On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
The thief may b ^ . chaste and sober , the 4 *« utfc * rd may be fair and just irt bis ( tealings * tie debauchee patriotic and benevolent , and the fanatic may feel compunction for the sufferer
whom his frantte zeal is immolating on the bloody altar of superstition Unhappily , civilization brings in its train an immense increase of artificial wants , quite as imperious in their claims as those of absolute natural necessity- The cravings of luxury
are insatiable , and the perversion of the soundest principles of moral obligation will easily encroach upon the inkid that has been accustomed to consider even its innocent gratifica * tions as the supreme good . Witness the far-famed simile of Nature ' s
banquet by Mr . Maltbus . He sapposes a cumber of persons seated at a table enjoying all the luxuries that sen * suality can devise , while a miserable wretch , perishing with hunger and
begging from their superfluity a scanty pittance to preserve him from death , may be told with impunity , that there is no room for him nor any supplythat such was Nature ^ intention and
he must submit . This may serve as a public illustration where numbers are judges in their own cause , and I ^ nay be allowed to recite a case in point , which I believe to be a fact , of a more private bearing' . A poor old fellow was
sentenced to the cat-o-nine-tails by a clerical magistrate for the vile imposition of begging when he did not want , three or four shillings being found in the lining of his hat by the
person who apprehended him . At the same time , this same magistrate was moving earth and heaven to oIktain an additional church living to the one of four or five hundred a
year which he already possessed . Oid he beg when he did not want ? And how hardly shall a rich man be just between himself and his poor neighbour ! Allowing five stripes for
every shilling the pauper held while importuning For more , what would » e the proportion for his mercenary and ^ Q feeline judge ? With all the experience that tune and necessity
j * u give , it will stilt be found , that laws can never be made so complete 5 J as t 0 $ uit every case that ay . wtioe ^ ay devise or accident ex-™™ h tfoj very attempt at perfection ,
Untitled Article
perhaps * undermines with many tfve moral feelingvin no inconsiderable degree , as Cupidity may think itself jutfCi * fiable in seizing whatever that i < npw * fection cannot provide for ; so that
prevarication , sophistry and fraud may define equity as an " article in the market for the purchase of those only who have not cunning enough to * take care of themselves without paying for justice .
Expostulate with a slave-dealer o » his violation of the principles of justice and humanity , and of his doing to others as he himself would wish ia return , and lie will resent your implications and charges- " There must
be / ' he will say , " labourers to cultivate the soil in every climate , the population could not subsist without them , and if the natives of the South , American Islands are not so fit for
the purpose as those we import , where is the mighty injustice ? It maybe very true that many oP them die in the passage , but that is not our fault ; it is our interest that it should -not be so—but we cannot help it . If the trade was protected as it ought to be
by the governments of Europe , out risk would not be so great , and hatting of course larger profits on our exports we could do with fewer subjects . For my part , " he continues .
" I have nothing to reproach myself with ; I never flog any hut when they are sulky or refractory , and never suffer any to be thrown overboard unless our provisions run so short as to endanger the lives of our white crew—what can I do more or how can .
I do less ? And as for you , Mr . Hu ~ inanity ! do you never travel in stage coaches , where it is a cold calculation of the owner of the horses whether it is more profitable to work them to death in six or twelve months , or to extend their lives by limiting their
services ? And wherein are the stupid Africans much superior to horses ? Depend upon it there can be no worse blunder in legislation than the attempt to make perfect laws for imperfect beings : there must be some latitude
or you are of necessity sometimes compelled to violate them , aad ypu do ten times greater injury to society and to the public morals thaji if you were not so over precise aad fastidious . " What , then , are the inferences hr-
Untitled Article
On the Moral PrincipU . 38
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1826, page 387, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2550/page/7/
-