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Show 136 FRIENDSHIP FOR ~'liE SLAVE. in the employment of landlords, for wages. But this change bas not depressed or degraded the landlords, or injured them in any way. On the contrary, it has probably elevated and improvcJ the condition of the mastel quite as much as it bas that of the man. Imagine such a change as this on any southern plantation: the Christian master desiring conscientiously to obey the divine commaud,-givcn expressly for his guidance, in his responsible relation of em· ployer,-that he should "give unto his servants that which is just and equal,-forbcaring thrcatcning,"-rcsoh• es that he will henceforth inuucc industry on his estate by the payment of honest wages, instead of coercing his laborers by menaces and stripes; and after carefully considering the whole ground, be estimates, as fairly and faithfully as be can, what proportion of the whole avails of his culture properly belong to the labor performed by his men, and what to the capital, skill, and supervision, furnished and exercised by him· sclf,-and then fixes upon a Tate of wage~, graduating the scale fairly and honestly according to the strength, the diligence, and the fidelity of the various laborers. Suppose, also, that some suitable arrangement is made on the plantation or in the vicinity, by which the scr· FniENDSIIIP FOR 'l'llE SLAVE. 137 vants can expend what they earn, iu such comforts, ornaments, or luxuries as arc adapted to their con4 clition and their ideas. Suppose that, in consequence of the operation of this system, the laborers, instead of desiring, ns now, to make their escape from the scene of labor, should each prize and value his place in it, and fear dismission from it as a punishment. Suppose that through the change which this new state of things should produce, it should become an agreeable and honorable duty to superintend and manage the system, us it is now agreeable and honorable to superintend the operations of a manufactory, or the construction or working of a rail way, or the building of a fortress, or any other organizecl system of industry where the workmen arc paid, and that consequently, instead of rude and degraded overseers, intemperate and pro· fane, extorting labor by threats and severity, there sl)ould be found a class of int~lligent, humane, and honest men, to direct and superintend the industry of the cstatc,-mcn whom the proprietor would not he usbamed to associate with, or to admit to his parlor or table. In a word, suppose that the general content· ment and happiness which the new system would in· . duce in all concerned in it, were such that peace of |
