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 FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 
 
 BOOK II.
 
 " It is good. In Difcourfe, and Speech of Converfation, to vary, 
 " and intermingle Speech of the prefent Occafion with Argu- 
 " ments ; Tales with Realbns ; Aflcing of Q^ieftions, with Telling 
 " of Opinions ; and Jeft with Earned : For it is a dull Thing to 
 " Tire, and as we fay now, to Jade, anything too far." 
 
 Bacon. EJfay of Difcourfe.
 
 >5^^ 
 
 FRIENDS IN COUNCIL 
 
 A SERIES OF READINGS 
 
 AND DISCOURSE 
 
 THEREON 
 
 BOOK THE SECOND 
 
 LONDON 
 WILLIAM PICKERING 
 
 184.9
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 J^EADING 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 On giving and taking Criticifm 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 On the Art of Living 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Improvement of the Condition of the Rural Poor . . 89 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Government 129 
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Slavery 183 
 
 I. That Slaveiy is cruel 194.
 
 vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Page 
 
 2. That Slavery is needlefs 237 
 
 3. That Slavery is unauthorized 256 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 4. That Slavery is mifchievous to the Mafter as well as to 
 
 the Slave 273 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 5. That there are no Races in Refpeft to which the prece- 
 
 ding Propofitions againft Slavery do not apply . . 282 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 6. That Slavery can be done away 335
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 AM again enabled to give fome 
 account of the readings and con- 
 verfations at Worth Afhton during 
 another fummer. 
 I need not fay much in the way of introduc- 
 tion, having before defcribed our friendly council 
 and the place of our meeting. There was but 
 little alteration in the latter, except that Milverton 
 had put up a fun-dial in the centre of the lawn, 
 with the motto, " Horas non numero nifi ferenas " 
 which, I remember, gave occafion to Ellefmere 
 to fay, that for men the dial was either totally ufe- 
 lefs or utterly falfe. The only change about us 
 was, that the animal part of our audience had 
 greatly increafed ; for Milverton took much plea- 
 fure in obferving the ways of animals, and Ellef- 
 
 B
 
 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 mere, like Tome other great lawyers of paft and 
 prefent days, was very fond of live creatures of all 
 kinds, — men, women, and children excepted, as 
 I ufed to tell him. The moft extraordinary pack- 
 ages marked " with great care " and given into 
 the efpecial cuftody of railway guards, ufed to 
 come down from time to time, containing pur- 
 chafes made by Ellefmere at Hungerford mar- 
 ket in his walks home from Weftminfter to his 
 chambers. There was a Newfoundland puppy 
 of remarkable fagacity, which already had the 
 upper hand of Rollo ; then there were pigeons, 
 guinea-pigs, a jackdaw, and a gorgeous peacock 
 that took his ftation on the low wall bounding 
 the lawn and difplayed his imperial felf to the 
 admiration of all beholders. There were curious 
 fowls of various kinds, and laft, though not the 
 leaft favoured, a hedgehog which Ellefmere had 
 fent (as if we could not find plenty of them in 
 the country) and which he called " his learned 
 friend," and the reft of the family called Snooze- 
 lem. Milverton received all thefe prefents with 
 wonderful equanimity ; and Ellefmere thus em- 
 boldened, was now threatening to fend down a 
 raven whenever he could meet with one of fuffi- 
 cient intelligence to be worthy of the party.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 The human part of our friendly council feemed 
 to me more worn and altered than one expedls 
 to find people in the courfe of a year. At leaft 
 I thought fo of the young men ; (young men I 
 am always calling them, though I fuppofe nobody 
 elfe would) and I found afterwards that they 
 thought the fame of me. The winter of 1846 
 and the fpring of 1847 will long be remembered. 
 The famine in Ireland and the diftrefs here, had 
 preffed on the minds of all men who had to deal 
 with it or to think about it, either publicly or 
 privately. In our own diftrid, we had fufFered 
 much privation in a quiet way, and the whole 
 minds of thofe who could do fo, had been 
 given to meet it. It was the fame, I fuppofe, 
 with mofl people who had either property, or 
 office of any kind, lay or clerical, bringing upon 
 them the additional refponfibility which fuch times 
 induce. The general diftrefs and difficulty had, 
 I fufped, weighed much even upon Ellefmere, 
 though if you had aiked him the queftion, he 
 would have declared that he neither refpefted, 
 liked, nor cared for, the public ; and that he left 
 all fuch notions to demagogues and philanthro- 
 pifts, vowing that he belonged as little to the one 
 of thefe claffies as to the other.
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Our firft meeting was on a fine afternoon (a 
 Saturday) exadlly at the old place on the lawn 
 where we had broken up our laft friendly coun- 
 cil of the preceding year. It was the firft day 
 this fummer that Ellefmere had been able to come, 
 and Milverton had taken care to give me due 
 notice of our friend's coming. I found them 
 already feated. Ellefmere really looked pleafed 
 to fee me. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, my dear Dunsford, I hope you 
 are glad to fee me again, and that you will give me better 
 welcome than you have counfelled Milverton, I hear, 
 to give to fome of the creatures with which I have en- 
 riched his lawn and farm-yard, and enlivened your coun- 
 try dulnefs. Love me, not only love my dog, but my 
 pig, my guinea-pig that is to fay, my pigeons, and my 
 hedgehog. A London pigeon is very good fociety for 
 you country people : it could tell you a great deal, per- 
 haps, about the prices of ftock it had carried at various 
 times, or the way of living at St. Giles's. I have a 
 great mind to choofe fome nice animals for your place 
 — a couple of young wolves now would do charmingly 
 for the vicarage. 
 
 Dunsford. No, come yourfelf, and bring the whole 
 of your bar with you inftead : I had rather take the 
 chance of that than of the animals you would be kind 
 enough to provide for me. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, well, I will be merciful if you
 
 READING. 5 
 
 promife not to prejudice Milverton againft my pets. 
 But we muft not talk any more juft now. Let us have 
 our reading. I muft be off" at fix o'clock on Monday, 
 fo we muft have the reading this afternoon. Now, 
 Milverton, what is it to be ? Something, I fuppofe, as 
 novel and refrefhing as your firft eflay of laft fummer. 
 There is no end to your audacity in the choice of hack- 
 nied fubjedts. I think you take a pride in it. 
 
 Milverton. No, indeed ; but they do not appear 
 hacknied to me. However, I am not going to inflidl 
 any hacknied fubjecSl upon you now. It is to be an eflay 
 on Reading. I will begin at once. 
 
 Hereupon Milverton read to us the following 
 eflay. 
 
 READING. 
 
 )S the world grows older and as civiliza- 
 tion advances, there is likely to be 
 more and more time given to reading. 
 In feveral parts of the earth where mankind are 
 moft adlive, and where the proportion of thofe 
 who need to labour by their hands is lefs than in 
 other countries, and likely to go on becoming lefs, 
 the climate is fuch as to confine, if it does not re- 
 prefs, out-of-door amufements : and, in all cli- 
 mates, for the lovers of eafe, the delicate in
 
 6 READING. 
 
 health, the referved, the faftldious and the mufing, 
 books are amongft the chief fources of delight, 
 and fuch as will more probably intrench upon other 
 joys and occupations than give way to them. 
 
 Notwithflanding this, the ethics of ftudy, if I 
 may ufe fuch a phrafe, have been little confidered; 
 and thofe purfuits over which we might have 
 more efficient control than moft others, are left to 
 chance as regards their origin, their condudl and 
 their end. 
 
 It appears to me remarkable that this fubjedl 
 Ihould have been fo little touched upon. Other 
 fubjeds which are akin to it, but yet very dif- 
 ferent, have been largely inveftigated. But you 
 will not find in treatifes upon education, upon 
 profeffions, or upon general knowledge of life, 
 any connedled confiderations with regard to the 
 ethics and methods of private ftudy. Bacon's 
 " Advancement of learning" is treated as a book, 
 belonging to the learned ; and, befides, it deals 
 with univerfals rather than with particulars ; in- 
 dicates the fluggifhnefs, the hindrances, and the 
 courfe, of the main rivers of knowledge ; not 
 bufying itfelf with the local fortunes of fmall 
 ftreams, retired rivulets and quiet pools, without 
 which, however, thefe main rivers would float 
 down no argofies towards the fea of time.
 
 READING. 7 
 
 Gibbon fays, " After a certain age, the new 
 publications of merit are the fole food of the 
 many." A farcaftic perfon would perhaps re- 
 mark, that the words "of merit" might be omitted 
 without injury to the truth of the fentence. But 
 that would be too fevere ; for the publications 
 of merit do moftly obtain fome hearing in their 
 own day, though a very difproportionate one to 
 what they fhould have ; as it is exceedingly diffi- 
 cult, even for highly-cultivated perfons, to make 
 good feledlion of the nafcent fruits and flowers of 
 literature amidft the rank herbage of the day. 
 
 Before entering upon the mode of managing 
 ftudy ; or perhaps I ought to ufe the word 
 reading, inflead of ftudy, (for it would be quite 
 wrong to fuppofe that the following remarks 
 apply to profefTed ftudents only) it would be 
 well to fee what does really happen in life as re- 
 gards the intelledual cultivation of moft grown- 
 up people. I alk them. Is it not mainly depen- 
 dent upon chance ? The profefTional man, wearied 
 with the cares and labours of his office or employ- 
 ment, when he comes home, takes up whatever 
 book may happen to be the reading of his wife, 
 or mother, or daughters : and they, for women are 
 often educated in a way to avoid method and 
 intelledlual ftrength of any kind, are probably
 
 8 READING. 
 
 contented with what the circulating library affords, 
 and read according to the mereft rumour and fa- 
 fhion of the prefent hour. Again, what is called 
 light literature (how it has obtained or maintained 
 that name is furprifing) criticifms, fcraps, tales, 
 and the like, is nearly the fole intelledlual food of 
 many intelligent perfons. Now, without under- 
 valuing this kind of literature, which improved 
 as it would be if addreffed to a clafs of perfons 
 who were wont to read with wifdom and method, 
 would be very ferviceable to thofe perfons ; we 
 cannot fay but that to make fuch literature the 
 ftaple of the mind is unworthy and frivolous in 
 the extreme. 
 
 I believe, however, that many perfons are 
 aware how indifferently they are fpending their 
 time in the way they read at prefent; and 
 I /hall not labour any more at this part of the 
 fubjedt, but come at once to what appears to me 
 the remedy for the evil : which is, that every 
 man and every woman who can read at all, fhould 
 adopt fome definite purpofe in their reading — 
 fhould take fomething for the main ftem and trunk 
 of their culture, whence branches might grow out 
 in all diredlions feeking light and air for the 
 parent tree which, it is hoped, might end in be-
 
 READING. 9 
 
 coming fomething ufeful and ornamental, and 
 which, at any rate, all along, will have had life 
 and growth in it. 
 
 I do not think that this is too great a tafk for 
 the humbleft reader. At the fame time I am not 
 prepared to fhow how this purpofe may be fecured 
 in all cafes, which muft be left to difpofition, to 
 what we call chance, to peculiar facilities of any 
 kind afforded to the reader in any one direction. 
 It is fo in the choice of a career in life, which is 
 not always determined by a rigid and wife choice, 
 made at once and fully perfevered in; but, on 
 the contrary, there may be many falfe ftarts and, 
 occafionally, abrupt changes ; ftill there is fuch a 
 thing for each man as a career which might be 
 purfued with fome method by him, and which 
 would lead to what is called worldly fuccefs. So, 
 in reading, it would be folly to attempt to lay 
 down fome procefs by which every man might 
 enfure a main courfe of ftudy for himfelf ; but 
 only let him have a juft fear of defultory pur- 
 fuits, and a wifh for mental cultivation, and he 
 may hope at fome time or other to difcern what 
 it is fitteft for him to do. And if he does not, 
 but purfues anything with method, there will be 
 fome reward for him, if not the higheft.
 
 10 READING. 
 
 If we confider what are the objedts men pur- 
 fue, when confcious of any objedl at all, in read- 
 ing, they are thefe : amufement, inftruftion, a 
 wifh to appear well in fociety, and a deiire to 
 pafs away time. Now even the loweft of thefe 
 objeds is facilitated by reading with method. The 
 keennefs of purfuit thus engendered enriches the 
 moft trifling gain, takes away the fenfe of dulnefs 
 in details, and gives an intereil to what would, 
 otherwife, be mofl: repugnant. No one who has 
 never known the eager joy of fome intelledluaj 
 purfuit, can underfland the full pleafure of read- 
 ing. 
 
 In confidering the prefent fubjedt, the advan- 
 tage to the world in general, of many perfons 
 being really verfed in various fubjefts cannot be 
 pafTed by. And were reading wifely undertaken, 
 much more method and order would be applied 
 to the confideration of the Immediate bufinefs of 
 the world; and there would be men who might 
 form fomething of a wife public with regard to 
 the current quefliions of the day, fuch as rail- 
 ways, politics, finance, and the condition of Ire- 
 land. 
 
 It muft not be fuppofed that this choice and
 
 READING. II 
 
 maintenance of one or more fubjedls of ftudy 
 muft neceflarily lead to pedantry or narrownefs 
 of mind. The Arts are fifters ; Languages are 
 clofe kindred ; Sciences are fellow workmen : 
 almoft every branch of human knowledge is im- 
 mediately connected with biography ; biography 
 falls into hiftory which, after drawing into itfelf 
 various minor ftreams, fuch as geography, jurif- 
 prudence, political and focial economy, iflues 
 forth upon the ftill deeper waters of general phi- 
 lofophy. There are very few, if any, vacant 
 fpaces between various kinds of knowledge : any 
 track in the foreft, fteadfaftly purfued, leads into 
 one of the great highways ; juft as you often 
 find, in confidering the ftory of any little ifland, 
 that you are perpetually brought back into the 
 general hiftory of the world, and that this fmall 
 rocky place has partaken the fate of mighty 
 thrones and diftant empires. In fhort, all things 
 are fo conneded together, that a man who knows 
 one fubjed; well, cannot, if he would, fail to 
 have acquired much belides : and that man will 
 not be likely to keep fewer pearls who has a 
 ftring to put them on, than he who picks them 
 up and throws them together without method. 
 This, however, is a very poor metaphor to re-
 
 12 READING. 
 
 prefent the matter ; for what I would aim at 
 produchig, not merely holds together what is 
 gained, but has vitality in itfelf, is always grow- 
 ing. And anybody will confirm this, who, in his 
 own cafe, has had any branch of ftudy or human 
 affairs to work upon; for he muft have obferved 
 how all he meets feems to work in with, and 
 affimilate itfelf to, his own peculiar fubjedl. 
 During his lonely walks, or in fociety, or in ac- 
 tion, it feems as if this one purfuit were fome- 
 thing almoft independent of himfelf, always on 
 the watch, and claiming its fhare in whatever is 
 going on. 
 
 Again, by recommending fome choice of fub- 
 je6l and method in the purfuit of it, I do not 
 wifh to be held to a narrow interpretation of that 
 word " fubje6l." For example, I can imagine a 
 man faying, I do not care particularly to invefti- 
 gate this or that queftion in hiftory ; I am not 
 going to purfue any branch of fcience ; but I 
 have a defire to know what the moft renowned 
 men have written : I will fee what the twenty or 
 thirty great poets have faid ; what in various 
 ages has appeared the beft expreffion of the things 
 neareft to the heart and fancy of man. A perfon 
 of more adventure and more time might feek to
 
 READING. 13 
 
 Include the greateft writers in morals or hiftory. 
 There are not To many of them. If a man were 
 to read a hundred great authors, he would, I 
 fufpedt, have heard what mankind has yet had to 
 fay upon moft things. I am aware of the culture 
 that would be required for fuch an enterprize ; 
 but I merely give it as an inftance of what may 
 juftly come under the head of the purfuit of one 
 fubjedl, as I mean it, and which certainly would 
 not be called a narrow purpofe. 
 
 There is another view of reading which though 
 it is obvious enough, is feldom taken, I imagine, 
 or at leaft aded upon ; and that is, that in the 
 courfe of our reading we fhould lay up in our 
 minds a ftore of goodly thoughts in well-wrought 
 words, which fhould be a living treafure of know- 
 ledge always with us, and from v/hich, at various 
 times and amidft all the fhifting of circumstances, 
 we might be fure of drawing fome comfort, guid- 
 ance and fympathy. We fee this with regard to 
 the facred writings. "A word fpoken in due fea- 
 fon, how good is it ! " But there is a fimilar com- 
 fort on a lower level to be obtained from other 
 fources than facred ones. In any work that is 
 worth carefully reading, there is generally fome-
 
 14 READING. 
 
 thing that is worth remembering accurately. A 
 man whofe mind is enriched with the beft fay- 
 ings of the poets of his own country, is a more 
 independent man, walks the ftreets in a town, or 
 the lanes in the country, with far more delight 
 than he otherwife would have ; and is taught by 
 wife obfervers of man and nature, to examine for 
 himfelf. Sancho Panza with his, proverbs is a 
 great deal better than he would have been with- 
 out them : and I contend that a man has fome- 
 thing in himfelf to meet troubles and difficulties, 
 fmall or great, who has ftored in his mind fome 
 of the beft things which have been faid about 
 troubles and difficulties. Moreover, the loneli- 
 nefs of forrow is thereby diminlfhed. 
 
 It need not be feared that a man whofe 
 memory is rich In fuch refources, will become a 
 quoting pedant. Often, the faylngs which are 
 deareft to our hearts, are leaft frequent on our 
 lips ; and thofe great ideas which cheer men in 
 their direft ftruggles, are not things which they 
 are likely to inflidl by frequent repetition upon 
 thofe they live with. There is a certain reticence 
 with us as regards anything we deeply love. 
 
 I have not hitherto fpoken of the indire6t ad- 
 vantage of methodical reading in the culture of
 
 READING. 15 
 
 the mind. One of the dangers fuppofed to be 
 incident upon a life of ftudy is, that purpofe and 
 decifivenefs are worn away. Not, as I contend, 
 upon a life of ftudy, fuch as it ought to be. For 
 purfued methodically there muft be fome, and not 
 a little, of the decifion, refiftance and tenacity of 
 purfuit which create, or further, greatnefs of cha- 
 racter in adion. Though, as I have faid, there 
 are times of keen delight to a man who is en- 
 gaged in any diftindt purfuit, there are alfo 
 moments of wearinefs, vexation, and vacillation,, 
 which will try the metal in him and fee whether 
 he is worthy to underftand and mafter anything.. 
 For this you may obferve, that in all times and 
 all nations, facrifice is needed. The favage Indian 
 who was to obtain any Infight into the future, had 
 to ftarve for it for a certain time. Even the 
 fancy of this power was not to be gained without 
 paying for it. And was any thing real ever- 
 gained without facrifice of fome kind ? 
 
 There is a very refined ufe which reading 
 might be put to ; namely, to counteradl the par- 
 ticular evils and temptations of our callings, the 
 original imperfedions of our characters, the ten- 
 dencies of our age, or of our own time of life.
 
 i6 READING. 
 
 Thofe, for inftance, who are verfed in dull 
 crabbed work all day, of a kind which is always 
 exercifing the logical faculty and demanding mi- 
 nute, not to fay, vexatious criticifm, would, du- 
 ring their leifure, do wifely to expatiate in wri- 
 tings of a large and imaginative nature. Thefe_, 
 however, are often the perfons who particularly 
 avoid poetry and works of imagination, whereas 
 they ought, perhaps, to cultivate them moft. 
 For it fhould be one of the frequent objeds of 
 every man who cares for the culture of his whole 
 being, to give fome exercife to thofe faculties 
 which are not demanded by his daily occupations 
 and not encouraged by his difpoiition. 
 
 Hitherto, the inducements I have brought 
 forward for more fixednefs of purfuit and found- 
 nefs of method in reading, have been, many of 
 them, comparatively fpeaking, worldly and flight 
 ones. But there are others, which if well confi- 
 dered, might alone fuffice to change at once any 
 habit of thoughtlefs and purpofelefs reading. We 
 fuppofe that we carry our moral nature to another 
 world ; why not our intelledual nature; — further, 
 why not our acquirements ? Is it probable that a 
 man who has fcorned here all advantages for 
 commune with the works of God, is at once to
 
 READING. 17 
 
 be enlightened as if he had done his duty to the 
 intelligence within him or about him ? It may be 
 noticed that, as far as we can difcern, the fame 
 phyfical laws govern the moft diftant parts of 
 creation, as thofe which prevail here. Moreover, 
 what we call Nature, or Providence, is thrifty as 
 well as liberal — has apparently given to man no 
 more faculty than he fully needs. May not a 
 fimilar divine frugality — perhaps an eilential ele- 
 ment for the furtherance of life and the develope- 
 ment of energy pervade creation ? Thefe, how- 
 ever, are very ferious topics ; and I am afraid of 
 being prefumptuous in talking about them. But 
 we mufl remember that there may be prefump- 
 tion in making too little, as well as in making 
 too much, of knowledge. Added to which, and 
 here I am in much lefs fear of what I fay, I have 
 no doubt that found intelledlual culture is in 
 brotherhood with the beft moral culture. Accu- 
 racy, for inftance, is the profe of truth. And 
 there is a humility which is one of the beft things 
 for the mind as well as the foul of man ; and 
 may come through either inlet. 
 
 At any rate we cannot be wrong, whether we 
 are profefTed ftudents, or foldiers, or men of the 
 world, or whatever we are, in endeavouring to 
 
 c
 
 i8 READING. 
 
 make the time we give to books a time not fpent 
 unprofitably to ourfelves and our fellow-creatures; 
 and this will never be the cafe, if we are the vic- 
 tims of chance in what we take up to read ; if 
 we vacillate for ever in our ftudies, or if we never 
 look for any thing in them, but the eafe of the 
 prefent moment, or the gratification of getting rid 
 of it infenfibly. 
 
 Ellesmere. I like that EfTay. 
 
 DUNSFORD. So do I. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I knew you would, becaufe you have 
 no need of the advice given in it, both of you being 
 careful readers, and choice in what you read. Indeed 
 Ellefmere'carries this to an excefs, and fo mifles reading 
 fome of the beft works of the day. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, but what trafli have I not avoided 
 reading ? How many works have I efcaped the know- 
 ledge of, which you would give a great deal to forget ? 
 And at leaft, Milverton, I always read my friends' books, 
 whether they are treatifes on labour, tragedies, or the 
 denfeft political economy. 
 
 But to pafs from me and my doings to the fubjedl be- 
 fore us. The moft important part of it to my mind is 
 one which you have but lightly alluded to : I mean the
 
 READING. 19 
 
 advantage which would arife, if the common affairs of 
 the world were ftudied methodically. As it is, men 
 read a clever article in a newfpaper or review, or enter 
 into an animated converfation about fome common topic 
 of the day, and then they wait for another clever article 
 or review, or another chance converfation, not bringing 
 any ftudy to bear upon the fubje61: meanwhile. Hence 
 opinions on public affairs are formed by chance ; and 
 ftatefmen and legiflators have a much lefs enlightened 
 public to appeal to than they might have. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Very true: and a much lefs enlightened 
 circle to choofe their official men from. An improve- 
 ment, however, in this refpeil, is but one of the advan- 
 tages which would arife from more methodical reading. 
 If there were even but a fmall part of the public that 
 cared for its own education, many of the works of hif- 
 tory which have been addreffed to the world, would 
 never have been written fo careleffly, or would at once 
 have been found out. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Then again, in fcience, the refult of any- 
 thing like methodical reading amongft a large number of 
 perfons might carry us forward with greatly accelerated 
 rapidity. 
 
 When you mention the ferious confiderations, Mil- 
 verton, which might induce more wifdom in reading, 
 you fhould not omit to point out that each man has but 
 a certain limited portion of time and energy in this world ; 
 and furely the knowledge of this fadl ought to make us 
 careful in what we give our attention to. We cannot 
 afford to throw it away.
 
 20 READING. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Men feldom feel as if they were bounded 
 as to time ; they think they can afford to throw away a 
 great deal of that commodity, thus fliowing unconfci- 
 oufly even in their trifling the fenfe that they have of 
 their immortality. 
 
 Ellesmere. There is one thing, Milverton, you feem 
 to me to have omitted entirely; namely, that this metho- 
 dical reading you recommend would enfure fome digef- 
 tion of what is read — would neceffitate fome thinking. 
 You recolle6l what Hobbes ufed to fay " that if he had 
 " read as many books as other men, he fhould have been 
 *' as ignorant as they," clearly implying that reading is 
 fometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought. 
 
 Milverton. Well, I think you might have inferred 
 as much from my Effay. 
 
 Dunsford. You are quite right, Milverton, in fug- 
 gefiiing that we fhould commit to memory fome part of 
 what we like in reading. Now, this very day, as I 
 was coming acrofs the common, perhaps it was that I 
 walked with more difficulty than ufual, I bethought me 
 that I v/as rapidly defcending into old age, and the thought 
 was not a pleafant one. It fet me, however, about think- 
 ing of Cicero's " De Senedlute," and then to repeating 
 large portions of that beautiful and comforting treatife, 
 not failing at the fame time to remember what might 
 have been added by a Chriflian. Before I reached your 
 houfe I had forgotten my own little trouble about old 
 age, and was deep in Cicero. 
 
 Ellesmere. You fee alfo, Milverton, that another 
 of your theories holds good in this cafe, for Dunsford
 
 READING. 21 
 
 does not attempt to quote upon us his pafTages of Cicero, 
 whether from the pafTages being too dear to him to quote, 
 or that he beheves, in which he would not be far out, 
 that fome of us would be unable to conftrue them, I 
 leave you to guefs. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Do not you both agree with me in this 
 part where I fay, that when a man has fome objecSl in 
 ftudy, all things feem to fall in with it ? 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, they do wonderfully, 
 
 MiLVERTON. I found a curious inftance of that the 
 other day. It is in the Manufcripts of Las Cafas in which, 
 giving an account of his converfion to the caufe of the 
 Indians, he fays of himfelf, " From the firft hour that he 
 " (Las Cafas) began to difpel the clouds of that igno- 
 *■'■ ranee (his former opinion in favour of Indian flavery) 
 " he never read in Latin or Spanifh any book, and the 
 " books that he read in 44 years were infinite in num- 
 " ber, in which he did not find either reafon or autho- 
 " rity to prove and corroborate the juftice which thofe 
 " Indian nations had on their fide, and to condemn the 
 " injuftice and evils and injuries which have been done 
 *' to them."* I copied out the paflage becaufe I thought 
 it would intereft you. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes; I can imagine that the good fa- 
 
 * Defde la primera hora que comenzo a defhechar las tinieblas 
 de aquella ignorancia nunca leyo en Libro de latin 6 de romance, 
 que fueron en cuarenta y cuatro anos infinitos, en que no hallafe 
 6 razon 6 authoridad para probar y corroborar la Jufticia de aquef- 
 tas Indianas Gentes, y para condenacion de las injufticias que fe 
 les han hecho y males y danos.
 
 22 READING. 
 
 ther found in " the fainted Thomas," for I fuppofe that 
 was the book of thofe days, many a fentence which feemed 
 written purpofely for the behoof of the Indians. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I think, Milverton, you might have given 
 us fome noble quotations from Bacon, or Cicero, about 
 the grandeur and the comfort of ftudy. 
 
 Milverton. No : if I had given you anything, it 
 would have been from a more unfrequented fource ; and 
 if you like, I will do fo now (here Milverton called to 
 his fervant and requefted him to bring Hazlitt'sLe6lures 
 on the Elizabethan Writers). 
 
 Ellesmere. What a learned young man that fervant 
 of your's is ! What a profound acquaintance he feems 
 to have with the outfides of books, which after all is the 
 fafeft and the pleafanteft kind of book-knowledge. 
 
 Milverton. I think you might extend your com- 
 mendation to a knowledge of the title pages, — but here 
 he comes with the book. I will read you the pafFage I 
 alluded to. 
 
 " They (books) are the neareft to our thoughts : they 
 *' wind into the heart ; the poet's verfe Aides into the 
 *' current of our blood. We read them when young, 
 " we remember them when old. We read there of 
 " what has happened to others , we feel that it has hap- 
 pened to ourfelves. They are to be had everywhere 
 cheap and good. We breathe but the air of books : 
 we owe everything to their authors, on this fide bar- 
 barifm ; and we pay them eafily with contempt, while 
 living, and with an epitaph, when dead ! Michael
 
 READING. 23 
 
 " Angelo is beyond the Alps ; Mrs. Siddons has left the 
 " ftage and us to mourn her lofs. Were it not fo, there 
 " are neither pi6lure-galleries nor theatres-royal on SaliA 
 " bury-plain, where I write this ; but here, even here, 
 " with a iew old authors, I can manage to get through 
 " the fummer or the winter months, without ever know- 
 " ing what it is to feel ennui. They fit with me at 
 " breakfaft ; they walk out with me before dinner. Af- 
 " ter a long walk through unfrequented tra£ls, after 
 *' ftarting the hare from the fern, or hearing the wing of 
 '' the raven ruflling above my head, or being greeted by 
 " the woodman's ' ftern good night,' as he ftrikes into 
 *' his narrow homeward path, I can ' take mine eafe at 
 " mine inn,' befide the blazing hearth, and (hake hands 
 " with Signor Orlando Frifcobaldo, as the oldeft ac- 
 " quaintance I have. Ben Jonfon, learned Chapman, 
 ** Mafter Webfter, and Mafter Heywood, are there ; and, 
 feated round, difcourfe the filent hours away. Shak- 
 fpeare is there himfelf, not in Gibber's manager's coat. 
 Spenfer is hardly yet returned frorn a ramble through 
 " the woods, or is concealed behind a group of nymphs, 
 " fawns, and fatyrs. Milton lies on the table, as on an 
 " altar, never taken up or laid down without reverence. 
 ^'Lyly's Endymion lleeps with the moon, that fhines 
 ^' in at the window ; and a breath of wind ftirring up at 
 *' a diftance feems a figh from the tree under which he 
 " grew old. Fauftus difputes in one corner of the room 
 "with fiendifh faces, and reafons of divine aftrology. 
 " Bellafront foothes Matheo, Vittoria triumphs over her 

 
 24 READING. 
 
 "judges, and old Chapman repeats one of the hymns of 
 " Homer, in his own fine tranflation ! I fhould have no 
 " objection to pafs my life in this manner out of the 
 "world, not thinking of it, nor it of me ; neither abufed 
 ^' by my enemies, nor defended by my friends ; carelefs 
 " of the future, but fometimes dreaming of the paft, which 
 " might as well be forgotten." 
 
 Ellesmere. a great many of the gentlemen alluded 
 to by Hazlitt are quite unknown to me, but he has 
 brought out his own feelings fo admirably that I do not 
 need to know the particular inftances. 
 
 Here it was necefTary that I fhould return home, 
 and I accordingly took leave of my friends after 
 arranging to have another meeting foon.
 
 ON CRITICISM. 25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The next time I came over to Worth Afhton, to 
 meet Ellefmere and to hear a chapter read, it was 
 a mild dull day; and as we had long been look- 
 ing out for fuch a day, to go upon the downs, 
 we refolved to take this opportunity ; fo, after 
 Milverton had let the dogs loofe, we all fallied 
 forth. It was our intention to choofe for our 
 place of reading fome tumuli which are at no 
 great diftance from Worth Afhton. We had a 
 good deal of converfation in the courfe of our 
 walk, which Milverton thus began. 
 
 Milverton. I have had fuch trouble to let that dog 
 loofe. He feemed to know that we were going out 
 upon the downs, which he greatly approves of; and he 
 was fo impatient that I could not get at his collar to 
 undo it. I thought all the time how like I was to 
 Pope Pius the Ninth, who muft have much the fame 
 difficulty in keeping his Italians quiet enough for him 
 to free them. 
 
 Ellesmere. That is true, I dare fay; but I do not
 
 26 ON GIVING AND 
 
 know enough of Italian politics to pronounce any thing 
 about them. However, I can fee it is a grand thing to 
 have a Pope " of fome mark and likelihood" in our 
 times. It gives new life to Politics. 
 
 MiLVERTON. And not to politics only. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, we fhall fee. Thefe are matters 
 we fhall hear much of in our time. Meanwhile, let us 
 drink in fome of this delightful air. Look at that ungain- 
 ly puppy trying to catch the thiftle-down as it fteals up 
 the hill. What is it ? Oh ! I fee, a feed in the middle 
 and this feathery fluff round it, fo that the feed may be 
 carried hither and thither. Not unlike many a book — 
 one idea in it, and fome airy fluff round it, and fo it 
 floats along merrily enough. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Carry out the fimile a little further, my 
 critical friend. What animal is it that feeds upon the 
 parent of the thiflledown ? Is it a like creature that 
 devours the authors of the books ? 
 
 DuNSFORD. I think, EUefmere, you have not gained 
 much by your attack upon Milverton's tribe. 
 
 Ellesmere. I wonder, now, are authors fonder of 
 their books than painters of their pictures ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. I fufpe6l it is not a very lafling fond- 
 nefs, even when it is a fondnefs in either cafe. But there 
 is a great difference between the two things. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes ; for in the pidure you have the 
 thing adlually made by its author, which he touched, 
 which was for a long time in his prefence. Let us 
 think of that when we look at a great picture. It is
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 27 
 
 a relic of the great artift. It was one of his houfehold 
 gods for a time. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I often think what intereft there is in a 
 pidlure quite independent of its fubjeil, or its merit, or 
 its author. I mean the intereft belonging to the hiftory 
 of it, as a work of fome one man's labour. I can ima- 
 gine he was fo joyous in the beginning of it : the whole 
 work was already done, perhaps, in his mind, where the 
 colours are eafily laid on, while the canvafs yet was white. 
 Then there were the early fketches. He finds the idea 
 is not fo eafy after all to put on canvafs. At laft a be- 
 ginning is made; and then the work proceeds for a time 
 rapidly. How often he draws back from the canvafs, 
 approaches it again, looks at it fondly yet wiftfully, as a 
 watching mother at a fick child. He is interrupted, 
 tries to be courteous or kind, as the occafion requires, 
 but is delighted when the door clofes and leaves him alone 
 with the only creature whofe prefence he cares much 
 for juft now. All day long his pidure is with him in 
 the back ground of his mind. He goes out : the bright 
 colours in the fhops, the lines of buildings, little children 
 on the door-fteps, all fhow him fomething ; and when 
 he goes back, he ruflies into his painting-room, to ex- 
 pend his frefti vigour and his new infight upon the work 
 of his heart. So it goes on. Let us hope that it prof- 
 pers. Then there comes a time when the completion 
 of the pi£lure is forefeen by him, when there is not 
 much room for more to be made of it, and yet it is not 
 nearly finiftied. He is a little weary of it. Obferve this.
 
 28 ON GIVING AND 
 
 Ellefmere, there is the fame thing throughout life, in all 
 forms of human endeavour. Thefe times of wearinefs 
 need watching. But our artift is patient and plods on. 
 The end of the drama approaches, when the pidture is 
 to go into a gilt frame, and be varnifhed, and hung up — 
 like the hero of a novel upon whom a flood of good 
 fortune is let in at laft. 
 
 Ellesmere. Stop here. Do not let us have the 
 " decline and fall" of the picture; when it comes to 
 be a target for children, or fubfides into the corner of 
 an old curiofity fhop. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No. Befides it would not be fair to 
 take the unfuccefsful pictures only. How many are 
 delicately cared for and tended in lordly galleries, and 
 hear choice words of praife and nice criticifm from the 
 lips of the wife and the beautiful ; and are the pets of 
 the world. But the hiftory of any picture before it left 
 the artift's ftudio, would be enough, if we could know 
 it all, to intereft us greatly even where the piilure was 
 but a poor thing — a wifli rather than a deed. 
 
 Ellesmere. Let us fit down here. 
 
 DUNSFORD. Yes. 
 
 Ellesmere. Get away, Rollo ! Did you fee that dog 
 nearly upfet me, coming to fhake hands, as their way is, 
 with his mouth. What was it we were talking about 
 before we fat down ? Ah, pictures. I was going to fay 
 all the London world now are difcufling the defigns for 
 the new Houfes, and people are very full of fuggeftions 
 for great hiftorical pi£lures. There is one comfort, we
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 29 
 
 fhall not be troubled with Madonnas. I confefs I am 
 wearied with Madonnas. If I were an autocrat I 
 would fay " Let there be no more Madonnas painted : 
 *' we have had enough of them." 
 
 MiLVERTON. At the time the great ones were painted, 
 there was a religious intent in the painter and in thofe for 
 whom he painted, which prevented their looking at a 
 Madonna as a mere work of art. Hence they were 
 not wearied at the repetition. 
 
 DuNSFORD. There is one facred fubje6l which 
 feems to me amongft the moft touching, if not the moft 
 fublime, that we can imagine. And yet it is not alto- 
 gether what can be made of it in a pi6lure that I mean. 
 The fcene is one for the mind to work out in all its 
 fulnefs, and foon outftrips whatever even a Rembrandt 
 can give us. It is " the woman taken in adultery." I 
 often pidlure that fcene to myfelf — the majeftic figure 
 of the divine Pardoner : the fhrinking, downcaft, fhame- 
 burnt woman : the crowd of accufers and of unloving 
 byflanders fading away aweftricken at the hideous 
 phantoms of their own guilt. For then, perhaps, be- 
 fore each man rofe his own fin, not as it lies comprefiTed 
 in any one human heart, a little thing, but vaft, unmea- 
 fured, darkening the way before him. Their murders 
 and their adulteries then appeared to thofe who thought 
 they knew not the words murder and adultery as touch- 
 ing them : nor did they as the world knows them. 
 Here flood the man who had been guilty of many 
 things, but whom guilt had not made tolerant. He
 
 30 ON CRITICISM. 
 
 vanifhed in afFright. Here was the ftrI61:, precife, felf- 
 righteous man, whofe want of charity fuddenly made 
 vifible to him was an abyfs to look into, which fafci- 
 nated and appalled him. And he wandered away he knew 
 not whither. Here were thofe who were ftrong, inaf- 
 much as they had not been tempted : and they faw for a 
 moment their future felves, or what men fuch as they 
 might come to; and hurried away fick at heart and 
 fhuddering, as one belated whom the lightning tells fud- 
 denly that he has been walking with heedlefs unconcern 
 through mountain pafTes needing by daylight the niceft 
 and the firmeft footftep. And then I think I fee at the 
 edge of the crowd a young girl who had come, not 
 from malice or ill will, but with a curious wifli to fee 
 fomething of human fufFering. And fhe too moves 
 away like the reft, but not aghaft with horror like them, 
 and yet with forrow, fhame, and wailing, in that fhe 
 had not pitied more. 
 
 We were fileiit for a time, and refumed our 
 walk in filence, nor do I recoiled any more of 
 our converfation till after Milverton had read to 
 us the following eflay on giving and taking cri- 
 tlcifm.
 
 31 
 
 ON GIVING AND TAKING 
 CRITICISM. 
 
 SCARCELY know of any thing more 
 valuable to a man than his opinions 
 and his judgments, or of more impor- 
 tance to others. Whether it is that I myfelf am 
 very flow to form opinions, or that they really 
 are very difficult to attain, they certainly appear 
 to me great acquifitions. Often like other acqui- 
 fitions, — houfes, lands, honours, children, money, 
 — thefe opinions are a great care, and a great trou- 
 ble ; but ftill they are acquifitions : and it feems to 
 me that any man who waftes his opinions by inju- 
 dicious fcattering, or by throwing them out before 
 they are complete, is a fad fpendthrift. And if 
 he pretends to have opinions and utters remarks 
 that appear like judgments when he has them 
 not, he may remind his hearers fomewhat of a 
 coiner and utterer of falfe money. 
 
 I fuppofe, however, that many of thofe who 
 criticife much do not opine or judge, but only 
 talk. There is, too, a flow of criticifm with fome 
 men, like the poetry of improvifatori, neither good
 
 32 ON GIVING AND 
 
 nor altogether bad, having no deep meaning or 
 purpofe in it, bearing marks of no correction, 
 being fomething like the talk of parrots, except 
 that it lacks the force which belongs to repetition. 
 
 There are two charaderiftics which I think 
 may be obferved in the condudl of thofe who 
 form opinions fubftantially for themfelves. Thefe 
 perfons are either very reticent about their opi- 
 nions ; for having worked at them, and, perhaps, 
 fufFered for them, and knowing, too, how much 
 there is to be faid on the other fide, it is not play 
 with fuch people to produce their opinions : (they 
 would as foon expofe their cheriflied feelings) or, 
 on the other hand, if they have once expreffed 
 thefe opinions, you are very likely to perceive a 
 conftant reference to them, and you find that the 
 holders of opinions thus formed, do not foon tire 
 of them. The formers, therefore, of their own 
 opinions are flow to utter and likely to repeat. 
 
 Man's criticifm has chiefly had for its objedts 
 the appearances of nature and the charadlers of 
 other men and their doings. When we think 
 what, for centuries, was the criticifm upon nature 
 among people fully equal to ourfelves ; how they 
 pronounced without the flighteft experience upon 
 the graveft matters ; how they put words for
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 33 
 
 fadts, declaring that bodies defcended becaufe it 
 was the nature of bodies to defcend, or di6la of 
 that kind ; it may occur to us how often in quef- 
 tions of focial and political life, and the judgment 
 of chara6ler, we may be exercifing a iimilar rafh- 
 nefs and indifcretion. When you have an op- 
 portunity of looking well into any one human 
 charader, you may fee meannefs and generofity, 
 fenfuality and abftinence, foftnefs and ferocity, 
 profound diffimulation and extreme imprudence 
 all mixed up in one man. And I have feen in 
 the fame character great fenfitivenefs, lively ap- 
 preciation of difficulties and defe6ls, and extreme 
 faftidioufnefs, joined to the utmoft tenacity of 
 purpofe — a combination like that of a bull-dog's 
 head to the fhivering delicate body of an Italian 
 greyhound. Thefe ftrangely intermingled cha- 
 radlers are then thrown amidfl: the ever varying 
 circumftances of life ; and we, the byflanders, 
 having a partial view of the circumftances and no 
 conception of the original texture of the character, 
 and judging it by an artificial ftandard of our 
 own, pronounce opinions formed, perhaps, in the 
 greateft hafte, and in anfwer to fomebody elfe, — 
 fatal opinions on our fellow-men. 
 
 There is one thing which I imagine has much 
 
 D
 
 34 ON GIVING AND 
 
 perplexed men in judging of charadler, and made 
 their judgments often very abfurd. I allude to 
 their habit of nice divifion of qualities and tem- 
 peraments, about which they talk as if each were 
 a thing by itfelf and had not entered into almofl 
 indiflbluble connexion with the reft. For ex- 
 ample, I imagine that ftrength of mind is often 
 accompanied by, perhaps we ought to fay, abfo- 
 lutely connefted with, ftrength of paflions. The 
 critic takes the life and condudt of a man in 
 whom fuch a combination exifts, and talks of him 
 as if he had had originally the fagacity and the 
 force of mind, but that all the paftions were ac- 
 quired, or, vice verfa, gives the Paftions and 
 makes the judgment acquired ; or, at any rate, 
 fees no wholenefs in the charader. A forcible 
 Inftance of the kind of charadter I mean, occurs 
 to me in the perfon of one of our greateft kings, 
 Henry the Second. In him extreme fagacity 
 and great noblenefs of mind were joined with 
 the utmoft violence of paftion. In reading the 
 hiftory of his reign, we find him at whatever part 
 of his dominions his prefence is wanted, con- 
 ducing his affairs with the utmoft ability, with 
 almoft ability enough to countera6l the evils which 
 his paflions had raifed againft him. In bufinefs.
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 35 
 
 in pleafure, in ftudy, he would be foremoft. 
 Strange to fay, he was one of the moft prudent 
 men of his time ; and his treaties, efpecially after 
 conqueft, are furprifing for their moderation. 
 Then we have an account of him on the floor 
 gnawing ftraws like a maniac, in excefs of uncon- 
 trolable paflion. Such a man, if he has children, 
 is likely to have a ftrange fierce brood like him- 
 felf ; and they will not diminifh his troubles or 
 fail to call out all the points of his charadler. 
 Now what I mean as regards the criticifm on 
 fuch characters, and perhaps on all charadlers, is 
 that we canvafs bit by bit, quality by quality, 
 inftead of looking at the whole as a whole. I 
 fufpedl that what we call Nature is very fparing 
 in giving unqualified good. She lays down a 
 bark of great capacity ; foundly and wifely builds 
 it ; but then freights it, perhaps, with fierce ener- 
 gies and leaves it to ftormy impulfes, which 
 carry it out into the wildeft feas ; and what the 
 refult will be, may depend on a very flight ba- 
 lance of favourable and unfavourable endeavours 
 and influences. Extremely foolifli criticifm is 
 likely to be uttered by thofe who are looking at 
 the labouring vefl"el from the land.
 
 36 ON GIVING AND 
 
 The great deficiencies in criticifm throughout 
 all ages have been a deficiency of humility, a lack 
 of charity, and a want of imagination. The ab- 
 fence of humility in critics is fomething wonder- 
 ful. The fly on the axle of the chariot in Efop's 
 fables, though he made a foolifli and vain-glorious 
 remark in obferving what a duft he raifed, w|| 
 not fo abfurd as the wren would be, who, perched 
 upon the unconfcious eagle, fhould fuppofe that 
 he keeps the eagle down, and fhould talk accord- 
 ingly. Men who work muft expofe fomething 
 to criticifm ; and the wider and greater their 
 tranfadtions, the more furface there is likely to be 
 expofed. The larger the fortrefs, the greater the 
 choice of attack. The fmaller kind of critics, 
 like ancient Parthians, or modern Coflacks, hover 
 on the rear of a great army, transfix a fentinel, 
 furprife an outpoft, harafs the army's march, 
 afflid its flight ; but they rarely determine the 
 campaign. It hardly becomes them to claim the 
 honors of the fl:eady legionary. 
 
 I have faid that criticifm has very frequently 
 lacked imagination as well as charity and humi- 
 lity. In no refped will this combined deficiency 
 be better perceived than in confidering the way 
 in which men perfifl: in commenting upon the
 
 TAKING CRITICISA/[. 37 
 
 works of others from their own peculiar ground 
 and point of view. They will not exercife a 
 charitable imagination, and look at what is done 
 with due regard to the doer's drift and concep- 
 tion. Their own conceits perplex and ftultify 
 their judgment. 
 
 Of the difference between acting and criticifing 
 adlion, you will be eafily convinced, if you obferve 
 what an immediate change comes over the fplrit 
 of thofe who, having been accuftomed to criticife, 
 have fuddenly to work in the very vocation which 
 they have been given to criticife. Men called 
 to power from the ranks of oppofition, afford 
 a well known instance of this ; but lower down 
 in life, in domeftic authority for example, the 
 fame phenomenon takes place. He who has been 
 wont to pronounce fo fluently upon the defedls 
 of another's rule and management, finds, when in 
 power himfelf, what a different thing it is to a6t 
 and to talk. His rafh and heated judgment is all 
 at once fobered by the weight of refponfibility. 
 
 We may even go further in this argument, and 
 contend that the fun6tions of doing and criticiling 
 are not merely different but oftentimes antago- 
 niftlc ; for you will rarely find that a man given 
 to criticifm, does much ; and, on the other hand.
 
 38 ON GIVING AND 
 
 that the man who does much, has not outgrown 
 the habit of much criticifm — at any rate of the 
 ill-natured khid. It is here as elfewhere that 
 thofe paflions and qualities which make us injuri- 
 ous or offenfive to our neighbour, read diredlly 
 upon ourfelves. An ill-tempered man often has 
 every thing his own way and feems very trium«j| 
 phant ; but the demon he cherifhes tears him as 
 well as awes other people. So, in criticifm, he 
 who worries others by injurious or needlefs re- 
 marks, ends in tormenting himfelf by a mean and 
 over-folicitous care about his own thoughts and 
 deeds ; and perhaps not all the felf-inflided tor- 
 tures of religious devotees have equalled the mi- 
 fery which men have given themfelves up to 
 from remarks of their own about themfelves, and 
 imaginary remarks on their condu6t by their 
 neighbours. 
 
 In fpeaking of criticifm, we muft not omit to 
 mention that there is a fpecies of it which may 
 be called needlefs, as diftinguifhed from that 
 which is intentionally unkind. It is a great mif- 
 take to fuppofe that becaufe words are ufed lo- 
 gically and may be fenfible enough in themfelves, 
 that they may neverthelefs not come under the
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 39 
 
 defcription of folly, and be liable to all that 
 Solomon has faid againft foolifh talk. I believe 
 that more breaches of friendfhip and love have 
 been created, and more hatred cemented, by 
 needlefs criticifm than by any one other thing. 
 If you find a man who performs moft of the rela- 
 tions of life dutifully, is even kind and affedion- 
 ate, but who, you difcover, is fecretly difliked and 
 feared by all his friends and acquaintances, you 
 will often on further inveftigation afcertain that he 
 is one who indulges largely in needlefs criticifm. 
 
 Some confiderable part of the troubles and 
 perplexities of each man's mind lies in the endu- 
 rance and digeftion of criticifm — more too, per- 
 haps, of the criticifm by anticipation, which he 
 fancies he hears, or will hear, than from that 
 which is adually addrefled to him. Now there 
 are feveral ways of dealing with any trouble or 
 misfortune. One is, to magnify it. Machiavelli, 
 in his celebrated letter to Vettori, after defcribing 
 his fordid occupations and the company he keeps 
 (a lime-kiln man, a butcher, and the landlord of 
 a fmall country inn) fays " I develope the malig- 
 nity of my fortune." He thought by magnifying 
 it to overcome it. Then there is the floical way.
 
 40 ON GIVING AND 
 
 to ignore misfortune. Then there is the humorous, 
 in which a man pretends, as it were, not to know 
 his misfortune, or will only look at the droll fide 
 of it. Then there is the calm and bufinefs-like 
 way of dealing with misfortune — to look at it full 
 in the face — meafure it carefully and fee what 
 good is in it, what can be done with it, and how 
 it can be flowed away. 
 
 All the above methods may be applied to the 
 endurance of unkind or thoughtlefs criticifm, 
 which, however, is generally attempted to be 
 dealt with as if it were no evil. But making 
 lighter of an evil than it really is, does not appear 
 to me the fafe way to" fupprefs it. Suppofe you 
 have done any thing with large expenfe of la- 
 bour : written a book which you have really 
 tried to write honeftly, built a houfe, begun to 
 drain a mofs, eftablifhed a bufinefs, led an expe- 
 dition, or in fhort done anything which has coft 
 you thought and toil, abnegation and enterprize 
 of various kinds — which is, indeed, a confiderable 
 part of your life : it is no good pretending that 
 hoftile and thoughtlefs criticifm upon this work 
 is not a painful thing. Accept it as an unplea- 
 fant circumftance ; take into fair confideration the 
 injury that it may be. This is far better than 
 faying you do not care at all about fuch criticifm ;
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 41 
 
 and yet all the time fecretly fretting at it. Several 
 of the works above enumerated depend for their 
 refult upon opinion ; and it is Idle to talk about 
 not caring for opinion in fuch cafes. The plan 
 is, to enlighten yourfelf about the meaning and 
 force of the opinion in queftion. If it be found 
 and you feel it to be found, profit by it ; you 
 have then counteradled fome of the injury, and in 
 this folid gain there fhould be compenfation even 
 for mortified vanity. 
 
 But often there is no good to be gained from 
 the criticifm : it is empty, ill-natured, untrue ; and 
 nobody knows that fo well as you who have done 
 the work criticifed. This criticifm is an unwel- 
 come hindrance and an injury. But here again, 
 what balm there is to be had upon the flighteft 
 reflexion. This opinion which annoys you fo 
 much, is frequently that of one or few. You 
 will be very cool and indifferent about the whole 
 matter by the time it is rightly judged ; I mean 
 even if it is in your life-time. Then you are to 
 confider that all men who do anything, muft 
 endure this depreciation of their efforts. It is 
 the dirt which their chariot wheels throw up. 
 You may then further confider that frequently 
 between the doer and the critic there is a fpan which 
 cannot be bridged over. It is not wife, however,
 
 42 ON GIVING AND 
 
 to let your thoughts go far in this diredlion, left 
 they become arrogant. But the main comfort 
 under injurious comments of any kind is to look 
 at them fairly, accept them as an evil, and calcu- 
 late the extent of the mifchief. Thefe injurious 
 comments feldom blacken all creation for you. A 
 humorous friend of mine who fuffered fome time 
 ago under a fevere article in the firft newfpaper 
 in the world, tells me that it was a very painful 
 fenfation for the firft day, and that he thought 
 all eyes were upon him (he being a retired, quiet, 
 faftidious perfon) but going into his nurfery and 
 finding his children were the fame to him as 
 ufual, and then walking out with his dogs and 
 obferving that they frolicked about him as they 
 were wont to do, he began to difcover that there 
 was happily a public very near and dear to him, 
 in which even the articles of the " Times" could 
 make no imprefilon. The next day my poor 
 friend, who by the way was firmly convinced that 
 he was right in the matter in controverfy, had 
 become quite himfelf again. Indeed he fnapped 
 his- fingers at leading articles, and faid he wifiied 
 people would write more of them againft him. 
 
 It may be thought that I have hitherto fpoken 
 %tuly, or chiefly, of foolifti, indifcreet, or reftlefs
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 43 
 
 criticifm ; and have omitted to point out the me- 
 rits of criticifm, when well diredled. But I am 
 well aware that there is a criticifm which may al- 
 moft be called a religious criticifm ; which holds out 
 its warnings when multitudes are mad, and when 
 following a multitude to talk nonfenfe is much 
 the fame thing as following it to do evil. There is 
 alfo the pious, high-built criticifm, which reluc- 
 tantly points out defeds in thofe works it loves 
 beft ; and which would be filent if it were too 
 late to be of ufe. There is the criticifm founded 
 upon patient refearch and ftudious deliberation, 
 which even if it be given fomewhat rudely and 
 harfhly, cannot but be ufeful, and which like the 
 froft thins away the weeds which, but for its kindly 
 nipping, would occupy the air and food wanted 
 for the young plantation of ferviceable timber. 
 There is the loving criticifm which explains, eli- 
 cits, illumines ; fhowing the force and beauty of 
 fome great word or deed which, but for the kind 
 care of the critic, might remain a dead letter or 
 an inert fad ; teaching the people to underftand 
 and to admire what is admirable. 
 
 There is the every day criticifm of good handy 
 men, which is but a ftepping back to look at 
 their own and others' labours, and is the fair 
 judgment on their joint work by a worker.
 
 44 ON GIVING AND 
 
 Laftly, there is the filent criticifm of example, 
 worth all the reft. 
 
 Ellesmere. What a fcandalous fhame it is — (don't 
 look (o aftonifhed, Milverton, I am not talking of the 
 eflay) what a fcandalous fhame it is, I fay, that we 
 fhould ufe the word puppy as we do. I have been 
 watching our young friend there : up he flies at Rollo's 
 ear, Rollo gives him a {hake, tumbles him over and 
 away he goes rolling down the mound. He waddles up 
 diredlly, commences his attack again and is fent about 
 his bufmefs in the fame way. But he is not to be 
 daunted. Now what a fhame to make fuch a noble 
 creature's name a term of reproach. 
 
 Milverton. Be comforted, Ellefmere ; I dare fay 
 old dogs, when they have a more than ufually tirefome 
 puppy to fcold, call it " young man," in their language. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I fay, it is a fcandalous fhame that you 
 two fhould be talking fuch nonfenfe when there is fo 
 much to be faid about the efTay. 
 
 Ellesmere. Now, my dear Dunsford, if you think 
 that I have hurried down by the exprefs train this hot 
 day to talk fenfe, and do criticifm, you mufl be unde- 
 ceived forthwith. Befides, what is the good of liftening 
 to efTays or fermons, or moral difcourfes of any kind,
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 45 
 
 without attempting to adl in fome accordance with 
 them. After receiving this " heavy blow and great 
 difcouragement" to inconfiderate criticifm in general, 
 would it become me to be blurting out my poor thoughts 
 and picking an eflay to pieces which orders me to pick 
 nothing to pieces Avithout good reafon, and defires me, 
 the critic, (not that there was any need in my particular 
 cafe) to ftand hat in hand before the writer, the maker 
 of any work. For to-day I will be of Hamlet's mind, 
 and confider that even praife may be arrogant. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Where does Hamlet fay that ? 
 
 Ellesmere. He intimates fomething of the kind, 
 when Ofric brings the news of the King's wager. 
 
 Ofric. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is — 
 Hamlet. I dare not confefs that, left I fhould compare with 
 him in excellence. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I am not altogether forry to be ex- 
 empt from Ellefmere's criticifm to-day : though, to tell 
 the truth, I rather diftruft our friend's fudden modefty, 
 Dunsford. 
 
 Ellesmere. You may take it another way if you 
 pleafe. There is the filent criticifm of filence, worth 
 all the reft. But if you want to know what I really 
 have been thinking about during the reading, I will tell 
 you ; and my thoughts, though you will hardly fee how, 
 grew out of the reading in a diftant way, and out of 
 thinking where we are and what thefe mounds contain. 
 
 Dunsford. In 1837 there was — 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, yes, I fuppofe fome one has routed
 
 46 ON GIVING AND 
 
 into thefe mounds ; but, pleafe, do not tell me about it : 
 I do not want to know. I can imagine that here were 
 huddled together the bodies of brave men and fome of 
 their rude implements of war : and other men, as brave 
 mayhap, who fell around here the kites fed upon ; and 
 the army marched on ; and there was mourning on this 
 fide and rejoicing on that ; and men mifled their com- 
 rades for a few days j and thefe were at reft. Well, I 
 thought of fuch things ; and then I wondered what they 
 made of life in thofe ages ; and then I returned to pre- 
 fent times ; and thought of our chief modern men ; 
 and you will both be pleafed to find that thofe I thought 
 of were amongft your author and artift tribe. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Well that is a redeeming point in this 
 vague thinking of yours. 
 
