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Show 50 by honest industry, is withh eld. "The slave can acquire nothing," says one of the slave-codes, " but what must Lelong to his master;" and however this defin ition, which moves the indignation of the free, may be mitigated by favor, the spirit of it enters into the very essence of slavery.Again, the slave is stripped of his righ t to his wife and children. They belong to another, and may be torn from him, one and all , at any moment, at his master's pleasure.-Again, the sla ve is stripped of the right to the cultu re of his rational powers. He is in some cases deprived by law of instruction, which is placed within his reach by the improvements of society and the philanthropy of the age. He is not allo\Yed to toil, that his children may enjoy a better education th an himself. The most sacred right of human nature, that of developing his best fac ulties, is denied. Even should it be ~ranted, it would be conceded as a favor, and might at any moment be withheld by tho capricious will of anothet". - Again, the sla vc is deprived of the right of self-defence. No injury from a white man is he suffered to repel, nor can he seek redress from the laws of his country. If accumulated insult and wrong provoke him to the slightest retaliation, this effort for self-protection, allowed and commended to others, is a crime for which he must pay a fearful penalty.- Again, the slave is stripped of the right to be exempted from all 51 harm except for wrong doing. He is subjected to the lash, by those whom he has never consented to serve, and whose claim to him as property we have seen to be a usurpation; and this power of punishment, which, if justly claimed, should be exercised with a fearful care, is often delegated to men in whose hands there is a moral certainty of its abuse. I will add but one more example of the violation of human rights by slavery . The slave virtually suffers the wrong of robbery, though w ith utter unconsciousness on the part of those who inflict it. It may, indeed, be generally thought, that, as he is suffered to own nothing, he cannot fall , at least, under this kind of violence. But it is not true tbat he owns nothing. \Vhatever he may be denied by man, he holds from nature the most valuable property, and that from which all other is derived, I mean his strength . His labor is his own, by the gift of that God who nerved his arm, and gave him intelligence and conscience to direct the use of it for his own and others' happiness. No possession is so precious as a man's force of body and mind. The exertion of this in labor is the great foundation and source of property in outward things. The worth of articles of tmffic is measured by the labor expended in their production. To the great mass of men, in all countries, their strength |