The Virginia Gazette

To
Mr. PURDIE,

SIR,

It is much to be lamented that no proper caution has been given to the negroes in this country not to be seduced from their duty to their masters, by the artifices of the treacherous and cruel tools of administration. If those poor fellows had been told, that the present dispute with the British ministry has no kind of relation to them; that the ministry are greater enemies to them than any of their masters are; that the Assembly has frequently endeavoured to put a stop to the importation of slaves, but that the king has been prevailed on, by the African company of merchants in England, to refuse his assent to such laws as had been passed here for that purpose: that they must be sensible the more slaves there are in this country the more tobacco, &c. would be made, which is what the merchants of England, and ministry, must wish for, since the tobacco trade carries an immense sum of money into their hands, and consequently they can never wish that the slaves should be set free: If they were told, that the ministry, so far from desiring to set them free, are endeavouring to enslave their masters : that if the ministry should get the better of us, our estates must be forfeited. and of consequence, that our negroes will be sold as part of our estates, probably in the West Indies, where their condition will be ten times worse than it is now; if they were told (which is a truth) that lord Dunmore has been heard to wish that he had an excuse for cutting them all off; that, till his scheme of calling on them for assistance, he was cruel to his own, and was frequently heard to wish that there was not one negro in the country; if they were told what a risk they run of being hanged if taken, and of having their wives and children cut off by our riflemen from the back country, who never wish to see a negro, and who will pour out their vengeance upon them whenever it is desired; and lastly, if they were reminded of their duty, as enjoined by the apostles, Servants, obey your masters, and were taught the necessity of the different orders of men in this world, they would be contented with their situation, and expect a better condition in the next world, and not run a risk of being unhappy here and miserable hereafter. I am certain, if they had been told these things, not one slave would have joined our enemies; and the unhappy wretches would not have been killed at Hampton, and the two now in jail might have been happy at home.