 Ellesmere. You know, Milverton, your clan have 
 always received me kindly ; and, indeed, I was fortunate 
 enough when a younger man, to know fome of the 
 great people of old. But to come to the fubftance of 
 what I was going to fay, I thought that thefe people, 
 though they were excellent company (they ought to be, 
 their knowledge is more extenfive and various, and in 
 general better arranged than that of other men) yet 
 that they were a fad hearted race — at leaft many of 
 them were. And then I thought to myfelf ought this 
 to be ? Thefe men, according to our theory, get nearer 
 to the meaning of many things. Is that meaning a fad 
 one ? Is the great " open fecret" of the world a grievous 
 thing ? You, I know, Dunsford, Imagine my thoughts 
 to be a mafs of unreafoning and fomewhat hopelefs
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 47 
 
 fcepticifm ; but I muft fay, at the rifk of gaining fome of 
 your good opinion, that I cannot but beheve that the 
 nearer we could get to this inner meaning I have been 
 talking of, the more comfort and joy we fhould find. I 
 venture to fufpe6l that Solomon was melancholy rather 
 than wife, when he pronounced that Wifdom is forrow. 
 But it jars upon one to find that men who feem to 
 know fo much, do not make a better thing of it, them- 
 felves. Thefe may be common-place thoughts ; but 
 there you have what I was thinking about inftead of 
 criticifing. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Suppofing that what you fay is a fair 
 flatement of fails, there are many ways of accounting 
 for it. The original conftitution of men of genius, for 
 it is of fuch, I fuppofe, that you are talking, may be un- 
 favourable to joy. Though, after all, I queflion whether 
 there are any perfons who can be fo jovial. Well then 
 mental toil is the greateft of toil ; and naturally under- 
 mines that health which we know, is a needful element 
 for comfort and joy. Then a man cannot ferve two 
 mafters ; and confequently the worldly relations of men 
 of genius, as of ftatefmen abforbed in ftate affairs, are 
 very apt to become a torment to them. I do not fay 
 this as any excufe for the irregularities, as they are 
 called, of men of genius. But it is a fa£t. Almoft any 
 worldly ftate in which a man can be placed is a hindrance 
 to him if he have other than mere worldly things to do. 
 Poverty, wealth, many duties, or many affairs diftra£l 
 and confufe him. No affairs, no diftreffes, no ties leave 
 him uneducated in the moft important knowledge he
 
 48 ON GIVING AND 
 
 can have. Then, again, though this is a difficult and 
 dangerous fubjeft to enter upon, men of genius have 
 been apt to make a fad bufmefs of fome of their domef- 
 tic relations. Moreover, there is often a great deal In 
 their ways of going on that provokes difefteem in thofe 
 around them. They are fimple, child-like, — v^^orldly 
 wife and worldly foolifh. Their foolifhnefs is under- 
 ftood. They fee further than thofe around them, but 
 it is into a region where the others have no view, and, 
 therefore, do not believe in the country — thinking it 
 entirely cloud-land. While, in the near region, though 
 the former underftand that too and its juft place and 
 proportion ; yet as it muft be all in all to them to be 
 thoroughly managed by them, and as they will hot fufFer 
 it to be all in all, but rather depreciate it perhaps, they 
 often mifs even the proper hold of it. And for all thefe 
 and many other reafons (for I do not fee where we 
 fhould end, if we were to go minutely into this matter) 
 they fooner meet with the imperfe£l:ions of fympathy ; 
 and find out earlier than other men that man is only 
 partially underftood, or pitied, or loved, by man ; but 
 for the fulnefs of thefe things he muft go to fome far-ofF 
 country. And here philofophy and experience are per- 
 mitted to enter into the track of piety and have their 
 thoughts, too, of how good a thing it muft be for the 
 foul to be with God.* 
 
 * Talking once with Milverton upon the fame fubjeft, he faid 
 that train of thought was bafed on fomething in Emerfon's effay 
 on Love. The following muft be the paflage :
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 49 
 
 Ellesmere. There is fomething in all this ; but of 
 courfe I did not make my remark with an utter forget- 
 fulnefs of thefe things. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I meant to begin with the more obvious 
 part of the matter, which, however, ought not to be 
 neglected. Now, here is a view that perhaps you have 
 not thought of. You fee fome great refult come from 
 a man's work and you conclude juftly enough that there 
 are power and infight in that man. That is the main 
 thing which is before you in thinking of him. Then you 
 wonder his gifts do not do more. You want them to 
 lift him up altogether. But is it unreafonable to imagine 
 that there may fometimes be proportion in natural gifts 
 — for inftance, that where there is great fagacity there 
 may be great paflions ; that, in fhort, where there are 
 great powers there may be great inherent drawbacks. 
 
 " But we are often made to feel that our afFe6tIons are but 
 " tents of a night. Though flowly and with pain, the obje6ls 
 " of the afteflions change, as the objefls of thought do. There 
 " are moments when the affeftions rule and abforb the man, and 
 " make his happinefs dependent on a perfon or perfons. But in 
 " health the mind is prefently feen again, — Its overarching vault, 
 " bright with galaxies of immutable lights, and the warm loves 
 " and fears that fwept over us as clouds, mull lofe their finite 
 " chara6ler, and blend with God, to attain their own perfeflion. 
 " But we need not fear that we can lofe any thing by the pro- 
 " grefs of the foul. The foul may be trufted to the end. That 
 " which is fo beautiful and attraftive as thefe relations, muft be 
 " fucceeded and fupplanted only by what is more beautiful, and 
 " fo on for ever.
 
 50 ON GIVING AND 
 
 I am but repeating what I have faid in other words in 
 the efTay. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, there is fomething in this. I think, 
 however, I had in my mind men whofe infight had not 
 had much odds to contend againft, but ftill who feem 
 to have progrelTed into fadnefs. 
 
 MiLVERTON. The traveller may come into a fine 
 country which fills his heart with confolation, if not 
 with joy ; but he himfelf remains, at leaft for a time, 
 travel-worn, travel-ftained, with eyes that have not loft 
 the anxious watching look of one accuftomed to lie 
 down at night in peril. 
 
 Ellesmere. Oh I am no match for you, if you once 
 get amongft metaphors. It is your trade. A plain man like 
 me, who has to addrefs plain men, like Lord Chancel- 
 lors and judges, cannot afcend with thefe flights of yours. 
 
 MiLVERTON. There are fubjedts the truth of which 
 can never be fo well brought out as by the aid of meta- 
 phors. Metaphors give body and circumftance to things 
 which could not be adequately reprefented if difcuffed in 
 cold though precife terms. 
 
 Ellesmere. Good — that's true, I dare fay. How- 
 ever, I ftill venture to think, that metaphors have done 
 at leaft as much harm by introducing falfehood as they 
 have by reprefenting truth. But you have made a good 
 plea, and you may indulge in as many metaphors as you 
 like. Proceed. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Then, too, if it be not too bold to fay fo 
 on behalf of any men, may there not be fomething vica- 
 rious in the fufferings of men of genius ? Again, the
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 51 
 
 work before them fits heavy and grievous on their 
 minds. Moreover, w^hen you talk of their wifdom and 
 what you extradl from it, though I admit the differ- 
 ence between a wife man, or a man of genius, and a 
 fool is coloffal to us, yet you muft recolleft, that as 
 meafured againft the great verities it is engaged with, it 
 may be very very fmall indeed. 
 
 DuNSFORD. We cannot keep that too much in mind : 
 and I would fay, though you may both think it common- 
 place, that the wifdom or infight you have been talking 
 of, may be that which the Scriptures call fooliflinefs. 
 
 Ellesmere. I have had in my thoughts, Dunsford, 
 religious men, or what we confider fuch, as well as 
 others. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Then another thing, we know fo little 
 of men, that we can hardly judge of their moods. I 
 was very much ftruck the other day with a quotation 
 from Seneca, which was in the margin of one of thefe 
 old Spanifh hiftorians I am looking into juft now. 
 " Levis eft dolor qui capere confilium poteft." 
 
 Ellesmere. That is a good deal deeper than Seneca 
 ufed to go in my time, when I looked into him. 
 
 Dunsford. Having to do with Nero would make a 
 man think deeply upon fome fubje6ls — efpecially upon 
 concealed griefs and fears. 
 
 MiLVERTON. But, to go back to our fubjeiSt, for I 
 have more to fay yet. I queftion whether even men 
 of genius have ever fuffered more than dull men, or 
 merely clever men, with one idea which has funk under 
 them— a fmall ambitious man, for inftance, utterly un-
 
 52 ON GIVING AND 
 
 fuccefsful in his fchemes, or a man fet on one afFe£lion 
 which turns out ill. Genius is multifojm and artiftic ; 
 it twines beautiful garlands round the images of paft 
 hopes, knowing all the time, as well as other men, that 
 it is only adorning what is lifelefs. 
 
 DuNSFORD. This world is a world of trial, not of 
 completion and attainment in any way. You expeft 
 more of clear and difl;in6t gain than you ought, Ellef- 
 mere. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I fomehow fancy we are a little wrong 
 in our general notions about this world being a place of 
 trial ; I would rather, if I might fay fo, call it a place of 
 education, of continuous creation, than of trial. It may 
 not be, as we fometimes pronounce, that life, the life of 
 fouls, is fent here to fee what will become of it, to fee 
 whether it is good or bad, but to form it and further it, 
 in accordance with which, it may be, (as the author of 
 " the Natural Hiflory of Enthufiafm" would fay*) that 
 all are getting the fitteft education for them. The hardeft 
 
 * This is doubtlefs the paffage which Milverton had in his mind, 
 
 " The world of nature affords no inftances of complicated and 
 " exa£t contrivances, comparable to that which fo arranges the 
 " vaft chaos of contingencies as to produce with unerring preci- 
 " fion, a fpecial order of events adapted to the charafter of every 
 " individual of the human family. Amid the whirl of myriads 
 " of fortuities, the means are felefted and combined for conftruft- 
 " ing as many independent machineries of moral difcipline as 
 " there are moral agents in the world ; and each apparatus is at 
 " once complete in itfelf, and complete as part of a univerfal 
 " movement."
 
 TAKING CRITICISM. 53 
 
 criminal, for inftance, what can fubdue him into hu- 
 manity like the having committed crime ? It may be, 
 too, that men take their gains with them. A man's in- 
 fight (what little he can get) may not, therefore, be un- 
 profitable to him, Ellefmere, or be otherwife than in- 
 fight, though it cannot be exprefled in joy and ferenity 
 here. However this may be, I think it is, perhaps, 
 nearer the truth to look upon this world as one of edu- 
 cation than of trial. 
 
 Ellesmere. Alfo a world to live in. It has a fub- 
 ftantive exiftence of its own, which we fhould make what 
 we can of. It does not become us to depreciate time 
 prefent too much. Here we are, with a great deal to 
 look upon, and ufe, and underftand, if we can. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes : it is a part of education, and not 
 the leaft, to deal with the prefent fteadily and healthily. 
 
 DuNSFORD. How very few, for example, make a 
 tithe of what they might out of the every day beauty 
 of nature. They come crying to it fometimes and 
 afking for peace and repofe from it. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I quite agree with you, if you mean 
 that few of us enjoy enough the beauty we ought to fee 
 every day about us, and which fhould go to form the 
 fubftance of our day's delight. But I doubt whether 
 the contemplation .of inanimate Nature will do for us 
 what poets fometimes imagine it will in the way of 
 foothing. To look upon nature, to get into the foreft 
 or out upon the moor, is no doubt a delightful efcape 
 from the teafing ways of man. But there is, perhaps,
 
 54 ON CRITICISM. 
 
 an aching of the heart as well as a foothing in much 
 contemplation of ftill life. Where I think there is moft 
 confolation, is in the immenfity of creation, in the vigour 
 and pertinacity of life : the moft wounded heart confi- 
 dering thefe things, can throw its griefs into the vaft 
 mafs of life, fee that there are other things befides it, 
 have an impreflion that there is a fcheme of creation 
 large enough to anfwer all the demands of vexed imagi- 
 nation. Herein, I think, the refults of fcience minifter 
 much comfort to the mind. 
 
 Ellesmere. Some of us, fpeaking fo coldly of ftill 
 life, hardly deferve, I think, to look over thefe beautiful 
 downs. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Let us not mind that, if we can in any 
 way deferve to look up at the ftars fometimes. But we 
 muft be moving homewards, unlefs we mean to find 
 our way by ftar-light : and even now I think I fee fome 
 " bright particular " ftars that will not wait for darknefs 
 to be fomewhat feen. Ah ! beautiful creations, it is 
 not in guiding us over the feas of our little planet, but 
 out of the dark waters of our own perturbed minds, that 
 we may make to ourfelves the moft of your fignifi- 
 cance. 
 
 We returned home, not forry to be moftly fi- 
 lent as we went, and glad that our friendfhip 
 was fo aflured that we could be filent, without 
 the flighteft danger of offence.
 
 THE ART OF LIVING. 55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 To enable my readers to underftand this chapter, 
 I muft firft trouble them with fome domeftic cir- 
 cumftances. Whether it was from our excurfion 
 to the downs, mentioned in the lafl: chapter, or 
 from fome other caufe I do not know, but at 
 this time I became fo unwell as to be unable to 
 leave my room. It would have been a great de- 
 privation to me not to know fomething about the 
 converfation before and after Milverton's next 
 reading, fo I refolved to fend over to Worth 
 Afhton one who might take my place and bring 
 me fome account of what was faid. 
 
 My home is graced by the prefence of my 
 fifter, Mrs. Daylmer, and her daughter Lucy. 
 Daylmer and I were fellow-collegians and inti- 
 mate friends, and our friendfhip led to a union 
 between the families. Men of my {landing may 
 recoiled what a fcholar Daylmer was ; and though 
 it is a trivial thing to recall, yet fome may re- 
 member a tranflation of his into Latin Alcaics of
 
 56 ON THE ART 
 
 that magnificent chorus in the " Antigone" about 
 love,* which tranflation made fome noife amongft 
 us when we were freflimen. Daylmer died 
 young, leaving fome few refults of his fcholarfhip, 
 which yet remain with me in manufcript. Ever 
 fince his death my fifter and my niece have lived 
 with me. My fifter manages the houfe for me, 
 and does not leave me much to do as regards the 
 management of myfelf. But I muft not com- 
 plain, as it is a great thing to be loved and cared 
 for by anybody; and then too, my fifter (her 
 name is Marian) is always fo right and reafon- 
 able, as fhe proves to me that what I want now 
 is inconfiftent with what I wanted on fome other 
 occafion, or would not do for me upon fome for- 
 mer fhowing of mine, or would not be proper 
 with my pofition in the parifh. Somehow I feem 
 to walk between walls which I am faid to have 
 helped to build myfelf. I jfhould rather like to 
 look into the open country fometimes. How- 
 ever, Marian is a good creature, and totally un- 
 confcious of wifhing to manage any one. I do 
 not know what I fhould do without her. Did 
 fhe ever look into a book, I would not fay all that 
 
 * "Epa;; avUnrs f*a,^av — Soph. Ant. V. 781.
 
 OF LIVING. 57 
 
 I have juft faidj but it is quite confidential with 
 the public. 
 
 My niece Lucy is my darling. I have edu- 
 cated her myfelf. I hope I have not done un- 
 wifely, but I have taught her Greek; for I 
 thought fhe ihould know fomething of the ftudy 
 in which her father excelled, and be able to form 
 fome notion of his great powers of criticifm. We 
 often talk of him, and I think we are able to do 
 this much better as fhe knows more of what 
 were his favourite fludies. 
 
 Lucy has long been a great favourite of 
 Milverton's ; and in former days (for he had 
 then too the fame theory he has given us in his 
 efTay on education, of the advantage of fome 
 training for women that fhould fternly exercife 
 the reafon) he effayed, I recolledl, to teach her 
 Euclid, which, confidering he expedled the mofl 
 unreafonably fwift apprehenfion and progrefs, went 
 off very well. I knew he would not take it ill, 
 if I fent her over in my place ; and that fhe would 
 bring me back fome report of the converfation. 
 In this fhe feems to have fucceeded very well. 
 
 Milverton and Ellefmere were already out 
 upon the lawn expelling me, when Lucy and her 
 mother entered the gate at Worth Afhton.
 
 58 ON THE ART 
 
 Ellesmere. This is an honour, Mifs Daylmcr. 
 *' Gratior it dies." Latin is not rude in the prefence 
 of learned young ladies, you know. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I hope, Mrs. Daylmer, there is nothing 
 the matter with Dunsford. 
 
 Mrs. Daylmer. He is not well, I am forry to fay, 
 and fo fends Lucy to pick up what flie can for him of 
 your talk to bring back and amufe him with. I know 
 you gentlemen will not care to have me with you : fo I 
 will go and chat with Phoebe, and fee the new dairy. 
 How can you both be fo foolifli as to be lying on the 
 grafs, as you were when we came in. That is, I am 
 fure, the way in which my brother gets ill, and I fhall 
 not allow him to come over, if you dont take more care 
 of him. 
 
 Ellesmere. My good Mrs. Daylmer, if fome twenty 
 years ago you had kept our friend out of the Combina- 
 tion room at College, it might have been more to 
 
 the purpofe ; for my opinion is that it is the gout and 
 nothing elfe which — 
 
 Lucy. No, Mr. EUefmere, my uncle fays not. 
 
 Ellesmere. I know he does not choofe to call it by 
 that name. I do not fee why not. I always thought 
 it was very refpe61:able in the country to have the gout. 
 But we have a long chapter before us, as I fee from 
 that folemn bulk of paper, and fo we muft not talk any 
 more juft now. You do not know, Mifs Daylmer, 
 what you have before you to endure, or you would
 
 OF LIVING. 59 
 
 have preferred to have had, yourfelf, a fit of the gout — 
 at leaft fuch a fit as would not have prevented you from 
 going to a dance the next day. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Do not be frightened, Lucy ; the fub- 
 je6t for to-day's reading fhall not be very terrific in the 
 w^ay of dulnefs ; but fhall rather touch on matters 
 v^hich any lady may like to confider, and the regulation 
 of w^hich lies entirely within her province. 
 
 Ellesmere (muttering to himfelf). " The fuckling 
 of fools," an eflay by Leonard Milverton ; " The 
 chronicling of fmall beer," an hiftorical attempt by John 
 EUefmere. I am merely running over in my mind the 
 catalogue of effays we keep by us, Mifs Daylmer, for 
 the edification of our female friends, when they are 
 good enough to honour our readings with their pre- 
 fence. 
 
 Milverton. It is on the " art of living." 
 
 Ellesmere. Oh, I had forgotten to mention that 
 eihy, Mifs Daylmer ; that is our eflay on cookery — the 
 one we always begin with in reading to ladies ; as Mil- 
 verton faid, " entirely within their province." I wifli 
 they paid more attention to it ; but people feldom do 
 attend to things within their province. 
 
 Milverton. Do not mind his impertinence, Lucy. 
 
 Lucy. I am keeping my attention, Mr. Milverton, 
 for what I am fure I fhall like better than even Mr. 
 Ellefmere's witty fayings. Pray do not let us detain 
 you from beginning. 
 
 Mr. Milverton then read the following efTay.
 
 6o 
 
 ON THE ART OF LIVING. 
 
 )T has often occurred to me to think 
 how inappropriate is the eulogy of 
 the moral ift, or the preacher, on the 
 life of the rich and powerful, when for the fake 
 of contraft it is fet up as if it were the height of 
 human fuccefs, at leaft in the way in which it 
 profefles to fucceed. You would think, to hear 
 a preacher of this kind, that the lives of people 
 in the upper clafles were fomething really com- 
 fortable, genial and beautiful. To be fure, he 
 intimates that all this joy and beauty is likely to 
 be paid for by fome dire equivalent hereafter ; 
 but of its exiftence here he entertains no doubt. 
 To me, on the contrary, fince my firfl: entrance 
 into fociety, the life of thofe who are confidered 
 to be the moll highly favoured by the God of 
 this world has always appeared poor, mean, joy- 
 lefs, and in fome refpedts even fqualid. 
 
 The cottage of a poor man is certainly a 
 fad affair to contemplate. Should an average 
 fpecimen of this kind of building of our date 
 be dug up hereafter, when the world has largely
 
 THE ART OF LIVING. 6i 
 
 improved in thefe things, (if it does) this cot- 
 tage will not give a very exalted idea of the 
 civilization of the nineteenth century. But then, 
 confidering the narrownefs of means of the owner, 
 (for life, except with confiderable dexterity and 
 knowledge, cannot be made very beautiful, on an 
 income varying from fix fhillings to twelve fhil- 
 lings a week) this cottage is not fo bad. Its de- 
 fers are negative, whereas the new-built houfe of 
 a rich man often exemplifies a career of blunders. 
 Not only where mafles of men are congregated 
 together, but even in manfions built in folitary 
 places, the provifions for pure air, for water, and 
 for the means of cleanlinefs of all kinds, are de- 
 fedtive and abfurd; and even amongft the moft 
 practical people in the world, fcience is but begin- 
 ning to be wedded to the arts of life. I think it 
 may alfo be obferved that, independently of thefe 
 errors committed with regard to fcientific mat- 
 ters, fuch as change of air, maintenance of warmth 
 and the fupply of light ; there is alfo a fmgular 
 inaptitude of means to ends, which prevails gene- 
 rally throughout the human aids and appliances 
 for living — I mean drefs, houfes, equipages and 
 houfehold furniture. The caufes of this unfuita- 
 blenefs of means to ends lie very deep in human
 
 62 ON THE ART 
 
 nature and in the prefent form of human fociety. 
 I attribute them chiefly to the imitative nature of 
 the great bulk of mankind and to the divifion of 
 labour, which latter pradice .being carried to a 
 great extent in every civilized fl:ate, renders a 
 man expert in his own bufinefs, but timid even 
 in judging of what he has not to make, but only 
 to ufe. The refult is, I believe, that more than 
 half of what we do to procure good, is needlefs or 
 mifchievous : in fadt that more than half of the 
 labour and capital of the world is wafted : in fa- 
 vage life, by not knowing how to compafs what is 
 neceflary ; in civilized life, by the purfuit of 
 what is needlefs. 
 
 It is almofl: impofTible to attribute too much 
 eifedl to this quality of imitativenefs, as moft 
 men rule their wants by next to no thought of 
 their own, but Amply by what they fee around 
 them. To give examples : there are very few cities, 
 for inftance, in the world where it would be more 
 convenient to have porches, or covered entrances 
 to the houfes, than in London. There cannot 
 well be a city more devoid of fuch things. Again, 
 there can hardly be a more efi^edlual arrangement 
 for producing a rapid influx of cold air than a 
 modern carriage ; indeed it is conftrudled in every
 
 OF LIVING. 63 
 
 way upon wrong principles. A perfon going to 
 buy fuch a thing would be glad to have ventila- 
 tion without draught, to have a carriage roomy 
 and yet light ; but he is fhown what is the fafhion 
 and adopts it. Drefs furniihes a ftill more ftrik- 
 ing illuflration of imitation carried to an extreme. 
 Here, at the facrifice of comfort, time and money, 
 we follow the fchemes of vanity and uglinefs ; 
 and adopt permanently what were the fleeting 
 notions of fome of the moft fooliih of mankind. 
 I can imagine that fome of my readers who have 
 never thought upon thefe fubjedts, would con- 
 tefl: the point as regards the above inftances ; 
 but I will give others which they cannot contend 
 againft. 
 
 Upon fome occafion in former days, perhaps 
 upon a fudden attack of a town, the great clock 
 of the place, which they were probably putting 
 up or mending, was left with one hand. This 
 you would have imagined would have been con- 
 fidered a defedt, and would have been remedied 
 the firft time the town became quiet. But no ; 
 like many other things, not having been finifhed 
 at the time it was begun, it remained unfinifhed ; 
 after remaining long in that ftate, people began 
 to think that this defed: was intentional ; fome
 
 64 ON THE ART 
 
 foolifh perfon imitated it ; in the race of folly 
 there are always many runners, and the refult in 
 this particular cafe is, that there are fcores of 
 clocks fet up in public places, which exercife the 
 patience and the ingenuity of the hurried and 
 vexed fpe6lator who, if he has good eye fight and 
 fome power of calculating, may make an approxi- 
 mation to the time which the two hands would 
 have told him accurately at once. Another in- 
 ftance occurs to me of a fimilar kind. There is 
 a large and increafing portion of the human fpe- 
 cies, who have to make conftant reference to 
 didtionaries. Now, there are two inftances in the 
 alphabet of two confecutive letters, which were in 
 former times one letter. The words beginning 
 with thefe letters are often ftill arranged as if they 
 belonged to one letter. Hence, there conftantly 
 arifes a confufion in thofe parts of the didlionary 
 alluded to, which I will venture to fay has coft 
 every ftudious perfon much lofs of time and fome 
 lofs of temper, (for ftudy does not always render 
 the temper impregnable) and which lofs of time 
 and temper they may attribute entirely to the 
 unwife imitativenefs which has led one maker of 
 di6lionaries to follow another maker of dictionaries 
 in confounding his Vs and his J's, his U's and his
 
 OF LIVING. 65 
 
 V's, juft as one fheep fucceeds another in jumping 
 needlefsly over fome imaginary obftacle. 
 
 Another inftance occurs to me. Travellers 
 tell us that there is a nation very wife and 
 thoughtful in many matters, who, neverthelefs, 
 choofe to have all their moft important documents 
 (fuch, for example, as thofe ufed in the conveyance 
 of land) written upon leaves of fuch extent that 
 you can hardly hold them in both hands, and all 
 along in one line, fo that it is very difficult to go 
 from line to line down the page. It is curious, 
 however, to notice how injured humanity pro- 
 tects itfelf; for thefe documents are written in 
 fuch jargon, and fo many unneceffary words are 
 put in, that it does not much matter whether you 
 do fkip a line, or not, in attempting to go regu- 
 larly down the page. This people is very fkilful 
 in building boats and is perpetually trying im- 
 provements in that art ; but as regards thefe wide 
 pages of jargon, no race can be more contemp- 
 tibly imitative and confervative of wrong. 
 
 The above have chiefly been phyflcal inflances 
 of the ill eiFeds of imitation as regards the art of 
 living ; yet thefe are but trifling. Men might 
 live with very foolifli furniture around them, 
 
 F
 
 66 ON THE ART 
 
 with very ill-arranged didlionaries and worfe 
 grammars, with very ridiculous equipages, with 
 abfurdly ill-built houfes, noify and fmoky, moftly 
 of one pattern and that a bad one, nay even in 
 an ill-ventilated town, where every form of difeafe 
 is rifing up and curling about them, which for- 
 tunately they do not fee : in the midft of all this, 
 men might live happily, if all were well in their 
 fecial relations and focial intercourfe ; if they had 
 found out the art of living in thefe important re- 
 fpedls. But, as it is, how poor a thing is focial 
 intercourfe. How often in fociety a man goes 
 out from interefted or vain motives, at moft un- 
 feafonable hours, in very uncomfortable clothes, 
 to fit or ftand in a conftrained pofition, inhaling 
 tainted air, fuffering from great heat, and his fole 
 occupation or amufement being to talk — only to 
 talk. I do not mean to fay that there are not de- 
 lightful meetings in fociety, which all who were 
 prefent at remember afterwards, where the party 
 has been well chofen, the hoft and hoftefs genial, 
 (a matter of the firft neceffity) where wit has been 
 kind as well as playful, where information has 
 known how to be filent as well as how to fpeak, 
 where good-humour to the abfent as well as to 
 the prefent, has afPured the company that they
 
 OF LIVING. 67 
 
 were among good people, where oftentation has 
 gone away to fome more gilded rooms, and where 
 a certain feeling of regard and confidence has 
 fpread throughout the company, fo that each man 
 has fpoken out from his heart. But thefe are 
 fadly rare ; they are days, as the Romans would 
 fay, to be marked with chalk ; and it would not 
 fatigue any man to mark thofe which he himfelf 
 has experienced. The main current of fociety is 
 very dreary and dull, and not the lefs fo for its 
 reftleffnefs. The chief hindrances to its improve- 
 ment are of a moral nature, and may be placed 
 under the following heads. 
 
 Thefe hindrances to the pleafure and profit of 
 fociety (and by fociety I do not mean the fociety 
 of the great world, as we call it, but the humbleft 
 and fmalleft reunions down to the domeftic circle) 
 thefe hindrances may be thus enumerated — want 
 of truth, vanity, fhynefs, imitation, foolifh con- 
 cern about trifles, want of faithfulnefs to fociety, 
 which leads to repetition and publicity, habits of 
 ridicule and puritanical notions. 
 
 I began my lift with want of truth, which I 
 have always contended is as fatal, if not more fo, 
 to enjoyment as it is to bufinefs. From want of 
 the boldnefs which truth requires, people are
 
 68 ON THE AR'l^ 
 
 driven Into uncongenial foclety. Into many modes 
 of needlefs and painful oftentation, and into vari- 
 ous pretences, excufes and all forts of vexatious 
 diffimulatlon. The fpirit of barter Is carried Into 
 the amufements and enjoyments of life ; and, as 
 In bufinefs, the want of truth prevents you often 
 from knowing what the perfon you are dealing 
 with, really wifhes and means, fo in pleafure, you 
 are equally unable to know whether you are gra- 
 tifying others ; and you offer what Is not wanted 
 and what you do not wifh to offer, to one who 
 accepts It only from the fear of giving offence to 
 you. 
 
 Shynefs comes next in our catalogue, for I be- 
 lieve if moft young perfons were to tell us what 
 they had fuffered from fhynefs upon their en- 
 trance Into foclety, it would well deferve to be 
 placed next to want of truth as a hindrance to 
 the enjoyment of fociety. Now, admitting that 
 there is a certain degree of graceful modefty 
 mixed up with this fhynefs, very becoming in the 
 young, there Is at the fame time a great deal of 
 needlefs care about what others think and fay. In 
 fad it proceeds from a painful egotifm, fharpened 
 by needlefs felf-examlnations and foolifh imagina- 
 tions In which the fhy youth or maiden is tor-
 
 OF LIVING. 69 
 
 merited by his or her perfonality, and is haunted by 
 imagining that he or fhe is the centre of the circle 
 — the obferved of all obfervers. The great caufe 
 of this fhynefs is not fufficiently accuftoming chil- 
 dren to fociety, or making them fuppofe that their 
 condu6t in it is a matter of extreme importance, 
 and efpecially in urging them from their earlieft 
 youth by this moft injurious of all fayings, If 
 you do this or that, what will be faid, what will 
 be thought of you ? — thus referring the child not 
 to religion, not to wifdom, not to virtue, not even 
 to the opinion of thofe whofe opinion ought to 
 have weight, but to the opinion of whatever 
 fociety he may chance to come into. I often 
 think that the parent, guardian, or teacher, who 
 has happily omitted to inftil this vile prudential 
 confideration, or enabled the child to refill it, 
 even if he, the teacher, has omitted much good 
 advice and guidance, has ftill done better than 
 that teacher or parent who has filled the child to 
 the brim with good moral confiderations, and yet 
 has allowed this one piece of arrant worldlinefs to 
 creep in. We are now, however, only confider- 
 ing its injurious efFeft as regards the enjoyment 
 of fociety, which nobody can doubt. 
 
 I have fpoken of vanity as one of the moral
 
 70 ON THE ART 
 
 hindrances to the pleafure and profit to be derived 
 from fociety. There is a certain degree of vanity 
 which often accompanying good animal fpirits, 
 prompts a man to endeavour to pleafe and to 
 ihine in fociety ; but any confiderable extent of 
 vanity is likely to be injurious to the peace of fo- 
 ciety. Under the influence of this paffion, a 
 man demands much, gives little, is eafily offend- 
 ed, apt to be difhonefl in converfation, and alto- 
 gether is fo prone to be fmall minded, reftlefs and 
 unjuft, that I think vanity mufl be looked upon 
 as a great hindrance to the welfare of focial inter- 
 courfe, 
 
 I come now to foolifh concern about trifles — a 
 befetting error in highly civilized communities. 
 In thefe focieties, there are many things both 
 phyfical and intelledlual, which are outwardly 
 complete, highly polifhed and varnifhed ; much 
 too is in its proper place, and correfponds with 
 what it ought to correfpond to, 
 
 " Grove nods to grove, eacii alley has its brother," 
 
 that at laft there comes a morbid excitement to 
 have every little thing and circumftance fquare 
 and neat, which neither nature nor man will 
 allow. Hence the pleafure of vifits and enter-
 
 OF LIVING. 71 
 
 tainments, and In general the plans and projedls 
 of focial intercourfe are at the mercy of fmall ac- 
 cidents, abfurd cares and triflnig offences. When 
 this care for fmall things is combined with an in- 
 tenfe fear of the opinion of others, a ftate of mind 
 is generated which will neither allow the pofiefTor 
 of it to be happy in himfelf, or herfelf, nor permit 
 thofe about him or her to enjoy any peace or 
 comfort for long. It is of courfe a pre-eminent 
 hindrance to the bleffing of focial intercourfe. 
 
 The next hindrance I fhall mention is one rarely 
 commented upon, but which I maintain to be very 
 important — want of faithfulnefs to fociety. A man 
 fhould confider that in whatever company he is 
 thrown, there are certain duties incident upon him 
 in refped of that aflbciation. The firft of thefe 
 is reticence about what he hears in that fociety. 
 We fee this as regards the intercourfe of intimate 
 friends. If your friend in a quiet walk with you 
 were to tell you of fome of his inner troubles and 
 vexations, you would not confider yourfelf at li- 
 berty to mention thefe things in general fociety 
 the next day. So, in all focial intercourfe, there 
 is an implied faithfulnefs of the members of the 
 fociety, one to another ; and if this faithfulnefs 
 were well maintained, not only would a great deal of
 
 72 ON THE ART 
 
 pain and mifchief be prevented, but men knowing 
 that they were furrounded by people with a nice 
 fenfe of honour in this refpedl, would be more 
 frank and explicit in all they faid and did. As it 
 is, a thoughtful and kind-hearted man is often 
 obliged to make his difcourfe very barren left it 
 fhould be repeated to a circle for whom it was not 
 intended, by whom it could not be underftood, 
 and who can rarely have before them the circum- 
 ftance which led to its being uttered. The fault 
 of indlfcreet publication is very prevalent in the 
 prefent day ; and has, I have no doubt, thrown 
 a general conftraint over all communications, 
 perfonal or by letter, amongft thofe very perfons 
 with whom unconftrained communication would 
 be moft valuable. 
 
 I pafs to another hindrance to the well being of 
 focial intercourfe, namely, the habit of ridicule. 
 There is a light, jefting, flippant, unkind mode of 
 talking about things and perfons very common in 
 fociety, exceedingly different from wit, which fti- 
 fles good converfation and gives a fenfe of general 
 hoftility rather than fociability — as if men came 
 together chiefly for the purpofe of ridiculing their 
 neighbours and of talking flightly about matters
 
 OF LIVING. 73 
 
 of great concern. I am not fure that this condud: 
 in fociety is not a refult rather than a caufe, — a 
 refult of vanity, want of truth, want of faithfulnefs 
 and other hindrances which we have been con- 
 fidering. It certainly befpeaks a lamentable want 
 of charity, and fhows that thofe who indulge in 
 it are fadly ignorant of the dignity of focial inter- 
 courfe and of what a grand thing it might be. 
 
 Laftly, there is the want of fomething to do be- 
 fides talking, which muft be put down as one of ■" 
 the greateft drawbacks to the pleafantnefs, as well 
 as ufefulnefs, of focial intercourfe. Puritanical 
 notions have gone fome way in occafioning this 
 want by forbidding many innocent or indifferent 
 amufements. But I fufped that anybody who 
 fhould ftudy human nature much, would find that 
 it was one of the moft dangerous amufements to 
 bring people together to talk who have but little 
 to fay. The more variety men have in their 
 amufements the better ; and I confefs that I am 
 one of thofe who think that games are often very 
 good inftrudors of mankind and as little mif- 
 chievous as anything elfe they do. 
 
 But this confideration of the want of fomething
 
 74 ON THE ART 
 
 to do befides talking, leads naturally to that branch 
 of the art of living which is connected with ac- 
 complifhments. In this we have hitherto been 
 fingularly negledtful ; and our poor and arid edu- 
 cation has often made time hang heavy on our 
 hands, given opportunity for fcandal, occafioned 
 domeftic diflenfion, and prevented the juft enjoy- 
 ment we fhould have had of the gifts of nature. 
 More large and general cultivation of mufic, of 
 the fine arts, of manly and graceful exercifes, of 
 various minor branches of fcience and natural phi- 
 lofophy, will I am perfuaded, enhance greatly the 
 pleafure of fociety, and mainly in this, that it will 
 fill up that want of fomething to do befides talk- 
 ing, which is fo grievoufly felt at prefent. A 
 group of children, with their nurfery chairs as 
 playthings, are often able to make a better and 
 pleafanter evening of it than an afi'embly of fine 
 people in London, where nobody has anything to 
 do, where nothing is going on but vapid converfa- 
 tion, where the ladles dare not move freely about, 
 and where a good chorus, a childifh game, or even 
 the liberty to work or read, would be a perfed: 
 Godfend to the whole afl*embly. This however 
 is but a very fmall part of the advantage and aid 
 to the art of living which would flow from a
 
 OF LIVING. 75 
 
 greatly-widened bails of education in accomplifh- 
 ments and what are now deemed minor ftudies. 
 I am perfuaded that the whole of life would be 
 beautified and vivified by them ; and one great 
 advantage which I do not fear to repeat, though 
 I have urged it two or three times before in dif- 
 ferent places, is that from this variety of culti- 
 vation various excellencies would be developed in 
 perfons whofe natures not being fuitable for the 
 few things cultivated and rewarded at prefent, are 
 thick with thorns and briars, and prefent the ap- 
 pearance of waflie land, whereas if fown with the 
 fit feed and tended in a proper manner, they would 
 come into fome fort of cultivation, would bring 
 forth fomething good, perhaps fomething which 
 is excellent of its kind. Such people who now lie 
 funk in felf-difrefpe<5l, would become ufeful, or or- 
 namental, and therefore genial ; they would be an 
 afliftance to fociety inftead of a weight upon it. 
 
 Another great matter as regards the art of living 
 is the art of living with inferiors. A houfe may 
 be ever fo well arranged for domeftic and fecial 
 comfort, the principal inmates of it well-difpofed 
 and accomplifhed people, their circumftances of 
 life felicitous ; yet if there is a want of that har-
 
 76 ON THE ART 
 
 mony which fhould extend throughout every 
 houfe, embracing all the members of the houfe- 
 hold, there is an under current of vexation fuffi- 
 cient to infe(5l and deaden all the above-named 
 advantages. To obviate this, is one of the great 
 difficulties of modern life, a difficulty not only 
 great in itfelf but largely aggravated by mifma- 
 nagement for many generations. In dealing with 
 fervants, we have to deal with fome of the worft- 
 educated people in the country — not only ill-in- 
 ftru6ted for the peculiar fundlions they have to 
 undertake, but ill-educated both in mind and foul, 
 and having all the infubordination of extreme 
 ignorance. This will improve however ; and 
 perhaps one of the greateft rewards the rich will 
 enjoy for having of late years encouraged and 
 facilitated education amongft the poor, will arife 
 from their being furnifhed with a wifer, more 
 amiable, and therefore more governable fet of de- 
 pendants. The duties of matters, too, are often 
 moft inadequately fulfilled, fo that a man who 
 wifhes to ad rightly in this refped: often finds that 
 he has to work upon bad material which has 
 already been badly treated. Still, with all thefe 
 difad vantages, it is furprifing how much may be 
 done with fervants by firmnefs, kindnefs, geniality
 
 OF LIVING. 77 
 
 and juft familiarity. Under the head of kind- 
 nefs I fhould particularly wifh to include full em- 
 ployment. The mafter who keeps one fervant 
 more than he has abfolutely need for, is not only 
 a mifchief to fociety, but is unkind to that fer- 
 vant and to all his fellow-fervants ; for what is 
 more cruel to a vacant mind than to leave it half- 
 employed. 
 
 A mafter fuch as I would have him, fhould not 
 only exercife paffive kindnefs but adive kindnefs 
 towards his fervants, fhould intereft himfelf in 
 their relationfhips, partake their hopes and fears, 
 be watchful to provide amufements for them, and 
 fhould look upon them as his children once or 
 twice removed. Inftances of ingratitude and in- 
 tradlability, partial defeats as well as partial fuc- 
 cefles, fuch a man will be fure to meet with ; but 
 at any rate, he will have done his beft to produce 
 that harmony in his houfehold which, viewed 
 merely with regard to the enjoyment of life, muft 
 be looked upon as one of the mofl defirable at- 
 tainments in the art of living. 
 
 It may be thought that in the courfe of this 
 eflay the ends propofed have not been very great, 
 and that too much mention has been made of
 
 78 ON THE ART 
 
 fuch words as enjoyment. But at leaft the means 
 propofed have not been ignoble ones ; and I am 
 convinced that in the furtherance of the art of 
 living, true enjoyment would be often found to 
 march hand in hand with economy, with truth, 
 and efpecially with kindnefs and thoughtfulnefs 
 for thofe around us. Benevolent people of the 
 prefent day are constantly inveftigating the life of 
 the poorer clafles, in order to make it more 
 comely, more dignified, more enjoyable. There 
 is no doubt that much may be done in this direc- 
 tion ; but I contend that the ftandard of what is 
 beautiful in living requires to be raifed generally, 
 and it feems to me that the life of the poor will 
 not be well arranged, while that of fo many of the 
 rich remains vapid, infincere, unenjoyable and 
 unadorned. 
 
 Ellesmere. I agree with you in all you have faid in 
 difpraife. The many failures of civilized life make one 
 lono- for fomething more free and wider; and would 
 prove one of the main incentives to colonization, except
 
 OF LIVING. 79 
 
 that people find out the infipidity of civilized life when 
 they are too ftifF and rooted to think of going to a young 
 colony. I was quite furprifed the other day to find even 
 in fuch a writer as Sydney Smith, who, I ihould have 
 imagined, would have been pretty well fatisfied with the 
 prefent ftate of things in our old world, a fentence or 
 two intimating that he conceived how people might go 
 into diftant climes to get rid of fome of the nuifances of 
 civilization, — a pafiage, in fa6l:, which reminded me of 
 that in Eothen, where the traveller exclaims, " The 
 " firft night of your firft campaign, (though you be but 
 " a mere peaceful campaigner) is a glorious time in 
 " your life. It is fo fweet to find onefelf free from the 
 " ftale civilization of Europe ! Oh, my dear ally ! when 
 " firft you fpread your carpet in the midft of thefe eaft- 
 ern fcenes, do think for a moment of thofe your fel- 
 low creatures, that dwell in fquares, and ftreets, and 
 even (for fuch is the fate of many !) in adtual country 
 " houfes ; think of the people that are ' prefenting their 
 " compliments' and ' requefting the honour,' and ' much 
 " regretting,' — of thofe that are pinioned at dinner ta- 
 " bles, or ftuck up in ball rooms, or cruelly planted in 
 " pews — ay, think of thefe, and fo remembering how 
 " many poor devils are living in a ftate of utter refpec- 
 " tability, you will glory the more in your own delio-ht- 
 " ful efcape." 
 
 MiLVERTON. On the other hand, I often feel how 
 much might be made of fociety here. Whenever you 
 go into any neighbourhood, or penetrate into any fmall 

 
 8o ON THE ART 
 
 circle of fociety, you are furprifed at the agreeable 
 people there are in that quarter — fuch people as you 
 thought belonged only to your own particular circle. 
 Yet it feems as if there was a want of fome mafter 
 mind devoted to the arts of focial life, which fhould 
 bring out the good qualities of thofe around it, and fun 
 them into more ailive being. 
 
 Ellesmere. This is all meant to be carried home, 
 Mifs Daylmer, to the Grange, that your uncle may be 
 induced to believe that Milverton thinks there are civi- 
 lifed people even in thefe remote parts of the earth, but 
 
 you know better. 
 
 * 
 
 Lucy. Having only heard that part of the wit and 
 wifdom of London which you, Mr. Ellefmere and 
 Mr. Milverton, bring down to us occafionally, I cannot 
 pretend to judge of its intellectual refources; but I re- 
 colleft, when I was reading the life of Sir Walter Scott, 
 that on fome occafion of his being in town, he dined 
 with a company whom he called the wits, a fhort 
 time afterwards at a dinner-party of lawyers, a day or 
 two after that at a dinner-party of bifliops ; and he fays 
 that the lawyers beat the wits, and the bifhops the law- 
 yers. Now we have plenty of clergymen about here, 
 and it is from clergymen that bifhops are made. For 
 my own part, I am afraid that I am fimple enough to 
 prefer the fociety of the old women and children whom 
 I go to vifit in our parifh to all that London could give 
 me. 
 
 Ellesmere. Ah, you would find that moft of us had
 
 OF LIVING. 8i 
 
 forgotten our Greek, Mifs Daylmer, and that we fhould 
 form but indifferent companions to a modern verfion of 
 Lady Jane Grey. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Do not anfwer him any more, Lucy : 
 you fee he is obliged to have recourfe to perfonalities. 
 
 Ellesmere. Juft as if that Scott ftory was not aimed 
 at me. But, Milverton, you were going to fay fomething. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes. I was going to fay that I do not 
 think fufficient credit is given to people for eminence 
 in focial qualities. To take an inftance, you know our 
 
 old college friend . Well, you know what a 
 
 ferviceable man he is in fociety, how fure he is in any 
 company to promote the happinefs and amufement of all 
 around him. His wit, Lucy, is of the lambent and not 
 of the forked kind : it lights up every topic with grace and 
 variety, and it hurts nobody. I fuppofe no one ever left 
 his company aggrieved by any faying of his. Very often 
 you can carry away nothing that he has faid, for his 
 humour has been continuous, and a pailfull of water 
 from any river will no more give a notion of its beauty 
 than a quotation from his converfation of its richnefs, 
 
 grace and drollery. I do not know whether is, or 
 
 will be, fuccefsful in his profeflion ; that greatly depends 
 upon other people ; but to my mind he is a fuccefsful 
 man. If he does not, however, obtain profeflional 
 fuccefs, he may have all the graces and merits in the 
 world, moft people will pronounce his life a failure. 
 Then you have fome man of keen intelle6l, eminently 
 difagreeable, living on the abufes of his age. — 
 
 G
 
 82 ON THE ART 
 
 Ellesmere, Do not be perfonal, Milverton. 
 
 MiLVERTON. And this man makes an abundance of 
 money or gains great ftation, and you run after him and 
 ftiout his praifes and defire to have his countenance on 
 canvafs or in marble. When I look round upon fome 
 of the ftatues in the world, I am afraid of the indignation 
 and contempt which rife up in my mind. 
 
 Ellesmere. Whew ! It is pretty evident that our 
 prefiding friend Dunsford is not here. When thefe 
 outwardly calm and placid men do break out, Mifs 
 Daylmer, it is fomewhat volcanic. 
 
 Lucy. I have heard my uncle fay, Mr. Ellefmere, 
 that he prefers downright anger to a fneer. 
 
 Ellesmere. How, womanlike, fomebody always 
 fhelters herfelf behind the fayings of fome one elfe. 
 
 Milverton. I need not have expreffed myfelf fo 
 warmly — nor fo unjuftly; for nobody pretends that 
 notoriety, the caufe of many a ftatue being fet up, is a 
 fare meafure of merit. 
 
 Lucy. Never mind, Mr. Milverton ; I will only re- 
 peat to my uncle juft fo much of your outbreak as will 
 enable him to underftand Mr. Ellefmere's ill-nature and 
 farcafm. 
 
 Ellesmere. Equitable, certainly : a ruftic Daniel 
 come to judgment ! This is the way I am always 
 treated here ; none of you will buy a buft of me, it is 
 clear. 
 
 But to go back to the fubjedt. If you are not quite 
 fatisfied with the ftate of fociety in this country, do you 
 know of any other people who fulfil better your idea of
 
 OF LIVING. 83 
 
 the art of living, or who might do fo. The Spaniards, 
 for inftance, I have heard you frequently praife them 
 for various things. Do they make life fo very fuccefsful 
 a tranfailion ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. I have been but too fhort a time in their 
 country to fpealc vi^ith any confidence, but I will give 
 you my impreffions. 
 
 Ellesmere. You may fee a great deal of people in 
 travelling with them and amongft them ; though of 
 courfe there are things in a foreign country, which you 
 may utterly mifunderftand, or pafs by, if you do not get 
 into fociety, and that, of courfe, requires time. 
 
 MiLVERTON. They feemed to me a moft intelligent 
 people — admirably courteous, without any of the mere 
 grimace of courtefy — very courageous, as many a ftory of 
 their late wars will teflify — and, altogether, I muft fay, not 
 unhke ourfelves, efpecially the Caftilians, except that they 
 are more courteous, and lels enterprifing : and to anfwer 
 fpecially the queftion you firft addrefled to me about 
 them, I think they bid fair to underftand the art of living 
 as well as any nation on the earth. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, how is it that they make fuch a 
 bad bufinefs of it in the way of government ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Nations, like individuals, have what, 
 for want of a more pious name, we may call, their for- 
 tune, good and ill. Thefe people have had a feries of 
 untoward circumftances to contend againft — their mo- 
 narchs holding other dominions — too much gold coming 
 in upon them from the Indies and {landing in the way 
 of home culture and domeftic enterprife— then difputed
 
 84 ON THE ART 
 
 fucceflions for many many years — their contefts at prefent 
 having little or no principle in them, but being chiefly 
 perfonal contefts. Thefe things, or things like them, 
 they ufed to fay to me themfelves. 
 
 Ellesmere. They were aware then of their political 
 ftate ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Thoroughly. Moreover, in all clafTes, 
 as far as I faw, the national feeling is very ftrong. I 
 have before me now the elaborate bow which a muleteer, 
 with whom I was coming from the Efcurial, made to me 
 on my happening in converfation about his country to 
 utter fome juft praife of it. He ran on from my fide 
 before me to the middle of the road and receiving me, 
 as it were, made a bow of which this is but a very faint 
 and angular reprefentation. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, their time may come again. 
 
 MiLVERToN. If you mean for national pre-eminence, 
 I do not know that I wifh it for them. Of courfe one 
 would wifh the government to be much more ftable and 
 well direcSled than it has been. But withal, the bulk of 
 the people at prefent feems to me anything but ill off. 
 Thefe fouthern nations have a way of enjoying life and a 
 power of lazy contentment not altogether to be defpifed. 
 
 But to go back for a moment to their intelligence. 
 The general converfation in a diligence was almoft al- 
 ways good. I have tried, for the purpofe of learning the 
 language, to get them to give me the diftin£lions between 
 words nearly allied — fuch as in Englifh, pretty, handfome, 
 beautiful, elegant, the proper ufe of which it would re- 
 quire fome nicety to explain to a foreigner.
 
 OF LIVING. 85 
 
 Ellesmere. And they managed it well. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes. Another thing ftruck me much. 
 As far as I could fee, they are an accurate people, not 
 pretending to understand things before they do. I al- 
 ways augur much from that in a man, or in a people. 
 
 Ellesmere. As to the country itfelf, I fuppofe that 
 is magnificent. Tell us fomething about it ; but do not 
 be voluminous. I very foon get tired of hearing other 
 people's travels. Tell us, for inftance, about the Ca- 
 thedral at Seville, the town of Cadiz and the Al- 
 hambra. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Well, the three things you have juft 
 mentioned did not lofe any of their hold on the imagina- 
 tion by being feen. They quite came up to what has 
 been faid of them. 
 
 Ellesmere. The Moorifh architedlure delighted you 
 then ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes : not only in their palaces but in 
 their houfes. Thofe Moors knew well that important 
 part of the art of living which confifts in building a houfe, 
 therein being very fuperior to the Frankifh nations. 
 
 Ellesmere. It is very well to tell us, as you did juft 
 now, that things come up to the defcriptions of them, 
 which is like a novelift " drawing a veil" over the 
 feelings of his hero and heroine, when they become 
 troublefome and difficult to defcribe. But now fit down 
 again, and defcribe to Mifs Daylmer and me what the 
 Alhambra is like. I have read no defcription. I 
 never do read fuch things. Mifs Daylmer has, I fup- 
 pofe j for every earthly thing is in Pinnock.
 
 86 ON THE ART 
 
 Lucy. I am fure, Mr. Milverton, you cannot refift 
 fuch an encouraging invitation to defcribe. I will engage 
 to put afide all the information I have derived from Pin- 
 nock, and will liften, like the dutiful pupil I once was to 
 you, with the proper blanknefs of mind which Mr. El- 
 lefmere vouches for himfelf. 
 
 Milverton. Well, come with me then in imagina- 
 tion to the Generalife, not a part of the Alhambra, but 
 another palace clofe to it and more elevated, the fummer 
 palace of the Moorifh kings, built exa6lly in the fame 
 flyle as the Alhambra. We will imagine ourfelves to 
 have got to the higheft point of it, or to be looking down 
 from the gallery which faces fouthwards. Beneath us, 
 far beneath us, at the bafe of the palace, lies the town, 
 in itfelf an objeft of great beauty. To the left, ftill clofe 
 to us, the rocks down there have holes in them, the ha- 
 bitations of the gipfies. Beyond is the beautiful Vega, 
 a vaft green plain with water running through it. The 
 whole fcene is enclofed by mountains, forming an am- 
 phitheatre fuch as we might think fit for the tournament 
 of the world, or rather for the world's empire to be fought 
 for. Weftward, the fun, as I faw it, is declining over 
 the mountains : we look to the eaft and high up above 
 us and feemingly clofe to us, lies the Sierra Nevada, its 
 fnows coloured by the fetting fun. Fed by that perpetual 
 fnow, ftreams are rufliing through the elevated court 
 where we ftand, and are then feen courfmg down the 
 gardens and bubbling over the fountains, making their 
 way to the green Vega. The luxury of Heat and the 
 luxury of Cold meet here : and find rooms worthy fuch
 
 OF LIVING. 87 
 
 great powers to revel in. Here (and how rare it is) 
 man, inftead of defacing nature, has adorned it. Thefe 
 light columns ; this profufion of ornament which yet 
 never intrudes ; this aptitude of the building for the 
 climate and the people and the place, makes us not 
 afhamed of our fellow men having built there. I ftrive 
 to fee it all again ; but there are fome things I cannot 
 fee : and yet I turned and looked and came again, and 
 looked again and tried to imprefs it on my brain that it 
 might be with me fometimes hereafter. 
 Lucy. But you kept a diary. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No, Lucy ; nor would I if I were to 
 go again. It is not words that will do. I could write 
 many words about it now, but they would not bring back 
 to me what I want, though they might have fome appro- 
 priatenefs. I thought of this the other day when I was 
 looking over your copy of Milnes's poems. I know he 
 is a great favourite of yours. There is a fonnet giving 
 the advice which I had already taken. 
 Lucy. '' Lefibn to poets ? " 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, that is the title I think : only it 
 muft be adapted in my cafe to profe writers. But do 
 you recollecSt it, Lucy, well enough to give Ellefmere any 
 notion of it. 
 
 Lucy. I do recollect it, I believe, but I do not much 
 like repeating it, becaufe Mr. Ellefmere will be fure to 
 tear it to pieces, if he is not in the humour to hear it, 
 and though I do not mind what he fays to me, I do not 
 like to have any favourite bit of poetry fhaken about in 
 his critical mouth as that bit of cloth is by Rollo.
 
 88 THE ART OF LIVING. 
 
 Ellesmere. Upon my word, Attic maiden, you are 
 very unfair : juft as if, too, it were anything remarkable, 
 a man's eriticifm depending upon his humours. 
 
 MiLVERTON. He deferves the fonnet for that fatire on 
 his own tribe, Lucy. , 
 
 Luev. 
 
 " Try not, or murmur not if tried in vain, 
 
 " In fair rememberable words to fet 
 
 " Each fcene or prefence of el'pecial gain, 
 
 " As hoarded gems in precious cabinet. 
 
 " Simply enjoy the prefent lovelinefs ; — 
 
 ** Let it become a portion of your being ; 
 
 '' Clofe your glad gaze, but fee it none the lefs, 
 
 " No clearer with your eye, than fpirit, feeing. 
 
 " And, when you part at laft, turn once again, 
 
 " Swearing that beauty fhall be unforgot : 
 
 " So in far forrows it (hall eafe your pain, 
 
 " In diftant ftruggles it fliall calm your ftrife, 
 
 *' And in your further and ferener life, 
 
 " Who fays that it fhall be remembered not ?" 
 
 MiLVERTON. It is excellent advice. If you make too 
 much of diary-keeping, you blur every beautiful fight by 
 thinking what you fhall write about it. 
 
 Here Mrs. Daylmer entered ; the converfation 
 took another turn ; and after fome mock faluta- 
 tions of great courtefy between my niece and EI- 
 lefmere, upon her receiving fome ironical meflages 
 fent by him to me, fhe came away to give me the 
 Eflay, and to relate the above converfation.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 89 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 We had found our former reading on the downs 
 fo pleafant, that we refolved to wander forth again 
 for our next ; and when the day came, as I had 
 by this time recovered my ufual health, Milver- 
 ton propofed that we fhould go to a mill at no 
 great diftance, called Bender's Mill, and have our 
 reading on a knoll which overlooked the iffuing 
 waters. Ellefmere had come down the previous 
 evening, and Lucy and I joined the party at 
 breakfaft, fo that we were ready early to fet out 
 on our excurfion. As we went along through 
 the clofe lanes near Worth Afhton, I happened 
 to remark the beauty of the hedges there. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, replied Milverton, I think that 
 the hedges are amongft the moft beautiful things we 
 have in the country. Look at that mixture of hazel 
 and maple : what a variety of form and colour ! And 
 then the cluftering clematis, like garlands thrown over 
 the reft. See, too, the more delicate underwood of the 
 hedge, the fern here and there, the wild ftrawberry, the
 
 90 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 fox-glove and all the other things we do not know the 
 names of, but which fome Linnasus, (would we had one 
 here !) could talk to us for hours about. I have often 
 thought that, taken altogether, fuch a hedge as this is a 
 piiSlure of human life— beautiful and complete in its bold 
 variety, whereas men would have one fturdy quickfet 
 of the fame height and colour — both in their fellow-men 
 and in their hedges. 
 
 Ellesmere. Now we are off upon our fimilitudes. 
 I thought it foon would be fo. My dear fellow, cannot 
 you look at a bit of nature and enjoy it for itfelf, without 
 troubling yourfelf about refemblances and bringing in 
 men on all occafions ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. I do not look out for refemblances : 
 they at once occur to me. No wall rifes up before me 
 between the beautiful in inanimate nature and in the 
 ways of men. You muft take me as I am. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, I muft not be particular then : 
 I will take you as you are ; only come and fit down on 
 this ftile. You country people all walk fo furioufly. 
 May we fay, without offence, that the walking part of 
 the human body is that which receives the moft culture 
 in the country ? Not, of courfe, that I mean in the moft 
 diftant way to infmuate that — 
 
 DuNSFORD. Oh rio, certainly not — pray do not go 
 any further in the fentence. We know the refpedt you 
 have for our intelledls. 
 
 Lucy. Do you know, Mr. Milverton, that poor Car- 
 ter is dead? He died laft week.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 91 
 
 MiLVERTON. What, my poor old friend who lived in 
 that cottage there, and with whom I have had many a 
 long talk about the crops and the weather. Ah me ! he 
 was not a very wife man ; yet now, perhaps, he knows 
 much more than the wifeft of us who are left. I have 
 often thought, Dunsford, when any of thofe whom we 
 confider common-place people die — how at once they 
 come in our minds to be regarded as fuperior beings. 
 They know fo much more than they did, we think ; they 
 look down upon us, as we fancy ; they could tell us fo 
 much. Great is our reverence for the dead. 
 
 I ousht to have known there was fomething the 
 matter with the old man, not feeing him this fine day 
 at his accuftomed place in the porch. 
 
 Lucy. Don't you feel fometimes, Mr. Milverton, 
 when there is a very very fine day like this, as if fome- 
 thing were going to happen — fomething quite unfore- 
 feen and very joyous — out of the common way, you 
 know. 
 
 Ellesmere. As Milverton is filent, Mifs Daylmer, 
 I will anfwer for him. We are getting into the middle- 
 aged and full-coloured, if not into the " fere and yel- 
 low," leaf; and are not given to the tranfports which 
 belong to hopeful young buds and blofix)ms. When it 
 is a fine warm day like this^ we rejoice — that it is not 
 cold. 
 
