'I sat on the box most part of the time, and had a good deal of conversation with my companion. He was a very pleasant merry fellow. As he at first objected to admit a third to the honour of sitting by his side, I endeavoured to joke him into good humour, and very soon succeeded, by laughing at his fun. When I asked him, for instance, whether he was full inside? he replied, with a knowing look, "I guess I am for I have just had a good dinner." We all laughed heartily. The joke was new to me; and the others were not in a vein to be nice about novelty. Three young men, who were inside, amused themselves by bowing very gravely, and with profound respect, to the old folks, who were sitting at their doors, or looking out of the windows as we passed, and who were puzzling their brains, long after we were out of sight, in trying to make out to what acquaintance it could possibly be that they were indebted for this piece of unexpected civility. No one of our party, which was so numerous as to fill two stages, had any reason to complain of its formality. On my arrival, I was well received by the lady of the house to which I had been directed, and a comfortable bed soon made me forget the fatigues of the day.'-vol. i. pp. 119, 120.

The following is a pleasant contrast to the illiberality so commonly displayed by Englishmen, in their judgments about American insolence,' as they call it :

In the evening, after drinking tea with the family, and conversing with several agreeable persons who called, as is at Hartford and elsewhere the "custom, always in the afternoon," I went into a confectioner's shop in the town to get some ice and was shown into an inner room, where I found the master of the house, reclining at his ease upon a sofa. He made no movement to rise; nor appeared to take any notice of my entrance. The competition, it was plain, was more among the buyers than the sellers; and, in fact, as the weather was oppressively hot, I stood more in need of his ice than he of my money. While the young woman who assisted was getting what I had asked for, I entered into conversation with him, and found him very obliging and civil. Perceiving I was an Englishman, he was anxious to hear how matters were going on in the old country, and his questions were readily answered. A neighbour coming in, our talk continued for some time; and when I took my leave he begged I would call again, and have some more chat with him. Nothing was further from his thoughts than to mortify me by any appearance of slight or inattention: nor was I disappointed at not meeting with that assiduity and obsequiousness which self-interest would have prompted a London tradesman to display before a customer, and which would have been as little connected with real respect as my Hartford friend's nonchalance with rudeness or ill-manners.'-vol. i. pp. 108, 109.

His observations on the servants are in the same spirit. The common character given of them is, that they are idle and insolent. His own experience convinced him that this opinion is entitled to no credit."

At the house where I boarded I found the man who waited at table particularly attentive. I had little occasion to ask for anything, as he was sure to observe what I was in the habit of taking at meals, or

might want at any other time, and was ready to supply me. He was very active and observant, and performed what he had to do with alacrity and good will. Two of his predecessors, I was told, were even superior to him in assiduity. One of them saved a thousand dollars in service; and was, when I was at Boston, a merchant's clerk, with a fair prospect of rising to a higher station. Vermont and New Hampshire generally supply the New England cities with this class of men. They prove honest, industrious, and prudent; and, when they have laid by a little capital, go into business, and raise themselves to a higher, but not a more respectable, rank. Good masters make good servants here as elsewhere; and those who complain that there is less distance between the parties than there is in an old country, would do well to observe, that the proximity would be dearly exchanged for an estrangement that might drive one of them into a collusive alliance with dishonest tradesmen.'-vol, i. pp. 142, 143.

The following ridiculous circumstance which happened in Canada, and is prefaced by some very sensible remarks, shows that peculiar circumstances (originating in the fact of white servants being less numerous than the requisitions of the country) cause the idleness and insolence where they do occur. It is not caused by the republican spirit,' which is the cant watchword of our aristocracy.

