Page:Benezet's A caution and warning to Great Britain and her colonies.pdf/12

[ 10 ] already long been the object of the divine displeasure; for what heavier judgment, what greater calamity can befall any people, than to become a prey to that hardness of heart, that forgetfulness of God, and insenbility to every religious impression; as well as that general depravation of manners, which so much prevails in the Colonies, in proportion as they have more or less enriched themselves, at the expence of the blood and bondage of the Negroes.'

The situation of the Negroes in our Southern provinces on the Continent, is also feelingly set forth by George Whitefield, in a letter from Georgia, to the inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia, North- and South-Carolina, printed in the year 1739, of which the following is an extract,

As I lately passed through your provinces, in my way hither, I was sensibly touched with a fellow-feeling of the miseries of the poor Negroes. Whether it be lawful for Christians to buy slaves, and thereby encourage the nations from whom they are bought, to be at perpetual war with each other, I shall not take upon me to determine; sure I am, it is sinful, when bought, to use them as bad, nay worse, than as though they were brutes; and whatever particular exception there may be, (as I would charitably hope there are some) I fear the generality of you, that own Negroes, are liable to such a charge; for your slaves, I believe, work as hard, if not harder, than the horses whereon you ride. These, after they have done their work, are fed and taken proper care of; but many Negroes, when wearied with labour, in your plantations, have been obliged to grind their own corn, after they return home; your dogs are caressed and fondled at your tables; but your slaves, who are frequently stiled ' dogs