APPENDIX TO Vol. III. 937 



wife, In order to confirm them ftlll further in our reUglon, as well by 

 the hiftruftions they may receive, as by the example of our other 

 fubjecls, and their learning at the fame time fome art, or trade, from 



which, 



" She beggeJ of me to folicit her pardon, which I obtained. Sometimes, the maflers of thefe 

 " ^vretches grant fuch requells, and within two days double their iiunifiiment, reckoning in 

 " tale of lafhfs, what they had profeiredly forgiven. I have daily beheld men and women whij»- 

 " ped, for having broken a pot, or forgotten to (hut a gate ; their bloody limbs afterw'ards 

 " rubbed with vinegar and fait, to heal them. I have fren them, in the excefs of their angullh, 

 " unable to cry any longer. I have fcen them bite the cannon on which they were bound. I 

 " ficken at the recital of thefe horrors. My eyes ache with feeing them; my ears with hearing 

 " tliem!" &CC. 



" It will be alledged, that the iloii code was inftituted in their favour. Be it fo ; the feverity 

 *' of their mailers ftill exceeds the allotted punifhments ; and their avarice withholds the provifions, 

 " tlic repofe, and rewards, that are their due. If the unfortunate creatures would complain, to 

 " whom can they complain ? Their ji/J^cs are qfterz their greatejl tyrants^ 



What heart is there, retaining the lealt degree of human feeling, but mull revolt at this 

 portrait of French barbarity! how inefficacious are all the boafted rules of this code, in a coun- 

 try, where the fubjeifls univerfally aft in difobedience to them ; and what abfohite dominion 

 mufl: tyranny and cruelty, the third of blood and revenge, have cllablifhed, where even the 

 bofoms of the fofter fex .are ileeled to every tender lenfation, and can indulge in all the wantou- 

 iiefs of indelicate, and favage barbarifm ! a (lavery fo conftituted is difgraceful to an)^ govern- 

 ment that knowingly permits it ; it were but juftice to the rights of mankind, that fuch beltial 

 inclemency fliould be fwept from the face of the earth ; if any thing could provoke the divine 

 vengeance, this is apparently of a magnitude to call for its exertion. If the condition of llaverv 

 be, as fome infift, in every cafe an evil, here it is the vvorll of all polliblc evils ; no argument 

 in favour of national trade can julVity, no pretended delinquency ot the llavc, can excufe, or 

 palliate it. 



The charader of the French is not that of a cruel and hard-hearted people, but the contrary ; 

 how then fliall we reconcile this excruciating treatment of their Haves, in a manner fo oppofite to 

 their charafter, and to the cjmpadionate injun<?tions of their fovcreign? I am apt to think, thatfuch 

 fceiies, as this writer has defcribed, are very rarely exhibited in their older and better cftablifhed co- 

 lonies; for this of IMauritius appears to be in its ftatc of infancy, and the planters refident in it ex- 

 tremely dilferent from thofc vho are tound in their American territories, in manners, moral.;, edu- 

 cation, and charafter. Accoiding to this writer, the firll fettlers at Mauritius were fome French 

 planters fiom the Ifle Bourbon; who carried with them great finiplicity of manners, good faith, 

 hofpitality, and even an indifference about wealth. But when the illand came to be confidered as 

 a mediuu'i for the Indian commerce, people of all charaiflci's reforied to it. The laft war brought 

 an inundation of bankrupts, ruined libertines, and cheats; who, driv-cnby their crimes out of Eu- 

 rope, and out of Afia by the misfortunes of France, here attempted to repair their finances out of 

 the public ruin. " The people here, fays he, are totally infenfiblc to everything that conllitutes 

 " the happlnefs of an honell man. No talle for letters, or the fine arts. The fentiments of nature 

 " are utterly depraved. Even the relative affeftions are extinguifhed. This indifference extends 

 " to even,' thing around them. Their houfes are huts of wood that one might earn' away upon a 

 *" wheelbarrow. Their windows h.-ve neither glafs nor curtains. There is no poflibility of ufing 

 " carriages, for wantot roads, S;c." 



In a fociety of people fallen into fo (Iiocking a ftate of depravation, we are not to look for either 

 the teelings or viitues which civilization produces. The Mauritians muft be placed far belowthe 

 flandard of the American Indian tribes in the fettle of mankind. They live in a flatc of abfoiute 



Vol. ill. 6 D anarchy; 



