7982. SLAVES (Emancipation), Preparations for.—
Unhappily it is a case for which both parties require long and difficult
preparation. The mind of the master is to be
apprized by reflection, and strengthened by the
energies of conscience, against the obstacles of
self interest to an acquiescence in the rights of
others; that of the slave is to be prepared by
instruction and habit for self-government, and
for the honest pursuits of industry and social
duty. Both of these courses of preparation require
time, and the former must precede the
latter. Some progress is sensibly made in it;
yet not so much as I had hoped and expected.
But it will yield in time to temperate and steady
pursuit, to the enlargement of the human mind,
and its advancement in science. We are not
in a world ungoverned by the laws and the
power of a Superior Agent. Our efforts are
in His hand, and directed by it; and He will
give them their effect in his own time. Where
the disease is most deeply seated, there it will
be slowest in eradication. In the Northern
States it was merely superficial, and easily corrected.
In the Southern it is incorporated with
the whole system, and requires time, patience
and perseverance in the curative process. That
it may finally be effected, and its process hastened,
will be my last and fondest prayer.—
To David Barrow. Washington ed. vi, 456.
Ford ed., ix, 515.
(M.
May. 1815)
