After I had made the payment to her factor, I received a note from the lady in reference to the three bales above mentioned.  She said the cotton in question was entirely her property; but, in consideration of our careful attention to the matter, she would consent to our retaining half its value.  She admitted that she would have never thought to bring it to market; but since we had collected and baled it, she demanded it as her own.  I “respectfully declined” to comply with her request.  I believed the negroes had a claim to what was saved from the burning, and given to them by the Rebel authorities.  Mrs. B. was of the opinion that a slave could own nothing, and therefore insisted that the cotton belonged to herself.

Very soon after sending my reply, I was visited by the lady’s factor.  A warm, though courteous, discussion transpired.  The factor was a Secessionist, and a firm believer in the human and divine right of slavery.  He was a man of polished exterior, and was, doubtless, considered a specimen of the true Southern gentleman.  In our talk on the subject in dispute, I told him the Rebels had allowed the negroes to fill their beds with cotton, and it was this cotton we had purchased.

“The negroes had no right to sell it to you,” said the factor; “neither had you any right to purchase it.”

“If it was given to them,” I asked, “was it not theirs to sell?”

“Certainly not.  The negroes own nothing, and can own nothing.  Every thing they have, the clothes they wear and the dishes they use, belongs to their owners.  When we ‘give’ any thing to a negro, we merely allow it to remain in his custody, nothing more.”

“But in this case,” said I, “the gift was not made by the owner.  The cotton was to be destroyed by order of your Confederate Government.  That order took it from Mrs. B.’s possession.  When the officer came to burn the cotton, and gave a portion to the negroes to fill their beds, he made no gift to Mrs. B.”

“Certainly he did.  The cotton became hers, when it was given to her negroes.  If you give any thing to one of my negroes, that article becomes my property as much as if given to me.”

“But how is it when a negro, by working nights or Saturdays, manages to make something for himself?”

“That is just the same.  Whatever he makes in that way belongs to his master.  Out of policy we allow him to keep it, but we manage to have him expend it for his own good.  The negro is the property of his master, and can own nothing for himself.”

“But in this case,” I replied, “I have promised to pay the negroes for the cotton.  It would be unjust to them to fail to do so.”

“You must not pay them any thing for it.  Whatever you have promised makes no difference.  It is Mrs. B.’s property, not theirs.  If you pay them, you will violate all our customs, and establish a precedent very bad for us and for yourself.”