no competition or superiority. Come what will, their faculty cannot be
spared.
The First of August marks the entrance of a new element into modern
politics, namely, the civilization of the negro. A man is added to the
human family. Not the least affecting part of this history of abolition
is the annihilation of the old indecent nonsense about the nature of
the negro. In the case of the ship Zong, in 1781, whose master had
thrown one hundred and thirty-two slaves alive into the sea, to cheat
the underwriters, the first jury gave a verdict in favor of the master
and owners: they had a right to do what they had done. Lord Mansfield
is reported to have said on the bench, “The matter left to the jury
is,—Was it from necessity? For they had no doubt—though it shocks one
very much—that the case of slaves was the same as if horses had been
thrown overboard. It is a very shocking case.” But a more enlightened
and humane opinion began to prevail. Mr. Clarkson, early in his career,
made a collection of African productions and manufactures, as specimens
of the arts and culture of the negro; comprising cloths and loom,
weapons, polished stones and woods, leather, glass, dyes, ornaments,
soap, pipe-bowls and trinkets. These he showed to Mr. Pitt, who saw and
handled them with extreme interest. “On sight of these,” says Clarkson,
“many sublime thoughts seemed to rush at once into his mind, some of
which he expressed;” and hence appeared to arise a project which was
always dear to him, of the civilization of Africa,—a dream which forever
elevates his fame. In 1791, Mr. Wilberforce announced to the House of
Commons, “We have already gained one victory: we have obtained for these
poor creatures the recognition of their human nature, which for a time
was most shamefully denied them.” It was the sarcasm of Montesquieu, “it
would not do to suppose that negroes were men, lest it should turn out
that whites were not;” for the white has, for ages, done what he could
to keep the negro in that hoggish state. His laws have been furies. It
now appears that the negro race is, more than any other, susceptible of
rapid civilization. The emancipation is observed, in the islands, to
have wrought for the negro a benefit as sudden as when a thermometer is
brought out of the shade into the sun. It has given him eyes and ears.
If, before, he was taxed with such stupidity, or such defective vision,
that he could not set a table square to the walls of an apartment, he is
now the principal if not the only mechanic in the West Indies; and is,
besides, an architect, a physician, a lawyer, a magistrate, an editor,
and a valued and increasing political power. The recent testimonies of
Sturge, of Thome and Kimball, of Gurney, of Philippo, are very explicit
on this point, the capacity and the success of the colored and the black
population in employments of skill, of profit and of trust; and best of
all is the testimony to their moderation. They receive hints and advances
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account