education_ for the change, there was _far
more_ in another point of view, because _they were all acquainted with
the use of arms_. This is a consideration of great importance; but
particularly when we consider _the prejudices of the blacks against the
whites_; for would our West Indian planters be as much at their ease, as
they now are, if their slaves had acquired _a knowledge of the use of
arms_, or would they think them on this account more or less fit for
emancipation?

It will be said again, that the fourth case, consisting of the Sierra
Leone captured Negroes, _is not strictly analogous_ to the one in point.
These had probably been slaves but _for a short time_,--say a few
months, including the time which elapsed between their reduction to
slavery and their embarkation from Africa, and between this their
embarkation and their capture upon the ocean. They had scarcely been
slaves when they were returned to the rank of free men. Little or no
change therefore could have been effected in so short an interim in
their disposition and their character; and, as they were never carried
to the West Indies, so they never could have contracted the bad habits,
or the degradation or vices, of the slavery there. It will be contended
therefore, that they were _better_, _or less hazardous_, subjects for
_emancipation_, than the slaves in our colonies. I admit this objection,
and I give it its full weight. I admit it to be _less hazardous_ to
emancipate a _new_ than an _old_ slave. And yet the case of the Sierra
Leone captured Negroes is a very strong one. They were all _Africans_.
They were all _slaves_. They must have contracted _as mortal a hatred of
the whites_ from their sufferings on board ship by fetters, whips, and
suffocation in the hold, as the West Indian from those severities which
are attached to their bondage upon shore. Under these circumstances then
we find them _made free_; but observe, not after any _preparatory_
discipline, but almost _suddenly_, and _not singly_, but _in bodies_ at
a time. We find them also settled or made to live under the _unnatural_
government of the _whites_; and, what is more extraordinary, we find
their present number, as compared with that of the whites in the same
colony, nearly as _one hundred and fifty to one_; notwithstanding which
superiority fresh emancipations are constantly taking place, as fresh
cargoes of the captured arrive in port.

It will be said, lastly, that all the four