e Union and its greatest benefactors." The
Englishman acknowledged a tribute to his own country, but Washington
with great good humor responded, "Yes, yes, Mr. Bernard, but I consider
your country the cradle of free principles, not their arm-chair." He had
proceeded a little way in a eulogy of American liberty, when a black
servant entered the room with a jug of spring water. Bernard smiled, and
Washington quickly caught his look and answered it: "This may seem a
contradiction, but I think you must perceive that it is neither a crime
nor an absurdity. When we profess, as our fundamental principle, that
liberty is the inalienable right of every man, we do not include madmen
or idiots; liberty in their hands would become a scourge. Till the mind
of the slave has been educated to perceive what are the obligations of a
state of freedom, and not confound a man's with a brute's, the gift
would insure its abuse. We might as well be asked to pull down our old
warehouses before trade has increased to demand enlarged new ones. Both
houses and slaves were bequeathed to us by Europeans, and time alone can
change them; an event which, you may believe me, no man desires more
heartily than I do. Not only do I pray for it on the score of human
dignity, but I can clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting out of
slavery can perpetuate the existence of our Union, by consolidating it
in a common bond of principle."

These words of Washington, with the incident that supplies their
background, are an epitome of the view and attitude of that great man
toward slavery. Before measuring their full significance, and the
general situation in which this was an element, we may glance at the
preliminary questions; how came slaves in Virginia and America; whence
came slavery; what was it?

Primitive man killed his enemy and ate him. Later, the sequel of battle
was the slaying of all the vanquished and the appropriation of their
goods, including women and other live stock. Then it was found more
profitable to spare the conquered warrior's life and set him to do the
victor's disagreeable work; more profitable, and incidentally more
merciful. Civilization advanced; wars became less general; but in the
established social order that grew up there was a definite place for a
great class of slaves. It was part of Nature's early law, the strong
raising themselves upon the weak. Morality and religion by degrees
established certain limited rights for the sla