Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/83

 any one for the regularity of his life, he will think that he has a right to follow his inclinations without controul, not conſidering that his conduct may bring down private revenge, or public juſtice.

I ſhould think that no reflective man can juſtify the idea of indiſcriminate liberation. The conſequence of the execution would be impolitic, and cruel; would entrench upon public, and be deſtructive of private ſecurity. It is not ſo much in the Weſt Indies as in England, that the evil will be felt, and the loſs oppreſs. A planter who lives in the quiet poſſeſſion of his property, may make it anſwer, if not his wiſhes, at leaſt his wants: if it give him the means of comfortable ſubſiſtence, and he can make that ſubſiſtence certain, it may not be his intereſt, in the line of worldly enjoyments, to ſacrifice his comforts to the ſecurity of him who truſts; but this being a ſelfiſh principle, is erroneous; for the creditor will aſcertain his rights; and if he enforce them with feeling, with honour, and juſtice, ſome gratitude ſhould attend his forbearance, and every nerve exerted to ſecure him from riſk, and