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 PURCHASING THE LIBERTY 
 
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 SLAVE FOPULATION. 
 
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 NEW YORK : 
 
 Published by G. A^Nbumahk, 
 
 99 Nassau St. 
 
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 lY the laws of Rome it was decreed in reference to 
 -their Slaves, that "partus sequitur ventrem," or that ihe 
 child should be free, if the mother were free ; and the same law 
 has generally prevailed, wherever Slavery has existed. Although 
 such fact is very generally known, yet an extraordinary conse- 
 quence, which naturally flows from it, where emancipation is 
 ■contemplated by purchase, seems to have escaped attention ; that 
 to emancipate eventually a slave population, it is not necessary 
 to emancipate a single male nor any of the females, excepting 
 such as are or may become prolific, and that by the emancipation 
 of these alone the whole population, both male and female, be- 
 comes free in the next generation. 
 
 To elucidate this proposition and thence draw a few abstract 
 conclusions, is the author's principal object ; and whoever in this 
 discovers nothing, either new or important, may throw aside this 
 work, as he would hiss a play condemned by the prologue. 
 
 The abolition of southern slavery can only be patriotically pro- 
 posed or peaceably expected, by paying the slave owner the fuU 
 value of his property; and hence one object of these strictures 
 is to prove, that there are two ways of abolishing slavery, by fair 
 purchase — by the one of which a complete abolition takes place 
 immediately, but at a maximum expense ; while by the other a 
 complete abolition takes place remotely, but at a minimum ex- 
 pense. 
 
The plan of purchasing the liberty of a slave population, in the 
 first way, viz : by purchasing the liberty of both males and fe- 
 males, has lately been adopted by a great nation ; but the pur- 
 chase was a forced and unfair one, though at an enormous expense 
 of twenty millions sterling; while, had much less money been 
 judiciously expended and the second means selected, with a 
 proper knowledge of the principles, which support ii, an equal 
 result would have fol'.ovved, but in a way, that none could have 
 charged injustice, and as the same plan of purchasing the liberty 
 of the slave may be presented hereafter to Congret^s or be dis- 
 cussed by individual states, the principles on which that plan 
 is founded, are submitted to the analysis of public criticism. 
 
 In order to elucidate our proposition, we would in the first 
 place stale, that such is the economy of nature, that there is 
 an extraordinary difference between the two sexes in regard 
 to the collective influence of each on population. Pharaoh dis- 
 played ignorance as well as ferocity, when, dreading the too 
 great increase of the Israelites, he ordered the Hebrew mid- 
 wives to slay the male infants of their nation. Had he on the 
 contrary yearly sold to neighboring princes a few tiiousands of 
 the Israelitish maidens, he would soon have rid himself of his 
 fears, filled his exchequer, populated foreign countries and saved 
 much of his character with posterity. 
 
 No country was ever more than temporally depopulated by 
 the mere loss of male subjects. Bonaparte led to the wars and 
 to death millions of France's bravest sons, yet a few years saw 
 France as populous as ever. To heal sucii wounds of war, the 
 splendid '^Hospices pour les femmes grosses,^^ as also those „des 
 enfans trouves'* were the more liberally encouraged, and con- 
 trivances invented, that vice might not be discouraged by the 
 fear of detection. The apparent tendency of these provisions 
 being: 
 
 "To blur the grace and blush of modesty, 
 
 Take off the rose 
 From the fair forehead of an innocent love 
 And set a blister there I 
 
But liad the armies of the republic and empire been com- 
 posed of young- women, and had they as bravely fought and 
 died, then alas ! for " La Grande Nation ! " she would liave ex- 
 isted but in song. 
 
 Indeed, who does not admire that providential arrangement, 
 which lets off a woman's ire with a scratch of her adversary's 
 face ] Had heaven made women sanguinary, their wars would 
 have depopulated the world. 
 
 As an illustration on this same subject, more strange than ne- 
 cessary, we may observe, that Mr. Dieffenbach, professor of the 
 University of Berlin, a gentleman, whose talents have elevated 
 him to the highest standing among his countrymen, has in the 
 ^^JMedizinischen Annalen von Kasper,'' asserted a fact, which is 
 extensively believed by Germans, that the levity and vivacity, 
 which distinguished Frenchmen before the Revolution, have given 
 place to singular exhibitions of German profundity and phlegm, 
 throughout France, and that this phenomenon is attributable to 
 the long occupation of the French territory by northern hordes, 
 when war had thinned the due proportion of males. History 
 also establishes, that the depopulating wars of martial Sparta 
 frequently rendered necessary the passage of laws so degrading 
 to the character of their females, as to make them the sport 
 of Attic wit. 
 
