Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters Quotes

“Millinery and Dressmaking.-The portion of these instructive volumes which describes the condition of the young women employed as milliners and mantua-makers in our great cities, and especially in London, is, however, that which has left the most painful impression upon our minds-not only because the work of these unfortunate girls is of all the most, severe and unremitting-nor because it is inflicted exclusively upon the weaker sex, and at a period of life the most susceptible of injury from overstrained exertion-nor yet because the actual consequences which are shown to ensue in thousands of cases are so peculiarly deplorable-but because the excess of labor (with all its pernicious and fatal results) is endured in the service, and inflicted in execution of the orders, of a class whose own exemption from toil and privation should make them scrupulously careful not to increase, causelessly or selfishly, the toils and privations of their less favored fellow-creatures-a class, too, many of whom have been conspicuously loud in denouncing the cruelties of far more venial offenders, and in expressing a somewhat clamorous and overacted sympathy with sufferings which cannot for a moment be compared in severity with those which are every day inflicted on the helpless of their own sex, in ministering to their own factitious and capricious wants. The remark may appear harsh, but the evidence before us fully warrants it-that probably in no occupation whatever-not in the printing fields of Lancashire-not, in the lace trade of Nottingham-not in the collieries of Scotland-scarcely in the workshops of Willenhall-most assuredly not in the cotton factories of Manchester, (which a few years ago the fashionable fair of London were so pathetic in lamenting)-can any instances of cruelty be met with which do not "whiten in the shade" of those which every spring and autumn season sees practiced-unreprobated, and till now nearly unknown-in the millinery establishments of the metropolis.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“A mere verbal formula often distinguishes a truism from a paradox. "It is the duty of society to protect the weak;" but protection cannot be efficient without the power of control; therefore, "It is the duty of society to enslave the weak." And it is a duty which no organized and civilized society ever failed to perform. Parents, husbands, guardians, teachers, committees, etc., are but masters under another name, whose duty it is to protect the weak, and whose right it is to control them.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“It is pleasing, however, to turn from the world of political economy, in which 'might makes right,' and strength of mind and of body are employed to oppress and exact from the weak, to that other and better, and far more numerous world, in which weakness rules, clad in the armor of affection and benevolence. It is delightful to retire from the outer world, with its competitions, rivalries, envyings, jealousies, and selfish war of the wits, to the bosom of the family, where the only tyrant is the infant-the greatest slave the master of the household. You feel at once that you have exchanged the keen air of selfishness, for the mild atmosphere of benevolence. . . The infant, in its capricious dominion over mother, father, brothers, and sisters, exhibits, in strongest colors, the 'strength of weakness,' the power of affection.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“Money is the great weapon in free, equal, and competitive society, which skill and capital employ in the war of the wits, to exploitate and oppress the poor, the improvident, and the weak-minded. Its evil effects are greatly aggravated by the credit and banking systems, and by the facilities of intercommunication and locomotion which the world now possesses. Every bargain or exchange is more or less a hostile encounter of wits. Money vastly increases the number of bargains and exchanges, and thus keep society involved, if not in war, at least in unfriendly collision.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“[W]ealthy men who are sincere and devout Christians in free society, feel at a loss what to do with their wealth, so as not to make it an instrument of oppression and wrong. Capital and skill are powers exercised almost always to oppress labor. If you endow colleges, you rear up cunning, voracious exploitators to devour the poor. If you give it to tradesmen or land owners, 'tis still an additional instrument, always employed to oppress laborers. If you give it to the really needy, you too often encourage idleness, and increase the burdens of the working poor who support every body: we cannot possibly see but one safe way to invest wealth, and that is to buy slaves with it, whose conduct you can control, and be sure that your charity is not misapplied, and mischievous.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“Under despotic and corrupt governments, which oppress the people with taxes, to support extravagant misrule and unnecessary war--which debauch them by evil example of those in high places, and discourage education or render it impossible--the condition of the poor and nominally free becomes truly deplorable. But it is not Freedom which is their undoing--it is rather the lack of it. It is their subjection, through ignorance, to bad rulers, which keeps them in poverty. We know that the claim laid by capital to the lion's share of profits is itself, under any circumstances, a great obstruction to the progress of the masses; but we believe that even that obstacle will one day be removed--that problem in political science be solved by civilization and Christianity. We believe that the human intellect will never, with the light of the Gospel to guide and inspire its efforts, surrender to the cold and heartless reign of capital over labor. But, at any rate, one thing is certain, under the worst form of government, or the best, namely: when Freedom becomes a burden and a curse to the poor, Slavery--that is to say, the enslavement of the mass of laborers, with responsibility on the part of the master for their support--is no longer possible. When freemen are unable to support, themselves, among all the diversified employments of free societies, it would be impossible for them to find masters willing to take the responsibility. The masses in Europe, in fact, owe their liberty to the excessive supply of slave labor, which, when it becomes a burden to the land, was cast aside as worthless. Who believes that Irish landlords would take the responsibility of supporting the peasantry, on the condition of their becoming slaves? In fact, is it not notorious that they help them to emigrate to America, and often pull down their cabins and huts, in order to drive them off?”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“It matters not what the occupation may be, as soon as the laborer becomes thoroughly dependent, and feels that dependence, the system does him an incalculable injury. It is for this reason that large landholders always deteriorate the population, and society becomes worthless just in proportion as the means of independent existence pass from the hands of the many to the few. This difficulty is, and must be forever in the way of conducting manufacturing establishments on the present plan. Perhaps some means of diffusing capital among operatives, or, what is the same, of giving the laborer reasonable securities, may yet be discovered; but the change would require to be radical. The monopoly of capital, is so nearly like the monopoly of land, that we may readily see no partial measures can ever effect a cure.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“All profit-bearing possessions or capital, tend to exonerate their
owners from labor, and to throw the labor that supports society on a
part only of its members. Now, as almost all wealth is the product of
labor, this diminution of labor diminishes wealth, or, at least,
increases poverty, by placing heavier burdens on the laboring class.

