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Show Df:SPOTISM begins to copy the airs and to imbibe the sentiments of his aristocratic, refineU, and educated netghb.ors. ~e forgets the equal term~ upon which he onc_c hved 'V:Ilh his slaves; he feels htmself tra~1smute~ 1nto a bcmg of a superior order, horn to be Idle while the~ were born to \\rorlc He cease~ to have any sympatl_nes for them. He learns to desptse them ; to hear thCI r complaints and appeals with indifference; and to push them to labors, which when he worked by thmr Side, he did not exact. . Under this new discipline, and With the frugal habits which he acquired in 'his youth, this planter's property rapidly increases. He becomes one of the wealthiest men of the neighborhood; and hts son and heir takes rank with the choicest aristocracy. Conscious of his own deficiencies in education and manners the father secures for that son, the best instruction' he can obtain. He is sent early to school, and perhaps to some northern college to finish his education. He returns well mannered, and accomplished, with the refinement of sentiment and the gentle bearing which education and good company in; part 'rhe father dies and the son succeeds to the mhentance. He has no 'taste for agriculture; or if he has, he cannot bear the constant annoyances of a plantation. He leaves every thing in the hands of an qverseer j and is almost a perpetual absentee. . . Every reduction in the allowances to his slav_cs, ts so much net addition to his own revenue. He IS always in• want of money; and as he finds it less disagreeable to retrench the comforts of his slaves than his own luxuries, the slaves are soon rcdnced to the merest subsistettce. What are their sufferings or complaints to him? He is not at home to witness or to hear them. He leaves the execution of his orders to an overseer. This overseer is desirous to secur~ the good graces of his employer. The surest way ot doing so is, to make a great cr?P· . ~or this pur~ose the quantity of land in cnltivatl011 lS mcrcased. rhe tasks are extended, and the additional labor nccessan IN AMERICA. 77 to.their execution, is extorted by the~ whip. Between thJS n~w labor and these new p1mishments, the slaves grow msuborduu':t~ and discontented. The boldest n:.1d most ~n terpnsmg take to the woods. They arc rursued Wlth guns and dogs j retaken j mangled With the. lash, and loaded with fetters. These examples ternfy the others. 'l'hey submit in silence. Order is restored. 'l'he disciplin,e, of the plantation is spoken of wJth admiratiOn. I he crop is unusually large. 'l'he ow,ner IS delighted with the result, and urgent for Its c?ntmuan~e, ~nd thus extortion and severity are earned to theJr highest pitch. At the same. time that the physical comforts of the slayes are dunuushed, all their moral qualities are det~ norated. Every. had passion is called into play. 'I hat state of hosllhty and warfare in which slavery orginates and consists, from being lulled, and half-quiescent, becomes open and flagrant. 'l'he masters learn to hate the slaves, as fiercely as the slaves hate the masters. Presently they begin to fear them. Fear and hate upon both sides! God have mercy upon the weaker party! SECTION IX. Improvement in physical condition, as it affects the condition of servitude. Benevolence is one of those native impulses of the human heart, which never can he wholly eradicated· ~~d whtch may be se~n mingling itself with action~ ac~:r:rocecd from mottves of a totally opposite char-vi:! is plain that the whole system of slavery is in f iatwn of the dictates of benevolence· yet no impar m observer, who has resided in the ~outhern states 7* |