 Wars, Colonisation and Emigration have seldom interfered per- 
 ceptibly with the population of the parent country, because those, 
 who die or leave their homes, are usually warlike or adventur- 
 ous young men, whose loss becomes supplied by an augmentat- 
 ion of the list of illegitimates ; a consequence, which reason 
 would suggest as necessary, even did experience fail to prove 
 it true, when the due proportion of males and females is thus 
 disturbed. 
 
 Aware of the extraordinary difference between the two sexes 
 in the above particulars, it has been asserted, that the Chinese 
 have adopted the following highly illustrative method of. check*! 
 
ing population in their large cities. They forbid the poorer 
 classes from rearing more tlian one female child to each family 
 and enact, that, excepting it, the rest should be dispatched at 
 birth, while each family may rear any number of male children. 
 Sterility seems to curse prominent instances of female abandon- 
 ment ; but in those countries, where polygamy prevails, a dif- 
 ferent result is plainly observable, as applicable to male inconti- 
 nency. 
 
 Before proceeding further on this subject, the author would beg 
 leave to observe, that he would be most unpleasantly misunder- 
 stood, if supposed to infer, that such strictures as the above ap- 
 ply to all classes and all communities however refined their mor- 
 als or education. The above results could never happen in a 
 highly moral community, where monogamy prevails. In such 
 a community the decrease of the males retards population from 
 the simple fact, that there are not husbands for all the maids ; 
 and the truth of this is said to be illustrated in many of our 
 eastern towns. But among the slaves of the South no such 
 state of morals exists, or can be expected. Were the greater 
 proportion of the males there suddenly destroyed or colonized, 
 yet population would not be retarded. 
 
 In this point of view, the removal or death of thousands of 
 male slaves produces no sensible influence on a slave population, 
 while not a single female slave dies prematurely without, as a 
 general fact, diminishing the mass of slavery by the loss of 
 her own and her issues' issue in multiplying accummulation 
 throughout all subsequent time ; or at least to that probably yet 
 remote time, when by the too great accumulation of slaves their 
 value shall become depreciated and their infant children (useless 
 for immediate labor) shall be regarded as a burthen, and when 
 the same misery, which everywhere sweeps off the progeny of 
 the poor and thus, as asserted by Malthus, prevents population 
 from increasing beyond the means of subsistence, shall an est the 
 present enormous rate of increase; and when on the too rapidly 
 increasing ofl^spring of our bondsmen, as on that of tlie Israe- 
 
lites, sentence of death may attach at birth by the revived law 
 of horrid necessity. 
 
 In order further to exemplify the wonderful effect, which may 
 be produced on population by one female, the following extract 
 from a southern paper is submitted. 
 
 „Died in August 1835, Mrs. , widow 
 
 of the late , aged 97 years. Early in the year 1759 
 
 at the age of 20, Mrs. , whose maiden name was , 
 
 was married to Mr. , then of , with whom she liv- 
 ed seventy one years, in the exemplary and faithful exercise of 
 all the virtues of an amiable discreet and affectionate wife and 
 mother. The family of this lady has been remarkable for its 
 numbers and health. At the death of her husband in 1830, their 
 descendants were 271, of whom 251 were then living. At. the 
 time of her decease her descendants were 10 children (9 now 
 living ), 72 grand children, 245 great grand children, and 17 
 great great grand children, amounting in all to 344 descendants, 
 of whom 138 are the offspring of her two first born children, 
 who were born tivin sisters.^^ 
 
 Had it been the unfortunate lot of this lady to have been born 
 in slavery, then in h^r own life the same condition would have 
 been transmitted to 344 of her descendants ; but liad some kind 
 benefactor have early emancipated her, then would freedom in 
 the same period and without the additional advance of the smal- 
 lest sum have been extended to a similar number, — a number 
 which again might augment incalculably with the extension of 
 time — while this extraordinary difference of result is entirely in- 
 dependent of the fact of her husband being either a slave or 
 freeman ; and the above cited example is but one amongst the 
 many, which are daily occurring, and similar results indeed 
 would happen to many females, were their existences only as 
 prolonged. 
 
