SLAVE LIFE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1860, 25 April 1863, Page 5

SLAVE LIFE.

" A tall, well-built lad of some nine or ten years stood by me, looking cuiiotuly into my face, • What it your name ?' said I. • George,' he replied. 'Do you know how to read or write?' He evidently did not understand the question, *Do you go to cliurch or chapel f A dubious shake of the head. • Did you ever hear of our Saviour f At this point Mr Seal interposed, and said, 'I think we had belter go on, as the sun is getting bol,' and no we rodt gently through the little ones; and when we had got some distance he said rather apologetically, ' We don't think it right to put these* things into their heads so young, it only disturbs their minds, and leads them astray.'

•"Now, in this one quarter there were no lesg than eighty children, some twelve and some even fourteen years of age. No education— no God—their whole life— food and play, to slrengtben their muscles and fit them for the work of a slave. 'And when they die? 1 ' Well,' said Mi Seal, • ihey are buried in that field there by their own people, and some of them have a sort of prayers over them, I believe.' The overseer, it is certain, had no fastidious notions about slavery ; it was to him the right thing in the right place, and his summum bonum was a high price for sugar, a good crop, and a healthy plantation. Nay, I a sum sure I would not wrong him if I said he could see no impropriety in running a good cargo of regular black slaves, who might clear the great backwood and swampy undergrowth, which was now exhausting the energies of hit, field hands, in the absence of Irish navvies.

<k Each negro gett 5 lbs. of pork a week, and «s much Indian corn bread as be can eat, with a portion of molasses, and occasionally they have fish for breakfast. All the carpenters and smiths work, the crectioo of sheds, repairing of carts and ploughs, and the baking of brickt for the farm buildings, are done on the estate by the slaves. The machinery comes from the manufacturing cities of the North ; but great efforts are made to procure it from New Orleans, where factories bare been already established. On the border* of the forest the negroes are allowed to plaut corn for their own use, and sometimes they have an overplus, which they sell to their masters. Except when there is any harvest pressure on their bands, they have from noon on Saturday till dawu on Monday morning to do as they please, but they must not stir off the plantation on the road, unlesi with special permit, which is rarely granted. There is an hospital on the estate, and even shrewd Mr Seal did not perceive the conclusion that was to be drawn from his testimony to its excellent arrangements. • Once a nigger gets in there, he'd like to lire thtre for the rest of his life.' fiut they aie rot the happiest, most contented people in the world— at any rate, when they are in the hospital ? I declare that to me the more orderly, methodical, and perfect the arrangements for economising slave labour —regulating slaves — are, the more hateful and odious doe? slavery become. I would much rather bs the animated human chattel of a Turk, Egyptian, Spaniard, or French Creole, than the labouring beast of a Yankee or of a New England capitalist.— Russell's Diary North and South.

PUGILISTS IN THE EQUESTRIAN CIRCUS. — Tom Sayera his shewn through the country on sawdust, an 1 the speculation being a good one, Heenan was induced ;o come from America and exhibit himself likewise in the company of Motley. On the 28th ult. Mace and King turned tace to fac« to decide which should hold the •• champion's belt," and no •ooner w»s that exhibition disposed of than large placards »nnounced the coming of " Jem Mace's Circus," in which arena he soon appeared, his face showing jevere marks of the punishment ho had received. On Monday Mace and other exponents of the " noble art" put in an appearance at Market Harborough. Two exhibitions were given, which were tolerably well patronised, especially the eveniog one.— Stamford Mercury.

The Yelyerton oases again.— The famous i Yelverton case presents some new features. The second wife, Mrs Forbes Yelverton, writes to the Examiner to say she had never heard of the claim of the first, except as a cast-off mistress, and, indeed, could not, as she did not invent it till afterwards, out of revenge. Thereupon Mrs Longworth Yelverton's solicitors write to the Scotsman denying the allegation, and promising in the absence of their client, that she will bring an action for libel for the letter. Major Yelverton's uncle has also found it impossible to refrain longer from wiiting to the newspapers. It will be remembered that his name was occasionally mentioned in the course of the legal proceedings at Dublin and Edinburgh, and he has thought it necessary to send the following explanation to the London journals : — " Ob» serving that whenever the unfortunate ' Yelverton cafe " is brought before the public, whether in the courts of justice, or by the comments volunteered on it in the public prints, the story of the cruel uncle who held the bond of his nephew, the Hon. Major Yelverton, for money lent with the view of preventing his marriage until the bond was paid, is treated, as though it were a fact, t. being th« uncle alluded to, beg, through your kind indulgence, to be allowed to itate that this story is altogether a fabrication. To tbe best of ray recollection, I never lent Major Yelverton any money— not even a small occasional sum. What could really be the object of getting up such a story I am at a loss to divine; but it surely makes one conclusion certain— namely, that marriage must have been a subject of continued discussion between the parties ; else, why concoct this excuse for a secret one ? Indeed, the turning point ot the whole of this melancholy drama seems to revolve on the question of a secret marriage, the question whether the marriage should be public or private being made to depend on the procuring a certain ram of money for some particular purpose — in *11 probability to meet Major Yelverton's pressing liabilities . The story of the uncle, has among my private friends and acquaintances been long known to be untrue, and generally so, I believe, in Ireland and Scotland. The case is now, however, coining bo» fore the vast public of London for the first time in a responsible form, and will, no doubt, be widely discussed in all its bearings. In London 1 am comparatively unknown; it therefore appears to me to be desirable that I should not permit any doubt to hang about a matter which goes to pUce my character in the odious light of the perpetrator of a designing and unnatural and, I may add, atupid act." It is stated by an Edinburgh paper that notice of appeal to the House of Lords in the Yelverton case has been given by the agents of Major Yelverton.

Mabriagb and Fmrtatiou. — A correspondent under tho signature of " Dorcas," evidently raised in the Weddin Mountains, treats the Sydney Empire's reader* on Thursday to a homily of superlative trash on tho above delicate subjects, culled apparantly from some ancient treatise emanating from the grains of a tap-room ecturer.