t he was of opinion the establishment of
a new factory near a point where the slavers most resorted, and where
gold-dust and palm-oil were also to be had in the greatest quantities,
and consequently at the lowest prices, would equally benefit trade and
philanthropy; that by a judicious application of our means these two
interests might be made to see-saw very cleverly, as cause and effect,
effect and cause; that the black man would be spared an incalculable
amount of misery, the white man a grievous burden of sin, and the
particular agents of so manifest a good might quite reasonably calculate
on making at the very least forty per cent. per annum on their money
besides having all their souls saved in the bargain. Of course I
assented to a proposition so reasonable in itself, and which offered
benefits so plausible!

The next epistle was from the head of a great commercial house in
Spain in which I had taken some shares, and whose interests had been
temporarily deranged by the throes of the people in their efforts to
obtain redress for real or imaginary wrongs. My correspondent showed a
proper indignation on the occasion, and was not sparing in his language
whenever he was called to speak of popular tumults. "What do the
wretches wish?" he asked with much point--"Our lives as well as our
property? Ah! my dear sir, this bitter fact impresses us all (by us
he meant the mercantile interests) with the importance of strong
executives. Where should we have been but for the bayonets of the king?
or what would have become of our altars, our firesides, and our persons,
had it not pleased God to grant us a monarch indomitable in will,
brave in spirit, and quick in action?" I wrote a proper answer of
congratulation and turned to the next epistle, which was the last of the
communications.

The eighth letter was from the acting head of another commercial house
in New York, United States of America, or the country of Captain Poke,
where it would seem the president by a decided exercise of his authority
had drawn upon himself the execrations of a large portion of the
commercial interests of the country; since the effect of the measure,
right or wrong, as a legitimate consequence or not, by hook or by
crook, had been to render money scarce. There is no man so keen in his
philippics, so acute in discovering and so prompt in analyzing facts, so
animated in his philosophy, and so eloquent in his complaints, as your
debtor when money unex