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 TO THE PEOPLE OF SUFFOLK CO. 
 
 INFORMATION, 
 
 ACQUIRED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITY, 
 
 WKH KE8TECT TO THE 
 
 INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 
 
 WILLIAM JAGGER. 
 
 NEW YOKK: 
 R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, 53 VESEY STREET: 
 
 1 856. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE OF SUFFOLK CO. 
 
 INFORMATION, 
 
 ACQUIRED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITY, 
 
 ■WITH RESPECT TO THE 
 
 INSTITUTION OF SLAYER! 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM JAGGER. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 R. CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, 53 VESEY STREET. 
 
 185 6. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
 
 WILLIAM JAGGEE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for th* Southern 
 District of New York. 
 
 r 
 
 K. CRAIGHEAD, Printer and SUreotyper, 
 5i Vesey Street, JV. Y. 
 

 TO THE PEOPLE OF SUFFOLK COUNTY. 
 
 As there is so much said about Slavery, and the sufferings of the 
 slaves, and so great a difference in the statements with respect to 
 them, it appears difficult to know the truth. As I am well known 
 in the county, and last year travelled in the State of Maryland, 
 Virginia, North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, 
 Kentucky, and Missouri, and was in these nine Slave States 
 nearly five months, and did endeavor to find out the true state 
 of the slaves, and conversed with quite a number of them, and 
 with many persons who formely lived in the Free States then residing 
 in the Slave States, I presume you would be gratified to know what 
 I have to say concerning them. Therefore I will first speak of the 
 abolitionists, as they have so long agitated the subject of slavery. 
 
 It is more than twenty years since the abolitionists have been 
 agitating the subject of slavery, and speaking of the suffering of the 
 slaves. Papers have been published, and pamphlets with the slave 
 pictured out, describing his suffering condition. And these circula- 
 ted, and the slaveholders called aristocrats, till impressions have 
 been, made and opinions formed, very unfavorable to the institutions 
 of slavery, and to slaveholders. By which they have done, I believe 
 great injustice to the slaveholders by misrepresenting them, and 
 injured the slaves much. And I believe they have only taken a 
 few cases as they found them scattered over a great surface of 
 country, and held them up to judge the whole of the slaveholders 
 by. And these cases, I believe, they have much exaggerated in the 
 way they have related them. 
 
 Suppose a few persons in the Slave States should take the 
 drunkards, rowdies, murderers, and hangmen in the State of New 
 
York, and hold them up to the people in the Slave States for twenty- 
 years as a true representation of the whole people in the State of 
 New York ! 
 
 If these were held up for twenty years, before the people there, 
 and papers published, to show it, and pamphlets describing the 
 rowdies, drunkards, murderers, and hangmen, by pictures drawn to 
 represent them, I presume we should all of us pronounce it an 
 untrue representation of the people of the State, and pronounce it as 
 false. Although we knew it was false, still if they continued to 
 hold us up for twenty year as such in the Slave States, it would 
 make impressions on the minds of the people there, and opinions 
 would be formed by many persons that the people were rowdies, 
 drunkards, murderers, and hangmen, in the State of New York, and 
 they would look upon us as an awful wretched people. 
 
 Should an investigation be made, to show the people of the South, 
 that a few persons there had misrepresented us, and that we 
 could prove it by thousands and tens of thousands of the people in 
 the state, that it was false to hold us up as rowdies, drunkards, 
 murderers, and hangmen, they would be surprised at the deception 
 practised upon them. 
 
 And if the people from the Slave States had by thousands come 
 to the State of New York, and lived in the state for years, and we 
 could prove by them that the people of the State of New York was 
 not made up of rowdies, drunkards, murderers, and hangmen, they 
 would be still more surprised. 
 
 And I believe the abolitionists in their publications have misre- 
 presented the slaveholders and the treatment of the slaves, and the 
 sufferings of them for twenty years. As much as if the people in 
 the Slave States had for twenty years been publishing papers and 
 pamphlets and pictures and likenesses describing the rowdies drunk- 
 ards, murderers, and hangmen of the State as a representation 
 of the whole population of the State of New York. 
 
 And they can, I believe, prove it by thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands of the people there, and by thousands of people who did live 
 in the Free States, but now reside in the Slave States, that the 
 abolitionists have, for twenty years, been misrepresenting the slave- 
 
holders and the treatment of the slaves, and the sufferings of them 
 hy their papers and pamphlets, and their pictures drawn to describe 
 their sufferings. 
 
 Some measures should be taken to have this matter investigated, 
 that the people may no longer be misled by them. 
 
 I will now state what I know of the slaves. I believe, from the 
 best authority, they are as happy as the white people are North or 
 South, and do not labor as hard as the white people do in the Free 
 States. And when they are sick, they have good care taken of them. 
 This information I had from men, who formerly resided in the Free 
 States, but who now reside in the Slave States. I took pains to find 
 these men, for the purpose of inquiring about the treatment of the 
 slaves, and I believe found them in every place I visited. I found 
 old men middle-aged, and young men ; and I conversed with quite a 
 number of them about the slaves. I believe every one of them 
 said the slaves had a plenty to eat, plenty of clothes to wear, were 
 well treated, did not labor as hard as the people do in the Free 
 States, and, when sick, were taken good care of. In the time of har- 
 vest and haying, people in the Free States work hard ; so it is in 
 the season of gathering in the crop of cane for molasses and sugar. 
 If it is not done in the season, it becomes sour, and the crops much 
 injured. So all expect to labor and do what they can to save the 
 crop ; but you may depend, it is a great mistake to say the slaves 
 labor hard at all seasons, or to say they are not well treated, do 
 not have a plenty of food and clothes, or are not taken good care 
 of when sick. The slaves are too valuable to injure by over- 
 much labor, or to be made to suffer for anything ; or to labor when 
 they are not in health. 
 
