New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-03-19

~ ,;I,.a o., ,hss- own homes and their society.
Yet many have been so situated tnat tney m,sn.
have svaied themselves of the conversation OF ,nen
matters MANY have been brought up TO tue nanei-
eyaft arts and from that circumstances nave always
been asyociated with the xhit&s. Some have Decn
hberally educated, and all have hved In countries
where The arts and sciences are cultivated 10 con-
adorable egrte, and have had before their eyes
sauoles of the best works from abroad Inc IN
dams with no advantages OF this kna, WI, o.;rn
carve figures on their pipes not destitute OF design
End merit. They will crayon out an animal, pl>ut,
or aauuntry, as to prove the existence OF germ
in the6 oalnds which only wants CULTIVATION Ihey
astontH cen with strokes OF the most sublime ora
tory, suez as prove their reason ana sehsineh'
strong, their Imagination glowing and e.evaled.-
But never yet could find black tnai haa umeIea
a thou ght above the level OF plain nsrration--never
seen even an elementary trait OF paining or scuiP
tuIe. In music, they are more generally gii'eo .n Al
the whites with accurate ears ior sane anu n'n'
ara they have been found capable OF Imagining q
small catch. (rhe instrument proper 10 'ne. -
the bar,jar, which they brought hitler from Aica,
and winch is the osaai fo o, l Ins chords Of
the euitar) Whether they Will be equal 10 tue
composition OF more extensive run OF meiooy,
or OF complicated harmony, Is yet 10 De proved
Misery is often the parent OF the most affect.
ing touches In poetry. Among the oiacks IueIe
ia misery enough, God knows but no poetry Love
is the peculiar osirum ofthe poet Ihen rove Is ar
dent but it kindes the senses only not the magna-
ton Religion, indeed, has produced PhyIHs hhdte-
IL, but II could not produce poet-tfe comfosi.ons
published under her name are below she oigniy OF
cyjticism The heroes of the Dunciad are to her. as
Hercules TO the author OF that poem. fgnott4s
Sancho has approached nearer TO merit ~ composl,.
ton yet his letters DO more nonO 20 'as s'ons
OF friendship and general philanthropy, anc snow
how great degree of the latter may be compounded
with strong religious zeal he is oIen nappy 10 'os
turn of his compliments and his style is easy ana
familiar except hen he affects Saandedn faorlca-
ton of words But bis Imagination lie Wild and ex-
tavaeant escapes necessarily from every restraint
Of reason and taste and in the course of its vaga
RES leaves tract Of thought as incoherent and &C.
centric as is the course Of meteor throssh the say
His subjects should often have led MN 20 profess
Of sobeT reasoning yetw find him always suosu-
tuting sentiment for demonstrauon. Upon the
whole, though admit him to the FIRST place among
those of his own color who have pTesente 4 tnem-
selves to the public judgment yet when we CON-
pare him with the writers OF the race among whom
he lived, and particularly with the epstolary class,
in which he has taken his own stand, We are CON-
pelled to enroll him at the bottom OF the column
This criticism supposes the letters published under
his name to be genuine, and to have received
amendment from no other hand points, which "ouio
not be easy of investigation. The Improvement OF
the blacks body ana mind IN the first instance OF
their mixture with the whites, has been observed
by every one proves that thelr lh'eiloity snG'
the effect merely OF their condition OF lie. we
know that among the Romans, about the Augusfaa
age especially the condition OF their slaves was mucn
more deplorabe, than that ofhe blacks on the con,
tinent OF America. The two sexes were cohnneq
in separate apartments because, to raise child
cost the master more than to buy one. Cato, for
very restricted indulgence to ms slaves IN TINS par
III
country the slaves multiply as fast as the fee In
habltanis. Their SITUATION and manners place the
commerce between the two sexes almost without
restraint. The same Cato, on principle of econ
omy always sold his sick and superannuated slaves
He givest as standing precept 10 master visiting
hisfarm, to sell his old oxen OLD wagons, old tools
old and diseased slaves, and everything else be-
come useless. The American slaves cannot emu
meYate this among the Injuries and insults they re-
