Put off his generous nature, and to suit
His manners with his fate, put on the brute.”
Such, indeed, is slavery most justly termed, “the grave of virtue.” Under its cold and ungenial influence, every generous, every warm emotion must languish and die. Through the gloom which envelopes the soul subjected to its dark power, no ray of intellect, no beam of joy, no sun of cheerfulness can pierce. And yet man, inconsistent man, while condemning his fellow-being to this soul-paralyzing state, expects from the poor victims qualities and virtues only to be planted in the soil, only to be nourished by the sun, of liberty—of Christian liberty, of Christian charity:
“For slaves by truth enlarg’d are doubly freed.”
[[141]]
Chapter XI.
“Thy lips have shed instruction as the dew,
Taught me what path to shun, and what pursue.
Farewell my former joys! I sigh no more