UNIVERSITY
OF PITTSBURGH
LIBRARY
OF'
A.\\\'"- //A
THIS BOOK PRESENTED BY
Johanna T, Baltmsaitls
>is recovering.
9 AMBASSADORS EXTEND
'^ GOOD WISHES TO/OPE
I HOME I^c. 29.-Nine ambassadors
' Accredited to the Holy See have pre-
sented the respects of the diplomatic
.corps and wished the Pope a Merry
^^Jhristmas and Happy New Year.
' The ambassador from Brazil, who
ils the dean of the corps, first pre-
• sented his respects and was followed
by plenipoteaiiaries from Poland,
.Germany. E^ce. Peru-, Chile, Co-
fioinbia, B^j^tt.-M^Spa^"-
\
Subscription Record
Jan. and Feb., 1905 41,320
Jan, and Feb., 1904 33,401
1840
The Abolitionist Should Have Been
Hanged and Quartered.
Kev. GeoWe I>angdon, ot "NTorth Caro-
lina, in 1831), Avrote to the editor of
Zion Watchnlan, «n anti-slavery publica-
tion: "I, sirl would as soop be found in
the ranks of\he banditti as numbered
Avith Arthur Tlppan, and his wanton co-
adjutors. Nothing is more appalling
to my feelings IH a man, contrary to my
principles aS a (Aristian, and repugnant
to my soul as a Ainister, than the insid-
ious proceedings m such nien" — (aboli-
tionists). (
Augusta, Oa., C^^nicle: "He (Amos
")re»9er) shoiPd b'T^?hung as high ag
aeaven, to rot oii {he gibbet, until .1,^
wind whistled throu^ his bones. Th(
of th,e wlioia souta should be deat:.h
cx^ of
t «leath,
^F:f
i
BIBLE
DEFENCE OF SLAVERY;
ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND FORTUNES
NEGRO RACE,
AS DEDUCED FROM HISTORY, BOTH SACRED AND PROFANE, THEffi
NATURAL RELATIONS-MORAL, MENTAL, AND PHYSICAL-
TO THE OTHER RACES OF MANKIND, COMPARED
AND ILLUSTRATED-THEIR FUTURE
DESTINY PREDICTED, ETC.
BY JOSIAH PRIEST, A. M.,
AUTHOE OV "AUEBICAN ANTIQUITIES," AND MEMBEE OF THE ANTIQUA-
EIAN SOCIETY OF NEW YOEK.
TO WHICH IS ADDED
A PLAN OF NATIONAL COLONIZATiOK.
ADEQUATE TO THE ENTIRE ■..•>,
REMOVAL OF THE FREE BLACKS, , , . ; ;'
AND ALL THAT MAT HEREAFTER BECOME FREE,
tN A MANNER HARMONIZING WITH THE PEACE AND WEia^BBEji
OF BOTH RACES. ' - •
BY REV. W. S. BROWN, M.D.,
OF GLASGOW, KT. . , , ,
SIXTH STEREOTYPE EDITION.
LOUISVILLE, KY:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. F. BRKNNAN FOE
WILLIS A. BUSH.
GALLATIN, TENN.
-rtER
Kntered, according to act of Congress, on the 24th of February, 1851, by
REV. W. S. BROWN, M. D.,
In the aork's OfSce of the United States District of Kentucky,
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
1
t
In presenting the following woHj^ to the American
public, no apologies are offered. We live under a
Government which tolerates liberty of thought and
freedom of the press, and in this expression of our
honest views and feelings upon a subject relating to the
general welfare of the country, we are but exercising
a right which belongs to every American citizen.
Observation and experience Jias taught us, that no man's
opinions and principles gain favor with the world by
empty apologies and useless excuses; but, that they are
generally received or rejected, as they should be,
according as they possess merit or demerit. It is a
pleasing reflection, that the age of proscription for
opinion's sake, is past, we trust, never again to return ;
and that the unrestricted interchange of thought and
sentiment, which is permitted by the liberal genius of
»V PUBLISHER S PREFACE.
our free institutions, has been productive of the most
glorious results — as the rapid spread of civilization and
Christianity, the general diffusion of light and know^ledge,
and the wonderful developments and triumphs of science
and art, in this our day and generation, clearly demon-
strate. Let the work progress — let the little stone cut
from the mountain's brow, continue to roll onward,
gathering strength with its progress — the result will be
the full development of the illimitable powei's of the
human mind, and a final consummation of all the glorious
events contemplated in the redemption of the world.
The question, " Is slavery, as it exists in the United
States, justifiable V* is one which, at least, admits of
discussion. If it be in harmony with the immutable
principles of truth and justice, and not a *' crime against
humanity," and a libel upon our holy religion, let it be so
understood and practised by our honest citizens, whose
highest ambition consists in faithfully serving God, and
living in obedience to the laws of the country. If not,
let the converse be established, and some judicious and
practicable system of emancipation and removal provided ;
and we maintain, without the fear of successful refutation,
that a majority of the enlightened slaveholders of the
United States, with characteristic promptitude and
Christian philanthropy, will liberate their slaves, and
contribute to their removal and future support and pro-
tection. All that is wanted in the final adjustment of this
"vexed question," is light and knowledge — a fair and
PUBLISHERS PREFACE. V
candid interchange of thoughts and opinions — a faithful
und true exposition of the principles involved in the
relation of master and slave. Convince tlie slaveholder
that this relation is incompatible with Christianity and
republicanism — he stands ready to abandon it, regardless
of the sacrifice. His mind is not sealed against the
impressive teaching of truth and reason, nor his heart
seared against the moving influences of pure benevolence
and true Christian charity. But, hitherto, the agitation of
this question has been altogether one-sided, and confines
mainly to those in whose action upon this subject, neither
right, reason, nor justice, were involved. They have
been justly regarded as busy-bodies, and disturbers of the
public peace. The question, like the institution itself, is
purely of a sectional or local character, involving only the
interests of the citizens of those States where slavery
exists. For it to be discussed and agitated, and the
motives and characters of the slaveholder to be assailed
and calumniated by the citizens of other States is illiberal
and anti-republican, and savours of ignorance and
corruption, or of both combined. But, nevertheless, this
unnatural warfare against truth and justice, against law
and liberty, has been continued, until the peace and
prosperity of a great nation are much disturbed, and our
glorious Confederacy well nigh dissolved ; until many of
our best citizens and purest patriots have began almost
to call in question the honesty of the honored dead — the
Fathers of the Republic ; and to look with distrust and
ri PUULISHER's PllEFACfc
suspicion upon those time-honored in^itutions which
have comnnaiided ihe Vvorld's adtniratioii, and by which
are secured to us tlie richest blessings &f Civil &a6
religious liberty. Is it not time, then, that the South
should begin to defend herself against the aggressions of
these time-serving votaries of error and fanaticism, and
show to the World that her peculiar policy and ihstitutidns
are in harmony with the genius of republicanism, and the
spirit of true Christianity 1 Believing that such is hei*
true policy, and that this proposition is much mote
consistent and reasonable, as Weil as more easily
established than its converse, we have been induced to
give publicity to the folloW'ing pages ifi Vindication 6£
Southern rigkU and institutions.
Although We believe ihat the iustitiitioh of slavery
received '' the saiiction of the Almighty in the Patriarchal
age;" ''that it was incol'pot-ated ilito the only national
constitution w^hich ever emanated hum God •/' •• that ilS
legality was recognistcd, and its lelafive duties regulated
by our Saviour, when upon earth ;" that it was established
in wisdom, and has beet) wisely cMitiiiued through alJ
ages, and handed down to us in merCV ; afid that the
I elation of master and servant harmonizes strictly with
the best interests of the inferior or African race in
particular, in securii)g to him that protectiotl and support
which his native imbecility of intellect di.sf^ualifies him
from securing for himself; yet do we most cordially
reprobate any abuse of the reltitifill by the superio''
PUBLISHER S PREFACE. VU
power, or any undue exercise of authority, by the master
over the slave— holding it to be an unwavering, uncom-
promising truth, that a fearful retribution is in reservation
for all the violators of the wisely-established decrees of
God, in this respect. There are certain obligations and
duties which every master owes to his slave, that are as
binding and indispensable as are the duties and obligations
which be owes to his God, his country, or himself. These
discharged, in accordance with the will of high Heaven,
and the mere fact of being a slaveholder will not, in our
humble judgment, debar a man from an entrance into
that "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Our individual views on the subject of a national
system of colonization, as applicable to the free black
population of the United States, may be regarded, at first
sight, perhaps, as somewhat novel, and wanting in the
essential qualities of age and precedent, or experience ;
but the reader may rest assured, that they have been
submitted to the inspection of many of our prominent
citizens and leading statesmen, and have received their
unqualified approval, without exception. The existence
of free blacks in any community, whether free or slave,
is universally admitted to be an evil of no minor
consideration. Their removal, therefore, is a matter
deeply affecting the interests and well-being of both races.
Their present number and natural increase, places this
beyond the reach of individual enterprise. The resources
of the general government must, theref(,»re, be brought
viii publisher's preface.
into requisition in the removal of this, as well as any
other evil of a general or national character. How this
may be done in this case, in a manner harmonizing with
the true interests of both races, is a theme certainly not
unworthy the candid consideration of any American
citizen.
In the work of Mr. Priest, on the subject of " Slavery,
as it relates to the Negro, or African Race, Examined
in the Light of Circumstances, History, and the Holy
Scriptures; with an Account of the Black Man's
Color, Causes of his State of Servitude, and Traces
of his Character, as well in Ancient as in Modern Times,
with Strictures on Abolitionism," the reader may
confidently expect to find a work of great research and
ability — one of deep interest, and well worthy his candid
perusal. The author has sought, in the oracles of God,
in authentic history, and in the analogies of nature, the key
to the mystery of the degradation, through the unchronicled
ages of the past, of the negro race. The fact of the
inferiority and consequent subordination of the black race
to the white, being in accordance with the will of the
Supreme Ruler of the universe, is not like a mathematical
problem, susceptible of absolute demonstration; yet we
think the readers of this work will acknowledge that the
author has let in a flood of light upon this deeply
interesting subject, through the mist in which ignorance
and misguided sympathy has enveloped it. Himself a
Northern man, prejudiced, as he admits, in his early
PUBLISHER S PREFACE. IX
education, against the institution, the conclusion at which
he arrives, supported as they are by the most powerful
train of reasoning, cannot fail to check the suicidal
progress of that pseudo-philanthropy, yclept " modern
abolitionism."
PREFACE
Than a knowledge of the races and nations of men, who
have peopled the globe since it was created, there can be
no subject more interesting. With a view to an elucidation
of this description, wc present the work before us, in which
an attempt is made to give, in some measure, a history of the
origin, character, and fortunes, of the negro portion of
mankind
In pursuit of this object we hope there needs no apology,
because we have found it necessary to resort to the Holy
Scriptures for much important information which relates to
our design, as it is well known that those parts of that book
which were written by Moses are the eldest writings of the
numan race now extant, and relate to the very first opera-
tions of the human race after the flood. As corroboratory
of the developments of that miraculous book, we have also
resorted to ancient and modern history, to travels, narra-
tives, &c., which go to aid us in the research.
As to the origin of the negro man, we have, in our cogi-
tations, recollected several curious opinions relative to the
subject, which we have thought proper to present, on account
of their wild and extravagant character, as follows:
Some have queried, whether the mother of the^rs^ negro
man might not have been frightened by some hideous black
monster of the antediluvian woods — as in the first ages of
the world there were many terrible beasts of the wilderness
roaming about, whose races are now extinct. There is one
creature which existed then, and is not yet extinct, whose
appearance, in its native haunts, is very frightful to behold;
and this is the black ourang-outang, of which animal there
are individuals known to have attained the enormous height
I
IV PREFACE.
of seven feet, covered entirely with shining black hair.
The strange effects of fright on the offspring of mothers, is
a well known phenomenon in the physiological history of
man. Thus, as some have supposed, the negro race was
produced, forming an entire new class of human beings, and
distinguished from the nature, color, and character of the
parents, by a fright of the mother.
Others have seemed to believe, that, in the_ very first ages
of the planet, and long before the creation of Adam, there
existed a race of animals, having a resemblance to man, as
has the ourang-outang, but of gigantic stature, as well as
power, dwelling in communion with other beasts and mon-
sters of that time. From this family of animals, it has been
supposed that the negro race was derived, and brought for-
ward by the continual mutations of nature, passing from
one change to another in pursuit of maturity, with all things
else, arriving at last to their highest point, as exhibited in the
presence of the black or negro nations.
It has also been believed, that, at a very early period of
time, some community of men have been so situated, in rela-
tion to climate, food, and other circumstances, as to have
been changed from their original stamp of complexion and
character, to that of perfect blacks, thus originating the
negro family of man.
Some have imagined, that the origin of the race was a
disease of the skin, which, being of an incurable nature,
formed at length a radical character, and thus produced
this people.
Many have believed, that there was at Jirst as many,/»-
tkers and mothers created as there are now different races of
men, from whom have descended the red, the white, the
black, the brown, and the yellow tribes of the human race,
discarding the account given in the Scriptures of there hav-
ing been but one pair of human beings created.
PREFACE. ▼
Others have imagined, that the mark set upon Cain by
the Divine Power, for the crime of homicide^ was that of
jet, which not only changed the color of his body, but ex
tended to the blood and the whole of his physical being,
thus originating the negro race, a remnant of which they
suppose, by means of some craft, or rather outrode the flood,
anchoring on some lofty mountain, subsisting on the float-
ing carcasses of the drowned animals till the earth was dried
again.
Thus many have mused on the subject of the origin of
the negro race. But we reject all these schemes as the
baseless hallucinations of vissionaries, even the mooted and
equally absurb problem that climate, or any other contin-
gency, became the origin of that people, and affirm that a
cause of an entire different description from all these gave
birth to the race, an account of which we shall give in the
work.
As to the mental character of the black nations, consid-
ered collectively, We have found them, in all ages, since
their appearance on the earth, of but small account when
compared with the other races of men, the red and whitf.
In publishing our opinions, as presented in this work, we
have been moved thereto, by the operations of conflicting
principles, as held by abolitionists and anti-abolitionists,
throughout the entire United States, believing that light
was necessary, in order to learn the truth respecting the
people in question, namely, the negro race.
We are also anxious to ascertain the cause of this class
of .mankind being enslaved, in the low and degraded sense
of the word.
As to the history of the black portion of the human race
it has occupied the pens of more writers than one ; on which
account we feel that we are not alone in this attempt, and,
also, that we have advanced some new^ and not uninteresting,
opinions, with respect to the time and the occasion of the
production of the first negro man.
Together with an account of the origin of this people,
we have not forgotten to inquire something respecting the
native mental abilities of the race, and whether created
equal in that and other particulars with other men. We
have, also, had something to say about exalting them in this
Country to political and social equality with the other citi-
zens of the United States, and whether, were the whites and
blacks to become amalgamat-sd, it would be a desirable ob-
ject, with many other matters of interest.
We have found the history of this race somewhat of a
difficult character to describe, as it is far more hidden and
pbscure than the history of either the red or white race ; yet
we believe that some progress, in this respect, is made in
the work.
Thus, with but few prefatory remarks, we submit our
opinions, believing that which we have advanced to be in-
dubitable, however repugnant to the conceptions of many,
who fancy they see in the negro's mind the germs of a
prodigious mental power, notwithstanding all the evidence
to the contrary, which has witnessed against them for thous-
ands of years, show^ing that a pall of darkness and obscuri-
ty, not occasioned by the acts or the influence of the othei
races, has rested on the whole being of this people, induced
jy a higher power than that of man.
As was the deep, when nature first was made,
And earth's foundations in the waters laid —
When darkness reign'd, the realm of ancient night,
When God sent forth his Word, and there was light;
So is the race of Ham, a darkling sea,
Which now invites the truth, that light may be,
O'er which, if wo have sent a single ray.
Then have we gain'd our aim, and look for day.
THE AUTHOR
1«^^
v^
INDEI.
FIRST SECTION.
Complexion of the Parents of the Human Race; Kind of earth
Man was«made of; Power of the Hebrew Language in giving
Names; Adam and Eve both called Adam by the Creator; Com-
plexion of the Antediluvians; Curious Chronology of the Holy
Seed, from Adam to Jacob, the immediate Head of the Jewish
Tribes; The opinions of some that Adam was created black, re-
futed; Personal Appearance of Adam and Eve, in Paradise, be-
fore tiie Fall; Witn many other Curious Matters, 15
SECOND SECTION.
Origin of the Negro Race; Argument to ascertain this; Causes of
the CTeat varieties of Human Complexion; Doctrine of Climates
?md Local Causes to produce such varieties refuted; Impossibility
of Human Parents producing any other complexion than their
own without a miracle; Proofs that white, black and red men are
found in the hottest regions of the globe, and have been thus in
the same latitudes for thousands of years; No Negroes on the
earth till many hundred years after Adam's creation; The pre-
cise time of their origin , when and where; No climate forms, or
causes the origin of human characters; Birth of the first white
man, when and where; No white man on the earth till many
hundred years after Adam's creation; Argument to ascertain this;
The Hebrew Language that of Adam, as well as of Noah and
the Patriarchs; Meaning of the word Ham; Of Japheth and
Shem, ; Reasons why God produced men of different constitutions
and colors than had the first man; With many other curious mat-
ters, 25
THIRD SECTION.
Adaptation of men and anir-jals to the countries and circumstances
of^ their being; Early setilements of the first nations after tho
flood; Three races of mer, blnck, red and white, in the family of
Noah; Great difference between the formations of the bodies of
white men and negroes; reasons why the skulls of black men are
thicker than those of the whites; TJiese differences noticed by an-
cient Historians; Negroes not as liable to infectious diseases as
Vlll
-^■h^
Vvr^SL
white men; interesting notice by Herodotus, respecting the heads
of negro men; Curious formation of their feet; Reasons why
Extraordinary fact respecting tlie Negro's skin being filled with
mvriads of little cups of water; The reasons why; With many
other curious matters, 47
FOURTH SECTION.
Proof of the existence of the Negro race too near the time of Noah,
and in his neighborhood, to allow of the doctrine of climate to
have been the cause of this; Remarks of David in the Book of
Psalms, on this subject; In the Book of Chronicles on this sub-
ject; In the Book of Genesis on this subject; Names of all the sons
of Ham, the first Negro; The countries they settled, after the ruin
of the Tower of Nimrod; respecting the color of the Egyptians;
Herodotus's account of this matter, as well as of the color of all
Africans of his age; Proofs that they were always black, from
the very beginning of their existence; Curious account of the
wife of lypses: Proofs of her being a Negress, and of the race of
Ham ; Statement of the prophet Jeremiah, that Ethiopians wer*
black; If the three sons of Noah were all of the same complex
ion, then follow certain results, fatal to the veracity of the Scrip-
tures; Hercules; Was Nimrod the grandson of Noah, and the
origin of all the fabled Herculeses of all the early nations; Soma
curious traditions of African autliority, respecting their own ori-
gin; With many other curious matters, 54
FIFTH SECTION.
The three sons of Noah, all bom more than a hundred years before
the Flood, aided in building the Ark; Reasons why the Divine
Being produced two new races of men different from Adam,
Change of the climates of the Globe effected by the Flood; Beauty
of the earth before the Flood; Wife of Ham^and the wives of the
other sons of Noah ; Who they were; Respecting straight-haired
"nolack men; Ih^ cause. Ham, their father having been wooUy-
headed; Egyptian mummies; One man only between Noah and
Adam; Landing of the Ark on a mountain; Noah descends;
Plants a vineyard; Drinks new wine; Falls asleep; Ham'a con-
duct on the occasion; Noah's curse of the whole race of Ham;
Description of Mount Ararat; The first tents of Noah; Early
settlements at the foot of the mountain; Plate of the family of
Noah, showing the different complexions of his sons; Arguments
and reasons against the amalgamation of the races at first; Argu-
that Noah's curse of Ham was God's judicial decree that
slavery was tlius entailed upon the Negro race; Character of Ham,
from his youth till the curse; Argument that the curse was i ot a
aoere prophesy, but a decree judicial 76
SIXTH SECTION.
Proofs) from the Scriptures, that the curse of Noah upon the race of
Hum, as a. judicial act, is indorsed bj the law of Moses; Compar-
ative view of all the orders oFservants among tKe'Tews, as the
hired Hebrew servant, the bought Hebrew servant, the loluntary
Hebrew servant, and the Negro or Canaanite slave; Remarks on
the subject of the strangers, of whom' ilie Jews might take usury,
and of whom they might not take usury; Respecting who the
strangers were, who they should not enslave, or use as bondmen;
A seeming contradiction in the law on this subject reconciled;
Perpetual slaves to be bought of the Negro heathen of old Ca-
naan, as directed by the law; tjtricturcs on Abolitionist opinions,
respecting tlie meaning of the law relative to servants; Chajacter
of Noah and Lot rescued from abolitionist aspersions; Strictures
on the opinions of abolitionists, respecting the word buv, as ap-
plied to U\e purchase of b ndmen, in tlie law of Moses, with other
matters of tlieir setting forth; Difference between the condition of
Hebrew servants and their Canaanite slaves, with respect to the
jubilees, and other matters; Proofs that the Hebrews bought and
sold Negro slaves under the sanction of the law — even going to
Africa for that purpose; Enslaving of the persons of the AmaJek-
ites under the eye of Moses; slaves^of ^he Pa.triarchs bought, with
money; A curious query of aBolitiomsts answered; With many
other matters, 106
SEVENTH SECTION
Arguments and positions of abolitionists favoring a belief that the
Scriptures recognize the negro man as being equal with the other
races, in point of blood and otherwise, refuted; Mark of Cain;
What it was; No black men or negroes before the flood except
, one; Difference between the secreting power of the blood of white
and negro men; Evidences that the Supreme Being puts a higher
estimate on white than on black, as colors or complexions; Con-
sent to this difference by the blacks themselves, though incident-
ally given, according to tlie accounts of travelers in Africa; A
curious argument of abolitionists in favor of negro equality re-
plied to, with many other interesting matters, 160
EIGHTH SECTION.
Moral and civil character of the negro race; Acts of the negro Sod-
omites; Their lewdness, tfec; Proofs from many authors respect-
ing their amours with dumb beasts; As well from the Scriptures;
Of this the Ciinaanites were guilty; as well as the Egyptians;
Moses's testimony to tliis . Herodotus's testimony from his own
©bser nations when in Egypt; Ga/e*'* testimony, Soimini's tealti-
2
C/5 *> •Oooxt
)<?:rei-
4
^
fi
INDEX.
mony; Testimony of the Prophet Ezekiel* Curious sexual forma
tion of the regro race; Lewd customs of tlie ancient Egyptians
about their temples, as seen by Herodotus; Some traits of char-
acter among the negroes of all countries at the present time, in
America, and everywhere; Dreadful practices of the women of
Egypt; Writer's apology for plain Avnting on raatt«rs of this de-
'^Icription; Proofs that Jezebel and all her priests were black, with
some account of her character as a negress and a wanton; . account
of automaton images made for lewd purposes by the women of
those times; Pictures and images of the Canaanit<is; Influence of
these doings of the negroes of those a^es on the Hebrews; Curious
reason of the Jewish Rabbi wljy the dogs would not eat the head
l^and hands of Jezebel; Horrid customs of the African negroes;
-^ Respecting the marriages of their young women, as related by
iP Herodotus; Corresponding character of the Africans nuw in these
particulars, as related by travelers; Rolliu's testimony to tlie
same thing, 174
l4
NINTH SECTION.
Pretended mental equality of the negro race with white men re-
futed, as held by aoolitionists; Comparative view of the races, as
to their doings m the world; Proofs that the ancient Egyptians,
nor any of the negro nations, were not the authors of either arts
«r sciences; Proofs that the arts and sciences, comprehending a
knowledge of letters, were known before the flood, and in the
house of Noah, and by the first patriarchs ■ Curious discoveries
made in the foundations of the tower of Babel by Sir Robert
Ker Porter; A knowledge of letters since the floofl derived from
the first patriarchs, and not from the Phoenician bla<;ks; but little
advances made in architecture by the first Egyptians, till after
Solomon; The pyramids built by the shepherd kings, a race of
copper-colored men of the blood of Shem, and not by the blacks
of Egypt; For thousands of years the tribes of Africa have made
no advances in civilization; The reasons of this; Works of the
Canaanites, as it related to architecture, derived from the Eu-
phrates, or the example of the Shemites, and tlie people of Ja-
pheth; During the whole history of negro Carthage, they made no
advances in literature; Rapine, plunder, and dealing in slaves,
being their trade; Architectuml works of the races of Shem and
Japheth long before the tower was built, or the negroes exit to
Africa; Near resemblance of the Simia race as tlie ourang-outang,
and many of the Africans; Respecting their appetites; Cannibal-
ism, Ac., in all ages; Insensibilities of the negroes to bodily pain;
Meanness of the negro spirit; Their cruelties to their .slaves; With
Bauy other curious matters, . . . . ; . 3U3
!
TENTH SECTION. !
The subject of the amalgamation of the white and negro races ex-
amined; which event, by some men, seems to be greatly desired;
The voice of God, in nature, against it; Horrid results, were the
amalgamation of the races to become universal; Lowering of the
present standard of the powers of the liuman mind; Changes in
the physical formation of the human body, as extant in the na-
tions of white men, in their approximation to the form of the
ourang-outang, through the influence of negro amalgamation*
Deterioration of the mental image of God, as given to the keep-
ing of the white race; Negroes' brains found to be less in neight
and measure than the white man's; Dodging of abolitionists on
this question; Anticipations of some men that amalgamation will
finally become universal, so as to put down slavery in this way.
Slavery among the African negroes before they knew white men;
Stealing each other; Murdering of children among them; Many
facts respecting the near approach of various negro tribes to the
form pf the ourang-outang; Indifference to pain, when under sur-
gical operations; Corresponding insensibility of the mind, with
respect to the moral feelings of the heart, as well as to the suflfer-
ings of others; Cruelty to the aged and the sick; Pretended ob-
sequiousness of some abolitionists to negroes, with a view, as
Uiey say, to their exaltation; J^atural enmity between negroes
and -white men, 250
ELEVENTH SECTION.
btquiries wbeth^ the statements of Noah, respecting the race of
I tfapheth, or the white nations, enslaving the descendants of Ham,
have been fulfilled, and are now in progress to that effect; Num-
ber of the sons of Japheth; Their great power; Countries they
settled at first; Nations now known of that progeny; First cities
built by them, which was earlier than any of the others; Descrip-
tion of the first operations of men near Ararat, during Noah's
lifetime after the flood; Respecting Melchisedek, who he was,
which is in connection with tne subject; Travels of Shem among
the first settlements; Worship of Baal, or the fly god, now among
the Africans; Nimrod and the wild beasts, with a plate; Skem,
the son of Noah, was Melchisedek Setons, the first city of man-
kind after the floods built by the whites; First instances on a
g^eat scale of white men enslaving the race of Ham in ancirnt
times, and respecting its continuance; Certainty of the fulfillment
of God's decrees, and the veracity of the Scriptures; Strictures
on the opinions of abolitionists; 'Their opposition to the Bible if
it upholds slavery; Views of St. Paul respecting negro slavery, as
Bet forth in the New Testamcr!t7-Vast niuubers of slaves in the
Homan empire in St. Paul's time; Their dreadful condition; Cu-
rious opinion ©f abolitionists, as a reason why Christ did not re-
prove slavery; Nimrod and the tower, with other matters, . • . 272
"1
TWELFTH SECTION.
Inquiries whether the Scriptures have, either in the Old or "Sew
Testaments, abolished slavery, as abolitionists assert that they
have; Query, if they never sanctioned it, how could they abolish
it? The famous passage of Isaiah, chap. Iviii, on which aboli-
tionists found their argument in favor of the scriptural abolish-
ment of slavery, examined, and found to have no allusion to the
subject; all the Jews, their elders, nobles and kings, enslaved the
race unreproved; Reproofs of the prophets, for the Jews enslaving
their own people beyond the jubilees, but not the negroes; The
famous passage of Exod. xxi, 16, which respects the stealing of a
man to enslave, or to sell him, examined, and found to have no
allusion to negroes, while abolitionists assert that it does; Isaiah's
opinion respecting the Jews enslaving their enemies, chap, xiv, 2;
Abolition argument against- slavery, founded on the law of love
toward ouj neighbor, replied to; Abolition argument, charging
the institution of negro slavery with an attempt to usurp the sov-
ereignty of God over the touis of slaves, replied to, 320
THIRTEENTH SECTION.
'• A further exhibition of the opinions and doings of abolitionists in
I America; Consequences, if they carry their plans into effect; Sym
j pathy is the lever by which they operate; Men should beware
; how they array themselves against the decrees of God; Mysterious
\ providences of God toward man; Proposal to abolitionists, by
J the author, to assail other mysterious providences of God, as well
f as the one which respects negro servitude; Reckless opinions of
i abolitionists respecting the southern states; Effects of freeing the
! negroes in the British West India Islands; Effects, were the slavea
I of the southern states freed all at once; Proofs respecting the in-
sincerity of English philanthropy toward enslaved negroes, and
'■ of their non-reliance upon the labor of freed slaves; Proofs of a
I suspicion that English vessels are now engaged in getting slaves
i from the interior of Africa, as formerly; Consequences, should
i the Union become divided on the slave question; Great posses-
; sions and power of the English all round America; Their de-
signs; Intended possession of the Oregon territory; Cruelties of
j the English in India, where they have conquered; Coalescing of
i American abolitionists with the English, on the subject of Amer-
i ican negro slavery, as shown in their speeches in London, with
I many other matters, 350
FOURTEENTH SECTION.
Replies to various abolition Questions proposed to the author; Cir-
cumstances in which men find themselves possessed of slaves be-
yond their control, which is held to be God's providence in *•-
1
evaing negro slarery, in agreement with his decree by Noah; Dif-
ference of negro sensibilities from that of the whites, on being
.separated from wives and children, proven by facts; Argument
of abolitionists in favor of negro equality, founded on God's
having given the rule of all animals, as much to the blacks as to
the whites, replied to; Ham and Nimrod's opposition to the re-
ligion of Noah, founded on their hatred to him, on account of the
curse, who originated idolatry in the world; None but negroes en-
eaged in the project of the tower; Happiness and well-being of
uie negro race seem to lie in the direction of the white man's con-
trol; Fates of all the ancient negro kingdoms; Different estimate
of Uie negro, respecting human liberty and its uses, from the
white man; The races set out, after the flood, with equal oppor-
tunities, but who has won the prize ? Practical undervaluing of
the negro character by abolitionists; A curious position of abo-
litionists, which supposes the /tiring out of the race of Ham
to the other races would fulfiU Noah's curse, replied to; a certain
great objection of abolitionists to slavery, which charges owners
of slaves of giving them no wages, replied to; The patriarch, nor
did the Jew, pay slaves any wages as hired men, with man'
other matters, 3'
^4
FIFTEENTH SECTION.
That the Gospel doctrines and their tendencies is against negro slav
eiy, as asserted by abolitionists, shown to be a mistake; Exami-
nation of the golden rule of our Savior, in relation to this matter;
That the condition of slaves among the Jews was a condition of
comparative comfort, as is asserted by abolitionists, refuted;
Care of slaves, as far back in time as the days of Job and Mra-
ham ; The subject of judicial law and the law of love examined,
in relation to negro slavery, and are found to harmonize; The
great and stronghold of abolitionism in support of negro equali-
ty, and the propriety of amalgamation by marriages, founded on
Ood's striking Miriam, the sigter of Moses, with leprosy, because
she found fault with her brother for having married an Ethiopian
woman, overturned and shown to be blasphemous; Curious fact
of the blood of the negro race being guarded against, as affecting
the blood of the line through which the Messiah was to come;
First preaching of the Gospel directed to the countries inhabited
by white men, not negroes; This was done afterward; All the
present arts of the world nearly of white men's invention, not ne-
groes', with many other deeply interesting subjects, 396
ORIGIN
HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE.
FIRST SECTION.
Complexion of the Parents of the Human Race — Kind of Earth
Man was made of — Power of the Hebrew Language in giving
Names — Adam and Eve both called .Adam by the Creator — Com-
plexion of the Antediluvians — Curious Chronology of the Holy
Seed, from Adam to Jacob, the immediate Head of the Jewish
Tribes — The opinions of some that Adam was created black, re-
futed— Personal Appearance of Adam and Eve, in Paradise, before
the Fall — With many other curious matters,
That we may elucidate the subjects alluded to
on the title page of this work, it is of importance to
ascend very high toward the beginning of time in
this investigation, even up to the creation of the first
human pair. By this method, and this only, do we
hope to arrive at length to a knowledge of the desir-
ed objects.
To ascertain the true origin of the Negro, or Afri-
can race, at the very threshold of the work, is ex-
ceedingly appropriate, as, without such a discovery,
we shall appear to wander where no light shines to
illume the way, amidst the mazes of ancient times.
How often do we hear questions like the following?
From whence came the Ethiopian, or black man?
16 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Who was his father? Did he spring from Adam, oi
some other race ? Can it be, that from one and the
same source, the white, black and red portions of
mankind proceeded, with all the hues and shades
of complexion which mark the human race? If so,
is it not exceedingly mysterious that there is not now,
nor never has been, the occurrence of a. variety so
marked and distinctive, as is black, white and red,
proceeding from the same parents naturallyl Surely,
if nature, in the beginning, or in the first ages, pro-
duced from the same origin different races of men, as
to their complexions and physical constitutions, she
ought to produce the same, in these later ages, in
order to be consistent with herself in this particular,
as she is known to be in all others. These are
questions the first to arise, whenever this subject
is referred to, by the inquisitive and the lovers of
knowledge.
But as we pass in the prosecution of the work, we
hope to answer the above queries, and show the
reader the true origin of the negro race, as well as
that of the others, the white and red — there having
been, in reality, but these three on the earth, as the
yellow and the brown^ with all the other shades, are
but derived from an amalgamation of the three oth-
ers, which were prior and radical, as we shall show
in due order.
On this subject, nature, or rather God in nature,
has instructed us, that without the intervention of
Divine power, there could, and never would have
been, but one general complexion of the people of
the globe, and that one complexion would have been
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE.
17
like the first parents, whatever that complexion was.
If the first two of human kind were created white,
they could never have been the parents of hlack and
red men. If they were created red, they could nev-
er have been the parents of black and white men. If
they were created hlack, they could never have been
the parents of white and red men, as they could nat-
urally procreate only their own complexion.
Since the creation of man upon the earth, there
never was produced from the same parents a variety
of complexion (except in the case of the Albino's pro-
duction, which is now considered to be only the ef-
fect of disease); this particular, the producing of
varieties, is a trait of the nafure of beasts, but not of
man, who, in this particular, are more fixed, being
created in a way which has set him above the winds
and the weather, as it relates to his physical being.
Here it is proper to inquire what then was the com-
plexion of the two first of the human race, Adam and
Rve, and the antediluvian world, their oftspring?
In relation to this extremely curious, as well as
interesting subject, we shall refer first to a very an
cient, and a very learned historian, namely, Flavius
JosEPHus, who says, in his work on the Antiquities
of the Jews, Book i, p. 12, that Adam, the first man,
was created r£^d. The following are his words:
"God took dust from the ground and formed man,
and inserted in him a spirit and a soul. This man
was called Adam, which, in the Hebrew tongue, sig-
nifies one that is red, because he was formed of red
earth, compounded together, for of that kind is vir-
gin or true earth.
18 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
The kind of earth which Josephus calls virgin^oi
pure earth, was^ no doubt, of a very peculiar charac-
ter and appearance, or he would not have called it
pure or virgin earth, in distinction from all the other
earths of the globe, of which it is said, that there
are nine. How this man came by a knowledge of
this circumstance, we cannot tell, except he derived
it from the term Adam^ or from a tradition of the pa-
triarchs arising out of that circumstance, his creation
from red earth, and handed down from the house of
Noah.
For this very reason, doubtless, it was written by
Moses, Gen. v, 2, that God called the two parents of
the human race by but one name, which was that of
Adam, in which name was comprehended, as well
their natures as their complexion. God did not give
the first woman the name of Eve ; it was Adam who
did this, when he saw that she was to become the
mother of all the human race. Adam was the name
which God gave to the woman as well as to the man
dX first ^ as shown above from the text of Moses.
This circumstance should not be allowed to pass
till it shall have made its due impression upon the
mind of the reader, which is as follows : " Jfa/e and
female created He them ; and blessed them, and call-
ed their name Adam, in the day when they were
created."
In accordance with this statement of Josephus, in
rendering a reason why God called the two first hu
man beings by but one name, and that name being
Adam, or the red man and woman, we find that the
Hebrew language estabhshes that the words Adam^
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 19
Adamah, Adatni, and Admah, have all a similar
meaning.
First — Adam, as above, signifies earthy man, red;
second — Adamah, signifies red earth, or blood ;
third — Adami, signifies my man red, earthy, human;
fourth — Admah, signifies earthy, red, or bloody ; all
of which words are of the same class, and spring
from the same root, which was Adam, signifying red,
or copper color.-
From a view of this fact, it is difficult to account
for the reason of the name of the first man and wo-
man, unless they were created red, instead of white
or black, as it is well known that the Hebrew lan-
guage is governed in its power of naming visible ex-
istences, as of animals, fowls, fishes, <fcc., by their
appearances or natures, and frequently by both, as
in the case of the name Adam, which not only repre
sented the hue of his skin, but that also of his Intel
lechial existence or human nature.
Trius this Jewish historian, as well as the genius
of the Hebrew language, furnishes us with a clue,
like the golden thread in the labyrinth of the subter-
ranean palace of ancient Thebes, leading to the
right conclusion on this subject, namely, that Adam,
with all the antediluvian race, were red, or a copper
colored people.
But on this subject there is other testimony corrob-
orative of the above, though but incidentally afford-
ed, and yet is of the highest possible authority. This
evidence is found in the writings of Moses, in the
book of Genesis, chapters five and eleven. In this
book is written, by a competent hand, a brief, yet
5S0 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
perfect, history of the cosmogony of the earth, as
well as a narrative of the births and deaths of the
patriarchs, from the beginning to the time in which
he hved, a lapse of years consisting of 2553, and
about 1481 years before the birth of Josephus, who
was a mere lad at the time of Christ's crucifixion.
This incidental evidence, in relation to the belief
that Adam was created red, is afforded by Moses, in
tracing the genealogical descent of one of the sons
of Adam, namely, that of Seth, from his fathej
down to the patriarch Jacob, who was the immediate
progenitor of the twelve tribes of the house of Israel.
Now, as the Jews are red, or a dark copper colored
race, in their pure and unamalgamated condition,
aids in proving that Adam was also of the same com-
plexion, because Seth, an invmediate son of Adam and
Eve, was the direct progenitor of the Hebrew, or
Jewish people, commonly called the lineage of the
holy seed. See Genesis, as above alluded to, v and
xi ; also, chapters xxi, xxv and xxxv, where the true
genealogy of that race is traced out, coming down
from Adam to Noah, then from Noah to Abraham,
and from thence to Jacobs the head of the twelve
tribes of the Jews.
To please the curious, we will give an extract from
those chapters of the book of Gen. v, xi, xxi, xxv,
xxxv, respecting this genealogy, which is as follows:
Seth, the son of Adam, was the father of Enos,
who was the father of Cainan, who was the father
of Mahalaleel, who was the father of Jared, who
was the father of Enoch, who was the father of
Methuselah, who was the father of Immech, who
FOUTUNKS, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 21
was the father of Noah, who was the father of Shem,
who wasj the father of Arphaxad, who was the
father of Salah, who was the father of Eber, who
was the father of Peleg, who was the father of Reu,
who was the father of Serug, who was the father
of Nahor, who was the father of Terah, who was
the father of Abraham, who was the father of Isaac,
who was the father of Jacob, who was the father of
the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus the genealogy
of the descent of the Jews is made out, and as it is
well known that the Jews, in their pure and unamal-
gamated state, aie red-i or coj)per colored, we prove,
by this fact, in conneciion with the foregoing evi-
dence, that the antediluvians, with the father of the
human race, weie red men and women.
But, if it is necessary to add any otlier cn'cum-
stance, corroborative of the above conclusion, we
may mention that the Arabs, or Ishmaelites, are red,
or copper colored, as well as the Jews, and aie alike
the descendants of Abraham, who was of the race of
tSheffi, as above shown, one of the sons of Noah.
In the existence of the Arabs, we have a tangible
and an abiding evidence, that the Jews were a people
who were copper colored, as the Arabs are brethren
of the Jews, and have never mixed their blood with
that of other people as mucii as the Jews have. The
reason why they have not, is the peculiar location of
their country, it being situated along the eastern
coast of the Red Sea in Asia Minor, and is an almost
unapproachable desert of sand, in the very heart of
Arabia, where, from the remotest ages, they have
subsisted in wandering hordes, living, many of their
22 ORGIN, CHARACTER, AND
tribes, wholly by rapine and plunder, amalgamating
but little with other nations, who have been deterred
from conquering the country by the horrid desert and
storms of flying sand, so that they have remained a
distinct aboriginal people from the age of Abraham
and Ishmael, the son of Abraham, in the very face
of all the surrounding countries, the same in every
age.
Thus, from the foregoing facts, we believe it is
made clear that the complexion of Adam, Eve, and
the antediluvians, was neither black nor white, but
red only.
Some, however, and persons of high reputation,
too, have imagined that Adam was created black, and
that his descendants have, in many cases and coun-
tries, been changed into other hues and complexions
by the action of the elements. But had this been
the fact, Adam would not have been called Adam ;
some other word or appellation would have been his
name, as we shall further show bye and bye.
In relation to this subject, should the reader desire
to know why we have followed the line or genealo-
gy of Seth, the third son of Adam, when the Scrip-
tures speak of two other sons, and Jewish history
of at least thirty, and of as many daughters, why,
therefore, select this Setli in preference to all the
others? The aiiswer is, the descendants of all the
Other sons were lost in the flood, there remaining
even of this lineage, the family of Seth, but one
thread, and this was Noah; there was, therefore, no
other genealogy to trace.
Most people in Christian countries have imbibed
F^ORTUNKS, OF THE NKGRO RACE. 23
the opinion that Adam, Eve, the antediluvians, the
Jews, the old propliets and patriarchs, were all white
men, most assuredly; but this is a mistake, as is ev-
ident from the foregoing. Adam, therefore, in his
primitive condition, before he had fallen, and covered
his limbs with clothing, was a glorious personage to
look upon — being of a bright ruddy red, like an image
of gigantic size, formed of native copper, instinct
with life and motion. Thus, when he moved in the
groves of Paradise, he glowed in the sun's rays like
some celestial being, gathering from the down bend-
ing limbs of the trees the ripe but newly created
fruit. Such was Eve, also, his heaven-made bride,
though less in stature and more delicately shaped.
From her head, formed so as no Greek could sculp-
ture the Parian marble, there fell a silken shower,
the black and glossy tresses of her hair (like the
glory of the heads of angels, as written by St. Paul),
far below her sylph-like waist, enshrouding all her
person as with a robe, in the gleamy tissues of atten-
uated jet, while through this, as the winds softly
whispered and played therewith, was seen the bright
and fulgent limbs of the first of woman kind. Every
motion of her agile form showed her to be the imme-
diate work of God, while the red flush of health, and
immortal vigor, mantled her bosom and whole per-
son, like the deep tints of the early sun, flashing
athwart the disc of a cloud, varying every moment
as she changed her attitudes, and as the various pas-
sions of her sinless soul mingled and flowed through
her being.
But Adam was of a mightier cast; all the powers
24 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
" of his body and mind being more dauntless dnd
masculine, decision and force sat enthroned on his
j face, beamed in his eye, and was redolent on every
i limb, well fitted and formed to become the head of
the newly made world, and the race of gigantic na-
tions of the antediluvians, whose lives reached for
many ages — the vast amount of nearly a thousand
years. Such was the first man and woman of the
human race, but were somewhat changed by the en-
trance of sin, which not only affected the hearts and
natures of Adam and Eve and their race, but tinged
the beauty of their complexion, changmg it from a
bright florid red to the dark hue of common copper,
and awfully agreed with the still darker passions of
their fallen souls, who, in this image, brought forth
their progeny red in complexion, and beclouded in
mind.
Thus God ordained, and this was surely right,
That the first niau should not be bliick nor white,
But of a copper hue, a gloomy red,
Half way Detween the two, our Drimal head.
FORTUNES. OF THE NEGRO RACE. 25
SECOND SECTION
Origin of the Negro Race — Argument to ascertain this — Causes of
the great varieties of Human Complexion — Doctrine of Climates,
and Local Causes to produce such varieties refuted — Impossibility
of Human Parents producing any other complexion than their
own without a miracle — Proofs that white, black and red men ara
found in the hottest regions of the globe, and have been thus in
the same lattitudes for thousands of years — No Negroes on the
earth till many hundred years after Adam's creation — The precise
time of their Origin, when and where — No climate forms, or causes
the origin of human characters — Birth of the first white man,
when and where — No white man on the earth till many hundred
years after Adam's creation — Argument to ascertain this — The
Hebrew Language that of Adam, as well as of Noah and the
Patriarchs — Meaning of the word Ham — Of Japhet and Shem—
Reasons why God produced men of different constitutions and col-
ors than had the first man — With many other curious matters.
Having thus ascertained, as we believe, the color
nf the first human beings, the question naturally
rises here, how there came into existence other per-
sons of our race, with different complexions, such
as a jet black, and the snowy white, vastly varying
from the original red.
It has long since been counted the extreme of fol-
ly to suppose that complexions, so far removed in
likeness, as are black and white, to have been pro-
duced by climate, location, manner of living, or any
such thing, as many have believed.
This opinion, that of the power of mere circum-
stances to produce the entire characters, both of com-
3
26 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
1
plexions and formation of the bodies of the different |
races of men, is now given up as an error by the I
philosophy of the age. This acknowledgnaent stands I
recorded on the pages of our Encyclopaedias and
literary works of the time. These declare, after due
examination and argument, that the coldest regions
of the earth have not m,aterialty changed the color
of the skin, formation of the body and limbs, oi
character of the hair of the heads of the different
races of men.
Though the African negro man may have dwell
ever so many ages in the coldest regions of the earth,
yet he is a black man stilly with his peculiar forma-
tion of body^ and more peculiar hair, which is gene-
rally a perfect wool, there has been effected no ma-
terial change by any such causes.
The same is equally true, as it relates to the white
man, who, though dwelling in the lowest latitudes
of the south, near and on the very equator, for ever
so many ages, is not changed in shape, the charac-
ter of the hair of his head, nor materially in his
complexion. The children of white parents, born
in these burning climes, are the very same as when :
born in cold countries. There is no difference, '
It is true, however, that the skin of such persons,
when exposed to the air and the rays of the sun, un- ',
dergo a change called tanning, but this circumstance I
proves nothing in favor of a radical or material and :
final change from white to black ; because this tan- j
ning is always more or less removed by a change \
from a hot to a colder climate. j,
The same fixedness of character attaches to the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 27
red or copper nations over the whole earth, as neither
frigid, torrid, or temperate climates have any effect
on their complexion ; they remain forever the same.
In the formation of their bodies, the color, length,
and straightness of the hair of their heads, there is
no material difference, whatever their modes of liv-
ing may be, or wherever they may have dwelt. The
Indians of the cold regions of the north, or of the
high cold latitudes of the south beyond the equator,
are as dark and tawny as they are in the temperate
and hot climates.
It is the same with the Arabs of the Red Sea, on
the northern as well as on the southern side, in Af-
rica, Yes; this complexion, the copper color, the
original and first hue of the human race, holding a
grade between black and white, is as strongly fixed
in the blood of that race as is the black and white
in the blood of the other two races.
In proof of this doctrine, the changeless character
of those three radical and first complexions, irrespec-
tive oi all contingencies, we notice that on the eastern
coast of Africa, in latitude five degrees north, have
been found jet black, copper colored and white inhab-
itants. This part of Africa is called the Magadoxa
kingdom. The whites found in those regions, are
supposed to be the descendants of the ancient Ro-
mans, who once had great possessions in Africa, af-
ter the fall of Carthage, which took place B. C. about
140 years. The Greeks, also, from earliest time,
were settlers more or less in Africa.
This fact, that of white inhabitants being found
resident in that negro country, is stated by John Lea,
28 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
who wrote a history of ancient Africa in the Arabic
language. — Morse Uni. Geo., Vol. ii, pp. 754 and 781.
Procopius, a Greek historian, of the sixth century,
1200 years ago, speaks of a race of fair complexion-
ed people with ruddy countenances and yellow hair,
who dwelt far within the Lyhian country, which is
a region of Africa, south and west of ancient Egypt,
who, it is likely, were of Greek and Roman origin
also.
The same people were found by Dr. Thomas
Shaw, the antiquary, who wrote in the 17th century,
and says, that they retained their fair complexions
and yellow hair, although a lapse of more than a
thousand years had transpired from the time of Pro-
copius, and that of Dr. Shaw. The latitude of their
country is between 10 and 12 degrees south of the
equator. — Amer. Enc, Vol. viii, part 2, p. 668. " In
Abyssinia, which is a region of Africa," says the Uni-
versal Traveler, page 467, " there are found a popu-
lation of many tribes of various colors, as black, cop-
per color, and white, or nearly so." How is this?
why does not the climate make them all black alike,
if the black color of the negro is the work of climate
alone ? But nothing is more false than such an opin-
ion.
That time cannot obliterate the distinctive traces
of national or original character stamped on the first
races of men, was the opinion of the Rev. Michael
Russell, LL. D., author of Views of Ancient and
Modern Egypt, Palestine or the Holy Land. He
6ays, in regard to the people of Ethiopia, who are now,
and have been for more than 2300 years, a mixed
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 29
people, mixed with the Arabs, a copper colored race,
and though, by their language, it is impossible to dis
tinguish one from the other, yet by their physiologi-
cal qualities m features and/o?'?w, they are easily dis-
tinguished from the Arab blood, however intimate
the mixture might be, which no length of time can
obliterate — the negro blood appearing as palpable as
it does when mixed with the whites.
This author, everywhere in his work, respecting
the ancient people of Egypt, and the other countries
of Africa, carefully distinguishes the negro man, or
race, from the other dark races and tribes not having
the woolly head, and the other characteristics of that
family of man.
As to the other dark races of the earth, not mixed
with negro blood, we have but little to do in this
work ; our Avhole or chief aim being to illustrate, as
well as we can, whatsoever properly belongs to the
origin, character and fortunes of the people known as
the real negro men.
On this subject, the highly popular lectures on
physiology, by Professor Lawrence, maintain that
the longest series of ages are found incapable oi
changing the negro race from their blackness, what-
ever the climate may be. — See Lawrence's Lectures^
p. 257, and many other parts of the work. ,
This being true, of which we cannot doubt, it is
shown, and even demonstrated, that at some ancient
period of time, this color must have had its origin
without owing it to the influence of climate, and was
so radically fixed by some competent power, in the
blood and existence of the parent of the negro race,
OU ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
that no lapse of ages, climate or other circumstances,
are found capable of bleaching from the blood and
skin of the race; of which power we shall treat in
due order.
To prove this doctrine, Professor Lawrence, in the
above cited work of his, adduces in opposition to
those who endeavor to maintain the effect of climate
and circumstances in procUicing the negro race, in-
stances where the different complexions of the fam
ily of man have not been occasioned by such causes
All the north of Africa, he says, is occupied by a race
agreeing nearly in character with the Celts of Eti-
rope, who are of the whites, the ancestors of all the
present nations of that country, as well as of the An-
glo Americans. In the year 420 of the Christian era,
there were thousands of the Vandals, white men of
the ancient German race, who, after overrunning all
Italy, went even int.i Africa under the direction of
their king, Genderie, where they conquered and to-
tally destroyed the abori2:inal race, and erected a
kingdom of their own, which endured nearly 400
years, being destroyed at last by the Arabs. Of this
race of white men there still are thousands yet re-
maining in Africa, as well as of the more 'ancient
■ Greeks and Romans, who, during thousands of years,
i have not become negroes, except by amalgamation.
He (Lawrence) states also, that the islands of the
Indian Ocean, as well as those of the Pacific, are peo-
pled by two distinct races of men. One of these
f races is of a slender construction, the hair curled and
I woolly, the stature short, the disposition barbarous
[■ and cruel, fleeing whh terror from every approach of
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 31
civilization. The other race is more like the Indians,
being of a fairer skin, more humane and civilized, as
well as intellectual.
The blacks, or woolly heads, says Lawrence, of
these islands are the real aborigines, while the other
race is of a later date, from whose presence the more
ancient negro man retires into the interior and moun-
tainous districts. It is the same in the island Mada-
gascar, as there also are found two races. One is of
an olive complexion with dark, long hair, but the
other, the true negro, as black as night.
On the island of Sumatra, which is situated under
d vertical sun, where no part of the year affords any
abatement of the heat, except by the winds and rains,
are found people of quite fair complexions, as well as
the real n€gro. In this very island, continues Law-
rence, the descendants of Europeans, after the lapse
of ages, are as fair as those born in the country of
their parents; but the negroes brought there from
Guinea, in Africa, continue as deeply black as when
first carried to the island, as they do everywhere else.
But on a subject so plain and self-evident, as is th-e
fact of the changelesr; character of the negro complex-
ion, it would appear almost superfluous to advance
arguments, or to quote ancient or modern authorities
in its support, when, at the present time, and every-
where before our eyes, occular demonstration is af-
forded, that neither the color nor character of that
people changes ; and from which, we at once infer
that the origin of this complexion could not have
been effected by climate.
In the appearance of the negro race on the conti-
32 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
nent of America, has there one lineament of counte«
nance, or trait of bodily formation, taken place during
he 350 years or more since the first settlements,
which promises even an approximation of a final
change to white? Is the wool of such individuals,
as have not amalgamated with the whites and Indi-
ans, a whit less woolly than it was when they were
first brought to this country?
I If it were a true doctrine that climate acts with a
force so powerful on the complexions and formations
I of the human body, as to change the African race to
I whiteness in the northern countries, is it not to be
i dreaded by all, except abolitionists^ that the fair skin-
ned Americans and Europeans (who are now flock- [
I ing to Africa, where, no doubt, many of them will |
\ remain forever) may, in process of time, and the op- I
I eration of circumstances, be all changed in their pos-
! lerity, to good and substantial black men and women ; I
for if the climate of the north whitens the blacks,
I the climate of the south must blacken the whites :
\ surely it is a rule that will work both ways if it
I works at all. But of all this there need be no dread, as
1 all former experience contradicts such a catastrophe.
' If, then, the three standing original, radical, and |
1 primeval complexions of the human race, red,
I BLACK, and WHITE, were not produced by climate, '
I nor other natural circumstances, how, then, were they \
j produced ? In relation to the red^ we have already
i shown the origin of that color, which was given to
i Adam in his creation ; it remains therefore to be
j shown how the other two, the white, and especially
the black, had their beginning.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 33
It was with this question that we set out at the corri'
mencement of this section, which we proceed to an-
swer as follows :
God, who made all things, and endowed all ani-
mated nature with the strange and unexplained pow-
er of propagation, superintended the formation of
two of the sons of Noah, in the womb of their mother,
in an extraordinary and supernatural manner, giving
to these two children such forms of bodies, constitu-
tions of natures, and complexions of skin, as suited
his will. Those two sons were Japheth and Ham
Japheth He caused to be born white, differing from
the color of his parents, while He caused Ham to be
born black, a color still further removed from the red
hue of his parents than was white, events and pro-
ducts wholly contrary to nature, in the particular of
animal generation, as relates to the human race. It
was, therefore, by the miraculous intervention of the
Divine power that the black and white man have
been produced, equally as much as was the creation
of the color of the first man, the Creator giving him
a complexion, arbitrarily, that pleased the Divine will.
This solution of the mystery of the origm of the
negro's color, we trust, will be acceptable, as there
appears in the wide field of conjecture and inves-
tigation, no other paths that lead to light but this.
The mind, therefore, seems hemmed in, and driven
to this conclusion by the arm of resistless necessity,
referring the cause of the negro's color to the arbitra-
ry will and wisdom of God, rather than to the feebler
and ineffectual power of contingencies.
But lest the reader may not be as well satisfied as
34 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the writer is, that in the above described manner, the
negro race had their origin, we shall pass to other
evidences of the alledged fact. Should we omit to
do this, we may be accused of relying too securely
upon what may be termed inferential testimony, as
set forth on the above pages ; it is our duty, therefore,
now, to labor in search of direct evidence to the point,
though, in fact, the former to the writer seems fully
sufficient.
It will not be forgotten, that we have said above,
that Ham, one of the sons of Noah, was born black,
with all the peculiarities of the true woolly headed
negro man, by the direction of the Divine power, and
contrary to the common dictation of nature. To prove
this, we shall commence with an account of a cir-
cumstance, which, at first sight, may appear of but
small moment, in relation to the point desired to be
proved. The circumstance we now allude to, is the
name which was given to the youngest son of Noah,
the father of the negro race, at his birth, and that
name was Ham.
But, says one, how can a name, a mere name, as-
sist us in this pursuit? We answer, that the word
Ham, in the language of Noah, which was the pure
and most ancient Hebrew, signified any thing that
had become black; it was the word for black, what-
ever the cause of the color might have been, the
same as the word black, means black in the English
tongue.
The language spoken by Noah, is acknowledged
on all hands, in all ages, to jiave been the true Ante-
diluvian Adamic or Hebrew language.
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 35
But if this is supposed to be unlikely, on account
of the spreading out of the children of Adam in their
posterity, over, no doubt, the whole earthy before the
flood, and that from ntJiessity ^ the language of Adam
and his immediate house, must have undergone
changes during so many ages, as was contained in
1656 years from the creation till the flood ; yet there
are no doubts to be entertained, that the language
of Adam was continued in the line of Seth, which
is termed the holy seed^ or the life of the Patriarchs
down to Noah, and from thence to Jacob, the father
of the Jews.
Unless this was the fact, it were difficult to ascer-
tain how the record, or history of the creation, the
maimers of the antediluvians, the names and the
ages of the Patriarchs, in the line of Seth down to
Noah, with the deeds and acts of many persons who
hved before the deluge, could have been known to
Moses, and from him been transmitted to all ages
and nations since the^/-ea^ flood. That the accounts
now alluded to, were not delivered to Moses by di-
rect inspiration, is shown by there having been a
knowledge of these things in the family of Noah, and
of course among the descendants of his house, all
along from the time of the flood, descending from
Patriarch to Patriarch, down to Abraham, and from
thence to Moses ; that writer only embodying anew
in a book, from older written and traditionary ac-
counts, a history of facts, brought down from beyond
the flood by the progeny and lineage of Seth, the
third son of Adam, written in the Adamic language.