 Milverton. Do not believe him, Lucy, we are not 
 quite fo profaic, yet. 
 
 Ellesmere. Do look at that little fhepherd boy
 
 92 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 flaring at us. Depend upon it, our coming here is the 
 event of the day to him. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I wonder how thofe urchins get through 
 the hours. 
 
 Ellesmere. Dinner, though but bread and cheefe, 
 muft be the great pivot for their thoughts to turn upon. 
 Now, it is fo many hours to dinner. That is a fa£l 
 which may be dwelt upon. Then dinner comes. Af- 
 ter that, there is a fort of rufli of the thoughts into 
 fpace : for as yet fupper is not on the horizon. Then 
 ftrange images are fought out in the fcudding clouds ; 
 dim recolledlions of a mother or a playmate loft young 
 fucceed, or, perhaps — but we will not go on imagining; 
 let us try what we can make out of our young friend 
 there, and fee what he does think of. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Here, my boy. 
 
 Ellesmere. Your dogs and ours feem to agree very 
 well, my little man. 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. Yees : they knaowed one another 
 afore. 
 
 Ellesmere. What a fine day it is for you to-day. 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. Yees. 
 
 Ellesmere. But I fuppofe, whether it is fine or not, 
 you are out all day long with the fheep. 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. Yees. 
 
 Ellesmere. Heus, amici, multo magis arduum eft 
 coUoqui cum rufticis, quam argutis quaeftionibus verita- 
 tem e teftibus non volentibus extorquere ! 
 
 Dunsford. Teftibus non volentibus !
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 93 
 
 Ellesmere. Oh, never mind the Latin. But let us 
 proceed. And do you like the fummer days better than 
 the winter days, my little fellow ? 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. They be warmer. 
 
 Ellesmere. And how do you get through the days? 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. I doant know. 
 
 Ellesmere. I dare fay, you find them fometimes 
 very long. 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. Noa. Johnny Hewfome do come 
 up moft afternoons to fee I. 
 
 Ellesmere. Humph ! Is Johnny Hewfome a bigger 
 boy than you ? 
 
 Shepherd's Boy. Noa — We be much of the fame 
 foize. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, you can buy fomething with this 
 for you and Johnny Hewfome to play with. Good 
 bye. 
 
 We then walked on, leaving the boy pulling 
 vigoroufly at his hair. 
 
 Ellesmere. " Johnny Hewfome do come up moft 
 afternoons to fee I." There lies the favour of life 
 to our young friend. Without it, all would be " lees," 
 as Macbeth would fay. Well, it is very beautiful to 
 fee the friendfhip of thefe little animals. I think there 
 is more friendfhip at that time of life than at any other. 
 They are then evenly-formed creatures, like bricks, 
 which can be laid clofe to one another. The grown-
 
 94 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 up man is like a fortrefs, angular-fhaped, with a moat 
 round it, ftanding alone. 
 
 Lucy. Who is it that is now involved in metaphors ? 
 
 Ellesmere. I fuppofe all of us have, at one time 
 or other, had a huge longing after friendfhip. If one 
 could get it, it would be much fafer than that other 
 thins:. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Well ; I wonder whether love, for I 
 imagine you mean love, was ever fo defcribed before, 
 " that other thing !" 
 
 Ellesmere. When the world was younger, perhaps 
 there was more of this friendfliip. David and Jona- 
 than ! How does their friendfhip begin ? I know it is 
 very beautiful ; but I have forgotten the words. Dunf- 
 ford will tell us. 
 
 DuNSFORD. " And Saul faid to him, Whofe fon art 
 ** thou, thou young man ? And David anfwered I am 
 *' the fon of thy fervant JefTe the Bethlehemite. 
 
 *' And it came to pafs, when he had made an end of 
 ** fpeaking unto Saul, that the foul of Jonathan was 
 " knit with the foul of David, and Jonathan loved him 
 " as his own foul." 
 
 Ellesmere. Now that men are more complex, they 
 would require fo much. For inftance, if I were to have 
 a friend, he muft be an uncommunicative man ; that 
 limits me to about thirteen or fourteen people in the 
 world. It is only with a man of perfedl reticence that 
 you can fpeak completely without referve. We talk 
 together far more openly than moft people ; but there
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 95 
 
 is fkilful fencing even in our talk. We are not inclined 
 to fay the whole of what we think. 
 
 MiLVERTON. What I fhould need in a friend would 
 be a certain breadth of nature ; I have no fympathy 
 with people who can difturb themfelves about fmall 
 things, who crave the world's good opinion, are anxious 
 to prove themfelves always in the right, can be im- 
 merfed in perfonal talk or devoted to felf-advancement, 
 who feem to have grown up entirely from the earth, 
 whereas even the plants draw moft of their fuftenance 
 from the air of heaven. 
 
 Ellesmere. That is a high flight : I am not prepar- 
 ed to fay all that. I do not obje61: to a little earthinefs. 
 What I ftiould fear in friendfhip, is the comment and 
 interference and talebearing I often fee connected 
 with it. 
 
 MiLVERTON. That does not particularly belong to 
 friendfhip, but comes under the general head of injudi- 
 cious comment on the part of thofe who live with us. 
 Divines often remind us, that, in forming our ideas of 
 the government of Providence, we fhould recollect that 
 we fee only a fragment. The fame obfervation, in its 
 degree, is true too, as regards human condu6l. We 
 fee a little bit here and there, and afTume the nature of 
 the whole. Even a very filly man's actions are often 
 more to the purpofe than his friends' comments upon 
 them. 
 
 Ellesmere. True. Then I fhould not Hke to have 
 a man for a friend who would bind me down to be
 
 96 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 confiftent, who would form a minute theory of me 
 which was not to be contradi61:ed. 
 
 MiLVERTON. If he loved you as his own foul, and 
 his foul were knit with yours, to ufe the words of Scrip- 
 ture, he would not demand this confiftency, becaufe 
 each man muft know and feel his own immeafurable 
 vacillation and inconfiftency, and if he had complete 
 fympathy with another, he would not be greatly furprifed 
 or vexed at that other's inconfiftencies. 
 
 DuNSFORD. There always feems to me a want of 
 tendernefs in what are called friendfliips in the prefent 
 day. Now, for inftance, I don't underftand a man ri- 
 diculing his friend. The joking of intimates often ap- 
 pears to me coarfe and harfh. You will laugh at this 
 in me, and think it rather effeminate, I am afraid. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No ; I do not. I think there may be 
 a great deal of jocofe raillery pafs between intimates 
 without the requifite tendernefs being infringed upon. 
 If my friend had been in a painful and ludicrous pofi- 
 tion (fuch as when Cardinal Balue in full drefs is run 
 away with on horfeback, which Scott comments upon 
 as one of a clafs of fituations combining " pain, peril, 
 and abfurdity") I would not remind him of it. Why 
 fhould 1 bring back a difagreeable impreflion to his mind ? 
 Befides, it would be more painful than ludicrous to me. 
 I fhould enter into his feelings rather than into thofe of 
 the ordinary fpecftator. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I am glad we are of the fame mind in 
 this.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 97 
 
 MiLVERTON. I have alfo a notion that even in the 
 common friendfhips of the world, we fhould be very 
 ftaunch defenders of our abfent friends. Suppofing 
 that our friend's chara6ter or condu£t is juftly attacked 
 in our hearing upon fome point, we fhould be careful 
 to let the light and worth of the reft of his chara6ler in 
 upon the company, fo that they fhould go away with 
 fomething of the impreflion that we have of him : inftead 
 of fufFering them to dwell only upon this fault or foible 
 that was commented upon, which was as nothing againft 
 him in our hearts, mere fringe to the character, which 
 we were accuftomed to, and rather liked than other- 
 wife, if the truth muft be told. 
 
 Ellesmere. I declare we have made out amongft 
 us an effay on friendfhip, without the fufs of writing 
 one. I always told you our talk was better than your 
 writing, Milverton. Now we only want a beginning 
 and ending to this peripatetic eflay. What would you 
 fay to this as a beginning : it is to be a ftately, pompous 
 plunge into the fubje6l, after the Milverton fafhion. 
 " Friendfhip and the Phoenix, taking into due account 
 " the Fire-Office of that name, have been found upon 
 " the earth in not unfimilar abundance." I flatter my- 
 felf that " not unfimilar abundance" is eminently Mil- 
 vertonian. 
 
 Milverton. Now obferve, Dunsford, you were 
 fpeaking fome time ago about the joking of intimates 
 being frequently unkind. This is juft an inftance to 
 the contrary. Ellefmere, who is not a bad fellow, at 
 
 2 H
 
 98 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 leaft not fo bad as he feems, knows that he can fay any- 
 thing he pleafes about my ftyle of writing without much 
 annoying me. I am not very vulnerable on thefe 
 points : but all the while there is a titillating pleafure to 
 him in being all but impertinent and vexatious to a 
 friend. And he enjoys that. So do I. 
 
 Ellesmere. I vow it is very fpiteful of you, Mil- 
 verton, to be fhowing Dunsford that there is lefs fplte 
 in me than he imagined ; wearing me about you like a 
 tame ferpent with the poifon taken out of him. I won't 
 be made out fo amiable. I fhall not admit that I didn't 
 know that I could not teafe you upon thefe fubjeils. 
 
 With pleafant talk of this kind, we reached our 
 deftination, the mill ; and after feating ourfelves 
 on the grafTy hillock near it, Milverton read the 
 following eflay. 
 
 IMPROVEIVIENT OF THE CONDITION 
 OF THE RURAL POOR. 
 
 |OMING out from the crowded city 
 and looking upon fome fnug fequef- 
 tered village, amid fweet fmells and 
 cheerful founds, and with the thought of all that 
 poets have written about the country, you feel
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 99 
 
 confident that fomething very pleafant might be 
 made out of the life of the pooreft cottagers 
 you fee around you. If, however, in the re- 
 cedes of your mind there lurk ftatiftics of various 
 kinds, parliamentary reports, evidence before 
 health commiffioners, accounts of education, and 
 records of crime, — various mifgivings will come 
 upon you and combat with the pleafing impreflion 
 which the afped: of nature has involuntarily in- 
 fpired you with. Nor will your fecond thought 
 be entirely wrong. The life of the rural poor is 
 unqueftionably very meagre, moftly very dirty, 
 and ofcillating between dulnefs and low joys. 
 Such being the cafe, it is not a matter of the firft 
 importance to afcertain v/hether the rural poor are 
 better or worfe off than they ufed to be formerly. 
 It is very difficult to fay whether relatively to the 
 reft of fociety they have improved or receded : but 
 at any rate there are great room and great need 
 for improvement now. 
 
 Before faying anything about the improvement 
 of the peafantry, it may be well to fay fomething 
 about the nature of the peafantry themfelves. I 
 conceive that the Englifh ruftic is greatly under- 
 rated. My own experience is only of the peafan-
 
 100 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 try in the fouthern counties (thofe of the northern 
 are thought by many to be much fuperior) but 
 fromwhatlittlel have feen, I have certainly formed 
 a very favourable opinion of the poflibilities arifing 
 from the chara6ler of our rural poor. It is true, 
 there is often an appearance of ftolidity about 
 them, efpecially amongft the men, but this is only 
 an outer cruft of infenfibility, an induration which 
 nature kindly creates to harden them for what is 
 too frequently a very hard lot. Their occupation, 
 as Adam Smith obferves, is better calculated than 
 that of the mechanic to cultivate the intelledlual 
 powers. The changing feafons, the variety in the 
 {late of the materials upon which the ruftic has to 
 work, the many objedts he has to accomplifh, all 
 tend to make him a more intelligent and thought- 
 ful man than one whofe labours are confined to 
 the perfedlion of a fingle mechanical procefs. If 
 the ruftic then is inferior to the mechanic, this 
 inferiority muft refult from other circumftances 
 than the difference in their refpedlive callings. 
 
 Various plans and theories have at different 
 times been put forward for the improvement of 
 the labouring population ; and occafionally we 
 hear of fome fpecific caufe and fpecific remedy
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. loi 
 
 which will account for and fettle all the difficulty. 
 Of late years (for there is a falliion in thefe things) 
 theories about population built upon the ihalloweft 
 and mod fhifting bafis of fads, have been brought 
 in as the main guide of our conduft towards the 
 labouring population. It is a bold thing to fay, 
 but I believe that as much folly has been uttered 
 by fo-called political economy as ever has been 
 faid againft it. And ftlll more folly and cruelty 
 have been worked into pradice by men who, en- 
 flaved to fome one dodrine, true enough in itfelf 
 but requiring when expreffed in life a thoufand 
 modifications, have carried it out as if it were a 
 Bible to them. They have made a creed of it. 
 Now fcarcely any dodrine in morality will bear to 
 be fo treated, much lefs any conclufion of political 
 economy. For example, you will find what are 
 called fhrewd people declaring that wages are now 
 the fole bond between mafter and man. Whereas 
 one man cannot be ten minutes with another 
 without taking up fome pofition in regard to him 
 not influenced by the money values which may 
 pafs between them. 
 
 Queflions conneded with the theories of popu- 
 lation and the means of putting a flop to its too 
 rapid increafe, are very large and require to be
 
 102 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 difcufled in much detail. I cannot do fo here, 
 and do not intend to do fo anywhere, but fhall 
 fimply and fomewhat dogmatically declare my 
 own opinion, that no great ftate was ever faved 
 or re-habilitated by invalid meafures fuch as diredt 
 anti-population ones. New forms of thought, 
 new arrangements of fociety, inventions, difcove- 
 ries and unforefeen conjundlions of circumftances 
 give new opportunities for national energy, and 
 carry off, or undermine, an evil which will never 
 be pared down by cold and merely reflriftive mea- 
 fures, and which perhaps ought never to be at- 
 tacked diredly but indiredly. 
 
 I do not myfelf hope anything either from 
 Fourierifm, Owenifm, or any of the forms of 
 aflbciation which have hitherto been propofed. 
 Thefe focieties attempt fomething upon prudential 
 motives which could only be carried out upon the 
 higheft motives. They will all fail, I think, for 
 want of a religious bond ; and no religious bond 
 can be formed for fuch fecond-rate objedls as an 
 increafe of warmth and food, and a decreafe of la- 
 bour. Added to which, thefe projectors ignore 
 all individuality, and would have men to be more 
 alike than they will ever find them. But there
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 103 
 
 is more difference in the roots of the earth, even 
 in the forms of any baficet-full of potatoes you dig 
 up, than there fhould be in the people who would 
 be fit to inhabit the parallelograms and Icarias 
 which are with a kind fancy laid out for them by 
 fundry benevolent projectors. Still, I do not 
 mean to fay that no benefits may arife from the 
 principle, or rather the pradice, of affociation being 
 carried out as regards many of the minor purpofes 
 of life. 
 
 The modes which occur to me for raifing the 
 condition of the rural labouring clafTes are of a 
 much fimpler and humbler kind than thofe alluded 
 to above. Where reform for the labourers may 
 mofl fecurely be looked for, is firft in themfelves, 
 fecondly in their immediate employers, thirdly In 
 their landlords and refident gentry and clergy, 
 fourthly in what the flate can do for them by 
 means of education. 
 
 Firfl in themfelves. De Foe fays that the 
 Englifh are " the moft lazy diligent nation in the 
 " world,"* and what he fays on this head goes to 
 
 * « 
 
 We are the moft lazy diligent nation in the world : there 
 is nothing more frequent than for an Englifhman to work, till he
 
 104 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 the root of the matter. My own convidion is, 
 that throughout England every year there is fuffi- 
 cient wages given, even at the prefent low rate, to 
 make the condition of the labouring poor quite 
 different from what it is. But then thefe wages 
 muft be well fpent. I do not mean to contend 
 that the poor could of themfelves alone eiFei5b this 
 change ; but were they feconded by the advice, 
 the inftru6lion, and the aid (not given in money, 
 or only in money lent to produce the current in- 
 tereft of the day) of the clafles above them — the 
 reft the poor might accomplifh for themfelves. 
 And indeed all that the rich could do to elevate 
 the poor could hardly equal the advantage that 
 would be gained by the poor for themfelves, if 
 they could thoroughly fubdue that one vice of 
 drunkennefs — the moft waftefui of all the vices. 
 
 " has got his pocket full of money, and then go and be idle, or per- 
 " haps drunk, till it is all gone, and perhaps himfelf in debt; and 
 " afk him in his cups what he intends ? he'll tell you honeftly, he'll 
 " drink as long as it lafts, and then go to work for more. I make 
 " no difficulty to promife, on a iTiort fummons, to produce above a 
 " thoufand families in England, within my particular knowledge, 
 " who go in rags, and their children wanting bread, whofe fathers 
 " can earn their 1 5J. to 2 ss. a week, but will not work j who have 
 " work enough, but are too idle to feek after it, and hardly vouch- 
 " fafe to earn anything but bare fubfiftence, and fpending-money 
 " for themfelves." Quoted in Eden's State of the Poor, vol. i. 
 page 260.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 105 
 
 In the living of the poor (as indeed of all of 
 us) there are two things to be confidered : how 
 to get money and how to fpend it. Now I be- 
 lieve the experience of employers will bear me out 
 in faying, that it is frequently found that the man 
 with twenty fhillings a week does not live more 
 comfortably, or fave more, than the man with 
 fourteen {hillings, the families of the two men 
 being the fame in number and general circum- 
 ftances. It is probable that unlefs he have a good 
 deal of prudence and thought, the man who gets 
 at all more than the average of his clafs, does not 
 know what to do with it, or only finds in it a 
 means fuperior to that which his fellows pofTefs of 
 fatisfying his appetite for drinking. 
 
 This brings me to the fecond part of the fubjedt, 
 namely, what their employers and fuperiors can 
 do for the poor. Firft I begin with the moral 
 aim they fhould have before them, which is, to 
 make helpful, hopeful, wife men around them. 
 For this end, the rich and powerful muft ever be- 
 ware of that charity which breeds poverty and 
 helpleffnefs. Thoughtlefs benevolence may for 
 awhile create fome fhow of good ; but it begins 
 to fade away at the retiring footfteps of the fo- 
 called benefadlor.
 
 io6 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 There was a maxim uttered before a parlia- 
 mentary committee by a very fhrewd man, who 
 had been himfelf, I believe, one of the labouring 
 clafles — " Charity creates much of the mifery it 
 relieves, but does not relieve all the mifery it 
 creates." The objed of the higher claffes and 
 indeed of all employers fhould be to keep their 
 efforts for the poor free from any of the objedlions 
 to which foolifh charity* is liable, — to make their 
 charity fomething reproduftive ; and in no way 
 can they infure this objed fo well as by operating 
 almoft infenfibly and imperceptibly, if it may be 
 fo, upon the characters of thofe whom they would 
 benefit. The education of the young is a fure and 
 pre-eminently reprodudive charity ; but it would 
 
 * I have been afked to explain what I mean by " foolifh charity," 
 To do fo in detail would require a volume. But I may fay briefly 
 that that charity will generally prove foolifh which lacks thought 
 and continuity of purpofe. It is only in romances that giants of 
 evil are cleaved from head to foot by one blow. In real life evil 
 has an elaftlc foixe, and recovers from rare or long intermitted 
 blows, however hard or well-direiled. To be fure of being wifely 
 charitable, you muft begin by giving a great deal of thought — a 
 generofity of the rareft kind. Then, befides giving thought, you 
 have to continue fteady in purpofe when the novelty of the pur- 
 pofe has worn off. Even working wrongly in this way leads to 
 fome good refult : fomething at laft is learnt which might never 
 have been attained by fcattered efforts at mifchief.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 107 
 
 be hard to limit our efforts to this pleafant duty, 
 and much befides in the condition of the poor re- 
 quires to be attended to. 
 
 Now fuppofe that a benevolent and fenfible man 
 of the clafs of employers were, with the above 
 views in his mind, to refolve to fee if he could not 
 make the poor about him fpend their fpare time 
 and fpare money well. What would he do ? The 
 firft thing he would attempt, would be to improve 
 their moral and intelledual culture. He would 
 try to give them more information on economical 
 fubjeds in which they are at prefent deplorably 
 ignorant. He would endeavour to pre-occupy 
 their minds againft low temptations by giving 
 them fomething elfe to think of. His gifts would 
 all tend in the fame diredtion : he would aim at 
 their being of the reprodudive kind. 
 
 In this clafs of benefits that which holds by far 
 the firft place is houfe accommodation. I have no 
 doubt that ever fince the change of manners which 
 the ending of flavery and feudality gave rife to, the 
 want of houfe accommodation for the poor has 
 been their greateft drawback and deficiency. The 
 complaint of a want of cottages is no new one. 
 Eden, writing fifty years ago, thus expreffes him- 
 felf on this point, " the prefent is faid to be an age
 
 io8 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 " of fpeculation, and particularly fo in building ; 
 " but adventurers in this line, I believe, feldom 
 " think of eredling cottages in country parifhes, 
 " on the contingent poflibility of letting them to 
 " labourers' families. Neither can labourers them- 
 " felves, who wifh to migrate from their parents, 
 " and fet up for themfelves, although they may 
 " poflefs the fmall fum requisite to ered a cottage, 
 '* always obtain permifTion of the lord of a manor 
 " to build one on a common. I am acquainted 
 " with one parifh, in the neighbourhood of a 
 ** populous city, in which, from the difficulty of 
 " procuring tenements, or fmall plots of land to 
 " build on, poor people have, more than once, 
 " availed themfelves of a long night, to rear a 
 " hovel on the road fide, or on the common." 
 And in the prefent day things are worfe rather 
 than better in this refpe(5t. Now the wafteful- 
 nefs of bad accommodation can hardly be over- 
 rated. Dampnefs, uncleanlinefs, want of means 
 for ftoring and preferving food, and infufficient 
 fewerage in a habitation, are all immediate caufes 
 of pecuniary lofs. But the indireft lofTes are here 
 the greateft. Who can eftimate how much money 
 is fpent for the enjoyment of the clean fanded floor 
 and comparative comfort of the pot-houfe, which
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 109 
 
 might be had fo cheaply at home ? In improving 
 the houfe accommodation of the poor, you fpend 
 fomething which anticipates expenfe ; and do 
 good which cannot well be taken away. Wages 
 are faid to vary according to the price of fufte- 
 nance, according to the demand for labour, ac- 
 cording to the increafe of population. It may 
 not be in your power, except indiredly, to affedt 
 thefe great currents of human profperity and ad- 
 verfity ; but raife the ftyle of houfe accommoda- 
 tion and you will do a folid good which lower- 
 ing of wages cannot deprefs. 
 
 To proceed ftill further In the fame direction. 
 I have fpoken hitherto of houfe accommodation 
 being wanted for the poor, but fuch accommoda- 
 tion will be very incomplete, unlefs it includes a 
 bit of ground furrounding each cottage. Well 
 would it be if every land-owner carried in his mind 
 a refolve in confonance with an A6i paffed I believe 
 in Elizabeth's reign, which forbade cottages to be 
 ere6led unlefs a certain quantity of land were laid 
 to each cottage, and denominated all cottages fail- 
 ing in this refpedl " filly cottages." I do not pre- 
 fume to fay what would be the quantity of land (for 
 that muft vary according to the produdlivenefs and
 
 no IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 other circumftances of the vicinity) which fhould 
 be enough to give the cottager a homeftead, and 
 prevent him from becoming a cottier, — where it 
 is thought defirable to prevent that. But that 
 he fhould have a homeftead I have no manner of 
 doubt. Confider the lofs of labour, if round 
 every home there is not a homeftead. Allot- 
 ments, excellent things as they are, will not com- 
 penfate for the want of a homeftead, efpecially in 
 fuch a climate as our Britifti one, where, on ac- 
 count of the wet, it is defirable that the ground 
 which a man labours upon at odd times ftiould 
 be clofe to him. Confider alfo the benefit of 
 getting all manner of little adjuncts to his ordi- 
 nary food, which even a little homeftead affords 
 the labourer. In furtherance of this, dired gifts 
 may be made by the neighbouring rich, which 
 gifts will be eminently re-produ6live ones, fuch 
 as plants, feeds, tools, animals. 
 
 In an Eflay publifiied about half a century ago 
 on the beft means of providing employment for 
 the people, there are three maxims laid down 
 which feem very judicious. The writer contends 
 " that, in order that any advantage may be 
 " derived from the defire of enjoying th,e artifi- 
 " cial necefl^aries of life, and the imitative pro-
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. iii 
 
 c< 
 
 penfities of man, by making them the means 
 *' of rendering him induftrious, three circum- 
 *^ ftances are materially requifite. The example 
 " to be imitated miift be pretty generally dif- 
 " fufed among a people. The objeft it pro- 
 " pofes, muft be confiderably above thofe already 
 " enjoyed ; and, to acquire it, although labour 
 " and induftry fhould be neceffary, they fhould 
 " never be vain and ineffedual."* Now all thefe 
 conditions would foon be fulfilled were feveral 
 employers and rich men to fet about improving 
 the houfe accommodation of the rural poor, be- 
 caufe the third condition would be fulfilled with- 
 out their interference if only there were a fuffici- 
 ent proportion of good cottages, as the induftri- 
 ous men amongft the poor would find their way 
 to them. 
 
 Having confidered the benefits that would 
 arife from better houfe accommodation, and from 
 homefteads, I would fay that the views of a be- 
 nevolent landlord might go ftlll further in the 
 fame courfe, and he might endeavour to make 
 
 * See Dr. Crumpe's Effay referred to in Eden's State of the Poor, 
 vol. i. p. 438.
 
 112 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 fome at leaft of the poor people on his lands 
 proprietors. The cottier fyftem in Ireland has na- 
 turally frightened large proprietors and the public 
 generally, and made them very averfe to fmall 
 tenancies in land or fmall proprietors. But the 
 cafes are not the leaft analogous. Almoft every 
 good refult in life is the refult of proportion ; and 
 it is fo in the cafe we are confidering. That people 
 having very fmall holdings in land fhould fucceed, 
 requires certain qualities in the men themfelves, 
 and certain circumftances around them. If there 
 be an utter abfence, or fomething approaching to 
 it, of one of thefe qualities or circumftances, the 
 whole proportion is deranged, and what might 
 have been an unmixed good turns out an unmixed 
 evil. We are not to conclude againft fmall hold- 
 ings of land in a country abounding in manufac- 
 turing induftry, under fettled laws and very firm 
 bonds of fociety, and amongft a people not eafily 
 contented and very likely to be willing at any 
 time to give a good day's work for a good day's 
 wages, becaufe thefe fmall holdings have led to 
 great abufes and mifchief in a country where the 
 above named advantages are wanting, or do not 
 exift in the fame degree. The Celt is very fond 
 of fetting up as gentleman. The graces as well
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 113 
 
 as the faults of his charadler tend that way. 
 But I have no fear that amongft our Anglo Saxon 
 community the pofTeffion of one, two, three, or 
 even five acres of land will make a man indiffer- 
 ent to putting himfelf forward whenever good 
 wages are to be had for work. 
 
 To give our labouring population comfortable 
 houfe accommodation, to provide them fome fmall 
 homeftead round each cottage, indeed, to go fur- 
 ther, and to make feveral of them fmall proprie- 
 tors, are works which will require much time, but 
 they fhould be at once adopted as objefts for all 
 land-owners and employers as they already are by 
 fome ; and a man who coming to an eftate where 
 a number of peafants are lodged in " filly" and 
 dirty cottages, which almofl: deny the idea of 
 Prudence (rarely willing to enter abodes where 
 her elder filler Cleanlinefs is never to be found) 
 and who leaves a number of wife and clean cot- 
 tages, all of them with little homefteads round 
 them, and fome with fmall pieces of land attached 
 to them rented, or even pofi"efled, by the cottager, 
 will have done a greater feat than many a man 
 who has been a moft {kilful architedt of his own 
 fortunes, and has made a great noife in the world. 
 
 I am not fure that fuch condud on the part
 
 114 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 of the land-owner or employer will repay him in 
 money, and I do not believe that that is what 
 he will think firft of. Why fuch things are not 
 attempted now by landlords, is from a fear of 
 bad confequences to the community and not alto- 
 gether from felfifh motives. They have the fear 
 of increafed Poor Rates before their eyes and look 
 with fome apprehenfion upon each cottage as a 
 pofTible neft of paupers. And as things are now, 
 this fear is not to be wondered at ; but I believe 
 if the condition of the peafantry were elevated, fo 
 would be the value of the landlord's eftate ; and 
 every acre of his would become more valuable as 
 there arofe a more numerous but felf-fuftaining 
 population. It is only in this way — by an im- 
 provement in the condition of the labouring clafTes 
 — that we fhall diminifh the prefTure of the Poor 
 Laws, or make them what they fhould be — a kind 
 refuge for thofe amongft the poor whom very ad- 
 verfe circumftances, old age, or accidents have 
 driven to utter want. 
 
 Laftly, there is what the ftate can do for the 
 rural poor by means of education : furthering and 
 confolidating private efforts in this good caufe, 
 and giving it its juft weight and honour. It is not
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 115 
 
 to be fuppofed that education, which is a fpiritual 
 thing, will at once compenfate for material defi- 
 ciencies ; but it tends to breed up a generation who 
 will make the moft of whatever material good 
 comes in their way, who are likely to bear evil 
 days with patience, (for patience is a great part 
 of education) who will know that there have 
 been other evil days in times paft, who will ap- 
 preciate the difficulties which others experience in 
 aflifting them, who will ftay in their parifhes or 
 emigrate, or marry, or live fingly, upon better 
 grounds of reafon and more thoughtfulnefs than 
 their fathers were able to command ; and who, if 
 the education were made what it ought to be, 
 would have increafed their acquaintance with na- 
 ture in various ways, and thereby added to their 
 refources in many diredions. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I think it would be a great thing for the 
 rural poor and the country generally, if the farmers 
 were a more educated race. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Certainly, and if they were men of
 
 ii6 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 more capital. I often wonder that the younger fons of 
 gentlemen are not more frequently brought up to the 
 cultivation of land. 
 
 Ellesmere. That comes from the difeafed idea 
 prevalent among the higher and middle claffes of the 
 charms and glories of profeffional life. Now I do not 
 wifh to run down any thing by which I make my bread, 
 but I can imagine a great many ways of occupation 
 more fitting for the mind, the body, and the whole man, 
 than that of a lawyer. I mean of a fuccefsful lawyer, 
 for nothing can be conceived more dreary than the life 
 of a man who is waiting for bufinefs through the beft 
 years of his exiftence. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, if you were to relate to the inha- 
 bitant of another planet the career of many of our cle- 
 vereffc men, it would feem ftrangely difproportionate. 
 For the firft five and twenty years they are elaborately 
 educated. For the next fifteen or twenty they wait to 
 do fomething, and for the remainder of their lives they 
 find out that there is nothing for them to do, or even if 
 they do get into bufinefs, what a poor fuperftru6ture it 
 is, confidering the ample bafe of time and labour upon 
 which it has been raifed. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Forgive me, Milverton, but this is ra- 
 ther a fhallow way of looking at the queftion. Every 
 man's life here is a very poor fuperftrudure for the ba- 
 fis. Indeed I fhould fay no fuperftruci^ure at all, but 
 only a foundation. However, without going into thefe 
 general queftions, I quite agree with you that the higher
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 117 
 
 and middle clafTes have been too anxious to take their 
 children out of all employments which have any thing 
 mechanical in them. To go to another point connedled 
 with the efTay : You have faid little or nothing about the 
 focial intercourfe between the landlord and the labourer. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I have faid fo much upon this fubjedl 
 in other places; that I feel as if it would be only need- 
 lefs repetition to fay any more. As you know, I look 
 upon the focial intercourfe of various claffes as one of 
 the great means of education for each clafs ; and there 
 is no doubt that the aid and encouragement v/hich the 
 higher might give the lower claffes by mere prefence 
 among them, and converfe with them, is very great. 
 Often, all that a man wants in order to accomplilh fome- 
 thing that it is good for him to do, is the encourage- 
 ment of another man's fympathy. What Bacon fays 
 the voice of the man is to the dog — the encouragement 
 of a higher nature — each man can in a leffer degree af- 
 ford his neighbour : for a man receives the fuggeftions 
 of another mind with fomewhat of the refpeil and cour- 
 tefy with which he would greet a higher nature. Do 
 not you remember, Ellefmere, when, in our younger 
 days, you went through any problem of which you felt 
 affured that every ftep was built upon the cleareft rea- 
 foning, you yet felt a great fatisfacSlion if any fellow- 
 worker had come to the fame refult ? 
 
 Ellesmere. I very feldom did come to the fame re- 
 fults with any body elfe ; but if I had, I allow I fhould 
 have felt more fure that I was right.
 
 ii8 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 MiLVERTON. And this in matters of the cleareft lo- 
 gic ; whereas all human affairs are immerfed in the con- 
 fufions, contradiftions, and darknefs of material things. 
 
 DuNSFORD. To come back again to the effay : you 
 have faid nothing about Emigration. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Why fhould I ? It may, or may not 
 be, requifite ; but at prefent I am endeavouring to fhow 
 v^^hat can be done on our own foil. 
 
 Ellesmere. One of the greateft things for furthet- 
 ing your rural improvement would be an improvement 
 in the law which fhould lead to a fimpler and lefs ex- 
 penfive mode of transferring fmall portions of landed 
 property. 
 
 DuNSFORD. And one of the greateft moral improve- 
 ments which would conduce to the rural improvements 
 we have been confidering, would be a leffening of that 
 vanity which induces men to hold large eftates in their 
 hands which they have not capital to work or to im- 
 prove. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, fo that they are like veflels which 
 turn out to be too large for the docks they are built in, 
 lying idle in unwieldly pomp. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, let us leave ruftics and ruftical 
 affairs for to-day. There is no doubt that what Dunsford 
 has juft faid is very true ; and I fhould have no obje£tion 
 to extend his moral propofition, and declare that if men 
 in general were wifer and better, corn would grow much 
 richer ; but meanwhile let us look at the water coming 
 from the mill. How beautiful it is ! It can fay, too, in 
 defence of its noife and tumult, that at leaft it grinds
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 119 
 
 fome corn, an excufe which many kings and governors, 
 authors and clamorous perfons of various kinds cannot 
 plead for their doings — v^hich are often all noife ; and 
 the corn is not ground by them, but trodden down. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I was thinking when we firft came to 
 the waters, of a Spanifli proverb about them. " Aguas 
 *' pafadas no muelen molino." " The waters that 
 " have pafTed the mill grind no more." It is a proverb 
 againft exceflive regret, a very good one. 
 
 DuNSFORD. The two thoughts occafioned by the 
 fame phenomenon are very charaileriftic of the men. 
 
 Lucy. I wonder when any thing in nature will give 
 occafion to Mr. EUefmere to fay anything good-na- 
 tured of man. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No, no, now you are not juft to him. 
 EUefmere only means to take the part which fome man 
 occupies in one of thofe brilliant little novels. Headlong 
 Hall, or Crotchet Caftle, " the deteriorationift." What 
 I wifh is, that he would give us all that is to be faid in 
 this chara6ler at once, and then turn to fome other, 
 which he would fill as well. 
 
 Ellesmere. Commend me to Milverton for a friend 
 to give a high view of one's intentions and purpofes. 
 But I have no objedion, if you really wifti it, to comply 
 with your requeft fome day, and give you a ledlure con- 
 taining my general diflatisfadlion with moft things. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Now, now, nothing like time prefent : 
 and a praftifed lawyer like you can fpeak without any 
 preparation. 
 
 Ellesmere. Wait a minute. I will juft walk up
 
 120 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 and down a bit to arrange my thoughts, and invent 
 fome telling aphorifm to begin with. You muft not 
 interrupt much. You fee where the fun is now : it will 
 be there, far in the weft, before I fhall have finifhed, 
 if you interrupt. Upon my word I am ferious, I 
 will give you a fpeech if you like. You muft all 
 anfwer it, if you can, in your various ways. Mil- 
 verton will write an eflay in reply — the title, " on the 
 completenefs of modern life ;" my friend to the right 
 (meaning me) will preach a fermon which fomebody 
 who hears will perhaps be good enough to tell me 
 about ; and Mifs Daylmer will^-make an anfwer in 
 worfted-work. 
 
 He went away, walked about a little, and then 
 returning to us, began as follows : — 
 
 Ellesmere. The age that is, would, indeed, be the 
 weakeft as well as the laft of ages, if having the whole 
 ftory to tell, it did not make itfelf the hero of the ftory. 
 In this cafe, however, having (much to my fatisfa6lion) 
 to appear at prefent on the other fide, I fhall lay before 
 your' Lordftiips — and her Ladyfhip — fuch reafons as 
 may induce the Court to come to a very different con- 
 clufion to that of the Court below. To begin with the 
 Church. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Now, Ellefmere — 
 
 Ellesmere. My Lord, I muft beg you to bear in 
 mind that there is an imaginary Bar here as well as a 
 Bench, and that the right of free fpeaking to the point —
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 121 
 
 here you muft fancy a murmur of applaufe to the back 
 of the fpeaker — is not to be queftioned, and fo I fhall 
 proceed. What a thing a modern Proteftant fervice is, 
 a mixture of fervices which, however beautiful in them- 
 felves, (the produdl by the way of other and very dif- 
 ferent ages) were never meant to be fo brought, I would 
 fay, jammed together as they are ; hymns of praife are 
 made inappropriate, and at times almoft ludicrous, by 
 being read out inftead of fung : the nobleft buildings 
 of the church are fo mifufed, that as an author, who 
 might be eminent if he would liften more to a certain 
 learned friend of his, fays (here I am pretty fure of one 
 of my judges going with me) " cathedrals are to him 
 moftly a fad fight" — and yet this church is, in its way, 
 one of the choiceft things of the land. 
 
 Then, as to the ftate, here is a conftitution working in 
 fuch a fafliion, that there is no man, however weak, un- 
 principled, or ludicrous, who may not fairly pretend to 
 a feat in the chief council of the ftate ; and where the 
 government of the country, intereft-fubdued, is at times 
 fo feeble and fo inadequate, that, hopelefsly, it allows 
 thofe evils to go on which all men acknowledge to be 
 evils, without attempt at averting them (look at the 
 rail-road legiflation of late years for that) and where, 
 generally, meafures, inftead of being wifely and long 
 prepared, are left to be originated by fome chance, — by 
 individual knowledge and impulfes, — to be borne on by 
 clamour and carried by combination from without. 
 The honours of the ftate to whom are they given ? often
 
 122 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 to men induftrioufly obfcure, of whom though they 
 may have fupported the Whig or the Tory intereft in 
 this borough or that county, the country in general 
 knows nothing, and ought to know nothing. 
 
 Then, if we come to literature, (which is to be the 
 government always of the next age) what do we find 
 but hiftories with infufficient refearch, fictions without 
 truth, no metaphyfics, no theology, and fuch a multitude 
 of bad hurried books iffuing from the prefs, that the 
 art of forgetting is the main defideratum for a modern 
 reader of modern books. If we look at the focial life, 
 dulnefs, oftentation and imitativenefs reign triumphant 
 there. Here is a metropolis numerous as the army of 
 Xerxes, (even in the annals of an hiftorian not bound to 
 provide for them) and which if a Xerxes could look 
 down upon, piercing through the pall of fmoke which 
 covers its inhabitants and which they like to have about 
 them, he would fee them cluftering together in ill-built, 
 ill-ventilated, ill-pla*'ced houfes, the focial pleafures of the 
 people tarniihed by vice, encumbered by foolifh often- 
 tation, formed without art, partaken without comfort, 
 and having no foul of pleafure in them. He would fee 
 this multitude drefled all alike, not fuitably to what they 
 have to do or to fufFer, but in a drefs adopted from the 
 defeats, the follies and the fancies of the moft foolifli 
 of mankind. An author whom I have before alluded 
 to, and from whom better things might have been 
 hoped, exalts to the uttermoft the fa£t, if it be fo, of 
 this age being free from fear of the faggot or the torture- 
 chamber. Fear of the focial circle, fear of the newfpa-
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 123 
 
 per, fear of being odd, fear of what may be thought by 
 people who never did think, ftill greater fear of what 
 fomebody may fay — are not thefe things a clinging drefs 
 of torture ? 
 
 There are noble men in the world, but they do not 
 fay to each other, " Brother, I am in doubt, in difficulty, 
 " in defpair : come and tell me what thy foul thinketh." 
 A mean and cowardly referve upon the moft important 
 queftions of human life, is the charadteriftic of modern 
 times. In few words, to parody the faying of a great 
 writer in depreciation of an age, perhaps, fuperior to this, 
 we may fay that we are living amongft fecond-hand arts, 
 mifguiding letters, bad fociety — and, which is worft of 
 all, continual fear and danger of the meaneft afpe6ls of 
 public opinion ; and the life of man gregarious, un- 
 fociable, whirling, confufed, thoughtlefs, dull. 
 
 MiLVERTON. You have ftiown your fkill as an advo- 
 cate ; here enlifting Dunsford with you when you fpoke 
 of politics after his fafhion ; here making fure of me in 
 commenting on the poverty of modern worftiip and the 
 mean and ftupid arrangements of fome modern cities. 
 
 Dunsford. But you do not mean to fay, Milverton, 
 that you agree with his ill-natured tirade. 
 
 Milverton. Why — I think he is right to fome extent 
 in nearly every point of attack he makes ; but it does not 
 difcompofe my mind. It would be a very fad thing if we 
 had not a great deal left for us to do in the world. In 
 thefe matters I hold to one view which I have ex- 
 prefled to you metaphorically before. It is, that the 
 progrefs of mankind is like the incoming of the tide,
 
 124 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 which, for any given moment, Is almoft as much of a 
 retreat as an advance, but ftill the tide moves on. 
 
 Again, to look at the matter practically, the man who 
 is fatlsfied with any given ftate of things that we are 
 likely to fee on earth, muft have a creeping imagination : 
 on the other hand, he who is opprefled by the evils 
 around him fo as to ftand gaping at them in horror, 
 has a feeble will and a want of pra6tical power, and al- 
 lows his fancy to come in, like too much wavering light 
 upon his work, fo that he does not fee to go on with it. 
 
 A man of fagaclty, while he apprehends a great deal 
 of the evil around him, refolves what part of it he will 
 be blind to for the prefent, in order to deal beft with 
 what he has in hand : and as to men of any genius, they 
 are not imprlfoned or rendered partial even by their own 
 experience of evil, much lefs are their attacks upon it 
 paralyfed by their full confcloufnefs of its large prefence. 
 
 Ellesmere. Had I really been a hired advocate, I 
 fhould have ventured to interrupt your Lordfhip a good 
 many times in the courfe of the lafl: few minutes, and 
 remind you of the queftion at IfTue : only when you 
 are In the aphorlftic vein, and putting forth all manner 
 of theories, I do not like to ftop you. Now that laft 
 thing you faid is plaufible, nay more, it is a high view 
 of genius, but I fhould be glad if you would Inform 
 me of your examples. If you would tell me who are the 
 people who are not fubdued by their own experience. 
 
 MiLVERTON. All very great artlfts ; Shakefpeare and 
 Goethe for Inftance — even Scott In a minor degree, 
 whereas Byron was abforbed by his own experience of life.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 125 
 
 DuNSFoRD. But to defcend into details with our 
 anfwer to his fpeech, or rather our judgment upon it. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Firft as regards the church — you muft 
 anfwer that though, Dunsford. 
 
 DuNSFORD. No : it was a common-place, weak at^ 
 tack which might be improved into fomething ferious, if 
 I were to anfwer it — more efpecially as I agree with him 
 in fome meafure about the fervices. 
 
 Ellesmere. This is the anfwer. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I fuppofe you will leave it to me to fay 
 fomething in reply to his attack upon prefent literature, 
 in which I really think, Ellefmere, if you were not 
 wholly joking, you were very unreafonable. We look 
 acrofs the wide landfcape of time, from this height near 
 us to that one in the middle diftance, from that to the 
 next tall trees, from them to the next circle of hills, and 
 fo on ; forming our view out of the heights, and not 
 knowing that there are fuch things as deep valleys and 
 wide-extended plains before us. I have heard one 
 of the few perfons qualified to judge in fuch matters 
 fay, that in all time there are not more than a hundred 
 names eminent in literature. That age would be the 
 moft wonderful age the world had feen, in which it 
 was not to be faid of the current literature, that the 
 greateft part of what was written had better not have 
 been written, for any fervice that it could do a reafon- 
 able reader, taking into account the hindrance that it is 
 to him in preventing him from reading what has fome 
 undoubted nutriment in it. 
 
 Neither do I mean to contend, that there is not a
 
 126 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 
 
 certain recklefs fluency in thefe times and a grafping at 
 efFecSt at no little facriiice of truth ; but there is fome 
 fterlijig work done, furely. We are not in a pofition to 
 fay whether this work is to live or not, and to weigh its 
 merits nicely. 
 
 Ellesmere. Now then, Mifs Daylmer, the queftion 
 of drefs and focial life is left for you. Are we not very 
 far removed by our arts of drefling and general de- 
 meanour from any of the lower animals, efpecially the 
 ape fpecies ? 
 
 Lucy. I don't know what branch of our toilet, or 
 rather of yours, you would begin reforming. I fuppofe 
 you would not begin by being an ancient Briton and 
 wearino; a long beard. 
 
 Ellesmere. Indeed but I would. That is the very 
 firfl: thing I would do. 
 
 Lucy. Frightful ! what figures you would be ! 
 
 Ellesmere. How can you talk fuch nonfenfe. You 
 have generally more outer feemings of fenfe than moft 
 country girls, but in this you are as abfurd as — as I am 
 to try and convince you. Have you ever examined 
 pi6tures, bufts, or coins, and feen what men ufed to look 
 like ? So wedded is the feminine nature to what it is ac- 
 cuftomed to, that I am periijaded if it were cuftomary to 
 have the right hand thumbs of all people in the upper 
 claffes cut off, the women would all vow that it was an 
 elegant cuflom ; and when fome Ellefmere had propofed 
 to keep the digit in queftion, fome Mifs Daylmer would 
 wonder how he could think of doing fo vulgar a thing — 
 fo unbecoming too.
 
 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 127 
 
 MiLVERTON. Well, I think we do wafte a good deal 
 of time and energy to make ourfelves ridiculous in the 
 matter of beards. 
 
 Lucy. But is nobody with me: Uncle,whatdoyoufay? 
 
 DuNSFORD. I cannot fee, my love, why, in itfelf, any 
 coftume would not become a clergyman, which fo many 
 old divines (have you ever noticed their portraits in my 
 folios) look well in. 
 
 Lucy. I fee you are all for beards ; but then, if it 
 would not be prefumptuous in a girl like me to fay fo to 
 fuch reverend company, are you not rather cowardly in 
 not doing what you all think would fave you fo much 
 trouble, and be fo becoming ? 
 
 DuNSFoRD. What would be thought of it, dear Lucy^ 
 in the parifh ? As it is, your mother often tells me that 
 ftie is fure Mrs. Thompfon will fay that I do things like 
 no other perfon. 
 
 Lucy. And you, Mr. Milverton ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Why you fee, my pet, I fay a great 
 many things in books which are not perhaps quite ac- 
 cording to rule, and which I know the potent Mrs. 
 Thompfon would pronounce againft : and then I do a 
 few odd things, to pleafe myfelf and have my way, and 
 I cannot afford to do any more. Each of us has a cer- 
 tain amount of allowable eccentricity : (fome more than 
 others) I have no favings, and have indeed rather over- 
 drawn than otherwife. Befides, authors, artifts, players, 
 are all an outcaft race : my doing it would not further 
 the matter : fome very refpe6lable, judicious, fafe man 
 muft fet the example.
 
 128 CONDITION OF RURAL POOR. 
 
 Lucy. I turn then to Mr. Ellefmere. 
 
 Ellesmere. Why you fee, Mifs Daylmer, I am a 
 lawyer, and we lawyers love to cherifh cuftom ; if we 
 were to upfet that, we do not exa6lly fee what would 
 happen. It might be that people would come to omit 
 giving us the cuftomary fees. Neverthelefs, fome day 
 after a long vacation fpent in the Eaft, I am not fure 
 that I fhall not appear in Court with a beard. You 
 may be quite fure I fliall not do this till I have fecured 
 what is called a competency. 
 
 Lucy. Valorous gentleman ! Well, if we women 
 had not the courage in fuch trifling matters as thofe of 
 drefs to do — 
 
 Ellesmere. Now, Mifs Daylmer, don't tempt me 
 to fay what I fhall be forry to have faid, as you hear 
 angry people exclaim, when they are about to fay the 
 obnoxious faying ; but I am credibly informed, and do 
 verily believe, that there are certain portions of women's 
 drefs — 
 
 Here Lucy tripped away, for fhe is a girl of 
 great taft, though I fay it who fhouldn't fay it, 
 merely obferving that fhe would return when 
 Mr. Ellefmere had come back to fome fubjedt 
 which he really did underfland fomething about. 
 This broke up our fitting ; we now noticed that it 
 was time to think of returning, and commenced 
 our walk homewards.
 
 GOVERNMENT. 129 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The following chapter, as my readers will foon 
 fee, is out of its proper place. But, wifhing to 
 keep the different fedlions of one important fub- 
 je6l together, I give the following effay a place 
 here, though it was read to us at a fubfequent 
 period and when we were far away from Worth 
 Aihton. 
 
 1 remember only a part of the converfation 
 which preceded this effay. Milverton was talk- 
 ing about fables ; and Ellefmere faid, that he be- 
 lieved the animals made fables about us, and that 
 he did not fee why fuch fables ffiould not afford 
 juft as good hints for their conduct as our fables 
 about them for ours. Milverton affented to this ; 
 and faid, that he knew indeed of one occafion 
 when a fable related in the prefence of certain 
 animals led to very important refults. If we 
 liked, he would tell us the whole ftory. We faid 
 we fhould be glad to hear it, and Milverton thus 
 began. 
 
 2 K
 
 130 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 MiLVERTON. The lions once were lazy : and fome 
 of them whofe teeth were not fo white as they had been, 
 but who roared as bravely as ever, faid to the others, 
 '' Why, brother lions, do we lead this wretched toil- 
 " fome life — up early, to lair late ; hunting alone over 
 *' the fandy plains from morning till night, and earning 
 " but a fcanty living or too much ; now ftarved, now 
 *' gorged ; and at all times fome of us ftarving while 
 *' others are gorging. Let us no more be unfociable, 
 " but let all the great beafts of the foreft hunt together 
 " in packs ; fo fhall our cares be divided equally, and 
 *' our prey the fame." The other lions roared affent. 
 The tigers alfo liftened favorably to this counfel, and all 
 the young ones much approved it, for though they 
 loved blood, they were fond of play too. 
 
 The proje6l once agreed upon, the jackals were dif- 
 carded ; the wild beafts gathered together in bands ; and 
 a new order of things reigned throughout the forefts and 
 deferts of the world. 
 
 But plenty and harmony reigned not. When any 
 of thefe vaft companies of wild beafts went out to hunt, 
 their united roaring, like the thunder, warned their prey 
 from afar of what was coming ; and every one of the 
 harmlefs animals had time to hide. Then too none of 
 the great beafts cared, as before, to watch with diligence 
 the traces of his prey, for that was a duty which be- 
 longed to all. Nor was that amity found which ftiould 
 have graced fuch noble aflemblages of great wild beafts ;
 
 GOVERNMENT. 131 
 
 for thofe amongft them whofe limbs were ftrongeft, or 
 whofe fcent was keeneft, would infift upon being fore- 
 moft in leading the pack, though they would not be 
 earlieft in fnuffing the morning breeze or in tracing the 
 faint footmarks of young antelopes. 
 
 Each week the lions and tigers grew more gaunt, and 
 their lionefles and tigrefles more clamorous for food for 
 their cubs and themfelves. They had never been fo 
 fond of this banding together. 
 
 At laft one fultry day, in the plains of Central Africa, 
 there met by chance five companies of thefe great beafts. 
 That they fhould thus meet together fhowed how ill 
 they had managed, and what a want there was of jack- 
 als. None of them had tafted water for two days, for 
 it had been the duty of every one to look out for the 
 bubbling fprings in the kw green oafes. 
 
 There they lay couched upon the fand, each company 
 eyeing the others with ill-fupprefled hatred ; but the hun- 
 ger which had increafed their ferocity had tamed their 
 courage, and they feared to attack one another though 
 they thirfted for each other's blood. Low growlings 
 occafionally broke the filence. Unconfcioufly, in their 
 irritation, their tails fwept {lightly backwards and for- 
 wards and raifed a fine cloud of fand which only parched 
 their palates more. 
 
 Then one of the old lions, whofe mild roaring was 
 never liftened to by his tribe except in feafons of great 
 adverfity, effayed to fpeak ; and all the reft were filent. 
 " Brother beafts," faid he, " let me tell you a fable of
 
 cc 
 
 (( 
 
 132 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " men. Thofe poor, weaving, fpinning, handy crea- 
 " tures were once minded to live moft focially together. 
 " The food they fcratch for, the rags they tie themfelves 
 " up in, were to be in common; their little dens were 
 " all to be large ones ; none were to feek private ends, 
 " but each was to fcratch the ground or draw the little 
 " threads acrofs each other with all his might for the 
 " good of the community. Their jackals too were all 
 " difmilTed ; and men began their new way of life, utter- 
 ing their difcordant noifes of joy. 
 " But fomehow or other the fcratching of the earth 
 for the public good was not fo deep as it had formerly 
 *■*■ been. More weeds than feeds came up. The rags 
 '* men tie themfelves in were more fcanty than before. 
 " It was found that there never were fo many fick men 
 " who could not fcratch the earth or teafe the threads. 
 " But there was one kind of work which all would 
 " do, and that was, to tell the others what to do. 
 " Thefe deformed creatures who ftand upright and hate 
 " one another, hated more than ever, each wifhing to 
 " fcratch the ground in the foremoft rank, or to weave 
 " the firft threads that were to be woven. Their fe- 
 " males, like ours, my friends, are more given to call 
 " for food for their cubs, than to plan hunts and battles, 
 " and talk wifdom." Here a low but fignificant growl 
 burft from the aflembly, each remembering what his 
 lionefs or tigrefs had lately faid to him at bedtime in 
 his lair. 
 
 " My friends, to end a ftory which is already too
 
 GOVERNMENT. 133 
 
 " long, I have but to tell you that thefe creatures foon 
 " came to blows with ftick and ftone. The ftrength 
 " of tooth and nail has not been allowed them, for fear 
 " fuch irritable animals fhould make too frequent ufe of 
 " that power. The earth was no longer fcratched at 
 " all, the threads no longer interwoven, their dens tum- 
 " bled down, the white fand gained upon the green grafs ; 
 " and that we are here, brother beafts, to-day, is owing 
 " to the folly which led thefe noxious though in them- 
 " felves weak creatures to attempt a fociability which 
 *' they at any rate were not good enough for." 
 
 He ceafed. The lions, whofe modefty is equal to 
 their valour, felt in their hearts that they too were not 
 good enough. Silently and with deprefled mane and 
 tail each fought out his difcarded jackal and refumed his 
 old haunts. Thofe that furvived grew fat again ; and 
 they have never fmce attempted to be fo extremely fo- 
 ciable together. 
 
 After we had laughed and joked a good deal 
 about this ftrange fable of Milverton's, he read 
 to us the following eifay upon Government.
 
 134 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 )HE political events of 1848 may be 
 faid to have arrefted the attention of 
 the civilized world ; for fuch perfons 
 as were not themfelves concerned in thefe events, 
 have been conftrained, as it were, by their fwift- 
 nefs, their fuddennefs, and their magnitude, to give 
 fome heed to them. Like perfons in the ftreet, 
 when a frightened or wild animal • rufhes by, all 
 paufe from their work, or their amufement, or 
 their thought, to look with eager eyes for what 
 accident will happen next. Thofe amongft our- 
 felves who during long years of peace, had taken 
 but a languid intereft in foreign affairs, have lately 
 been ardent in their ftudy of the current hiftory 
 of the day. 
 
 It is impoflible but that many thoughts of an 
 unufual kind refpedling government, muft have 
 occupied men's minds in the courfe of this eventful 
 year. It is unlikely that any thoughtful perfon 
 will not occaiionally have given anxious confidera- 
 tion to the government of his own country. 
 
 The firft thing that will have occurred to any
 
 GOVERNMENT. 135 
 
 attentive obferver of late events will be a fufpicion 
 of confiderable deficiency in wifdom on the part of 
 thofe governments which have fhown themfelves 
 fo unliable. But we may go much further than 
 the prefent occafion, to demonftrate the deficiencies 
 of modern government. Long ago, Gibbon no- 
 ticed that all the men employed in the army and 
 navy of Imperial Rome were not equal to the 
 number maintained in modern times by the Prince 
 of one province of that Empire. The hiftorian 
 alludes to Louis the Fourteenth. What a con- 
 demnation of the modern fyftem this fad affords. 
 It may be faid that the population of Europe is 
 much increafed fince the times of the Roman do- 
 minion ; but then Rome had to keep in order the 
 known world. There was to be an army always 
 encamped upon the Rhine and another on the 
 Danube. In Africa, in Spain, in Afia Minor, in 
 Britain, foldiers judicioufly placed maintained the 
 public tranquillity. There were of neceffity two 
 or three ftations for the Roman fleets : and Rome 
 herfelf had always a large body of her tyrant pre- 
 torians encamped befide her. The united num- 
 bers of all thefe troops do not amount to the num- 
 ber maintained by France of late years in a time 
 of European and domeftic peace. Going ftill
 
 136 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 further in our refearches, I think if any one at- 
 tentively confiders what notices we have of the 
 well-being of ancient cities, fufpicions will crofs 
 his mind whether our advance in material prof- 
 perity has been what it ought to have been. No 
 doubt this flownefs of advance merely arifes from 
 a new fet of difficulties having grown up which 
 require new fagacity to meet them. 
 
 But the truth is, that government is now, and 
 always has been, a matter of profound difficulty : 
 and in all ages has been conduced in an abrupt 
 and convulfive manner. Grievances which if early 
 dealt with might be dealt with eafily, are fuffered 
 to harden and increafe at leifure. Indiredl reme- 
 dies (which will fome day be found out to be in 
 general the beft remedies) are feldom fought for. 
 What is done is too frequently the ofFfpring of 
 clamour and chance : and legiflation is moftly 
 provided at a crifis. 
 
 Hiftory is chiefly a record of the failures of 
 Government. This is the ufual current of human 
 affairs : it does not become any of us to complain 
 inordinately of it, or to pride ourfelves upon dif- 
 cerning it. But we may ftrive to leflen an evil 
 which will not be eradicated as long as men are 
 men.
 
 GOVERNMENT. 137 
 
 Turning now to our own government, we can- 
 not but fee that we have great advantages ; and 
 at this moment are looking on at the difturbances 
 of the world with confcious fuperiority. We have, 
 as I faid, great advantages. The advantage of our 
 infular pofition can hardly be overrated. Then 
 the nature of the people. They are refolute, en- 
 during, grave, modeft, humorous. I lay great 
 ftrefs upon the laft of thefe qualifications. Nothing 
 corre6ls theories better than this fenfe of humour 
 which we have in a greater degree than is to be 
 met with, I believe, in any other people. An 
 Englifhman fees eafily the abfurdity which lurks 
 in any extreme propofition. 
 
