University of Virginia Library

TO ROBERT WALSH.

Dr. Sir I recd. some days ago your letter of
Feby 15, in which you intimate your intention to
vindicate our Country against misrepresentations
propagated abroad, and your desire of information
on the subject of Negro slavery, of moral character,
of religion, and of education in Virginia, as affected
by the Revolution, and our public Institutions.

The general condition of slaves must be influenced
by various causes. Among these are I. the ordinary
price of food, on which the quality and
quantity allowed them will more or less depend.
This cause has operated much more unfavorably
against them in some quarters than in Virga. 2.
the kinds of labour to be performed, of wch the
Sugar & Rice plantations afford elsewhere & not
here unfavorable examples. 3. the national spirit
of their Masters, which has been graduated by
Philosophical writers among the slaveholding Colonies
of Europe. 4. the circumstance of conformity
or difference in the physical characters of
the two classes; such a difference cannot but have
a material influence, and is common to all the
slave-holding Countries within the American Hemisphere.
Even in those where there are other than
black slaves, as Indians & mixed breeds, there is a
difference of Colour not without its influence.
5. the proportion which the slaves bear to the
free part of the community, and especially the
greater or smaller numbers in which they belong
to individuals.

This last is, perhaps, the most powerful of all
the causes deteriorating the condition of the slave,
and furnishes the best scale for determining the
degree of its hardship.

In reference to the actual condition of slaves
in Virga. it may be confidently stated, as better
beyond comparison, than it was before the Revolution.
The improvement strikes every one who

witnessed their former condition, and attends to
their present. They are better fed, better clad,
better lodged, and better treated in every respect;
insomuch that what was formerly deemed a moderate
treatment, wd. now be a rigid one, and what
formerly a rigid one, would now be denounced by
the Public feeling. With respect to the great article
of food particularly it is a common remark among
those who have visited Europe, that it includes a
much greater proportion of the animal ingredient,
than is attainable by the free labourers even in that
quarter of the Globe. As the two great causes of the
general melioration in the lot of the slaves since
the establishment of our Independence, I should
set down 1. the sensibility to human rights, and
sympathy with human sufferings excited and cherished
by the discussions preceding, & the spirit of
the Institutions growing out of, that event. 2. the
decreasing proportion which the slaves bear to
the individual holders of them; a consequence of
the abolition of entails, & the rule of primogeniture,
and of the equalizing tendency of parental affection
unfettered from all prejudices, as well as from the
restrictions of law.

With respect to the moral features of Virga. it
may be observed, that pictures which have been
given of them are, to say the least, outrageous caricatures
even when taken from the state of Society
previous to the Revolution; and that so far as there
was any ground or colour for them, then, the same
cannot be found for them now.

Omitting more minute or less obvious causes
tainting the habits and manners of the people under
the Colonial Govt., the following offer themselves.
1. the negro slavery chargeable in so great a
degree on the very quarter which has furnished most
of the libellers. It is well known that during the
Colonial dependence of Virga. repeated attempts
were made to stop the importation of slaves each
of which attempts was successively defeated by the
foreign negative on the laws, and that one of the
first offsprings of independent & Republican legislation
was an Act of perpetual prohibition. 2. the
too unequal distribution of property favored by
laws derived from the British code, which generated
examples in the opulent class inauspicious to the
habits of the other classes. 3. the indolence of
most & the irregular lives of many of the established
Clergy, consisting, in a very large proportion, of
foreigners, and these in no inconsiderable proportion,
of men willing to leave their homes in the parent
Country where their demerit was an obstacle to a
provision for them, and whose degeneracy here
was promoted by their distance from the controuling
eyes of their kindred & friends, by the want of
Ecclesiastical superiors in the Colony, or efficient
ones in G. B. who might maintain a salutary discipline
among them, and finally by their independence
both of their congregations and of the Civil
authority for their stipends. 4. A source of contagious
dissipation might be traced in the British
Factors chiefly from Scotland, who carried on the

general trade external & internal of the Colony.
These being interdicted by their principals from
marrying in the Country, being little prone to apply
their leisure to intellectual pursuits, and living in
knots scattered in small towns or detached spots
affording few substitutes of social amusement easily
fell into irregularities of different sorts, and of
evil example. I ought not however to make this
remark, without adding not only that there were
exceptions to it, but that those to whom the remark
is applicable, often combined with those traits of
character others of a laudable & amiable kind.
Such of them as eventually married & settled in the
Country were in most cases remarked for being
good husbands, parents & masters, as well as good
neighbours as far as was consistent with habits of
intemperance, to which not a few became victims.
The weight of this mercantile class, in the community
may be inferred from the fact that they had their
periodical meetings at the seat of Govt. at which they
fixed the rate of foreign exchange, the advance on
their imported merchandise universally sold on
credit, and the price of Tobo. the great & indeed
the only staple commodity for exportation; regulations
affecting more deeply the interests of the
people at large, than the ordinary proceedings of
the Legislative Body. As a further mark of their
importance, their influence as creditors was felt
in elections of the popular branch of that Body.
It had the common name of the Ledger interest.
5. Without laying undue stress on it, I may refer
to the rule of septennial elections for the Legislature,
which led of course to the vitiating means to which
candidates are more tempted to resort by so durable,
than by a shorter, period of power.

