“I thought it most candid to address a letter to the President informing him of the character of the foregoing memorial, rather than take advantage of a merely formal introduction to present it, without a previous explanation.  To this letter no reply was received, and no allusion was made to it by the President at a subsequent introduction, which we had to him.  It may be proper to mention in this connection, that memorials of a similar character, bearing upon slavery and the slave-trade, signed by the venerable Clarkson, have been presented to different Heads of Governments, in other parts of the world, and have been uniformly received with marked respect.

“Previous to our departure, we visited a private slave-trading establishment in the city, and looked in upon a group of human beings herded together like cattle for the market, within an enclosure of high brick walls surrounding the jail.  The young man in attendance, informed us that there were five or six other regular slave-dealers in the city, who, having no jails of their own, either placed their slaves at this establishment, or in the public CITY PRISON.  The former was generally preferred, on account of its superior accommodations in respect to food and lodging.  On my making some remarks to the young man on the nature of his occupation, he significantly, and as I think, very justly replied, that he knew of no reasons for condemning slave-traders, which did not equally apply to slave-holders.  You will bear in mind that this was said within view of the Capitol, where slave-holders control your national legislation, and within a few minutes’ walk of that mansion where a slave-holder sits in the presidential chair, placed there by your votes; and it is certainly no marvel, that, with such high examples in his favor, the humble slave-dealer of the District should feel himself in honorable company, and really regard his occupation as one of respectability and public utility.

“From thence we proceeded to the city prison, an old and loathsome building, where we examined two ranges of small stone cells, in which were a large number of colored prisoners.  We noticed five or six in a single cell, barely large enough for a solitary tenant, under a heat as intense as that of the tropics.  The keeper stated that in rainy seasons the prison was uncomfortably wet.  The place had to us a painful interest, from the fact that here Dr. Crandall, a citizen of the free States, was confined until his health was completely broken down, and was finally released only to find a grave, for the crime of having circulated a pamphlet on emancipation, written by one of the friends who accompanied me.[A] On inquiry of the keeper, he informed us that slaves were admitted into his cells, and kept for their owners at the rate of thirty-four cents per day, and that transfers of them from one master to another sometimes took place during their confinement; thus corroborating