 Moreover, there is fuch a thing as fortune, or 
 as I would rather fay, divine guidance, for nations 
 as for individuals. That man muft be very un- 
 fubmilTive, I think, and very unobfervant,who has 
 not noticed in his own career turning points and 
 important crifes which could hardly be faid in any 
 way to have been brought about by him or to be 
 refults of his chara6ler. The fame with us as a 
 nation : we have had our difturbances at the right 
 times, upon great fubjeds, and condudted by great 
 perfonages. From us was to be the greateft colo- 
 nization : and it feems as if we had been trained
 
 138 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 up with a view to that, accuftomed early to inde- 
 pendent a6lion, as people who would have to feek 
 their fortune in the world. Now thefe confidera- 
 tions, far from puffing us up with pride, ought to 
 make us fearful for ourfelves and alfo kind in our 
 judgment of other nations. We may remember, 
 in estimating other nations, that the chara6ler of 
 a people, as of an individual, may be greater than 
 its hiftory would convey : and, perhaps, the ut- 
 moft we can fay of our government, fuppofing it 
 to have been preeminent amongft modern govern- 
 ments, would be fome fpeech of a fimilar form, 
 though much more gracious in fubftance, to that 
 which Talleyrand uttered with regard to our pub- 
 lic fchool education,* " It is the beft," he faid, 
 " which I have ever feen, and it is abominable ;" 
 fo we of our government may fay. It is the beft 
 we know of, and there are a good many things to 
 be mended even in it. 
 
 In difcuffing the fubjedl of Government gene- 
 rally, it may be divided into three heads : the 
 form of government, the objeds of government, 
 and the mode and means of government. 
 
 * C'eft la meillure que je n'ai jamais vue, et c'eft abominable.
 
 GOVERNMENT. 139 
 
 I. FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This is a very difficult fubjedt to confider, and 
 it is almofi: impoffible to pronounce what form is 
 abftradtedly the beft. Much muft depend upon 
 the nature of the people, their hiftory, their age 
 as a people, the nature of furrounding govern- 
 ments (a thing often overlooked) and the geo- 
 graphy and produds of their country. 
 
 To take an inftance as regards the nature of 
 the people in its bearing upon a queftion of go- 
 vernment often mooted theoretically and pradi- 
 cally in modern times ; namely, whether there 
 fhould be one or two legiflative bodies in a ftate. 
 There may be a people of fuch fober tempera- 
 ment, fo given to paufe and ponder, fo careful in 
 the choice of reprefentatives, and fo thoroughly 
 verfed in political queftions and economical know- 
 ledge, that they might do well with one legifla- 
 tive body : and wife meafures might be carried 
 by acclamation. Not that fuch a people would 
 be very apt to acclaim, or that being very 
 thoughtful they would be likely to be often 
 unanimous. But if they were, one might fafely 
 truft their acclamations ; and in this way that
 
 140 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 people might efcape the doubt, the delay and the 
 expenfe which belong to a fecond chamber, and 
 they might do well without long deliberations of 
 any kind. I have never myfelf feen, heard, or 
 read of, fuch a people ; but there may be, or there 
 may come to be, fuch a people ; and whenever, 
 or wherever, it is found, we muft allow that it will 
 be fitted for one legiflative chamber. On the other 
 hand, the mifchief of having only one chamber will 
 be proportionate to the excitability of tempera- 
 ment, the frivoloufnefs and the pronenefs to believe 
 in a majority which belong to the people amongft 
 whom fuch a form of government is eftablifhed. 
 Again, to take an inftance of the effedt of fur- 
 rounding governments. It can hardly be ima- 
 gined that a defpotifm would be extravagantly 
 defpotic, or an ariftocracy pernicioufly ariftocratic, 
 which was furrounded by countries enjoying re- 
 markably free inftitutions. — Poffibly at the pre- 
 fent moment one of the happieft forms of go- 
 vernment to live under, would be one that had 
 been thoroughly autocratic, which preferved the 
 vigour that fuch governments poflefs as regards 
 their foreign adion and their internal adminiftra- 
 tion, but in which the arbitrary tendencies were 
 checked by the fear or example of neighbouring
 
 GOVERNMENT. 141 
 
 ftates and by free opinions preffing in upon the 
 country at all points. 
 
 In averting the importance of the form of go- 
 vernment, I do not mean to fay that in itfelf the 
 queftion whether the chief magiftrate in a ftate 
 ihould be an hereditary king, or an eledlive 
 king, or a prefident for life, or a prefident for 
 a term of years, is half fo important as the te- 
 nure of land, or the laws regarding the transfer 
 of property, or even the arrangements for police 
 and for the prefervation of the public health. 
 But then if one form of government is likely 
 to hinder the confideration of thefe good things 
 more than another ; if, for inftance, the conftitu- 
 tion of the government be fubjed to fuch politi- 
 cal mutation, that the ftate is always preparing to 
 be governed inftead of gaining the advantages of 
 government, then this form is a very important 
 evil in fubftance. If, on the other hand, the po- 
 litical adion in a ftate is fo torpid, that the minds 
 of men are never agitated by political queftions, 
 one confiderable part of human education is left 
 out, and though this omiftion may be defirable at 
 a certain age, or rather nonage, of a nation, the 
 fooner it begins to develope into fomething ad-
 
 142 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 mitting of more political thought the better. In 
 fadt, forms of government may be as diverfified 
 as the forms in nature of plants, of trees, of ani- 
 mals, provided there be the fame adaptation in 
 the one cafe as in the other to the furrounding 
 circumftances. 
 
 Again, there is a matter conneded with the 
 form of government or perhaps we fhould rather 
 fay, conneded with the fpirit but expreffed in the 
 form, which is obvioufly of the higheft import- 
 ance ; namely, the proportion obferved in the 
 original conftitution of the different elements of 
 power in the ftate. For example, how much 
 depends in a free government upon the happy 
 admixture of local and central authority ! If there 
 be too much local power, how much time will 
 elapfe before the refults of colledled wifdom and the 
 experience of the fhrewdeft men in public affairs 
 will be carried into the local adminiftration : how 
 much unkindnefs and feverity will be added to 
 the local malignity already fufficient in moft 
 places : how completely the imperial ideas are 
 likely to be facrificed to petty privileges and near- 
 fighted interefts. On the other hand, if the cen- 
 tral power prevails too much, the minds and
 
 GOVERNMENT. 143 
 
 energies of the fmall communities dependent upon 
 it are weakened by difufe : at the centre itfelf, 
 too much influence falls into the hands of fac- 
 tions, fo that fuddennefs becomes the arbitrefs of 
 national affairs : and, moreover there is danger of 
 everything being facrificed to any one idea, or 
 fancy, prevailing at the feat of government. 
 
 Similar dangers may be fhown to exift in any 
 government that is partly reprefentative and partly 
 autocratic, if the juft proportions are not well 
 maintained and room not given for both principles 
 to do their work in. The vague, querulous, dif- 
 jointed, clamorous, inconclufiveway of tranfadling 
 affairs which belongs to legiflative affembhes, would 
 abfolutely prevent all peace and profperity in a 
 country where there was no autocratic power to 
 countera6t the evil. And by autocratic power I 
 do not mean only that which may emanate from 
 a prefident, a king, a conful, or a didator, but 
 that for inftance, which refults from the hoarded 
 weight of wifdom and reputation which may 
 belong to any one man, and which does in our 
 own time belong to one eminent perfon in our 
 own fenate, whofe view of a queftion is fome- 
 thing quite different in its effed from that of any 
 other member in the Houfe of Lords, however
 
 144 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 eminent. Again, if the autocratic element pre- 
 vail too much, that happens to the whole commu- 
 nity which was fhown as likely to happen to fmall 
 dependent communities when the central power is 
 too great ; namely, that there will be a fad apathy 
 about political affairs, for men feldom think or care 
 much about matters which they can fcarcely ever 
 hope to influence. 
 
 The refult of all I have faid about forms of 
 government, is to fhow that it would be very pe- 
 dantic to pronounce upon any form of government 
 as beft for any particular country without a large 
 confideration of its circumftances ; that there are 
 peculiar dangers belonging to each form of go- 
 vernment; and that much care muft always be 
 given to enfure a juft combination of the various 
 elements of power in a fl;ate. 
 
 2. OBJECTS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In the firfl: place, let us be careful not to limit 
 too much the objeds of government. Govern- 
 ments in paft ages having interfered fo much, and 
 often fo unwifely, has given us a peculiar diftafte 
 for what we call government interference, and has 
 made men contented to accept a very low view of
 
 GOVERNMENT. 145 
 
 the objeds and purpofes of government. But 
 government is not merely police. It is fomething 
 perfonal ; it has a reprefentative chara6ler ; its 
 bufinefs is not confined to the care of life and 
 property ; it has in fa6l fome national part to play 
 in the world, fome great chara6ler to fuftain. In 
 fliort, it feems to me that the juft idea of govern- 
 ment is not fulfilled unlefs it adlswith the greatnefs 
 of foul and the extent of infight and forefight of 
 the beft men in the ftate, and with the power of 
 the whole body, in thofe matters which cannot be 
 accompliihed by individual exertion. Now this 
 is what many a man exprefles unconfcioufly when 
 he exclaims, " The government fhould undertake 
 this great work ; fhould reward this eminent man, 
 promote that difcovery, encourage that art;" or 
 words to that eifedl. He means that the govern- 
 ment fhould exprefs the wifdom and gratitude of 
 the beft part of the nation in a way which that 
 part could not do, or ought not to be expected to 
 do, by its own individual exertion. I am afked 
 then a queftion, which has been one of the difficul- 
 ties of modern times, Is a government to have a 
 religion ? Is there to be fuch a thing as a ftate con- 
 fcience ? To which I fay at once, yes. It is to 
 ad with the confcience of its wifeft and heft men
 
 146 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 in matters of religion as well as in all other mat- 
 ters ; and fo it does in the courfe of ages. 
 
 But to defcend to fome of its daily occupations. 
 One of the firft things for a government is felf- 
 prefervation. Complaint has been made, that 
 Bacon and other writers upon politics of his time 
 iniift too much upon preferving the fovereign's 
 rights and powers : I am far from thinking that 
 this care of theirs was mere time-ferving, and am 
 inclined to think that there ought to be a fimilar 
 care and appreheniion for all governments on the 
 part of wife men who are in them or live under 
 them. " How is the king's government to be 
 carried on ? " — a memorable queftion afked by a 
 great man of our own day — is one which fhould 
 be frequently prefent to the minds of all perfons 
 in authority, or pofTeffing influence. 
 
 Now this care for felf-prefervation on the part 
 of government, may feem to be a felfijfh thing and 
 likely to lead to mere reprefTivenefs and inadlivity ; 
 but thefe are not the means by which I confider 
 that felf-prefervation will ever be eifedled. On 
 the contrary, I believe that if governors and peo- 
 ple in authority really understood human nature, 
 they would perceive that fome judicious adlivity 
 on their part is the only thing which can give life 
 to their inftitutions. There is no ftrength in ftag-
 
 GOVERNMENT. 147 
 
 nation : cautious paffivenefs and official negative- 
 nefs will be found very Infignificant barriers againft 
 evil either in quiet or in turbulent times ; and 
 fuch ways are efpecially to be efchewed in the ftill 
 times juft before turbulence. 
 
 I do not mean by this to recommend the mere 
 pretence of adion, in order to amufe, or terrify, 
 or divert the attention of a people : ftill lefs to 
 fuggeft anything like the intenfe wickednefs, of 
 which we have feen inftances in our times, of un- 
 dertaking unjuft exploits abroad to keep peace at 
 home. Thefe, like all falfe ways, only put off 
 the evil day of reckoning. But the objed of a 
 government fhould be to breed up the men under 
 it to do with lefs and lefs of it, or fo to extend its 
 a6tion, that if its interference and control are not 
 diminiftied, it is only becaufe its fphere of ufe- 
 fulnefs is enlarged. People in authority fhould 
 underftand that government muft be a thing of 
 growth ; muft attend to, if not comprehend, the 
 future. On the contrary, many of them have not 
 even been provident about the means of perpe- 
 tuating their own fyftem, much lefs of making it 
 grow into anything better. 
 
 This brings me to the confideration of one of 
 the great objects of government both as regards 
 felf-prefervation and the general welfare of the
 
 148 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ftate. I allude to the breeding up of fucceflbrs. 
 I believe that almoft the greateft teft of wife men 
 being in power, is that they are anxious to provide 
 fucceflbrs. This loving care for futurity is an 
 equal proof of their goodnefs and their fagacity. 
 And, as regards their own renown, furely that 
 man's life muft be pronounced a great failure 
 whofe purpofes die with him. That is why many 
 a potent conqueror feems now fo fmall a perfon in 
 our eyes. The fame principles hold good in pri- 
 vate life. A man of juft and open mind is careful 
 to bring up thofe around him to do without him. 
 As head of a family, or an office, or a magiftracy, 
 he looks around him from time to time, to fee who 
 can take his place, and how he can be beft edu- 
 cated to do fo. On the other hand, a grafping 
 tenure of power is the evidence of felfifhnefs or 
 fenility. Looking down the long lines of hiftory, 
 it is to be obferved, I think, that thofe who have 
 been moft capable of ufing power well, have clung 
 with the leaft tenacity to it. 
 
 The obje6ts then of government, briefly ftated, 
 fliould be commenfurate with thofe wants of hu- 
 manity which cannot be fupplied at all, or as well, 
 ■ by individual adlion, or by any corporate body 
 lefs than the ftate : thefe wants will vary accord-
 
 GOVERNMENT. 149 
 
 ing to time and place, will be fewer in one coun- 
 try than in another, but in no country that I know 
 of, are they at prefent otherwife than very nume- 
 rous and very imperative. 
 
 3. MODE AND MEANS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Before entering into the details of this branch 
 of the fubjeft, it will be worth while to confider 
 what are the effential difficulties of government 
 in the abftraft. The firfh difficulty that will oc- 
 cur to moft perfons is the variety of men's minds. 
 " Quot homines, tot fententias !" So many men, 
 fo many opinions, as the proverb fays. But after 
 all, this is not the greatefl: difficulty. However 
 numerous and various the elements for calcula- 
 tion, the problem would be certainly foluble if the 
 elements were known. But in governing men 
 thefe elements are not known. The difficulty is, 
 to underftand men's minds ; and, from the ifolation 
 in which all living creatures dwell, this can never 
 be more than approximated to. More than one 
 great thinker of this generation has ftudied this 
 ifolation, but its effeds have not been thought of 
 as regards their bearing upon government. Yet 
 in the earliefl ftages and the firft forms of govern-
 
 150 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 merit, this is the greateft difficulty. How hard 
 it is (ahiioft impoffible) to come at the mind 
 even of a child ! People will grow up together, 
 will live together in fome bond of affedion, and 
 with fome harmony ; and yet the moil; important 
 parts of the nature of each be unknown to the 
 other, and remain undeveloped. Extending our 
 view from the firft form of human government, 
 the paternal, through all the ftages of domeftic 
 and focial government, till we come to ftatefman- 
 fliip, the fame law of mental ifolation pervading, 
 the fame difficulty of governing prevails. Shrouded 
 for the moft part in a mift, each individual mind, 
 though it may be partially revealed to us by fym- 
 pathy, is feldom or never completely feen or com- 
 prehended. 
 
 How do the above confiderations apply to Go- 
 vernment in its largeft fenfe ? Obvioufly in many 
 ways. Fadious minorities rule, perfuading them- 
 felves and thofe around them that they are the 
 voice of the nation. It is from this ifolation of 
 mind, which it requires confiderable imagination 
 to penetrate at all, that different claffes mifunder- 
 ftand each other as individuals do. How often, 
 in all ages, have the governors mifunderftood the 
 governed ; and the governed (having lefs of the
 
 GOVERNMENT. 151. 
 
 power of making their way by imagination into 
 the minds of other men) ftill more mifunderftood 
 their governors. Moreover, in government, it 
 often happens that fecond-rate men of low defires 
 and peculiarly unimaginative natures (who are 
 called practical becaufe they lack imagination, or 
 becaufe they have been fuccefsful for themfelves,) 
 are liftened to, and that too on critical occafions ; 
 and their want of underftanding the fouls of men 
 is fatal. Again, the difficulty of underftanding 
 men is the leading difficulty in the choice of 
 agents: and indeed it enters into all the varied 
 queftions of government — as, indeed, into all the 
 relations of life. It may be faid that the above- 
 mentioned evils and difficulties are caufed by a 
 deficiency of perception and imagination. But 
 why are great powers of perception and imagina- 
 tion wanted ? To counteract the difficulties arifing 
 from men's minds being fet apart from each other 
 and therefore hard to comprehend. 
 
 Another great difficulty in government is the 
 difficulty of conjoint a6lion : I mean the difficulty 
 of coming to a refult, and ftill more of predicating 
 one, when many people are met together to do 
 or to determine any thing. In order to form 
 fome notion of the difficulties inherent in conjoint
 
 152 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 aAion, it is advifable to obferve it in the fimpleft 
 inftances. Suppofe that two men have to walk 
 to a particular place at which they are both 
 minded to arrive at the fame time, in which cafe 
 therefore their wills and opinions are the fame as 
 regards the main objedl in purfuit. But their 
 walking together may very much vary the refult, 
 and if a third perfon had to calculate with exadt- 
 nefs upon the refult, he would have to'confider 
 what the effect might be of their companionfhip. 
 Emulation might quicken the pace of both : good 
 nature might retard the pace of one to accommo- 
 date the other. The way might be loft in the ani- 
 mation of converfation, or their joint fagacity 
 might find an eafier route than either alone 
 would have difcovered. But this is a very fimple 
 cafe. Here, the fame adtion is performed by 
 both men and is not the refult of combined ac- 
 tivity. But now fuppofe that a cannon fo placed 
 as to command an important pafs is to be fired 
 by fifteen perfons, and cannot be fired without 
 the fifteen combining to do fo at the fame time, 
 each having to pull fome wire that is necefTary 
 for the purpofe. No one Is to give the word of 
 command. They have however talked the matter 
 over, and have refolved at what point in the ap-
 
 GOVERNMENT. 153 
 
 proach of the enemy, it would be beft to fire ; 
 moreover, they are all true ftaunch men, and 
 mean to make a good defence. Still I fhould be 
 very forry to have much of my country's welfare 
 dependent upon that cannon's going off at the 
 right time, or indeed of its going off at all. 
 Thefe may be thought flight and infufficient 
 inftances ; but they may bring the difficulty of 
 conjoint adion home to the mind ; and fome of the 
 fame caufes that operate in thefe minor inftances 
 will operate in the greateft. In Cabinets, Privy 
 Councils, Committees, Affemblies, Parliaments, 
 Commiffions, and, indeed, in all bodies met for 
 the condud or determination of bufinefs, not only 
 will vanity and envy be developed by the pre- 
 fence of numbers ; but the feehng of refponfibility 
 will be leffened ; unwife reliance on others be en- 
 couraged ; indolence find good grounds for being 
 indulged in ; the paffions be quickened ; and the 
 queftion often be buried under, or miflaid amongft, 
 a variety of opinions and fuggeftions. To form 
 an accurate judgment of what will happen, you 
 have to allow not only for the variety of men's opin- 
 ions, but for the difference of their powers of atten- 
 tion and of their pertinacity. If we could know the 
 number of refolutions which have been carried un-
 
 154 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 der the influence of mere fatigue and difgufl, we 
 fhould be aflonifhed at the efFed that wearinefs 
 and fear of " damnable iteration," as FalftafF calls 
 it, have produced. Befides, the hours are largely 
 wafted in thefe difcuftions or attempts at conjoint 
 adlion; it becomes time to do fomething, or to 
 come to fome refolve, and what happens to be 
 neareft at hand and moft practicable at the moment, 
 is at laft in a hurry determined upon. Often 
 the confufton arifing from all thefe fources is fuch, 
 that though confiderable adivity is manifefted in 
 the difcuftions and labours of thefe bodies of men 
 which we have been confidering, the refult, as in 
 the perturbations of the planets, is found equal 
 to nothing, as La Place confoles us by fhowing. 
 
 I have not dwelt upon the above difficulty with 
 a view to depreciate conjoint adlion and delibera- 
 tion, which we muft have if we would avoid def- 
 potifm, but I wifli merely to point out an eflen- 
 tial difficulty in all government, and one which 
 in this country (where there are fo many minor 
 governing bodies for affairs of commerce) it is 
 very defirable ftiould be thought of and invefti- 
 gated, and limits put, if poffible, to the evils at- 
 tending upon it. 
 
 The above coniiderations, (efpecially thofe re-
 
 GOVERNMENT. 155 
 
 ferring to the ifolation of mind) may feem too 
 fubtle, or too plain ; but the moft arduous and 
 complicated queftions in life are generally refol- 
 vable into their primeval elements of difficulty, 
 and fhould be occafionally looked at in that way. 
 The great queftions of human nature are ever 
 coming before us in new forms ; for civilization 
 does not help us to efcape from ourfelves, but 
 only by conjoint adion to make the moft of our- 
 felves. 
 
 To proceed now with the means of govern- 
 ment in detail. Incomparably the firft means is 
 the procurement of able men ; not tools, but 
 men. It is very hard to prophefy of any bufinefs 
 or affair in the world, how it will turn out ; but 
 it cannot be a bad thing to have an able man to deal 
 with it. The Chinefe government has now fub- 
 fifted many generations, proceeding upon the prin- 
 ciple of choofing the beft men for official employ- 
 ment. I do not fay they have gone the beft way 
 to choofe them, but their intention has been to 
 find them, if they could. Such a fpirit ftiould 
 aftuate every governing perfon, who fhould con- 
 fider the man he appoints to an office as in fome 
 meafure his reprefentative — a reprefentative, too,
 
 156 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 as will often happen, for life. Governments will 
 be fure to have caufe enough for fhame, if they 
 negleft this duty, for a bad appointment breaks 
 out fome day or other. 
 
 But the difficulty is to find able men. To 
 hear fome perfons talk, you would fuppofe that 
 it was the fimpleft thing imaginable to make 
 good appointments, and that it needed nothing 
 but honefty on the part of the perfon appointing. 
 But found men of bufinefs are very rare, much 
 more rare than any body would be likely to con- 
 jedure who had not had confiderable experience 
 of life. And what makes the difficulty greater 
 is, that the faculty for bufinefs is feldom to be 
 afcertained by any a priori teft. Formal exami- 
 nations of all kinds fail. 
 
 For look what it is that you demand in a man 
 of bufinefs ! Talents for the particular bufinefs, 
 the art of bringing out thofe talents before the 
 eyes of men, temper to deal with men, inventive- 
 nefs together with prudence, and in addition to 
 many other moral qualities, that of moral cou- 
 rage, which I have remarked to be the rarefl; gift 
 of all. 
 
 As it is, very many men fail from a want of 
 proportion in their gifts. Here is a man fo
 
 GOVERNMENT. 157 
 
 clever that he apprehends ahnoft anything, but 
 there Is a Hght flame of reftlefs vanity underneath 
 this fuperficial clevernefs, fo that it is always boil- 
 ing over when you do not want it. One man 
 makes it his bufinefs to doubt, another to fear, 
 another to hope, another to condemn ; one is the 
 flave of rules, another cannot conftrud: anything 
 unlefs he have free fpace for his theories which 
 this old world does not now admit of. Many of 
 thefe defeds are not fully afcertained until the 
 man is abfolutely tried (" Capax imperii nifi im- 
 peraffet"). On the other hand, there are men 
 whofe talents for governing are not developed 
 until they are placed in power, like the Palm- 
 branches which fpring out only at the top of 
 the tree. But ftill thefe confiderations muft not 
 induce men in authority to fay that fmce choice 
 is fo difficult, it muft be left to chance or favour, 
 but it only fhows how wary ftatefmen fhould be 
 in their choice, and that when they once do get 
 hold of a good man, how much they ftiould make 
 of him. 
 
 Next to offices come honours as means at the 
 difpofal of government. Cant, which is the crea- 
 ture of civilization and muft be expeded to at-
 
 158 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 tain a great height as civilization advances, takes 
 many forms ; and one of the forms it has taken 
 in modern times is the pretending to defpife ho- 
 nours, calling them baubles, tinfel, toys, trap- 
 pings and other hard names. This is all non- 
 fenfe. They are very valuable things, and men 
 of clear and open minds, who are after all lefs ig- 
 nominioufly fwayed by fuch things than other 
 men, will tell you fo. Nelfon's exclamation on 
 going into aftion, *^' A peerage or Weftminfter 
 " Abbey, " will find fome refponfe in the minds 
 of many of the worthieft amongft us. In fad: it 
 is difficult for a government fo to deteriorate and 
 degrade its honours as to make them unaccep- 
 table. 
 
 Now, in confidering the diftribution of ho- 
 nours, I am not going to fay anything Quixotic, 
 fuch as to pretend for a moment that they fhould 
 always be given ftri6tly according to merit. 
 There are feveral reafons why they fhould not. 
 In the firft place, if they were always given ac- 
 cording to merit, it would detraft from the power 
 of the fovereign or governing authority of what- 
 ever kind. A fovereign or a minifter fhould 
 have it in his power, I think, occafionally to con- 
 fer honours upon a friend or adherent upon the
 
 GOVERNMENT. 159 
 
 fimple grounds of friendfhip, adherency, or li- 
 king ; and it may be remarked, as I have noticed 
 before, that the friends and favourites of the great, 
 from Horace and Virgil downwards, have in ge- 
 neral been remarkable men. ' Then again it 
 fhould not be declared that honours are to be 
 given abfolutely according to merit for this rea- 
 fon, that it is impoffible to provide the time, at- 
 tention and fkill requifite for fuch a distribution. 
 Thirdly, if honours were fuppofed to be given 
 ftridly according to merit, how much that fuppo- 
 fition would aggravate the difcomfort of the un- 
 fuccefsful, that is, of the great majority of us in 
 the world. At prefent, men find ready confola- 
 tion in the thought, which is a juft one, that not 
 only is merit frequently left unrewarded, but that 
 oftentimes it ftands fatally in the way of worldly 
 fuccefs. 
 
 Having now given feveral reafons againft at- 
 tempting to make honours entirely dependant 
 upon merit, I may with more boldnefs affirm, that 
 it is indifpenfable to confer many of them accord- 
 to real defert. Otherwife government parts with 
 a fubftantial fource of power and influence. In 
 the creation of any order or dignity, there may be 
 inftances of favouritifm or of yielding to fecond-
 
 i6o GOVERNMENT. 
 
 rate and partially unworthy motives ; but if the 
 order or dignity is not to lofe much of its favour 
 with mankind, it muft contain and illuftrate a fair 
 amount of worth and fervice. 
 
 In order to make the honours more deflrable 
 and capable of being more eafily dealt with, they 
 fhould be of various kinds and even fome of the 
 very higheft amongft them fhould not require the 
 pofleiTion of fortune in the perfon honoured. 
 Finally it fhould be remembered that the diftri- 
 bution of honours is one of the efpecial fundlions 
 of government : which like coinage, taxation, 
 or the declaration of peace or war, cannot be per- 
 formed by private individuals. It is a cafe where 
 the ftate comes in as a perfon and proclaims 
 *^ This is the man whom the king delighteth to 
 honour." If the king delights to honour foolilh 
 people, or people, as Hamlet defcribes them, 
 merely " fpacious in the pofleffion of dirt," the 
 honours will be accordingly depreciated, and go- 
 vernment will have debafed this important fundion 
 of conferring honours, a proceeding as injurious in 
 its way as debafing the coinage would be in its. 
 
 In coming now to the mode of government, 
 i. e. the way of applying the means of govern-
 
 GOVERNMENT. i6i 
 
 ment, it muft be firft obferved how difficult it is 
 to enter upon fuch a fubjedl without going much 
 into detail ; and, moreover, for the fuggeftions to 
 be of moft pradical ufe, they muft- have fome re- 
 ference to the modes of government at prefent 
 exifting. There is no country which has been a 
 country of great affairs for many years that will 
 not have adopted various excellent devices for the 
 furtherance of bufinefs. The form for inftance of 
 a Cabinet and many of the Cabinet arrangements 
 for bufinefs in this country, are the refult of much 
 adaptation, and could not eafily be amended. It 
 is obvious that in every form of government con- 
 fiderable attention fhould be paid to the distribu- 
 tion of fundiions amongft the great officers of ftate ; 
 and that care muft be taken to make the funftions 
 of thefe officers grow and change with the growth 
 and fluctuation of the affairs of the country. In 
 our own country the great officers of ftate are too 
 few. I do not prefume to fpeak of any divifion 
 of the Lord Chancellor's functions, not being con- 
 verfant with them. But the prefent duties of the 
 Home Secretary might be divided, I think, with 
 great advantage. Let there be a Minifter of Juf- 
 tice, who fhould have diredion in all official mat- 
 ters connefted with the courfe of juftice and the 
 
 2 M
 
 i62 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 maintenance of order. The cuftody of lunatics is 
 a branch of the Lord Chancellor's functions which 
 might well devolve on this new officer. The 
 other Home Secretary might retain the name of 
 Home Secretary, and be intruded with all matters 
 appertaining to the education, health, and fufte- 
 nance of the people. 
 
 Again, it appears that, for a very long time, 
 the duties of Colonial Secretary have been too 
 much for any one man. Where is the difficulty 
 of having two Colonial Minifters : one for Canada 
 and the Weft Indies ; and the other, taking the 
 management of all the other colonies, and being 
 called the Colonial Minifter ? Does any one who 
 knows anything about the fubjed:, doubt of there 
 being enough bufinefs in the Colonial Office to 
 employ any two of the greateft minds in the coun- 
 try as chiefs of that department ? 
 
 But there may then be too many in the Cabinet. 
 If fo, remove thofe officers who have lefs diftin- 
 guifhed fun6lions. The Paymafter of the Forces 
 and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancafter 
 have fometimes been in the Cabinet. Let them 
 give place to the Minifter of Juftice and to the 
 Secretary for Canada and the Weft Indies. I am 
 well aware of the advantage of having occafionally
 
 GOVERNMENT. 163 
 
 one or two places in the Cabinet for men who 
 cannot undertake the management of laborious 
 departments. But, without going further into 
 detail, I feel confident that Cabinets will not be 
 greatly embarrafled in finding room in fome way 
 or other for the two great officers propofed. 
 
 Having now fuppofed the bufinefs divided 
 amongft certain departments, and fit perfons 
 chofen to prefide over thefe departments, and able 
 men feleded to fill the fubordinate offices ; there 
 is ftill to my mind a want of fomething which I 
 think may be noticed in all Governments of mo- 
 dern times, and that is, a power of attradting 
 from time to time frefh ability and frefh views, 
 and putting the department in reafonable com- 
 munication with the world about it. I believe 
 that what I am going to fay is new, and being 
 new and therefore unpra6lifed, it is liable to the 
 objedion of not being pradicable. I am fure, 
 however, that the deficiency I have noticed does 
 exifi:, that it will not be fupplied by Committees 
 of the Legiflative body, nor even by perma- 
 nent commiffions ; and therefore any way of 
 attempting to fupply this deficiency may at leafl; 
 deferve attention. What is wanted is to bring 
 more intelledlual power within command of the
 
 i64 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 heads of departments, and moreover that this 
 power fhould neither be eHcited in a hoftile man- 
 ner, nor on the other hand that it fhould be too 
 fubfervient. It fhould rather be attainable with- 
 out the walls of an office than within. It fhould 
 be at hand for a minifler ; but it fhould not be too 
 clofely mixed up with ordinary official life. The 
 plan then is this, that there fhould be gradually 
 formed, in connexion with the two or three firfl 
 departments of the ftate, a body of able men not 
 bound down to regular official employment, but 
 who fhould be eligible for fpecial purpofes — for 
 the minifler to devife with, to confult, to be in- 
 formed by. There will be a likelihood of freer 
 range of thought and more enterprife amongft fuch 
 men than amongft thofe uniformly engaged in 
 official duty. They would be of the nature of • 
 Counfellors to a Department, without forming 
 the check and hindrance that a council would be. 
 It can hardly be doubted that it would often be an 
 immenfe advantage to a minifler, to be able to 
 call in a man of known ability, converfant with 
 the department and yet not much tied by it, 
 to hear his opinion upon fome difficult difpute 
 (from the colonies for inflance) in which both the 
 minifler and his fubordinates may be liable to err
 
 GOVERNMENT. 165 
 
 from their very knowledge of the parties. Then, 
 again, what a gain it would be to place on this ftaff 
 men of long ftanding in the colonies who had re- 
 turned to pafs the remainder of their lives here, of 
 whofe experience the minifter might well avail 
 himfelf. This fame body would give the minifter 
 a means of choofing official men fuch as has never 
 been devifed. It fhould not have any colledlive 
 power. Parliament is fufficient check upon any 
 minifter. In modern times minifters want ftrength 
 more than reftraint. 
 
 Having treated, though neceftarily with great 
 brevity, of the form, the objeds, and the mode 
 and means of government, I come now to what 
 is perhaps the moft important part of the fub- 
 jed : namely, how the governed ought to regard 
 government. People forget, when they talk of 
 government as a thing apart from themfelves, 
 how large a portion of the motive force of govern- 
 ment they are themfelves, and what duties therefore 
 are incumbent upon them. Now, he who does 
 not bring into government, whether as governor 
 or fubjed, fome religious feeling, by which I do 
 not mean anything that he may find exclufively 
 in the church of England, or the church of Rome,
 
 i66 GOVERNMEN'T. 
 
 or any other church in the world, but who does 
 not fulfil his duties to liis fellow man from fome 
 higher motive than expediency or the intention 
 to fulfil the conditions of fome imaginary fecial 
 contra6l, is likely to make but an indifferent go- 
 vernor or an indifferent fubjed. It is from the 
 abfence of this pious feeling that all fyftems of 
 government which are merely the creations of 
 logic, (of which an Abbe Sieyes can make two 
 in a morning) are fo liable to be upfet, per- 
 haps as fpeedily as they are made. You talk of 
 rights, duties, powers, checks, counter-checks, 
 citizenfhip, patriotifm, and get up all the appa- 
 ratus of government, and yet it breaks down 
 with next to no weight upon it. And why ^ 
 " Each man," as the Poet Thomfon faid when 
 his friend wanted him to marry fome lady of 
 many charms and merits, but who had not the 
 charm of being lovable in the poet's eyes, " Each 
 '^ man has an uncontrolable imagination of his 
 " own." So, as regards thefe quickly-made fyftems 
 of government, in which no appeal is made to 
 anything above humanity, a man fays, This may 
 be all very well, but it is a fcheme that does not 
 fuit me ; I am not your creature ; and he forth- 
 with fets to work to demolifh a fcheme or form 
 of government which has not the leaft divinity in
 
 GOVERNiMENT. 167 
 
 his eyes ; which does not fuit his " uncontrolable 
 " imagination." 
 
 But men ought to be fo brought up as to look 
 with a reverent eye upon the civil ordinances of 
 life. Almoft the greateft diftindion between wife 
 and good men and the thoughtlefs and recklefs 
 is, that the former are ever anxious to get the 
 utmoft good out of all that is around them. 
 They fee that what with the difficulty occafioned 
 by the acute diforders of the world, fuch as fail- 
 ing harvefts, wars, peftilences — and alfo by the 
 chronic complaints, namely, the daily troubles 
 and diftreffes of life, government is a very ferious 
 matter, and they learn to regard it religioufly. 
 They fee, or perhaps feel more than fee, that 
 withal there is a fpirit of beneficence and order 
 throughout creation, and they are confcious that 
 they are adling in confonance with the great laws 
 of the univerfe and the will of their maker in en- 
 deavouring to make human affairs go on well and 
 wifely. This reference to fomething above them 
 and beyond them gives earneftnefs to their wifh 
 to improve civil inftitutions, takes away reckleff- 
 nefs in doing fo, repreffes felfifhnefs, eftablifhes 
 juftice and reproves felf-will. Without piety 
 there will be no good government. 
 
 In free countries, (and fince conftitutional modes
 
 i68 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of government are fpreading, more countries will 
 come under the denomination of free), a large 
 body of the people will be required to adt in a 
 fpirit of piety, not only in regard to their duties 
 as fubjeds, but as governors ; for with them refts 
 the choice of reprefentatives. It becomes incum- 
 bent upon them to feek out wife and good men to 
 reprefent them, always remembering that the wifeft 
 and beft will have to be fought for, and that they 
 will be the leaft likely to fall in at once with all 
 the prejudices of their conftituents. In ancient 
 days, cities of the Roman Empire would pray to 
 be allowed to build a temple to the reigning em- 
 peror. Not giving way to impulfes of fervility, 
 but anxious to take a noble part in imperial tranf- 
 a6tions, in dignifying the empire to which they 
 belong. Cities have now an opportunity of doing 
 fo by nominating men of worth to reprefent them. 
 If exclufively led by local influences, yielding to 
 clamour, fhowing no confidence in what is great, 
 appreciating no worth that will not fquare exadly 
 with their prefent views, allured by foolifli, glit- 
 tering, or bitter words, or fl:ill worfe if bafely 
 bought by money, reprefentative bodies entruft 
 great fundions to unworthy perfons, let them no 
 longer complain of any doings of the Imperial go-
 
 GOVERNMENT. 169 
 
 vernment or expedt that their grofs delinquency 
 in the early ftages of the 'formation of govern- 
 ment will fomehow or other be remedied before 
 the fuperftrudlure is completed ; that what is cor- 
 rupt in its firft growth is to be pure in its full- 
 blown maturity ; that Cedars of Lebanon will be 
 developed from fungi on the wall. 
 
 Ellesmere. I wifh you could give a volume to this 
 fubjedt ; but no — on fecond thoughts I do not. Your 
 volume might be treated with more refpedl than an effay, 
 but would be put afide with other folemn works upon 
 the fubje£l, whereas the eflay has fome chance of being 
 read. It was only the other day that I was reading in 
 one of Hallam's books an account of the works of fome 
 writer on government, and they feemed to me to be ad- 
 mirably fitted for the prefent day as well as for all time, 
 but the author's name was one I had never heard of be- 
 fore, and the treatife being a laborious and learned one will 
 of courfe remain unknown to the generality of people. 
 And then again, if you were to write a book you would 
 begin to think how to fill it up inftead of ftudying, as 
 in an eflay, how to contrail to the uttermoft what you 
 have to fay.
 
 170 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I thoroughly approve of what you have 
 faid about the fpirit in which government is to be re- 
 garded by both the governors and the governed. 
 
 Ellesmere. The pith of that is the advice to elec- 
 tors. The fault in the prefent day is not that popular 
 feeling is not fufficiently reprefented, but that the intel- 
 le6l of the country is not. Political education is, in 
 comparifon with other branches of education, highly de- 
 veloped here. Confider the manner in which newfpa- 
 pers are condu6led. How admirably on the whole they 
 (I fpealc of them as if they were perfons) have behaved 
 throughout thefe trying times. It were to be wifhed 
 that more of the ftatefman-lilce ability which is rife in 
 the country fhould find its way into parliament. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Or that minifters were more indepen- 
 dent of parliament, at leaft in the choice of official 
 men. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I am fure that the ordeal which men 
 have to go through in order to become members of par- 
 liament, or|to continue fuch, is of a kind which muffc 
 be peculiarly offenfive to fome of the minds we fhould 
 moft like to fee mixed up with public affairs. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, of courfe ; that is one of the 
 drawbacks upon reprefentative government. The evil 
 might be mitigated though by creating a certain number 
 of official feats in parliament — fay for the firft and 
 fecond office in each department. Some of the fitted 
 men to be liftened to, are amongfl: thofe who have 
 neither the leifure, the monev, nor the temperament, to
 
 GOVERNMENT. 171 
 
 cultivate a conftituency. The plan of ex-officio feats 
 would greatly add to the independence of public men. 
 
 Ellesmere. It is by no means a new fuggeftion. 
 
 MiLVERTON. A fuggeftion may be ever fo old ; but 
 it is not exhaufted, until it is afted upon, or reje6led on 
 fufficient reafon. 
 
 Ellesmere. I think minifters of late years have been 
 too much afraid of parliament. I believe if they would 
 attempt lefs in the way of legiflation, prepare what they 
 do intend to do with great care, and infift upon carrying 
 out their intentions, things would get on much better. 
 
 But let me tell you a ftory. My friend — , the great 
 traveller, was lately defcribing to me the polity, if fo it 
 may be called, of a nation that lives fomewhere between 
 fome mountains and fome feas, I forget where, but the 
 boys at the neareft national fchool would be able to tell 
 you if you only gave them one or two fails to go upon. 
 Well, my friend tells me that v/hen anything of political 
 intereft occurs amongft this people (whofe name I have 
 forgotten) everything that is foolifli or wife,fkind or un- 
 charitable, true or falfe, is allowed to be faid upon it in 
 all parts of the nation ; then throughout their territory 
 thefe favages colledt together in little knots, dance and 
 howl and rave and drefs themfelves in ribbons. From thefe 
 minor aftemblages they fele£t two or three individuals, 
 my friend could not make out for what reafon, but you 
 know how difficult it is to underftand a foreign people's 
 ways. Sometimes he thought it was for their fatnefs, 
 fometimes for their youth and innocence, fometimes the
 
 172 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 choice appeared to be conne<Sled with the favourite 
 liquor of the country ; there feemed to be no rule of 
 any kind. Thefe individuals for whatever reafon chofen, 
 were then elevated upon little ftages, which appeared to 
 have the effe£l of making them talk wildly and at ran- 
 dom J and my friend conjeitured, that as we fay here " in 
 " vino Veritas," fo there it was held, that upon thefe ftages 
 whatever folly was in a man was fure to come out of 
 him. One or two of thefe exalted individuals were 
 then chofen, it feemed to be for a quality that we fliould 
 much approve in our fchoolboys, for as he obferved, thofe 
 were chiefly favoured who could repeat like a leffon learnt 
 by heart moft quickly and with moft alacrity the cries ut- 
 tered by the howling multitudes around them. All the 
 individuals thus chofen were brought into a large booth 
 furrounded by feveral fmaller ones. Then fome very odd 
 ceremonies took place, almoft of a mufical kind. One of 
 the people in the big booth would get up and fay fomething, 
 as my friend conjectured, about the matter in hand ; 
 then another faid the fame thing with more words and a 
 little ftammering ; a third repeated the fame thing with 
 more words and more confufion ; and, perhaps, intro- 
 duced fome new fayings of his own which, however, had 
 nothing to do with the queftion and at which they all 
 laughed. There appeared to be a chorus and an anti- 
 chorus, each having its peculiar tune. So the clamour 
 would go on, like an air with many variations, for days, 
 weeks, months, years, varied by occafional dancings in 
 and out from the large booth to the fmall ones, which
 
 GOVERNMENT. 173 
 
 feemed to be a very exciting bufinefs. At lafl when the 
 fubje6l had been danced upon and fung about till they 
 were tired, fomething was done or fomething was agreed 
 not to be done. Very frequently a fudden gravity or 
 wifdom, (the refult my friend thought of the weather) 
 would fall upon the people generally and upon the fmall 
 fedion of it in the great booth ; and then they ceafed 
 their finging and dancing, embraced one another, faid 
 they were of one mind, and one and all joined in bearing 
 out with pomp to the great tombs of the nation the dead 
 body of fome wife refolve which they might have carried 
 into efFe61: long ago, and which might have been of great 
 ufe to them. 
 
 But my friend faid they feemed to be a contented 
 people, for at leaft no man amongft them could fay that 
 his folly had not had a hearing. 
 
 This is a ftrange ftory ; but travellers do tell ftrange 
 ftories. 
 
 MiLVERTON. You may ridicule anything you know, 
 Ellefmere. 
 
 Ellesmere. How very jealous thefe writers are ! 
 nobody's fables are to be admitted but their own or 
 what is like their own. If my narrative had been a lit- 
 tle more delicate and refined, and not told in my broad 
 coarfe way, but in reality a great deal more fevere, Mil- 
 verton would have faid it was very clever and very ap- 
 propriate. 
 
 MiLVERTON. You would make out all our proceed- 
 ings to be fuch folly, whereas we know that really very
 
 174 governmp:nt. 
 
 great and foltd improvements in legiflation have been ef- 
 fected in the laft half century. What I am at prefent 
 afraid of is, left a certain vulgarity of political thinking 
 fliould prevail. That vv^ord vulgarity is rather vague, 
 but will exprefs to you what I mean ; that kind of 
 thinking or feeling which induces men to facrifice the 
 future and obliterate the paft for the fake of the prefent; 
 which defpifes all that is chivalrous, recognizes no indi- 
 rect advantages, does not conceive that there may be a 
 national foul as well as a national ftomach, would wil- 
 lingly fee a colony drift away if it could not be proved to 
 have returned five per cent in hard cafh on the outlay of 
 the mother country. This vulgarity of thinking is rami- 
 fied in various dire£lions, and will appear in the way of 
 difcuffing things as well as in the conclufions arrived at. 
 
 Now I believe that vulgarity is generally as much op- 
 pofed to wifdom as it is to good tafte. 
 
 Ellesmere. Give me your hand : I forgive you for 
 your depreciation of my traveller's ftory in confideration 
 of that laft fentence of yours : and I will even be auda- 
 cious enough to add another claufe to the aphorifm. 
 Vulgarity is generally as much oppofed to wifdom as it 
 is to good tafte ; and good tafte is too indolent to take 
 the trouble of proving the near relationfliip between 
 herfelf and wifdom. 
 
 Lucy. May I go back to the travels of Mr. Ellef- 
 mere's friend and afk whether there was anything elfe 
 talked in thefe booths befides politics ? 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, Mifs Daylmer. This favage tribe
 
 GOVERNMENT. 175 
 
 was not fo fupremely happy but that they had law fuits 
 fometimes to make them happier. 
 
 MiLVERTON. That reminds me of faying that I think 
 perhaps the greateft legal reforms are to be obtained by of- 
 ficial reforms. As things now are, the court of Chancery, 
 faving your prefence, Ellefmere, is the thing moft refem- 
 bling the Holy Office of former times. It is the Pro- 
 teftant Inquifition, only that, inftead of confining its 
 viftims in dungeons, it allows them to go about for a 
 time, juft as if they were not ruined, but they know 
 better. 
 
 Ellesmere. I (hall thwart your intention of drag- 
 ging me into a defence of the Court of Chancery by 
 going back to your projeiled official reform, or rather 
 official addition — your imaginary Council. Will they 
 coft any thing, thefe gentlemen ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Certainly, for you cannot rely upon 
 work that is given : but, coft what it will, let us be 
 well governed. The general fatisfaition arifing from 
 wife condu6l in the executive is almoft inappreciable in 
 money. A hundred thoufand a year more fpent in get- 
 ting head-work done for the ftate would probably be 
 moft economical expenditure. 
 
 Ellesmerew Yes I agree to that. Let me afk an- 
 other queftion. Are thefe Councillors to be known ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, as well known as the under Se- 
 cretaries and Clerks of the departments. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well now I will tell you my opinion. 
 The fcheme I think is a good one — too good to be car-
 
 176 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ried into effefl:. The Minifter who fhould propofe it 
 would be liable to be told he had all manner of mean 
 and felfifli ends in view, and that would fcare moft pub- 
 lic men. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I can only fay, it ought not. Any man 
 who does underftand at all the queftion of oiEcial re- 
 form ought to make a point of bringing forward his 
 views, if only from the confideration that thefe fubjedls 
 will always lack popular breezes. 
 
 Ellesmere. Reverting to the general fubjeft, Mil- 
 verton, I am not fure that the eflay does not tend too 
 much to bureauocracy. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No, indeed ! This bufy, buftling, ener- 
 getic England is the laft place where there is any danger 
 of bureauocracy, as you call it : and we often do want 
 fome moulding power to put all this energy into form. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, I believe no harm would come 
 from ftrengthening the executive intellecflually. If we 
 found official people riding us with too ftiarp a curb, we 
 fhould foon throw them over our heads. And it is a 
 great grievance not to have things well adminiftered. 
 There is a capital paflage in one of Sir Francis Pal- 
 grave's books faying, how mal-adminiftration in little 
 things forms the current of public difcontents. I forget 
 the words. 
 
 MiLVERTON. There is fomething I wanted to fay in 
 the EfTay, but I did not fee how to bring it in — and I 
 am not fure that I can fully explain myfelf even to you. 
 I (hould like to introduce more of the feeling of perfon-
 
 GOVERNMENT. 177 
 
 ality in the executive. Perfonality is not the word per- 
 haps ; but you know what I mean. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, I have fome dim notion. You 
 told us vou would have a ftate confcience. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, but this does not, of neceffity, de- 
 clare that a ftate muft hold certain theological tenets 
 and enforce them by bayonets, teft acSbs, or other ex- 
 treme modes of reafoning. As a land-owner, in the go- 
 vernment of a private eftate on which perfons of different 
 religions dwell together, may govern equitably, without at 
 the fame time ceafmg to uphold his own opinions by 
 fair means, fo may a ftate. But, at any rate, if the idea 
 of a ftate is not to convey a diftindl intelledlual being, it 
 ftiould have a diftindl moral being. It fliould give us 
 the idea of the beft man of that day and country, if not 
 of the beft theologian. Where the executive differs 
 from law, is in its pofleffing perfonality. It is not an 
 immoveable fcientific apparatus, but reprefents flefli and 
 blood, and is flefti and blood. A good executive officer 
 feels in all he does that he is fulfilling a part, however 
 fmall, of the funilions of a creature that has rights and 
 duties. He will not defraud it, nor fuffer it to defraud 
 others. A monarchy helps to keep this perfonality be- 
 fore us. 
 
 The idea of a confcience belonging to bodies of men 
 has been ridiculed — and no wonder, confidering what 
 we have known men do in their collective capacity 
 throughout all ages. But it means fimply this, that du- 
 ties follow power. A railway board has to fatisfy its 
 
 2 N
 
 lyS GOVERNMENT. 
 
 confcience refpeding the matters which it has taken in 
 hand. 
 
 Ellesmere. What do you fay, Dunsford, to all this ? 
 You are fure, though, to be glad of getting in a con- 
 fcience, though but a ftate one. 
 
 Dunsford. I have felt all along out of my depth, 
 having no experience in any of thefe matters. But Mil- 
 verton's views feem to me to be likely to enfure more 
 humanity in adminiftration. 
 
 Ellesmere. But now, Milverton, I wifh, inftead of 
 indulging us with all manner of generalities about ftate 
 confciences and fuch things, you would give us fome of 
 the refults of your own experience of official life. You 
 often talk about what a fad thing it is that men fhould 
 be fubdued by their trade or calling ; but, I obferve, your 
 fhort experience of official life has imprefled upon you 
 an alarming amount of official cautioufnefs. You very 
 rarely talk about the men you muft have obferved or 
 their ways of bufmefs : all this with you is " alta mente 
 " repoftum," merely coming out in aphorifms and dark 
 fayings of various kinds. 
 
 Milverton. Well, I will tell you what ftruck me moft 
 in official life — the fmgular honefty and good intention 
 with which it is carried on in England. I do not mean 
 merely the common honefty of not betraying fecrets and 
 not feeking after finifter purpofes — that merit official 
 people fhare with bankers, clerks and the mercantile 
 community in general, whofe honefty is fomething won- 
 derful — but I mean the lefs obvious honefty of being
 
 GOVERNMENT. 179 
 
 careful that things fhould be fairly confidered and that 
 right fhould be done. I believe, and with fome expe- 
 rience of the fubjedl, that if the private letter-books of 
 moft minifters of modern times could be laid open to 
 the public, containing copies of thofe letters marked 
 " private and confidential," the public would foon throw 
 them down in difguft as unreadable, from their not con- 
 taining anything wrong or fcandalous, and therefore not 
 being at all amufing. Where I do think we may find 
 fome fault, as I have faid before, is in the want of courage 
 in official men. You fee the ordeal they have to undergo 
 from the Prefs and Parliament is fuch, that we, the pub- 
 lic, have long ago furmounted the danger of minifters 
 doing anything fraudulent or unconftitutional ; now our 
 fear ought to be, left they fhould be too much afraid of 
 us to undertake what they think right. It is the fame 
 in dealing with public as with private agents. If you 
 look too fharply after them, they will endeavour to ef- 
 cape your blame rather than to do your bufinefs. Of 
 courfe there will be noble exceptions to this, but fuch 
 will be the general tendency. 
 
 Ellesmere. I really believe you would have us 
 imagine that ftatefmen and official men are more honeft 
 than lawyers. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No — not exa61:ly that — but their (the 
 ftatefmen's) bufinefs is to find out what is right and fer- 
 viceable — not what can be beft faid or done for one fide. 
 The training is in that refpecSl a good one for the mind. 
 
 Ellesmere. And now, Mifs Daylmer, we have heard
 
 i8o GOVERNMENT. 
 
 next to nothing from you about government. Ah, you 
 women are too wife to write or talk about what you 
 know beft how to pradife. Suppofe we were writing a 
 formal eflay on feminine government, how Ihould we 
 enumerate the means at the difpofal of government. I 
 fhould fay, Poutings, fullennefs, tears, dancing with fome 
 one elfe, judicious faintings, then half fmiles half tears, 
 loving looks — thefe things perpetually and rapidly fuc- 
 ceeding one another — fo that men's hearts would be 
 harder than Alpine rocks if they could withftand fuch 
 alternations of vinegar and funfhine. 
 
 Lucy. What we fhould need moft would be fenfible 
 men for us to have to manage, which feems alfo, if I 
 make out the eflay, to be the greateft difficulty for your 
 grand doings in government as for our little ones. 
 
 DuNSFORD. As Ellefmere and Lucy have begun to 
 talk nonfenfe, Milverton, I think we may confider the 
 converfation concluded and break up our fitting. 
 
 Ellesmere. No, I wanted to fay fomething about 
 honours. I quite agree with what you faid about 
 them, Milverton ; but I want to fliow you the reafon 
 why they are fo much defired in all ages. It occurred 
 to me for the firft time while you were reading. Men 
 defire marks of honour for themfelves, not to make a 
 noife in the world and to be pointed out by the fingers 
 of the pafl'ers-by, fo much as in order to ftiow their pri- 
 vate friends that they are not fuch fools as thefe friends 
 fay they are, and to quell domeflic malignity. 
 
 Milverton. It is not malignity, Ellefmere ; at leaft
 
 GOVERNMENT. i8i 
 
 very often not. It is frequently mere ignorance. If you 
 had a younger brother, for inftance, of great mufical ta- 
 lents, his gaining any honour or reward for their exercife 
 would prove to you the exiftence of thofe talents in a 
 way which you would never have arrived at for yourfelf. 
 Your refpedt for him would probably be increafed, as 
 you found it was agreed upon by thofe who fliould know, 
 that he could do fomething well. Honours, you fee, not 
 only reward merit, but declare its exiftence. 
 
 Ellesmere. I fuppofe you are right : at any rate you 
 will be able to outvote me, for I can fee you have Dunf- 
 ford and Mifs Daylmer on your fide. But let us leave 
 off now talking about government, and have a walk. 
 Thank goodnefs I have not many perfons to govern — 
 only myfelf and my clerk. The former though often 
 contrives to give me a great deal of trouble.
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 As the following effays are all upon the fame fub- 
 jeft, I bring them together, although they were 
 not read in the fame place or in the fame year, 
 as will be feen ; and, indeed, did not always fol- 
 low in the order in which I have placed them. 
 
 A fhort time after our laft reading, Milverton 
 mentioned that he fhould be ready to read fome- 
 thing more to us, and intimated that it would be 
 of a graver charafter than what we had been ufed 
 to hear of late from him. Notwithftanding the 
 threatened gravity, Lucy begged me to let her 
 accompany me ; and Ellefmere did not refufe to 
 attend. We met at our accuftomed place in 
 Milverton's garden ; and, after the ufual greetings, 
 Ellefmere thus began. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, Mifs Lucy, and fo you are here, 
 too. What courage there is in the female breaft ! Did 
 not Milverton inform you that he was going to tax our
 
 i84 SLAVERY. 
 
 patience largely ? What is your idea now of a grave 
 fubjea ? 
 
 Lucy. One that fhould make even Mr. Ellefmere in 
 earneft, as diftinguiflied from a dull fubje£l M^hich would 
 only make him more fond of gibing and more provok- 
 ingly fevere. 
 
 Ellesmere. Fair maiden, your remarks are unplea- 
 fantly clever ; and if you fay anything more of the fame 
 kind this morning, I will give out that you are a wit, a 
 ruinous charadler, I can tell you, to affix to a young lady 
 in her teens. 
 
 Lucy. Pray do not, fir ; I am all fubmiffion for the 
 future. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I do not know, Lucy, whether my 
 fubjedt will come under your definition ; however, I 
 will not keep you any longer in fufpenfe, — Slavery is 
 the fubjedl. 
 
 Ellesmere. The very one I guefTed and had juft 
 whifpered in Dunsford's ear (he had done fo). You 
 fee I had given a fhrewd look at your book-fhelves, and 
 watched the additions from time to time. Then the 
 problem was, to fee what one fubjecl would fulfil the 
 requifite conditions, and account for a man not utterly 
 irrational reading books of travel, geography, books 
 about the different races of mankind, pamphlets upon 
 fugar, blue books on the Weft Indies, and old Spanifli 
 chronicles. And by a procefs of combination and elimi- 
 nation, which, if I were to work it out on paper, would 
 occupy a notable place in the ninth edition, ninth is it
 
 SLAVERY. 185 
 
 not (the rogue knew that I was only preparing a fecond) 
 of Dunsford's work on the fecond part of Algebra, I 
 found out your fubje6t. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Does it frighten you ? 
 
 Ellesmere. No, not a bit — a fine extent of dark 
 ground to work our picture of life upon. Befides, I 
 have never read anything about it worth reading. I do 
 not fpeak contemptuoufly : there may be good books 
 upon the fubjecSl, but I have never feen them. And I 
 remember, too, having routed up the matter a good deal 
 for the " compulfory manumiflion" cafe. A great cafe 
 that ; nearly the greateft I ever was in. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I am very glad indeed that you take fo 
 kindly to the fubjedl. I was afraid I fhould have a good 
 deal of coaxing and driving to get you over the firft 
 ftart, as with a young horfe. 
 
 Ellesmere. Confidering what I have gone through 
 in the way of liftening to efTays of yours : how attentive 
 I have always been when you have fat down there and 
 told me that Virtue was a fine thing, I do not think you 
 can fairly compare me to a young horfe, but rather to 
 one who has carried many a dull load in a moft good- 
 natured, pack-horfe fafhion. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Dull the load I am about to fhare with 
 you is not : fad to the uttermoft it is. I have of late 
 been looking with fome care into the hiftory of Slavery, 
 pondering over fome of thofe Spanifh tomes which had 
 not efcaped your obfervant eye, Ellefmere ; and the 
 ftories they tell arc much darker and fadder, I think, even
 
 i86 SLAVERY. 
 
 than the ufual run of hiftory. I have not been able to 
 efcape their influence, after laying them afide. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Yes ; I have noticed you have not been 
 very converfable lately. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Hovi^ever, I had the other day a Arrange 
 dream or fancy which feemed an anfwer to fome of my 
 troubled queftionings. 
 
