Men who _think_ upon the subject, are fast coming to the conclusion that slavery can never be much ameliorated, while it is allowed to exist. What Mr. Fox said of the _trade_ is true of the _system_--"you may as well try to _regulate_ murder." It is a disease as deadly as the cancer; and while one particle of it remains in the constitution, no cure can be effected. The relation is unnatural in itself, and therefore it reverses all the rules which are applied to other human relations. Thus a free government which in every other point of view is a blessing, is a curse to the slave. The liberty around him is contagious, and therefore the laws must be endowed with a tenfold crushing power, or the captive will break his chains. A despotic monarch can follow the impulses of humanity without scruple. When Vidius Pollio ordered one of his slaves to be cut to pieces and thrown into his fish-pond, the Emperor Augustus commanded him to emancipate immediately, not only that slave, but all his slaves. In a free State there is no such power; and there would be none needed, if the laws were equal,--but the slave-owners are legislators, and _make_ the laws, in which the negro has no voice--the master influences public opinion, but the slave cannot. Miss Martineau very wisely says; "To attempt to combine freedom and slavery is to put new wine into old skins. Soon may the old skins burst? for we shall never want for better wine than they have ever held." A work has been lately published, written by Jonathan Dymond, who was a member of the Society of Friends, in England; it is entitled "Essays on the Principles of Morality"--and most excellent Essays they are. Every sentence recognises the principle of sacrificing all selfish considerations to our inward perceptions of duty; and therefore every page shines with the mild but powerful light of true Christian philosophy. I rejoice to hear that the book is likely to be republished in this country. In his remarks on slavery the author says: "The supporters of the _system_ will hereafter be regarded with the same public feelings, as he who was an advocate of the slave _trade_ now is. How is it that legislators and public men are so indifferent to their fame? Who would now be willing that biography should record of him,--_This man defended the slave trade?_ The time will come when the record,--_This man opposed the abolition of slavery_, will occasion a great deduction from the public estimate of weight of character." CHAPTER VI. INTELLECT OF NEGROES. "We must not allow negroes to be _men_, lest we ourselves should be suspected of not being _Christians_." MONTESQUIEU. In order to decide what is our duty concerning the Africans and their descendants, we must first clearly make up our minds whether they are, or are not, human beings--whether they have, or have not, the same capacities for improvement as other men.