The Earth
Presents A Wonderful Example Of Variety In All Classes Of The Human
Race, The Animal And Vegetable Kingdoms.
People, beasts, and plants
belonging to distinct classes, exhibit special qualities and
peculiarities.
The existence of many hundred varieties of dogs cannot
interfere with the fact that they belong to one genus: the greyhound,
pug, bloodhound, pointer, poodle, mastiff, and toy terrier, are all as
entirely different in their peculiar instincts as are the varieties of
the human race. The different fruits and flowers continue the
example; - the wild grapes of the forest are grapes, but although they
belong to the same class, they are distinct from the luscious
"Muscatel;" and the wild dog-rose of the hedge, although of the same
class, is inferior to the moss-rose of the garden.
From fruits and flowers we may turn to insect life, and, watch the air
teeming with varieties of the same species, the thousands of butterflies
and beetles, the many members of each class varying in instincts and
peculiarities. Fishes, and even shellfish, all exhibit the same
arrangement, - that every group is divided into varieties all differing
from each other, and each distinguished by some peculiar excellence or
defect.
In the great system of creation that divided races and subdivided them
according to mysterious laws, apportioning special qualities to each,
the varieties of the human race exhibit certain characters and
qualifications which adapt them for specific localities. The natural
character of those races will not alter with a change of locality, but
the instincts of each race will be developed in any country where they
may be located. Thus, the English are as English in Australia, India,
and America, as they are in England, and in every locality they exhibit
the industry and energy of their native land; even so the African will
remain negro in all his natural instincts, although transplanted to
other soils; and those natural instincts being a love of idleness and
savagedom, he will assuredly relapse into an idle and savage state,
unless specially governed and forced to industry.
The history of the negro has proved the correctness of this theory. In
no instance has he evinced other than a retrogression, when once freed
from restraint. Like a horse without harness, he runs wild, but, if
harnessed, no animal is more useful. Unfortunately, this is contrary to
public opinion in England, where the vox populi assumes the right of
dictation upon matters and men in which it has had no experience. The
English insist upon their own weights and measures as the scales for
human excellence, and it has been decreed by the multitude,
inexperienced in the negro personally, that he has been a badly-treated
brother; that he is a worthy member of the human family, placed in an
inferior position through the prejudice and ignorance of the white man,
with whom he should be upon equality.
The negro has been, and still is, thoroughly misunderstood. However
severely we may condemn the horrible system of slavery, the results of
emancipation have proved that the negro does not appreciate the
blessings of freedom, nor does he show the slightest feeling of
gratitude to the hand that broke the rivets of his fetters. His narrow
mind cannot embrace that feeling of pure philanthropy that first
prompted England to declare herself against slavery, and he only regards
the antislavery movement as a proof of his own importance. In his
limited horizon he is himself the important object, and, as a sequence
to his self-conceit, he imagines that the whole world is at issue
concerning the black man. The negro, therefore, being the important
question, must be an important person, and he conducts himself
accordingly - he is far too great a man to work. Upon this point his
natural character exhibits itself most determinedly. Accordingly, he
resists any attempt at coercion; being free, his first impulse is to
claim an equality with those whom he lately served, and to usurp a
dignity with absurd pretensions, that must inevitably insure the disgust
of the white community. Ill-will thus engendered, a hatred and jealousy
is established between the two races, combined with the errors that in
such conditions must arise upon both sides. The final question remains,
Why was the negro first introduced into our colonies - and to America?
The SUN is the great arbitrator between the white and the black man.
There are productions necessary to civilized countries, that can alone
be cultivated in tropical climates, where the white man cannot live if
exposed to labour in the sun. Thus, such fertile countries as the West
Indies and portions of America being without a native population, the
negro was originally imported as a slave to fulfil the conditions of a
labourer. In his own country he was a wild savage, and enslaved his
brother man; he thus became a victim to his own system; to the
institution of slavery that is indigenous to the soil of Africa, and
that has NOT BEEN TAUGHT TO THE AFRICAN BY THE WHITE MAN, as is
currently reported, but that has ever been the peculiar characteristic
of African tribes.
In his state of slavery the negro was compelled to work, and, through
his labour, every country prospered where he had been introduced. He was
suddenly freed; and from that moment he refused to work, and instead of
being a useful member of society, he not only became a useless burden to
the community, but a plotter and intriguer, imbued with a deadly hatred
to the white man who had generously declared him free.
Now, as the negro was originally imported as a labourer, but now refuses
to labour, it is self-evident that he is a lamentable failure. Either he
must be compelled to work, by some stringent law against vagrancy, or
those beautiful countries that prospered under the conditions of negro
forced industry must yield to ruin, under negro freedom and idle
independence. For an example of the results look to St. Domingo!
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