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Page 35
We have no reason to believe that Noah was moved by resentment to
denounce the curse of slavery on the posterity of Canaan, in
consequence of the disrespect shown toward him by Ham. We have no
reason to suppose that there was any abatement of parental solicitude,
for the future welfare of this ungodly son and his posterity. He was
moved by the Holy Ghost, and uttered but a prophecy, which entailed
slavery on the posterity of Ham, as a consequence of wilful
disobedience of God's just and righteous laws. He uttered but a fact
_in futuro_, which had been revealed to him by an omniscient God. How
fully the above prediction has been verified, is familiar to every
historian. The continent of Africa was principally peopled by the
descendants of Ham; and for ages, the better part of that country was
under the dominion of the Romans; then of the Saracens; and more
recently of the Turks; and the fact, that the slave trade has been
carried on for hundreds of years with all its horrors, iniquities,
cruelties and abominations, is familiar to every one. A large portion
of the children of Ham have existed in a state of slavery for more
than three thousand years. It is said that more than nine-tenths of
the whole sixty millions of Africa are slaves. Negro slavery existed
in the colonies of Greece for ages before the Christian era. All other
races of mankind have enslaved the African. The phraseology of Noah's
prediction is a little remarkable. The children of Ham were not only
to be servants, but "a servant of servants." It is true that
unconnected with all other races, one portion of the negro race have
been enslaved to another, ever since the earliest dawn of history, and
that in a greater proportion too, than to any other race. It is
recorded by historians, that there are perhaps twenty negro masters in
Africa to every white one in the United States, and that they hold in
bondage at least ten times as many slaves. It is moreover stated, that
those portions of Africa where the slave trade with the white man is
unknown, are the most inveterate slave regions. In the negro islands
of the Indian Archipelago, the negro is enslaved to the negro.
Some are, no doubt, ready to ask, how is it that Africans became
slaves to their own race? Many of them were taken captives in war and
subjected to slavery. The different tribes in Africa have in all ages
engaged in predatory warfare, and the captives taken in those wars
became slaves. Necessity may have forced many of them to subject
themselves to servitude. Negroes have not that aversion to slavery,
that many suppose who are unacquainted with the peculiarities of negro
character. They are ignorant, indolent and improvident, and in many
instances are neither competent nor willing to provide for themselves;
and, therefore, they probably frequently became slaves to the more
highly gifted and fortunate of their own race from necessity, and it
may be from choice.
How is it that one nation acquires dominion over another? that one
nation falls a prey to another? that one nation makes slaves of
another? By what means were the posterity of Shem and Japheth enabled
to enslave the posterity of Ham? Some will say that God willed it
thus, and so it is. I consider the phraseology of this answer faulty.
It would, in my view, be more appropriate to say, God suffered it; or
permitted it; and so it is. I do not believe that Ham's crimes were in
accordance with the benevolent designs of Providence. The degradation
and slavery entailed upon his posterity, was but a necessary
consequence of his crimes, a just judgment, which a righteous God
suffered to fall on his posterity. It was a violation of God's laws,
which involved the African race in accursed slavery. God has attached
certain punishments to the violation of certain laws, in other words,
to the commission of certain crimes. The law is violated, otherwise,
the crime is committed, and the penalty, or punishment falls on the
head of the offender. Now all this is brought about in opposition to
the will of God; for when God gave laws, he willed that man should
obey those laws. If he says, "son honor thy father," and the son
dishonors his father, he acts in opposition to God's will. And to
secure obedience to his laws, and uphold moral order, he has attached
to every crime its appropriate punishment.
But every effect has a cause, and if one nation acquires an ascendancy
over another, there is a reason in the nature of things, _why it is
so_. There are reasons why individuals differ, and why they are found
under different circumstances and conditions in this world. Why one
becomes poor and another rich; why one acquires wealth and influence,
while another becomes poor, indigent and miserable--it may be a slave
to his wealthy neighbor. There is an internal cause; a constitutional
difference in individuals, physically, mentally, and morally. So it is
with nations. Locality, climate and other external causes have also
had much agency in shaping and moulding the characters, and
determining the destinies of nations. Nothing is more true than the
trite saying, "that knowledge is power." The Author of our existence,
"the giver of every good and perfect gift," conferred on Shem and
Japheth, or rather, on their posterity, superior mental endowments.
The African and the Anglo-Saxon races differ widely in their physical
organizations; their mental susceptibilities, and their moral natures;
and the advantages are in favor of the Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxons
are a superior race. They are the best specimens of humanity--the
noblest work of God. They excel in all those qualities and endowments
that raise man above his fellow man. The whole posterity of Shem and
Japheth are intellectually superior to the posterity of Ham. Locality
has had its influence. The human species degenerate mentally and
morally in a tropical climate.
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