 If a man does a great days work, which he can do for a short 
 time, but soon finds that he feels bad and must have rest, to recruit; 
 he must stop to gain what he has lost by over effort. If he does not, 
 but continues to over-labor, he impairs his constitution, and finally 
 cannot do anything. It is with the slave as with the free-man ; if 
 he does more than his constitution can bear, the master is the loser ; 
 and he knows it ; and as a slave is worth from eight to fourteen hun- 
 dred dollars, you may depend that this great value in a person will 
 protect him from doing anything more than a moderate day's labor ; 
 
6 
 
 or, if slaves are injured in any way, there is a great loss if iliey do 
 not recover. 
 
 And you may be assured that these men from the Free States do 
 much oppose the North's interfering with the South concerning the 
 slaves. Many of them have lived South for years; some forty, 
 thirty, twenty, ten, five, and one year. They of course know the 
 whole system of slavery, and they say the abolitionists do the slaves 
 and free-colored people much injury ; as the slaves are not permitted 
 to go from home as they did some twenty-five years ago, for fear they 
 will encounter an abolitionist. And they must not be out at night as 
 late as they were before. The free-colored people could formerly go, 
 I was informed, where they pleased, and return as the white people. 
 It was only necessary to have their freedom papers, and show them, 
 and that was all that was required of them. Now, they must, on leav- 
 ing a place, get a person to go with them to the conductor of the 
 railroad, and become security to pay the value of a slave in case it 
 should be proved he was a run away slave. 
 
 I asked a person from one of the Eastern States, who had resided 
 there six years, and taught school for five years, what he thought 
 of the abolitionists and slavery. 
 
 He said he did not own a slave, and did not expect to ; but he 
 thought the North had hetter let the South alone, mind their own 
 business, and take care of their own poor ; for there were a good many 
 white persons there that were not as well off as the slaves ; and as to 
 colored people, they did not begin to compare with the slaves. 
 
 Now this school-teacher was a smart, active man, and was well 
 acquainted with the whole operation of the system of Slavery, and was 
 about thirty-five years old. I hope we shall take the advice of the 
 school-teacher, and let the South alone, lest by our interfering they 
 may have to pass more acts for the protection of their slaves, that 
 will operate much to the injury of them. 
 
 Another person from a Free State, who for twenty years, as he 
 stated to me, has resided in a Slave State, and every year has come 
 to the North, hearing so much said about the slaves, took pains to 
 examine the situation of the colored people in the Free States ; he 
 said he could find more suffering in one day in the city of Phila- 
 delphia and in the city of New York, among the colored people, 
 
than he could find in twenty years in the Slave States. This was 
 an intelligent merchant. Quite a number of others related to me simi- 
 lar statements, of living formerly in Free States and then residing 
 in a Slave State, and going North, some of them every year, otheis 
 not so often. 
 
 An engineer from one of the Eastern States, who had resided in 
 Slave States several years, had been an overseer, did quite a 
 number of different jobs of work, and had worked with a great 
 many slaves, said he could not see how their situation would be 
 bettered if they were set at liberty. lie believed they would be 
 in a much worse state if they were set free. If their masters would 
 give him the power to do so, he woiild not be responsible for 
 the great amount of suffering that he believed would follow upon 
 them. These men from the Free States said the Abolitionists had 
 much abused the people at the South, and greatly misrepresented 
 them, and injured the Slave and the Free ones. 
 
 I believe there is no doubt but the abolitionists have done the 
 slaves and free-colored people much harm, and greatly abused and 
 misrepresented the people at the South. I have spoken with the 
 slaves and free-colored about the abolitionists, and what they had 
 done for them ; a slave said, "the abolitionists have done us a great 
 injury, and I suppose they will continue to do so." 
 
 In conversation with a free-colored person about the abolitionists 
 and what they had done for the colored people, 
 
 He said, " They have done us a great injury." 
 
 I then said, " If the abolitionists have done you an injury, ought 
 they not to be put down ?" 
 
 He said, " To be sure they ought to be put down." 
 
 Another said, " The abolitionists have not done us any good, but 
 have done us much harm." 
 
 I was last year in the City of Quincy, in the State of Illinois — 
 it lies on the Mississippi river — in conversation with a smart colored 
 free man, he said he had resided there twenty years, and when lie 
 first went there to live, the slaves from the State of Missouri, lying 
 on the west side of the river, did frequently cross it, and traded 
 at the stores ; he said they went as far as Chicago, and returned to 
 
their masters. But since the abolitionists had induced some of them 
 to run away, the slaves were not permitted to cross the river, and 
 they did not come to Quincy ; so we see they are deprived of the 
 pleasure of going from home, as they used to do. 
 
 Last fall, in the city of Chicago, I noticed several colored people 
 did not appear to have employment. I said to one of them — 
 
 " You do not seem to have anything to do ?" 
 
 He spoke of the abolitionists, and said, "they got^colored peo- 
 ple there, and left them, and he began to find them out ; and that it 
 was popular to talk of abolitionists. He believed some of them got 
 an office by it." 
 
 I thought this colored person was a slave. 
 
 The slaves, it appears to me, feel that they were well provided 
 for, and that their masters are their friends ; and I believe they are 
 satisfied with their situation : and, that a great number of them do not 
 wish to be free. I put leading questions to them to get them into 
 conversation. I said to a smart, active-looking slave, could you get 
 a living if you were free ? 
 
 He said he could get a living if he were free. He also said he 
 would rather, by half, have a master. He said he should have to 
 work anyhow. He spoke of his master, and of his having much to 
 do, and that he had one plantation in South Carolina and another in 
 Florida. He said they had an overseer, and were all done planting, 
 and that every one of them had an acre of ground apiece, and more too. 
 
 I asked him " if the other slaves had rather have a master than 
 to be free 1 
 
 He said, " To be sure, they had." 
 
 Another slave, whom I was talking with, said he would not 
 change his situation for any other place, unless he was sure of doing 
 well. 
 
 Another slave said he was thirty years of age, and had a good 
 master, and never saw a hard day. 
 