 Mr. Blackstone in his commentaries states, that "at the first view 
 it is astonishing to consider the number of lineal ancestors, which 
 
every man has within no very great number of degfrees, and 
 so many different bloods is a man said to contain in his veins, 
 as he has lineal ancestors. Of these he hath two in tlie first 
 ascending degree, his own parents; he hath four in the second, 
 the parents of his father and of his mother ; he hath eight in 
 the third, the parents of his two grandfathers and two grand- 
 mothers ; and by the same rule of progression, he hath one 
 hundred and twenty eight in the seventh ; a thousand and 
 twenty four in the tenth, and at the twentieth degree, or 
 the distance of twenty generations, every man hath about a 
 million of ancestors, as common arithmetic will demonstrate." 
 And Mr. Christian in a note to this passage states, that the 
 number of ancestors at forty degrees would be upwards of a 
 million of millions. 
 
 The numbers of descendants to each individual on a general 
 average are after a similar rate, excepting in this country, much 
 greater on account of the rapid increase of population, the whole 
 checked however by intermarriages ; but if we only frred fe- 
 male slaves, and as they and their female descendants could not in- 
 termarry, such remarkable geometrical progression would con- 
 stantly work these stupendous results unchecked by intermar- 
 riage^, excepting on the part of the males, and their influ- 
 ence throughout this treatise is considered as nothing. 
 
 In order to cause population to remain stationary from gen- 
 eration to generation, it is apparent that each female on a gen- 
 eral average must leave to succeed her at least two children, 
 and that, where a population doubles from generation to gene- 
 ration, this order of succession must be extended to four — two 
 to represent the past generation and the other two its doubling. 
 Tiien in the latter case the emancipation of one female slav^e, 
 in the next generation extends freedom to four descendants ; but 
 as the half of these (in the ordinary course of things, and as a 
 basis of calculation) would be males, these four in the next 
 generation again are represented by eight, and these afterwards 
 by sixteen, and these again by sixty four und, so on, 
 
1st 
 
 generation 
 
 , 1 
 
 female 
 
 
 
 males, 
 
 2d 
 
 '» 
 
 2 
 
 3» 
 
 2 
 
 55 
 
 3d 
 
 j» 
 
 4 
 
 •) 
 
 4 
 
 55 
 
 4tli 
 
 5' 
 
 8 
 
 55 
 
 8 
 
 5> 
 
 5tli 
 
 55 
 
 16 
 
 55 
 
 16 
 
 55 
 
 6th 
 
 ;5 
 
 32 
 
 55 
 
 32 
 
 55 
 
 7th 
 
 55 
 
 64 
 
 „ 
 
 64 
 
 51 
 
 8th 
 
 55 
 
 128 
 
 J5 
 
 128 
 
 55 
 
 9th 
 
 55 
 
 2-36 
 
 55 
 
 256 
 
 55 
 
 lOtli 
 
 55 
 
 512 
 
 55 
 
 513 
 
 55 
 
 But the numbers which would actually lead the existence ot 
 freemen as time coursed along, would be as follows : 
 
 Total 1 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 32 
 
 64 
 
 5, 128 
 
 „ 256 
 
 „ 512 
 
 „ 1024 
 
 Total 2045 
 
 Making- a total throughout ten generations of two thousand 
 and forty five human beings, leading the lives of freemen from 
 the original emancipation of one female, whereas, had that 
 emancipation been of a male, its whole effect might have been 
 obliterated the next generation by his intermarriage with a 
 female slave and as much slavery engendered, as otherwise 
 freedom. But did he on the contrary marry a free woman, the 
 consequent results would have grown out of her freedom, and 
 not his emancipation ; the slave law being ''partus scquitur ven- 
 trem.'' 
 
 It is evident however, that population could never increase 
 long at the above rate. The world at length could not com- 
 fortably contain its inhabitants, even did they live in layers above 
 each other, as in Egyptian Gardens, to the moon. Yet the pro- 
 portion is true, and the principles, on which it is founded, may 
 be applied ''mutatis mutandis" to any rate of increase or decrease. 
 
 The foregoing observations then lead to this conclusion, that 
 for the purpose of Uterine Emancipation, a slave population may 
 be considered as only composed of the females ; for example, if the 
 whole population be three millions, it may be computed at half 
 that number ; or which amounts to the same, each female may b^ 
 
10 
 
 2 
 
 considered as expressing 3,uuu,000th parts of the whole population, 
 and each male as expressing — 0. 
 
