Escapes from Cayenne

49 the affairs of their interior ; you have nothing to do with them."

For things concerning you and you alone, I am willing to do it, hut for slavery I am not, because my duty, my imperious duty, tells me to interfere. If I hurt your nose with my hand, yours, probably, will strike me in the face. Vainly I will tell you that your hand having not been injured, had not a right to interfere in the contest between mine and your nose; you will rightly answer that a part of your person having been offended, the whole of your body is offended and delegates, for revenging, the part of it which is the best fitted for doing so. You will be right, perfectly right, and so I am when I say: " Negroes are men like me; they belong to Humanity and who insults, offends, injures, abuses, kills part or whole of them, insults, offends, injures, abuses or kills me.

Some persons believe that the climate of some countries ren­ der slavery absolutely necessary, because the whites cannot work in those countries and the blacks would not, if free, work for the whites.

We don't know if that opinion is right or wrong, but, in both cases, that is not a reason to make blacks slaves. If negroes went to Northern countries and say to the inhabitants : "It is too cold for us here, we are unable to get our living by our own work, please to work for us, be our slaves ;"—the Northmen would probably answer : " Go to the South, if you like, but we shall not work for you, we refuse the honor to be your slaves."

Some others pretend that the darkness of the skin proves a low intelligence and fatally designs the negroes to slavery; but if that is true, whiter is the skin, broader is the mind, and, consequently, the red haired men ought to make every one else slaves.

Every reason given by the apostles of slavery is worse the one than the other. There is but one right to make men slaves —that invocated by the wolf wishing to eat the lamb, the right of the strongest.

Governor of Surinam, be free once in your life—once is not custom—confess that and let us tell you this : " Our small ability, our hands, our heads, the whole of our person, are devoted to the oppressed willing to break their yoke; everywhere, at any moment, we will be ready to pursue our mission, to abolish the shameful institution called slavery."

The effects of that institution are worse, perhaps, for the masters than for the slaves; it renders them corrupted, igno­ rant, lazy and cruel. " And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire " [Matthew, chap. III. In all ages, and among all nations, the oppressors have the 4