They are the Americans,--the descendants of those who had come over from England. Finally, I concluded that these slaveholders have no _women_ among them, as the tender, kind-hearted women would have put the abominable trade to destruction. To my utter surprise, I was told by my friends that the slaveholders have their families, churches, pastors, etc.! God only knows with what a sad shock my heart sank down. I could not but think that in no portion of the globe had the blessed religion of Christ been made into a machine to work for the selfish man, to satisfy his cupidity, as it had been in the United States of America. These men support, by Christianity, that very system of bondage which Christianity came to destroy. The parable of the master releasing his servant from his debt, and of that servant tormenting his fellow-servant for a small sum he had owed him, came into my mind, and I realized the truth uttered by those wise lips of Jesus twenty centuries ago. Mr. Dall told me that there are free States in the Union. This puzzled me again. Union of _free_ and _slave_ States! It must be a queer Union! No! it cannot be so. St. Paul could not very well understand the communion of things of contrary nature: “And what communion hath light with darkness?” etc. (2 Cor. vi. 14–16). The union of fire and water, light and darkness, freedom and slavery is impossible. So I concluded that there are good antislavery men and women in America, as it cannot be that human nature there is totally depraved; but these States must be pro-slavery, since “He who friendship with knave hath made, Is judged a partner in the trade.” Reading in a small book something like-- “The British flag floats over land and sea, And beneath it the slave is _free_,” my joy knew no bounds. Hardly could I read the lines; the tears dimmed my eyes, and I cried, “Father of the poor, bless the flag of England! Wave, wave thou mighty flag with the cross on thy bosom, and draw the low, despised children of God to come under thy protection. Thy charms melt the iron that binds the feet of slaves! Wave majestically and on high, that the bond may see thee through the wide country stretching from Maine to Florida, and from Massachusetts to California!”