CHAP. XXIII.] DEMOCRACY AND SLAVERY. 57 



The succession of breakfasts, dinners, and suppers 

 entailed by it appears endless. In a Northern boat, 

 after the passengers and officers of the ship have 

 dined, the few servants who waited on them have 

 their meal ; but here we had five distinct repasts 

 set out, one after the other. First, the cabin pas 

 sengers dine ; then come the white nurses, children, 

 and officers of the ship ; thirdly, the deck pas 

 sengers, being white, answering to our steerage ; 

 fourthly, the white waiters, waited upon by co 

 loured men ; fifthly, coloured passengers, free or 

 slave, and coloured waiters. It sometimes happens 

 that a free negro who has made a good deal of 

 money is on board ; he must wait till all the white 

 aristocracy, including the waiters, are served, and 

 then take his turn with the lowest of the blacks. 

 To a European this exclusiveness seems the more 

 unnatural and offensive in the Southern States, be 

 cause they make louder professions even than the 

 Northerners of democratic principles and love of 

 equality. I must do them the justice, however, to 

 admit, that they are willing to carry out their prin 

 ciples to great lengths when the white race alone is 

 concerned. I heard of a newly -arrived Irish ditcher 

 at Chehaw, who was astonished when invited to sit 

 down at table with his employer, a proprietor in the 

 neighbourhood, who thought it necessary to recog 

 nise him as an equal. On one occasion, when I 

 visited a lawyer at his country-house in Alabama 

 one accustomed to the best society of a large city, 

 and the ladies of whose family were refined and cul 

 tivated he felt it incumbent on him, to my great 



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