 And hence we may say in general terms, that the emancipation 
 of any number of females preserves emancipated throughout all 
 successive generations twice the proportion of each successive gen- 
 eration, that the original number emancipated bore to the first pop- 
 ulation ; for example, when we emancipate one half of the fema- 
 les of any given generation of slaves, we thereby emancipate but 
 one quarter of the race, but that quarter will give birth to twice 
 their number, or one half of the next generation, which half will 
 be free by birth and will in their turn give equal results, and so 
 on progressively from generation to generation.. 
 
 The foregoing observations probably sufficiently illustrate one of 
 the leading views connected with Uterine Emancipation, viz "That 
 to emancipate eventually a slave population, it is not necessary, to 
 purchase tiie freedom of a single male," and in this view alone. 
 the consequent economy in funds might in some States, where the 
 slave population is not too large to cope with, render a desired 
 emancipation easy, which otherwise would not have been deemed 
 possible. 
 
 But the exclusion of the males of a present race of slaves from 
 the benefit of this species of emancipation as a waste of funds, by 
 no means exhausts the subject, and the attention of the leader i"?. 
 further solicited. 
 
 To emancipate a slave population eventually, it is not necessary 
 to emancjpate all the females, because all fenwles, who have past, 
 the age of parturition, may also be excluded as a waste of their 
 value in funds, which when limited, can only be expended with, 
 fruitful results on the prolific ; and where fiinds are thus limited^ 
 it is not prudent to expend them in the purchase of the freedom 
 of very young females, as there is always a chance of death before 
 puberty. 
 
 Between birth and the full developcment of puberty, the human 
 coiistitu.tion passes through two climacterics frauglit with fatal per-. 
 
n 
 
 il&, the change from infancy to adolescence, and from- adolescence 
 to puberty. The diseases peculiar to these chan^^es combined with 
 the infinite variety of other diseases and accidents, vvjiich at all 
 times sweep off Inirnan existence during the tender period of non- 
 age, probably prevent at the lowest calculation two thirds of all, 
 who are born from passing the latter period, so that of the female 
 slaves, now in existence and under the age of puberty, perhaps 
 not more than one half would ever arrive at sufficient years to 
 render their emancipation necessary. 
 
 The new statement of our proposition is then : That, to eman- 
 cipate eventually a slave population, it is not necessary to eman- 
 cipate a single male, nor any female, who has past the period of 
 parturition, nor more than one half of those females, who have not 
 arrived at that age, leaving a balance to be emancipated in order 
 to produce the above result, of probably about one fourth of the 
 whole population.. 
 
 If the above views be correct, then the slave owner, who mov-- 
 od by a spirit of philanthropy emancipates his slaves by his will = 
 in the usual mode, throws, away the chief riches of his bequest 
 W'ithout eventual good in this view of Emancipation. To render 
 such bequest indeed of full value to the cause of eventual freedom, 
 it should be worded somewhat after this form : "I do hereby give- 
 and devise their freedom to all my female slaves, who are aged 
 between the years of fifteen and twenty five, and I do h^eby di. 
 rect that all my other slaves be sold for the highest price, that^ 
 can be obtained for the same, and that the proceeds, resulting 
 from their sale, be appropriated to the purchase of the freedom of 
 other female slaves, aged between the same years." 
 
 And this formula might also be exceedingly improved, as will- 
 appear from subsequent suggestions. 
 
 By. such a bequest a slave estate is converted into a trust fund 
 not only for the freedom and happiness of the present, but of fu- 
 ture generations and becomes a noble and effective offset against. 
 
the crime of the first enslaver, who for lucre robbed his fel- 
 low mortal of his dearest attribute^ visiting him with a curse, 
 which dies not as the murderer's with its victim, but pollutes the 
 very fount of existence, and is transmitted down its stream with 
 horrors even more abiding than that of Him, who visits the iniqui- 
 ties of the ungodly oflly to the third and fouUh generation. 
 
 The disquisitions, hitlierio indulged in, have been of a very gen- 
 eral character and, if true, should find confirmation in the tables of 
 population, and, if it be possible to express exactly the smallest 
 portion of a present slave population, that should be freed to secure 
 freedom to all the subsequent born, such discovery can only be 
 satisfactorily made through the aid of such tables. That such dis- 
 covery might be made, so as satisfactorily to solve the problem as 
 above expressed, we fully believe; as also further, that we might 
 calculate almost with nwthematical certainty, what fewest in number 
 should be annually emancipated, in order to preserve a gross 
 amount of slavery the same, where the population increased after a 
 known rate, as also thousands of questions, as to the exact number 
 of years when slavery would end', accordingly as the number, so 
 annually emancipated, should be enlarged. 
 
