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on those acts of the colonial legislature which had for their sole object the extinction of the Slave Trade; and that Burke was but too well justified in stating in Parliament, that "the "refusal of America to deal any more in the "inhuman traffic of Negro slaves, was one of the causes of her quarrel with Great Britain!" Would that I could forget that, if America has still her slave-holding States, we, free Britons, have also our slave-holding Colonies; and that in neither the one nor the other have any efficient steps yet been taken towards the ultimate extinction of an evil which all parties must deplore. Do not think me insane enough to overlook the difficulties 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. While, on the one hand, I consider that full indemnity is due to the owners of slaves for any interference with their property, which may lead to its depreciation; on the other, I conceive, that nothing could be more fatal to the ultimate welfare of the slaves themselves than rash or precipitate measures for their emancipation. But surely no man, much less a free-born Briton, or an American republican, can rest satisfied in

sary,

the horrible conclusion that slavery is to be regarded in any region of the globe, as necesirremediable, hopeless, and perpetual. The time, I hope, will come, 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 all sides 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.

Letter V.

Charleston, 1st March, 1820.

This place is peculiarly interesting to me, as being the ordinary residence of my friend, Mr. L-, one of the Representatives of South Carolina, whose connections here, to whom he has kindly introduced me, comprise most of the distinguished families of the State. I have already adverted briefly to his kindness to me while at Washington, but I did not in my letter to give many particulars of my visit there. You, however, will be anxious to hear something of the public characters whom I had the opportunity of meeting; and I will, therefore, send you a few recollections of the metropolis, before they are effaced by the new impressions I expect shortly to receive among the Indians.

On the 7th, I delivered my letters of introduction to Mr. Horsey and Mr. Van Dyke, the Senators from Delaware, Mr. Dana, the Senator from Connecticut, and Mr. M'Lane, one of the Representatives of Delaware.-I then, agreeably to appointment, called on Mr. L, who took me to the Capitol. As the House was not formed, Mr. L. took me to the centre of the

room, to introduce me to Mr. Clay, the Speaker, (one of the Commissioners at Ghent,) but he had taken his seat before we reached the chair. I then went into the gallery; but nothing interesting coming forward, I set out to deliver my letters of introduction to the British Chargé d'Affaires, who was not at home. The following day, I was confined to the house by indisposition, which prevented me from accepting an invitation to dinner from Mr. D, and an offer from Mr. Antrobus, the British Chargé d'Affaires, to accompany him to the house of M. Hyde de Neuville, the French Minister, in the evening. The next day I passed quietly at home; and on the following, attended the Capitol again, but heard no interesting debates. The hours of Session are from about ten o'clock in the morning, to three in the afternoon. In the evening, I went to a large party at Mr. B's, who had been kind enough to call upon me with a note from Mrs. B. This gentleman and his lady I had previously met at Philadelphia, at the house of Mr. C- the President of the Bank of the United States. He is one of the Senators from Louisiana, and has a complete English establishment at a short distance from my inn. As New Orleans is so remote, and he has no family, he seldom visits it above once in two

years, but spends his winters in this city, and his summers in travelling in Europe, or in the northern parts of America. During the session of Congress, Mrs. B gives a party every Monday evening, and supports Mrs. Monroe in the drawing-rooms which she holds every alternate Wednesday. Among the company this evening were, the Vice-President of the United States, the French Minister and his suite, the Swedish Chargé d'Affaires, Commodore Decatur, Mr. Barbour the Governor of Virginia, several Ex-Governors of the different States, and many of the leading members of Congress. Every thing was extremely easy, with something less of form than in a party equally large in England, Tea was handed round as the company assembled, and a constant succession of cakes, ices, &c. during the remainder of the evening. I had some conversation with Commodore Decatur. His manners are more polished than those of most persons whom I have met with here, and there is a gentleness in his tone of voice and countenance, which the strong outline delineated in the portraits I have seen of him, would not have led me to expect. No cards were introduced; but I am told a card table is usually set out on occasions of this kind, though seldom used. In the present instance,