CHAP. XXIV.] JEALOUSY OF WEALTH. 69 



a man of fifty years experience, had been called a 



coward by a young man, Mr. Thomas R . This 



touched his honour, which must be vindicated by 

 putting his duty as a son, a father, a citizen, a Chris 

 tian, and a man at stake. The point to be proved 



by being murdered, was that Tom II s opinion 



was incorrect, and that Mr. P was a man of 



honour and of courage. Mr. P is dead. Did his 



conduct prove that he was a brave or wise man ? Is 

 his reputation better, or is it worse for all this ? If 

 he could rise from the dead, and appear again in the 

 streets of Richmond, would he be counted more a 

 man of courage or honour, than if he had never taken 



the least notice of T. R or his opinion ? Mr. 



R - lives, and has his opinion still, and other 

 people have also their opinion of him,&quot; &c. 



I heard many anecdotes, when associating with 

 small proprietors in Alabama, which convinced me 

 that envy has a much ranker growth among the 

 aristocratic democracy of a newly settled Slave State 

 than in any part of New England which I visited. 

 I can scarcely conceive the ostracism of wealth or 

 superior attainments being carried farther. Let 

 a gentleman who has made a fortune at the bar, in 

 Mobile or elsewhere, settle in some retired part of 

 the newly cleared country, his fences are pulled 

 down, and his cattle left to stray in the woods, and 

 various depredations committed, not by thieves, for 

 none of his property is carried away, but by neigh 

 bours who, knowing nothing of him personally, have 

 a vulgar jealousy of his riches, and take for granted 

 that his pride must be great in proportion. In a 



