sealed them, not foreseeing that the inevitable
consequence will be the bursting of the boiler, and dreadful
havoc among all on board. No law has been passed under the
_commonwealth_ to ameliorate the black code of the _colony_ of
Virginia; on the contrary, new laws have been passed, adding to
the oppression of the unfortunate negroes, and which have not
only abridged the rights of humanity, but of the citizen. Such is
the character of the law which restricts and to a great degree
prohibits the master from manumitting his slave. The idea should
be ever present to the politicians of Virginia, that the state of
Slavery is an unnatural state, and cannot exist forever; it must
come to an end by consent or by force; and if by consent, it must
from all experience, as from the nature of things, be preceded by
ameliorating laws, which will have the effect of gradually and
imperceptibly loosening the bonds of servitude.

Nothing is more erroneous than the idea which is entertained by
many, that ameliorating laws, and especially manumissions, are
productions of insurrections among the slaves. The history of the
British and Spanish West Indies shows that in those Islands where
they have prevailed most, the slaves have behaved best, and
insurrections have occurred oftenest where the slaves have been
most oppressed and manumissions most restricted. Indeed, we never
hear of insurrections in the Spanish Islands, where the slaves
are most under the protection of the law, and where there are no
restrictions on manumissions. Virginia should repeal the law
against emancipation, prohibit the domestic slave-trade--which is
nearly allied in all its odious features to the African slave
trade--restrict the power of the master in disposing of his
slaves, by preventing him from separating the child from its
parent, the husband from his wife, etc., and if possible, connect
the slave under proper modifications to the soil, or at least to
the vicinity of his birth; instruct the slaves especially in the
duties of Religion; extend to them the protection of the laws,
and punish severity in the master, and when cruelly exercised by
him, it should vest the right in the slave to his freedom; or to
be sold at an assessed valuation. These and many other provisions
might be adopte