; and hence his child often dies under his own
eyes, for the want of medical attendance. You know not that the colored
man, who begins with working only two hours a day, will soon end with
ceasing from all regular employment, and live, in the midst of filth, by
stealing or other nefarious means? In one word, you know not why the
colored man should not live like the brute, in and for the present
merely--blotting out all the future from his plans of life? If, indeed,
you really know none of these things, then we beg you will excuse us, if
_we_ do not know why you should assume to teach our senators wisdom;--if
we do not know why the cobbler should not stick to his last, and all
such preachers to their pulpits.[190]

Abolitionism is decidedly progressive. The time was when Dr. Channing
thought that men should work, and that, if they would not labor from
rational motives, they should be compelled to labor.[191] The time was,
when even abolitionists looked upon labor with respect, and regarded it
as merely an obedience to the very first law of nature, or merely a
compliance with the very first condition of all economic, social, and
moral well-being. But the times are changed. The exigencies of
abolitionism now require that _manual labor, and the gross material
wealth_ it produces, should be sneeringly spoken of, and great swelling
eulogies pronounced on the infinite value of the negro's freedom. For
this is all he has; and for this, all else has been sacrificed. Thus,
since abolitionists themselves have been made to see that the freed
negro--the pet and idol of their hearts--will not work from rational
motives, then the principles of political economy, and the affairs of
the world, all must be adjusted to the course _he_ may be pleased to
take.

In this connection we shall notice a passage from Montesquieu, which is
exactly in point. He is often quoted by the abolitionists, but seldom
fairly. It is true, he is exceedingly hostile to slavery _in general_,
and very justly pours ridicule and contempt on some of the arguments
used in favor of the institution. But yet, with all his enthusiastic
love of liberty,--nay, with his ardent passion for equality,--he saw far
too deeply into the true "Spirit of Laws" not to perceive that slavery
is, in certain cases, founded on the great principles of political
justice. It is precisely in those cases in which a race or a people will
not work without being compelled to do so, that he justi