are not more imperative than their duties; and the institutions, which for wise and necessary ends have rendered them peculiarly dependent, at least pledge the law to be to them peculiarly a friend and protector.

"The prayer of the petition is not granted.

"PIERCE M. BUTLER."

In the Western States, comprehending Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama, the negroes are, with the exception perhaps of the two latter States, in a worse condition than they ever were in the West-India Islands. This may be easily imagined, when the character of the white people who inhabit the larger portion of these States is considered—a class of people, the majority of whom are without feelings of honour, reckless in their habits, intemperate, unprincipled, and lawless, many of them having fled from the Eastern States, as fraudulent bankrupts, swindlers, or committers of other crimes, which have subjected

them to the penitentiaries-miscreants defying the climate, so that they can defy the laws. Still this representation of the character of the people inhabiting these States must, from the chaotic state of society in America, be received with many exceptions. In the city of New Orleans, for instance, and in Natches and its vicinity, and also among the planters, there are many most honourable exceptions. I have said the majority: for we must look to the mass-the exceptions do but prove the rule. It is evident that slaves under such masters can have but little chance of good treatment, and stories are told of them at which humanity shudders.

It appears, then, that the slaves, with the rest of the population of America, are working their way west, and the question may now be askedAllowing that slavery will be soon abolished in the Eastern States, what prospect is there of its ultimate abolition and total extinction in America?

I can see no prospect of exchanging slave labour for free in the Western States, as, with the

exception of Missouri, I do not think it possible that white labour could be substituted, the extreme heat and unhealthiness of the climate being a bar to any such attempt. The cultivation of the land must be carried on by a negro population, if it is to be carried on at all. The question, therefore, to be considered is, whether these States are to be inhabited and cultivated by a free or a slave negro population. It must be remembered, that not one-twentieth part of the land in the Southern States is under cultivation; every year, as the slaves are brought in from the East, the number of acres taken into cultivation increases. Not double or triple the number of the slaves at present in America would be sufficient for the cultivation of the whole of these vast territories. Every year the cotton crops increase, and at the same time the price of cotton has not materially lowered: as an everywhere increasing population takes off the whole supply, this will probably continue to be the case for many years, since it must be remem

bered that, independently of the increasing population increasing the demand, cotton, from its comparative cheapness, continually usurps the place of some other raw material; this, of course, adds to the consumption. In various manufactures, cotton has already taken the place of linen and fur; but there must eventually be a limit to consumption: and this is certain, that as soon as the supply is so great as to exceed the demand, the price will be lowered by the competition; and, as soon as the price is by competition so lowered as to render the cost and keeping of the slave greater than the income returned by his labour, then, and not till then, is there any chance of slavery being abolished in the Western States of America.*

The probability of this consummation being brought about sooner is in the expectation

* The return at present is very great in these Western States; the labour of a slave, after all his expenses are paid, producing on an average 300 dollars (£65) per annum to his master.

that the Brazils, Mexico, and particularly the independent State of Texas, will in a few years produce a crop of cotton which may considerably lower its price. At present, the United States grow nearly, if not more, than half of the cotton produced in the whole world, as the return down to 1831 will substantiate.

COTTON grown all over the world in the years 1821 and 1831; shewing the increase in each country in ten years.

The increase of cotton grown all over the

world in ten years is therefore 190,000,000 lbs.