e is driven to labor by stripes; and if the
object of punishment be to produce obedience or reformation, with the
least permanent injury, it is the best method of punishment. But is it
not intolerable, that a being formed in the image of his Maker, should
be degraded by _blows_? This is one of the perversions of mind and
feeling, to which I shall have occasion again to refer. Such punishment
would be degrading to a freeman, who had the thoughts and aspirations of
a freeman. In general, it is not degrading to a slave, nor is it felt
to be so. The evil is the bodily pain. Is it degrading to a child? Or if
in any particular instance it would be so felt, it is sure not to be
inflicted--unless in those rare cases which constitute the startling and
eccentric evils, from which no society is exempt, and against which no
institution of society can provide.

_The slave is cut off from the means of intellectual, moral, and
religious improvement, and in consequence his moral character becomes
depraved, and he addicted to degrading vices._ The slave receives such
instruction as qualifies him to discharge the duties of his particular
station. The Creator did not intend that every individual human being
should be highly cultivated, morally and intellectually, for, as we have
seen, he has imposed conditions on society which would render this
impossible. There must be general mediocrity, or the highest cultivation
must exist along with ignorance, vice, and degradation. But is there in
the aggregate of society, less opportunity for intellectual and moral
cultivation, on account of the existence of slavery? We must estimate
institutions from their aggregate of good or evil. I refer to the views
which I have before expressed to this society. It is by the existence of
slavery, exempting so large a portion of our citizens from the necessity
of bodily labor, that we have a greater proportion than any other
people, who have leisure for intellectual pursuits, and the means of
attaining a liberal education. If we throw away this opportunity, we
shall be morally responsible for the neglect or abuse of our advantages,
and shall most unquestionably pay the penalty. But the blame will rest
on ourselves, and not on the character of our institutions.

I add further, notwithstanding that _equality_ seems to be the passion
of the day, if, as Providence has evidently decreed, there can be but a
certain portion of intellectual excellence in any community,