 The certainty of these solutions grows out of the jealous exact- 
 ness, with which nature preserves entire the existence of a due 
 proportion of females, causing all the great perils by flood and fieM 
 to fall on the male race, whose loss is the more easily supplied; 
 and in corroboration of these views, the following extract from the 
 splendid work of Mr. Sadler on the law of population, may be ad- 
 vantageously cited : 
 
 "Now it has boon already shown in a proceeding part of this 
 work, that the state of marriage is amongst the adults of all civil- 
 ized comnumities almost universal, and nevertheless the increase 
 in none of them gives more than a very small aimnal accession ox 
 numbers. It follows therefore that, were any natural obstacle in- 
 terposed against the almost universal prevalence of marriage, as 
 gp.w instituted, population must rapidly retrograde. Of all. such. 
 
19 
 
 obstacles an inequality in the numbers of the sexes would be the 
 most insurmountable ; would introduce inconceivable confusion and 
 distress, and uproot the whole social system. Against so fatal a 
 catastrophe nature has protected mankind by one of the most cer- 
 tain, yet inscrutable of her laws, which in providing for the uni- 
 versality, appearently dictates the duty of the marriage union." 
 
 " In proving therefore, that the whole system of population is 
 under the unceasing direction of the deity, either through the op- 
 eration of those secondary causes, resulting from his eternal pre- 
 science, or from his perpetually superintending providence, it is 
 natural that this near equality in the numbers of the sexes at 
 birth should have the first consideration. The fact is undoubted ; 
 but when the elements forming the general result are consid- 
 ered, consisting as they do, of individual and unconnected 
 families, in which the sexes are presented in all the possible 
 disproportions, of which the numbers involved are susceptible, 
 and sometimes in differences, literally speaking infinite, that these 
 extreme contrarieties should at all times, and in every commun- 
 ity be so balanced as to form the computation now under no- 
 tice, is one of the most astoui&uing of those standing miracles* 
 of which constant experience could alone familiarize our minds 
 and gain our belief" 
 
 "The proportion in question has exercised the calculating powers 
 of some of the ablest mathematicians, from Dr. Arbuthnoi down to 
 La Place. It is no part of my object to show fronf them, what I con- 
 ceive few will dispute, that ii is absurd to attribute to the doctrine 
 of chances, as it is called, such a result.. I will therefj>re content 
 myself with merely giving to the reader a calculation of Professor 
 Sgravesande, as inserted by Dr. Nieuwentit, who, in observing upon 
 the prcportion of the sexes born in London only, and during a period 
 not exceeding eighty two years, says that, 'Mf we multiply a number 
 of a hundred thousand times a hundred thousand millions first with a 
 hundred thousand times a hundred millions, we must take ten mil- 
 lions of this prodigious number above seventy five thousand five hun^ 
 dred and eighty times^ before we can come at the number or odd% 
 
14 
 
 against one, that what happened in London in the aforesaid eighty 
 two years, would not have so happened, if the hirths of the males and 
 females were the result of chance only." It is true, that these pro- 
 .portions are expressed in language only, and are so immense, that it 
 is literally impossible, that the human mind by its utmost efforts can 
 have the least conception of them; it is equally though perhaps not 
 so obviously true of the entire subject before us. The principles of 
 reproduction from the first dawn of creation to the consummation of 
 all things are beyond the reach of the imaginations of human and 
 probably of all finite beings." 
 
 "This nearly equal divison of the sexes, we observe further, lias been 
 found to exist in all' communities, where the information necessary 
 to establish the fact has been obtained; the supposition of certain tra- 
 vellers to the contrary, founded doubtless upon the most uncertain 
 of all proofs, mere incidental and personal observation, is now known 
 to be incorrect. That a similar equality has also existed in all ages, 
 we cannot doubt. We have an incidental corroboration of this fact, 
 more curious indeed, than necessary to the argument, handed down 
 to us in a legend of early antiquity. It is said, that in a contest be- 
 tween the men and women at the naming of the city ot Athens* 
 whether it should be called after Neptune or Athena, the women 
 carried it but by a majority of one vote only." 
 
