Cruelty Of Slaveholding

The declaratinns of slaveholders that they treat their slaves we'l, will put no man in a qunndary, tvho keepa in mind iliis simple principie, that ihe state of mind lowards ottiers, which lends one to nfiict cruehies on ihem, blinda the hijfictvr to tte real nalure ofhis own acts. To him, ihey do not seein lo be cruelties; consequently, wlipn speaking of such trentment towards such persons, ho wil] protest that it is not eioeliv; tl.ough, if inflioled upon himself or his friends, he would indignantly stigmetize it as atruciuus ba:barity. The objector equally overlooksano'.her every duy fact of I uuian nature, which is this, thnt cruelties irjvariahly cease to seem crudliw when th hábil i-, formed, though previously the mind regarded them as such, and shrunk from them with horror. The following fact, relnted by the lale lamented Thomas Piungle, whose life and Poems have recemlv beon published in England, is an appropriate illustration. Mr. Piingle states it on the aulhority of Captain W. F. Owe, of '.i, Royal Navy. "VVhen his Müjesly's ships, the Leven und the Borrocoota, employed in surveying the consi of África, we ie at Mozambique, in 1823, the officers were introduced to the daugbter o!' S.-nor Mannel Pedro d'AL-neydra, a nalive of Poitugal, who was a considerable raerchant, sniled ontbatcoast; and il was on opinión i2reed in by all, that Donna Sophia d'AImeydra was the most superior woman Ihey liad seen sincethe had left Enland. Captain Owen, the leader of the expedí, tion, expressing toSenor d'Almeydra his deleslation of slavery, the Senor. repliet', "You will not be long here before you change your sentiments. Look at rny Sophia there. Before she would marry me, she made me promiae that I huuld give up the stave trade. When we first willed at Mozambique, she wnscontiim. ally interceding for the svps, and she conslanlly wcpl teken I punixhed tkem ■ and now she is amng the slaves from morrnng lili nigbl; sha roguate-i tl.e whole of my ilave cstablishmenl; she inquires inlo eery off nee comrnit.ed bv them, pronounces senten, e upon the of. fender, and stands by and stes ihcm punishrdP "lo ihis, Mr. Priugle, who was himjself for six years a iiclent ot' the Eijglfsh ■ sélleme.--;; (,L the Uape bf Ofood nope, odds, 'Tho writm of this a.ticle I has sccn, in the cou?se of iive or six ycars, ns grent a chai, ge upnn Englisli I i' dies and gentlemen of rcsuectability. na tliat describcd to have laken piare i Dunna Sohia d'Almeydra; and of tlie individuáis whom helios in his eye, wliiln he writes this passage, liilelv conl'essedto him Ihis iiiolaucholy chango, remarking at the same lime 'hotv aliered I am in mv feelings wiih regard lo slavery. I do not appear to myself the same peraon I wasonmy arrival in this colony, ard ifí would give the world for the 'feftlings I then had, I c.mld not recall tliem.' " Slaveholders kñow fu!l well that fnmiliarity with slavery produces indiffererxe to itscruelties and reconciles the mind to them. The late Judge Tucker, a Virginia slaveholder and of lew in the Uuiversity of VViiliam and Mary, in the appendix to his edition of Blacksline's Communtanes, part S, np. 56, 57, poinmenting on the law of Virginia previous to 1792, wliich outlawed fugitive tlaes, ' sayal '■Sucli ure the ereliies to which sl..very gives rise, such tile horrors to which the mind beeomes rcconcilcd bv iis adoption." Mrs. Cüild, in hcr admirable "Appeal," has the followitig remarks: "Tho Indies who remove froni the free States to the Slnveholding ones nlmost in, varinbly tvrite ihat the sight of s'avery wns at fust e.xceedingly painful; bm thrit ihey soon becnme habituated to h; and 1 aiior 2'.vh!b they "are Very apt m vj'íidi i cate Uie system, upöo tl.e ground (bat il M e.xtremely convenient to have sUch ub misfciive servants. This reasïm Was actually given bv a lndy of my ;icquaint;inca ' who is cousidored an umi-ually fervent ; chi-istian. Y t Chr Sianity e.xpressly tenches us to loeour neiglibor as ourI selve-í. This shows how d.-ingerous it is, for even the best oí us; t j becooiá accustomedxo what is Urong. "A judicious and lenevolent frlend lately tüld me the stnry of one of hPr relativas, lio niairied a slave owner, and removed to his plnnintien. The lady in quflstiujl w.ns considrnd vory amiablp, ■ nd had a serene, aíFectionaie exprenion 1 of coüutenaiicü. Afcr severol ears rpsidence amono hor slavrs, she v'i.sifcd New Englnnd. 