holding states, we free Britons have also our slave-holding colonies; and that in neither the one nor the other has one step yet been taken towards the emancipation, however remote, of the injured Africans! Do not think me insane enough to overlook the difficult part of this subject. I am insensible neither to the consideration due to those whose property is invested under legislative sanctions, nor to the cruelty of liberating slaves till they are prepared for freedom; but surely no men, much less a freeborn Briton or an American republican, can rest satisfied in the horrible conclusion that slavery is to be regarded in any region of the globe, as necessary, irremediable, hopeless, and perpetual. The time I hope is not far distant when a better order of things will prevail in this respect, even where the prospects are now the darkest; when this blot will be effaced for ever from the fair creation of that common parent who "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Every day are the horrors of slavery rendered more apparent by contrast with the free institutions which are rising on every side in its immediate vicinity, and by the brighter light which the diffusion of the Gospel is shedding over the globe. Every day does slavery become more abhorrent from the common feelings of Christian communities, and more inconsistent with the spirit of the times. Thus by the blessing of God on the benevolent attention which is now attracted towards this subject, which will give birth to suggestions, plans, and experiments in different quarters of the globe,

every thing is to be hoped. But I forget how long a letter I am sending you, and yet I cannot resist the temptation of copying for you the following interesting extract from Humboldt's tra

vels.

"We observed with a lively interest the great number of scattered houses in the valley inhabited by freedmen. In the Spanish colonies, the institutions and the manners are more favourable to the liberty of the Blacks than in the other European settlements. In all these excursions we were agreeably surprised, not only at the progress of agriculture, but the increase of a few laborious population accustomed to toil, and too poor to rely on the assistance of slaves. White and Black farmers had every where small separate establishments. Our host, whose father had a revenue of 40,000 piastres, possessing more lands than he could clear, he distributed them in the valley of Aragua among poor families who chose to apply themselves to the cultivation of cotton. He endea

voured to surround his ample plantations with freemen, who, working as they chose, either on their own land or in the neighbouring plantations, supplied him with day-labourers at the time of harvest. Nobly occupied on the means best adapted generally to extinguish the slavery of the Blacks in these colonies, Count Torur flattered himself with the double hope of rendering slaves less necessary to the landholders, and furnishing the freedmen with opportunities of becoming farmers. On departing for Europe he had parcelled out, and let a part of the lands of Cura. Four

years after, at his return to America, he found on this spot, finely cultivated in cotton, a little hamlet of thirty or forty houses, which is called Punta Zamuro, and which we afterwards visited with him. The inhabitants of this hamlet are nearly all Mulattoes, Zumboes, or free Blacks. This example of letting out land has been happily followed by other great proprietors. The rent is ten piastres for a vanega of ground, and is paid in money or in cotton. As the small farmers are often in want, they sell their cotton at a very moderate price. They sell it even before the harvest; and the advances thus made by rich neighbours, place the debtor in a state of dependence, which frequently obliges him to offer his services as a labourer. The price of labour is cheaper here than in France. A freeman working as a day-labourer (Peor) is paid in the valleys of Aragua and in the Llanos four or five piastres a month, not including food, which is very cheap on account of the abundance of meat and vegetables. I love to dwell on these details of colonial industry, because they prove to the inhabitants of Europe, what to the enlightened inhabitants of the colonies has long ceased to be doubtful, that the continent of Spanish America can produce sugar and indigo by free hands, and that the unhappy slaves are capable of becoming peasants, farmers, and landholders."

I am sure you will thank me for this extract.

LETTER XIII.

Mobile, on the Gulf of Mexico, 3d April, 1820.

Ir was with much regret that I left several kind and interesting friends whom I had met with at Charleston. Our last day there was Sunday; and the diminution of carriages at the church door evinced that the fashionable society was dispersing, and that many families had already retired to their plantations after the races. The places of worship appeared well filled; but many of the streets were noisy, and exhibited as little of a Sabbath scene as Hyde Park or Piccadilly. I was told also that gambling was going on to a great extent, in a detached building belonging to the hotel where I was staying; but as I have sometimes heard the same rumour when staying at the York House in Bath, or an hotel in the west of London, let us hope (if we can) that it was in both cases, a libellous report. I was pleased to see the slaves apparently enjoying themselves on this day in their best attire, and was astonished in observing the efforts they make to preserve as a body that self-respect which they know is not felt for them by their proprietors. They generally use Sir and Madam in addressing each other, make the most formal and particular inquiries after each other's families. They frequently adopt the names of the families in which they live. Thus, the principal male servant in Col. F.'s family, is Col. F.; the principal female servant, Mrs. F.; while half a dozen Miss F.'s will give their names to as many chamber

maids, if they have them. In the evening I visited the prison, as I have done in most towns where I had the opportunity; but the turnkey was intoxicated, and I could obtain little information as to the general plan of management. The prisoners, I understood from an assistant, have a liberal allowance of meat, bread, and broth daily; but no work, and no instruction except from occasional visits of the clergy, of whom the Black ministers are the most assiduous. I saw one earnestly engaged in prayer with the Black prisoners, one of whom was just committed for the murder of his master. The Black are separated from the White prisoners, the male from the female, the greater from the lesser criminals. I saw and conversed with the murderer of Dr. Ramsay, the historian. I was told that the crime occurred under the following circumstances. The man having shot a lawyer whom he had retained on some business, Dr. Ramsay had given evidence that he was insane; which the maniac learning, watched an opportunity, and shot him also. He has been confined in prison ever since, and is a pitiable object. If you are as well acquainted with the character of Mrs. Ramsay as, from its uncommon excellence, I hope you are, you will be interested by this allusion to her husband. If you have never met with her "Memoirs," let me entreat you to forego no longer the gratification and improvement you can hardly fail to derive from them. They exhibit a character which will not shrink from a comparison with that of the most eminent female Christians of any age or