The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1826-10-26
| to moral hapl.s, and national wealth, result

4th What are the political enects 10 De
expected from the maintenance of this sys-
tenn?
5th What means can be prudently a
dopted to avert the evils which this system
is calcul ated to produce'
First.-What is Negro Slavery
Negro Slavery as existing in the United
States and British West Indies, appears to
be a creature sui !generis unknown to the an
clients, and though drawn from the least cul-
tivatet quarter Of the globe, unknown even
there, except in passing state.
The most prominent feature in this sys-
TEN, by which it is distinguished from all its
precursors, has been stamped by the hand
of nature.-The subjects of it bear in their
persons the insignia of their servile condi-
ton. This circumstance, though apparent"
/ Is trivial, and certainly no very conclusive
evidence Of the moral rectitutc of slavery,
may, perhaps, be found, upon examination,
the principal cause of most OF the other Pc
culiarities by which this system is marked
The moral degradation which slavery en-
lt1lS VII I'D slStlHio hao bSSi ~ N"'''' -
the days of Homer. Now the negroes are
known in this country only as slaves or the
descendants of slaves They are seen only
in that low and degraded situation, in which
hereditary slavery, immediate or remote,
has placed them Their characters are
viewed only as moulded by their servile
state But when slavery is the general por-
tion of persons of one complexion, and pecu-
liar to them, the contempt and aversion IN
cident to this degrading condition becomes
associated with the complication, and hence
a mere concomitant of slavery, comes to be
considered as a cause and even jusfUca-
ZION Of it. Negroes hase been despised be-
cause they were slaves; ana then slavery en-
g tailed upon them, with little remorse, be-
cause they were negroes. Amongthe Greeks
: the slave was reproached with his conGRlon
' among us with his comtlerion. The En-
5 plish villein, or slave Of the middle ages, has
> furnished a term of superative reproach
which is still in use, though the character te
d which it was originally applied, has LONG
: since disappeared.
f The Roman freedman soon lost the stig
ma of his former condition and might rise tt
! stations of eminence and power Serviu'
$ rullius, sixth king of Rome, was the sen OF
}. slave. But the negro, though emancipatcd
: is still black; and the oiiuIn originally at
tached to his conatsi;7:. adheres to his colour
n He can associate, upon equal terms. Will
"a none but persons tinged with an African dye
"A The avenues Of intellectual improvement
.e are, in great measure, closed against him.
J. The road to preferment is, to him, torbid
of den ground. In several Of the States, tn
$. African features and complexion are held
i evidence prima fascie, in the absence OF 9th
ID cr testimony, of the slavery of their owner
lie "A species of proof, believe. peculiar
IS the negro race. In our own State sever
n important distinctions, in the existing laws
e, are predicated entirely on the difference {
nd colour. The testimony of coloured persor
is generally excluded from our Courts, ur
de less the parties to the suit, or under tria
an have also an African tinge. is this owing
.ir general want of veracity in the coloure
in race, If it is, why then are they permltte
to ieopardize the lives or property persol
20 of their own complexionf Or is it not oS
&c. ing entirely to the contempt attached to II
ms coiour from its intimate association VIII
ew their se7z,ile state? This extension OF a ru
Ter Of the Roman law, is, I believe, peculiar
ho negro slavery. 1t is true that in several
of the West Indian codes, "lndans and oth
ice slaves" were classed with negroes ant! mi
md lattoes, and subjected tothe same disabilitie
md among which the incompetency of their te
or. timony in cases where white persons we
on concerned, was one; but this was only tt
E a application of this system to all description
rt- of persons within their domain. The India
by held in servitude in those Islands, have lol
Gus been nearly extinct or blended with the n
t is gro race, and the other SLAVES, must me-
rty, the various grades of mixed blood which
In up the interval between the negro and t
9Th white man. The Roman law, from WIN
ual this appears to have been derived, undou'
5. edly was, that slave was not in general
iect competent witness; yet there were exec