"Let any man of spirit and feeling for a moment cast his thoughts over this land of slavery--think of the nakedness of some, the hungry yearnings of others, the flowing tears and heaving sighs of parting relations, the wailings of _woe_, the bloody cut of the keen lash, and the _frightful scream_ that rends the very skies--and all this to gratify ambition, lust, pride, avarice, vanity, and other depraved feelings of the human heart. THE WORST IS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. Were all the miseries, the horrors of slavery, to burst at once into view, a peal of seven fold thunder could scarce strike greater alarm." Hear the venerable John Rankin, a native and long resident of Tennessee. (_See Elliot pp. 225._) "Many poor slaves are stripped naked, stretched and tied across barrels, or large bags, _and tortured with the lash during hours, and even whole days, till their flesh is mangled to the very bones_. Others are stripped and hung up by the arms, their feet are tied together, and the end of a heavy piece of timber is put between their legs in order to stretch their bodies, and so prepare them for the torturing lash--and in this situation they are often whipped till their bodies are covered _with blood and mangled flesh_--and, in order to add the greatest keenness to their sufferings, their wounds are washed with _liquid salt_! And some of the miserable creatures are permitted to hang in that position till they actually _expire_; some die under the lash, others linger about for a time, and at length die of their wounds, and many survive, and endure again similar torture. These bloody scenes are _constantly exhibiting in every slaveholding country--thousands of whips are every day stained in African blood_! Even the poor _females_ are not permitted to escape these shocking cruelties." And finally listen dispassionately to the _Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky_, composed of those whose interest it was to present slavery in as favorable a light as possible. (_See Elliot pp. 225._)