 "The importance of this regulation of nature will be at least as 
 apparent as its exactness, if we consider the eflect it has neces- 
 sarily to produce, which may be best understood, if we imagine 
 for a moment the ^consequence of its absence. The physical con- 
 stitution of human beings remaining the same as at present,, it. 
 must be evident, that such a change in the laws of nature, as. 
 would disturb this equality of numbers, would either on the one 
 hand produce that excess of males, which would inevitably in- 
 troduce promiscuous concubinage or polyandryism and thereby 
 not only destroy the moral feelings, but extinguish the existence 
 of the species, or on the other occasion a similar superproportion 
 of females, wliich would therefore sanction and dictate prolygamy 
 as a law of nature and necessity, the certain effect of which 
 (the fecundity of females remaining the same) would be inde- 
 pendently of its morjil consequences the muUiplication of man*. 
 
15 
 
 kind into unsustainable numbeirs. Even any sensible variation from 
 the regular proportion, in which the sexes are born, or uncer- 
 tainty in. panicuiar times and places in this respect, would threat- 
 en both tiiese evils alternately and introduce inexpressible con- 
 fusion into the community, of which such a state of things would 
 be the ultimate destruction. In every point of view therefore any 
 deviation from this fundamental law of nature would be fatal to 
 the species." 
 
 If any constant diminution in the due proportion of females 
 however slight would thus lead to the extlnf^uishment of the human 
 race, is it not apparent, that Uterine Emancipation, persoveringly 
 applied from year to year however sliohtry, wouM inoculate the 
 slave system witii a canker, which would eventirally terminate its 
 existence, while each year, and in exact- proportion to the admin- 
 istration of that poison would the death of tlie system and the resur- 
 rection of freedom be hurried? And it should further be borne in miml, 
 that the above remarks of Mr. Sadler refer to any sensible dimi- 
 nution of^fcmalcs at the time of birth, th-ough in the due course 
 of nature a large proportion of such females^ always die before 
 puberty; but how much more fatal would bean eqiml difninution- 
 of young grown up women or of virgins, who had just arrived 
 at the age of fruitfulness, for whom the rest of society had in 
 vain toiled, that they might continue the species afar from dan- 
 ger and unharmed of wars] Who, that has followed the virgin 
 to the tomb, but has felt, that besides the bereavement of friends 
 society has been disappointed in its hopes! The heart seems to, 
 hear her exclaim from her cold bier in tiie words of Antigone: 
 
 — "No nuptial song 
 Reserved for me, the wretched bride alone 
 
 Of Pluto now, and wedded to the tomb;. 
 Ne'er shall. I taste of Hymen's joys, or know 
 
 A mothers pleasure in her infant race; 
 But, friendless and forlorn, alive descend 
 
 Into the dreary mautions of the dead :" 
 
 Though the foregoing quotation from the work of Mr Sadler, 
 njust ha«ye convin(?,ed the reader, that the general principles, on» 
 
16 
 
 which we have based our system, are correct, yet the desire of 
 computing the practical power of those principles naturally leads 
 to the iiiiporttint inquiries, at what age our female slaves usual- 
 ly commence child bearing? at what age they usually cease? what 
 proportion the number of females between those ages bear to the 
 whole slave population? what the average number of children, 
 which each produces? and of these children how many of the fe- 
 males reach puberty and become themselves mothers? 
 
 All tiiese queitions are of the highest importance, in order to 
 determine with precision the proximate, intermediate or remote 
 results of Uterine Emancipation in the various degrees, of which 
 it is susceptible of being applied, rendernig the more or less re- 
 mote abolishment of a mass of slavery a matter of calculation sure 
 as the day of the death of the sentenced convict. 
 
 But the various statistics of population, to which the author 
 has had access, have failed at least in affording him clear data, 
 from which to calculate tables on these important questions, and 
 as he has not seen elsewhere the female exalted as the quasi 
 exclusive parent of generations, causing each mother to be regar- 
 ded as the Eve of unborn generations, (and who singularly was 
 so called fiom a Hebrew word, denoting the existence of all 
 through her, while Adam merely took his name from the red 
 clay, of whicli he was formed) lie presumes, that hitherto a 
 want of suspicion, of the importance of the investigation lias oc- 
 casioned a deficiency of statistics; and again, as the views developed 
 in this little work are the results of holiday thoughts, playing tru- 
 ant to professional cares, a want of leisure as well as inaptitude 
 may have obstructed research; but more than all this he would 
 urge a disinclination to calculate such tables, because (in addition 
 to the labour) if erroneously performed, (which on so abstruse a 
 subject might easily happen) the mere faults of the tables might 
 he considered as evidence of the falsity of the whole system. 
 
