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was accordingly arranged that this address on duelling should be printed in as many newspapers of the country as could be prevailed upon to insert it, preceded by the correspondence between Mr. Delavan and myself, to account for its reissue at the present moment; and a certain number of copies were agreed to be furnished to each member of both houses of Congress, to frank onward to his constituents, so that by this means the address would find its way to all quarters of the Union, and thus lead to the expression of public opinion, which, acting on the legislators here, might lead to the passing of some effective law for the suppression, at once and forever, of a custom barbarous in its origin, absurd in its practice, but fearfully calamitous in the consequences which it entails.*

In the evening of this same day a large meeting was held in the Hall of Representatives, where the solemn funeral service was performed in the morning, of the Congressional State Temperance Society, at which I was invited to take a part, and for the purpose of which, indeed, my journey to Washington was undertaken at this particular period. The society named above is composed wholly of members of both houses of Congress, and the anniversary of its formation is always held in one or other of the legislative chambers. This, of course, gives great interest and importance to their proceedings, and induces the country generally to watch their movements with more than ordinary anxiety. On the present occasion, the Honourable Felix Grundy, a member of the Senate from Tennessee, presided in the chair, and the meeting was held in the Hall of Representatives, as being larger and more commodious than the Senate Chamber; yet senators as well as representatives took part in the proceedings, by moving and seconding the resolutions submitted to the assembly. The attendance of members was unusually large, notwithstanding the absorption of every feeling in the mournful funeral ceremonies of the day, Ladies of the principal families in Washington, with many of the cabinet and public officers, were also among the auditory, which, including those in the galleries, could hardly have been less than a thousand persons. As it was purposely arranged that I should occupy the greater part of the evening with my address, the speeches of the various members who preceded me were very short, shorter indeed than I wished, because I should have been glad to have heard the testimony and arguments of others, espe* This address will be given in the Appendix, No. III.

cially members of the American Congress, on this subject. Unfortunately, I laboured under so severe a hoarseness, from cold and much speaking, that I doubted whether I should be heard at all. I was placed, however, in the most favourable position for being heard, as I occupied an elevation immediately in front of the speaker's chair; and as the members' seats are arranged semicircularly above and behind each other, as in a lecture-room, while the galleries, which were filled with strangers, extended all around the circumference at the base of the dome, all could see and hear nearly equally well; and my voice getting stronger and clearer as I proceeded, my address extended to nearly two hours in length. It was listened to throughout with an earnestness of attention which bespoke the deepest interest on the part of the hearers, and was honoured with a formal vote of thanks, communicated to me by the president in the most flattering terms, accompanied by a resolution that the speech, as taken down by the official reporter of the House, who was in attendance for that purpose, should be printed and circulated as widely as possible over all the United States.

On the Tuesday following, March 6, I commenced my course of lectures on the Scriptural and Classical Countries of the East, in the first Presbyterian Church in Four-and-ahalf-street, in that part of Washington, near the Pennsylvania Avenue, where the residences of members of Congress chiefly lie; and I was much gratified by the very large attendance of that class, as well as of the cabinet ministers, of foreign ambassadors, and of most of the leading families at this legislative capital of the Union. This was the more agreeable from its being wholly unexpected. As we were now in the greatest slave-mart of the country, where it was certain that my opinions respecting slavery would be well known, and as great alarm is felt here at the very name of abolition, arising out of the attempts lately made to prevail on Congress to exercise their power in abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, in which Washington is situated, I was prepared to expect both open and covert attacks on this subject, and was equally ready to meet the consequences. Among other indications of the private hostility I was likely to experience on this head, I received the following letter, which confirmed all I had anticipated; and of public hostility, in addition to the share I was sure to encounter in common with native abolitionists, the fact of my being a foreigner was here prominently put forward as an objec

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tion to the favourable reception of my labours. But first of the letter, which was as follows:

"District of Columbia, March 5, 1838.

SIR-The writer of this note has not the pleasure of an acquaintance with you, but takes the liberty to address you on a subject respecting which it becomes you, as a foreigner, to conduct yourself with great circumspection. While reading your announcement to-day in the City of Washington, the writer asked a gentleman present, Will you attend Mr. B.'s lectures? The answer was emphatically 'No. It is said Mr. Buckingham is an abolitionist; and if so, he will not meet with a good reception.'

"You are probably little aware, sir, of the ideas associated with the term abolitionist in the slave-holding states of our country, and of the suspicion with which a person is looked upon who is known to entertain the views which the people of the South (among whom you now are) attach to the word. Unhappily, our country is in a state of feverish excitement on this deeply-interesting subject, and even a Northern man could not defend abolition sentiments south of Pennsylvania without hazarding his personal safety. You, sir, will probably be regarded with more jealousy as an Englishman.

"The writer expresses no opinion on the subject of slavery, and cannot presume to dictate to you, sir. He merely suggests the propriety of circumspection in conversing on the subject, leaving to your own good sense, and the dictates of conscience and a sound judgment, the course you should pursue.

"For the honour of his own beloved country, the writer would exceedingly regret any occurrence which should inflict even a wound on the feelings of foreigners of respectability, and thus tend to dishonour the American name among European nations. But you have seen enough of the world, sir, to know that in all countries foreigners are regarded with jealousy who in any way animadvert upon their peculiar institutions. In this great and free country, what is orthodoxy in NewYork may be rank heterodoxy in Washington.

