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• 1 2023-08-01T11:12:15+00:00 Sale of a South-African Slave, from Anon. to Richard Miles 5 Extract of a letter written by the Rev. Richard Miles plain 2024-09-14T12:03:54+00:00
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  My Dear Sir,

  Your desire to be made acquainted with the particulars of an affair relative to the sale of a female Slave, and her subsequent manumission, carries with it the force of a command, and I hasten therefore to record a few of its details.

  At no very distant period of time from the present, I was glad to retire from the bustle of town life, and breathe for awhile the fresh air of the country. Whilst travelling towards the place of my summer destination, I was induced to spend a few days at the location of a respectable farmer. Agreeably to the first night's arrangement, we arose by times on the following morning, for we had a journey of some extent to perform. A public vendue (or auction) was to take place at a distance of about forty miles, and my host and his family, including myself, were to be present. We entered our travelling waggon, drawn by eight beautiful horses, just as the glories of an African sun were bursting upon our world. For many miles we travelled over those pleasant natural roads which are so peculiar to many sections of this wonderful country. But things varied as we reached our first uitspan (or resting-place). After enjoying a hearty meal in a solitary glen, and by the side of a quiet water, our journey was renewed; but we had many a height to climb and many a fearful descent to undertake. The whole country was untenanted, and the still­ness of the air was unbroken by the note of a bird, or by any sounds of rural nature. Yet, for all this, there appeared in various directions evident exhibitions of natural fitness for human population. But this is no discovery. You are better acquainted with the country than I am.

  On our arrival at the place of sale, we found a large concourse of people assembled, with bargain-hunting countenances of varied hues. Around the house furniture of every description was arranged. Very near a lot of ploughs, harrows, and a desultory mass of invalided utensils, stood a group of human beings, awaiting their destiny. Sorrow was depicted in each countenance: all was dumb silence. One interesting creature stood apart from her fellow-sufferers, and was sharing the more visible grief of a well-dressed young woman with an infant child in her arms. Anxious to know more of the particulars of sale, I was informed that the farmer had been ruined by becoming security for an unworthy neighbour,--that his property had been taken in execution,--that the young white woman was the married daughter of the farmer, and had travelled from the district of Graaf-Reinet, to be present at the melancholy breaking-up of her father's house;--and that the slave, who was her partner in grief, had been her companion from childhood, and between them there had always existed much mutual affection. To purchase her favourite girl she was unable; her means were slender;--besides there was a determination on the part of a dealer from S---- to purchase the maid at a very high price;--her merits were known,--and he could procure ten per cent. for his money by letting out the purchase to the lady of the ---- of S----. A knowledge of these circumstances added greatly to the affliction of the poor slave.

  About the middle of the day the sale of the slaves commenced. The first was a youth of twenty. His cries were piercing. Amidst the vulgar jokes and brutal sayings of the multitude, he was knocked down to a boor, who immediately carried off his bargain. The next was the female in question. There was an intense anxiety mani­fested as she was led to be exhibited on the table. She sobbed aloud, as did her young mistress in the back-ground. The bidding commenced at twelve hundred rix-dollars, (90l.) and at every succeeding advance her moans were most piteous. When the price advanced to eighteen hundred rix-dollars, she became almost frantic, especially as there was a pause, and the auctioneer uplifted his hammer. The biddings however re-com­menced with renewed vigour. The slave-dealer from S---- was the highest bidder, when the poor girl, Maria, cried out,-- "Jesus, save me! Lord, help me!"

  Just at this moment the dogs of the farm set up a loud barking, which arrested general attention. From the mountain's side, at the foot of which stands the farm-house, three horse­men were seen winding their way down its pathless declivity. This unusual route, and the fearfulness of the descent, attracted the curiosity of the crowd below, and suspended the business of the day. The appearance too of one of the party was an object of some novelty. The stranger who was approaching, attended by two Hottentots, was muffled up in a roquelaure of Scottish tartan. The other parts of his dress discovered a similar disregard to the intensity of the summer's heat. When the stranger had reached the dwelling-house, he dismounted, and examined various lots of goods. The Hottentots were questioned as to their master, but could afford no information. The slave business was once more in action, and poor Maria racked with agony. The stranger directed his attention to her situation; he looked around for information; I caught his eye, and we recognized each other. I described to him, in a few words, the particulars of the case; and as the sound of--"Two thousand rix-dollars; once -- twice -- third and last time," proceeded from the mouth of the salesman, the stranger cried out -- "Two thousand one hundred rix-dollars." -- "Another hundred," said the slave-dealer; and "Fifty more," cried an elderly-looking man, with much excited feeling. "I'll give one hundred more," said the stranger, with great coolness. A pause ensued: you might have heard a pin drop. Murmurs now burst forth at the expense of the stranger. He was unmoved; his countenance being marked with a fixed determination. The slave-dealer, unwilling to give up the contest, offered another hundred rix-dollars. The stranger doubled it and said,--"She's mine at any price." The slave was knocked down to the stranger, and the auctioneer demanded cash.

  The stranger proposed a draft on his agent in Cape Town. This was refused. He looked somewhat perplexed. In my pocket was a packet containing two thousand rix-dollars, (150l.) being a sum of money I was to deliver to a country clergyman. I tendered the money to the stranger, who from his purse added three hundred more. Still we were deficient, and the auctioneer was induced by many around him to shew no favour. Another hundred in silver was produced by myself; still the purchase was not completed. The stranger threw down his gold watch and seals, and the bargain was effected. The poor girl, still concerned for her fate, and knowing nothing of her new master, fell at his feet. He raised her up, and taking her by the hand, he kissed it, and led her to her young mistress. "There," said he, presenting the poor trembling woman to her young mistress, "take her as your free servant, no longer a slave; take her as your friend and faithful companion; live in peace and happi­ness together. God bless you both; and when you supplicate on high, ask Heaven's mercy for W---- the Indian." [Author's Note: The gentlemen from India, who visit the Cape, are generally called "Indians."] Without awaiting the thanks of the wonder-stricken group, the stranger mounted his horse and was soon out of sight.

  Thus, Reverend Sir, you have a faint outline of those particulars of which I happened to be a spectator. I often review them with feelings of intense emotion, while I contemplate with ad­miration the benevolence of the Indian visitor, Major W----. In the future scenes of your life, which God grant may be, for your own comfort, in happy old England, I hope you will continue to be useful to poor Africa. You will do more than think over the wicked nature of slavery in this British colony. You will never forget that British-born subjects are identified as goods and chattels, and are mixed up, in all public advertisements for sales, with "household furniture, waggons, carts, horses, mules, sheep, oxen, and pigs." You have heard much of the comparative mildness of slavery at the Cape of Good Hope; but you have seen, as no unmoved spectator, that to him who is the author of it, and him who is the victim of it, it is alike an evil and a curse. You have seen how completely it has vitiated the very springs of moral and intellectual perception in this colony, and obliterated the sense of its own enormities. You have beheld all this; and I feel assured that you will not fail to give your zealous aid to promote its speedy and utter extinction.

  Cape Town,
  Jan. 5, 1830.