the 25th day of March to the 25th day of September," not "more than
fifteen hours in four-and-twenty;" and "from the 25th day of September
to the 25th day of March," not "more than fourteen hours in
four-and-twenty."

The history of the impost-tax on slaves imported into the Province of
South Carolina is the history of organized greed, ambition, and
extortion. Many were the gold sovereigns that were turned into the
official coffers at Charleston! With a magnificent harbor, and a
genial climate, no city in the South could rival it as a slave-market.
With an abundant supply from without, and a steady demand from within,
the officials at Charleston felt assured that high impost-duties could
not interfere with the slave-trade; while the city would be a great
gainer by the traffic, both mediately and immediately.

Sudden and destructive insurrections were the safety-valves to the
institution of slavery. A race long and cruelly enslaved may endure
the yoke patiently for a season: but like the sudden gathering of the
summer clouds, the pelting rain, the vivid, blinding lightning, the
deep, hoarse thundering, it will assert itself some day; and then it
is indeed a day of judgment to the task-masters! The Negroes in South
Carolina endured a most cruel treatment for a long time; and, when
"the day of their wrath" came, they scarcely knew it themselves, much
less the whites. Florida was in the possession of the Spaniards. Its
governor had sent out spies into Georgia and South Carolina, who held
out very flattering inducements to the Negroes to desert their masters
and go to Florida. Moreover, there was a Negro regiment in the Spanish
service, whose officers were from their own race. Many slaves had made
good their escape, and joined this regiment. It was allowed the same
uniform and pay as the Spanish soldiers had. The colony of South
Carolina was fearing an enemy from without, while behold their worst
enemy was at their doors! In 1740 some Negroes assembled themselves
together at a town called Stone, and made an attack upon two young
men, who were guarding a warehouse, and killed them. They seized the
arms and ammunition, effected an organization by electing one of their
number captain; and, with boisterous drums and flying banners, they
marched off "like a disciplined company." They entered the house of
one Mr. Godfrey, slew him, his wife, and child, and then fired his
dwelling. They next took up their march towards Jacksonburg