 Ellesmere. I fee in thefe wild parts of the country 
 the love of the marvellous ftill abides. Come, let us 
 hear about the dream. Like all people who have any- 
 thing ftrange to tell, you are longing to tell it, I can fee. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I will then. There is a beautiful crea- 
 ture haunts thefe hills; whether to call it infedl, fly, or 
 moth, I hardly know j but it is about fo long, has a flen- 
 der body which two tranfparent blue wings arch over, 
 like a tent, and the delicate feelers form the cordage of 
 the tent. This creature, (I believe it to be always the 
 fame one,) comes often when I light my lamp, and funs 
 itfelf in the light thrown by the lamp upon the white 
 wall near. It never falls with a whiz into the flame, 
 like others of its winged tribe, but contentedly repofes 
 on its lamp-warmed fpot. 
 
 Ellesmere. This will be a night-mare ftory. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Two or three days ago, I was much 
 tired, and began to fet about my work very liflrlefsly, but 
 fpurring myfelf up to it, at laft made a beginning. I 
 was bufy with an account of wars, and deflruilions, and 
 maflacres ; and I dare fay, occafionally dropped fome 
 words which fhowed what I was thinking of. My pa-
 
 SLAVERY. 187 
 
 tient blue-coloured friend had, I remember, taken her 
 ftation on the wall when I firft fat down. I thought 
 how we built our palaces and formed our pleafure- 
 gardens on the ruins of the paft ; and what part thofe 
 unfortunate men, or nations, might ftill have in our 
 gains, upon whom the advance of human fociety feems 
 to have been worked out with efpecial figns of agony 
 and terror. Pondering thefe things, I fuppofe I flept ; 
 at any rate, the tented moth faid fuddenly to me with a 
 clear crifp voice, founding as if the words came through 
 the fineft net-work. " Large, fad-coloured creature, I 
 " could fpeak to you of many things not to be found 
 " in thofe dark characters you reft upon." 
 
 " Beautiful daughter of a day," I anfwered, "you are 
 " pleafed to mock me, but fo you fpeak with that fweet 
 " voice, fpeak on." 
 
 " Say, daughter of long ages, as well as daughter of 
 " a day," fhe, ruftling, replied ; " for it is not with us as 
 " with you : at our birth the experience and the know- 
 " ledge of our infe6l parents and of their parents come 
 " to us at once : we look back upon a web of continuous 
 " life which your hiftories only give you names about." 
 
 " This, then, is their ' inftindl,' " I faid to myfelf, 
 but would not fay it to her ; thinking, in the ftrangc 
 way of reafoning that goes on in dreams, that {he would 
 not underftand the word, " inftindl." 
 
 She continued, " nor are we the only creatures gifted 
 " with this life on life : your large-fhadowed race won- 
 " ders to fee an animal or bird fondly attach itfclf to this
 
 (( 
 
 i88 SLAVERY. 
 
 " man, not alluring it, and fly the other, offering all it 
 *' wifhes : but they know the lineage of thofe who have 
 *' loved their race : a hoft of loving little words and 
 *' deeds and pleafant memories attend the offspring of 
 
 fuch a race. Nay, I myfelf have feen what your poets 
 
 fcarcely dare to feign, the inferior animal feek injury 
 " to itfelf at the hands of one of you men, to ftop his 
 *' rapid courfe to irredeemable evil, hoping to detain him 
 '' by pity of its own diftrefs." 
 
 " Forgive the queftion, lady-moth," I afked, *' but 
 " was the facrifice fuccefsful ? " 
 
 " The race," fhe faid, " that walks upright and cafts 
 *' large fhadows is as our coarfer brethren the common 
 *' moths, borrowing fmall wifdom fave from experience, 
 " nor much from that. 
 
 " But liften to me of the part. For thofe dark days 
 " dimly pointed out before you on that page, I look 
 *' along the line of anceftral memories, and feel that I 
 *' was there myfelf, not as in thefe gentle climes, foft- 
 " coloured, but dufky, and having fomething of the 
 " fiercenefs of the fun that bred me there. Faft have 
 " I flown before the heated blaft of fome burnt Indian 
 " village, rolling towards the woods ; ftealthily have I 
 " flitted round the trembling torch borne by the falfe 
 " Indian maid coming to warn her Spanifh lover that 
 
 her people gathered even now upon their deftroyers ; 
 
 and quietly, as at this moment, have I bafked in the 
 
 light of the lamp where the Spanifh captain fat in his 
 ' tent writing to his fovereign to tell him how the In-
 
 SLAVERY. 189 
 
 " dians would not love the Chriftian faith — and often 
 " fince have I fat by lamps making the pale ftudent's 
 " face look paler, and heard them murmuring fuch 
 " thoughts as yours." 
 
 " Gracious lady-moth of many ages," I interrupted, 
 " tell me of thefe things — fpeak to me more." 
 
 " I fhow^ed thee," flie replied, " that other creatures 
 " were bound by links thou didft not dream of; and 
 " feemeth it not to thee, there may be fome bond of love 
 " and knowledge throughout thy race, the race that 
 " choofes ; fomething that makes the prefent a brother- 
 " hood ; the future a linked hope ; the paft an endlefs 
 *' pity, poured by the whole race like balfam on the 
 " wounds and forrows of thofe who bled and fufFered 
 " for it moft : and compared to which prefent human 
 " fympathy is but as nothing." 
 
 And as (he fpoke with eagernefs, a light quivering 
 motion ran along her wings, as upon a tent ftirred by 
 the firft breeze before fun-rife. I looked more earneftly 
 at her, and awoke. She feemed to me as ufual, faft- 
 ened to the wall in her quiet way. I began my work 
 again. Many times I looked up from it, but fhe fat 
 there unmoved : and before I had finiflied, fhe was 
 gone. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I afllire you, Ellefmere, our friend here 
 is highly favoured ; I have rarely feen this beautiful in- 
 fe£t which, as I dare fay you know, is of the fpecies — 
 
 MiLVERTON. Forgive me for interrupting you, Dunf- 
 ford ; but pleafe do not tell me the name. I do not
 
 190 SLAVERY. 
 
 want to know it. It will be fome harfli-founding fcien- 
 tific name, I dare fay ; but if I only aflbciate in thought 
 fuch a name with her beautiful prefence, fhe may never 
 bafk near me any more. 
 
 Ellesmere. You may tell me the name, Dunsford. 
 The infecSts never talk to me. 
 
 Lucy. 
 
 " In vain, through every changeful year, 
 " Did Nature lead him as before j 
 " A primrofe by a river's brim 
 " A yellow primrofe was to him, 
 " And it was nothing more." 
 
 MiLVERTON. I muft now begin. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, that formidable roll of paper 
 warns us that we muft not talk much before the read- a 
 ing, if we mean to have any difcuflion afterwards. 
 
 Milverton then read the follov^ing efTay. 
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 )HERE are many modes of dividing 
 this fubjedl. Slavery might be treated 
 hiftorically, tracing it from the earlieft 
 ages through the various nations in which it has 
 exifted, and which it has tended to deftroy. As 
 the general polity of Judea was unlike that of
 
 SLAVERY. 191 
 
 Greece ; and that of Greece unlike that of Rome ; 
 fo the ftate of flavery was widely different in each 
 of thefe nations. In modern times, too, flavery 
 prefents various afpe6ls, according to the nation 
 in which it is found. The flavery amongfl the 
 Africans themfelves is not like the flavery amongft 
 civilized men. Brazilian flavery mufl differ in 
 many refpedls from North American ; that of the 
 Eaflern from that of the Weftern world. 
 
 The befl modes moreover of dealing with fla- 
 very mufl largely differ in different places : and 
 in truth each nation where flavery exifts, requires 
 the fubjeft to be treated with a view to the local 
 and hiflorical peculiarities of flavery in that na- 
 tion. 
 
 Again, the fubje6l might be treated as one of 
 political economy ; and doubtlefs this prefents 
 one of its important afpeds. Or, it might be 
 confidered in reference to political welfare gene- 
 rally, and looked at mainly in its effedts on na- 
 tional well-being. 
 
 1 prefer dividing the fubjeft in what may be 
 deemed an arbitrary method, but one which 
 might naturally be adopted in addreffmg an indi- 
 vidual — an individual flave-owner for inflance. 
 I fhall endeavour to fhow that flavery is cruel.
 
 192 SLAVERY. 
 
 needlefs, unauthorized, mlfchievous to mailer as 
 well as flave ; that there are no races in refped: 
 to which the preceding propofitions do not apply ; 
 and, finally, that flaverycan be done away. If thefe 
 things can be fhown to any ilave-owner, I think 
 he ought to liften, and I think ^he will. After 
 all, men are fwayed by argument : they do ac- 
 knowledge the fupreme authority of reafon. It 
 may be faid — look at the courfe of the world : 
 where is your force of reafon there ? I anfwer, 
 the truths of reafon are darkened by fophifm, 
 blunted by exaggeration, and when " immerfed in 
 " matter," as they muft be in dealing with human 
 affairs, there is a hazinefs and many-fidednefs 
 about them which render them very hard to ap- 
 prehend. But bring them well out, and men 
 muft obey them. Self-intereft, paffion, pride, 
 everything goes down ultimately before found 
 reafoning. You may deny reafon : you may 
 deny the Sun. You cannot, however, even when 
 blind, efcape the genial influence of either. 
 Hence the firft of all things, in a great caufe, is 
 to reafon it out well. When it is fecurely rea- 
 foned, it is gained. There remains much to be 
 done by the head and by the hand, with the 
 tongue and with the pen ; and there may be many
 
 SLAVERY. 193 
 
 partial iffues of fuccefs and defeat : but fuperlor 
 intelligences, if fuch regard mortal affairs, would 
 know that the work was, fpiritually fpeaking, 
 done. Now I do not mean to magnify any lite- 
 rary attempt in this matter, much lefs my own, 
 but fimply to ftate my convidion of how the 
 work is to be done. Only by profound and ear- 
 neft inveftigation, which will lead in writing or 
 a6lion to enlightened and earneft endeavour. The 
 unfpeakable mifery which has been caufed by par- 
 tial and purblind efforts in the caufe of flavery, 
 makes one approach this fubjed with a feeling of 
 awe, left one fhould be adding any more crude 
 ideas, to be worked out in pradical fufFering up- 
 on other people. 
 
 Philanthropy, often as blind as allegorical 
 Juftice, can feldom make a fingle right ftep with- 
 out the guidance of wide-feeing thoughtfulnefs. 
 It may hereafter be proved that England has 
 occafionally committed great errors of judgment 
 in her endeavours to put down flavery and the 
 flave trade. Yet, even if it fhould be fo, we 
 muft not forget that the concern felt among the 
 Britifli people for the queftion of flavery, has 
 doubtlefs been one of the main fupports to all 
 philanthropic endeavour in the matter. This 
 
 2 o
 
 194 SLAVERY. 
 
 concern may often have been wrong diredled for 
 a time ; but, without it, all interefl in the fubjedl 
 might have died away. Wifhing that, through- 
 out Chriftendom, this intereft may approach in 
 enlightenment, what it already is in fincerity and 
 fervour, I will now begin the more formal difcuf- 
 fion of the fubjedl. 
 
 I. THAT SLAVERY IS CRUEL. 
 
 Some may think this too obvious to need proof. 
 But the danger is, that men's attention may have 
 been dulled by many ftatements tending one 
 way, which have not however been brought to 
 converge to any conclufion in their minds. Be- 
 fides, after hearing much refpeding any great 
 evil, the world begins to think that it has heard 
 chiefly the falient points on one fide, and that 
 there may be another view of the matter, which 
 has not been brought forward, or which has not 
 had its due weight. Then, again, if the fubjefb 
 be one of immenfe magnitude, like the prefent, 
 the largenefs of the evil opprefles men's minds, 
 and makes them anxious, in felf-defence, to get 
 quit of the fubjed, or to be content with very 
 vague impreiTions about it. It is neceflary, there-
 
 THAT SLAVERY IS CRUEL. 195 
 
 fore, in any connedled efTay on flavery, to recur 
 to the evidence of its cruelty, to endeavour to 
 arrange the evidence of this cruelty in fome or- 
 der, and to eflimate fairly its extent. 
 
 But firft we may afk what fhould we predicate 
 of flavery, if we knew nothing minutely about it? 
 Should we not fay, that when once man was fub- 
 jedl to man, as an animal is fubjedt, he would 
 fhrink away into mere animal nature ? Should we 
 not expeft to hear of chains and ftripes, of phyfi- 
 cal brutality of all kinds ? Without any hiftory 
 of flavery, fhould we not divine, from the con- 
 dud of free men to each other, that no man was 
 fitted for abfolute power ? And, if we turned 
 from political to domeftic life, fhould we not fay, 
 that, the fmaller the fphere in which abfolute 
 power prevailed, the greater would be the danger 
 of its being abufed. If we then confidered that 
 in a fyftem of flavery, abfolute power would be 
 delegated not only to men, but to women and 
 children, fhould we think it lefs of an evil on 
 that account ? Again, if we heard that in this 
 imaginary ftate, the flaves outnumbered the free- 
 men, could we doubt that cruel precautions would 
 often be taken to avert the dangers of infurrec- 
 tion ? And, in fine, if we were told that the
 
 196 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 (laves differed in race and colour from their 
 owners, fhould we not conje6lure that this cir- 
 cumftance would add difguft to cruelty, and 
 darken injuftice with loathing. 
 
 Now let us fee what has happened. 
 
 For the prefent, I omit faying anything about 
 the treatment of flaves amongft the Jews. That 
 treatment is often adduced to juftify the modern 
 treatment. It is not for its fuppofed mildnefs 
 that it is adduced. 
 
 The Greeks, with the exception of the Spar- 
 tans, are confidered to have treated their flaves 
 mildly. We find, however, that two of the worfl: 
 things which are ever connected with flavery pre- 
 vailed in Greece. Thefe are the inequality of the 
 numbers of male and female Haves, an inequality 
 maintained for the fame reafon as in fome modern 
 nations, that it was cheaper to buy than to rear 
 flaves : and the evidence of flaves being always 
 taken with torture. The flaves in the mines 
 worked in chains, and died in great numbers. 
 
 With refped to the treatment of flaves under 
 the Romans, I cite the following paffage from 
 an elaborate work on the fubjedl •/ 
 
 ,* 
 
 * An inquiry into the ftate of flavery amongft the Romans, by 
 William Blair, 1833, p. 106-113.
 
 IS CRUEL. 197 
 
 The law allowed vaft latitude to mafters ; and they 
 availed themfelves of it to the utmoft. A blow with the 
 hand was the readieft mode of exprefling difpleafure ; but 
 the lafh and the rod were moft frequently employed for 
 domeftic correcSlionj and as Jiimuli to aftivity. If a flave 
 fpoke, coughed, or fneezed, at forbidden times, he was 
 flogged by a very fevere mafter. The toilet of a lady of 
 fafhion was a terrific ordeal for her tirewomen, who 
 fufFered for each curl unbecomingly arranged, and were 
 punifhed for the faults of the mirror. Whips and thongs 
 of hide or leather, were kept hanging up, as a terror to 
 offenders, and a ready means of vengeance ; but were 
 not the only or leaft dreadful inftruments of flagellation. 
 We are not informed what number of blows or lafhes, 
 was ufually infliiled for particular mifdeeds. Petronius 
 prefents a mafter, threatening with one hundred laflies, 
 any flave who fliould be guilty of leaving the houfe during 
 an entertainment. This was, no doubt, meant to appear 
 an excefllve chaftifement for the offence ; yet, in a fubfe- 
 quent age, three hundred lafhes was, often, the amount 
 of punifhment awarded, for very trifling faults, which, 
 more generally, drew down a fentence of between thirty 
 and fifty ftripes. Fetters and chains were much ufed, 
 for punifhment or reftraint, and were, in fome inftances, 
 worn by flaves during life, through the fole authority of 
 their mafters. Porters at the gates of the rich, were 
 generally chained. We can fcarcely fuppofe, that this 
 ufage obtained, from a wifh to make a needlefs difplay 
 of power : it may have been adopted, as a mode of
 
 198 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 punifhment, or to infure the conftant prefence of the 
 flave at his poft. Field labourers worked for the moft 
 part, in irons, pofterior to the firft ages of the Republic. 
 
 A larger view of the fubjeit may be obtained 
 by confidering the laws pafled by fucceflive em- 
 perors to improve the condition of ilaves. 
 
 The mafter's power of life and death over his flaves, 
 was firft fought to be legally abolifhed, by Hadrian 
 and Antoninus Pius. Before the exiftence of lav/s fuffi- 
 cient to reprefs the exceffive tyranny of flave-owners, 
 extraordinary fteps were taken by Auguftus, and by 
 Hadrian, to mark their reprobation of the odious barba- 
 rity with which flaves were, in fome inftances, treated. 
 The reproof given, by the former of thofe Princes, to 
 Vedius PoUio, for condemning a flave to a horrid death, 
 on account of accidental mifchief. Is well known j and 
 the latter emperor banifhed a lady of rank, becaufe fhe 
 was notorioufly cruel to her flaves. Conftantine placed 
 the wilful murder of a flave, with that of a freeman, and 
 exprefsly included the cafe of a flave who died under 
 punifhment, unlefs that was infli6ted with the ufual in- 
 ftruments of correcSlion. But the effect of this humane 
 rule, was done away by an after enacStment of Conftan- 
 tine himfelf, and the more unfavourable law was retained 
 in the Theodofian code. And in the fifth century, 
 Salvianus afllires us, that, in the Gallic provinces at 
 leaft, men ftill fancied, they had a right to put their
 
 IS CRUEL. 199 
 
 flaves to death. Several councils of the church endea- 
 voured to reprefs "flave murders, by threatening the per- 
 petrators with temporary excommunication ; at leaft, 
 Juftinian rejedled from his code the lefs humane, and 
 preferved the other of Conftantine's two decrees, which 
 we have noticed. By a law of Claudius, a mafter who 
 expofed his fick or infirm flaves, forfeited all rights over 
 them, in the event of their recovery ; and the fame con- 
 fequences followed the expofure of infant flaves. The 
 Petronian law (pafl^ed A. U. C. 813,) prohibited mas- 
 ters from compelling their flaves to fight with wild 
 beafts. Hadrian reflrained a proprietor from felling his 
 flave to a keeper of gladiators, {lanljla) or to a pander, 
 [leno) except as a punifhment ; and then, only with the 
 fancSlion of the judge. Till a late era, the ties of affec- 
 tion and of blood, among flaves, were not faved from 
 arbitrary difregard, by any law introduced for the good 
 of the fervile clafles. Wc meet, indeed, with fome 
 traces of a feeling againft the feparation of the members 
 of fervile families, at an earlier date, but no pofitive 
 leglflative enactments on the fubjeil, were IflTued, prior 
 to feveral humane rules eftablifhed by Conftantine. * 
 
 Paffing from thefe ancient times, when men's 
 hearts were hardened by paganifm, we have to 
 fee whether a religion of acknowledged love and 
 
 Blair'' s Inquiry, p. 85.
 
 200 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 mercy has eradicated the cruelty of mafters to 
 flaves. Doubtlefs It has mitigated it : and even 
 amongft the Romans, we may note the power of 
 the church coming in to aid the flave, and may 
 fairly expedt that her influence will always tend 
 that way. Still though it has met, it has by no 
 means maftered, the cruelty which, except in rare 
 inftances, is fo apt to grow up, wherever man 
 poflefTes an abfolute property in his fellows. I 
 ihall not attempt to trace the cruelties attendant 
 upon flavery in the middle ages. Sufiice it to 
 fay, that flavery gradually tapered down to ferf- 
 dom, and then by degrees expanded into freedom. 
 At this period, from the beginning of the thir- 
 teenth to the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 there was a lull. Then, as occafionally in modern 
 times, the complacent hifl:orian might think of 
 fitting down and writing the decline and fall of 
 flavery ; but all the while the evil had been but 
 fweeping and garnifliing its houfe, and was to 
 return with fevenfold vehemence to take up its 
 abode again with men. 
 
 A new career for flavery was fuddenly opened 
 by the difcovery of America. It would not be 
 behindhand with the other continents in Its expe- 
 rience of human fuffering : nor the pefl:ilence of
 
 IS CRUEL. 201 
 
 flavery, unlike its brethren, be leaft fatal in the 
 weft. Las Cafas and Vieyra might be quoted to 
 fhow the cruelties which ftimulated them in their 
 unwearied efforts to fave the original inhabitants 
 from fervitude. The Indians vaniihed from the 
 fcene, giving way to a more enduring race, who 
 were thenceforward fated to monopolize the mi- 
 feries of flavery. The evidence on which the 
 Britifh people abolifhed flavery, and other nations 
 the flave-trade, might now be adduced. But as 
 it muft have been of the fame character as that of 
 quite recent times, we need not enter upon it. 
 
 To come then at once to modern times. And 
 here, whether we take the laws, the general ftatif • 
 tics, or the individual fa6ls related by travellers, the 
 conclufion, we muft arrive at, is the fame. The 
 fame, too, as regards all countries where flavery 
 exifts, though of courfe there are many modifi- 
 cations. The flaves are uneducated, here from 
 policy, there from negledl : and focial relations are 
 everywhere ruthlefsly fundered. 
 
 A poor free man of colour with a flave wife 
 and four children fays, pointing to the only white 
 pafTenger in company with the traveller from 
 whom I quote. 
 
 If my boys were like that lud, I fhould be as happy
 
 202 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 as a king. Is not your wife free then ? I afked. No, 
 was his reply. I wifh fhe were. We live together at 
 prefent, and our children with us — All but one, whom 
 her mafter has taken away. The fa6t was, the owner 
 of this poor creature had had the meannefs to faddle 
 her hufband with the coft of maintaining the children, 
 and even allowed him to pay the poll-tax upon them — 
 amounting to about a dollar and half a year each, in- 
 cludino; the ftate and the town tax. As the children 
 become valuable for work or fale, he will claim them j 
 and the father may look in vain for compenfation.* 
 
 The planters themfelves muft perceive this 
 evil : 
 
 He (a planter) replied, that he himfelf was a lawyer 
 by profeffion, and that no legal validity ever had been, 
 or ought to be given, to the marriage tie, fo long as the 
 right of fale could feparate parent and child, hufband and 
 wife. Such feparations, he faid, could not always be 
 prevented, when flaves multiplied faft, though they were 
 avoided by the mafters as far as poflible. He defended 
 the cuftom of bringing up the children of the fame eftate 
 in common, as it was far more humane not to cherifh 
 domeftic ties among flaves. f 
 
 Another traveller in the United States, whofe 
 
 * AbJy's Joxnns.], 1833-4, ^^^- •'• P- 353- 
 
 f LyeWs Travels in North America, vol. i. p, 184.
 
 IS CRUEL. 203 
 
 name is well known wherever the English lan- 
 guage is, fays : 
 
 In the negro car belonging to the train in which we 
 made this journey, were a mother and her children who 
 had juft been purChafed ; the hufband and father being 
 left behind with their old owner. The children cried 
 the whole way, and the mother was mifery's pidure. 
 The perfon who had bought them, rode in the fame 
 train ; and every time we flopped, got down to fee that 
 they were fafe.* 
 
 That focial relations are fundered, is too well 
 known to require proof from the above extrads, 
 but individual inftances reprefent to our minds 
 the force of general fa6ls. 
 
 The perfonal treatment of flaves is almoft 
 everywhere too rigorous. It is faid, and juftly, 
 that in eftimating this matter, we muft take 
 into account the punifhments inflided on crimi- 
 nals in free ftates. t The nature, however, of 
 the difcipline in the two cafes is fo different. 
 
 * Dickens's American Notes, vol. ii. p. 17. 
 
 f If we could fairly eftimate the mifery of all offenders in the 
 prlfons, penitentiaries, and penal fettlements of feme large Euro- 
 pean province, and then deduft the fame from the fufferings of 
 the flaves in a large Southern State of the union, the excefs alone 
 ought, in falrnefs, to be laid to the charge of the flave-owners. 
 I.yeWs Travels in North America, vol. i. p. 190.
 
 204 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 that any comparifon of quantity muft fail to re- 
 prefent the truth. It was juftly complained of 
 in the Roman times, that flaves were fiercely pu- 
 niihed for fmall offences ; but for great ones, for 
 which they might have forfeited their lives (thofe 
 lives being fo much money to their owners) they 
 went fcot-free. So that even if the amount of 
 phyfical fufFering were the fame in the punifh- 
 ment of criminals in free ftates and the difcipline 
 of flaves in flave flates, the amount of good refult 
 in the cafe of the flaves, might be much lefs ; of 
 bad refult, much greater. But this is not the gift 
 of the cafe. Draconian laws are bad : but they 
 are laws, and not individual caprice. Moreover, 
 in European life, punifhment is the exception ; it 
 is not conne6led with a man's daily work, except 
 amongfl convidled criminals. But from the na- 
 ture of flavery, produdlivenefs being the merit of 
 a flave, his moft frequent punifhment will be 
 connected with his daily work. His fear will 
 therefore be continuous. And it is the fear of 
 punifhment which in his cafe will be the greateft 
 injury — a continuous fear of punifhment depend- 
 ing upon individual will. What is there in the 
 punifhment of free criminals which can be com- 
 pared to that ? This fear, too, comes upon the
 
 IS CRUEL. 205 
 
 whole race, good and bad. Again, where do- 
 meftic fervice is the portion of a flave, it is ftill 
 more hopelefs for him by any condu6t, however 
 watchful, to efcape punifhment. For the duties 
 of domeftic fervice, being of a mixed and uncer- 
 tain charadler, will often be faid to be performed 
 well or ill, according to the prefent good or bad 
 temper of thofe in domeftic authority. And 
 fearful will be the evil when fuch authorities have 
 an exceffive and immediate power of punifhment. 
 Therefore, even if it could be proved, that the 
 amount of phyfical fuffering, endured by the 
 criminals of fome European ftate, were greater 
 than that endured by the flaves in a flave ftate, it 
 would be but a moft fallacious teft in favour of 
 flavery. The freeman comes under the whip ; 
 the flave has it always hanging over him. The 
 honeft man in this or in any other free country does 
 not think about punifliments ; no lafti is refound- 
 ing in his ears. Perfonal fears are not the wages 
 that make him work. You hear fome men fay, 
 in hafty argumentation, that the poor man in a 
 highly populated country, who is dependent for 
 his daily fubfiftence upon work being given to 
 him by fome fuperior, is almoft a flave. But 
 between that " almoft" and the reality lie the
 
 2o6 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 pofllble extremes of civilization and barbarifm. 
 And the difference both in the grounds and in 
 the mode of their refpedive puniihments is one 
 of the items of difference between the freeman 
 and the flave, large enough in itfelf to make fuch 
 a contrail in character betwen them, that let them 
 be defcended from the fame ftock, in a generation 
 or two the family refemblance would, I believe, 
 be loil from this one circumstance alone. 
 
 But to proceed with details, one who fays that 
 he was an eye-witnefs of what he relates, flates 
 that he had feen a black man receive, at the 
 " whipping-poft no lefs than one hundred lafhes 
 " from the cow-hide, for flriking a white man who 
 " had treated him mofl barbaroufly. He had 
 " flruck the latter with his open hand. For this 
 " crime his back was cut nearly to the bone, from 
 " the nape of the neck to the loins, and prefented 
 " one continuous mafs of gore." * 
 
 The author of the Journal before quoted from 
 calls at the houfes of feme free blacks, and finds 
 in one of them a negro faid to be 1 14 years old. 
 
 He had retained his faculties, and was flrong enough 
 
 See Abdy, vol ii. p. 242.
 
 IS CRUEL. 207 
 
 to walk without afliftance; though his feet were much 
 crippled by the fufferings he had undergone : having been 
 compelled, for fix years, to drag a weight of fifty-fix 
 pounds, attached by a chain to his legs, while at work. 
 In addition to this inftrument of wearifome annoyance, 
 he had worn an iron collar round his neck, faftened to 
 his waift, and proje6ting over his head, with a bell fuf- 
 pended from the upper part. He was a very religious 
 man ; and it was for preaching to his fellow-flaves, that 
 thefe excruciating tortures were inflifted upon him. 
 When we afked him if he had ever been flogged, he 
 threw his arms up wildly, and feemed to labour under 
 an oppreflive load of recolleitions. This was invariably 
 his cuftom, when the fubje6l was recalled to his mind. 
 Yes ! he exclaimed, the cow-hide was my breakfaft, and 
 dinner, and fupper. 
 
 My obje6l in quoting the two laft extradls is 
 not fo much for the fake of the cruelty exhibited, 
 as to indicate the difproportion between the crime 
 and the punifhment which will be likely to exift 
 where flavery prevails. In fuch an abnormal 
 ftate, things in themfelves harmlefs, indifferent, 
 praifeworthy, or flightly wrong, will be confidered 
 by the ruling powers, and almoft unavoidably fo, 
 as crimes of magnitude and full of danger. 
 
 From the accounts of the numerous travellers
 
 2o8 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 who have vlfited the United States within the 
 laft few years, it would not be difficult to feled 
 inftances of various kinds of cruelty which is the 
 refult of flavery. Amongft fuch inftances, thofe 
 would be juftly confpicuous which illuftrated the 
 feeling of cafte, that feeling which, as Coleridge 
 has pointed out, is the origin of the word unkind- 
 nefs ; and which adds the difficulty of overcoming 
 difguft to the difficulties already fufficient in the 
 exercife of charity to thofe dependent upon us. 
 It might alfo be fhown how foon thofe perfons 
 who have no rights by law come to be confidered 
 and treated as animals, or things. But it is a 
 moft ungracious tafk to dwell upon inftances of 
 cruelty, and I am anxious not to do fo the leaft 
 more than is needful ; it often appears a magni- 
 fying of individual inftances ; it can not be fo 
 needful in a country where the queftion of flavery 
 is already much agitated and where the prefs is 
 free ; and, moreover, I have a feeling that thofe 
 black and white races will yet live amicably 
 and wifely together ; and that it will be a great 
 pity to place upon record more than is neceflary 
 of circumftances which might hereafter aggravate 
 the feelings of either. 
 
 Before quitting this part of the fubjed as
 
 IS CRUEL. 209 
 
 regards America, I may remark that there is 
 evidence to fhow, what may already have oc- 
 curred to the minds of my readers, that kind 
 treatment from his mafter muft often fill the 
 flave, if he has any thoughtfulnefs, with great 
 concern about the future. Surely, no change 
 that occurs In the viciffitudes of civilized life can 
 equal the mifery of going from a humane mafter 
 to a cruel one ; and few anticipations can be more 
 unwelcome. 
 
 We have not much evidence about the Portu- 
 guefe colonies in Africa, but what we have is 
 fufficient to fhow that the treatment of flaves is 
 much the fame there as ellewhere. 
 
 Here (Novo Redondo) they often fend a flave into the 
 interior for many weeks, to purchafe ivory and flaves. 
 I happened to be in the houfe of an Italian, when one of 
 thefe traders returned, after an ab fence of three weeks, and 
 gave an account of the bufinefs which he had tranfadted ; 
 the reckoning was made out with the aid of fmall beans, 
 but the accounts did not exaftly tally, and the poor flave 
 was dragged into the court-yard, where he was whipped, 
 and then faftened by a chain on his arm to the wall, 
 where he remained without fhelter, till he could be fent 
 by the firft opportunity acrofs the fea. Deeply did I 
 
 2 P
 
 210 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 regret, that it was not in my power to place the inhuman 
 judge in the fituation of his unfortunate flave.* 
 
 Again the fame traveller tells usf 
 
 I had fcarcely been in pofleilion of my new lodgings 
 for an hour, and was occupied in arranging my efFe£l:s, 
 when my attention was fuddenly attra(3:ed by the found 
 of ftripes, repeated at regular intervals. I foon perceived 
 that fome perfon was undergoing corporal chaftifement 
 in the court-yard, and at once haftened to the lady of the 
 houfe ; I found her fitting as ufual at the open window, 
 enjoying the cool fea-breeze and the fine profpeft of the 
 harbour, while a young negrefs was bufily engaged in 
 needle-work at her fide. To my anxious inquiry, refpeft- 
 ing the loud beating which flill continued, (he replied 
 fmiling, that one of her needle women was receiving by 
 her orders, fix dozen palmetadas (blows in the palm of 
 the hand) becaufe her flitches were badly made. My 
 indignation and difguft being excited in the higheft de- 
 gree, Donna Catarina was induced to fend the other 
 girl to the court-yard, with orders that the punifhment 
 fliould be difcontinued. 
 
 In the fame houfe 
 
 * See Tams's Portuguefe pofTeflions in S. W, Africa, vol. i. 
 
 p. 201. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 252.
 
 IS CRUEL. 211 
 
 To the very laft moment, three or four of the young- 
 eft flaves fat on the ground in the adjoining apartment, 
 waiting in cafe they fhould be fummoned, and ever on 
 the watch, to pick up anything that might fall upon the 
 floor. If the unhappy little things, from four to eight 
 years of age, were unable to refift the influence of fleep, 
 the application of the ufual remedy was not delayed for 
 a moment, and the laft found which was daily heard in 
 that houfe, was the wail of thefe poor young children. 
 
 The ftate of the flaves in Cuba forms no ex- 
 ception to the general rule. 
 
 The miftrefs of many a great family in the Havanna 
 will not fcruple to tell you that fuch is the pronenefs of 
 her people to vice and idlenefs, (he finds it neceflary to 
 fend one or more of them once a month to the whipping 
 poft, not fo much on account of any pofitive delinquency, 
 as becaufe without thefe periodical advertifements the 
 whole family would become unmanageable, and the 
 mafter and miftrefs would lofe their authority.* 
 
 The proportion of males to females is, we are 
 told, nearly three to one. But that is not all. 
 
 It is notorious that there are individual eftates in iflands 
 with 600 or 700 negroes upon them, from which the 
 
 * See Travels in the Weft, Cuba; with notices of Porto Rico ; 
 and the (lave trade, by Da<vid Turnbull, 1840, p. 54.
 
 212 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 fofter fex is entirely excluded. In this refpedl 1 am bound 
 to fay that the Creole proprietors evince much more 
 regard for the laws of humanity than the emigrant plant- 
 ers from Spain and the United States. 
 
 The fame traveller then fpeaks of an eftate 
 where the owner, an American, " has congregated 
 " no lefs than 700 male negroes, to the exclufion 
 " of a fingle female, locking up the men, during 
 " the fhort period allowed for needful reft, in a 
 '* building called a barracoon, which is in fadl, to 
 " all intents and purpofes, a prifon."* 
 
 The lofs of life amongft the negroes in Cuba, 
 amounts, on eftates where fugar is grown, " to 
 
 the appalling proportion of ten per cent, per 
 
 annum, or cent, per cent, per decade, thus in- 
 " ferring the necefTity of a total renewal of the 
 " numbers by importation in the courfe of the 
 " ten years." f 
 
 This lofs will not be wondered at, when we 
 find that in the crop feafon " only four hours, or 
 ** at moft four hours and a half out of the twenty 
 " four were allowed for fleep."| 
 
 tt 
 
 tc 
 
 Ibid, p 14.6. -j- Ibid. p. 150. % Ibid. p. 286.
 
 IS CRUEL. 213 
 
 As regards education, we have the authority 
 of a Cuban prieft for faying that 
 
 A field negro was never in church in the whole courfe 
 of his life, except at the time of his baptifm. If the 
 Ingenio or the Cafetal happened to be clofe to a town, 
 a few favoured individuals might be allowed to go there 
 when the crop feafon was over, but never by any chance, 
 or under any circumftances, during the bufy period of 
 the year.* 
 
 It would not be difficult, I am fure, to find 
 many inftances of humane mafters in all the 
 countries we have been referring to ; but I have 
 fcarcely found anything which would fupport the 
 idea that flaves, as a clafs, are kindly treated ex- 
 cept, perhaps, an inftance like the following which 
 occurs In Africa itfelf. 
 
 Mahriam, the flave-girl, who fat with the reft, was 
 not negle6led, for a larger portion came to her (hare than 
 to any of the others. Slaves generally are confidered by 
 their owners in the light of near relations, or rather, per- 
 haps, as fofter-children. When their condu6l is fo very 
 bad as to alienate the afFedtion of their indulgent mafters, 
 they are not unfrequently difmifled.t 
 
 • Ibid. p. 285. 
 
 f Johnfton's travels in fouthern Abyflinia, vol. ii. p. 176.
 
 214 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 Even here, however, we fee what is likely to 
 happen from the fatal temptation of flave-trading, 
 for the fame traveller who gives the above ac- 
 count, adds : 
 
 Latterly, however, a greater relaxation in the principles 
 of the chriftians at Shoa, as in other portions of Abyflinia, 
 has led to a puniftiment for refractory flaves, by felling 
 them to their Mahomedan neighbours, who foon forward 
 them to the coaft. Canon-law prohibits this cuftom of 
 felling flaves altogether, but a fyftem of fmuggling in 
 this unhappy commodity is extenfively carried on, by the 
 very priefts of the religion itfelf, who are continually 
 bringing flave children to Aliu Amba from Gurague, 
 and other chriftian ftates to the fouth of Shoa. 
 
 We have now gone over fome of the principal 
 points conne6led with the treatment of flaves. 
 It is true that they have not the care for their 
 means of livelihood which belongs to neceflitous 
 free men. The domeftic animals enjoy a limilar 
 abfence of care. But in all other refpedls obvi- 
 oufly, and as much perhaps, in this freedom from 
 care if we did but fee the full effedl of it, I think 
 we can have but little hefitation in pronouncing 
 that flavery is cruel. In faying this, we need 
 come to no uncharitable conclufion refped:ing
 
 IS CRUEL, 215 
 
 flave-owners, or afTume for a moment that they 
 are, originally, more hard-hearted than other men. 
 But the truth is, none of us are fitted to own 
 flaves — much lefs are people who are brought up 
 from childhood as mafters in a flave houfehold. 
 
 To many of thofe living in the midft of any 
 fyftem, however bad, much that is faid of it by 
 ftrangers muft feem a great coil about nothing. 
 We can hardly fancy that what we have been long 
 accuftomed to can be otherwife than abfolutely 
 right. Then, too, although thofe who look at a 
 mode of life from without, may fee wifely into it, 
 being able to compare it with other things, yet, 
 on the other hand, they naturally fall into fome 
 errors in detail which could not be made by thofe 
 who are engaged in that way of living. The tra- 
 veller makes juft and far-feeing remarks, perhaps, 
 on the political pofition, geographical relations, 
 manners or general afpedt of fome town ; but the 
 inhabitants of the place moftly find fomething to 
 laugh at in his defcription of details. They know 
 every ftreet, and make no minor miftakes. And 
 then, again, if they can find no flaw which renders 
 the obferver of their ways an infufficient obferver 
 in their eyes, there are other things which may 
 make them pay too little heed to his remarks. It
 
 2i6 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 is hard to profit by the wifdom which is unpala- 
 table to us and which comes to us in a matter 
 that we are fo verfed in that we do not fee it. 
 Here then we mull hope moft from men of ge- 
 nius and imagination which take a man, as it were, 
 out of himfelf. We think much of forefeeing 
 people ; but there is no forefight without infight, 
 and it may be an eafier thing to judge wifely of 
 the future than to look clearly into the prefent 
 and the near. The man who bred up in the 
 midft of flavery fees all the mifchief of it could 
 do the moft againft it. And let us hope that many 
 fuch men will be found to enlighten and purify 
 the public opinion around them. If not, there 
 is no affurance againft the cruelties we have been 
 defcribing hardening more and more into a fyftem. 
 People began the flave-trade upon the theory of 
 its being " a commerce for the ranfom of flaves, 
 " or for the making converts to Chriftianity." 
 We now find that a flave is openly called a 
 " bulto de efFedlos,"* or bale of goods, and has 
 
 * The Captain faid, In anfwer to the obfervations and accu- 
 fations that were made againll him, " that there were about lOO 
 " bales embarked at your port infe6led with the putrid fever, and 
 " that all the precautions that we could ufe on board did not fuf- 
 *' fice to ftop the mortality ; fo that we may fay only half have
 
 IS CRUEL. 217 
 
 come to be confidered rather as a thing than a 
 perfon in all flave-owning parts. 
 
 But whether thofe in the midft of flavery per- 
 ceive the evils or not, it is impofTible for any un- 
 prejudiced perfon to be dead to the magnitude of 
 thofe evils. And the cruelty of it is moft likely 
 in the firft inftance to awaken attention. War is 
 a horrible thing. We read a furgeon's defcrip- 
 tion of a battle-field, or trace the famines, pefti- 
 lences, and defolation that attend on armies, and 
 can then form fome notion of what war is. But 
 there is no denying that good may come from it. 
 Civilization has been extended by it. Even thofe 
 apparently prepofterous Crufades introduced the 
 barbaric Northerns to the arts and fciences of 
 Southern and Ealtern climes. Races have been 
 improved by conqueft — both the conquerors and 
 the conquered. Valour has been cultivated — is 
 it nothing that we owe to Chivalry ? Then too 
 for what noble caufes men have bled — with what 
 complete abnegation of felf. I admit to the full 
 meafure the evil of war : but it is not all lofs. 
 
 " been faved of the number that ought to have been yielded by 
 " the abundant and well aflbrted barter put on board, calculated 
 " to produce more than 400 hultos."—Turnljun"s Travels in the 
 IVefi, Cuba, 3cc. p. 423.
 
 2i8 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 So, again, of religious perfecution. This is a 
 hideous thing to look at, and, when we confider 
 the extent of it, ftupendous. Waldenfes, Albi- 
 genfes, Lollards, Wickliffites, HuiTites, Protef- 
 tants. Catholics, Huguenots, Jefuits, Janfenifts, — 
 how redolent of wars and mafTacres, of burnings, 
 imprifonments and tortures is each name. I fup- 
 pofe there is no conceivable view of the facrament 
 which has not been burnt into men at fome time 
 or other. But martyrdom is a great thing. There 
 is fomething gained for humanity by it — fome- 
 thing done. " The blood of martyrs is the feed 
 " of the Church." And, what I venture to 
 think of more importance than the eftablifhment 
 of any earthly church, the blood of martyrs has 
 been the feed of freedom of opinion. 
 
 We have {qqr that there is a bright fide to two 
 of the worft things the fky looks down upon — a 
 gain already realifed. But what can we fay for 
 flavery and the flave-trade ? What good can be 
 faid to have come out of them ? What they may 
 bring out is hid in the infcrutable ways of God, 
 and one is loath to believe that all this mifery 
 goes for nothing. But at prefent what have we? 
 Sugar — for incalculable cruelty, for evils, which 
 even in this world one fees no end to, danger of
 
 IS CRUEL. 219 
 
 ftates, degradation of humanity — for all thefe 
 things more rice, cotton and fugar. That is 
 chiefly what we get. 
 
 Think, on the other hand, how important is 
 any evil that affeds the beginnings of nations. 
 If poifon poured in at the fource of a river, in- 
 ftead of being diluted, diffufed itfelf, without 
 diminiihing in ftrength, throughout each drop 
 till it tainted the whole current from fource to 
 fall, that would be fomething like the mifchief 
 of inferting any moral taint into a young ftate. 
 Confider what a fmall thing Negro flavery was 
 at its outfet — an evil the extent of which was 
 utterly unobferved by thofe who at firfl: had moft 
 to do with it. The great difcoverer of Negro- 
 land, Prince Henry of Portugal, thought he was 
 fulfilling a moft pious purpofe in his difcoveries 
 and captures. Ferdinand of Spain allowed the 
 firft negroes to go to America, probably without 
 a conception of the confequences. And it may 
 be doubted whether Charles the Fifth, when in 
 his retreat at the monafl:ery of St. Juftus, medi- 
 tated much upon his Indian legiflation. Deeply 
 penitent, we are told, for many errors he had com- 
 mitted in the way of non-perfecution, he probably 
 thought little of his permiflion for the import of
 
 220 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 Negroes to his new-found ftates, or of the caufes 
 which led to that import being needed. Yet the 
 Inquifition itfelf was to dwindle down into harm- 
 leffnefs, Spain to fink into comparative infignifi- 
 cance, all his European policy to count for little : 
 while this new growth of flavery was to be the 
 fcourge of nations, and the enduring perplexity 
 of the wifeft men. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Strike out that word, '' enduring," Mil- 
 verton ; endure it cannot, endure it fhall not. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well done, my dear Dunsford ! I have 
 feen for fome time that you have been at boiling point, 
 quite ready to go out in a boat by yourfelf and attack a 
 flaver(fome one did the other day)j or to fet up an aca- 
 demy for Negro boys in a flave ftate, perhaps the more 
 dangerous thing of the two. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Have I dwelt too long upon the cruelty ? 
 
 Ellesmere. For me you have. But then I was 
 brought up amongft the defenders of flavery j and the 
 fa6ls which ufed to come out in a quiet way, quite con- 
 vinced me of the oppofite to what my friends ufed to 
 argue fiercely for. And their arguments did fomething 
 in the fame way too.
 
 IS CRUEL. 221 
 
 MiLVERTON. I know the impatience of modern read- 
 ers, but I cannot proceed in a fubjedl of this magnitude 
 without a large ftratum of fails. 
 
 Ellesmere. People can ufe in this chapter what 
 fome man has called the firft privilege of Englifhmen — 
 that of fkipping. By the way, imagine a nation con- 
 demned to read books through ! 
 
 DuNSFORD. Pray do not cut out any of the fadls in 
 this chapter. The length of it will not frighten away 
 anybody who is worth convincing. If people do not 
 care enough about a fubjecSt to linger upon the details of 
 it, their aid will be ignorant and their fympathy fhallow. 
 When we do care about anything or body, we do not 
 know what it is to be tired with details about them. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, well, keep it all, if you like. I 
 really believe I am not a fair judge : the thing is felf- 
 evident to me. But I muft fay in general I like facSls ; 
 and feldom think we can have too many of them. But 
 do not let us fay any more at prefent about this part of 
 the fubjeft, I have a fort of ficknefs at heart after hear- 
 ing fo many horrors, though I am not as foft as Dunf- 
 ford. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I am in hopes that the locomotion of 
 the prefent day will have fome great efFe6l upon the fla- 
 very queftion. Many more things are carried over land 
 and water by thofe puffing fteam engines, than are en- 
 tered in the way-bill or the purfer's book. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, travelling is a grand thing. I don't 
 mean your ftatiftical, political, benevolent or fcientific
 
 222 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 travelling, though that is often very ferviceable. But I 
 am thinking of travelling for one's felf. Horace may 
 fay w^hat he likes about care laying hold of the tow-rope 
 of a fteamer, or fitting behind the horfeman like his 
 mafter's coat ftrapped round a groom ; but a judicious 
 traveller cuts the tow-rope or undoes the buckle, and 
 care is obliged to drop ofF behind. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Very Horatian thefe fimiles ! 
 
 Ellesmere. Then the coming back is fuch a delight. 
 After a man has been beyond the Alps fome time, there 
 is abfolutely a halo in his mind round the idea of parifh 
 bufmefs at home. But then he muft have contrived to 
 keep tolerably clear of letters. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, I have often thought I could make 
 the fortune of a fmall German principality, by perfuading 
 the prince to forbid any Englifh poft coming in or going 
 out. Then fet up fome mineral waters and a town with 
 a queer name : it would be inftantly overpowered with 
 the beft clafs of Englifh vifitors. Miniflers of ftate 
 would be fure to have frequent attacks of a peculiar dif- 
 order which nothing but the waters of this place could 
 cure. You fee, the beauty of the fcheme would be, 
 that there would be a complete excufe for not writing, 
 as well as an impoffibility of receiving letters. 
 
 Ellesmere. Very good, certainly : but don't you 
 think the wifh to write letters would come diredlly let- 
 ter-writing was forbidden. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No ; letter-writing is one of the few 
 things you may fafely forbid.
 
 IS CRUEL. 223 
 
 Ellesmere. But what excufe fhould the prince have ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Oh, Englifh intrigue. Don't you know 
 the general theory abroad of our deep-laid fchemes ? To 
 be fure there are about ten or twelve Englifhmen (I 
 fhould rather fay ten) who care about foreign politics. 
 But this droll theory of the foreigner is quite enough 
 bafis for my fcheme. 
 
 Ellesmere. Special meflengers ! a " hurried Hud- 
 fon" — how can you meet that ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Ah, there is no fuch thing as perfection. 
 But this principality would be the beft thing that civili- 
 zation could offer. Of courfe a man cannot be fecure 
 without making a Robinfon Crufoe of himfelf. 
 
 Ellesmere. There would be this good too. A man, 
 feeing how well the world gets on without him, may juft 
 bethink himfelf whether he could not get on without the 
 world. He may refledt that as it is not at all a flave to 
 him, he need not be quite a flave to it. Of courfe all 
 feparation from the world tells this j but the more com- 
 plete tells it the louder. 
 
 MiLVERTON. There is another great merit of travel- 
 ling : it does not enable men to impofe upon the world. 
 A travelled afs is never for a moment miftaken for a fen- 
 fible man ; a ftupid pedant fometimes is. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes ; for we think we can thoroughly 
 judge about what anybody can tell us of foreign travel, 
 but the man who is Ikilled in Greek Iambics has got 
 into a region where — I, for one, do not mean to follow 
 him, and am ready at all hazards to pronounce him a
 
 224 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 fenfible man rather than do fo. Of courfe no know- 
 ledge gives fenfe or converfibility in any high fignification 
 of the words. Neither travelled lore nor Greek, nor 
 even knowledge of life, if brought out upon us inoppor- 
 tunely, delights us. 
 
 MiLVERTON. More than that, — the knowledge which 
 is moft delightful to others, is not that which a man takes 
 out of his mind, as he would money out of his pocket 
 (both having the imprefs of another head) but what he 
 gives you ftamped with his own nature — his own know- 
 ledge. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Not acquifition, but accretion. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yet it will not do to put down know- 
 ledge too much, though obtained without originality, or 
 clumfily made ufe of. Now I have no doubt that a 
 foolifh man does become decidedly a more converfable 
 being by travel. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Yes, we have more topics in common 
 with him, and he can enlighten us upon minute points. 
 But we are thinking of fomething higher than this, when 
 we talk of knowledge being made delightful to others. 
 
 MiLVERToN. There is a very humble kind of travel- 
 ling which juft fuits me — going fhort diflances and flop- 
 ping at obfcure country inns. Strange places they are : 
 with odd rooms which the builder feems to have built 
 by bits — now finifhing one fide and then confidering 
 what he fhould do next, and being a good deal guided by 
 the humour he was in. Then the pictures — fuch as are 
 to be feen nowhere elfe — adlors and adlrefles whom we
 
 IS CRUEL. 225 
 
 recoUedl our fathers raving about, but whofe memory 
 lives only at country inns now. Then a ftray ftatefman 
 who was a confiderable man, fuppofed to be often walk- 
 ing up back flairs, in George the Third's time, but he 
 alfo is now glorious only in the parlour of fome inn. 
 Beauties too, " prints from Sir Jofhua," the " honour- 
 *' able Mrs. — ." The blank might be filled up now 
 for aught that we ihould be the wifer. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes — Inns are the intermediate ftage 
 between notoriety and utter oblivion. The bufy world 
 has its new pets, but the old inn cannot afford to part 
 with its old ones. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Then the landlord and landlady, and the 
 whole eflablifhment indeed, except the two pofl horfes 
 who are fat, have feen better days. With what an air 
 the hofl brings in the firfl difh — not unlikely to be the 
 lafl alfo — to fhow you that he knows how things are 
 done, and can do them himfelf. 
 
 Ellesmere. Then the books ! 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes, a thumbed volume of fome defun6l 
 critical journal which was the hope and terror of authors 
 who wrote in wigs, or the Rambler, or the narrative of 
 the landing of the French in Ireland, or fome book that 
 you would find nowhere elfe. The lafl time I was at a 
 country inn, the book was a biography of prize-fighters. 
 Sad chronicles they were, told with much earneftnefs ; 
 how Jim This was flout-hearted and fkilful too, but 
 thought he could do more than he could ; and Tom That 
 could have done anything but that he was too fond of 
 
 2 Q
 
 226 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 fomething elfe ; and Sam The Other, who could beat all 
 
 the world, had fomebody at home whom he was more 
 
 afraid of than all the world. It was very like reading 
 
 of great conquerors and mighty kings, only that the 
 
 names were fhorter. 
 
 . Ellesmere. Let us have our next meeting at an 
 
 inn. 
 
 MiLVERTON. With all my heart. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Suppofe we drive to and flop at 
 
 the firft inn we come to. 
 
 Ellesmere. Agreed. But now to return to the fub- 
 je(51: of the Eflay. After all, Milverton, do you fee fo 
 much to obje6l to in being a flave ? In freedom there is 
 certainly room to dafh yourfelf againft things, but it is 
 fmall comfort to a man to think that he has made a great 
 part of his own mifery himfelf. 
 
 Milverton. Yet that muft be the beft education 
 for another world in which there is fome freedom for 
 good and evil. If you begin difcuffing the matter with 
 reference to happinefs alone, you may as well take in 
 the animal creation, and contend that they are better ofF 
 than men. Suffering of all kinds is not without its in- 
 ftrucSlion : but furely that fufFering is moft inftru6live, 
 which a man has had fomething to do with in making 
 for himfelf. Perhaps the worft ftate for man might be 
 defined to be, not that which has moft fufFering, but that 
 which has moft fufFering with the leaft inftru6lion and 
 difcipline growing out of it. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I think you are anfwered, Ellefmere.
 
 IS CRUEL. 227 
 
 Ellesmere. I wonder what a man would make of 
 all his experience, if he could have it again for this 
 world. 
 
 MiLVERTON. M and I were faying the other 
 
 day what a good work of fi6lion it would be of the St. 
 Leon fchool, to make a man live over again, having an 
 indiftinfl recolledlion of his former life, enough to give 
 a warning fometimes. 
 
 Ellesmere. I fuppofe he would gain fomething from 
 his experience. He would at leaft tumble off on the 
 other fide. But I return to the charge, notwithftanding 
 Dunsford fays that I am defeated ; and I afk, as I have 
 afked before, how is it that all your geniufes and great 
 men in general do not contrive to make themfelves hap- 
 pier. Of courfe they are the foremoft in freedom, and 
 therefore I take them as the moft conclufive examples. 
 I know what you will both fay againft happinefs, and, 
 perhaps, I had better not keep to that word ; but ftill I 
 cannot help thinking, that there fhould be at leaft a fe- 
 rene order of mind in the greater intelligences. Now 
 looking both at the paft and the prefent, as far as my expe- 
 rience goes, I fhould fay — what fhould I fay ? — at any 
 rate it would not be anything very favourable to the faid 
 geniufes and great men, that is, to the firft in the ranks 
 of the free. 
 
 Dunsford. I do not admit that they are neceffarily 
 the firft in the ranks of the free. The humble and the 
 good are there. 
 
 Milverton. To go back to men of genius and great
 
 228 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 men, we happen to know fome of their lives pretty well. 
 It has been truly faid, they are the only lives we do 
 know well ; and even tolerably clear water, expofed 
 to a Drummond light, fhows a great many pugnacious, 
 horrid-looking animalculas. Moreover, there are parti- 
 cular fnares for men of genius. Their fympathies are 
 wider. They tranfait more life. The mifery of the 
 world has more room to play about in them. They 
 were, perhaps, intended to have more evil to contend 
 with than other men : that they might look into it, and 
 exprefs it, and thus help others to bear it. So beft for 
 them poflibly, and fo beft for the world. At the fame 
 time it may be faid that fuch men are by no one thing 
 fubdued. Their imaginations and their fympathies which 
 admit much of life and life's worft ftruggles to them, 
 create an outlet for fuch things to pafs away from them. 
 And fay what you like, my dear EUefmere, we fhould 
 all of us rather have been fo many Miltons, than fo many 
 flaves, though by chance, the latter may have contrived 
 to have got lefs mifery out of their chains than he out 
 of his freedom. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well done — wound up with a burft of 
 enthufiafm addrefTed to the jury. But I give up for the 
 prefent. Some day we fhall know more about thefe 
 things, efpecially if we can get that great defideratum in 
 literature, the life of a perfe6lly common-place man — of 
 a man whofe life no man would think worth writing, but 
 which might be the moft fo of all. However, I want to 
 change my ground entirely. I am not fure but that what
 
 IS CRUEL. 229 
 
 I fhould moft obje6l to in the minds of the great men I 
 have been thinking of, is not an efpecial produdt of weft- 
 em civilization — a certain formal, reftlefs, unrefigned, 
 felf-tormenting, world-arranging difpofition. 
 
 MiLVERTON. What a number of adjedlives to that 
 one poor fubftantive ! A moft polygamic fubftantive ! 
 
 Ellesmere. But, without joking, you know I have 
 always had fome eaftern tendencies ; and cannot but think 
 that we have great defers in our weftern views of life. 
 
 MiLVERTON. D'Ifraeli, I declare. 
 
 Ellesmere. It may be : I never care from whom I 
 have an idea, fo that I have it as my own. I have had 
 this one a long time, as you know. I perceive fomething 
 of what I admire and wifh to have for the weft, in other 
 developments befides the eaftern — occafionally in what 
 we read of barbaric tribes. I have ventured before to 
 hint that all that we take for civilization may not be fo. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I do not mean to fay that it might not 
 be well to look with attention to any wife and great 
 ideas that there may be in the eaft : neither do I doubt 
 that there is in every form of partial human develop- 
 ment fomething that it may be well to preferve. Still, 
 my dear fellow, what a gain it is, that in this weftern 
 world we keep our hands off" each other, and there are 
 fuch things as property and law. But I am talking 
 common-places to you. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes : thefe are very good things. We 
 have only juft got them, though. I was thinking rather 
 of mental gains or lofles — alfo of various focial arrange-
 
 230 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 ments not altogether involved in property. But we will 
 not talk any more about it juft now. Some day or 
 other I fhall be able to fhow you what I mean. What 
 are you laughing at, Mifs Lucy ? 
 
 Lucy. I am only pi6luring to myfelf Mr. Ellef- 
 mere as a native of the eaft, reclining upon gorgeous 
 pillows, fmoking, and watching an interminable eaftern 
 dance. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Both beautiful things. The delight of 
 fmoking, I fhould think, muft be to fee the vapour 
 " fold and fwim," as Tennyfon fays. Thefe vaporous 
 forms are the very poetry of motion : and as for dancing, 
 it is to me the moft beautiful thing in the world when 
 it is fupremely done. People go into ecftafies about 
 pidlures — 
 
 Ellesmere. I wifh nine-tenths of the pi6lures that 
 have been painted had never been preferved : it is fuch 
 a nuifance having to go and fee them. Proceed. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I was going to fay that people go into 
 ecftafies about things that are intended to reprefent the 
 beautiful, (and which oftentimes do) but they will not 
 fee the beauty around them. 
 
 DuNSFORD. You do not fee that trying to reprefent 
 beauty teaches us to fee what beauty is — makes us alive 
 to it. No people fee fo much beauty in every-day life 
 as great artifts. 
 
