office of assistant
cook. The passengers were very clamorous, and would, without doubt, have
hanged the culprit immediately, had it not been for the interference of
the captain, who, after a curt examination, had him pinioned and taken
below. From the version given of the affair by the negroes who witnessed
it (but which was contradicted by two white men who were on the spot), I
was inclined to think the crime was committed under feelings of great
provocation, the negro, as is commonly the case on board steam-boats,
having been for a long time browbeaten by the victim of the sad
catastrophe, and subjected to very insolent and overbearing treatment at
his hands. The culprit, who was a very sullen, stolid-looking, full-bred
negro, refused to answer the questions put to him on the subject, and
certainly manifested a careless indifference to consequences that was
not in his favour; his fierce scowl denoting great ferocity, in all
probability induced by long ill-treatment. As soon as convenience
allowed, some officers from the shore came on board and secured the
prisoner, who was conveyed by them to the city gaol, to await the
investigation of the outrage by the civic authorities and the result of
the injury committed. The victim of revenge died a few days after the
occurrence in excruciating agony. It will scarcely be believed that the
perpetrator of the deed, after a short confinement, was spirited away up
the country, no doubt at the connivance of the authorities, and sold!

Thus, justice is often defeated, from pecuniary considerations in the
Slave States of America, where, if a slave commits even the heinous
crime of murder, the ordinary course of the law is interfered with to
save the owner from loss. This of itself is sufficient to stamp for ever
as infamous the social cancer of slavery, and brands as ridiculous, the
boasted regard for justice, so pragmatically urged in the southern
states of the American continent.

A mile or two from St. Louis, on the Carondelet road, are situated
spacious infantry barracks, named after Jefferson, one of the former
presidents of the Union, where troops are stationed in readiness to act
against the various tribes of Indians in the Upper Missouri country, who
sometimes show a disposition to be hostile. A reserve of troops is more
particularly needful for the protection of the inhabitants; for, either
from mismanagement or an aggressive spirit, the Government is
continually embroiled