travellers, American females are distinguished above all others for
their general intelligence, and yet they are complimented for their
retiring modesty, virtue, and domestic faithfulness, while the other sex
is as much distinguished for their respectful kindness and attentive
gallantry. There is no other country where females have so much public
respect and kindness accorded to them as in America, by the concession
of all travellers. And it will ever be so, while intellectual culture in
the female mind, is combined with the spirit of that religion which so
strongly enforces the appropriate duties of a woman's sphere.

But it may be asked, is there nothing to be done to bring this national
sin of slavery to an end? Must the internal slave-trade, a trade now
ranked as piracy among all civilized nations, still prosper in our
bounds? Must the very seat of our government stand as one of the chief
slave-markets of the land; and must not Christian females open their
lips, nor lift a finger, to bring such a shame and sin to an end?

To this it may be replied, that Christian females may, and can say and
do much to bring these evils to an end; and the present is a time and an
occasion when it seems most desirable that they should know, and
appreciate, and _exercise_ the power which they do possess for so
desirable an end.

And in pointing out the methods of exerting female influence for this
object, I am inspired with great confidence, from the conviction that
what will be suggested, is that which none will oppose, but all will
allow to be not only practicable, but safe, suitable, and Christian.

To appreciate these suggestions, however, it is needful previously to
consider some particulars that exhibit the spirit of the age and the
tendencies of our peculiar form of government.

The prominent principle, now in development, as indicating the spirit of
the age, is the perfect right of all men to entire freedom of opinion.
By this I do not mean that men are coming to think that "it is no matter
what a man believes, if he is only honest and sincere," or that they are
growing any more lenient towards their fellow-men, for the evil
consequences they bring on themselves or on others for believing wrong.

But they are coming to adopt the maxim, that no man shall be forced by
pains and penalties to adopt the opinions of other minds, but that every
man shall be free to form his own opinions, and to propagate them by
all lawful means