change this trait of the black man's character. But although we admit, as in the above sentence, that there is a redeeming power, which, if sought unto by the negro man, can and will heal him of that infirmity; yet, as we are informed, this very sin infects even the sanctuary of religion in the south among the negroes.
For a proof of this, see a paper entitled the "Colored American," published in New York, by Charles Ray, No. 9, Spruce street. The date of the paper is March 7, 1840. This paper is devoted to abolition purposes, in which is the following account of the travels of a certain minister of the gospel, by the name of S. Hoes, through the southern country. This man, on arriving at the city of New Orleans, visited, one evening, a negro religious meeting, over which a white preacher presided. The congregation consisted of some eight hundred colored persons. Many of them seemed to be intelligent in their appearance. Their decorum in the church, and attention to the sermon, was worthy of all imitation. They sung with great devotion and melody. Their piety, the minister said, was generally uniform and consistent, with but one exception. And what was that exception, think ye? it was promiscuous intercourse between the sexes, which the pastor said was their formidable sin, and of which they were guilty to an alarming degree, and was common throughout all that country, among the blacks.
In this fact is seen how powerful an influence lewdness exerts over the degraded and low-minded spirits of the African race, yielding themselves up to mere
