it has a right, also, to establish those regulations which shall best promote the good of the whole population. Whether any particular enactments be necessary, and whether they do secure the greatest good, are points as to which error may be committed, but as to which each government is the judge; and if it acts uprightly, with all the lights possessed, there is no crime. We boast of our liberties, and are forever quoting the words of the Declaration of Independence; yet in this country it has been deemed most for the good of the whole, that one half of the citizens (and I believe by far the noblest, purest, and best half) should be disfranchised of a great many civil rights. This is true, also, of all citizens until they reach an age wholly conventional,-viz. twenty-one. Is this a sin? Will it be urged that all are born free and equal, and that it is wicked to violate the indefeasible rights of women and minors? The day is coming, I venture to predict, when our regenerators will utter such frantic arguments; for they drive on, unrecking and unheeding alike the plainest dictates of reason and experience, and the stern lessons of the French Revolution, and the warning voice which spoke in such fearful accents amid the havoc and butchery and desolation of St. Domingo. But no good citizen considers the inequalities existing in these States criminal.

When we pass to England and France, we find these social distinctions far more numerous, and marked, and exclusive. Multitudes there are de

to the existence of society, must, by the very fact of the existence of society, be taken for granted."-Moral Science, p. 391.

prived of all right of suffrage in reference to laws which affect their property and lives ;* and Parliament and the Chambers think this most conducive to the great end of social organization, the general good. In Russia civil power is vested in one man. The liberty of the noble is restricted; that of the plebeian is still less; and that of the serf scarcely more than is enjoyed by the African in this State. And in Russia this is believed to be best for the good of the empire. Now what political organization is most desirable for a particular people depends on circumstances; but whatever be that adopted, whether democracy or despotism, the rights of man, as a human being, are trenched upon; and visionary have proved, and will prove, all projects of constructing and fashioning society according to philosophical notions and theories of abstract"inalienable rights." That slavery, or any civil institution, interferes with the liberty of a man or a class of men, does not, then, make it necessarily and amid all circumstances a crime.

Το put this in a plain light, let me suppose that one of these Southern republics should be inspired with the truest philanthropy ; that her constituency should, for the first time, regard piety as important in a representative; that the benignant spirit of Jesus should penetrate her halls of legislation, and

In France there are thirty-four millions of people, and only one hundred thousand are electors of Deputies to the Chambers.

"If it be asked, Which of these is the preferable form of government? the answer, I think, must be conditional The best form of government for any people is the best that its present moral condition renders practicable."—Ibid P. 397.

pervade all her councils; and that the present government-finding the African race under its control-satisfied that even if their removal were practicable, it is not desirable for their own good should address itself with paternal assiduity to their welfare and happiness. All obnoxious laws are abrogated. The slaves are educated, their rights as immortal, intellectual, moral, and social beings are protected, and their religious instruction secured. If you choose, we will say that their labor is regulated, and instead of the compensation resting with the master, it is fixed by statute. Suppose, however, this government, using the lights of wisdom and experience, is convinced that the black population cannot be admitted to the privileges of free citizens, but that the good of the whole community, the safety and existence of the republic, and the negroes' own best interests, require that their personal liberty be restrained. Will it be pretended that such conduct would be criminal? Nor is there any thing impossible in the hypothesis. It might become fact to-morrow; and no doubt among the Christian masters addressed by the apostles, and in the patriarchs' families, such a picture had many originals, as far as it portrays the fostering and parental character of the relation. Onesimus might have been mentally, and morally, and religiously cultivated, and yet have been a slave; and his very piety would have caused him to "be obedient unto his master." Among the Romans it was not unusual for slaves to be men of much learning.

As soon as slavery is mentioned at the North, there is conjured up, in the minds of many per

sons, I know not what confused, revolting combination, and heart-rending spectacle, of chains, and whips, and cruelty, and crime, and wretchedness. But, I repeat it, even at the peril of tediousness, that necessarily and essentially-(and in a multitude of instances, practically and actually)-slavery is nothing more than the condition of one who is deprived of political power, and does service,— without his contract and consent, it is true, but yet it may be, cheerfully and happily, and for a compensation reasonable and certain, paid in modes of return best for the slave himself. With what is strictly physical liberty, the master interferes no more, in such cases, than you do with a hired servant. The work assigned is confessedly very light -scarcely one half of that performed by a white laborer with you. When that is performed, the slaves (to use an expression common with them) are "their own masters." And if you ever allow us the pleasure of seeing you at the South, you will find slaves tilling land for themselves; working as mechanics for themselves, and selling various articles of merchandise for themselves; and when you inquire of them some explanation, they will speak of their rights, and their property, with as clear a sense of what is due to them, and as much confidence, as they could if free; and tell you (to use another of their phrases) that they do all this "in their own time."

I hope, my dear brother, I have now shown that your ethical argument does not hold good. And I hope so, not only because it is most painful to me if I am compelled to differ from you on any subject, but because, if your view be correct, you will

sooner make people infidels, than convince them that the Bible does not look with allowance on 66 as great a crime as can be conceived"-which is downright blasphemy. Let me recapitulate the views I have tried to express in this and the last letter.

(1.) A right to the service of a man without his contract or consent, conveys no additional rights but those proper and absolutely necessary to this original right. But it is not proper and necessary to this original right, that a human being be de prived of any right which is justly his, as an immortal, intelligent, moral, social, and fallen creature. Therefore, a right to the services of a man without his contract or consent, does not justify any wrong done to his mind, or soul, or domestic relations. Therefore your first assumption fails.

(2.) Slavery may exist without interfering with any of man's natural rights, except personal freedom. But to interfere with personal freedom is V not necessarily a sin. Therefore slavery is not necessarily a sin. Therefore your second assumption fails.

These sorites appear to me almost self-evident, and to present the subject in its true light—a light too often darkened by a cloud of words about "making man a brute, and a mere piece of property." Such language is in itself absurd, for nothing but a miracle can effect these transformations. It is, also, the most sheer verbiage of shallow declamation. As well might it be said, that a child is a brute, and a mere piece of property, because his parent has a right to his services, and this right is a transferable one. The most nefarious code of laws ever perpetrated, recognised