Slavery In Washington

I daily meet with snutbern men, who only need a hule information to lead them to a hearty adoption of our principies. Indeed, one of the most gi'ted men in this región, faimself a elave-holder, af tor listening for some hours to a discus ion of our doctnnes and measuree, seriously proposed as a meaeure both practical and of high itnportancef that a delegation of the ablest and wisest men in our ranks 6hould be selected to visit the principal pointsuf inflaenre in tlie South, and lay our views before the leading minos. He thought much sood would reoult from it. 1 do not question that such a measure will very soon be expedient. And there is a fout in those words, 'leading minde,' us t-ppüedi a slaveholding community - wbere the rich and the ooor elaves and white serfs constitute the oniy classes of society - which one, accustomed to the intelligence of all classes in a New England town, finds it diÖicult to appreciate. In a región where slavery decidedly predominatee, that body that a dweller in ihe oíd Colouy calis, with pride, the people, has no existence, or it means only the few very l'trge slaveholdere, ond the 6ocial aristocracy of professional men, whose intereslf, of couree, are linked with the dominant class. - The people,' alas! are poor, miserable, degraded slav.es I But a change is near, a glorious change.- The whole epirit and tone of society is changing, and becoming more friendly to liberty. l need not speak of the terrible rebuke the elaveholders 8uffdred,or their overwhelming defeat,in their assault upon the venerable sage aud patriot who repreeents so worthily, in almost evcty respect, the Old Colony, in the House of Representaüves. The fact that the mass of society, hcre bympatiiize with Mm, and not with his persecutors, shows that a 6pirit;is maturing that will before long declare this a free city. And when I remeinber that the excellent Dr. Crakdall pined away for nine months, without trial, in that loathsome old jail, witliin a few rods of which I sm now writing, for the CKMBoflending a br other phjsician a phamplet concerning sJavery; and then rerlect that I, with not half his woriii, am known to many hundrds in this city, of all classes, as an active abolitionist, a reporter for abolition papers, constantly diffusinganti-slavery news, and trampling on the distinctione ofcasle; nay, am honor cd by very many on account of it, thechange alreudy wrought here, appears to be very great. Tnere are many here who abhor slavery, and are not afraid, at all limes, to avow it; aud the number is increasing. Yet here, ton, the vile and dastardly epirit of slavery is seeu, in evéry day life, continually. Ajather. an excellent, pious man, has just been sold, by one deemed nnupriiht citizen, from hia clnidren and his wi'fe. The man is over fifty years of age. - II is tamily are free, but kc, it is to be feared, will be the viciïm of the slave trade, m New Orlcans. A poor woman, spurred on by the hope of liberty, has earned and paid $260 of the $400 demanded foi her freedom, and iast week was sutd to the troder for $300, as a elave for lile, by the man - ihe monster - who has pocketed her life's eornings! A reíined and kindliearted woman told me (and sho mentioned it as a proof of his regard for her!) that her husband had sold an excellent girl to the trader fora trivio piece ofy deserving a repnmand! 'But,' said she 'if hese negroes are not made to know their place, vhat can we do with thcm, you know' ! I ( lave seen a woman, apparentiy as refined, as ( ady-like, ay, and as wkite ae any woman in t Scituate - an hiimble Christian too, but, alas! a 1 lave - in this District, held by the laws of t ongress, clasping her hands in anguish too c leep for words, b cause she was made the sport t fa tyrant's lust! And then the contempt of ( he poor, the disregard of their feelinge, the f lenial or undervaluing of their virtue and e ices, the petty and malicious infringments m their righte, rights that even a slave moy i tossess, conventionally, though not by law - vith which lalmost daily bccomc acquainted, irsee illustrated in life, fill me with new and ver increasing abhorrence of the elave 6ystem. nd the despotic control which 6lavery j :Í9ea over our govemment, and the meanures ] f intitnidation, flattery, party 6eduction and 1 üctation, by which that control is maintaincd, ( ia they are more clearly seen and understood, jtrengthen my conviction tbat the , nount political duty of freedom is to overtnrow he system of 6lavery, Have you not noticed hat Eolemn declaration made by Mr. Adonis, nat southern members, have gone to northern nembers, in their seats, with dirks in their iandc,and threats of assassination to intimídate hem into their winhes? It is a eolemn truth ! And neofthe better class of southern members - 10 lover or friend of slavery - nrvcr entert the rlouse without loaded pistoïs 'm his bosom ! - iTet, after all, the chains of party feeling bind Tien to the car of Blavery more than the system sf overseership so proudly exerciced by the slavcholding minority in times past; and which is now evidently near to its final overthrow.