Section LXXII Effect of an Advance in Civilization on Slavery
At the same time, the same degree of servitude becomes more and more oppressive to the bondman as civilization advances. The greater his intellectual progress, the more does he feel the want of liberty, and the more keenly he experiences the degradation of his condition. The development of luxury digs a gulf between master and servant which grows wider every day. (§ 227 ff.) As commerce extends, it becomes more profitable for the master to exact excessive work from his slave. In the West Indies, it was a problem which every slaveholder solved for himself, whether, by immoderately increased production, which cost the lives of many slaves, the gain in sugar was greater than the loss occasioned by the consequent death of the negroes.424 When, with the advance of civilization, the state guarantees to all more certain protection of their rights than they enjoyed in a less advanced stage of social improvement, the last check on masters, the fear of the vengeance of their slaves, is removed.425 Demoralization naturally increases in the same proportion; and that of the master as well as that of his servants.426