Before we proceed to the particular matter in hand, it may be proper to have an understanding upon some preliminaries. There is so much sensitiveness with regard to Slavery; so much irritated feeling; it has been and is the cause of so much ill-judged agitation, giving rise to unhappy manifestations of moral and political fanaticism,--that one needs to move very cautiously in touching upon the topic at all, lest he do more harm than good by meddling with it. But, for my own part, as I have no design to minister to excitement, nor to deal with the subject as an advocate of extreme opinions, it shall be my care to regard the question as one requiring to be practically considered by those whom it most concerns, and to express as clearly as possible what it is in my mind now to say about it. Not to be misunderstood is a thing to be greatly desired by those who would treat justly such a question as this--or indeed any serious question; but then, indeed, one ought to have something to say worth the trouble of understanding. Let us now hasten to get through the preliminaries. I. _Of Slavery itself as a Social Relation._ If Slavery be regarded as the subjection of one man, by force, to the will of another, all other considerations being left out of view, it must appear to be the most cruel outrage to which humanity is liable. But the control of one man over another, of some men over other men, of individuals over masses, may exist without implying outrage or wrong. It is as a representative that man exercises power--as the representative of truths, principles, sentiments. Thus the officials of a government, few in number, representing order and justice, personify the sovereignty of the realm, and rule over millions. The will and the understanding constitute the man; the strength and purity of the one, the capacity of the other, form the measure of his just influence. Sometimes it may happen, when there is need that a nation should have the energy of action and singleness of purpose of an individual mind, that a man shall arise capable of embodying in himself the intellect and the will of the nation, which he will then control with despotic sway. Such was Napoleon in the earlier period of his career, who with some show of truth could have adopted the saying of one of his predecessors on the throne of France, “_l’état c’est moi_.” Slavery, if it implies the degradation of an equal, or the subjugation by brute force of a superior--what is it but a shocking atrocity, most monstrous to think of! When we read of the enslaving of Christians, refined and intelligent persons, by the corsairs of Algiers, as used in former times to happen, the mind revolts at such violations of right and justice. It is usual, when one speaks of Slavery, to imagine himself in the condition of servitude, and thence to form his conceptions of the injustice of that relation, and to express his indignation accordingly. But this is to take a very partial view of the matter.