52 DEMOCRACY AND SLAVERY. [CHAP. XXIII 



taught by their spiritual guides in three-fourths of Christendom, 

 that they are riot to inquire for themselves. Even of the Protest 

 ant minority, who profess that it is their right and duty to exer 

 cise their own judgment, how many are there who annex the 

 condition &quot;provided they arrive at the conclusions to which the 

 Church has come, without which they cannot be saved !&quot; What 

 more would a Stephanist or a Mormon preacher ask, than the 

 privilege of borrowing and inculcating these maxims ? and how, 

 if the use of them be freely granted, and they have motives for 

 perpetuating some peculiar sectarian dogmas, is the delusion ever 

 to end ? 



In a southern steamer abundant opportunities are afforded of 

 witnessing the inconveniences arising out of the singular relation 

 subsisting between the negroes, whether free or slave, and the 

 white race. 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 \ve had five dis 

 tinct repasts set out, one after the other. First, the cabin passen 

 gers dine ; then come the white nurses, children, and officers of 

 the ship ; thirdly, the deck passengers, being white, answering to 

 our steerage ; fourthly, the white waiters, waited upon by colored 

 men ; fifthly, colored passengers, free or slave, and colored wait 

 ers. 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 exclu- 

 siveness seems the more unnatural and offensive in the southern 

 states, because they make louder professions even than the north 

 erners of democratic principles and love of equality. I must do 

 them the justice, however, to admit, that they are willing to carry 

 out their principles 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 neighborhood, who thought it neces 

 sary to recognize him as an equal. On one occasion when I 

 visited a lawyer at his country-house in Alabama one accus- 



