"I have been in the countries you talk of, and seen the people enjoying themselves very much."

"There is quite as much suffering at home, and no fuss made about the matter."

How often the discussions on the slavery question gave rise to these reflections!

Africans appear to have a natural buoyancy of spirits a great support under oppression no doubt, but no atonement for slavery. That slaves might be seen singing and dancing on holydays, was no proof, (as it was often held to be,) that their condition was good enough.

The same shallow view is sometimes taken of the condition of women. If the bounteous spring of joy, attached by the Creator to mere existence, be not entirely destroyed, a tyrannical man is prone to shelter his want of generous feeling, under similar pretexts to those above. In the loss of freedom, the unthinking see nothing but its most glaring consequence, the exposure to bodily sufferings. Where these are not inflicted, they imagine it must be as good as any other condition in which man must work for his bread; and the privation of everything that gives animation and dignity to existence, is left out of the account. The want of liberty destroys all motive for exertion. To bestow the provision for bodily sustenance, without this excitement, will not produce happiness. Yet this is the state of the slave in his best condition. He must be fed, clothed and lodged, whether he work or be idle; therefore, he requires to be urged by the lash, and if he do ever so well, he has nothing to hope for but to escape the lash.

Absolute dependence on the control of another, has always similar effects in a greater or lesser degree.

To apply this to the condition of women. They have their station in life and its accompaniments preserved to them, without any efforts of their own. It would be absurd to deny that this, under many aspects, is a peculiar advantage, but it is not very favourable to moral and mental exertion,-a truth strongly felt in the case of the other sex. On the other side, a woman never can rise from depression by merit; she is exposed to inflictions and privations, which prudence enables her to foresee, but not to prevent or escape. She has often to labour and to persevere, but cannot dispose of the fruits of her industry; and it is a poor compensation, that if she choose to idle, her faults must be borne. These circumstances are certainly not favourable to the best virtues, or the greatest happiness. And it is assuredly only a dictate of common reason, to allow to her all the control that she can enjoy, without injury to the rights of the other sex. If the husband work for the wife, so does the wife for the husband; since the cares of the children and the household are almost entirely hers. Will any one say, that the spirit of justice has ever been applied to the regulation of their mutual rights? Their treatment has everywhere depended on the accidental humour of the other sex. The mildness of an individual or a tribe may have practically lightened their bondage, under a system that exposed them to any oppression their owners might choose to inflict. Love and tenderness,

VOL. I.

D

compassion and generosity, easiness and gentleness, are indigenous in the nature of the savage, as well as the civilized; and though they get but little culture, yet they do spring up on genial days, or in favoured spots.

They also who are mentally and morally degraded, suffer less than if they had clear perceptions of their inherent rights. That acquired assent to their own vileness, from which proceed the vices of the enslaved, tends much to allay the irritation of mind with which self-respect embitters wrong. And were it not that opening the understanding is the most certain way ultimately to remove or lessen the woes and wants of mankind, it would often be better to leave them without that intelligence which increases their sensibility to ill.

If travellers do not always find women in the degraded conditions of savage or of barbarous states lamenting their fate, indignant at their wrongs, and incapable of enjoying momentary pleasure, it proceeds from the buoyancy with which nature reverts to a sense of enjoyment. It is owing to the goodness of God, that we are so formed as not to exist under uninterrupted continuance of gloomy and depressing passions. If we will entertain no compassion, extend no relief, except to those who never forget their cares, we must reserve them to encumber those who no longer need our help, the dying or the maniac. When one unvarying train of gloomy ideas holds possession of the mind, mortal disease, suicide, or madness, are certainly the consequence. As the waters rage when the storm passes, but recover their

calm when it ceases to trouble, so is the mind; it cannot maintain the unnatural action, forced on it from without. Reflection may cause anguish, but in its intervals sensibility is gone. Thus are we snatched by the hand of the Creator, from extremity of suffering, but they who are miserable whenever they reflect, are as miserable as their nature can bear.

As society advances towards civilization, it is long before the progress of wealth, which gratifies every desire of man, does more for women, than change her condition from being a beast of burthen to that of an honorary slave. She is an article of commerce, an appendage to grandeur and luxury. A train of slaves, women, and horses, splendidly attired and caparisoned, becomes the distinction of a noble.

In these conditions, though a woman may be indulged with extravagant fondness, and allowed to sport with the lives and fortunes of multitudes, yet she never ceases herself to be the most abject dependant. She may be fondled as dogs and children are among ourselves; but her degradation is so absolute, the bounds of her inferiority so impassable, that no risk can accrue to her lord's authority from any power he may allow her to exercise, or any wealth he may give her to squander.

In the eyes of the barbarian, her wanton mischief, her capricious vengeance, are but the reflections of his own terrific power. That she should acquire any self-existence, or wield her borrowed sceptre for a moment against his will, he can never apprehend. Her profusion can do little more than adorn her

gaudy prison. He has himself no idea of being great, but being terrible; or of using wealth, except in luxury; and golden tissues and strings of pearls are more ornamental hung on the living sylphs that glide through his apartments, than decorating walls and canopies.

Mahometanism may have perpetuated female servitude, as its spirit upon the whole is rather adverse to change; but the system was neither instituted by that religion, nor is it peculiar to it. Mahometanism found polygamy and sanctioned it; and wherever that exists, women are regarded rather as property than as citizens. As society advances and women approach nearer to the latter condition, polygamy, though not formally abolished, falls into disuse.

There has been considerable diversity in the condition of women under the influence of Mahometanism. In India under the splendid rule of the house of Timur, women, notwithstanding their being the property of the men, were neither insignificant nor wholly secluded. They were frequently introduced into society after dinner, where they joined freely in the conversation, though veiled. Their wit and talents in this manner became known, and were admired and valued*. In Arabia, notwithstanding the influence of polygamy, women, according to the opinion of some writers, were very much considered t.

By law, Mahometan women have many important rights and privileges, which practically are of little + See Note B.

* Dow's Hindostan.