m _property_. Its first aim is to destroy all sense
of high moral and religious responsibility. It reduces man to a mere
machine. It cuts him off from his Maker, it hides from him the laws of
God, and leaves him to grope his way from time to eternity in the dark,
under the arbitrary and despotic control of a frail, depraved, and
sinful fellow-man. As the serpent-charmer of India is compelled to
extract the deadly teeth of his venomous prey before he is able to
handle him with impunity, so the slaveholder must strike down the
conscience of the slave before he can obtain the entire mastery over his
victim.

It is, then, the first business of the enslaver of men to blunt, deaden,
and destroy the central principle of human responsibility. Conscience
is, to the individual soul, and to society, what the law of gravitation
is to the universe. It holds society together; it is the basis of all
trust and confidence; it is the pillar of all moral rectitude. Without
it, suspicion would take the place of trust; vice would be more than a
match for virtue; men would prey upon each other, like the wild beasts
of the desert; and earth would become a _hell_.

Nor is slavery more adverse to the conscience than it is to the mind.
This is shown by the fact, that in every state of the American Union,
where slavery exists, except the state of Kentucky, there are laws
absolutely prohibitory of education among the slaves. The crime
of teaching a slave to read is punishable with severe fines and
imprisonment, and, in some instances, with _death itself_.

Nor are the laws respecting this matter a dead letter. Cases may occur
in which they are disregarded, and a few instances may be found where
slaves may have learned to read; but such are isolated cases, and only
prove the rule. The great mass of slaveholders look upon education among
the slaves as utterly subversive of the slave system. I well remember
when my mistress first announced to my master that she had dis{340}
covered that I could read. His face colored at once with surprise and
chagrin. He said that "I was ruined, and my value as a slave destroyed;
that a slave should know nothing but to obey his master; that to give a
negro an inch would lead him to take an ell; that having learned how to
read, I would soon want to know how to write; and that by-and-by I
would be running away." I think my audience will bear witness to the
correctness of this philosophy, and to the literal fulfillmen