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David quotes Dickens: 
 
> In 1852 that author when reviewing UTC said: 
> 
> "We think, too, that it is possible to combine with the duty of 
> emancipation the not less important duty of undoing the evil that has 
> been to the  slaves' mind and of doing them some good service by way 
> of atonement. When we have clipped men's minds and made them 
> slavish, it is poor compensation that their bodies should be set at large." 
 
I am reminded of the Marlon Brando movie, Burn, where Brando tells  
the slaveowners that the free market is to slavery what prostitution is to  
marriage.  Marriage is so inconvenient because of the difficulty of  
discarding wives, while in contrast the prostitutes at the brothel where  
the scene takes place always remain young.   
 
Setting the slaves free was hardly a sufficient solution, as the United  
States experience has shown.  Some sort of remedial action was  
necessary -- especially for aged slaves who lacked the means to care  
for themselves.  For the most part, 40 acres and a mule was supposed  
to do something to level the playing field.   
 
Did Dickens say anything to imply that he meant something different  
from the spirit in which I read the paragraph?   
 
Michael Perelman 
 
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