286 
HISTORY OF THE [book iv. 
competent to give them instructions 5 but the harsh¬ 
ness with which these people enforce their autho¬ 
rity, is extreme 5 and it serves, in some degree, to 
lessen the indignation which a good mind necessa¬ 
rily feels at the abuses of power by the whites, to 
observe, that the negroes themselves, when invest¬ 
ed with command, give full play to their revenge¬ 
ful passions; and exercise all the wantonness of 
cruelty without restraint or remorse. 
The same observation may be made concern¬ 
ing their conduct towards the inferior animal cre¬ 
ation. Their treatment of cattle under their direc¬ 
tion is brutal beyond belief. Even the useful and 
social qualities of the dog secure to him no kind 
usage from an African master. Although them is 
scarce a negro that is not attended by one, they 
seem to maintain these poor animals solely for the 
purpose of having an object whereon to exercise 
their caprice and cruelty. And, by the way, it is a 
singular circumstance, and not the less true for being 
somewhat ludicrous, that the animal itself, when 
the property of a negro, betrays at first sight that 
such is his condition; for losing his playful propen¬ 
sities, he seems to feel the inferiority of his sta¬ 
tion, and actually crouches before such of his own 
species as are used to better company. With the 
manners, he acquires also the cowardly, thievish, 
and sullen disposition of his African tyrant. 
But, notwithstanding what has been related of 
the selfish and unrelenting temper of the enslaved 
