purchasers_ of the mother and child at New Orleans, where they
may be for ever separated from each other--or the _citizen_ who,
by his vote and influence, creates and upholds enactments which
legalize this monstrous system, is known only to Him before whom
the secrets of all hearts are unfolded."]

"To thy remark that thy business was necessary to the system of
slavery, and an essential part of it--and if slave-_holding_
were to be justified at all, the slave-_trade_ must be also--I
certainly can offer no valid objection; for I have never been
able to discover any moral difference between the planter of
Virginia and the slave dealer of Baltimore, Richmond, and
Washington. Each has his part to act in the system, and each is
necessary to the other. And if the matter were not, in all its
bearings, painfully serious, it would be amusing to witness the
absurd contempt with which the slave owner of Maryland or
Virginia professes to look upon the trader, whose purchase of
his surplus slaves alone enables him to retain the residue in
his possession; for it seems very evident that the only
profitable part of the system in those States, at the present
time, is the sale of the annual increase of the slaves.

"In passing from thy premises, we looked in upon the Triennial
Convention of the Baptists of the United States, then in session
in the city of Baltimore, where I found slave-holding ministers
of high rank in the church, urging successfully the exclusion
from the Missionary Board of that Society, of all those who, in
principle and practice, were known to be decided abolitionists;
and the results of their efforts satisfied me that the darkest
picture of slavery is not to be found in the jail of the
slave-trader, but rather in a convocation of professed ministers
of the Gospel of Christ, expelling from the Board of a Society
formed to enlighten the heathen of other nations, all who
consistently labor for the overthrow of a system which denies a
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures to near three millions of
heathen at home!

"But allow me, in a spirit, as I trust, of Christian kindness,
to entreat thee not to seek excuses for thy own course in the
evil conduct of others. Thou hast already reached the middle
period of life--the future is uncertain. By thy hopes of peace
here and he