But then we should actually be enjoying the
stolen property--the ship and its comforts--for several days, with the
belief that benevolence and justice to all concerned required us to
reach the end of the voyage before we took measures to perform that
justice, which, before, would have been practical folly.
"Now, please, do not require this illustration to go on all fours. All
that I mean is this: A right thing may be wrong, if done unseasonably,
or in disregard of circumstances which have supervened.
"But to go a little further, and beyond mere expediency: Can you see no
difference between buying slaves, and making men slaves? While it would
be wicked for you to reduce people to slavery, is that the same as
becoming owners to those who are already in slavery? In one case, you
could not apply the golden rule; in the other, the golden rule would
absolutely compel you, in many instances, to buy slaves. Go to almost
any place where slaves are sold, and they will come to you, if they like
your looks, and, by all the arts of persuasion, entreat you to become
their master. Having succeeded, step behind the scenes, if you can, and
hear them exulting that they 'fetched more' than this or that man.
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