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 among the latter class was the prospective Northern slaveholder, shrinking a little from the unwelcome task before him,—unwelcome, because the Northern prejudices against the system instilled into him among the granite hills of his native state were not quite conquered, yet bearing on his brow the well defined outlines of a dogged perseverance when the Yankee's love of money should overpower the nobler instincts of the soul. He bid off at an exorbitant price a beautiful Quadroon, not the best investment of money, which was of little moment just now, as he had fixed upon her, at any price, for a present to his young bride; but retribution soon followed them both, for the Quadroon became the fire-brand of domestic discord. The sale went on very much like our sales of cattle and swine, with the exception of a more barbarous set of tradesmen.

When Walter returned to his hotel he made some remarks upon the revolting spectacle he had witnessed, and drew some disparaging comparisons of this inhuman traffic with the theory of our democratic institutions and religious professions, which stirred the chivalric blood of the hot-headed Southron.

"You'd better look out, young man, how you come here to meddle with our institutions. They are our right, and we will have none of your Northern interference," said a well-dressed sprig of the Southern aristocracy.

"I did not come here to meddle with your institutions. I came to visit the tomb of Washington, the founder of this Republic, and I ought to have the right of free speech any where within its precincts,