite the compassion of those who thought it to be some dreadful disease ; but the same person, who lay a-bed groaning with agony all day, being detected in the act of washing clothes at night for some person in the neighbourhood, for which she was to be paid (and to effect which in secrecy she was found standing nearly to her middle in a pond, concealed under the trees), afterwards confessed, in order to avoid a flogging, that she had produced the swelling in her arms by thrusting them into a beehive, and keeping them there till they were thoroughly bitten and stung.

I inquired, “ Why, if this were the state of things, they did not cure it by giving freedom to their slaves ?” and the answer was this—- “ That, up to a very recent period, the feeling was almost universal in Kentucky, that it would be better to do so, especially as the neighbouring state of Ohio, without slaves, was making so much more rapid strides in prosperity than Kentucky with them; and that probably in a few years • their emancipation would have been agreed upon, but that the Abolitionists of the north wounded their pride; and they determined that they would not submit to interference or dictation in the regulation of their ‘ domestic institution.’ ” To this feeling was added another, that of “ standing bv” the other Slave States of the South, and making common cause with them in a determination not to do any thing by coercion or by threat, but to abide their own time, and act independently of all fear or intimidation.— Buckingham’s Slave States in America.

Alcohol and the Gastric Juice.—Professor Silliman, in the course of a lecture recently delivered at New Haven, gave a chemical analysis of alcohol, and performed some interesting experiments, going conclusively to show that, although alcohol was an indispensable agent in science and the arts, it was no more adapted to the wants or condition of the human stomach than most of the powerful acids used in a chemical laboratory. The professor exhibited a vial of highly concentrated alcohol, some that he had made himself, and which, he said, if a man was to drink about half of,

j (about two' gills), he probably would not be able to get out of the room alive. A wine glass full of it, he said, would probably very soon destroy life. To show that alcohol.in any form did not promote digestion, but prevented the healthy action of the stomach, he gave a brief account of some of the wonderful experiments of Dr. Beaumont with Alexin St. Martin, 1 a young Canadian, who was wounded by the discharge of a musket, in 1822. The charge tore away a portion of his left side, lacerating the lungs and perforating the stomach. The wound healed, but the orifice never became closed. The perforation into the stomach was two and a half inches in circumference. — Through this orifice a piece of meat tied to a string could be let down into the stomach and pulled out again at any time, and in this manner the precise length of time required for the digestion of any kind of food could be ascertained. The gastric juice, which is the great agent of production, would pour into the stomach when any food or other substance was placed there. This juice, the professor stated, was easily taken from the stomach, and he had a bottle of it now at the college. The liquid was at the present time as apparently pure as it was ten years ago. It had the peculiar property of self preservation, or of resisting putrefaction. It would, if warmed to blood heat, dissolve meat in a wine glass. He said he had never come to any satisfactory conclusions as to its character from his attempts at analysing it, and he had sent a portion of it to one of the most learned and skilful chemists of Europe, but he was able to throw but very little light upon the subject. But this Professor Silliman said he did know, that it had no affinity with alcohol, and that they were in their nature and attributes totally diverse, and possessed counteracting qualities;— New York Express.

Smuggling. —David Rough, Esq., Harbour Master, effected a considerable seizure of spirits at Coromandel Harbour last week. The name of the contraband dealer has not yet transpired; nor, we believe, does suspicion rest upon any one at present. The casks were found under the water. The Wind. —The velocity of the wind varies from nothing up to 100 miles an hour; but the maximum is variously stated by different authors. According to Smeaton, a gentle breeze moves between four and five miles per hour, and has a force of about two ounces on a foot: a brisk pleasant gale moves from te2i to fifteen miles, with a force of 12 ounces ; a high wind, thirty to thirty-five miles, with a force of five or six pounds; a hurricane, bearing along trees, houses, &c., has a speed ef 100 miles, and a force of forty-nine pounds on the square feet. — Murray's Encyclopaedia of Geography. ' Ludicrous Circumstance in a Church. —Speaking of first impressions at Church brings to my mind a ludicrous circumstance that happened some 50 or 60 years ago at Church. The rector, though a man of profound learning and a great theologian, was of such eccentric habits as often to create . a doubt among the vulgar whether he was at all times compos mentis. Having remarked for several successive Sundays a gentleman, who was no parishioner, invariably using a seat in a pew next to that in which a young widow lady had her sitting, he intently eyed them, and at one time detected the young gentleman slyly drawing tlie lady’s glove from off the back of the pew where she was accustomed to place it (her hand and arm were delicately fair), and placing in it a small neatly-folded note. By and by the lady’s Prayer-book fell —of course accidentally, from the ledge of her pew into the gentleman’s ; he picked it up, found a leaf turned down, and he hastily scanned a passage, which evidently caused a smile of complacency. Our minister saw all their sly proceedings, and continued to watch them with scrutinizing eye for two successive Sundays. On the third, as soon as the collects were read, and while the beadle yet obsequiously waited to attend him to the chancel, our eccentric pastor, in a strong and distinct voice, said, “ I publish the banns of marriage between M. and N. (deliberately pronouncing the names of the parties) ; if any of you know any just cause,” &c. The eyes ot the whole congregation were turned on the widow and our gay Lothario ; the lady suffused with blushes, and the gentleman crimsoned with anger; she fanning herself with vehemence, and he opening and shutting the pew door with rage and violence ; the minister mean while proceeding through his accustomed duties with the same decorum and ease as if perfectly innocent of the agitation he had excited. The sermon preached and the service ended, away to the vestry rushed the party at the heels of the pastor. “Who authorised you,' sir, to make such a publication of banns ?” demanded they both in a breath. “ Authorized mer” said he, with a stare which heightened their confusion. “ Yes, Sir, who authorized you ?” “ Oh,” said the minister, with a sly glance alternately at each, “ if you don’t approve of it, I’ll forbid the banns next Sunday.” “Sir,” said the lady, “ you have been too officious already; nobody requested you to do any such

