Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/62

 are entitled to mercy, and as inſtruments of wealth deſerve our gratitude.

The fellow feeling of negroes is either certainly, or apparently ſtrong. They will attend in ſickneſs with patience, will watch the progreſs of diſeaſe with concern, and feel a real, and expreſs an honeſt grief at an unexpected diſſolution: they will ſympathiſe with ſorrow, and pay reſpectful honour to the dead.

Where is the man in ten thouſand who can ſay, that he can lay himſelf down to reſt with a healthy body, and unruffled mind; or awake without the dread of ſome anticipated, and overhanging affliction? Theſe comforts are left to thoſe whom humanity pities, and whoſe ſituation religion condemns. As negroes are not acquainted with the horrors of anticipation, they are relieved from one of the greateſt curſes that human nature can experience: if puniſhment come, it is ſudden at leaſt, and unexpected; and the impreſſion of ſorrow wears away with that of the laſh. In all countries neglect and crimes are followed by puniſhment: and in European governments, (ſo ſanguine is their local