The relation of master and slave implies the extremes of control on the one hand, and obedience on the other; some intermediate forms of which extend throughout all society. Whether the relation be proper or not, must depend mainly on the greater or less disparity between the two classes, and the circumstances which mark their connection. If the masters be of one race, and the slaves of another; if they be of different complexions; if the former be characterized by great strength of will and capacity of understanding, while the latter are weak in both; it is inevitable, if these two races must dwell together in one community, that the one should occupy the position of masters and the other that of slaves. They could not hold intercourse together on any other terms. If the inferior race should prove fierce and intractable, like our aboriginal Indians, they must disappear as the master power approaches; if they are docile and gentle, like the negroes, they may live in domestic servitude, and thrive in that condition. It may be remarked that the negro is the only race that has ever been able to abide in contact with the Anglo-Saxon. II. _Of Rights._[1] It may be asked, have not all enslaved people a right to freedom? To which it may be answered that _rights_ are connected with _duties_; or, to go back to the other definition, the will and the understanding of a man, the strength of the one and the capacity of the other, combined together, constitute the measure of his rights, inasmuch as they are the measure of the sphere which he fills. Freedom involves certain responsibilities, which, if a man can not meet, he is not free. Besides, _Freedom_ is a relative thing--a thing of degrees. How much of external restraint must be thrown off to constitute _Freedom_? No one can say; it can not be defined by specific limits. If we go to talking of _abstract rights_, we shall discourse very vaguely and to little purpose. The phrase itself is unmeaning; for rights can be considered only as pertaining to _persons_. Thus they can not be abstract at all.