THE BRAZILS. 113 
fishers of Ceylon, with powerful cathartics, till the poor 
creatures are nearly exhausted ; and this happens very often 
when they are perfectly innocent. 
The condition of the field slaves in the Brazils is preferable 
even to those employed for domestic purposes in the towns ; 
the latter being ill fed, having one holiday only in the week, 
and not capable of earning much by his labour. But I am far 
from thinking, with all the advantages of a fine climate and a 
productive soil, that the condition even of the field slaves is 
equally comfortable to that of the labouring peasantry of Europe, 
which some of the advocates for the continuance of slavery 
boldly assert to be the case in the West India islands. The 
mind of a labouring free man goes with his work, and directs 
him both as to the quantity expedient to be done, and the man- 
ner of doing it ; if he should be controuled in these respects, he 
is at liberty to leave his employer, and engage with another. 
But the West India slave is not only compelled as to the quan- 
tity of labour to be done, but as to the mode also in which he 
must do it. Every action and every moment of his life put him 
in mind of his unfortunate condition ; he must work, move, speak, 
eat, sleep, and exert, in short, every action and energy, both 
of body and soul, to the will and caprice of his owner. So, 
say the anti-abolitionists, must an English apprentice. This 
is not a fair comparison. The apprentice nine times out of 
ten makes his choice of, and voluntarily enters into, some 
trade or profession, under a consciousness of the advantages 
which in all probability he will hereafter derive from it. He 
looks forward to the termination of his servitude with sensa- 
tions of pleasure, exulting perhaps in the idea that the day is 
Q 