 MiLVERTON. That is true, I dare fay. 
 
 Lucy. But what were you going to fay, Mr. Mil- 
 verton, about dancing ? for that is what you were com-
 
 IS CRUEL. 231 
 
 ing to, and it is a fubje6l which Mr. Ellefmere will 
 kindly allow us ladies to have fome intereft in. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Merely that I could watch it from 
 morning till night, if it were good. 
 
 Ellesmere. So could not I. I would rather fee the 
 beauty of an intricate law cafe, any day. You laugh. 
 You chuckled over thofe people who could fee beauty 
 only in pictures : but you cannot imagine the beauty of 
 an intricate, mazy law procefs, embodying the doubts 
 and fubtleties of generations of men. I fay, looked at 
 in that way, there is fomething piilurefque in an A&i of 
 Parliament. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Well, you are now certainly making 
 fun of us : and, indeed, you have been very paradoxical 
 throughout the converfation. Not but what there may 
 be an exquifite beauty of form in any well-arranged in- 
 telledlual performance, from Ails of Parliament, up to 
 the Allegro and Penferofu. 
 
 DuNSFORD. How Miltonic we have been to-day ! 
 But touching this dancing, you do not approve, Milver- 
 ton, of operatic performances ? I fhall really be fcanda- 
 lized if you do. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Approve of them ! For the moft part, 
 I loathe them — more, if poflible, from their uglinefs 
 than their impropriety. The dancers, poor things, with 
 perfeverance worthy of a better caufe, being made into 
 wretched, diftorted, fpinning machines of uglinefs — the 
 dance itfelf fhowing at the beft a laboured intrepidity of 
 indecorum — the whole of the upper part of the body
 
 232 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 being left undeveloped, while the unfortunate legs are 
 exercifed unceafingly from morning to night, like a great 
 fcholar — 
 
 Ellesmere. Who has only the Greek-getting-up 
 part of his mind developed, and is in other refpedls an 
 utter blockhead. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Where, then, have you feen any fuch 
 dancing as w^ould at all come up to your ideal ? Is 
 there fuch a thing ? 
 
 Ellesmere. Why, we have all forgotten, Dunsford, 
 that here is a man who has feen boleros and fandangoes 
 danced by the people who invented them. Let us 
 forthwith form ourfelves into a committee of enquiry 
 upon this matter ; and, calling Milverton before us, let 
 us at once command that fpecimens of Spanifh dancing 
 be prefented to us. Witnefs, what is a bolero ? 
 
 Milverton. A thing of great beauty and conde- 
 fcending ftatelinefs : if the Graces had been brought up 
 in Spain, they might have danced it, which cannot be 
 predicated, I think, of the dances on any other ftage I 
 know of. I fhould be but too happy to fhow you how 
 it is danced, but it requires a partner, 
 Ellesmere, Teach me. 
 
 Milverton. There are fome teachers who cannot 
 teach what they know well, and fome people who can- 
 not be taught what they are very defirous to learn. 
 
 Ellesmere. He talks like an old Greek philofopher 
 to a ftupid exoteric clafs. 
 
 Milverton. Well, I was going to tell you that it
 
 IS CRUEL. 233 
 
 was not upon the ftage, or amongft profeflbrs of the art, 
 that I had feen the moft beautiful dancing ; but amongft 
 peafants and artifans. There is a certain Spanifh faint, 
 called St. Ifidro, a fhepherd faint, the tutelary of Ma- 
 drid, and much venerated by all claffes in that city. I 
 was there on his feftal day, when all Madrid flocks out 
 to his chapel, two or three miles from the town ; and 
 there, in family parties, the citizens have their dinners 
 and recreate themfelves. On the occafion that I was 
 prefent at, the weather was perfect. It was emphatically 
 a day : often in that Babel you laud fo much at times, 
 EUefmere, the fun with all the good will in the world 
 to do fo, cannot make a day of it : and forrowfully leaves 
 eighteen hundred thoufand perfons unfuftained by his 
 life-giving rays. It needs for you to be very clever and 
 very amufmg people to make up for this. 
 
 Ellesmere. If only the fmoke were away, we fhould 
 need none of your ruftic pity. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Well, as I faid, it was a day. No iced 
 wind from the neighbouring fierras came down upon us 
 with the hot fun, making a combination, like a falfe 
 man's kindnefs, to mock us. The air was warm and 
 yet bracing. Altogether it was very hard for thofe who 
 had to ftay at home on that day. It was noon before 
 I reached the place of concourfe. The whole fcene 
 was like a fair, — not one of our coarfe northern fairs, 
 but the fair in a dream. Delightful bits of red and rich 
 amber colour, which laft the women much afFedl, came 
 out amidft the colour of the fields and the corn. The
 
 234 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 whole length of the city overlooked the fields where the 
 feftival was kept. 
 
 I made my way through the crowd which prefled up 
 to the faint's chapel, or which thronged about the tents 
 for refrefhment, and got out into the adjoining fields, 
 where numbers of little parties were grouped about, fome 
 of whom were beginning to dance. All feemed happy. 
 I fuppofe, though, there was the ufual undercurrent of 
 vexation : Juan abfent from the little party where he was 
 moft longed for, and Beatriz not found in another which 
 to fome one was naught without her : or Catalina dancing 
 coldly with Luis, to the heart-breaking of poor Pedro, 
 who looked on at a diftance, but might not join them. 
 But thefe things were not vifible to the ftranger. I flood 
 for fome time in the outer circle of feveral of thefe fets 
 of dancers, in a large, hilly field of irregular fhape. 
 Looking fuddenly at the top of the hill, I faw againft 
 the blue fky the figure of a young girl dancing beauti- 
 fully. I made my v/ay to the little home-party which 
 this " phantom of delight" belonged to. It was on the 
 extreme outfkirts of the throng. The girl was about 
 twelve years old, and was dancing with one of her bro- 
 thers, as I conjectured. I fat down by the blind fiddler 
 who was playing to them, and looked on. A light 
 breeze waved againft our backs the corn of the neigh- 
 bouring field divided from us by no hedge. But how 
 fhall I defcribe to you this girl and her dancing ? She 
 was drefled in the commoneft drefs, with no choicenefs 
 in its arrangement ; having on coarfe clouted fhoes, and
 
 IS CRUEL. 235 
 
 long loofe garments. Her face I do not diftindly re- 
 member : it was certainly not beautiful, only earneft. 
 But fhe danced in the moft confummate manner you 
 can conceive. It was the expreffion of the height of 
 paflionlefs joy, in the utmoft grace of movement. She 
 wanted no admiration, had no other foolifh thoughts ; 
 but only faid, as it were, to the byftander " I am very 
 " happy, and this is how I tell you fo." Her brother, 
 a graceful, fine youth, better drefled than his filler, 
 quitted the dance, and another brother fucceeded. Still 
 fhe danced on. She tired him out, too ; and the firft 
 brother then came on a fecond time. But there was no 
 wearinefs in her. She threw her hair off her face, and 
 went on again. She had a fpe£lator as untiring as her- 
 felf, for, I believe, if fhe had continued dancing till 
 now, I fhould have flill been watching her. 
 
 DuNSFORD. And what did you think of all this 
 time ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Ah, well, I thought of many things. 
 I thought how the girl's talent for dancing would be 
 noticed, and fhe would be brought upon the flage : and 
 then I fancied the proud difguffc with which fhe would 
 liflien to the applaufe given to inferior dancers at the 
 wrong place ; and how, amidffc the gilt-paper-triumphs 
 of fuch a life, fhe would look back, perhaps, upon this 
 very day with fondnefs as a really happy day. And 
 then, I remember, I thought how little we underftand 
 pleafure, and how we crufh the delicate thing in our 
 clumfy efforts to hold it. And I looked up at the
 
 236 THAT SLAVERY IS CRUEL. 
 
 fplendid palace of Madrid, and thought of regal pomps 
 and vanities. And then, how it was I know not, I 
 thought of death. Perhaps anything very beautiful has 
 that thought in the back-ground. But now the dance 
 was flopped ; the girl tripped ofF to fetch fomething ; 
 and the elders of the party moved away. I went alfo ; 
 and though I returned to the fame place and fought 
 afterwards in many other groups, I could not find again 
 my beautiful dancer from the heart : nor, fave in fome 
 aufpicious dream, fhall I fee fuch dancing any more, I 
 fear. 
 
 But let us go in : we have had fo much talking and 
 reading, at leaft I have, that I am quite tired.
 
 THAT SLAVERY IS NEEDLESS. 237 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 Before we feparated after the laft reading, we 
 agreed, if it were fine, to have our next meeting 
 at an inn in a little town about eight miles dif- 
 tant. We met there on the appointed day, and 
 after dinner, Milverton read to us the following 
 fedlion of his eflay. 
 
 2. THAT SLAVERY IS NEEDLESS. 
 
 Many a reader who has been quite willing to 
 agree to the firft propofition " that flavery is 
 " cruel," and who may fcarcely have had pa- 
 tience for much detail in reference to that part of 
 the fubjedt, has all the while been troubled with 
 an ill-defined apprehenfion of the needfulnefs of 
 flavery at leaft in certain cafes. 
 
 But for whom is it needful ? For the mafters ? 
 If the fuperior race on earth could in no wife till 
 the t2irth. from Jome phyftcal inaptitude (a race, for 
 inftance, of the prefent European conftitution, 
 with nothing but rice-fields to work upon) and
 
 238 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 the races under them could till it, but would not 
 work more than enough to fupport themfelves in 
 a brutifh way, and for whom all the finer head- 
 work and hand-work of the fuperior race had no 
 attradions, there would then be a fair juftification 
 of the inftitution of fiavery. But this hypothecs 
 meets with no fulfilment in nature. There are 
 millions of untried acres waiting for the Caucafian 
 race, where they may work out their own inflii- 
 tutions, without the draw-back of flavery amongft 
 them. And even if the hypothefis were founded 
 on reality, though it would be right, in felf-pre- 
 fervation, for the wifer race to compel the others 
 to work for them, they would be bound at the 
 fame time to endeavour to elevate the charader 
 of the lower race, and to convert their forced fer- 
 vice into brotherly aid. Our imaginary Cauca- 
 fians would be bound to give their Helots a tafte 
 for the higher necefTities of civilization, fo as to 
 make them in turn dependent upon Caucafian 
 jfkill in the higher departments of life. Even in 
 this extreme cafe, then, we might look for fome 
 termination to a ftate of flavery abfolutely need- 
 ful in the beginning. In real life there is no fuch 
 need. The celebrated Vieyra in one of his fermons 
 anfwers the people of Maranham on this head :
 
 (C 
 
 cc 
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 239 
 
 But you will fay to me, this people, this republic, 
 this ftate cannot be fupported without Indians. Who 
 is to bring us a pitcher of water or a bundle of wood ? 
 " Who is to plant our mandioc ? Muft our wives do it? 
 " Muft our children do it ? In the firft place, as you 
 " will prefently fee, thefe are not the ftraits in which I 
 " would place you : but if neceffity and confcience re- 
 " quire it, then, I reply, yes ! and I repeat yes ! You 
 " and your wives and your children ought to do it ! We 
 " ought to fupport ourfelves with our own hands ; for 
 " better is it to be fupported by the fweat of one's own 
 " brow, than by another's blood."* 
 
 On the other hand, is flavery needful for the 
 flaves F If there were no other way but flavery 
 to elevate them in the fcale of beinp-s, then that 
 might be taken. I am not prepared to fay that 
 the intelligent fhould exercife no dominion over 
 the non-intelligent. For the fake of both I con- 
 tend they fhould ; only it fhould not be of an ex- 
 treme kind like flavery, unlefs there is an abfolute 
 neceffity. Now whether any fuch neceffity exifls 
 or not is a queflion that may be fettled by hiflo- 
 rical experience. Doubtlefs of almofl every race 
 in fucceffion, it has been pronounced by their 
 
 • Vteyra:s firft Sermon at St. Luiz, A.D. 16535 Southefs 
 Hiftory of Brazil, vol. ii. p. 479.
 
 240 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 mailers, that to get any good out of them, it was 
 neceflary to have fupreme power over them : and 
 each race has falfified this arrogant affertion. To 
 illuftrate this, here is a fragment which I conjec- 
 ture to have been part of a letter fent by a Roman 
 fenator to fome young man who had recently 
 come into pofTefTion of large property, and was 
 inclined to acfl with unufual benevolence towards 
 his flaves. — " It might have been true in former 
 " days when all flaves were captives in war from 
 " people brave as ourfelves, but with this fcum 
 '^ of nations, it is abfurd. You favour much the 
 " Britifh race, and (forgive me) are wont from pa- 
 " radox, to talk of their fidelity and valour. Two 
 *' of my flaves of that race, no later than the ides 
 " of June were deteded in a long courfe of deceit 
 " and trickery ; not only purloining, but laying 
 " the crime on my Thracians, and even on Epas- 
 netus, my freedman whom you know. The 
 truthful fcourge brought this to light : and for 
 " them there is no other reafoning. Can fuch a 
 " rabble of barbarians become a nation ? for by 
 " nation I do not mean a horde of wandering fa- 
 *^ vages — 
 
 " Quorum plauftra vagas rite trahunt domos — " 
 " but men formed to carry the ideas of power 
 
 cc
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 241 
 
 '' and julliice over the world, fit not only to 
 " govern themfelves, but to fway others ? (a 
 " thoroughly Roman theory, by the way, of a na- 
 " tion.) The thing is impoffible, and would 
 "^ only delude thofe delirious perfons by whom 
 " every new and ftrange thing is well received. 
 *' Moreover my phyiician Feftus tells me that 
 " thefe people are by the appointment of the 
 '* Gods (^divinitus) an inferior race, proved by 
 " their miferably white ikin. For, as he fays, 
 " the lymph in their bodies is altogether of a 
 " poor and half-decoded nature which produces 
 " thefe fickly appearances of pink and white. 
 " Hence the brain is of a flaccid fubftance and 
 " the whole body is fuch as cannot be led to good 
 " but by flripes, not rarely applied. I do not 
 " fay thefe things of myfelf, and fhould defpife 
 " to know them — but they are what the flave 
 " fays (Feftus). You yourfelf perceive the hang- 
 " dog look and abjed bearing (^geftum demijfum 
 " perditumque vultum) of thefe Britons. And 
 " it is with thefe, and fuch as thefe, that we are 
 " to eat in company, for fo I conftrue Seneca's 
 " fine* words which you read to me the other 
 
 Q^iid ergo ? omnes fervos admovebo menfae meas ? non ma- 
 2 R
 
 242 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 *' day. Next, I fuppofe we are to intermarry 
 " with them. But the Gods" — Here the frag- 
 ment breaks off not inappropriately, as this kind 
 of people are very apt to invoke the Gods In fiip- 
 port of their arguments. 
 
 But to argue the quefllon on broader grounds. 
 It is not only true that flave-owners have always 
 been apt to fancy that fupreme authority and ex- 
 treme meafures were necefTary in order to rule 
 their flavesj but all people in authority have erred 
 in the fame way. Each year of wife government 
 in a country generally goes to fbow that men can 
 be governed by lefs imperious means. That Is 
 the meaning and effence of civilization. At firft 
 a Turkifh bit Is needed, or fuppofed to be; and 
 now, to ufe the fimile of an Ingenious fatirift,t 
 men are led by invifible threads attached to their 
 heads. Of the millions of adlions of all kinds 
 that will be done unwillingly by free men to-day. 
 
 gis quam omnes liberos ? Erras, fi exiftimas me quofdam quafi 
 fordidioris operae rejeeluruin, ut puta ilium mulionem, et ilium 
 bubulcum : non minifteriis illos seftimabo, fed moribus. Sibi 
 quifque dat mores: minifteria cafus affignat. Q^idam coenent 
 tecum, quia digni funt; quidam,ut fint. Si quid enim in illis ex 
 (brdida converlatione fervile eft, honeftiorum conviftus excutiet. — 
 Seneca epift. XLVil. 
 
 f Adventures in the Moon.
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 243 
 
 the greater number of them will be done from no 
 phyfical control or fear, but from motives which 
 cannot be traced back to material influences, de- 
 pending upon fuch abflradlions as duty, public 
 opinion, and fuch things ; increafing in finenefs 
 and not diminifliing in ftrength, as we approach 
 the moft civilized parts of the earth. I have no 
 doubt that it is not neceffary to have fuprem'e 
 power over any reafoning creature to lead it to its 
 own good. 
 
 But it may be faid, that though this power 
 might not have been neceflary originally, yet that 
 it is needed now. The original flieep, for in- 
 ftance, naturalifts tell us, was a hardy, boldly hit- 
 ting, felf-fufficient creature. We have brought 
 it now to be timid, dependent, gregarious. Would 
 it be right to difmifs it at once into a free fl:ate, 
 where it might perifh for want of a mafter's hand ^ 
 For the fheep I cannot anfwer. I fufped: that 
 give it room enough, it would do better than we 
 imagine, though deprived of the opportune and 
 gentle coercion of the fhepherd's dog ; and that 
 in a few generations it might recover fome of its 
 original hardihood and daring. But of men I 
 have much lefs doubt. I cannot but believe that 
 the flaves throughout the world, if fet free inftan-
 
 244 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 taneoufly, with no preparation, would at once 
 lead a happier, a better, a more promifing life 
 than they do now. It is true that, like the fheep, 
 they would yield lefs profit. They would, in 
 fad, live for themfelves, and not for their maf- 
 ters. There might be lefs fugar and cofFee in 
 this cafe, as lefs wool in the other. I do not 
 underrate the feeblenefs which comes upon men 
 from being long unaccuftomed to exercife a will 
 of their own. Nor do I mean to fay that there 
 might not, moft wifely, be fome preparation for 
 a ftate of freedom— but fimply that abfolute and 
 fudden freedom would be better for the flaves 
 than their prefent ftate of flavery, in thofe parts 
 of the world where no preparation whatever is 
 being made for their freedom. 
 
 Again, it may be urged that though flavery is 
 needlefs for individual mafters, and needlefs for 
 individual flaves ; yet that a ftate where flavery 
 exifts would be endangered by emancipation of 
 the flaves. If it is meant that the general procefs 
 of emancipation of flaves in any ftate might be 
 attended with fome danger and difficulty for the 
 mafters, that is a queftion to be met by thofe 
 who have to confider in detail, how flavery fhould 
 be done awav.
 
 IS NEEDLESG. 245 
 
 At prefent we are only feeing whether it is in it- 
 (df a needful thing for mailers or flaves : and I 
 think it has been fhown to be needful for'neither. 
 
 » 
 
 When we think of the refponfibility of having 
 full power over the aftions of others (a refpon- 
 fibility which thinking men do not much like to 
 take upon themfelves even in the cafe of animals) 
 we might imagine that individual flave-owners 
 and the governing powers in a flave-ftate would 
 alike be glad to get rid of flavery. It certainly 
 requires much magnanimity to lay down any 
 portion of power. But this is one fraught with 
 fo much apprehenfion, that, as a matter of comfort, 
 if not of righteoufnefs, we might imagine they 
 would be glad to be quit of it. They cannot 
 flatter themfelves with the hope that they are im- 
 proving the race of their flaves. If you wanted 
 to improve the breed of any race, even of ani- 
 mals, you would not do it by keeping them to 
 their loweft fun6tions, hindering the natural affec- 
 tions, ruling them by fear, and fhowing them 
 contempt, or contemptuous favour. 
 
 But fome may think the greateft difficulty is 
 yet to be met. How are the eftates to be culti- 
 vated, if flavery is not maintained ? If this pecu-
 
 246 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 niary notion is the bafis of flavery, the ground is 
 much narrowed, and at any rate we come to this, 
 that any degree of coercion that will meet the 
 particular cafe will fuffice. And at once, on this 
 hypothefis, we might rife from flavery to a feudal 
 fyftem, where certain fervices admitted by all to 
 be difagreeable and difficult of procurement, are 
 at certain times imperioufly required. Even if 
 the diminution of produce in our Wefl-India- 
 Iflands could be fuppofed to be an indication of 
 what would happen under a wifer fyftem of 
 emancipation, and in a different country, (which 
 I totally diflDelieve) it is as far as ever from being 
 proved that the prefent flavery is needful for the 
 flave owner, the flave, or the flave ftate. 
 
 ajg®^^:^^^^©^^^®^ 
 
 DuNSFORD. That fragment from the Roman author 
 is very interefting, Milverton. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Very. 
 
 Ellesmere. My dear Dunsford, what an invaluable 
 creature you are, how charmingly you are impofed upon. 
 That Roman author has juft been making a moft En-
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 247 
 
 glifh dinner at this very " Lion," or " Stag," or what- 
 ever it is called. A(k Milverton to ftiew you the origi- 
 nal. 
 
 MiLVERTON. This is the v^^ay in v/hich induftrious 
 people vi^ho hunt up fragments are treated. But let that 
 pafs, as the villain in a tragedy at a fair fays, v/hen he has 
 received fome deadly infult in the firft a6l, which is to 
 lead to a murder or two in the fecond. Let that pafs. 
 But ferioufly, Ellefmere, do you agree in the main argu- 
 ment of the effay ? 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes, quite. I will tell you a curious 
 thing which came into my mind when you were fpeak- 
 ing of the feeblenefs of people long accuftomed to have 
 no will of their own. I hear from a correfpondent in 
 Jamaica that fewer children are loft foon after birth, now 
 that the mothers are free, than there were in the times 
 of flavery, though of courfe great care was taken of both 
 mother and child, if only for the fake of increafnig pro- 
 perty. 
 
 Milverton. It is a curious fail, but there are other 
 ways of accounting for it, befides attributing it to the 
 feeblenefs of the mothers. A mother would not be fo 
 anxious to preferve the Have child as the free child. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes : I only mentioned it as a fa£l 
 worth your inquiring into. As to the general argument 
 of the effay, againft the fuppofed needfulnefs of flavery, 
 I think it of the firft importance. I fuppofe it rarely 
 occurs that an abufe dies quite a natural death — I mean 
 that everybody has found out that it is an abufe — that it
 
 248 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 drops off the tree without being fhaken. It almoft al- 
 ways appears needful to fome perfons. 
 
 MiLVERTON. To meet this view of the fubjed, 
 Franklin has an admirable eflay, confifting of a fpeech 
 by an imaginary Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim, a member of 
 the divan of Algiers, againft the petition of the fed! called 
 Erika who prayed for the abolition of piracy and flavery. 
 I thought you would like to hear it, fo I brought the 
 little volume with me. 
 
 Ellesmere. Let us have it. 
 
 MiLVERTON. " Have thefe Erika confidered the con- 
 " fequences of granting their petition ? If we ceafe our 
 " cruifes againft the Chriftians, how fhall we be furnifh- 
 " ed with the commodities their countries produce, and 
 " which are fo neceffary for us ? If we forbear to make 
 '' flaves of their people, who, in this hot climate, are to 
 " cultivate our lands ? Who are to perform the common 
 " labour of our city, and of our families .'' Muft v/e not 
 " then be our own (laves ? And is there not more com- 
 " paffion and more favour due to us Muflulmen than to 
 " thofe Chriftian dogs? — We have now above fifty thou- 
 " fand flaves in and near Algiers. This number, if not 
 " kept up by frefh fupplies, will foon diminifli, and be 
 " gradually annihilated ; If, then, we ceafe taking and 
 " plundering the infidel's ftiips, and making flaves of the 
 " feamen and pafl'engers, our lands will become of no 
 *' value for want of cultivation ; the rents of houfes in 
 " the city will fink one half; and the revenues of go- 
 " vernment arifing from the (hare of prizes, muft be
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 249 
 
 " totally deftroyed. — And for what ? To gratify the 
 " whim of a whimfical fedt, who would have us not 
 " only forbear making more flaves, but even manumit 
 " thofe we have. But who is to indemnify their maf- 
 " ters for the lofs ? Will the ftate do it ? Is our treafury 
 " fuificient ? Will the Erilca do it? Can they do it ? Or 
 " would they, to do what they think juftice to the 
 " flaves, do a greater injuftice to the owners ? And if 
 " we fet our flaves free, what is to be done with them ? 
 " Few of them will return to their native countries ; 
 " they know too well the greater hardfhips they muft 
 " there be fubjedl to. They will not embrace our 
 " holy religion : they will not adopt our manners : our 
 " people will not pollute themfelves by intermarrying 
 " with them. Muft we maintain them as beggars in 
 *' our ftreets ; or fufFer our properties to be the prey of 
 " their pillage ? for men accuftomed to flavery will not 
 " work for a livelihood when not compelled. — And 
 *' what is there fo pitiable in their prefent condition ? 
 " Were they not flaves in their own countries ? " 
 
 Ellesmere. It is fo well done, that one can hardly 
 believe that Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim is fabulous, and that 
 the Times' reporter was not there. Go on. 
 
 MiLVERTON. " I repeat the queftion, what is to be 
 " done with them ? I have heard it fuggefted, that they 
 " may be planted in the wildernefs, where there is plenty 
 " of land for them to fubfift on, and where they may 
 " flourifti as a free ftate. — But they arc, I doubt, too little 
 " difpofcd to labour without compulfion, as well as too
 
 250 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 " ignorant to eftablifh good government ; and the wild 
 " i\rabs would foon moleft and deftroy, or again enflave 
 ** them. While ferving us, we take care to provide them 
 " with everything, and they are treated with humanity. 
 *' The labourers in their own countries are, as I am in- 
 " formed, worfe fed, lodged and clothed. The condition 
 " of moft of them is therefore already mended, and re- 
 " quires no farther improvement. ******* How 
 " groffly are they miflaken, in imagining flavery to be 
 " difavowed by the Alcoran ! Are not the two precepts, 
 " to quote no more, ' Mafters, treat your flaves with 
 " kindnefs — Slaves, ferve your mafters with cheerfulnefs 
 *' and fidelity,' clear proofs to the contrary ? ***** 
 " Let us then hear no more of this deteftable propofition, 
 " the manumifTion of Chriftian Haves." 
 
 Ellesmere. I had no idea the old republican had fo 
 much wit in him. 
 
 MiLVERTON. It is an admirable piece of irony, cer- 
 tainly. But I will ihow you that real life can beat it. 
 Here is an extra6l from Southey's Brazil, which I had 
 put up with the Franklin. It is part of a report of the 
 proceedings of a Portuguefe Commiflion appointed to 
 decide about the fate of fome Indian captives at Belem. 
 
 " But the fuperiors of the Carmo and of the Merces 
 " voted that they fhould all be flaves, becaufe among 
 " Savages all wars were lawful. The Francifcan Supe- 
 " rior began by faying he wifhed God would reveal to 
 '' him by an angel whether thofe wars had been juft or 
 " unjuft : but he inclined to believe they were juft, be-
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 251 
 
 caufe the Doctors had laid down that there were 
 twelve juft caufes of war, and among fo many it was 
 impoilible that thefe men fliould not have fallen upon 
 one. To this it was replied, the Dodlors had alfo 
 laid down that there were twenty- four unjufl: caufes 
 of war, and therefore upon his own premifes, the 
 chances againft his conclufion were precifely two to 
 one. Pie, however, gave his vote that they fhould be 
 all flaves, but that their children if they had any fhould 
 be free. The vicar gave no reafon for his opinion, but 
 merely pronounced ' Slaves ! Slaves ! ' This was his 
 uniform vote, and his uniform manner of voting ; and 
 when he was once prefled to explain the motives for 
 his decifion, he anfwered, that the men who prefented 
 thefe captives were Chriftians ; and therefore it was 
 not to be prefumed that they would do anything 
 wrong ; that fuch had always been the cuftom in that 
 ftate ; — that if the Indians were declared free, the men 
 who had procured them would lofe their labour, and 
 there would be a mutiny among the people. One of 
 the Friars helped him in this precious reafoning, by 
 faying, that the Indians loft nothing by becoming 
 flaves, and that flavery was a practice which origi- 
 nated in companion, as if, fays Vieyra, it 
 
 were the fame thing to commute death for fervitude, 
 
 as to deprive a free man of his liberty." 
 
 Ellesmere. Swift might have written every word 
 
 of it — no, not every word — for he would not have put 
 
 in that word " precious," but would have told the ftory
 
 252 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 in fuch a manner, that many a reader would not exa£lly 
 make out what the narrator himfelf thought of the tranf- 
 adlion. Ah me, it is terrible though, that all this hide- 
 ous irony fhould be about real men, and not Brobding- 
 nags and Lilliputians. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Well, I am glad to fee that there are 
 other things in the paflage befides the irony of it, that 
 ftrike you. It feemed as if we were tending only to 
 criticifm, and difcuffions about irony. 
 
 Ellesmere. We cannot always have our pity on the 
 furface in the right conventional quantity and quality, 
 Dunsford, Night preffes down in our minds upon 
 things that we, in pity to ourfelves, will not let the day- 
 light in upon. In confidering the affairs of life, we 
 might ftand pity-ftruck, if we did not fave ourfelves 
 fometimes from it. I can underftand how a Goethe, 
 anxious to make the moft of himfelf, fhould avoid horrors. 
 
 Dunsford. It is eafy to fee that the moft humane 
 man may talk of horrors without taking them up on the 
 pitiable fide. But as to what you fay of Goethe, I do not 
 altogether approve of fuch circumfpeft avoidance of 
 painful fubjecfts. 
 
 Ellesmere. He did the fame with certain great in- 
 telle6tual queftions. They might agitate other men : 
 they would, he faw, to the end of time ; but he pafled 
 them by, not feeing that anything would come of them 
 in his mind. And time and labour would be loft. 
 
 MiLVERTON. A prudent wifdom ; but there is a 
 higher wifdom which docs not remind us of prudence.
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 253 
 
 Ellesmere. We wont talk about Goethe. No two 
 people can agree about a great man. He prefents fo 
 much to them. 
 
 But, Milverton, what, may I afk, are the efpecial 
 delights of this little inn ? 
 
 Milverton. My dear fellow, no human pleafure 
 will bear to be put in the witnefs-box, as I fee you are 
 going to put this. 
 
 Ellesmere. But, really, this is a common-place fort 
 of affair — a well proportioned room, with no oddities 
 about it. 
 
 Milverton. Look out from this window and con- 
 fider that countenance in brick-work. To the left. 
 There is fomething unufual for you. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Upon my word there is. That is Roman 
 — the face of fome emperor, I do believe — perhaps Pro- 
 bus, whofe coins we have hereabouts. 
 
 Milverton. It feems Roman certainly. I knew 
 there was fuch a thing here which would at leaft be 
 fomething for you to fee. 
 
 DuNSFORD. We will have a good look at it before 
 we go. 
 
 Ellesmere. And fome Edie Ochiltrie will come up 
 to us and fay he " minds the bigging of it." 
 
 Milverton. No — it came from an old place in the 
 neighbourhood, and was then fixed in that wall. Thefe 
 parts abound in Roman remains. I always fancy that 
 the faces of the peafantry have a great deal of the Ro- 
 man in them. I care much more about Roman anti-
 
 254 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 quities than any other to be found here. We feem to 
 have (6 much in common with anything fmce William 
 the Conqueror's time. But a relic of thefe old Romans 
 takes one into another world as it were. 
 
 DuNSFORD. By a Roman road. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes ; and of all that they have left 
 behind them, there is fcarcely anything which interefts 
 me more than one of thefe fame roads. Look at it in the 
 map, how it ftands alone amidft the judicious windings 
 of modern invention. It is like the doings of a ftern, 
 fearlefs, outfpoken man, often going over huge hills 
 which, with a little management, he might have gone 
 round ; but you know where he is going, and what he 
 does mean. He does not pretend to know the eafieft 
 way : he can only fay that his is the flraighteft. 
 
 Ellesmere. With my lawyer-like notions, I am not 
 fo great an admirer of this brutal direftnefs. What fays 
 Wallenftein ? 
 
 Straight forward goes 
 The lightning's path, and ftraight the fearful path 
 Of the cannon ball. Dire6l it flies and rapid 
 Shattering that it may reach, and fhattering what it reaches. 
 My fon ! the road, the human being travels, 
 That, on which blefTmg comes and goes, doth follow 
 The river's courfe, the valley's playful windings, 
 Curves round the cornfield and the hill of vines. 
 Honouring the holy bounds of property ! 
 And thus fecure, though late, leads to its end. 
 
 What I like the Romans for, is their ftoicifrrt. That 
 was a grand theory for them. It is impoflible not to
 
 IS NEEDLESS. 255 
 
 have fome refpedl for it — a man thinking that he has no 
 clear caufe for hope or comfort, here or hereafter, but 
 refolving that at any rate he will bear what comes — and 
 making out a religion of endurance only. Human na- 
 ture driven into a corner and {landing at bay 1 Slight 
 thinkers will tell you that ftoicifm was but a theory, 
 never tranflated into life. But none of thefe great ideas 
 remain theories only. You do not fee them, perhaps, 
 meet any particular cafe ; but they form the mind : they 
 impofe limits both upon thought and feeling. 
 
 DuNSFORD. If I were not frightened by Ellefmere's 
 " flight thinkers" I (hould fay fomething, I think, de- 
 preciatory of Stoicifm — But let us go and fee that Ro- 
 man Emperor in brick, and then come back and talk 
 over Stoicifm. By that time I fhall have courage. 
 
 Ellesmere. Don't you think, Milverton, we might 
 have another part of this eflay on Slavery in the courfe 
 of the evening. I afked you to bring a good deal of it. 
 And then, as we ride home, we can talk it over, or 
 wander into other things. Having fomething to difcufs, 
 which one ought to keep to, makes difcurfivenefs more 
 pleafant. 
 
 Milverton. I fufpe6l, Dunsford, that EUefmere is 
 very anxious to get through this fubjecSl. 
 
 Ellesmere. Indeed I am not. I like thefe eflays 
 which are addreffed to fome concrete fubjedl, and which 
 at leaft pretend to go upon fails, and to make for fome 
 definite courfe of adlion. I dont think them dull at all 
 — at leaft not for an evening at an inn.
 
 256 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 MiLVERTON. Perfuafive and complimentary man that 
 you are, you {hall be indulged with another fedlion : the 
 next thing I want to prove is, that flavery is unauthor- 
 ized. And, after having completed our antiquarian re- 
 fearches, we will return to that. 
 
 We were foon again aflembled in the inn 
 parlour, and Milverton proceeded to read the 
 following fedlion. 
 
 3. THAT SLAVERY IS UNAUTHORIZED. 
 
 There are three main fources of authority 
 other than a man's own confcience. Thefe are 
 the words and deeds of infpired perfons, of wife 
 men in former days, of wife men in the prefent 
 time. The advocates of flavery would probably 
 contend that they had all three in their favour, 
 elpecially the firft. If fo, it is £t tower of ftrength 
 to them, which we of the other fide cannot leave 
 untaken behind us. In the courfe of diflodging 
 them from it, we fhall find ourfelves on the peri- 
 lous margin of fome deep and difficult queflions 
 which cannot however be avoided. 
 
 The question of verbal infpiration for inflance, 
 meets us at the outfet. If any fentence taken 
 from the bible is of that virtue, that, without be-
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 257 
 
 ing looked at it in reference to the context, by 
 the light of hiftory, with the aid of general criti- 
 cifm, or even particular comparifon with other 
 texts, it is conclufive ; in fhort, if each text is to 
 have an infallibility of its own, then poiTibly fome 
 text jnay be found which might at once give the 
 authority of Scripture to the practice of flave- 
 holding. 
 
 But is there to be no fuch thing as advance 
 beyond any portion of the Bible ; May not the 
 highefl: conception of infpired perfons be much 
 below what the infpiration of themfelves and 
 others will produce, when it has enlarged and en- 
 lightened the minds of fuccefTive generations ? 
 Were the ideas of infpired perfons upon all fub- 
 je6ls abfolutely right ? We cannot fay fo without, 
 as it feems, a thorough perverfion of the plain 
 fenfe of their words, endeavouring, for inftance, 
 to make out that fome of the Apoftles did not 
 believe that the world was to come to an end in 
 their time ; we cannot fay fo without a complete 
 fupprelTion of fcience, infifting for inftance on the 
 fun's moving round the earth, and the earth 
 {landing ftill the while. " E pur fi muove." 
 '* It does move though. " So, with flavery. 
 Compel us to bow down to the narroweft inter- 
 
 s
 
 258 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 pretation of individual texts, the heart relying 
 on the fpirit of fcripture, ftill whifpers to itfelf : 
 men fhould be free. 
 
 It may be faid that the inftances given above 
 relate to phyfical matters ; but that moral laws 
 are enounced clearly, and are not to be amended. 
 Doubtlefs the higheft moral principles are to be 
 found clearly enounced in the Bible, and are fuch 
 as human nature may in vain attempt to advance 
 beyond. But flavery is not one of thefe princi- 
 ples. You find regulations refpedling it. Do 
 each of thefe regulations contain high principles 
 exhaufting the poffibilities of human nature } In 
 other Jewifh pradlices, in the treatment of prifoners 
 for inflance, do we recognife an infallible autho- 
 rity for fimilar condu6l on our part ? Again, 
 flavery is a thing of mixed nature, varying in 
 every clime, originating in various circumftances, 
 and leading to various refults. Regulations about 
 it cannot well be univerfal. Principles may. The 
 truth is, the gift of our opponents' arguments is, 
 that had flavery been fatally wrong, it would have 
 been forbidden in the Bible. The queftion is, 
 whether it was fatally wrong for that time : and I 
 do not know that any one afferts that it was. It 
 muft be recolledled, however, that the inftitution
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 259 
 
 of flavery commenced in the ranfom of captives 
 who otherwife might have been flain, or in buying 
 the fervices for life of indigent perfons from them- 
 felves. The Jewifh law was extreme againfl: any 
 other kind of flave-dealing. " And he that fleal- 
 " eth a man, and felleth him, or if he be found in 
 " his handy he fhall furely be put to death."* 
 
 We are not bound to confine ourfelves to the 
 nice and hazardous queflions we have juft been 
 treating. Say what we may about thefe quef- 
 tions, there are perfons who will look, at them 
 from another fide, and who may ftill fuppofe that 
 the Bible affords a ftrong hold for the advocates 
 of modern flavery. But we are now coming to 
 clofer quarters. Allow that the fyftem of Jewifh 
 flavery is a divinely authorized one, and that we 
 have made, and are to make, no advance in huma- 
 nity fmce then, flill the fyftem of modern flavery 
 is utterly unauthorized, — is utterly condemned. 
 Where is the Jubilee in Carolina or Georgia ? 
 Again, Mofes fays, " Thou fhalt not deliver 
 " unto his mafler the fervant which is efcaped 
 " from his mafter unto thee : he fhall dwell with 
 " thee, even among you, in that place which he 
 
 * Exodus ch. xxi. v. i6.
 
 26o THAT SLAVERY 
 
 " fliall choofe in one of thy gates, where it liketh 
 " him beft: thou fhalt not opprefs him."* What 
 will the flave ftates fay to that ? Mofes bids the 
 Ifraelites " gather the people together, men and 
 " women and children, and thy ftranger that is 
 " within thy gates, that they may hear, and that 
 " they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, 
 " and obferve to do all the words of this law." j- 
 Is this a law againft teaching flaves .? Mofes or- 
 dains, that " if a man fmite the eye of his fervant, 
 " or the eye of his maid, that it perifh, he fhall 
 " let him go free for his eye's fake. And if he 
 " fmite out his manfervant's tooth, or his maid- 
 " fervant's tooth ; he fhall let him go free for his 
 " tooth's fake." J If this were law fouth of the 
 Potomac, what need would there be for thofe ad- 
 vertifements defcribing flaves by the very injuries, 
 which then would be the titles to their freedom ? 
 Can modern flave-owners fay with Job, *' If I did 
 " defpife the caufe of my manfervant or of my 
 " maidfervant, when they contended with me : 
 " what then fhall I do when God rifeth up ? and 
 " when he vifiteth, what fhall I anfwer him ? Did 
 
 Deuteronomy ch. xxiii. v. 15. f Ibid. ch. xxxi. v. 12. 
 X Exodus ch. xxi. v. 26.
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 261 
 
 " not he that made me In the womb make him ? 
 " And did not one fafhion us in the womb ?"* 
 
 I fubjoin a fummary of the ftate of JewiiK 
 flaves, for thofe who wiili to be minutely ac- 
 quainted with the fubjedt. 
 
 " With the Ifraelites fervice was either voluntary, or 
 " judicially impofed by the law of God. Strangers only, 
 " or the defendants of Grangers, became their pofleilion 
 " by purchafe ; but, however acquired, the law gave the 
 " Jewifh fervants many rights and privileges : they were 
 " admitted into covenant with God ; they were guefts 
 " at all the national and family feftivals ; they were 
 " ftatedly inftru6ted in morals and religion ; they were 
 " releafed from their regular labour nearly one half of 
 " their term of fervltude. The fervants of the Ifraelites 
 " were protected by the law equally with their mafters ; 
 " and their civil and religious rights were the fame. Fi- 
 " nally thefe fervants had the power of changing their 
 " mafters, and of feeking protection where they pleafed, 
 " and fhould their mafters by any zdi of violence injure 
 " their perfons, they were releafed from their engage- 
 " ments. The term of Hebrew fervltude was fix years, 
 " beyond which they could not be held unlefs they 
 " entered into new engagements ; while that of ftrangers, 
 
 over whom the rights of the mafter were compara- 
 
 * Job ch. xxxi. V. 13, 14, 15. 
 
 a
 
 262 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 
 tively abfolute, terminated in every cafe on the return 
 of the jubilee, when liberty was proclaimed to all." * 
 
 If modern flavery were anything like Jewifh 
 flavery, there would have been, comparatively 
 fpeaking, but little need of abolitionifts to moot 
 the fubjed. 
 
 But if Jewifh authority avails the defenders of 
 flavery but little, perhaps Chriftianity may do fo 
 more. On the contrary, however, I venture to 
 aflert that Chriftianity never was more wronged 
 than when ufed to defend a fyftem like modern fla- 
 very. Chriftianity entered Into no political fyftem, 
 to confirm it. Syftems, conftitutions, and the like 
 are perifhable things, and if Chriftianity could be 
 fliut up in them, it would be perifliable too. The 
 great precepts of Chriftianity, " Do as you would 
 " be done by," " Love your neighbour as your- 
 " felf," will hardly be produced to juftify the 
 continuance of modern flavery. Does any one 
 think, that If a flave-owner were to afk the quef- 
 tion " who Is my neighbour," that his flave would 
 be pointed out as an efpeclal exception ^ Or does 
 any Chrlftlan Imagine that the author of his re- 
 
 Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, vol.ii. p. 775.
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 263 
 
 liglon would look with fatisfadion on flavery 
 now. 
 
 But Saint Paul gave diredions how mafters 
 and flaves fhould behave to each other — but he 
 fent back Onefimus to his mafter. Thefe are 
 the arguments in reply. Saint Paul's Mafter faid 
 " render unto Casfar the things that are Casfar's ; " 
 does that perpetuate the neceftity for imperial 
 dominion, or conclude that fuch dominion is the 
 beft form of government ? Men's inftitutions, 
 are, if we may fay fo, left to themfelves ; Chrif- 
 tianity aims alone at giving the fpirit which 
 fhould form thofe inftitutions, and teaching peo- 
 ple how to live under them. 
 
 But if infpired writers cannot be brought as 
 authorities for modern flavery, there may be ad- 
 duced a general confent of the eminent men of 
 antiquity. And for what may there not ? The 
 habits and prejudices of their own times opprefs 
 the greateft intelledts, as a flight barrier clofe to 
 the eyes totally interrupts the keeneft vifion. 
 Still It muft not be allowed to be a general con- 
 fent to the whole doctrines of modern flavery. 
 The Greeks certainly looked upon flavery (like 
 fome modern flave owners) as a thing defirable 
 with reference to the laws of nature and the per-
 
 264 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 manent diverfities in the races of men.* But the 
 Romans viewed flavery as a creature of the law.f 
 Some of their moft eminent men endeavoured to 
 ameliorate the condition of flaves ; for laws of this 
 kind were pafled by Auguftus, Claudius, Ha- 
 drian, Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus, Con- 
 ftantine, Theodofius II., and Juftinian.J It is 
 pleafant alfo to obferve that there are infliances of 
 feveral of the moft eminent men treating their 
 flaves with kindnefs, or, in their writings, fhowing 
 fome concern for the cruelties pra6lifed upon flaves. 
 Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Pliny, Plutarch, Juvenal, 
 Perfius and Martial may be quoted to fupport 
 this. § And above all, Seneca, whofe letter be- 
 fore referred to, is one of the moft admirable 
 things that have been written on the fubjeft of 
 flavery. 
 
 Again, in eftimating the Roman fyftem of 
 flavery, the manumiflion muft be taken into ac- 
 count, a manumiflion fo frequent, that Auguftus 
 thought it right to reftrid it within certain limits. 
 
 But making the beft that can be made of fla- 
 very amongft the Greeks or Romans, it is one of 
 
 * Blair, p. 297. f Ibid. J Ibid. pp. 86, 87. 
 
 § Ibid. p. 125.
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 265 
 
 the greateft blots upon their focial fyftem ; and any 
 one would imagine that a reafonable man of mo- 
 dern times would no more think of looking up to 
 the ancients as authorities for the maintenance of 
 flavery, than he would of defending the expofure 
 of children, or the combats of gladiators, becaufe 
 ancient men of renown perceived no evil in either 
 of thefe praftices. Very wife men in this country 
 once thought torture a judicious mode of difco- 
 vering truth. We are above that error now ; we 
 have found it out : nothing but a general relapfe 
 into barbarifm could bring us back to it. Long 
 columns of weighty names would never again 
 reconcile us to burning witches. And, upon fi- 
 milar grounds, the opinions and pradice of anti- 
 quity as regards flaves, even of the wifeft part of 
 it, fhould not be received as any valid authority 
 whatever in juftification of the fyftem of modern 
 flavery. 
 
 The third fource of authority, as mentioned 
 before, is to be found in the words and condudt 
 of contemporaries. And here flavery finds any- 
 thing but allies. Among thofe who are them- 
 felves interefted, at leaft as they believe, in 
 maintaining the flave fyftem, there will be many 
 honourable men of fuperior attainments : and
 
 266 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 others will point to them and fay, can it be 
 wrong to think as they think, to do as they do ? 
 But as we found, in eftimating the weight of 
 ancient authority, fo here alfo, general fagacity 
 and uprightnefs cannot bear up againft the pre- 
 judices amongft which a man is born — which 
 are the breath of his noftrils to him. Putting, 
 therefore, the authority of thefe interefted per- 
 fons at the higheft, we cannot confider it as the 
 beft which can be given. And when we go 
 from them to impartial judges, even the advo- 
 cates of flavery themfelves, will, I apprehend, 
 allow that the utmofl that is generally pronounced 
 for them by the outer world — that is, the free 
 world, — is of a negative charader : that flavery is 
 not fo bad as it Is reprefented — that it is very 
 well talking about the evils of flavery, but who 
 will find the remedy — that it is doubtful whether 
 the negro race is capable of high development — 
 and other generalities of this kind. But I do not 
 know of any great thinker of modern times whofe 
 deliberate and difinterefted opinion can be ad- 
 duced in favour of modern flavery. 
 
 Almofl immediately after the reading, we 
 commenced our ride homewards, intending to
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 267 
 
 have our converfation on horfeback, which thus 
 began, as the horfes ftarted off with their wonted 
 eagernefs to get to their own ftables. 
 
 Ellesmere. Fauft and Mephiftopheles on wild 
 horfes ! 
 
 MiLVERTON. Who is Dunsford then ? 
 
 Ellesmere. (Afide, but I heard it) Wagner. 
 
 MiLVERTON. This is fomething that fleam cannot 
 do for us, is it not ? 
 
 Ellesmere. A fteam engine would be very well to 
 ride for once. But as it has no memory, no temper, no 
 perverfities to deal with, the amufement would foon be 
 over. Now this animal of yours recolle6ls my being 
 crofs with her this morning ; and is bent upon punifhing 
 me for it. And I am obliged to be very civil to the 
 creature, that fhe may not be more fradlious the next 
 time I have to ride her. There is a great deal of diplo- 
 macy going on between us. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Louis the Eleventh managing the Duke 
 of Burgundy. Louis is at Peronne juft at prefent. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, but about the eflay. I had no 
 idea there was fuch a cafe to be made againft modern 
 flavery from the Jewifh treatment of flaves. When wc
 
 268 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 get home, you muft let me have the eflay. I want to 
 look at the paffagcs you quote and to fee the context. 
 
 MiLVERTON. You fliall. 
 
 Ellesmere. Does much wind come up the valley 
 behind your houfe ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. It is bleak in winter there ; but why 
 do you afk ? 
 
 Ellesmere. You were talking the other day about 
 opinions being burnt into, or out of, men : and as there 
 is fome burning matter in that laft fedlion of your eflay, 
 I was thinking what were the conveniences. Of courfe 
 it is defirable that the burning fhould be near home, to 
 make the example tell better. 
 
 MiLVERTON. You allude to what I fay about infpi- 
 ration : but I have great names to fhelter me. Have 
 you ever read Coleridge's " Confeffions of an Inquiring 
 Spirit" ? 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes; and I have long wondered that 
 the fubjecSt fhould have remained, comparatively fpeak- 
 ing, dormant. 
 
 MiLVERTON. It is fl:range to think what awful ques- 
 tions there are behind this rubbifh about white or black 
 gowns, and the like. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Not rubbifh by any means — often at the 
 leafl the counters with which the great game is played. 
 
 MiLVERTON. But do not great queftions thus get 
 pared down, or partially confidered, or entirely avoided ? 
 
 Ellesmere. The lafl may be a gain. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Should the greatefl queflions however
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 269 
 
 arife in religion and be moft fiercely debated, I hardly 
 think people will be able to illuftrate their arguments by 
 fuch doings as they were wont. The wind in that valley 
 will not, I think, in a hurry be put to the ufe you were 
 fo kindly imagining, Ellefmere. 
 
 Ellesmere. I {hould be forry, myfelf, to make any 
 diftinil prophecy about the limits of human intole- 
 rance. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I think there are limits now. But 
 what things have been done ! I don't know how it is 
 with you, but religious intolerance and its fruits form 
 an abyfs of a fubjeft for contemplation which I cannot 
 get away from, fometimes. Now, laft night, I was 
 reading of the thirty years' war, juft at the deftruilion 
 of Magdeburg — the town fired and thirty thoufand peo- 
 ple deftroyed in a day. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Proteftants, were they not ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes — but Proteftants were juft as bad 
 in their way. In fa6l both names, Proteftant and Ca- 
 tholic, are fo fteeped in blood, that one hardly likes, I 
 think, to lay any claim to either. Then, when you 
 come to think what the fubje£ls of this religious difcord 
 were and are — refinements and abftra6lions about which 
 no man fcarcely can have what may be called an opi- 
 nion. Then, again, if you confider what a fallacious 
 thing agreement of opinion is — how uncertain. Let a 
 man only obferve the changes he goes through in a day. 
 A candid man who really looked into what was pafling 
 in his mind would oft:en acknowledge that he had been
 
 270 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 on all fides of a queftion in the courfe of a day. Mac- 
 beth afks : 
 
 " Who can be wife, amazed, temperate and furious, 
 " Loyal and neutral, in a moment ?" 
 
 He anfwers : " no man." I fhould venture to fay : 
 " all men." 
 
 DuNSFORD. Pufh this to an extreme, and you get rid 
 of all character. 
 
 MiLVERTON. No — there is a courfe purfued both in 
 feeling and opinion, which coincides with, and refults 
 from, character ; but the ofcillations, at leaft in minds of 
 any felf-reliance, are often unceafing. 
 
 But to {how what agreement in opinion may be ; take 
 fuch a cafe as the following. Let two men have ftrong 
 and deliberate opinions which agree. Still their prefent 
 agreement may indicate an intenfe difagreement at a 
 future time, and may fhow at prefent extreme diverfity 
 of nature. So that it may only come to this, that at a 
 particular point of their feveral paths there is interfe£lion. 
 After and before they may diverge indefinitely. 
 
 DuNSFORD. This is very fubtle. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Indeed it is much more common-place 
 than you at firft imagine. Now, EUefmere, if you (oh 
 he is half a mile off) but, Dunsford, if EUefmere who is 
 a man that has feen much of the world, has been in 
 many tranfa6lions, and gone through many ftages of 
 opinion, if he were to find a young man from college 
 exadly agreeing with him on fome difficult political
 
 IS UNAUTHORIZED. 271 
 
 queftion — the youth not talking after anybody elfe, but 
 having worked out principles for himfelf which fettle 
 this queftion for him in the way that Ellefmere has been 
 worn down to. Would you clafs thofe two men as 
 really alike ? They agree now : in the rotation of crops 
 both lands happen for a feafon to bear the fame grain ; 
 but the foils are eflentially different. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I muft own that your theory works out 
 better than I had thought. But apply it largely, and 
 what becomes of churches and parties and all bodies of 
 men. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Such confiderations as I have mention- 
 ed need not break up what is really ufeful and harmo- 
 nious in bodies of men. But thefe faid confiderations 
 would often take the fting out of intolerance. Advan- 
 tages of many kinds are to be obtained by men agreeing 
 with each other in opinion on different fubjecls : and 
 men will be contented — mufl be contented, with the 
 beft agreement amongft them they can get. But had 
 many a bigot ferioufly thought what the minds of men 
 are like, and what agreement amongft them is, it might 
 have tamed him wonderfully. Similar confiderations 
 apply to our judgment of the moral character alfo. 
 DuNSFORD. How ? I do not fee what you mean. 
 MiLVERTON. Why that in the one cafe you will often 
 have to go deeper than the a6lion, to look for the moral 
 charadler ; as in the other, deeper than the opinion, to 
 look for the mental character. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, at laft I have got back to you.
 
 272 SLAVERY UNAUTHORIZED. 
 
 Whether this deteftable mare has had enough of philo- 
 fophy in her time, or that fhe has determined to pay me 
 off for this morning's work, I have only been able to 
 catch faint buzzings of talk till we came in fight of your 
 red chimneys. I have no doubt I fliould have difagreed 
 with what you were faying — fo you may enter a proteft 
 for me. Thank goodnefs we are at home again. Phi- 
 lofophers fhould have nothing but cobs for themfelves 
 and their friends. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Louis has got back to Pleflis les Tours, 
 and ought only to be too glad to be there with un- 
 broken bones.
 
 SLAVERY MISCHIEVOUS. 273 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 A LONG interval has elapfed between the time of 
 
 our laft reading in the little inn at • and the 
 
 reading which will be given in this chapter. It 
 almoft feemed as if our converfation about travel 
 had fomething prophetic in it. When we laft 
 parted, we were all looking forward to many a 
 fummer's day fpent together amidft this fimple 
 Englifh fcenery ; and never dreamt that the next 
 time we fhould meet would be in the city of many 
 churches, Cologne. But fhortly after the reading 
 recorded in the laft chapter, Milverton's health 
 fuddenly broke down. His illnefs was long and 
 tedious ; and a change of climate was recommend- 
 ed for him. The remedy was in great meafure 
 fuccefsful ; and early in the enfuing fpring when 
 our friend ftill lingered in his way homewards, El- 
 lefmere propofed to me to go and meet him on 
 the Rhine. Lucy, at Ellefmere's requeft, accom- 
 panied me ; and we had the pleafure of finding 
 Milverton in comparatively renovated health at 
 
 2 T
 
 274 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 Cologne. It was one day while we were looking 
 idly from the bridge of boats, that Ellefmere ex- 
 prefTed a wi/h that we had one of " our effays," 
 for fo he called them, to read. Milverton told 
 him that he could foon gratify him in that re- 
 fpedl ; for, very foolifhly as I think, he had fent 
 for his books and papers. He alfo faid he would 
 fhow us a place — not exa6lly like our lawn — but 
 flill very fit for a quiet reading ; and accordingly 
 the next day he carried us to the yard clofe to 
 the cathedral, near the fheds where the mafons 
 are working, and faid we might feat ourfelves on 
 the great ftones which lay fcattered about, and 
 have our reading there. 
 
 After going over the cathedral which, how- 
 ever often we may have {ten it, it is almoft im- 
 poffible to be near without entering, and difficult 
 to enter without flaying longer than was intended, 
 we returned to the group of flones we had fixed 
 on for our feats ; and, interrupted only by the 
 repeated click of the workmen's tools, Milverton 
 read the following fedlion of his effay on flavery.
 
 IS MISCHIEVOUS. 275 
 
 4. THAT SLAVERY IS MISCHIEVOUS TO THE 
 MASTER AS WELL AS TO THE SLAVE. 
 
 What Is the wealth of a ftate, in the large 
 fenfe of the word ? not gold certanily — nor iron 
 — nor large population — nor fertile vegetation — 
 nor extenfive territory — nor even wife laws, 
 Adam Smith fays : 
 
 It deferves to be remarked, perhaps, that it is in the 
 progreflive ftate, while the fociety is advancing to the 
 further acquifition, rather than when it has acquired its 
 full complement of riches, that the condition of the la- 
 bouring poor, of the great body of the people, feems to 
 be the happieft and the moft comfortable. It is hard in 
 the ftationary, and miferable in the declining ftate ; the 
 progreffive ftate is in reality the cheerful and the hearty 
 ftate to all the different orders of the fociety. The fta- 
 tionary is dull ; the declining melancholy. 
 
 This may afford a clue to what the wealth that 
 we are feeking to underftand, confifts in. It is a 
 power of adlion, rather than a thing poffeffed. It 
 cannot be realized, except partially, being inex- 
 hauftible. If we muft give any one word for it, 
 that word is vitality. That vitality, however, is 
 the fum of many things, and depends upon many
 
 276 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 things having juft relations to each other. It is 
 the focus, as it were, where many rays of light 
 converge. If there is heat there, there is warmth 
 throughout the body politic. This vitality is 
 nowhere more feen, perhaps, than in the power 
 of progrefs in a nation : and at firfl thinking on 
 this fubjedl, we may imagine that we have come 
 to the root of the matter, in concluding that the 
 power of progrefs is the wealth of a nation. But 
 this will not always be a juft teft ; for phyfical 
 circumftances fuch as a vaft unoccupied territory, 
 may give great power of progrefs, even too great 
 for a time. The vitality that I mean confifts of 
 a certain elafticity and durability alfo. We fhould 
 be able to fay of a great nation, as of a great 
 man, 
 
 " Omnis Ariftippum decuit color et ftatus et res." 
 
