Arkansas true Democrat., 1861-04-11
From the Concord (N H.) Dem. Standard. The Nigger in his Native Land; iL the West Indies; and in the United States.

Our readers know we'll the views whicl we have constantly expressed in the columns of this journal with regard to the African negro; his normal condition, which is tha of the most abiect barbarism; and Of the actual benefit to himself and to mankind which results from his relation as servant or slave to the civilized races of man. Knowing well the history of the negro as we do, we are surprised at the ideas and opinions expressed with regard to his men. tai capacities and moral condition, by per sons pretending to be intelligent in the North, and at the sympathy felt by the same class of persons for him in his present situation in the southern States of this Un- ion. These ideas and opinions are all wrong, all unfounded, and the sympathy expressed for the negro in the southern States is entirely misplaced The facts of history, from its dawn to the present time, all tend to show that slavery is the provi- dence of the degraded and besotted negro. All history shows that he is improved only in state of slavery to superior race; that in that condition only can he be civilized anu CIlllStldIllLcQ, llid,tC to tO lhtNoti iOu'' and useful and to contribute to the comfort and happiness of mankind. Since the first organization of civilized society 10 thd !. sent time, the world presents no ipsI nee in which any portion of the negro racE has enjoyed so much civilization, christianity, improvement, and real happiness, and has contributed so much to the industry and Il f41, thu fn,,r H. of negroes now enslaved in the southern States of this republic. It is time that the true facts regarding the negro were known, and the delusions of the people of the North with respect to him, dispelled To con tribute to so desirable a result, we give, from the most distinguished authors, the history of
 THE NEGRO IN HIS NATIVE LAND.
 From Hegel's Philosophy of History, pp. 97-lO3.
 "The peculiar African character is diff cul to comprehend, for the very reason that in reference to 1t, we must quite give up the principle which naturally accompanies all our ideas-the category of universality. In negro life the characteristic point IS the fact that consciousness has not yet attain ed to the realization of any substantial ob- iective existence-as, for example, God or law-in which the interest of mans voli- tion is involved and in which he realizes his own being This distinction between himself as an individual and the universali- ty of his essential being, the African in the uniform, undeveloped oneness of his exis- tence has not yet attained; so that the knowledge of an absolute being, another and a higher than his individual self, IS entirely wanting. The negro, as already observed. exhibits the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state. We must lay aside all thought of reverence and moralitv-all that we call .feeling-if we would rightly comprehend him; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in this type of character. The copi ous and circumstantial accounts of mis- sionaries completely confirm this, and Ma hommedanism appears to be the only thing which in any way brings the negroes within the range of culture The Mahommedans, too, understand better than the Europeans, how to penetrate into the interior of the country. The grade of culture which the negroes occupy may be more nearly appre- ciated by considering the aspect which rell- zion presents among them. That which forms the basis of religious conceptions is the consciousness on the part of man ofa higher power-even though this Is coIi- ceived only as a ris notures-in relation to which he feels himself weaker, humber being Religion begins with the conscious ness that there is something higher than man. But even Herodotus called the ne groes sorcerers; now in sorcery we have no' the idea of God, of a moral faith; 1t ex hibits man as the highest power, regarding him as alone occupying position Of com mand over the powers of nature. w. have, therefore, nothing to do with splr itual adoration of God, nor with an empire of right. God thunders, but is not on tha; account recognized as God. For the soul d man, God must be more than thunderer whereas among the negroes this is not tn: case. Although they are necessarily con scious of dependence upon nature-for the7 need the beneficial influence of storm, rain, cessation of the rainy period, and so on vet this does not conduct them to the con. sciousncss of higher power; 1t IS they wh> command the clements, and this they call .magc.' The kings have class of minis ters through whom they command elemen. tai changes, and every place possesses sucl magicians, who perform special ceremonies, with all sorts of gesticulations, dances, upror, and shouting, and in the midst d this confusion commence their incantations. The second element of their religion cor sists in their giving an outward form to this supernatural power-projecting the r hidden might into the world of phenomena by means of images. What they conceive of as the power in question, is, therefor, nothing really objective, having substal- tial being and different from themselves, but the first thing that comes in their way. This, taken quite indiscrimnately, they exalt to the dignity of genius; it may be an animal, tree, stone, or a wooden figure. This is their .tetish--a word to which the Portuguese first gave currency and which is derived from teitizo, magic.- Here, in the fetish, kind of objective in dependence as entrusted with the arbitrary fancy of the individual seems to manifest itself; but as the objectivity is nothing other ! than the fancy of the individual projecting itself into space, the human Individuality remains master of the image it has adopt ed. If any mischance occurs which the fetish has not averted; if rain is suspended
 if there is a failure in the crops, they bind and beat or destroy the fetish, and so get rid of it, making another immediately, and thus holding it in their own power. Such a fetish has no independence as an object of religious worship; still less has it aesthetic independence as work of art; it is merdy a creation that expresses the arbitrary