At the Ridge estate we met Mr. Clarke, manager at Staple Grove estate, Mr. Applewhitte of Carton, and a brother of Mr. C. The manager, Mr. Cecil, received us with the customary cordiality.

Mr. Clarke is the manager of an estate on which there are two hundred apprentices.  His testimony was, that the estate was better cultivated since abolition than before, and that it is far easier to control the laborers, and secure uniformity of labor under the present system.  He qualified this remark, by saying, that if harsh or violent measures were used, there would be more difficulty now than during slavery; but kind treatment and a conciliatory spirit never failed to secure peace and industry.  At the time of abolition, Mr. C. owned ten slaves, whom he entirely emancipated.  Some of these still remain with him as domestics; others are hired on an adjoining estate.  One of those who left him to work on another estate, said to him, “Massa, whenever you want anybody to help you, send to me, and I’ll come.  It makes no odds when it is—­I’ll be ready at any time—­day or night.”  Mr. C. declared himself thoroughly convinced of the propriety of immediate emancipation; though he was once a violent opposer of abolition.  He said, that if he had the power, be would emancipate every apprentice on his estate to-morrow.  As we were in the sugar-house examining the quality of the sugar, Mr. C. turned to one of us, and putting his hand on a hogshead, said, “You do not raise this article in your state, (Kentucky,) I believe.”  On being answered in the negative, he continued, “Well, we will excuse you, then, somewhat in your state—­you can’t treat your slaves so cruelly there. This, this is the dreadful thing!  Wherever sugar is cultivated by slaves, there is extreme suffering.”

Mr. Applewhitte said emphatically, that there was no danger in entire emancipation.  He was the proprietor of more than a hundred apprentices and he would like to see them all free at once.

During a long sitting at the dinner table, emancipation was the topic, and we were gratified with the perfect unanimity of sentiment among these planters.  After the cloth was removed, and we were about leaving the table, Mr. Clarke begged leave to propose a toast.  Accordingly, the glasses of the planters were once more filled, and Mr. C., bowing to us, gave our health, and “success to our laudable undertaking,”—­“most laudable undertaking,” added Mr. Applewhitte, and the glasses were emptied.  Had the glasses contained water instead of wine, our gratification would have been complete.  It was a thing altogether beyond our most sanguine expectations, that a company of planters, all of whom were but three years previous the actual oppressors of the slave, should be found wishing success to the cause of emancipation.