--South Carolina, 4th Month, 5th, 1835. "With regard to slavery I
must confess, though we had heard a great deal on the subject, we
found on coming South the _half_, the _worst_ half too, had not been
told us; not that we have ourselves seen much oppression, though truly
we have felt its deadening influence, but the accounts we have
received from every tongue that nobly dares to speak upon the subject,
are indeed _deplorable_. To quote the language of a lady, who with
true Southern hospitality, received us at her mansion. "The _northern_
people don't know anything of slavery at all, they think it is
_perpetual bondage merely_, but of the _depth of degradation_ that
that word involves, they have no conception; if they had any just idea
of it, they would I am sure use every effort until an end was put to
such a shocking system.'
"Another friend writing from South Carolina, and who sustains herself
the legal relation of slaveholder, in a letter dated April 4th, 1838,
says--'I have some time since, given you my views on the subject of
slavery, which so much engrosses your attention. I would most
willingly forget what I have seen and heard in my own family, with
regard to the slaves. _I shudder when I think of it_, and increasingly
feel that slavery is a curse since it leads to such _cruelty_.'"