Yes; the minds of the Negroes are contracted, because slavery destroys
all the springs of the soul. They are wicked, but not equally so with
you. They are treacherous, because they are under no obligation to speak
truth to their tyrants. They acknowledge the superiority of our
understanding, because we have abused their ignorance. They allow the
justice of our authority, because we have abused their weakness."
"But these Negroes, it is further urged, were born slaves. Barbarians!
will you persuade me that a man can be the property of a sovereign, a
son the property of a father, a wife the property of a husband, a
domestic the property of a master, a Negro the property of a planter?"
But I have no time to follow this animated author, even by short
extracts, through the varied strains of eloquence which he displays upon
this occasion. I can only say that his labours entitle him to a high
station among the benefactors to the African race.
The third was Dr. PALEY, whose genius, talents, and learning have been
so eminently displayed in his writings in the cause of natural and
revealed religion. Dr. Paley did not write any essay expressly in favour
of the Africans. But in his _Moral Philosophy_, where he treated on
slavery, he took an opportunity of condemning, in very severe terms, the
continuance of it.
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