PREFACE.
BY THE AUTHOR.
The following narrative is intended to answer a purpose more general and important than immediately appears upon the face of it.

The question now afloat in the world respecting THINGS AS THEY ARE is the most interesting that can be presented to the human mind.

While one party pleads for reformation and change, the other extols in the warmest terms the existing constitution of society.

It seemed as if something would be gained for the decision of this question if that constitution were faithfully developed in its practical effects.

What is now presented to the public is no refined and abstract speculation; it is a study and delineation of things passing in the moral world.