That information of all these things was possessed
36 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
by Noah, and the succeeding Patriarchs of the line
of Shem, the eldest son of Noah, is evident from Mo-
ses's own account, as he everywhere refers to the
fact of Noah, his children and the Patriarchs, even
down to Abraham, having a knowledge of the true
God. It cannot be well overlooked by the careful
reader, how well Abraham and Melchisedec under-
stood the will of God, and the history of past ages,
as referred to by Moses's own account, in his book of
Genesis, consequently, could not have been just then
made known to him by the Divine inspiration when
he wrote that book.
We hope no one will be offended at this, our opin-
ion, for the whole book of Genesis is full of refer-
ences, to the knowledge of the ancients, of the line
of iSeth, Noah, Abraham, Melchisedec, and the other
Patriarchs before his own time.
In relation to this opinion, that of Moses having
derived his history of the creation, and of the proge-
ny of Seth, from written records, we shall have oc-
casion, in the course of the work, to make still more
clear, as we are able to demonstrate that the fine
arts, with literature and science, as well as agri-
culture and mechanism, were cultivated before the
flood.
We have said, that the word Ham, in the original
Hebrew, or Noachian language, was the word for
that which was black; in proof of this affirmation,
see Adam Clark's comment on the meaning of the
word Ham, Gen. x, 1, who there says, that Ham sig-
nified that which was black.
In further proof of this position, we adduce the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 37
fact that the word Ham, in the Coptic language,
which was spoken by the pure and early, or first
F'jgyptians, was the word for black. Now, as Meza-
rim, or Mezar, one of the sons of Ham, first of all,
after the flood, led a colony to the vale of the Nile,
in Africa, but a little south of Judea, which river
empties into the Mediterranean, near where the city
of Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great. It
is certain, therefore, that the language of this Mezar,
and his immediate descendants, must have been the
same, with the language of his father, who was Ham,
and of his grandfather, Noah, who were the people
.si7tw called the Copts of Egypt.
That Mfizarim, tirst of all, settled the vale of the
Nile, is admitted by Greek and Roman, as well as
by Jew and Egyptian, in every age. The earliest
Egyptians, says Josephus, were called Mezarites, and
the country where they dwelt, Mezar, as well as one
of their ^rs^ cities was called Memphis — nanjes and
appellations derived from the name of the first set-
tler, or head of the family, who led a party, clan, or
colony, to the slimy flats of the Nile, before any oth-
er people after the flood.
Josephus, when speaking of this Mezarim,, calls
him Xhejirst king of Memphis, which, as above sup-
posed, was the first city of ancient Egypt (book viii,
p. 19), and, therefore, might well be alluded to as the
first king of the country.
But how does this fact assist us in finding out the
meaning of the word Ham, in the Noachian lan-
guage? It aids us as follows: the frst Egyptians
were called Copts, and have been thus denominated
i?8 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANi)
in every age. Now, if this people, who were primi
tive in Egypt, and but just from the Ark and the
tower of Babel, used the word Ha7n, to point out
that which was black, it proves that the same word
was made use of, for the same purpose in the family
of Noah, among the Chaldeans by Abraham, and of
necessity was used for the same purpose by Moses,
when he embodied the ancient history of his ances-
try, in the book of Genesis, as that work was written
by him in the Hebrew language.
To show that the Noachian language, and the lan-
guage of the first Egyptians, or Copts, was the same
in the time of Abraham, we have only to call to mind
that, when the Patriarch went to Egypt out of Ca-
naan (to which country he had but lately arrived
from Chaldea), whither he went on account of a great
famine, there was no difficulty in his oral communi-
cations with the people of that country. This, there-
fore, proves that the language of Egypt, in the time
of Abraham, was still the Hebrew language, and was
the same which Mezarim, the son of Ham,, learned
of his father and grandfather, Noah. The Egyp-
tians, therefore, in the use of the word Ham, to de-
note any thing that was black, acknowledge that their
great progenitor was called black in the house of his
own father.
It is well known that the Hebrew, or Adamic lan-
guage, gave names to things and existences, in com-
pliance with the appearance and nature of things to
be named, as we have before remarked. It was this
circumstance, or the dictating power of the Hebrew
language, which governed, when Adam gave names
FOR'IUNl^S, OF THE NKGRO RACE. 39
to all the animals brought before him at the time of
ihe creation ; when, as yet, he had heard no sound
of human voice, except his own, to copy after, yet he
went on, without embarrassment, naming them ac-
cording to the sensation produced in his mind when
he looked at, and had considered the creature to be
named. Under this very influence, which governed
in the construction of the Hebrew language, Adam
gave a name to the first woman, whom he called
Eve, because she was to become the mother of all
iiving.
The word Eve, in the Hebrew, signifies life, en-
livening, nourisher of life, producing and preserving
human life. These qualities and powers of the first
woman were intuitively and instantly understood
by Adam, when he had looked upon her, who then
named her according to her nature, which language,
like its author, who was God, had infused into it his
own image, which was truth — accordingly, when
Adam gave the names of all things, the language
spoke the truth.
In agreement with this^ it is well known that every
name, of every being, thing, or existence, has its spe-
cific meaning in the Hebrew, and, in this respect, it
is different from all other languages of the globe.
Let any one reflect a moment on this subject, and
see if he can find, especially when examining the
names of men in the English, whether they have
any specific meaning beyond a mere name.
On this very account, the power of the Hebrew
language, in dictating the names of things or beings,
the parents of Ham could not well have named that
40 ORGIN, CHARACTER, AND
child anything else but Ham^ and keep within the
bounds of the dialect of their language.
But, in addition to what is already said respecting
the Hebrew word JEZam, we may remark that it was,
in some sense, also prophetic of Ham's character and
fortunes in his own life, and the fortunes of his race,
as the word not only signified black in its literal
sense, but pointed out the very disposition of his
mind. The word, doubtless, has more meanings
than we are now acquainted with — two of which,
however, beside the first, we find are heat or violence
of temper, exceedingly prone to acts of ferocity and
cruelty, involving murder, war, butcheries, and even
cannibalism, including beastly lusts, and lascivious-
ness in its worst feature, going beyond the force of
these passions, as possessed in common by the other
races of men. Second, the word signifies deceit, dis-
honesty, treachery, low-mindedness, and malice.
What a group of horrors are here, couched in the
word Ham, all agreeing, in a most surprising man-
ner, with the color of Ham's skin, as well as with
his real character as a mati, during his own life, as
well as with that of his race, even now.
Thus far, we have shown that the very name of
this youngest son of Noah, is an evidence of no
small account; that he was born a negro, with all
the physical, moral, and constitutional traits, which
mark and distinguish that race of men horn the oth-
er two races.
The birth of those two sons, Japheth and Ham,
being thus miraculously produced, there is no doubt
but that Noah, as a prophet, saw, in the births of
KOKKTWrb, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 41
tneso ctiildren, me hand and design of the Creator.
He bad alrp^^^y been mlormed, in some supernatural
W2y, Jind, dcubvlcss, by the appearance or ministra-
tion i»f angels, that in about 100 years from the births
of his three sons, the glote was to be destroyed by
water, on which account he had ah'eady been at
work twenty years in carr5Aing forward the erection
of the ark, when Shem, Ham and Japheth were born.
As a philosopher and a prophet, Noah foresaw, in
the ruin of the earth by water, that its mild, healthy,
and pristine climates would undergo a horrid change;
and of necessity inhabitants of different characters,
constitutions and complexions, would be wanted to
people it; on which account he bore patiently, for the
sake of the Divine purposes, the misfortune of the
strange and monstrous production of his wife, in the
oirth of Ham, the first negro. For this reason, God
produced the two new races.
In reference to the foregoing arguments, which re-
spect the cause of Ham's name, we notice that after
the flood, when children were added to his family,
the same circumstance, their complexion, seems to
have exerted an influence on their names also.
CusH was orie of the sons of Ham, which word also
had a reference to that which was black. Cush,
Cushan, Cushi, and Chu-Shan-Rish-A-Thaim, are
all of the same or relative import, and especially the
word "Cushanrishathaim, signifies Ethiopian black-
ness, as well as the blackness of iniquity.
On this very account, the ancient country of Ethi-
opia, situated in Africa, in the region of the head
.waters of the Nile, which was settled first of all by
4
42 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANO
the family of Cush, was called Cushan, as well as
Ethiopia, or the country of the blacks.
The. meaning of the word Ethiope. which is also
a Hebrew word, signifies blackness, a name given to
the country, on account of the color of its first in-
habitants.
Even the word negro, is derived from the Hebrew
word Niger, and signifies black. Niger, is a great
river of Africa, and was thus originally named, on
account of black men having first settled the coun-
tries of that river ; and hence arose from earliest time
the word negro, and applied to the race of Ham, and
no other people.
Canaan was the name of another of the son« of
Ham. But this word signified a trader or merchant,^
and seems to have pointed out the pursuits of his
progeny,^ rather than their color. It was from this
son that the Phoenicians, Tyrians and Zidonians,
with all the tribes of the land of Canaan which was
PhoBnicia itself^ proceeded, who were a trading sea-
faring and mercantile race.
There was, however, a place in this country of Ca-
naan, or Palestine, a district that was called Chusi,
inhabited no doubt by a colony or family of the race
of Cush.
The word Canaan, therefore, appears to have been
prophetically given, to that son of Ham, pointing to
the pursuits, rather than any ether peculiarity of that
branch of Ham's race.
The word Japheth, is a Hebrew w©rd, and was giv-
en as a name to one of the sons of Noah, which also
had its prophetic meaning, and pointed out the for-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 43
tunes of Japheth's race, which was to consist of great
enterprise, enlargment and renown in the world ; one
who was to excel, and even to rule over the races of
his two brothers; which as we shall show in due or-
der, has been wonderfully fulfilled. But there is an-
other meaning in the word Japheth^ which is of im-
mense importance to the doctrine set forth in this
work, viz., that Japheth was born a white man, as well
as Ham with a contrary hue, proving to a demonstra-
tion, if we may be allowed to use so strong a term,
that in the family of Noah the two complexions had
their real origin.
This peculiar meaning is found in the translation
of the word Japheth, by the Rev. James Creighton,
A. B., a most accomplished Hebraist, in his Dictionary
of the Scripture, proper names," p. 162. This great
linguist states that one of the meanings of the word
Japheth is fair, or white, which cannot be said of
black, as black is not fair. From this translation we
learn that Japheth was a fair white man, on whose
face and form there was stamped in the eye of his
father, the sure sign of great intellectual endowments
betokening renown, enlargement and rule among
men, wherefore, he could give him no other name,
than the important word Japheth, or the /air and rud-
dy white son, his fortunes remaining to be fulfilled
in the course of time, while his father, acted upon
by the great beauty of this child, gave him his name
and blessed him, as the progenitor of a race who
were to fill the worLi with their glory and their
numbers, as is now the fact, before the eyes of
all men, for the white man, and the white woman,
44 ORIGIN, CHARACTER^ AND
are paramount in all the improvements of the
earth.
Shem, was the name of another of the sons of No-
ah; which word also had its meaning, and was re-
nown^ praise or greatness, prophetically pointing out
the character of his race, but doubtless more partic-
ularly, the renown of the genealogy of the holy seed,
or line of the Patriarchs, Prophets, the Jews, and of
Jesus Christ, who came of the line of Shem. On
these accounts, the renown of the house of Sham,
has been great in all the earth.
The Jews have, in every age, been a wonderful
people, who were produced by miracle as in the birth
of Isaac, when his parents were too old to have chil-
dren, and have been preserved by power, equally
miraculous, carrying out and maintaining the signi-
fications of the word Shem, which was the name of
their great progenitor.
In the opinion, that there was, somewhere, in an-
cient ages, three distinct colors of the human family,
we are by no means alone or singular. This was
the opinion of the very celebrated philosopher. Dr.
Mitchell,, late of New- York, which opinion he publish-
ed, with many curious matters to the world.
But Dr. Mitchell has not told us at what perioc? of
time, these complexions had their commencement,
whether in the family of the first man, or at some
other period — or whether there was created three dis-
tinct fathers to the human race, as many men do now
believe, and probably was the opinion of Mitchell.
Professor Lawrence, whose volume of Lectures
on Physiology we have already quoted, is of this
FORTUKES- OF THE NEGRO RACE. 45
opinion, see p, 257, who wholly disallows the power
of climates to cause the color of the aboriginal ne-
gro ; but, like Dr. Mitchell, fails to inform us how that,
or the other complexions, had their beginning. He
seems, however, to have felt that as he was giving an
opinion on the subject of human complexions, and
that if climates could not have been the cause, he
was, therefore, in reason, bound to say something re-
specting the origin of the negro's black skin. The
cause of this he rather thinks, was some ancient dis-
ease of the surface of the bodies of a tribe of people,
which, by long continuance, became so fixed in their
nature, that it formed a permanent and national char-
acter, as now seen in all the world, of the negro race.
But from this opinion we dissent, as diseases do
not work their own cure, and still retain the very ev-
idence of that disease, which is the black of the negro's
skin. It is allowed that the negro tribes, of all men,
are the most healthy, their limbs strong and agile, their
skins smooth, soft and silky — long lived and free
from diseases ; which facts but poorly accord with
the idea of a diseased skin and, of necessity, diseas-
ed blood.
But we are fully satisfied, that the two complexions,
black and white, as they appertain to the human
race, had their origin in the family of Noah, as we
have contended on the foregoing pages. Such a
cause is, to the writer's understanding, far more rea-
sonable than any other problem, that as yet has been
imagined; such as the climates, a diseased state of
Ihe skin, or a father distinct from the father of the
other races, as many have believed.
46 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
But as we have much to say in the following sec-
tion, relative to the same subject, though traversed
in the light of other evidence, we shall here close
the present chapter.
Thus now from Adam's blood, in Heaven's sight,
Two other bloods were made, as blaek and white.
From whom, as from two springs, two torrents r»U
Of tribes and nations, to the final go«d.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE.
THIRD SECTION.
Adaptation of men and animals, to the countries and circumstances
of their being — Early settlements of the first nations after the
Flood — Three races of men, black, red and white, in the family of
Noah — Great difference between the formations of the bodies of
white men and negroes — Reasons why the skulls of black men are
thicker than those of the whitf.-^ — These differences noticed by an-
cient Historians — Negroes not as liable to infectious diseases as
white men — Interesting notice by Herodotus, respecting the heads
of Negro men — Curious formation of their feel — Reasons why —
Extraordinary fact respecting the Negro's skin being filled with
myriads of little cups of water — The reasons why — With many
other curious matters.
Adaptation of men or animals as to their loca-
tion, regarding their physical powers, propensities
and appetites, favoring their comforts and well being,
is a gi-and law of God in natm-e. The polar bear has
his dwelling amid mountains of snow and ice, the
elephant on the burning plains of the equator, the
eagle in the heaven above, and the fishes in the depths
of the ocean and other waters of the globe, where
each creature, though occupying conditions and lo-
cations diametrically opposed in nature, rest and re-
joice in their places.
Among men reckoned in classes, as belonging to
distinct families or nations, the earth has also been
divided by the operation of the Divine hand, and
suited to their several natures. To the white race,
the descendants of Japhet, the northern regions of
48 ORIGINy CHARACTER, AND
the earth were given. To Shem and his descendants,
the red or copper colored race, the middle regions or
temperate cUme, north of the equator, was allotted.
But to Ham and his race was given the burning south.
The red race, we perceive, like their complexion,
occupied a middle region between the two, the blacks
and the whites.
This providence was in exact conformity with
their several physical characters and constitmions,
as well as a remarkable adaptation to their respective
complexions, the blacks in the south, the red men in
the middle, and the whites in the stormy regions of
the cold and snowy north.
If there was not a Divine hand in all this, why
did it not happen that the white race should go south,
and the blacks to the north? or why did not the
three races, red, white and black, mingle irrespective-
ly at first in the various climes, which most assured-
ly was not the case, each division of the three sources
of mankind studiously keeping themselves apart
ai a great measure, and, doubtless, far more so in the
first ages?
But how is it shown that the hot countries of the
earth are adapted to the comforts of the negro race
more than to the whites, or rather that the negro race
was formed suitable to the countries they were to
people? It is shown from their formation. The
bones of the negro's head are vastly different from
those of the white man's, consisting in the difference
there is in their respective thickness ; the former be-
mg made far stronger, thicker, harder and more com-
pact in relation to the sutures, or seams of the skuil
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 49
In the white man's head, the sutures are jwore
loosely united than the negro's, which is nearly as
firmly knit together as if there were no sutures at
all, or as if the head was but one continued bojie.
This being allowed, it yet remains, says one, to
show the advantage of a thick skull in a hot coun-
try over a thin one. This, as we apprehend, is eas-
ily done, as the great thickness of the skull bone is
an admirable defense of the brain against the sun-
stroke. Were it not for this, that portion of the ne-
gro population, who live almost contmually in the
open air beneath the fervor of a tropical sun, would
soon be totally cut off, as it is well known that the
whites cannot endure this kind of exposure without
great danger, as many lose their lives this way, al-
though their heads are covered with a hat, a turbt^n,
or some such defense. But the negro is never afiiict-
ed in this way by the sun ; no, not even their cnil-
dren, though they are continually wandering oit the
wilds and in the deserts, bare-headed and naked,'
But, says the querest, do not the skull bones of 4he
whites increase in thickness in hot countries, therepy
showing that it is the climate which does thi.?,. and
that originally, the heads of all men were ^like.;- and
thus proving that the climates give complexions, as
well as formations, to all the human family?., Our
answer is, that no such phenomenon as the thickt'n-
ing of the heads of white men, who have lived .thuii-
sands of years in their posterities, in Africa, hat? ;eyer
been known to happen. ■••-^
Man is a distinct creature from animals, or d'amb
beasts, nnd is not affected, as they are, by circumstanees
60 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
and climates ; God has not produced his image,
or likeness, after so mutable a fashion, as that the el-
ements should have power to change it. But, says
one, is it the bodi/, then, which was made in the like-
ness of God? Oh no, it was the mind ; but as the
form of the head, no doubt, gives form to the mind,
or, in other words, controls its powers by contraction
or' expansion, it would follow, that if climate can
change man's shape and color as it does dumb ani-
mans, then, also, it can change the powers of the hu-
man mind from its original stamp ; and thus the true
image of God in man, as given to Adam and his
blood, would become another creature, and some other
likeness, which idea is abhorrent to the relation which
exists between the Creator and his own image, in
man.
Can any thing, therefore, be more evident, than that
God has given the negro his thick skull for this par-
* ticular reason ?
■ This curious difference between the heads of the
two races, was, even in ancient times, a matter of
wonder; for Herodotus, who lived 450 years B. C,
and traveled much in the different countries of Asia
and Africa, has mentioned it in book 3d, of his travels,
p.- 12, and says, that when in Egypt, the people show-
ed him a place where a great battle was once fought
between the Egyptians and the Persians, and the
bones of the slain, on both sides. The following are
his Words : « By the people inhabiting the place where
this battle was fought, a very surprising thing was
pointed out to my attention. The bones of those who
fell in the engagement, were soon afterward collected
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 51
and separated into heaps. It was observed of the
Persians, that their heads were so extremely soft, as
to yield to the slightest impression, even of a pebble ;
those of the Egyptians, on the contrary, were so firm,
that the blow of a large stone could hardly break
them."
Thus we see, that the same circumstance — that of
the great thickness of the negro's head — was always,
as it is now, a formation suited to their condition.
The peculiar form of the negro's /oo/ goes, also, to
estabhsh the doctrine of adaptation. This peculi^
arity consists in the great length and width of that
limb, the extraordinary protrusion of the heel back-
ward, placing the leg nearly in the middle of the foot
in many instances. This circumstance is also favor-
able to them in passing over deep miry and sandy
places, morasses and swampy grounds, which trait,
it is said, characterizes much of the wilds of Africa.
This circumstance — the great size of the negro's
foot, is noticed by Pliny, a Roman Historian.
In the production of the negro's skin, there is a
circumstance no less curious and admirable than are
the other two peculiarities; and this is the placing,
by the Divine hand, in the cutaneous covering of
'their bodies, myriads of little cups of pellucid water
mingled with the capillary vessels. By this means,
the sun's rays are thrown off, as they are from the
face of the waters of lakes, seas and rivers, or the
dew drops of the ground, by which that cool and
moist condition of the surface of the negro's body is
produced — but this is not so with the white man.
On this account, the prevalence of these water cells,
52 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
or particles, in the skin of the African, they are less
capable of enduring the cold than a white man, whose
skin is not thus formed. In cold countries, the ne-
gro trembles and withers in the blast, while the white
man rejoices in the tempest and the snow ; but in the
hot regions, the former stretches forth his limbs, his
eyes sparkle, and his whole person becomes alive with
activity and force, while the latter is enfeebled, flies
to some shade, and faints from the effect of the heat.
The great thickness of the skull of the African
seems to be a matter of exultation to the race, as in
this way they are furnished with a powerful weapon,
both of attack and defense, as one blow of this dread
ful bone against the head or body of a white man, or
of themselves, is found to be decisive, and sometimes
even fatal. Instances are known among this people
who, to show their power in this way, have actually
driven their heads through a common board fence,
when the splinters, closing round the neck, held them
fast, where they must have died, had they not been
cut out by some friendly hand.
The great thickness and hardness of the heads of
this people — the African race — is, in another respect,
a singular providence in their favor, as a defense
against the blows of angry masters, in a state of ser-
vitude— it being almost impossible to break their skulls
even with a club.
There is still another particular in which they are
favored by the Divine goodness, and this is, not be-
mg as subject to some diseases — such as the yellow
fever, fever and ague, and bilious complaints — as are
white men, and in also being generally longer lived.
FOKTUKES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 53
From the foregoing, and from the fact that the ne-
gro race have, in all ages, flourished most in the hot
countries of the earth, as in Africa, and the tropical
islands, it is evident, therefore, that they were formed
and fitted for their place and condition on the globe.
If this be true, then we have made out our position,
which is, that God formed and adapted every creature
to the country and elements suited to their natures,
so as to compete with difficulties, and to enjoy their
being ; wherefore, from the facts of the case agreeing
with this opinion, the negro was created as he is, and
has not been produced and modeled by circumstances
and accidents.
The earth was made, and hung amid the air,
A fabric great and huge, yet wondrous fair,
On which was placed all things, tliat walk or fly.
And eacli mdapted to its destiny.
54 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
FOURTH SECTION.
Proof of the existence of the Negro race too near the time of Noah,
and in his neighborhood, to allow of the doctrine of climate
to have been the cause of this — Remarks of David in the Book ol
Psalms, on this subject — In the Book of Chronicles on this sub-
ject—In the Book of Genesis on this subject — Names of all the
sons of Ham, the first Negro — The countries they settled, after the
ruin of the Tower of Nimrod — Respecting the color of the Egyp-
tians; Herodotus's account of this matter, as well as of the color of
all Africans in his age — Proofs that they were always black, from
the very beginning of their existence — Curious account of the
wife of Moses — Proofs of her being a Negress, and of the race
of Ham — Statement of the prophet Jeremiah, that Ethiopians
were black — If the three sons of Noah were all of the same com-
plexion, then follow certain results, fatal to the veracity of the
Scriptures — Hercules — Was Nimrod the grandson of Noah, and
the origin of all the fabled Herculesre of all the early nations-
Some curious traditions of African authority, respecting tlieir own
origin — With many other curious matters.
In the labor of this section of the work, we shall
endeavor to show that the negro race was known as
such from the remotest ages, and very near to the
time of Noah. If we make this out, it will operate
against the opinion which many entertain, namely,
that climate has produced the black man. Although
we have shown in the argument of the second sec-
tion of these pages, from the force of the Hebrew
language, in giving the names of Noah's sons, espe-
cially Japheth and Ham, and thus made out the ex-
istence of the first black man, yet there may be many
FORTUNliS, OF THE MEGRO RACE. 55
who 7oill not be satisfied with this mode of investi-
gation. On this account, we deem it necessary to
examine the matter in another hght, which is to
show that there was such a race, and such a people,
as negroes, actually known as such too near the time
of Noah to admit of the operation of climate to that
effect. But if we allow that the climate did actual-
ly so operate upon the primitive people, it will amount
to a great wonder why it did not operate on all alike
in the same place and country; and thus there would
have been in the world, during the age nearest to
Noah, and in his own time about the ark, nothing
but a negro population, himself, his wife, Japheth
and his son's wives, among the number. King Da-
vid, in the 105th Psalm, says that Egypt was the
land of Ham. This was said more than 1000 years
B. C. David was not ignorant that Mezarim, the
son of Ham, settled Egypt, nor was he ignorant of
their color or character, as he knew that Ham was
called Ham because he was black, the Hebrew being
his vernacular tongue.
In 1st Chron. iv, 40, there is an account of a peo-
ple, called the people of Hani, who were then living
in Canaan, at a place called Gedor. To this place
a warlike company of one of the tribes of the Jews
went and cut the people off, because, as the text
reads, they found in that place "fat pasture and good,
and the land was wide and quiet and peaceable, for
they of Ham had dwelt there of old." From this
peculiar phraseology, /or they of Ham having dwelt
there of old, we see at once that the meaning is, they
had dwelt there from the beginning, or that they
56 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
were the primitive inhabitants, as indeed was the
fact — Canaan, their father, having first of all, after
the flood, settled Canaan.
As far back in time as the Patriarch Abraham, we
are able to show that the Hamites dwelt in Canaan.
See 23d chap, of Gen., where there is a circumstan-
tial account of Abraham buying a burying place, on
the occasion of the death of Sarah, his wife, from
the children of Heth. But who were the children of
Heth? We answer, they were the descendants of
Canaan, one of the sons of Ham. To prove this, see
1 Chron. i, 13, where it is said that Canaan begat
Zidon his first born, and Heth. It was of this man's
children that Abraham bought the burying place.
This was 1872 years B. C, and but four hundred
and seventy-six years after the flood. Heth, there-
fore, was the great grandson of Noah, being the son
of Canaan, who was the son of Ham, and Ham was
tire son of Noah, making this Heth Noah's great
grandson.
But there were other tribes and families, the off-
spring of Canaan, who dwelt in that country in the
time of Abraham, as the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgahite,
Hivite, the Arkite, and the Levite, as the Zidonians,
Tyrians, and many others of the race of Ham. This
is the reason why it is said, as we have quoted above,
from 1 Chron. iv, 40, that they of Ham dwelt in that
country of old, that is, in the days or time of Abra-
ham, and, of necessity, from a more ancient date, as
Abraham found this people inhabiting the country at
the time he came there first of all from Ur, of Chal-
dea, beyond the river Euphrates in the east, which,
FORTUNKS. OF THIC NEGRO RACE. 57
of necessity, makes them, after the flood, the first or
the primitive race of Canaan. But if the people of
that age, so near the time of the flood, were all of
the same complexion, as abolitionists suppose, the
climate not yet having had time to make the great
changes since made, how was it, or by what means
did they know in those ages, that they of Ham had
dwelt there of oldl Surely this would have been im-
possible, unless they were in some way strongly
marked and distinguished from the other two races
of Noah, so that they were readily known wherever
they were seen, and that distinction must have been
their black complexion, as we are not authorized to
suppose any other, nor this either.
The names of the four sons of Ham, according to
the first book of Chron.. chap, i, and the Jewish An-
tiquities by Josephus, chap, vi, p. 21, were Phut,
Mezarim, Cush, and Canaan, four in number.
Canaan, it appears from these authorities, settled in
the southern parts of Asia, along the Persian gulf,
and the eastern parts of the northern side of the Med-
iterranean, as well as all the back country, or moun-
tainous regions of old Phoenicia, afterward called
Palestine, comprehending the country of Jerusalem,
and quite down to the isthmus of Suez, a strip of
country situate between the ends of the Red Sea
and the Mediterranean, which divides Asia Minor
from Africa. This was a mighty region of country,
over which the descendants of Canaan spread them-
selves, more or less, immediately alter the dispersion
from the great tower.
There can be no doubt, however, but there may
5
55 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
have been among them many individuals of the oth-
er houses of the Hamethian race, as there was no
great reason why there might not have been such in-
stances, seeing they were all one people ; but yet the
bulk of the first settlers of those regions, were of the
family of Canaan.
CusH and his father, Ham, with the mighty Nim-
rod, after the confusion of their language, at the tow-
er of Babel, traveled, doubtless by water, down the
Euphrates to the Persian Gulf, as it is now called,
the first name being unknown-, and from thence by
water coasted along the Arabian sea, which is a
branch or bay of the Indian ocean, and onward till
they came to the strait of Babelmandel, a narrow
place of water where the Red Sea unites with the,
ocean, the southern side of which strait is Africa, and
is near the region of the head of the Nile, where
Cush and his fellows settled and laid the foundation
of the Ethiopian empire, which continued in som-
sense to be known on the page of history, even ^n
the time of Christ, when all traces of them, as a
people, in the form of a kingdom or government, was
lost.
Phut, or Put, as it is spelled in the Scriptures,
went also to Africa. But as his region of coloniza-
tion was. even west of Egypt, in the interior of Afri-
ca, they must have gone the whole distance by land,
across the isthmus of Suez, and laid the foundation
of the Lybian empire.
Mezarim, it seems, took the same course with his
clan or family, passing over the isthmiis, and settled
on the slimy flats of the Nile, where that river unites
FORTUNES, OK ;'!;): N ;c;ro race. 59
with the Mediterranean, following up the river on
both sides, filling, in the process of a few years, the
vast vale of that mighty river, for hundreds of miles,
with their multitudes, commencing in this way the
famous Egyptian empire.
Thus the sons of Ham settled themselves, after
their famous attempt to build the tower, which they
intended, under the administration of the ferocious
Nimrod, as the nucleus of a kingdom of idolatry,
and for another purpose, of which we shall speak in
the proper place. But how long it was before these
brothers, with their respective tribes, clans, or houses,
found the countries we have spoken of, and settled
there, and how much they suffered from fatigue, hun-
ger, wild beasts, and the various incidents of such
an enterprise and journeyings, through untrodden
wilds, and unnavigated waters, after they left the
plains of the Euphrates and the tower, who can tell ?
But that they did settle these countries, and were the
first of mankind to do so, after the flood, is true and
authentic.
Next, and in order to ascertain whether these peo-
ple were blacky we shall follow Mezarim, who settled
Egypt along the Nile, and Canaan, who settled old
Phoenicia, or the Holy Land, since so called. Should
we be successful in estabhshing the fact,. from cir-
cumstances in history, and the Holy Scriptures, that
they were negroes or black men, then we shall cer
tainly make good our first position, namely, that
Ham was created a negro man, and that all his pos-
terity are, and have been, from necessity, of the same
character, as we have heard of no miracle, which
60 ORIGIN, CHAKACTER, AN1>
has rescued them from that complexion, thoiigh il
was a miracle which made them so at first.
Herodotus was a famous Grecian historian, who
by the learned is denominated the father of history.
This celebrated author was born nearly 500 years
B. C, and traveled much in Africa, for the purpose
of obtaining a knowledge of the nations, manners
and customs of that part of the world. This man
says expressly, that the Egyptians, with several na-
tions contiguous in the interior of Africa, were black,
having curled or woolly hair. See his works, chap.
Ivii, p. 88.
On the authority of this statement of Herodotus,
Volney, a celebrated French writer, remarks that the
people of those countries, Egypt, Lybia, and Ethio-
pia, were real negroes of the same species, with all
the nations of Africa. Is not this statement of the
Grecian traveler to the point, proving that the people
of Egypt and Africa, nearly 500 years B. C, were
negroes with black skins, and woolly heads ; and if
thus, at that period, how is it to be shown that they
were not always so ?
This statement of Herodotus, which respects the
people, or descendants of Ham, is corroborated by a
narrative, recorded in Josephus's Antiquities of the
Jews, chap, xi, p. 68, which relates to the descend-
ants of Canaan, who were dwelling in that country
in the time of Moses. This account of Josephus,
goes to establish the same point, namely, that the
race of Ham was always black. When Moses, says
Josephus, fled from Egypt, on account of his having,
in defense of a Hebrew, one of his own nation, killed
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 61
an Egyptian, and had come into the country of
Midian, having fled across the isthmus of Suez, and
a part of the desert of Arabia, in order to avoid the
highways, for fear of the pursuers sent out after him
by the orders of Pharaoh, found a well of water, and
having drank of the same, retired a little way from
it, and sat down beneath a shade to rest. Now while
resting, there came in sight a company of young wo-
men, seven in number, all the daughters of one man,
Jethro or Reuel by name. These young women were
shepherdesses, and had the care of their father's
herds, who was a great man, even a priest of the
neighborhood where he lived. Now when the girls
had come from the way of the wilderness, near the
foot of Mount Horeb, and had arrived at the well,
drawn the water, and were about to refresh their
flocks, there cnme also, from another direction, a num-
ber of men called Troglodytes, who also had the care
of flocks. These men, it appears, were so barbarous
and unfeeling as to take away by force the water
which the young women had drawn, compelling
them to labor in vain.
But Moses, from his resting place, had seen the be-
havior of these men, and heard the outcry of the girls,
hastened to the spot ; and being a man of great mus-
cular power and majesty of countenance, rebuked the
savages and drove them away, as they were over-
awed and frightened, when the young women ad-
vanced and watered their charge.
Now the daughters of Jethro were so delighted
with the beauty and gallant bearing of the stranger,
that when they had taken their flocks to the fold
ba ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
they related to their father the whole affair, in such
terms of rapture, that induned the kind hearted priest
immediately to send out runners in the direction of
the well, althong-h it was then ver2:ing toward the
twilight of the evening, in search of the man. In
this hospitable undertaking they soon succeeded,
bringing in Moses to the tents of Jethro, the shepherd
priest.
Here the young women renewed their admiration
of their hero, while their kind father made him wel-
come to his dwelling for thp night. But such were
the elegance and manners of Moses, and his wisdom
of conversation, that the good hearted host soon in-
vited the stranger to make his house his home as
lon^ as it might please him.
Moses, finding the place afforded him all the secu-
rity he desired to screen him from the pursuit of his
enemies, entered into a contract \tith this priest of
Midian, and became a shepherd, instead of the heir
apparent to the throne of Egypt, by virtue of being
patronized by the daughter of Pharaoh from his
birth.
It does not appear that Jethro had any sons, all his
children being daughters, from among whom Moses,
in a short time, took a wife, dwelling there with his
father-in-law many years.
Concerning this Jethro or Reiiel, as Josephus calls
liim, the Midianite, to vv'hose family Moses became
allied in marriage, Abul Fnra-jus, an Arabian writer,
quoted by Adam Clarlc, in lis commentary on the
character of this very man, in the book of Exodus,
says that the girl Saphur)/. or as it is written in the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACK. 63
Scripture, Zipporah, was the black daughter of Reuel,
or Jethro, which is all one, as he had several names.
If she was a black woman, then were her sisters also
black, as well as her father and mother, who were
real negroes, the descendants of Ham, or Abul Fara-
jus would not have said that she was a black woman.
But if this is not satisfactory, we are able to prove
she was a black person by a higher authority, and
will, if we do so, powerfully corroborate the state-
ment and veracily of Fara-jus, the Arabian historian,
whom Clark has honored by a reference to his work.
On this subject, see the book of Numbers, chapter
xii, 1, where the circumstance of Moses having mar-
ried the daughther of Jethro is spoken of as follows :
^' And Miriam, and Aaron spoke against Moses be-
cause of the Ethiopian woman, whom he had mar-
ried ; for he had married an Ethiopian womanP
\ Now, as the word Ethiopian, or Ethiop, is a He-
I brew word, signifying that which is black, as well as
the word Ham, we learn at once that Miriam and
Aaron, the brother and sister of Moses, found fault
with him for marrying a black woman, one of the
cursed race ; or, as Dr. Clark has written it, on this
very subject, in the Hebrew, " ha isha ha cu^shith,^^
] or that woman, the Cushite, who, it appears, was
j recognized by Aaron and Miriam as a descendant of
I the family of Cush, one of the sons of Ham, the first
negro of the human race.
j Moses was well acquainted with the country to
) which the family of Cush removed after the confu-
i sion of the tower, and speaks of it in Gen. ii, 13 :
,] " And the name of the third river is Gihon, the same
64 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
is it that encompasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.''^
Now, why did Moses call that country Ethiopia,
through which the river Gihon flowed? It was be-
cause a black race of inhabitants first of all peopled it ;
for the word Ethiopia, in the Hebrew of Moses, as
well as the words Ham, Cush, &c., signified black,
the country having no name prior to its settlement by
the family of Cush, the son of Ham, and, of conse-
quence, the name which distinguished the first set-
tlers would become the name of their country.
But notwithstanding Moses has called the country
Ethiopia, yet it was also called in the earliest times
Cushan, and the people Chuseans, after Cush, its first
king and settler, both of which words signify that which
is black. Ethiopia, as a country, is a world of green
foliage and flowers, furnishing no grounds for the
word Ethiopia to become its name, on which account
it remains that its first inhabitants must have occa-
sioned its name by their own peculiar nationality of
color.
That an Ethiopian was black, is stated by Jere-
miah xiii, 23, as follows : " Can the Ethiopian change
his skin, or the leopard his spots ?" which was the
same as if he had said, can a black man change his
skin, or a leopard his spots ? as the word Ethiopian
was one of the words in the Hebrew for that which
was black. From this statement of Jeremiah, as weO
as from all the other evidences, we learn that the
whole race of Ham, the Egyptians, the Lybians, the
Ethiopians and the Canaanites, were all so many
black nations. The prophet even makes use of this
fact, the blackness of the Ethiopian's skin, as an em-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 65
blem of the depravity and wickedness of the Jews,
which, he insinuates, they could not change, because
they had become so accustomed to do evil, any more
than the Ethiopian could change the blackness of his
person.
Thus we have, as we believe, made out that there
was in the very outset of time, after the flood, a race
of black people, who were made thus, not by climate
or any other accident or contingency, but by the ar-
bitrary power of God, to suit his own pleasure in car-
rying out his designs respecting the people of the
globe. The genuine Cushite, says Richard Watson,
was woolly headed. — Historical Dictionary, p. 282.
This being a fact, proves the races of the other negro
brothers to have been of the same character as a peo-
ple, and yet for a certain reason, of which we shall
speak hereafter, from the same people straight-haired
black men were produced.
Possibly, by this time, it may be imagined that so
much labor, bestowed to prove that an Ethiopian is
black, is not called for, as all men know they are.
To this we reply, that the question is not whetlu i
an Ethiopian is black at the present time, but whei! < !
they were anciently so — as there are many whi! I ' -
lieve that the black nations of the earth have btci'..
thus by the force of circumstances, such as clini.i'
food, manner of living, &c. Such persons hold tii..;
the people now called Africans were anciently iIk-
same as the people oi Shem and Japheth, whaicvti
their complexions were; but we think we huvt
abundantly shown the entire contrary.
If this were not true, it would be impossible to un
66 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
derstand a very remarkable prophesy of Noah, and
equally impossible to learn where to apply that pro-
phesy, and whether it has been, or is yet to be, ful-
filled, which relates to the descendants of Ham^ of
which, in its place, we shall give all due attention.
If the three sons of Noah were all of one complex-
ion, and their posterities the same for many ages, or
till the climates had time to make some white, some
red, and some black, it would be impossible to know
the races apart ; as some of the descendants of Shem
may have been changed into negroes, and some of
the race of Ham may have been made into white or
red men, and thus, by the operation of the climates, a
state of irretrievable confusion been produced, as to
the identities of the respective races. From this view,
it is not difficult to see that the extraordinary prophe-
sies of Noah, respecting the races of his three sons, is
of necessity defeated, and rendered impossible to be
traced, or investigated in relation to their being ful-
filled, and thus the veracity of God thrown back into
the mysteries of his acts, which have never been re-
vealed: such is one of the horrible results of the clim-
ate argument, in relation to the complexions of the
human race.
It is, therefore, highly important to find out who
the race and descendants of Ham are, so as to know
where to apply the foreknowledge of God, as express-
ed by Noah, Genesis ix, 25 — 27, in relation to that
race, as well as to the others. On this account, we
shall pursue the subject a little further, and but a
little, lest we may weary the reader with too much
of one thing.
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE 67
That the Egyptians were the aboiiginal people of
Egypt, is maintained with considerable labor by i/e-
rodohis, as well as Josephus, who say that Menes
was their ^r5^ king, and the man who built Memphis,
the first and eldest city of Egypt.
He says that when this Menes, with his company,
came to the vale of the Nile, in Africa, that the whole
country was one entire bog, except a place where
Thebes was afterward built, which was higher
ground. Of this there can be no doubt, when it is
remembered, that every year the Nile overflowed the
whole vale of Egypt, which extended in length some
hundreds of miles, and was on an average about fifty
miles wide. Now, as this immense alluvial was
thickly overgrown with trees, grass and herbage,
which had been accumulating from the subsiding
of the flood, unchecked or removed, there is no reason
why it should not have been, as Herodotus says it
was, a continued bog, the waters of which had never
been drained off" by ditches and canals, as it after-
ward was by the first settlers and their posterity.
Herodotus also says, that the Egyptians maintained
that they themselves were the most ancient people
of the human race, and that from them even the
Greeks borrowed their knowledge of the gods. — See
that autho7-^s work, vol. i, book 2, p. 173, 175, 184
Who was Menes^ their first king, but Mezarim,
the son of Ham, who, indeed, according to Josephus,
did first of all settle on the Nile, in Africa, there being
none before him, which would justify their holding
themselves, as in after ages, to be the first of man-
kind in that country. Respecting the Egyptians,
68 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Herodotus says, also, that Hercules was one of their
gods, who was second only to Pan (the Creator)
himself, in their estimation, and that from the Egyp-
tians the Greeks borrowed a knowledge of this god,
p. 204, vol. i.
This Hercules was, no doubt, the famous Nimrod,
founder of the tower of Babel, whom the Egyptians
had deified, as Herodotus relates, and that his parents
were Egyptians. All this the Grecian traveler
learned of the Egyptians, as he knew nothing of the
story of the Hebrew history, as written by Moses,
that work having been translated mto the Grecian
language not till a hundred and fifty years, or so,
after the time of Herodotus. This pretense of the
Egyptians, about their bemg the first people of the
human race, was but a pretense arising out of a vain
desire to be thus esteemed ; the very thing to which
several others of the ancient nations have aspired,
namely, the Greeks, as well as the people of China
and the ancient nations of America.
As to Nimrod, the hero of Babel, being the great
type of all the Herculeses of the ancient nations,
there can be no doubt ; for the legends of every
country who have claimed him to be a god, represent
him as always being armed with a club of enormous
size, with which he slew the monsters of the earth-
dreadful serpents, wild beasts, &,c. In this very
character the Bible represents him ; see Gen. x, 8, 9,
where it is written, that he was a mighty hunter, be-
fore the Lord, which the Jewish rabbis interpret of
his slaying wild beasts, which at that time greatly
infested the country of the Euphrates, where he lived.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 69
before he and Cush, his father, and Ham, his grand-
father, went to Africa and founded Ethiopia.
To find out the true origin of the god Hercules,
Herodotus, the Greek, made a voyage from his own
country, which was on the eastern side of the Medi-
terranean, near to Italy, west of Greece, to the great
city of Tyre, which was on the extreme eastern end
of the Mediterranean, the capital of old Phoenicia, or
old Canaan. The reason why this man took so much
pains on this subject, was to see whether his coun-
trymen were right, in their claim of Hercules to be
their own natural god, and not derived from some
other people.
When he had arrived there, he soon found in the city
of Tyre a temple dedicated to Hercules. The next
thing for him to learn was, how long ago it had been
built. He, therefore, inquired of the priests how old
the temple was. They replied that it had stood there
ever since the building of the city, which was more
than two thousand years. This would go back in
time, fiom the period when Herodotus went to Tyre
(which was about 450 B. C), quite up to the era and
birth of Nimrod, which was about one hundred and
twenty years after the flood.
•From this fact, Herodotus was convinced that
Hercules was truly a Tyrian, or a negro god, who
was also the god of the Egyptians, the Ethiopians,
and Lybians, as well as of ancient Babylon, of which
empire Nimrod was the founder, although it passed
into other hands in process of time.
We have said above that Nimrod, the grandson of
Ham, was a negro, and ^fter his death became a
70 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
negro god by deification, after the manner of the an-
cients ; for Herodotus expressly says, vol. i, book ii,
p. 246, that the Colchins and Egyptians, who were
all one with the Tyrians, Zidonians, Ethiopians and
Lybians, were black, and had short curling hair. If
such men were not negroes of the true stamp, we
know not who are, and, also, that they were the
children of Ham, or they had no progenitors at all.
Herodotus says that, when he was in Africa, some
men of Cyrene told him that they had been as fai
into the interior as the temple of Jupiter Atnmon,
that they had conversed with Estarchus, the king
of Ammonia, who told them that the Lybian race,
dwelling still further within the interior, and west of
Ammonia, and far west of Egypt, were all blacks.
This writer also says, that the whole country south
of Jupiter Ammon (or the sheep god) was inhabited
by blacks.
The reader will not forget that all this country of
Lybia was settled by Phut, the son of Ham, and
was the remains of the Lybian empire, making it in
dubitably certain that the ancestors of the race, as
cending up to the first black man, through every
tribe and nation, were of the same kind of people.
In support of the foregoing, or rather, in support
of the doctrine of the three original complexions of
the sons of Noah, we give the following, which is a
tradition of the ancient Marabouts, or negro priests
of Africa. This tradition says, after the death of the
great king, who came through the waters when the
sea overflowed the world, that his three sons — one of
whom was whHe, the other red and the third black-
F<.'liTUNE?, OF THE NEGUO RACE. 71
agreed among themselves to divide the property
which v/as left them by their father, in an equal and
equitable manner. When they had assorted the
goods, the cattle, the gold, silver and precious stones,
they sat down to smoke a friendly pipe, saying that
next morning each one should take his own and de
part where he pleased.
But the white brother slept only a short time, when
he arose, seized upon all that was most valuable and
disappeared. A little while after, the red brother
awoke, having the same design, but finding that the
white brother had gone, and with him all that was
most valuable, he seized upon the residue and fled
also, leaving behind only a few ragged garments,
some pipes, tobacco, millet seed and rice. In the
morning, when the sun was pretty well up, the black
brother, having had his sleep to the full, arose also,
and finding all was gone he become sad and sullen,
while he sat down to smoke one of the pipes. — An
quetiVs History^ vol. vi, p. 117.
This curious fact, it seems, has somehow spread
very far into the world and been handed in a very
extraordinary manner down through many ages; for
the very Indians of America have a tradition of the
same thing, namely, that the Great Spirit created
three kinds of men, with three distinct complexions,
who were the fathers of all the human race. This
tradition was brought to light by the following cir-
cumstance.
When the Floridas were at first erected into a ter-
ritory of the United States, one of the earliest deeds
of the Governor, William P. Duval, was directed to
72 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the instruction and civilization of the natives. For
this purpose he called a meeting of the chiefs, in
which he informed them of the wish of their great
Father at Washington, that they should have schools
and teachers among them, and that their children
should be instructed like the children of white men.
The chiefs listened with their customary silence and
decorum to a long speech, setting forth the advantages
that would accrue to them from this measure ; and
when he had concluded they begged the interval of
a day to deliberate on it.
On the following day a solemn convocation was
held, at which one of the chiefs addressed the gov-
ernor, in the name of all the rest. My brother, said
he, we have been thinking over the proposition of
om- great father at Washington, to send teachers and
set up schools among us. We are very thankful for
the interest he takes in our welfare ; but, after much
deliberation, we have concluded to decline his ofl'er.
What will do very well for white men, will not do
for red men. I know you white men say we all com«
from the same father and mother, but you are mis-
taken. We have a tradition handed down from our
forefathers, and we believe it, that the Great Spirit,
when he undertook to make men, made the black
man — it was his first attempt and pretty well for a
beginning ; but he soon saw he had bungled : so he
determined to try his hand again. He did so, and
made the red man. He liked him much better than
the black man, but still he was not exactly what he
wanted. So he tried once more, and made the white
man, and then he was satisfied.
1
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 73
You see, therefore, that you were made last, and
that is the reason I call you. my youngest brother.
Now, when the Great Spirit had made the three men,
he called them together and showed them three boxes.
The first box was filled with books and maps and
papers; the second, with bows and arrows, knives
and tomahawks; the third, with spades, axes, hoes
and hammers. These, my sons, said he, are the
means by which you are to live ; choose among them
according to your fancy.
The white man, being the favorite, had the first
choice. He passed by the box of working tools with-
out notice ; but when he came to the weapons of war
and hunting, he stopped and looked hard at them.
The red man trembled, for he had set his heart upon
that box. The white man, however, after looking
upon It tor a moment, passed on and chose the box
of books and papers. The red man's turn came
next, and you may be sure he seized with joy upon
the bows, and arrows and tomahawks. As to the
black man, he had no choice left but to put up with
the box of tools.
From this it is clear that the Great Spirit intended
the white man should learn to read and write; to
understand all about the moon and stars, and to
make every thing, even rum and whisky. That
the red man should be a first rate hunter and a
mighty warrior, but he was not to learn any thing
from books, as the Great Spirit had not given him
any ; nor was he to make whisky nor rum, lest he
should kill himself with drinking. As to the black
man, as he had nothing but working tools, it was
74 ORIGIN^ CHARACTER, ANI>'
clear he was to work for the white and red man,
which he has ever continued to do.
But still further, in agreement with the opinion of
there having been in the outset of time, after thfi
flood, three different human complexions amorig men;
we learn that there has been discavered, within a few
years, by a traveler, some very curious paintings, in
the subterranean chambers of the dead, beneath the
ruins of on-e of the ancient cities of Egypt. These
paintings were found executed on the walls of thfr
royal sepulchers, and delineated three races of men,
distinguished by their complexions, their forms and
the signs of their grades in society. As to their com-
plexionsy they were white^ red and hlaek. The white
men were placed in such attitudes as denoted them
to have been legislators or lawgivers ; the red men
as warriors, with the instruments of war and slaugh-
ter in their hands; the hlack men, as servants or
slaves, with the tools of husbandry in their grasp*
These paintings were so curiously and perfectly
executed, that, at the time of their late discovery,
ihey were as bright and vivid as if but newly
painted.^ — Heme's Historical Researches in Africa^
vol. ii, p. 90.
Thus we have, as we believe, made out that the
negro race were known, as they are now known, to
have been black, with woolly heads, too near the
time of the flood to admit of the operation of the
climates to have done so strange a work as to have
changed mankind from some other hue to that of
black, and therefore shows that they were thus
created, as before arguedv
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. » 76
We shall, therefore, close this section and pass to
other matters, which concern the fortunes of the chil-
dren of Ham.
What God has done, remains stedfast and true
, Nature leaps not its bounds, to products new.
But always is the same, without a change,
In men or trees, through nature's mighty range;
What tho' a. bear is white, in Arctic snows,
And black, in warmer climes where blooms the
Yet 'tis a bear in nature, shape and gmU,
And cannot be a fox, at any rate.
76 , ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
FIFTH SECTION.
The three sons of Noah, all born more than a hundred years before
the Flood, aided in building the Ark — Reasons why the Divine
Being produced two new races of men different from Adam —
Change of the climates of the Globe effected by the Flood— Beauty
of the earth before the Flood — ^Wife of Ham and the wives of the
other sons of Noah — Who they were — Respecting straight-haired
black men — The cause, Ham, their father, having been woolly
headed — Egyptian mummies — One man only between Noah and
Adam — Landing of the Ark on a mountain — Noah descends —
' Plants a vineyard — Drinks new wine— Falls asleep — Ham's con-
duct on the occasion — Noah's curse of the whole race of Ham-
Description of Mount Ararat — The first tents of Noah — Early
settlements at the foot of the mountain — Plate of the Family of
Noah, showing the different complexions of his sons — Arguments
and reasons against the amalgamation of the races at first- —
Arguments that Noah's eurse of Ham was God's judicial decree
that slavery was thus entailed upon the Negro race — Character
of Ham, from his youth til! the eurse — Argument that the eurte
was not a mere prophesy, but a decree jiidicial.
The three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth,
who were all born about a hundred years before the
flood, came and assisted their father in building the ark,
as soon as they were old enough. These three sons
were, no doubt, produced, at least two of them, Ham
and Japheth, with constitutions differing from each
other, as much as they differed in appearance, with
a strict reference to the changes the earth was to un-
dergo, by the effects of the universal deluge.
The Divine Being knew that when the flood should
POKT ONES, Oh- THE NEGRO RACE. 77
come and destroy the earth, by the violence and ope-
rations of the waters, that the cUmates would be
greatly changed from what they had been from the
creation. This effect was to be produced by the un-
covering of vast regions of the subterraneous seas,
which was done when the fountains of the great deep
were broken up (see Gen. vii, 11); for in proportion
as the water came up the land went down, which
would produce, when the waters should retire (on
account of more of this element remaining exposed
to the air than was the case before the flood), an un-
healthy varying humidity over the whole earth.
There can be no doubt but the original beauty and
arrangement of the countries of the globe have been
greatly deranged by the rending currents of the
overwhelming waters, the falling in of entire reigions
of the original surface, occasioned by the quivering
of the earth, as doubtless it was shaken by the Divine
Power for that very purpose. By this means the
coverings of the great deep were removed, and went
down to the bottom of the seas.
Prior to the flood, it is our belief that the whole
surface of the earth was so united by J and as not to
be separated by water, except mere rivers, small
lakes and streams, when both men and animals could
and did pass, without interruption, quite around it.
Instead of Jive oceans, which now nearly swallow up
the whole earth (one-fourth only excepted), there was
every where beautiful lakes, great and small "ivers,
both salt and fresh, with brooks and fountams, so
arranged as to beautify and adorn the whole, as well
as accommodate every species of animal existence
78 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANB
m tl^e most happy and convenient manner — making
it the abode of men and nations, where sickness and
death, even after the fall, couLd scarcely enter, ex-
cept by violence.
One-half of the primitive earth's surface was water,
and the other land; but the two elements were so
mingled and arranged as that the exhalations, by the
action of the sun's rays, produced a happy and an
equal humidity of rains and dews, thus securing an
equilibrium of temperature, health, and the growth of
all things suitable for food, within the arctic and the
antarctic circles. But when the flood came, it tore by
its currents, shook and dissolved the beautiful earth,
to a mass of entire chaos, as it was when it was first
created, and before the water and the earthy matter
were separated, by the Divine Power,^ primevally.
Many regions of the ancient earth, where dwelt the
first nations, between Adam and the flood, now lie
buried beneath the weltering waves of seas and oceans.
This change of the ancient surface from land to a
disproportionate quantum of water, produced, as al-
ready said, an entire alteration of the primitive cli-
mates, causing a corresponding revolution, in the pro-
ducts of the earth, on which men and animals were
to subsist, unfavorable to health and long life; thus
aiding in the abridgment of the age of man, from
five, six, seven, eight, and even nine hundred years,
down to the pitiful amount of '^ three score years and
ten,'' or a little over, as it sometimes happens.
On this very account, the change of the earth's
^r^^ climates from a steady, even temperament; to
those of a more changeable character, impregnated
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 79
with nery air in one region, and damp cold fogs in
another, the fumes of stagnant morasses and waters,
with pestilential winds commingling and pouring
their death dealing influences over almost every coun-
try; God saw proper, in view of all this, to produce
two new races of men, who were adapted in their for-
mation, size, color and constitutions, to this new state
of things which was to take place by means of the
flood.
If such was not the reason for the Divine proced-
ure, in producing the two new races, then it is hidden
from mortal research, and belongs to the unrevealed
history of the councils of Heaven, or, at any rate, it
is hidden from the penetration of the writer. From
the account in the Book of Genesis, we find that the
sons -of Noah had taken them wives but a little be-
fore the flood, as we learn they bad no children till
after they had made the voyage of that shoreless
ocean, and the ark had rested on the mountain Ara-
rat, in Armenia of Asia Minor. The wives they
married, as to blood and complexion, were the same
with all the antediluvians, red or copper colored wo-
men, as there were no others to marry.
Japheth being a blue eyed white man, and Ham
a woolly headed, black eyed black man, their chil-
dren, of necessity, would be of a mixed character in
some cases, and in others there would be the likeness
sometimes of one parent, and sometimes the likeness
of the other. Had the wife of Ham been as black
and woolly headed as he was himself, then their
race would hav« been without any marked variation,
always woolly headed, both male and female, forever
80 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
as nature^ without the intervention of a miracle, does
not leap out of her courses in any of God's works.
But as in the race of the white man, there are
found black eyed and black headed individuals,
with what is called a dark complexion, even in white
families, we believe that this is the result of the blood
nf Japheth's wife, who was copper colored, being mix-
ed with his. who was a blue eyed white man. The
same is the effect now, when the whites mix with the
Indians: or the Arabs, Hindoos, or the people of the
East Indies, some of the offspring have fair and
white complexions, with lio^ht blue eyes and auburn
hair, as well as often white, and even red hair, while
others are much darker, with jet colored hair, and
eyes of the same description. In process of time,
the influence of the male blood of the white man will
run out entirely the influence of the female blood as
to complexion, if no further mixing takes place,
there remaining no trace of it, except in the hair and
the eyes, which is known to be true.
The same rule operates in the case of the negro
man when his blood is mixed with Indian blood,
the power of the Tnale overcomes and runs out ili.-
female, in relation to her color, causing the offspring
to become thoroughly negro, if there is no further
mixmg as to complexion, while the hair and contour
of the face will continue to be in imitation of the
mother in many instances, but in many more it will
be like the father; this is also known to be true.