'lier lisiory wns wril, ten in her f;ice,' .aid mv Iriend; 'its exIjressiou had changed fo thnt of a ííend. She liruiight !it few sla vea with her; and i hose few wöre of couise competí ed to pfc'i'forui íiddinon.-il lab.ir. 'One faiiliful Negro unnn mis.d fho , twins of her mistress, and did nll the u;isMiüe, ironing and scouring. If, afier a slerple.-s uight wiih the re-tless babes, (diiven l'iom the bosoni of theif mother, ■hi erfoim"d her toilome aíecations wiih "diminished activitv, l:er ünsiies3. wilh her ron 1 idy-like hands, o'pplied the cowskin, nnd the neighborhood resoundI ed with the v:rtesif her victim. The instrument of pi.nishment wns actia lv ' kept hanging in tita em rv, tu tho no smal) disgust of her New England rUitois.- ' For my pan,' oocUijuel my IV e 'd, 'I áA not try to be pchtu to i.er, for I wü ni
hypoerite enough ío conceal my ndignation.' " The fact tliai iIip grci.t.'st crueïliea moy be exercised in e unconsciously vh-n cruelty hna become ;i I al) t, and tliat ai the saine timp, the min.! mav feol grea' symp:ithy and commiseration tu worde other prsons and even tuward rrationnl animáis, is illuslialed in the cuse oi'Tamerlane theGre.it. In bis life writien by "nimself, lie sneaks with the greatest sin ceritf and tenderness of his grief ot Inving crushel in ant ; and et he ordered melied 1 ad to be pourod down the throata of ceriain persons who drnnk wi.ne contrary to his commando. He as moni' festly sincere in thinking bimself humane, and when spe iking of the nv.st attrocious cruelties perpetraUii by himselt', itiloesnot -eeui to rutilo io the least the self-complaeency with wbich he ngards his oHti humnnity md piety. In uno place he says, "1 never undfrtook nnything but l C'iinnieiiced it placing my faith on God"- and he adds soon afier, "the people of Siiiraz tonk part with Shah Alansur, and put iny Gpvernor to death; I therefore ordered a general massacre vj all the inhabilanls." It is one of the most cuTimon caprices of human naturr, Air tl e heart lo bec.ome by hüblt, ii"i oniy rpfsiíy insensible Ut certain forms of cruelty, which at first give it inexpresable pain, bi.t even lo find its chief amusement in such cruelties, till utterly intoxicoled by their stimulation ; whüe at the same lima tbe mind iritis lo be paiued as keenly ns ever, nt forms of erueíty to :'.'■ h it has nol become accnstoniod, thus retainíng ap.renlhj the same general sus'jeptibilities. Illuslrations of ibis are to be foisnd every where ; one happens to lie before iw. - Büiirg)ii)g, iu hïs history of modern Spain, speaking of lbo Buil fights, the arbarous natiútial amusement of the Spa niards, says : "Youngladies, o'd men, people of all ags and of nll characters, are present, and yet the httbl! of attending these b'oody fet-tivals does not correct their weakness or their timnlity, nor ii.jure ihe sweetness oí their marmers. 1 have moreover known (breigners, li-tinguishoiJ by the the gentleness of' their matmers, who cperienced at first sreing n buil figbt such very violent emotions as made ;hein turn palc, and they becTine ill, bui, notwiihslanding, this eiitertaiment became aferwnrds an irresis'able aUraolior, without operating any revolution in the.r charactere." Modern Slate of Ppaïn, by J. F. Bourgning. Minister Plenipotentiarv from F ranee to tlie Court of Madrid, Vul. ii., page 342. It is the novelly of cruelty, ratlier tiü.n the dfgree, which repela nn-' will olten pain a mind that is lot.uly unmoved by the most horrible cruelties in a lorm to which it is accuslúmvd. When Pompey was al the zenith of his popuia rity in Rome, he ordeieJ some elephants to be torturad in the nmpitheatre for the amusement of the populace; this was the first time thoy had wilnessed the torture of those animnls. and tlough for years accustomrd to wituess in the sime place, the torture of lions, tigers. leopardí, and nlmost all soitsof wild bcasls. as well as that of men of nll nations, and to shout acclarnations over tlieir ngonies, yet this novel forra so shocked the beholders, that the most popular rmn in Rome was execraled as a cruel monster, and eame near falling a victim to the fary of those who just before were ready to adore him.