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treat with ſo much rigour? Their pains, their ſweat, their labours, do not they merit any better return than our ſcorn and diſdain? We ſcarcely diſtinguiſh them from the brutes, which they maintain for the cultivation of our lands! we frequently have leſs conſideration for their ſtrength, than we have for that of thoſe animals! and too frequently we ſell them to maſters as cruel as ourſelves, who immediately force them, by an exceſs of hard labour, to repay the price of their new ſlavery! I cannot recollect without horror that law which impoſes only a fine of fifteen livres upon a gentleman who ſhall have killed a peaſant.—Poland is the only country where the populace are fallen from all the rights of humanity; we alone regard theſe men as creatures of another ſpecies, and we would almoſt refuſe them the ſame air which they breathe with us. God, in the creation of man, gave him liberty—what right have we to deprive him of it? As it is natural to ſhake off a yoke that is rough, hard, and heavy, may it not happen that this people may make an effort to wreſt themſelves from our tyranny? Their murmurs and complaints muſt, ſooner or later, lead to this. Hitherto, accuſtomed to their fetters, they think not of breaking them; but let one ſingle man ariſe, among theſe unfortunate wretches, with a maſculine and daring ſpirit, to concert and foment a revolt, what barrier ſhall we oppoſe to the torrent? We have a recent inſtance, in the inſurrection in the Ukraine, which was only occaſioned by the vexations of thoſe among us who had there purchaſed lands. We deſpiſed the courage of the poor inhabitants of that
