When from the West Indies themselves I have heard the same assertion, that the negro Slaves are happier than our labouring poor, let me be forgiven for declaring, that such an opinion, formed not by transient visitors, but by those to whom a Negro sale, working under the whip, public and severe floggings of decent females, private punishments, and all the other sad particulars of negro humiliation are thoroughly known, has, I own, created in my mind a reflection of a different character. I have by no means questioned the veracity of those from whom the remark has fallen, or imputed to them, I say it with sincerity, the smallest intention to deceive; but I have conceived myself to see in it an instance of that righteous ordination of the Almighty, by which it ever happens, that the system of slavery, and the same may be affirmed of every other gross infringement on the rights and happiness of our fellow creatures, is far from being so much clear gain, even to those for whose exclusive advantage it may appear to be instituted. It is not by the wretched Negro that the whole price is to be paid. Surely it is much, that the Master’s understanding of the nature and amount of the value of liberty is so far impaired. Much also is paid in that effect which, ever since the world began, has ever been produced by slavery on both the morals and manners of the free part of the community in which it has prevailed. It would be really an insult to the understandings and feelings of members of this free and happy country, to enter into any detailed comparison between the situation of a British peasant and a West Indian Slave. It is almost in every particular a perfect contrast; and, for my own part, when, after asserting, with what correctness we will not just now question, that the Slaves are better fed, and clothed, and lodged, than our own peasantry; and when the conclusion has been so confidently drawn, that therefore they must be happier; the assertion has appeared to me to supply only another proof, in addition to the many already furnished, that our opponents in their judgments as well as in their feelings are apt to reason concerning the Negroes, as well as to act towards them, as if they were of an inferior species. Were we engaged in any inquiry concerning the brute creation, to ascertain these particulars might be to decide the question of their happiness or misery. But are feeding and clothing, and lodging, the only claims of a rational and immortal Being? Are the feelings of the heart nothing? Are the consciousness of independence, and the power of pursuing the occupation and habits of life which we prefer, nothing? Is the prospect of happier days, and of an improved situation for ourselves or our children, nothing? Where also are family endearments, and social intercourse, and willing services, and grateful returns? Where, above all, are moral improvement, and the light of religious truth, and the hope full of immortality?