General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great BritainPeters, Samuel
History
General History of Connecticut, from Its First Settlement Under George Fenwick to its Latest Period of Amity with Great Britain
Peters, Samuel
Connecticut -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Connecticut -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
with great sincerity, that this mode of converting the native Indians
is godlike in comparison with that adopted by the Africans.
These miserable people are first kidnapped, and then put under saws,
harrows, and axes of iron, and forced through the brick-kiln to
Molock.
Nearly half a million of them are doomed to hug their misery in
ignorance, nakedness, and hunger, among their master’s upper servants
in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. The number of these
wretches upon the Continent and Islands is scarce credible; about
100,000 in Jamaica alone; all toiling for the tyrant’s pleasure; none
seeking other happiness, than to be screened from the torture rendered
necessary by that curious American maxim, that men must be willing to
die before they are fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. However, what
Mussleman, African, or American, would not prefer the state of a
christian master, who dreads death above all things, to the state of
those christian converts? Christianity has been cursed, through the
insincerity of its professors; even savages despise its precepts,
because they have no influence on christians themselves. Whatever
religious pretensions the Spanish, French, or English may plead for
depopulating and repeopling America, it is pretty clear that the
desire of gold and dominion was no impotent instigation with them to
seek the western continent. The British leaders in the scheme of
emigration had felt the humiliating effects of the feudal system;
particularly the partial distributions of fortunes and honour among
children of the same venter in the Mother Country. They had seen that
this inequality produced insolence and oppression, which awakened the
sentiments of independence and liberty, the instinct of every man.
Nature then kindled war against the oppressors, and the oppressors
appealed to prescription. The event was, infelicity began her reign.
Both parties invoked religion, but prostrated themselves before the
insidious shrine of Superstition, the life of civil government, and
the sinews of war; that expiates crimes by prayers, uses ceremonies
for good works, esteems devotion more than virtue, supports religion
without probity, values honesty less than honour, generates happiness
without morality, and is a glorious helmet to the ambitious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account