He may be seeking the
same end with you, namely, the peaceful removal of slavery, with due
regard to the highest good of all concerned; but let him utter a word in
arrest of your unqualified condemnation of slavery as it actually is,
and there are no persecutors, nor scourges, nor intolerance on the
earth, more fierce and cruel than you and your denunciations."
"Take it patiently, husband," said Mrs. North, "you know that you
deserve it."
"I know from this," said I, "if from nothing else, that your theory is
wrong. The truth does not excite such passions in those who love and
seek to promote it. We see that, in cases without number, the present
condition of the slaves is a blessing for both worlds, and that if all
who possess slaves were, as many are, slavery would cease to be any more
of a curse than any dependent condition in this world. There must always
be those who will do every sort of menial work. The great Father of all,
who himself says that he has 'deprived' the ostrich 'of wisdom, neither
hath he imparted to her understanding,' so arranges the capacities of
some that their happiness consists in leaning upon superior intelligence
and capability.
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