 Another said he had all he wanted, and he could not see what any 
 one wanted more for. 
 
 I said to a slave, " I suppose you have friends that would fight for 
 vou V 
 
He said he knew his master would fight for him. 
 
 Another smart-looking slave said he did not know that he ever 
 saw a free man. He then said they could not buy or sell bis mas- 
 ter, but he was not free, for he was a slave to his business. 
 
 Another slave said, " We have a very kind master." 
 
 Another said, "our master is a very good man ;" and I do not think 
 I heard one slave say his master was a hard master, but many spoke 
 well of their masters. 
 
 As I was walking in the street I met a colored person. I spoke to 
 him. He stopped ; and while we were there talking another colored 
 person passed by us. I noticed his dress was not as good as the 
 person I was speaking too. I said to him, " Why is it his clothes 
 are not as good as yours ?" 
 
 He said, " I am thinking he is a free man." 
 
 I then asked him, if the free-colored persons did not dress as well 
 as the slaves ? 
 
 He said, the free-colored persons did not dress as well as the 
 slaves. 
 
 I have been told, by quite a number of slaves, that part of the 
 free-colored persons did not do as well as the slaves. 
 
 As to the separating of families, selling the father in one place, his 
 wife in another, and the children to different persons, it appears to be 
 the hardest part of the institution ; and such is the feeling of the white 
 people. They are opposed to the separating of a family. Public 
 opinion requires of a person who has a family to sell, that he should 
 sell them together — sell them to one person — and that they be kept 
 together. As there are so many that want to purchase slaves, it ap- 
 pears the family is most always sold together. If there are small 
 children, a slaveholder told me, the mother was the best person to 
 take care of them ; so the purchaser would rather have them together. 
 A Free-State man, who has for years resided in a Slave State, said 
 he had seen thousands sold, but never saw a family separated. They 
 were sold together. He said it was the case sometimes, however, 
 that families were separated, but he never saw such a case. And 
 from good authority I state, a family is not often separated when 
 sold. But habit and custom seem to prepare the slaves' minds for 
 
10 
 
 being sold when necessary, and they do not appear to regard it. I 
 have spoken to quite a number about their masters selling them. I 
 asked one if his master would sell him. 
 
 He said, he did not know. 
 
 I asked him, if he had any objections to my buying him. 
 
 He said he did not know that he had any. 
 
 I asked another if his master would sell him. 
 
 He said, he guessed they had no more hands than they wanted. 
 
 I asked him if he was willing I should buy him. 
 
 He said he did not care. 
 
 I asked a boy, about 12 years of age, if his master would sell him. 
 
 He said his master was dead, and he belonged to his mistress. 
 
 I said, I shall buy you. 
 
 He said he did not care if I did. 
 
 After that I saw the boy again, and asked him if I should buy 
 him. 
 
 He said, " Yes, sir, buy me." 
 
 And all I spoke to about their masters selling them, and of my 
 buying them, scarcely appeared to object to being sold. 
 
 It appeared they were treated well where they were, and of course 
 expected to be if they went to another place. I was informed that 
 the slaves do not care if they are sold, as they like to go from one 
 place to another. I have seen a number sold at auction. They did 
 not appear to mind it. "We see our young men leaving their homes, 
 and going hundreds of miles. Others, a number of thousands. Fa- 
 milies are scattered apart. I have known boys from several familes 
 to leave their homes and, as it is termed, to run away, as they went 
 without the knowledge of their parents, although they were, I believe, 
 treated well at home 1 . So do not let us think it strange that there are 
 colored persons who like to travel. 
 
 I was informed there are men who treat their slaves badly ; but, I 
 believe there are as many men in the Free States that would treat 
 a team of horses badly, or suffer it to be done, that was worth sixteen 
 hundred or two thousand dollars, as there are men who treat or 
 suffer their slaves to be treated badly. Now I do not believe there 
 are many men that would treat such a team cf horses badly, or 
 suffer it to be done. So I believe there are only a very few men 
 
11 
 
 con- 
 
 who treat their slaves badly, or suffer it to be done. On the „ 
 trary, I believe they treat them very well. I have frequently heard 
 them spoken to kindly but never heard them spoken harshly to. 
 
 I have been told by slaveholders, if a slave does wrong and is 
 whipped for it, he appears to feel that he deserved it, and seems 
 satisfied with it, and it does not do him any hurt. But if a slave is 
 whipped when he does not deserve it, it does him a great injury. 
 They feel their master is their friend ; and if he whips them, or 
 suffers them to be whipped or abused, when they do not deserve it, 
 the slave feels his master does not care for him ; and the effect is, 
 he becomes careless, heedless, and has very little, if any, regard for his 
 master's interest. They say such a slave is spoiled, and of little value 
 to his master; and if he has marks upon him that show he 
 has been whipped, he will not sell for as much by a number of 
 hundred dollars. So to abuse their slaves, the owners suffer a great 
 loss. My father and mother had slaves; one of them, without 
 liberty, used to go from home, and return when she pleased, and 
 was saucy. Father several times corrected her, but she did not re- 
 form, and he finally sold her as a bad one. The other slaves were 
 very good, and were treated kindly, and were respected by the 
 family. And I knew families that owned slaves that were treated 
 well. These slaves thought much of their master and the family, 
 and when in years, for their good conduct, had the title of uncles and 
 aunts. And so it is, I am told, in the slave states. The old ones 
 are called uncles and aunts. And in the slave states there are, as 
 I was informed, some very bad slaves, and their acts prove them 
 as such. They, of course, are corrected. 
 
 From my knowledge of the slave, I believe very few would 
 run away into the free states north, were they not persuaded to do 
 so by white people. It appears they have an opinion that the 
 people in the free states do not treat the colored people as well as 
 they do in the slave states. I have heard quite a number of colored 
 persons speak of the people in the free states not treating the colored 
 people as well as they are treated in the slave states. One said to me, 
 " The colored people have more liberty in the free states than 
 we have here." But having understood they did not have as much 
 bread as they wanted, 
 
12 
 
 " That liberty/ 7 said he, " that does not give plenty of bread r I 
 do not want." He said he was not a slave. 
 