This, in onr opinion, was the way the marriage
of Ham with the antediluvian girl operated, and thus
in the first ages, and as is now the case, there was
THE NEGRO RACE. 81
pt^duced the' wo(5^y4i(gaaM,and the straight haired
■ n^^fo, such as were^iwifte-oftW Egyptians, the Ethi-
opians, the LybiaMs i^nd thfe Ca:H^ajnites, with the
Carthagenians,.^^nd many of| the Africans at the
present tirn^^biiSt all puret'ne^cies. - \
Frgpr.thisiact, there cah sca|cely be a^doubt, that
t^c early n^ons took advanta^fe of tikis'' trait of na-
ture's operations, by mixing the^ blood of such males
and females, as'had not the woolly head, together, on ac-
count of, rfieir beinSfar more: comely to look upon,
avoiding wholly, ff generally, the negroes of the
othef des.cripti^, which was perfectly natural, and
-^^n commendable, j
.^'^In.Xhis way there was produced, and ever has been,
f^wo races of^feladc-OT^negT'Ometi. 'l^he straight hair-
ed negro has ever been found to be more intellectual,
enterprizing and comely to look upon than the other
race, who, from earliest time, have been made
slaves of. The woollyJieads have always, as a peo-
ple, been less inclined to'improvement, either physi-
cally or mentally. By this means, it is seen that the
two races had early a mighty barrier placed between
them, so that when a woolly head married with a
straight haired black person, it was held as great a
disgrace for the straight haired one, as it is now,
when the whites amalgamate with the blacks.
This race of negroes are found to have heads shap-
ed more after the Caucasian, or European model,
which was derived from the blood of Ham's antedi-
luvian wife : while the other race of negroes, having
from affinity of looks, feelings, propensities, and mor-
al abilities, clave to each other in marriage, or sexual
82 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
union, they have therefore propagated, and perfected
a progeny like themselves, wholly inferior to all the
other people of the human race, who were never the
authors of any thing great on the earth, no not even
as imitators of others, except now and then an indi-
vidual.
With this view, we see how it has happened that
when an Egyptian mummy is found, who represents
the leading class of those ages in that country, they
have almost always straight hair, which circumstance
has puzzled physiologists and the antiquary not a
little. This fact, however, changes not their charac-
ter as to their origin, for they are truly the descend-
ants of Ham, as are the other sort of negroes, but
simply accounts for acts done by the race, which seem
above themselves, if they were nothing more nor bet-
ter, intellectually, than the woolly heads are at the
present day. Neither does it change their condition,
in relation to the purposes of the Divine providence
respecting them, as they are referred to by direct
prophesy, in a very particular manner, as we shall
soon be compelled to show.
Thus we have made a few remarks on the subjec.
of the wives of Ham and Japheth, because we have
often heard the inquiry made, who did Ham marry
for a wife, if he was the first and only black person
on the earth when he took him a wife, and brought
her through the flood in the ark?
Thus we have passed through, in a brief manner,
several interesting topics. But we are now compell-
ed to approach another subject, which, to many minds
at the present day, is a stumbling block of no small
FORTUNES. OF THE NEGRO RACE. 83
magnitiide; and this is the awful curse of the holy
and righteous Noah, the patriarchal prophet of God,
the only person who was found to be righteous of all
the antediluvian race living in his time ; see Gen. vii,
1. Noah was born but one hundred and seventy-
eight years after the death of Adam, whose father
was the Patriarch Lamech, born one hundred and
eighty-two years before Adam's death, there being
but one intermediate Patriarch between Noah and
Adam ; of necessity, therefore, how intimate must the
mind of Noah have been with all that appertained to
the knowledge of God and his providences from the
beginning till his own time, and how capable he must
have been of instructing his own house in true
knowledge, as well as the arts after the flood, as he
lived three hundred and fifty years after that event.
It was from the lips of this man that the everlast-
ing God chose to announce the curse or malediction
of servitude and slavery upon Ham and his race, as
it is written. Gen. ix, 25 — 27.
The reason of this terrible malediction of Noah
upon his son Ham should be carefully sought after,
or we may be led to accuse ere we may be aware of
it. Such a proceeding as being captious amdunjust,
which would be a lamentable circumstance to discov-
er in the character of a man, who is named in Scrip-
ture as one among five of the holiest of the prophets,
namely, Daniel, Job, Moses, Samuel and Noah, see
Ezek. xiv, 14, and Jer. xv, 1, and the holiest man
upon the earth just prior to the flood.
It appears from the Scripture, that immediately
after the subsiding of the waters of the deluge, and
84 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the ark had grounded on a small flat, or space of
land, between the fingers of Mount Ararat, which
fingers, or points, commence to divide at an altitude
of about three miles above the common level of the
earth, at the base of the mountain : we say it appears
that Noah, as soon as the country had become drain-
ed of the waters, descended from the great ship of
the flood down the mountain to the more level grounds
of the country. On the side he went down, the
mountain slopes off from the flat above named (which
is about half a mile in width. — Porter), in a gradual
manner, till lost in the country beyond, while on all
the other sides it is a horrible series of ledges, per-
pendicular clifis, and benches of everlasting stones
and rocks, going up from the base of the mountains
to the extreme points of the fingers, above spoken of,
to the prodigious height of five and a half miles, where
they are covered with unmelted snows of all ages
since the flood.
Fifteen cubits and upward did the waters of that
deluge rise, even above the extreme points of the fin
gers of this mountain. See Gen. vii, 19, 20.
How dreadful was this! What a horrible abyss,
Where the winds, and the lightning and thunder,
Went down in the deep ! Where ocean waves sleep.
And rent the vast deluge asunder.
Here rested alone old Neptune's salt throne
On the face of the watery star,
Around which, in glee, the fish of the sea
Played joyous in circles afar.
His horses stood near, in their pride, without fear
O'er the deluge's wide waters to roam,
Where at his nod they went forth with the god.
And paw'd with their feet the white foam.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO R^CE. 85
For a particular description of Mount Ararat, and
the vast plains which lie at its base, in a semicircu-
lar form, extending as far as the eye can reach, as well
as an account of the tradition of the natives, who are
Mohammedans, respecting the great ship of the moun-
tain, see Sir Robert Ker Porter's Travels in that coun-
try, ancient Tartary, Persia and Chaldea. This vessel,
the great ship of the mountain, or the ark of Noah^
according to Dr. Arbuthnot's computation, was equal
HI its tonnage to a fleet of eighty-one ships of a thou-
sand tons each, and sixty-two tons over, which was
sufficient to carry all the Scriptures state it did, and
considerable to spare.
From this lofty mountain range, Noah descended
with his family, wiiich, besides himself, consisted of
only seven persons, who, as soon as he had found a
place that suited him, settled there, and in a short
time became a husbandman, or, in other words, a farm-
er. The pi nee he selected, was doubtless, in the great
vale which stretches out southeasterly from the foot
of the mountain, where the ark grounded, some
twenty miles, presenting to the eye an ocean of green
foliage, which had but newly grown, after the reced-
mg of the waters, and presented to the voyagers a
r-dpturous sight, who, for a year had been shut up in
the ark from the light of the sun, and for another
year, no doubt, or even more, had remained on the
mountain for the earth to dry, their descent, therefore,
down to the green earth, was a joyous journey of
some eight or ten miles only.
It was from some cleft of this mountain, which
was in latitude 35° north, that the dove found the
86 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
green olive leaf, she plucked and brought to a wm
dow of the ark, when she had been sent out the
second time. It was on that mountain where all the
animals, saved in the ark, were let loose, to roam in
the forests, except such as were domesticated. There
was heard the loud roaring of the lion, reverberating
among the ledges of Mount Ararat, the bleat of the
timid deer, the goat and the sheep. From this place
behemoth, the unicorn, or rhinoceros, the elephant,
the camel, the giraffe, the wild ass, the fleet and
beautiful horse, were turned loose, with all the hosts
of the ark, each rejoicing, according to their natures,
in their recovered liberties.
It was from this range of Mountain grandeur, that
the shrill scream of the great eagle of the antedilu-
vian world was heard, as he with his mate circled
the dizzy heights of that tallest of the Armenian hills.
Here were the notes of the first birds, after the flood,
carolled forth, who were the parents of all the feath-
ered race of the globe, except the fowls of the waters.
But lest we digress too far in our imaginings, we
will return again to Noah and his family, who had
become agriculturists, as we have before said. Among
other pursuits of husbandry, Noah planted on his
land a vineyard, the seeds of which he brought, no
doubt, together with all other seeds of use to man,
from beyond the flood.
It is very probable, that this first settlement of the
Patriarch was made near the head waters of the
Euphrates, as that river has its origin in the Ararat
range of mountains, and runs in a south-easterly di-
rection, emptying into the Persian gulf, by several
FORTUNES. OF THE XEGRO RACE. 87
mouths, which gulf is but a bay of the Eastern, or
Indian, ocean.
There, at the head waters of that river, in a warm
and genial chme, which compares with about the
middle of North Carohna, surrounded by the beauti-
ful scenery of the country, having the awful heights
of Ararat in full view, the home of the ark, the last
relic of the maritime architecture of the first ages of
the earth, at rest in its glory ; here it was that Noah
set up his tents and began his labors, assisted by his
sons and their wives. [See plate.]
At this place, from necessity, his sons must have
remained, at least, fifty years, till the children born
in the respective families were grown up, and others
born of these, and grown also, marrying with their
own respective families, as did the children of Adam,
at the beginning.
It cannot be supposed for a moment, that Noah
would allow the three distinct complexions, or races,
of his family to mingle or amalgamate, for he knew
it was God who had produced, for a wise purpose,
these very characters ; amalgamation, therefore, would
certainly have destroyed what God so evidently had
ordained and caused to exist. The amazing fact of
the existence of the three complexions, of his own
sons, by the same mother, was to Noah a sufiicient
reason, even without a Divine revelation on the sub-
ject, that these were to be kept sacredly asunder, and
pure from each other's blood forever. That this
view of the subject was held as binding upon these
families for many ages, we have no doubts — each
dreading to break over a barrier which the Creator
88 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
had evidently placed between them ; amalgamation,
therefore, during the three hundred and fifty years of
Noah's life after th-^ flood, it is not likely often hap-
pened among th'-
But from the e , ae fruitfulness of these families,
there were prodii i, by the time fifty years had
gone by, great miiltiiudes of men, women and chil-
dren, spreading ou; .a all directions around the pa
triarch Noah, their common father ; who, in cultivat-
ing the ground and fighting the wild beasts, which
by this time had filled the wilderness, presented a
great company of gigantic forest adventurers. These
adventurers, in pursuing the game of the wilds, in
all directions, for the sake of their flesh for food, and
their skins for clothing, would naturally fall in with
other tracts of arable lands, streams, lakes, brooks,
and rivers; along the banks of which, wonderful
discoveries of flowry vales and mountains would be
made. Broad savannas, abounding with all kinds of
beasts and fowls — the waters with fishes, and the
wilderness with berries, fruits, roots and esculent
herbs. Nuts of all trees, spices, gums, aromatics and
balms, frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, and odors,
wild honey, grapes and flowry regions with perpetu-
al verdure, could but captivate the hearts of these
pioneers of the wilds of the Euphrates and Tigris.
The news of such discoveries being continually
reported through the settlements, excited the forma-
tion of new companies, who, planting other neighbor-
hoods in all directions, soon to the delighted eyes of
Noah and his sons, occupied a large district, with
multitudes of white^ red, and black inhabitants ; who
FORTUNKS, OF THE NEGRO RACE. S9
were pushing forward the respective interests of
their clans, or families, with all the zeal of a mighty
host of new country adventurers, dressed, both men
and women, as well as children, in the shaggy skins
of such animals as they could overcome and destroy.
But lest we should wander too far, on account of
the exuberance of the subject, we will return to the
chief matter in hand, and this is the case of Ham
and his people. In order to do this, we shall find it
necessary to return again to the dwelling of Noah,
and his plantation, at the time when, as yet, his sons
and their families had not gone from thence, in quest
of new places of settlement. In doing this, we will
not forget the vineyard^ which Noah planted first of
all, after the resting of the ark, and his removal oul
of it, down the mountain Ararat, from which, in its
season, he gathered the grapes, and pressing out the
juice of the same, drank, and became inebriated, or
inclined to sleep — as we disallow of his being wicked-
ly drunk at all.
That he was thus affected, is not much to be won-
dered at, as Noah was, at the time of this occurrence,
more than six hundred years old, when the weak-
ness of old age must have began to unstring the iron
nerves of antediluvian origin, such as characterized
all the people before the flood. Now, during the ef-
fect of the wine, which doubtless was in its unfer-
mented condition, like the new juice of apples, Noah
fell asleep, as any old man would have done, after
drinking so invigorating a draught. This took
place in his tent, when, during the sleep, from some
involuntary motion of his limbs, his robe, mantle, oi
7
90 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
garment, which it appears was but loosely cast about
him, became deranged, and fell from his person, while
in a recumbent and unconscious condition, there alone
in his repose.
Why, or on what account. Ham came to intrude
on the sacredness of his father's rest, is not known ;
but so it was. At this juncture, the two other sons
of Noah, Japheth and Shem, were not far off; for,
when Ham had been within the tent, and had seen
the condition of his father, he was noticed by them
to rush out in a state of very great excitement, yel
ling and exploding with laughter. But as soon as
the fit had somewhat abated, Shem and Japheth
made inquiry, respecting the cause of so much mirth
and uproar, when they were seized with a fearful
consternation of mind, and finding a garment of
sufficient size, they extended it between their per-
sons, and went backward into the tent, when they
spread it over their father, and retired in silence. See
Gen. ix, 23.
The delicate and thoughtful manner in which the
two brothers treated their father, on this distressing
occasion, is sufficient evidence of their views of the
awful conduct of Ham, showing that they considered
what he had done was a crime of the deepest dye;
a transaction, if perpetrated at the present time, would
mark the actor as a character of the basest and low-
est kind.
But if the two brothers, Shem and Japheth, were
shocked at the behavior of Ham, what were the feel-
ings of his father, when he came to know the fact?
From what followed, we learn that the Patriarch was
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 91
deeply grieved on account of the reckless impiety of
Ham, as well as offended on his own personal behalf;
for, on calling this son before him, Noah said, by the
spirit of Prophesy, words too terrible to fall from
a parents lips, without a reason entirely resistless.
The words which he pronounced, and was moved
thereto by the third person of the Trinity, the Holy
Ghost, contained in them a curse, a dreadful curse,
which not only covered the person and fortunes of
Ham, but that of his whole posterity also, to the very
end of time, for aught that appears to the contrary
For an account of this appalling anathema, see
Genesis ix, 24-27, as follows: ^^And Noah awoke
from his wine, and knew what his yonnger son
had done unto him: and he said, cursed be Ca-
naan (Ham); a servant of servants shall he be
unto his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord
God of Shem ; and Canaan [Ham) shall be his ser-
vant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall
dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan (Ham,) shall
be his servant.''''
But lest the reader should become perplexed, re-
pecting the application of this anathema, on account
of the text above referred to being, in the English,
'^'^ cursed Canaan^'' instead of '■'•cursed Ham," as it
should have been translated ; we state that the Ara-
bic copy of the book of Genesis, which is a language
of equal authority with the Hebrew, and originally
the very same, reads " cursed Ham^^ the father of
Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren.
In this sense it has ever been understood by all
ya ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
commentators, in every age, on the sacred writings.
Bishop Newton thus understood the passage, who
also refers the reader to the Arabic Bible for the true
readmg, as does Adam Clark.
Newton maintains, page 19, at considerable length,
that the curse of Noah upon Ham, had a general
and an interminable application to the whole Hamite
race, in placing them under a 'peculiar hability of
being enslaved by the races of the two other brothers.
Were not the above opinion the truth on that point,
it would be a difficult matter to view the Divine pro-
cedure in that case otherwise than unjust; for why
should Canaan, who was the youngest son of Ham,
be selected from among the four to be cursed, and
laid under a peculiar liability to be enslaved in his
posterity, more than the other three brothers, for the
act of their father. But when that Scripture is read
and understood, as the Arabic records and under-
stands it, the subject becomes plain, simple, and
straight before us. Ham is the man who is denounced
with his posterity, who were to become the slaves of
the posterities of the two other races, and among
themselves ; for the text says, they should be the
"servants q/" servants," as well as the servants of the
hired servants of the other races, as is the fact in all
countries, and has ever been thus.
It is not our opinion that for this one act of Ham
that dreadful curse fell upon him and his race. It
was not for that one act alone, but on account of his
whole character and nature (which one act was, how-
ever, in awful keeping with his previous life), thai
the curse of slavery was entailed on his race.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. Md
I
1 That the character of Ham's hfe, up to the time
1 when he committed that unchaste, unfihal, and un-
' holy deed, had been but a continued scene of sin and
outrage, is strongly intimated in the words made use
I of by Noah, when he denounced him, and said
.1 ^^cursed Hamj'^ not cursed be Ham, as the English
' translators have rendered it, supplying the word be,
as if he had not been thus prior to that time. The
word be is not in the original, nor is it needed in the
English translation.
j The words, cursed Ham, therefore, signify, in the
i Hebrew, that he had been always a bad person, even
] from childhood ; for let it not be forgotten that Ham,
I at the very time he did that act, was more than a
hundred years old. All the powers of his mind were
as matured then as they ever could be; the deed,
therefore, was but a trait of the gigantic negro's gene-
ral life and character. Had Ham, on discovering the
condition of his patriarchal father in his sleep, retired
j abashed and sorrowful, and had kept the thing to
himself, or had related what had taken place with
downcast eyes and real mortification, it would have
been the evidence of the good intentions and pious
state of his heart and temperament of mind, as well
as, in a degree, would have argued well in relation to
I his former character. The curse, therefore, against
Ham and his race was not sent out on the account
of that one sin only. But as the deed was heinous,
and withal was in unison with his whole life, charac-
ter and constitutional make, prior to that deed, the
curse, which had slumbered long, was let ijose upon
him and his posterity, as a general thing, placing
M ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANI>
them under the ban of slavery, on account of his and
their foreseen characters.
Noah did not and could not, as a holy and good
man, have pronounced that curse in a vindictive and
furious manner upon Ham. No,^ this he did not do ;
it was very far from being thus. When the great
Patriarch was moved upon by the Holy Ghost to
speak as he did on that occasion, we have no doubt
but he did it with real pain and sorrow of heart, and
yet it must be done, as it was dictated by the influ-
ence of the EternaVs tnandate.
Might we be allowed to imagine the state of Noah's
feelings on that occasion, and also to give words to
those feelings, they would be as follows : " Oh Ham,
my son, it is not for this one deed alone which you
have just committed that I have, by God's command,
thus condemned you and your race ; but the Lord
has shown me that all your descendants will, more
or less, be like yon, their father, on which account it
is determined by the Creator that you and your peo-
ple are to occupy the lowest condition of all the fam-
ilies among mankind, and even be enslaved as brute
beasts, going down in the scale of human society,
beyond and below the ordinary exigencies of mortal
existence, arising out of war, revolutions and con-
flicts, for you will and must be, both in times of
peace and war, a despised, a degraded and an op-
pressed race."
God, therefore, foreseeing the end from the begin-
ning, saw good to direct the mind of Noah, who was
a prophet, to declare to the world what should come
to pass concerning all his sons, as well as Ham^ ic
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 95
the most specific and particular manner. By this
procedure, God has set up, as it were, way marks and
data, b)'- which, in after ages, men should come to
see, know and believe in the veracity of his word, as
spoken by his prophets, on account of the fidjillment
of the same, in every iota thereof, not only m relation
to the destinies of Noah's three sons, but in all things
else.
On the subject of a child's treating its parents with
ijitended disrespect, see the opinion of God himself,
Deut, xxvii, 16, who, in that place says, "cursed be
he that setteth light by his father or his mother, and
all the people shall say amen." This sin, the treat-
ing a father or mother disrespectfully, was, by the
law of Moses, punished with death. See Deut. xxi,
18 — 21. Consequently, according to this law. Ham
was morally worthy of death.
But lest the reader may suspect that this terrible
character of Ham is almost if not entirely imaginary,
we shall, as promised some pages above, give the
history of that deed of his from the pen of Josephus.
See Jewish Antiquities, chap, vi, book i, p. 22, as fol
lows : " When after the deluge the earth was settled
in its former condition, Noah set about its cultivation;
and when he had planted it with vines, and when
the fruit was ripe and he had gathered the grapes in
the season, and the wine was ready for use, he offer-
ed a sacrifice and feasted, and being inebriated fell
asleep and lay naked in an unseemly manner. When
Ham, his youngest son, saw this, he came laughing
and showed him to his brothers."
From this evidence, the fact of Ham having treated
96 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
his father with great disrespect and wicked levity, is
fairly made out, and therefore deserves the character
we have described as his, and the punishment award-
ed to him and his race, both judicial and as a result
of his and their natures.
But says one, we have always held that this curse
of Noah, as it is called, upon the negro race, was a
kind of immeaning rhapsody of the father of Ham,
and long ago became obsolete and perfectly nugatory./
To unhinge, therefore, a notion so fraught with light-
ness and falsehood, we exhibit the following, from
the pen of inspiration, and having a strong relation
in kind and character, so far as relates to the curs^
of God, or denunciations of the Highest, which he
has seen fit to publish in the annals of truth — the
Holy Scriptures, we bring them to view as parallels
to the case of the denunciation of Ham, believing as
fully in their perfect accomplishment as we do in
that of the curse of Noah upon Ham and his race.
The first case of the kind which occurs on the
sacred page, is found Gen. iii, 14, and reads as follows :
"And the Lord God said unto the serpent. Because
thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle,
and above every beast of the field : upon thy belly
shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life." This curse on the serpent, which was ul-
rored more than sixteen hundred years before the
curse of Noah upon Ham and his race, has lost noth-
ing of its force and true meaning, though vastly more
ancient and prolix in its interpretation, as commonly
understood.
A second case, in the character of a curse, is found
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 97
in the same chapter, as above, at the 17th verse, re-
specting the ground, which, on account of Adam's
sin, in hearkening to his wife's counsel, was cursed,
so that it is supposed to have been far less prolific,
from the time of that sin to the flood, and from the
flood to this day, than it would otherwise have been
had it not been thus cursed by the Supreme Being.
The exact form or words of this curse are as follows:
^'^ Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt
tho7i eat of it all the days of thy life." Has this
curse failed of being continually fulfilled in all
ages, though vastly more ancient than the curse of
Noah upon his son Ham — and were all equally
judicial?
No man discredits the complete accomplishment
of the patriarch .lacob's predictions respecting the for-
tunes of his twelve sons, in their posterities. See
Gen. xlix, from the 3d to the 27th verse inclusive,
where the wonderful and specific history of that pro-
phet's foresight is related.
Add to the above the terrible curses of God, by the
mouth of Moses, upon the whole Hebrew or Jewish
tribes, if they forsook the law, which in process of
time the^A did: and how awfully and perfectly those
curses were fulfilled, all men know. For a history
of those curses or judicial acts of God, see the entire
chapter, the 28th of Deuteronomy. Now, with all
this before our eyes and impressed upon our belief,
are we to undervalue the same kind of inspiration
because it is found to aflect a subject on which same
men have made up their minds not to believe, name-
ly, the curse of Noah, or God's judicial act upon Hani,
98 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
and his foresight of the slavery of that race, as shown
to Noah, and say it was never thus intended?
The appointment of this race of men to servitude
and slavery was a judicial act of God, or, in other
words, was a divine judgment. There are three evi-
dences of this, which are as follows :
First — The fact of their being created or produced
in a lower order of intellectuality than either of the
other races (as we shall prove in due order), their
forms, natures or passions agreeing therewith, is evi-
dence of the preordination of their fate as slaves on
the earth, as none but God could have done or deter-
mined this thing.
Second — The announcement of God by the mouth
of Noah, relative to the whole race of Ham, pointing
out in so many words, in the clearest and most spe-
cific manner, that they were adjudged to slavery, as
we have already shown from the book of Genesis,
agreeing with the first witness as above, namely,
that they were foreordained, and appointed to the
condition they hold among men by the divine Mind,
solely on account of the foreseen character they would
sustain as a race, who, therefore, were thus judicially
put beneath the supervision of the other races.
Third — The great and everywhere pervading fact
of their degraded condition, both now and in all time,
more or less, is the very climax-witness that, in the
above conclusion, we are not mistaken — namely, that
the negro race, as a people, are judicially given over to
a state or peculiar liability of being enslaved by the
other races.
^V]Ly the Supreme Being saw fit to create or to
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 99
produce such a race thus low in the scale of human
existence, and at the same time foreseeing their char-
acter and consequent condition on the earth, is more
than can be known by human research, and, of neces-
sity, is therefore none of our business. It might as
well be inquired, why God made the world at all and
peopled it by the two first of our race, seeing he fore-
saw all they would do in opposition to his will and
benevolent designs. Such inquiries are probably
beyond our depth of investigation, while /ac/5 are not
thus hidden from us, and one of the great facts of God's
jurisprudence among men appears to be ihe judicial
appointment of the black race to slavery.
Here it is proper for us to state, that many persons,
with all abolitionists, believe that what Noah said on
that occasion was merely prophetic and ?io/ judicial.
If prophetic merely, then it would follow that the
slavery of the negro race was by Noah foretold, the
same as other wicked acts of men were foretold by
the prophets, but not, therefore, sanctioned by the
Holy Spirit. This view of theirs, however, will not
bear thus to be softened down, on account of the fear-
ful word "c?«*.9et/," which raises it above the ordinary
foresight of the prophets, respecting the wicked acts
of men, and makes it a direct decree.
It is written in the Scriptures, ^^ cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree," Gal. iii, 13, and ^'■cursed
is every one who loveth not tlie Lord Jesus Christ."
Are not these recorded as judicial, and, on account
of the word cursed, amount to far more than a mere
prophesy ?
So, also, as relates t3 the announcement of Noah,
100
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the word cursed being the governing idea, relating to
negro slavery, makes it a judicial decree, which in-
volves more than a mere prophesy, placing its fulfill-
ment beyond the fortuitous or contingent acts of men.
The whole three verses of Noah's curse on the race
of Ham is delivered in the inipei'ative mood, making
their accomplishment sure, above and beyond all
contingencies. That a day of final judgment is to
come, is not more strongly and decidedly set down
by the inspired writer than is the doom of the negro
race in the particular of servitude, and will not be
more certainly fulfilled than has been and is now ful-
filling the word of the Lord by Noah.
On the subject of judicial curses, see Deuteronomy,
the 27th and 28th chapters, in which there are no
less than sixteen such decrees or curses, all of which,
however, were conditionally suspended over the
heads of the twelve tribes. If they would obey the
law, then blessings should be their portion, but if they
transgressed in the particulars mentioned in those
sixteen verses above alluded to, then they were
cursed, and judicially so.
Some of those curses are as follows — see the 15th,
16th, 17th, 18th, and l9th verses of the 28th chap-
ter of Deut. : "But it shall come to pass, if thou
wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God,
to observe to do all his commandments and his stat-
utes which I command thee this day, that all these
Classes shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt
thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket
and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy bf tdy,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 101
and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine
and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed sbalt thou be
when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be
when thou goest out."
Now, who will deny but the above curses were ju-
diclally pronounced, though conditionally. But in
the curse of Noah, which was by the authority of the
same God, there was no condition at all, it was a di-
rect curse, without remedy, palliation, or chance of
escape. How is it possible, therefore, for any one
to maintain that the curse of Noah on the race of
Ham was not a 6o?irt^rfe judicial decree, not a mere
propliesy, the fulfillment of which should happen
contingently; but a decree which should be fulfilled,
irrespective of contingencies, in an arbitrary and ex-
ecutive manner.
Thus we believe that sufficient evidence appears
from the Scriptures, of the judicial appointment of
that people to servitude. In view of this belief, and
of that fact, the inquiry naturally arises here, wheth-
er.it is a sin to enslave a negro. To this we are
compelled, even against our sympathies and precon-
ceived opinions arising out of our education, to an-
swer no, it is no sin in principle ; the manner hi which
it may be done may be sinful, as it is in our power to
abuse any and all the privileges put in our hands by
the Divine Being.
We are driven to the above conclusion by sheer
logical violence, and as follows:
If God appointed the race of Ham judicially to
slavery, and it were a heinous sin to enslave one, or
al. the race, b,w then is the appointment of God to
102 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
•go into effect? The reader can but see, as well as
feel, the dilemma. The judicial acts of God do
never involve the actual commission of sin any more
than his works, or acts of mercy and benevolence—
It is the way we use such acts, as they relate to men
that sin arises, and not out of the acts of God them-
selves, as the primary and moving principle of sin.
If the actor, in his doings in this life, is aware that
he is an instrument in the hands of the Divine Provi-
dence of fulfilling, or carrying into effect a divine
judgment, he is only to be careful how, and in what
spirit, he does the thing, lest he should be found
acting as of himself, and independent of God, mak-
ing the execution of the Divine will his own vin-
dictive, arbitrary, or thoughtless work: such a course
is sin.
The destruction of the old Canaanites, by the Jews,
was a judicial act of God, who straightly command-
ed them, by the ministration of Moses (see Deut.
vii, 2), that they should not spare them, nor show
mercy or pity toward them ; and yet they were not
to be wantonly cruel or murderous, as if they were
acting entirely from mere fury and love of butchery.
That dreadful affair, the exterminating decree of God
against the negroes of old Canaan, was not by the
will of man, but of God ; the instruments, therefore,
were not to sin in its execution by deeds of iiseless
eruelty and ferocity ; if they did. then such acts were
sinful,
God does never sanction sin, nor call for the com-
mission of moral evil to forward any of his purposes ;
wherefore we come to the conclusion, that it is not
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 103
sinful to en:?lave the negro race, providing it is done
in a tender, fatherly and thoughtful manner, having
the fear of God before our eyes, in a transaction of
the kind, doing no violence to the bodies or minds
of such persons as slaves or servants, beyond proper
and necessary correction.
This is as easly accomplished as is the government
of a family, in the ordinary sense of the word, or the
good men of old could not have done it, as they most
assuredly did, upon which we shall treat in due or-
der. It is the abuses of the institution of negro sla-
very, which have recently, by the Divine Providence,
aroused the sympathies of men, but not the principle
itself^ as God cannot resist his own determinations.
There is no man except infidels, and those who
are tinctured with principles of the infidel character,
who for a moment doubts the judicial decision of
God in relation to murderers, as announced to Noah,
and all mankind through him. This act of God is
found on the page of the Divine record, in the same
chapter with the act respecting the negro race, name
ly, the ixth, at the 5th and 6th verses, as follows:
"And surely your blood of your lives will I require
* * * at the hand of man : at the hand of every
man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso
sheddeth man's blood (by murder), by mati shall his
blood be shed: for in the image of God made he
man !"
This judicial act was announced, not to the ears
of the half civilized and barbarous Jews, as so7ne
men speak, when the law of Moses was given, but
to the wise and enlightened house of Noah, about
104 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
eight hundred years before the law of Moses; it
was, therefore, the adjudication of God, at the head
of time, to all the nations who might arise on the
earth to the end of the world, respecting murderers.
This passage is allowed by all to be judicial^ but
not the other by many, though by the same authority,
and equally specifically noted down, and without any
condition.
This judicial act of God is responded to in the ten
commandments, where it is written, " thou shalt not
kill," or, in other words, thou shalt not murder ; not
meaning, as many contend, that a murderer must
not be killed — not even by a public execution. So
also is the act of God, in relation to the judical con-
demnation of the race of Ham, equally responded to
in the ten commandment, or law of Moses, where
it is written, " thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
man servant (or slave), nor his maid servant," or fe-
male slave, as it is in the original. If the servants,
or slaves, alluded to in that commandment, which
is the tenth and last, were not therein recognized as
property ^ how could a slave be a subject of covetoiis-
ness as well as an ox, or an ass, creatures no one de-
nies but were property, which are classed together in
that command, and referred to in the same light equal-
ly, as being property, and as objects that might be
coveted as such.
Thus far we have treated on the curse of Noah
against Ham, or, in other words, upon the judicial
act of God, in relation to that people. Our next en-
deavor will, therefore, be to ascertain whether this
judgment was acted upon, recognized or sanctioned
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 106
by the next dispensation following that of the Patri-
archs, namely, the law of Moses and his successors —
the prophets, kings, nobles and elders of the Jewish
government — as was all the other judicial acts of
God, jprior to the law.
Thus Ham, the sooty monarch of his race,
Adjudg'd of Heaven to fill a servant's place,
Sits regal on his throne, in frowning ire,
The king of slaves, their patriarch and sire,
Whose state of servitude can never cease.
Till the end of time shall bring the grand releua.
8
106 ORIGIN, CHARACTER. AND
SIXTH SECTION.
Proofs from the Scriptures, that the cur$e of Noah upon the race ot
Ham, as a judicial act, is indorsed by the law of Moses — Compar-
ative view of all the orders of servants among the Jews, as the
hired Hebrew servant, the bought Hebrew servant, the voluntary
Hebrew servant, and the Negro or Cancbanite slave — Remarks on
the subject of the strangers, of whom the Jews might lake usu-
ry, and of whom they might not take usury — Respecting who
the strangers were, who they should not enslave, or use as bond-
men— A seeming contradiction in the law on this subject recon-
ciled— Perpetual slaves to be bought of the Negro heathen ©f old
Canaan, as directed by the law — Strictures on Abolitionist opin-
ions, respecting the meaning of the law relative to servants — Char-
acter of Noah and Lot rescued from abolitionist aspersions — Stric-
tures on the opinions of abolitionists, respecting the word buy, as
applied to the purchase of bondmen, in the law of Moses, with
other matters of their setting forth — Difference between the con-
dition of HrbretD servants and their Canaanite slaves, with respect
to the jiibilees, and other matters — Proofs that the Hebrews bought
and sold Negro slaves under the sanction of the law; even going
to Africa for that purpose — Enslaving of the persons of the Amal-
ekites under the eye of Moses — Slaves of the patriarchs bought
with money — A curious query of abolitionists answered, with
many other matters.
As remarked al the close of the foregoing section,
It will be our endeavor in the following to ascertain
whether, in the law of Moses, the jiidiciaj act of
God against the race of Ham, as announced by Noah,
was indorsed, and acted upon accordingly, by the
Hebrews.
To do this, it will not be necessary to prove, in this
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 107
«?ection, that the inhabitants of Canaan, whom the
Jews were to destroy, were of the genealogy of Ham,
including the whole gg^n nations of that country,
and were the direct descendants of this man through
Canaan, a son of his, as all this has been done in
the fourth section of the work, and elsewhere.
On this account, our labor is therefore straight be-
fore us, namely, to ascertain whether, in the law of
Moses, the curse of Noah against Ham and his people,
is actually recognized, indorsed, and acted upon as
judicial, in relation to their enslavement, in the strict
and literal sense of the word.
In a certain chapter of the book of Leviticus, name-
ly, the xxvth, are found sundry directions embodied in
the law of Sinai, respecting servants of various kinds.
Here it is found written, that any Hebrew having
bought, not hired, a Hebrew servant, should not be
oppressed, or ruled over with rigor, as they would rule
over or oppress a bondman, not derived from the He-
brew stock.
From the 35th to the 46th verse inclusive, of the
above named chapter, it is written as follows, except
the words included in brackets, which are inserted
to carry out, and to distinguish the true meaning, and
to prevent confusion :
"And if thy brother [a Hebrew, one of the twelve
tribes] be waxen poor, and fall into decay with thee
\or in thy midst\ then thou shalt relieve him, yea,
though he be a stranger [far from his own tribe\ or
a sojourner [one who had come from, another tribe\,
that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of
him, or increase, but fear thy God [in this thing]
108 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
tha^ thy brother [a Hebrew, or of the Hebrew bloody
not a negro'] may live with thee. Thou shalt not
give him [that is, a Hebrew brother, one of the tribes]
thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for
increase. And if thy brother [not a Hamite], that
ilwelleth by thee, be waxen poor, and he be soldunto
Jhee [on any account], thou shalt not compel him to
serve as a bond servant: but as a hired servant, and
as a [Hebrew brother, one of the tribes] sojourner, he
shall be with thee, and serve thee unto the year of
jubilee ; and then shall he depart from thee [that is,
if he desire to do so], both he and his children [if he
has any] with him, and shall return unto his own
family [or tribe], and unto the possession of his fath-
ers shall he return ; for they are my servants, which
I brought out of the land of Egypt: they shall not
be sold as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule over
him [or such an one] with rigor [as you may over a
bond slave], but shalt fear thy God [in this particu-
lar]:'
From the above, it is clear that by the term broth-
er, no other character is specified as being entitled
to the above named privileges, as paupers, of whom
no usury was to be taken for money or victuals, but
a regular Hebrew, or one of the twelve tribes. This
is made clear by the qualifying words of the account,
which says, ^^for they are m,y servants, which I
brought out of the la7id of Egypt:'' Now God
brought no Canaanites or negroes out of Egypt,
they were wholly of the twelve tribes of the He-
brews.
Thus we see that Moses marked out in the law the
\ FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACK 109
i
3 difference there was between bond servants, hired
I servants, and servants of the Hebrew tribes^ who
] might be sold, on account of their poverty.
I But in the law there are other strangers alluded to,
1 who were neither of any of the twelve tribes, nor of
I the Canaanite race, of whom the Hebrews might
I take usury of money or victuals (Deut. xxiii, 20), but
I could not legally make bond men of them.
These were the race of Shem, and not of the twelve
tribe community, who were dwelling in the surround-
ing countries. Of such there were many in the time of
Moses, as well as during the whole existence of the Jew-
ish people, as a kingdom or government, who, in the laWj
I are never called heathen, as were all the negro race.
I There were the descendants of Lot, Abraham's
I half brother. There were the children of Katiira^
born to Abraham long before the birth of Isaac, who,
when they were grown up and married, were sent
eastward with their inheritances. See Gen. xxv, from
j the 1st to the 6th verse inclusive. By this first mar-
I riage, Abraham had no less than six sons, who, ac-
cording to the history of them given in the above
trait in the Book of Genesis, were the fathers of mul-
titudes, all of whom settled eastward of Chalden, and
; took place before God commanded Abraham to leave
I his father's house in Haran in old Chaldea, east of
the river Euphrates, in order to go to the country of
i Canaan, far to the south-west. We come to this con-
elusion, respecting Abraham, from the necessity of
the case, for Abraham was, at the death of Sarah, one
hundred and thirty-seven years old, as he was ten
years older than his wife, who died at the age of one
*10 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
hundred and twenty-seven. Gen. xxiii, 1. Of neces-
sity, therefore Abraham's wife Katui a was his first
wife, who he had married in hisyouih, and was dead
when he took Sarah, and came to Canaan, on which
account his great age, that of otie hundred and thir-
ty-seven years, he could not have been the father of
the above named six sons after ihe death of Sarah,
as the order of the history ni Genesis xxv seems to in-
timate, which is a mistake of the Hebrew copyists, and
compilers of the ancient Scriptures.
Tlien there was Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the
Egyptian bond servant of Sarah, born to Abraham,
of whom came many nations now known, as in an-
cient times, as Arabs or Ishmaelites. '1 hese were
also the descendants of Esau, the brsther ot' Jacob,
who were known as the Idunieans. There \i%xQ the
descendants of Laban, the Syrian, a n-ear relation of
Abraham, all of whon), together with those above
named, amounted to millions in the time of the giv-
ing of the law, and during the nationality of the
Jews, who were the strangers alhided to, of whom
the Hebrews might take usuryi, or interest, for lent
victuals or lent inoney, as it is specifically stated in
Deut. xxiii, 20, but not of their brethren^ which ap-
pellation brother always meant a member of the great
confederacy of the twelve tribes, and nobody else.
That this was the case res{)ecting the term strangers,
we have the favoring opinion of Adam < ' arke, in his
remark's on the 2 Chron. xv, 9. 'i'he text reads as
follows: " And he (Asa) «^athered all Judah and Ben-
jamin, and {\\fi strangers with iliQwionioi Ephraini,
Manassah and iSimeon.'^
FORTUNES; OP THE NEGRO RACE. Ill
From this it is clear that members of the twelve
tribes were called strangers^ if dwelling at a distance
from Judea, or the capital, who were not to be charg-
ed with usury on any account, while other strangers
should be. Of their brethren, therefore, they could
not take usury, but of all strangers they might, wheth-
er black, white or red.
But of no stranger did the law of Moses allow
bo?id men or bond maids to be made, except of the
negro or Haniite race, for to that people alone did the
curse of servitude refer, which fact was as well
known to Moses as to God, and all the Hebrew tribes,
as well as to the people of Ham themselves, with all
other nations.
That the law of Moses did not allow of any
stranger being oppressed in the matter of slavery,
who were not of the race of Ham, is shown. Exodus
xxii, 21, where it is written, "thou shalt neither vex
a stranger nor oppress him : for ye were strangers in
the land of Egypt." Arid yet for the very purpose
of oppressing and vexing the negro Canaanites, the
Jews were sent into the land of Canaan, by which it
is most evident, that the term stranger in the law
did not apply to that people, the Canaanites, in the
palliative or merciful sense.
But how is this 1 says one ; the text just now quo-
ted out of Exodus xxii, 21, straightly says, that no
stranger should be oppressed nor vexed, and yet, from
Levit. XXV, 45, it appears that strangers might be
sold and bought for slaves or bondmen; is not this a
plain contradiction, one text forbidding the oppression
of a stranger? and another allowing it, and both pas-
112 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AWD
sages written in the same law, and apparently about
the same thing.
The following is the solution, or, as it appears to
the mind of the writer, there is no solution at all to
these seemingly contradictory scriptures.
When Moses in the law, and at the 25th division
or chapter of the part called Leviticus^ had made an
end of his remarks and directions about various kinds
of servants, with other matters, introduced a new
subject (see verse 44), namely, that of unqualified
slavery, or of bond servants, which he commences as
follows : " Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids
which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that
are round about you ; of them shall ye buy, bond-
men a7id bondm,aids"
In this passage it is clear, that the law of Moses
peremptorily directed, that all their perpetual slaves,
or bond servants, should be procured from among the
heathen negro race, the very people to whom the curse
of Noah referred, and are always referred to as hea-
thens, whether Canaanites, Egyptians, Lybians or
Ethiopians, all of whom are referred to as heathen,
in the most emphatic sense of the word, in the law.
The terms gentile and heathen, as used in the
Scriptures, seems always to be of synonymous import;
but in the law of Moses it would appear that the
word heathen designated solely the people of Canaan,
and the other branches of the negro race. The term
gentile is not found in any of the books of the law
of Moses, properly so called; for the book of Genesis
is not to be numbered as any part of the law or code
of that legislator. The law does not properly com-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE, 113
mence until the book of Exodus, and runs through the
remaining /owr, commonly called the books of Moses.
On account of the absence of the word or term
gentile, in the books of the law, properly so called
(for the book of Genesis is but a narrative or history
of the first ages of the earth, and no part of the law),
we conclude that the word heathen, as used in the
law by Moses, referred solely to the Canaanites, and
to their race, the blacks or negroes in general. We
are the more confirmed in this opinion, because Mo-
ses himself calls the people of Japheth, who were
white men, gentiles. See Genesis x, 5.
In that chapter, namely, the 10th, Moses has given
an account of three races of men, the sons of Noah,
and what they were called as nations. In this ac-
count, which is the eldest of all history, at the 5th
verse of the chapter above named, the descendants
of Japheth are called gentiles, in distinction from
the other two races, those of Shem and Ham.
In after ages, however, the terms gentile and hea-
then seem to have become synonymous, as referring
to all the people of the globe, except the Jews. But
in the law the word gentile does not occur. The
word heathen, therefore, as used by Moses, referred
exclusively at that time to the negro race, and to no
other people: this opinion cannot be refuted.
The term heathen therefore as used in the law, re-
ferred entirely to the race of Ham, who had been judi
cial 1 y condemned to a condition of servitude, more i han
eight hundred years- before the giving of the law, by
the mouth of Noah, the medium of the Holy Ghost.
The law was given from Mount Sinai, which was
114 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
southwaid from Canaan. Now Moses said in the
law, that when they (the Jews), should come into that
country^ that of the heathen round about them, they
should make hondmen, or slaves of the people in
those regions ; and as there were no other people in-
habiting old Canaan but the negroes of the race of
Ham, it is certain that by the term heathen^ no other
people were alluded to.
In the time of St. Paul, the term gentile (as in
the days of Noah, see Gen. x, 5) referred to the na-
tions of the white race; as it is written by that apos-
tle, in several of his letters to the churches, that he
was the apostle of the gentiles. Can it be shown
that Paul ever preached to a negro people at all? If
not, then it follows that the word gentile, still refer-
red to white men, in his time, as to Greeks, Romans,
Gauls, Italians, Spaniards, and other nations of the
north, but never to the negro race.
The strangers, therefore, to whom Moses alluded
in Levit. xxv, 45, were the people of Ham, in all
countries, whether Canaan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lybia,
or any other country or place inhabited by negroes.
This distinction is made still more clear by St. Luke
xxi, 24, where the power which was finally to de-
stroy Jerusalem, is called " the gentiles, ^^ who, it is wcli
known, were the Romans, an empire of white men.
This is further proven from the statement of that
apostle, in Acts xxviii, 28, who, while at Rome, was a
prisoner. In that passage it is said that as the Jews
rejected the gospel, that he should turn to the gerir
tiles, and that they would receive it. Paul was then
in the very heart of the Roman or gentile states,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 115
and, therefore, of necessity, proves tliat the term sig-
nified no other race, but that of the whites.
This verse, therefore, the 45th, of the 25th of Le-
viticus, must be considered as the context or guide,
in relation to the word stranger on this subject; con-
sequently, in verse the 46th, the one which follows
the text above quoted, is qualijied by the first. It
so, then the word stranger, there used, refers not to
any of the Shemite or Japhethic races, but only to
the heathen race of Ham.
With tJiis view, all is made right, the stranger of
Exodus xxii, 21, signifying all people not of the ne-
gro race; while the stranger of Leviticus xxv, 45,
refers to all negroes, or people of Ham, though not
strictly Canaanites, as, doubtless, there were among
the Canaanites always, more or less, people, families,
and even whole tribes, of the other families of Ham's
Uneage, such as Egyptians, Lybians and Ethiopians,
who might properly be denominated strangers in
Canaan, or heathens of those descents from other
countries than those of Canaan. Thus we have re-
conciled the two contradicting passages, as we be-
lieve, in the estimation of all candid men.
Having thus cleared up a difficulty in the law of
Moses, which has misled many a fierce abolition
writer, and probably others, we pass to the main sub-
ject, that of ascertaining whether the law of Moses
did indorse and inculcate the doctrine of the curse
of Noah upon the children of Ham, which we affirm
was the fact. The proof of this is direct and unequiv-
ocal, furnished from the law of that great legislator
of the Jews, Moses, who was the immediate agent
116 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
of Jehovah himself to that people. See Lcvit. xxv,
from the 44th to the 46th verse inclusive, which reads
as follows :
" Both thy bond men and thy bond maids which
thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round
about ; of them shall ye buy [not hire] bond men and
bond maids. Moreover, of the children of the stran-
gers [that is, the children of negroes, foreign to Ca-
naan, who might be dwelling among the Canaanites],
that do [or may] sojourn with you, of them shall ye
buy [children], and of their families that are with
you, which they beget [or might beget] in your land
[Canaan, after the Jews should possess it], and they
shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as
an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit
them as a possession : they shall be your bond men
forever V^
Was this buying the children of the heathen Ca-
naanites, and using them as bond men and bond
maids, or, in other words, as slaves, nothing, after all,
but a privilege granted by Moses to the Hebrews of
hiring them — as is pretended by abolitionists, in or-
der to get rid of the force of those passages of the law
in support of the enslaving the negro race 1
But men as wise as any of these, even Clarke
and Benson, in their renowned commentaries of the
Scriptures, have not gainsaid their meaning in this
particular: these champions of knowledge, though
English abolitionist, pass entirely over those extraor-
dinary passages without one solitary remark. This
strange omission is, in our opinion, as much as if they
had said that the fact of the indorsement of the law
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 117
of Moses upon the curse of Noah, in relation to the
people of Ham, is here incontrovertibly made out, on
which account, they were not bold enough, though
abolitionists, to contradict that decision of heaven.
How is it that Adam Clarke, who was the most
learned man in Christendom, and a man who has
criticised, wisely and profoundly, on almost every
verse of the Holy Scriptures, and particularly on those
involving the most difficult subjects, should have thus
passed silently over this remarkable trait in the book
of the law? Had he considered that portion of the
holy text above his comprehension, or beyond the
reach of human understanding, and as containing
matter too obscure for the lights of science and criti-
cism to penetrate, he would have said as much ; but
this he has not done.
Other commentators, however, have not thus with-
lield their opinions on these passages, although the
doctrine contained in them is exceedingly repulsive
to the minds of many. Among such as have ven-
tured an opinion is Dr. John Gill, a Baptist common
tator on the Holy Scriptures, of great learning, who
wrote before the times of abolitionism. This divine
has boldly asserted, as every unprejudiced reader
would do, that the Hebrews, in those three famous
verses of the law, were allowed to have real bond
men, or slaves. The following are his words on the
46th verse of the 25th chapter of Leviticus, which
reads: "And ye shall take them as an inheritance
for yoiu: children after you." Such servants "they
might leave at their death to be inherited, as they
did their estates and lands; for such servants are
118 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
(says Gill) esteemed by the Jews to be like immove-
able property, as fields, vineyards, &c., to inherit
them for a possession as their property, like any thing
else that was bequeathed to them, as negroes now
are in our plantations abroad : they were to be their
bond men for ever, and not to be released at the year
of Jubilee."
The above is a true comment; for in every age
the Jews, as well as the more ancient Hebrews, theii
ancestors, have reckoned their bond slaves as prop-
erty ; and thus every commentator, in every age and
language, upon the Holy Scriptures, have determined,
except of late, as in the persons of all abolitionists.
Respecting the opinions and speculations of some
of these men, who are the leaders of the party, and
agitators of the subject of negro emancipation in
America, we give the following as their views of the
meaning of the law of Moses, as it regards bond
slaves.
See a series of pamphlets, entitled "The Bible
against Slavery," 1838. This writer dashes boldly
into the matter, and at once settles the subject for
ever. Of this work, see a note, page 9, 4th edition,
which reads as follows: " The Bible record oil actions
is no comment on their moral character. It vouches
for them as mere facts, not as virtues. It records
without rebuke, Noah's drunkenness. Lot's incest,
and the lies of Jacob and his mother, not only single
acts, but usages, such as polygamy and concubinage;
all these are entered on the divine record without
censure. Is that sile7it entry God's mdorsement?
Because the Bible, in its catalogue of human actions,
I'OiiTUNUS. OP THE NEGRO RACE. 119
does not stamp on every crime its name and number,
and write — this is a crime, does that wash out its
guilt and bleach it into a virtue?"
The writer of the note above alhided to is combat-
ing the behef which has always been entertained from
the reading of the passages in the 25th of Leviticus,
as above quoted, that the Hebrews m,ight, if they
would, enslave the people of old Canaan, and endeav
ors to give them another meaning. He informs the
reader, in that note, that the statements of Moses, on
the subject of slavery, as they related to the race of
Ham, were nothing but a record of crimes, written
against his countrymen for thus enslaving the Cana^n-
ites — and this is the opinion of all abolitionists.
He allows, it is true, that Moses did not 6/ame the
Hebrews for enslaving the Canaanites and the stran-
gers of the Hamite race dwelling among them, but
that he made an entry in the book of the law of that
dreadful sin ; but that entry was not an approval — it
was a record only of the crime.
The above is a most singular opinion, and has as
much of the dust of sophistry in its composition as
any written remarks we have ever met with. To
perceive this, we have only to recollect that when
that permissive trait of the law of Moses was given,
was more than forty years before the Jews got pos-
session of the country of Canaan; how, therefore,
could the remarks of Moses, which are found in Lev.
XXV, 44 — 46, be a record of the crime of slavery,
when the thing alluded to, prospectively, had not as
yet been done by forty years or more. After the
giving of the law from Mount Sinai, it was more thai)
120
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
forty years before the Hebrews, under the conduct of
Joshua, went through the river Jordan into the prom-
ised land.
Those famous passages, therefore, are not a record
of what had been done aheady, but of what might
be done when they should come to possess the coun
try of old Canaan ; avoid this conclusion he that can.
But further, we shall show the marks of a reckless
hand, as detailed in the pamphlet above alluded to,
where the Scriptures are shown up, as affording no
reproof for certain wicked actions of certain wicked
men, as held by abolitionists, such as Noah in his
drimkenness, Lot in his incest, and the lies of Jacob
and his mother, as well as the polygamy of the pa-
triarchs ; all of which are entered as a mere record
without censure, says this writer.
But such is not the fact; for the Scriptures say
that no drunkard can inherit the kingdom of heaven,
1 Cor. vi, 9, ]0, nor incestuous person or fornicator.
In Deut. xxi, 20, it is said, that if a son was a * * * *
drunkard, he should be stoned to death. This is a
reproof of those crimes with a vengeance.
We could multiply, even from the Old Testament,
reproofs for sins of the kinds above named.
As to 'polygamy, the Scriptures do no where say
that a man might have more than one wife, neither
m the Old nor the New Testament. By the Savior,
it is strictly or impliedly forbidden. Matt, xix, 5 — 8;
and was it not the Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave the
law from Sinai to Moses and the Jews? Is it hkely,
therefore, that Christ in the law would allow polyg-
amy by a direct precept, when he has said, in the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RilCE. 121
verses above quoted, that from the beginning it was
not so?
It is true, however, that Moses, in the law, did
suppose (Deut. xxi, 15) the case of a man having two
wives, and has there prescribed certain regulations
respecting the children of such wives, but does not,
in so many words, any where say that his people
might have more wives than one at a time, nor had
Moses himself ever but one wife. It is true, also,
that he gave a power to the Jews to put away a wife
by divorce, who did not please them ; but even this al-
lowance was done out of mercy to the woman ; for on
this very subject Jesus Christ said that Moses allowed
it to be done on account of the hardness of their
hearts, or cruelty to their wives : but from the begin-
ning it was not true that a man might have a plu-
rality of wives. On this subject, the Savior founds
his argument against polygamy, namely, that Grod,
or himself, who was God, in the beginning made them
male and female, and married them to each other,
adding, that as God had put them together by mar-
riage, that no man could, legally or morally, put them
asunder, except for but one cause only. Are we,
therefore, to imagine that the author of both codes of
law, the Gospel and the Pentateuch, would thus con-
tradict his own eternal views of morahty? Accord-
ingly, there is found no such admission in the law
of Moses, but exactly the contrary.
It is true, however, that polygamy was practiced
to a great extent during all the ages of the Jewish
history ; but the writer of these pages is not prepared
to say that the law of God allowed it, or that the
122 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
I Scriptures, even of the Old Testament, have not re-
I proved it, but otherwise ; for it is written by Nehe-
' miah, xiii, 26, that Solomon, who had many wives,
I sinned against God and his own soul by doing so.
! This passage we consider a direct censure of the
j practice, as well as the remarks of the Savior, in
Matt, xix, 5, who said that it was not so from the
i beginning, and, consequently, could not have been
I allowed in the old law. See Deut. xvii, 17, where it
is written, that when the people of the Hebrews should
I come to possess the country of Canaan, and they
! should desire a king, one from among their brethren
of the twelve tribes, he was not to multiply wives.
Two is a multiplication of one. More wives than
one, therefore, was forbidden by the law of Moses,
and although that good trait of the law was never so
! much violated in that respect by all the Jews under
I heaven in those ages, yet this does not make it out
I that the Scriptures allowed polygamy, or did not re-
prove the practice as a sin.
But the author of the note above alluded to ap-
pears willing to have it pass that the Scriptures do
not reprove sin, especially in the Old Testament,
even though the sins were drunkenness, polygamy,
incest and lying, but merely speaks of them as a
simple entry or record of such deeds and acts. This
mighty stretch of opinion is introduced in order that
the reader may be led to believe that when Moses,
in the law, has said that the Hebrews should buy
their bond men of the heathen, has only made a re-
cord of that great crime in this particular. To carry
out and to impress this belief, the author of that
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 123
series of pamphlets and of the note in question, does
not hesitate to call Noah a drunkard, and Lot an
incestuous person — two men, among ^?;e, of the most
holy named on the pages of the divine oracles.
But as it relates to these two men, Noah and Lot,
we maintain that they were not sinners in the alledged
transactions. Noah, as we have said before, was an
aged man, being over six^imndred years old when he
drank the wine spoken of by Moses, Ger^. ix, 21 ; its
effects, therefore, were undoubtedly wholly unfore-
seen by him, as by that time the iron nerves of his
youth and maturer years were beginning to be re-
duced by weakness and the disabilities of age. A
very little wine, therefore, might have disposed him
to sleep, a condition far enough from a debauch, or
an intended wreckless inebriation : if so, then he was
no sinner in that affair, nor does the Scriptures inti-
mate any such thing.
Had Noah been wickedly intoxicated, is it likely
that the Holy Ghost would have communed with and
mspired him, respecting the fortunes of mankind,
who were to descend from his three sons, whose every
word, on that occasion, Heaven had seen fit to fulfill ?
Never.
Neither was Lot a sinner, in the affair of his
daughters ; for the Scriptures plainly state (Gen. xix,
33-35), that when his daughters appoached him in
an improper way, he perceived it not, when they lay
down with him, nor when they arose. There was
no sin, therefore, in that transaction, on the part of
Lot, as his mind did not consent to the deed, nor his
perceptions take cognizance of the act. As to his
124 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANI>
drinking too much on that occasion, there can be no
doubt but his daughters contrived some way to de-
ceive him, by mixing wine with his food, or drink of
water, till he became senseless.
As to the case of Jacob, in the matter of his lying
to his father, when he said that Aejwas the man Esau,
this was far enough from being a good act, but was
actually a wicked one.
But was not this sin reproved during the night, in
\ which he slept on the mountain, at which time he was
tf A •'VV'X converted to God by the operation of the Holy Ghost,
when he had the dream of the celestial ladder, and
when he awoke and said: "6rorf is in this place, and
I knew it not J' Gen. xxviii, 16.
I Surely, this account is something more than a
mere silent entry of the sin of lying, as it is a tacit
i record at least of the reproof, for how could it be
I pardoned except reproved and repented of? And be-
1 sides, do not the Divine oracles every where reprove
all liars, and in the New Testament threaten them
with hell fire?
