LECTURES IN SOUTHERN CITIES. 25 



improve the condition of man has been proved, a beam 

 of delight has often illuminated an amphitheatre of human 

 faces, and earnest inquiries have followed the close of the 

 lecture, inquiries to which I was always ready to listen 

 and to answer as far as lay in my power. 



The annexed passage is from a letter 



TO PROFESSOR KINGSLEY. 



NEW ORLEANS, March 1, 1845. 



TEXAS excites very little interest here or any- 

 where else where we have been. Except to the party paper, 

 there is not the slightest appearance of enthusiam about 

 the matter, and the only instance in which it has been men- 

 tioned to me with approbation, was by a very able and ex- 

 cellent clergyman, whose church we occupy, Dr. Scott, 

 who is the Dr. Bacon of New Orleans. He is personally 

 much attached to General Jackson ; has been in his fam- 

 ily, and received much kindness from him. This gentleman 

 said, that the only reason that made him care about Texas 

 was, that it would drain slavery from the Southern States ; 

 and he said it was impoverishing that State, and that they 

 must get rid of it ; that Texas was a proper country for 

 them ; and that the Mexicans, with whom they would be 

 eventually blended, felt no objection to color in any tint 

 or variety, and all shades are here, from bright dawn to 

 deep midnight 



Professor Kingsley was in Europe in 1845. His 

 impressions were communicated to Professor Silli- 

 man in his usual concise and finished style. 



FROM PROFESSOR KINGSLEY. 



LONDON, August 26, 1845. 



MY DEAR SIR, Your letter, written in June, I received 

 in Paris just as I was leaving that city for Belgium. I feel 



