Probably there was the same requisition upon the Israelites for one-fifth part of the proceeds of their labor, that was laid upon the Egyptians.  See Gen. xlvii. 24, 26.  Instead of taking it out of their crops, (Goshen being better for pasturage than crops) they exacted it of them in brick making; and it is quite probable that only the poorer Israelites were required to work for the Egyptians at all, the wealthier being able to pay their tribute, in money.  See Exod. iv. 27-31.

This was the bondage in Egypt.  Contrast it with American slavery.  Have our slaves “very much cattle,” and “a mixed multitude of flocks and herds?” Do they live in commodious houses of their own?  Do they “sit by the flesh-pots,” “eat fish freely,” and “eat bread to the full?” Do they live in a separate community, at a distance from their masters, in their distinct tribes, under their own rulers and officers?  Have they the exclusive occupation of an extensive and fertile tract of country for the culture of their own crops, and for rearing immense herds of their own cattle—­and all these held independently of their masters, and regarded by them as inviolable?  Are our female slaves free from all exactions of labor and liabilities of outrage?—­and whenever employed, are they paid wages, as was the Israelitish woman, when employed by the king’s daughter?  Exod. ii. 9.  Have the females entirely, and the males to a considerable extent, the disposal of their own time?  Have they the means for cultivating social refinements, for practising the fine arts, and for intellectual and moral improvement?

THE ISRAELITES, UNDER THE BONDAGE OF EGYPT, ENJOYED ALL THESE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.  True, “their lives were made bitter, and all the service wherein they made them serve was with rigor.”  But what was that, when compared with the incessant toil of American slaves, the robbery of all their time and earnings, and even the “power to own any thing, or acquire any thing”—­the “quart of corn a day,” the legal allowance of food[A]!—­their only clothing for one half the year, “one shirt and one pair of pantaloons[B]!”—­the two hours and a half only for rest and refreshment in the twenty-four[C]!—­their dwellings, hovels, unfit for human residence, commonly with but one apartment, where both sexes and all ages herd promiscuously at night, like the beasts of the field.  Add to this, the mental ignorance, and moral degradation; the daily separations of kindred, the revelries of lust, the lacerations and baptisms of blood, sanctioned by the laws of the South, and patronized by its pubic sentiment.  What, we ask, was the bondage of Egypt when compared with this?  And yet for her oppression of the poor, God smote her with plagues, and trampled her as the mire, till she passed away in his wrath, and the place that knew her in her pride, knew her no more.  Ah! “I have seen the afflictions of my people, and I have heard their groanings, and am come down to deliver them.”  HE DID COME, and Egypt sank, a ruinous heap, and her blood closed over her.