CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. HOWE. 609 



the North, where it has only an artificial foot- 

 hold, being chiefly represented by half-breeds, 

 who do not constitute a race by themselves. 



2d. Will not the practical amalgamation 

 fostered by slavery become more general after 

 its abolition ? 



Being the result of the vices engendered by 

 slavery, it is to be hoped that the emancipa- 

 tion of the blacks, by securing to them a legal 

 recognition of their natural ties, will tend to 

 diminish this unnatural amalgamation and les- 

 sen everywhere the number of these unfortu- 

 nate half-breeds. My reason for believing 

 that the colored population of the North will 

 gradually vanish is founded in great degree 

 upon the fact that that population does not 

 increase where it exists now, but is constantly 

 recruited by an influx from the South. The 

 southern half-breeds feel their false position 

 at the South more keenly than the blacks, 

 and are more inclined to escape to the North 

 than the individuals of purer black blood. 

 Remove the oppression under which the col- 

 ored population now suffers, and the current 

 will at once be reversed ; blacks and mulat- 

 toes of the North will seek the sunny South. 

 But I see no cause which should check the in- 

 crease of the black population in the South- 



39 



