Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/247

237 kept up by freſh ſupplies, will ſoon diminiſh, and be gradually annihilated. If, then, we ceaſe taking and plundering the infidel ſhips, and making ſlaves of the ſeamen and paſſengers, our lands will become of no value, for want of cultivation; the rents of houſes in the city will ſink one half; and the revenues of government, ariſing from the ſhare of prizes, muſt be totally deſtroyed.—And for what? To gratify the whim of a whimſical ſect, who would have us not only forbear making more ſlaves, but even manumit thoſe we have. But who is to indemnify their maſters for the loſs? Will the ſtate do it; Is our treaſury ſufficient? Will the Erika do it? Can they do it? Or would they, to do what they think juſtice to the ſlaves, do a greater injuſtice to the owners? And if we ſet our ſlaves free, what is to be done with them? Few of them will return to their native countries; they know too well the greater hardships they muſt there be ſubject to. They will not embrace our holy religion: they will not adopt our manners: our people will not pollute themſelves by intermarrying with them. Muſt we maintain them as beggars in our ſtreets? or ſuffer our properties to be the prey of their pillage? for men accuſtomed to ſlavery will not work for a livelihood, when not compelled.—And what is there ſo pitiable in their preſent condition? Were they not ſlaves in their own countries? Are not Spain, Portugal, France, and the Italian ſtates, governed by deſpots, who hold all their ſubjects in ſlavery, without exception? Even England treats her ſailors as ſlaves, for they are, whenever the government pleaſes, ſeized and confined in ſhips of war, condemned not only to work, but to fight for ſmall wages, or a mere ſubſiſtence, not better than our ſlaves are allowed by us. Is their condition then made