I have said that I regarded the evils of slavery as falling most heavily on the slaveholders; in other words, on the white population.  Slavery begets idleness; idleness begets vice; and vice plunges individuals into-wretchedness, degradation and infamy.  In some of the slave States, the slaves perform most of the labor, consequently children are brought up in idleness.  The inevitable consequence is, that a large majority of them, long before they arrive to adult age, are deplorably vicious.  It is in the extreme Southern States, that this evil is most apparent.

The demoralizing influence of slavery is not so great in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Western Virginia.  The evil falls mostly on the male population; females not being exposed to the same temptations.

The boy is let loose at an early age, and runs into all manner of excesses; not so with the girl; for from childhood to adult age, she is ever under the eye of her mother; and I do not suppose, that for intelligence, beauty and refinement, the world can produce a set of females superior to the Southern ladies; though, the manner in which they are brought up, their habits and modes of life, too often incapacitate them for the active duties incumbent on mothers.

It has been stated as one of the effects of slavery, that it renders men proud, haughty and tyrannical.  There may be some truth in the remark, but I am well satisfied, that there is not so much as some suppose.  In contrasting the character of the white population in the slave and free states, it is somewhat difficult to ascertain the precise influence of the institution of slavery, in moulding and shaping Southern character.  We must, in an investigation of the subject, take into consideration the influence of climate North and South, and various other influences less obvious, though not less certain to leave their impress on human character.  I have neither time, nor space, for a thorough examination of the subject, and must, therefore, after stating some facts, leave the reader to arrive at his own conclusions.  Southern people are proverbially liberal and hospitable.  No Southerner can fail, after a short residence in the North, to observe opposite traits of character in Northern people; and the Southerner, after emigrating to the North, is soon forced, in self defence, or rather prompted by the laws of self preservation, to close up the avenues of his liberality, and assume an attitude, or rather take a position in society, unknown to him while a resident of a Southern clime.  The liberality of Southern people too often leads them into recklessness in the management of their pecuniary transactions, which frequently results in embarrassment and ruin.  A Southerner to his friend, never says no.  He promptly and cheerfully complies with his request, and, truly, the giver, if not more “blessed,” appears to be more happy than the receiver.  Whatever they do, they seem to do it cheerfully.  They act as if they esteemed it