We rowed the doctor over to see some of his patients on the island, and
before his departure a most animated discussion took place upon the
subject of the President of the United States, his talents,
qualifications, opinions, above all, his views with regard to the slave
system. Mr. ----, who you know is no abolitionist, and is a very devoted
Van Buren man, maintained with great warmth the President's
straight-forwardness, and his evident and expressed intention of
protecting the rights of the South. The doctor, on the other hand, quoted
a certain speech of the President's, upon the question of abolishing
slavery in the district of Columbia, which his fears interpreted into a
mere evasion of the matter, and an indication that, at some future period,
he (Mr. Van Buren), might take a different view of the subject. I confess,
for my own part, that if the doctor quoted the speech right, and if the
President is not an honest man, and if I were a Southern slave holder, I
should not feel altogether secure of Mr. Van Buren's present opinions or
future conduct upon this subject. These three _ifs_, however, are material
points of consideration. Our friend the doctor inclined vehemently to Mr.
Clay, as one on whom the slave holders could depend. Georgia, however, as
a state, is perhaps the most democratic in the Union; though here, as well
as in other places, that you and I know of, a certain class, calling
themselves the first, and honestly believing themselves the best, set
their faces against the modern fashioned republicanism, professing, and, I
have no doubt, with great sincerity, that their ideas of democracy are
altogether of a different kind.

I went again to-day to the Infirmary, and was happy to perceive that there
really was an evident desire to conform to my instructions, and keep the
place in a better condition than formerly. Among the sick I found a poor
woman suffering dreadfully from the ear-ache. She had done nothing to
alleviate her pain but apply some leaves, of what tree or plant I could