 Part of this vitality confifts in national charac- 
 ter; but the higheft national character in fome 
 portion only of the nation will not do. The 
 Spartans would never have grown into a great 
 people. As you require a certain extent of ter- 
 ritory for a confiderable nation, fo you do a cer- 
 tain extent of mind — of felf-governing mind. 
 Imagine England, for inftance, to have confifted
 
 IS MISCHIEVOUS. 277 
 
 only of feudal lords and their retainers. Let 
 thefe feudal lords have been great people, and 
 worthy to lead. Still there would not have been 
 fubftance enough, or variety of pofition enough, to 
 bear up againft reverfes, or minds enough for 
 national refources to have grown out of. Dedudl 
 all that men of the humbler clafTes have done 
 for England in the way of inventions only ; 
 and fee where fhe would have been but for them. 
 Now turn to a flave ftate. What have we 
 there ? A folid dead weight — a conftant quantity, 
 as the mathematicians would fay, in regard of 
 mental power — of which the moft that can be 
 hoped, in adverfe circumftances, is that it fhould 
 be only dead weight. A flave ftate is at beft 
 like a nation confifting of a few men and a great 
 many beafts of burden — very tradable creatures 
 perhaps, but no comfort in adverfity, and chiefly 
 ufeful for flight. Whereas in a great, free, many- 
 minded ftate, the current never fets all one way. 
 Diverfe interefts, diverfe opinions, diverfe tem- 
 peraments, produce a wholefome agitation and 
 fupport the vitality. Then, again, in times of 
 peace a large mafs of flave population has from 
 year to year the fame neceflities provided for it ; 
 gives little encouragement therefore either to arts
 
 278 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 or fclences ; and adds nothing by invention to 
 national pleafure and national wealth. 
 
 The advantages to individual flave owners 
 muft be great indeed if they can balance the na- 
 tional evils arifing from flavery. The good ef- 
 fe6t produced upon their charadlers by flave-o wn- 
 ing muft be very confiderable, if it can compen- 
 fate for the evils they have to endure as citizens 
 of a flave ftate — namely, the weaknefs moral, in- 
 telledual, and phyfical, of the ftate, and the 
 chronic fear of infurrecflion. Now, a priori, the 
 owning of flaves would not occur to one as a 
 ready method of forming greatnefs of charadler. 
 We do not find on this fide of the Atlantic that 
 thofe clafi^es who are leaft contradicted are the 
 wifeft people amongft us. We ftiould think, too, 
 that if there is one evil greater than almoft any 
 other for a child, it would be, to be brought up, 
 as muft often happen, amongft thofe over whom it 
 is taught to exercife fupreme authority, and with 
 whom it is not encouraged to fympathize. Hu- 
 man nature differs in planter latitudes from human 
 nature here, if the child accuftomed to defpotic 
 fway from infancy does not grow up defpotic, 
 headftrong and capricious. And, as the moft deli- 
 cate plants fuffer moft from any blighting Influence,
 
 IS MISCHIEVOUS. 279 
 
 we fhould exped that women would be even more 
 injured than men by pofTeffing arbitrary power 
 over flaves. It is pofTible that the chara6ler of the 
 planter may contraft favourably with the over- 
 reaching, clever, higgling charadler which he may 
 fometimes be brought in contact with. There is 
 fome compenfation for almoft every evil. The 
 man who is accuftomed to live with utter depend- 
 ents, will not have any of the habits of over-reach- 
 ing craft. I do not fay that there may not be 
 admirable qualities in the chara6ler of a flave- 
 owner, fome of them even foftered by his peculiar 
 circumftances ; but I fufped it will generally be 
 found to be deficient in tolerance, helpfulnefs and 
 patient endurance. If not, defpotifm will in this 
 inftance have failed to be the two-edged weapon 
 that it moftly has been — injurious alike to thofe 
 who wield it, and to thofe who fufFer from it. 
 
 MiLVERTON, Well, critic, what do you think ? 
 Ellesmere. I like that part where you fay that the 
 famenefs of the wants of flaves, or rather of all that is
 
 28o THAT SLAVERY 
 
 provided for flaves, proves a great difcouragement to arts 
 and fciences and ingenuity of all kinds, in flave countries. 
 
 MiLVERTON. But have you nothing to find fault 
 with ? 
 
 Ellesmere. Shortnefs difarms criticifm. When I 
 think, too, how you might have affli6led us with a long dif- 
 fertation about flavery being the caufe of the fall of na- 
 tions, with quotations from Montefquieu and other au- 
 thorities, I feel quite benignantly difpofed. 
 
 MiLVERTON. If I had had more to fay I fliould have 
 faid it. I fliould like to have laboured more at this part 
 of the fubje£l, and could find plenty to do in it, but, as 
 Paracelfus fays, 
 
 'Tis clear if we refiafe 
 The means fo limited, the tools fo rude 
 To execute our purpofe, life will fleet, 
 And we fhall fade, and nothing will be done. 
 
 I feel the full force of thefe words now. Since I have 
 been ill, I have fo often feared that I might not be able 
 to put into fhape the unfinifhed work that I have by 
 me, efpecially upon this fubjeil, that I am content to 
 fay at once what I have to fay without much more 
 waiting. 
 
 Ellesmere. I will not gainfay you in that. 
 
 Lucy. Don't you think, Mr. Milverton, that a 
 mother, or an elder fifter, in a flave fl:ate, being aware 
 of the moral dangers to a child which you point out 
 from its being educated amongfl: flaves, might counter- 
 act the evil ?
 
 IS MISCHIEVOUS. 281 
 
 MiLVERTON. Poflibly ; in fome cafes. 
 
 Ellesmere. How beautiful the fhadows are of thofe 
 flying buttrefles ! 
 
 There is nothing more that I fee to be faid about your 
 laft fe(fi:ion. Let us go into the Cathedral again. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I am content. The next reading will 
 be a very long one and may tax your powers of criticifm 
 confiderably ; fo we had better make this fitting a fhort 
 one.
 
 282 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 From Cologne we went to Coblenz^ Milverton 
 readily agreeing to turn back with us, as we had 
 come To far to meet him. There is, or rather was, 
 (for when once a country has commenced making 
 revolution, it is hazardous to fay that anything, 
 efpecially anything beautiful, ftill exifts) a beau- 
 tiful little terrace garden clofe to the WeifTen 
 Rofs (the White Horfe) which overlooked the 
 river. From thence, looking acrofs the river, 
 you fee the whole length of the town — the hand- 
 fome facade of the Palace of Juftice, the grave, 
 romanefque and ancient St. Caftor, and further 
 inwards, the towers of the other churches. Look- 
 ing up the Rhine, you feem to fee a lake ; and 
 the fpire of Pfaffendorf rifes up on the borders of 
 the lake, reminding you of an Englifh village 
 church. 
 
 Coming to this garden, after an early German 
 dinner, we took our ftation in a corner fummer- 
 houfe, and fanned by the lazy and occafional flap- 
 pings to and fro of the awning in front of us, were
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 283 
 
 in a mood to enjoy fully the lovelinefs of the 
 fcene around us. At laft Ellefmere who, I ob- 
 ferve, foon gets tired of the contemplation of 
 natural objedls, afked for another reading. 
 
 MiLVERTON. We mufl begin at once then, as the 
 next fecSlion is a very long one. 
 
 Ellesmere. Well, we have all the afternoon before 
 us ; and nobody can come and call upon us, or fend 
 letters to us, or moleft us in any way. We have a 
 little peace here. 
 
 Lucy. Oh, Mr. Milverton, do look. A regiment 
 of foldiers is croffino- the bridge of boats. 
 
 Milverton. How the light glancing from their 
 bayonets, and varying with each movement, feems to 
 be marching too. They are fturdy fellows : hark, they 
 are finging " God fave the Queen." 
 
 DuNSFORD. I fuppofe they come from Schlefwig 
 Holftein. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes: thatwar is another of the precious 
 follies of thefe frantic times. 
 
 DuNSFORD. No ; I think they are going to put down 
 
 fome difturbance at ; I heard that fome foldiers 
 
 were to be fent there. 
 
 Milverton. Well, there are very few things I have 
 made up my mind upon, as I think I told you laft year ; 
 but one of the few is, that if I were in authority, I would 
 put down in the moft fwift and rcfolute manner anything 
 like mob domination.
 
 284 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 Ellesmere. Did you ever hear my definition of a 
 mob ? 
 
 Lucy. I certainly have not, Mr. Ellefmere, ib pray 
 let me have it. There are fuch things as female mobs 
 you know. 
 
 Ellesmere. Yes — and not the eafieft to deal vi^ith. 
 Now, for my definition : a mob is a compound mafs of 
 human beings in which each one has for the moment 
 all the follies and evil paflions of the reft, in addition to 
 his own, and his ufual common fenfe and good feeling 
 divided by the total number of perfons colIe6led to- 
 gether. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I do not know how you arrived at thefe 
 precife quantities ; but I dare fay you have your own way 
 now, as you ufed to have at college, of making out dif- 
 ficult problems. But we muft not talk any more until 
 after the reading. 
 
 Milverton then went for his papers and foon 
 returning read the following fedion of his efTay. 
 
 5. THAT THERE ARE NO RACES IN RESPECT TO 
 WHICH THE PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS AGAINST 
 SLAVERY DO NOT APPLY. 
 
 There are many races who have been tried both 
 as matters and flaves, and been found wanting in 
 both capacities. The Romans had flaves from 
 moft nations, and I do not know that they fpoke
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 285 
 
 favorably of any. Amongft the prefent mailers 
 there is a large proportion of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race, (to fay the leaft of it, an adlive, independent, 
 thoughtful, humane race) yet they cannot be 
 faid to fhine as flave-owners. And on the other 
 hand the European flaves In Moorlfh countries 
 bear the worft of characters.* 
 
 The negro race, however. Is thought by many 
 perfons to be eiTentlally different from all others, 
 and to be peculiarly fitted for flavery. If this be 
 true, it is one of the moft important fafts in hu- 
 man nature ; If falfe, it is likely to be a fleeplefs 
 prejudice of the moft pernicious kind. Either 
 way it demands rigid enquiry. 
 
 Unhappily, the queftion of negro fitnefs for 
 flavery Is not a queftion lately mooted, but one 
 which has been fettled for a long time by many 
 of thofe who have to deal moft with it. The 
 opinions upon which they proceed vary much in 
 intenfity, from the unfparing affertlon that " the 
 negro Is a fpecies of orang-outang," f down to the 
 
 * If we look among the North African Moors, what is the 
 ftate of the European flaves ? They bear a worfe character, and 
 are inferior in value to the negroes themfelves, on account of their 
 untruftinefs and treachery ! — Portuguefe PoJfeJJions in S, IV. 
 Africa, vol. li. p. 132. 
 
 f I was at a dinner party, where I met a planter from the
 
 286 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 quiet afTumption that the negroes are of fuch an 
 inferior capacity, that it is difficult to imagine 
 their being able to exift in felf-governing com- 
 munities. The want of fympathy, or to fpeak 
 plainly, the difguft, arifing from thefe opinions 
 alfo varies much. In America it is fcarcely too 
 much to fay that it has been carried to the utmoft 
 extravagance. There are many people, excellent, 
 I dare fay, in other refpeds, whofe prejudice againft 
 the dark race is fuch, that they do not like to eat 
 with them, journey with them, have their chil- 
 dren educated with them, fit at any public place 
 with them, worfhip near them, or approach the 
 communion table in their company. Such are 
 the focial difabilities attendant upon a dark ikin, 
 or upon any fhade of dark, vifible or pofiible. It 
 need fcarcely be added that civil difabilities lefs 
 hard to bear, perhaps, than focial ones, are found, 
 as ufual, to accompany them. 
 
 Now is there any ground for all this exclufion 
 and difguft ? What is the capacity of the negro, and 
 
 South, who maintained or rather aflerted, that the negro was a 
 fpecles of orang-outang, and ought not to be confidered, and, 
 confequently, not to be treated, as belonging to the human race. 
 His (laves, he added, were his property — his cattle ; and he fpoke 
 the fentiments of all in the South, when he declared he would 
 draw his fword againft any one who fhould dare to interfere with 
 his rights. — Ahdy, vol. i. p. 377.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 287 
 
 to whom is he related ? Firft, as to his capacity. 
 In eftimating the capacity of any race of men, 
 the circumftances in which they have been placed 
 muft be carefully weighed. It is the opinion of 
 fome of the learned, that no inftance has been 
 found of a favage people becoming civilized with- 
 out extraneous help. Yet we cannot doubt that 
 amongft favage races there have been, and are, 
 many capable of high civilization. Without fub- 
 fcribing to the opinion of thefe learned men, I give 
 it as an inftance to fhow how flow muft have been 
 the obferved progrefs amongft favages for fuch 
 an opinion to be tenable at all. On the other 
 hand, fee what a rapid change in the nature of a 
 race, a change of circumftances will produce. 
 Nobody can deny that a confiderable alteration 
 has taken place in the nature of the white Ameri- 
 cans (whether of Englifh, Gallic, or Germanic 
 origin) fince they firft fettled in that country. 
 Indeed, according to the account of a moft intel- 
 ligent traveller,* this change takes place in one 
 
 * An opinion, which travelling in this country has caufed me 
 to modify, is that which refpefts the permanence of national he- 
 reditary chara6ler, as tranfmitted independently of local and po- 
 litical circumftances. Almoft everybody here tells me that even 
 in the fecond generation (that is in the children of emigrants) it 
 is nearly impoflible to recognife a diftin6lion in habits or chara6ler 
 between thofe of Englifh, Scotch and Irilh blood. They are all
 
 288 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 or two generations. Now, many perfons would 
 think it at leaft as great a change as that from a 
 white fkin to a black one. If we did not know 
 the origin of thefe relations of ours, the white 
 men in America, we fhould be ingenious to a 
 degree in pointing out the wonderful difference 
 which race makes ; and we fhould probably ac- 
 count in this way for moft of the political and 
 civil contrafts which the two hemifpheres prefent. 
 PafTmg now to the circumftances of the race 
 we are confidering, — let any men of the moft 
 favoured European extracflion imagine what they 
 themfelves would have become, if, from an early 
 age, they had been treated as field negroes — 
 driven to work in gangs, worked all day long 
 under the fear of the lafh, driven back again and 
 penned up at night. Amongft men fo treated 
 how is the feeling of duty to arife ; or where is 
 the room for intelledlual development ? Again, 
 take a more favourable cafe, fuppofe that any one 
 of the beft European blood had been born to do- 
 meftic flavery — liable to the caprices of infant 
 
 American, wherever there is conftant intercourfe with the mafs 
 of the population, though, of courfe, not fo where they live in 
 diftrifts or towns, exclufively together. My own experience 
 tends ftrongly to confirm this remark. Godley''s Letters from 
 America, vol. ii. p. i66.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 289 
 
 cruelty, cared for as a piece of furniture — the 
 temperometer of his maflier and miftrefs — if they 
 are unkind, having fcarcely any protedlion from 
 their unkindnefs but their felf-intereft (an unde- 
 fined and mift-like barrier, which pafiion breaks 
 through without even feeing it) — the mark of 
 fcorn to the pafier-by — and finding every law and 
 cufliom coloured differently for his race and that 
 of his mafters — would you exped him to retain 
 the greatnefs of his race ? I do not mean to fay 
 that all flaves feel thefe things exadly as I have put 
 them, but they are brought forward to fhow what 
 a man of any origin would have to contend 
 againft, if fubjeded to treatment fimilar to that 
 of the African race. 
 
 And even if we take the cafe of the free blacks 
 in America, though it may furprife fome perfons 
 that they have not done more, yet we have to 
 make immenfe allowance for the depreffmg influ- 
 ences to which they are fubjecft. When it is af- 
 ferted that they have done nothing in literature, 
 fcience, or art, we muft recoiled how little the 
 Anglo-Americans themfelves have done in this 
 way.* A young people have other things to do. 
 
 * Much of what they have done, however, is of high promife. 
 2 U
 
 290 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 But as regards the blacks, it is almoft impoffible 
 
 to eftimate the efFeft of continuous contempt 
 
 upon a fenfitive and impreffible people. Sir 
 
 Charles Lyell kindly and wifely remarks : " If 
 
 ' any individual be gifted with finer genius than 
 
 ' the reft, his mind will be the more fenfitive to 
 
 ' difcouragement, efpecially when it proceeds from 
 
 ' a race whofe real fuperiority over his coloured 
 
 * fellow-citizens, in their prefent condition, he of 
 ^ all others would be the firft to appreciate. It is 
 ' after many trials attended with fuccefs, and fol- 
 ' lowed by willing praife and applaufe, that felf- 
 ' confidence and intelledlual power are flowly ac- 
 ' quired ; and no well educated black has ever 
 
 * yet had an opportunity of ripening or difplaying 
 ' fuperior talents in this or any other civilized 
 ^ country. ******** Xo expe6t, under 
 ' fuch a combination of deprefiing circumftances, 
 ^ that, in half a century, and in a country where 
 ' more than fix fevenths of the race are fi:ill held 
 ^ in bondage, the newly emancipated citizens 
 ' fhould under any form of government attain 
 ' at once a pofition of real equality is a dream 
 ' of the vifionary philanthropift."* 
 
 * LyeWi Travels in North America, vol. i, p. 208.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 291 
 
 Laftly, even if it be found in America, or elfe- 
 where, that the white population are very efficient 
 in many ways in which the blacks are not ; it ftill 
 remains to be feen, whether that deficiency is one 
 which forbids felf-government and national ex- 
 iftence. For thefe are the queftions. Granted 
 for the fake of argument that the blacks are but an 
 imitative race, ftill if they can imitate civilization, 
 what claim have any of us inventive white men 
 to prevent this beneficial imitation being carried 
 to its utmoft development ? If there be this al- 
 leged deficiency of one kind of mental power in 
 the African race, it is, perhaps, compenfated for ; 
 and they may poiTefs a fuperiority in faculties of 
 another defcription which might greatly ennoble 
 and chriftianize even the pure Caucafian race. 
 
 We have hitherto been treating the matter in 
 the abftrad. If we come to confider the inftances 
 of proficiency which the negro race have already 
 afforded, we have the ampleft grounds for hope- 
 fulnefs about them. It is quite furprifmg that 
 this part of their cafe fhould have been fo little 
 worked out. The wittieft of French writers fays : 
 " L'homme, en general, a toujours ete ce qu'il 
 " eft : cela ne veut pas dire qu'il ait toujours eu de 
 " belles villes, du canon de vingt-quatre livres de
 
 292 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " balle, des operas comlques et des couvents de 
 " religieufes. Mais il a toujours eu le meme in- 
 " ftin6l, qui le porte a f'aimer dans foi-meme, dans 
 " la compagne de fon plaifir, dans fes enfants, dans 
 " fes petits-fils, dans les oeuvres de fes mains." So, 
 if we had but few fadls to give in favour of the 
 probability of a civilization of the negro race 
 fimilar to our own, we might flill contend for it 
 on the general grounds of their refemblance to 
 other branches of the human family in the main ele- 
 ments of civilization. But particular fads abound. 
 It would be difficult to fay in what branch of 
 human affairs negroes have not fhown fome 
 power of excelling. At fchool we find them, at 
 any rate up to a certain age, equal to the white 
 children. Their mufical powers are undoubted, 
 they have invented mufical infl;ruments,* their fa- 
 cility in acquiring languages is, in fome infiiances, 
 remarkable,!" they preach, they aft, they edite newf- 
 
 * Portuguefe Poffeflions in S. W. Africa, vol. 2. pp, 7, 8. 
 
 f " The negroes on the coaft of Angola have a remarkable ta- 
 " lent for acquiring languages, although their own idiom differs 
 " fo effcntially from any with which we are acquainted, that an Eu- 
 " ropean can but feldom overcome the difficulties which it prefents, 
 " and in fome degree mailer it. I very frequently met with negroes 
 " who had been only four weeks on the coaft, and who within that 
 " incredibly ftiort time could not only underftand Portuguefe, but
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 293 
 
 papers, they make money fometimes, (furely this 
 will tell in their favour with civilized people) 
 they make poetry, (a folly, perhaps, but a white 
 one) and there are inftances of negroes excelling 
 in abflradl fcience.* Nay there is even fuch a 
 phenomenon as a black faint in the Calendar. f 
 
 But to form a juft eftimate of their powers, we 
 muft fee them in their own country. To do fo, 
 let us fee what is to be found in an African 
 market, which I think my readers will agree with 
 me in faying, is always one of the firft things to 
 be noticed in a ftrange country. The people of 
 the Niger expedition found " in the market-place 
 " of Gori bags of fait, tobes of various colours, 
 " country cloths, camwood in balls, iron-works, 
 
 " could make themfelves perfe(5lly intelligible in it. One of the 
 " moft extenfive flave-dealers In Loanda was formerly a flave and 
 "after (he had obtained her freedom, fhe ftudied the Portugiiefe 
 " language by herfelf, with fuch diligence that (he not only fpeaks 
 "it very fluently, but even carries on her mercantile correfpon- 
 " dence, with her own hand, in that language. In the kingdom 
 " of Ambriz all the negroes who have intercourfe with Europeans 
 " fpeak Englilh, to which many add Portuguefe, and fome even 
 " a tolerable knowledge of French. — Portuguefe Pajfeffions in S. 
 "W.Africa,\o\. ii. p. 140." 
 
 * Lawrence's Leftures, pp. 430. 431. Ed. 1822. 
 
 •j- Benoit de Palermo " nigro quidem corpore fed candore ani- 
 " mi praeclariflimus quern et miraculls Deusconteftatum elTe voluit." 
 — Gregoire, De la Litterature des Negres. Paris, 1808, p. 80.
 
 294 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " as hoes and fhovels, Indian corn, dried buffalo's 
 *' flefh, and dried fifh, ground nuts, twine, filk, 
 " feeds of various kinds, fhea butter, ftraw hats 
 " with enormous brims, platters of woods, and 
 " calabafhes beautifully carved."* This is not fo 
 uncivilized: we find too from another authority,'!' 
 that the power of working iron poffefTed by fome 
 of the African tribes, is fuch as will bear com- 
 parifon with our own. 
 
 But the extracts I am now going to give from 
 the work of an American officer, will much more 
 aftonifh thofe who are wont to take for granted 
 the great inferiority of the negro race. 
 
 " The native houfes here (Dixcove) are quite large ; 
 " three or four being two ftories high, with balconies, 
 " built of ftone, in the Spanifti ftyle. They are fur- 
 " nifhed with fofas, bedfteads, and pi6lures. * * * * It 
 
 * Medical Hiftoiy of the Niger Expedition by Dr. M'William, 
 p. 87. 
 
 f " European fabres are occafionally met with, but I am free 
 " to confefs, that thofe of African manufaiSure can compete with 
 " them. Some of the tribes who inhabit the rich mining dif- 
 " trlfls towards the South-Eaft, are renowned for their weapons 
 " and hardware. The workmanlTiip of the javelins is of a very 
 " fuperior kind ; they are, on an average, five feet in length, and 
 " are made entirely of iron, covered from the middle to the butt- 
 " end with long-haired goats' Jkin." — Poriuguefe PoJfeJJions in S. 
 IV. Africa, vol. i. p. 139.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 295 
 
 " is interefting to meet the natives of Africa at fo ad- 
 " vanced a ftage of refinement, yet retaining fomewhat 
 " of their original habits and chara£ler, which is of courfe 
 " entirely loft in the Liberian colonifts. 
 
 " When the white man fets his foot on the ftiores of 
 " Africa, he finds it necefiary to throw off his former pre- 
 " judices. For my own part, I have dined at the tables 
 " of many coloured men in Liberia, have entertained 
 " them on fhipboard, worfhipped with them at church ; 
 " walked, rode, and affociated with them, as equal with 
 *' equal, if not as friend with friend. Were I to meet 
 " thofe men in my own town, and among my own rela- 
 " tives, I would treat them kindly and hofpitably, as they 
 " have treated me. My pofition would give me confi- 
 *' dence to do fo. But in another citv, where I might 
 *' be known to few, fhould I follow the diilates of my 
 " head and heart, and there treat thefe coloured men 
 
 as brethren and equals, it would imply the exercife of 
 ' greater moral courage than I have ever been confcious 
 
 of poffeffing." t 
 
 (( 
 
 cc 
 
 f Journal of an African Cruifer, p. 134, IViley and Putnam, 
 1845. 
 
 Another European who is converfant with the negroes in 
 Africa, amply confirms the views of the American officer. 
 
 " The innumerable ftories which are current, both among par- 
 " tial obfervers, and in books of travel, had excited in me an un- 
 " favourable prejudice againft the negroes, and the few Ikulls of 
 " the genuine negro race (of North Guinea) which had come 
 " under my own obfervation, had tended to confirm it j yet a 
 *' fhort refidence among them, and a careful, impartial obfervation
 
 296 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 If, taking a deeper view of the fubjeft, we con- 
 fider the moral charader of the negro race gene- 
 rally, there is great ground to be fanguine about 
 them. Their cheerfulnefs is admitted : they have 
 not been found to fhow a want of tendernefs in 
 any focial relation : they are not an irreligious 
 race : and^ as regards their veracity, I obferve that 
 one of thefe travellers mentions, that though he 
 found the negroes would ufe falfehood and artifice 
 for their own ends, yet in general narratives they 
 were cautious and fcrupulous, often ufing the 
 exprefTion " I think he be true." Now, it is 
 not an inconfiderable progrefs in truth-telling, 
 when people are careful to fpeak the truth about 
 matters which do not concern themfelves. 
 
 If our inftances of intelledlual and moral de- 
 velopment in the negro were all taken from fome 
 
 " of thefe people, fufficed to convince me, that the fuppofed im- 
 " perfefl: human being was a complete man, whofe melancholy 
 " fituation and oppreffed condition alone have fo fadly degraded 
 " him." ********* u We can only form a 
 " correft judgment of the negro, when we fee him under his own 
 " native fkies, living in peace and freedom in his little hut, and 
 " furrounded by his wife and children, and domeftic enjoyments, 
 " where all his interefts centre, where he reaps the fruits of his 
 " labour, and where he muft contend for all that is dear to him." 
 Portuguefe Pojfejfions in S. IF. Africa, vol. ii. pp. 130, 134.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 297 
 
 country where flavery does not exift, it might be 
 augured that, perhaps, there was fome capability 
 In the negro before he was enflaved ; but that the 
 race could never emerge out of flavery. Fads 
 however contradict any theory of this kind ; for 
 it is found in America that the free people of 
 colour are greatly fuperior to the flaves " in ap- 
 " pearance, drefs, manners, and intelligence."* 
 
 Again, it may be contended that all the fa6ls 
 adduced above are inftances of individual merit, 
 and that they merely fhow excellence in what may 
 be called domeftic matters ; that there is no proof 
 of there being fubftance in the negro character to 
 form a nation ; and that we cannot imagine a 
 negro government otherwife than as a moft bar- 
 barous thing. To be fure ToufTaint has afforded 
 an inftance of a great leader ; and Liberia an 
 example of an able governor, of whom we read 
 that, " His deportment is dignified, quiet and 
 '* fenfible, that he has been tried in war as well 
 " as in peace, and has invariably been brave, cool, 
 " and fuccefsful." 
 
 It goes fome way to make us credit the poffi- 
 bility of national exiftence in a race, when we find 
 amongft them men who can govern. But a far 
 
 * Buckingham's America, vol. i. p. 454..
 
 298 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 more remarkable indication of this poffibility is to 
 be {qqu in the hiftory of the negroes of the Pal- 
 mares, or Palm Forefts, in the Captaincy of Per- 
 nambuco. Mr. Southey gives an account of this 
 interefting Republic in his hiftory of Brazil. It 
 exifted for fixty years ; and was formed of the 
 negroes who, efcaping from flavery, adled upon 
 the offenfive and attacked the Portuguefe ; gain- 
 ing their wives as the firft Romans theirs. They 
 were governed by a chief elec5led for life, called 
 the Zombi ; and it is faid by their enemies that 
 the laws and government of this negro people 
 were very good ; and that during the whole time 
 the ftate was in exiftence, there was no inftance 
 of political trouble of any kind. 
 
 The Pernambucans found it worth while to 
 trade with the black republic ; and, notwithftand- 
 ing it was forbidden, fupplied them with arms, 
 ammunition and European commodities, in ex- 
 change for their produce and booty. 
 
 At laft the Portuguefe ftate was obliged to be- 
 ftir itfelf againft this black community. Caetano 
 de Mello, the Governor, refolved to extirpate the 
 negroes, and ordered one of his officers, Domingos 
 Jorge, to attack the Palmares, who marched 
 againft their chief fettlement with a thoufand men.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 299 
 
 Mr. Southey's defcription of the place cannot well 
 
 be abridged. 
 
 *' A double pallfade of the hardeft wood which 
 the forefts of Brazil produce, enclofed within a 
 circuit of four or five miles a population of more 
 than 20,000 perfons. The fortification was 
 flrengthened by many bulwarks : there were 
 only three gates, which were placed at equal 
 diftances ; each had its platform of defence, and 
 was at all times under the charge of one of their 
 beft officers. The palace of the Zombi was 
 fpacious, and not without a kind of rude mag- 
 nificence ; and the houfes of individuals were, 
 after their fafhion, commodious and fplendid. 
 There was a lake within the circuit, abounding 
 with fifh, and there were alfo running ftreams, 
 . . . but the water feems to have been brackifh 
 or fait, for the inhabitants funk wells, or rather 
 thofe fhallow pits that are called cacimbaSy which 
 implies that it was only rendered potable by 
 filtration. There was alfo a high rock within 
 the enclofure, which ferved them for a watch- 
 poft, and from whence fome of the Pernambu- 
 can towns and fettlements were vifible in the 
 diftance. Befides this, their chief city, they had 
 many fmaller fettlements, or garrifons, called
 
 300 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " MocamboSj in which chofen men were ftationed 
 " for the defence of the plantations." 
 
 Domingos Jorge pitched his camp before the 
 town. The negroes unexpededly made a fally, 
 and " Eight hundred perfons on both fides were 
 '^ killed and wounded." The Portuguefe com- 
 mander then thought it beft to go back again to 
 Porto Calvo and make a jundion with a large 
 body of troops which was waiting for him there. 
 The fiege was renewed by an army of fix thoufand 
 Portuguefe under another commander, Bernardo 
 Vieira de Mello. An efcalade was attempted, 
 which was repelled by the negroes with arrows, 
 boiling water, fire arms and fire brands. The 
 powder of the negroes was at laft exhauiled. 
 The Portuguefe, however, were fi:ill fuccefsfully 
 refifted : and they were obliged to fend for rein- 
 forcements and cannon. Both fides were now in 
 want of provifions : the negroes in want of mif- 
 files alfo. At Jafl: from the watch-tower they 
 beheld large convoys of cattle, laden horfes and 
 carts, coming to the befiegers' camp. Upon this, 
 the enfamifiied men lofl: their fpirit, the gates were 
 forced, and the Zombi with the mofi; refolute of 
 his followers threw themfelves headlong from 
 the precipice. The furvivors were enflaved.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 301 
 
 Thefe men wanted but a poet. Their fate 
 would make an epic, fhowing anything but negro 
 incapacity. 
 
 There is one afpedt of the Negro faculties and 
 chara6ler, which, for want of materials, has feldom 
 been prefented to us ; and that is, the afpecft which 
 they prefented to the firft difcoverers of their land. 
 In another work I have given fome account of thefe 
 difcoveries : and the circumftance which ftruck 
 me moft in confidering the narrative was the re- 
 fped with which the new race of men was regarded 
 by the old, on their firft great meeting fince the 
 introdu6lion of Chriftianity. I do not recollect 
 one inftance of abufive or depreciatory language 
 in the contemporary accounts or in thofe of the 
 earlieft hiftorians. The only diltindlion which the 
 foremoft man in modern geographical difcovery. 
 Prince Henry of Portugal, feems to have made 
 between the negroes and any other race was a re- 
 ligious one. In fending out one of his Captains he 
 tells him, that " if he fhould not be able to obtain 
 " fo many negroes (as had been mentioned) in 
 '* exchange for the three Moors, yet that he fhould 
 " take them ; for whatever number he fhould 
 " get, he would gain fouls, becaufe they (the
 
 302 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " negroes) might be converted to the faith, which 
 " could not be managed with the Moors."* 
 
 Inftances of negro bravery, of negro fagacity, 
 and of fome confiderable knowledge of the arts of 
 life occur in this narrative; and if we take the very 
 firfl account we have of the religious ceremonies 
 and opinions at a negro court, we fhall not find it 
 fuch as to give us a mean idea of the develop- 
 ment of the negro mind in that refpedl, and it 
 may contrail favourably with the religious rites 
 of many favage nations. 
 
 It is to be found in the travels of Ca da Mofto, 
 a young Venetian who vifited Africa, under Prince 
 Henry's orders, about the middle of the fifteenth 
 century. " Budomel" f (the king of a territory 
 in or near the prefent Foulah) " behaved with 
 " great complaifance to Ca da Mofto, and carried 
 " him into the Mofque ; for, towards evening, he 
 " ordered the Azanaghi or Arabs, whom he al- 
 " ways has about him, to fay prayers. His man- 
 ner was thus : — Being entered into the Mofque, 
 (which was in one of the courts) with fome of 
 
 * "Conquerors of the New World," vol. i. p. 28. Barros, 
 dec. I, lib. I, cap. 7. 
 
 ■f " The Conquerors of the New World," vol. i. p. 52. " AJI- 
 ley^s Voyages," vol. i. p. 584. 
 
 cc
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 303 
 
 " the principal negroes, he firfl ftood with his eyes 
 " hfted up, then he advanced two fteps, and fpoke 
 " a few words foftly ; after which, he ftretched 
 " himfelf on the ground and kiffed it. The Aza- 
 " naghi, and all the reft, did the fame. Then 
 " rifing, he repeated the fame a6ls over again, ten 
 " or twelve times, which took up half an hour. 
 " When he had done, he afked the author's opi- 
 " nion of their manner of worfhip ; and to give 
 " him fome account of his own religion. Here- 
 " upon Ca da Mofto told him in prefence of his 
 " dodlors, that the religion of Mohammed was 
 " falfe ; and the Romifh, the true one. This 
 " made the Arabs mad, and Budomel laugh ; 
 " who, on this occafion, faid that he looked upon 
 '' the religion of the Europeans to be good : for 
 ^' that none but God could have given them fo 
 " much riches and underftanding. He added, 
 " however, that the Mohammedan Law muft be 
 " alfo good ; and that he believed the negroes 
 " were more fure of falvation than the Chriftians, 
 " becaufe God was a juft Lord ; and therefore, as 
 '^ he had given the latter Paradife in this world, 
 " it ought to be pofleffed in the world to come 
 " by the negroes, who had fcarce anything here, 
 " in comparifon of the others. In all his difcourfe
 
 ec 
 
 304 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 ^' he fhowed a good underftanding, and took great 
 " pleafure in hearing the cuftoms of the Chriftians. 
 Ca da Mofto believed he might eafily have been 
 converted, were it not for fear of lofing his ef- 
 " tate ; for his nephew, in whofe houfe he lodged, 
 " often told him fo ; and took great delight him- 
 " felf in hearing the author talk of his religion." 
 A ftriking indication of the favourable afpeft 
 which the negroes prefented to their firft con- 
 querors and mafters is to be found in the account 
 of Bemoin, one of the Princes of the blood royal 
 14.87. of Jalof, who came to Lifbon to feek fuccour from 
 the King of Portugal in confequence of fome in- 
 teftlne divifions in the country of Jalof. I take 
 the very words of the Hiftorian. " Bemoin, be- 
 " caufe he was a man of large fize and fine pre- 
 " fence, about forty years old, with a long and 
 " well-arranged beard, appeared indeed not like 
 " a barbarous pagan, but as one of our own 
 " princes, to whom all honour and reverence were 
 " due : with like majefty and gravity of demea- 
 " nour he commenced and finifhed his oration, 
 " with fuch inducements to make men bewail his 
 " fad fortune in exile, that only feeing thefe na- 
 " tural iigns of forrow, people comprehended what 
 " the interpreter afterwards faid. And having
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 305 
 
 '' finifhed the flatement of his cafe as a good ora- 
 '^ tor would, in declaring that his only remedy 
 *^ and only hope was in the greatnefs and gene- 
 " rofity of the king, with whom he fpoke afide 
 " for a fhort time, he was anfwered by the king 
 " in few words, fo much to his fatisfadion that 
 " immediately it made a change in his whole look, 
 " fpirits, and bearing, rendering him moft joyous. 
 " And taking leave of the king, he went to kifs 
 " the queen's hand, and then that of the prince 
 " to whom he faid a few words, at the end of 
 " which he prayed the prince that he would in- 
 " tercede in his favour with the king. And 
 " thence he was conduced to his lodgings by all 
 " the nobility that accompanied him."* 
 
 Portugal was at that time one of the moft im- 
 portant countries in Europe, and the Portuguefe 
 amongft the moft accomplifhed people. From 
 many other fads and confiderations which have 
 reference to the Spanifh as well as the Portuguefe, 
 I have no doubt that the firft impreffion produced 
 by the negroes on the Europeans of the 15th 
 century, was very diffimilar to that which has 
 
 * Barros, dec. i, lib. 3, cap. 6. "The Conquerors of the New 
 World," vol. i. p. 70. 
 
 2 X
 
 3o6 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 iince grown up in the minds of their defcend- 
 ants. 
 
 We need not proceed further with inftances of 
 negroes excelhng in matters bearing an affinity to 
 European civilization. My objed is not to prove 
 that the Negro may become equal and alike to 
 the Caucafian. On the contrary I am inclined to 
 think that there are confiderable differences in 
 kind, pointing to different developments : nor, for 
 my own part, fhould I particularly defire that the 
 faculties of any race, even our own Anglo-Saxon 
 one, fhould abforb the work of the world. The 
 fcheme of the world is very large : and, as it has 
 been quaintly faid, " it takes a many to make a 
 " world." The Caucafian may be a nobly-deve- 
 loped creature ; but there may be work to be done 
 by another variety of the human fpecies. The 
 advocates of flavery may think that this is an ad- 
 miffion tending to their views. It may be allowed 
 that there is peculiar phyfical work to be done by 
 the negro race ; certain parts of the earth, there- 
 fore, particularly adapted for their refidence ; 
 which, indeed, may be fo conftituted as perpetually 
 to remind other races that they are intruders in 
 thofe quarters : but I mean that there may be
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 307 
 
 certain ideas to be fulfilled by this race, certain 
 gifts and certain modes of chara6ter to be mofl: 
 largely developed by them; and certain relations 
 to be fulfilled by them towards other races — not 
 the relation of flavery though. It may be the 
 happieft privilege of the Caucafians, when really 
 highly developed, to lead their dark-hued brethren 
 to the arts and wifdom fitted for them. That 
 may be one of their efpecial works in the great 
 human family. Look everywhere how creation 
 is developed by the complex interweaving of 
 various gifts, natures and attainments. In ftates, 
 where what we call civilization has long made 
 its appearance, it feems hard, very hard, that for 
 generations the lower clafs fhould have been fo 
 little mentally developed ; yet from that ftock 
 of unwrought mind has often come the fupply 
 of faculty which has enriched the greatefl minds ; 
 and fo, perhaps, the fpecies may make greater 
 gain in this way than had a more equable de- 
 velopment taken place all over fociety. In the 
 end, too, more human beings may thus be made 
 more of. There is the fame thing probably in the 
 inter-communication of nations, which may go on 
 flowly for generations, individual nationalities 
 having thus room to grow up, and wife purpofes
 
 3o8 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 being effe6ted from the human mind not being in 
 the fame ftate of progrefs all the world over. 
 There is a fimilar thing again to be obferved, I 
 think, in the individual mind. Had it been our 
 bufinefs to arrange the faculties of men, how much 
 more level and confiftent we fhould have made 
 them. Into this fierce and palfionate nature we 
 fhould not have put tendernefs, and, ftrange to 
 fay, judgment : into that chara6ler, in other re- 
 fpedls fo great, how could we have permitted a 
 fearful influx of vanity, for ever to derange and 
 mortify its greatnefs. Had we the ordering of 
 things, there would be no " fears of the brave and 
 *' follies of the wife ! " — a man doing the laft thing 
 that he would deliberately wifh to do, contradidling 
 the reft of himfelf as much as he contradicts truth 
 and wifdom. Yet from this confufion, deplorable 
 as it may appear to us, the foul of man comes out 
 informed by mifery and ftrengthened by fliarp 
 conteft. 
 
 A fimilar clafs of obfervations, which I need 
 not do more than indicate the exiftence of, may 
 be applied to the arrangement of foils and the 
 peopling of countries in the phyfical world. And, 
 in fine, what I mean to fuggeft is, that abfence of 
 cultivation does not argue radical inferiority ; that
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 309 
 
 the perfedlion of our Caucafian race, or fuch per- 
 fe6lion as that moft readily admits of, may not be 
 the whole of the divine fcheme refpedling the in- 
 habitants of this earth : and, moreover, that our 
 development might lack its greateft ufe and orna- 
 ment, if we were not led by it to take our darker 
 brother by the hand and fhow him whatever we 
 have learnt of wifdom and of virtue. 
 
 Having fhown what things the negro race are 
 capable of, both individually and nationally, it 
 might be thought fuperfluous to enter into any 
 queftion refpedting the origin and nature of that 
 race. But the hafty conclufions which have been 
 come to upon queftions of this kind are at the 
 bottom of fo much intolerance, that it is amply 
 worth while to look into them a little for our- 
 felves. Jeremy Taylor ufed to fay, on feeing 
 fome bad man pafs by, " there goes my wicked 
 " felf," fo diftindly did that noble tolerant man 
 appreciate the clofe moral relationfhip between 
 himfelf and a very erring brother. That feeling 
 towards another which leads one to think, " it is 
 " poffible I might be fuch as he : " " he is of the 
 *' fame kind as I am," is a never-failing fource of 
 charity. Did we think, for inftance, when we faw 
 a black ilave pafs, " there goes my ill-ufed felf,"
 
 310 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 difguft and Intolerance at his prefent degraded 
 condition would give way to the deepeft fympa- 
 thy. Something of the unwearied tendernefs which 
 men have even for the faults of their children, 
 their own flefh and blood as they call them, might 
 furely extend to the misfortunes of their diftant 
 kindred. " Am I not a man and a brother ?" is 
 a phrafe that from ludicrous afTociations is wont 
 to provoke our laughter ; but there is a force in 
 that appeal which ridicule will not do away with. 
 Now, In what fenfe are the negroes our bre- 
 thren ? An inquiry into the origin and charader 
 of nations requires a knowledge which few pof- 
 fefs, of living men, of hiftory, languages, geo- 
 graphy, anatomy and general phyfiology. We 
 muft, therefore, not be furprifed at many perfons 
 holding fixed opinions upon thefe matters, as they 
 would upon the niceft points of divinity, with 
 very InfufEcient knowledge to rely upon. Neither 
 muft we be furprifed that thofe opinions fhould 
 obey the firft ImprefTions of the fenfes, as all firft 
 thoughts have done. Common fenfe (as it is 
 moftly interpreted) tells us that things which burn 
 us muft be hot themfelves ; men were thoufands 
 of years before they fuipeded the contrary : fuch 
 common fenfe alfo tells us that there muft be fome
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 311 
 
 eflential difference between the negroes and oiir- 
 felves. In anfwer to this opinion refulting from 
 firft impreffions, I quote the following paffage 
 from the work of an eminent phyfiologift. 
 
 " In features, as in colour, the different races are con- 
 " ne6led to each other by the moft gentle gradations ; 
 " fo that, although any two extremes, when contrafted, 
 " appear ftrikingly different, they are joined by numerous 
 *' intermediate and very flightly differing degrees ; and 
 " no formation is exhibited fo conftantly in all the indi- 
 " viduals of one race, as not to admit of numerous ex- 
 " ceptions. 
 
 '^ We fee, indeed, an aftonifhing difference when we 
 " place an ugly Negro (for there are fuch as well as ugly 
 " Europeans) againft a fpecimen of the Grecian ideal 
 " model ; but, when we trace the intermediate grada- 
 " tions, the ftriking diverfity vanifhes. ' Of the Negroes 
 " of both fexes,' fays Blumenbach, ' whom I have at- 
 " tentively examined, in very confiderable number, as 
 " well as in the portraits and profiles of others, and in 
 " the numerous Negro crania, which I poffefs or have 
 " feen, there are not two completely refembling each 
 " other in their formation : they pafs, by infenfible gra- 
 *' dations, into the forms of the other races, and approach 
 " to the other varieties even in their moft pleafing mo- 
 " difications. A Creole whom I faw at Yverdun, born 
 " of parents from Congo, and brought from St. Domingo 
 " by the Chevalier Treytorrens, had a countenance, of
 
 312 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " which no part, not even the nofe, and rather ftrongly 
 " marked lips, were very ftriking, much lefs difpleafing; 
 " the fame features with an European complexion would 
 " certainly have been generallyagreeable,' Theteftimony 
 " of Lc Maire, in his journey to Senegal and Gambia, 
 " is to the fame effe6l ; and there are Negrefles, except 
 " in colour, as handfome as European women. Vaillant 
 " fays of the CafFre women, that fetting afide the preju- 
 " dice which operates againft their colour, many might 
 " be accounted handfome, even in an European coun- 
 " try. The accurate Adanfon confirms this ftatement, 
 " in his defcription of the Senegambians. The women 
 " are equally well made with the men. Their fkin is of 
 " the fineft texture, and extremely foft. The eyes are 
 " black and large : the mouth and lips fmall ; and all 
 " the features well proportioned ; feveral are perfedlly 
 " beautiful. They have much vivacity ; and an eafy 
 " air, which is very pleafing. 
 
 " The JalofFs, according to Mungo Park, have not 
 " the protuberant lip nor flat nofe of the African counte- 
 " nance. We have alfo the teftimony of another tra- 
 " veller concerning this tribe, to the fame efFed : accord- 
 " ing to Moore, they have handfome features, and neither 
 " broad nofes nor thick lips. Pigafetta ftates, that the 
 " Congo Negroes have not the thick lips of the Nubians, 
 " and that, except in colour, they are very like the Por- 
 " tuguefe. Dampier, in his account of Natal, defcribes 
 " the natives as having curled hair, but a long face, well 
 " proportioned nofe, and agreeable countenance. The 
 " fix Negro crania engraved in the two firft decades of
 
 cc 
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 313 
 
 Blumenbach, exhibit very clearly this diverfity of cha- 
 " radler in the African race : and prove, moft unequi- 
 " vocally, that the variety among individuals is certainly 
 " not lefs, but greater, than the difference between fome 
 '* of them and many Europeans." * 
 
 But objedtors will fay " we have always heard 
 " that there are eflential differences of nature be- 
 " tween the black and the white races, not to be 
 " got over by the above mentioned vague refem- 
 " blances to Europeans in certain negroes, or even 
 " in certain tribes of negroes." This is the very- 
 part of the cafe on which I hope to fhow that 
 the opponents of Slavery may challenge enquiry 
 rather than avoid it. 
 
 There is fcarcely a more curious and inftrudive 
 chapter in the whole hiftory of fcientiiic refearch, 
 than that connecfled with the inveftigation of the 
 negro nature. The firft thoughts of fcience, like 
 the popular theories, were all on the narrow and 
 exclufive fide of the queftion. There were very 
 elaborate refearches which went to prove that in 
 the dark race there was a membrane betvv'een the 
 outer cuticle and the cutis, which is entirely want- 
 ing in white men. Here then was a valid dif- 
 tindlion of fpecies. Some German anatomifts, how- 
 ever, in their folid manner, made a more elaborate 
 
 * Laivrence's Leflures, pp. 283, 284..
 
 314 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 inveftigation into the nature of the fkin, and dif- 
 covered that it does not confift of continuous 
 membranes at all, but that it is of cellular ftruc- 
 ture throughout. There are certain " pigment- 
 cells," as they are called, which produce the 
 abnormal difcolorations fometimes feen in white 
 men and women, and the normal colorations in 
 negroes. In few words, therefore, the fkin barrier 
 is broken down : there is the poffibility of negro- 
 hood in the fineft Caucafian integument. 
 
 RufTia leather may, perhaps, be entitled to look 
 down upon fimple calf: but a white ikin had 
 better be content with its diiference to the eye 
 and not endeavour to arrogate to itfelf any gene- 
 ric difference whatever. 
 
 Again with refpe6l to negro hair. The epithet 
 *^ Woolly " has been applied to it from the time 
 of Herodotus, but this is a mere metaphor. When 
 feen by the microfcope, wool is ferrated : hair is 
 fmooth and cylindrical. The hair of negroes, 
 when fubjecfted to careful microfcopic examination, 
 was found to be cylindrical and fmooth as that of 
 a European. The difference was only in colour 
 and in crifpation ; fo that no difference of fpecies 
 can be raifed upon the woollinefs of negro hair. * 
 
 * Prichard's Natural Hiftory of Man.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 315 
 
 The hiftory of the facial angle is fimilar to that 
 of the black fkin. Camper, the firft inventor of 
 the mode of appreciating crania by tlie facial 
 angle, found in the head of the ftatue of Apollo 
 an angle of 100 degrees, in the Caucafian head 
 an angle of 80 degrees, in the negro head an 
 angle of 70 degrees, and in one of the Simias mod 
 neighbouring to man's nature, an angle of 50 de- 
 grees.* The difference between the Caucafian 
 and thefe unpleafantly fimilar apes being but 30 
 degrees, the difference between the negro and the 
 Caucafian of 10 degrees, was a ferious difference. 
 Profeffor Owen, however, difcovered that thefe 
 calculations had been made from the crania of 
 young apes, which had led to an entirely wrong 
 conclufion. He found that the facial angle of 
 the adult troglodyte is only 35 degrees, of the 
 orang 30 degrees. The difference between the 
 Caucafian angle and the ape angle being now 
 found to be 45 or 50 degrees, the 10 degrees of 
 difference between the negro and the Caucafian 
 become confiderably lefs fignificant. 
 
 A fimilar fi:ory may be told of the progrefs of 
 fcientific refearch into the pofition of the great 
 occipital foramen, the form of the pelvis and the 
 
 * Prichard^s Natural Hiftory of Man, p. 112.
 
 3i6 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 length of the fore-arm * In all thefe cafes fcience 
 has had upon maturer thought, to recall, or to 
 modify, its firft unfavourable impreffions againft 
 the negro. Probably, in our eftimation of the 
 moral and mental capability of the race a like 
 progrefs will have to be noted : charity and kind- 
 linefs are incidentally, as well as direftly, the 
 growth of thought and Intelledlual labour. 
 
 Without farther fatiguing my readers by a 
 long enumeration of phyfiological arguments, 
 I will merely give them the refult, as it appears 
 to me, of what I have feen on the fubjedl. The 
 arguments of phyfiologifts have gone far to prove, 
 I think, that men are all of one fpecies. Some 
 of the beft authorities are agreed upon this. 
 Where they differ is, as to the caufes of the 
 varieties of that fpecies. Some would be in- 
 clined to attribute much to the influence of cli- 
 mate. Others would fay that the caufes ordinarily 
 given to account for the varieties of the human 
 fpecies — fuch as climate, diet, mode of life, &c. 
 are no caufes whatever ; and that the differences 
 of organization, and of qualities which charafterize 
 the feveral races of our fpecies, are " analogous 
 
 * Prichard's Natural Hiftory of Man, pp. 117, 126, 129.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 317 
 
 '^ in kind and degree to thofe which diftinguifh 
 ** the breeds of the domeftic animals." If a black 
 man comes to a cold climate, he and his defcen- 
 dants do not, on that account, lofe one atom of 
 the diftlnguifhing charaderiftics of their race. If 
 an Englifh iheep go to Jamaica, it and its oif- 
 fpring would, I believe, keep the heavy fleece 
 which is fuppofed to be more congenial to our 
 cold climate. The le6turer quoted above concludes 
 that domeftication has made thofe changes in men 
 and animals which we call, in the former, a va- 
 riety of races ; in the latter, a variety of breeds. 
 If we accept this view of the matter, what fhall 
 we fay that there is in this thing, domeftication, 
 beyond change of food, climate, way of life, and 
 the various phyfical circumftances which the fame 
 writer has fhown in detail to have no effedl in 
 altering a race, however much they may affe6l an 
 individual ? I fufpe(5l the anfwer to be this, that 
 only thofe changes in phyfical circumftances which 
 have an efi^e6l upon the mind, fo to fpeak, of the 
 animal have an effedl upon the race. This theory 
 feems capable of reconciling the oppofite fad:s and 
 conclufions that have been adduced by fcientific 
 men on this fubjedl. As long as it can be faid of
 
 3i8 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 men or animals " Ccelum non ani?num mutant^' 
 fo long the race is unaltered. But let phyfical or 
 moral circumftances be fo altered as to call out, 
 or to reprefs, or to call out in one direftion, the 
 energies of the animal, and a change in the 
 breed may be expe6ted. Change of mind is the 
 caufe of change of phyfical ftrudlure in the race. 
 This hypothefis need not furprife us. Every day 
 we are becoming more enlightened as to the 
 power of mind upon body. Formerly we were 
 more inclined to dwell on the inverfe operation. 
 Confider the alteration of ftrufture in the heads 
 of individual men. Look at the head of Au- 
 guftus when young ; and then at it after the 
 weight of empire had refted upon it. What a 
 change there is ! And we may notice a fimilar 
 change, I do not doubt, in the cafe of living men. 
 I do not build any important part of my argu- 
 ment in behalf of the negroes on this theory, or 
 on any theory. But if we muft have a theory 
 about the origin of the varieties of race in the 
 human fpecles, I would rather fay that they have 
 been caufed by mental operations. If negroes 
 are a degenerate race, cultivation of mind may 
 reclaim them ; if, as is at leaft equally probable, 
 they are not degenerate but different, ftill culti-
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 319 
 
 vation is necefTary to develope this fpecies to the 
 higheft, when it may take its place, though not 
 in the fame ranks, yet fide by fide with the Cau- 
 cafian variety. Again I fay thefe are but theo- 
 ries : but as our theories often interfere with our 
 charity, it is well in this inftance to fee whether 
 there may not be fome theory which at leaft may 
 throw no difcouragement on our efforts for this 
 hitherto ill-ftarred race of men. 
 
 Some people may think it very abfurd to talk 
 of mental operations as the chief means of crea- 
 ting the difference of races. " What has mind 
 " to do with black and white ? " they will exclaim. 
 But darknefs of fkin is one of the leaft important 
 of the points of outward difference between the 
 white and dark races. The main queftion is as 
 to the difference of cerebral formation. After 
 reading the following extrad: my readers will feel 
 how little there is in mere darknefs of hue. 
 
 " Two nations of Calla or Blacks, very different in 
 " phyfical charailer and focial condition from each other, 
 " are now found in the country of ancient Ethiopia ; the 
 " Shankalli, or the true negro, and the Dankalli, who 
 " belong decidedly to the Circaffian variety of mankind, 
 " poffeffing round fkulls, high full foreheads ; the pofi- 
 " tion of the eyes re£lilinear ; the nofe, the mouth and
 
 320 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " form of countenance being in every refpedl concordant 
 " with the chara6lers afligned to that type of the human 
 *' race, excepting their colour, which was a dark brown, 
 *' or fometimes quite black. Their hair, which is much 
 " frizzled and worn very full, is a favage caricature of a 
 " barrifter's wig. I could perceive no other difference 
 '' in features or in the form of the head between our- 
 " felves and feveral individuals of this people ; indeed, 
 '' there was often fuch a ftriking refemblance between 
 " them and fome of my European acquaintances, that it 
 " was not unufual for me to diftinguifh them by beftow- 
 " ing the names of fome of my far diftant friends upon 
 " their Dankalli counterparts,"* 
 
 The way In which this intelligent traveller 
 conveys to us the facial likenefs of the Dankalli 
 to the CircafTian variety is irrefiftibly convincing 
 from its naturalnefs. He finds, on feeing more 
 of thefe Dankalli, that their abilities fully juf- 
 tified their phyfiognomy ; he fees reafon to rate 
 them much higher than the Arabs : and finally 
 concludes that the Dankalli are " the remains of 
 " a once great and powerful people." The im- 
 prefiion produced on this traveller goes to fhow 
 how little mere colour has to do with inferiority 
 of nature. 
 
 * ^ttjohnjlons Travels in Southern Abyffinia, vol. i. p. 15.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 321 
 
 I fKall continue to avail myfelf of the obferva- 
 tions of this traveller, as they afford a good 
 opportunity of noticing how the fubjed; widens 
 when carefully confidered, and of feeing how rafh 
 any harfh conclufion againft the capacity of the 
 negro race would be. 
 
 After living amongft thefe different races of 
 negroes, the traveller in queftion comes to a con- 
 clufion which, as we have feen, certain fcientific 
 men at home have alfo come to, in favour of" the 
 ^' original unity of nations." This is important, 
 for there are impreffions and obfervations which 
 efcape fcientific defcription or indeed narrative of 
 any kind ; and if we found that all travellers 
 were convinced that negroes were not from the 
 fame flock as ourfelves, fcientific men would 
 have a much harder tafk to convince us of its 
 poffibility. But, to continue with this traveller's 
 obfervations. 
 
 C( 
 
 From what I have obferved myfelf, the Dankalli, 
 " the Shankalli, arid the Bufhmen are the lowefl grades 
 " of the three varieties of the human race — the Arian 
 *' or CircalTian, the Amhara, or negro, and the Gonga 
 '' or Mongolian, all of whom have a height of civiliza- 
 " tion, and a depth of barbarifm diflincSl from each other; 
 " and that, however the Bufhman may be improved, 
 2 Y
 
 322 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " he will only become a civilized Chinefe, and that a 
 " Negro may by education be made an ancient Egyptian 
 " but would never by that alone become the enlightened 
 " Circaflian that his neighbour, the Dankalli would, 
 " certainly, be made."* 
 
 This may feem to militate agalnft his former 
 opinion in favour of the original unity of na- 
 tions. But, though they may have been originally 
 from one ftock, that does not prove that they can 
 be brought back to fuch unity. Not that I fee 
 why anybody fhould place thefe abrupt flops ; 
 and I am inclined to think it probable that if 
 we had feen only the beft fpecimens of Chinefe, 
 Egyptian and CircafTian varieties, we fhould, after 
 much obfervation, conclude that thefe three va- 
 rieties might all be brought by cultivation to one 
 race — at leaft in the main features of intelledlual 
 and moral development. For my own part I 
 am content, feeing how much we owe to Egypt, 
 to leave the negroes linked to the poffibility of 
 Egyptian civilization. But, perhaps, the larger 
 ground we leave for ourfelves in this matter, the 
 better. The opinions of Sir Charles Lyell, in 
 reference to the ancient Mexican civilization, bear 
 
 * See Joknjlons Travels in Southern Abyflinia, vol. ii. p. 446.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 323 
 
 clofely upon this fubjedl, and are at once fafe and 
 charitable. Putting afide for the moment their 
 other attainments, which were very great, he 
 dwells upon their advance in aftronomical know- 
 ledge ; their calendar, for inftance, at the time 
 of the conqueft being more correct than that of 
 their conquerors, or indeed of the European 
 community. 
 