 Believing however, that the general principles of that system 
 will bear investii^^ation, when applied to the intist liberal conjec- 
 ture9» which great authorities on the subject of population have ad 
 
vanced as to the proportion, which tlie effete population of a 
 community bears to the actually or possibly productive, the author 
 has preferred to adhere to the mere examination of tliose princi- 
 ples and their application to such conjectures; assured tliat, if 
 ihe public find those principles sound, and such application rea- 
 sonable and probable in its results, the comparatively mechanical 
 part or calculation of tables will be speedily furnished from other 
 and surer sources. 
 
 In proportion to the longevity of our race the human mother 
 is of all animals the least productive, and each is supposed on 
 an average to g-ive birt!i to about four offspring, il is farther 
 asserted in the work of Mr, Sadler, that "It is evident, that only 
 a certain proportion of every general community is actually or 
 even possibly prolific, and that such proportion Major Graunt, 
 one of the earliest writers on the subject of population, fixed 
 at one eighth part of the whole for the metropolis of England, 
 and Dr. Price generally at one fourth," from which estimates 
 Mr. Sadler does not appear to dissent. 
 
 But the "actually and possibly prolific" in the above supposi- 
 tion are compo?;ed of both males and females, whereas Uterine 
 Emancipation, by abstracting from that fourth at least one half 
 for the males, (who compose the greater proportion of the ac- 
 tually and possibly piolific of all communities) gives one eighth 
 of a slave community as the proportion to be emancipated, to 
 ensure freedom to all unborn generations. 
 
 If this momentous conclusion be but true, then may the phil- 
 anthropist rejoice, that his means of usefulness are enlarged 
 twice four fold, while the reflection, that a slave population is 
 always but a fraction of the aggregate woalth of the community, 
 in which it is situated, and that to emancipate such a popula- 
 tion in the next generation, requires but the emancipation of 
 one eighth of that population and that eighth composed exclusive- 
 ly of females, (among the least valuable of similar fractions, in the 
 slave market) compels us with shame to publish, that it is not from 
 
18 
 
 want of gold in our coffers, but of humanity in our hearts, if sla- 
 very long continue a stain on our escutcheon. 
 
 We must however bear in mind, that, although Dr. Price and 
 Major Graunt in estimating the proportion, which the effete por- 
 tion of a community bears "^to the actually and possibly prolific, 
 so state as above their conclusion, yet they may not mean, (al- 
 though their language seems so to imply) to include any value on 
 account of those, who have not reached years of puberty; and 
 not being able to refer to the work of Mr. Price, the ambigui- 
 ty is here left undecided ; but if we assume that they do not, 
 yet as probably at least one half of the female race are usual- 
 ly aged under the average age of that period of female existence, 
 when they become prolific, and as probably one half of those aged 
 under such average age never become mothers from death and 
 other causes, we find, that Uterine Emancipation still offers a sa- 
 ving of three fourths. 
 
 The foregoing remarks give probably a full index of all the 
 economy, of which our system is susceptible in reference to one 
 of its main though not most important branches, viz. the en>an- 
 cipation of a slave population in the first succeeding generation. 
 Let us now contemplate that system, as applicable to a remote 
 emancipation — and for such purpose let us suppose, that a com- 
 munity anxious to rid itself of a slave population by the honora- 
 ble means of a fair purchase, and further anxious to avoid the 
 dangerous chances of sudden change, selects the term of one hun- 
 dred years as the period, when the emancipation is to be com- 
 pleted not fully, but in such a manner, that after the lapse of 
 a century there shall not exist one slave motiier to engender 
 slavery on her posterity ; and for greater simplicity in the first in- 
 stance let us further suppose, that the deaths and births being 
 yearly equal, such slave population continues the same in aggre- 
 gate number from year to year; let us also further suppose the 
 whole number of slaves to be six thousand one hundred and 
 nineteen, being the number of slaves in the District of Colum^ 
 bia by the census of 1930. 
 
