ore, as he has been an expence to them.
But if the voice of reason, justice and humanity be not stifled by
sordid avarice, or unfeeling tyranny, it would be easy to convince even
those who have entertained such erroneous notions, that the right of one
man over another is neither founded in nature, nor in sound policy. That
it cannot extend to those _not in being_; that no man can in reality be
_deprived_ of what he doth not possess: that fourteen years labour by a
young person in the prime of life, is an ample compensation for a few
months of labour lost by the mother, and for the maintenance of a child,
in that coarse homely manner that Negroes are brought up: And lastly,
that a state of slavery is not only perfectly incompatible with the
principles of government, but with the safety and security of their
masters. History evinces this. At this moment we have the most awful
demonstrations of it. Shall we then neglect a duty, which every
consideration, moral, religious, political, or _selfish_, recommends.
Those who wish to postpone the measure, do not reflect that every day
renders the task more arduous to be performed. We have now 300,000
slaves among us. Thirty years hence we shall have double the number. In
sixty years we shall have 1,200,000. And in less than another century
from this day, even that enormous number will be doubled. Milo acquired
strength enough to carry an ox, by beginning with the ox while he was
yet a calf. If we complain that the calf is too heavy for our shoulders,
what will not the ox be?

To such as apprehend danger to our agricultural interest, and the
depriving the families of those whose principal reliance is upon their
slaves, of support, it will be proper to submit a view of the gradual
operation, and effects of this plan. They will no doubt be surprized to
hear, that whenever it is adopted, the number of slaves will not be
diminished for forty years after it takes place; that it will even
encrease for thirty years; that at the distance of sixty years, there
will be one-third of the number at its first commencement: that it will
require _above a century_ to complete it; and that the number of blacks
_under twenty-eight_, and consequently bound to service, in the families
they are born in, will always be at least as great, as the present
number of slaves. These circumstances I trust will remove many
objections, and that they are truly stated will appear upon enquiry.[30]
It will further ap