OCR Text |
Show :!18 ON THE SLAVERY AND CoMMERCe even by thofe, who ailert it, how the facr can be made out. We are left therefore to draw the comparifon ourfelves, and to fill up thofc important confidcrations, which we h ave juil: f.1id that the recei·vers had omitted. That military puniil1ments are fevere we confefs, but we deny that they are feverer than thofe with which they are compared. Where is the military man, whofe ears have been flit, whofc limbs have been mutilated, or w hofe eyes have been beaten out ? But let us even allow, that their punifhments are equal in the degree of their feverity: il:ill they mull: lofe by comparifon. The foldier is never puniihed but after a fair and equitable trial, and the decifion of a military court; the unhappy African, at the difcretion of his Lord. The one •·· knows what particular conducr will conftitute an oftence; the other has no fuch information, as he is wholly at the difpofal of paffion and capri~e, which may impofe upon • The articles of war arc frequently read at the head of every regiment in the fervice, fbting thofc particular aCtions which are to be ~onf~~ered as crimes~ any OF THE H uMAN SPEC IES. any action, however laudable, the appellation of a crime. The former has it of courfc in his power to avoid a punifhment; the latter is never f.1fe. The former is puniihcd for a real, the latter, often, for an imaginary fau lt. Now will any perfon allert, on comparing the whole of thofc circumil:ances together, which relate to their rcfpecrivc punillm1ents, that there can be any doubt, which of the two are in the woril: fituation, as to their penal fyftems? With refpecr to the declaration, that the life of an African in the colonies is happier than that of an Eng!ijh peaf.1n t, it is equally falfe. Indeed we can fcarcely withhold our indignation, when we confider, how lllamefully the fituation of this latter clafs of men has been mifreprefented, to elevate the former to a il:atc of ficritious happinefs. If the reprefentations of the receivers be true, it is evident that thofe of the moil: approved writers, who have placed a confiderable llure of happinefs in the cottage, have been miftaken in their opinion; and that thofe of the rich, who have been heard to figh, and envy the |