The
fact is so; and these people of the Southern Colonies are much more strongly,
and with an higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to
the northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic
ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of
slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of
domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it
invincible.
Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our Colonies which contributes no
mean part towards the growth and effect of this untractable spirit. I mean their
education. In no country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The
profession itself is numerous and powerful; and in most provinces it takes the
lead. The greater number of the deputies sent to the Congress were lawyers. But
all who read, and most do read, endeavor to obtain some smattering in that
science. I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his
business, after tracts of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the
law exported to the Plantations.
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