 When in the South, I became acquainted with a minister of the 
 gospel, whom I heard preach a number of times. He was from one 
 of the free States. As I intended to publish a pamplet, or a small 
 book upon the subject of slavery, I mentioned it to this minister, 
 and requested him to write me his views upon the subject of slavery. 
 He did so. I feel confident to say, that he gave me the liberty 
 to publish his name. Quite a number of other persons whom I spoke 
 with about slavery, also gave me liberty to publish their names ; but 
 I did not think it necessary. 
 
 I here present you the remarks of the minister alluded to. He 
 says : — 
 
 " An appeal to the present condition and prospects of colored 
 people North and South, establishes this fact, that as a class, they 
 are happier in the South. The same test proves that slaves are 
 happier than free colored people. If, therefore, slaves could be set 
 free it would be worse for them. The efforts of abolitionists, there- 
 fore, if successful, would only be to the injury of the slaves. 
 
 Threatened danger always makes us more vigilant. The aboli- 
 tionists threaten danger to slaveholders ; therefore slaveholders arc 
 more vigilant of their slaves, and are compelled to enact more 
 stringent laws for their regulation. In this way also abolitionists 
 injure slaves. Abolitionists strive to make slaves discontented with 
 their condition ; and discontent, so far as it extends, is destructive of 
 happiness. Therefore the efforts of abolitionists are destructive of 
 the happiness of the slaves. 
 
 " I lived one year on a plantation in Virginia, and three months 
 on a plantation in Florida ; and in both instances had abundant 
 opportunity to witness the practical workings of slavery. The 
 results of these observations are : — 
 
 1st. Slaves do not have so hard labor to perform as the free 
 negroes at the North. 
 
 2nd. The temporal wants of the slaves are much more amply 
 supplied than those of free negroes. 
 
 3rd. In sickness slaves are immeasurably better attended to than 
 free negroes at the North. 
 
13 
 
 Ift. Masters generally eare more for the religions interests of 
 ' On negroes than Northern men ge„eral, y do for the free eg oe< 
 
 IX£ - The com ™ on » ^ » ~* - ■£ - 
 
 This minister was a kind anrl T k-i: i 
 
 was a kind, and, I believe, a good man, and had 
 
 a good opportunity to understand what he states. And every per 
 son who desires to have the truth on this important subject, should 
 reflect upon what he says. 
 
 The case is very different, I believe, with some others, who write 
 
 upon the subject of slavery. Those who get office by it do, of course 
 
 have their articles published in the newspapers by paying for it, and 
 
 some persons appear not to regard what they write or publish The 
 
 minister did not receive anything for writing the article he gave me 
 
 Considerable number of persons whom I spoke with about the 
 
 slaves, said they were abolitionists when they went to live in the 
 
 slave state, and believed the slaves were abused. But after living 
 
 there for some time, they saw the slaves were treated well, and weH 
 
 provided for, and enjoyed themselves better than the free colored 
 
 people in the free states. They therefore changed their opinion and 
 
 now oppose the abolitionists, believing they do much hurt to' the 
 
 slaves, and the free-colorred people, and misrepresent and abuse the 
 
 people of the South. 
 
 After all that has been said about separating of families, and 
 the abuse of slaves, by whipping, driving, and beating them it 
 appears to me that the slaves are contented to live as they are, 
 with a very few exceptions ; and, that the free-colored people would 
 rather live in the Slave States than in the Free States; and, that 
 the most of their trouble and inconvenience has been brought upon 
 them by the abolitionists. 
 
 ^ The South have had to pass laws to prevent the slaves from run- 
 ning away. These laws operate to the injury of the slaves and the 
 free-colored people. 
 
 It appeared to me, that the slaves and free-colored people, seening 
 it just and proper that such laws should have been passed, try 
 to be reconciled to them ; and, that they understand the abolitionists 
 were the cause of their being passed. 
 
14 
 
 To show that the slaves are contented, and that the free-colored 
 people would rather live in the Slave States than in the Free States, 
 we will see where Ave find them, and then speak of the opportunity 
 the slaves have to rftn away, if they wish to do so. 
 
 The six Eastern States : Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas- 
 sachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have 65,440 square miles ; 
 and by the census taken in 1850; they have 23,021 colored people 
 in the six states. And by the census taken in 1790 they had 17,042 
 colored people. 
 
 The State of New York has 46,220 square miles, and 49,069 free 
 colored people. 
 
 The six States and New York have 111,660 square miles, and 
 72,090 free-colored people. 
 
 Maryland has 10,755 square miles, and 74.723 free-colored people, 
 and 90,36S slaves, and is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania. 
 
 Pennsylvania, a Free State, has 46,215 square miles, and has 
 53,626 free- colored people. 
 
 By this we see that the State of Maryland has not one quarter a& 
 many square miles as the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
 And it also shows that Maryland has 21,096 free-colored people 
 more than there is in the State of Pennsylvania, and, that it has 
 2,633 more free colored people than the six Eastern States and the 
 State of New York combined. 
 
 I think this is pretty good proof that the free-colored people 
 had rather live in Maryland, a Slave State, than in Pennsylvania, a 
 Free State, or the State of New York, or the six eastern States. 
 
 For we find them there, and they have only to step over the line, 
 and they are in Pennsylvania, a Free State, — as the States are 
 separated by a line. But they, as appears to me, would rather live 
 in a slave State than a Free State. 
 
 Maryland, as we have stated, has 90,36S slaves, and what have 
 they to do but to step over the line, and they are in the State of 
 Pennsylvania, a Free State, and then start for the house of an aboli- 
 tionist, who appears ready to help them to find a place to hide, or 
 to aid them to travel to the North ! 
 
 I think this another pretty good proof that the slaves would 
 rather live with their masters than to leave them. 
 
