Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/96

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be aſcertained of more punctual, and efficient work.

The moſt delicate part of the ſubject is now to canvas; I ſhould ſhrink at the idea of a juſtification of ſlavery; did I not, even in that ſlavery, behold comforts, of which liberty is frequently deprived. A ſlave has no feeling beyond the preſent hour, no anticipation of what may come, no dejection at what may enſue: theſe privileges of feeling are reſerved for the enlightened, whoſe fears may dread misfortunes that cannot arrive, and deſpiſe diſtreſs which they know muſt come. As the ſufferings of the mind are infinitely more acute than bodily ſenſations; in the reverſe proportion, is the ſlave more happy in ignorance, than thoſe of an oppoſite colour are in ſcience.

That negroes are capable of bodily influence and mental cultivation, who can be ſo impious as to deny? The ſun that ſhines on all, enlightens them: and if genius be the conſequence of heat, and the beams that fertilize the earth, irradiate the mind; the African in geniality of climate, and warmth of ſoul would blaze; when the inhabitants

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