66

The same complaints are made about servants on both sides of the frontier. It seems, however, both useless and foolish to grumble at the inevitable consequence of the peculiar state of things in a new country. The master and the servant perform everywhere the same quantity of work. It is but a division of labour. The share of each varies with the circumstances of the society in which they are placed. In some, none of the drudgery is done by the master; in others it is equally divided between them. In England, the servant stands submissively below, and has all the hard work to do. In America, he is frequently the top sawyer." I had an amusing illustration of this simple truism from the young Englishman who had just left me. He had called a few days before on an old acquaintance of his family, who was living in the interior of the upper province; when an apology was made for not asking him to dinner, as there was neither meat nor cook in the house. The master was without a servant; and his wife confined to her bed by sickness. His domestics had all left him; and no one would take their places. The cause of this desertion was, that he had told the females they should no longer sit in the same room with their mistress. This resolution so exasperated them, that, in resentment for what they viewed as an unjustifiable infringement of their privileges, they left the house immediately. The neighbours took up the matter very warmly, and entered into a sort of combination to alter the domestic arrangements of the country, and draw a stronger line of distinction between the parlour and the kitchen. It is a hazardous experiment; and they will probably pay dearly for it, whether the result be victory or defeat,—vol, i, pp. 297, 298.

But it is time to turn to the subject of the black population. It is impossible to read this journal without perceiving that slavery exists in its very worst form in some of the southern

states; while in the northern, though there is no slavery, there is an almost universal prejudice against the people of colour, which keeps them, and would always continue to keep them, in a degraded state. Beyond the question of the abolition of slavery, the Americans have to ask themselves, what is to be the condition of the immense coloured population? As far as can be gathered from Mr. Abdy's statistical reports, it amounts at present to 3,000,000, and the increase of its numbers goes on in a proportion considerably faster than amongst the whites. This seems to be proved, even under unfavourable circumstances, and is without exception, unless where it is the interest of the slaveholders (which it is in particular districts) rather to import than to rear slaves. The question then is, What will be the condition of this great and increasing population? Mr. Abdy warmly unites himself with that party which says Give them equal rights with the whites. They are not an inferior race; it is only their circumstances which make them now appear so. If even a complete amalgamation of the two races should in the end take place, so that America should eventually be peopled by mulattoes, in this we see no evil.' This party, however, is considerably in the minority, though Mr. Abdy asserts that it is increasing. Opposed to it are those, in the first place, who are interested in the continuance of slavery; and, still further, the great majority of all classes, who, whatever may be their feeling as to slavery, view with a kind of horror the idea of anything that can lead to amalgamation with the degraded' people. They do look on them as an inferior race. Apparently, they would be glad to get rid of them altogether; at any rate they would endeavour, by a system of gradual colonization, so to keep down their numbers, as to prevent their ever becoming dangerous and troublesome to their oppressors. To this end the Colonization Society appears now to be directing its efforts; when its object seemed to be to improve Africa, while it provided an asylum on its shores for such free blacks as wished to emigrate, it engaged to itself the good wishes of all the friends of humanity. It is impossible to look with approbation on the means it uses. The end in view, even could it be considered justifiable or desirable, appears to be unattainable. A few extracts will best show the state of feeling among these conflicting parties, and the extent and perversity of the prevailing prejudice. They are such as to make it really difficult for us, who are out of the sphere of the circumstances that have engendered them, to believe possible; however likely it may be that we have among ourselves some cherished error, some favourite feelings, quite as unreasonable and as mischievous. It is unnecessary to quote any of the atrocities described in the slaveholding states; it is sufficient to say that they are as bad as any of the worst that have ever accompanied slavery; for instances of unjust and unequal laws, harsh usage, unfeeling behaviour

towards the free blacks, we may almost open the books at random. It appears that the prejudice is stronger among women than men; among the clergy than the laity; and in the towns than in the country. The following happened at Boston:

How far the aristocracy of the skin is carried in this pious city, may be seen by a curious document that was put into my hands by an abolitionist. A free black, some few years ago, came into possession of a pew in one of the churches here. It was the only thing he could obtain from a man who was unable, or unwilling, to pay a legal claim he had upon him. Having furnished it, he offered it for sale. Not finding a purchaser at the price he demanded, and few would be likely to give the full value for what no one imagined the owner would dare to make use of,-he determined to occupy it himself;-whether he was unconscious of the offence he was about to give, or thought he might as well speculate upon the white man's pride, as, it would seem, the white man had speculated upon his submissiveness. The sensation produced by his unexpected appearance among the favoured children of Nature in the very sanctum sanctorum of their distinctions, can be described by those only who witnessed it. The next Sunday, he took his wife and children with him.-It should be observed that the coloured people are not admitted to places of worship, except to small pews or boxes set apart expressly for them, and so placed that they can hear without offending the fastidious delicacy of the congregation. At Albany, there is one where a curtain is placed in front to conceal the occupants, when there are any; for those for whom they are destined seldom enter them, and speak of them with the contempt they deserve, as "martin-holes" and "human menageries." It was now high time that notice should be taken of this contumacious spirit; and the intruder received the two following notes:

"MR. BRINSLEY.