19 
 
 Then, on the principles of the first signification of the forego- 
 ing estimate as to the proportion of the effete populatfon of each 
 community to the actually or possibly prolific, the emancipation 
 yearly for one hundred years of the one eigbtli of the one hun- 
 dreth part of the whole population in young marriageable girls, 
 or eight marriageable girls yearly for one hundred years would 
 emancipate the whole population as above; on the principles of 
 the second signification the yearly number to be emancipated 
 might have to be extended to sixteen. 
 
 Against this conclusion however in the latter of the supposed 
 meanings of Dr. Price and Major Graimt it might be urged, that 
 there would still remain a fraciion of the females unfreed among 
 those aged under the years of puberty. — But if we reflect, that, 
 in estimating the amount of the "actually or possibly prolific" of 
 a community, the above authorities must have included value in 
 their statement on account of those, as to whose prolificness there 
 existed doubt, as well as on account of those, who, having already 
 borne many children, would not probably bear marty more — 
 And if we further consider, that under our system as above stated 
 only the most favorable subjects would be selected, the supposed 
 defalcation would probably be more than compensated by the in- 
 fluence of such additional and overbalancing ingredient. 
 
 But unfortunately, our slave population does not remain the 
 same from year to year, but increases with a melancholy rap- 
 idity, and such increase would have to be provided against by 
 intermediately emancipating one eighth of the rate of increase 
 on similar principles. 
 
 The system of Uterine Emaneipation, where a remote eman- 
 cipation is contemplated, has also suggested another remarkable 
 economy in the employment of those funds, by which the eman- 
 cipation is to be eflected. Such female slaves as by reason of 
 physical or intellectual defects are of the least value in the 
 slave market, provided only their procreative power be unimpair- 
 ed, are the most valuable under our system, which contemplates 
 ttumber and not quality ; she, that is deaf or blind or irabe* 
 
2& 
 
 cile, whose existence is almost a burthen to her owner, and who 
 would almost be parted with as a gift, is to the Uterine Emancipa- 
 tionist infinitely more valuable than the stoutest male, and equally 
 precious as the female, whose surpassing qualities of body and 
 of mind curse her with a value, that bankrupts charity. 
 
 With but few observations the author must now conclude this 
 little work, which he hopes may have proved as entertaining 
 to Ills reader, as he prays, it may prove beneficial to his species. 
 
 Among the various and serious evils of slavery one stands 
 sadly preeminent, that however humanity may favor emancipation, 
 yet policy dreads the sudden irruption into society of masses of 
 ancient bondsmen, whom years of servitude have unfitted to ex- 
 ercise the rights of freedom, and a due sympathy with our 
 fellow citizens of the South should induce us to shield rather 
 than expose them to such a calamity. 
 
 As a remedy against such an evil. Uterine Emancipation prof- 
 fers two advantages. Firstly, that its operation may be rend- 
 ered gradual and remote on principles already explained ; and 
 Secondly, that it may be made an adjunct to another and im- 
 portant system, viz. Uterine Colonization: — on the same prin- 
 ciples above detailed the colonization or exportation to the friend- 
 ly shores of some foreign power, which should consent to re- 
 ceive them, of similar proportions of females would in the next 
 generation or more remotely, as we might desire, cause the dis- 
 appearance of the Ethiopian race from our country ; and away in 
 the land of their forefathers, or elsevvhere afar from the unfriend- 
 ly clime, whose dark clouds now lower on their birth, their sable 
 generations might rejoice in their separate and free existence. 
 
 The most natural objection against the efiicacy of tlie operation 
 of the principles attempted to be illustrated in this wort is, 
 that the rapid rate of the increase of our slave population would 
 neutralize all intermediate attempts to reduce those principles to 
 effective exercise; but let it be remembered, that such rate of 
 increase can only be continued during the extraordinary wants 
 
21 
 
 of this yet infant country, and that in some of our old settle- 
 ments that rate has already greatly diminished, and must at 
 length in all; while humanity may render the operation of our 
 principles as eternal as their source, the human heart. Indeed 
 at the same moment, that these principles commence a practical 
 operation, shall the Car of the Hour be started which shall even- 
 tually usiier in Universal Freedom : although meanwhile 
 
 "We wait. 
 Enduring thus, the retributive hour. 
 Which, since we spake, is even nearer now." 
 
 To eternal sympathy, is dedicated this little work ; may its 
 principles unfetter but one chain and all, it seeks of triumph, 
 is achieved. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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