The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-21

arguing for ourselves, we lay it down as fun
damental that laws TO be Just must give q re-
c;nrocation Of right: that, without this they
are mere arbitrary rules of conduct founded I'D
force and not in conscience and 1T Is PROB
lem which give to the master to solve, wheth'
or the religions precepts against the VIOLATION
of nronertv were not framed for him as well as
his slave And whether the slave may not as
;usti6ablv take little from one who has taken
all from him as he may Stay one who would
slay himl That change in the relations IN
which a man is placed should change his ideas
of moral right or wrong, is neither new nor
peculiar to the color of the blacks. Homer tells
us it was 30 $500 years ago.
Emisu, ger T. arctes apoanutai europa Leus
| Haneros cut an min kota doulion ema elesln
| Old. IL, 323.
Jovo fx'd it certain, that whatever day
Makes man slave, takes hall ms worm away
But the slaves of which Homer speaks were
whites. notwithstanding these considerations
which must weaken their respect tor the laws
of property, we find among them numerous In
stances of the most rigid integrity, and as many
as among their better instructed masters, OF
beneyolence gratitude, and mistaken fidelity
The opinion that they are inferior in the fac
ultes of reason and imagination, must be haz-
arded with great difidence To justify gen"
eral conclusion requires many observations,
even where the subject may be submitted to
the anatomical knife, to optical glasses to
analysis by fire or by solvents. How much
more, then, where it is faculty, not a sub
stance, we are examining; where 1t eludes the
research of all the senses where the conditions
of its existence are various and variousy COM
bined: where the effects of those which are
present or absent bid defiance to calculation
| Let me add too, as circumstance OF great
tenderness. where our. conclusion would de-
| grade a whole race of men from the rank IN
| the scale of beings which their Creator may
perhaps have given them. To our reproach 1t
must be said that, though for century and
| half we have had under our eyes the races OF
black and of red men, they have never yet been
viewed by Us as subjects of natural history. l
advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only, that
the blacks, whether originally distinct race,
or made distinct by time and circumstances,
are inferior to the whites in the endowments
both of body and mind. 1t is not against ex-
perience to suppose that different species OF the
same genus, or varieties of the same species,
may possess different qualifications. Will not
lover of natural history, then-One who views
the gradations in all the races of animals with
the eye of philosophy-excuse an effort to keep
those in the department of man as distinct as
nature has formed them? This unfortunate
difference of color, and perhaps of faculty, Is
powerful obstacle to the emancipation OF these
people. Many of their advocates, while they
wish TO vindicate the liberty of human nature,
are anxious also to preserve its dignity and
beauty. Some of these, embarrassed by the
question, "What further is to be done with
them?" join themselves in opposition with
those who are actuated by sOrdid avarice only.
Among the Romans, emancipation required but
one effort. The slaves, when made free, might
mix with, without staining the blood OF, his
master. But with us second is necessary,
unknown to history. When freed, he is to be
removed beyond the reach of mixture The
revised code further proposes to proportion
crimes and punishments. This is attempted on
the following scale.-Pages l49-l5l.
II is difficult to determine on the standard
by which the manners of nation may be tried,
whether catholic or particular. 1t is more diff
fcult for native to bring to that standard the
manners of his own nation, familiarized to him
by habit. There must doubtless be an unhap-
by influence on the manners Of our people, pro-
duced by the existence of Slavery among us.
HO WHOlC COiuuoICc DCtWcOu uihotcI ouu sidNC
is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous
passons-the most unremitting despotism on
the one part and degrading submissions on the
other. Our children see this and learn to imi-
tate it; for man is an initiative animal. This
quality is tho germ of all education in him
From his cradle to his grave he is learning to
do what he sees others do IL a parent could
find no motive, either in his philanthropy or his
selflove, for restraining the intemperanoe of
passion towards his slave, it should always be
a sufficient one that his child is present. But
generally it is not sufficient. The parent
storms the child looks on, catches the Inca
ments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the
circle of smaller slaves, gives loose rein to the
worst of passions; and, thus nursed, educated
and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be
stamped by it with odious peculiarties. The |
man must be a prodigy who can retain his |
manners and morals undepraved by such cir |
,umstances. And with what execration should |
he statesman bo loaded, who, permitting one |
laf the citizens thus to trample on the rights |
If the other transforms those into despots and |
hese into enemies, destroys the morals of the |
me part, and the amor patrte of the other; for
t slave can have country in this world, it
must be any other in preference to that in
which he is born to live and labor for another;
n which he must lock up the faculties of his
ature contribute, as far as depends on his in
ividual endeavors, to the evanishment of the
luman race, or entail his own miserable con-
lition on the endless generations proceeding
rom him. With the morals Of the people, their
industry also is destroyed; for, in a warm eli
nate, no man will labor for himself who can
make another labor for him. This is 30 true,
hat Of the propriet0rs Of slaves very small
indeed, are ever seen to labor. And
can the liberties Of nation be thought secure
when we have removed their only firm basis
a conviction in the minds of the people that
these liberties are Of the gift Of God! that they
are not to be violated but with his wrath In
deed, tremble for my country when reflect
that God is just that his justice cannot sleep
forever that, considering numbers nature, and
natural means only, revolution OF the wheel
of fortune, an exchange of situation is among
possible events; that it may become probable
by supernatural interference! The Almighty
has no attribute which can take side with us
in such contest But it is impossible to be tenn
perate and to pursue this subject through the
va11pus considerations Of policy, of morals, OF
history, natural and civil. We must be con-
tented 20 hope they will force their way into
every ones mind | think o change already
perceptible, since the origin Of the present
revolution. The spirit Of the master is abating
that of the slave rising from the dust, his con.
dition modifying, the way hope preparing
under the auspices Of heaven, for a total eman
cipation, and that this is disposed in the order
Of events, to be with the consent Of the masters
rather than by their extirpation.-Pages 1862
III.
Extract from Plan Of a Constitution for Vir
gina, drdpn up by Mr.. Jeferson, in 1888.
The General Assembly shall not have powe
to infringe this Constitution to abridge tn,
civil rights of any person on account Of his re
lgious belief; to restrain him from professin,
and supporting that belief, or to compel hin
to contributions, other than those he shall hav
| personally stimulated for the support Of that O