Representative British Orations Volume 1 (of 4): With Introductions and Explanatory Notes
History
Representative British Orations Volume 1 (of 4): With Introductions and Explanatory Notes
Speeches, addresses, etc., English
Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the
latitude of this description, because in the southern colonies the
Church of England forms a large body, and has a regular establishment.
It is certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance attending these
colonies, which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference,
and makes the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in
those to the northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they
have a vast multitude of _slaves_. Where this is the case in any part
of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous
of their freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind
of rank and privilege. Not seeing there that freedom, as in countries
where it is a common blessing, and as broad and general as the air,
may be united with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the
exterior of servitude, liberty looks, among them, like something that
is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, sir, to commend the superior
morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as virtue
in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these
people of the southern colonies are much more strongly, and with a
higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to the
northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our
Gothic ancestors; such, in our days, were the Poles, and such will be
all masters of slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people
the haughtiness of domination combines with the spirit of freedom,
fortifies it, and renders it invincible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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