It is naturally supposed that free negroes will sympathize with their enslaved brethren, and that, notwithstanding all exertions to the contrary, they will become a little more intelligent; this excites a peculiar jealousy and hatred in the white population, of which it is impossible to enumerate all the hardships. Even in the _laws_, slaves are always mentioned before free people of color; so desirous are they to degrade the latter class below the level of the former. To complete the wrong, this unhappy class are despised in consequence of the very evils we ourselves have induced--for as slavery inevitably makes its victims servile and vicious, and as none but negroes are allowed to be slaves, we, from our very childhood, associate every thing that is degraded with the _mere color_; though in fact the object of our contempt may be both exemplary and intelligent. In this way the Africans are doubly the victims of our injustice; and thus does prejudice "_make_ the meat it feeds on." I have repeatedly said that our slave laws are continually increasing in severity; as a proof of this I will give a brief view of some of the most _striking_, which have been passed since Stroud published his compendium of slave laws, in 1827. In the first class are contained those enactments _directly_ oppressive to people of color; in the second are those which injure them _indirectly_, by the penalties or disabilities imposed upon the whites who instruct, assist, or employ them, or endeavor in any way to influence public opinion in their favor. _Class First._--The Legislature of Virginia passed a law in 1831, by which any free colored person who undertakes to preach, or conduct any religious meeting, by day or night, may be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, at the discretion of _any_ justice of the peace; and any body may apprehend any such free colored person without a warrant. The same penalty, adjudged and executed in the same way, falls upon any slave, or free colored person, who attends such preaching; and any slave who listens to any _white_ preacher, in the night time, receives the same punishment. The same law prevails in Georgia and Mississippi. A master may permit a slave to preach on _his_ plantation, to none but _his_ slaves. There is a _naivete_ in the following preamble to a law passed by North Carolina, in 1831, which would be amusing, if the subject were not too serious for mirth: "_Whereas teaching slaves to read and write has a tendency to excite dissatisfaction in their minds_, and to produce insurrection and rebellion," therefore it is enacted that teaching a slave to read or write, or giving or selling to a slave _any_ book or pamphlet, shall be punished with thirty-nine lashes, if the offender be a free black, or with imprisonment at the discretion of the court; if a slave, the _offence_ is punishable with thirty-nine lashes, on his or her bare back, on conviction before a justice of the peace.