Slavery in Maryland briefly consideredCarey, John L.
History
Slavery in Maryland briefly considered
Carey, John L.
Slavery -- Maryland
The authority of a parent over the child is as absolute as that of the
master over the slave, so far as the power to enforce obedience goes.
The first, however, is mingled with parental affection, which gives
assurance of kindness and the tenderest care. But it may be abused, and
often it is.
There is no such assurance that the authority of the master will be
tempered and regulated by kindness and solicitude. Hence in due time
come the evils of the relation--the master forgetting the obligations
of his position, and looking upon his servants as so many chattels fit
only to minister to his avarice or his pleasure.
A further analogy may be stated: that as the control of parental
authority, proper over the child, would be improper after the child has
become a man, so the condition of servitude, rightly to be regarded as
one of tutelage, and proper only in that view, must after a time cease
to be just--because incompatible with progress after a certain point.
It can not be supposed that any race of men, the most humble in the
grade of civilization, are destined to be always slaves.
III. _Of Slavery as it relates to the Negroes in the United States._
The negro race in the United States have derived great benefits from
their condition of servitude. Let us have done with the wailings of
weak sympathizers who know not what they would be at. No African
has come as a slave to this country who was not a slave before. The
exchange of masters which transferred the service of the negro from
a barbarous owner in Africa to a civilized proprietor in America is
likely to prove the salvation of the race. From time immemorial slavery
has prevailed in Africa. The characteristics of slavery there, so
terrible, so abominable that any condition of existence would seem
preferable--how utterly are they forgotten by those who delight to
dwell upon the “wrongs of the negro!” In the United States the negro
has attained the Pisgah height from which he can look forward into
a land of promise, rich in blessings. No event has happened in the
history of Africa, since her degradation, so likely to result in good
to her as the residence of Africans in this country. At this moment
the negro colonist, conveyed from Maryland to the settlement at Cape
Palmas, stands a superior being among the natives that surround him in
the land of his progenitors. Servitude in the United States has been
the school of discipline and of progress by means of which the black
man may become fit for freedom.
Here, surrounded by the elements of civilization and Christian
knowledge, the negro has imbibed largely of both. His nature is
admirably adapted to catch the hue and quality of any notable
characteristic of the superior people about him. He is imitative in
a high degree; he is quick of apprehension; docile; easy of control,
without a sense of degradation connected with his service. The
position of servitude, then, in a civilized community is adapted to
him; he improves by it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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