718 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



eternally forming eub-societies for acquiririfj power 

 and wealih, ancl to llie.^e perfidious, anilmious, 

 avariciuus or uricorigliiuiional siib-sucieiies, ilie li- 

 berty and properly oC ihe rest of ihe body poliiic 

 have universally lidlen a prey. They are ol'a civd 

 or nnlilary complexion, or of boih, as ihe circiim- 

 elances ol" liie case may require Iraud or lone. 

 Anciently, (he general iiznorarice of mankind, 

 caused the frauds ofsupersiilioii to suffice (or work- 

 ing the ends of traitorous sub-societies. As these 

 became exploiied, the more intricate pecuniary 

 frauds were resorted to. Now, on account of the 

 increasing knowledge and more pryitig temper ol 

 mankind, military lorce is nnilcd wiih pecuniary 

 irauds. And hitherto the most period society ibr 

 the public good, has never been able to delend it- 

 self against sub-societies in some form Ibr advanc- 

 ing tlie weal'.h or power of a fiction or a particu- 

 lar interest. Combine with this universal expe- 

 rience, thai it is impossible to conceive a form ol 

 society better calculated to excite and foster tac- 

 tions or sub-societies, than one constituted of dis- 

 tinct colors, incurable prejudices, and inimical 

 interests, and the inlerences are unavoidable. 11 

 the badges of Ibolish names can drive men into 

 phrenzy without cause, will not those which pow- 

 erfully assail both reason and the senses, create 

 deadly factions. 



The attempt will undoubtedly terminate accord- 

 ing to the nature of man, as it has once already 

 terminated ; but its catastrophe ought rather to be 

 courted than avoided, if the autiior of the 'Notes on 

 Virginia' is right in tlie Ibllowingiiuoialions, " Tlie 

 whole commerce between master and slave," eajs 

 he, "is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous 

 passions, the most unremitiiiiij despotism on one 

 part, and degrading submissions on Ihe other. 

 The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the 

 lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the 

 circle of smaller slaves, jrives a loose to his worst 

 of passions, and thus nursed, educated and daily 

 exercised in tyraimy, cannot but be stamped by it 

 with odious peculiarities. The man must be a 

 prodigy who can reiain his manners and morals 

 undepraved bysuch circumsiances. The Almighty 

 has no attribute which can take side wiih us in 

 such a contest." Such is the picture exhibited in 

 the ' Notes on Virginia' of " the manners" of the 

 people, without a single palliating circuiTistance ; 

 and VVinterbotham in his ' History of America' has 

 quoted and varnished it anew. 



No man has been less accuslomcd than the au- 

 thor of the ' Notes on Virginia' to paint his opinions, 

 for the same reason that an Indian paints liis 

 body ; atKl yet from rending the whole chapter on 

 the manners of that state, a stranirer would hardly 

 form a more correct idea of thetn, than a stranger 

 to Indians would of their color, on seeing one 

 painted coal black. Circumstances ali'ect the nfind, 

 83 weather docs beer, and i'reqnently produce a 

 eort of moral fermcntaiion, which throws up bub- 

 bles of prismatic splendor, whilst they are played 

 upon by the rays oisome temporary elliprvescence, 

 but desiined to burst when the (ermentalion ceases. 

 The ' Notes on Virginia' were written in the heat ol 

 a war Ibr l.berty ; tlie human mind was asade still 

 hotter by the French revolution; and let those 

 who were insensible of the mental li'rmentations 

 and moral bubbles generated by these causes, 

 censure, iMr. .leffersori. 1 should be unjust to do it. 



If Mr. Jctlerson's assertioi;s are correct, it is 



better to run the risk of national extinction, by 

 liberatinir and fighting the blacks, than to live ab-* 

 horred ol God, and consequently hated of man. 

 If they are erroneous, they ought not to be ad- 

 mitied as arguments lor the emancipating policy. 

 The considerations, which this chapier of impas- 

 sioned censure of slave-holders inspires, are too 

 extensive lor a hasi}' essay, but a lew of them may 

 bo noticed. I shall pass over the enlistment of the 

 Dciiy in the question, with a humble hope, that 

 his justice and mercy do not require the whites 

 and blacks to be placed in such a relative situa- 

 tion, as that one color must extinguish the other; 

 and as inclining to think the enrolment of hie 

 name on the side of the slaves, someuiiat like a 

 charire of inattention to his own aitributes, ap- 

 parently siding with masters throughout all ages 

 and among most nations hitherto, the liberating 

 St. Domingo masters excepted ; and not a little 

 tinged with impiety. Slavery was carried larther 

 among the Greeks and Romans than among our- 

 selves, and yet these two nations produced more 

 great and good patriots and citizens, than, proba- 

 bly, all the rest of the world. In the United 

 States it is also probable that the public and pri- 

 vate character of individuals is as good, as in Ihe 

 countries where locomotive liberty and slavery to 

 a laction exist ; nor do the slave states seem less 

 productive of characters in whom the nation is 

 willing to confide than tlie others. Even Ihe au- 

 thor of the quotation himself may be lairly ad- 

 duced as an instance which refutes every syllable 

 of his chapter on Virginia manners, unless int'eed 

 this refutation, and an abundance of others like 

 it, can be evaded by lorminir the best ciiizens into 

 a class of prodigies or monsters, to evade the force 

 of eminent virlues towards the refutation ol' erro- 

 neous assertions. 



These liicts are referred to the consideration of 

 ihe physiologist. To me it seems, that slaves are 

 too far below, and too much in the power of the 

 master, to inspire liirious passion; that such are 

 nearly as rare and disgraceful towards slaves as 

 towards horses ; that slaves are more frequently 

 the objects of benevolence than of rage ; that 

 children frt)m their nature are inclined to soothe, 

 and hardly ever suffered to tyrannize over them ; 

 that they open instead of shutting the sluices of 

 benevolence in tender minds ; and that levver good 

 public or privale characters have been raised in 

 countries enslaved by some fiiciion or particular 

 interest, than in those where personal slavery ex- 

 isted. 



I conjecture the cause of this to be, that vicioua 

 and mean qualities become despicable in the eyes 

 of freemen from their association with the cha- 

 racter of slaves. Character, like condition is con- 

 trasted, and as one contrast causes us to love liber- 

 ty better, so the other causes us to love virtue bet- 

 ter. Qualities odious in themselves, become more 

 contemptilile, when united with the most degraded 

 class of men, than wlien seen in our equals ; and 

 pride steps in to aid the struggles of virtue. In- 

 stead, therelbre, of li^aring that children should 

 itnbibe the qualities of slaves, it is probable, that 

 the circumstance of seeing bad qualities in slaves 

 will contribute to their virtue. 



For the same reason the submission and flattery 

 of slaves will be despised, and cause us rather to 

 halo servility than to imbibe a dictatorial arro- 

 gance; and only inspire thesaiTie passion wiih the 



