The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-09-09

suppOses for It's conception perVerslOh Vi lhe
human intellect.
The system of enslaving Africans was COM
menced in ancient times by the Egyptians and
the Arabs and carried on in later periods by
the Nloors Was that for the sake OF carrying
Christianity into Africa In modern times
the same system with unspeakable aggrava-
tons. has been prosecuted by all the CONNER
cial nations of Europe and of this continent
From time immemorial therefore. Africa has
been made the hunting ground of the man
stealer For thirty or forty centuries malice
and mammon have wrcaked their vengeance
upon that devoted land All crimes and cas-
pc,tilence, brutality
and hayoc-haye been poured over 1t IN crlm-
son floods To cOntine our view within the last
three centuries alone, who can adequately con-
ceiye the effects of robhing a continent OF forty
millions Of people in 50 brief period. with all
the wars dcvaStatTonS cruelties and treach-
cries which stand out rs the terrific incidents
of such a stupcndous crime Nor has this
storm of wrath expended itself upon the coasts
alone As | said before these man-hunung
toravs and rayages have swept inland for
twelve or thirteen hundred mileS-further than
from the Atlantic TO the NSs;>sippi-as far rs
from the Gulf Of Mexico 10 the great lakes.
Such has been the ditiu>ivr character of this
continent-o crwhelmmg crime And it is in
this that We find the cause Of AtricaS degrade
ton. not the hopes Of her redemption. The
white man ha, created the very barbarism
which he now mpiouSly uses before Heaven a.
an excuse for the crime of creating it. Foreign
intercourse engratted the iull-deyeloped vices
and crimes of civilization upon that barbarian
Il 80, tai
very necessity for that civilization. which, aS
they now proianely contend the further sin of
slavery is to supply The cause Of African
barbarism was slavery and, according 10 the
argument. the remedy Is slavery The white
man clutches the profits. while he throws off
the wickedncS~ uyon God. But what kind Of
Il God does he give {" the black man who suf.
fers equally from both disease and remedy!
Mr. MASON ! desire to ask the gentleman
from Massachusetts, a single question ! wish
10 call hi, attention to the fact, which ! learn
from the history OF the race, that the three mil
hons OF negroes ia the United States. who are
slaves, are in a better condition. physically and
morally. than any three millions of the African
race that have existed Snce we have any au-
thentc accounts of them. ask the gentleman
whether he does not consider the improve
ment in the moral and physical condition of
these negroes sufficient to cOunterbalance the
evils which necessarily grow out of the nstitu-
ton of slavery
Mr.. MANN That is a fair question, and
am ready to answer it. According to the laws
Of population. which govern barbarouS nations.
Africa has as many inhabitants now. as it
would have if the robber had never invaded her
domain. and stolen away her children Among
barbarous tribes the population presses upon
the means of subsistence Ii tends to increase
faster than the means of subsistence increase
Remove a part of the great family from the
table whence they are supplied, and their va
can't places viii be soon filled by others ar-
rOrdng 10 the laws of natural increase. Az to
them, the Maithusan theory holds good
Therefore we have not diminished the number
Of suffering, degraded and dcmoralized beings
in Africa. by one unit, in consequence of taking
n portion Of their ancestors from them.
Mr. MASON What would have been the
condition Of these three millions of negroes had
not their ancestors been brought to this coun-
try Would they not, by degradation and
starvation, have gone out of existence
Mr., MANN They would never have come
INTO existence; but their places amongst us
would have been occupied by white popula-
ton OF our own race or OF some race kindred
to our own. Other men would have been sub
stituted for thcm--whtes for blacks. frecmen
for slaves
Mr.. MASON Are not oar slaves better off,
both morally and physically, than any three
millions OF negroes ever were in Africa!
Mr. MANN Before the gentleman insti
tutes comparison between the moral and
physical condition of the black race here and
IN Africa, he must see what has caused their
degradation at home. Remember the awful
facts that forty millions of the hest of them
selected men and womcn-withn the last three
centuries, have been torn from home and that
these rayagcs have not been confined to the
eastern and western shores, but have pierced
inland So that the country has bled at every
porc-at every vital organ.and conceive, il
mortal imagination can conceive. what effect
this OF itself must have in making and Keeping
Il people barbarian And after ALL what has
been the social condition of the interior tribes
who have had less communication and been
less corrupted by the lower law nations
Travellers inform MS that generally speaking
they are mild docilc pcaccahle people-not
aggressive and predatory, land-robbing and
like the British in India. or our
selves on tins continent. They are contcnted
companlonable. homr-loyng and mwarlke
some OF the early Christian Fathers. as the
gentleman must well know. were Africans
and there is every reason to believe that Chris
tIanty would have spread southwark from the
Mediterranean into Africa quite as fast az
northward INTO Europe, and would even have
less opposition from the stern and
nnyieldmg nature of the people, but for the de-
moralzng elements injected through every
VEN and artery OF their system by the stronger
nations Of the earth
MIR MASON. | think the gentleman might
gave many other reasons than the one which
he has named, why the Africans have not be-
come more civilized | think he might find
reasons for 1t in the history of that race for the
last thousand years, and in the history of the
missionaries who have gone amongst them.
The Catholics have been there for several hun
drcd years, and have established churches. but
have always abandoned them; although | see
hy the last reports that they are trying it
again think the gentleman could find n rca-
son Tor It IN the nature of the black man. M
made by his Creator. He is not capahle or
susceptible OF any of these qualifications in any
three millions who have been reduced to sla-
very IN this country have been placed in a bet
ter condition than any of the race have been
known to exist IN. The gentleman admits that
fact
MIR. MANN. Has the gentleman read Or
Shaw's Travels in Africa
Mr.. MASON ! have read some extracts
from DR.. Shaw's Travels.
Mr. MANN DR. Shaw relates the manner
in which the western Moors of Africa had
traded from time immemor,dL' as he says
with the native tribes ON the banks of the
Niger without ever having violated the charter
which prescribed the mode of traffic
At a certain time of the year says Dr. shaw
" they the Moors make this Journey in Il numerous
caravan, carrying along with thcm coral and glass
beads, bracelets of horn, knives, scissors, and such
like trnkets. When they arrive AT the place appoint
cd which on such A ,lDy of rho ,noon thrv find i'm