The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-01-27
THE NATIONAL ERA WASHINGTON D. c. JANUARY e. 1853.

the negro and close to him we find the chin.
panzee of his native country, the first step in
what we call brute creation. The difference
between the last Of the one series and the Hrsi
of the other, il not greater--hardly 80 great
rs between the last and the first OF the human
! family itself To place the two on an equal
ity; to treat two creatures 80 utterly different
as the white man and negro man on the same
system to claim for them the same sphere OF
action to call on them to exercise the same
| powers and do the same actions, is an effort
| to violate elementary laws. and to alter the
course Of Nature and that, we all know, can
never he done at ALL and never attempted, with
out mourning the penalties of pain, misery, and
destruction.
"All arguments drawn from principles in
vented and intended for the white man, like
the aphorisms of our Declaration of lndepend-
enoe, are, when applied to the negro, illogical.
They involve the assumption that the negro is
the white man, only little different in exter-
nal appearance and education. But this as
sumption cannot be supported Ethnology and
anatomy, history and daily observation, all
contradict that idea in way about which
there can be no mistake. Ii is an assumption
founded on an utter ignorance of the animal
in whose supposed behalf it is made Again
and again We repeat il, the negro is not the
white man. Not with more safety do We assert
that hog is not horse. Hay is good for
horses but not for hogs. Liberty is good for
white men, but not for negroes"
The opponents of Slavery would rejoice if
all its defenders, driven at last from every
refuge from every plea in justification or ex-
tenuation, drawn from expediency, from inter-
est from necessity, from humanity, from Scrip
ture, were compelled to rest their entire de-
fence of the system upon the bold assumption
that The NEGRO is NOT MAN! The En-
aminer is logical, whatever we may think of
the assumption On no other foundation can
Slavery be justified. Admit that the negro is
a man, and it follows inevitably that to deprive
him of any of the inalienable rights of man.
is wrong without justification or apology.
Now, we shall not 20 to natural history, or
anatomy or ethnology, to ascertain whether
the assumption of the Examiner be true or
false The inquiry is not at all necessary,
however amusing it might be. We would look
at it in more practical light, and ask our
Southern Pro-Slavery friends few questions
If the negro is not man, why de you make
him subject of Lawl Do you legislate for
animals You whip slave for stealing, hang
him for murder is an OK capable of stealing
or murder? Why fasteu moral responsibility
on him if he be not man? You even hold
him to a greater responsibility than the white
man, require more of him, for your laws pun.
ish him capitally for offences for which, when
committed by the white man, imprisonment is
the sole penalty.
Free colored men earn wages in the South,
hold property, marry and enjoy the rights of
marriage. Does not your law secure them
their wages Does it not regulate the descent
of their property? May they not bequeath it
as they please? May they not sue and be
sued Has not the wife of free colored
property-holder her rights, as secured by law
to the wife of the white man? In Clark coun-
ty, Virginia, the largest property holder is
colored man! Do your animals hold proper
ty, work for wages, pay taxes, appear as par
ties in courts of justice, marry and bring up
childrenl If the assumption of the Examiner
be true, your Legislation, as it affects the coored
man. is the baldest absurdty ever devised by
the folly of man.
Again: there is partial commixture of the
white and negro at the South. If the negro
be not man, how are we to regard this ANAL
gamation? We know how the Institutes of
Moses characterized and punished such an
unnatural crime A word to the wise is sutii-
Gent
What say the Colonizationists of the South
to this bold proposition? They tell us that
the colored man is capable of indefinite i'm
provement; that in this country he is kept
down merely by competition with a superior
race that, transplanted to Africa, he rises at
once to the dignity of manhood. They boast
of his rapid progress in his new home, and
point us to his free institutions, his arts and
arms, as monuments of their well-directed phi
lanthropy. Are animals capable of selfgov-
ernment of voluntary systematic labor, of free
institutions, of voting of bearing arms, of
reading and writing, of arts and commerce
Southern statesmen claim that to this Gov
eminent belongs the honor of first suggesting
that the slave trade be deemed and treated as
piracy. Would they hang as pirates the ad-
venturer that should trade in the animal or
vegetable productions of the African coast!
If the assumption of the Eraminer be sound,
our laws and treaties which regard the slave
trade as piracy are disgrace to the humanity
Of the age-the punishment inflicted upon
those engaged in it is UNANIMOUSLY cruel. Such
trade might be obstructed as Improbable
but to punish it as felony can be justified only
on the assumption that the negro is man.
Southern Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists,
Presbyterians, regard the slaves as ct subjects
for missionary work. They send teachers and
preachers among them-they baptize them,
admit them to their communion instruct them
in the truths of Revelation. inculcate upon
them that Z" as in Adam all died, 30 in Christ
all shall be made alive" that with God is no
respect of persons" that all have snned and
come short of his glory" that there is one
Humanity, one God, one faith, one baptism"
What are they about Preaching Christ to
brutes baptizing brutes- ministering the
Lords Supper to brutes-inculcahn faith and
hope and charity upon brutcs-enrolling ami
mails in their lists of church members, Ave,
if the dogma be true that negroes are not men
What them The Richmond Examiner
scouts every defence or apology which the
statesmen, philanthropists, and relgionists of
the South have set up in behalf of Slavery, and
asserts that it can he maintained alone upon
the assumption that the negro is moi mana
dogma which conironts and repudiates as alb
surd the whole course of legislative, social, and
antiox, uc iLa S....tl Loo