"
"You have no right," said he, with some warmth, "to take the best
condition in slavery, and the very worst in freedom, and compel me to
choose."
"'Best condition in slavery!'" said I; "is there any 'best' in being a
slave, in not being free? Does it admit of degrees? Is not being 'owned'
such a curse, such an unmixed iniquity in its essence, that to compare
its best estate with the worst in freedom, is like comparing the best
devil with the most inferior saint? Is not a devil's nature incapable of
comparison as good, better, best, with anything which is not, in its
nature, devilish? According to your conversation just now, it seemed as
though being 'owned' always implied an unmitigated transgression; and
now when I inquire whether you would prefer degradation to the iniquity
of being 'owned' in comfort and usefulness, respectability and
happiness, you shrink from the question. If freedom in the abstract is
the best thing under the sun, of course you will prefer it to everything
else. No happy condition, no happy prospect for this life, and the life
to come can, in your view, make being 'a slave,' as you call it, capable
of being compared with this abstract privilege of being free.
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