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Show 150 DESPOTISl\1 tion to the stagnant soul of his host. Hospitality has ever been a virtue abundantly practised among all idle aud indolent races. ,.rhe indian tribes of America are all celebrated for its exercise. The plundering Arabs of the desert look upon it as a religious dnty,for conscience and inclination are always apt to pull together. But the exercise of this virtue among the people of the south, becomes the occasion of several practices of the most dangerous and deleterious kind. It is not the cause of those practices, but only the occasion for them. In itself, it is essentially good, and displays the character of the slave-holder in the most amiable light it ever assumes. Hospitality is benevolence on a. small scale, and how can benevolence on any othr.r scale be expected, from men whose total existence is a continned violation of its clearest and most urgent commands 1 1. The spirit of improvidence, above described, as one of the evil results of the slave-holding system, when it becomes associated with the passion for hospitality, is reenforced by two very powerful motives, which give it new impetus; first, the desire of attracting visiters, by the s11perior luxury and expensiveness of the entertainment offered; and second and principally, the love of superiority, that spirit of emulation and rivalry, which leads each planter to outvie his neighbor in the profusion of his hospitality. It is astonishing what a number of southern planters have been ruined in their pecuniary aifairs by the joint operation of these means. 2. The Hospitality of the south, not only stimulates improvidence, it is the nursing mother of the vice of DRUNKENNESS, which prevails throughout the whole country to a frightful extent. Dinner parties end too often in general intoxication. What is called the Temperance R eform, has made but trilling progress in the slave-holding states. The obstacles in its way are imtnense. To drink is absolutely necessary as a mep.ns of killing time. Among the lower orders of the IN AMERICA. 151 privileged class, every social meeting ends in drunkenness. Attend an election, and by the time the polls are closed, you will find a great collection of citizens at the place of voting, all or most of them, " gloriously drunk." Stay long enough and you will see a fight. ln Kentucky such occasions are apt to w ind up, with what is called a free fight, that is, a general and indiscriminate knock-down, in which every body present is at liberty to participate. 'l'his is the grand finale, or concluding chorus; but before this part of the performance is reached, there are duets, trios, quartets and qnintets, in all possible variety In Mississippi Tennessee, and elsewhere, laws have been enacted, prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors in small quantities. Some movements have also been made in Georgia and South Carolina, towards obtaining the passage of similar laws. Laws of this kind arc easily enacted in those states, much more so than at the north, because in those states, the wholesale trade in liquors is almost entirely confined to a few northern merchants and traders, who have no political influence, while the retail trade is in the hands of a set of poor white shopkeepers, rendered odious and infamous by their habit of secret traffic with the slaves, and belonging to that inferior class of the privileged order, which though it exceeds in numbers, is deprived for the most part, of any political anthority. But however easy it may be to enact such laws, it will be impossible to enforce them, so long as the very legislators by whose votes they are enacted, are themselves perpetually in the habit of excessive drinking. These laws will fall into the same total neglect with the slatutes against wearing concealed weapons already referred to, and those against gaming, to which we shall presently refer. 3. But such is the total stagnation of intellect and sentiment at the south, that even the stimulus of intoxicating liquors is not enough to give life and zest to social intercourse. There is need of more potent tneans. Necessity is the mother of invention. That means is at hand. It is GAI\IING. |