Thus briefly have we endeavored to rescue the
character of the Bible, and the characters of two
good and holy men, Noah and Lot, from the asper-
sions of a lawless pen — which pen, for no other pur-
pose in the world, than by any means to getvit to be
believed that Moses did not, in the law, allow of di-
rect slavery, has been willing thus to write, and to
mystify the minds of readers, attempting to show
that Moses, in all that he has said on the subject of
slavery, has merely made a record of the crime, with-
out reproof; though, as it happened, the crime was
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE.
125
not perpetrated till some forty years or more after the
record was made, as above remarked.
But we pass from this to another particular opin-
ion of the author of "The Bible against Slavery."
See No. 6 of this series of pamphlets, year 1838, p.
17, and onward to the end of the chapter, where the
word BUY, as used by Moses, in relation to the He-
brews making slaves of the Canaanites by purchase,
is shown by that writer, according to his mode of
reasoning, to mean, after all, nothing but to hire, in-
stead of buy. Vast pains are taken by the writer of
that work to show that because the word bui/ is
sometimes used in the Scripture phraseology in ap-
plication to some things which could not be sold, as
wisdom, &c., that therefore, the word buy, as used
by Moses, when he said the Hebrews might buy the
children of the heathen negroes for slaves, did not
mean purchase, but rather signified a reciprocal con-
tract, entered into between the parents of such chil-
dren and adult persons thus bought, and was, there-
fore, but a conditional bargain after all, which, if no*
fulfilled on the part of the buyer, rendered the bar-
gain null and void.
Could this position be fairly sustained, the fact of
real slavery, as supposed to have been practiced
among the Hebrews, by the authority of their law^
would cease to exist; but thus Moses does not state
the case. In relation to bondmen, there was no con-
dition, except that if a master should in anger smite
out a tooth or an eye of his servant, then he might go
free for his tooth or his eye's sake, but there was no
other condition by which he could go free, in the ey«
1.26 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANP
of tha.t law, or be absolved from the condition of a
slave or legal property.
If they were but once bought, they became per-
petual slaves, to be inherited by the heirs of those
who bought them, and of necessity liable to be sold
again, whenever the owner should please to do so.
This is the full, complete and unambiguous meaning
of the 46th verse of the xxvth of Leviticus, and all
the parallel places in the book of the law. Thus
reads the passage : '■'■And ye shall take them, as an
inheritance for your children after you, to inherit for
a possession ; they shall be your bondmen forever!"
The words inherit and possession are here used in
the same property-sense in no wise differing from
their use, when spoken in the promise of God to Abra-
ham, Isaac, Jacob and the Hebrews, respecting the
possession of the land of Canaan,, which w^as to be
their real inheritance and possession forever, as soon
as the time should come when they should enter
upon it by conquest. This was all in futurity
when promised, as it respected the land of the Canaan-
ites ; so also was the promise of the bodies of the
inhabitants for slaves — one was equally as much a
promise as was the other— of such as should not be
slain in the subjugation of the country : there was no
diflerence.
Now, to carry out this notion of the above men-
tioned pamphlets on the idea of the word buy, oi
possession, being no more than the word hire or con-
tract, then the pjoruised possession of the country of
i;anaan would, after all, amount to nolJiing more than
»o '•ent it, while <»he fee simple would have still re-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 127
fliained in the hands of the Canaanites, who, instead
of being slaves, and the possession o€ the Hebrews,
would in reality have been the lords of the Hebrews.
The promise of the country of Canaan to the prog-
eny of Abraham by Isaac, is multiplied in the old
Scriptures almost without end, in the words inherit-
ance^ possession, <fec. Were those words making
out those promises used in a delusive or uncertain
sense, as if the possession of that country by the
Hebrews, depended on the acquiescetice of the Ca-
naanites ; but if not, then are the same words as used
by Moses in the law, giving the persons of the Ca-
naanites to be an inheritance and di. possession oi xYie
same force and meaning that they are when used in
relation to the land, notwithstanding the dodging of
abolition writers about the words buy and sell.
If the sense of this word, buy, in its most ordinary
meaning, is turned aside in its application to the case
in hand, then in a moment a multitude of the Scrip-
ture history of transactions between buyers and sel-
lers, are rendered uncertain and doubtful. To give
a few cases in prosecution of the idea, as follows :
The sons of Jacob went to Egypt to buy corn for
their families — Gen. xlii, 2. Jacob bought a field of
the Shechemites, in the land of Canaan, long before
the time of Moses, for a hundred pieces of money-
Gen, xxxiii, 18, 19. There also was the case of Jo-
seph, who was sold to the Ishmaelites, for twenty
pieces of silver — Gen. xxxvii, 28 ; who was again
sold to Potiphar, in Egypt — Gen. xxxix, 1.
In process of time, this Joseph bought all the land
of Egypt, from the Egyptians, for the Icing, on ac-
128 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
count of the famine — Geii. xlvii, 20. In all these
cases the usucfl terms of buy and sell as commonly
applied in traffic, are resorted to, although one of
these cases was the sale of the body and person of a
man, namely, Joseph, or the thing bought, the same
as any other goods or chattels.
During this famine, Joseph not only bought all the
land of Egypt, but he also bought the Egyptians
themselves, men, women and children, for corn.
Respecting the case of the Egyptians, we will give
the whole account, that the reader may judge wheth-
er Joseph did actually buy the Egyptians as a man
would buy any thing else. See Gen. xlvii, from the
15th to the 26th verse inclusive.
And when money failed in all the land of Egypt,
all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said: give us
corn, for why should we die in thy presence, for the
money faileth. And Joseph said, give your cattle,
and I will give you food for your cattle if money
fail [was not this a goods and chattels bargain?].
And they brought their cattle unto Joseph, and Jo-
seph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and
for flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the
asses — and he bought with bread all the cattle that
year.
But to this account, Josephus adds, that with the
cattle Joseph bought all their slaves. From this fact,
it appears that the Egyptians had slaves, and that
they sold them to Joseph, who did not refuse to buy
them, which, had it been a sin to do so, as abolition-
ists contend, he would not have done it, famine or no
famine.
FORTUNES, OF THE >EGRO RACE. 129
J3ut the story is not yet finished ; for when the
year was at an end, and their bread was gone, for
which they had given their cattle and slaves, they
came unto Joseph and said, " We will not hide it,
how that our money is spent, also thou hast our herds
of cattle ; there is not aught left in the sight of our
lord but our bodies and our lands. Wherefore shall
we die before thine eyes, both loe and our lands ; buy
us and our land for bread, and we and our land will
be servants [slaves] unto Pharaoh. And Joseph
bought all the land of Egypt, for the Egyptians sold
every man his iield, because the famine prevailed
over them, so that the land became Pharaoh's ; and
as for the people, he removed them to cities, from one
end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end
thereof," having a right to do this in virtue of his
purchase of iheir bodies.
Surely this was a bona fide contract, equally so
with any other bargain, where the money is paid for
the thing bought. And why should not this have
been so, as there is no doubt but the king's money,
during the seven years of plenty, had bought, by the
management of Joseph, all the grain the Egyptians
had to spare, which he laid up in the granaries of the
country.
This grain, therefore, was the property of the king,
and it could not be parted with without an equiva-
lent, and that equivalent was had in money ^ cattle,
slaves, land, and finally the bodies of the Egyptians
themselves, by which means they became even the
slaves of Pharaoh.
But out of that condition, the generosity of their
130 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
king, at the suggestion of his chief minister, Joseph
the Hebrew, delivered them by making them an of-
fer. This offer was, that they should receive seed at
his hand, and should sow the land with that seed,
and should forever thereafter give to Pharaoh one-
fifth of the increase as the price of their redemption.
That this was a generous offer, and one which they
might think themselves happy to have made to them,
is shown from the remarks of Joseph on the occasion,
which were as follows — Gen. xlvii, 23, " Then Jo-
seph said unto the people, behold I have bought you
this day, and your land for Pharaoh : lo ! here is seed,
and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to
pass, in the increase, that you shall give \he fifth un-
to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own for the
seed of the field, and for your food, and for your
household, and for food for your little ones."
Was this a reciprocal agreement between Pharaoh
and the people 1 — never. It was a case of the most
perfect dictation on the part of the owner of the peo-
ple, in which, for a return of the money that had
been laid out for grain during the seven years' fam-
ine, Pharaoh said I will have one-fifth of the increase
of the land for ever (which in all time before was
not the case) as an equivalent for my money and its
interest.
But what said the Egyptians to this mandate 7
Did they higgle at it, as men will do in making bar-
gains, when the parties are independent of each other?
No, they did not, as there was no alternative ; but
replied, as the most abject suppliants, "7%om hast
saved our lives; let us find grace in the sight of our
FORTt/NEB, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 131
lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants." Here the
people were set free from absolute slavery, and exalt-
ed to the character of vassals, or renters of the land,
which Avas not their condition prior to the famine —
the revenues of the government having been collected
in some other way.
If it were a true solution of the matter that the
word bu'i/ signified, in ancient times, and in the He-
brew language, the law of Moses, <fec., no more than
to hire, excluding a third person in such a transac-
tion, then it would follow that the corn which the
sons of Jacob bought in Egypt was only hired; the
parcel of land bought by Jacob of the Shechemites,
for a certain price in silver, was only hired; the cave
bought by Abraham of the children of Heth for a
place of burial, fpr so much money by weight, was
only hired; when Joseph was sold by his brethren
to the Midianites, who bought him for twenty pieces
of silver, it was nothing, after all, but hiring him out
to those merchants.
Were this the true sense of the Scriptural word
bui/, then, indeed, as the abolitionists contend in their
writings, all the bondmen of the negro race of old
Canaan were but so many hired men and hired maids
to the Hebrews. As to the word bu7/, in all lan-
guages, no matter how it is spoken, or how it sounds,
the true and highest meaning of the word signifies
to purchase any thing human beings traffic in.
No matter what the article is, as the power of cus-
tom is able to make any thing an article of trade
which is tangible — a human being, an ox, or a piece
of land. After this, its first, highest and radical
132 . ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
meaning, there are a number of other matters to
which the word buy can be applied, and are called
its accommodated, or secondary uses or meanings.
For instance, a person's education macy cost much
money, and yet, as education is not a tangible thing,
it cannot he sold; and still it maybe said that educa-
tion was bought, even with money. But this is not
strictly and literally true after all, as all the money
in the world cannot buy a man an education ; it is
to be obtained only by intellectual exertions and in-
dividual study. In a case like this, therefore, the
words buy and bought are used only in their second
ary, figurative, or accommodated uses.
In this way it is said in Scripture, that men should
buy wisdom and sell it not ; that is, do not make an
unwise or a foolish use of wisdoip, or cast it not
away. In relation to the means of man's salvation,
it is said that we are bought with a price, but not
with money; and yet we are actually bought from
immediate death, and eternal non-existence, in the
loins of Adam when he fell, by the blood of the prom-
ised Messiah, prospectively shed for the race of man
before the world was made; or we should never
have had any existence at all, Adam and Eve alone
excepted.
The practice of the Jews, in paying to the priest-
hood of their worship redemption money for their
souls (see Numbers xviii, 15, and iii, 45, 51), was in
some sense, no doubt, a typical thing — alluding to
the need every man has of a Redeemer's blood, \o
save his soul, and was also given in support of the
worsh'p of the altar, where Jehovah was adored.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 133
JS*)w, what though money was paid in this and the
other cases, as mentioned above, yet there was no
transaction of the trafficking character, as is the fact
when men buy and sell articles of tangible natures,
the words buy, bought and sell being used here only
in their secondary, accommodated or emblematical
senses, and applied to moral or abstract subjects, and
not to things tangible.
According to the law of Moses, just referred to, the
first born of all the Hebrews was to be redeemed with
money, which went to support the priesthood. Out
sf this fact, or from this fact, abolitionists, in their
writings, luill have it, that if the word buy^ as used
in Leviticus, 25th chapter, related to the purchase
of bondmen from among the heathen Canaanites, by
which they became property, that it ought to have
the same meaning in the case of the redemption of
the first born among the Hebrews, because they were
redeemed with money, and were, therefore, as m,uch
bought as were the bondmeji alluded to in Leviticas,
and, of necessity, were equally an article of property.
But all this reasoning of theirs is but nonsense, of
the poorest description — a mere shuffling of mixed up
and confused ideas. This is apparent when we
come to know who it was that were required , thus to
redeem the first born children at the hand of the
priest. It was the parents who were required to do
this, who could not, and did not thereby increase
their right to their own children ; neither could the
priest seize and sell such children as were not thus
redeemed ; it was a sin of omission, to be punished
by the Divine hand, and not by man, if the money
134 >RTGIN, CHARACTER, ASD
was not paid at the altar, for their souls^ typical re-
demption.
Because the parents were required thiis to redeem
their children, in reference to God and the blood of
the to be crucified Messiah, who was to come, therein
acknowledging that they were bought prospectiveli/,
by the anticipated death of Christ, could in no pos-
sible way make bought slaves of such children, nor
increase the natural or moral right the parents had
to their ofispring as Hebrews. Therefore, a parity
of reasoning, as argued by abolitionists, cannot apply
to the argument, as it respects the actual purchase
of slaves, or to the word buy, as if this word could
be tortured into the word redeem, as used in relation
to the first born among the Hebrews. For argu-
ments of this description, see " The Bible against
iSlaver?/," No. 6, year 1838. page 18, and onward.
It is asserted by abolitionists, that between the
bui/er and the person bought, as spoken of, Leviticus
xnv, whether it related to Hebrew servants, or to bond
servants, bought of the heathen Canaanites, that there
was a mutual stipulating between the parties — the
bui/er and the person bought. But this is not true ;
as no Hebrew person who was sold for debt, for theft,
or for any other legal reason, had a word to say on
the subject, as dictating the sale. For it was the laio
which sold the man or the woman, and not theTTir
selves; it was the law that did this, as it would sell,
by the means of an auctioneer, any article of property
now-a-days at auction ; there was no other way to
sell a delinquent debtor or a criminal. How, there-
fore, could the delinquent stipulate at all in the matter?
FUllTVM.S, OF THE NEGRO RACE.
135
There is a case, however, stated in this same chap-
ter, the 25th of Leviticus, occupying from the 47th to
the 55th verse inclusive, where it is shown that a
poor Hebrew might sell himself to his rich neighbor,
in which, n a doubt, there was, of necessity, and also
of propriety, a stipulating of terms on the part of the
man sellin;; himself and the man who might buy
him : this case we cannot see differed any way from
a man hiring himself out till such time as his wages
should pay the debt, or to the end of his life, if he
would, as have many, in all ages. But if by any
means he could redeem himself, or if his relations
could redeem him, then they or he might do so, even
though the time agreed on was not yet expired.
But what has this case to do, or indeed any case of the
Hebrew servitude, with the case of Canaanitish hondr
men 7 We answer — nothing at all, in any possible
way, so far as the law has any thing to say about it.
In relation to servants of the Hebrew character, in
the law of Moses, there were many mitigating cir-
cumstances ; but as to the negro or Canaanite bond-
man there was none, as it related to compensation in
the light of wages, or of promised freedom [except the
eye and tooth case] : not even the jubilees could reach
their condition, as their state of servitude was to be
for ever, from generation to generation — they were to
be the everlasting possession or property of the He-
brews^ their masters, to be disposed of by will, by
sales, by gifts, or in any such way.
There is, in the law of Moses, a very great distinc-
tion made between the stranger servant, the bought
Hebrew servant, the hired Hebrew servant, and the
136 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
bond servant of the Canaanites, as was proper ; for all
the other kinds of servants were, in some way, of the
Hebrew or Abrahamic lineage, descended through
various channels from the blood of Shem, as before
shown ; who were not to be oppressed as slaves and
ruled over with rigor, in that particular, as were the
ho7id servants of the Canaanitish or negro race.
But, says one who may be opposed to the views
of the writer of this book, did not the great jubilee ot
the Jews, which took place every fiftieth year, set all
slaves free? And does not the law positively refer to
the case of bondmen of the Canaanitish description,
who were slaves among the Hebrews? To this we
answer, that the great jubilee had nothing to do with
slaves or their liberties, in any way whatever. Our
reasons for this belief we shall give as soon as we
have read the law on the subject of the great jubilee
and its immunities. . See Leviticus xxv, 8 — 10, 13,
as follows :
"And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years
unto thee, seven times seven years, and the space of
seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and
nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of
the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh
moiitli ; in the day of atonement shall ye make the
trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye
shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty,
throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants
thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall
return every man unto his family. In the 3^ear of
this jubilee, ye shall return every man to his posses-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 137
That this great jubilee did not refer to the case of
slaves or bond servants, we learn from the fact that
slaves had no possessions in the country at all ; and
as the HebrcAvs, at the time the law vvas given, were
instructed, in the very decalogue itself, to destroy
and dispossess all the Canaanites of their country,
when they should begin to enter upon it, by war and
conquest, how, therefore, could the jubilee, in its
phraseology, have had the least allusion to that peo-
ple, in their favor? The supposition is wholly un-
tenable.
But to the Hebrews, one and all, who should sell
or lose their family possession of land, the jubilee
should be their great emancipator and restorer of
their rights. This, and nothing but this, was the
liberty proclaimed to all the inhabitants, as reads the
10th verse above quoted, which is qualified or ex-
plained in the 13th, and relates only to land, and the
impoverished Hebrews who were to return ^^ every
man to his possession^ But the Canaanites, in the
view of the law, had no possession in the land of
Canaan at all, nor families in the eyes of the law.
How, therefore, can it be supposed that the immuni-
ties of the greater jubilee could reach the case of any
other race than the Hebrews themselves ? Overturn
this conclusion he that cati.
Thus, as we believe, the passage on which aboli-
tionists rely so securely for the freedom of Canaanit-
ish bondmen in the law, every great jubilee, is fairly
taken out of their hands, and that by absolute logical
demonstration. In relation to this matter, abolition-
ists have cast much dust of sophistry into the great
10
138 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
arcanum of public opinion and belief, arguing and
contending that the institutions of Moses made no
differencG between the condition of Hebrew servants
and the negro bond men of the Canaanitish descrip-
tion ; and have striven to cover the latter with the |
immunities and privileges of the former, as if there I
really was no difference intended in that law.
The rigor, so often alluded to in the law of Moses^
which might be exercised upon bond servants of the [
Canaanitish or heathen race, but not on servants of
the Hebrews, we do not understand to have consist-
ed of personal abuse or torture, either by hunger,^
stripes, mutilations, or improper exposures of life or
limb ; for the law forbade this, where it is written,
that if a master knocked out a tooth, or an eye of hi»
servant, he should go free on those accounts, as is
stated in Exodus xxi, 26, 27 ; and yet it is written in
the same chapter, namely, the xxi, at the 20th and
22d verses, that "if a man smite his (man) servant,
or his (maid) servant, with a rod, and he (or she) die
under his hand, he shall surely be punished. Not-
withstanding, if he (or she) continue a day or two, he
shall not be punished, for he was his money.
From this text, it is almost impossible to deny that [
the law did but little in defense of the personal and j:
physical happiness of bond servants among the He-
brews ; there is no way to avoid this conclusion, as
the texts to this point, either direct or indirect, are
numerous.
But no such treatment is allowed of in the law to-
ward Hebrew servants, as it is strictly forbiddeJi to
oppress them, or to rule over them with rigor in any
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 139
way, because they were brethren to their masters,
and not to be treated as hired men.
The bondman was unknown in law ; he had no civ-
il rights, no voice in community — could not be a wit-
ness in courts of law or religion— could not implead
the master in cases of abuse or disagreement, but
was wholly at the will of his owner. But such
was not the case with the Hebrew servants — as their
condition of servitude did not disenfranchize them as
citizens, in any degree whatever, as they were not to
be oppressed as bond servants might be. This, as
above, was the rigor which was not, and could not,
be brought to bear upon any other class of servants
among the Hebrews, but the Hamite race alone, ac-
cording to the law of Moses and tiie curse of Noah.
As to any national privilege, of which a bond serv-
ant might partake among the Hebrews, there was
but o?ie, and this was in the matter of religion. A
bond servant being circumcised, might eat of the pass-
over, the sign of the common salvation of man ; but
in other respects this circumstance did not benefit
the slaves any more than their embracing Christian-
ity in the days of the apostles benefited them, as to
their temporal condition ; upon which we shall treat
in due time before we close these pages. In relation
to this point, see Exodus xii, 44, 45, " But every
man's servant that is bought with money ^ when thou
hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof;" that
isj he might eat of the passover, and that was all that
was in his favor, except rest on the sabbath day, the
same as the cattle.
As to the Hebrews trafficking in the pale and pur-
140 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
chase of slaves, it is contended by abolitionists that
they did not, and that no sale of the kind can be
found in, the Scriptures. On this account, therefore,
they assume that such transactions were abhorrent
to the genius of the law and religion of Moses. But
to refute this notion, we have only to refer to Exo-
dus xxi, 7 — 11, where,, in a certain case, which
the reader can examine for himself, it is said that
a man who might buy a maid servant of a He-
brew father, and if she did not please him (the pur-
chaser), then he might let her be redeemed, to get his
money again which she had cost him ; but " to sell
her unto a strange nation he shall have no power."
Now, fi-om the very prohibition itself, we infer that
the practice of the Hebrews selling the poor of their
own people to other nations, was in vogue at the
time of the giving of the law, and even while they
were yet in Egypt ; but in the new law given from
Sinai, this was forbidden. If this was not the case,
would God, by the hand of Moses, have instituted
laws against practices and abuses, which did not and
could never exist. Therefore, as God foreknew that
as soon as the Hebrews should get possession of the
country of Canaan, they would deal in the purchase
and sale of the Canaanites, according to the law
he was then giving them by the hand of Moses,
be straightly forbade them to indulge in this thing
toward their brethren, the Hebrews, saying that
they should not sell each other to a strange nation
as they might the Canaanites, while he left no
such mandate on record respecting the people of
Ham, who were then the aborigines of old Canaan,
FORTUNES, OF THiS NEGRO RACE. 141
whither for war and conquest the twelve tribes were
bound.
Moses and the tribes were yet in the desert when
the law was given, which said, on the subject of ser-
vants, by way of anticipation, that when they should
come into the promised land, and should have ser-
vants of their own blood, and should deal in selling
them among themselves (as it appears they did from
Exodus xxi, 7), that they should make a distinction
between Hebrew servants and servants of the Cana-
anitish description ; the former, they might deal in
among themselves only in the way the law directed,
but the latter they might sell to whom they would,
to strange nations and all : there should, in this re-
spect, be no prohibition, as there was, and should be,
in the other — the Hebrew servants.
The selling of bondmen, by and among the He-
brews, appears from another clause in the law of Mo-
ses, and is of similar import with the one just now
cited ; it prohibited their dealing in slaves or servants
of their own blood in the same way they might deal
in slaves of the negro character. See Leviticus xxv,
42, as follows : " For they (the Hebrews) are my ser-
vants which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt:
they shall not be sold as bond men," or as absolute
slaves.
By this mode of phraseology, what else can be un-
derstood than that while the Hebrews were forbidden
to sell their own blood as hondm^n out of the coun
try, they might, however, buy and sell heathen ne-
gro men for hond men, and thus traffic in them as an
article of trade or commerce. Surely the practice is
142 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANB
tacitly^ if not emphaticall7, admitted in the clause just
above quoted out of the law of God.
But to make the fact still more clear, namely, that
the Jews did actually deal in slaves of the negro race,
see the Book of Joel, third chapter, where it is shown
that because the Tyrians, Zidotiians^ and people of
Palestine^ who were of the same race with those just
named^ being all Hamites of old Canaan, had abused
the Hebrews while captives among them at a certain
time, by ridicule, and by selling their little ones at
drinking houses iov iirime, and at houses of ill-fame
for tlie puipo.se of riot and lewdness, ihvA they should
themselves be sold by the Jews in their turn, as a ree-
ompejise, or as a judgment on their own heads, foj
having done jo great a deed of wickedness.
But, says on(?, if it was wicked for the people of
Tyre and Zidonia to sell the little children of the
Jews, why was it not just as wicked for the Jews to
sell the Zidonians, and the people of Canaan ? To
solve this question, you must ask the determining
councils and judgments of God, which, on this sub-
ject, are all set down in the great record of his doings
toward that race of men, namely, the Scriptures, and
are his judicial acts concerning them.
The passages in the Book of Joel, above alluded
to, read as follows : " For, behold in those days, and
in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity
oi Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gaihej- all nations,
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehosa-
phat (or the field of battle), and will plead witli them
there, for my people and my heritage Israel, whom
they [the Tyrians and Zidonians] have scattered
^-ORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACt.
143
among the nations, and parted my land. And they
have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy
for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they
might ddnk. Yea, and what have ye to do with me,
O Tyie and Zidon, and all the coast of Palestine ?
will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recom-
pense (yet) swiftly and speedily will I relm'n your
recompense upon your own head: because ye have
taken my silver and my gold, and have carried them
into your temples, my goodly pleasant things: the
children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem,
have ye sold unto the Grecians [a great way to the
west], that ye might remove them far from their
border. Behold, I will raise them out of the place,
whither ye have sold them, and will return your rec-
ompense [or doings] upon your own heads. And I
will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands
of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them
to the Saheans, a people far off; for the Lord hath
spoken it."
Here it is certainly stated that the Jews might,
and actually should, sell the people of Palestine, who
were of the race of Ham, the heathen negroes of old
Canaan, which was fulfilled as follows : The Jews
had been made in great numbers prisoners of war,
and carried away into captivity by the Tyrians prior
to the time of Joel the Prophet, and were sold to the
Grecians, who dwelt about the western end of the
Mediterranean, now known as Spain and Italy, far
west of Judea, but were released by Alexander the
Great, who was a Greek, and by his successors, when
they returned again to Judea. But when this great
144 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
warrior had made a conquest of Tyre^ which the
reader will not forget was a Canaanitish city and
kingdom, he reduced all the lower orders of the peo-
ple to a state of slavery, men, women, and children,
amounting to 30,000 at one time, who were sold on
the spot to whosoever would buy them. And besides
this, when Artaxerxes-Ochus destroyed Zidon, anoth-
er city of old Canaan, and had reduced the captives
to be sold as slaves, the Jews, as Joel had foretold,
were present, and bought as many as they could, and
sold them again to the Saheans, a people dwelling
far to the east of old Phoenicia or Palestine, in Arabia-
deserta, bordering on the sea of Arabia, which is an
arm or bay of the Indian ocean, a distance of full 600
miles from Zidonia, their native country, among
which people they are slaves to this day, as also in
both Indies, Hindostan, and '\n all Asia.
Here we see the Jews, by ^he direct providence of
God, in the fulfillment of the prophesy of Joel, as
well as in accordance with the law of Moses, and the
curse of Noah, speculating in the 'poi-rchase and sale
of vast droves of the negroes of Tyre and Zidon, as
is often done, now-a-days, with the S5^n?e race of peo-
ple in the United States, and parts of Europe, not-
withstanding the recent agreement amono; the pow-
ers of Christendom, making it piracy to do so ; so
careful is the Divine veracity of its own hon^r.
Is this account, as above given, from ^he Holy
Scriptures, respecting the buying and selling cf the
progeny of Ham by the Jews, to be looked upon as
" a mere silent entry, ^^ made by the prophet Joel, of
the wicked deeds and acts of those Jews, as abolition-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 145
ists would'say it was, when both prophesy and Prov-
idence, as well as the direct mandate of God on the
subject, are all seen engaged together to accomplish
it, and it was accomplished ?
But, says one, what was the mandate of God on
the subject above alluded to 1 It was this : God said
by the mouth of Joel, one of his prophets, that the
Jews, should absolutely sell the blacks of old Tyre
to the Sabeans (red men), and they did it according-
ly as God had determined they should.
Who, after reading and considering these cases, as
presented on the pages above, will still object, and
say, that in the Scriptures there is no account found,
where a Hebrew, Jew, or Israelite, sold again the
slave that he had bought.
But in pursuit of the same subject, namely, that
the Jews did traffic in slaves, we are able to prove
that Solomon, the wisest king who ever sat on a
throne, the great and good monarch of the twelve
tribes, actually carried on a regular trade in slaves
from countries very far from Judea, where he resided,
as well also as in Canaan, or the Holy Land.
In proof of this, see Antiquities of the Jews, by
Josephus, book 8, chapter 7, page 293, as follows;
" King Solomon had many ships that lay upon the
sea of Tarsus (the Red Sea) ; these he commanded
to carry out all sorts of merchandise unto the re-
motest nations, by the sale of which, silver and
gold were brought to the king, and a great quantity
of ivory, apes, and Ethiopians ; and they finished
their voyage, going and returning, in three years'
time."
146 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Joseph US is not alone in this, for the Rabbi say the
same thing, that is, that the ships of Solomon went
to Africa (Clarke), and as he possessed many thou-
sands of black slaves of the Canaanite character,
what, in his mind, could therefore arise, as an, objec-
tion to his adding to the number of the same race of
men, though procured from a distant country, or the
places of their nativity. 2 Chron. ix, 21. In the
wars the Jews had with the Ethiopians and Lybians,
from Africa, as in the case of Asa^ one of the kings
of Judah, about 900 years B. C. See 2 Chronicles,
chap. xiv. In that war, Zerah, the black king of
Ethiopia, had a million of men, with whom he in-
vaded Judea, and was wholly defeated by Asa, for
God fought the battle. All the prisoners of this in-
comprehensible host were taken and held as slaves,
which was the usage of war in those times.
But if the word Ethiopian^ as used by Josephus,
to the mind of any reader, should not exactly prove
that negroes or black men were alluded to by him,
we will state that the American folio edition of Jo-
sephus says negroes, instead of Ethiopians, which, in
reality, are but two words meaning the same thing;
making it clear, beyond all controversy, that Solo-
mon did trade in negroes bought in foreign countries,
from those who had them to sell, or Josephus is no
authority.
But the authenticity of Josephus cannot be doubt-
ed, in relation to the voyages spoken of by that his-
torian, for the account is corroborated by the Scrip-
tures : see 1 Kings x, 22, where those voyages are
specifically described. And besides this traffic of his
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 147
from foreign countries, the land of Ophir, &c., Solo-
mon made slaves of tens of thousands of the blacks
of old Canaan, while building the temple, his own
house, and Tadmor in the desert, the store cities, and
Hamath, the upper and lower Beihoran, fenced cities,
with walls, gates, and bars, as well as Belath, all
great and magnificent works, of immense cost and
labor, the ruins of which are seen at the present day,
especially those of Tadmor of the desert.
Solomon was not ignorant of the judicial act of
God, as made known by the mouth of Noah, respect-
ing the descendants of Ham, nor of the law of Mo-
ses, which indorsed that judicial enactment by the
ministry of angels, respecting the people of the blacks,
in their exposedness to, and fitness for, slavery. He
was not ignorant of Joshua's opinion on the same sub-
ject, as expressed when that renowned warrior told
the Gibeonites, who were one of the tribes of the race
of Ham, in Canaan, that they were cursed, and never
to be freed from being bondmen or slaves.
That king Solomon had slaves in abundance, is
written by his own hand, which writing is still ex-
tant,.and that he bought them is also stated by him,
and that from the slaves thus bought, or otherwise
procured in the negro countries, he raised others, as
do the owners of slaves at the present time.
For the proof of the above, see Ecclesiastes ii, 7, as
follows : " I got me servants and maidens, and had
servants born in my house."
Now, Solomon was a preacher, or a minister of
rehgion, as well as a king, as he calls himself thus
in chap, i, verse 1, of Eccl., and if such a man had
148 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
slaves of the negro race (as to enslave any other peo-
ple was not tolerated by their law), why is it that
ministers of rehgion at the present time may not also
have them if they desire it? The possession of prop-
erty was never abrogated to the Jews by the edicts
of the Gospel, and as slaves, were esteemed property
by them in every age of their existence ; the abro-
gating power of the new dispensation, therefore, had
no more to do with the slave question then^ nor now,
than it had with any property, or any other subject
not embraced in the ritual of the Jewish religion;
this is the very reason why St. Paul, nor any of the
writers of the New Testament, no, not even Christ
himself, did not meddle with that subject, otherwise
than to admonish, or command, that masters of
slaves should treat them with kindness.
In the above scripture it is seen that Solomon
speaks of his possessions of cattle and slaves, all in
one verse, in no way varying either the sense or the
phraseology, making no distinction, but amalgamates
them together as an item in the amount of his pro-
digious wealth.
But not only Solomon procured slaves from Africa,
but all the kings of the East, the Chaldeans, the
Medes, Persians, Assyrians, Arabians, (fcc, which is
intimated in the xixth and xxth chapters of Isaiah, as
follows : "In that day shall there be a highway out of
Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into
Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria ; and the Egyp-
tians shall serve with the Assyrians." In this verse
their state of slavery is more than intimated, which
they were to endure among the Assyrians as slaves.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 149
But in the xxth chapter, verses 3 and 4, the fact of
(heir being enslaved by those eastern powers is plain-
ly stated, as follows: "And the Lord said. Like as
my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot
three years for a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and
upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of Assyria lead away
the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians cap-
tives^ young and old, naked and barefoot, even with
their buttocks ujicovered to the shame of Egypt."
Thus we see that in all ages, Africa has been, the
great breeding house of slaves for all mankind, for
at this day all Asia is full of negro slaves, the de-
scendants of the slaves of those first ages, procured
from old Canaan and Africa.
For an account of the almost countless number of
Canaanitish bondmen employed in the works of Sol-
omon, see book of Joshua ix, 23, and 2 Chron. ii,
17, l-S. , See also 1 Kings ix, 20-22, for an account
of the bo7id service, levied by Solomon upon the
Afnorites, Hivites, Perizzites, Hittites and Jebitsites,
who were all of the black race of the Canaanites, the
iSons of Ham.
According to Josephus, book viii, p. 21, Solomon
took the tribute due to him from a certain district of
old Canaan situate between Lybanus and the city
Ametha, in slaves^ so many a year; these were the
blacks of that country.
It appears, therefore, that Solomon considered it
right to enslave and oppress in this respect, the race
of Ham wherever he could find them, whether in old
Canaan, Africa, or any where else, except he was in
league or compact, by treaty, as appears to have been
ISO ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the case between him and Hiram, the king of Tyre,
at that particular time, and in that district over which
he then reigned.
Now, for all this, we do not find that Solomon was
reproved, as he was for some other acts of his life;
there arises, therefore, from this fact, namely, that of
his not being reproved for enslaving the negro race,
a strong evidence that the Jews, their kings, priests,
prophets, elders, patriarchs, rulers and people, held it
to be right, and in perfect harmony with the law of
Moses, to enslave that race wherever they existed,
except in cases of compacts or treaties, as in the case
of Tyre, and the king of Egypt, with whom Solo-
mon had leagues of amity, for the time being.
No nation of the globe has equalled the Jews, in
the enslaving of the negi-o nations (except the negroes
themselves), for even Moses assisted in reducing one
of the fiercest of the nations who opposed him and
the Hebrews in their progress toward the land of Ca-
naan, to personal and literal slavery ; these were the
Amalekites, dwelling on the wilderness side of Ca-
naan, toward Egypt on the south. «
This was done after the famous battle fought be-
tween the Hebrews and the Amalekites, over which
Moses presided, when Hur and Aaron supported his
arms, as he held out toward the contending armies
from the top of the mountain, the fatal spear — see
Exod. xvii, 12. The prisoners then taken in that
conflict were reduced to personal slavery, and that
under the eye and approval of Moses ; which, had it
been wrong, or a sin, would then and there have
been rebuked, as God allowed of no heinous or pub-
FuRTUNKS, OF THE NEOKO RACE. 151
lie crime in the camp of the Hebrews, to go unpun-
ished and reproved on the spot.
But how is it proved that Moses did this, seeing
the Bible does not mention the circumstance? It is
proven by Josephus. See his Jewish Antiquities,
book iii, chap, ii, p. 85, who there says, that the vic-
tory then won, " was the occasion of their (the He-
brews) prosperity, not only for the present, but for
future ages also ; for they not only made slaves of
the bodies of their enemies, but effectually damped
their minds, and after the battle, the Hebrews be-
came terrible to all that dwelt round about them."
Even the temple of God had its slaves of the negro
and Canaanitish race, who were called the Nethin-
ims or slaves of the temple, says Dr. Clarke, who
were the descendants of the Gibeonites, condemned
to that condition by Joshua. See 1 Chron. ix, 2.
That the Jews made bo?id slaves of such of the Ca-
naanites as they took in war, is shown 1st Chron. v,
from the 18th to the 22d verse inclusive, where the
history of a great battle is related, that took place be-
tween the Israelites and a people of old Canaan,
called Hongarites, of whom they made 100,000 pris-
oners. These prisoners, says Clarke in his com-
ment on the place, were made slaves of, and not slain
in the war.
From 1 Kings ii, 39, 40, it appears that private
citizens, of the city of David, had slaves of the black
or negro race, who were Canaan ites. The place
reads as follows: "And it came to pass at the end
of three years [in the time of king David], that two
servants of [oiie\ Sliiniei ran away [out of Judea]
152 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
unto Achish, son of Macha, king of Gath. And they
told Shimei, saying, behold thy servants be in Gath.
And Shimei arose and saddled his ass, and went to
Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants from Gath."
That these two servants were of the negro race, is
shown by their running away to Gath, as Gath was
inhabited by Philistines, a branch of the house or
race of Mezarim, a son of Ham, and founder of the
first settlement of lower Egypt. These Philistines,
it appears, had not as yet, though in the days of Da-
vid, been cut off by the wars of the Jews. It was,
therefore, natural for the two slaves of the wealthy
Shimei to fly for protection to a people of their own
color and nation. Had those servants been of the
Hebrew blood and entitled to their freedom at the
jubilee, which happened at the end of every six
years, they never would have fled from their own
people and country to a negro heathen people. If
these servants of Shimei had not been slaves, in the
property sense of the word, but merely hired men, as
abolitionists contend all servants were, then were they
free men, and had no need of running away out of
the country from their owner; neither could Shimei
have demanded and took them away from Gath, as
he did, had they not been slaves, for at this time there
was no war between the Jews and the people of Gath.
They were, therefore, slaves and of the race of Ham,
in the proper sense of the word.
There is no subject upon which the Scriptures
have spoken that is more circumstantial and plain
than that of individual slavery, in relation to the de-
scendants of the blood of Ham. First of all, and
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE.' 153
more tlian four hundred years before the giving of
the law by Moses, at the very time when God made
a covenant with Abraham respecting the promised
Messiah, the sign of which was circumcision, we find
the buying of slaves, even by Abraham, incidentally
alluded to. See Gen. xvii, 13, 23, as follows: "He
tiiat is born in thy house, and he that is bought with
money, must needs be circumcised; and Abraham
took Ishmael his son. and all that were born in his
house, and all that were bought with his money^
every male among the men of Abraham's house
[slaves and all], and circumcised the flesh of their
foreskin, in the self same day, as God had said to
him."
In Exodus xii, 44, the buying of slaves is also in-
cidentally mentioned as follows: "But every man
servant that is bought for money ^ when thou hast cir-
cumcised him, then shall he eat thereof," that is, of
the passover. But that such servants as were bought
with money, as above spoken of, were not so many
hired men, as abolitionists seem to believe, appears
from the* next verse, the 45th, following the above
quotation, which reads thus : " A foreigner, 'and a
fined servant, shall not eat thereof"
From this statement it is clear, therefore, that a
bond slave was not considered as a hired man. Is
not this decisive respecting the difference between
the two characters?
At the time when God made this covenant with
Abraham, he was dwelling at a place called Bethel
(G«n. xiii, 3), which was in the very midst of the
Canaanite country: of whom, therefore, could he
11
154 fiRIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
have bought his bondmen, except of the black peo-
ple of Canaan, who at that time possessed the coun-
try, as the original inhabitants. It is likely, also,
that many of his slaves were brought with him from
Egypt, on his return from that country, to which he
and Lot had fled some years before, on account of a
great famine in the country of Canaan (Gen. x, 12).
as at the time he was rich in silver, gold, cattle and
slaves.
In these countries, Egypt and Canaan, there were
at this time no other people but the aboriginal ne
groes; the people, afterward known as Ishmaelites,
or Arabs, did not then exist, nor had the white na-
tions of men penetrated those countries from the
north, where they first settled after the flood. The
servants or slaves of Abraham, therefore, were of the
negro race, and them only.
Abraham was not ignorant of the fiat of Noah, in
relation to that people, nor of their naturally low cast
of mind: on which account he felt for them, and
bought as many as he could out of pity, as under his
protection they were much more happy than in a state
of freedom.
From Gen. xxvi, 13, 14, we learn that Isaac, the
son of Abraham, had a vast host of slaves at the time
he dwelt in Gerah, among the Philistines, who were,
as before said, a branch of the family of Egypt.
The account is as follows : " And the man [Isaac]
waxed great, and went forward and grew until he
became very great ; for he had possessions of flocks,
and possessions of herds, and great store of servants,
and the Philistines envied him." In this 'rait of the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 155
patriarchal history, respecting their wealth, it seems
that their slave property is mentioned, and mixed up
with the inventory, the same as is the account of
flocks and herds, making no difference between them.
From the reasoning of Adam Clarke on the mean-
ing of the word servant, it appears that the term slave
is the highest possible idea the word conveys, while
the word servant is but a secondary, an accommo-
dated, or lower application and meaning of the term.
See his comment on the 1st chapter of the Romans,
page 36, where he insists that to be the servant of
Jesus Christ was, as St. Paul has said, to be his slave
or property, and that he had no right to himself, or
any of the powers of soul or body — all belonging to
his master, Jesus Christ.
This, therefore, establishes that the term, bond ser-
vant, as used every where in the Bible, signifies a
bond slave, and not a hired servant, or a servant of
any other kind, but slave in the true property sense
of the word. And who is the man who can gainsay
the criticisms of Dr. Adam Clarke on the ancient lan-
guages, especially the Hebrew and Greek? Slavery,
and the possession of slaves, in all Patriarchal, Jew-
ish and Christian history, as given in the Bible, was
as popular as was the possession of property of any
other kind.
That the great store of servants possessed by Isaac,
the son of Abraham, when he lived in Gerar, among
the Philistines (south toward Egypt and not a great
way from the place where, in after ages, the temple
was built), were slaves of the negro race, is shown from
the fact, that the people of Canaan, Egypt. Philistia
156 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
(fee, were blacks at that time. The servants or
slaves, therefore, which Isaac had, must have been
of that race. At that time there were no Ishmaelites,
no Edomites, no Moabifes, no Ammonites — no de-
scendants of Abraham,, Lot, Jacob or Esau, of any
account; all these families, at the time of Jacob's
flourishing, were but young, like himself, and, of ne-
cessity, were at that time but few in number ; even
in his own family there were but two sons, Jacob and
Esau. From this it follows, therefore, that the
slaves he had were somehow procured from among
the people where he sojourned and got his great
wealth. This, to the writer, appears as absolute de-
monstration.
Of the same race were the servants who were given
to Abraham by king Abimelech, of Gerar, long before
tne birth of Isaac. See Gen. xx, 14, where there is
an account of the great fear that king fell into on ac-
count of his love to Sarai, Abraham's wife. But God
showed him, in a dream, that he must not touch her,
or himself, with all his house, should die. Now,
when Abimelech had seen God in this dream, and
had been directed what to do, it is written, in the
chapter above quoted, that he made great presents
to Abraham of sheep, oxen, men and women servants,
besides a thousand pieces of silver.
Now, if the servants who were given by Abimelech
to Abraham, together with the sheep and oxen, were
not property slaves, how could he have done it ; or
how could the righteous man, Abraham, have re-
ceived them, and thus take away their liberty, if they
had any, except he considered it right to enslave
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 157
them? But Abimelech did thus give them, together
with the herds, and Abraham did thus receive them.
Had these servants, thus transferred, no relation to
leave, no affinities of kindred, from whom they were
parted by the inexorable Abimelech and Abraham, m
whose ears the loud and heart-rending cries of sons,
grandmothers and babes, sounded as sweet music?
No doubt but they had ; just as much as is often the
case among the negro families of the south, in Amet
ica and elsewhere, when they are sold or transferred;
and yet Abraham took them — that righteous man of
God and a holy prophet. What would the abolition-
ists have said, if they had been there? Oh, ye
powers, how they would have spouted forth words
of mighty eloquence, stamped with their feet and
banged about with their fists, looked red in the face,
stretched up their length in altitude, frowned, grin-
ned and shook their heads, as they do novv-a-days,
when holding forth abolitionism — and particularly
when paid for it by the year, some six or eight hun-
dred dollars.
Respecting the servants of Abraham, especially
those that were bought with his money, they were
of the same race ; for the same reason as above, there
being no other people at the time in old Canaan but
the blacks of the country, for Abraham was a for-
eigner, a Chaldean from beyond the Euphrates, east.
But after the lapse of some four or five hundred
years, going down to the time of Moses, and the wars
of Canaan, then these descendants of the blood of
Abraham, besides the Jews, had become mnumerable.
Abolitionists, in order to make sport of the opinion,
158 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
that the Jews, when they had got possession of Ca-
naan, made slaves of the people instead of hiring
them, ask, with a leer, how they did it. They wish
to know if they took an armed band, with ropes and
shackles, so as to tie them when they were caught,
and thus compel them to slavery.
But of this query there is no need; for Moses, long
before they had possession of Canaan, pointed out
how this was to be done, especially hi times o{ peace,
for the Jews were not always at war with the Ca-
naanites. See Levit. xxv, 45, where the mode of
getting slaves is alluded to, as follows: '-Moreover,
of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among
you, oi them shall ye buy, and of \h.e\x families that
are with you, which they begat [or may beget} in
your land, and they shall be your possession."
Here the difficuUy vanishes, and with it the imag-
ined armed band, ropes and shackles of abolitionism,
as there could be no need of tying children, whom
they might buy of such Canaanitish families as would
be willing to sell them. It is well known that the
negroes of all ages have been in the practice of sell-
ing their own children, when pressed by want, as
they now do nearly all over Africa — who also en-
slave myriads of their ow7i people by force, as we
shall show in the course of the work.
As to the race inland in Canaan, they were never
entirely exterminated by the Jews, as there were al-
ways remnants of tribes left in the land, who con-
tinued during the whole Jewish history, from Moses
until they were destroyed by the Romans — a lapse of
more than fifteen hundred years. There was always,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 159
therefore, abundant opportunity for the Jews to pur-
chase children of the people of that cast for slaves,
as Moses had told them in the law should be their
privilege.
Having, as proposed in the commencement of this
section, shown that the law of Moses did indorse and
sanction the enslaving of the race of Ham, as de-
nounced by Noah, and that the Hebrews, through
the whole Jewish history, acted toward them on that
principle, we pass to other matters respecting the race.
One of those matters will consist of an inquiry,
whether God created the race of Ham, equal with the
descendants of the other sons of Noah, in point of
native intellectuality, and especially, with those of
Japheth, the white race.
From Noah's lips went forth the dire account.
Which echoed on the top of Sinai's mount
That God judicially decreed by name
The race of Ham for slaves — th' lambent flame,
Gave out a voice, all holy — not a flaw.
And there indorsed the same in Hebrew law.
Now let no erring man deride the stroke,
Fotjudgmeni is God's ttrmnge and fearful work.
[kaiah xxTiii, 26.
160 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
SEVENTH SECTION.
Arguments and positions of abolitionists favoring a belief that the
Scriptures recognize the negro man as being equal with the other
races, in point of blood and otherwise, refuted — Mark of Cain—
What it was — No black men or negroes before the flood except
one — Difference between the secreting power of the blood of white
and negro men — Evidences that the Supreme Being puts a high-
er estimate on white than on black, as colors or complexiona—
Consent to this difference by the blacks themselves, though inci-
dentally given, according to the accounts of travelers in Africa —
A curious argument cf abolitionists in favor of negro equality
replied to, with many other interesting matters.
In this division of the work we shall examine a
passage of Scripture, upon which abolitionists build
their theory of the negro's natural and mental equal-
ity with white men. This passage of Holy Writ,
upon which hangs the claimed excellence of that
race, is written in the book of Acts xvii, 26, as fol-
lows : " God hath made of one Mood all nations of
men, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath
determined the times afore appointed, and the hounds
of their habitations.^^
The arguments drawn from the Scripture by abo-
litionists, run thus :
In the veins of Adam, the first man and great fa-
ther of all mankind, the blood of the negro race, as
well as the blood of the other races, flowed free and
full, on which account his equality with all other
people is clearly made out, as they believe.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. ItJl
But to this opinion, we reply that there was never
any negro blood in the veins of Adam, nor blood
which produced the black or African race, naturally ;
whoever believes there was, will find it necessary to
prove, that there were black men in the very family
of Adam, and that they continued on down the course
of time, as part and parcel of the antediluvian popu-
lation, till the flood ; which it is not possible to prove.
Should we allow that Cain's mark which was set
upon him by the Divine power, was that of a black
skin, this would not prove that it was derived from
Adam's veins, but from a curse rather.
The mark, however, as held by the Jews, was not
any affection of the skin of Cain, but an affection of
the nerves, by which means he became a jiarabjtic,
or trembler ; hence he was called Nod, the vagabond
or the trembler, which also gave the same name to
the country whither he fled, from the face of his fa-
ther's family. If that mark was a black skin, yet
this could not affect the children of Cain, unless, to-
gether with that mark, his nature and constitution
was also changed, so that his race could partake with
him of that curse. But were we to allow this, so as
to make out the being of negroes before the flood, yet
they could not be the progenitors of the ^present ne-
groes of the earth, as all Cain's race, with all the oth-
er races were lost in the flood. On this account, we
are the more confirmed in the belief, that the first ne-
gro of the earth was Ham, a son of Noah, and that
Cain and his people, were no more negroes or black
men than Adam was.
If then, the blood of Adam did not produce a vari-
10» ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
egated multitude of human beings in relation to their
complexions, differing as widely from each other as
do black and white, then the blood of the white and
the hlack man, did not flow in the veins of Adam, as
such, or in this variegated condition, so as to produce
by natural generation, blacky white, and red, with all
the hues of the human race intermixedly, like cattle
or the fowls of the air.
Adam's blood, as the text reads, was but one blood
only, not many bloods. This one blood could pro-
duce of itself, naturally, but one general character of
human beings ; this we think, is an incontrovertible
position, proved true in the experience of all ages, by
the progenies of the different races which now exist.
This was certainly the opinion of St. Luke, who
was a physician, and of course a learned man — a
philosopher, who wrote the famous passage above al-
luded to, as well as the whole book in which that
passage is found ; for he calls the blood of Adam in
that scripture, one blood and no more.
Of this one blood God made the two other bloods,
as we have shown on the first pages ot this work.
Into these two new bloods, God infused, or created,
two seci'eting principles ; one depositing between the
outer and secondary skin of the body of one of these
men a white mucus, causing the skin of that man to
be white, and between the outer and inner skin of the
other a black mucus, causing that man to be black.
That such is the fact now, is well known to phys-
iologists, who admit that these mucuses cause the
difference in the colors of all the human complexions.
Did all these mucuses float between the inner and
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 163
outward skin of Adam ? If so, then he was a very
mottled looking object indeed, being red, black, and
white, confusedly mixed together.
The creation, or infusing of this secreting principle
into the blood of Japheth and Ham was miraculous,
and no more difficult for the performance of the Di-
vine hand than was the creation of the nmcus, which
gave the r^ d color to Adam's skin at first.
That a variety of nations has been made out of
that one first blood, is the very thing the writer, St.
Luke, means, when he says,, that God made of one
blood all nations, &c. He does not say that all na-
tions, all colors and kinds of people existed primarily
in that first blood of Adam, but that out of, or fronij
that blood the other bloods have been produced.
From that scripture, therefore, as we deem, the
equality of the negro race with the white race is not
made out ; as the color, formation, woolly hair, thick
skull, pointed posteriors, large foot, pouting lips,
wide and flatted nose, low forehead, hollow and com-
pressed temples, narrow monkey shaped waist, wide
chest, angular shaped legs, were not, and could not
have been, the direct and natural propagation of
Adam's blood.
But, says one, if it was God who made this change
in the blood of Adam, when he formed those two
sons, Japheth and Ham, so that, contrary to nature,
Noah and his wife became the parents of two races
of men entirely diverse from themselves, how is it
that the negro man is not equally honorable with the
white man, seeing it was God who was the author
of this curious miracle 1
164 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
It is made out that he is not equal, not only from
the everywhere staring fact of the actual difference
there is between the white and black races, but also
from the ability of the Creator to make of one blood
as many nations of men as he would, some to honor,
and some to dishonor, exercising his power arbitrari-
ly, as does the potter over the same lump of clay:
Romans ix, 20, 21.
Thus has God seen fit to do in the creation of the
two races of men, the negroes and the whites ; one
is degraded by natural tendencies, with a curse or a
judicial decree to announce it, and the other with a
blessing, equally judicial, both being dictated by the
Holy Ghost from the lips of Noah.
As to the intrinsic superiority of a white complex-
ion over that of black, there is no question ; for, by
the common consent of all ages among men, and even
of God himself in heaven, there has been bestowed on
white the most honorable distinction. White has
become the emblem of moral purity and truth, not
only on earth, but in eternity also, as it is said of the
saints, that they shall walk with the Lamb in white^
not in black (Rev. iii, 4, 5), and be clothed in white
raiment. When Christ, the Lamb that was slain, ap-
peared to John, the beloved disciple, on the isle of
Patmos, it was in the splendor of white. See Rev. i,
14: "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as
white as snow." The same is said by Daniel, to whom
this same glorious being appeared, some five hundred
years before his appearance to St. John. See book
of Daniel, chap, vii, 9, as follows: "I beheld till the
thrones [of earth] were cast down, and the Ancient of
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE 165
days [God Almighty] did sit, whose garment was
lohite as snoio^ and the hair of his head hke the jmre
wool," being excessively white. In this same char-
ac!er, as to appearance, he was seen on the top of a
high mountain when transfigured, as stated by Mat-
thew, chap, xvii, 2, where it is said, that his face
shone as the sun, and that his raiment was as white
as the light. In Rev. xx, 11, the very throne of God
in heaven is said to be white, as follows: "And I
saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven [firmament] fled
away."
The Savior of mnnkind, though born of a Jew-
ish copper colored woman, was nevertheless a white
man. This complexion, which characterized the
body of God incarnate, was such as pleased him, or he
would not thus have appeared. The proof that he
was a white man, is derived from a letter, written by
a Roman Senator from Judea, in the time of Augus-
tus Caesar, to Rome. In that letter, which is now
extant, the man Jesus Christ is said to have been a
man of surpassing beauty, having a bright fair com-
plexion, with hair of the color of a ripe^Z6er^ which
is inclining to the yellow or golden color. His eyes
were of the hazel or blue cast ; his forehead high,
smooth, and broad. His stature tall and exceeding-
ly graceful, every motion and attitude bore the stamp
of perfection, over all of which there was an in-
describable sweetness, as well as of resistless com-
mand.
If the hair of his head was light colored, and his
eyes of a blueish hazel, then he must have been of a
166 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
white complexion, as no copper colored Jew, Arab, oi
Indian, ever have such hair, or such eyes.
This being true, it adds another proof that, in the
estimation of the Creator, the white complexion, such
as is possessed by the race of Japheth, is more valu-
able than black or red, or the Son of God would not
have chosen a body thus complexioned to make his
appearance as the second Adam, or the Lord from
Heaven.
Are not these instances sufficient to establish the
point, that white has obtained the most honorable dis-
tinction, both in heaven and on earth, over that of
black. Could this be so, were there not intrinsically
something more valuable and pleasing to the Divine
Being, in the fulgence oi whiteness, than is in its op-
posite, which is black.
White is the sign of life and being ; for, previous
to the existence of all created things over the whole
face, as well as throughout the whole space of bound-
less, shoreless, fathomless, interminable eternity, there
was relatively nothing but one ocean of the black-
ness of darkness. Light, which is white, was there-
fore the first sign of created being, and is a fit simili-
tude of the uncreated God, of whom it is said that
God is light. John i, 5.
Black, in all ages, has been the sign of every
hateful thing. If a man is uncommonly wicked, he is
said to be a hlack hearted wretch, as a traitor, a liar,
a thief, a murderer, &:c. Sackcloth of hair, so often
alluded to in the Scriptures, was a cloth that was
black, and was referred to as the sign of mourning,
judgment, and death. Hell, itself, which is situated
1 ORTUKKS, OF THE MCGllO RACE, 167
somewhere in thf vast womb of eternal night, out-
side, and beyond the whole universe of God, so far
off from the pale of creation, and the space occupiec^
now by the great family of suns and worlds, which
may yet be taken up by succeeding creations to all
eternity, is spoken of as being " the blackness of dark-
ness ;" Jude 13. In second Peter, the same place,
hell, is again referred to as being a j)lace of darkness,
where the angels, who kept not their Jirst estate, are
bound in chains (or depths) of darkness, and are re-
served to judgment.
To the opinion of the superiority of white over
black, the negroes themselves subscribe in the fact
of their always and every where insisting that they
ought to be called colored people, and not a black
people, as they esteem it extremely degrading to be
called negroes, or black people.
But, says one, this kind of involuntary confession
of the blacks, respecting the disagi'eeableness of their
color, arises out of their bemg in countries where all
power, influence, wealth, rule, government, &c., are
in the hands of the whites ; but turn the tables, and
step over to Africa, if you please, where you will find
the negro man in his native glory, walking abroad
in his primeval independence, having not a dream
in the visions of his soul that a black skin is not a
handsome and becoming complexion. We will step
over to Africa, as the thing is easily done, and see
whether it is really so, by making inquiries of trav-
elers, who have made themselves familiar with their
manners and customs, their loves and antipathies.
As being pertinent to this subject, we shall make a
168 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
few extracts from Damberger's Travels in Africa.
This man is a good witness, as he was many years
in the interior of that country, having ran away from
a Dutch military garrison, at the Cape of Good Hope,
and fled into the interior, hiding himself among the
Caffres. of whom he learned the language of the ne-
gro nations.
From thence, after a long time, he traveled by
piece meal, alone, and always nearly naked, the whole
length of Africa, full four thousand miles, commenc-
ing at the Cape, and coming out at Morocco, near
Santa Cruz, being sixteen years in performing the
journey, passing over sixty degrees of the globe,
keeping along on the western side of the continent,
at no great distance from the sea. This journey of
Damberger was commenced in 1781, over sixty years
ago, and ended in 1797. This work may be seen in
the-State Library at Albany, New York.
During this journey, Damberger fell in with a
tribe, or nation, by themselves, called Mattamans,
with whose chief he remained some days to rest.
