ir father died. At his death his
affairs were found in a state of great disorder; in fact, there was not
sufficient left to pay his creditors. Having brought up and educated
these two girls and introduced them as his daughters, it quite slipped
his memory that, having been born of a slave, and not manumitted, they
were in reality slaves themselves. This fact was established after his
decease; they were torn away from the affluence and refinement to which
they had been accustomed, sold and purchased as slaves, and with the
avowed intention of the purchaser to reap his profits from their
prostitution it must not, however, be supposed that the planters of
Virginia and the other Eastern states, encourage this intercourse; on
the contrary, the young men who visit at the plantations cannot affront
them more than to take notice of their slaves, particularly the lighter
coloured, who are retained in the house and attend upon their wives and
daughters. Independently of the moral feeling which really guides them
(as they naturally do not wish that the attendants of their daughters
should be degraded) it is against their interest in case they should
wish to sell; as a mulatto or light male will not fetch so high a price
as a full-blooded negro; the cross between the European and negro;
especially the first cross, i.e. the mulatto, is of a sickly
constitution, and quite unable to bear up against the fatigue of field
labour in the West. As the race becomes whiter, the stamina is said to
improve.

Examining into the question of emancipation in America, the first
inquiry will be, how far this consummation is likely to be effected by
means of the abolitionists. Miss Martineau, in her book, says, "The
good work has begun, and will proceed." She is so far right; it has
begun, and has been progressing very fast, as may be proved by the
single fact of the abolitionists having decided the election in the
state of Ohio in October last. But let not Miss Martineau exult; for
the stronger the abolition party may become, the more danger is there to
be apprehended of a disastrous conflict between the states.

The fact is that, by the constitution of the United States, the federal
government have not only no power to _interfere_ or to _abolish_
slavery, but they are bound to _maintain_ it; the abolition of slavery
is expressly _withheld_. The citizens of any state may abolish slavery
in their own state but the federal government cannot d