dress, if it can be called dress, exhibit the most haggard and squalid appearance.  I have frequently seen those of both sexes more than two-thirds naked.  I have seen from forty to sixty, male and female, at work in a field, many of both sexes with their bodies entirely naked—­who did not exhibit signs of shame more than cattle.  As I did not go among them much on the plantations, I have had but few opportunities for examining the backs of slaves—­but have frequently passed where they were at work, and been occasionally present with them, and in almost every case there were marks of violence on some parts of them—­every age, sex and condition being liable to the whip.  A son of the gentleman with whom I boarded, a young man about twenty-one years of age, had a plantation and eight or ten slaves.  He used to boast almost every night of whipping some of them.  One day he related to me a case of whipping an old negro—­I should judge sixty years of age.  He said he called him up to flog him for some real or supposed offence, and the poor old man, being pious, asked the privilege of praying before he received his punishment.  He said he granted him the favor, and to use his own expression, ’The old nigger knelt down and prayed for me, and then got up and took his whipping.’  In relation to negro huts, I will say that planters usually own large tracts of land.  They have extensive clearings and a beautiful mansion house—­and generally some forty or fifty rods from the dwelling are situated the negro cabins, or huts, built of logs in the rudest manner.  Some consist of poles rolled up together and covered with mud or clay—­many of them not as comfortable as northern pig-sties.”

TESTIMONY OF REV.  PHINEAS SMITH

MR. SMITH is now pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Centreville, Allegany county, N.Y.  He has recently returned from a residence in the slave states, and the American slave holding settlements in Texas.  The following is an extract of a letter lately received from him.

“You inquire respecting instances of cruelty that have come within my knowledge.  I reply.  Avarice and cruelty constitute the very gist of the whole slave system.  Many of the enormities committed upon the plantations will not be described till God brings to light the hidden things of darkness, then the tears and groans and blood of innocent men, women and children will be revealed, and the oppressor’s spirit must confront that of his victim.

“I will relate a case of torture which occurred on the Brassos while I resided a few miles distant upon the Chocolate Bayou.  The case should be remembered as a true illustration of the nature of slavery, as it exists at the south.  The facts are these.  An overseer by the name of Alexander, notorious for his cruelty, was found dead in the timbered lands of the Brassos.  It was supposed that he was murdered, but who perpetrated the act was unknown.