- ness of frame which forms the delicate lady. Here also,
as in some other places, the society of the two sexes is strictly regulated. Private interviews are guarded against with the most jealous care. The suitor must announce the object of his first visit, and the courtship must proceed under the eye of a parent, or of some other confidential person. In this happy seclusion from the scandalous affairs of the world, it is only through the medium of a female negro secretary that evasions can be conveniently practised when sentiment prevails over prudence. Married ladies also are relieved from the drudgery of giving suck to their own children. It sometimes happens that the infant boy entertains a stronger affection for his black nurse than for his white mother; and that his affection for the sooty hue may not be altogether effaced in maturer life. If the feeling is not directly conducive to the happiness of slaves, it has, at least, a tendency to abate prejudices arising from their colour.
How far parental prerogative applies to intercourse between young people of different colours, I am not prepared to say; but the great numbers of mulattoes to be seen furnish sufficient evidence to preclude all indiscreet inquiry on this very delicate point. One striking fact is not to be omitted. An instance of a semi-coloured person whose origin is derived from a white mother, is exceedingly rare.
{119} You have frequently heard the adherents of an illiberal faction pouring out a copious torrent of invective against the American people, and their democratic form of government, on account of slave-keeping. Such declamation must proceed from ignorance of the history of this country, or from a degree of malignity, ill calculated to promote the national character of Britain, or the reputa-
