Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/83

of an aristocratic class in society is purely conventional, having no natural foundation, it is obvious that if the people do not choose to recognize it, it cannot long exist at all. Perhaps in the then state of the Virginia population, it was best that it should be so. The proprietors possessed the intelligence necessary to manage affairs, and treated their humbler dependants, (even when sold to them as convicts,) with great kindness, and regard to their personal comfort. They by no means considered them as slaves, but as long as the people left them in the undisputed possession of an acknowledged superiority and right to direct affairs, they in turn left them to entertain, unchecked, such ideas of freedom and independence as were likely to develope themselves in strong men, who at times luxuriated in the wild liberty of nature in the wilderness, untrammelled by the artificial restraints imposed by necessity in an older state of society, and in the narrow limits of a densely crowded population. There was, hence, both among the rich and poor, a deeply seated love of freedom and a spirit of independence.

The spirit of hospitality, too, from the very beginning, has been boundless in Virginia, and, indeed, throughout all the old southern states. Necessity may be said to have contributed somewhat to make it so: the settlements frequently were quite remote from each other, and the traveller often could find no shelter at night, unless he obtained it under the roof of the friendly planter, who would have been pained at the suspicion that he either expected or desired pecuniary remuneration.

It is quite easy to see how, under a system such as this, even with all its unavoidable imperfections, some of the noblest traits of human character would develope themselves. On the part of the wealthy, generosity, kindness, guidance, and support, were constantly called forth for the benefit of those below them in condition. Accustomed, too, to direct, and often to command, (for the legitimate