This negro king was a powerful man as to bone and
muscle, but went about entirely naked, as did all his
people, except a slender covering of the waist. A
little distance from the residence of this chief, there
was a son of his, whither Damberger was desired to
accompany the king on a visit. This son had two
little daughters, one about nine, and the other seven
years old, who, on beholding the white man as he
drew near with their grandfather, came running to
meet them. But instead of remaining to be carress-
ed by their grandfather, they immediately left him,
FORTUNES, OB' THE NEGRO RACE. 169
and clung to the white man, though a stranger, leap-
ing and playing about, and crying out with great
glee and satisfaction, " Yo no colo, yo no cola /" that
is, pretty white man, pretty white man. See Datn-
berger^s Travels^ vol. i, p. 175.
This was the voice of nature speaking with the
tongues of these children, in approval of the white
man's complexion over their own, the same as they
would have done on finding a pretty flower, a tree
laden with berries, or any thing that was pleasing to
their sight.
The same kind of preference of many of the tribes,
among whom he wandered, was shown to Bamber-
ger, as well by the men as the women, who would
gather round him, calling him handsome because he
was white. Some would, in the most imreserved
manner, lift his garments which he wore about his
waist, and examine the sign of his sex with cries of
approval, desiring a union of his blood with theirs.
Vol. i, p. 99, 128.
By one of the tribes this man fell in with, who
were called Kxnonians, he was scrutinized more
closely than common, in relation to the idea above
alluded to, and leing highly approved of, on account
of his great beauty and whiteness of complexion,
they were strongly minded to detain him against his
will, for the improvement of their race by amalgam-
ation. On this account he made his escape by stealth,
being assisted by a young negress of the tribe. Vol.
li, p. 103.
Thus Bamberger was received wherever he went
among the black nations of Africa. To the eve of
12
170 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
civilization, this poor runaway from the garrison of
the Cape must have been a frightful looking being,
as he was nearly naked, his skin sunburnt and scaly.
His hair and beard grown to a most hideous length,
poor and emaciated in person, and yet with all
these disadvantages, the negroes, men and women,
and even the children, were delighted with his beauty
When, for the first time, a child of the white race
sees a negro man, it is always frightened by the hor-
ible apparition. Even to a man, or any person of
adult years, the first sight of a black human being,
gives them a shock, or a feeling of the most singulai
character, mixed up of pity, disgust and wonder, not
experienced by negroes, on seeing a white liuman be
ing for the first time.
This admiration of the blacks, bestowed upon the
white nations and individuals, is the involuntary
voice and approval of nature, which speaks always
the truth, far enough removed from the influence of
circumstances.
When the famous traveler, Mungo Park, was in
Africa, and having occasion to ascertain, in a certain
place, the altitude of the sun, it was noticed that a
powerful young negro man, as to size, a prince, as
they said he was, but naked, paid very close atten-
tion to the arrangement of the instrument, the quad-
rant in particular, and saw that they were doing
something about the sun, when he cried out in evi-
dent iistress of mind, " black man nothing:' Law-
rence's Lectures, p. 420.
Here, probably for the first time in his life, a
thought respecting his race being black and degraded,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 171
arose in his mind, occasioned by a comparison of
himself and people with the white men then before
him, who appeared able even to measure that flam-
ing globe of seeming fire, the sun, which had glared
for ages along the highway of the heavens, and the
thought alarmed him ; so that in his native tongue he
exclaimed, " black man nothing,"
Another evidence in support of the belief, that a
white skin is preferred by the negro race, is afforded
in the fact that, among the kings and petty chiefs of
the Africans, a female who may chance not to be as
black as common, is more highly prized as a beauty,
and considered an acquisition of immense importance.
In every part of the world, it is a matter of boasting
with negro men and women, if they can show that
they have white blood mixed with theirs ; or if they
can get them.selves united in consanguinity with the
white race ; this is the same also among the Indians.
It is a very rare thing, if it ever happens at all, for a
negro man or woman to boast of the purity of their
African blood, or of the intensity of the blackness of
their bodies, or woolliness of their hair, while the con-
trary is the fact, as they are rejoiced at any de-
parture in their progeny from the baleful hue, wheth-
er among white nations or in the wilds of Africa.
Were it not for this trait in the character of their
being, namely, their dissatisfaction with their forma-
tion and complexion, there would be still greater
reason to judge them as wanting in natural intel-
lectuality.
There is another position which the pleaders of
negro equality and excellence urge with great impet-
172 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, A^f)
uosity, from which they infer that the God oi' tlie hu-
man race never intended their enslavement. This
position arises out of the circumstance of the Crea-
tor having given to man in Adam, the control, rule
and government, over all the animal creation, in their
subjugation ; making thereby all nations and all
races of men lords alike in this particular, as is seen
to have been the case. Gen. i, 26, and ix, 2. The
first was said when God was about to make man,
as in the first quotation. The second was said, as
in the last quotation, after the flood, to Noah and
his family.
As to the amount of the ^r*^ scripture, it can have
no application to the negro's case at all, in making
them lords in that particular, equal with white men,
over the animals of the earth, as during all the ages
of the antediluvian world, there was not a negro on
the earth, except Ham, the son of Noah.
As to the amount of the second scripture, in rela-
tion to the negro race, we do not in the least deny
their equal lordship with white men, over all the an-
imals of the globe ; but we deny that their equality
can be made out of premises so smaU. Because God
has given to the race of Ham some equal privilege
with the race of Japheth, is he, therefore, in all re-
spects his equal ? Though the negro race have an
equal right to the elements of nature, as have all an-
imals, yet this cannot, and does not, elevate the stand-
ard of their capacities.
The same God who gave to man, both black and
white alike, the equal natural lordship of animals,
has also, of his own gopd pleasure, placed the uegrQ
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 173
race within the control of his superior, which is as cer-
tainly said in so many words, by Noah, as that it is
said that God in the beginning made the heavens and
the earth.
The position is too far fetched, too circuitous and
winding, to bear the straight forward light of truth,
as all experience and observation in all ages, prove
their inequality and mental inferiority with white
men, even themselves being judges, as they never
have claimed so high a standing as a people, that we
are aware of.
Having thus passed through the inquiry, respecting
the original equality of the negro race with the rest
of mankind, as claimed for them by abolitionists, on
the ground of the one hlood argument, derived from
the book of Acts, and the fact of the negro's equal
lordship over animals, we pass to an examination, in
some degree, of their general, as well as particular
and personal character, during which it will more
and more appear, that they are not^ have never been,
and can never be, the equals of white men in almost
all the mental powers and capacities of human na-
ture, and that they were thus produced by the Divine
hand.
As o'er their limbs a claud of darkness lowers,
So hangs a mental gloom upon their powers:
The ray Divine gives not so fair a flame.
Nor shows as much the glory of God's name.
As on the white man's brow, his soul, his face.
Is seen to shine— so pleased creative grace-
Yet who is he that boasts, for can the clay
Have glorying thoughts or proud words to say t
174 ORIGIN. CHARACTER, AND
EIGHTH SECTION.
Moral and civil character of tbie negro race — Acts of the negro
Sodomites — Their lewdness, &c. — Proofs from many authors re-
specting their amours with dumb beasts — As well from the Scrip-
tares — Of this the Canaanites were guilty — As well as the Egyp-
tians— Moses's testimony to this — Herodotus's testimony from
his own observations when in Egypt — Gales^s testimony — Son-
nini'a testimony — Testimony of the Prophet Hzekiel — Curious
sexual formation of the negro race — Lewd customs of the ancient
Egyptians about their temples, as seen by Herodotus — Same traits
of character among the negroes of all countries at the present
time, in America, and every where — Dreadful practices of the
women of Egypt — Writer's apology for plain writing on matters
of this description — Proofs that Jezebel and all her priests were
black, with some account »f her character as a negress and a
wanton — Account of automaton images made for lewd purposes
by the women of those times — Pictures and images of the Ca-
naanites — Influence of these doings of the negroes of those ages
on the Hebrews — Curious reason of the Jewish Rabbi why the dogs
woHld not eat the head and hands of Jezebel — Horrid customs of
the African negroes — Respecting the marriages of their young
women, as related by Herodotus — Corresponding character of
the Africans now in these particulars, as related by travelers—
Rollin's testimony to the same thing.
Afi a justification of the severity of God against
the race of Ham, we shall now give some account
of their character, who, as will appear, are, and have
always been, the faithful disciples, and imitators oi
their lascivious and degraded father. It is not to be
doubted that Ham, notwithstanding the goodness of
his two brothers, Shera, and Japheth, and his right*
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 17S
patriarch father, was as wicked as any of the
antediluvians, who were destroyed in the flood. But
for the sake of the Divine Providence, carrying into
€ifect his plan of inhabiting the hot regions of the
earth, after the flood, with a suitable race of men, who,
in their constitutions and animal appetites, should be
fitted to the climate, &c., as before argued, this pro-
genitor of all the Africans was taken in and preserved
in the Ark, with the rest of Noah's family.
A vivid, as well as a frightful trait of the charac
ter of this whole people, the races of Mezarim, Cush,
Phut, and Canaan, the four sons of Ham, is shown
in the actions of the Sodomites, in the days of Lot,
the half brother of Abraham.
The Sodomites were the same people with the
Oanaanites, living along the great vale of the river
Jordan, which bounded the land of Canaan on the
east toward Syria. The occasion on which their pe-
culiar character and general behavior was manifested,
is familiar to every reader of the Scriptures^, see Gen.
xix, written by the hand of Moses, in substance as
follows :
On a certain day, as the sun was going down,
there came toward the city of Sodom two young
men, who, as Josephus says, were very beautiful
and tall. They appeared as if weary, but manifest-
ed no inclination to enter the gates of the place, or
any house wherein to rest. But Lot, who lived
there, happening just then to be reclining on a seat
at the gate, which was near to his dwelling within,
saw the strangers, and immediately rising up, invited
them to accompany him to his house, and to tarry
~1
176 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
with him till morning, of which they accepted,,
though apparently in a reluctant manner.
Now as soon as it was dark, the men of that part
of the city assailed the dwelling of Lot, demanding
that the two strangers should be brought out into
the street, that they might " know them," as theysaid.
This peculiar term to ^^know them" was fraught with
a meaning, of which hell and all its inhabitants
would have been ashamed, had they heard it. To
the demand however, Lot objected with great vehe-
mence, saying, " I pray you, do not so wickedly."
On hearing this, they became enraged at Lot,
when they said they would deal worse with him
than with the strangers, because he had, as they
pietended. set himself up as a judge among them.
Here they made a rush, crying out. sta7id back, in-
tending to seize Lot, and to drag him into the stree;
where they meant to abuse him, in the sam*^ vva»
they intended to abuse the two young men.
But on the instant when their rage had gone up
in the scale of fury to its highest altitude, and whep
their fingers were nerved with the deep energies of
^Satanic violence, ready to grasp their victims, the two
young men, the strangers who stood just within, put
forth their hands, and pulled Lot into the house,
when they shut the door. But as the Sodomites
pressed on, to break down the door of Lot's house,
l>ehold they were shrouded in a deep, thick darkness,
so that they groped about miserably, not knowing
where they were, or what they should do, for they
had been struck in the midst of their fury, by an in-
lasible power, with blindness.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 177
In this horrid condition they spent the night, see-
ing nothing till morning, when their eyes were open-
ed, and they saw the heavens teeming with glaring
meteors of flame, which chased each other, as in
sport, while others seemed to stand still, looking
down on the devoted region below, as if they were
endowed with thoughts, and were watching the pro-
gress of Lot's escape to the mountains, beyond the
I plain.
I When this was accomplished, and Lot and his
family were safe, then began the work of wrath, as
if the lightnings of the elements from the four winds
of heaven kept holyday, and yet were obedient to
the beck of an awful hand, which far up in the
j gloomy concave was seen in flaming red, pointing
j them to their courses. Then fell a tempest of fire,
{ mingled with burning brimstone, from the Lord, out
j of Heaven, destroying not only the great vale of Sod-
i om, but five cities, with hamlets and villages innu-
! merable. So violent and fierce was the fire, that it
I devoured the very ground in all that region, as it was
j composed much of a bituminous strata, to a great
j depth, in which the Jordan flowed and formed the
j Dead Sea.
1 Thus disappeared, at one bufiet of the Almighty
I hand, many ten thousands of the lewd race of Ham,
in a way the most horrible to think of There must
have been some extraordinary reason for severity so
amazing, as it was far more dreadful in its ajjplica-
I Hon, than either the curse of Noah, the exterminating
! decree against the Canaanites in the law of Moses^
or their doom to perpetual slavery*
178
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Lewdness, of the most hideous description, was
the crime of which they were guiUy, blended with
idolatry in their adoration of the gods, who were
carved out of wood, painted, and otherwise made, so
as to represent the wild passions of lascivious desires,
in both male and female forms. This was the char-
acter of all the Hamethian race in old Canaan,
Egypt, and every where, but more especially in Sod-
om, who seem to have outdone all competitors, for
they gave themselves entirely over, without the least
reserve, even going after ^'- strange Jlesh" which sig-
nified dumb beasts [see St. Jude, verse 7], as well as
man after man.
For many particulars of the practices of the negro
nations of these ages, see xviiith and xxth chapters
of Leviticus, where it is shown that they outraged
n^all order and decency of human society, making no
difierence between sisters, mothers, neighbors, wives,
men, and animals, in their amours and sexual com-
merce.
Should the reader desire to know the truth on this
subject, he will do well to examine the Scriptures
above alluded to, where the crimes of these nations
are set down in horrible array. To show this, we
will make a brief quotation from the xviiith of Le-
viticus, 22-24, as follows : " Thou shalt not lie with
mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast, to defile thy-
self therewith ; neither shall any woman stand before
a beast, to lie down thereto : it is confusion. Defile
not yourselves in any of these things : for in all these
the nations are defiled which I cast out before you."
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 179
Now, what nations did God cast out of Canaan?
The answer is, he cast out seven mighty negro na-
tions, who were more powerful, and greater in num-
bers, than were the Jews, all of whom, as said by
Moses, were guilty of all the appalling deeds, set
down in order in the two chapters above referred to.
That such practices did prevail among the people of
Ham, is stated not only by Moses, in his time, but
Herodotus, the most ancient of the Greek historians,
says the same thing respecting the negroes of his age^
The statements of this author are to be relied on,
says Adam Clarke, in his commentary on one of the
same chapters we have referred the reader to as
above, namely, the xxth of Leviticus, verse 16.
Herodotus says that he saw, when he was in Egypt,
with his own eyes, an Egyptian woman accompany- ,
ing with a he-goat, in the very streets of the city sho
lived in. The time when Herodotus traveled in
Egypt and other parts of Africa, was some 450 year&
B. C, and more than a thousand from the time of
Moses, which proves the incurable proneness of thai
people, the negro race, to the most extraordinary and
shameful abuses of human nature.
Dr. Clarke says, in his comment on Exod. xxii, 19,
that it is certain, from an account in SonninVs trav-
els in Egypt, that lying with dumb beasts is practiced
even now, as well as in the time of Moses. The
goat, in the New Testament, see Math, xxv, 33, is
used as the symbol of all sinners. On this symbol,
says Clarke, "the goat i.^ naturally quarrelsome, las-
civious, and excessively ill-scented, and was consid-
ered a fit syniboi of all riotous, profane, and impure
180 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
men." How very similar, according to the above,
were these two characters, the goat and the negro7
They were aUke in passions, in propensities, and in
their smell, both disagreeable to excess.
Gale, the traveler, says the same thing of the
Egyptians ; who gives a description of a case of the
kind, which he saw transacted between a he-goat
and an Egyptian woman. Bochart gives many ex-
amples of this character in his work. Says Adam
Clarke, vol. ii. Coll. 641 : Moses, Joshua, and the
Jews, have been accused of excessive cruelty, while
prosecuting their wars against the Canaanites, in the
destruction of not only men, but helpless women and
children. But let such persons as are offended on
account of the rigor of the Jews against the Canaan
ites, become acquainted with the true character of
those nations, as well the women as the men, and they
will not hesitate to justify God, who commanded
their entire extermination, and those who execute
those commands.
Were there a district of country within the pale of
Christendom, inhabited by blacks, or any other people,
who were guilty of such things as 'Moses, Herodotus,
Gale, Bochart, and many others say they were, there
would be an immediate rush of mankind, of all or-
ders, infidel and Christian, to cut them off, and to ob-
literate every vestige of a people, so polluted in their
propensities and deeds, from the face of the earth.
The prophet Ezekiel's account of the negroes of
Egypt and Canaan [chap, xvi, 26, 27], corroborates
all that is said above, where he speaks of them as
beini; ^^ great of flesh," whose mischievous manners
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 181
had corrupted the women of the Jews to such a de-
-ore that many of them had made themselves images
of men, in imitation of the Egyptian images, and
committed fornication with them, hterally.
Tlie meaning of the words, '■'■great of Jlesh,^^ as
used by the prophet Ezekiel, in reference to the
Egyptian negroes, is said by an ancient writer, says
Adam Clarke, in his comment on that place in Eze-
Iciel, in Latin, -^Bene vasti longa mensura incognita
iierviy and applied strictly to the negro nations on
that particular, as also it does at the present time.
In chapter xxiii of that prophet, 8, 20, 21, 27, it is
stated that all the lewd abominations practiced by
the Jews, in his time, which was about 600 years B.
C, were brought from Egypt, and learned of the
Egyptians, whose flesh, says Ezekiel (verse 20), was
as the flesh of asses^ and their issue as the issue of
horses ; so gross, fierce, and brutal were they, in their
love of disorderly practices. But what do the Scrip-
tures mean in the above phraseology, respecting the
Egyptians, namely, that their Jiesh was as the flesh
of asses ? Simply as follows : that between the sexu-
al members of the negro man and the brute called an
ass, there v/as but little difference as to elongation
and magnitude.
If the passage is not thus understood, then it will
follow that the Egyptian negroes, and consequently
the whole negro race, are not human; for the proph-
et plainly says, that their flesh was as the flesh of
asses ; and asses are not human. To allow them,
therefore, a place among the species called man, w^
t) re compelled to admit that interpretation.
182 ORIGIN, CHARACTER. AND
This very singular account respecting the pecuhai
formation of the black race, as given by that prophet,
is corroborated by Herodotus, the Greek, who says,
chapters xlviii and xlix, pages 85, 87, that the images
of the sexual sign of the male of the human race, as
carried about the streets of Egypt, in the precincts
of their temples, on certain festival days, were gen-
erally a cubit in length. Now, the ancient cubit was
from eighteen to twenty-one inches ; and why this im-
itation was carried about on the days of their religious
celebrations, Herodotus says he was not at liberty to
relate.
This was said by Herodotus out of fear, perhaps,
of the priests of those temples. Were we to venture
an opinion respecting what he would have said, had
he been at liberty, it would have been that they wor-
shiped, by aid of that kind of image, the procrea-
tive principle, by which means all animal life is pro-
duced. The instrument of which, from analagous
reasoning, according to Egyptian theology, might
properly, therefore, be adored, a god well suited to
the worship of Sodomites.
As it respects the crime of Ham, the youngest
son of Noah, Gen. ix, 22-24, it is believed by some,
and not without reason, that it did not consist alone
in the seeing his father's nakedness, as a man, but
rather in the abuse and actual violation of his own
mother.
This opinion is strengthened by a passage found
in Levit. xviii, 8, as follows : "The nakedness of thy
father's i/;7/i shalt thou not uncover : it is thy /a^/ter'a
nakedness." On account of this passage, it has been
OF THE m:gjio race.
183
believed tluU the crime of Ham did not consist alone
of seeing his father in an improper manner, but
rather of his own mother, the wife of Noah, and of
violating her.
If this was so, how much more horrible, therefore,
appears the character of Ham, and how much more
deserving the curse, which was laid upon him and
his race, of whom it was foreseen that they would be
hke this, their lewd ancestor.
All Egypt, the Sodomites, the Canaanite nations,
with all the negro heathen countries, practiced these
outrages upon good order (as stated by Moses, see
Levit. xviii, 3, and chap, xx, 23), without shame or
remorse, as if, indeed, they considered themselves as
being no better than the cattle of the fields.
For these things, as foreseen, they were adjudged
judicially, together with Ham, as an inferior race of
men, and could never be elevated on account of their
natures.
The baleful fire of unchaste amour rages through
the negro's blood more fiercely than in the blood of
any other people, inflaming their imaginations with
corresponding images and ideas, on which account
they are a people who are suspected of being but lit-
tle acquainted with the virtue of chastity, and of re-
garding very little the marriage oath. In all the
southern regions it is thus ; promiscuous intercourse
of the sexes every where prevails among the blacks.
This state of things is attested to by abolitionists
themselves, in relation to the negroes of the southern
states.
For the proof of this, see " The Bible against Slav
1
184 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
ery," No. 6, 1838, page 63, in a note, as follows:
" To the female character among the black popula-
tion, we cannot allude but with feelings of the bitter-
est shame. A similar condition of moral pollution
and titter disregard of a pure and virtuous reputa-
tion, is to be found onli/ without the pale of Christen-
dom.-' The same is said by the Rev. James A.
Thome, as recorded in the pamphlet above alluded
to, in a note, page 3, and was part of a set speech,
delivered in New York, May, 1834, as follows : " I
would not have you fail to understand (says Mr.
Thorne) that this is a general evil. What I now
say, I say from deliberate conviction of its truth, that
the whole states are Sodoms, and almost every fami-
ly is a brothel I refer to the inmates of the kitchens,
not to the whites."
But all this is told and published to the world by
abolitionists, with the view of having it understood
that this awful and ruinous propensity of the negroes,
as well as the practice, is wholly owing to the insti
tutions of slavery. This, however, is not true ; for
they have been always thus. From the very days
of Ham, their father, down through their whole his-
tory, whether in a civilized or savage state, whether
in the wilds of Africa, the islands of the sea, whether
enslaved or free, it was always so with them.
That one passion conquers all, and will conquer
every mortal endeavor to -elevate the race much
above their present level. There is but one power
that can help them, and this is the power which res-
cued the man of Capernaum from the dominion of
an "unclean devil," Luke iv, 33, that alone can
FOUTIXES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 185
change this trait of the black man's character. But
ahhongh we admit, as in the above sentence, that
there is a redeeming power, which, if sought imto
by the negro man, can and will heal him of that in
firmity ; yet, as we are informed, this very sin infects
even the sanctuary of religion in the south among
the negroes.
For a proof of this, see a paper entitled the '■'■Col-
ored American!!'' published in New York, by Charles
Ray, No. 9, Spruce street. The date of the paper is
March 7, 1840. This paper is devoted to abolition
purposes, in which is the following account of the
travels of a certain minister of the gospel, by the
name of S. Hoes, through the southern country.
This man, on arriving at the city of New Orleans,
visited, one evening, a negro religious mxceting, over
which a white preacher presided. The congregation
consisted of some eight hundred colored persons.
Many of them seemed to be intelligent in their ap-
pearance. Their decorum in the church, and atten-
tion to the sermon, waa worthy of all imitation.
They sung with great devotion and melody. Their
piety, the minister said, was generally uniform and
consistent, with but one exception. And what was
that exception, think ye? it was promiscuous inter-
course between the sexes, which the pastor said was
their formidable sin, and of which they were guilty
to an alarming degree, and was common throughout
all that country, among the blacks.
In this fact is seen how powerful an influence lewd-
ness exerts over the degraded and low-minded rpirits
of the African race, yiflding themselves up to mere
13
186 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
sensuality and devilishness, to the exclusion of aL
true virtue and elevation of soul. In their real char-
acter, though reared up under the influence of the
holy religion of Christ, we see, as in the case above
named, no difference between them and the people
of Egypt — lewdness being predominant in their char-
acters, and an indifference to the regulations of vir-
tuous principles.
We consider that such things committed by the
members of Christian societies are, if possible, far
worse than the same acts performed by the Egyp-
tians, who were under the influence of a religion
which favored and encouraged the gratification of
sense in this particular. But it is all one ; for it was
the lewd propensities of that race of mankind, which
moved their ancestors, in the days of Ham and Nim-
rodj to invent and institute the rites of paganism,
which favored, and even insisted, that the gratifica-
tion of that one passion was a cardinal virtue, and
pleasing to the gods : wherefore, in both cases,
whether under the supervision of the pagan or the
Christian religion, the character of the race appears
to be the same — their nature predominates, and that
alone.
Herodotus says, that the women of Egypt would
approach the images of the male character, of then
own manufacturing, in the open streets, while multi-
tudes were looking on, and capering to the sound of
music, mixed with deep yells of revelry, while these
rites of Bacchus were being accomplished. Were
we to give a literal account of these images, and the
automaton machinery by which the obscene shaped
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACir 187
■ god <vas made to imitate life and motion, it would
not fail to offend ; we therefore desist, fearing that we
have already said too much ; and yet the truth should
not be hidden on matters of this description more
than on others, and especially when the manners and
religions of the ancients of mankind are concerned.
In such cases, if timidity is allowed to conquer truth,
how is truth to be known ? Even the Scriptures do
not hesitate to state facts of the worst description,
relative to the negro race, and in language of the
most honest character ; we therefore feel that duty,
in relation to the truth, respecting the aim of this
work, must, and ought to prevail. Moreover, if a
writer is not allowed plainly to state facts, in the best
manner he can, on subjects of this kind, which re-
late to the history of the human race in the early
times of the globe, and respecting the religion of
those ages, how is virtue and vice to be contrasted?
How is the religion of God incarnate to be exhibited,
as being infinitely better in its influences upon our
race, except by comparison and the exhibition of
facts ?
Jezebel, the worst woman ever heard of in the
annals of mankind, the wife of Ahah, one of the
kings of Israel^ not of Judea, was a negro woman,
the daughter of Ethball, king of Zidonia. The
Zidonians were of the same race with the Tyrians,
so often spoken of in the Scriptures as being the in-
habitants of Tyre and Zidon. Sidonius was one
of the sons of Canaan, who was the son of Ham,
and, according to Josephus, built the city Sidonius,
or Zidon, which was thus named after and in honor
188 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
of its founder. This city was adjacent to the king-
dom of Israel, of which Ethball, the father of Jezebel,
the wife of Ahab, was king, and proves Jezebel to
have been a negress ; because her father was a king
of a negro people, descended from Ham by the line-
age of Canaan, and Canaan's son, Sidonius.
That this Ethball, the father of Jezebel, was king
of Sidon at the time Ahab was king of Israel, is
shown from 1 Kings xvi, 31, which reads as follows:
"And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing
for him [Ahab] to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the
son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daugh-
ter of Ethball, king of Zidon, and went and served
Baal, and worshiped him."
Baal was one of the gods of the negro Canaan-
ites, but what his shape was is not known. Jezebel
being a heathen of the worst description, anST a wo-
man of great impudence and boldness of character,
as well as exceedingly beautiful, as a negress, capti-
vated the vitiated imagination of Ahab by her wiles
and fascinations, and became queen of the kingdom
of Israel. Having achieved this, and united the
house of her father with the renowned race of the
Jews, she became anxious that her gods and religion
should be honored by the king, her husband, and his
people, thinking thereby to increase the glory of her
father's house and kingdom, which had been shorn
down, and eclipsed of its ancient extent and great-
ness by the wars and victories of the Jews during
many hundred years, as well as to extend the fame
of her lascivious and darling religion..
In order to accomplish this, she had temples built
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 189
with the consent of the king, her husband, in which
were celebrated the intoxicating rites of prostitution
by the ministry of a great muUitude of pagan priests
of her own country. As connected with the celebra-
tion of the rites of the Zidonian religion, she caused
certain images to be manufactured in the form of
Priapuses, which were fabled monsters, bred in the
brains of an idolatrous priesthood, having the human
shape from the waist upward ; below the waist there
was the form of a bull, or a he-goat — with othei
members — the shame of heathenism. By wiles of
this description, she seduced Ahab the king, and with
hi?n vast multitudes of the subjects of his kingdom,
the Israelites, to the worship of the Zidonian Ve7ius
sometimes called, in the Scriptures, Astarta.
She persuaded her husband to build a house, or a
great temple, in a forest, where she had an image
made of a standing tree, fashioned after the likeness
above described — a priapus, as the Jewish Rabbi re-
late. This image was consecrated by her ministers
as the tutelar divinity, or guardian of the woods and
vineyards. That idol was like one that was made
and worshiped by another woman of those times,
v/ho was of the same principles with Jezebel. This
woman's name was Maacha^ who was th^ queen
mother of Asa, one of the kings of Judah, who reign-
ed but a little time before Ahab was king of Israel.
She was doubtless an acquaintance of Jezebel, being
an adult woman when Jezebel was but young, or be-
fore she was married to Ahab.
Respecting this image made by Maacha, the moth-
er of Asa, Rabbi Solomon, a Jewish commentator
190 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANH
on tiie writings of the Old Testament, say s the idal 1
or image of queen Maacha was a horrible statue, j
made in a state of entire nakedness, with the sign I
of the masculine sex of great proportions, which she
admired daily, in the sight of all men, as a religious \
rite, like the Egyptian women, to her public shame, \
at which the people laughed and wondered. See I
Kings XV, 11-13, on this subject, as follows: "And
Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord,
as did David. He took away the Sodomites out of j
the land, and removed all the idols his father had !
made. And he also removed Maacha, his mother,
even he?- he removed from being queeu, because she
had made an idol in a grove ; and Asa destroyed the
idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron."
Adam Clarke, in commenting on this passage, as
above, says that the image spoken of there was a
Priapus, a creature half man and half bull, or half
lie-goat, or some other dumb beast ; and that it was
worshiped with lewd rites, which agrees with the
statements of Rabbi Solomon, in the essence of the
thing, though the language of Claike is not so bold
on the subject as is the communication of Rabbi
Solomon.
It is evident, from the Sciiptures and ancient his-
tory, that the whole land of old Canaan, and the ne-
gro countries elsewhere, such a Egypt, Lybia, Ethio-
pia, and all Africa besides, were filled with the s^igns,
paintings, and pictures of lewdness, as well as with
sculptured and molten images, of both male and fe-
male human beings, and of monsters, half human
and half animal, especially among the nations of Ca-
.5
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RiiCE. 191
naan. Pv such means, the grosser passions of hu-
man nature were continually excited to disorder, vio-
lence, and confusion. Out of this influence arose all
kinds of extravagant behavior, tending to the cor-
ruption of the manners of mankind.
That such loas the fact in Canaan, is shown from
Numbers xxxiii. 51, 52, where Moses is charged by
the Divine power, as follows: ''Speak unto the chil-
dren of Israel, and say unto them : When ye are
passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan, iJien ye
shall drive out all of the inhabitants of the land from
before you, and destroy all their pictures, and all
their Qiiolten images^ and quite pluck down all their
high places." From this scripture there can be no
doubt but the images, as well as the pictures, there
alluded to, were all of a piece ; having been so fash-
ioned as to exhibit sights of the most obscene descrip-
tion, placed in their houses by the way side, and
even in their religious temples or houses of worship,
presenting every where before the eyes of the people,
male and female, young and old, the objects of their
adoration and delight.
Such a state of things was entirely resistless in
their influence, especially on the negro population,
and but barely overcome by the severities and high
inducements of a sjnritual, and more refined, reason-
able, and mental religion, which was that of the
Jews. It was the impure and seducing rites, as well
as the pictures and images of the pagan worship of
all the negro countries in Africa, as well as the rem-
nants of the Canaanitish tribes, who yet remained in
the land of Judea, or old Palestine, which so often
192
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
misled the people of the twelve tribes from truth, and
the right ways of the Hebrew religion. And al-
though at the time we are now speaking of, it was
over thirteen hundred years from the date of the
curse of Noah, yet we find the abandoned race of
Ham, holding on their way of wickedness, their orig-
inal character, every where combating the virtuous
and self-denying religion of Moses.
The negro nations of those ages, appear to have
acted as bad as they could, and to have injured man-
kind in morals all that was possible, as if they were
indeed revenging themselves on God, because of the
curse of Noah, as Nimrod, the grand-son of Ham,
threatened to do, because he drowned the world [as
Joseph us says, book 1, chap, iv, p. 19], and was par-
ticularly acted out, by Jezebel and her great multi-
tude of negro priests and votaries, in the midst of
the Jewish tribes.
But this Jezebel came finally to a fearful end ; for
when Jehu came to the throne of Israel, and imme-
diately after the death of Ahab, he caused her to be
cast headlong from the window of an upper room of
the palace, out of which she but a moment before
had looked, having tired her head and painted her
face to disguise her negro complexion, and if possi-
ble thereby to seduce the new king, Jehu. But in
this she failed. In that horrid fall, she was so
bruised and broken, that she lay as one that was
dead, when the furious Jehu rode over her with his
war horse, stamping her down on the pavements,
where she expired, wallowing in her own blood. •
Immediately, as it had been foretold by Elijah, the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 193
Prophet, fifteen years before [1 Kings xxi, 23j, the
dogs came and devoured her, all but her feet, the
palms of her hands, and her head : see 2 Kings, ix,
35. On this subject, respecting the parts of her body
which the dogs refused to eat, the Jewish Rabbi have
made, says Adam Clarke, some very singular re-
marks, from which we gather a few particulars rel-
ative to the private character of this queen of prosti-
tutes, as follows :
The reason [say these Jewish Rabbi] the dogs left
the parts of her body spoken of above, was because,
in her festal dances in the house of her gods, which
was built in a grove, she used to get down on all
fours, in imitation of a beast, and in this attitude
would caper and leap about, being disrobed, while
the multitude of her priests and the worshipers look-
ed <jn. During such performances, she would move
her head from one side to the other, in a gay and
wanton manner, for a purpose not proper to describe.
She was no doubt [says Adam Clarke] guilty of the
foulest actions, almost too bad to be believed.
The temple of Baal, in the grove which Ahab built
for his negro queen, was occupied by no less than
four hundred and fifty priests, and the ^ewz^/^Ze, anoth-
er vast building, but not in the woods, was occupied
by four hundred more — amounting in all to eight hun-
dred and fifty lusty negro ministers, of the whorish
religion of the Zidonians, the people of Jezebel.
This great multitude of priestly dignitaries were all
put to the sword, at the suggestion of the Prophet Eli-
jah, under the authority of Ahab, as the law of Mo-
ses required respecting idolaters, at the time of the
194 ORIGIN, CHARACTEK, AND
noted debate on theology between Elijah and the
Baaliles, when God himself answered by fire to end
the dispute. See 1 Kings xviii, 38.
That those priests of Baal were black men, is
shown not only from their having been of the same
people with Jezebel, but also from the appellation
given them by the Jews, who called them in derision
{cemarivi, from camar), the black priests of Baal.
See Clarke's comment on 2 Kings, xxiii, 5. That
those priests of Baal, called by the Targums, caniar,
or the black priests, were not thus called on account
of their wearing black vestments, as Dr. Clarke has
supposed, but because they were actually of black
complexions — as it is well known that in all ages
among pagan nations of the old world, the priests of-
ficiating at their altars of sacrifice, were always dress-
ed in white — in imitation, no doubt, of the priests of
the Hebrews — which was a sign of purity, dignity,
and holiness.
It follows, therefore, that the Jews called them
black priests of Baal, because they were black, and
for no other reason. In this chapter, just quoted, if
the reader desire it, he can find the names of several
of the negro gods of those ages, and also in 1 Kings
xi, 5, 7, whose horrid worship infested the whole of
mankind ; as it was from this people a knowledge of
idolatry was derived, to the whole Greek and Ro-
man world, as well as in the most early times imme-
diately after the flood, to the myriads of the Indies,
and to the Jews and other nations of the earth.
SuccoTH Benoth, a Hebrew phrase, meaning
tents of prostitutes, was the name of one of the negro
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 195
gods, long before the time of Christ, which name sig-
nified the " tabernacle of the daughters," or of the
young virgins, at whose temple they were inducted
into the rites and mysteries practiced in the worship
of these obscenely formed images, by the prostitution
of their persons.
Herodotus gives the following account of the
Succoth-Benoth rites. Every young woman of the
country, where the image was adored, was obliged,
while yet a virgin, to visit the temple once, where she
was to be humbled, by the first man who should
chance to fancy her.
From these accounts it does appear, that the black
nations of those ages, waged a universal and a per-
petual war upon chastity, seeming to have been de-
termined to expel from the face of the earth, all ideas
of such a thing. To eflect this, they bent all the
powers of civil and religious influence against it,
making the possession thereof a crime, to be punish-
ed with death, inasmuch as they who refused or neg-
lected to be thus humbled, at the temple, and in
the presence of the idol, were counted guilty of her-
esy, and were held as infidels and contemners of the
gods.
Herodotus further says, that in his own time, B. C.
450, there was a city in Numidla, which was on the
upper regions of the Nile, in Africa, that was called
Siccavenia, a name signifying prostitution, to which
the young women were compelled to resort by law,
to earn their m.arriage dower. This custom, says
Herodotus, was brought fr^m Phojnicia, which was
the country of old Canaan, peopled as we have often
196 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
said before, from the very beginning after the flood,
by negro nations.
JosEPHUs, in his Antiquities of tb.e Jews, speaks of
the madness of the Egyptians after women, in the
place where he relates the story of Abraham's going
down to Egypt with his wifeSarai: Gen. xii, 10, 20.
By this it is seen that in those ancient ages, strangers
of other nations and distant parts of the earth, consid-
ered it a dangerous thing to travel in Egypt in com-
pany with women. So notorious were they in this
particular, even among themselves, that when the
rich and noble lost by death, any/emaZe relative who
had been reputed as handsome and pleasing to look
upon, when living, they dare not send the body to
the embalmers until they had been dead several days,
lest their persons should become the objects of viola-
tion. See Clarke's comment on Gen. 1, 2. Is there
any thing which can be imagined by the human
mind, more awful and repulsive than the above trait,
of far more than brutal depravity.
When Herodotus traveled in Africa, among the
various tribes of Egypt, Lybia, and Ethiopia, he says
that he found the negro inhabitants living like ani-
mals, with respect to chastity. The following are
his words on the subject : "Among all these nations
whom I have specified, the communication between
the sexes is like that of the beasts — open and unre-
strained." Was this induced by slavery, as aboli-
tionists say it is in America ?
That those nations of whom he speaks were really
the negroes of Africa, Herodotus says they were all
of the same complexion with the Ethiopians, being
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 197
extremely black and curly headed. At their mar-
riages, it is a custom every where among them, says
the same author, for all the guests to enjoy the bride,
the first night, who bring accordingly suitable pres-
ents, by which means they commence their family
capacity, or house-keeping. In one tribe, he found
it a custom for the wives to make use of a certain
mark, or sign on their hmbs, to denote the number
of times they had favored other gallants than the
lawful one after marriage; the husband valuing
them according to the number of these tokens, as
they were the evidences of their wives' popular per-
sonal charms.
This is a dreadful picture of the negro race, in that
one particular, and were it not for the restraints of the
Christian religion, and the salutary laws enacted un-
der its influence in America, and other countries in
Christendom, they, as a people, if left to themselves,
would be guilty of the same things as anciently, for
their natures are ever the same.
Another tribe, of whom this Grecian author speaks,
who lived in the same unrestrained manner, in Afri-
ca, assembled every three moons in a grand conclave,
v/hen all the children born during that term of time,
were examined as to their looks, countenances, and
shapes ; and the men they most resembled were
obliged to father and take care of them, there being
no other way to ascertain the parents of their chil*
dren. Herodotus, pages 170, 23.5, 236, 237.
It is intimated by Livy, vol. 1, book xxi, p. 369,
that the Carthagenian generals were guilty of the
practice of Sodomy, and that even Haimihal, who
l98 ORIGIN, CHARACTEU, AND
in hiS youth was very handsome for a black man,
participated in the same horrible custom.
It is said, respecting the negroes of the West India
Islands, who are all of African descent, that they con-
sider any restraint laid on their promiscuous sexual
intercourse, a hardship of the most grievous and op-
pressive nature, seeming to center all their happiness
in enjoyments of that description. From this fact,
it seems that from the time of Herodotus, which is
more than two thousand years ago, the negro race,
whether in Africa or the West Indies, whether under
the influence of unrestrained paganism, or the heal-
ing balm of Christianity, are ever the same gross,
brutal, fierce, sensual and devilish chracters, as a
people, in reference to sexual commerce.
Bamberger's account of the Africans, who we have
before quoted in this work, accords with all we have
said above, from whom we take the following in ad-
dition. This man says that he fell in with a tribe,
who lived beyond the limits of the Caff'rees, who
were called by themselves, Miihotians. While with
this tribe, as he and a negro man, the son-in-law of
the chief of the krall, and with whom he then was
remaining, were busy in gathering dry wood, in the
edge of a wilderness, the former made Bamberger a
proposal of Sodomy. But as Bamberger refused, the
African nearly murdered him, being a much stronger
man, and yet Bamberger made his escape from the
woolly-headed monster. While at this krall, the old
chief, the father-in-law of the negro above spoken of,
took Bamberger, on a certain day, with him to an-
other pa'-* of the same wilderness, where he was
1 FOR'l'UNES, OF I'llE NEGRO RACE. 199
shown a heap of sand and earth several feet high.
On opening this heap, as directed by the chief, he
j found the bodies of five luhite men, who had been
I killed by stabbing. He soon learned of the old man,
: that the five men had belonged to the crew of a ves-
sel which had but recently been wrecked on the
' coast of the Atlantic, and who had been carried in-
• land by a party of blacks, belonging to the Muhotian
j tribe. This tribe had been set upon by a party of
i Kantorians, in order to take the prisoners out of their
I hands, for the express purpose of practicing Sodomy
' upon them, becai^se they were whiie, and, in the eyes
of those miserable beings, exceedingl y handsome. But
in the aflray, the white men were all killed, and bu-
lled there in the sand, rather than submit to be thus
degraded in their own eyes. During this talk with
the filthy old chief, Bamberger told him about the
abuse he had received from his son-in-law, because
he would not submit to the sam.e thing ; at which the
old child of darkness and paganism only laughed
most heartily, as at an occurrence of the most trivial
character. Vol. i, p. 146.
After this, as Bamberger was prosecuting his dread-
ful journey, over jagged mountains and dreary plains
of sand and morasses, he fell into the hands of a
♦ tribe called Klojiians, whose king was an absolute
despot ; having the power to appropriate to liis own
use whatever he pleased, and of whom his subjects
dare not complain. Whenever he would, he took
; the wives and daughters of his people, who were
i very numei-ous, to his own couch, so that he had
eight hundred women subject to his pleasure. The
200 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANI>
place of his district or region of dwelling, was in the
caves of certain mountains, called the Kong moun-
iaiiis, and adjacent to the river Niger, not a great dis-
tance from the Atlantic, which empties into thai
ocean at Liberia, in north lat. 6°. Vol. ii, p. 103.
Roll IN says, that abominable lewdness, as stated
by Tragus Pompeius, a Roman historian, was the
great and predominant vice of all Africa. Vol. i, p.
375. On a subject like this, or any other, touching
the character of the natives of Africa, the Romans
had the most unbounded opportunity to know them
in those ages, because they had a great empire in that
country, which they wrested out of the hands of the
Carthagenians, who had conquered the country some
hundred years before, who were also a black people
from Phoenicia, of whom we shall have something to
remark hereafter.
The facts set forth in this section of the work, are,
after all, but little items in the ocean of evidence that
might be adduced, proving this people, the race of
Ham, to be a people who, in all ages, have been more
sensual and animal in their inclinations, than are the
races of either the red or white man ; which fact is
an evidence of no small magnitude, of their real and
universal mental inferiority.
This remark, we know, may be considered as se-
vere, and yet we do not see how we can make any
abatement, except to say that, happily, there have
been, in all ages, individuals of the ne^ro race, both
as it relates to talent of the medium scale, and
amiableness of character, who should be excepted
from the great mass of the countless myriads of the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO UACE. 201
blacks, as good men, and ornaments to society where
they lived.
Having thns far in this section, taken some notice
of the national and personal character of the Ethio
pian race, we shall change the subject, in order to
make some inqunies respecting their mental abilities,
without aiming to disparage them in the least degree
wrongfully, being desirous only to ascertain the truth
respecting them.
If the Supreme Being has seen fit to endow this
race with a less quantum of intellectual faculties, and
with less attractive powers and persons, in all re-
spects, than he has the white race — what then ? are
we, therefore, to undervalue them on this account?
We think not, as all God's works are good and proper
in their proper places, but not out of them. In this
way, and in no other, shall we be able to appreciate
the wonderful harmony of nature, by which is dem-
onstrated both the power and wisdom of the Creator,
in ordering the affairs of the universe, and the inhabi-
tants of the globe.
It is impossible to extract from substances, more
than is contained in the nature of such substances,
or to elevate by its own weight, water above its ori-
gin or fountain head. So of the negro race, though
fondled and petted by abolitionists, yet this will
amount to nothing, except an exhibition of the ne-
gro's real natural imbecilities of mind, and the need
he is in of help, as the great conservative powers by
which the white race have elevated themselves are
not given to the people of the race of Ham. But for
not cultivating the one talent, which was given them
14
202 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
by the Creator, they are placed under the ban of a
judicial decree,»exactly suited to their moral charafl^
ters on the earth.
As erst before the flood when Satan reigned,
The earth with violence and deat}> was stained j
The waters therefore came, and swept away
The whole blasphemous host of vile array.
So, in the land o( Ham, old Canaan's coast,
Where Sodomy and crime were black men's boast.
The vengeful arm of Gnd — the Jewish sword-—
Prove them headlong out, both tribe and horde.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 203
NINTH SECTION,
Pretended mental equality of the negro race with white men refut-
ed, as held by abolitionits — Comparative vifew of the races, as to
their doings in the world — Proofs that the ancient Egyptians, nor
any of the negro nations, were not the authors of either arts or sci-
ences— Proofs that the arts and sciences, comprehending a knowl-
edge of letters, were known before the flood, and in the house of
Noah, and by the first patriarchs — Curious discoveries made in
the foundations of the tower of Babel by Sir Robert Ker Porter—
A knowledge of letters since the flood derived from the first pa-
triarchs, and not from the Phosnician blacks — But little advances
made in architecture by the first Egyptians, till after Solomon —
The pyramids built by the shepherd kings, a race of copper color-
ed men of the blood of Shem, and not by the blacks of Egypt —
For thousands of years the tribes of Africa have made no advances
in civilization — The reasons of this — Works of the Canaanites, aa
it related to architecture, derived from the Euphrates, or the ex
ample of the Shemites, and the people of Japheth — During the
whole history of negro Carthage, they made no advances in
literature — Rapine, plunder, and dealing in slaves, being their
trade — Architectural works of the races of Shem and Japheth
long before the tower was built, or the negroes exit to Africa-
Near resemblance of the Simla race as the ourang-outang, and
many of the Africans — Respecting their appetites — Cannibalism,
&c., in all, ages — Insensibilities of the negroes to bodily pain —
Meanness of the negro spirit — Their cruelties to their slaves — With
many other curious matters.
The labor of the following pages which shall oc-
cupy this section, will be to ascertain whether the ne-
gro race, properly so distinguished, in an unamalgam-
ated character, ai;e naturally equal with the other
204 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
races of men, the red and the white, in point of intel-
lectual faculties. That they really are thus equal, is
vehemently contended for by all abolitionists of both
Europe and America, some even holding them supe-
rior, while anti-aholitionists resist this opinion as a
fallacy. An appeal to direct, and also to circumstan-
tial evidence, in relation to the subject, is the only
way to decide it.
Abolitionists are sure that the only reason of their
present amazing inferiority arises wholly from the
influence of the treatment of the white nations to-
ward them. Remove this say they, educate them,
and give them a fair chance in the world, then it will
soon be seen, that^ as a people, they are equally tal-
ented with the other races of the human family.
But here, at the very outset of the inquiry, it is de-
sirable to ascertain how it came to pass that it was
not the negro man who aspired to the paramount con-
dition, now and always enjoyed by the white race.
If the people of Ham were originally equal, as to
mental faculties, with the other races, how came they
in their present degraded condition? How has it
happened that the negro race has not attained in the
world to the very same condition the white race now
occupy, and the whites fallen into the condition of
the blacks, seeing they are, as is contended, equal
with each other 1 or, if this is true, why are they BOt
alike ? There must be some great reason for this.
It is asserted by abolitionists, that the negro race were,
in the first ages after the flood, the authors of all the
arts and sciences which obtained in ancient Egypt,
and that from these arose, as from a germ, the pres-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGllO RACE 205
ent lights of mankind. If this was true, we ask how
they, the authors, in their posterity, have lost that en-
viable position 1 How has it come to pass that the
same power which prompted them to so many, and
to so great improvements, has not been able to sus-
tain itself? Could this be shown to have been a fact,
respecting the negro race, it would prove an anoma-
ly indeed, and yet would secure but little in their fa-
vor, on account of the horrid retrograde they have
made in the world.
But we affirm that they were not the authors of
either arts or sciences, as understood in those times,
which, according to history, as well as the scriptures,
were cultivated in ancient Africa. We sustain this
affirmation, by showing that the Egyptians, and all
other people of those ages, received and carried with
them a knowledge of the arts and sciences, as under-
stood at that era of the world, from the house of
Noah.
That letters were known in the house of Noah is
absolutely certain, deduced from many circumstances,
and of necessity to all the people, or to heads of tribes
and communities for the first few hundred years, im-
mediately after the flood. One of these circum-
stances, or evidences, arises from the late discoveries
made in the foundations of the ancient tower of Be-
lus, or Babel, as it is commonly called, as well as
from the architectural works of the people of Shem
and Japheth before the tower was built.
Sir Robert Ker Porter, under the patronage of the
government of England, went to the country of an-
cient Persia, Tartary, Armenia, Chaldea, and Baby-
206 OuiGlN, CHARACTER, AND
Ion on the Euphrates, in the years 1820 and 1823, on
a tour of antiquarian discovery. While on the Eu-
phrates, he found, as reported in his work, the an-
cient site of the temple of Belus, or tower of Babel,
the same spoken of by Moses in the book of Genesis,
which was built by Nimrod the Grandson of Ham.
[See Plate], At the spot where the tower stood,
which was built only about one hundred years after
the flood, he found a vast heap of rubbish, forming a
great mound, or elevation, overgrown with brambles.
Being desirous of examining the interior of this
mighty mound, he procured the aid of several of the
people living there, to dig along its skirts, when there
was found, at some little depth, the original brick,
formfng the upper stratas of the foundation of the
structure. The bricks thus discovered were about
one foot square by three inches thick, and were cov-
ered on both sides with arrow-headed characters,
having, in many respects, a resemblance to the pres-
ent Hebrew letters.
They were not hieroglyphics, or the pictures of
creatures or things, but were evidently letters, or
signs of ideas, placed in due order, as letters are now
arranged, running in parallel lines across the bricks.
There were instances, however, where those charac- |
tcrs were set in perpendicular lines, or at right angles j
v/ith the others. That they were letters, is as evi- i
dent as that any of the ancient characters of the He- |
brew, Greek, Persian, or Chinese languages, are let- [
ters. ' i
On these bricks was written, no doubt, the history r
of the tower, and the reasons of its being erected, th€ j
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 207
Story of the flood, the ark, and of the nations before
the flood, the original creation, <fec. It appears that
the letters were formed on the insides of the molds
in which the bricks were made, the characters being
raised out above the general level of the face of the
mold, so that when impressed on the clay before it
was dried for burning, would cause fac similes in the
face of the brick, and thus be preserved from being
broken when laid in great masses on top of each oth-
er. It may have been, however, that the letters were
made by merely pressing down on each brick, as it
came from a smooth moid, the type of a letter carved
out of wood, and thus produce the same effect as if
cast in a mold.
Specimens of these letters may be seen in the work
alluded to above, in great numbers, and are worthy
of the attention of the curious. The work is in the
State Library.
That letters were known before the flood, appears
also from the fact that music was taught and under-
stood among the antediluvians: see Gen. iv, 21,
where it is said that one Jubalj a descendant of the
family of Cain, was the father [instructor] of all
such as handled the harp and the organ. If music
was taught, then of necessity they must have had a
knowledge of characters of a competent description,
by the means of which they recorded their music, or
the science could not have been alluded to, as it is by
Moses. If musical characters were then m use, of
which there can be no doubt, then, of necessity, let-
ters were also in use, or the rules of such as taught
music could not have been systematically accom-
aUb ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
plished. Music being thus understood by the antedi-
luvians, it is an evidence that they possessed a high
condition of refinement, as a general knowledge of
this accomplishment is considered the ne plus ultra
of good breeding in refined society of every age. To
carry out this belief, we are aided by Moses in anoth-
er respect, who says, Gen. iv, 22, that the people of
that age, going back to the hfetime of Adam, had a
I knowledge of the manufacture of 6ra55 and iron, and
j that they were also agriculturists, as well as shep-
j herds and herdsmen. It is said by the Jewish Rabbi
j that letters and writing were invented by *S'e^^, the
third son of Adam. — Watson^s Theological Diction-
j ary, p. 856.
, With the knowledge of such things, can it be pos-
I sible that the antediluvians were not a civilized, la-
j boring, trading, agricultural, mechanical, commercial,
{ and scientific race? However many tribes, nations,
I kingdoms, and governments, they may have been
I divided into around the whole globe, yet a knowl-
j edge of such refinements is stated by Moses to have
I certainly been in their possession. Of all this, is it
j possible that Noah, being born six hundred years be-
1 fore the flood, could have been ignorant, seeing he
i was a good man, and improved his mind, therefore,
^1 in every possible way.
i Could he have planned and built the ark without
J a knowledge of geometry, which also supposes the
;' existence and use of arithmetical characters ? Ham,
Nimrod, and his coadjutors, must have had a knowl-
edge oi geometry, as well as oi letters, or they could
not have projected, nor have built the tower, and the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 209
great cities Erech, Acad, and Calneh, in the land of
Shiiiar, on the river Euphrates, as Moses says they
did. Gen. x, 10.
From whom did Abraham, who was born only
two hundred and ninety-two years after the flood, de-
rive a knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy, if not
from the house of Noah ? That Abraham had this
knowledge is stated by Josephus, in his book of Jew-
ish Antiquities, If Abraham had this knowledge,
then it is clear that the Syrians, of which people
Abraham was a member, also possessed it, who, with
all the first nations immediately after the flood, de-
rived it, as well as all other knowledge, from the
house and members of the family of Noah, who
brought it with them from beyond the flood in writ-
ten characters.
That Abraham was an educated man, is evident
from the character he sustained among his country-
men, the Chaldeans, or the ancient Syrians, and as
the head and patriarch of the Hebrew or Jewish peo-
ple, as well as from the business which he transacted
with the Egyptians, Canaanites, and other countries
of that age. If Abraham, then, was an educated man,
and v/as versed in all the learning of that age, which
was cultivated by the Chaldeans, who, doubtless, at
that era, and upward, toward the age of the ending
of the flood, was composed of both white and red
men, till such times as they were separated to their
respective regions ; then were also the patriarchs, who
were before Abraham's time, such as Arphaxad, Sa-
lah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serng, Nahor, and Terah, the
father of Abraham, as well as Shem, who was Mel
210 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
chiscdek, and the progenitor of all the patriarchs
above named.
From this state of the case, it is not hard to con-
ceive that the Egyptian and Canaanite negroes, who
were the very first people of those countries, received
all their knowledge of letters, of agriculture, of ge-
ometry, arithmetic, and astronomy, from the great
and common source, the house of Noah, and the suc-
ceeding patriarchs. The opinion, therefore, that the
Phoenician negroes were the inventors of letters is no
authority.
What though Cadmus, an Egyptian, as it is said,
carried the knowledge of letters into Greece first of
all, at a very remote age, which we shall not dispute,
yet this does not prove that the Egyptians invented
them, as Cadmus, with the rest of his countrymen,
derived that knowledge from the common source —
the family of Noah. Whether this Cadmus, who is
celebrated as the author of letters among the ancient
Greeks, and the succeeding ages of the world, was a
Phoenician or an Egyptian negro, is far from being
certain ; for we learn from Josephus's Jewish Antiq-
uities, book 8, that one of the sons of Ishmael, the
son of Abraham, was named Cadmus, and was as
likely to have been the Cadmus of ancient history,
who carried letters into Greece, as any other man.
As to architecture of the magnificent and exquidte
descriptions, the Egyptians made but little advances
till the age of Solomon, previous to which time their
buildings were of the most common order, made of
brick, both bui rit and dried ; even the cities of the
time of Joseph were of this description, useful and
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 211
spacious, but not approaching to the magnificent.
In all Africa, says the " Universal Traveler," page
499, there does not now exist among the negroes any
architecture, above that of mere huts made of stakes
driven in the ground, and plastered inside and out ;
of this description are their best buildings, shaped like
bee-hives, conically. The rest are mere dens made
of mud and sticks, or holes in the ground. These
are the descendants of the mighty Egyptians, the
Lybians, and Ethiopians, whose lofty temples once
filled Africa, if we are to believe abolitionists ; but it
is all an error ; they were the authors of the architect-
ural works of those ages no further than as slaves
and laborers. The pyramids, which were built of
hewn stone, was not the work of the woolly heads of
Egypt, but of the shepherd kings called Cuthea, from
Arabia and the Persian Gulf, north of Egypt, who
held, by conquest, for more than two hundred years,
the kingdoms of Egypt, during which time they en-
slaved the wliole mass of the aboriginal people, when
the pyramids, and many other great works, were
built by slaves, at the dictation of the Hyc-sos, or
shepherd kings. — Watson.
This was done prior to the time of Joseph's being
sold into Egypt, The Hyc-sos kings were of the
Abrahamic race, being descendants of his sons by
Keturah (see Gen. xxv), who, settling eastward from
Chaldea, where Abraham lived before he went to Ca-
naan, expelled the children of Ham, or the Cushites,
from the country, who, first of all, after the fall of
the tower, settled there, on which account the country
was alluded to by Moses (Gen. ii, 13), by the name of
212 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Ethiopia, through which the Gihon flowed. This
people, being thus expelled, went to Africa, and
founded another kingdom, which also was called
Ethiopia.
Now, on this account, the Hyc-sos race were called
Cushite Shepherds, namely, because they had con-
quered and dwelt in the country of the expelled Cush-
ite race, who were of the house of Ham. These
were the people who conquered Egypt at so early a
period, and built the great works of that country
above named.