"Pardon this hasty note from a stranger. In writing it, the undersigned has only done what he would regard as an act of friendship if done for him among a'people three thousand miles from the land of his fathers.

"For abundant success in your laudable enterprise, and for your own personal happiness,

"J. S. Buckingham, Esq."

"Accept the best wishes of

"AN AMERICAN.

On inquiry in such quarters as were open to me, I found this statement confirmed; and though it formed no part of my public labours to discuss the question of abolition, however much I wished it success, in this country as well as in all others, this letter may be offered as a proof of the inveterate hostility of slave-holding states to all persons known even to entertain opinions favourable to negro emancipation, whether they give utterance to them or not. The defenders of slavery in this country profess, indeed, that their only reason for opposing the doctrines of abolition is a belief that

their slaves are more happy in their bondage than they would be if free; that they therefore do not wish, for the sake of the slaves themselves, that their happiness should be disturbed, though they add they are perfectly sure that the slaves do not desire freedom, and would not accept it if it were offered to them.

The best answer to such assertions as these is to be found in the fact that the slaves would not only take their freedom gladly if offered them, but that they often take it without, and at the risk of incurring severe punishment; as the following advertisements, all taken from the Washington Intelligencer of March 5th, 1838, will show.

"200 DOLLARS REWARD-catch him where you can-will be given by the subscriber for the apprehension and delivery to me, or secured in jail so that I get him again, of a negro man Henry, commonly called Henry Carroll; formerly belonging to the estate of the late Mrs. Beersheba Lanham. Henry left the farm of Mr. M'Cormick, near Mr. John Palmer's tavern, Prince George's County, Maryland, on or about the 6th of January, where he has been hired for the last year. Henry is about 26 years of age; spare-built; of a dark copper colour; 5 feet 8 or 10 inches high; has a down-look when spoken to; no marks recollected; and his clothing not known. Henry has relations and friends in Washington City and Georgetown, some of them free, and likely he has free papers; he is well acquainted in Alexandria. As he went off without the least provocation, he is likely trying to make his escape to some free state.

"JESSE TALBURTT."

"50 DOLLARS REWARD will be given for Delia, a mulatto woman about 48 years of age, if apprehended north of the State of Maryland, and so secured that I may get her again; or 30 dollars if taken in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia, and secured as above. She was raised by the late Mrs. Hannah Brent, of Fauquier county, Virginia, and purchased of the executor of the late Eppa Hunton, deceased. It is believed that she is still in some of the numerous hiding-places of Alexandria, Georgetown, or Washington, and that she was conveyed hither by a negro wagoner, with whom she was seen in February last, prior to the removal of the undersigned to this city.

"TH. R. HAMPTON."

Washington, indeed, the seat of legislation for this free republic, is a well-known and well-frequented mart for the purchase of slaves, and slave-dealers for the Southern and Western States come up to Washington for the purpose of securing supplies. Here is the advertisement of one of these dealers, taken from the same paper as that which contained the two preceding offers of reward.

"200 Slaves wanted.-The subscriber will give higher prices in cash for likely young slaves of both sexes than any other person in this market or who may come. I can be found at the large yellow

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house on Seventh-street, or at Alexander Lee's Lottery and Exchange office. All communications will be promptly attended to. "N.B.-I will pay at all times liberal commissions for information. 66 THOMAS N. DAVIS."

No wonder, therefore, that in such a hotbed of slavery and the slave-trade as this, the fact of my being an abolitionist, even in opinion, should operate prejudicially against me. Nevertheless, the public and private attentions which I had already received from public men of all parties, in spite of this prejudice, was the more remarkable, and the large attendance on the lectures particularly so.

One of the strongest of the national prejudices of the mass of the people in America, embracing all classes except the highest and most intelligent, is a dislike to anything bordering on what they consider to be the interference of foreigners in any matter which they conceive they are able to determine for themselves; and of all such foreigners, they are apparently most jealous of Englishmen. It is true that the jealousy of the English does not prevent them from receiving the benefit of our trade, selling us their cotton, and taking our payments, whether in goods or money, in return; nor does it prevent them reading our books, and republishing at a cheap rate whatever English publications they may think most likely to produce a profit by their sale. But they do object most strenuously to any personal efforts made by Englishmen in their own country to correct any evil of which they may be supposed to be competent judges themselves. Hence in almost every state of the Union there are to be found one or more newspapers imbodying this national sentiment in their very titles, and in the mottoes appended to them. The paper of this description at Washington, and a fair specimen of its class, is called "The Native American," and its motto is "Our country, always right: but, right or wrong, our country." True, therefore, to its title and its motto, its conductor avows it to be his object to denounce everything foreign, for the reason that it is not "native American ;" and, in pursuance of this duty, a long article appeared in his paper of the 10th of March, of which the following are a few extracts.

"We hope Mr. Buckingham will take our advice in kindness. We do not mean him injury; but he must be aware that there is a feeling of native pride in every land. Thousands he has visited, and even in India, where he spent so great a portion of his time, there may have been occasions when he saw the glorious flame of natal indignation rise above the surface of British oppression. Could he not take a lesson from that great and mighty province, where men have been brought