Does any one say these are solitary instances of atrocity? Doubtless such advertisements are rare, but not unique. Others of the same kind, and still more atrocious, might be adduced. But which constitutes the greater atrocity,--to use men and women as "stallions" and "brood mares," or to speak or print the damning deed? If the latter shows hardened feeling, what does the former prove? If these advertisements were the only ones of the kind which could be cited, still they tell a story of brutal outrage, which is happening in this Christian land, every day, hour, and minute, to tens of thousands of human beings! Other advertisements, showing the brutality of the examinations to which women are frequently subjected, might be cited. But for these we must refer the reader to other anti-slavery documents; for enough of the disgusting details has been exhibited to establish our position. To obtain any thing like an adequate conception of the brutalizing influence upon the slaves of this trading in their bodies and the bodies of their children, we must first see to what an extent it is carried. We shall confine our attention chiefly to those who make a business of the matter, "to gentlemen dealing in slaves;" leaving almost wholly unnoticed the vast number of instances of buying and selling slaves between private individuals, chaffering between neighbors, for their private ends! Not that this latter kind of slave-trade is any less degrading in its effects, but only because proofs in relation to the other are more accessible, and are amply sufficient for our purpose. CHAPTER VIII. "DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE." "The traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of justice and humanity."--_Treaty of Ghent._ No description of ours can give any adequate idea of the extent of this terrible trade. It is as regular a branch of business as any other that can be named. The city of Washington licenses persons to "traffic in slaves for profit"! The trade is carried on between Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky,--or the slave-raising States,--and Alabama, Mississippi, and the other slave-consuming States. Depots, or private jails, are erected at convenient places. In the "American Beacon" (published at Norfolk, Va.), Jan. 24, 1848, appear the two following advertisements:--