himself, and then of summoning up the
energy which will sustain him in pursuing it.

If some superior power should impose on the laborious poor of any other
country--this as their unalterable condition--you shall be saved from
the torturing anxiety concerning your own future support, and that of
your children, which now pursues you through life, and haunts you in
death--you shall be under the necessity of regular and healthful, though
not excessive labor--in return, you shall have the ample supply of your
natural wants--you may follow the instinct of nature in becoming
parents, without apprehending that this supply will fail yourselves or
your children--you shall be supported and relieved in sickness, and in
old age, wear out the remains of existence among familiar scenes and
accustomed associates, without being driven to beg, or to resort to the
hard and miserable charity of a work-house--you shall of necessity be
temperate, and shall have neither the temptation nor opportunity to
commit great crimes, or practice the more destructive vices--how
inappreciable would the boon be thought! And is not this a very near
approach to the condition of our slaves? The evils of their situation
they but lightly feel, and would hardly feel at all, if they were not
seduously instructed into sensibility. Certain it is, that if their fate
were at the absolute disposal of a council of the most enlightened
philanthropists in Christendom, with unlimited resources, they could
place them in no situation so favorable to themselves, as that which
they at present occupy. But whatever good there may be, or whatever
mitigation of evil, it is worse than valueless, because it is the result
of _slavery_.

I am aware, that however often answered, it is likely to be repeated
again and again--how can that institution be tolerable, by which a large
class of society is cut off from the hope of improvement in knowledge;
to whom blows are not degrading; theft no more than a fault; falsehood
and the want of chastity almost venial, and in which a husband or parent
looks with comparative indifference, on that which, to a freeman, would
be the dishonor of a wife or child?

But why not, if it produces the greatest aggregate of good? Sin and
ignorance are only evils, because they lead to misery. It is not our
institution, but the institution of nature, that in the progress of
society a portion of it should be exposed to want, and the misery which
it brings,