The Cushites, as stated by Richard Watson, in his
Historical Dictionary, p. 282, were driven out of their
Asiatic possessions, along the gulf of Persia, and
along the northern side of the Red Sea, by the Ish-
maelites and the Midianites, both of the lineage of
Abraham.
The descendants of Abraham were always prone to
rearing vast herds of cattle, by which means, in a
great measure, they acquired wealth and power.
Such were the shepherd kings, who, for a time, tyr-
ranized over Egypt, as above shown. It was for this
very reason, that all shepherds were an abomination
to the Egyptians, in the days of Joseph, the Hebrew,
as stated Gen. xlvi, 34, for they remembered the cruel-
ties of the red skinned shepherd kings.
From all points, therefore, it is evident, that the
original negroes of the Nile, the swarthy woolly
heads of the race of Ham, did not profit by a knowl-
edge of letters, or any other knowledge of the house
of Noah, above mere agriculture, till such times as
other races of men, such as Ishmaelites, Midianites,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 21S
and Chaldeans, all of the race of Shem and Abraham,
had begun to mingle with them: so that by the time
of Saul^ David, and Solomon, the character of Egypt
in relation to enterprise, had become vastly changed
from her ancient stupidity; from whence we date
what may be denominated the architectural age of
Egypt.
At a very early period, thousands of the Ishmaelite
race settled in Africa, by invasion, along the head
waters of the Nile, in Ethiopia, mingling more and
more through Egypt, down toward the mouths of that
river ; this is a matter of history. Watson, 282.
This is evident also from the mummies brought from
that country, which were doubtless embalmed as long
ago as in the days of David and Solomon, and per-
haps as far back as when the Hebrews were in
Egypt ; all of which, except now and then onb, are
not -of the ngj:^ro race, but of a red or copper colored
people, with long straight hair, and other character-
istics not belonging to the genuine Cushite, or race of
Ham.
From this circumstance, it is shown that the ruling
people of Egypt, in those ages, were not the native
negroes, as none but the more wealthy were able to
bear the expense of embalming their dead. " That
a rare (says Professor Lawrence, p. 294) ever devoted,
within the period embraced by authentic history, to
slavery, or to an existence not much better, and pos-
sessing, under the most favorable circumstances, only
the rudiments of the common arts, and the most im-
perfect social institutions, should have occupied, in re-
motest antiquity, undertakings which astonish us
214 ORIGIN, CEJARACTKR, AND
even now by their grandeur, and prove so great a
progress in civilization and social life, in arts and
sciences — that they should have subsequently lost all
this surprising jirogress^ and never have exhibited the
smallest approximation to such a pre-eminence in any
other instance, is a fact extremely difficult to explain."
The negroes of Africa, who are the descendants of
the Egyptians, the Lybians, and the Ethiopians, all
the same people, the race of Ham, the first negroes,
for thousands of years, have made no advances in
letters, or in any way approximating thereto ; as in
all Africa, among the negro tribes and kingdoms, not
di gleam of the light of science, the precursor of which
is the invention of letters, has appeared. Not a hie-
roglyphic or symbol — no kind of painting, or even
knots tied in a string, as in Peru, called quipos, to
denote numbers, has appeared in all the vast regions,
of Southern Africa.
How is this ? what has induced this amazing stu-
pidity of the native negro? In the annals of no peo-
ple of the whole earth, can there be found evidence
of so profound a st^le of ignorance and apathy, with
respect to a desire -of improvement, as among this
people, for they have not exceeded the beasts of the
wilderness, where they dwell, who follow the mere
instincts of their natures.
But in the northern parts of Africa, on account of
the mixture of the other races with that of the negro
blood, there has arisen more or less improvement in
agriculture and government, which has elevated the
negro blood a little above their native dead level ol
their degraded natures.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 215
What though the negroes of Canaan built many
towns and cities in their country, such as Jebiis, Tyre,
Zidon. Gath^ Hamath^ Jericho, with many others,
which Joshua and his warriors found extremely dif-
ficult to destroy? And although before their settle-
ment in Canaan, they built the tower of Babel, the
cities of Acad, Erech, and Calneh, in the land of
iS/miar, on the Euphrates ; yet all this, and especial-
ly the cities last named, which were built by the ne-
groes, before they settled in Canaan, and before the
confusion of their language, we attribute to the first
impetus of knowledge, derived from the house of
Noah, and kept alive by surrounding circumstances,
the exertions of other nations — the Shemites and the
children of Japheth. But when finally overcome and
subdued by the superior policies of the other races,
the negro man not possessing in himself the great
conservative powers, which are the grand source of
all exertions and human independence, fell, natural-
ly by degrees, back into their native insufficiency of
mind ; the end of which is misery, ignorance, bar-
barism and slavery.
During the age of their first prosperity, had they
cultivated such mental faculties as they had, instead
of indulging in all kinds of animal luxuries, crimes,
murders, tyranny, lewdness, and horrid idolatries,
they would not have gone down as they have. That
such was the fact, respecting them, is strongly sup-
ported by the history of Carthage, whose empire was
coeval with the latter ages of Canaan, and with the
very time of the glory of Egypt. This negro king-
dom, during its whole exisfonce, which was from the
216 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
age of Ahab, one of the kings of Israel, till destroyed
by the Romans, under Scipio, about 140 years B. C,
made no advances in literature. On this subject,
Rollin says, p. 238, that during all the ages of their
existence, which was about seven hundred years, they
did not produce but four literary men, while the
Greeks and the Romans, we will add, during the same
space of time, filled the world with their sages, phi-
losophers, and seats of learning, as well as with theii
manufactories, trade and commerce.
The great ambition of the negro Carthagenians
was war, plunder, rapine, and cruelty ; excluding,
even by edicts^ the encouragement of letters and
learning. Wherever the Greeks or Romans carried
their conquests, they strove to better the condition of
conquered countries, but the Carthagenians turned
all to a howling wilderness ; or at least did not at-
tempt to better the character of the subdued nations.
The reason why the Carthagenians discouraged liter-
ature by law, says Rollin, was, as they asserted, that
it assisted men to become rogues, and to overreach
each other.
But this was not the reason ; it was because of
their innate dislike to mental study and research, as
a people ; seeking only after animal gratification, see-
ing no beauty or advantage in a knowledge of the
mysteries of the arts and sciences, as did the other
races, especially the descendants ofJapheth. This
is the grand reason why the first negro nations went
backward rather than forward from their original op-
portunities, namely, their not having appreciated the
value and worth of letters, moral improvement, the
FORTUNES, OF THE ^'FGHO KA' E. 217
science of social gtrvernn.snt, virtue, i;:c. : and yet
we are told that the nejro man invented letters at
first ; an idea easily refuted, by a rsference to the fact,
that letters and learning were nnders^ood in the house
of Noah lon^ before Ham was born.
In relation to their commonly accredited knowledge
of the art of building, or of architecture, in Egypt,
is entirely preposterous. " With our present knowl
edge (says Lawrence, page 296) of the capacity of
negro men, and our knowledge of the state in which
the lohole race has remained for full twenty centuries,
can we deem it possible that the" should have achiev-
ed such prodigies ?" That the negro man in those
ages did, unaided by the talents of others, invent and
carry out, by his own mental energies, the great works
of Egypt and Carthage, we wholly deny, and aver
that it cannot be proven.
That the knowledge of architecture, and many of
the other arts, as well as sciences, were as well un-
derstood, if not better, by the Chaldeans^ who were
of the race of Shem, and coeval with the negroes of
the tower of Babel, which was long prior to the set-
tlements of Egypt or Ethiopia, is evident from the
notices respecting them, found in the writings of Mo-
ses in the book of Genesis. The settlements of Shem
and Japheth, about the regions of the head waters
of the Euphrates and Tigris, in ancient Persia (so
named long afterward) and Armenia, were made all
a hundred years before the children of Ham went
either to Canaan or Egypt.
It is true, however, that Ham and his people went
down the Euphrates to the vale of Shinar, where, in
15
218 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
about fifty years after his leaving the country of the
ark, with his family, they built the tower. But as
soon as that undertaking was frustrated by the Di-
vine power, in the confusion of their language, they
immediately spread out in all directions : some going
westward to the unknown region of the country call-
ed, afterward, Canaan Phoenicia ; some southward,
along the Persian Gulf, in Arabia, and the Red Sea,
as well as still further south into Egypt, while some
went south-east, along the Indian Ocean, toward the
country now known as Hindostan ; and others re-
mained, no doubt, in the same country, along the
Euphrates, quite down to the sea. Here they had to
begin anew in all their respective regions.
But during all this time, the children of Shem and
Japheth, with the patriarchs born soon after the flood,
were going forward with their pursuits, and actually
built the great cities of Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen,
Genesis x, 11, 12, even before the time of the build-
ing of the tower of Babel by the negroes, as the chil-
dren of Shem and Japheth had nothing to do with
that exploit.
The numbers and the names of some of the patri-
archs, born prior to the dispersion of the blacks from
the project of the tower, are as follows : Arphaxad,
Salah, Eber, and Peleg, besides four other sons of
Shem, younger than Arphaxad, whose names were
jEllam, Ashur, Lud, and Amram; who were each,
and all of them, the fathers of vast multitudes, over
whom the mighty and princely Melchisedek, or Shem,
the son of Noah, reigned as a priest. In this man
were concentrated, by the providence and appoint-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 219
ment of God, the regal and sacerdotal dignities,
as well as a knowledge of all past ages, as he
was born more than a hundred years before the
flood.
Is it a snpposable case, that the races of Shem and
Japheth, under such a supervision as that of Noah
and Melchisedek, were idle, and accomplished noth-
ing, during all the time the negroes were busy on the
great flats of Shinar, and in the building of the tow
er? The reader will recollect that Noah lived, aftei
the flood, three hundred and fifty years, and Shem
five hundred years ; so that during a hundred years
or more, prior to the negroes' settlements of Canaan
and Africa, these two great men, as well as the four
other patriarchs, first above named, were as energet-
ically at work in their settlements, east and north,
as were the negroes in theirs, and that, too, without
a loss of time, as was the case with the blacks ; for
they lost all the time spent in the vale of Shinar, be-
fore they were dispersed, amounting to more than a
hundred years.
That the race of Shem, under the advices and
knowledge of himself and his father Noah, and con-
comitant patriarchs, had actually grown numerous,
and attained to power at a very early period, is evi-
dent from the xivth chapter of Genesis. In the his-
tory contained in that chapter, Moses gives an ac-
count of a war waged and carried on between cer-
tain kings of the land of Shinar, whose countries lay
along and beyond the river Euphrates, who were the
children of Shem, and certain kings of Canaan, ne-
groes, and of the vale of Sodom, whose kingdoms lay
220 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
along and near the river Jordan, places and govern-
ments about three hundred miles apart.
The names of the kings of Shinar, who engaged
m this war, were Amraphel, king of Shinar; Arioch,
king of Ellasar; Chedorlaomar, king of El am; and
Tidal, king of nations. This war happened in the
days of Abraham, about two hundred and fifty years
after the dispersion from the tower, and about three
hundred and seventy after the flood, when Abraham
was about eighty years old.
These confederate kings, from the Euphrates, were
powerful, as we see they had held in vassalage, for
some twelve years, certain districts of the country of
Sodom, on the river Jordan, east of the country of
old Canaan, although so far from the seats of the re-
spective thrones. But the kingdoms of Sodom re-
belled from under the rule of those eastern kings. On
this account, the five kings of the Euphrates, with
their troops, came the great distance of full three hun-
dred miles overland, to reduce the people to their vas-
salage again.
But the sooty monarchs of Sodom, five in number,
whose names are as follows, Bera, king of Sodom;
Birsha, king of Gomorrah ; Shinab, king of Admah ;
Shemeber, king of Zeboim ; and Bela, king of Zoar,
mustered their troops and resisted their oppressors,
but were beaten, with a terrible overthrow, in which
defeat Lot, the half brother of Abraham, and all he
had, was carried away. Thus we learn, from the
pen of Moses, how great the empire of those east-
ern monarchs was, extending west, even to Jordan,
covering, at that time, more or less of the country of
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 221
old Canaan, while to the east there was nothing be-
yond them but the wilds of India and Hindostan.
Thus far we have presented this trait of ancient
history, merely to show, that at the very time when
the Egyptians had been settled in the vale of the Nile,
only about two hundred and fifty years from the
time of the dispersion from Babel, there was then a
mighty empire much further advanced in the arts
and sciences (than were the Egyptians) in the coun-
try of Euphrates ; which had its commencement long
before even the building of Babel, and had spread on-
ward toward the region now called China, to a great
distance, and had been advancing for more than a
hundred years before the negroes of the tower, or any
part of them, had found their way to the Nile, or to
the mountains of Canaan.
In this eastern empire, there were no less than
eight great cities named by Moses, which were
Babel, Erech, Acad, and Calneh, built by the people
of Ham, under Nimrod, before the confusion of their
language; and then there were Nineveh, Rehoboth,
Calah, and Resen, built by the people of Shem, quite
as early as were the others by the people of Ham,
who were dispossessed of them, and driven out of the
country, by the Shemite race, into Africa. From this
view, it is seen at once that the arts, as understood in
that age, were known in the land of Shinar, Armenia,
and the east, long prior to the advancement of the
Canaanites, the Ethiopians, the Lybians, and the
Egyptians, derived from the house of Noah, and fos-
tered by the patriarchs of the Shemite and Japhetic
races.
222
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
That Abraham, the great progenitor oi many of
the nations of the eastern world, was a learned man,
is asserted in the writings of several of the early
Chaldean historians, as stated by Josephus, book 1.
Berosseus, a Chaldean historian, speaks of this
Abraham, the Syrian, as being wonderfully versed
in a knowledge of the heavenly bodies, or in astron-
omy. Hecatus, another Chaldean writer, celebrates
the greatness and the learning of the man Abraham,
who, as Josephus relates, composed a book, setting
forlh the life of Abraham, by which means his name
war well known to the ancient writers of India and
Hir dostan. To this Adam Clarke sets his seal, who
says, that in the oriental writings in the Sanscrit lan-
guage, frequent allusion is made to Abraham, as weH
as to Solomon be7i-Doud ; or, in other words, to Solo-
mon, the son of David. *
It is said by Josephus, that Abraham carried with
him to Egypt a knowledge of arithmetic; which is
borne out in the fact of his seed, both the Hebrews
and the Ishmaelites. always being in the possession
of the science of figures. And from whom did Abra-
ham receive this knowledge, but from S/iem, or Mel-
chisedek, the son of Noah, which came fiom beyond
the flood I
How is it, therefore, that literary men of the lattei
ages have seemed to look for the origin of the arts
and sciences no higher than to the sooty cities of
Egypt or Phoenicia, with all this evidence before
them, as if the negro man must have been the first
and only discoverers of all that is excellent in the
earth, especially when it is known that this race ho-Mt-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 223
never of themselves, as negroes, patronized letters
much in the world.
Is it a credible thing that God, who committed to
the race of Shem, in the persons of the patriarchs of
that line, the hghts of immortality, did not also com-
mit to the same characters and race, the lights of the
arts and sciences, seeing that a knowledge of these
very powers were necessary to the carrying out of
the very plans of the Deity, by the means of a branch
of this race of men, the Shemites?
Professor Lawrence, a man who ranks among the
first men of the age, contends in his lectures, that as
all the black nations of the globe are in a low and
miserable condition; and that, as they have been
thus for thousands of years, therefore they are cor-
respondingly low and miserable in their faculties,
and is the very reason why they submit to slavery.
He deems the mora/ and intellectual character of the
negro race, decidedly inferior to that of the white
race, and that this condition arises out of his ana-
tomical organization — p. 428. Than that this is so,
there is no truth more self-evident, and yet there are
found even among white men and women, and of
such as lay claim to high distinction in society, those
who do not hesitate to aver, that there is no good
reason why an amalgamation of white and black
blood should not take place.
Without reciting in this place all the physical pe-
culiarities of the shape, color, and character of the
negro race, it may suffice to remark, that when the
two races come in contact, and the thoughts of amal-
gamation crosses the mind of a white, it is accom-
224 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
panied with a chill of the soul, which is nothing else
but the voice of God in nature against it. The sym-
pathies when called upon, in this respect, to coalesce
with a creature of another cast and constitution, cry
out and flee with afiright, as if pursued by some hor-
rid phantom of darkness; surely, God never intend-
ed any such jumbling up of his original work, as
amalgamation proposes.
As to the natural manners of the negro race, there
is between them and the other races, a deeply mark-
ed difference in relation to the risible faculty. The
continual readiness of the African to burst into loud
and boisterous fits of laughter, increasing even to
yells, with but little or no cause to excite it, is a trait
entirely peculiar to that people. This peculiarity,
which so attaches to the very being of the negro
race was equally possessed by Ham, the first negro,
as appears in his treatment of the patriarch Noah, in
the hour of his sleep, as we have already shown
from Josephus.
There is another circumstance in the physical be-
ing of many of the African race, of which we al-
most decline to speak, and this is the strange and
unaccountable circumstance of their near approach
in their shapes, to that of the wild man of the woods,
the ourang-outang.
If it was consistent in the Divine economy to pro-
duce a black race of men, as in the person of Ham,
suited in their constitutional make, to people the hot
regions of the earth, why need they, therefore, in so
many instances, be formed so much like the animal
above alluded to? Could not the African have been
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 225
produced black, with all the peculiar temperaments
of body and mind, without their having been formed
so much like that strange looking creature, to the
black man's deep dislike, as well as to the surprise of
all who have seen any of that kind of animal ?
The ourang-outang is a most extraordinary crea-
ture, not only on account of its near approach to the
form of many of the African race, but also from its
almost human actions, great size, and greater strength.
Some individuals of the species, which have been
t.aken, have measured full seven feet in height, and
were otherwise as largely proportioned. Such an
one was caught on the northern coast of the island
Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean, which was a real
giant. The account given by Dr. Clark Abel, re-
specting the capture and size of this extraordinary
animal, is as follows: "When first observed, the
creature seemed to be much fatigued, as if he were
resting from a long and arduous journey His legs,
nearly to the knees, were covered with mud, showing
that he had passed a region of country of a boggy or
miry character, and was resting in the broad forks of
a tree, when first seen by the hunters, near the shores
of the island. As the boat's crew approached the land,
the monster appeared to be aware of its danger, and
that a single tree, whereon it was resting, did not af-
ford adequate means of safety. It, therefore, descend-
ed, and escaping to a small clump of forest trees, at
some distance, whither it was now pursued by the
hunters, seemed to feel itself more secure. But as
the hunters came up, they let off their guns, five at
the first shot, the balls of which all took effect. On
226 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
feeling itself wounded, the wonderful animal left the
tree on which it was resting for the moment, and
bounded with great activity and force, from one tree
to another, so that for a time it seemed to bid defiance
to the hunters to overtake it. At length, however,
its exertions grew fainter, and leaning against a limb,
it vomited blood, being then some feet up among the
limbs of the tree, in which it was putting its trust.
The powder of the party being now exhausted, as
they had been on the hunt for a long time that day, be-
fore they fell in with this rencontre, they were obliged
to cut the trees down with their axes in order to be
able to strike it with their spears. The animal was
soon cut down, but as the tree fell, what was their
surprise to see the wild man spring with great activ-
ity into the boughs of another, thus effecting its
escape with seemingly unabated vigor. They now
fell to cutting down all the trees of the place, which
consisted of but a small clump, as they were deter-
mined to capture it by a conflict on the ground. This
plan was accomplished, and the last tree brought the
animal in immediate conflict with its enemies. Here
they plied their spears on every side, as the bleeding
animal bounded hither and thither amidst its foes,
without seeming desirous of attacking any of them.
But as it was overcome by many wounds, and nearly
in a dying state, it suddenly seized hold of a spear,
the handle of which no man could break, and snap-
ped it asunder, as if it were but a dry twig. Its
strength, however, they now saw was beginning to
fail from a loss of blood ; when in its agony, it would
clap its hands on the wounds and look so pitiful at
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE 227
its tormentors, that the men began to have doubts as
to the nature of the deed they were perpetrating, so
much were its actions Uke a human being in distress.
But soon it fainted, and fell down on the grass qui-
escent, and was dead. On measuring the strange
creature, it was found to be seven feet in length, and
looked, while alive, and bounding from one tree to
another, like a monster of a man, entirely naked, but
overgrown with a thick coat of black, shiny hair, of
about three inches long, except on the forehead and
face. Its chin was fringed with a beard, which curl-
ed neatly on each side. Its arms were long — much
longer than are a man's arms — while the legs were in
proportion shorter, presenting a body of great size
and power. The chest was broad and expanded,
while the waist was quite slender, as are all the
monkey tribes. The posteriors were pointed and nar-
row, which trait of form is also that of the African
negroes. Upon the whole, says Dr. Abel, it was a
wonderful creature to behold, and more about it to ex-
cite surprise than fear."
Mr. Shaw, the Wesleyan missionary in South Af-
rica, says, that he has seen a whole troop of baboons
on the mountains, who would not only scream, caper,
and frolic at sight of their company, but would actu-
ally laugh. — Page 79 of his Memorials,
The existence of this animal, the ourang-outang,
is a great phenomenon in the world of beasts, on ac-
count of its near approach to human beings, and es-
pecially to that of the negro race, both in form and
capacities. The extreme scarcity of the creature in
the world is not the least circumstance of its singu-
228 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
larity, for it is found only in one or two districts of
the whole globe, and those are in Africa ; we mean
the large class of the animal. Because there is a
palpable similarity in many particulars between the
negro race, and the extraordinary animal above de
scribed, we by no means insinuate, what many seem
to believe, namely, that they are a connecting link
between the ourang-outang and the white man ; as
this is utterly impossible, on account of Ham's par
rentage, and because there is no such thing as a gra-
dation from brute natures to that of the human ; foi
man stands alone, being the image of God, and his
only image on the planet. Our remarks, therefore,
as above, and those which are to follow, are intended
only to prove the natural and innocent fact of the ne-
groes' mental and physical existence as actually in-
ferior to the whites. In connection with this view,
we shall notice the very curious circumstance of the
difference there is between the /la^wre of a negro's ^esA,
and that of the white man, the knowledge of which
is afforded by the appetites of certain animals. The
shark, the lion, tiger, and leopard, prefer the flesh ot
the negro to that of white men. This is found to be
true as to the shark, when the two races bathe to-
gether in waters inhabited by that voracious fish ; it
always selects the blacks, as an article of food suited
to its taste, rather than the whites, rejecting the lat-
ter to the last. It is the same when white men and
negroes hunt the animals of the forest, above men-
tioned, together in Africa, those monsters always se-
lecting the blacks as their prey, when it is as easy
for them to take one as the other. Were we to ren
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 229
der a reason for this curious preference, we should
say that it is on account of the strong odor of the ne-
gro's body, which, to the smell and taste, is more in-
viting than the white man's flesh, as is the smell and
taste of the horse and the ass to those carnivorous
creatures. In conformity to this fact, that of the
strong odor of the negro's body, they can digest food
of a much coarser and stronger character than white
men can, such as the shark, the crocodile, the rhinoc-
eros, the elephant, the hippopotamus, tigers, hyasnas,
dogs, lions, panthers, and serpents of every descrip-
tion, with the greatest ease and relish. All these are
rejected by the white man, as abhorrent to his na-
ture, tastes, and powers of digestion, except in cases
(if strong necessity itnd starvation. The horrid and
heart-appalling practice of cannibalism, has, in all
ages, attached more to the African race than to any
other people of the earth. In the country of Egypt,
according to Baron Humboldt, as late as the thir-
teenth century, five hundred years ago, this dread-
ful practice prevailed, even among the higher orders
of the people, as well as the lower, so that extraordi-
nary traps and snares were resorted to, in order U
catch each other for food, as they would any other
animal. He says, that physicians were often sent for,
under a pretense of ilhiess, when they who sent for
them would kill and devour the physician, having
arranged the plan how to deceive and destroy them
before their arrival. The large island Sumatra, in
the Indian Ocean, is peopled by blacks of the negro
description, who, formerly, if not now, devoured all
persons among them, condemned to death for crimes
230 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
committed against their laws. The manner of such
executions was as follows. The criminal was tied
naked to a post firmly fixed in the ground, while
the executioners stood around the fatal spot with
knives in their hands, who, when the sign, for them
to begin was given, fell on, in a regular manner, in
the sight of thousands, cutting away such parts of
the body as their respective fancies and appetites
made choice of, eating the quivering flesh in its blood,
with pepper and salt, while the poor wretch Was
howling and writhing with pain, as his devourers, all
negroes like himself, were chewing and swallowing
him down before his own eyes with gestures of great
delight and satisfaction. — Masonic Record^ p. 123,
No. 1, 1830. In New Holland, there are, or were^ sev-
eral tribes of negroes, who have very large heads and
mouths. Their heads, in form, resemble the head of
the ourang-outang. They are entirely covered with
black hair or wool, are very limited in their intellect-
ual powers, but are extremely dexterous in climbing
trees, precipices, and rocky places, in which particu-
lar they greatly resemble the apes and baboons of Af-
rica. They are exceedingly black, and have mouths
much wider than any other people of the human race.
They eat all kinds of reptiles, as bugs, worms, and
serpents, with every decayed and filthy thmg ; but
whether they are cannibals we are not informed.
Nearly the same is said of the na^i?;e5 of Australasia,
who are small in stature, ill shaped, and among the
most degraded and barbarous of the whole human
race, going entirely naked, with their bodies smeared
over like the Hottentot's^ with oil and filth, having no
FORTLXliS, OK 'i ilK .N^UliO RACE. 231
religion, or idea of a God, no government, and none
of the comforts of civilized life, though occupying
a country rich in every natural advantage of tht
globe. — Small's Geo., p. 296. Were ever white mer.
so lo\v as this?
Oil the island called Van Dieman's Land, in the
Southern Ocean, lat. 42°, which is adjacent to New
Holland, there is, according to Captain Graiifs ac-
count, a tribe of negroes extremely black and woolly,
whose whole formation is frightfully like the ourang-
outang, being, as to stature, many of them full six
feet hiffh, and powerfully built, who are far stronger
than other men of their size, and very ferocious.
These negroes eat human flesh as freely as they do
any other meat, making no difference, one way or an-
other, in the light of its being better or worse than
the flesh of other creatures. They sleep in the open
air, although the country is far from being hot, as it
is in lat. 42° south, and full as cold as is the climate
of New York, in both winter and summer; and yet
they sleep in the open air on the ground, and in the
trees, like the wild tenants of the heavens and the
earth, huddling in caves and holes in the winter, as
well as they can.
The negroes of the Norfolk, or New Hebrides Isl-
ands, in the Pacific Ocean, make use of human flesh
and count it as a great luxury — a banquet of the
highest order. — Malte-Brun, p. 620. In the island
Mallicola, in the Indian Ocean, according to the
above author, is a race or tribe of negroes, who, it is
said, may almost be regarded as a kind of apes or
baboons; as they have long flat noses, narrow fore-
232 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
heads, high cheek bones, under jaws which protrude
bej^ond what is common to Africans, very low of
stature, and every way entirely horrible to look upon,
on account of their extraordinary approximation to
the shapes and attitudes of ourang-outangs.
The negroes of Solomon's Islands, in the Pacific
Ocean, south latitude 10°, are exceedingly black and
cruel; whose chiefs will kill a man, for happening to
cross their shadow, so despotic and fierce are they in
their anger. They wear around their bodies, as or-
naments, strings of human teeth, and other tokens of
ferocity and murderous practices. These negroes are
cannibals of the worst description, living on human
flesh, in preference to all other kinds of meat, which
they procure by wars among themselves, and from
shipwrecked vessels, which are cast by tempests on
these inhospitable and bloody shores.
But from whence came the negroes of those islands
of the Pacific Ocean, so far removed from Africa,
their native country? We believe them to be descend-
ants of the Cushites, who settled, first of all, and be-
fore they went to Africa, along the Persian Gulf, and
the Eastern Ocean, from whence they got on to these
islands, by various means, where they have remained
from that period till the present. The islands of
New Hebrides, New Holland, Yan Dieman, New
Zealand, and Solomon's Islands, with many others,
which are inhabited by negroes, lie all along adja-
cent to the coasts of Asia, so that they were easily
reached by these first settlers, of the Ethiopia of that
country, before they were conquered and driven out of
It by the Shemites, as before stated.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 233
There is no other way to account for the appear-
ance of the blacks on those islands, who have ever
been acknowledo'ed as the aboriginal or native people,
other races mixing among them subsequently. This
fact, also, establishes that the negro race were always
as they are, and that those negro islanders are the
descendants of the Asiatic Cushites, who now are
cannibals, and have been thus in all time. From
this same stock of black men, the Cushites of the
days of Noah, descended the myriads of the negro
race, found mixed through all the nations of the
great eastern world, as China, the Indies, Hindostan,
&c., among whom they are slaves, as in all other
parts of the earth, carrying out the curse of Noah.
On the continent of Africa, there is in the interior a
tribe of negroes, called Eboes, whose features won-
derfully resemble baboons, like those on the island
Mallicola, particularly in the great elongation of the
under jaw; these are likewise cannibals. — Morse's
Geo., p. 785.
Mr. Vaugill, an American, who traveled in Africa,
having penetrated some way into the interior, among
the Gango negroes, came to a pretty large settlement,
where he found a kind of market place, to which the
inhabitants resorted to buy and sell such things as
they dealt in. Here Mr. Vaugill found an abundance
of human legs and thighs, hanging on pegs driven
into the trees and their huts, for sale, the same as
meat is exposed in the markets of civilized countries.
In another district of Africa, csdled Dertcin, situated
on the shore of a river, where a schooner, command-
ed by one Captain Dunninger, had anchored for the
16
234 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
purpose of hunting, dwelt a tribe, or nation, of ne-
groes, but what their name was is not recorded. At
this place, a part of the crew went on shore, where
there was a thick wood, in quest of game. For some
reason or other, perhaps fear, they kept pretty near
together, while they were looking about in the un-
known woods, when they were suddenly set upon by
a I'jirge party of negroes, concealed in the grass, and
notwithstanding the guns of the schooner^s party,
were at once overpowered, being frightened, as the
negroes rose up immediately about, and under their
very feet.
They were instantly killed with clubs, except one
or two, who being a little apart from the main com-
pany, fled to the vessel with the news. As soon as
possible, the residue of the crew hastened to the spot,
well armed, where they found nothing but the blood
and entrails of the victims, for their bodies had dis-
appeared, carried away, as they believed, to be used
as food for the murderers.
• A race of negroes once inhabited a large district
of country, about and beyond the heads of the Nile,
in Abyssinia, far south of the equator, called Giogas,
who once overran a great country in Africa, in the re-
gion known as Upper Egypt, supporting themselves,.
as they went, by killing and eating the inhabitants,
as they would so many cattle in an enemy's country.
They finally seized upon a district which lies south
of Angolia, bordering on the great Sahara, or sand
desert, where they finally settled, and were living
when the Christian missionaries found them. When-
ever tliese people, who were the terror of the surround-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 235
ing tribes, went out on marauding excursions to plun-
der and capture their own race, as has been the cus-
tom of all Africa, in all ages, they always selected
from among their female slaves as many as they
judged necessary for tlieir support on their way,
whom they killed as they went, for food, having used
them as their wives till the time of butchering them
came. — Edinburgh Enc, vol. ii, p. 185.
Is it possible to conceive of any condition in hu-
man life so utterly horrible — so far removed from the
common sympathies and moral feelings of humani-
ty— so deeply damned as were this community of ne-
groes? And yet their character was but in perfect
keeping, more or less, with every horde, tribe, and
nation, of the race, whether we go back to the first
ages of their being in Asia and Africa, or look at them
after the lapse of thousands of years, and as they are
now, in their own untaught character, as found in
the islands, woods, and mountains, of their blood-stain-
ed country.
The Rev. Mr. Brown, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Africa, related, when on a recent visit to
America, some appalling accounts of cannibalism, as
seen and known by himself. He related that he had
seen some ten or a dozen men buy a prisoner from a
tribe who had taken him in battle, and, tying his
hands behind his back, fell upon nim with knives,
cutting off pieces of his body as the victim went, who
filled the air with yells and cries for mercy, till he
fell down from a loss of blood, when he was entirely
devoured, except the bones. The Rev. Barnabas
ShaiD, a Wesleyan Missionary, in his Memorials of
236 ORIGIN, CHAKACTER, AND
South Africa, says — but, as we deem it, rather reluc-
tantly— that the Bechanan negroes are sometimes
cannibals. — Page 56.
That this trait of negro depravity and appetite was
as much in vogue amon^ them in the country of old
Canaan, even prior to the time of Moses, and the
conquest of those nations by the Hebrews, as it was
in ancient Africa, or any of the adjacent islands at
any time, appears from some remarks in the writings
ascribed to Solomon, on this very subject. It is said
of Solomon, in the Scriptures, that he was a wise
man, and, of necessity, a well read man, or he could
not have been wise. Solomon was, no doubt, ac-
quainted with the history and manners of the ancient
nations of the country over which he reigned, and
who, in part, had been conquered by his own arms.
He had access to the writings of all former ages, even
those of Noah and Melchisedek, as well as of the
other patriarchs. On these accounts, we may rely
upon what he has said on the subject of negro can-
nibalism in the book of Wisdom, as set forth in thfe
Apocrypha, chap, xii, as follows : " For it was thy
will (O Lord) to destroy, by the hands of our fathers
[the Hebrews], both those old inhabitants of thy holy
land [Canaan], whom thou hatest, for doing most
odious works of witchcrafts and wicked sacrifices,
and also those merciless murderers of children, and
devourers of man^s flesh, and the feasts of blood,
with their priests, out of the midst of their idolatrous
crew, and the parents that killed, with their own
hands, babes destitute of help."
Respecting these ancient nations of Canaan, the
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 237
seed 'of Ham, Solomon further states, in the same
chapter, as above, as follows: "But executing thy
judgment upon them by little and little, thou gavest
them place of repentance, not being ignorant that
they were a naughty generation, and that their ma-
lice was bred in them, and that their cogitation
would never be changed ; for it was a " cursed seed "
from the beginning.
Here, allusion is made by Solomon to the curse
of Noah, and to the decree of God against the race,
in the words they were a "cursed seed" from the be-
ginning, that is from the birth of Ham, and that
their malice was bred in them. Concerning this
people, Solomon further saith, in chapter 14 : " More-
over, this was not enough for them that erred in the
knowledge of God ; but whereas they lived in great
ignorance, those so great plagues called they peace.
For whilst they killed their children in sacrifice^ or
used secret ceremonies, or made revellings of strange
rites; they kept neither lives nor marriages any longer
undefiled ; but either one slew another treacherously
or grieved him by adultery, so that there reigned in
all men (of those nations), without exception, blood,
man-slaughter, theft, dissimulation, corruption, un-
faithfulness, tumults and perjury."
This account of the character of the ancient and
first negroes of Canaan, as given by Solomon in the
book of Wisdom, is corroborated in relation to canni-
balism, by the sacred text itself, and therefore is es-
tablished against them beyond all doubt. See book
of Numbers, xiii, 23, where there is an account of
the spies, who were sent into the mountains and
238 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
country ^f Canaan, to see what kind of people dwelt
there; who reported of them, when they returned,
that they were monsters, not only in stature^ but in
practice, for they said, ^^ they eat up the inhabitants.^^
That is, they weie cannibals, which frightened the
spies nearly out of their wits.
The Cartha-iuians sacrificed infants to their gods,
as well as adult persons. At one time, says Rollin,
Vol. i, pages 255 and 272, they burnt two hundred
babies, and three hundred grown j)ersoijs. But
whether they eat them after they w^ere roasted, is not
related by the historian. This dreadfnl practice they
carried with them, from old Phoenicia or the land of
Canaan, as the black nations of Carthage were de-
rived from the blacks of Canaan, page 275 of the
above author.
"J'his is a dreadful picture of the ferocity of those
early negro nations, who, it appears, not only wor-
shiped the devil, practiced witchcrafts and sorcery,
disregarded the marriage rites, murdered, swore false,
practiced all kinds of dissimulation, but in addition
to all this, they woidJ kill and eat their own children,
or any of the weaker inhabitants, the aged, the in-
firm, prisoners, &c. — all these they would devour as
an article of food.
The times alluded to by Solomon, in the book of
Wisdom, and by the book of Numbers, as above
quoted, was some fifteen and nineteen hundred years
B. C. Comparing these facts with the staiements of
Herodotus on the same subject (see below), we learn
that the negro race, more or Jess, have always been ad-
dicted to cannibalism, from the very begianing till
PORTJUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 239
the present time. The following is from the pen of
Herodotus, the eldest of the Greek historians (see his
work as translated, p. 170), where it is recorded re-
specting the Lyhian negroes: "If any man among
them appeared to be diseased, his nearest connections
put him to death immediately, alledging in excuse
that sickness would waste and injure his flesh.
They pay no regard to his assertion, that he is not
really ill, but without the least compunction, deprive
him of his life," and then devour him when cooked.
From the time of Moses to the time of Herodotus,
was a lapse of more than one thousand years. From
the time of Herodotus to the time of the thirteenth
century of the Christian era, when, according to
Baron Humboldt and other good authorities, canni-
balism was entirely universal in Egypt, among the
negro class of the people, was a lapse of some fif-
teen hundred 3'ears; and from the thirteenth century
to the present time, is some four hundred more ;
amounting in all to full three thousand years of the
history of that race, in which they have been, irre-
spective of civilization, actually more or less in the
practice of the dreadful crime of eating human flesh,
as an article of food ; not from necessity, nor on ac-
count of the requirements of their religion, but whol-
ly from the common desire of that kind of food, the
same as dogs or any other carnivorous animal.
It was but a few years since, 1839, that a part of
the crew of the vessel Colonel Crocket, which sailed
from Newburgh, N. Y., to Africa, was devoured by
the negro cannibals, on the Delago river, inland about
a hundred miles, while engaged on a hunting excur-
240 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
sion in the woods of that river. For all the particu-
lars of that horrid affair, see the paper entitled "The
New World," March 13, 1841.
On comparing the white nations in any, or all the
ages of the earth, with the tribes, hordes, and nations
of the aboriginal blacks, it is not possible, however
far removed from the lights and influences of the
true religion, to find such evidences of absolute men-
tal and practical degradation, as is found over the
whole earth, among the negro race, whether in a civ-
ilized or a savage state. It is impossible to find, in
the history of any of the white nations, since the
flood of Noah, a community who were absolutely
without any knowledge of a God, of law and order,
self-government, &c., as we find in all the history of
the savage parts of the negro race. Is there on the
page of universal history, whether written or tradi-
tionary, any account of white men going entirely na-
ked in the woods all their lives ; their women and
their children having no dwellings better than a cave,
a hollow tree, or a hut made of twigs, or some frag-
ile substance ; without order, laws, religion, or any
kind of refinements whatever?— no knowledge of
agriculture or of improvements in any way beyond a
wooden spear, a bow and arrows, or some such im-
plement? In such a condition, millions of the negro
race ;u e found in all ages of the world, as well as at
the present time ; but never the white race. Is not
this fact an evidence of the radical and abiding dif-
ference there is between the races— the blacks and
the whites — in relation to mind ? In America, how-
ever, it is very common for som-e people to charge the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 241
low and degraded condition of ihe iiegio race, to the
account of the domineering manners of the whitesover
them; but we presume they will not do so in relation
to the foregoing accounts, as the white man's influence
is unknown in their ancient or modern barbarous con-
dition ; on this account, such persons will be com-
pelled, even against their own wilL^, to place the
cause to the right account — which is the negro's own
natural imbecilities.
It is utterly impossible to reduce the whites by any
process whatever to so low a condition, as is found
to be the universal state of the negro race, on account
of the possession of superior mental faculties, moral
feelings, reason, reflections, sympathies, and all the
train of qualifications, constituting the image of God,
as alluded to, Gen. i, 27. But these qualifications,
and this image, are possessed by the negro race in a
less degree, which corresponds exactly with the dif-
ference there is between the color, forms and attitudes
of the two races.
In further illustration of this fact, it is said by
physicians, who have made the tropical diseases
their study, that the negro sleeps sound in every dis-
ease, nor does diuy inental disturbances ever keep them
awake. They bear surgical operations mi^ch better
than whites; and what would be the cause of insup-
portable pain to a white, a negro would almost dis-
regard. I have, says Dr. Mosely, amputated the legs
of many negroes, who have held the upper part of
the limb themselves, alone. — Lawrence's Lectures,
p. 402.
And as corroboratory of this fact, we see it stated
242 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
in the speech of Dr. Browning, in the great abolition
convention at London, that when he was in Egypt,
a hlack man, who was a soldier, and who was wound-
ed in the leg, found it necessary to have the limb
amputated. This was done by a surgeon named
Clot Bey, and when he expressed his surprise at not
hearing any exclamation of pain, his answer was,
" Do you think that a black man can bear pain no
better than the white man can ?" — Pennsylvanian
Freeman, August 6, 1840.
This circumstance, however, is made use of by ne-
gro admirers as an evidence of the great fortitude of
their natures, and strength of mind. But this notion
is overthrown in the fact of their want of courage
in the hour of terror and danger^ and of perseverance
in great undertakings. It is true that the race is fe-
rocious, but ferocity is neither an evidence of courage,
fortitude, nor of mind^ but is rather a trait of their
nervous insensihility, agreeing with the fact above
stated.
The distinction of color, between white and black,
is not more striking than is the difference between
the moral feelings and mental endowments of the
two races. They indulge almost universally in dis-
gusting debauchery and sensuality, displaying every
where a gross indifference to the mental pains and
pleasures of others. Insensibility to order and met-
aphysical harmony, with an entire want of what is
comprehended under the idea of elevated sentiment,
manly virtue and moral feeling, is characteristic of
the race ; these traits and virtues attach more prom-
inently to the whites, which cannot be denied by any
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 243
but fanatics, the profoundly ignorant and self-tlinded
character.
There are districts of country in Africa, and espe-
cially along the Atlas mountains, in which apes and
baboons are so abundant, that in many of the mud
hut towns of the negro natives, these animals live all
together, as if they were members of the same com-
munity.— Heme's Researches^ Vol. i, p. 37. Herod-
otus speaKs of a tribe of negroes in Africa, who were
so profoundly ignorant, that they had no names by
which they could distinguish each other ; their mem-
ories, respecting the looks of individuals, being their
only guide when they met, the same as dogs after they
get acquainted.
In no age, and under no circumstances, is it possi-
ble to ascertain, among any tribes, nations, or com-
munities of the whites, so much misery and meanness,
so much wretchedness and bestiality, as is found
among the negroes, not of America, but of Africa,
among the aboriginal people. Neither is it possible
to ascertain from the page of history, under the most
favoring circumstances, that the negro race have ever
risen to a comparable height with the white nations
in the sciences, or even in the most necessary arts.
• The ancient negroes of Egypt, Ethiopia, Lybia,
and Phoenicia, had no knowledge of water 'power, as
being applicable to propel machinery, nor of machin-
ery itself. They knew nothing of the architectiu'al
arch. They had no knowledge of the mighty prin-
ciple of steam, nor of gunpowder — nothing of the
magnetic needle, the clock or time-piece. They knew
nothing respecting anatomy and the circulation of
844 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANI
the blood in the human body, or in animals. They
had no knowledge of the art of printing, nor of the
iron plow-share, with hundreds of implements, and
manufactures now understood, and in use in the
world among white nations.
Well, what of all that, says one ; neither were any
of these things known or understood by any body
else, black or white, in those times. Granted ; but
how came it to pass, we ask, that, in the process of
ages, the negro man, or race, has never discovered
any of these things, while the white man has found
out and invented them all ? It is true that the Scrip-
tures intimate that the Egyptians were a very wise
people, by saying that Moses was learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians ; Acts vii, 22. But what
was this wisdom after all, but a mass of superstition
and nonsense, respecting their idolatrous religion, a
world of stuff, which Moses despised and rejected.
Respecting their wisdom, the Jewish Rabbi hold,
says Dr. Clarke, that it consisted in the arts of necro-
mancy and magic, with which Moses, of necessity^
was well acquainted, having been brought up in the
court of Pharaoh, as heir apparent to the throne ; but
he condemned the whole as false wisdom and vain
philosophy, derived from the heresies of the tower, as
from a germ engendered in the polluted hearts of
Ham and Nimrod, the great fathers of negro idolatry
in the world.
In closing this section, we give the opinion of Rol-
lin, as it respects the innate strength of the negro's
piind and courage, in substance as follows: The
Carthagenians had mean and "groveling souls" as
FORTUNESj OF THE NEGRO RACE. 245
when they were victorious in battle, they were al-
ways cruel ai)d ferocious to the prisoners; but when
defeated themselves, they would cringe down like
fiightened dogs, losing all courage and hope. This
was the true character of the famous Carthagenians
in all their wars, and history of their existence. — Vol.
I p. 255.
During the first Punic or Phoenician war, toward
the close of that contest, the Carthagenians were
obliged to procure a general to lead their armies, and
conduct their forces against the Romans, from the
Greeks^ as among themselves there were none who
could cope with the victorious Regidus. The general
they procured was the famous J^antippiis, a I^ace-
demonian, who, when he had taken the command of
the sooty legions, soon became the victor, even tak-
ing the Roman commander prisoner, as well as de-
feating his forces, when a peace between the two
powers ensued.
Does this fact go to exhibit the black men of Car-
thage, whether woolly headed or straight haired, as
being equal, in point of talent, with white men, when
they were compelled to employ a ivhite general, a
Greek, to compete with, and conquer, the Romans at
that time, or to submit to ruin? — Whelpley^s Com-
pend of History, p. 165.
But how did the Carthagenians requite the brave
white general, for his acts of valor and friendship ?
By murdering him, for fear that it should be known
that a white man had assisted them, and was the
cause of their good fortune. This fact shows also,
as Rollin has spoken of them, namely, that they
246 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
were mean and groveling of soul. On that famous
occasion, it is said by the above historian [vol. i, p.
285], that when the Carthagenians saw how much
supe! ior the abiHties of Zantippns were to their own
generals, in manoeuvering the troops in battle, they
were struck with astonishment, and said that the
ablest generals of Carthage knew nothing in compar-
ison with this Greek. As to the natural courage
(which is but another term for superior abilities) of
the Roman white men, and the black Carthagenians,
there was no comparison ; as the former, though often
defeated, were never discouraged; while the latter
fell into despair at the very omens of defeat. — Rollin,
vol, i, p. 297. This author further saith, vol. i, page
356, that whenever the Carthagenians got a victory
over the Romans, their white opponents, they would
butcher, crucify^ and tear the prisoners to death ; but
that, on the contrary, when the Romans got a victory,
they were lenient and humane. This fact, to Hanni-
bal, was a very strange thing, which his mind could
not readily comprehend. Mercy to a defeated ene-
my, was, to the Carthagenians, a solveless problem,
while in the minds of the Romans it was a virtue of
the highest order. That such dispositions as these are
the innate character of the negro race, is further
shown from the fallowing: In Western Africa, it is
noiD a custom of the king of Dahomey, annually to
assemble all the chiefs and nobles of his kingdom, in
order to aid him in the ceremony of watering the
graves of his ancestors with blood. On such occa-
sions, hun ireds of human beings were butchered, con-
sisting of prisoners, of criminals, and also of many
AM^-
FORTUNKS. OF TDiO XIIGKO HACK. 247
seized promiscuously by lawless violence from among
the crowed, who suspected no evil. At any time
when the king wishes to send a message to his de-
ceased relation in another world, he delivers the er-
rand to some one standing near, and then strikes off
his head, that he may go and carry it. The roofs
of the huts of this king's place of residence are orna-
mented all over, as are also the pavements before the
doors of his huts, with the jaw bones and sculls of
human beings.
In Western Africa, there is another kindom, called
Ashantee^ whose king is far more a tyrant than the
king of Dahomey. When the English Commission-
ers, not many years since, had arrived at the capital,
which was but a wilderness of low and conical huts ;
it was at a time when the annual man butchery-
took place, for the sake of the dead. The following
is the account as published — Universal Traveler ^
page 420:
" During their stay, the Commissioners witnessed
scenes so dreadful, that it seemed to sink the Ashan-
tee character even heloio the ordinary level of savage
life. The custom of human sacrifices is practiced
here, on a scale still more tremendous than at Daho-
mey. The king had lately sacrificed, on the grave
of his mother, three thousand victims, and at the
death of the late sovereign, his predecessor, the sacri-
fice was continued weekly, for three months. * * *
On these occasions, the Caboceers and princes, in
order to court the royal favor, would often rush out
from the presence of the king, and the first man they
met they would dj-ag to the sacrifice. While this
248 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
business lasts, it is, therefore, with trembling steps,
that any one crosses the king's threshold ; and when
compelled to do so, they rush along with the utmost
speed (as if they were passing the gates of hell),
dreading every moment the murderous grasp, from
which there is no escape."
Here there was a sacrifice of two thousand four
hundred lives of slaves, in the short space of three
months. At such a rate as that, a custom of this de-
scription would, in a century, during the reign of, say
but four kings, allowing them an average reign of
twenty-five years, destroy the lives of two hundred
and forty thousand slaves, as it is the slave of the
Ashantees who have thus to suffer. Is American
slavery any thing like this^ as now extant in the ne-
gro's own happy land, as abolitionists would have
men believe it is ?
What other people but this race, the Hamites, have
been found on the earth since the creation of man,
who are so foolish and cruel, when they have power
and opportunity? Had there been no other race cre-
ated on the earth, long ago the whole world would
have been but one great slaughter-house, in which no
light of science, religion, government, or the useful
arts, would ever have been heard of; as all these
blessings are of other origin than the negro man.
As it was then, in the ages of Carthage, so it is now,
and ever has been thus : the negro, when in power,
plays the tiger, glorying in deeds of blood and terror;
but when in subjection, he cringes with stupid fear,
yielding his neck easily to the yoke and condition of
slavery. If Hannibal was a great general, or rather
FORTUNI.S, OF TIIK N1;GR0 RAPK. 249
a successful one, we think we need not fear lo assert
that what he was, he owed to the superior talents of
two white men, Lacedemonians, namely, Sobsius
and Philemius, one of whom was his teacher^ and
the other a counsellor, who always attended him in
his warlike expeditions. — RoUin, vol. i, p. 375.
There were others of the Africans, as Masinissa
and Jiiha^ kings who reigned in the interior of Afri-
ca, in the time of the Carthagenians, of whom it is
said that they were great men, who, as well as Han
nibal, received their education of i^Ai^e teachers — the
Romans.
In conclusion, therefore, from a view of the pre-
ceding facts, we are compelled to hold that it is abso-
lutely certain, taking the whole history of both races,
the whites and blacks, into the account, that the latter
are absolutely unequal and lower in mental abilities,
and do not possess, naturally^ the stamina of im-
provement as do the former; and that this difference
is attributable alone to the wisdom of God, in the
creation of the negro race, in the blood and being of
Ham, their father ; on which account it is as utterly
impossible to elevate them to an equality with the
whites, as it is to take away the blackness of their
skins.
As sure as day is fairer to the sight
Than dreary darkness in the hour of night —
Or wood, less dazzling in the sun's bright glare.
Than Ophir's sands of gold and rabies are :
So sure it is, as sure as truth is great,
The blacks have got, than whites, a thicker pau>.
But if this thought displease, as not refin'd,
We can but add, therefore — they have less miniL
17
250 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANB
TENTH SECTION.
The Bubject of the amalgamation of the white and negro races ex-
amined; which event, by some men, seems to be greatly 'desired—
The voice of God, in nature, against it — Horrid results, were tha
amalgamation of the races to become universal — Lowering of the
present standard of the powers of the human mind — Changes in
the physical formation of the human body, as extant in the na-
tions of white men, in their approximation to the form of the
ourang-outang, through the influence of negro amalgamation —
Deterioration of the mental image of God, as given to the keeping
of the white race — Negroes' brains found to be lest in weight and
metiiure than the white man's — Dodging of abolitionists on thi^
question — Anticipations of some men that amalgamation will final-
ly become universiil, so as to put down slavery in this way — Slav-
ery among the African negroes before they knew white men —
Stealing each other — Murdering of children among them — Many
facts respecting the near approach of various negro tribes to the
form of the ourang-outang — Indifference to pain, when under sur-
gical operations — Corresponding- insensibility of the mind, with
respect to the moral feelings of the heart, as well as to the suffer-
ings of others — Cruelty to the aged and the sick — Pretended
obsequiousness of some abolitionists to negroes, with a view,
as they say, to their exaltation — Natural enmity between ne-
groes and white men.
Having, in the preceding section, treated on the
mental inequality of the negro man, compared with
white men, we shall now pass to the subject of amal-
gamating the two races, a thing which, in the minds
of some persons, greatly to be desired, as in that way
a universal equality would be made out.
That the amalgamation of the two colois, black
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 251
and white, were not designed by the Creator, is evi-
dent from the very existence of those two complex-
ions. Had God been pleased to view the whole hu-
man race as possessing but one hue of complexion,
he never would have produced more than that owe,
whether it might have been black, white, or red, or
any other color, as green or blue. But if it is said
that the amalgamation of the races would be proper,
and not displeasing to the Supreme Being, then it
will follow that he is not displeased with the overturn,
subversion, and adulteration of the works of his own
hands or powei, and the ruin oi first principles im-
planted in the forms and colors of things created.
That there should be in nature distinctions of this
character is essential to ordei*., to beauty, and classi-
fication. Without this trait of the Divine operations,
all nature would be but one universal blot, a vast
compound of sameness. The earth would have no
charms. There would be no distinction of color be-
tween land and water. The green grass of the
meadows and mountains, the leaves and floAvers of
all forests, the tints and hues of all minerals, the col-
ors of various animals, as well as of the human race,
would become blended and confused in one great
chaotic mass, so far as colors are concerned, in the
existence of things. Had not God, therefore, have
seen that all beings of animal natures, and all sub-
stances which make out the multitudinous amount
of earth's productions and inhabitants, should be dis-
tinguished for the sake of order, identification, and
beauty, by a countless train of tints, hues, and colors,
it would not have been thus produced.
252 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
It is, therefore, from this view, at once evident,
that as God did make the two complexions of black
and white originally, which characterize two races
of men, that it is, therefore, no less a sin than sacri-
lege to amalgamate them, thereby destroying God's
work, and supplying the ruin with adulterations.
But when it is considered that there are connected
with those two complexions, two races of men dif-
ering as much in their mental faculties as they
do in color and formation, and that these mental
faculties, colors and formations, depend, for their
continuance, upon the preservation of their respect-
ive attributes in those particulars, it furnishes a
mighty reason why the whites and blacks should not
mingle races, and thereby sin against God in the mu-
tilation of the original order.
If by amalgating the two races, the native intel-
lectuality of the whites becomes deteriorated, the
reason why so monstrous an innovation on the rights
of God should not be committed, is still more glaring.
Is it wise, for the sake of elevating the negro race,
to make so great a sacrifice as the destruction of the
white man from the earth ? If so, let them amalgam-
ate, the road is open and broad. Against such a
course, on the part of the African, we have heard of
no objections, and but little from abolitionists.
Were the races universally, by amalgamation, to
mingle, the effect would be the destruction to both
colors, the black and white, and a new one, which
God never created, take the place of the others, and
this would be a dingy yellow, called the Mulatto.
The present heaven-approved form and complexion
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 253
of the white race would be handed to posterity,
through the dark medium of negro blood, stained, ob-
scured and confused. Their complexion would be
but half white, the covering of their heads neither
wool nor hair, their noses flattened and made wider,
their mouths vastly extended, the temples narrowed
and sunken, the forehead lowered and slanted back-
ward, the contour of the head elongated, monkey
like, the eyes eclipsed of intelligence and made glos-
sy like the eyes of animals, the under jaw protruded,
the teeth set laterally, the waist narrowed, the chest
widened, the posteriors pointed and lifted up, the foot
enlarged and made spongy on the outer sides, the
heel set backward, the calf of the leg taken away,
the shin bone made convex, the skull thickened, the
lips pouted forward, the cheek bones lifted up, and
the whole external of the progeny become changed,
and merged in Egyptian darkness. But the above
changes are not all the horrors which amalgamation
produces ; as the passions and mental faculties be-
come remodeled and changed to other characters, as
presented in the mulatto race of negroes.
There is an increased disposition to untameabie
and unrestrained lewdness, to treachery, to insensi-
bility of feeling, to a want of high and manly senti-
ment. There is seen in this character, as in the
real black, a proneness to loud and senseless laughter,
an extraordinary desire to whistle and sing, especially
when in circumstances of labor and servitude. The
fancies of the mind undergo a change also, in relation
to colors, as the negro's eye is powerfully attracted
by the red and yellow, in the decorations of theii
254 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
bodies. The powers of appetite are also increased
so that several kinds of food, abhorrent to a white
mail's palate, comes not amiss, as is seeu among the
wild people of Africa, whether black, brown or yel-
low The feeling of love foy children, in the Ught
of a desire of their mental improvement, as is man-
ifested by the white race, in a great measure, ceases
to exist, and in its place springs up a happy indif-
erence on this important matter. All this^ and much
more than we have words to express, as seen in t^e
whole negro character, would be the fearful result
of lowering the standard of the human mind, as now
possessed by the whites, by amalgamating the blood
of the races. That such would be the consequence
is as sure as is cause and effect ; for it is a physiot-
logical fact, that the brain of all uegroes is less in
size and weight than the brain of white men by more
than one-eighth. This is Iqiown by actual examina-
tions of the heads of the two races. — >See Biughmn
on the Brain, p. 21.
In connection with this appalhng truth, it is lound
also that the arms of the negro race are longer than
the arms of the whites, holding a midway relation
between white men and monkeys in this particular.
This was found to be so by Dr, White, who meas-
ured the arms of nearly fifty negro skeletons, and in
all cases were found to have longer arms than whites
of the same height of person. — See Lawrences Lec-
tures on the History of Man, p. 350,
The whole character of the ilesh of the negro i^ce,
as Weil as their nerves, seems to be of a coarser char-
acter, less fine and dchcate than is the flesh and
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 255
nerves of the white race. The skin of their bodies is
thicker and heavier than is the whites, especially
about the head. Respecting the females of the Af-
rican race, it is said that their breasts grow to
monstrous sizes, hanging down even below their
waists. — Lawrence^s Lectures^ p. 359. This would
be a beautiful trait of symmetry to be added to the fe-
male portion of the whites, were the amalgamation of
the races to become universal.
