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