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Show - ~-- ~ 78 . DESPOTJSl\I of America, attempts to deny, that mingled with all its wrongs and crimes, there may be perceived, m many cases, much kind feeling on the part of the masters. Indeed it is out of tillS fnnge of benevolence with which the dark garment of slaverr is more or less scantily ornamented, that most of Its defenders have woven the frail texture of their apologtes. This benevolence however is of a very limited char· acter. It is confined almost entirely to physical condition. It conforms itself to the established sentiment of the country; it cons.iders the slaves not in their character of human bemgs, of men, but merely as animals. It is asserted that within the last twenty or thirty years, as the tobacco cultivation has declined in Vir· ginia there has been a great amelwrat10n m the treatment' of slaves. Many benevolent individuals have exerted themselves to bring about this state of things, by creating in the public mind a spirit of reprobation against instances of excessive cruelty. It may be observed in passing, that this ameliora tion in the treat· ment of the Virginia slaves, is a strong confirmation of the doctrines of the preceding chapter. As the masters have grown poor, and have been obliged to retrench their splend.ors and their luxury, at the same time) they have grown comparatively humane. The Kentuckians boast, that <U all the American masters, they are the kindest and the best ; and they take to themselves no little credit, for the liberal sup· ply of food and clothing which they bestow upon their servants, and the modera te labor which they de· man d. This course of treatment, so much applauded by its authors, is worthy of all approbation on the score of domestic economy. It is also gratifying to the hn· mane feelings of all those persons of sensibility, to whom the constant presence of visible snflCring, 1s the source of emotions far from agreeable. But when we consider the matter a little deeper, when we see. how this merely physical kindness operates upon the mtel· IN Al\TER1CA. 79 lect and the heart, we may well doubt whether this sort of benevolence, however well in tended, and however on that account worthy of applause, docs not in fact, greatly aggravate the miseries of servitude. So.long as men are constantly pressed by merely phystcal wants, those wants absorb almost their whole attention. 'r he peculiar attributes of humanity are scantily, or not at all, developed. They have the f?rm and the aspect of men, but in character they are httle more than mere animals; and the gratification of their animal wants occupies their total attention. But so soon as these merely physical necessities are satisfied, the mental and moral attributes begin to unfold themselves. 'l'he passions bud and blossom ; the feelings, the desires, the aspirations of manhood display their various forms and colors. If they might bear their natural fruits, those frui ts would be good and wholesome. But crushed, withered, blasted, plucked up as it were by the roots, their premature decay evolves a deadly miasm, which poisons the soul, corrodes the heart, and sets the brain on fire. Let us consider this matter more minutely. 'Ve read in ancient fables and eastern tales, of men transformed by tl,e power of magic into beasts. Here is an operation of an analogous kind. Here are men who have advanced so far as to feel that they arc men, whom law, custom, prejudice, and the potent force of public opinion confine to the condition of mere be~sts of labor. 'bw more their humanity develops 1tself, and the more couscious of it they be. c.ome, the more irritating and oppressive this condition must be. •ro be penned up driven to labor and foddered by the hand of a mast~r - and what c~nsc· qucnce is it though the fodder b; plentiful , and the labor be hght ?-to be repulsed from that condition of manhoocl to which they now begin ardently to aspire; to be expelled from the circle of social emulatiOn and made mere counters in a game of which they so long themselves to be the players;' to be deSpised) scorned, and degraded into a fellowship with |