Think of all these things, kind-hearted reader. Try to judge the negro by the same rules you judge other men; and while you condemn his faults, do not forget his manifold provocations. CHAPTER VIII. PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR, AND OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. "A negro has a _soul_, an' please your honor," said the Corporal, (_doubtingly_.) "I am not much versed, Corporal," quoth my Uncle Toby, "In things of that kind; but I suppose God would not leave him without one any more than thee or me." "It would be putting one sadly over the head of the other," quoth the Corporal. "It would so," said my Uncle Toby. "Why then, an' please your honor, is a black man to be used worse than a white one." "I can give no reason," said my Uncle Toby. "Only," cried the Corporal, shaking his head, "because he has no one to stand up for him." "It is that very thing, Trim," quoth my Uncle Toby, "which recommends him to protection." While we bestow our earnest disapprobation on the system of slavery, let us not flatter ourselves that we are in reality any better than our brethren of the South. Thanks to our soil and climate, and the early exertions of the excellent Society of Friends, the _form_ of slavery does not exist among us; but the very _spirit_ of the hateful and mischievous thing is here in all its strength. The manner in which we use what power we have, gives us ample reason to be grateful that the nature of our institutions does not intrust us with more. Our prejudice against colored people is even more inveterate than it is at the South. The planter is often attached to his negroes, and lavishes caresses and kind words upon them, as he would on a favorite hound: but our cold-hearted, ignoble prejudice admits of no exception--no intermission. The Southerners have long continued habit, apparent interest and dreaded danger, to palliate the wrong they do; but we stand without excuse. They tell us that Northern ships and Northern capital have been engaged in this wicked business; and the reproach is true. Several fortunes in this city have been made by the sale of negro blood. If these criminal transactions are still carried on, they are done in silence and secrecy, because public opinion has made them disgraceful. But if the free States wished to cherish the system of slavery for ever, they could not take a more direct course than they now do. Those who are kind and liberal on all other subjects, unite with the selfish and the proud in their unrelenting efforts to keep the colored population in the lowest state of degradation; and the influence they unconsciously exert over children early infuses into their innocent minds the same strong feelings of contempt.