evidence of the solicitude of Providence for his favourite creature. This ought not to render us too proud, for it likewise bears evidence of our baseness, since it places in some measure man's liberty under the safeguard of his cupidity-man comprehends his interest before comprehending justice.

Now, cast your eyes upon the America of Washington; study the state of its manners, the multitude of barbarous prejudices which consume it, which threaten it with a return of the middle ages; and you will judge that among a people who have two millions of slaves, and where the slave is not regarded as a man, but as merchandise-a beast of burden, of which each head is worth ten acres of cultivated land, you will judge, I say, that among these people, merchants in human flesh, the law which we have just expressed is of a much more powerful, and of much more intelligible application than the most sublime precepts of the Gospel.

But, there is in the law a second article more fatal than the first. After having verified the idleness and the brutalisation of slavery, the terrible law carries with it a sentence of death, and declares the master to be a homicide. It may be expressed in a few words: man is so evidently intended to be free, that slavery destroys the species.

In fact, populations of slaves are only renewed by fresh importations.

The Romans seemed to conquer the world only in order to supply their slave-markets: they consumed whole nations; their most illustrious warriors were but their purveyors.

Strabo mentions a town where as many as ten thousand slaves a day were sold for the exclusive service of the Romans, and this market was not the most considerable

one.

During the wars of Gaul, Cæsar caused the inha

bitants of the conquered towns to be put up to auction; the number of individuals amounted more than once to fifty thousand. We may by these examples estimate the consumption of slaves.

Christian nations offer similar illustrations. It is proved that the slave population of the West Indies is renewed every fifteen years. It is, then, at this rate that the longest average duration of the life of man, when mutilated by slavery, must be estimated.*

Such is the physical law of nature: it declares the possessors of slaves to be homicides. As to the moral law, God recals it to our memory every morning and evening, in the first words of the prayer, "Our Father!" Consider

well these words, "Our Father!" and not, My Father. It is a single man who speaks, and yet he speaks in the name of all. In addressing himself to God, in invoking him by the most sacred title, he is not permitted to isolate himself. His prayer is collective: it recals to his mind his family, the great family of God,-a truly celestial prayer, in which each individual presents himself before his Father, surrounded by all his brethren, and in which, from his solitary chamber, he prays in the name of the whole human race.

Break, then, the chains of thy slaves, or cease to raise thy soul to God. Thou mayest perceive that each word of thy prayer denounces to him a fratricide.

There is an ancient tradition of the East, that Solomon possessed a ring, on which angels had engraved the true name of God. By the magic of this name, unknown to men, the sage discovered treasures, subjected nations to his

*This is no proof that slavery is the cause of death, for numbers of slaves attain a great age, and the average mortality among Europeans in the West Indies is certainly much greater than that above mentioned.-Note of Translator.

rule, opened prisons, caused chains to fall, and reigned at the same time over the powers of the earth and the genii of heaven.

I believe in the ring of Solomon ; I believe in the prodigies produced by the true name of God, Our Father; an admirable name which Christ revealed to us; a magic name which is no longer merely engraved on the ring of Solomon, but in the heart of all men. Three syllables, which contain the most lofty idea which we have been allowed to understand, and which must one day destroy all tyranny, vivify all nations, and establish the human race in its glory and in its liberty.*

* Without defending slavery, and the abuses to which it has given rise, the translator cannot assent to all the conclusions of the author on the subject The difference between the Negro or Malay and other varieties of the human species is marked, not only by the colour of the skin, but also by the anatomical configuration of the cranium and other parts of the body, as well as by the great inferiority of the mental and moral qualifications, and the constant predominance of the animal passions, which do not arise from slavery, but from the original organisation which characterises the whole races, whether slave or free. This inferiority is further proved by the little success, beyond a certain point, which has ever attended the attempts which have been made to elevate the negro in the scale of intelligent being; whereas, the other varieties present innumerable examples of individuals who have raised themselves to distinction from the lowest grades, solely by the talents or qualifications with which they were endowed.

LABOUR-A

CHAPTER XXVII.

PHYSICAL AND MORAL LAW OF

NATURE

WHICH ESTABLISHES THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY.

"C'est une loi que la nature nous impose, afin de nous donner un droit.

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Quiconque violera cette loi renoncera à sa propre nature et se depouillera de l'humanité."

CICERON. Republique.

Ir is not our intention to consider fully so vast a subject, but merely to state the principle.

Here is a fact worthy of attention.

Wild nature may suffice for the miserable existence of some savage tribes: it cannot suffice for the existence of civilised nations. In order that the earth may enable nations to live, man must moisten it with his sweat, and fertilise it by means of his intelligence. Society is possible only through labour, and society is a law of nature; whence it follows that labour is the necessary fulfilling of this law.

Cast your eyes upon desert countries; the earth there produces nothing but dark forests, the resort of wild beasts and of venomous reptiles; the air is unhealthy; vegetation is supported by corruption and decomposition, which is destructive to man. You see only stagnant waters, or rivers unrestrained in their course and without banks; coarse fruits, hard and thorny herbs, an exuberance of vegetation which prevents fertility, a stupendous nature which astonishes, but which is only solitude, war, and death. A magnificent creation, the domain of animals, but not of man, and which awaits the hand of the latter to become his property in becoming his work.

Thus, the physical mission of man here below is to reorganise the earth which he inhabits, the air which he breathes, and even the vegetable productions which are to shelter, clothe, or nourish him. The ear of corn is filled only by means of his hand; the fruits of the tree are sweetened only by his cultivation; he chooses for himself companions from among animals, and makes them work with him and for him. He goes to seek iron and gold in the bowels of the earth, and makes use of them to embellish and fertilize it. At his command forests disappear, rivers re-enter their beds, climates are changed, the air is purified, flowers are multiplied, the rank and sterile grass of the savanhas gives place to verdant meadows, the vine grows in festoons among the hills, and rich crops present themselves to the view on every side. Thus rude nature becomes obliterated, and the gardens of Eden are realised. Each step which man impresses upon the earth marks a conquest; he is charged to perfect creation, and God lends him a part of his creative power.

Two thousand years ago, England, France, and Germany presented the aspect of the primitive forests of Americaman has modified all, even to the productions of the earth.

Cæsar relates, that the cold prevented the cultivation of the vine in Gaul-man has thus modified even climates.

It is by labour that he has reclaimed Europe, it is by labour that he reclaims America. On its uncultivated soil you see labour advancing like an indefatigable giant, whose thousand hands restrain rivers, level mountains, destroy forests, and raise cities; and from this terrific and incessant struggle there arises a more smiling and fruitful nature, of which man is at the same time the master and the creator. This is the manner in which labour justifies the property of the country by the nation, and of the soil by individuals.