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slaves ahmit thcii- condition ; they forget tliat tlie slave must 

 iiulecil lie dull who does not calculate on the chance of liis 

 answer reaciiing" his master's ears. 



It is aryued that self-interest \\ill prevent excessive cruelty ; 

 as if self-interest protected our domestic animals, which are far 

 less likel)' than degraded sla\-es 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 



HOMEWARD BOliN'D. 



countrymen ; if the misery of our poor be caused not b\' the 

 laws fjf nature, but b}' our institutions, great is our sin ; but 

 how this bears on slaver)-, I cannot see ; as \\'ell might the 

 use of the thurnb-screw be defended in one land, by showing 

 that men in another land suffered from some dreadful disease. 

 Those \vlio look tenderly at the slave-owner, and with a cAd 

 heart at the slave, never seem to put themsehes into the 

 position of the latter; — \\'hat a cheerless prospect, with not 

 even a hope of change ! picture to yourself the chance, ever 

 hanging over }'ou, of 3'our wife and your little children — those 

 objects which nature rn'ges even the slave t(j call his own — 

 being torn liom )'ou and sold like beasts to the first Ijidder ! 



