Part 195 (1/2)

”8th. The wrist of the left arm of each party shall be tied tight to his left thigh, and a strong cord shall be fastened around his left arm at the elbow, and then around his body. Rejected.

”9th. After the word is given, each party shall be allowed to advance or recede as he pleases, over the s.p.a.ce of twenty acres of ground, until death ensues to one of the parties. Agreed to--the parties to be placed in the centre of the s.p.a.ce.

”10th. The word shall be given by the winner of the same, in the following manner, viz: ”Gentlemen are you ready?” Each party shall then answer, ”I am!” The second giving the word shall then distinctly command--_strike_. Agreed to.

”If either party shall violate these rules, upon being notified by the second of either party, he may be liable to be shot down instantly. As established usage points out the duty of both parties, therefore notification is considered unnecessary.”

The FAVORITE AMUs.e.m.e.nTS of slaveholders, like the gladiatorial shows of Rome and the Bull Fights of Spain, reveal a public feeling insensible to suffering, and a depth of brutality in the highest degree revolting to every truly n.o.ble mind. One of their most common amus.e.m.e.nts is c.o.c.k fighting. Mains of c.o.c.ks, with twenty, thirty, and fifty c.o.c.ks on each side, are fought for hundreds of dollars aside.

The fowls are armed with steel spurs or '_gafts_,' about two inches long. These 'gafts' are fastened upon the legs by sawing off the _natural_ 'spur,' leaving only enough of it to answer the purpose of a _stock_ for the tube of the ”gafts,” which are so sharp that at a stroke the fowls thrust them through each other's necks and heads, and tear each other's bodies till one or both dies, then two others are brought forward for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the mult.i.tude a.s.sembled, and this barbarous pastime is often kept up for days in succession, hundreds and thousands gathering from a distance to witness it. The following advertis.e.m.e.nts from the Raleigh Register, June 18, 1838, edited by Messrs. Gales and Son, the father and brother of Mr. Gales, editor of the National Intelligencer, and late Mayor of Was.h.i.+ngton City, reveal the public sentiment of North Carolina.

”CHATHAM AGAINST NASH, or any other county in the State. I am authorized to take a bet of any amount that may be offered, to FIGHT A MAIN OF c.o.c.kS, at any place that may be agreed upon by the parties--to be fought the ensuing spring. GIDEON ALSTON. Chatham county, June 7, 1838.”

Two weeks after, this challenge was answered as follows:

”TO MR. GIDEON ALSTON, of Chatham county, N.C.

”SIR: In looking over the North Carolina Standard of the 20th inst. I discover a challenge over your signature, headed 'Chatham against Nash,' in which you state: that you are 'authorized to take a bet of any amount that may be offered, to fight a main of c.o.c.ks, at any place that may be agreed upon by the parties, to be fought the ensuing spring' which challenge I ACCEPT: and do propose to meet you at Rolesville, in Wake county, N.C. on the last Wednesday in May next, the parties to show thirty-one c.o.c.ks each--fight four days, and be governed by the rules as laid down in Turner's c.o.c.k Laws--which, if you think proper to accede to, you will signify through this or any other medium you may select, and then I will name the sum for which we shall fight, as that privilege was surrendered by you in your challenge.

”I am, sir, very respectfully, &c. NICHOLAS W. ARRINGTON, near Hilliardston, Nash co. North Carolina June 22nd, 1838”

The following advertis.e.m.e.nt in the Richmond Whig, of July 12, 1837, exhibits the public sentiment of Virginia.

”MAIN OF c.o.c.kS.--A large 'MAIN OF c.o.c.kS,' 21 a side, for $25 'the fight', and $500 'the odd,' will be fought between the County of Dinwiddie on one part, and the Counties of Hanover and Henrico on the other.

”The 'regular' fighting will be continued _three days_, and from the large number of 'game uns' on both sides and in the adjacent country, will be prolonged no doubt a _fourth_. To prevent confusion and promote 'sport,' the Pit will be enclosed and furnished with _seats_; so that those having a curiosity to witness a species of diversion originating in a better day (for they had no rag money then,) can have _that_ very _natural_ feeling gratified.

”The Petersburg Constellation is requested to copy.”

