"On my return home shall I advise and recommend my countrymen to emigrate here?" "Why, Sir, I cannot answer that question. I have never recommended emigration, nor caused any to quit their country; every thing is strange and unsuitable to English farmers and labourers; he can cultivate with success only by slaves." "Have you, Mr. Law, no regrets at having spent so much of your time in this country?" "No, Sir, none whatever." "What, Sir, none at the loss of that society which you must have had in common with your family in England?" Here Mr. Law hesitated a little as if at a loss for an answer. "Why, {445} Sir, I once with Lord Cornwallis governed India. I returned and saw my acquaintance sliding into commerce, brewers, manufacturers, and merchants, to be cheated; such a course had no attractions for me, and I was opposed to the French war and other government measures. I therefore determined on visiting and ultimately on living in this country, where I have spent my time much to my satisfaction, never being at a loss for amusement. I write and read, and talk and visit, on the most familiar and friendly terms with my neighbours, with whom I frequently stay all night; and whenever I please, I can without ceremony go and talk frequently and freely with the President, Mr. Crawford, Calhoun, and all the heads of the government, and therefore I have the best society the land affords." "But, Sir, there are the honours and emoluments of England which _must_ have been yours." "My wants were then, and have always been, very few. I believe I have always been happier than any of my brothers. As I never knew how to say 'My lord' to any man, I did not seek or want honours or emoluments. I saw my family and friends dependant on the funds which are likely some day to beggar them and many others; a situation from which I fled." "What, Mr. Law, is likely to remedy the diseases of England?" "Sir! England is over-peopled. It is not wholly the fault of the government. A famine will be the remedy." "Could not the surplus population {446} be transported to the colonies?" "No, Sir. A famine is the only remedy." "But, Sir, is not a famine calculated to plunge the country into a dreadful political convulsion and revolution?" "It is, Sir, but the government is not blameable." "Morally considered, or with respect to morals, do you not think the population of this country inferior to that of England?" "The people in the mass are here more intelligent. You now see them at the worst time. You see them _generally_ acting unworthily and meanly, but their poverty and not their will consents. As to slaves, they steal." "And they have a right to steal," said a third person. I answered, "They, to be sure, have been robbed on a broad scale." "Why, Sir, the friends of slavery insist on it that slavery is essential to the existence of liberty. To what conclusions will they not come?"