And I submit, that if the apostle understood the subject of domestic slavery, either as a philosophical or a practical question, the class of men now engaged in agitating our country on the subject do not! LECTURE XI. TEACHING THE SLAVES TO READ AND WRITE. Superiors frequently neglect inferiors--The policy of the South vindicated by necessity--The results that would follow an attempt to establish a system for instructing the blacks in letters, and those which would follow the establishment of such a system--The _domestic_ element of the system of slavery in the Southern States affords the means for their improvement adapted to their condition and the circumstances of the country: it affords the _natural_, the _safe_, and the _effectual_ means of the intellectual and moral elevation of the race--The prospects of the Africans in this country, and their final removal to Africa--The country never will be entirely rid of them--The Southern policy wise and humane. One point remains to be considered to complete a full and candid view of the _institution_ of domestic slavery. It is erroneously said that “we _keep_ the African in a state of barbarism, and then plead that barbarism in vindication of our policy.” Every thing is liable to abuse. I know that there are instances in the South of great neglect of the slaves, both of their moral and physical condition. The same may be said of individuals at the North. Superiors often neglect their inferiors, and that, in many instances, to a very culpable degree. I know no efficient remedy for this, but that which the diffusion of a pure Christianity is calculated to afford. If any complain of these neglects in a captious spirit, we have nothing to hope from them. But from those who claim to be sincere, we have a right to expect an active and hearty cooperation in diffusing Christianity, as the only thing calculated to afford a remedy. But it is said that a feature of the system, as established by law, _necessarily_ produces this result: that is, the law which excludes the African from the benefits of school instruction. The term _necessarily_ is in this instance certainly misapplied. The barbarism in question is not the result of this law, _necessarily_, or otherwise. It existed originally. It still exists, and to a great extent, though greatly modified; and in the present circumstances of the race, an authorized system of school instruction would cause it to continue to exist, and perhaps in a much greater degree than it now does, and for a longer time than it promises to do under the present system. If this be so, it is the semi-barbarism that creates the necessity for the _law_, and not the _law_ that makes the barbarism the _necessary_ result.