IMPOLICY OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. 



311 



by. accident, making their escape, &c, and the 

 accounts of their recovery and return are re- 

 ceived with the same unconcern. Punishment 

 is ordered for crimes and misdemeanors with the 

 same insensibility ; all these are things of course, 

 and as such are endured quietly. 



In a country which is afflicted witli the dread- 

 ful disease of slavery cruelty is frequent, and 

 whilst the punishment of misdemeanors which 

 have been committed against the master are 

 generally immediate, and proportioned to their 

 bearing upon the interests of the superior, it is 

 difficult to compass the chastisement of great 

 crimes against the community. It is the in- 

 terest of the master to conceal from the superior 

 authorities those actions of their slaves which 

 might subject them to the loss of their services. 

 Instances have occurred in which the law itself 

 has swerved from its direct line of justice, that 

 the owner might not be injured by the execu- 

 tion or transportation of the slave. It is for the 

 benefit of the wealthy man, who ought to be the 

 dispenser of justice, to act contrary to what it is 

 his duty to do ; to counteract the principles of 

 rectitude, to screen from their deserts the evil 

 deeds of a great portion of the population of the 

 country in which he resides. He is silent con- 

 cerning his neighbour's property, that like for- 

 bearance may be practised towards himself, if 

 he should require it. But the crimes which 



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