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thoſe ideas of chriſtian charity, which it is the preſent object of the petitions to introduce. There is no doubt that many of thoſe unhappy creatures are deluded, or forced from their native country; and to ſuppoſe them incapable of feeling regret, or reſentment at their cruel ſeparation from the ſpot which gave them being, wives, children, relatives, and friends, is not only weak, but impious, and an arraignment of that equal and univerſal benevolence, and that ſteady and impartial juſtice, ſo obſervable in all the works of our Creator. Whether they are, or are not, endued with equal underſtanding, is a ſubject that does not apply to the preſent caſe; if their faculties be more weak, they may he ſtrengthened by ſcience; if their diſpoſitions more ſavage, they may be ſoftened by examples of humanity; if ignorant of the ſocial and moral obligations of life, they may be taught the firſt, by indulgence, and by religion, the laſt. It is true that African negroes do not ſeem poſſeſſed of ſo much ſpirit and alacrity as the creoles are; may not this be owing to their want of that confidence which a native ſoil gives the laſt, and an ignorance
