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Show 80 DESPOTISM the beasts they drive; forbidden to indulge their natural and irrepressible inclmatwns; pnsoners d~ough at larcrc. forever watched; forever thwarted, aggrieved 'still further by the constant spectacle of privileges, enjoyments, objects and pnrsm.ts l? share in which they cannot even dream, but which m~rca.se in estimated value with the hopelessness of thmr attainment ;-what 'wonder, if in souls s~ beset wuh grievous temptations, there should sprmg up a.nd grow, a fierce envy, a .desperate hate, an .1m potent mdignation preying on _Itself, a d~rl~, ferocwus, restless spirit of revenge whtch delay untates, conceal!flent sharpens, and f~ar embitters '! 'What wonder,, tf all the mild feelings which soften man, and make htm capable of happiness himself, and of conferrmg happmess on others -are choked and blasted by a rank growth or' deadly passions; and that he, who under better auspices, might have been an ornament and a benefactor to society, becomes a plague to others, a torment to himselO Such are the effects which must inevitably be ]lroduced upon that sensitive and irritable disposiuon, the usual accompamment of gem us; and the same effects, to a greater or less extent, may be expected to result in the case of every slave, whose phySical wants are so far satisfied, that he becomes capable of reHection, and passes from the narro':'' ctrcle of ammal de$ire, into the boundless amphttheatre of human wishes. . Would it promote the happiness of onr domesttc animals our horses and our oxen, supposing them to remain 1in their present external condition, to en~ow them with the passions and the intellect of 111en 1 Who will maintain the affirmative of a propos1t10~ ~o absnrd 1 Yet the attempt to alleviate the cond•t•onnf slavery, merely by improving the phystcal condttt01n of the slaves, is an attempt, the absurdtty of wlncl' if it be less obvious is precisely of the same nature. Keep your slaves' pinched with hunger and worn down with fatigue, and they remain merely ammals, IN AThl~ttiCA. 81 or very little more. They suffer It 1s true; but they suffer as ammals. There 1s a ccrtam fixed hmit to their misery. It has its intervals of cessation. The imagination l:as no power over it. \Vhat it i~, it is. The present IS the whole; for the past is forgotten and the future is not anticipated. ' But satisfy their hunger; put them physically at ease; give them leisure for thought,-and you create new sufferings more bitter than those you have rc~ moved. The m an finds that yoke intolerable, of whtch the ammal hardly percejved the existence. For two or three wants that you have relieved, you have cr~ated twenty oth.ers, or caused them to be felt, wants mcessant, unqmet, unappeaseablc; and for these wan~s there is no remedy,-no remedy, while you remam a master, and they slaves! After the sybil had cast two volumes into the fire, the third remained, as costly and as precious as all the three. In like manner, the chain of servitude loses none of its weight, by parting with a portion of its links. While one remains, that one is heavy as the whole ! ~ay, heavier ;-and as it dwindles to the sight, still II pierces deeper to the soul; it frets and ulcerates the heart. At first it only bound the limbs; but now it penetrates, and with its murderous touch, tortures the vitals! .- It is a common remark at the South, that the more mtelhgent a slave is, the more unquiet, dangerons, and troublesome he is. The remark is just. The more intelligent a slave is, the more grievously he feels the yoke of slavery. If a master then , th rough l~dul~ence towards his s laves, has placed them in a sltn~tiOn of comparative physical comfort, so far from havm~ a reas.on for stopping at that point, it becomes more 1mperat1vely his duty to go on. By doing what he has done, he has sharpened the appetite for liberty; and th1s appetite which he has sharpened, is he not the. more urgently called upon to gratify? Let It not be said that this argument is no better than an apology for a system of hard labor and |
