American Scenes, and Christian Slavery | Page 9

time, the poor slave girl lay on the scanty straw of her
dungeon, waiting--with what agony the great and pitying God of the
white and black only knows--for the birth of the child of her adulterous
master. Horrible! Was ever what George Sand justly terms 'the great
martyrdom of maternity'--that fearful trial which love alone converts
into joy unspeakable--endured under such conditions? What was her
substitute for the kind voices and gentle soothings of affection? The
harsh grating of her prison lock,--the mockings and taunts of unfeeling
and brutal keepers! What, with the poor Pauline, took the place of the
hopes and joyful anticipations which support and solace the white
mother, and make her couch of torture happy with sweet dreams? The
prospect of seeing the child of her sorrow, of feeling its lips upon her
bosom, of hearing its feeble cry--alone, unvisited of its unnatural father;
and then in a few days--just when the mother's affections are strongest,
and the first smile of her infant compensates for the pangs of the
past--the scaffold and the hangman! Think of the last terrible
scene,--the tearing of the infant from her arms, the death-march to the
gallows, the rope around her delicate neck, and her long and dreadful
struggles, (for, attenuated and worn by physical suffering and mental
sorrow, her slight frame had not sufficient weight left to produce the
dislocation of her neck on the falling of the drop,) swinging there alive
for nearly half an hour--a spectacle for fiends in the shape of humanity!

Mothers of New England! such are the fruits of slavery. Oh! in the
name of the blessed God, teach your children to hate it, and to pity its
victims. Petty politicians and empty-headed Congress debators are
vastly concerned, lest the 'honour of the country' should be
compromised in the matter of the Oregon Boundary. Fools! One such
horrible atrocity as this murder of poor Pauline 'compromises' us too
deeply to warrant any further display of their patriotism. It would
compromise Paradise itself! An intelligent and philanthropic European
gentleman, who was in New Orleans at the time of the execution, in a
letter to a friend in this vicinity, after detailing the circumstances of the
revolting affair, exclaims, 'God of goodness! God of justice! There
must be a future state to redress the wrongs of this. I am almost
tempted to say--there must be a future state, or no God!'"
On Saturday, the 30th, we set off to seek private lodgings. Led by a
board having on it in large letters the words "Private Boarding," we
"inquired within," found what we wanted, and engaged for eight dollars
per week each. We then went to pay our bill at the "St. Charles's," and
to bring away our carpet-bag. We had been there two nights, had had
one dinner, two teas, and two breakfasts. These meals, as we did not
like to join the hundreds at the "ordinary," were served to us (in a very
ordinary way however) in our bedroom. In fact, the waiting was
miserably done. And yet for this we had the pleasure of paying eleven
dollars,--say _£2. 6s._! We gladly bade adieu to the "St. Charles's." It
suited neither our taste nor our pocket. Nevertheless, it is a magnificent
concern. The edifice was finished in 1838 by a company, and cost
600,000 dollars. The gentlemen's dining-room is 129 feet by 50, and is
22 feet high; having four ranges of tables, capable of accommodating
500 persons. The ladies' dining-room is 52 feet by 36. The house
contains 350 rooms, furnishing accommodation for between 600 and
700 guests; and it was quite full when we were there. The front is
adorned with a projecting portico, supported by six fine Corinthian
columns, resting upon a rustic basement. The edifice is crowned with a
large dome, forty-six feet in diameter, having a beautiful Corinthian
turret on the top. This dome is the most conspicuous object in the city.
Viewed from a distance, it seems to stand in the same relation to New
Orleans as St. Paul's to London. The furniture of this immense
establishment cost 150,000 dollars. A steam-engine, producing a very

disagreeable tremor, is constantly at work in the culinary department.
While on our way to get the remainder of our baggage from the ship,
we came upon a street in which a long row, or rather several rows, of
black and coloured people were exposed in the open air (and under a
smiling sun) for sale! There must have been from 70 to 100, all young
people, varying from 15 to 30 years of age. All (both men and women)
were well dressed, to set them off to the best advantage, as is always
the case at these sales. Several of the coloured girls--evidently the
daughters of white