The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

once more from the great Lord Macaulay. He was
speaking on the topic of the abolition of slavery in
the West Indies. True, the two cases, slavery in the
Indies and vassalage in the Philippines, are not
altogether parallel. I do not for a moment hold that
they are; yet nevertheless, the principles involved
are very similar. What his lordship says in regard
to the causes of revolt, the freedom of the press, the
system of slavery [or in this case vassalage], is
very pertinent to the present issue and the manner
in which it is being handled:--
“As a friend to humanity, sir, I can not look
without the greatest satisfaction on such a meeting
assembled for such an object. We hear, indeed,
much of the pernicious tendency of these
discussions; we are told that they inflame the
passions of the slave, and endanger the person and
property of the master. ... To me it seems
somewhat singular that such assertions should
proceed from the same persons by whom we have
been assured that the system of colonial slavery is
the glory of the British name, the envy of the
British peasant; that all its evils exist only in
216