The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-09-26
THE EDITORS CHAIR.
uDW THINGS LOOK FROM
OUR STAND POINT.
The Opinion of The Caucasian and
the Opinion Of others which we
Can Endorse on the Various
Topics of the Day.
"We Can't Live on Authority Alone"

In LIc Ic5DJ ttl lidII VIM vi !
last Sabbath DR.. B. +. Marable |
prcachcd Il fO:ciblo sermon from |
Genesis 18th chapter, IA verses.
ur showed that Gld had SO con-
.titutrd man that >he could not,
live on authority alone, the man
80 living could be nothing less
than : slave That authority
exercised without appealing to
the reason and conscience Of
man dwarlcd the manhood with
in Ms and made us poor, little,
ignorant and selfish. God, there
fore, in his command, to Abram,
in the text, adds to the com
mard Il pronlise--l double iron
clad promise, and to the p.om1se
grace. The learned Il vine Illus
trated the subject by citing
many dismal failures in human
Governments where authority
alone was used. He cited the
governments OF Russia, Turkey,
and American slavery prior to
the civil war. He said that the
word Of the Master was the law
of the slave, therefore under
slavery the manhood of the ne
gro vas crushed and there was
no elevation Of the race.
This seems to us an unfortun-
ate illustration, for it suggests
two infercnCrs, viz,
lst. That the American negro
Of 1861 was inferior to his bro
Tiers in their native barbarism
in the dark continent
ID. That the branch of the
negro race in America had been
elevated-norally aud intellec-
tnally ny being suddenly put in
the abnormal position of Amer
ican citizenship.
Both of these views are direct
ly in opposition to the views
held by the leading authorities
on the negro problem.
1t is generally conceded that
slavery was not q curse to the
negro, but rather a curse to his
Master r-to the negro it was
blessing or means of elevation
Senator Eustis, discussing the
experiment of making the ne
gro a citizen says "he has re
manned stat onary, inert, dep II
dent, and unprogressive anC
that it must be because of som:
fundamental law more pOten
than municipal legislation ant
more absolute than moral pre-
Ccpt5."
Prof. Shaler, Of Cambridge
says that the experiment OF tree
ing the black on this continen
has resulted in lowering instea'
OF elevating the race.
After giving a number OF Il
lustrations from personal ex
perience and the general expe
rience of the country, he says
"Such are the facts of exper!
ence. They may be summed u
in brief words-uniform, hope
less failure, a sinking back to
wards the moral conditions {
the Congo and Guinea coast
The above extract clearly show
that Prof. Shaler considers ths
ihe negro was elevated undt
the conditions of slavery al
he is losing that elevation und'
the experiment of citizenship
sinking back to the conditions
barharic Africa. Prof. Shaler
is the author of the new and pr
badly correct theory for explai
ing the unprogressiveness of II
negro, namely that his amin
nature so preponderates over b
intellectual and moral nature
that at the age of puberty, VIII
the animal nature develop
that the moral and intellectu
qualities are clouded by the a
imal instincts and not only cea
to develop but really reti
grade. He propounds the t
lowing fundamental law,
which the color of the neg
marks his inferiority:
Whatever race or species
changeless from generation
generation as to the color Of
skin, hair, and eyes, if it
man or animal, or eyes a
plumage, ii it be bird, evin.