Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/127

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" treat with o much rigour? Their pains, their weat, their labours, do not they merit any better return than our corn and didain? We carcely ditinguih them from the brutes, which they maintain for the cultivation of our lands! we frequently have les conideration for their trength, than we have for that of thoe animals! and too frequently we ell them to maters as cruel as ourelves, who immediately force them, by an exces of hard labour, to repay the price of their new lavery! I cannot recollect without horror that law which impoes only a fine of fifteen livres upon a gentleman who hall have killed a peaant.—Poland is the only country where the populace are fallen from all the rights of humanity; we alone regard thee men as creatures of another pecies, and we would almot refue them the ame air which they breathe with us. God, in the creation of man, gave him liberty—what right have we to deprive him of it? As it is natural to hake off a yoke that is rough, hard, and heavy, may it not happen that this people may make an effort to wret themelves from our tyranny? Their murmurs and complaints mut, ooner or later, lead to this. Hitherto, accutomed to their fetters, they think not of breaking them; but let one ingle man arie, among thee unfortunate wretches, with a maculine and daring pirit, to concert and foment a revolt, what barrier hall we oppoe to the torrent? We have a recent intance, in the inurrection in the Ukraine, which was only occaioned by the vexations of thoe among us who had there purchaed lands. We depied the courage of the poor inhabitants of that "country