There are in these volumes several other essays, under different titles,
on the same subject; but in most instances, although the language is
varied, the same arguments exert their power on the mind of the writer.
Aided by the common sympathy of the people among whom he lived, and the
conscientious operations of his own mind, his judgment on the decision
of the question of right and wrong became unchangeably fixed; while the
evidence forced upon him by the only class of facts in relation to the
subject which his education and associations in society enabled him to
comprehend, became daily more imposing, more exciting in their review,
more lucid in their exposing an image of deformity, the most wicked of
the offspring of evil. Filled with horror, yet as if allured by an evil
charm, his mind seems to have had no power to banish from its sight its
horrid vision. Nor is it singular that it should, to some extent, become
the _one idea_—his leading chain of thought. To him, the proofs of his
doctrine became a blaze of light, so piercingly brilliant that nothing
of a contrary bearing was worthy of belief or consideration.
The following extracts will perhaps sufficiently develop the state to
which his mind had arrived on this subject of his study. Vol. vi. p. 38,
he says—“My maxim is, Any thing but slavery!”
Page 50. “The history of West India emancipation teaches us that we are
holding in bondage one of the best races of the human family. The negro
is among the mildest and gentlest of men. He is singularly susceptible
of improvement from abroad. His children, it is said, receive more
rapidly than ours the elements of knowledge.”
Page 51. “A short residence among the negroes in the West Indies
impressed me with their capacity for improvement; on all sides, I heard
of their religious tendencies, the noblest of human nature. I saw, too,
on the plantation where I resided, a gracefulness and dignity of form
and motion rare in my own native New England. And that is the race which
has been selected to be trodden down and confounded with the brute.”
If slavery in the West Indies has thus elevated the African tribes above
the majority of the people of New England, we will not ask the question,
whether the doctor’s disciples propose the experiment on their
countrymen. But there is, nevertheless, abundant proof that slavery to
the white races does necessarily, and from philosophical causes, have
the most direct tendency to elevate the moral, mental, and physical
ability of the African; in fact, of any other race of men sunk equally
low in degradation and ruin.
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