instances might possibly have happened, but never to my knowledge." There are but two capital crimes in Virginia,murder and arson;-i. e. for the whites-while the punishment of death is affixed to more than seventy offences of which slaves may be convicted,-such as horse-stealing, hog-stealing for the third time, forgery in all its branches, from the imitation or uttering of a bank-note, to the wilful possession of false papers of freedom. By the law of Maryland, a slave, if convicted of murder, arson, or petty treason, is liable to have his right arm cut off; and after being hanged, to have his head severed from his body; the quarters of which, together with the head, may be exposed to public view in the most frequented parts of the county where the crime was committed. It would be an endless and a disgusting task, to enumerate the abominations of the slave penal code, as it prevails in all its varieties throughout the Southern States; the cruelty of the enactment being in a direct ratio with the difficulty of finding a substitute for the penitentiary, and the conscience-stricken cowardice of an unprincipled legislature. The population of Richmond, which exceeds 16,000, has not increased much since the last or the preceding census. A line of packet-ships to Europe has been established at Warwick, a few miles below the city, and has already reduced the freightage from New York one-sixth. Still the greater part of the country-dealers in Virginia are supplied by the northern and eastern cities through Richmond*; which, one would think, might more advantageously import directly from Europe. There is either want of confidence in the retail dealers, or want of capital and enterprise in the merchants of the latter place. The superiority which the free States thus enjoy, gives them an immediate interest in the continuance of a system to which the advantage may be traced. The physicians of Madrid, some years back, would not allow the streets to be cleared of their filth, because it strengthened the constitution! The holidays that the slaves are allowed three times a year, occurred near the period of my visit, They last three or four days. While they continue, the slaves have leave to visit their friends in other parts of the State. I was told that they seldom availed themselves of the opportunity to escape. Some of them meet with indulgent masters, and are even allowed a plot of ground to cultivate on their own account; the proceeds arising from the sale of what is grown upon it being their own. The kindness they thus receive is not often thrown away; * When, a short time back, the tonnage of the United States amounted altogether to 1,439,450 tons, nearly one half belonged to New England, and more than one fourth to Massachusetts. though distrust has led to an opposite opinion, and an opposite line of conduct *. The spirit of gambling seems to possess a vast number of the "higher orders" in Richmond; while the mode of exorcising it, adopted by those who are impatient to shew their abhorrence of its excesses, is not the best fitted to reclaim its victims, or conciliate respect for the laws which exist for its suppression. Seven houses-some accounts say eightfrequented by gamblers, were lately broken into by a mob, the furniture destroyed, and the fragments openly burned in the streets. The mayor is reported to have been present at the bonfire. The Norfolk Herald, in relating the facts, used the following words:"To enable our readers to account for proceedings, apparently of a character unassimilated to a Southern population, we have copied an article of * It seems to be thought in the South, that slaves, like walnut-trees, women and spaniels, are the better" the more you beat them." "Nux, mulier, catulus, simili sunt lege ligati :- An old French distich says: Oignez vilain, il vous poindra : Poignez vilain, il vous oindra ;" -a maxim too good not to be put into monkish rhyme. 66 Quando mulcetur villanus, pejor habetur. Pungas villanum, polluet ille manum. Ungentem pungit, pungentem rusticus ungit.” some length from the Richmond Compiler; which will shew the nature and extent of that moral pestilence, which it has thereby been attempted to remove, while it will relieve the city of Richmond from all discredit in the manner of accomplishing it." At New Orleans the authorities care very little whether a vice be in good odor or not, as long as they can follow the Roman emperor's maxim, and extract sweet lucre from it. There a gambler can provide for his family, while he is pursuing his amusements; the Orphan Asylum in that city being supported out of the licences which the houses he frequents pay to the corporation. There are seven or eight, if not more, of these infamous dens; and, as each contributes annually 7000 dollars to this fund, we may conclude that the asylum will never want orphans, nor the orphans an asylum, while the tax on play continues. CHAPTER XXI. National Habits.-Stage-coach Preaching.-Winns ville.-Character of Proprietor.-National Vanity.-Old World and New World.-Last Home and Hope of Liberty.-Natural Scenery. -Staunton.-Cure for Love.-Slaves in the Valley. - Education prohibited. Purity of Breakfast-table.-Natural Bridge.Whipping and Gouging.-Customs of the Valley.-Honesty and Hospitality.-Soul-drivers.-Alleghany. ON Monday, the 12th, I left Richmond by the Charlotteville stage. There were but two other. passengers; one a bookseller in the former place,-the other the book-keeper to the coach-office. The former was very conversible; the latter a good-tempered fellow, but sadly addicted to yawning; a practice so little thought of in the country, as not to be considered disrespectful,—and so general, as to be almost a national habit, except that the better half of the community have neither adopted it as a luxury, nor yielded to it as an infirmity. It was some time before I could fully comprehend this matter. I naturally thought, when I found myself the yawnee, that the yawner was tired of the tête-à-tête; and |