Even admitting that the responsibility for the existence of the institution of slavery does not rest with the present generation, it would still be asking too much to require the defenders of the Southern States to prove that their peculiar system of labour has attained to that point of excellence from whence there can be no improvement. All human institutions are imperfect and it is not pretended that this forms an exception. That there are evils incident thereto is not to be questioned. It is sufficient, if it can be established, that more good than evil has resulted, and, in all human probability, will continue to flow from it; and that the results achieved through its instrumentality have tended materially to promote the general welfare of mankind, and that these same benefits cannot be obtained under any other system of labour which has been devised. That incidental evils may spring out of the system that cruelties may be inflicted by the master upon the slave that instances of inhumanity have occurred, and will occur, are necessarily incident to the relations which subsist between master and slave, as well as between father and child, husband and wife, master and apprentice, power and weakness; but if it can be established that such instances are only exceptional, and that the slaves, whose condition we are considering, are provided

with more of the physical comforts of life-that they are less often overworked, and that, as a class, they are happier and more exempt from the ordinary ills of life than any like number of labourers in the world, of whatever race, colour, or nation, it would seem that those who are conscientiously opposed to slavery, upon the ground of its supposed inhumanity, should be satisfied to leave the matter where it stands.

Furthermore, although the public sentiment of the civilised world is averse to the existence of such a relation between man and man as master and slave, yet if, in addition to the manifold advantages to mankind which result from this institution, it can be established that the condition of the Africans, as slaves in America, is far better, in every essential particular, than that of any of their race ever has been, from the commencement of recorded or traditional history. -that from barbarians and cannibals they have attained to a moderate degree of civilisation – that from heathen they have become Christians— that from a condition of wretchedness and misery they have become comparatively contented and happy that having sprung from a race which has never achieved anything for the good of mankind— whose entire history furnishes not one single name which is associated with anything good-which has not in the past, in their native land, exhibited any

qualities above the instincts of brutes- - they have, nevertheless, through the instrumentality of the institution of slavery, been made to contribute, in an important degree, to the wants of the civilised world; it is not demanding too much of an enlightened public sentiment to abate somewhat of the natural feeling of repugnance to the existence of this relation between man and man, in view of results so advantageous to the human race, and which are attended, incidentally, by so many blessings to those in whose cause so much unnecessary sympathy has been expended.

That the results enumerated have followed, and that they have been consequences of the existence of African slavery, is susceptible of easy demonstration. Nor will they be denied by those who have investigated the subject without prejudice, and with the single purpose of discovering the truth. But, unhappily, public opinion has been forestalled to a great extent, chiefly by those who have employed this instrument, not with a view to correct error and to propagate truth, but from the most sordid considerations on the part of some, and upon the part of others to gratify a feeling of unkindness and hatred towards those under whose auspices the products of slave labour have been made to contribute to the wants, the luxuries, and the comforts of the civilised world.

Instead of requiring the Southern States to prove

SOUTHERN SLAVERY VIEWED AS AN INSTITUTION. 85

that their system of slave labour is without fault or blemish instead of asking that it be tried by an ideal standard of abstract right, which will not allow the smallest evil with the greatest good-let us examine it simply as a human institution, with its good and its evil arrayed upon the one side and the other-nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.' When we have looked into the leading features of its history, from its origin to the present day, and have marked out its achievements, for good and for evil, before we resolve upon its destruction, or even make up our minds to impair its strength and influence, let us compare it with all the other systems of labour which have been adopted by mankind, with a view to the achievement of the same results.

LETTER V.

Labour, the Foundation of the Wealth of Nations - Duties of Government - Declaration of Independence, and its correct Interpretation – Classification of Rulers, and the Governed -Names do not express the Qualities of Objects.

THE foundation of the wealth and prosperity of civilised nations consists in labour. It is of all the subjects which engage the attention of Governments the most important. The products of physical labour are essential to the greatness and power of any nation, whether it be the labour of her own subjects or citizens, or an appropriation of the labour of others for her aggrandisement.

Politically, there exist in every State two classes —those who govern, and those who are governed. When regarded in reference to all the relations which subsist between men towards each other, the latter class may be resolved into three, which are distinct and strongly defined in all the various relations of life.

There are in every civilised State - first the rulers those upon whom are conferred the right of establishing laws for the government of the great mass, who occupy the relation of subjects or citizens. In