thing; you had better mind your own business !" “ Why, my pretty dear," said he, patting her on the cheek, “ what I have done has been all in the way of business, and if you do not like to wait for three publications, I advise you, sir, (turning to the gentleman, to procure the license, the ring, and the fee, and then the whole matter may be settled as soon as tomorrow.” “Well,” replied the gentleman, addressing the widow, “ with your permission I will get them, and we may be married in a day or two.” “ Oh, you may do as you please,” pettishly, yet nothing loth, replied the lady. It was but a day or two after the license was procured, the parson received his fee, the bridegroom his bride, and the widow for the last time threw her gloves over the bade of the pew; and it was afterwards said that all parties were satisfied with their gains. The Microscope. —lt is now many years ago since Mr. Clarke was sent out by the “ Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge” to Bengal, in order to convert as many of the benighted Indians to Christianity as possible. His talents were of the highest order, his zeal well known; it was, therefore, most sanguinely expected that his mission would be crowned with success. On his arrival the go-vernor-general, finding that his means were small, and truly sympathizing in the feelings of those who thus endeavoured to awake the sense of the heathen world to “ light and life,” gave him the direction of the Calcutta freeschool, and one or two other minor posts, which considerably increased the worthy missionary’s income. After several ineffectual attempts to convert the natives, poor Clarke returned in despair to Calcutta, feeling' more than half in-

rliaed to sail for Europe, so much did he take his repeated failures to heart. He was, however, dissuaded from this step, and applying himself assidiously to the management of his scholars, he strove to banish from his mind the thorn which rankled there. One day our missionary learned, to his great joy, that a Brahmin of the very first rank had arrived in the metropolis. Determined to bring matters to an issue, Clarke wrote to him and begged him to meet him l on a certain day, when he undertook to convince him (the Hindoo priest) of the errors of his faith. To this the Brahmin consented, and at the time appointed the Heathen and the Christian champion met to discuss, in the presence of several witnesses, the merits of their i*espective creeds. As is usual in polemical discussions, the controversy was opened by several inconsequential queries and answers. For half an hour neither party had put forth a startling proposition.; the wily Indian taking care to confine himself to the defensive. Tired at length by this scene, Clarke, suddenly and abruptly asked him, “Are you forbidden to eat anything in which animal life exists ?” “I am.” “ Have you ever broken through this law ?” “ Never.” “ May you not unconsciously have been led into this crime ?” “ Impossible.” “Will you swear to it?” “Most solemnly I do.” “Do you ever eat pomegranates?” “Daily.” “ Bring me some of that fruit, then,” rejoined Clarke, turning to a servant. His order was complied with ; the pomegranates were brought. “ Choose one.” The Brahmin did so. “ Cut it in two.” With this direction he complied. “ Place it here,” and Clarke assisted him to put it beneath a microscope. “ Now look at it." The Brahmin did so; but no sooner did he apply liis eye, than he started back with affright. The fruit was perfectly alive with animalcules. The puzzled Hindoo drew out the pomegranate (which, perhaps, my readers are not aware is more closely filled with insects than any other fruit), looked at it, examined it, replaced it, and again beheld the myriads of living creatures with which it was rife. He felt it with his hand, to convince himself that there was no trick in the affair. Then, suddenly drawing himself up, he slowly uttered “ Bus-such hi.” (“ Enough—it is true.") “You acknowledge, then, that you have sinned unconsciously ? That everying- being filled with animalculge, invisible to the naked eye, you can neither eat nor drink without committing a crime?” The abashed Hindoo bowed. “Shall I show you how foil of similar insects every drop of water is ?" “No ! I have seen enough.” “Do you desire further proof?" “I have a favour to ask.” ” What is it ? If I can I will grant it." “ Give me your microscope. I cannot buy it; give it me.” Clarke paused for a moment, for he had that morning paid ten guineas for it; and being a poor man, he could ill afford to part with it. But as the Indian was urgent, almost to entreaty, he at lenght consented (especially as he thought the other would afford him in return some curiosity of equal value), and presented it to him. The Brahmin took it, gave one look of triumph round the hall, and suddenly raising his arm, dashed it into a thousand atoms on the marble floor, “ What do you mean by this?" exclaimed Clark, in undisguised astonishment. “It means, Sir Christian," replied the Hindoo in a cold, grave tone, “ it means that I was happy, a good, a proud man. By means of yonder instrument you have robbed me of all future happiness. You have condemned me to descend to my grave wretched and miserable !" With these words the unfortunate Brahmin quitted the hall, : and sopn retired up the country. <