“I was told the following fact by a young lady, daughter of a slaveholder in Boone county, Kentucky, who lived within half a mile of Mr. Hughes’ farm.  Hughes and Neil traded in slaves down the river:  they had bought up a part of their stock in the upper counties of Kentucky, and brought them down to Louisville, where the remainder of their drove was in jail, waiting their arrival.  Just before the steamboat put off for the lower country, two negro women were offered for sale, each of them having a young child at the breast.  The traders bought them, took their babes from their arms, and offered them to the highest bidder; and they were sold for one dollar apiece, whilst the stricken parents were driven on board the boat; and in an hour were on their way to the New Orleans market.  You are aware that a young babe decreases the value of a field hand in the lower country, whilst it increases her value in the ‘breeding states.’”

The following is an extract from an address, published by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky, to the churches under their care, in 1835:—­

“Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more.  These acts are DAILY occurring in the midst of us.  The shrieks and the agony, often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim, with a trumpet tongue, the iniquity of our system. There is not a neighborhood where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from ALL THAT THEIR HEARTS HOLD DEAR.”—­Address, p. 12.

Professor ANDREWS, late of the University of North Carolina, in his recent work on Slavery and the Slave Trade, page 147, in relating a conversation with a slave-trader, whom he met near Washington City, says, he inquired,

“‘Do you often buy the wife without the husband?’ ’Yes, VERY OFTEN; and FREQUENTLY, too, they sell me the mother while they keep her children.  I have often known them take away the infant from its mother’s breast, and keep it, while they sold her.’”

The following sale is advertised in the “Georgia Journal,” Jan, 2, 1838.

“Will be sold, the following PROPERTY, to wit:  One ——­ CHILD, by the name of James, about eight months old, levied on as the property of Gabriel Gunn.”

The following is a standing advertisement in the Charleston (S.C.) papers:—­

“120 Negroes for Sale—­The subscriber has just arrived from Petersburg, Virginia, with one hundred and twenty likely young negroes of both sexes and every description, which he offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.

“The lot now on hand consists of plough boys several likely and well-qualified house servants of both sexes, several women with children, small girls suitable for nurses, and several SMALL BOYS WITHOUT THEIR MOTHERS.  Planters and traders are earnestly requested to give the subscriber a call previously to making purchases elsewhere, as he is enabled and will sell as cheap, or cheaper, than can be sold by any other person in the trade.  BENJAMIN DAVIS.  Hamburg, S.C.  Sept. 28, 1838.”