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Show 164 DESPOTISM SECTION HI. Points of diversity in tlte clw.-acter of tlte privileg ed and the unprivileged classes. I. CounAoE is one of those chivalrous virtues mnch boasted of among the freemen of the south. They are brave beyond question. All freemen are· so. Courage is a virtue which always exists in the greatest pcr!Cction among freemen, because among freemen, it is most esteemed and most cultivated. Courage is essential to the maintenance of liberty. When it happens that freemen are also tyrants, courage is cultivated and fostered for the additional reason that it is essential also to the maintenance of tyranny. What importance is attached to this virtue at the south, may be conjectured from the braggadocio spirit, which so universally prevails there. Listen to southern conversation, or read the southern newspapers, and one would suppose that every mother's son of the free population, was an Orlando Furioso, or a Richard C<lf!J.rde Lion at the least. What wonder if courage abound where it is so highly esteemed and so greatly encouraged. 'l'he slaves, on the other hand, are cowards. A brave man may be found among them here or there, but cowardice is their general characteristic. If it were not so, the system of slavery would be very short lived. rro organize a successful insurrection, something more than mere courage is no doubt necessary. But courage alone is suflicient to produce a series of unsuccessful insurrections, and however individually unsuccessful ; a series of insurrections would shortly render the masters' empire not worth preserving. If tho slaves are cowards, it is a vice to which they have been diligently trained up from their earliest childhood. Were a tenth part of the pains bestowed to make them brave, which are taken to render them otherw1se, they would be as courageous as their masters. 'l'he IN Al\IEUICA. 165 boldest heart very soon becomes subdued, when every ~:1dteat10n o_f_spu1t, every d~sp~s1tion to stand at bay 1s sh~rtl y VI Sited by the .wh1p, u ons, or a prison. 2. 'rhe CHASTITY of thCJr women is another chivalrous virtue, much hoasted of by the freemen of the south. The southern people have reason to be proud of their women. From the most di s~nstin g vices of the men, they are, as we have me~t10n~d already, in a great measure free, and such acttve vntne as is to be fOund at the south, at least the larger portion of it, is to be looked for among the female sex. If however the women have escaped to a certain extent, the blighting influences of tyranny it is because they arc sedulously shielded from its worst c1Tccts. Chastity like courage is to a great extent, an artificial virtue, the existence of which principally depends upon education and public opinion. Both education and public opinion are stretched to their utmost influence to preserve the chastity of the southern women while the free and more luxurious indulgence whicl~ the men find elsewhere, causes the seduction of free women to be a thing seldom attempted. Among the slaves, a woman, apart from mere natural bashfulness, has no inducement to be chaste · she has many inducements the other way. Her p~rson IS her only means of purchasing favors, indulgences, presents. To be the favorite of the master or one of ~is sons, ~fthe overseer, or even of a driver, is an obJectofdesue, and a situation of dignity. It is as much e~teemcd among the slaves, as an advantageous marrmge would be, among the free. So far from involvii_ Jg d~sgrace, it confers honor. Besides, where marnage IS only a temporary contract, dissolvable at any lime1 not by the will of the parties alone, but at the capnce and pleasure of the masters, what room is therefor an~ such virtue as chastity? Chastity conSIS!~ m keepmg the sexual appetite under a close reMran~ t except when its indulgence is sanctioned by marr1age. But among slaves every casual union, though but for a day, is a marriage. To persons so |