15 
 
 Del aware , a Slave State, has 2,068 square miles, and a population 
 of 18,090 free-colored people, and 2,290 slaves. It is partly bounded 
 on the north by Pennsylvania ; on the east by a bay that separates 
 it from the State of New Jersey. 
 
 Pennsylvania would make twenty-two states as large as Dela- 
 ware ; yet it has not got three times as many free-colored people as 
 Delaware. The free-colored people have only to pass over the 
 line into Pennsylvania, and they are in a free state ; or, to cross the 
 bay and land on the shore of the State of New Jersey. But, it ap- 
 pears, they would rather live in Delaware, a slave state. 
 
 And the 2,290 slaves in Delaware, it appears to me, would rather 
 live with their masters, or they would oftener cross the line into 
 Pennsylvania, and run away ; or take a boat, and cross the bay, and 
 land upon the shore of New Jersey, a free state. 
 _ This is good proof, to me, that the free-colored people had rather 
 live in the slave states than in the free states; and, that the slaves 
 are well treated, and like their situation, or they would run away. 
 
 And if the slaves were whipped, beat, and drove about, as some 
 say they are, the free-colored people would not like to see it, and 
 they would, I believe, leave the state. 
 
 In the six Eastefn States, in 1S50, as we have seen, there 
 
 were free-colored .... pe opl e> 23 ,021 
 
 In the State of New York, free-colored - - « 49,090 
 
 la the State of New Jersey, free-colored - " 23,810 
 
 In the State of Pennsylvania, free-colored - " 53 62G 
 
 The whole number of free-colored people in nine States, - - 149,45 
 
 In the State of Delaware the number of free-colored 
 
 P eo P leis > 18,073 
 
 In the State of Maryland, free-colored - - people, 74,723 
 
 In the District of Columbia, free-colored - « 10,059 
 
 In the State of Virginia, free-colored " 54,333 
 
 In the three States and District of Columbia - - 157,188 
 
16 
 
 % 
 Here we have the number of free colored people in three 
 
 Slave States and the District of Columbia, - - 157,188 
 
 Free colored people in nine Free States, ... 149,447 
 
 7,741 
 
 By subtracting the number in the Slave States from the Free 
 States, as we see, we find seven thousand seven hundred and forty- 
 one free colored people more than we find in nine Free States. 
 
 Virginia has 472,528 slaves, and is bounded on the north partly 
 by Pennsylvania, and partly by the Ohio river. The slaves, there- 
 fore, could very easily, I think, run away if they wished to do so. 
 
 I have been informed, however, that only a few do run away. 
 
 I have also been told that those who do run away, it is believed, 
 were persuaded away by the abolitionists. 
 
 I presume some persons will try to give a reason why so many 
 free-colored people live in the slave states. They may say they 
 were born there, and having friends do not wish to leave them. 
 But we see white people leave their homes and friends, and go thou- 
 sands of miles away ! 
 
 The free-colored people in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have 
 only to cross a line, as we have seen, and they are in a free state. 
 And we may depend upon it that quite a number of free-colored 
 people, men and women, have been to the free states to find labor 
 and to live there. But finding they were not treated by the 
 white people as well as they were in the slave states, they returned 
 again to the slave states. 
 
 The character of the people in the Free States, appears to be well 
 known by the free-colored people, and part of the slaves ; and that 
 character is, that they do not treat the colored people as well as 
 they are treated in the slave states. 
 
 I have frequently heard the colored people speak of the treatment 
 they received from the people in the free states ; they say they do 
 not treat colored people as well in the free states as the white people 
 treat them in the slave states, and that that is the reason we find so 
 many free-colored people in the slave states. 
 
 If there were as many free-colored people in the State of Penn- 
 sylvania as there are in the State of Delaware, according to the size 
 
lr 
 
 of the state, there would be near four hundred thousand free-colored 
 people in the State of Pennsylvania, 
 
 If Pennsylvania had as many free colored people as the State of 
 Maryland, according to the size of the state, there would be more 
 than three hundred thousand free- colored people in the State of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 It appears to me, I have given you pretty good proof that the 
 free-colored people had rather live in the slave states than in the 
 free states. 
 
 I am informed only a few of the slaves run away from the 
 States of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. I think that it is pretty 
 good proof that the slaves are very well contented with their 
 situation. 
 
 Please to reflect upon it, that Delaware and Virginia are bounded 
 partly on the north by a free state : and, that Maryland also, is 
 bounded on the north by a free state : so it appears their slaves 
 could run away if they wished to do so. 
 
 I wish to call your attention again to the six Eastern States and 
 the colored people there. 
 
 As we have stated, then, there were in the six Eastern States, in 
 1850, 23,021 colored people ; and by the census taken in 1790, there 
 were of slaves and free-colored people, 17,042. By this we see that 
 in sixty years, the 17,042 colored people have increased only 5979. 
 
 I am informed the natural increase should have been more than 
 70,000 in these six states. 
 
 And part of these 5,979, I believe, are runaway slaves. 
 
 Some persons may believe, that in sixty years, there have been 
 5,979 runaway slaves in the Eastern States. 
 
 If that number have been made up by runaway slaves, then it 
 appears the 17,042 colored persons that were in these six states in 
 1790, have not increased at all. 
 
 That there should not have been a greater increase is wonderful. 
 It appears to me, there must be something wrong, in some form or 
 other. 
 
 I do not wish to condemn any person, or people, before I have the 
 proof; but, for so many people to be in six states for sixty years, 
 and then find so small an increase, is very mysterious. 
 
 9 
 
18 
 
 Slaves did, as I have been informed, run away from the state of 
 New York some forty or fifty years ago, and fled to the Eastern 
 States. 
 
 Some fifty years ago my uncle had one run away there, and he 
 went there after him ; so it appears these Eastern States have, for 
 fifty years or more, had an increase of colored people by runaway 
 slaves. 
 
 And by some process or other, it appears they have managed to 
 suppress the increase of the colored people. 
 
