EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM STEPHAN SEWALL, Esq., Winthrop, Maine, dated Jan. 12th, 1839.  Mr. S. is a member of the Congregational church in Winthrop, and late agent of the Winthrop Manufacturing company.

“Being somewhat acquainted with slavery, by a residence of about five years in Alabama, and having witnessed many acts of slaveholding cruelty, I will mention one or two that came under my eye; and one of excessive cruelty mentioned to me at the time, by the gentleman (now dead,) that interfered in behalf of the slave.

“I was witness to such cruelties by an overseer to a slave, that he twice attempted to drown himself, to get out of his power:  this was on a raft of slaves, in the Mobile river.  I saw an owner take his runaway slave, tie a rope round him, then get on his horse, give the slave and horse a cut the whip, and run the poor creature barefooted, very fast, over rough ground, where small black jack oaks had been cut up, leaving the sharp stumps, on which the slave would frequently fall; then the master would drag him as long as he could himself hold out; then stop, and whip him up on his feet again—­then proceed as before.  This continued until he got out of my sight, which was about half a mile.  But what further cruelties this wretched man, (whose passion was so excited that he could scarcely utter a word when he took the slave into his own power,) inflicted upon his poor victim, the day of judgment will unfold.

“I have seen slaves severely whipped on plantations, but this is an every day occurrence, and comes under the head of general treatment.

“I have known the case of a husband compelled to whip his wife.  This I did not witness, though not two rods from the cabin at the time.

“I will now mention the case of cruelty before referred to.  In 1820 or 21, while the public works were going forward on Dauphin Island, Mobile Bay, a contractor, engaged on the works, beat one of his slaves so severely that the poor creature had no longer power to writhe under his suffering:  he then took out his knife, and began to cut his flesh in strips, from his hips down.  At this moment, the gentleman referred to, who was also a contractor, shocked at such inhumanity, stepped forward, between the wretch and his victim, and exclaimed, ’If you touch that slave again you do it at the peril of your life.’  The slaveholder raved at him for interfering between him and his slave; but he was obliged to drop his victim, fearing the arm of my friend—­whose stature and physical powers were extraordinary.”

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM MRS. MARY COWLES, a member of the Presbyterian church at Geneva, Ashtabula county, Ohio, dated 12th, mo. 18th, 1838.  Mrs. Cowles is a daughter of Mr. James Colwell of Brook county, Virginia, near West Liberty.