"SIR,

IF you have any pew-furniture in pew No. 38, Park Street Meetinghouse, you will remove it this afternoon.

"March 6, 1830."

"GEORGE ODIORNE, for the Committee.

'With the above was the copy of a note, written the day before to this Agent of the Committee, in these words:

DEAR SIR,

"Pew No. 38 in Park Street Church is let to Mr. Andrew Ellison.

"Yours respectfully,
“J. BUMSTEAD.”

The other letter was addressed "to Mr. Frederick Brinsley, coloured man, Elm Street ;" the contents are as follow:

"MR. FREDERICK BRINSLEY.

666 SIR,

"Boston, March 6, 1830.

"The Prudential Committee of Park Street Church notify you not to occupy any pew on the lower floor of Park Street Meeting-house on any Sabbath, or on any other day, during the time of Divine worship,

after this date and, if you go there, with such intent, you will hazard the consequences. The pews in the upper galleries are at your service. "GEORGE ODIORNE, for the Committee.''

Mr. Brinsley, on going again, found a constable at the pew-door. No further attempt was made to assert the rights of property against such a formidable combination; and we may seek in vain for the consequences, which Mr. Odiorne, with official brevity, says, would have been hazarded by another visit to the house of God. The offender is now removed from this scene of persecution and mortification, to a place" where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."-vol. i. p. 133—136.

While I was at Boston, a cause was about to be tried in a court of justice, for a breach of contract. The complainant, a Brazilian, had been a major in the service of his native country, from which he was driven by political dissensions. He endeavoured to obtain employment at Haiti, and, subsequently, at the Caraccas, whence, distrusting the sincerity of Bolivar, he came to the United States; this being his second visit. He was driven from a boarding-house, where he had been admitted on his arrival, to a miserable lodging, which he left for a private house; and was keeping a store when the circumstances, that gave rise to the litigation, occurred. In the month of November preceding, he was going upon business to Nantucket, and had reached New Bedford, where he took places in the steam-boat for his wife and himself. The boat was to start at ten next day—at six, he sent his horse and gig on board; when, from the negligence of the captain of the vessel, the poor animal was precipitated into the water, and would have been lost, had not the owner exerted himself to save it; no one, for some time, offering any assistance. When, at last, the animal had been rescued, he was compelled to pay twenty dollars for the trouble it had given. At noon, the vessel left the place; a heavy rain came on; and his wife descended, with an infant at her breast, into the cabin; where she was stopped, and informed, that she must not enter, because she was a negro. There were, at the time, but two women, of the lowest description, in the room. It was in vain that her husband remonstrated against the injustice of refusing him an accommodation, for which he had agreed to pay the same as the other passengers. The captain was inexorable and insulting; and though two Americans, who were present, interceded in his behalf, and handed Mrs. Mundrucu down a second time, she was obliged to return on deck, and expose her health (for she was very unwell at the time) and the life of her child to the inclemency of the weather, which was such, in addition to a thick fog, that the steam-boat returned to New Bedford. The next day the Brazilian party were refused admittance into the boat; and their luggage, toge ther with the horse and gig, were left on shore. These particulars I received from the man himself and from his wife-a very good-looking respectable mulatto. From one of his counsel, Mr. Child, a man whom to know is to esteem, I had some anecdotes-and he told me he knew many others of the same kind-that showed how undeserving he was of such treatment. When first he commenced business in the city, he became acquainted with a Polish refugee, whose "necessities" were " "yet greater" than his own. He assisted him to the utmost of his power, and gave him a new suit of clothes out of his store. Though fully sen