Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/55

DISTIIIBUTION OF THE PEOPLE. 43 as supple and sen'ile as any slaves could admi- nister. On the principle now stated, I think it will be found, that, wherever the manners of the lower or- ders are most untractable, there slavery mostly pre- vails, and where they are most docile, it is rarest. For the extremes of both, Celebes and Java may be quoted as examples. The severest lot of the condition of servitude is no where experienced in the Indian islands. That lot can only be felt in the higher stages of civiliza- tion, where there is an immeasurable distance be- tween the political condition of the master and the slave — where the latter is considered as a por- tion of the stock of the former, and the spirit of gain excludes every other consideration. Of all the masters of slaves in the Indian islands, the Chinese, and the Arabs, alone are disposed to make this use of slaves, but they are themselves depressed orders, jealously watched by their European masters, and, no doubt, in some measure influenced in the treat- ment of their slaves by the mild example of their native neighbours. The Dutch, in their predilec- tion for slaves, are actuated by the same principles as the natives of the country. Their vanity is gratified by their suppleness and docility, and even in Java, where they might be more cheaply, and as agreeably, served by freemen, their early estrangement from the inhabitants of that country