"
"There, Mr. Frank," said Wolston, "I am very sorry to be under the
necessity of contradicting you. I have visited the slave states of
North America, and have witnessed atrocities perhaps less brutal, but
not less heart-rending, than those you mention."
"But do the laws recognize them?"
"Yes, tacitly; the testimony of the slaves themselves is not received
as evidence."
"Why do a people that call their county a refuge for the down-trodden
nations of Europe suffer such abominations?"
"Well, according to themselves, it is entirely a question of the
_almighty dollar_. If there were no slaves, the swamps and morasses of
the south could not be cultivated. It has been found that the negro
will dance, and sing, and starve, but he will not work in the fields
when free. Besides, they assert, that the slaves are generally well
cared for, and that it is only a few detestable masters that beat them
cruelly."
"Then, at all events, dollars are preferred to humanity by the United
States men, in spite of their vaunted emblems--liberty and equality."
"Quite so. In all matters of internal policy, the dollar reigns
supreme."
"Admitting," continued Frank, "that the evils of slavery may exist in
a section of the American Union, and amongst the barbarous hordes of
Russia, these evils are trifling in comparison with others that stain
the annals of antiquity.
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