are! you make us slaves; you
implant in our minds all the vices, which are in some degree, inseparable
from that condition; and you then impiously impute to nature, and to God,
the origin of those vices, to which you alone have given birth; and punish
in us the crimes, of which you are yourselves the authors.

The condition of the slave is in nothing more deplorable, than in its being
so unfavorable to the practice of every virtue. The surest foundation of
virtue is love of our fellow creatures; and that affection takes its birth,
in the social relations of men to one another. But to a slave these are
all denied. He never pays or receives the grateful duties of a son--he
never knows or experiences the fond solicitude of a father--the tender
names of husband, of brother, and of friend, are to him unknown. He has no
country to defend and bleed for--he can relieve no sufferings--for he looks
around in vain, to find a being more wretched than himself. He can indulge
no generous sentiment--for he sees himself every hour treated with contempt
and ridiculed, and distinguished from irrational brutes, by nothing but
the severity of punishment. Would it be surprising, if a slave, labouring
under all these disadvantages--oppressed, insulted, scorned, trampled
on--should come at last to despise himself--to believe the calumnies of his
oppressors--and to persuade himself, that it would be against his nature,
to cherish any honourable sentiment or to attempt any virtuous action?
Before you boast of your superiority over us, place some of your own colour
(if you have the heart to do it) in the same situation with us; and see,
whether they have such innate virtue, and such unconquerable vigour of
mind, as to be capable of surmounting such multiplied difficulties, and of
keeping their minds free from the infection of every vice, even under the
oppressive yoke of such a servitude.

But, not satisfied with denying us that indulgence, to which the misery of
our condition gives us so just a claim, our enemies have laid down other
and stricter rules of morality, to judge our actions by, than those by
which the conduct of all other men is tried. Habits, which in all human
beings, except ourselves, are thought innocent, are, in us, deemed criminal
and actions, which are even laudable in white men, become enormous crimes
in negroes. In proportion to our weakness, the strictness of censure is
increased upon us; and as resources are withheld from