aws must be
weakened by the very nature of this unholy relation. Where there is
knowledge and freedom on one side, and ignorance and servitude on the
other, evasions and subterfuges will of course be frequent. Hence
English philanthropists have universally come to the conclusion that
nothing effectual can be done, unless slavery itself be destroyed.

The limits of this work compel me to pass by many enactments in our
slaveholding States, which would throw still more light on this dark
subject.

I have laid open some of the laws which do actually exist, and are
constantly enforced in this free country; and knowing all this, and
still more, to be true, I blush and hang my head, whenever I hear any
one boast of our "glorious institutions."

The slaveholders insist that their _humanity_ is so great, as to render
all their ferocious laws perfectly harmless. Are the laws then made on
purpose to urge tender-hearted masters to be so much worse than they
really desire to be? The democrats of the South appear to be less
scrupulous about the liberties of others, than the Autocrat of the
Russias;--for, when Madame de Stael told the Emperor Alexander that his
_character_ answered instead of a _constitution_ for his country, he
replied, "Then, madam, I am but a lucky _accident_." How much more
emphatically may it be said, that the slave's destiny is a matter of
chance! Reader, would you trust the very best man you know, with your
time, your interests, your family, and your life, unless the contract
were guarded on every side by the strong arm of the law? If a
money-loving neighbor could force you to toil, and could gain a certain
number of dollars for every hour of your labor, how much rest should you
expect to have?

It is utter nonsense to say that generosity of disposition is a
protection against tyranny, where all the power is on one side. It may
be, and it no doubt is so, in particular instances; but they must be
exceptions to the general rule.

We all know that the Southerners have a high sense of what the world
calls honor, and that they are brave, hospitable, and generous to people
of their own color; but the more we respect their virtues, the more
cause is there to lament the demoralizing _system_, which produces such
unhappy effects on all who come within its baneful influence. Most of
them may be as kind as can be expected of human nature, endowed with
almost unlimited power to do wrong; and some of them may be even