is feared the number of Alfreds will remain
comparatively small.

17. The rod of a tyrant wielded over a few, is infinitely more terrible,
than when the number of its victims is great, and detached over a wide
extent of country.[5]

18. Mr. Jefferson, in his Note on this subject, exclaims, "I tremble for
my country, when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot
sleep for ever." The late Professor Barton, in his work on Botany, while
treating on the article of _rice_, and its cultivation by uncompensated
slaves, expresses a similar sentiment: "Shall we never learn (says he)
to be just to our fellow creatures? Shall we blindly pursue the
imaginary advantages of the moment, and neglect the still but solemn
voice of God, until

"--------Vengeance in the lurid air
Lifts her red arm expos'd and bare?"

19. Without offering an opinion on the propriety of the expression of
Mr. Jefferson, I must add, that _I tremble for my country when I reflect
that God is just_, and that his justice is ever active and continually
executing its commission! The truth of this may be easily recognised by
any observer, who has not been familiarized to the constant presence of
slavery, from infancy. Indeed, the possessors of slaves, with whom I
have conversed, while travelling through several slave districts,
frequently acknowledged that they "_have inherited a curse from their
ancestors, and that it would be better for the country if the slaves
were all out of it_." And with respect to the _red arm of vengeance,
exposed and bare_, it must often menace those neighbourhoods, whence the
citizens frequently write to their friends in the _north_, that, "it is
high time to leave a country where one cannot go to bed in the evening,
without the apprehension of being massacred before morning!" I have been
assured by citizens having personal knowledge of the fact, that the rage
of the slaves is such, in some districts, and especially near Savannah,
that their masters and overseers are obliged to retreat to some secure
place during the night, or employ armed sentinels. Four slaves were
executed but a few months since, in Maryland, for destroying the life of
their master's brother, while he was in the act of inflicting corporeal
punishment upon them. A citizen of Philadelphia very lately related to
me the most shocking heart-rending instance of ferocious vengeance that
can be possibly conceived: It very forcibly exemplifies the infatuati