Home again. 259 March 20, '67, Wednesday. Sailed from America by the Cuba,' the same vessel we had come in. After all the expectation of a crush for the Paris Exhibition, we had but sixty-nine passengers on board. Trade has not been good lately, and the number of American visitors will not come up to the expectations of the Parisians. The equinoctial gales spared us, and the four newly-married couples on board were as happy as they could be under the circumstances; but, although we carried Sir E. Cunard himself, it was the twelfth day out from New York before we landed on the shore of Old England. THE NEGRO. At the time the war broke out, it is estimated that there were, roughly speaking, 4,000,000 slaves in the Southern States. Their former masters state, and I believe with truth, that the slaves as a rule were neither over-worked nor treated with cruelty. It is absurd to suppose the contrary. That which is valuable and cannot be easily replaced is always taken care of. It is where there are no restrictions upon the importation, and the supply is abundant, as in the Chinese coolie trade, that you find the temptation to cruelty not over-ridden by self-interest. It is difficult also, I believe, to gainsay the position, that nowhere where the negro is left to himself in Africa has he reached any higher stage of civilization than he possessed as a Southern slave. His hours of labour were shorter and his diet more plentiful, than those of the English agricultural labourer. He had such clothing and shelter as the climate required. The slaves of the planter were in the same position as the cattle of the English farmer; and the interest |