One of the most observable effects produced by this system, is that it invariably induces the habit of not considering a large number of men, women, and children in the same light as other human beings; hence the most common maxims of justice and morality, recognised in all other cases, are not supposed to apply to slaves. The dimness of moral perception and the obtuseness of moral feeling, produced by this state of things, sometimes come out in forms very shocking to those who are unaccustomed to the system. Miss G----, of South Carolina, being on a visit to an intimate friend of the writer, certain ladies, who were present, began to talk on the never-failing topic of domestics. “You do not have the trouble of such frequent changes,” said one of them to Miss G----; “but I should think you would find it very disagreeable to be surrounded by so many slaves.” “Not at all disagreeable,” replied the lady from South Carolina; “I have always been accustomed to blacks; I was nursed by one of them, of whom I was very fond. As for good looks, I assure you some of them are very handsome. I had a young slave, who was an extremely pretty creature. A gentleman, who visited at our house, became very much in love with her. One day she requested me to speak to that gentleman, for she did not wish to be his mistress, and he troubled her exceedingly. I did speak to him, begging him to change his conduct, as his attentions were very disagreeable to my slave. For a few weeks he desisted; but at the end of that time, he told me he must have that girl, at some rate or other; he offered me a very high price; I pitied the poor fellow, and sold her to him.” Miss G---- was an unmarried woman, with correct ideas of propriety concerning those of her own color; but having been educated under a system that taught her to regard a portion of the human race as mere animals, she made the above remarks without the slightest consciousness that there was any thing shameful in the transaction. Pinckard, in his Notes on the West Indies, speaks in terms of strong disgust, of the entire want of modesty evinced by women in cases where their female slaves were concerned. “It is to the advantage of the hostess of a tavern,” says he, “that the female attendants of her family should be as handsome as she can procure them. Being slaves, the only recompense of their services is the food they eat, the hard bed they sleep on, and the few loose clothes which are hung upon them. One privilege, indeed, is allowed them, which you will be shocked to know; and this offers the only hope they have of procuring a sum of money, wherewith to purchase their freedom: and the resource among them is so common, that neither shame nor disgrace attaches to it; but, on the contrary, she who is most sought becomes an object of envy, and is proud of the distinction shown her.