When words are sought by which to stigmatize the most odious
despotism, exercised in the most odious manner, and all other
comparisons are found inadequate, the despots are said to be like
slave-masters, or slave-drivers. What, by a rhetorical license, the
worst oppressors of the human race, by way of stamping on them the
most hateful character possible, are said to be, these men, in very
truth, are. I do not mean that all of them are hateful personally, any
more than all the Inquisitors, or all the buccaneers. But the position
which they occupy, and the abstract excellence of which they are in
arms to vindicate, is that which the united voice of mankind
habitually selects as the type of all hateful qualities. I will not
bandy chicanery about the more or less of stripes or other torments
which are daily requisite to keep the machine in working order, nor
discuss whether the Legrees or the St. Clairs are more numerous among
the slave-owners of the Southern States. The broad facts of the case
suffice. One fact is enough.
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