suffice, both of which I have upon the very best
authority. A faithful slave, having grown up with his master's rising
family, obtained his freedom as a reward for his fidelity, and was
entrusted with the management of the property; realizing some money, he
became the owner of slaves himself, from among whom he selected his
wife, and to all of whom he showed the greatest consideration. Some
time after, lying upon his deathbed, he made his will, in which he
bequeathed his wife and all his other negroes to his old master, giving
as his reason, that, from his own lively recollections of his master's
unvarying kindness to himself and the other slaves, he felt certain that
in so doing he was taking the best means in his power of securing their
future happiness. What stronger evidence of the growth of kindness in
the master's heart could possibly be desired? Here, then, is the effect
of habit in a benevolent owner.--Now, turn to the opposite picture. A
lady of New Orleans was accustomed to strip and flog a slave for the
pleasure of witnessing sufferings which she endeavoured to render more
acute by rubbing soft soap into the broken skin. Here you have the
effect of habit upon a brutal mind.

To the credit of New Orleans be it recorded, that the knowledge of this
atrocity having come to white ears, her house was broken open, every
article it contained pulled out in the street and burnt, and, had she
not succeeded in eluding search, the she-devil would have been most
assuredly reduced to ashes with her own goods. America became too hot
for her, and Providence alone knows the demon's cave of concealment.

Having thus passed in review the various influences bearing upon the
treatment of the slave, and seen how utterly inadequate they are to
protect him from ill-treatment, who can wonder that the tales of real or
supposed cruelty inflicted upon slaves by the Southerners are received
with indignation by both parties in the States?--the virtuous and kind
master, indignant at the thought of being included in the category of
monsters, and the real savage, if possible, still more indignant,
because his conscience brings home to his seared heart the truthfulness
of the picture, even if it be overdrawn almost to caricature. And here
it is curious to observe the different action of these two parties: the
former, in the consciousness of a kind heart and a real desire for the
negro's good, calmly states what has been done and is doing for