against which, they have not the courage to offer the slightest resistance. With all the boast, therefore, of the authorities of Mexico, that no man is held in bondage within its limits, I still think that no candid person can inspect the condition of these laborers, without giving the palm to our negroes,—and exclaiming, indignantly, at the masked slavery which is carried on from year to year, without the slightest prospect of ameliorating the character or condition of the miserable natives.
If a man become slave by descent, under the well-established laws of a nation by which the institution is recognized, he has always a master, whose duty it is to afford him food, raiment and protection, in recompense for his toil; and although moralists may say that slavery is in its very nature deteriorating, yet it does not crush the very spirit from the negro, or tend always to his debasement. He is sober; he cares for his family; he feels the duties of the social relations, even in his "quarter;" and is ambitious of the degree of respectability he may acquire among his fellow slaves. His condition must, therefore, both physically and intellectually, be superior to that of the Indian who becomes a slave, in spite of the law, by the servility of his character and the loathsome vices that absorb his earnings, without a care for the comfort of his family, the education of his children, or even the personal appearance he presents among his fellows.
When we remember the degree of civilization that had been attained by these races, anterior to the Mexican conquest, it is impossible to believe that their present debasement is to be alone attributed to an enervating climate; nor can Mexico ever claim a high standing among nations, until she blots this stain of hypocritical freedom from the fairest portions of her territory. With the improvement of the lot and character of her Indians, (who number near four millions of the seven that compose her whole population,) the steady advancement of the nation will proceed; but until that occurs, her fondest admirers can have but little hope, either for her progress or even for her continuance as a nation.
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Señor Vargas, with true Mexican hospitality, had an excellent supper
prepared for us at nine o'clock; but I was too much fatigued to partake
of it, and retired to most comfortable quarters, having a bed entirely to
myself, which I mention as a luxury