It is said^ by those skilled in surgical operations
and dissections of the human body, that the flesh of
negroes, from the outside to the bone, is of a darker
color, as well as the blood, than the flesh and blood
of white men. And why should not this be so, as
the character, or animal, if we may so speak, is
wholly a diflerent creature from the white human
animal ? In relation to the lower orders of animals,
is it not true that there is a great diflerence in the
texture and nature of their ^e^A in many particulars?
This is known to the most unobserving, and why
should it be wondered at, when we assert that the
same rule or circumstance exists between white men
and negroes, and quite as much as their looks in-
dicate.
Amalgamation with them, therefore, proposes not
only the blackening of the skin, but of the blood and
flesh, even to the bone, as well as the deterioration
of the mental faculties of the progeny of the whites.
It is stated by Herodotus, that the very semen of the
African negro, in his Lime, was black, which is equal-
ly true at the present — or at least it is of a dark blue-
ish tinge, of which any man may convince himself,
256 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
if he is deeply desirous of physiological information.
Would not such a course be a species of blasphemy ^
by despising the image of God, which is intellectual
ity^ given to the keeping of the white race, more than
to the blacks ? To cast away, therefore, any portion
of this image or likeness of God, would be a deed
too horrible for contemplation.
Any mingling of the blood of the blacks with the
whites, is considered by Professor Lawrence, a dete-
rioration of the mental powers of the progeny produc-
ed. But, says one (an admirer of the negro race),
it has never entered the heart of abolitionism to justify
or aid in the actual amalgamation of the two races ;
we have only plead for, aided and abetted the doc-
trine of, the negroes' natural and perfect equality with
white men, as to their right to freedom and equality,
with regard to slavery, their mental faculties and
claim of political elevation in human society.
Very well, this you have done, as all the world
knows. But what is the tendency of such a doc-
trine ? Is it not the high road to amalgamation? If
the negro race in Christendom, are elevated to a par-
allel politically with white men, will they not,
therefore, with this elevation (were it to be effected),
become eligible to political offices ; and thus establish
the 'princi'ple on which the election of negro magis-
trates, judges, legislators and governors, with any
and all the offices of the civilized world, could be
effected? Let this principle of political equality be-
come once established in relation to the blacks, would
not the odium of marriages between the races be
greatly lessened? Would not facilities be afforded
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE 257
to the negro race of mingling on equal terms with
the whites, in relation to all the immunities of soci-
ety ? If so, then would there not be removed out
of the way, in the estimation of millions, one great
obstacle to amalgamation by marriages between the
races? What propriety, therefore, is there in the
pretense of some abolitionists, that they by no means
plead for amalgamation, while they approve of prin-
ciples and acts, which have for their certain result,
the amalgamation of black and white, in one great
and common community.
But as dreadful as is the contemplation of such a
state of human society, there are thousands in the
United States, who, in the fierceness of their zeal,
for the negroes' 7nere liberty, would happily forego
the loss of half their mental powers, and their white
complexion to boot, if they could but bring about
this famous equality, and thus make an end of sla-
very.
In various conversations which the writer has had
with violent abolitionists, we have inquired of them,
whether, in order to carry out their belief of the negroes'
absolute equality with white men, they were willing
that a son or a daughter of theirs, should be united
with them in marriage? To this question, we could
seldom receive a direct answer, either yes or no, but
were generally met by equivocation, as follows :
"Pray, sir, is there any law, human or divine, against
such marriages ?"
H^re we would urge all the dissimilarities of the
two races, in their faculties, passions, appetites, for-
mation, color, looks, and smelly again repeating the
868 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
question — would you be willing that a son or a daugh-
ter of yours should marry a negro? — but receiving
almost always the same shuffling reply. By this
course of theirs, we became, as often as conversation
of the kind occurred, convinced that these very per-
sons abhorred the unnatural connection; and yet
they would not yield the point, for fear of being com-
pelled to acknowledge their real belief in the fact of
their absolute inferiority. Yes, we have often heard
abolitionists remark, that the time will come, when
all mankind will be of one color, and that will be
the yellow or brown, as that the good work of amal-
gamation of negroes and white men, was going rap- j
idly on in the world ; and this they said with a kind j
of joyful anticipation, as if by that means, negro }
slavery would at last be abolished in the world. Thus !
it is evident, that when a man, or party of men, be- \
come firmly seated on a hobby horse, its speed is j
never known to slack, till the ruin of horse and I
rider is efiected. But although abolitionists affect to !
deny that they are favorable to an amalgamation of I
the whites and blacks, this is contradicted in the '
speech of Wendell Phillips, in the great London
Abolition Convention, as follows: "When he went
to America, and told them that he had seen the white \
man and black man walk arm in arm, he should not j
be believed. He wished to have it recorded by the 1
British press, that the colored man was to be receiv-
ed in tne same manner as the white." — Pennsylvania
Freeman, August 6, 1840, No. 204.
The doctrme is also approved of by Dr. Brownmg,
who was a member of the London Abolition Conven-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 259
tion; see liis speech in the "Pennsylvania Freeman,"
August 6, 1840, No. 204, as follows: "There was
one circumstance (he said) connected with the East
(meaning the Mohammedan countries), that was pe-
culiarly interesting, and that was, that there they
knew of no distinction of color; they had no nobili-
ty of skin. White men, of the highest rank, married
black wome7i, and black men frequently occupied the
highest social and official situations."
Oh, how happy a thing it would be, in the estima-
tion of this man, would the Americans only pattern
after the Mohammedan, in this thing, and thus cou-
found the two colors, black and white, and sin against
God, who made the difference, not to be mingled, but
to be forever separate.
But as to the abohshment of negro slavery on such
grounds as that, it can never be accomplished ; for
the history of the negro nations, from the earliest
ages down to the present time, furnishes abundant
proof that they have enslaved their own race as much,
and far more cruelly, than either of the other races,
the red man or the white.
To prove this, we adduce the following on that
point: Strabo, an ancient historian, says that the
Egyptians worked the machinery by which the wa-
ters of the Nile were elevated, in time of drought, to
irrigate their lands, by slaves instead of oxen. To
each of such machines, there were attached one hun-
dred and fifty slaves of their own color. — Rollin, vol.
i, p. 133.
The Carthagenians, a negro people in Africa, who
at first were a colony from Phoenicia, or old Canaan.
260 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
had vast hordes of slaves of their own color, whom
they not only compelled to do their labor, but also,
in great numbers, sacrificed them annually to their
gods as burnt oiFerings. — Rollin, vol. i, p. 223. Han-
no, an opulent citizen of Carthage, though a black
man himself, had twenty thousand slaves, by which
means, at one time, he attempted to usurp the govern-
ment of his country, but was killed in the attempt.
Rollin, vol. i, p. 266.
But, in later times, we find, among the negro tribes
of Africa, the same practice. Damberger, the Ger-
man traveler, in Africa, says, vol. ii, pages 151 and
152, that the kings or great chiefs of the tribe called
Ba-ha-ras, who lived on the river Gambia, or Niger,
had his subjects in such a condition of vassalage,
that he sold them as slaves, whenever he would, not
only victims taken in war, but of his own tribe and
countrymen.
Another nation he passed through, called Haouffas,
who always sold their children, when young, to other
tribes, in order to avoid the trouble of taking care of
them in their infancy, and then supplied their place
by stealing such as were grown larger, to prevent
their own tribe from running out. — Damherger^ vol.
ii, p. 158. The king of the same tribe above named,
practiced selling all his wives for slaves, at such
times as he became weary of their company, obtain-
ing new ones from among his own subjects, whether
already the wives of other men or not.
One tribe he found, who killed all their female
children, but saved the males, stealing their wives
from other tribes, or taking them in battle. This
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 261
rribe were called Kan-torrians, and inhabited a tract
of country on the river Tumba, north of the Caffrees
or Hottentot region. — Dmnberger, vol. i, p. 150. This
author further states, vol. i, p. 173, in a note, that all
the tribes he fell in with, except the Caffrees, dealt in
slaves among themselves.
These slaves they acquired in their wars, not in-
stigated by white men, but by themselves, as they
are seldom at peace with each other, and have not
been in all past ages. Professor Russell says, p. 44,
of his work, that o?ie of the chiefs of lower Nubia, liv-
ing at a place called Derr, had an army of three thous-
and natives, all slaves, procured from the slave deal-
ers of Dongola, a tribe dwelling further in the inte-
rior than the Nubians, above named. With these,
this tiger-man ravaged and plundered distant tribes,
killing and capturing all who came in his way.
Derr, his place of residence, was considered the capi-
tal of lower Nubia, consisting, as to its architecture,
of vast numbers of viiid huts, in which dwelt the
slaves of this horrible negro king, rolling naked in
mud when it rained, and in dust, ashes, and creeping
things, when it was dry. M. Cailbe, in 1S24, made
a hazardous journey to the famous negro city, Tim-
hucto, quite in the central part of Africa, who says
that the people are negroes of the Kissour tribe, and
that their chiefs have all their work done by slaves,
who are compelled to live separate from their mas-
ters, though they are all of one color, and one kind
of people. This famous city is also but a strag-
gling, disorderly mass of mud huts and dried
grass, filled to overflowing with wretched, naked
262
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, A^t)
men and women. — Family Magazine, pages 82
and 83.
Why vahed roam, thon negro man, in Afric's horrid wild,
O'er monntains high, and valleys deep, like a poor homeless cliildl
The beasts that dwell amid the woods, are happier far than you—
For they have coa s of fur and hair, to guard from rain and dew.
Your soil gives forth the native flax, and other means of dress-
Why roam, like troops of monkeys wild, o'er all the wilderness 1
Is not your land both deep and rich, to yield each year anew
The annual crop, would yon but plant, as otlier nations do ?
Why dwell in huts of grass and mud, and caves, and hollow trees,
Drench'd by the rains in summer times, and in the winter freeze ?
Is there not stone and rock, and forests deep and green,
^rom which good houses you might build, your naked limbs to screen I
Yoiu monntains give the min'ral beds of iron and steel their birth,
Of whici. the plow and axe are made, to cultivate the earth.
The diamono snarkles on your hilh, their depths yield golden ore,
By which manklnu ?orich themselves, and generate all power.
Wliy roam, therefore, tnou negro man, like beasts of blood and prey,
Naked and starv'd, no house or home, like a lost child astray ?
Ah, mighty white man, ask thou </(;«— poor negro have no trade ;
He sees no flar, no stone, or tree, from which such things are made !
He does not know that gold and trade, with labor infinite.
Has brush'd away from nature's face the gloom of ancient night.
His pate is thick, his brain is small, deep buried up in wool —
He does not f.noir, as white men do, but lives and dies a fool.
Oh, white man, take us from ourselves, our huts, our holes, our caves !
Oh, feed and clothe us, teach us too, and we will be your slaves !
For thus it was from earliest time, as we have heard decreed,
That Ham should serve all other men, and never can be freed.
Gen. ix, 25 ; Joshua ix, 23.
There was a missionary, who recently hved in
West Africa, at a place called Monrovia, namely, Dr.
Goheen, who has published to the world, in a paper
entitled Liberator, that slavery in the United States,
in its worst form, even under the lash, is not as bad
as slavery is in Africa. He says, it is a well known
truth, that nine-tenths of the population are in a state
of personal slavery. The females are sold at an
early a^e, to be, as soon as grown up, beasts of bur-
den, or wives, as their negro owners may require.
The kings and chiefs of that country, he says, drive
their own people in droves to the sea, where they sell
their own blood and color by thousands, to whosoever
.OHTUNliS, 01- THE JNKGRO RACE. 263
will buy them. Thus it lias always been in Africa,
ages before the European white man knew any thing
about the slave trade. Even the famous, and par-
tially civilized, Carthagenians used to obtain vast
numbers of slaves from a region of country in Africa,
inhabited by a people called Goromantes, a powerful
tribe of the interior, who made it their chief business
to catch the people of their own color, to sell to the
Carthagenians. — Hernis Researches in Africa^ vol.
ii, p. 231. . This was done ages before the era of
Christianity, and, of necessity, could not have been
instigated by European white men.
Crawford, in his Indian Archipelago, vol. i, pages
18-20, states, that there are, in those islands, two races
of blacks. One of those races is not as black as the
other, and have straight or long hair, while the other
race is of a jet black, with woolly heads. The
straight haired race, he says, hold the woolly heads
in the utmost contempt, making slaves of them where-
ever they can be caught. The woolly heads are con-
stantly found in a savage and more wild condition
than the other race, making no improvements, but
cleaving entirely to a state of nature, going naked,
and living wholly on the produce of the wilderness.
Thus it is made clear, in the above facts, that though
all mankind were tinged by the negro blood, as some
abolitionists desire, yet would not slavery be abolish-
ed, as the negro man has ever been found as ready
to enslave his own race as are the other iiations of
the earth, no matter whether in a civilized or a bar
barous state. This is the people — the woolly heads
of Africa, the most degraded of the human race, who
264 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
are even thus esteemed by the brown kind of negroes,
having straight hair, in the same countries — that ab-
olitionists desire to elevate, politically, to an equality
with white men, and, of necessity, to become amal-
gamated with them, by fellowship in marriages, and
the other immunities of white society. The negro
race do not, and never were possessed of the common
sympathies of human nature for their fellows in
trouble, but treat such circumstances as a thing of no
account. It is a well known fact, that when a slave
is punished for a misdemeanor, and cries out under
the operation, it excites laughter among them, instead
of tears. They are not a race of people of sufficient
sympathies or feeling to care much about their own
sufferings, or their condition of slavery, as a great
whole, beyond their own individual being, and, in
millions of cases, not even then — thinking nothing of
the odium of being a slave, so long as comfort and
protection is in their individual pessession. Was not
this trait of their character exemplified in the two
slaves of the Hon. Henry Clay, when on a trip to
Canada, some few years since ? While there, the two
slaves were told by the people, that, as they were on
English ground, they were /ree, and were urged with
great vehemence to avail themselves of the happy
circumstance in their favor, but to no purpose. The
blacks replied, that they loved their master, and
would not leave him, and actually returned with him
to the south, and to their condition of servitude again.
Many such instances have taken place.
This principle of indifference to the happiness of
their fellows, is shown, not only in the history of the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACK.
265
cruelties practiced in Africa, by the chiefs, upon the
slaves, but also by the cruelties of the southern slaves
toward each other, as manifested by the actions of
the negro slave drivers. In such cases as when an
owner of slaves happens to advance some more active
and intelligent negro to overlook the labors of a gang,
the whip is seen to be in lively exercise, as well as
the tongue. This is passing strange!
In further proof of this indifference of the blacks,
respecting human suffering, we quote the following
from Barnabas Shaw's Memorials of South Africa,
published at the Methodist Episcopal book-room, in
New-York, 1841. This author states, page 37, that
the Namacqua negroes always leave their ag-ed pa-
rents and the sick to fall a prey to the wild beasts, or to
die of hunger, whenever they remove from one hab-
itation to another. This tribe is a branch of the Hot-
tentot family, who are descended, as is believed, from
the ancient Egyptians. The bushmari negroes are
guilty of dreadful acts of cruelty toward each other,
when in a helpless condition. They have no feel-
ings, says Mr. Shaw, pages 42, 43, 56, toward babes,
the sick, or their own aged parents, making even a
boast of it. They will kill their children on the most
trifling occasion, if not shaped to suit them. If pur-
sued by an enemy, they will kill the aged: or if very
hungry, they will eat human flesh.^ The Caffree ne-
groes of that country, he says, page 53, carry their
sick into the woods to die alone, or to be devoured
by serpents, wild beasts, or cast into some pit or hole,
unheeded and forsaken. Mothers, one would think,
would love and protect their babes, as even this vir-
18
266 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
tue is found instinctively possessed even by dumb
beasts ; and yet we are told by Mr. Shaw, in his work,
p. 56, that a woman of the Bechuan tribe, offered to
sell her child to him for some glass beads, who said
that she loved her child, but that she loved beads far
better. On the least occasion, says Mr. Shaw, pagfe
58, they will kill their wives as they would a trouble-
some dog.
Insensibility to pain, remarks this author, p. 61, is
one of the negro faculties ; as they seem not to feel
when even cut to pieces, nor do they care for their
fsUows when seen in the greatest distress.
With a view to all these things, and many more
disgusting particulars, which the reader's discernment
will not fail to suggest,^, how is it possible that any
white man on the face of the earth can be found, who
in his heart is willing to have the races become one
oy amalgamation? To the writer, such a desire
seems to be a kind of monstrosity, a hideous night-
mare, a frightful incubus, chattering and grinning on
the bosom of the soul, driven on, and on, as by a
devil in mockery, for the crime of believing in, and
desiring the union of, white blood with black.
There are not wanting under this baleful influence,
cases in the land, even among the refined and opu-
lent, who have lent and are lending their influence to
the ultra objects of abolitionism; and also, who
have bowed down themselves in the sight of the
Heavens and the earth, to the very dust, in compli-
ance to negroes, desiring thereby to have it believed
that they do most heartily espouse the notion of the
black men's intellectual equality with themselves.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 267
And then, with effronterjr enough to look a tiger out
of countenance, have braved the common and popu-
lar indignation, forming a mighty contrast between
their apparent humility and lowly deference of the
negro, and their dauntless impudence toward those
*who cannot, for the sake of the image of God, sub-
scribe to this blasphemy against nature.
We are acquainted with occurrences of this de-
scription, when a negro man has been petted, caressed,
and almost seemingly adored, by proud, scornful and
aristocratic white men, who, taking the negro by the
arm with affected politeness and attention, have led
and escorted the black to the best seat in a superb
carriage, and from thence in pomp and array, to a
place of public entertainment. Yes, we have under-
stood, that, in the city of New York, there was a cer-
tain opulent gentleman, who, under the frightful
ir*fluence of the negro abolition mania, went so far
with the horrible phrenzy, as to force negroes upon
the notice and attention of his daughters, in his own
house, and thus insult his own blood, and that of the
whole white part of creation.
Can such doings be sincere? We have no confi-
dence in the sincerity of such professions. The very
pretenders feel appalled at heart, and loathe the un-
natural approximation ; yes, the very negroes them-
selves know better, and laugh at the hypocrisy and
nonsense of the whole farago; but, nevertheless,
they are willing to be petted, as long as the con-
spirators against the order of God in the creation
may be under the influence of this extraordinary
political spasra, which will endure just as long and
268 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
no longer, than when their political object is attained
or lost.
If, indeed, the negro race are worthy the attention
bestowed upon them at the present time, how is it
that they do not put forth the arm of mental power,
and convince mankind that their abolition friends are
worthily bestowing their energies for their benefit?
How is it that the people and government of San
Domingo, who are now free and politically indepen-
dent, have never petitioned the different governments
of Christendom, who have slaves, for the elevation
of their race by education ? How is it that they,
who were able to massacre their masters, and to plun-
der their houses, ravish their wives and daughters,
and to riot till glutted in rapine and plunder, have
not poured out their eloquence on the ear of mankind,
arising out of the rich fund of their mental powers,
and wrouglit upon their sympathies, deluged the
world with arguments, heaped up like mountains in
favor of the negro race — thus putting the nations and
countries to the blush at the thought of enslaving
a people so high minded and patriotic, so noble and
pure in principle, a race possessed of the sweetest
and liveliest moral powers and feeling, each man of
them longing and desiring the improvement of his
people more, far more, than his own individual hap-
piness ? But this they have not done, and we have
doubts whether they even care much about it, in the
patriotic sense of the word. Nay, the very papers
which are published in America for their especial
advancement, are, in a great measure, if not wholly,
got up and supported by white men. How is this 'I
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 269
If they are a race of oppressed human beings, whc
are worthy of a better fate, and are grieving and
struggling to rise to common equality, how is it that
the whole labor of the attempt is exerted by another
race of people than themselves ?
Were the negro population of the southern states
of the Union elevated to political equality with white
men, and the doctrine of amalgamation allowed,
which would be the certain consequence of such
equality, would such a change in their favor secure
contentment ? our answer is, wo, it would not, except
they could have the exclusive rule. In their very
being the God of nature has raised up a barrier
between the two races, which cannot be passed with-
out incurring consequences of the most revolting
character.
To set the negroes free in all America, and to be-
stow upon them political equality, while, at the same
time amalgamation should be penally resisted by
death or perpetual imprisonment to both parties, there
would arise out of such a state of the case all the
horrors of hatred and confusion, violence and assas-
sinations, that can be conceived of. There is a nat-
ural dislike of the races toward each other, on which
account, were the negroes made politically free, with-
out the privilege of intermarrying with the whites,
there would soon arise quarrels and discontent ; as
the possession of mere political liberty, without all
the other immunities of white society, would not and
could not satisfy them. Nothing short of the most in-
tense attention could prevent jealousies on their part ;
nor even this^ as the knowledge of their own inferiority
270 OiilGIN, CHARACTER, AND
would always promote that passion, even where, on
the part of the white man, there should be no intention
to grieve or to give causes of discontent. The races
are two kinds of men, constituted entirely diiFerent,
in both body and soul ; on which account there can
be no union or fellowship between the two, on the
ground of common equality, except by amalgamation ;
which would be, were such a tiling to come to pass,
a universal retrograde from the moral imas^e of God
toward the condition of brutes; inasmuch as that the
mtellectuality of the white race would be destroyed
from off the earth, and merged in the thick skulls of
the negroes.
There has been, from the earliest time, a decided
dislike existing between the two races, so much so,
that the fact has not escaped the notice of the ancient
historian. Between the Romans and Carthagenians
there was eternal hatred and war ; and it is the same
at the present time in feeling every where, as the
negro knows his own inferiority, and therefore hateSj
in his heart, the white man, because of the difference,
and wishes to have the upper hand.
There is but one way to settle this great difficulty
between the races, which is, to make the whole fam-
ily of man, of but one color, as it was at first, and
of but one general character, as to intellect. But
thus God has not seen fit to do, in relation to this
matter ; he, therefore, who goes about to mix and
confound that wiiich God has set apart by an in-
dellible mark, is a disorganizer and is worthy of
transportation from this earth to some place without
the pale of the universe, where he could cogitate
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 271
alone the beauties of negro amalgamation with the
blood of white men.
As when a black'ning cloud obscures the light, /
And turns the beauteous day half way to night —
Or as some deviVs hand on ruin set,
Should dip all flowers in a dye of jet:
'Twould be like him who pleads, oh, foul disgrace,
To stain with negro blood the white man's face !
And worse than this, more drear, more hell-refined,
He'd sink in darkness deep the moral mind —
And say all bloods are equal, all, all one state,
And thus would mingle that which God did separate.
Would with Japhet's bletsing of the great " /am,"
Smbue, confound and mix, the cune of Ham.
272 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
ELEVENTH SECTION.
Inquiries whether the statements of Noah, respecting the race of Ja-
pheth, or the white nations, enslaving the descendants of Ham,
have been fulfilled, and are now in progress to that effect — Num-
ber of the sons of Japheth — Their great power — Countries they
settled at first — Nations now known of that progeny — First cities
built by them, which was earlier than any of the others — Descrip-
tion of the first operations of men near Ararat, during Noah'a
life-time after the flood — Respecting Melchisedek, who he was,
which is in connection with the subject — Travels of Shem among
the first settlements — "W orship of Baal, or the fly god, now among
the Africans — Nimrod and the wild beasts, with a plate — Shem,
the son of Noah, was Melchisedek — Seyons, the first city of man-
kind after the flood, built by the whites — First instances on a great
scale of white men enslaving the race of Ham in ancient times,
and respecting its continuance — Certainty of the fulfillment of
God's decrees, and the veracity of the Scriptures — Strictures on
the opinions of abolitionists — Their opposition to the Bible if it
upholds slavery — Views of St. Paul respecting negro slavery, as
set forth in the New Testament — Vast Numbers of slaves in the
Roman empire in St. Paul's time — Their dreadful condition — Cu-
rious opinion of abolitionists, as a reason why Christ did not re-
prove slavery — Nimrod and the tower, with other matters.
Having in the previous and last section, treated on
some of the horrors of amalgamating the white and
black races, we come now to inquire whether the
prophecy of Noah, commonly called the curse of
Noah, upon Ham and his progeny, has been fulfilled,
in relation to the part Japheth and his rac^ were to
perform toward enslaving them, as well as the part
Shem and his progeny were to accomplish, in fulfiil'
FORTUNES^ OF THE NEGRO RACE 273
ment of the same thing. That such an event was
to take place, is as certainly specified in that decree,
as that the race of Shem should in part fulfill it, as
is seen they did, during the whole history of the He-
brew race, and are now fulfilling it, in all parts of
the earth, where the descendants of Shem and Ham
are found. It should be recollected that JaphetJi's
race had nothing to do in the conquest of the great
negro country called Canaan, PhcEnicia, Palestine, oi
the Holy Land. Those wars were carried on wholly
by the Jews, continuing from the days of Moses, to
the time Judea became a part of the Roman empire,
but a little while before Christ.
During all these ages, the progeny of Japheth were
peopling the regions of the north around the Caspian
and Black Seas, Georgia, Circassia, Astracan, Tarta-
ly, &.C., north, and west and northwest, now called
the countries of Europe: as Turkey, Austria, Prussia,
Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Germany, and
the islands of the north Atlantic; the Divine Provi-
dence reserving the later ages, for the fulfillment of
that part of his decree, which was to be performed
by Japheth toward the race of Ham.
Japheth, the great ancestor of all the white na-
tions of the earth, was the father of seven sons, whose
names, according to 1 Chron., 1st chap., and Jose-
phus's Antiquities of the Jews, were Gomer, Magog,
Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras; all of
whom had also many sons, who, branching off in
their several posterities in the regions above named,
became the heads of a multitude of nations of white
men, and, in the course of time, of multitudes of
274
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
languages. Moses gives the same account as above,
Gen. X., from the 1st to the 5th verse inclusive, and
adds, that by these the descendants of Japheth " were
the isles of the Gentiles (or Japhethites), divided in
their lands, every one after his tongue, after theil
families, in their nations."
From GoMER, the first son, came the ancient Go-
merites or Galatians, to whom St. Paul wrote two of
his epistles, a people dwelling far north of Judea,
about the Euxine Sea, on the very eastern borders of
Europe.
From Magog, the second son, came the Magogites,
whom the Greeks in their histories of the nations
coeval with themselves, call Scythians or leather
dressers, whose region of country was along the bor-
ders of Tartary, including Bucharia, and probably
Tartary itself, who were the great ancestors of many
of the white nations of Europe and America.
From Madai and Javan, the third and fourth sons,
came the Medes and Persians, of ancient times, whose
country lay between the Gulf of Persia and the Cas-
pian Sea, as well as further east.
From Tubal, the fifth son, came the Tubalites,
Iberians or Celts, ancestors of several of the nations
of Europe also, as the French, Italians, Spanish and
Portugese, and the early Greeks of the Archipelago.
From Meshech, the sixth son, came the Capado-
cians, or ancient Germans and Russians, with all that
variety of nations and languages.
From TiRAs, the seventh son, came the ancient
Thracians, whose places of settlements were about
the western and northern coasts and islands of the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 275
Mediterranean. All these nations, however, in the
earliest time, and much more in succeeding ages, es-
pecially in the regions of Europe, were mingled by
amalgamation, as was right and natural, being all
the descendants of the same ancestor, Japheth, a son
of Noah.
One of their great cities, that is of the Thracians,
was the famous Troy, which, in the time of David,
B. C. 1100, was in its glory, and stood inland from
the Mediterranean about twelve miles north, on a
rising ground, and in that age was the capital of iheir
country. The latitude of ancient Troy, or Troja, was
40° north, and longitude 16°, more than a thousand
miles east of Turkey, on the promontory of Asia
Minor near where Tyre was afterward built. Here it was
that Dardanus, one of the immedite descendants of
Tiras, the seventh son of Japheth, the grand-son
of Noah, founded the city of Troy, which at first
was called Dardania, as Dardanus was its first king.
Afterward it was called Troja, or Troy, from Tros,
the grand-son of Dardanus. After this it was called
Ilium, from llus, the son of Tros.
This region was among the earliest settlements
of the sons of Japheth, and especially of that branch
who were the ancestors of the ancient Greeks, who
had migrated westward from the sources of the Eu-
phrates, in the region of the Black Sea, where the
ark rested, quite to the northern coast of the Medi-
terranean in the country of Italy, so called from the
word Ilium, the name of ancient Troy. From this
branch of the house of Japheth, by the lineage of
Tiras, descended also the Latins, the progenitors
276 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
of the ancient Romans, whose history is well known
to the world.
Thus we see, how immense were the countries of
the white race, as well as the greatness of their pow-
er. Alexander the Great was a Greek, and a white
man, who conquered, as it is said, the world, and wept
because there was nothing more to conquer.
By this view, we see that God carried forward, in
the very first ages, the fortunes of Japheth, in that of
his race, to great power, as he had said by the mouth
of Noah should be accomplished ; which was, that
he would enlarge Japheth, until he should dwell in
the tents of iShem, and hold the descendants of Ham
as slaves (Gen. ix, 27, where both these events are
foretold and decreed).
But, before we proceed further to show the fulfill-
ment of Noah's prophesy, in relation to Ham's race
being enslaved bj'- the whites of Japheth's progeny,
and of his dwelling in the tents or countries of Shem,
we shall indulge our pen in giving some probable ac-
count of Noah and Shem, after the annunciation of
the decrees respecting all Noah's sons during their
lives. There can be no doubt but Noah remained
where he first settled, after leaving the place of the
resting of the ark, on account of his great age, and
the improvements made there on his first plantation,
by the aid of his sons and grandsons, before they be-
gan to leave the paternal home, for the sake of their
respective families.
That Noah became a farmer, is shown by a remark
of Moses, Gen. ix, 20, who there says that Noah be-
gan to be a husbandman. Here it was, not far from
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 277
the eastern end of the Black Sea, in latitude 40° north,
and longitude 40° east, being about three thousand
miles from the island of England, in a south-easterly
direction, that Noah dweU. Were one to go from
England to the south-eastern end of the Black Sea, he
would pass, in following a straight line from London,
through the straits of Dover, and the countries of
Brussel, Germany, Austria, Turkey, and nearly the
whole length of the Black Sea, before he would ar-
rive at the region of country where Noah lived after
the flood. Here it was that his children, and children's
children, even to the tenth generation, visited him
during the three hundred and fifty years that he lived,
after the flood; as it was at this place that an altar
to the living God was erected, to which that part of
his children, the descendants of Shera and Japheth,
resorted, who adhered to the religion of Noah, while
Ham and his race turned recreant and followed the
idolatry of Nimrod.
Among the foremost of the sons of Noah, was Shem.
who atfained to such a height of religious purity, that
he became, not only by the Divine sanction as well
as by his birthright, God's only high-priest, in those
ages, consisting of five hundred years ; from whose
lips the primitive people received a knowledge of the
true religion ; who, spreading out in all directions in
process of time, over the whole world, carried with
them this knowledge, out of which has arisen all the
various ideas of supernatural religion which nowpre-
vail over the globe, but distorted and foreign to the
original truth.
We have said above, that Shem, the son of Noah,
278 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
became God's high-priest, for it was Shem who was
the real Melchisedek, the righteous king of Salem,
who is spoken of by Moses, Gen. xiv ; by David,
Psalms ex, 4, and by St. Paul, Hebrews vii, 1. This
man, the son of Noah, Shem by 7iame, and Melchise-
dek by appellation^ was, of all men who have lived
since the flood, the best qualified to instruct the peo-
ple of those first ages, during the five hundred years
of his life after the flood. As he was born more than
a hundred years before the flood, he must have
acquired a vast amount of antediluvian knowledge,
as well as unbounded influence among the then
young tribes and nations, of that part of the world,
after the flood. He could tell them all about the insti-
tutions, arts, agriculture, commerce, science, and
the extent of the antediluvian population; with every
particular respecting the location of the garden of para-
dise, the tree of life, the tree of knowledge, the creature
cafled the serpent; the size and stature of Adam, and
of men in general; the forerunners, or supernatural
signs, of the flood ; the opinions of the people about it,
and respecting his father's building the ark ; where
the ark was built, and what course it was borne on
the waters ; the circumstance of Enoch's translation ;
what the promise of the seed of the woman meant ;
his opinion of the Messiah, as well as of the power
which caused the serpent to speak, and use articulate
sounds, or language; and whether Adam, as Jewish
tradition relates, prophesied of the ruin of the world
by water first, and then by fire at last ; with thousands
. of other amazingly interesting matters.
Shem, or Melchisedek, over-lived his father Noah
FORTUNES, OF THE N^GRO RACE. 279
one hundred and fifty years ; and the patriarch Abra-
ham, nearly fifty; and, of consequence, was acquaint-
ed with Isaac, the son of Abraham. From this man
all the patriarchs, from Arphaxad down to Isaac, com-
prehending five hundred years, received a knowl-
edge of the true God, and the religion of Adam, Seth,
Enoch, and all the patriarchs before the flood, down
to Isaac, from whom Jacob, the son of Isaac, derived
the same, and transmitted it to the twelve tribes of
the Jews, his sons.
Noah was acquainted, and was contemporary, with
Abraham sixty-four years before he, with his father,
Terah, left the country of Ur, in Chaldea, east of the
Euphrates, and went to Haran, in Canaan, the coun-
try of the Hamites. He was also contemporary with
all the patriarchs born between the flood and the time
Abraham was sixty-four years old ; which was ten
generations. He was contemporary with Arphaxad^
the son of Shem, and his family — with iSalaA, the son
of Arphaxad, and his family — with Eber, the son of
Salah, and his family — with Peleg, the son of Eber,
and his family — with Reu, the son of Peleg, and his
family — with JSeriig, the son of Reu, and his family —
with Nahor, the son of Serug, and his family — with
Terah, the son of Nahor, and his family — with Abror
ham, the son of Terah, and his family — before his
marriage with Sarah, while Katura, the first wife of
Abraham, was alive, and probably until his marriage
with his last wife, Sarah. Thus Noah reached the
sixty-fourth year of Abraham's life, three hundred
and fifty years after the flood.
But Shem goes <n with the acquaintance of his
280 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
house, Japheth's and Ham's, one hundred and fifty
years further down the course of time, over-living
Abraham, and reaching to nearly fifty years of the
life of Isaac, and nearly, or quite, down to the birth of
Jacob and Esau ; for Isaac was married to Rebecca,
ten years before the death of Shem, or Melchisedek.
But, says one, could Noah and Shem visit so many
thousands and tens of thousands of their progeny, in
order to become acquainted with those early tribes of
men, and communicate to them useful knowledge,
such as we have alluded to above ? The answer is,
they could not, nor was there any necessity of such
a thing; as there was a much easier way, and this
was, that all the patriarchs of those ages, and their
children, would, and no doubt did, out of love and
respect to Noah, as well as out of love to the first
altar raised to the worship of God, where his voice
had been heard audibly, blessing Noah and his house.
Gen. ix. The ark and this altar, as well as the per-
son of Noah, 'would, and no doubt did, attract some
out of love, and thousands out of curiosity, to visit so
noted a place, and so great a man as was Melchise-
dek, the priest of the house of Noah, and the first
races of men after the flood. On these accounts, there
can be no doubt but the residence of Noah was the
grand resort of all. his progeny, except Ham's, during
those ages, till his death ; and of caravan after cara-
van from every direction, consisting of camels, drom^
edaries, horses, asses, elephants and oxen, laden with
riders, food for themselves on the way, and gifts for
Noah and the altar, over which the princely Shem
presided, as the high-priest of God. But Ham and
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 281
liis p •sterity rebelled against the religion of Noah
and Shern, and the other patriarchs, under the rule
of the tei-rible Nimrod, tlie grandson of Ham and
son of Cush — rsimrod being the black king of Babel,
who was the first sovereign and tyrant of the age, as
well as the abettor of idolatry. On this account, it
is not likely that the descendants of Ham, nor Ham
himself, would visit Noah, as they remembered the
curse^ and their doom to servitude to be accomplished
sooner or later.
In accordance with this conjecture, founded on
Jewish tradition, namely, that Nimrod headed the
great rebellion of his time against Noah and Shem's
religion, we relate the following: The Hottentot ne-
groes of Africa, who, as contended by Barroios, page
281, are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians,
and who (see Cook's Voyages, page 103) refuse to
worship the greatest of the gods, whom they call
Goun-ya Taquoa^ or the God of gods, because, as
they allege, he cursed their parents for a certain very
great sin. In this reason of theirs, for not worship-
ing that great God, is there not a direct and plain tra-
ditionary allusion to the curse of Noah, and in that
curse the decree of God against Ham and the negro
race, which took place in the affair of Ham's seeing
his father in his repose. That the Hottentots are de-
scended from the negroes of Egypt and Canaan, is
evident from their great veneration of a certainly, or
hug, which is of a bright gold color, and which they
worship in ecstasies as a god. Baalzabub, or a certain
^y, of old Canaan, was worshiped by the Canaan-
is t
19
282 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Peculiar traits of religion, like the one just noticed
are strong evidences of the lineage of a people, as re-
ligious impressions and usages are the last to be ob-
literated of any other human impressions. Thus it
is evident, that, from the days of Nimrod, tlie great
rebel against God and his religion, down to the Hot-
tentots, as well as among all the negro tribes of Afri-
ca, there has been a marked opposition to the virtuous
religion of Noah, m,ore than has marked the opposi-
tion of all the other nations of the earth put together.
And, as a further proof that Nimrod alone, wiih his
house, family, and tribes, were the projectors and
builders of Babel, we notice that Moses says, Gen. x,
10, that Babel, with other cities, was the beginning
oi his kingdom. If, then, 5a/>e^ was the beginning
of Nimrod^s kingdom, ihen, of necessity, it was noJ
the possession nor the dwelling of either the other
sons of Noah, but that of Nimrod alone, as the text
reads. According to the reading of a part of the
eleventh chapter of Genesis, it would seem that all the
people of the house of Noah were engaged in the
project and building of Babel. But this was not so,
as the scheme was for the advancement of idolatry,
a scheme in which Noah and Shem could have had
no hand. The confusion of the language, therefore,
was confined to the people who were engaged on the
tower, and to none else ; the house of Noah, Shem,
and Japheth, remaining, as to this matter, as they
were ; and even the negroes may have easily, after
Uieir dispersion, have recovered their mother tongue,
as the confusion was tniraculonSj and meant only to
affect their speech for the time being-, not forming
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 283
thereby any ricjc languages; which is evident from
the fact that Abraham, ihe Hebrew, some hundreds
of years after this occurrence, had no difficuUy in
conversing with the Egyptians, one branch of the
house oi Ham, at tiie time he and his wife went to
Egypt, on account of the famine in the land of Ca-
naan, of which we have before spoken.
This people, therefore, in the time of Nimrod, did
not visit Noah, as by this means they would have
been better instructed; it was, therefore, the policy of
Nimrod and his coadjutors, to draw a line of separa-
tion between his people and those who adhered to the
religion of Noah. The tomb of Noah is, no doubt,
at the identical spot where that^r^^ altar was erect-
ed, and where his wife was also buried, not far from
the foot of Mount Ararat. Nimrod, as is stated in the
book of Genesis, was a leading hunter, and above all
men was the most powerful, fearing no wild beast
that roamed the forest. On this account, no doubt,
it was that he derived his great popularity among the
people of his race; as in every age, especially among
semi-barbarians and savages, the gigantic and fierce
have become the objects of veneration, and of deifi-
cation after death. In this way, Nimrod became the
first Hercules, always represented as being clothed in
the shaggy skin of some monster he had slain, as
well as bearing in his hand an enormous club, with
which he slew all animals that came in his way —
[See plate].
The reader may desire to know why we assume
that Shem was the Melchisedek of the Scriptures,
and the man who blessed Abraham as he came vie-
284 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
torious from the battle with the kings who had recon-
quered the Sodomites. We assume it, first, because
the Jewish Rabbi say that he was Shem, the son of
Noah, and certainly they had the means of knowing.
And, second, because no other man had a right to the
priesthood of Noah's house but Shem, as it was his
by birthright, or by the gift of God, as he was the an-
cestor of Jesus Christ, according to the flesh.
During the five hundred years of Shem's life, after
the flood, he, no doubt, visited all the settlements
which were made by his own sons, the sons of Ham,
as well as those of Japheth, giving them instruction
in religion, the arts, agriculture, astronomy, geometry,
letters, and arithmetic ; as all these were known, un-
derstood, and practiced, before the flood ; and Shem
was born more than a hundred years before that
event. He had time to visit Mezarim in Egypt,
Cush in Ethiopia and Asia, Phut in Lybia, and Ca-
naan in old Phoenicia, or the Holy Land. He had
also time to visit the earlier settlements of Japheth,
who had wandered westward in Europe, as well as
far north of Ararat, and to communicate to the white
tribes of his brother the same great things he had to
all the others.
With this view of the character of Melchisedek, or
Shem, the son of Noah, it is no wonder that St. Paul,
a man of immense literary acquirements, should say
as he did, Hebrews vii, 4 : " Now consider how great
this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abra-
ham gave the tenth of the spoil ;" calling him better
than Abraham, in point of eminence; placing him
above all other men on the earth, on account of his
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 2'tib
wisdom, goodness and great age — for at the time he
blessed Abraham, on his return from the battle with
the kings of Shinar, he was five hundred and fifty-
two years old, and lived after that ninety-eight years.
No doubt, therefore, but that he often visited the
city Seyons, which was built by the house of Ja-
pheth immediately after the flood, and was located
north of ancient Persia, near the southern end of the
Caspian Sea, in the very neighborhood of Mount Ara-
rat ; and was doubtless the great mart of trade to the
first settlements of the children of Japheth, along the
coasts of that sea, and the rivers which run into it.
Javan, the same whom we have mentioned in con-
junction with Madi, ancestors of the Medes and Per-
sians, both sons of Japheth, and the founders of the
city /Sei/otis, which was built two hundred and
thirty-three years before the birth of Abraham, and
but fifty-nine years after the flood. — Rollin, vol. ii,
page 222.
From this fact, there can be no doubt but the race
of Japheth, were the builders of many other cities,
towns and villages, as well as Seyons. They were
the builders of ancient Troy, in Greece, and of Gy-
rene, in African Lyhia, all great cities, and many hun-
dred miles asunder from each other.
Here we see, that if the children oi Japheth at
that early period, occupied the space between the Cas-
pian and the Black Seas, and Greece along the Med-
iterranean, which is now known as Turkey in Europe,
how great an empire or country they were spread
over, by which we perceive the hand of Providence
in their greatness, preparing them to fulfill the things
286 ORItilN, CHARACTER, AND
wliicli were Ibretold by Noah ihey were to accomplisli
toward the races of Shem and Ham
This jSei/ofis, fouinied by Javan^ o\.e &i the sons
of Japheth, was, therefore^ the first and eldest city ;
of mankind after the flood in all probabiUty,. as it
stood much nearer to Ararat, the place i/f Noah's |,
dwelhnu and the Ark, than did the cities of Ham,
fL}rther down the Euphrates, in the country of Shiuar, ;
Babel and Babylon. It appears that wlute men, the
descendants of Japheth, actually, in the very first ages, i
found their way into the lieart oi Africa, as a colony,
and built the city of Cyrene, the capital of negro
Lybia. — Watson^s Historical Dictionary, p. 584.
This was a Grecian colony. If, then, the Lybian
negroes were indebted to white men for the origin i
of their capital city in those early times, how much
may not the ancient Egyptians have been also indebt-
ed from the same source i
Thus we are prepared to notice the first instance,
on the page of history, of the beginning of the ac
complislnnent of the prophecy of Noah, respecting the
rule and predominance of Japheth over the races oi
Shem and Ham. This began to take place, as noticed
on the page of history, on a great scale, not till about ;
twelve hundred years at'ter the curse of Noah, and
about the same length of time B. C. 1 his we derive
from Herodotus, chapter ii, p. 254, who says titat the
Greeks in the time of Troy, full twelve hundred
years before the time of Christ, liad black slaves.
Then after this, it is seen that ihey were greatly en-
slaved by the Greeks, in the times o' Philip, of Mac- ,
edon and his son, Alexander the Grant.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 287
The countries Alexander subjected to his arms,
was the old Assyrian empire, who were of the race
of Shem, settled along on the Euphrates, sometimes
called Chaldea. He went quite to Jerusalem, south,
and even to Egypt. He also made war upon, and
reduced to personal slavery, in the literal sense of the
word, such of the Canaanites, as had, after the times
of David and Solomon, taken root again in old Pal-
estine or the Holy Land. In this country he destroy-
ed the city of Tyre, one of the eldest cities of ancient
Phcenicia, in the country of Canaan, which neither
David nor Solomon molested, on account of Hiram,
its king, and sold the people, both high and low for
slaves.
At that time, the Jews bought thousands of the ne-
groes of Tyre, and sold them again to the iSabedns,
a people of Arabia, as was foretold should take place
by the prophet Joel, This people, the old Canaanites
or citizens of Tyre, and its country, after being thus
entirely broken up and sold as slaves, multiplied
greatly in the Grecian countries, as they do always
in all countries in a state of servitude, but were ev-
erywhere held as slaves by the white men of those
times, being bought and sold the same as they are
now in the southern States.
But this was not all ; for the Romans, who were
also the descendants of Japheth, as well as all the ■
Grecian tribes and nations, bought and sold negroes,
even down to the time of the apostles, and for many
ages after, by thousands and millions. And when
the Romans were swallowed up by the northern na-
tions, the same as the Romans had done to the Greeks
288 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
and other countries, those same northern hordes, who
were the descendants of Japheth, continued the prac-
tice of enslaving black men, all these revolutions of
countries, states, empires and kingdoms, making no
difference in this particular, with the doomed race.
Such as the Greeks did not conquer and enslave, the
Romans did; for it was they, in the victories of Scip-
io, who destroyed the vast empire of butchering
Carthage in Africa, a colony at first, from the land of
negro Canaan, who, under Dido, a female, about the
time of Ahab, some seven hundred years B. C,
pitched their tents on the African side of the Medi-
terranean.
Of the millions of this confused empire, hundreds
of thousands were sold, the descendants of whom
were held in perpetual bondage, as personal slaves,
during the existence of the Roman government. And
after that event, the fall of the Roman empire by the
sword of the northern nations, who were also the de-
scendants of Japheth, except the Huns, the negroes
of Carthage, as well as all the race, who had been
enslaved by Greek or Roman, still, in their posterity,
remained slaves among the mingled tribes, revolu-
tions, convulsions and the overturn of empires, ma-
king no difference with their fate.
After this the Turks, who are the descendants of
/apAe^A, conquered all the regions of the east, includ-
ed in Asia Minor, as Judea, and the rest of old Ca-
naan, Persia, Syria, Armenia, &c.; so that the negro
race, who yet remained in their ancient country, were
still further reduced to personal slavery till none were
left free, — Neioton on the Prophecies, page 18 But
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 289
the subject of the fulfillment of Noah's prophecy, or
the decree of God, respecting the slavery of the race
of Ham by Japheth, or the white race, stops not here ;
for all the nations of Europe and Asia Minor, from
the days of Alexander the Great, more or less, have
sought after the negro for a slave, even in their na-
tive haunts, in Africa and the islands.
America, too, has done this in both hemispheres,
ever since its discovery by Columbus, so that the
race of Japheth, though dwelling on the utmost
bounds of the earth, and divided by seas and oceans,
have, under the direction of the providence of the God
who decreed the negroes' enslavement by the whites
of Japheth's race, fulfilled that decree. Thus we
see that no decree of God falls to the ground, and
never will, as we have said at the beginning of
the section, though God had reserved the latter ages
of the earth to carry it into effect. That this is so,
let no man glory or rejoice, lest he be found glorying
in the judgments of the Creator, which, as saith the
Scripture, are his strange work, and thus seem to
take upon himself the awful responsibilities of award-
ing to nations and individuals judgments which are
above us.
Let him, therefore, who shall enslave any of the
negro race, do it with reverence, as it was God who
has made the white man to diflfer from the black,
and appointed the destinies, as well as the bounds
of our habitations, and permitted, in the latter ages
of the earth, the children of Japheth to enslave the
people of Ham, as well as he did the descendants of
Shem in the first ages, both cases being necessary to
290 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the veracity of the Scriptures on that identical sub-
ject. What society of men, or combination of indi-
viduals, therefore, can turn aside or abohsh the steady
and determined course of God's will! for we have
every where held in this work, that the subjugation
of the race to servitude was judicial, and not fortui-
tous, but was secured in the very formation of their
bodies, brains, mental powers, moral character of
their passions and color of their skin, as well as by
a written decree, and will be judged at the last day
according to what they have received, and not ac-
cording to that which they have 7iot received. But
notwithstanding the absolute importance that all the
prophecies of Scripture should be fulfiUed.one as much
as another, yet abolitionists, in their furious zeal for
the cause of the negro race, make very light of the
curse of Noah, in the particular of the negro's desti-
ny, and of that part of the law of Moses, which re-
lates to the same thing, treating them as of very
uncertain application, as well as of very little force
at the present time, merely on account of their very
great antiquity.
To prove that this is true respecting them, as we
suppose them to be unanimous in their published
opinions on the subject, we shall quote a few remarks
from one of their news prints, entitled, " The Friend
of Ma7i," published at Utica, Jan. 15, 1839, under
the head — " The Facts of Slavery as they Are," as
follows: "Remember (says the writer), we are now
inquiring after facts, not theories : the facts of our
own age and nation, not those of a dim antiquity, or
of a distant region. We bring into the court (m'^n-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 291
ing before the public) the facts belonging to this trial,
not the facts of a cause that was tried, and decided
and awarded, two or three thousand years ago."
From the above quotation of abolitionist effusions, is
it not certain that the writer of the above remarks,
in order to turn aside the force of the Bible, on the
subject of negro slavery therein recognized, has aim-
ed a deadly shaft from the quiver of his reckless im-
agination, at the sacred and venerated institutions of
Moses, b}'" the insidious words ^Hwo or three thousand
years ago; and another at the decree of God, set
forth by Noah, in the phrase '■^dim antiquity" The
whole of the article, as above, was intended as a slur
upon such as resort to the Scripture to prove that the
servitude of the negro race is therein allowed and
justified.
To the perception of the writer of this work, the
author of the ^^dim antiquity''' idea might as well
have written, that "although Noah did pronounce
the will and decree of God, in placing the race of his
son Ham under the ban of servitude to the races of
both his other sons, Shem and Japheth, that it is now^
in these enlightened times, entirely antiquated; as
that was but a transaction of ' dim ant'iquity T'' Sup-
pose we were to apply this mode of comment to some
other subjects of Scripture — say, for instance, to the
promise of the Messiah made to Eve at the time when
she had fallen from her innocence, by tampering with
the devil in the disguise of a serpent, Gen. iii, 15,
called, in that place, the seed of the woman, which is
\he first and eldest promise, as well as prophecy, rel-
ative to that character, which is found in the Bible,
292 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
and should say respecting it — Oh, it is too far back
in time to be allowed any influence now-a-days, as
it is but a saying of "ditn antiquity" and cannot,
therefore, apply to these times off acts, superior knowl-
edge and light ! And were we to apply this method
of comment to the ten commandments of the deca-
logue, which are of the same date with the grant of
Moses (Levit.xxv) to the Hebrews, to buy and enslave
the negroes of Canaan, and should insinuate that
they, too, are but some words spoken two or three
thousand years ago, and on that account had lost
their obligatory force, we should be ranked with those
who can abuse and pervert the Scriptures to suit the
times and purposes of wicked and foolish men.
Yes, so hardened, bold and impudent have many
of the members of that fearful combination, the abo-
lition society grown, that they disallow that the Holy
Ghost inspired Noah at all, at the time he pronounced
the doom of slavery upon the race of Ham, because
they say it is preposterous to believe that God would
commune with such a man as Noah, when he had
but just awaked from a sleep of drunken inebriation.
But the reader will remember our vindication of No-
ah's character on that occasion, in a former page, and
should never forget, that, notwithstanding this slander
of abolitionists upon that holy man, for whose right-
eousness the ark was commanded to be built, and
mankind preserved in it, the Almighty has seen fit
to fulfill and carry out, in facts, every iota of that
decree as then announced, not only as it relates to
Ham and his people but also to Shem and Japheth.
To discourage a belief in the minds of the people
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 293
that the Holy Scriptures justify the servitude of the
negro race, writers and lecturers of the above descrip-
tion have sacrilegiously dared to lay violent hands
on a high and venerated circumstance of the Bible,
namely, that of its antiquity ; as if a subject and
doctrine, which has become aged, is, therefore, of no
more influence ; and in this way they endeavor to dis-
arm those particular passages of the sacred Word,
which relate to this subject, and thus open the door
for infidels to laugh at Christianity and its adherents,
because they refuse to receive only such portions of
the precepts of that Book as suit their interested opin-
ions, instead of the whole. But this kind of insinua-
tion against those who believe the Bible justifies ne-
gro servitude, is equally against St. Paul, as well as
the prophets, on that subject ; for if we find that
great judge of both law and gospel, sustaining Mo-
ses and the Jews in this thing, he, too, as well as
those who were before him, who believed as he
seems to have believed on this subject, must be con-
demned as sinners by abolitionists ; for, be it known,
that they would rather stamp the Bible into the mire
of the earti ', than to receive that opinion, so high have
they set their dogmatizing feelings above all that is
sacred and true.
A specimen of the recklessness of the spirit of abo-
litionism, is seen like tissue spinning from some open-
ing crevice in the earth, which covers a subterranean
lake of fire, in the speech of Mr. G. Bradburn, of
Massachusetts, in the great London Abolition Conven-
tion, as follows: "But then it was said, that slavery
was advocated and enforced in the Bible. Now, if it
294 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
were so, with all the veneration he had for that holy
Book, if it were shown to him that it sanctioned the
traffic in human flesh, he would throw it from him,
and learn again his religion and philosophy from the
flowers of the fields." — Pennsylvania Freeman, No.
204, August 6, 1840. From this it is clear, that the
Bible is of no account with this society, if it happens
not to coincide with the course of abolitionism.
But, says one, does St. Paul, in his writings of the
New Testament, anywhere seem to sanction the en-
slaving of black men? We will hear what he has
said, and then judge. See 1 Cor. xx, 21, where both
the fact of negro slavery and its legal righteousness
are as plainly, though incidentally, stated, as it is
in G 'n. ix, 25, Levit. xxv, 44-46, or any other doc-
trine of the Scriptures, elsewhere. In the aVve
scripture, St. Paul, in making some remarks on the
condition of the different classes of men, who were
converted to Christianity under his as well as the
preaching of the other ministers of the gospel, says,
that on account of their being converted to the faith
of Christ, no man was to forsake his business or call-
ing, but was to remain as he was, in such a particu-
lar; showing, thereby, that Christianity did not con-
template the breaking up of the civil relations of the
country, even as they were then in operation among
the people. To make this point clear, he seizes upon
an ext'^eme case of human calling, which was that
oi slavery ^ and urges that such a one was to expect
no change in his temporal affairs, on account of his
faith in Christ. With a view to impress this very
principle on the minds of all men in that age, he
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE.
295
says, in the above cited chapter of 1 Cor.: "Let
every man abide in the same calHng [or business]
wherein he was called [or converted]. Art thou call-
ed, being a servant [or slave], care not for it ; but if
thou mayest be made free [personally], use it rather.
For he that is called, being a servant [or slave], is the
Lord's free man." That the character here referred
to by St. Paul, was an absolute slave or bondman, is
made clear by the words " if thou mayest he made
free^'' as such language could refer to no other than
to slaves, as all others were politically free.
On the alcove statements of St. Paul, Adam Clarke
has written as follows, though an abolitionist of a
most determined character : "Art thou converted to
Christ while thou art a slave, the property of another
person, and bought [not hired] with his money, 'care
not for it^ this will not injure thy Christian condi-
tion ; but if thou canst obtain thy liberty, ^use it
rather'' — prefer such a state for the sake of freedom,
and the temporal advantage connected with it. The
man who, being a slave, and is converted to the Chris-
tian faith, is the Lord's free man — his condition as
a slave does not vitiate any of the privileges to which
he is entitled as a Christian. It is likely that some
of the slaves at Corinth, who had been converted to
Christianity, had been led to suppose that their Chris-
tian privileges absolved them from the necessity of
continuing slaves, or at least brought them on a level
with their Christian masters. A spirit of this kind
might have led to confusion, and to insubordination,
and brought a just scandal upon the church. It
was, therefore, a very proper subject for tlie apostle
296 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
to interfere in, and to his authority the persons con-
cerned would, doubtless, respectfully bow."
At this point, we wish to draw a certain conclusion,
which is afforded in the above passages in the text
of St. Paul, and this is it : If the conversion of the
soul of a slave to God, through faith in Jesus Christ,
did not, and could not, release him from personal slav-
ery, in St. Paul's time, how much less, therefore,
could the mere circumcision of a negro's foreskin, in
the times of the Jews, which was no conversion of
the soul, absolve such an one from a condition of
slavery and servitude. For a bondman to become
circumcised, say the defenders of abolitionism, under
the laws of Moses, made him a member of the He-
brew church or nation, on which account, they con
tend that at the jubilees all such bondmen went free,
the same as did all other Hebrew servants. But the
above statements of St. Paul, cut off all probability
of any such thing in their favor, under the Jewish
law ; for if the conversion of the soul could not as-
sist in such a case, under the auspices of Christianity,
how could a mere cut in the flesh of the foreskin of
a negro Canaanite aid him in a release from slavery,
and exalt him to freedom without a direct and express
law on the subject? there was no such law in their
favor in the Mosaic code, but there was one to the
contrary.
We cannot well pass on in the subject till we have
referred the reader to one or two very singular re-
marks of Adam Clarke, in the above comment of his,
on the subject of personal slavery, seeing he was an
abolitionist: "It is likely (he says) that some of the
t?'ORTUNt;s, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 297
-slaves at Corinth, who had been converted to Christ-
ianity, had been led to suppose that their Christian
character absolved them from slavery. A spirit of
this kind (says Clarke) might have led to confusion
and to insubordination^ and brought a just scandal
on the church." How different is this language of
the wisest man of these later ages, from the lan-
guage of the abolitionists of the present time, who,
m the most dauntless braggadocia and fierce manner,
condemn to the flames of an eternal hell all such men
as own negro slaves — who defy all the powers of
government and teach the doctrine, that, on account
of^ any possible results, whether murder, insurrection,
a division of the Union, insubordination, good order,
civil war or loss of our country, are no reasons against
nor matters of any moment, when compared with the
inestimable liberty of negro men in this country !
