CHAP. XXII.] ABOLITIONIST (l WRECKER.&quot; 



asked I, &quot;could it effect this object ?&quot; &quot; England,&quot; 

 he replied, &quot; would declare all the slaves in the South 

 free, and thus cripple her enemy by promoting a 

 servile war. The negroes would rise, and although, 

 no doubt, there would be a great loss of life and 

 property, the South would nevertheless be a gainer 

 by ridding herself of this most vicious and impo 

 verishing institution.&quot; This man had talked to me 

 so rationally on a variety of topics so long as he was 

 restrained by the company of Southern fellow-pas- 

 sengers from entering on the exciting question of 

 slavery, that I now became extremely curious to 

 know what business had brought him to the South, 

 and made him a traveller there for several years. 

 I was told by the conductor that he was &quot;a wrecker ;&quot; 

 and I learnt, in explanation of the term, that he was 

 a commercial agent, and partner of a northern house 

 which had great connexions in the South. To him 

 had been assigned the unenviable task, in those times 

 of bankruptcy and repudiation which followed the 

 financial crisis of 1839-40, of seeking out and re 

 covering bad debts, or of seeing what could be saved 

 out of the wreck of insolvent firms or the estates of 

 bankrupt planters. He had come, therefore, into 

 contact with many adventurers who had been over 

 trading, and speculators who had grown unscrupu 

 lous, when tried by pecuniary difficulties. Every 

 year, on revisiting the Free States, he had contrasted 

 their progress with the condition of the South, which 

 by comparison seemed absolutely stationary. His 

 thoughts had been perpetually directed to the eco 

 nomical and moral evils of slavery, especially its 



