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Page 12
I beg leave to digress for a moment from the subject under discussion.
Mrs. Stowe has told her tale about Southern slavery; and what a
wondrous story it is! Remarkable indeed! She has told of deeds, dark
and revolting! A tale of injustice and wrongs--oppression and woe! I
admit there are, and ever have been, occasional and rare instances of
acts of inhumanity and cruelty among Southern slaveholders; too
shocking for recital! But if any one will be at the trouble to spend a
few months in the Yankee States, and take for granted all that is
related to him by busy-bodies, idlers and others that have nothing
else to do but to talk about their neighbors; they will find no
difficulty in gathering up material, out of which, they could
manufacture as dark a tale as Uncle Tom's Cabin. The free negroes in
the North could furnish material for a shocking story! But, ah! it is
all a contemptibly low business; we had better quit talking about our
neighbors. There are the best of reasons why we should not give full
credence to village and neighborhood gossip, old women's stories, and
free negroes tales. What we see, feel, taste and smell, we know to be
true: and that is about all we do know. As for the remainder, it is as
the breeze which plays around us, or passes over our heads. It is
here, it is gone, and we know not from "whence it cometh, or whither
it goeth?" nor yet what pestiferous emanations might perchance float
in the current. The sooner we get rid of negro novels and village
gossip, and neighborhood slander, and busy-bodies, and idlers, and
loafers, and liars, and the whole crew, who have nothing else to do,
but to meddle with people's business, the better. God speed the day
when we shall all find better employment. But to return to the evils
of slavery.
Slavery is not an evil to those involved in it, under all
circumstances. There are circumstances, under which it may be a
blessing to the slave--and a blessing it would have proved to the
entire slave population in this country, if both masters and servants
had complied with the requisitions of the Bible. None are so much to
blame for the evils and hardships of slavery as the abolition party.
No! none! Not the slaveholders themselves. They have incited the
slaves to deeds for which they have been cruelly punished. In
consequence of their unwarrantable interference, slaves that were,
previous to such interference, pious, contented and happy, have become
discontented, impertinent and perverse, and have been too often
cruelly punished for their dereliction of duty. Ah! well do I
recollect the time when the months of Southern clergyman were closed,
when rigid laws were enacted--when so many restrictions were thrown
around slaveholders. I then saw, and deplored the evil, and hoped, but
hoped in vain, that Northern men would desist from a procedure, so
fraught with mischief to masters and servants--so contrary to the laws
of God--so opposed to every principle of humanity, justice, truth and
righteousness. I must refer the reader to chapter three, and return to
the proposition under investigation, that slavery is not, an evil
under all circumstances.
The peculiar condition of an individual may be such, that he is fit
for nothing but a slave. He maybe physically, mentally, and morally
disqualified for any other condition or station in life. To such an
individual slavery is not necessarily an evil; but, on the contrary,
to him it may be a blessing and not a curse. He may be utterly
incapable of making provision for his own wants. Servitude may be the
only condition or station in life, in which he could be provided for,
and enjoy happiness. The disabilities of such an individual is a
misfortune; or, as it is generally termed, a curse, an evil; but the
evil consists in the incompetence of the individual, and not in that
condition or station in life, to which his incompetency subjects him.
It is, (to use common parlance), a curse, or an evil, to be
physically, mentally, and morally disqualified to enjoy the rights,
privileges and immunities of a free man; but if such be the condition
of the individual, slavery to him is a blessing. It is, at least the
only condition or station in life, adapted to his peculiar
circumstances, and the only one in which he would be likely to enjoy
happiness. I have shown in chapter eight, that African slavery
originated in the inferiority of the African race, and that their
inferiority originated in the transgression of God's laws.
Hence, the evils of slavery have their origin in its abuses. They have
resulted from the cupidity, cruelty and inhumanity of masters, and the
disobedience and perverseness of servants. Under the circumstances
that the African race became servants to the citizens of the United
States, servitude to them would have been a blessing, and not a curse,
if both masters and servants had obeyed the commands of God. I have
alluded to this elsewhere, to which I must refer the reader.
But in order to clearly comprehend the argument, we must contemplate
the African in his native state, and survey the peculiar circumstances
under which he became a slave. A large portion of the negroes that
were transported to the United States, and sold as slaves, were
captives taken in war, and if they had not been transported to the
United States, they would have been subjected to slavery in their
native country.[1] Was it not better for those poor captives to have
become the servants of intelligent and humane men, in the United
States, than to have become the slaves of barbarians of their own
race? It certainly was, for I observed while a resident of the South,
that negro overseers were the most cruel, barbarous wretches, that
ever were clothed with a little brief authority. Yes, they are the
most barbarous relentless demons, that ever flourished a rod over a
fellow being's back. Men in an ignorant, semi-savage state, when
clothed with authority, (or otherwise when they have others in their
power,) are universally cruel. Where we find most ignorance, there
will we, as a general rule, find least humanity, for I observed while
in the South, that intelligent men were seldom cruel to their slaves.
Cruel masters in the South, are generally individuals of low birth,
who, in early life, were white servants themselves; but by some lucky
turn they got hold of a little money, and purchased a few negroes.
These _mock_ lords are the most cruel masters, and the most pompous
gentlemen in all the sunny South. Such men are universally dreaded by
the African race in the South. I wish here to impress the reader's
mind with the fact, that a native semi-savage African, must
necessarily be a cruel master. We need but reflect on their ignorance,
barbarism and brutality, to satisfy ourselves of the truth of the
remark. I have alluded to the fact in Chapter 8, that one portion of
the African race have been slaves to another, ever since the earliest
dawn of history; and it is said that by far the larger portion are
slaves. It is then certain, that most of the native Africans who were
originally enslaved in the United States, would have been slaves in
their own country, if they had not been transported to this country.
Wretched as the condition of slaves may be in this country, what is
American, to African slavery? Slavery in the United States was but an
exchange of African, for American slavery. The condition of the slaves
of the South is better than the native African, formerly, or now; yes,
it is better than that of African masters, and it must be infinitely
better than the condition of African slaves. As a general rule, the
native Africans who were originally subjected to slavery in this
country; were not, as is generally supposed, deprived of their
liberties; for they were for the most part captives, or slaves, when
they were sold to the slave dealers. The reader will please recollect,
that I am not justifying the slave trade. I am simply stating facts;
and I deem it essential that these facts should be understood. Those
who wish to know what my views are on the subject of slavery, will be
under the necessity of reading this volume through.
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