His manners, gentle and polite;
above all things, honest, and least of all things, avaricious. His
circumstances and connections should be such as to give solid pledges
for his fidelity; and he should by no means be disagreeable to the
prince with whom we are in alliance, his ministers, or subjects.
* * * * *
=_William Pinkney,[21] 1764-1820._=
From "Speech in the Maryland Legislature." 1798.
=_70._= RESPONSIBILITY FOR SLAVERY.
For my own part, I would willingly draw the veil of oblivion over this
disgusting scene of iniquity, but that the present abject state of those
who are descended from these kidnapped sufferers, perpetually brings it
forward to the memory.
But wherefore should we confine the edge of censure to our ancestors,
or those from whom they purchased? Are not we equally guilty? _They_
strewed around the seeds of slavery; _we_ cherish and sustain the
growth. _They_ introduce the system; _we_ enlarge, invigorate, and
confirm it. Yes, let it be handed down to posterity, that the people of
Maryland, who could fly to arms with the promptitude of Roman citizens,
when the hand of oppression was lifted up against themselves; who could
behold their country desolated and their citizens slaughtered; who could
brave with unshaken firmness every calamity of war before they would
submit to the smallest infringement of their rights--that this very
people could yet see thousands of their fellow-creatures, within the
limits of their territory, bending beneath an unnatural yoke, and,
instead of being assiduous to destroy their shackles, be anxious to
immortalize their duration, so that a nation of slaves might forever
exist in a country whose freedom is its boast.
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