Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/31

 the encloſure, and only trample upon a young, or break a ripened, cane; the poor wretch conceives his crime to be ſo enormous, that if he cannot depend upon the juſtice, or humanity of the overſeer (to which but few will make appeal), he immediately abſconds, a truſty negro is diſpatched in ſearch, he is brought home, and puniſhed for a double crime; for that of neglect, and that of abſence; although the utmoſt ſtrength and circumſpection might not have been able to prevent the firſt. If a dentinel be only expected to give a vigilant watch for two hours, without any previous fatigue of body or mind; why ſhould a worn-out negro, unable in his perſon, and ſunk by toil, be expected to be reſponſible for a watch of twelve? I could here deſcribe the poor negro with patient trembling, and wiſhful thought, lament the want of raiment, food, and ſhelter: but as his feelings are ſuppoſed to be different from ours; his body impaſſive to the ſame intruſions, and his mind not affected by the ſame cares; I ſhall avoid a painting that might be thought more florid than juſt; and