f their
separation from home and kindred--and of the dreary prospect
before them of a life of unrequited toil in the South and South
West--rested heavily upon me. I could there realize the true
nature of the system of slavery. I was in a market-house for
human flesh, where humanity is degraded to a level with the
brute; and where children of our common Father in Heaven, and
for whom our blessed Redeemer offered up the atoning sacrifice
of his blood, were bargained for and sold like beasts that
perish. And when I regarded thee as the merchant in this
dreadful traffic, and heard thee offer remarks, which might in
some degree be considered as an apology for thy business,
calling our attention to the cleanly state of the apartments,
the wholesome provisions, et cet.; and especially when I heard
thee declare that thou hadst been educated by a pious
mother--that thou wast never addicted to swearing or other
immoralities--and that thy business was a legalized one--that
thou didst nothing contrary to law--and that, while in thy
possession, the poor creatures were treated kindly--that
families were not separated,[A] et cet.,--I was glad to perceive
some evidence that the nature of thy employment had not
extinguished the voice of conscience within thee. In thy
sentiments, and in the manner of their utterance, I thought I
could see that truth had not left itself without a witness in
thy breast, and that a sense of the wrongfulness of thy
occupation still disturbed thee.

[Footnote A: "The latter remark, of course, applies only to the
time they remained with thee. For, on the day we visited thy
establishment, a friend with whom I was dining informed me, that
a few days before a woman and child had been sold to thee, whose
husband and father was a free man, who, in his distress, had
been offering to bind himself for a term of years, in order to
raise the sum (I think $800) demanded for them; but, as he had
been unable to do so, my friend had no doubt they had been sent
off with the very lot of slaves, which, we were told by thyself
had just been forwarded to New Orleans from thy prison. _Who_ is
most guilty in this atrocious transaction--the slave owner, who
sold thee the woman and child at Baltimore--_thou_, the
transporter of them for ever from their husband and parent--_the