94 SLAVERY. 



j 



who clothes his slaves and otherwise cares for 

 them. In this way it happens that many fa 

 milies have slave servants not their own, but 

 to whom they pay wages. 



There may be masters who are tyrannical 

 and cruel to their slaves, but unhappily tyran 

 ny and cruelty to dependents are not peculiar 

 to slave owners. I believe it might be easy 

 to adduce authenticated instances of the treat 

 ment of parish apprentices in free England, 

 the atrocity and horribleness of which would 

 draw tears from the eyes of any slave owner in 

 Virginia. 



Far am I, however, from advocating the 

 continuance of slavery in America. There 

 and everywhere else, even under the most hu 

 mane treatment, it is a debasement of human 

 nature, admitting of no redeeming quality ; 

 for although a kind master may slacken and 

 make gentle the bonds in which he holds the 

 body of his slave, there is yet a chain that fetters 

 his mind leaving it under the influence of all 

 the vitiating passions, but placing far beyond 