_Horse-racing_ too, as every body knows, is a favorite amus.e.m.e.nt of slaveholders. Every slave state has its race course, and in the older states almost every county has one on a small scale. There is hardly a day in the year, the weather permitting, in which crowds do not a.s.semble at the south to witness this barbarous sport. Horrible cruelty is absolutely inseparable from it. Hardly a race occurs of any celebrity in which some one of the coursers is not lamed, 'broken down,' or in some way seriously injured, often for life, and not unfrequently they are killed by the rupture of some vital part in the struggle. When the heats are closely contested, the blood of the tortured animal drips from the lash and flies at every leap from the stroke of the rowel. From the breaking of girths and other accidents, their riders (mostly slaves) are often thrown and maimed or killed.

Yet these amus.e.m.e.nts are attended by thousands in every part of the slave states. The wealth and fas.h.i.+on, the gentlemen and _ladies_ of the 'highest circles' at the south, throng the race course.

That those who can fasten steel spurs upon the legs of dunghill fowls, and goad the poor birds to worry and tear each other to death--and those who can crowd by thousands to _witness_ such barbarity--that those who can throng the race-course and with keen relish witness the hot pantings of the life-struggle, the lacerations and fitful spasms of the muscles, swelling through the crimsoned foam, as the tortured steeds rush in blood-welterings to the goal--that such, should look upon the sufferings of their slaves with, indifference is certainly small wonder.

Perhaps we shall be told that there are thronged race-courses at the North. True, there are a few, and they are thronged chiefly by _Southerners_, and 'Northern men with _Southern_ principles,' and supported mainly by the patronage of slaveholders who summer at the North. c.o.c.k-fighting and horse-racing are ”_Southern_ inst.i.tutions.”

The idleness, contempt of labor, dissipation, sensuality, brutality, cruelty, and meanness, engendered by the habit of making men and women work without pay, and flogging them if they demur at it, const.i.tutes a congenial soil out of which c.o.c.k-fighting and horse-racing are the spontaneous growth.

Again,--The kind treatment of the slaves is often argued from the liberal education and enlarged views of slaveholders. The facts and reasonings of the preceding pages have shown, that 'liberal education,' despotic habits and ungoverned pa.s.sions work together with slight friction. And every day's observation shows that the former is often a stimulant to the latter.

But the notion so common at the north that the majority of the slaveholders are persons of education, is entirely erroneous. A _very few_ slaveholders in each of the slave states have been men of _ripe_ education, to whom our national literature is much indebted. A larger number may be called _well_ educated--these reside mostly in the cities and large villages, but a majority of the slaveholders are ignorant men, thousands of them notoriously so, _mere boors_ unable to write their names or to read the alphabet.

No one of the slave states has probably so much general education as Virginia. It is the oldest of them--has furnished one half of the presidents of the United States--has expended more upon her university than any state in the Union has done during the same time upon its colleges--sent to Europe nearly twenty years since for her most learned professors, and in fine, has far surpa.s.sed every other slave state in her efforts to disseminate education among her citizens, and yet, the Governor of Virginia in his message to the legislature (Jan.

7, 1839) says, that of four thousand six hundred and fourteen adult males in that state, who applied to the county clerks for marriage licenses in the year 1837, 'ONE THOUSAND AND FORTY SEVEN _were unable to write their names_.' The governor adds, 'These statements, it will be remembered, are confined to one s.e.x: the education of females it is to be feared, is in a condition of _much greater neglect_.'

The Editor of the Virginia Times, published at Wheeling, in his paper of Jan. 23, 1839, says,--

”We have every reason to suppose that one-fourth of the people of the state cannot write their names, and they have not, of course, any other species of education.”

Kentucky is the child of Virginia; her first settlers were some of the most distinguished citizens of the mother state; in the general diffusion of intelligence amongst her citizens Kentucky is probably in advance of all the slave states except Virginia and South Carolina; and yet Governor Clark, in his last message to the Kentucky Legislature, (Dec 5, 1838) makes the following declaration: ”From the computation of those most familiar with the subject, it appears that AT LEAST ONE THIRD OF THE ADULT POPULATION OF THE STATE ARE UNABLE TO WRITE THEIR NAMES.”

The following advertis.e.m.e.nt in the ”Milledgeville (Geo.) Journal,”