Thus, justice is often defeated, from pecuniary considerations in the
Slave States of America, where, if a slave commits even the heinous
crime of murder, the ordinary course of the law is interfered with to
save the owner from loss. This of itself is sufficient to stamp for ever
as infamous the social cancer of slavery, and brands as ridiculous, the
boasted regard for justice, so pragmatically urged in the southern
states of the American continent.

A mile or two from St. Louis, on the Carondelet road, are situated
spacious infantry barracks, named after Jefferson, one of the former
presidents of the Union, where troops are stationed in readiness to act
against the various tribes of Indians in the Upper Missouri country, who
sometimes show a disposition to be hostile. A reserve of troops is more
particularly needful for the protection of the inhabitants; for, either
from mismanagement or an aggressive spirit, the Government is
continually embroiled with the aboriginal tribes in harassing and
expensive warfare. This state of things acts as a perpetual blister, and
has engendered a rancorous enmity between the Indians and their white
neighbours, to the great detriment of peaceful agricultural pursuits by
the latter, and the periodical perplexity of the Chancellor of the
American Exchequer; whereas, a conciliating policy would not only keep
the tribes in close friendship, but secure their services as valuable
allies in case of emergency--a point that may possibly suggest itself
eventually to the executive, if the rampant spirit of aggrandisement now
abroad continues to govern the public mind in America.

Soon after landing, I was accosted by a middle-aged gentlemanly man, on
the subject of the outrage on board the boat, and as he appeared to have
less of that swaggering air about him than most men in the south