Clotel, or The Presidents Daughter | Page 4

the Public through similar
publications, and should thereby aid in bringing British influence to
bear upon American slavery, the main object for which this work was
written will have been accomplished.
W. WELLS BROWN
22, Cecil Street, Strand, London.

CONTENTS.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR
THE NEGRO SALE
GOING TO THE SOUTH
THE NEGRO CHASE
THE QUADROON'S HOME
THE SLAVE MASTER
THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER
THE POOR WHITES, SOUTH
THE SEPARATION
THE MAN OP HONOUR
THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN
THE PARSON POET
A NIGHT IN THE PARSON'S KITCHEN
A SLAVE HUNT
A FREE WOMAN REDUCED TO SLAVERY
TO-DAY A MISTRESS, TO-MORROW A SLAVE
DEATH OF THE PARSON

RETALIATION
THE LIBERATOR
ESCAPE OF CLOTEL
A TRUE DEMOCRAT
THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH
A RIDE IN A STAGE COACH
TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION
DEATH IS FREEDOM
THE ESCAPE
THE MYSTERY
THE HAPPY MEETING
CONCLUSION

CHAPTER I
THE NEGRO SALE
"Why stands she near the auction stand, That girl so young and fair?
What brings her to this dismal place, Why stands she weeping there?"
WITH the growing population of slaves in the Southern States of
America, there is a fearful increase of half whites, most of whose
fathers are slaveowners and their mothers slaves. Society does not
frown upon the man who sits with his mulatto child upon his knee,
whilst its mother stands a slave behind his chair. The late Henry Clay,
some years since, predicted that the abolition of Negro slavery would
be brought about by the amalgamation of the races. John Randolph, a
distinguished slaveholder of Virginia, and a prominent statesman, said
in a speech in the legislature of his native state, that "the blood of the
first American statesmen coursed through the veins of the slave of the
South." In all the cities and towns of the slave states, the real Negro, or
clear black, does not amount to more than one in every four of the slave
population. This fact is, of itself, the best evidence of the degraded and
immoral condition of the relation of master and slave in the United
States of America. In all the slave states, the law says:--"Slaves shall be
deemed, sold [held], taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels
personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their

executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and
purposes whatsoever. A slave is one who is in the power of a master to
whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his
industry, and his labour. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor
acquire anything, but what must belong to his master. The slave is
entirely subject to the will of his master, who may correct and chastise
him, though not with unusual rigour, or so as to maim and mutilate him,
or expose him to the danger of loss of life, or to cause his death. The
slave, to remain a slave, must be sensible that there is no appeal from
his master." Where the slave is placed by law entirely under the control
of the man who claims him, body and soul, as property, what else could
be expected than the most depraved social condition? The marriage
relation, the oldest and most sacred institution given to man by his
Creator, is unknown and unrecognised in the slave laws of the United
States. Would that we could say, that the moral and religious teaching
in the slave states were better than the laws; but, alas! we cannot. A few
years since, some slaveholders became a little uneasy in their minds
about the rightfulness of permitting slaves to take to themselves
husbands and wives, while they still had others living, and applied to
their religious teachers for advice; and the following will show how
this grave and important subject was treated:--
"Is a servant, whose husband or wife has been sold by his or her master
into a distant country, to be permitted to marry again?"
The query was referred to a committee, who made the following report;
which, after discussion, was adopted:--
"That, in view of the circumstances in which servants in this country
are placed, the committee are unanimous in the opinion, that it is better
to permit servants thus circumstanced to take another husband or wife."
Such was the answer from a committee of the "Shiloh Baptist
Association;" and instead of receiving light, those who asked the
question were plunged into deeper darkness! A similar question was
put to the "Savannah River Association," and the answer, as the
following will show, did not materially differ from the one we have
already given:--

"Whether, in a case of involuntary separation, of such a character as to
preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties ought to be
allowed to marry again."
Answer:--
"That such separation among persons situated