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Show 160 DESPOTISl\1 3. Idleness. The natural stimulus of labor is, the hope of reward. rrhe expectation of reward is capable of exciting the most strenuous exertions, and when properly presented, never fails of etlect. Where this motive docs not exist, industry is unknown. The fear of punishment cannot produce it. The most it can do is, to produce an empty appearance of it which is in fact little better than idleness in the dis: guise of labor. But it is not alone the absence of reward that makes a slave necessarily idl~. In his mind labor is associated indissolubly with the lash. Pain, weariness, fear, the sense of ~nferiority, these are in his eyes, the natural compamons of labor. What wonder if he regard it >Vith disgust 1 On the other hand, idleness, to his limited view, appears to be the distinguishing badge of freedom, and with freedom he associates every idea of pleasure and content. Idleness again, in point of fact, is in the case of a slave a real Juxury, a trne delight, much more so, than it ever can be in the case of a freeman, and that for three reasons. First, because rest is ever delightful to the weary, and those who labor by compulsion are ·always weary. Second, because being idle, as has been shown in a previous chapter, is a sort of means 'vhereby the slave is enabled to regain, as it were, a certain portion of his liberty. Third, because idleness is a means of lessening the value of that stolen labor upon which the ma,ster has seized, and so of in· dulging that indignation and hatred which the slave naturally feels. Do we not commonly destroy our property, whether public or private, whenever that is the only way to save it from falling into the hands of an enemy 1 To make men industrious, who have all these motives for idleness, is out of the question. The experience of the world has proved ten thousand times over, ·and every individual who will but consider his own motives of action, must be abundantly, satisfied, that the only stimulus that can be relied upon as able to IN .\MERICA. 161 produce a life of regular industry is,-:-the hope of reward,- a fatr prospect of bemg permtttcd to enjoy undisturbed, the fruits of our labor. 4. Drunkenness. The excitement which drunkenness produces is of so very pleasurable a kind, that those who have once experienced it, have need of very ~trong motive~ to et~able .the~ to resist the temptation It holds out. Especially ts th1s tl1e case with those who la~k that st~ady, regu~ar .yet innocent stimulus suppile<.! by a dailY: occupatiOn m which they take pleasure. \Vhen occupatiOn Is wantmg, or when instead of being pleasurable the occupation to which a man is obliged to s.nbmit, is irk~ome and disagreeable, there results a mtserable wearmess of soul, ao-ainst which drunkenness offers an opiate so temptit~o- that even the most intelligent and best educated are~ not always able to resist it. '!'hat the slaves as a body should greedily snatch at it, is not surprising. 5. Gambling. That same wearisome state of mind, which among both bond and free is the greatest temptation to drink, proves also the strongest inducement to gamble. '!'he human mind craves excitement. It is the very vital air of the soul, as essential to it as motion is to the health of the body. If this destre ~annot be gratified by innocent means, means of gratification will be devised which are not innocent. Of these means gambling is one of the most potent and pernicious; and a means as popular among the slaves as among the masters. It ought to be observed however with respect both to this vice and to that of drunkenness, that both of them prevail to a much less extent among the slaves than with the free, bee~ use the opportunities, means, and facility for these ~md~ of indulgences which the slaves possess, arc far lllfen.or to those possessed by the free. It Js proper also to observe that the five great defects of character and conduct common as we have seen to the privileged and the unprivileged classes at the south, all exhibit themselves among the free, 111 a form more aggravated, and more diso-usting- 1~* 0 |