ions growing out of that
event. 2. The decreasing proportion which the slaves bear to the
individual holders of them; a consequence of the abolition of
entails and the rule of primogeniture; and of the equalizing
tendency of parental affection unfettered from all prejudices,
as well as from the restrictions of law.

With respect to the moral features of Virginia, it must be
observed, that pictures which have been given of them are, to say
the least, outrageous caricatures, even when taken from the state
of society previous to the Revolution; and that so far as there
was any ground or colour for them then, the same cannot be found
for them now.

Omitting more minute or less obvious causes, tainting the habits
and manners of the people under the Colonial Government, the
following offer themselves: 1. The negro slavery chargeable in so
great a degree on the very quarter which has furnished most of
the libellers. It is well known that during the Colonial
dependence of Virginia, repeated attempts were made to stop the
importation of slaves, each of which attempts was successively
defeated by the foreign negative on the laws, and that one of the
first offsprings of independent republican legislation was an act
of perpetual prohibition.

* * * * *

With the exception of slavery, these demoralizing causes have
ceased or are wearing out; and even that, as already noticed, has
lost no small share of its former character. On the whole, the
moral aspect of the State may, at present, be fairly said to bear
no unfavorable comparison with the average standard of the other
States. It certainly gives the lie to the foreign calumniators
whom you propose to arraign.[7]

TO ROBERT J. EVANS (AUTHOR OF THE PIECES PUBLISHED UNDER THE
NAME OF BENJAMIN RUSH).

MONTPELLIER, June 15, 1819.

_Sir_,--I have received your letter of the 3d instant, requesting
such hints as may have occurred to me on the subject of an
eventual extinguishment of slavery in the United States.

Not doubting the purity of your views, and relying on the
discretion by which they will be regulated, I cannot refuse such
a compliance as will, at least, manifest my respect for the
object o