r
sale on every side,--a pretty clear proof of an extensive demand.

Shall I tell you of a most revolting abomination, which I know, on good
authority, occurred about the time we were there? A large importer of
slaves from the "slave-breeding" States, having on board a considerable
number of young women, made an offer of the use of their persons to a
volunteer regiment of soldiers, then waiting to be conveyed to Mexico.
The offer was accepted; and the wretch boasted that he had made 700
dollars, or 150_l._ sterling, by the transaction! The laws of this
_great_ and _free_ country had, however, consigned these helpless young
women to his absolute disposal! Alas! for Freedom, had she no holier
home than the Southern States of the American Union! And yet of the
country in which this licentious bargain was made, even John Todd, the
excellent author of "Lectures to Children," thus writes,--"This land is
free. The mind is here free,--and the child is to be born--if indeed he
ever will be born--whose powers and faculties may not be called out and
cultivated. There is no bondage to forms or precedents; but the whole
mass may be seasoned, leavened, and moved, and is at liberty to do what
is great and good in the way that is most convenient."

Four o'clock in the afternoon found us safely on board the
"Anglo-Saxon," a fine new steam-boat, bound for Pittsburgh in
Pennsylvania. We booked ourselves for Cincinnati in Ohio, a distance of
1,550 miles. The fare was 12 dollars each; and the captain said we
should be from six to ten days in getting to our destination. (We were,
however, twelve days.) Twelve dollars, or about 2_l._ 10_s._, for the
occupation of splendid apartments, sitting down at a well-furnished
table, and being conveyed 1,550 miles! Scarcely believing that there
was not some mistake, I asked a fellow-passenger if the 12 dollars
really did include board, and was told that most certainly it did,--it
was the regular fare. Travelling at this rate was literally cheaper
than staying at home. It was just one dollar a day each for food,
lodgings, and locomotion! This "Anglo-Saxon"--forge below and palace
above, as all these boats appear to be--is a noble vessel. The
dimensions, as given me by the "clerk" or purser, are--length of keel
182 feet, breadth of beam 26 feet, depth of hull 6 feet, length of
cabin 140 feet; two engines 6-1/2 feet stroke; two cylinders 18-1/2
inches in diameter; height between decks 9-1/2 feet; having a