Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies - With a View to Their Ultimate Emancipation; and on the Practicability, the Safety, and the Advantages of the Latter Measure. by Thomas Clarkson
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fed, or lodged, or clothed. If he should have a wife and daughters with
him, how much more cruel would be his fate! to see the tender skins of these lacerated by the whip! to see them torn from him, with a knowledge, that they are going to be compelled to submit to the lust of an overseer! _and no redress_. "How long," says he, "is this frightful system, which tears my body in pieces and excruciates my soul, which kills me by inches, and which involves my family in unspeakable misery and unmerited disgrace, to continue?"--"For _ever_," replies a voice Suddenly: "_for ever_, as relates to your _own_ life, and the life _of your wife and daughters_, and that of _all their posterity_," Now would not this gentleman give _all that he had left behind him_ in England, and _all that he had in the world besides_, and _all that he had in prospect and expectancy_, to get out of this wretched state, though he foresaw that on his return to his own country he would be obliged to beg his bread for the remainder of his life? I am sure he would. I am sure he would _instantly_ prefer his _liberty to his gold_. There would not be _the hesitation of a moment_ as to the choice he would make. I hope, then, that if _the argument of property_ should he urged on _one side_ of the question, the _argument of property (liberty) will not be overlooked on the other_, but that they will be fairly weighed, the one against the other, and that an allowance will be made as the scale shall preponderate on either side. THOUGHTS, &c. I know of no subject, where humanity and justice, as well as public and |
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