With the exception of slavery these demoralizing
causes have ceased or are wearing out; and even
that as already noticed, has lost no small share of
its former character. On the whole the moral
aspect of the State may at present be fairly said
to bear no unfavorable comparison with the average
standard of the other States. It certainly gives the
lie to the foreign Calumniators whom you propose to
arraign.

That there has been an increase of religious instruction
since the revolution can admit of no
question. The English church was originally the
established religion; the character of the clergy that
above described. Of other sects there were but few
adherents, except the Presbyterians who predominated
on the W. side of the Blue Mountains. A
little time previous to the Revolutionary struggle
the Baptists sprang up, and made a very rapid
progress. Among the early acts of the Republican
Legislature, were those abolishing the Religious
establishment, and putting all Sects at full liberty
and on a perfect level. At present the population
is divided, with small exceptions, among the Protestant
Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists
& the Methodists. Of their comparative numbers
I can command no sources of information. I
conjecture the Presbyterians & Baptists to form

each abt. a third, & the two other sects together of
which the Methodists are much the smallest, to make
up the remaining third. The Old churches, built
under the establisht. at the public expence, have
in many instances gone to ruin, or are in a very
dilapidated state, owing chiefly to a transition desertion
of the flocks to other worships. A few new
ones have latterly been built particularly in the
towns. Among the other sects, Meeting Houses,
have multiplied & continue to multiply; tho' in
general they are of the plainest and cheapest sort.
But neither the number nor the style of the Religious
edifices is a true measure of the state of
religion. Religious instruction is now diffused
throughout the Community by preachers of every
sect with almost equal zeal, tho' with very unequal
acquirements; and at private houses & open stations
and occasionally in such as are appropriated to Civil
use, as well as buildings appropriated to that use.
The qualifications of the Preachers, too among the
new sects where there was the greatest deficiency,
are understood to be improving. On a general
comparison of the present & former times, the balance
is certainly & vastly on the side of the present,
as to the number of religious teachers the zeal which
actuates them, the purity of their lives, and the
attendance of the people on their instructions. It
was the Universal opinion of the Century preceding
the last, that Civil Govt. could not stand without
the prop of a Religious establishment, & that the
Xn. religion itself, would perish if not supported
by a legal provision for its Clergy. The experience
of Virginia conspicuously corroborates the disproof
of both opinions. The Civil Govt. tho' bereft of
everything like an associated hierarchy possesses
the requisite stability and performs its functions
with complete success; Whilst the number, the
industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, &
the devotion of the people have been manifestly
increased by the total separation of the Church
from the State.

On the subject of education I am not eno' informed
to give a view of its increase. The system
contemplated by the literary fund cannot yet be
taken into the estimate, farther than as it may be an
index of the progress of knowledge prerequisite to
its adoption. Those who are best able to compare
the present intelligence of the Mass of the people,
with that antecedent to the revolution, will all
agree I believe, in the great superiority of the
present.

I know not how far these notices may fall within
the precise scope of your meditated Exposition.
Should any of them do so, I communicate them with
pleasure; well assured that they will be in good hands
for a good purpose. The only restriction I wish
in the use of them is that my name may not be
referred to.

In compliance with your request I send a copy
of the observations addressed to the Agricult: Socy.
of Albemarle. I regret that they are not more
worthy of the place to which you destine them.

I am not unaware that some of the topics introduced
may be interesting ones; but they required a development
very different from that which I gave
them.

As you intend to notice the variance between my
statement and that of Mr. Hamilton relating to
certain nos. in the Federalist, I take the liberty of
remarking, that independent of any internal evidences
that may be discernible, the inaccuracy of
Mr. H's memory is illustrated by the circumstance,
that his memorandum ascribes, not only to Mr.
Jay, a paper No. 54, not written by him, but to
himself a paper No. 64 written by Mr. Jay. This
appears by the statement (presumed to be authentic)
in the life of Mr. Jay by Delaplaine. If I
have any interest in proving the fallibility of Mr.
H's memory, or the error of his statement however
occasioned, it is not that the authorship in question
is of itself a point deserving the solicitude of either
of the parties; but because I had, at the request of
a confidential friend or two, communicated a list
of the nos. in that publication with the names of
the writers annexed, at a time & under circumstances
depriving me of a plea for so great a mistake
in a slip of the memory or attention. Be pleased
to accept my esteem & friendly respects.