ceive. 1t was the common practice to expose In the
Island IEsculapi0s In the Tiber, diseased slaves
xhncac WA q in
perOr Claudius, by an edlct, gave freedom 70 sucn
of them should recover, and FIRST declared that ii
any person chose to kill rather than expose them,
II should be deemed homicide. Inc exposing them
is crime, of which no instance has existed with US
and were it it to be followed by death, 1t would be
punished capitally. We are told ofa certain venus
Polio who In the presence OF Augustus, would have
given slave as food to his fish, for having broken
glass With the Romans, the regular method OF tax
ing the evidence of their slaves was under torture
Here, 1t has been thought better never 20 resort 10
their evidence. When master was murdered, AL
his slaves in the same house. or within hearing were
condemned death. Here. punishment fails the
guilty only and precise prosf is required against
him as against a freeman. Yet, notwithstanding
these and other discOuragiDg circumstances, among
the Romans, their slaves were often the rarest az
lists. They excelled, too, IN science lnsomuch AS
TO be usually employed as tutors 10 lneir masters
children. ErictetuS, Terence and Ph9dras were
slaves. But they were OF the race oil whites. IL 10
not their condition then. but nature. which mas pro-
duced the distinction. Whether further observation
viii or will not verify the CONJECTURE taat nature
has been less bountiu to them III the endowments OF
the head, | believe that II those OF the heart, sne
WILDE found TO have done them justice. Ina' as
position TO theft With which they nave oeen ofanueu
must be asCrlbed TO their situaton and LOT 10 any
depiavity OF the moral sense. The man In whose
favor no laws Of property exist, PROBABLY feels him.
self less bound 10 respec. those made IN favor OF
Others When arguing for ourselves. We lay IL down
as fundamental that laws TO be Just must give
rtciprocatop OF right that without this they are
mere arbitrary rules Of conduct, founded In force
and no, in conscience. And 1t is problem which
give TO the master TO solve tchefhsr ereisgtss pre-
ctpts against the roiation oprOprfy, uere not fran
for him usU his Sdue and icheher the slave
not as jWstfabIy take hils from ,cao has taken
all from ham, as he may Stag one ,cho cold STAY bIn
That a change IN the relations In which man is
placed, should charge his IDEAS Of moral right and
wrong, 10 neither new nor peculiar to the color OF
the blacks Homer tells II was so twenty six hum
| dred years ago.
"Jcvs f,'d it certain, that whatever day
Makes man slave takes half his woItn away
But the slaves OF which Homer speaks were whites
Notwithstanding these considerations which must
weaken their respect for the laws OF property, We
IND among them numerous instances OF the most
rigid integrity and as many as among their better
instructed masters OF benevoence, gratitude, and
mistaken fidelity. The opinion that they are infe-
nor in the faculties OF reason and I'm ginaton must
be hazarded with great difidence. To justify
general conclusion, requires many observations,
even where the sublect may be submitted TO the
anatomical knife the optical glasses, the analysis
by hre, or to solvents. How much more then where
/ II is faculty, not a substance, We examining
where eluces the research OF all the senses:
! where the conditions of It's existence are vari-
/ ous and variously combined where the effects
| of these which are present or absent bid def
ance to calculation Let me add too, as a
circumstances OF great tenderness, when our con.
cuslon would degrade whole raes Of men from the
rank IN the scale OF being which their Creator may
perhaps have tven them. To our reproach At must
be said, that though for a centusy and half we
have had under cur eyes tbs OF black and red
men, they have nsveE yet been vie wed by
leets OF natural history. advance it, therefore,
ssspsciCn only, thai the blacks whether original
~ distinct race, made distinct By time and cir
CUmsances are inferior u the whites the eDdow-
men,s both OF body ana of mud. II is not against
experience TO suppose, that different species OF tho
same genus, or varieties OF the same speci may
possess dhieient qualifications Va! not i0Usr Of
natural hsfoyy then, cho tbs gTGdattoHs IN
Oh Lhs racfS Of aainals nth The Of shaSanh