658 



obstinate in their vengeance, as, with few 

 exceptions, they are generally very igno- 

 rant, confounding their own narrow and 

 selfish notions with the rights of their 

 offices and the laws of their country. To 

 travel, therefore, in a republic governed by 

 such chiefs, and inhabited by such a peo- 

 ple, cannot but be disagreeable to a fo- 

 reigner of a benevolent disposition, of an 

 independent fortune, and of generous prin- 

 ciples. When this must be the case, what 

 have not those unfortunate emigrants from 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland, to suffer, 

 who land in the American republic as in- 

 debted vagabonds, and whose first acts in 

 this land of liberty are to sell their persons 

 to pay their passages ; to present them- 

 selves before upstart, and of course insolent, 

 magistrates ; to submit to fetters, and a 

 transfer to oppressive masters, who often 

 treat them worse than their beasts of burden, 

 and to whom the negroes on our West- 

 India plantations are comparatively speak- 

 ing free men ? The numerous examples of 



