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Show 52 selves aaainst power, to keep this in perpetual check by dividing it among many hands, by limitin_g its duration, by defining its action with sharp lm_es, by watching it jealously, by holding it responsible :or abuses this is the grand aim and benefit of the soCial ' . institutions, which are our chief boast. Arbitrary' unchecked power, is the evil against which all experience cries out so loudly, that apologies for it may be dismissed without a hearing. But arlmit the plea of its apologists. Allow slavery to be ever :o humane. Grant that the man who owns me, IS ever so kind. The wrong of him who presumes to talk of ownin" me is too unmeasured to be softened by kindness.0 There are wrongs which can be redeemed by no kindness. Because a man treads on me with velvet foot, must I be content to grovel in the earth. Because he gives me meat as well as bread, whilst he takes my child and sells it into a land where my chained limbs cannot follow, must I thank him for his kindness? I do not envy those who think slavery no very pitiable a lot, provided its nakedness be covered and its hunger regularly appeased. It is worthy of consideration, that the slave's lot does not improve with the advance of what is called civilization, that is, of trade and luxuries. Slavery is such a violation of nature, that it is an exception to the general law of progress. In rude states of society, when men's wants and employ- 53 ments are few, and trade and other means of gain hardly exist, the slave leads a comparatively easy life; he partakes of the general indolence. He lives in the family much as a member, and is oppressed by no great disparity of rank. But when society advances, and wants multiply, and the lust of gain springs up, and prices increase, the slave's lot grows harder. He is vie.wed more and more as a machine to be used for profit, and is tasked like the beast of burden. The distance between him and his master increases, and he has less and less of the spirit of a man. He may have better food, but it is that he may work the more. He may be whipped less passionately or frequently; but it is, because the never varying routine of toil and the more skilful discipline which civilization teaches, have subdued him more completely. Thus to the slave it is no gain that the community grow richer and more luxurious. He has an interest in the return of society to barbarism, for in this case he would come nearer the general level. He would escape the peculiar ignominy and accumulated burdens which he has to bear in civilized life. 3. I pass to another topic suggested by 1\Ir.Gurney's book. What is it, let me ask, which has freed the West India slave, and is now raising him to the dig- 5* |