Who has not heard of the Barbary States, and of the pretension put forth by them to enslave white Christians? Algiers was the chief seat of this enormity, which, through the insensibility or incapacity of Christian States, was allowed to continue for generations. Good men and great men were degraded to be captives, while many, neglected by fortune, perished in barbarous Slavery. Even in our colonial days, there were Americans whose fate, while in the hands of these slave-masters, excited general sympathy. Only by ransom was their freedom obtained. Perhaps no condition was more calculated to arouse indignant rage. And yet the disposition so common to palliate Slavery in the National Capital showed itself with regard to Slavery in Algiers; and, indeed, the same arguments to soften public opinion have been employed in the two instances. The parallel is so complete, that I require all your trust to believe that what I read is not an apology for Slavery here. Thus, a member of a diplomatic mission from England, who visited Morocco in 1785, says of the Slavery which he saw: “It is very slightly inflicted”; and “as to any labor undergone, it does not deserve the name.”[242] And another earlier traveller, after describing the comfortable condition of the white slaves, adds, in words to which we are accustomed: “I am sure we saw several captives who lived much better in Barbary than ever they did in their own country.… Whatever money in charity was ever sent them by their friends in Europe was their own.… And yet this is called insupportable slavery among Turks and Moors! But we found this, as well as many other things in this country, strangely misrepresented.”[243] A more recent French writer asserts, with a vehemence to which we are habituated from the partisans of Slavery among us, that the white slaves at Algiers were not exposed to the miseries which they represented; that they were well clad and well fed, _much better than the free Christians there_; that special care was bestowed upon those who became ill; and that some were allowed such privileges as to become indifferent to freedom, and even to prefer Algiers to their own country.[244] Believe me, Sir, in stating these things I simply follow history; and I refer to the volume and page or chapter of the authorities which I quote, that the careful inquirer may see that they relate to Slavery abroad, and not to Slavery at home. If I continue to unfold this strange, eventful story, it will be to exhibit _the direct and constant intervention of Congress for the ransom of slaves_; but the story itself is an argument against Slavery, pertinent to the present occasion, which I am not unwilling to adopt.