The question, from the answer
being unintelligible, is instantly followed by a blow. Such scenes are
becoming more rare, and indeed are seldom acted but by the younger
members of society; they are too frequent notwithstanding: and should
any thing that has fallen from me here, induce the cruelly-disposed to
reflect a little upon the impropriety and mischief of their conduct,
when about to raise the hand against a native, and save one stripe
to the passive people who are so much at the mercy of their masters'
tempers, I shall indeed be proud.
[Again, speaking of the condition of servants, Captain Skinner
remarks--]
It is impossible to view some members of the despised class without
sorrow and pity, particularly those who are attached, in the lowest
offices, to the establishments of the Europeans. They are the most
melancholy race of beings, always alone, and apparently unhappy: they
are scouted from the presence even of their fellow-servants. None but
the mind of a poet could imagine such outcasts venturing to raise
their thoughts to the beauty of a Brahmin's daughter; and a touching
tale in such creative fancy, no doubt, it would make, for, from their
outward appearances, I do not perceive why they should not be endowed
with minds as sensitive at least as those of the castes above them.
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