 " If, then," he fays, " a large continent can be 
 " inhabited by hundreds of tribes, all belonging 
 " to the fame race, and nearly all remaining for 
 " centuries in a ftate of apparently hopelefs bar- 
 " barifm, while two or three of them make a 
 " ftart in their focial condition, and in the arts 
 '* and fciences ; if thefe fame nations when 
 " brought into contadt with Europeans, relapfe 
 " and retrograde until they are fcarcely diftin- 
 " guifhable in intelleflual rank from the rude 
 " hunter tribes defcended from a common ftock ; 
 " what caution ought we not to obferve when 
 " fpeculating on the inherent capacities of any 
 " other great member of the human family. The 
 " negro, for example, may have remained fta- 
 " tionary in all hitherto explored parts of the 
 " African continent, and may even have become 
 " more barbarous when brought within the in-
 
 324 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 " fluence of the white man, and yet may pofTefs 
 " wlthhi his bofom the germ of a civilization as 
 " adlive and refined as that of the golden age of 
 " Tezcuco."* 
 
 It has now been fhown that the negroes as in- 
 dividuals have done worthy things ; that they are 
 capable of national development ; and that we 
 muft not lightly conclude that they are an eflen- 
 tially different race to ourfelves. But all this is 
 much more than there is occafion to prove for the 
 prefent argument. Even if It were granted that 
 the negro race Is not capable of anything like 
 what we call high civilization, is that a fufficient 
 reafon for the creation, or continuation, of Sla- 
 very ? Will anybody contend that his Jlate, as a 
 Jlave^ is the higheji of which the negro is capable ? 
 A French magiftrate of St. Domingo fpeaking of 
 the blacks, in 1770, ufes thefe words : "II exifte 
 " parmi nous une claffe naturellement notre en- 
 " nemie, et qui porte encore fur fon front I'em- 
 " preinte de I'efclavage ; ce n'eft que par des lois 
 *' de rigueur qu'elle doit etre conduite. II eft 
 " neceffaire d'appefantir fur elle le mepris et 
 " I'opprobre qui lui eft devolu en naiffant. Ce 
 
 * See LyelVs Travels in North America, vol. ii. pp. 38, 39.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 325 
 
 " n'eft qu'en brifant les reflbrts de leur ame 
 " qu'on pourra les conduire au bien."* 
 
 This is open language : it is to anfwer fuch 
 ideas (which, happily, are much lefs frequent 
 now) and lefs monftrous modifications of them, 
 that I have endeavoured to ihow that there is no 
 race, (and that there never has been any) whom 
 flavery becomes. 
 
 At the fame time that we are called upon to 
 affert the juft claims of the negro race, we muft 
 look with fome tendernefs upon the feelings of 
 their Anglo-American mafters and neighbours. 
 It is very well for us to ridicule, or denounce, the 
 diflike of white men to black men. We fee the 
 latter now and then : fome of us have rather a pre- 
 judice in favour of thefe " images of God cut in 
 " ebony," (which, by the way, feems to fhow that 
 there is no immediate natural diflike towards the 
 race) but if they fwarmed among us we might be 
 of a different opinion. The way to look at the 
 matter fairly for America, is not to compare our 
 fane ftate with their unfound one on this fubje6t, 
 but to take us both when in a ftate of fimilar 
 
 * See Abdy, vol. i. p. 345.
 
 326 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 prejudice. Confider the wild fear of Englifhmen 
 in Charles the Second's time left a few Papifts 
 ftiould burn or murder the reft of the nation. 
 Or take another inftance lefs remote from the 
 American prejudices we are combating — namely, 
 the general diftike of Englifhmen to Scotchmen, 
 when Lord Bute was Minifter. Of courfe this is 
 not to be compared to the Anglo-American aver- 
 fion to the African race. But it may ferve to 
 fhow how far and how deep an unreafonable pre- 
 judice againft a nation may extend. 
 
 Without flinching in the leaft from our opinion 
 of the nature of the prejudice in America againft 
 the blacks ; holding it to be irrational, unfounded, 
 and unchriftian, ftill we cannot treat it as if it 
 were an eafy matter to get rid of — an evil which, 
 by mere ftatement of its wrongnefs, could at once 
 be put down. It pervades large portions of the 
 American people, afluming different forms. In this 
 ftate it appears as jealous diftike ; in that, as con- 
 tempt and fear. Under fuch malign influences, 
 ftrange laws and cruel pradices are fcarcely to be 
 wondered at. All thoughtful men muft pity the 
 white Americans with this awful queftion of 
 flavery before them, threatening civil feuds and 
 favouring foreign attack ; doing hourly mifchief
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 327 
 
 to the chara6ter of many a flave-owner ; and 
 hindering the poor free man from gaining his 
 bread in ways which are no fhame to him. It 
 may furely be faid that this is a race which has 
 not gained anything by becoming owners of 
 flaves. 
 
 We have, in America one of the greateft races 
 as mafters : one of thofe which are confidered 
 lowed, as flaves. It has been fhown that neither 
 race makes the moil of itfelf by the relation which 
 it holds to the other : and we may fairly conclude 
 with the aflertion — that there are no races to 
 which the preceding arguments againft flavery 
 do not apply. 
 
 Ellesmere. I delight in queftions about the races 
 of men, and in getting at the different ftrata of nations. 
 Human geology ! 
 
 DuNSFORD. Philology is very important in thefe 
 queftions. 
 
 Ellesmere. No knowledo;e comes amifs to them. 
 
 Milverton. In fpeaking of the charailer of a nation, 
 it is impoflible to fay what comes from the education
 
 328 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 and laws that have a6led on the people and their an- 
 ceftors, and what comes from race. At any rate it is 
 moft unphilofophical to attribute all that we fee in na- 
 tional chara^ler to one caufe, and then, perhaps, having 
 refolved that race is the caufe, to talk defpondingly about 
 national improvement. I have no doubt that, before 
 Father Mathew's triumphs, you would have heard in- 
 temperance fet down as a thing belonging to the Irifli 
 race, and would have been told that the Celtic nature 
 could not break itfelf of any bad habit. But human 
 nature is a thing to which we at leaft can put no limits, 
 and which requires to be treated with unbounded hope- 
 fulnefs : only do not let us think that this hopefulnefs is 
 for white and not for black nature. 
 
 DuNSFORD. You remember and at Col- 
 lege. They had a good fprinkling of negro blood. Well 
 one of them was very clever, and both of them very good 
 fellows — gave me very little trouble, which, by the way, 
 cannot be faid of either of you. 
 
 MiLVERTON. I hope you noticed that I was very 
 careful not to place the ftrength of my cafe upon any 
 hypothefis about race. Not that I have any fear of in- 
 veftigation into that fubjecSl. On the contrary my fear is 
 left there fhould not be fufficient inveftigation. All 
 knowledge tends to further humanity, enabling us to go 
 fome way in deteding the grand laws of the univerfe. 
 It would feem but little lefs than blafphemy to me to 
 fuppofe that flavery was otherwife than an invention of 
 man which will be fully found out and reproved in time.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 329 
 
 Mental fcience tends to tolerance, phyfical fcience to 
 a£live kindnefs and the well-being of men. We gradu- 
 ally find out that crime is a blunder, and cruelty a mis- 
 take. 
 
 Ellesmere. Stop, flop ; are we not getting on rather 
 quickly to theories of perfectibility and the like? 
 
 MiLVERTON. No. As long as men are men, and 
 the earth anything like what we fee at prefent, there 
 will be trials enough to exercife and develope the greateft 
 men ; but furely it is not irrational to hope that the life 
 of man may be lefs and lefs " fhort, nafty, violent and 
 " brutifti," as Hobbes would fay. I cannot but think 
 that this is one of the lefTer meanings of the words 
 " thy kingdom come." 
 
 DuNSFORD. I quite agree with you. 
 
 MiLVERTON. But I muft fay again, I am not bound 
 down by theories of any kind about race. I only fay 
 that the exifting ftate of flavery is fuch as to leave no 
 juft room for felf-development, and is not confiftent 
 with the ineffaceable diftin6lion between things and 
 perfons. I think that Montefquieu is thoroughly right, 
 when he fays that flavery is a one-fided inftitution, a 
 thing fundamentally wrong,* 
 
 * This is the pafTage, I imagine that Milverton alludes to : " Ce 
 " qui fait que la mort d'un criminel eft une chofe licite, c'eft que la 
 " loi qui le punit a ete faite en fa faveur. Un meurtrier, par exem- 
 *' pie, a joui de la loi qui le condamne ; elle lui a conferve la vie a 
 " tous les inftants : il ne peut done pas reclamer contre elle. II
 
 330 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 Ellesmere. But advocates for flavery would fay- 
 that the prefervation of the negroes themfelves enters 
 into their (the advocates') view of the cafe, and fo they 
 recognize the perfonality of the flave, and take away the 
 one-fidednefs you complain of fo. I do not agree with 
 them in the leaft, but that is what they would fay. 
 
 MiLVERTON. They cannot fay fo, without turning 
 their backs upon all the fadls of the cafe. The negroes 
 when enfranchifed may not live exactly in the way that 
 fuits the fancy of thefe theorifts, but they will live — 
 aye, and thrive too. 
 
 Ellesmere. You talk of the neceflity of allowing 
 human beings room for felf-development — what is 
 there allowed in that way to our free peafants ? 
 
 MiLVERTON. You are only trying me. Talk with 
 a peafant : you will not find, perhaps, the exacSl deve- 
 lopment that comes by books ; but you will often per- 
 ceive that the foul of that man has gone through confi- 
 derable education. His has not been mere paflive 
 fuffering, like that of an animal ; but he has ftruggled 
 and refrained, and gained both delights and miferies for 
 himfelf. In the war of life he has been a foldier, while 
 the other was but an animal carrying, under many blows, 
 the camp baggage. 
 
 " n^en eft pas de meme de Tefclave ; la lol de Tefclavage n'a jamais 
 " pu lui etre utile ; elle eft dans tous les cas centre lui, fans jamais 
 " etre pour lui ; ce qui eft contraire au principe fondamental de 
 "toutes les focietes." Montefquieu, deVEJprit ties Lois, liv. 15. 
 chap. 2.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 331 
 
 Lucy. I wifh, Mr. Ellefmere, you would come and 
 live for a little time in the country, and then you might 
 learn to underftand us a little. 
 
 Ellesmere. You had better at once wifh all you 
 can againft me, Mifs Daylmer ; and fay, as the witty 
 Duke of Buckingham did to the dog that bit him, " I 
 *' wifh you were married, and went to live in the 
 " country." Is not that a good ftory, Milverton ? One 
 feels how Charles the fecond mufl have liked the 
 Duke's fociety. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Do not interrupt us with your jokes, 
 Ellefmere. I was going to fay that I was greatly flruck 
 by that pafTage you quoted, Milverton, from fome man 
 about certain Dankalli or Shankalli who were complete 
 likenefTes in ebony of fome of his friends. Imagine 
 black EUefmeres and Milvertons. 
 
 Milverton. I think I hear a black Ellefmere mak- 
 ing an elaborate fpeech to a grave fquatting circle of us 
 about the vefled rights of fome minors in certain fcalps. 
 
 Ellesmere. Both you and I, Milverton, are very like 
 favages in one thing — our love of animals. And that 
 reminds me to tell you, that I was thinking during the 
 efTay, it would not be beneath or befide your purpofe 
 to fhow the difference produced in the difpofition of 
 animals by treatment. Now horfes, for inflance, — they 
 often fee nothing but the worfl fociety amongft men ; 
 and are fhamefully treated into the bargain. 
 
 Milverton. Yes, it often occurs to me, in going 
 along the flreets, how few men can be trufled with the 
 whip even for animals.
 
 332 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS 
 
 Ellesmere. And if we were arguing about races, 
 and had only feen ill-treated horfes, how unjuft would 
 be our notion even of a horfe's capacity and nature. 
 We fliould think the degree of tamenefs and obedience 
 which we ourfelves have feen^ Utopian ; and as to the 
 idea of there being in the horfe what the Arab finds in 
 it, we fhould pronounce that to be a wild imagination. 
 
 DuNSFORD. We have much to anfwer for in our 
 treatment of animals. 
 
 MiLVERTON. A great deal of it is mere ignorance. 
 What we were agreed upon, as regards the phyfical 
 education of children a good many eflays ago, would 
 apply to thefe poor animals. They want more light 
 and air, and I fhould fay more freedom in their ftables, 
 gentle ufage, little work when young, and not to be 
 much jerked about or to be pulled up fuddenly, or to 
 have fevere bearing reins, or to be beaten for being 
 frightened. 
 
 Ellesmere. The ways of wife government are al- 
 moft univerfal in their application, from animals up to 
 Caucafians. There is a great deal, by the way, that you 
 fay for the quadrupeds which you did not for the bipeds, 
 and that would do for both. 
 
 I pafs by the unkindnefs of Mifs Daylmer's fmiling 
 when you talked of animals not being beaten for being 
 frightened. I know fhe was thinking of my ride home 
 from and of my exploits with that mare. 
 
 MiLVERTON. My wifh to fee an opportunity of felf- 
 development extends to animals. I am impatient at 
 feeing an animal have no chance of coming to its beft.
 
 APPLY TO ALL RACES. 333 
 
 Ellesmere. Mine does not " extend" to animals : 
 it begins there, I don't know whether it goes on. Be- 
 nevolence you know is not my forte. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Now, Ellefmere, do not make yourfelf 
 out worfe than you are. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Not feeing that the meaning of life is 
 this development, is the capital blunder of men indivi- 
 dually and one of the main defedts of worldly wifdom 
 in all times. We err in this way to a frightful extent 
 in England. Hence the mania for " getting on" at all 
 coft, for doing fomething as they call it, not being fome- 
 body. Sir Humphrey Davy, and Montefquieu before 
 him, fpoke of the climate of this country as the in- 
 evitable caufe for reftlefTnefs : but that is no reafon why 
 we fliould depreciate repofe, but rather the contrary. I 
 do not complain however of this reftlefTnefs, but of the 
 notion that all activity muft move in certain grooves to 
 be owned as fuccefsful and refpe6lable. It all arifes from 
 the fame theory, that felf-development, or even the 
 development of others, is not the end of life, but the 
 getting or doing fomething which can be weighed, mea- 
 fured, ticketed, and in fome way proved to the world. 
 Moftly, too, it muft be fuccefs for one's felf to pleafe the 
 world. 
 
 Ellesmere. I agree with you in the main, at leaft 
 as much as I ever agree with any moralizing man. 
 You did not expe6l I ftiould. 
 
 Dunsford. Well, we have all been very much of 
 the fame mind throughout the converfation. I think 
 we muft be right.
 
 334 PRECEDING PROPOSITIONS. 
 
 Ellesmere. There are only four of us : it certainly 
 is poflible that we may all agree and be right. But I 
 muft leave you, for I have promifed myfelf to mount 
 that Broad Stone of Honour (Ehrenbreitftein) which 
 is towering up behind us. How people contrive to get 
 up thefe heights (which are hard enough to walk up at 
 one's leifure) under a heavy fire, I don't know. I fup- 
 pofe though it is only under a heavy fire that fuch fteep 
 places are mounted with alacrity. Ah, mankind are 
 ftrange creatures. Danger lightens toil ; and the idea 
 of being the attacking party carries men over the loftieft 
 impediments, and is, indeed, as great a leveller as Death 
 itfelf. 
 
 And now having made an aphorifm fuch as Milverton 
 delights in, I will walk up the hill with it as a com- 
 panion, for I fhall get no other. I fee, you all fhrink 
 from the enterprife.
 
 335 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 My readers may readily imagine, that coming to 
 Germany at this revolutionary period, Milverton, 
 Ellefmere and myfelf had many difcuffions upon 
 the events that were paffmg around us. I fhall 
 not trouble the reader with converfations, much 
 of which was necefTarily of fleeting intereft ; but 
 I fhall give an outline of our general opinions, 
 which I cannot introduce better than bv the fol- 
 lowing anecdote which I once heard Milverton 
 tell. Being in a committee upon fome bufinefs in 
 regard to which a particular danger was forefeen 
 and great pains taken to obviate it, on the break- 
 ing up of the committee one day, a fhrewd old 
 man, verfed in the affairs of the world, as he put 
 his arm into Milverton's to walk away, quietly 
 obferved to him " This danger that all of us 
 " forefee fo clearly will not happen. Nothing 
 " does that we forefee." 
 
 So as regards this general flate of revolution 
 amongfl: the European powers, I am very doubt- 
 ful whether the evils that are now fo clearly {^cn
 
 336 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 to be impending from it will ever come to pafs ; 
 and it will probably take fome turn which we 
 none of us forefee, but which future hiftorians 
 will write about juft as if many of us had had the 
 exaft refult always in our thoughts. Milverton 
 and Ellefmere are very much difgufted and not a 
 little difheartened with the prefent ftate of affairs. 
 It is natural they ihould be fo. They have a 
 particular diflike to the clafs of men who have 
 rifen into power in the courfe of thefe revolutions. 
 Milverton comments with quiet difdain upon the 
 wordy rulers of the day, and their ifluing edids 
 upon the fettlement of all human affairs, public 
 and private, with a rapidity and want of thought 
 which, as he fays, would be fhameful if applied 
 to the regulations of a kennel of hounds ; but 
 feeling affured of the tranfitory nature of fuch 
 men's power, he merely thanks God that they 
 muft foon pafs away, and does not trouble him- 
 felf much more about them. Ellefmere, with 
 the fierce contempt belonging to him, vows that 
 thefe men of glittering words, falfe axioms, inap- 
 propriate antithefes, and general inflation of mind, 
 are among the worft fpecimens of human beings 
 that have ever come upon the earth ; and that he 
 is fure if I were to look into the Revelations I
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 337 
 
 fhould find them under the head of Tome great 
 beaft. Now though I have not (Qen fo much of 
 the world as thefe younger men, I have hved 
 through a great many more events than they 
 have, and am therefore much more cautious in 
 coming to any conclufion on the prefent afpedt of 
 affairs than they are, and, I think, am inchned to 
 look upon it with lefs defpondency than they do. 
 As a minor inftance, by the way, of our diffi- 
 culty of forefeeing anything, I may mention the 
 caufe of our next journey, which I am fure will 
 be as unexpected by my readers as it was by 
 myfelf. We had intended to ftay fome little time 
 at Coblentz, but we left it on account of a re- 
 minifcence of tender fentiment and affection on 
 the part of Ellefmere. 
 
 1 had noticed for a day or two that he was 
 extremely grave and filent, and this was the more 
 remarkable in him, as he is one of thofe men of 
 a dry kind of demeanour which never varies 
 much. I mentioned this to Milverton who had 
 alfo obferved it, and had moreover difcerned the 
 caufe. Some two or three years ago a little boy 
 who lived with Ellefmere, and who as Milverton 
 fays was the only creature he ever loved, died 
 fuddenly. It was his filler's fon (a filler who 
 
 2 Z
 
 338 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 lived in India). Milverton faid that Ellefmere 
 doted on the boy and had fpoken of him more 
 than once in thefe words, " He was all that I had 
 " ever wifhed to be ;" which Milverton faid was 
 probably the cafe, as the child had the bold frank 
 ways of Ellefmere, with a tendernefs quite un- 
 known in his charader — often vifible in thofe 
 who are to die young. 
 
 It unfortunately happened that there was a little 
 boy about the inn where we were flaying who 
 was very like the boy that Ellefmere had loft. 
 Milverton perceived this at once and had hoped 
 that Ellefmere would not do fo. He was mif- 
 taken, however, for Ellefmere was always looking 
 at the child, feeking opportunities to talk to it, 
 and though he faid not a word about the matter, 
 was evidently full of fad recolledions. 
 
 I: therefore exprelTed great defire to go on to 
 Treves, which my friends aflented to, and we fet 
 off immediately, taking the route by land through 
 Polch and Kaiferfefch, intending to return by the 
 Mofelle. Treves, as is well known, contains the 
 moft remarkable monuments of Roman antiquity 
 of any town in the north of Europe. It was this 
 which gave it efpecial intereft in our eyes. 
 
 We arrived in the evening and had the good
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 339 
 
 fortune to fee, by moonlight, as we entered, that 
 ftupendous relic of an unknown age, the " Porta 
 " Nigra." 
 
 Next morning we began our furvey of the 
 town, intending to find out the amphitheatre and 
 to have our laft reading there. We made our way 
 firft to Conftantine's palace, at leafl: to what re- 
 mains of it, which did not leflen our refpedl for the 
 maffive grandeur of Roman antiquities imprefled 
 upon us the preceding evening. From thence we 
 went to the Roman baths, and it was pleafant to 
 think that there were fome remains of that great 
 people which might be looked upon without any 
 drawback of pity or forrow, genuine monuments 
 of civilization. 
 
 Then walking onwards for about half a mile, 
 after mounting fome vine-covered hills, we came 
 fuddenly upon an excavated fpace of an oval 
 fhape which we knew at once to be the amphi- 
 theatre we had been looking for. After paufing 
 a minute or two, we defcended by a gentle de- 
 clivity into the excavation. It was with fome- 
 what of a cold fhudder that I entered, and I 
 noticed that Lucy turned very pale. All round 
 the bafement of the amphitheatre was a little 
 trench about two feet in depth into which tor-
 
 340 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 rents of blood muft have flowed. We traced 
 out what we fuppofed to have been the dens of 
 wild beafts, the vomitories, the emperor's private 
 entrance communicating by a long gallery with 
 the palace, the tiers of benches for the fpedlators, 
 and the fteps down which the gladiators muft have 
 defcended to enter the arena. It was all covered 
 now with grafs: a folitary lizard was the only live 
 thing we faw while we were there. 
 
 As Milverton was defcending the fteps by which 
 the gladiators muft have entered, he exclaimed, 
 " Good God, with what feelings men muft have 
 " walked down thefe fteps, fome of them perhaps 
 thinking, as I do now, that fome fignal divine 
 interpofition might almoft be expeded to put 
 " an end to fuch enormities." 
 
 Ellesmere. I fee the Chriftian Conftantine had 
 what he called Frankifti games here (Ludi Francici) in 
 which one thoufand human beings at a time have been 
 expofed to wild beafts. 
 
 Milverton. Surely thefe are the moft coloflal un- 
 dertakings of wickednefs that have ever been. Is there 
 any proteft, Dunsford, in any Roman author againft 
 thefe things ? I do not mean fuch a proteft as we, fof- 
 tened and refined by Chriftianity, ftiould make, but any- 
 thing which ftiould lead you to think that anybody then 

 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 341 
 
 had the ideas which we now fuppofe to belong to na- 
 tural religion and common humanity. 
 
 DuNSFORD. Nothing of the kind occurs to me. 
 
 MiLVERTON. In contemplating thefe paft horrors I 
 think of their irrevocability. That which Horace fays 
 of paft joy occurs to me of paft forrow ; it is as if 
 nothing would wafh it out. 
 
 " Cras vel atra 
 " Nube polum Pater occupato, 
 " Vel fole puro : non tamen irritum, 
 " Qjiodcunque retro eft, efRciet ; neque 
 " DifEnget, infeftumque reddet, 
 " Q_uod fugiens femel hora vexlt." 
 
 Or, as Dryden fays, excelling the original, I think, tn 
 expreffion, 
 
 " Be fair, or foul, or rain, or ftiine, 
 
 " The joys I have poffelTed, in fpite of fate are mine, 
 
 " Not Heaven itfelf upon the pall has power ; 
 
 " But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour." 
 
 Ellesmere. You muft have the felf-fame feeling 
 then over moft of the events in hiftory. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Yes : you fee, as regards the prefent 
 generation you contemplate their diftrefles as you do 
 thofe of a hero of fidtion which may be abundantly made 
 up for in the end ; but I do not very well fee what com- 
 fort you are to find in confidering the fate of thofe 
 Franks or Thracians or Dacians who marched down 
 thefe fteps to be torn to pieces by wild beafts.
 
 342 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 Ellesmere. Let us have the eflay read. It cannot 
 be more faddening than fuch talk as this, and there could 
 not be a more fit place to read it in than here where 
 flavery reached its direft confummation. 
 
 When we had taken our feats near the fpot 
 where we conjedlured the emperor muft have fat, 
 Milverton read to us the following fedion of his 
 effay on flavery. 
 
 6. THAT SLAVERY CAN BE DONE AWAY. 
 
 Some way has been made in proving this propo- 
 fition in the chapter on the needleflhefs of flavery : 
 but more remains. If doing away flavery were 
 now an unheard-of thing, the firfl experiment 
 might be fomewhat fearful, like the firlt experi- 
 ment in failing. " There are many tremendous 
 " things," fays the poet, " but nothing fo tre- 
 " mendous as man, who goes beyond the white 
 " fea with the wintry fouth wind, traverfing the 
 " waves howling around him." Men have got 
 over thefe terrors ; and the fea, could it retain a 
 keel-mark, would by this time be a beaten high- 
 way. The world, too, has grown old in the 
 work of emancipation. There were the Greeks, 
 having varieties of flavery amongft them, with
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 343 
 
 captives taken by the fpear, and men bought with 
 gold; with a merciful domeflic flavery, rarely 
 changed for freedom, as amongft the Athenians, 
 and a fierce tyranny exercifed over flaves chiefly 
 bound to the foil, as amongft the Lacedemonians. 
 Where are the mafters, where the flaves ? Then 
 came the Romans, with armies of flaves of all 
 nations. Thefe nations are the mafters now. 
 Then medieval ferfdom, apparently a very rigid 
 fyftem. The other emancipations may be traced 
 to violent changes ; but this ferfdom gradually 
 crumbled away. 
 
 Had a mafter, in any one of the above dynaf- 
 ties, been told that the flavery he faw was to 
 vanifli away, he would have fincerely thought 
 that the world would come to an end then ; that, 
 indeed, there was no living without the exa6t 
 fyftem before him. Placing ourfelves in the 
 pofitlon of fuch a mafter, or of a modern flave- 
 owner, we may fee how he will honeftly believe 
 it abfurd and hopelefs to change the prefent ftate 
 of things. What is to become, he exclaims, of 
 the flaves, what of the mafters, what of fociety ? 
 And, indeed, there is an impoflibility about every 
 great undertaking until it is done — or rather, 
 until it is begun.
 
 344 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 The modern flave-owners will fay that none of 
 thefe ancient cafes apply, as the numerical differ- 
 ence between the dominant race and the flaves 
 was never fo great as it is now. But there are 
 the Britifh Weft India iftands. As far as the 
 queftion of population goes, emancipation would 
 feem to have been a more difficult matter in thefe 
 iflands than it would be, for inftance, in the 
 American States. The population in Jamaica is 
 fhort of 400,000, '' of which more than 300,000 
 " are negroes, about 30,000 whites, and perhaps 
 " 50,000 of mixed race."* Now turning to the 
 firft American ftate I happen to think of, Virgi- 
 nia, the total population is 1,211,405 ; the flaves 
 are 469,757, not near half; and the free people 
 of colour are 47, 348. f Then take Georgia, the 
 population is 516,823; the flaves are 217,531, 
 again not half; and the free people of colour are 
 2,486.^1 As far then as the relative numbers 
 of flaves and free men are concerned, there ap- 
 pears to be no peculiar difficulty in emancipation 
 in thefe ftates. If we extend this argument to 
 
 * See America and the Weft Indies, by Profefor Long, G. R. 
 Porter, G. Tucker, W. Wittich, etc.^. 58. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 286. \ Ibid. p. 297.
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 345 
 
 the whole continent of America, it holds good. 
 ** The numbers are fuppofed to be nearly as fol- 
 ow 
 
 f( l^iir . * " 
 
 Europeans, and defcendants of 
 
 Europeans 26,000,000 
 
 Aborigines 9,000,000 
 
 Negroes 6,000,000 
 
 Mixed races 7,000,000 
 
 But again, the advocate for the continuance of 
 American Slavery may fay, the cafes are not pa- 
 rallel, the Britifh Weft India Iflands are colonies, 
 far-ofF colonies ; our flave ftates are integral parts 
 of the empire. This fa6l tells both ways : it 
 might fairly be argued that the Britifh could 
 venture lefs to diminifh any reftraint in dealing 
 with a colony, than with a part of their home- 
 dominions. If the fame advocate fhould fay that 
 the American people, the white people I mean, 
 are lefs ripe for negro emancipation than the Eng- 
 lifh were, that they have prejudices about colours 
 which the Englifh are free from, that may be 
 readily granted. It may alfo be at once admitted 
 in comparing modern with ancient flavery, that 
 emancipation is much more difficult when the 
 
 * Ibid. p. 9.
 
 346 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 races are very different in appearance. And if 
 the fame advocate proceed to fay that emancipa- 
 tion came on foftly in old times, becaufe it was 
 not planned, but proceeded infenfibly with the 
 progrefs of other events, — that, too, muft in 
 great meafure be conceded. I fufpe6t, however, 
 that the greateft difficulty which his clients could 
 allege is one againft the evil effeds of which it is 
 moft in their power to provide, namely the much 
 larger proportion of flave-owners to the reft of 
 the white men in their country than in England, 
 or in ancient States, and in the much greater po- 
 litical power of thefe flave-owners. 
 
 On the other hand, there are fome advantages 
 which the caufe of emancipation will have in 
 America. If we have committed any error in the 
 mode of emancipation, they will be able to profit 
 by it. Their land-owners are refident : their land 
 is more occupied than the Britifh Weft Indies 
 was at the time of Emancipation : their command 
 of labour is likely to be greater than ours has 
 been. 
 
 I do not, however, fay that emancipation is 
 not attended with fome peculiar difficulties in 
 modern times, and that America has not her 
 fhare of them. Indeed the prefent ftate of the
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 347 
 
 American people affords a great inftance of the 
 dodtrine of compenfation. With abundant phy- 
 fical refources, enjoying the refults of the paft 
 labour and prefent leifure of a more advanced 
 nation, it might feem that they had nothing to 
 work out for themfelves. Yet in this matter of 
 flavery, there remains, I think, a greater work to 
 be done by them, than the Englifh have ever had 
 occafion to attempt. I am not depreciating the 
 labours of our own people. Their condud: as 
 regards flavery is one of the beft things that hif- 
 tory has to tell of them : nor is their ardour I 
 truft in any way deadened. Smollett fays of one 
 of his heroes, that " if the eternal falvation of 
 " mankind could have been bought by one tenth 
 " of his poffefTions, he would have left the whole 
 " fpecies in a ftate of reprobation, not willing to 
 " pay that price for them unlefs he could fee in 
 " the bargain fome efpecial advantage to his own 
 " concerns." But in contrail to this amiable 
 character, there are, I do believe, numbers of 
 perfons in England, who, if convinced that any 
 facrifice of worldly goods would enfure the aboli- 
 tion of flavery in any fmall province, would 
 throw down all their poffeflions for this end, and 
 commence their ilruggle in the world again.
 
 348 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 And, as a nation, we may fairly fay that we have 
 often devoted our arms, diplomacy and finance 
 to forward a caufe, the humanity of which is its 
 only charm in our eyes. Our efforts may at 
 times have been mifdire6ted — at times too we 
 may, have been enthuiiaftic when we fhould have 
 been earned — folly and fanaticifm may have 
 hung upon the wheels of this national effort — as 
 on what great caufe have they not ? ftill the 
 popular feeling on this fubjed in England has 
 been fo deep and fincere that even the worldly 
 ftatefman has been obliged to incline to it, and 
 the philanthropist of whatever nation cannot but 
 have approved of it. But, as I have faid before, 
 our proceedings in the matter are but light, com- 
 pared to what the Americans will have to under- 
 take — which indeed they have begun to under- 
 take. There has been nothing to obftrudt the 
 full adlion of our pity. We have had no anti- 
 pathies to conquer : with us the queftion was not 
 one of terror and civil difcord. We do not live 
 with coloured people ; and have not been brought 
 up from infancy to believe them an inferior race. 
 Our feeling for the African race, is like that 
 which we have for the forrows and ftruggles of 
 fome great man or people we read of in hiftory.
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 349 
 
 Had we lived with them, we, too, might have 
 wronged them hke the reft. We are far enough 
 off now to think lovingly and wifely in this matter. 
 Many of the white Americans are not. And as 
 their tafk is greater, fo may be their triumph. 
 The caufe requires from them as from us prudent 
 zeal, refolute watchfulnefs and mafterly condudl : 
 moreover it muft have from them, what happily 
 it needed not from us, a conqueft over a much- 
 cherifhed pride and the reverfal of an early and 
 deeply-ingrained prejudice. 
 
 Abolition of flavery was a hard thing with us, 
 and will be harder with the Americans ; but to 
 throw one's felf lazily back and fay the thing is 
 impoifible, is as weak as it is untrue. ImpofTi- 
 bilities recede as experience advances ; and men 
 walk quietly over many well-tilled fields which, 
 in the childhood of their thought, were deferts 
 or moraffes, peopled with fabulous animals — the 
 ends of the earth. 
 
 The above arguments have been mainly ad- 
 drefTed to America, where emancipation will be 
 moft difficult. Nobody doubts that France with 
 a flave population in her colonies under 300,000 
 can emancipate them without much difficulty ;
 
 350 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 indeed fhe is fteadily advancing in that diredion * 
 In Brazil the free population is nearly equal to 
 the flave ; and in Cuba the flaves are calculated 
 at one third of the whole population. Moreover 
 in the dominant races of the latter countries, 
 there is a more kindly feeling, I imagine, towards 
 men of a dark fhade of fkin than there is amongft 
 the Anglo-Saxons of North America; which 
 feeling muft give additional facility for emancipa- 
 tion. 
 
 As regards the negroes themfelves, the pofli- 
 bility of their emancipation, that is, the pofTibility 
 of its happening without any harm whatever to 
 them, has been amply confidered when difcuffing 
 the queftion of their race and nature. They will 
 work upon the motives that make other men 
 work. The laws of fupply and demand, or any 
 other apparatus of political economy, will be 
 found to a6l upon black as upon white nature. 
 Nay even the finer humours by which we are 
 touched will reftrain or ftimulate their exertion. 
 There is an inftance fo curioufly illuftrating this, 
 that though it is merely an individual inftance, it 
 
 * Since the above was written, France has abolifhed flavery in 
 her dominions.
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 351 
 
 deferves to be quoted. Two or three years ago 
 the manager of a certain plantation in Marti- 
 nique, fufpefting that fome of the cattle on the 
 eftate had been poifoned by the flaves, abridged 
 them all of the ufual time allowed for their pri- 
 vate work, and even took away fome of the hours 
 commonly allotted for reft and fleep. New 
 year's day came, a holiday always impatiently 
 expedled by the negro, but on this occafion, the 
 negroes on this eftate refolved to work the whole 
 day ; they felt themfelves aggrieved by the treat- 
 ment they had for fome time received, and they 
 would have no holiday : not even threats availed 
 to drive them away ; they worked till night and 
 returned the next morning as ufual to their work, 
 without any words about it.* Now, put the 
 feeling of thefe negroes as low as it can be, fay it 
 
 * A midi, le commandeur eft venu rendre compte au gereur 
 que les negres travaillaient toujours, et ne voulaient pas rentrer 
 dans leurs cafes, pour y prendre un peu de repos 5 le gereur f 'eft 
 tranfporte fur les lieux, leur a Intime Tordre, a deux reprifes diffe- 
 rentes, de fe retirer ; ils f 'y font formellement refufes, il les a 
 menaces d'employer la force (la gendarmerie), ils ont tous re- 
 pondu : " envoyez-la chercher," et fans fe deranger, ils ont con- 
 tinue a travailler jusqu'a la nuit j a la nuit, ils font rentres comme 
 a rhabitude, et ce matin ils font retournes aux champs fans mot 
 dire.
 
 352 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 is mere humour, the men who can work through- 
 out their feftal day for fuch humours, will work 
 to feed their wives and children. 
 
 The impofTibility of doing away with flavery 
 is an impofTibility for thofe alone who choofe to 
 make it fo. 
 
 It is not neceflary to my purpofe to fhow how 
 flavery might be done away ; but I may mention 
 that if it were, I fhould certainly not pretend to 
 put forward any fimple definite plan which ihould 
 claim the nature of a fpecific. 
 
 Men delight in neat fyftems and in reducing 
 all human affairs into groups of fadts, which may 
 be dealt with according to certain fixed rules. 
 This is at all times rather pedantic ; but in deal- 
 ing with dead things, fuch as hiftory for instance, 
 it is perhaps excufable, and it is pofTible, becaufe 
 you have the fa6ls before you, if not complete, at 
 leafl no longer alterable. Moreover, a great 
 many of the irreducible fads have dropped out, 
 and thofe that remain adverfe to your fyftem may 
 be omitted. 
 
 But I fufpedl that if a moral remedy can be 
 put into a fyftem, it is fmall : it is then a thing 
 which can be contained, not which forms. More-
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 353 
 
 over fuch a large afFair as flavery, having its roots 
 in all parts of the earth and in the mind of man, 
 is very different from a fet of hiftorical phenomena 
 which can be arranged and fyftematized to any 
 extent. 
 
 Throughout thefe effays I have chiefly fought 
 to influence opinion on the general fubje(5l of fla- 
 very, confidering that fuch opinion mufl: rule the 
 ultimate iffues of the matter. The crifls will 
 come perhaps in a way that no one can forefee. 
 You cannot manufacture crifes ; but you can pre- 
 pare for them. As regards flavery, who can 
 venture to foretell which way it will go ? But I 
 am perfuaded there are certain confiderations 
 which if tranflated into pradical life, will render 
 the way, whatever it is, eafier ; and whether fla- 
 very is to continue, whether it is to end by po- 
 litical convulfion, by foreign wars, or as I hope 
 by gradual abolition (the mafters concurring), it 
 is certainly a good thing that white men and dark 
 men fliould have lefs and lefs difregard for each 
 other : and therefore it is highly defirable that 
 quefliions concerning the two races fliould be 
 carefully confldered, if thereby bafelefs prejudices 
 may be removed. 
 
 If we look back at hifliory, how was the flavery 
 
 2 A A
 
 354 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 we are contending agalnft firft oppofed ? Who 
 was its great opponent ? The Church. Such 
 men as Antonio Montefino, Las Cafas, Vieyra, 
 found in their reHgious opinions fomething which 
 would not let them be at peace with the exifting 
 fyftem of flavery. Sincere opinion muft grow into 
 adlion. 
 
 I do not mean to fay that there are not many 
 rules, fuggeftions and plans which might be of- 
 fered with regard to the abolition of flavery ; but 
 merely that it is not wife to look to any one 
 quarter for a remedy, or to fuppofe that there is 
 any one remedy which will fuit fo multifarious an 
 evil. 
 
 Some of thofe, however, who are immediately 
 connected with flavery, may defire precife inftruc- 
 tions as to what they are to attempt. It appears 
 to me that if a perfon who had much coniidered 
 any great fubjeft, like this of flavery, were ad- 
 dreffed by others who fhould fay to him. We 
 agree with you : this is an evil : and we are 
 ready to affift in removing it. Can you tell us 
 what we are to do ? He would reply by faying. 
 Who are you ? Tell me what fundion you at 
 prefent have in connexion with this matter ; and 
 I may then hazard an opinion as to what you
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 355 
 
 might do ; at any rate I can tell you what I 
 would do if I were in your place : but be fure 
 that there is a great deal which you will find out 
 better how to do in dealing with the details which 
 are your own, than I or any one not in the fame 
 pofition as you can fuggeft. Duty can feldom be 
 made eafy — even to difcover. There is no little 
 bottle of oil which poured upon the fea of human 
 affairs will ftill the waves immediately ; and the 
 man who tells you he has fuch a thing, is to be 
 avoided as a vender of quack medicines. More- 
 over, you muft not expedl more from books than 
 they can give you. Wife condud in any matter 
 is not like what we ufed to call at college *^ book 
 " work," but is a difficult problem, which book- 
 knowledge, however, may greatly affift you in 
 working out. 
 
 Having now declared that I have no fpecific 
 remedy for flavery, and moreover intimated that 
 I do not believe in the exiftence of any fuch thing, 
 I may add that if I had to addrefs fome of the 
 parties in whofe hands the queftion of dealing 
 with flavery lies, I fhould fpeak to them in the 
 following manner. 
 
 In addreffing a Britifh minifter, I fhould fay I 
 have not come to any conclufion about the policy
 
 356 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 of continuing our cruizers on the coaft of Africa ; 
 I am not prepared to pronounce an opinion on 
 that difficult fubjedt ; but I am quite certain that 
 much good might be done by means of diplomacy 
 with the ftates who are now the moft concerned 
 in flavery. I Ihould remind him of Burke's 
 opinion, who faid " He was convinced the true 
 " origin of the Slave Trade was not in the place 
 " it began at, but in the place of final deftina- 
 " tion." I fhould tell him that by means of di- 
 plomacy he might further one of the moft feafible 
 fchemes for diminifhing the force of flavery ; 
 namely, by perfuading the Spanifh, Portuguefe, 
 and Brazilian governments, to infift upon fuch a 
 regiftration of flaves as would fhow whence they 
 came from, and tend to prevent any addition 
 being made to the number of flaves by means of 
 the Slave Trade. The plan of calling upon the 
 mafter to prove the legitimate flavery of his flaves 
 has been fuggefted in modern times by one of 
 ourfelves,* and infifted upon by the Spanifh go- 
 vernment three hundred years ago, when laud- 
 ably endeavouring to legiflate with humanity for 
 the Indians. As flatefmen and men of bufinefs 
 
 * See Mr. TurnbulVs " Cuba,'' c, 17, which well deferves the 
 attention of all perfons who care about the fubject.
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 357 
 
 are fond of accuracy, it will be advifable to 
 give the very words. " And with regard to 
 " the Haves made in war, if the poflefTor fhould 
 " not prove that the Indian, whom he has as a 
 " flave, was taken in juft war, and that the orders 
 " and forms appointed by the king have been 
 " kept and fulfilled, he fhall be pronounced free, 
 '^ although nothing can be proved by the Indian 
 " himfelf, fo that the proof fhall lie upon the 
 " owner and not upon the Indian (^de tal manera 
 " que la -prohanza Je cargajje al pojfeedorj y no al 
 " Indio) and although he fhall have been branded 
 " with the iron, and the owner fhall have bills of 
 " fale or other documents of title."* The introduc- 
 tion of fuch a principle as that contained in the 
 foregoing ordinance, would no doubt be mofl 
 ferviceable in mitigating and reftraining flavery. 
 To the Portuguefe government our minifler 
 might addrefs himfelf, not as if he were fuggefling 
 to them for the firfl: time reafons of humanity and 
 policy for putting down flavery, but only as im- 
 proving upon and furthering the means which 
 have already been fubmitted to the Queen of 
 Portugal by her own Government, f 
 
 • Herrera, Hlft. de las Indias, dec. 8, lib. 5, cap. 5, 
 
 f " The glory of continuing the great undertaking commenced
 
 358 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 With the Brazilians our minifter might make 
 the carrying of this proje6t of regiftration a mat- 
 ter of diftindl treaty ; and, amongft the arguments 
 with which he might ply that government, he 
 might fuggeft to them that they would do wifely 
 to make their polity with regard to flaves different 
 from that of the Southern Statesof North America, 
 fo that fervile infurredion, if it ever takes place in 
 thofe ftates, may not fpread to them ; and that 
 their fecurity with regard to their own flaves may 
 make them more able to repel any attack. 
 
 " by King John the Second, was referved for your Majefty. The 
 " civilization of Africa, of which fo many powerful nations have 
 " defpaired, is more feafible to the Q^een of Portugal, who holds 
 " in her hands the key of the principal gates at which it can en- 
 " ter, and whofe authority is obeyed in various parts of that vaft 
 " continent, at diftances of more than two hundred leagues from 
 " the fea ; and as it was poflible for the former fovereigns of Por- 
 " tugal to open roads for civilization, a ftep which no other prince 
 " had ventured upon, fo it will be poffible to make that beneficial 
 " plant thrive and flourifh in thofe regions. 
 
 " As an indifpenfable preliminary to any meafures which, for 
 *' this great purpofe, your Majefty in accordance with the Gene- 
 " ral Cortes, may take, your Secretaries of State have the honour 
 " to propofe the following projeft of a decree for the entire and 
 " complete abolition of the flave trade in your dominions." 
 Foreign Office. (Signed by all the Minifters.) 
 
 December loth, 1836. 
 
 See Portugueje PoJJeJJions in S. tV. Africa, vol. i. p. 22 of In- 
 trodu6tion.
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 359 
 
 If I had now to addrefs an American planter, 
 perhaps a more Important perfon in the matter 
 than any Britifh minifter, and he were to tell me 
 that he fincerely defired to remedy the prefent 
 evils of flavery, I fhould fay to him that he might 
 begin by improving the condition of his own 
 flaves. Let him fix fhorter times of labour for 
 them ; and provide them with good medical ad- 
 vice, good habitations and fufficient diet. Let 
 him give his negroes fomething to difpofe of in 
 their extra-time, buying their fervices at "hurrying 
 " time" by piecework. Let him keep accounts 
 to fhow that humanity anfwers economically. Let 
 him introduce free labour wherever he can. If 
 the reading and writing part of the education of 
 negroes is jealoufly forbidden, atleaft let him have 
 them inftrucfted in fome manual arts. Whenever 
 you make them do anything that free men do, 
 even if it be but to play at games, you tend to 
 make them more civilized beings and to break 
 through the prejudice of fkin. If the planter has 
 a feat in the Afiembly of his State, he may furely 
 introduce meafures for the perfonal protedion of 
 the negro, who feems at prefent to be worfe off in 
 this refped than the Roman flave was. This
 
 360 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 planter will have great weight if his eftate is known 
 to thrive, his negroes rarely to run away, to live 
 longer, and to work more effedlively than thofe of 
 his neighbours. Gradually he might attempt 
 bolder things. He will probably find more fup- 
 port than he has anticipated. In every fyftem 
 of things, hard and folid as it feems, there are 
 fecret doubters and difTentients. In the moft 
 Papal times, here and there were people who 
 thought for themfelves in Church matters ; fo in 
 flave ftates, there may be feveral perfons who if 
 they heard doftrines about the treatment of their 
 flaves contrary to the received pradtice (thofe doc- 
 trines being propounded by one of themfelves) 
 might give them a favorable hearing. He might 
 venture to argue in the Affembly in favour of 
 education for the negroes, and if fo might afk his 
 brother planters what they get now by not allowing 
 education. PoiTibly as a temporary means of po- 
 lice it is not unwife. Still for the future what is 
 it ? The higheft it aims at is thtjiatus quo. But 
 is there not danger in the exaft equality of know- 
 ledge and condition amongft a fervile population ^. 
 "What any one wifhing well to America would 
 defire, would be to raife up a clafs in the flave 
 ftates between the mafter and the flave. There-
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 361 
 
 fore for that end it is not defirable to fcout free 
 blacks from a flave ftate or to check education 
 amongft flaves. 
 
 It is hardly for me to fuggeft what further ef- 
 forts in behalf of negro emancipation the indivi- 
 dual planter might make in the Aflembly to which 
 I fuppofe him to belong ; but in all that he does 
 I would have him turn his thoughts from '^ the 
 " ignorant prefent" and confider what are likely 
 to be the changes in condition of the population 
 whofe welfare he is anxious for. That fome 
 change is necejffary he has already agreed with me 
 in thinking. 
 
 The prefent flavery In the fouthern flates of 
 America might end in fome fuch ftate of things 
 as that in India, where the great bulk of the peo- 
 ple have an intereft in the foil, but are bound to 
 pay rent, and are governed by officers of the do- 
 minant race fcattered here and there. True it is, 
 that in the cafe of India, the government is the 
 landlord, but there being an identity of intereft 
 amongft the individual landlords in the flave ftates 
 of America makes the general body refemble a 
 government. The objedlion to this fcheme is the 
 want of capital for the labourers. Still there are 
 not wanting analagous cafes where a fimilar diffi-
 
 362 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 culty has been met, as may be feen in works on 
 the nature of rent. 
 
 I confefs myfelf I have no expedation of the 
 above being the courfe things will take ; but Hiould 
 rather look forward (if it is to be a peaceable tran- 
 sition) to that happening which has happened be- 
 fore in many ftates, namely a gradual development 
 of clafles with different occupations, purpofes and 
 powers, fpringing from the great and at prefent 
 unformed mafies of the people. In this way lies 
 the greateft chance to fecure freedom and civili- 
 zation ; and if the planter I am fpeaking to is 
 aware of this, he will be conftantly aiming at 
 producing differences of pofition and education, 
 in thofe under him, in order to provide the means 
 of future fecurity and improvement. 
 
 It is with fuch a view as this that I fhould alk him 
 to come clofer to me, that I might fay in a whif- 
 per (as it might fcandalize him lefs than if I were 
 to fay it aloud) that if I were he, I would feek to 
 ally myfelf with thofe who had in their veins fome 
 of the blood of the race which forms fo large a 
 part of the inhabitants of the country. All wife 
 conquerors (Romans, Normans, Spaniards) have 
 done what they could to produce ties, not to ihun 
 them, with the fubjedl race. I know well the ob-
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 363 
 
 jedions that would be taken in the particular cafe 
 here confidered : but furely in thofe inftances 
 where fuch objedlions do not hold good, where the 
 individual of what is called the inferior race is 
 manifeftly not an inferior individual, and where 
 the obftacle to intermarriage would be only one of 
 race ; then the great rule, that the dominant race 
 would be wife in allying themfelves with the fub- 
 jed race, applies and fhould prevail. 
 
 Laftly, I fhould beg him to keep a well-balanced 
 mind between hoping too much from his indivi- 
 dual efforts, and on the other hand being too eafily 
 dejeded by the failure or incomplete attainment 
 of his wifhes. Let him fay to himfelf, as I do 
 now. It may not be given to any one man to do 
 much in a great matter like this of flavery ; but 
 doing fome little of what he can, he may feel 
 thankful that the final iffues of it are in the hands 
 of a Power with whom " A thoufand years are 
 '^ but as yefterday," and who has never denied 
 the name of " His children" to any portion of the 
 human race.
 
 364 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 After Milverton had ceafed reading we were 
 filent for a time. Knowing that he had been long 
 employed upon this fubje6t of flavery, and having 
 myfelf been often confulted by him upon various 
 points connected with it, I felt as though we were 
 both lofing.an old friend in coming to the con- 
 clufion of this feries of efTays. I breathed a filent 
 prayer for the fuccefs of any good thought or fug- 
 geftion there might be in the work. At length 
 Ellefmere broke the filence. 
 
 Ellesmere. You are quite right, Milverton, in not 
 pretending to give a fpecific remedy for flavery : indeed 
 it is fo fenfible in you not to have attempted anything of 
 the fort, that I am quite fure you muft have borrowed 
 the idea from me (I dare fay unconfcioufly) ; and if every 
 philanthropical writer of books had a fhrewd worldly 
 man at his elbow, and liftened to him occafionally, a 
 great deal of human mifery would be prevented. Be 
 thankful that you are furnifhed with fuch a ufeful com- 
 modity. 
 
 Lucy. I am fure we muft all be very thankful to Mr. 
 Ellefmere, confidering the follies he preferves us from : 
 he does not fuffer us to be long in his debt though, 
 without reminding us how much we are indebted to 
 him. 
 
 DuNSFORD. I hope we fhall have fome more efl'ays 
 from you this next fummer, Milverton. 
 
 Milverton. I hope not. But I (hall be delighted
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 365 
 
 to affift in liftening to anything which you, or Ellefmere, 
 may want an audience for. 
 
 Ellesmere. You are very kind ; but don't expe£l 
 any eflays or difcourfes from me. Authorftiip is the laft 
 trade I fhould think of taking up. If nothing elfe re- 
 mained for me, I ftiould adopt in preference a calling 
 which has many charms and few refponfibilities. I fhould 
 hire myfelf out as one of thofe men who carry advertifing 
 boards, like tabards, behind and before them ; and whofe 
 only duty it is to perambulate crowded thoroughfares in 
 long line. This would be very fuperior to making a 
 living by literature. I fhould not even wifli to be the 
 firft man of thefe tabard-bearers, becaufe he has to exer- 
 cife his mind a good deal in making choice of the road 
 to go. An obje6lion occurs to me ; but there is no form 
 of human life perfe6lly felicitous : and that is, that I 
 could not, in duty to my employer, lean otherwife than 
 fideways when I wifhed to reft, in order that both ta- 
 bards might ftill be feen. This however is but a trifle. 
 If any ideas came into my head during the long walk of 
 the day, I could put them down in the evening and pub- 
 lifh them, if I liked, but I fhould not expe61: to live or 
 thrive by fo doing. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Your jefling, Ellefmere, has a good deal 
 of truth in it. I fufpedl there is an utter fallacy in the 
 notion that literature is better provided for, now that it 
 has what is called the Public for a patron, than in former 
 times, when it depended more upon individuals. The 
 public like occafionally to hear an amufing ftory, and 
 will pay for fuch a thing, though not exorbitantly even
 
 366 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 for it, confidering what a good thing a good ftory is and 
 how difficult it is to make one : but, for the moft part, 
 how utterly incompetent they are, and ever muft be, to 
 appreciate laborious refearch or earneft thought of any 
 kind. I have often thought, dividing my fubjefl after 
 a fafhion known in the Houfe of Commons, that there 
 are three fources of literature. Some books are written, 
 not becaufe the authors want to write, but becaufe they 
 have fomething on their minds to fay and muft fay it : 
 thefe books are few ; and, as a general rule, neither re- 
 wards nor punifhments have much influence upon their 
 authors. Then there is a clafs of works which we may 
 call fpontaneous : written by genial men who fee things 
 clearly and can tell them. Reward has a great effedt 
 upon fuch writings : the public clamour for them ; the 
 wheels of the prefs do not reft ; the fubftance is worked 
 with lefs and lefs care and the materials become fcanty ; 
 mannerifm is put on, and that which was " meant for 
 " mankind " is given up to prefent partizans. Here the 
 public is, if not too kind, at leaft too indifcriminate in its 
 kindnefs ; and it were to be wiftied that in fome myfte- 
 rious manner the coin of different people fliould differ 
 in value according to the fenfe of the people — that the 
 filver of the judicious reader fhould turn into gold, 
 that of the foolifti into copper. Even then I am afraid 
 pecuniary criticifm would be very incomplete, as the 
 copper judgments of the many would ftill amount to fo 
 much more than the golden opinions of the few, that their 
 prefence or abfence would not be of much importance. 
 Ellesmere. a good idea, though ! It would be one
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 367 
 
 way of conftru6ting a Utopia, that money fhould fome- 
 how or other take its value from the hand that paid it. 
 Now, Milverton, for the third clafs. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Oh, thofe are the {lighter works of all 
 kinds which are not written imperatively, or fponta- 
 neoufly, but as matters of bufmefs, or at any rate from 
 humbler motives than the others. Thefe are to be much 
 influenced by reward. But who is to reward them ju- 
 dicioufly ? The difference between executing thefe works 
 (which are very important in the education of mankind) 
 in a firft-rate manner and in a carelefs manner is very 
 great. To do even a flight thing well requires much 
 time, attention and honefly : and to find out that it is 
 done well, or ill, requires patience, fairnefs and fome 
 knowledge. Hence the honefl writers of thefe works 
 often find the carelefs public a very unkind mafter : and 
 in fhort the fum and fubfl:ance of all that I have to fay 
 upon the fubjedl is, that literature does not hold out any 
 fafe reward ; and if I were advifing a perfon whofe heart 
 was fet upon fuch things as reward, I fhould perhaps 
 agree with Ellefmere in recommending a tabard-bearer's 
 life, as likely to be more advantageous than a literary 
 one. I myfelf fhould prefer fweeping a croffing ; but 
 this is a mere matter of tafle. I need hardly tell you that 
 my being more willing to be a liflener than a preacher 
 in the courfe of next fummer, is not exadlly founded 
 upon any of thefe grounds which Ellefmere has flaked 
 his inclination for literature upon. 
 
 Ellesmere. No : I dare fay not. Perhaps you 
 would like to learn fomething yourfelf. I fuppofe men
 
 368 THAT SLAVERY 
 
 who are always writing books become very ignorant. 
 Befides, you live for your friends fo much more when 
 you are not writing. If anything occurs to you, come 
 and tell me. I ftiould think fo much more of it, if it 
 were not to go into a book. 
 
 Lucy. How very felfifh you are, Mr. Ellefmere. 
 
 DuNSFORD. You need not be alarmed, Lucy ; there 
 is but fmall chance of our friend here refting too much. 
 There will always be fomething going on which he will 
 be anxious to influence in fome way or other, and he 
 will take up his pen as the weapon he knows beft how 
 to ufe. 
 
 Ellesmere. Then it is a hopelefs cafe ; and it will 
 be in vain for me to point out to him the difadvantages 
 clofe-following on the ufe of that fatal weapon. You 
 might as well attempt to flop Don Ouixote when armed 
 cap a pie, on horfeback, and going out to fight injurious 
 windmills, by claiming his attention to details about the 
 poultry-yard at home. I can underftand, too, the plea- 
 fure of attempting to perfuade or convince anybody about 
 anything. I feel that myfelf ; but then I am always paid 
 for it. 
 
 MiLVERTON. Ah, well, Ellefmere, there is one de- 
 light you cannot take away from literature — the fympa- 
 thies it evokes and the friendfhips it creates. By its aid, 
 acrofs wide feas and from the very depths of time, men 
 ftretch out their hands to one another, being brethren in 
 foul. If to think the fame of the Republic [idem /entire 
 de republica) has always been confidered a ftern bond 
 of fellow{hip,what muft be that communion which arifes
 
 CAN BE DONE AWAY. 369 
 
 from agreement on matters of deeper concern than any 
 politics, and ftill more perhaps from that harmony in the 
 lighter touches of thought, expreflion and feeling, which 
 conftitutes the very eflence of perfonal friendfhip. With 
 men whom we have never feen we may thus have a 
 dear and intimate communion ; and could thefe friends 
 from afar enter the room, though it might be in a ftrange 
 garb and fpeaking a ftrange language, we fhould welcome 
 them at once as old friends, and ftiould already think 
 we knew many of their moft familiar ways. 
 
 Ellesmere. Airy fancies! but unanfwerable, I fup- 
 pofe, as there is not fubftance enough in them to be met 
 by an anfwer. May they do you all much good. 
 
 1 did not like to remind Ellefmere of anything 
 that could be painful to him, and therefore I did 
 not fay what was in my mind, of how the refem- 
 blance of one child to another had brought back 
 into his mind reminifcences and " airy fancies" 
 which yet had touched him deeply. 
 
 It was now time for us to go. We rofe from 
 the eminence where we had been fitting, and took 
 a laft long gaze at the fcene before us. At my 
 age and with my calling, I naturally look at any- 
 thing I fee on a journey, as if it were for the laft 
 time I fhould fee it. Milverton's recent ftate of 
 health may have fuggefted the fame thought to 
 
 2 B B
 
 370 SLAVERY CAN BE DONE AWAY. 
 
 him. Lucy looked with the glad eager gaze of 
 youth. At laft we turned to go away. I heard 
 Milverton fay to himfelf " It will pafs away as 
 " this has done ; and men will only fee its de- 
 " crepit monuments." I knew what he was think- 
 ing of, and joined with him in wifhing fervently 
 that what he prophefied might come to pafs. 
 
 As Ellefmere and myfelf were obliged to be 
 back in England by a certain time, which was near 
 at hand, and as Milverton was ftill unable to travel 
 rapidly, we left him at Treves, and refumed our 
 journey homewards. He entrufted me with his 
 manufcripts, which I have edited faithfully. 
 
 I find that the EfTays and Converfations of this 
 year are of greater length than the former ones : 1 
 hope, dear reader, you have not found them tire- 
 fome ; and, even if you have, perhaps you will 
 bear kindly with them, in confideration that you 
 are not likely to be troubled in the fame way for 
 a long time again, if ever. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.
 
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