 That in sixty years, the 17,042 have increased only 5,979, with 
 all the runaway slaves that have been added to their number, is, I 
 repeat it, very mysterious. 
 
 I was in Lynn, Massachusetts, some fourteen years ago, and tar- 
 ried there about two weeks. I saw there two colored persons 
 engaged in sawing wood. I spoke to them several times. 
 
 They said they formerly lived in Pennsylvania ; but thinking the 
 people in Boston were friendly to the colored people, they went there 
 and took board, and spent several days travelling about the city 
 to find work. They applied at a number of places where men 
 were employed to labor, and asked to be employed. But no 
 one would employ them, and they finally paid most all the money 
 they had for board. 
 
 They were at length advised to go in the country to look for labor, 
 and found it was very scarce. They finally took to sawing wood to 
 get money enough to defray their expenses to Philadelphia. 
 
 They spoke of the abolitionists, and said, it was all talk; they did 
 not care much, after all, for the colored people. 
 
 One of them, I believe, was a runaway slave, and the other went 
 to Boston with him to help him. 
 
 The free-colored people in the slave states think the free states a 
 hard place for the colored people. 
 
 And it appears to be well understood by part of the slaves, that 
 the free states is a hard place for the colored people, and they do not 
 wish to live in them. 
 
 I believe the New England States will not have many more run- 
 away slaves to increase the number of colored people among them, 
 for I believe the slaves begin to know better then to go there. And 
 
19 
 
 as it appears to me, the people of the six eastern states after all do 
 not care much for the colored people. 
 
 I believe, if they continue to treat them as they have done, they 
 will not increase but will decrease, and finally, there will be 
 scarcely any colored people in them. 
 
 The people of the South are doing much to improve the slaves. 
 They say to them in substance, as I understand it : You are the de- 
 scendants of a people that were, some fifteen hundred years ago, a 
 great people, wise and learned in the arts. If you will try to im- 
 prove yourselves we will give you an opportunity to do it, and places 
 where you can learn trades. A nation to be great, must have me- 
 chanics of different kinds to manufacture the numerous articles tbat 
 are used. And in the South they are learning their slaves trades ; 
 and, I believe, the slaves do much appreciate the effort that is made 
 to improve them. 
 
 I was several times surprised when I found the colored people 
 were employed doing business that I never have seen done by 
 colored persons in the free states. 
 
 When travelling, I noticed colored carpenters and blacksmiths at 
 work. At a place we stopped to breakfast were four large-sized, fine 
 looking colored men at work, framing a house. Two others were at 
 work in a shop, making doors and window frames. I went where 
 they were at work ; they were worth looking at ; there were no white 
 men there. 
 
 The skirt of my coat was burnt. 
 
 In the evening I went into a tailor's shop, and was surprised to find 
 that they were all colored persons. I should not have gone in if I 
 had known it, as I desired to have it well done, and never before 
 saw a colored tailor. I asked the foreman if I could have it well 
 done. He said I could. I left it, and returned. It was well done. 
 Quite a number of times I have spoken of the work, and shown it, to 
 prove that a colored man can do good w r ork. 
 
 I have been in shops where colored people were employed in 
 building wagons and different kinds of pleasure carriages, and making 
 harness, and appeared to be at work on every part of the carriage. 
 And in blacksmith shops where colored persons were employed, they 
 
20 
 
 were doing, as it appeared, every part of the work that is done to 
 iron a wagon, and different kinds of pleasure carriages. In these 
 shops there were a number of white men at work ; I noticed, for that 
 was my business there. The colored blacksmith appeared to un- 
 derstand the work he was doing. And the colored carriage makers 
 also appeared to do their work well. 
 
 I was informed by a gentleman, that he was a manufacturer of 
 wagons and all kinds of pleasure carriages, that he had twenty- 
 two colored persons at work upon these carriages, and that the 
 colored persons did the work iipon all parts of the carriage — paint, 
 varnish, stitch leather, and make harness ; and, that they did the work 
 as well as it was done by white men. 
 
 I have seen shoemakers, masons, and men building docks and 
 repairing them. I have also seen carmen, harness-makers, and men 
 digging iron ore, and then casting that into pig-iron, and then casting 
 the pig-iron into bar-iron, and then they did work some of the iron 
 up in a blacksmith shop attached to the establishment. 
 
 I have also seen colored men use the fire-engine, apparently with 
 as much skill, and energy, and effect, as I have ever seen white men. 
 
 I saw a white man, an engineer, who had worked at the business 
 some years. He stated the number of colored men he had taught to 
 be engineers, and it was quite a number. This attention to them 
 elevated the colored people. The slaves told me they had an op- 
 portunity to make considerable money for themselves, some twelve 
 dollars, others twenty-five dollars, a year. This they use as they 
 please. Their master provides all that is necessary for them. Me- 
 chanics say they earn twice that sum, which tney have for their 
 own benefit. 
 
 I have several times travelled on steamboats, where the pilot was 
 a colored man. The captain appeared to feel that the pilot was 
 well acquainted with the business, for when we were going up the 
 upper part of St. John's river, in Florida (it is the crookedest river 
 I ever saw), the Captain's attention was taken up by looking for 
 an opportunity to shoot alligators, and several times did he shoot at 
 them, and the colored pilot did pilot the bo it, and all landed safe at 
 Enterprise without the lea^t difficulty. And when we came back 
 
21 
 
 we had a colored pilot, and the Captain, as hefore, was engaged in 
 shooting alligators. We returned without the least difficulty, and 
 landed at Pilatka.] 
 
 When we went to St. Augustine there were two pilots. One had a 
 spy -glass, which he used. The other piloted the hoat ; and we 
 arrived safely there. I thought it a very difficult place to pilot a 
 hoat after we left the sea and went into the bay. And when we 
 returned, we had two colored pilots, and were landed at Savannah in 
 Georgia. One of the engineers was a colored man, on each of the 
 boats. 
 
