Such people have
generally visited at the houses of the upper classes, where the
domestic slaves are usually well treated, and they have not, like
myself, lived amongst the lower classes. Such inquirers will ask
slaves about their condition; they forget that the slave must
indeed be dull who does not calculate on the chance of his answer
reaching his master's ears.
It is argued that self-interest will prevent excessive cruelty; as
if self-interest protected our domestic animals, which are far less
likely than degraded slaves to stir up the rage of their savage
masters. It is an argument long since protested against with noble
feeling, and strikingly exemplified, by the ever-illustrious
Humboldt. It is often attempted to palliate slavery by comparing
the state of slaves with our poorer countrymen: if the misery of
our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our
institutions, great is our sin; but how this bears on slavery, I
cannot see; as well might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in
one land, by showing that men in another land suffered from some
dreadful disease. Those who look tenderly at the slave owner, and
with a cold heart at the slave, never seem to put themselves into
the position of the latter;--what a cheerless prospect, with not
even a hope of change! picture to yourself the chance, ever hanging
over you, of your wife and your little children--those objects
which nature urges even the slave to call his own--being torn from
you and sold like beasts to the first bidder! And these deeds are
done and palliated by men who profess to love their neighbours as
themselves, who believe in God, and pray that His Will be done on
earth! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that
we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry
of liberty, have been and are so guilty; but it is a consolation to
reflect, that we at least have made a greater sacrifice than ever
made by any nation, to expiate our sin.
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