of you. And to abolitionists, I have only to say in conclusion,
poor deluded souls, I sincerely pity you. Bow your heads with shame
and grief--it may be, the Lord will have mercy upon you.

CHAPTER XI.

I am not yet done with the obligations of masters to their slaves. I
cannot hastily dismiss the subject. In it I feel an intense interest.
Bear with me, my beloved friends and fellow citizens of the South. For
I assure you, that if I know anything of my own heart, I am prompted
to write by the best of motives and the kindest of feelings. To many
of you I am personally known; and I flatter myself, that those who
know me best, will not suspect me of improper motives or feelings. I
have for you the highest respect, and for you I entertain the kindest
feelings. I long resided in your midst, and was treated with kindness
by you, in all the relations of life, whether private or public; and I
feel myself bound to you by ties of gratitude, which neither time nor
space can separate; by all those tender and endearing associations and
relations in life, which must necessarily grow out of a long residence
in the midst of a generous, humane and hospitable people. My regard
and solicitude for my Southern friends is now a thousand fold greater
than at any previous period of my life. And my anxiety for your peace,
happiness, and permanent prosperity, becomes more and more ardent. But
I must come directly to the point under investigation.

Masters, I conceive, are under obligations to act with reference to
the comfort and happiness of their slaves; and not solely with a view
to their own pecuniary interests. If they fail to provide for their
slaves comfortable houses, clothing suited to their various wants, and
adapted to the varying and changeable seasons of the year, together
with a supply of wholesome and nutritious food, they violate the
commands of God. Their own interests, as well as duty, demand it at
their hands. I do not contend that the master is bound to furnish the
slave with clothing of the same material with which he clothes
himself; nor do I contend, that in all cases, he is bound to provide
for him the precise articles of food, on which he himself subsists.
The occupations of the master and the slave may be different; and
supposing that they are engaged in the same occupation, their
feelings, views, appetites and propensities differ. In other words,
their _wants_ differ. Hence, what would conduce to comfort in