This, however, is a very small part of the evil effects of individual
wealth. Society requires it of the rich to live according to their
income, to fare sumptuously, to have costly dress, furniture, equipage,
houses, &c., and to keep many servants.

Their incomes are spent in luxuries, and thousands of laborers are taken
off from the production of necessaries to produce those luxuries, or to
wait on their owners. Thus, the burden of the support of society, so
far as the ordinary comforts and necessaries of life are concerned, are
thrown on fewer and fewer, as private wealth and luxury increase. It
requires a thousand pauper laborers to sustain one millionaire, and
without them his capital will produce no profit. This accounts for the
great numbers and excessive poverty of the mass in England. Half the
boasted capital of England, probably two-thirds of it, is but a mortgage
of the bones and sinews of the laborers, now and forever, to the
capitalists. The national debt, stocks of all kinds, money at interest,
and indeed all debts, represent this sort of private wealth, which is
national poverty. . . . luxury is the greatest sin against society; economy and
industry, the chiefest of social virtues.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“We do not agree with the authors of the Declaration of Independence,
that governments "derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed." The women, the children, the negroes, and but few of the
non-property holders were consulted, or consented to the Revolution, or
the governments that ensued from its success. As to these, the new
governments were self-elected despotisms, and the governing class
self-elected despots. Those governments originated in force, and have
been continued by force. All governments must originate in force, and be
continued by force. The very term, government, implies that it is
carried on against the consent of the governed. Fathers do not derive
their authority, as heads of families, from the consent of wife and
children, nor do they govern their families by their consent. They never
take the vote of the family as to the labors to be performed, the moneys
to be expended, or as to anything else. Masters dare not take the vote
of slaves, as to their government. If they did, constant holiday,
dissipation and extravagance would be the result. Captains of ships are
not appointed by the consent of the crew, and never take their vote,
even in "doubling Cape Horn." If they did, the crew would generally vote
to get drunk, and the ship would never weather the cape. Not even in the
most democratic countries are soldiers governed by their consent, nor is
their vote taken on the eve of battle. They have some how lost (or never
had) the "inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness;" and, whether Americans or Russians, are forced into battle,
without and often against their consent. The ancient republics were
governed by a small class of adult male citizens, who assumed and
exercised the government, without the consent of the governed. The South
is governed just as those ancient republics were. In the county in which
we live, there are eighteen thousand souls, and only twelve hundred
voters. But we twelve hundred, the governors, never asked and never
intend to ask the consent of the sixteen thousand eight hundred whom we
govern. Were we to do so, we should soon have an "organized anarchy."
The governments of Europe could not exist a week without the positive
force of standing armies.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters

“The mass of mankind cannot be governed by Law. More of despotic discretion, and less of Law, is what the world wants. We take our leave by saying, 'THERE IS TOO MUCH OF LAW AND TOO LITTLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THIS WORLD.'

Physical force, not moral suasion, governs the world. The negro sees the driver's lash, becomes accustomed to obedient, cheerful industry, and is not aware that the lash is the force that impels him. The free citizen fulfills, "con amore," his round of social, political and domestic duties, and never dreams that the Law, with its fines and jails, penitentiaries and halters, or Public Opinion, with its ostracism, its mobs, and its tar and feathers, help to keep him revolving in his orbit. Yet, remove these physical forces, and how many good citizens would shoot, like fiery comets, from their spheres, and disturb society with their eccentricities and their crimes.

Government is the life of a nation, and as no one can foresee the various future circumstances of social, any more than of individual life, it is absurd to define on paper, at the birth of either the nation or individual, what they shall do and what not do. Broad construction of constitutions is as good as no constitution, for it leaves the nation to adapt itself to circumstances; but strict construction will destroy any nation, for action is necessary to national conservation, and constitution-makers cannot foresee what action will be necessary. If individual or social life were passed in mere passivity, constitutions might answer. Not in a changing and active world. Louisiana, Florida and Texas would have been denied to the South under strict construction, and she would have been ruined. A constitution, strictly construed, is absolutely inconsistent with permanent national existence.”
― George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! or, Slaves Without Masters