We
lodged at a quiet hotel, on an eminence above the village; and next
morning, about eight o'clock, we went to the prison, where we were very
kindly received by the superintendent, J.G. Seymour, and by the
chaplain. Soon afterwards, we had the opportunity of seeing all the male
prisoners, about seven hundred and fifty, in the chapel, when they were
addressed by a minister of the Presbyterian persuasion, whom we had met
on board the steamer, and whom Lewis Tappan had invited to be there. We
were informed that about one-third of the prisoners were colored: these
did not sit separate, but were intermixed with the rest. In general,
however, the striking language of De Beaumont, a late French traveller
in the United States, will be found true. "The prejudice against color
haunts its victim wherever he goes,--in the hospitals where humanity
suffers,--in the churches where it kneels to God,--_in the prisons where
it expiates its offences_,--in the grave-yards where it sleeps the last
sleep."
From hence we proceeded to the female department, where about eighty
were assembled, some of whom seemed much affected by an address from my
friend, Lewis Tappan.
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