Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/49

 ſpeak my ſentiments, I do not know any quality ſo good in a manager as that of taking eſpecial care of the negro children.

It is obſerved, that negroes are not grateful: that thoſe who have been the moſt indulged, are generally thoſe who will be the firſt delinquent. It has been ſaid, that thoſe who have been kept under a ſteady diſcipline, have been ſeldom known to commit enormities, whereas thoſe who have been treated with peculiar kindneſs have made wanton attacks upon the life of the maſter, and been the firſt perhaps to excite rebellion: ſuppoſe that all this be even granted, (which however in many inſtances I can perſonally deny,) yet ſtill the feelings of the ſlave muſt be conſulted, and general rigour ſhould not be purſued in conſequence of private treachery. If neceſſity can plead an excuſe with the European ſettler, or the planter for the abuſe of power, and reconcile the tyrant to the caprice of puniſhment,—the ſufferer ſhould not therefore meet with oppreſſion when patient, nor cruelty when reſigned—the ſituation of maſter and ſlave ſhould be humanely conſidered; and as the firſt