Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/421

Rh merely from a pecuniary point of view, and use or misuse them at pleasure. The second consider themselves responsible for their office; consider that they cannot, and ought not to, surrender the property which they have inherited from their fathers, and which perhaps is all that they possess, for themselves and their children; and they regard it as an imperative duty to preserve these inherited servants, to provide for their old age, and to make their present life as happy as possible, by means of instruction and Christianity, and to allow them as much freedom and as much innocent pleasure as possible. The third, highest class, advances the well-being of the slave, with reference to their emancipation; and this is done by means of education, and such practical aids. They advance both people and country on the path of human cultivation. I have heard mention made of some persons even in Carolina as belonging to this latter class, and in particular of two wealthy ladies who have lately liberated their slaves. This is forbidden by the law; but here also has public opinion begun to go a-head of law; and the lawyers themselves aid by passing statutes to this end, and when they are reproached with this, they laugh, and seem untroubled by conscience.

I have heard some very beautiful traits of the patriarchs as well as of their slaves, and of the devotion on both sides. I believe them, because I have seen various instances of the kind, and they appear to me very natural. There is, upon the whole, no human being for whom I have a greater esteem and sympathy than the good and conscientious slaveholder, for his position is one of difficulty, and full of trouble.

By this assertion however I stand, that the institution of slavery degrades the white man still more than the black; it operates prejudicially on his development on his justice—on his judgment; it operates prejudicially, in an especial manner, on the education of his children,