testimony, were it not for the fostering care of philanthropy, and the annual leaven of emancipated slaves.1 § 49. The history of Africa is too well known to require of us an argument or an extended notice, to show, that left to themselves, the negro races would never arrive at any high degree of civilization. In the words of an intelligent French writer: "Ni les sciences de l'Egypte, ni la puissance commerciale de Carthage, ni la domination des Romains en Afrique, n'ont pu faire pénétrer chez eux la civilisation." We have neither space nor inclination to prove the fact, well known to naturalists and ethnologists, that the Abyssinians and others, exhibiting some faint efforts at civilization, are not of the true negro race, but are the descendants of the Arabs and other Caucasian tribes." While this fact may be admitted, we are told that after, by means of slavery and the slave-trade, the germs of civilization are implanted in the negro, if he is then admitted to the enjoyment of liberty, he is capable of arriving at a respectable degree of enlightenment. Charles Hamilton Smith, an Englishman, and an acute observer, says, "They have never comprehended what they have learned, nor see also Southern Quarterly Review, vol. xii, p. 91, an able and dispassionate article by Judge Campbell, of the Supreme Court of the United States. 'Nott & Gliddon's Types of Mankind, 402, see Prel. Sketch. Levavasseur, Esclavage de la race noire, 77; see similar views of Paulding, on Slavery in the United States, 70. Chas. H. Smith's Nat. History of Human Species, &c., 196; Levavasseur, Esclavage de la race noire, 77. retained a civilization taught them by contact with more refined nations, as soon as that contact had ceased." The emancipated slaves of the French and English West Indies, have corroborated this statement. Hayti, once "la plus belle colonie" of France, despite the apologies made for her excesses is, to-day, fast retrograding to barbarism. Jamaica, and the other English islands, notwithstanding the care and deliberation to avoid the shock of too sudden liberty, have baffled the skill and ingenuity of the master minds of the British government. In a preliminary historical sketch, we have examined the facts in detail. The important truth is before us from history, that contact with the Caucasian is the only civilizer of the negro, and slavery the only condition on which that contact can be preserved." § 50. The history of the negro race then confirms the conclusion to which an inquiry into the negro character had brought us: that a state of bondage, so far from doing violence to the law of his nature, develops and perfects it; and that, in that state, he enjoys the greatest amount of happiness, and arrives at the greatest degree of perfection of which his nature is capable. And, consequently, that negro slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not contrary to the law of nature. Whenever the laws regulating their condition and relations enforce or allow a rigor, or withdraw a privilege without a corresponding necessity, so far they violate the natural 1 Nat. Hist. of Human Species, its Typical Forms, &c., 196. * Paulding, on Slavery in the United States, 271, 272. "No two distinctly marked races can dwell together on equal terms." Types of Mankind, by Nott & Gliddon, p. 79. law, and to removal of such evils should be directed the efforts of justice and philanthropy. Beyond this, philanthropy becomes fanaticism, and justice withdraws her shield. That the system places the negro where his natural rights may be abused, is true; yet this is no reason why the system is in itself wrong. In the words of an enlightened cotemporary, "It becomes us then to estimate the value of the declamations of those who oppose the institution of slavery in the Antilles and the United States, on account of the partial abuses which sometimes happen. Judicial records are filled with processes for adultery; yet we should not, for that, destroy marriage. Every day our tribunals visit with severity parents who abuse their children, yet we would not, for that, abolish the paternal power. Every system has its abuses and its excesses. It becomes us to correct the excess, punish the abuse, and ameliorate the system. If we should deliberately compare the evils of colonial slavery, with its beneficial effects, in civilization, agriculture, and commerce, we would be quickly convinced upon which side the balances would fall." 1 Cassagnac's Voyage aux Antilles, vol. ii, p. 292. CHAPTER II. SLAVERY VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION. To § 51. WE have examined the question of the consistency of negro slavery with the law of nature, outside of revelation. But the law of nature is the will of God, "summa ratio in Deo existens."1 be content, in searching for that will, without opening the book of His Revelation, would be unbecoming the Christian philosopher. I feel compelled, therefore, to enter upon the field, so much more fitting to the theologian, and to give a condensed statement of the Biblical argument on either side of this question. The necessity of the investigation does not require the extended and learned research which others have bestowed. I shall not, therefore, stop to inquire the true rendering of Greek and Hebrew words, but take the English Bible as a correct translation.2 § 52. In a preliminary historical sketch of slavery, we have seen the nature of this institution among the Jews, and many of the rules by which it was governed. Was this evidence of the sanction and approval of God? 1 Halm's Collegium Polemicum, Controv. IX. Of the denial that slavery existed among the Jews, Dr. Wayland says: "I wonder that any one should have had the hardihood to deny so plain a matter of record."-Letters to Dr. Fuller, IV. The first great revelation of moral precepts was given upon Mount Sinai, and condensed in that most wonderful code, the Decalogue. Its precepts are not only pure, but "the law of the Lord is perfect." Its general teachings are not only true, but, by no implication can sin find an apology or excuse therein. This law was not intended for any particular age or people. It is that universal law of God which Christ came "not to destroy, but to fulfil." When he was asked by the young man, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? his reply was, Keep the commandments. The last of these commandments is, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." The right of property in the man-servant and maid-servant is not only here plainly recognized, but is protected even from covetousness. 994 § 53. But again: God sought for a man in whose "seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;" who should be called "the friend of God," and "the father of all them that believe.' He found him in Abraham, a large slaveholder." And God blessed him. How? By opening his eyes to the sin of slavery? No; but by "giving him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses.' And God made a covenant with him, and established a church with a sign of that covenant for every member of that 'Psalm 19: 7. 5 Gen. 14: 14. 996 2 Ex. 20: 18. Gen. 24: 35. |