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Show 266 LIBBll'IY AND SLAVERY. "Natural shwery, then," he continues, "is to be limited to some particular part• of the world."* Ancl ng~in: "Bad laws have made lazy men-they have been reduced to slavery because of their laziness." The fi1·st portion of this remark-that bad Jaws have made lazy metl -is not applicable to the African race. For they were made lazy, not by bad laws, but by the depravity of human nature, in connection and in co-operation with long, long centuries of brutal ignorance and the most savage modes of life. But, be the c:tuse of this laziness what it may, it is sufficient, according to the principles of this great advocate of human freedom and equality, to justify the servitude in which the providence of God has placed the African. No doubt ' it is very hard on lazy men that they should be compelled to work. It is for this reason that Montesquieu calls such slavery "the most cruel that is to be found among men;" by which he evidently means that it is the most cruel, though necessary, because those on whom it is imposed are least inclined to work. If he had only had greater experience * Spirit of Laws, vol. i. book xv. chap. viii. ARGUMENT FROM THE PUJJLIC OOOD. 2(j7 of ncg1·o sla,·cry, tho hardship would have seemed far less to him. For though the neg,·o is naturally lazy, and too improvident to work for himself, he will often labor for a master with a right good will, and with a loyal devotion to his interests. lie is, indeed, often prepared, and made ready for labor, because be feels that, in his master, he bas a protector and a friend. But whether labor be a heavy burden or a light, it must be borne. 'L'he good of the lazy race, and the good of the society into which tbey have been thrown, both require them to bear this burden, which is, after all and at the worst, far lighter than that of a vagabond life. "Nature cries aloud," says the abolitionist, "for freedom." N aturc, we reply, demands that man shall work, and her decree must be fulfilled. For ruin, as we have seen, is the bitter fruit of disobedience to her will. It is now high time that we sbonld notice some of the exalted eulogies bestowed by abolitionists upon f1·ecdom; and also the kind of freedom on which these high praises have been so eloquently lavished. This, accordingly, we shall proceed to do in the following section. |