 The Captains of these boats appeared to place much confidence in 
 the knowledge and skill of these colored pilots, for they did not ap- 
 pear to feel it was necessary for them to have much of anything to 
 do with the piloting of the boats. I spoke with the Captains about 
 the colored pilots. The Captains said they were well acquainted 
 with their business. And the colored pilots themselves appeared to 
 feel that they were men of some importance and considerably ele- 
 vated. 
 
 I went to three different Sunday schools in Nashville, Tennessee, 
 where colored children were taught to read. At other places, I was 
 informed, they teach them to commit to memory verses in the Testa- 
 ment and other good books. I met a colored boy in the street 
 with a paper in his hand. I asked him if he could read ; he said 
 yes, sir. I asked him to read. He did so ; and read very well. I 
 met another colored boy with a paper. I asked him if he could 
 read ; he said yes, sir. I asked him to read. He did so ; and he 
 also read very well. 
 
 I wish the people might see the great difference there is between 
 the colored people in the Free States, and the Slave States, and 
 what the South is doing to elevate the slaves. If they did see it, as 
 it is, they would be greatly surprised to find the colored people South 
 at work, as appears, at most all kinds of mechanical trades, and 
 piloting the steamboats and acting as engineers. 
 
 And when the people do turn their attention to it, with a 
 determination to understand it, I believe it will put a stop to this 
 agitation of slavery, and will not, I think, say the South are aristo- 
 
22 
 
 crats, but are republicans, and show much regard for the poor by 
 employing so many free colored people. 
 
 What a company of missionaries can the South send to Africa ! 
 Men taught to do, as appears, all kinds of work that is necessary 
 to be done in a civilized and Christian community. 
 
 A report made by the Colonization Society of Massachusetts, 
 shows that the efforts of the missionaries for more than one hundred 
 years in Africa did not accomplish but very little before the Coloni- 
 zation Society established a colony of colored people in Africa. 
 
 And the colony has done wonders, and are improving. From 
 good authority I state it. 
 
 And that project originated in a Slave State. The Slave States 
 furnished all the people, and most of the money, so I am in- 
 formed. 
 
 The efforts of the South to teach the colored people, show and 
 prove that as a people they are capable of great improvement. And 
 may improve till they are, as they were some fifteen hundred years 
 ago, learned in arts and science. There is no excuse for the six 
 Eastern States and New York to neglect them as they have done, 
 and to employ so many white persons to do the work the colored 
 people can do as well as the white people, especially when we know, 
 as quite a number of years have proved, that the free colored people 
 depend upon the white people to employ them that they may earn 
 something for their support. 
 
 But the abolitionists, it appears to me, do not concern themselves 
 about their having labor or support. As this agitation of slavery is 
 a great injury, and does much harm to the colored people, it is a pity 
 it should not be put an end to. 
 
 If the friends of the colored people would only go as far as the 
 State of Maryland, a Slave State, only one day's travelling from 
 New York, they would, I think, see they are the true friends of the 
 colored people, for they employ them to labor, which gives them a 
 living. 
 
 In Baltimore, the colored people are Mechanics, boot and shoe- 
 makers, carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, masons, coachmen, butchers, 
 barbers, brickmakers, boatmen and other ways employed ; and they 
 
23 
 
 are cheerful/rad respected. Then you can judge who are the true 
 friends of the colored people. 
 
 We hear much of the blighting, blasting effects of slavery, and the 
 great hindrance it is to the South in their prosperity in business 
 and in population. 
 
 A person therefore not acquainted with the Slave States may 
 think there is not much there but slaves and masters, and overseers. 
 
 If we will but reflect, we shall, I think, understand that the 
 Southern States have a very different soil from the Northern and 
 "Western States, and, that they cannot produce grain and grass as 
 they do in the Northern and Western States. 
 
 But we may know there is a great quantity of pitch, tar, and 
 turpentine, pine boards, plank, and pine cord wood, that is from the 
 South. 
 
 The pine trees grow on sandy soil ; so they have a great quantity 
 of that, and they have warmer weather at the South than in the 
 North. By this we see the soil and the climate of the South are not 
 much adapted to the raising of grain and grass, while the weather is 
 so hot, that men cannot do as much labor there, to endure it, as 
 they can in the North. 
 
 But add the above articles to the great quantity of Cotton, 
 molasses, Sugar, Rice, Tobacco, the Cedar shingles and we find 
 quite a great amount is produced, and they are necessary articles 
 for the North to have. 
 
 I here speak of the population of the States, and make a com- 
 parison between the Free and the Slave States, from which may 
 be seen the increase of the population in both. 
 
 The population of the six Eastern States— Maine, New Hamp- 
 shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut had, 
 
 in 1850 2,705,075 
 
 And in 1790, they had 972,781 
 
 Now double the 972,781, and we have 1,945,562 
 
 Now subtract this from the above number they had in 
 
 1850, and there remains 759,513 
 
24 
 
 By this we see that the six Eastern States have doubled 
 their population in sixty years, and have over 759,513. 
 
 The population of the six Slave States — Delaware, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and 
 Georgia, was in 1850 2,733,075' 
 
 In 1790 they had a population of 1,178,342— now double 
 
 the 1,178,342, and we have 2,356,684 
 
 Now subtract this from the above number they had in 
 
 1850, and there remains 376,391 
 
 By this, we see, the six Slave States have doubled in their 
 population in sixty years, and have 376,391 over. 
 
 The six Eastern States have over, as we see above 759,513 
 
 And the six slave states have, over as we see above 376,391 
 
 Now subtract this from the above, and there remains . . . 383,122 
 
 By this we see the number of white people in the six Eastern 
 states have increased over the six Slave States in sixty years. 
 
 You see it is not much, after all they have said ; and I think this 
 will surprise many, after hearing for years so much of the blighting and 
 blasting effects of slavery. This has made an unfavorable impression 
 against the institution of slavery and the Slave States. And when 
 we take into consideration that the Eastern States employ so many to 
 manufacture and to go on the water, and the increase of foreigners, 
 it disappointed me, for I, with others, have heard so much said of 
 the great hinderance that slavery had been to white people going 
 into Slave States to settle, I thought it was so ; but I was deceived 
 from the great numbers there are found from the Free States living 
 in the Slave States. 
 
