354 HISTORY OF THE [book tr, 
itself more decidedly. Measures have been devi- 
“ sed by the legislatures of those islands for placing 
“ them in a state of society* where they will be 
** entitled to a protection, that in former times,. 
“ would have been thought incompatible with the 
“ dependancc and subordination of slavery.” 
To this distinguished and honourable testimony it 
may be added, as a circumstance of still greater 
importance, that the age itself is hourly improving 
in humanity : and that this improvement visibly 
extends beyond the Atlantic. Its influence is felt 
where the law is a dead letter. This, however, is to 
be understood with considerable allowance; for it 
is a melancholy truth, that authority over these poor 
people must on several occasions, unavoidably de¬ 
volve into hands that will employ it only in its abuse; 
and in cases too, in which, if redress be sought, 
the testimony of the injured party is inadmissible in 
a court of justice. Under those circumstances, 
while the law loses its authority, I am afraid, that 
the sense of decorum, alone, affords but a feeble re¬ 
straint against the corrupt passions and infirmities of 
our nature, the hardness of avarice, the pride of pow¬ 
er, the sallies of anger, and the thirst of revenge. 
That-the narratives therefore of excessive whip¬ 
pings, and barbarous mutilations, which have late¬ 
ly awakened the sympathy of the public, are all of 
them “ absolutely false,”—though it has been as¬ 
serted bv others, shall not be asserted by me. It 
they have happened but seldom, they have .happen- 
