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Show 264 LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. very first law of nature, or merely a compliance with the very first condition of all economic, social, and moral well-being. But the times arc changed. Tho exigencies of abolitionism now require that manual labor, and the g>"oss mate>"ial wealth it produces, should be sncoringly spoken of, and great swelling eulogies pronounced on the infinite value of the negro"s fr·eedom. For this is all ho has; and for this, all else has been sacrificed. Thus, since abolitionists themselves have been made to see that the fr·ced negro-tho pet and idol of thcit· hearts-will not work fr·om rational motives, -then the principles of political economy, and the affairs of the world, all must be adjusted to the course he may be pleased to take. In this connection we shall notice a passage from Montesqnien, which is exactly in point. lie is often quoted by the abolitionists, but seldom fairly. It is true, he is exceedingly hostile to slavery in g~J~teral, and very justly pours ridicule and contempt on some of the arguments used in favor of the institution. B';'t yet, with all his enthusiastic love of libcrty,-nay, with his ardent passion for equality,-ho saw far too deeply into the true " Spirit of Laws" not to perceive that slavery is, in certain cases, founded All.GUMENT FROM TilE PUULIC GOOD. 265 on the g•·cat principles of political justice. It is precisely in those cases in which a race or a people will not work without being compelled to do so, that he justifies the institution in question. Though warmly and zealously opposed to slavery, yet he was not bent on sacrificing the good of society to abstractions or to prejudice. lienee, he could say : "But as all men are hom equal, slavery must be accounted unnatural, TIIOUGII IN SOME COUNTRIES IT BE FOUNDED ON NATURAL REASON; and a wide difl(ll"ence ought to be made betwixt such countries, and those in which natural reason rejects it, as in Europe, where it has been happily abolished."'* Now, if we inquire in what countries, or tmder what circumstances, he considered slavery founded on natural reason, we may find his answer in a preceding portion of the same page. It is in those "countries," says he, "where the excess of heat enervates the body, and renders men so slothful ancl dispirited, that nothing but the fear of chastisement can oblige them to perform any laborious duty," &c. Such, as we have seen, is precisely the case with the African race in its present condition. * Spirit of Laws, vol. book :n. chap. vii. 23 |