 I will now compare the population of the Free States of New York 
 and Pennsylvania with the Slave States of Tennesee and Kentucky. 
 
 The population of the State of New York in 1790, was. . 314,142 
 In 1850, the population was 3,048,325 
 
25 
 
 The population of Pennsylvania in 1790, was 424,099 
 
 In 1S50 it was 2,258,160 
 
 The population of the two States amount to 5,306,485 
 
 Take the increase of these two States together, and they 
 have doubled seven times in sixty years. 
 
 The population of the State of Tennessee in 1790, was. . 32,013 
 
 The population in 1850, was 756,836 
 
 The population of the State of Kentucky in 1790, was. . 61,133 
 
 In 1850, it was 761 4^3 
 
 The population of the two States amount to 1,518,249 
 
 The white population in these two Slave States have doubled 
 in sixty years fifteen times. By this, we see that two Slave States 
 have doubled in white population twice as fast as the two greatest 
 States in the Union, with all their great increase of foreigners, com- 
 merce, manufactories, railroads, canals, and the great trade from the 
 other States. 
 
 I think many honest persons who have not examined this before, 
 will be surprised, after hearing so much of the great hindrance 
 slavery has been to the prosperity and the population of white peo- 
 ple in Slave States. 
 
 I would not give such leaders any support, by my vote ; for surely, 
 it appears wrong to encourage those who deceive us. They have 
 not only deceived me, but I think they have many others, and 
 proved by their works for twenty years, that they have not, so far as 
 I know, done the colored people any good ; but they have, I believe, 
 done them a great injury, which proves to me that they were not 
 competent to do such business, and should not have the support of 
 the people any further. Twenty years is a great while to suffer by 
 the experiment of others. The slave has suffered that time by the 
 abolitionist, I believe. 
 
 As the politicians and others in the State of Ohio who meddle so 
 
26 
 
 much with the people of Kentucky, concerning their slaves, and as 
 some may think they may do something to stop slavery in Kentucky, 
 I here show the number of the slaves there ; and you will see by the 
 great increase, that the few the abolitionists persuade away, would 
 scarcely be missed there. In the State of Kentucky there were in 
 1790, 114 free colored persons. In 1S50, there were 10,011. By this 
 we see a great increase of free colored people. 
 
 In 1790, there were 11,S30 slaves. 
 
 In 1850, there were 210,9S1 slaves there. 
 
 Here we notice a great increase of slaves. So it will take a long 
 time for the agitators of Ohio to stop slavery in Kentucky ; but they 
 may continue to injure the slaves. A part of the agitators, I pre- 
 sume, would not stop slavery there, if they could ; for I do not doubt 
 but that they get office by it. They are also elected members of 
 Congess, when they would not be, I believe, if they were not aboli- 
 tionists. 
 
 I was at Washington at the extra session of Congress, in the sum- 
 mer of 1S54, and I particularly noticed some of the abolitionist mem- 
 bers. It was my opinion, that Ohio, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, 
 did each State have a senator, it would not have had there, if 
 he had not been an abolitionist ; for I do not believe these States 
 have so much degenerated in their population that they have not bet- 
 ter men. 
 
 I think it would be very strange to find 10 r 011 free colored 
 people in the State of Kentucky, if the white people there were aris- 
 tocrats — as slaveholders are called — when they have only to cross 
 the Ohio river, and there they are, among, as they of course profess 
 to be, real republicans, in Ohio. After all that is said, we have only 
 to investigate the subject, and we shall find that those who are the 
 best and true friends of the free colored people, are those who em- 
 ploy them ; and the best friends of the slaves, are those who do not 
 meddle with the South, for they are far better judges what is for. 
 their good 
 
 At a house where I boarded, there was a lady from one of the 
 West India Islands, about fifty years of age. She said she was 
 born and brought up there, and lived there, and had seen slaves 
 
27 
 
 brought there from Africa occasionally during her whole life. She 
 spoke to them about going back to Africa, and asked them if 
 they wished to go back. She says they replied that they did not 
 want to go back, for they did not fare as well in Africa as they did 
 there. 
 
 They said they had slaves in Africa ; they also said the white 
 man was superior to them, and that they were willing to labor 
 for him. 
 
 From good authority I state, that the natives, in parts of Africa, 
 are in a truly wretched state. Some of their children are sacrificed, 
 and they perish in an awful way. 
 
 It appears, if Africa is to be civilized and Christianized, it must 
 be done by those colored people who are to go there from this 
 country. The natives have sunk so low, it appears necessary that 
 they should be brought from there here ; and after living here, they 
 will improve in intellect, as they have done, and "will continue to do 
 till they learn to imitate and to do all kinds of work necessary to a 
 civilized and Christian community. 
 
 They are improving ; and it appears Africa is to be civilized and 
 Christianized in this way, and is thus to receive her compensation 
 for all she has lost by the slave trade. 
 
 The people know how the colored people are treated in the 
 Free States, and they can form some opinion who are the most 
 merciful. 
 
 The cause of their increasing so fast in the Slave States, is 
 because they are treated as if they were human creatures. 
 
 In the Free States, they are, I believe, treated so bad they are 
 discouraged, and neglect to take care of their children. Many 
 die for want of proper care. The grown persons fall into bad 
 habits from being oppressed and discouraged, live a wretched life, 
 and die a miserable death. 
 
 It appears to me, the colored missionaries are to come from 
 the South, where the people are already preparing them to fill 
 important places. 
 
 As the bees find the flowers, so do the free colored people find the 
 
28 
 
 republicans south, who are their true friends, and shun the aristocrats 
 in the North. 
 
 I should have published this ten months before if sickness and 
 business had not prevented me. 
 
 With respect, 
 
 WILLIAM JAGGER. 
 
 October, 1856, 
 
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