But so did not Adam Clarke believe nor teach, neith-
er did St, Paul, as they had respect to the established
order of things, and did not wish to encourage insur-
rection, murder and disorganization, as do abolition-
ists in their ultra doctrines.
But the above quotation, from St. Paul's writings
in the New Testament, on this particular subject, is
not all that he has said ; see Ephesians vi, 5, as fol-
lows: "Servants [that is slaves] be obedient to them
that are your masters, according to the Jlesh, with fear
and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ."
This is a most remarkable statement, as it recognizes
the doctrine of negro slavery, the master as well as
the slave, a state of surveillance and lowly submis-
sion to such masters, and enjoining obedience to b«
20
298 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, APTJV
paid, even to trembling and fear^ with absolute sit
gleness of heart, as unto Christ.
This language and doctrine is very different from
that of the abolitionists of the present time, who say
that a negro slave does right, in order to get away
from his master, to steal his master's horse, his money,
or any thing- else, or to steal trom others on the road,
any thing to aid his flight for liberty. On this sub-
ject, who now is wrong, St. Paul, the Holy Ghost,
Adam Clarke, or the abolitionists of America and
elsewhere, who have mighty deeds yet to achieve in
the line of politics, bottomed on their negro sympa-
thies?
That the servants alluded to by St. Paul, in the
verse above quoted, referred to bondmen or absolute
slaves, is clear, from the eighth verse of the same,
Eph. vi, 8, which reads as follows: "Knowing that
whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same
shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or
free^ On this verse Dr. Clarke says, that the word
bond, therein used, means a slave^ or one bought with
money.
Agaiii, ill his letter to a Grecian convert to Chris-
tianity, whose name was Philemon, a citizen of Col-
osse, a white man, as the Greeks were white, he
wrote respecting a slave who had run away from
Philemon and had come to Rome, where Paul then
was. This slave's name was Onessimus, who, for
some reason or other, had run away, and, happening
to hear the great orator St. Paul preach, became a
convert to his principles, respecting Christianity and
its author.
FORTUNES, OF THE Nw^:UKO RACE. 299
In that letter to the slave's master, at verses 10,
11 and 12, he says, "I beseech [not command] thee
for my son Onessimus, whom I have begotten [in the
faith] in my bonds, who, in times past, was to thee
unprofitable [that is, he had been a bad slave], but
now profitable to thee and to me: whom I have sent
again, thou, therefore, receive him that is my own
bowels,"
On the words, as above used by St. Paul, ^'•whom
T have sent ngahiP Dr. Clarke says, the Christian
soligion never cancels any civil relations: a slave on
being converted and becoming a free man in Christ,
has no right to claim, on that account, emancipation
from the service of his maater. Justice, therefore,
required St. Paul to send Onessimus back to his
master. He further says on this case, "there is no
reason to believe that Onessimus was of the kindred
of Philemon, and that we must take the term Jlesh,
as used in the sixteenth verse of that letter as a refer-
ence, made by Paul, to the purchase right Philemon
had in Onessimus; he was a part of his property as
a slave :" this was his condition.
Slavery is a civil regulation in this country, which
abolitionists are aiming to overthrow by applying
the Scripture principle of benevolence. But as St.
Paul has not thus attacked slavery, who are theso
that take it upon them to do this, in the face of the
Christian religion and the laws of the Union?
From the facts of the case of this slave, it is self-
evident, that his being sent back to his master again,
was owing to the influence of the Christian religion;
as, under its sanction, neither the convert nor the
300
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
minister could, therefore, for a moment withhold the
claims of justice in this particular.
Oh, but, says a wide awake abolitionist, to be sure
the Christian religion allows of no injustice, and on
that very account that slave should have been set
free, as there is no greater injustice this side of the
grave than to enslave a negro man. St. Paul, how-
ever, has seen fit to judge differently, and has given
a verdict in favor of the master. Had St. Paul have
viewed the case, as an abolitionist would have view-
ed it, he would not have sent the man again to his
master, he would have told him to remain free where
he was, or to go whither he would. But as a judge
in the house of God, he exerted his authority in the
case, and sent the slave again to his owner, on pure-
ly moral principles, and no other, or he would not
have meddled with it at all, as indeed he had no right
on any other ground. But some contend, and have
even determined, that, because St. Paul said, at the
sixteenth verse of his letter to Philemon, that when
Onessimus the slave should arrive at the house of
his owner, his master was not to receive him as a
servant, '■'■hut above a servant, a brother beloved" —
that he was, therefore, manumitted, by the authority
of the apostle, and from this, they claim that slav-
ery was thus abolished forever out of the Christian
Church.
But such a conclusion will not answer, as it is not
responded to by other passsages on the same sub-
ject— and, besides, the entire contrary appears from
the same apostle's writings. The slave Onessimus,
had become a Christian, and, in this particular, he
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 301
was exalted to an equality with his master, if that
master was, in fact, a Christian at heart, as God is
no respecter of the souls of men, giving grace to all
alike, when he is sought unto, by black or white.
This fact had elevated that slave far above his form-
er character as a sinner, and a very bad and unprof-
itable slave, as Paul says he had been ; yet, his tewr
poral condition remained unchanged, the same as
before.
On that verse, the sixteenth, in virtue of which
some men claim the abolishment of slavery by the
authority of Christianity, Dr. Clarke remarks, that
St. Paul said as much, and no more, than to say to
Philemon : "Do not receive Onessimus merely as a
slave, nor treat him according to that condition, as
before times, but as a brother, a genuine Christian,
and as a person particularly dear to Paul." In all this,
Adam Clarke, though an abolitionist, could see no
release of this man from his temporal bondage, from
anything that appears in the text.
That St. Paul sanctioned any such doctrine, as the
manumitting of bond slaves, because they happened
to become converted, does not appear, while the con-
trary is abundant, which we are able further to pro-
duce, from the text of the New Testament, and
of Paul's own writings. See Timothy vi, 1 — 4:
"Let as many servants as are under the yoke, count
their masters worthy of all honor, that the name of
God be not blasphemed. And they that have believ-
ing masters, let them not despise them, but rather do
service, because they are faithful and beloved partak-
ers of the benefits: these things teach and exhort.
302 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to whole-
some words, even the words of onr Lord Jesns Christ
and the doctrine, which is according to Godhness, he
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about ques
tions and strife of words."
On the subject of this i^art^ St. Paul's remarks in
that letter to Timothy, Adam Clarke says, that the
word servant^ in that place, signifies slave^ and the
word yoke, the state of slavery or bondage. From
this, we prove the real existence of slavery in the
Christian church, in the very time of its organizers
and founders, and, had it been any where abolished,
that critic of critics, Adam Clarke, would have found
it out, and would have marked the place in the most
pointed manner ; but it is not to be found in the
whole Bible, which we shall further show in due
time.
In the above cited chapter, 6lh of Timothy, at the
3d verse, there are found some very remarkable allu-
sions to the subject of slavery, which we cannot pass
over, and are as follows: "If any man (says St. Paul)
teach otherwise, and consents not to wholesome
words, even to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ..
and the doctrine which is accoixling to godliness, he
is proud [ignorant], knowing nothing." Now to what
words of Jesus Christ does St. Paul allude, which
he applies to the ease of slaves? See John viii, 35,
36. "And the servant abideth not in the house for-
ever, but the son abideth ever. If the son, therefore,
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." In
these two verses of the Gospel by St. John, there is
B manifest allusion to ihe fact and condition of slaves.
{ ;
FORTUNES, OT* THE NEGRO RACE. 303
Of this fact, the Savior took occasion to illustrate^ by
way of similitude, the condition of a wicked man,
who is the slave of sin, and to show that as a son,
who was the heir in a house, could set a bond slave
free, if that son was of the proper age. So, he, the
Son of God, can set the enslaved soul free from sin,
when he would be free indeed.
In this allusion of the Savior, we do not find the
fact of slavery reproved, but merely alluded to, as a
thing or a usage then existing, and, therefore, recog-
nized as a practice, not in itself sinful, if practiced
right and mercifully. If this sentiment is not correct,
we are at a sad loss to justify the Savior's allusion
to a circumstance so wicked, as abolitionists believe
it is, without reproving it. On these very remark-
able words of our Savior, and St. Paul's allusion to
them, Adam Clarke has written the following: "Now
the slave abideth not in the family, as if Jesus had
said : and now that I aii;i speaking of slaves, I will
add one thing more, viz : a slave has no right to any
part of the inheritance in the family to which he be-
longs, but the son, the legitimate son, has a right: he
can make any servant free, though no slave can do
this, because, we will add, one piece of property can
not assist another piece of property, as they are le-
gally powerless."
It is very likely, that, in the time of St. Paul, there
was agitated the question of manumitting slaves,
and that it occasioned trouble and unfriendly surmis-
ings, as to the designs of the new religion — the
Gospel. Paul, therefore, came out in severe terms
against all such accusing them of doting about
t
304 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
questions, and strife of words, and of being proud,
or ignorant, knowing nothing. As much as if he had
said, you are ignorant of the determination of God
from the beginning, on this very subject, even in the
times of Noah, Moses and the prophets; read, and
you will learn that the race of Ham are judicially
placed under the ban of servitude. On this very
subject, and this passage of St. Paul, Dr. Clarke has
written thus: "It appears that there were teachers of
a diiferent kind in the church at that time, a sort of
religious levelers, who preached that the converted
slave had as much right to the master's service as
the master had to his. Teachers of this kind have
been in vogue, long since the days of St. Paul and
Timothy."
This is a true statement; for, if Adam Clarke were
now alive, he would find thousands of just such
levelers in America and England, who declare that
the Scriptures make no dif^rence between the inter-
ests of slaves and the interests of their masters. To
prove this, we refer the reader to an abolitionist pam-
phlet entitled " The Bible against Slavery,^' No. 6,
p. 25, 1838, where the writer labors hard to show
that the Mosaic system of law made no difference
between the master and the slave, in relation to their
natural freedom, or optional powers, avowing that
the Mosaic system was framed as much to advance
the interest, and gratify the wishes of servants, as it
was their masters. This statement of theirs, as above,
is not true, even in relation to a Hebrew servant ; for,
whenever a Hebrew was made a slave, on account
of debt or crimes, it was done by force of law^ in
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACfc,.
which neither his comfort, will, or interests,
considered in a pecuniary light, further than that
was to be treated as a hired man, till his debts were
paid or the crime expiated. How much less, there-
fore, were there mitigating circumstances in the case
of the negro, or Canaanite slave, who Avere deemed
to be lawful subjects of oppression, except their daily-
food and rest on Sabbath days? Although Hebrew
servants and criminal delinquents went always free,
at the times of the little jubilees, as provided by the
law, yet there was one case in which even a Hebrew
servant could not avail himself of this emancipating
law.
To prove this, we have only to refer to Exod. xxi,
5, 6, which reads as follows: "And if the servant [a
Heijrew] shall plainly say, I love iny master, my wife
[who was born a slave], and my children, I will not
go out free. Then his master shall bring him unto
the judges ; he shall also bring him unto the door, or
unto the door post, and his master [with his own
hands] shall bore [or drill] his ear through with an
awl, and he shall serve him for ever." This awful
sentence of a total loss of liberty was thus passed up*
on a Hebrew servant, because he despised his natu-
ral privileges, for reasons of his own — choosing rather
to be a slave during his natural life, than to leave
the service of his master and be free ! How much
less, therefore, could the jubilees reach the case of one
of the accursed race, who was not of the Hebrew
blood, nor of the blood of Japheth ! From this fact,
we perceive how entirely reckless of truth abolition-
ists are, who set up claims in favor of the race of Ca-
306 ORIcrlW, CHARACTER, AWto
naan aiid Ham, as servants, which the law of Mosew
did not accord even to servants of the Hebrew blood
Such a position as this, in favor of Canaanite slaves,
would have placed them in far better circumstances
than were the unfortunate servants of their own race ;
a thing which fully contradicts the express statements
of the law of Moses on that very subject ; for, in that
law, Hebrew servants, who were made thus by being
sold, were to be treated 'as they would treat hired
men, and not like bondmen.
At the very time when Christianity was being set
forth and established in Judea and the surrounding
countries, by the Savior, his disciples and the apos-
tles, after the crucifixion, the custom of owning and
dealing in slaves, greatly prevailed in all the Roman
empire, and yet we do not find this practice once re-
ferred to, by way of reproof, in the New Testament,
How strange, if it was looked upon by those moral
benefactors of the human race, as some seem to look
upon it now! But, as a reason for this strange omis-
sion, it is said, by abolitionists, that, although at the
time Christianity was introduced into the world,
slavery was every where prevalent, yet Christ, nor his
heralds, did not see fit to rebuke the sin, because it
would have operated against the Gospel. — Encyclo-
pcBdia, Edinburgh edition, under the head of Slav-
ery, their opinion is found.
Here we pause with astonishment, and inquire
whether the above reason for that omission is the best
they can think of? If it is, then it follows that God
incarnate, in the economy of his church on earth, is
thereby represented as succumbing to what abolition-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 307
ists say is a great sin, merely because th*^ sin was
a deeply rooted and popular sin, and to have de-
nounced it, would have occasioned the Gospel to have
been evil spoken of, as aiming at a civil revolution.
Tell il not in Gath, among the negroes lest they
should show their ivory ; nor in Christian countries,
lest skeptical men might deride so pueiile a captain,
as the miserable idea would make the great Savior
to be.
This opinion, found in the work above alluded to,
is the most singular and monstrous that we have ever
fallen in with among the written principles of men,
as it represents Jesus Christ, who reigns in his own
house — the church — and in the world as its creator,
as being under fear, lest, were he to have reproved
a certain great and popular sin, it would have injured
the cause of religion in the world, and especially in
Judea and the Roman dependencies. His business
on earth was to reprove sins of every name and na-
ture, and to introduce principles, which, in their ef-
fect, should establish all righteousness, without fear
of opposition from the ignorance, the prejudices and
cupidity of men. The prophets were not afraid to
reprove sin, whether personal or national, though
they lost their lives by it. How much more, there-
fore, would not the inspirer of the prophets reprove
sin, who was in Christ, without measure ? This is a
hard point for abolitionism to weather ; for if the
founder of the Christian religion, in the very midst
of the commission of the sin complained of, did not
reprove it, who are abolitionists, that they should?
Are they Tnore righteous than the master? Is it not
r
308 ORIGIN, : aARACTER, AND
.enough, if the servant be as his master? Were it
not far more wise to believe that God, in Christ, had
respect to his own determinations on the subject of
negro slavery, as signified to Noah, to Moses, and to
the Hebrews, which was not to be abolished, even
by the benign influences of the Gospel?
In proof that the Greeks and Romans, as above in-
timated, had vast numbers of slaves, we show from
"Adamses Roman Antiquities," page 38. At Rome,
he says, there was a market-place, which was devot-
ed wholly to the sale and purchase of slaves. They
were commonly exposed naked, and having around
their necks a scroll, on which was written an account
of their good qualities. From the sale of slaves arose
the principal part of the enormous wealth of Croesus.
In the times of the Roman republic, the owners were
allowed to put their slaves to death when they would,
or to torture them by all manner of cruelties. By
the Roman law-makers, slaves were esteemed the
same as other property ; they were not allowed as
witnesses in any court, ecclesiastical or civil : it was
the same, also, among the Hebrews, under the force
of the Mosaic legislation, as well as among all other
nations, tongues and people.
Some of the Romans, says both Seneca and Plini^,
had whole legions of slaves, and otheis even twenty
thousand. The Romans, according to Straho, says
Rollin, Vol. I, page 232, worked their g "(Id mines in
Spain by slaves. This author says, that, in his times,
as many as forty thousand slaves were employed an-
nually in the mines, who, by continued scourging,
were caused to labor beyond their strength, day and
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 309
nightj by which means they generally all perished
I under ground. But against all personal cruelties ex-
! ercised by parents, guardians and masters, upon their
j children, their apprentices, hired servants, or slaves,
as well as dumb animals, God's law, as well as his
I gospel, is peremptory ; and although the various
I classes, as above mentioned, are, by the law of God,
i put under rule, yet does it not authorize wanton bar-
I barity, but enjoins mercy, moderation, patience and
{ justice, toward them.
j The slaves of the Romans, in the times of Christ
I and the apostles, as well as of the Greeks, then min-
gled in the Roman empire, were of the conquered
I negro Carthaginians of Africa, who were reduced to
I vassalage, as well as to personal slavery, about one
I hundred years B. C. — Rollifi, Vol. I, page 237. Herod-
j otus says, chap. 2, page 254, that the Greeks, in the
time of Troy, full twelve hundred years B. C, had
black slaves, as before noticed. This being true, it ap-
pears at once that the race of Japheth, from the earli-
est times, had practiced enslaving the descendants of
Ham, as well as the race of Shem, as God had deter-
mined from the beginning.
Thus we see, that in the times of the apostles, as
well as in all ages before, going up to the flood, that
the world was filled with negro slaves, wherever the
races of Shem and Japheth were found. Now, if the
practice, in principle, was a sin, and seeing it must
have fallen under their notice in all places, how is it
that no deunciations are found in the New Testament
against it ? But instead of St. Paul's reproving the
practice, we find him even sending a slave back to
310 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
his master, whom he had found in Rome. Paul
knew the slave, and when he was converted, and he
had ascertained that he was a runaway from Colos-
se, and that he belonged to Philemon, a friend of
his, and a member of the church, he immediately
wrote a letter, gave it to the slave, and directed him
to return again to his master, Philemon. Had not
this slave been converted to Christianity, he never
would have obeyed St. Paul in this matter, nor would
he have troubled himself about it. But, as the slave
was now, by his association with the members of the
church, thrown under the care of the apostle, it was
proper for that great minister of the faith to take the
matter in hand, as justice demanded the return of
the servant to his master and owner again ; to which
the slave willingly consented for righteousness's sake,
as he had become obedient to the word of God. Had
St. Paul had any particular objection to the j)rinciple
of slavery, as applied to the descendants of Hani, now
was the time for him to have stated it, and in lan-
guage the most unequivocal, such as the scribes of
abolitionism, now-a-days, would have written on the
occasion, which would have been pretty strong, no
doubt ; but of such objections, we hear not a word
from the pen of that apostle.
At this point of our remarks, we have a most dole-
ful circumstance to present, which, according to the
views of abolitionists, must have been a glaring
breach, even of the law of Moses, as well as of the
benevolent intentions of the Gospel. This circum-
stance, or deed of misdemeanor, is found to have been
perpetrated by St. Paul himself, and related to the
iORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 311
case of the slave Onessimus, as above referred to. In
Dent, xxiii, 15, 16, it is written: "Thou shalt not
deUver unto his master the servant which is escaped
from his master unto thee : he shall dwell with thee,
even among you in that place which he shall choose,
in one of thy gates : thou shalt not oppress him ;" and
vet St. Paul was the man who sent the runaway
servant to his master again. Oh, what a sinner was
he, according to abolitionism! From this fact, or
transaction of St. Paul, we learn two things : one of
which is, that he did not do wrong in that case ; and
the other is, that the slave was a negro, or descendant
of Ham. We prove that the slave was not a Hebrew
or of the blood of Shem, from the very fact of Paul's
sending him back to his master; as he knew that
the law of Moses forbade the sending of runaway
Hebrew servants again to their masters, as above
shown by the law itself Had the servant been a
Hebrew, it would have been unlawful for Phile-
mon to have had Onessimus at all as a slave;
for the law of Moses did not give delinquent He-
brews, or any of the blood of Shem, to the Greeks
or white men, for slaves, as it did the negro race;
and for this very reason, the slave Onessimus must
have been a Canaanite, or one of the race of
Ham.
From the very passage above quoted, Deut. xxiii,
15, 16, abolitionists claim that it is wrong to send a
runaway slave again to his master, in this country;
but the apostle acted otherwise, which he could not
have done had the slave been either a red or a white
man — as the enslaving of those races have not the
312 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Di-^ane sanction, nor were they ever accursed in the
sense the race of Ham was.
The intention of that law, as understood by the
Hebrews of Moses's time, as well as in all succeeding
ages, was, that it was but a mere direction how they
were to treat the case of runaway servants from the
neighboring nations, who, in flying from their mas-
ters, whether Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Arabs,
or from any of the nations of the Abrahamic or Shem-
ite blood, to the Hebrews, were to be protected, and
not sent again to their masters.
As a reason for this, it should be recollected that
all those nations were of the Shemite or Abrahamic
blood, and could not be permanently enslaved by any
Jew ; and if any servant of this description of blood
saw fit to leave their country and master and fly to
the Hebrews, and take sanctuary under the banner
of their God, they were not to be molested and sent
again to their masters, to whom, no doubt, they had
been slaves. They were to dwell wherever they
might choose, entering into any business in their
power, within the range of the twelve tribes. Such
runaway servants were not to be oppressed. By this
very clause of the text, " thou shalt not oppress him,"
it is distinctly shown, that this kind of servants, thtts
favored, were no Canaanites, or any of that race, as
the law of Moses did allow of the oppression of that
class of men in the matter of absolute slavery. And
further, it is shown, that the kind of servants alluded
to in that trait of the law, were not of the Hamite
race, by the supposed circumstance of their running
away from their masters to the Hebrews— the last
FORTUNES, OF THE NKGRO RACE. 313
country oii the earth to which a negro would run, as
among that people they could expect nothmg but op-
pression, as it was one of the very laws of the He-
brews, to enslave all the people of that character,
wherever they could find them.
Neither can it be supposed that the trait in ques-
tion alluded to Canaanite, or black bondmen, who
might run away from one Hebrew master to another
Hebrew, as, in that way, if they were not to be re-
turned nor molested, the slaves of the whole twelve
tribes, in a trice, at any time, could have freed them-
selves. For if a slave of the negro character saw fit
to run away from his Hebrew master, to another of
the same description, at once he was free; for the
law forbade any one molesting a runaway servant.
On this very account, the reader can but see, that no
such servant as a Canaanite, could be alluded to by
that trait of the law of Moses which forbade the re-
turning of a runaway servant.
Again, if we say that this trait of the law related
to Hebrew servants, who had become thus on account
of poverty, or any other lawful cause, and had been
brought under the provision of the law, in such cases
made and provided ; if we say that these were the
kind of servants who were not to be returned, if any
such ran away from the Hebrew masters, then it is
not hard to see how wide a door for the commission
ot frauds would, by the very law itself, have been
opened against the secular business and interests of
the whole twelve tribes.
But how 7 say-! the reader. As follows, is oui- an-
swex. Suppose 'ourself a Hebrew, and living now
2!
314 ORIGIN. CHARACTER, AND
in old Canaan, and that, to-day. you have bought »
man of yoiu- tribe, who had been offered for sale, on
account of debts or crimes, and paid, perhaps, five
hundred shekels of silver for him, and to-morrow he
runs away, going no further than to the next neigh-
bor's, where^ according to the law, your servant is no;
to be molested or returned — what do 3^ou losel Why.
you lose your five hundred shekels of silver^ and the
man goes free, cheating both the law and the pur-
chasers.
Tliere is no way, therefore, to understand the ap-
plication of that particular trait of the law found m
Deut, xxiii, 15, 16, but to suppose the servants there
alluded to, pointed out the servants of the surround-
ing nations, not of the Hamite race. This is evident-
from the very peculiar phraseology of the law itself
which addresses the whole twelve tribes as being but
one person, as follows : " Thoit shalt not deliver unto
his master the servant which is escaped from his
master unto thee ; he shall dwell with thee^ even
among yoii^ in that place which he shall choose in
one of thy gates." In this passage, it is seen that the
law made but one person of the whole twelve tribes,
by using the terms, thou, they and thee^ in relation to
them, and also showing that the runaway servants
there alluded to, were such as should come to them
from beyond the bounds of the twelve tribes.
That scripture, therefore, had no application to
either a Hebrew servant, or to a bought slave of the
Canaanite race, as a regulation of that sort, touching
the legal interests of the owners, would have filled
tlie whole land of Judea with confusion ; as whoeve?
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 315
I might have bought a servant according to the law,
1 was immediately exposed, by the same law, to lose
' his money — a regulation to which no community
\ would submit in any age.
Thus we have shown, that St. Paul understood
I what he did, when he sent again the slave of Phile-
i mon to his owner, from Rome, in Italy, to Colosse, a
i city in Asia Minor, and belonging to the Romans at
that time by conquest, as did all the countries of those
regions in the time of St. Paul, Had Onessimus been
a white man, or an individual of the race of Abra-
ham, St. Paul never would have arrested him as a
I slave, to return to his master, except the man was in
I debt to Philemon — as no other race but that of Ham,
was ever judicially doomed by the Creator to abso-
lute slavery ; and this was as well known to St. Paul,
I as it is to all who read the Bible with a view to un-
j derstand this thing.
I Surely, had the apostle felt about the ensJavmg of
Ham's race, as many seem to feel now-a-days, he
would not only have told the slave to run for it, and
to steal a horse, or anything else to aid his flight — as
do abolitionists — but would have made the subject
the occasion of a special treatise to the churches, as
he did other matters of great importance, and would
have denounced it as a horrible sin against God and
human nature. Had not the notion among the con-
verted slaves been entertained that their religion made
them equal with, and as free as were their masters,
it is not likely that we should ever have heard a word
on the subject from the pen of St, Paul, more than
from the other writers of the New Testament. But,
316 ORIGIN, CHARACT ;R, AND
as he was well acquainted with the matter in tne Old
Testament, and as the question did arise in the
churches, he found it necessary, while in pursuit of
other matters, in his letters, to write on this subject
also, and in a very pointed manner. Wherefore, he
said to bondmen, that they should be content with
their condition, careing nothing for it. See 1st Cor.
vii, 21. He said, also, to their masters, that they
should treat their slaves well, even forbearing to
threaten them, as they were to remember that they,
also, had a master in heaven. See Eph. vi, 9, and
Coloss. iv, 1.
At the very time St. Paul was traveling in the va-
rious countries of the Roman empire, the condition
of slaves, says Adam Clarke (see his comment on
Coloss. iv, 1), "among both Greeks and Romans, was
wretched in the extreme : they could appeal to no
law, and could neither expect justice nor equity.
The apostle, therefore, informs those proprietors of
slaves, that they should act toward them according
to justice and equity ; for God, their master, required
this, and would at last call them to an account for
their conduct in this respect. To this we will add,
that God will also call all others to an account, who
abuse their bondmen, as well as those to whom the
apostle addressed himself at that time, whether in
America, Asia, or Europe, as the institution is one of
the greatest responsibility, and, under the supervision
of the white man, consequences and results of incal-
culable amount.
It does not appear that they were admonished to
manumit slaves, but were charged only to use them
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 317
well, and to be kind to them as such. To the slaves,
he said, instead of telling them to kill their masters,
and to run away to some other country, and thus be-
come free, that they should be content, and obey
their masters with fear and trembling, as unto Christ.
But this is not the way abolitionists talk on that
siibject; their speeches are all inflammatory, calcu-
lated to rouse the mind of slaves, and every body
else, to vengeance, war and murder, instead of pro-
moting patience^ as did St. Paul under the same cir-
cumstances.
By abolitionists, it is most vehemently contended,
that the curse of Noah upon the race of Ham, was
but a mere prophecy, like all the other prophecies of
the Scriptures, which foretell the good or bad actions
of men and nations. But, if this be the true and on-
ly way of interpreting that passage, it may then be
inquired, of what use the word cursed is to the an-
nouncement? Could not the communication have
been set forth in softer language? Was it not enough
that they were to become enslaved, without adding
the degrading word, cursed 7 Surely, the misfor-
tunes of men or nations cannot thus degrade them,
as it is not considered sinful to suffer — especially the
innocent. On this view, it is impossible to look up-
on that dreadful word in any other light, than as su-
pernumerary and injurious to the party concerned,
and, besides, as also false ; for it cannot be shown
that misfortunes render any class of sufferers cursed.
But the word of God, as in this and all other parts
of the Scriptures, do not convey false ideas, but true
and immutable ones. It follows, therefore, that the
318 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
word cursed, as used in relation to the destinies of
the negro race, were used in tlie imperative and ju-
dicial sense— not prophetically. In these passages,
Gen., ix, 25, 26, 27, the jx^rson v/ho violated the
privacy of Noah in his repose, is alluded to as being
then, at the very time the deed was done, a cursed
character, and, in him, all his race. In the text, as \
it is translated, the words, cursed be Ham, is an im- \
precation on the head of Ham and his progeny, all [
identified, then and there, in his persan. But, as it i
reads in the original, cursed Ham, without the be — [
which is a supplied word— it makes Ham to have [
been then, at that very time, a cursed man, and in ' j
him, all his race, in relation ta slavery, excluding al- i
together any such notion as the passages being a ;
mere prophesy. i
But, says an objector, was it not prophesied that \
Jesus Christ was to come into the world, and that he -
should be put to death by loicked hands 7 We an-
swer, yes ; and add, moreover, that it was not only
prophesied of, but was judicially' determined, that he
should come into the world to die for siimers ; and
had there never been any wicked hands to put him
to death, yet must he have died in some other way, or
there could have been no atonement. It was a decree
of God, an \ne\x\Qydih\e judicial act, that Christ should
die, because he became the surety of those who were
condemned to death and damnation ; it did not depend,
therefore, on contingencies prim,arily, but secondari-
ly only. Respecting the curse, or judicial act of God.
against the race of Ham, we apprehend that it is to
be viev/ed in the same light as to its fulfillment,
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 319
whether there should be found on the earth so much
as one wicked man or not, from the days of Noah to'
the end of the world ; yet the race of Ham were ta
De servants and slaves, or the decree would have fail-
ed of its accomplishment, as God saw fit to determine
concerning them.
Having now finished our inquiry, respecting the
fulfillment of Noah's prophecy, in the enslavement of
the descendants of Ham by the race of Japheth, and
of his dwelling in the tents or countries ot Shem, as
the Turks, who are of the race of Japheth, are now
doing, and of his supplanting the American Indians :
we pass to an examination of certain passages of the
Scriptures, where abolitionists seem to think they
have found out that negro slavery was abolished as
far back in time as the days of Isaiah, the prophet,
some seven hundred years before Christ.
Whatever God has said, and in his Word decreed,
Tlie same shall come to pass in very deed:
As thus 'tis seen, though many men will rave
Ham, to the race of Japheth, it a slave.
So, in the tents of Shem, the white man reigns
O'er all Judea's hills and Persia's plains.
To him, (the Gentile race), of God, was given
The Gospel — the last great gift of Heaven.
When Paul, at Rome, turned from the Jewiih strife,
A.nd gave to Gentiles there the word of life;
Take the mighty boon, and rise to high estate,
Thou white man, o*er the earth and Hell's dark gate;
Supplant the black and red man, bear the sway,
And reign till time shall bring the judgment day.
320 ORIGIN, CHARACTKR, AND
TWELFTH SECTION. {
f
Inquiries whether the Scriptures have, either in the Old or New i
Testaments, abolished slavery, as abolitionists assert that they I
have — Query, if they never sanctioned it, how could they abolish I
it? — The famous passage of Isaiah, chap. Iviii, on which abolitioa- (
ists found their argument in favor of the scriptural abolishment |
of slavery, examined, and found to have no allusion to the sub- f
ject — All the Jews, their elders, nobles and kings, enslaved the \
race unreproved — ■Reproofs of the prophets, for the Jews enslaving j
their own people beyond the jubilees, but not the negroes — The '(
''amous passage of Exod. xxi, 16, which respects the stealing of a \
man tc enslave, or to sell him, examined, and found to have no j
allusion to negroes, while abolitionists assert that it does — Isaiahls \
Opinion respecting the Jews enslaving their enemies, chap. xiv. 3 — |
Abolition argument against slavery, founded on the law of love \
toward our neighbor, replied to — Abolition argument, charging " [
the institution of negro slavery with an attempt to usurp the tov~ {
ereignty of God over the so%ds of slaves, replied to \
That the Scriptures have aboHshed negro slavery \
and disallowed of the principle itself, is contended \
by abolitionists, who boldly aver that they do not, in |
any case or instance, justify it, but every where con- ]
demn and reprobate the practice, as well as the prin- ;
ciple. But whether this is true, the reader has al- ■
ready seen, if he has read the preceding pages with '
but common attention.
But, as to the Scriptures having abolished negro
slavery, we inquire where the passage or portions of ■.
that book can be found, which have done this ; and
which of the prophets, kings, patriarchs, judges, oi ',
FORTUNES, OF THE NKGRO RACE. 321
apostles, have thus determined this matter? As to
information of this description, says an abohtionist,
we are able at once to gratify the inquirer, showing
the place, chapter and verses, and press them upon
the reader's consideration, as they are extremely 3X-
pressive and explicit, flowing from ;he pen of inspira-
tion in tones of thunder, condemning the awful sin of
negro slavery. See Isaiah Iviii, 6 and 7, as follows:
"Is not this the fast that I have chosen (namely),
to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that
they break every yoke. Is it not to deal thy bread
to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are
cast out, to thy house : when thou seest the naked,
cover him : and that thou hide not thyself from thine
own flesh?" These passages of Holy Writ are, in-
deed, very plain, and, to the careless reader, seem to
make an end of the matter, inasmuch as they re-
quire that every yoke should be broken, the heavy
BURDENS taken off", and the oppressed set free.
But, dear reader, do not become vexed when we
affirm, that although the passages above cited are
very plain in their mode of expression, yet they do
not, in any sense of the word, apply to the case in
hand, or to the subject of negro slavery, as practiced
in the time of Isaiah, or any other age. We affirm
this, on account of three good and sufficient reasons,
as follows:
1st. Consistency among the writers of the Holy
Scriptures, who were inspired by the immutable God
on the same subjects, forbids the Delief that they should
clash. If Moses, by so many direct statements as
322 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
are found in Levit, xxv, 44 — 46, allowed the He-
brews to enslave the Canaanites and other negro tribes,
are we to suppose that Isaiah, under the same inspi-
ration and law that Moses was, would contradict
this ? This trait of Hebrew national custom, name-
ly, that of enslaving the blacks, had obtained from
the days of Moses till the time of Isaiah, a lapse of
full nine hundred years, and by the authority of the
law, without reproof or restraint, as we have shown.
Is it to be supposed that Isaiah would disregard all
this, and deliberately write a new code on this sub-
ject, in exact competition with the very law to which
he himself subscribed, and by which he] as well as
every other Hebrew, was then governed? Had not
Isaiah read, a thousand times, what Moses had said
in Exod. xxiii, 32, respecting the Canaanites, name-
ly, that the Hebrews, when they should come to pos-
sess the country of Canaan, were to make no cove-
nants of amity or peace with the inhabitants, but
were utterly to despise, ruin and destroy them? Had
he not read the same thing in Deut. vii, 2, which di-
rected the twelve tribes to smite and utterly destroy
those nations, making no compacts with them at all?
The passage in Deut. vii, 2, reads as follows : "And
when the Lord thy God shall deliver them [the Ca-
naanites] before thee, thou shalt smite them and ut-
terly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant
with them, nor show mercy unto them." Is it like-
ly, therefore, that the Holy Ghost would contradict,
by the pen of Isaiah, that which he had directed to
be written in the law of Moses, and at a time, too,
when that law was the ultimo of legislation to all the
r'
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 323
tribes of the Jews, and governed the prophets, as well
as the people '? Is it likely, under circumstances of
this description, that Isaiah would say to the subjects
of his charge, let the Canaanite slaves go free; take
every burden from their backs, and break every yoke
from their necks, and that will be the last which will
please the Lord ? Can the reader fail to feel the force
of this first reason?
2d. The absolute silence of the New Testament,
in not condemning the practice of enslaving the ne-
gro race ; and, further, its absolute recognition of the
practice, and that favorably agreeing both with the
curse of Noah and the law of Moses on this subject.
The favorable recognitions of the New Testament on
this matter, are found in the writings of St. Paul, who
understood the whole subject as well as any other
writer of the Scriptures, and, doubtless, much belter.
The places in St. Paul's writings, which recognize
negro slavery, are, Tiius ii, 9 ; Ephesians vi, 6, 8 ;
Colossians iv, 1, and iii, 22; also Philefnon, as well
as other passages of the New Testament, all of which,
says Dr. Clarke, refer to absolute slaves, in the prop-
erty sense of the word.
That the slaves of Rome were Africans, is proved
from the fact, that when prisoners were brought from
Africa, they were always sold for slaves. At one
time only, by one of their generals, namely, Reg-ulus,
there were brought to Rome twenty thousand African
negroes, who were all sold into the bondage of slav-
ery.— Rolliji, Vol. I, p. 283. If so many were cap-
tured at one time, by but one man, how many may
we not suppose were thus taken and sold during all
0»4 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
the wars of both Greece and Rome against Africa,
during several ages? Myriads, no doubt; and all
this known as well to St. Paul, and all the New Tes-
tament writers, as to the whole world of Asia, in those
ages.
If it were true, as abolitionists imagine it is, that
the Holy Ghost inspired Isaiah to write against ne-
gro slavery, as then practiced in his time upon the
Canaanites, the Philistines, the Lybians, the Egyp-
tians, the Ethiopians, and any of the Hamite race ;
how is it that he did not also inspire St. Paul to write
in the same way, and in words as plain as Isaiah has
written, according to the perceptions of abolitionists,
especially when the apostle was engaged in writing
on the very subject of negro slavery, practiced by
members of the Christian churches, in the various
countries of the Roman empire, and which churches
he had planted by his own ministry? had the Holy
Ghost become less liberal toward the negro race in
St. Paul's time, than in the time of Isaiah?
Nay, nay ; St. Paul, Isaiah, Moses, Noah, Abraham,
Lot, the patriarchs, prophets, judges, elders, kings,
rulers and people of the Jews, according to the whole
tenor of the Bible, as well as express statements and
admissions, whenever they touch on that subject,
namely, the subject of negro servitude, allowed this
practice without rebuke, as to the principle, admon-
ishing, however, owners only, in matters of treating
them well and in a merciful manner. Can the read-
er fail to feel the force of this second reason?
3d. Isaiah's real meaning, as conveyed in the pas-
sages to which we are arguing, is our third reason
FORTUNES OF THE NEGRO RACE. 325
for disallowing that he referred to the negro race at
all, and shall contend that his remarks and reproofs,
referred to snch Hebrews as held their own brethren
ill slavery, beyond the stipulations of the law of Mo-
ses, and to such only. The law of Moses allowed of
the sale of Hebrew debtors, to pay their debts, as
well as of children, owned by poor Hebrew pa-
rents, and also of criminals, as thieves, <fcc. See Lev.
XXV, 39, 47, 48, 50, and Exo. xxi, 7, 2, and xxii,
3, where all these cases are set down.
But the wicked Jews, in the time of Isaiah, as well
as at many other times, broke over the boundaries
of that law, by keeping their own brethren^ thus sold
and bought beyond the years of release, and the Ju-
bilees makinor of them perpetual slaves, both parents
and their children, as they did the Canaanites. In
case a Hebreio was sold to a Hebrew, the law of Mo-
ses strictly forbade their being oppressed, us bondmen
were, enjoining it upon those who bought theiw,
to treat them as they would a hired man. See
Levit. XXV, 39, 40, and many other passages to the
same effect. And besides this, they were command-
ed to furnish them liberally out of the threshing
floor and the wine press, and tht ir flocks, at the times
of their release, or at the Jubilees, so as to enable
ihem to begin the world anew. See Deut. xv, 14,
which immunities were never extended to aCanaan-
ite slave.
But all this in the time of Isaiah, was deeply aad
horribly infringed upon, wherefore, Isaiah told them,
the Jews, that their fasts and other acts of worship,
coul4 not be accepted of God, while injustice to their
326 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
#
own blood and brethren was at all prevalent among
them, in holding the poor Hebrews in perpetual bond-
age, contrary to the law on that very subject made
and provided. To make it clear that the reproof of
Isaiah on that occasion, and in those passages, related
wholly, solely and exclusively, to abused and enslav-
ed Hebrews and their masters, we have only to ob-
serve, that the last clause of the seventh verse of the
reproof, is confined to Hebrews, in the use of the
terms, " thine own Jlesh^ The whole passage reads
as follows — see Isaiah Iviii, 7: "Is it not to deal thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor
that are cast out to thy house ; when thou seest the
naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own fiesh.^''
Surely, the negroes of Canaan, or of any other
country, were not considered by Isaiah, to be of the
same flesh with that of the Jews, as they are never
called in the Scriptures, the brethren of the Hebrews,
their kindred, their own flesh, &;c., but alwa} s hea-
then. Respecting the jiesh of the negro race, Eze-
kiel xxiii, 20, says that it was like the flesh of Asses,
and yet abolitionists say that negro flesh is as g-ood
as their flesh is, and every way equal ; we wish them
much joy of their relations.
The Canaanites, therefore, who were among the
Jews as perpetual bondmen, were not the persons
alluded to in that reproof of Isaiah, and those who
ought to have been set free by their Hebrew mas-
ters.
But, if the reader is not yet satisfied that we arc
right in the above construction and application in
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO R4CE. 327
those passages in Isaiah, we will bring a parallel case
out of the Scriptures, by which the position is fur-
ther supported if need be. This parallel case took
place long after Isaiah's time, in the era of Nehemiah
and his associates, when they were rebuilding the
walls of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar, about seventy years before, when
the Jews were carried away into captivity the first
time. At that time it appears that many of the peo-
ple of the Jews had sold their children, to their more
wealthy brethren, for money to pay the taxes while
in captivity, and for bread and victuals for their fam-
ilies, which occasioned great trouble and complaints
among the people on their return to Judea.
We will give the account as it stands in the book
of Nehemiah, chapter v, 1 — 5, as follows: "And
there was a great cry of the people, and of their wives
against their brethren, the Jews. For there were
(some) that said: we, our sons and our daughters are
many ; therefore, we take up corn for them, that we
may eat and live. Some, also, there were, that said:
we have mortgaged our lands, vineyards and houses,
that we might buy [not hire] corn, because of the
dearth. There were, also, that said : we have bor-
rowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our
lands and vineyards : yet, now our flesh is as the
flesh of our brethren, our children as their children:
and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our
daughters to be servants [or slaves], and some of our
daughters are bought into bondage already ; neither
is it in our power to redeem them, for other men have
our lands and our vineyards."
328 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
When Nehemiah had ascertained that this dread-
ful charge was true, it is said, in verses 6 and 7 ot
the above chapter, that he was very angry, and that
lie set a great company against those who had been
guilty of this thing, and caused the offenders against
the law of Moses, in that particular, to release, not
only the child re , ri-v had bought, but the lands, also,
according to the law of the greater Jubilee, which
they had kept, through avarice, beyond the prescrib-
ed limits, committing robbery in relation to the lands,
as well as making hondmen of their brother's children,
their own flesh and blood.
This was a case which was exactly parallel to that
which was reproved by Isaiah, applying in this, as
in that, entirely to the blood of the Jewish tribes,
who are in Nehemiah, as in Isaiah, called brethren,
and the same flesh, one with another, as a people.
In pursuit of the same point, namely, to maintain
that Isaiah, in the famous fifty-eighth chapter of that
prophet, did not abrogate negi-o or Canaanite slavery,
but Hebrew slavery only, we refer the reader to an-
other parallel case, found in the book of Jeremiah,
chapter xxxiv, from the eighth to the seventeenth
verse inclusive, which took place between the time
of Isaiah and Nehemiah.
This prophet, namely, Jeremiah, foretold to the
Jews, that Nebuchadnezzar should come and fight
against Jerusalem, and the whole country, burn the
temple, and carry away the people to old Chaldea,
prisoners of war, and thus ruin their nation — and
this should be done on account of one particular sin,
which, it appears, was the heinous one of enslaving
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 329
their own poor brethren, a crime which was a great
besetment of the rich Jews, in all ages of their his-
tory.
On liearing from the lips of Jeremiah this awful
denunciation, king Zedekiah, who then reigned, im-
mediately brought the men who had been guilty of
this enormity together, and required of them, by
agreement^ that they should then release, every man
his Hebrew servant. This was done in the hope that
God would pardon the nation of this thing, and
withhold the king of Babylon from coming upon
them, with his mighty hosts, as Jeremiah had said
he would.
The account reads as follows: "This is the word
that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after that
the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all
the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim lib-
erty unto them, that every man should let his man
servant, and every man his maid, being a Hebrew
or a Hebrewess, go free ; that none should serve him-
self of them, to wit, of a Jew, his brother^ Now,
when the princess, and all the people which had en
tered into the covenant, heard that every one should
let his man servant, and every one his maid servant,
go fiee; that none should serve themselves of them
[their brethren] any more ; then they obeyed and let
them go. But afterward they turned and caused
the servants and the handmaids whom they had let
go free, to return, and brought them into subjection
for servants and for handmaids [again]. Therefore,
the word of the Lord came, saying, thus saith the
Lord God of Israel : I made a covenant with you/
22
330 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AN©
fathers, in ihe day that I brought iliem forth O'Ut of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage^ say-
ing, at the end of six years, let ye go, every man his
brother^ a Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee ;
and, when he hath served thee six years, thou sbalt
let him ^ofree from thee: but your fathers barkened
not unto me, neither inclined their ear. And ye were
noro turned, and had done right in my sight, in pro-
claiming liberty, every man to his neighbor, and ye
made a covenant before me, in the house which is
called by my name, Byt ye turned [back from this],
and polluted my name, and caused every man his
servant, and every man his maid, whom ye had set
at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought
them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and
for handmaids. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: ye
have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty,
every one to his brother, and every man to his neigh-
bor [bein^ a Jew], behold ; I proclaim a liberty for
you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the 'pestilence
and to famine ; and I will make you to be removed
into all the kingdoms of the earth."
This horrid fate was to come upon them, for the
sole reason, that they had, wickedly and unjustly,
contrary to the law of Moses, enslaved their poor
brethren, the Hebrews. In all this, there is no allu-
sion to negro slaves of the Canaanitish character, for,
in the three accounts, as jiiven by Isaiah, Jeremiah
and Nehemiah, there is not one allusion of the kind ;
all their remarks being guardedly confined to the
sin of enslaving their own race beyond the permission
of their law.
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 331
If, in this direful charge, the prophet Jeremiah did
include negro slaves as a part of the sin of his peo-
ple in this matter, how is it that he is so extremely
particular, as over and over again, to name Hebrew
bondmen and maids, and, not so much as once to
mention slaves of the other description, who were
of the heathen of that country?
It is, therefore, indubitably certain, that the proph-
et has avoided charging the Jews with sin, on account
of their enslaving the Canaanites perpetually, but
only for enslaving the Hebrews beyond the term of
six years at a time. To fix this on the mind of the
reader, we select the ninth verse of the thirty-fourth
chapter of Jeremiah, and again present it as evidence
sufficient of the fact, that negro slaves were not in-
cluded in the immunities of Hebrew servants, with
regard to their being set free at the time of the Jubi-
lees, or any other time whatever.
The pagsage reads as follows: "That every man
should let his man servant, and every man his maid
servant, being a Hebrew^ or a Hebrewess, go free ;
that none should serve himself of them, to wit of a
Jew, his brother"
To this, agree both Isaiah and Nehemiah, using
the same lang^uage in effect, every where pointing
out the Jew blood, which was not to be enslaved,
leaving the negro race under the disabilities of
their doom, as found in the book of Genesis and the
law.
In all these accounts, there is not a word said
against the Jews enslaving their own brethren, if
they did it according to the letter of their law,
332 OllIGIN, CHARACTER, AKD
and for proper reasons ; while, in the strongest terms i
of reprobation, they do, as do all the Scriptures, con- i
demn and threaten every Jew with punishment, who ;
should dare to go beyond in that matter. If, then, \
Isaiah, nor none of the prophets have abolished even ;
Hebrew slavery, as it was ordained in their law, how
much less, therefore, have they abolished negro slav- \
ery, which, as well as th^ other^ was according to !
that law, the Hebrew being bounded by six years, I
while the Hamite slave was a slave forever. \
The uproar, therefore, which abolitionists make over i
this passage of Isaiah, in favor of Canaanitish or negro
slaves, is but an uproar and sophistry, in which they
extend the immunities of Hebrew servants to the con-
dition of the negro slave, which is false, and they
know it ; or, at least, their leaders do. I
As it respects the feelings and opinions of the !
prophet Isaiah on the subject of slavery, we have a |
very singular account to give in this place. From |
this account, it is certain that he held it to be right ?
for the Jews to enslave any people who were their |
enemies, or who had held them in captivity, whether ■
negro or red man. To prove this, see Isaiah xiv, 2, (
as follows : "And the people [the Jews] shall take |
them and bring them to their place [Judea], and the j
house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the I
Lord [Judea], for servants and handmaids : and they |
shall take them captives whose captives they were ; i
they shall rule over their oppressors."
In this case, the people who had held captive the
Jews, were the Chaldeans, who, in process of time,
SQQiier or later, were to be rul^d over and oppiessecl
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 333
I by the Jews, even t» personal slavery. We do not
notice this case as having any bearing on the negro
question, but merely to show, that the views of Isaiah
were not so abhorrent to the slavery of men, who
j were not Hebrews, as some seem to believe ; but
] shows that he acquiesced in the retributive judgments
j of God, even to the enslaving of the bodies of men
j who had oppressed the Jews, his brethren. If, then,
I Isaiah could thus approve of the enslaving of the red
I men of Babylon, how much more the negro race of
I that age, who were denounced in the curse of Noah
and the law of Moses ? Even the priests of the
house of Aaron — the very ministers of the sanctua-
ry— were allowed, by the law of God, to have slaves,
bought with their money. See Levit. xxii, 11 : '■^BiU
if the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall
eat of it ;" that is, the slave thus bought might eat
of the food of the family of the priest. From this
scripture, it is as clear as truth, that the prophets,
priests, elders, kings and nobles, of the twelve tribes,
were allowed, by the law of God, to have property
in man, the same as they could have property in any
other thing or creature, providing they were not of
the race of their brethren, the Hebrews, but of the
heathen of the negro race — as we do not learn from
the Divine Oracles, that any other people could be
lawfully or morally enslaved, irrespective of war and
other contingencies. But there is another scripture,
besides the one we have just replied to, in Isaiah,
upon which abolitionists claim the abolishment of ne-
gro slavery. This scripture is found in Exod. xxi,
16, and reads as follows: " He that steals a man and
334 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
selleih him, or if he be found in his handy he shall
surely be put to deaths
Does not this passage of Holy Writ, says one, put
an end to the subject? Does not abolitionism tri-
umph here? Is not this enough to terrify any man,
who regards the Bible, from stealing away the poor
Africans from their homes of happiness and peace, or
from pu)-chasing such as are thus stolen from those
who steal, purchase, or capture them in their own
cotmtry? We answer, wo; as we do not perceive
that this reniaik of Moses m the law has the least
possible bearing on the subject. It was not to the
stealing, cuptiuing. or enslaving of the negroes of Ca-
naan, or any oilier country, that Moses referred, in
that passage of prohibitory law. And, as it respects
the land of Canaan and the negro nations of that
country, are we to suppose that God^ who was about
to give the whole land to the Hebrews, with all its
inhabitants, to kill and destroy, that they were to ab-
stain from taking them by stealthy as well as by open
attack 2 Should we suppose this, it would be the
same as to suppose the issuing of an order to let the
Canaanites alone, which would defeat the very object
of the war — which was the entire overthrow of all
those nations, seven in number, great and powerful,
far beyond the forces of the Hebrews.
But, says one, if the passage had no allusion to ne-
gro stealing, to what, then, did it allude, as intended
by Moses, and understood by the tribes? We an-
swer, it was intended to prevent one Hebrew iVom
stealing, capturing and selling another Hebrew, Isra-
elite, or Jew, or causing any individual of theiy na-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 335
tion to go into captivity oi bondage of any kind, as
did the brethren of Joseph, who stole him, and then
sold him to the Ishmaelites. That the passage means
this, and nothing else, is shown and determined by
a parallel text in the same law, and on the same
subject. See Deut. xxiv, 7, as follows: "If a man
be found stealing any of his brethren of the children
of Israel, and maketh merchandize of him, or selleth
him, then that thief shall die, and thou shalt put evil
away from among you."
Thus we see that the former passage, as explain-
ed by the latter, has nothing to do with what is call-
ed negro stealing, either in old Canaan, Africa, or
any where else : it referred wholly, solely and prima-
rily, to the people of the Jews, protecting themselves
from themselves, in this particular matter; for, as
strange as it may appear, the Hebrews were very
much prone to the stealing of men of their own blood
and race, for slaves, and to sell them to strangers. A
severe law, therefore, was necessary to restrain them
from the perpetration of this crime against themselves.
But, if it is still insisted upon by any one, that the
first quoted passage on this subject did relate to Ca-
naanite men, as well as to Hebrew men, then such
persons are compelled to believe that God both al-
lowed of the destruction and the -protection of the
Canaanites at the same time — rather a crooked posi-
tion for a Hebrew to understand just then, when they
were on the eve of a war of extermination, as it re-
garded the CanEianites, commanded and directed by
God himself.
Could it have been any worse for a Hebrew, at that
336 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
time, to steal, take, capture and enslave a Canaanite
negro, than it was to kill him? To kill and exter-
minate them, showing them no mercy, was the direct
and pointed command of God, as we have before
shown, Deut. vii, 2. Under so large a license as this,
the man is a fool who will pretend that stealing and
enslaving the negro Canaanites was prohibited by
those passages, as above presented ; especially when
the law of Moses, in Levit. xxv, 44 — 46, directly and
pointedly allowed the Hebrews to make bondmen of
that people, and to use them as s\dk\es forever.
To this very law of Moses, which forbade all He-
brews stealing any individual of their own race, St.
Paul alludes in 1 Timothy i, 10, where it is writ-
ten, that the law was not made against the righteous,
but against the wicked, Tnen stealers, &.c. Now, if
we have shown, as above, that the passage in the
law of Moses extended no further than to the prohib-
ition of Hebrews stealing persons of their own blood
or race, as included in the twelve tribes, we are not
at liberty to suppose that St. Paul meant any thing
more, as there was no other law for him to allude to,
as extant, when he wrote to Timothy, and when he
made the remark about man stealing.
But, says one, to enslave a negro man is agamst
♦he i7itent of the law of Moses, inasmuch as St. Paul
has said, Romans xiii, 8, and Gal. v, 14, that love to
our neighbor is the/MZj^Z^m^of the law; how, there-
fore, can any one love, in the true and holy sense of
i the word, who enslaves a black man. This is an-
f swered as follows : " God having judicially appoint-
ed that race to servitude, the law of love cannot ab-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 337
rogate it, any more than the law of love can abrogate
several other particulars of judicial appointment.
Such as, it is appointed unto men that they should
die ; the woman was condemned to be ruled over by
her husband ; the earth was cursed, in relation to its
fruitfulness ; the wicked dead are sent to hell ; the
earth is doomed to be burnt up ; and many more
things which might be adduced as being determined
judicially ; all of which the law of love cannot reach
nor abrogate. It is idle, therefore, to urge an argu-
ment on such ground as that ; for God's determina
tions and decrees are not frustrated by his benevo
lence, else there were an end to his government. To
strengthen this position, if need be, we may mention
that Abraham, Job, Lot, and thousands of the holy
men of old, as well as modern, had vast multitudes
of black slaves. Were none of these lovers of God
and their neighbors, in the true and holy sense of the
word ?
At the time Moses wrote the famous passage of
Deut. xxiv, 7, saying to the Hebrews, that if any man
among them was found out in having stolen any of
their brethren, the Israelites, and of having sold them,
that such a one should be put to death. What a
pity it is, that there was not, at the time, a thorough-
going abolitionist at the elbow of Moses, to have just
popped the idea respecting the strict necessity there
was, of inserting simply a word or two in favor of
the negroes, and to read as follows : If any man be
found stealing any black or negro person of the race
of Ham, whom Noah cursed, from this time to the
end of the world, and maketh merchandize of them,
I 338 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
j then that thief should be put to death. Such a clause
j would have done the business exactly. Oh, what a
I pity ! what a pity that abolitionism could not have
j had a hand in the councils of Heaven about that
i time, as well as when St. Paul wrote to Philemon and
j Timothy on the subject of negro slavery. But there
1 is still another passage of Holy Writ to be examined,
which, at first sight, seems to make pointedly against
the doctrine of enslaving the blacks, and is quoted
j triumphantly by abolitionists, as of sufficient weight
and authority to crush and abolish forever, a belief
in the propriety and rectitude of compelling the servi-
tude of the negro race, as being founded in the Scrip-
tures.
The passage alluded to is found in Rev. xviii, 13,
and accuses some combination or anti-Christian es-
tablishment, called "Babylon the Great," of deal-
ing in slaves and the souls of men, which crime, to-
gether with others, called for the wrath of God to be
poured out upon it. But it is our opinion, that this
passage of Scripture has no more to do with the ques-
tion of negro slavery, in the literal and personal sense
of the word, than the other passages of the Bible al-
ready alluded to, unless it can be shown that some
great combination of men, called ^''Babylon the great"
which existed in the time of St. John, did actually
. deal in slaves, which we believe will be rather diffi-
cult to make out.
There can be no doubt but this power, which is
called by St. John, ^'■Babylon the great," is to be un-
derstood spiritually, and as characterizing, oy the
spirit of prophesy, some dreadful heresy or anti-
FORTUNES, OF THE NKGRO RACE. 339
Christian combination, which was to arise in the
world. This Babylon is many times referred to in
the book of Revelation, as in chapters xiv, 8, xviii,
1, xvi, 19, and is, doubtless, the same power which is
called. Rev. xi, 8, Sodom and Egypt, and Rev. xvii,
5, "Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth;" and by St. Paul, 2
Thes. ii, '■'■That man of sin^' who should wonderful-
ly exalt himself by lying wonders, and should sit in
the teinple of God — the church — showing himself that
he is God: who this dreadful power was, the reader
may easily conjecture.
Now, this is the power, therefore, who is accused
of dealing in slaves — not literally, but spiritually — in
misleading the mind, and, of necessity, the body, in
matters of veligious faith.
That scripture, therefore, no doubt, should be un-
derstood, not of slavery in the common sense of the
word, but rather of its moral, spiritual and religious
meaning, as operating on the minds of men adherent
to this " great Babylon " combination, who practiced
deceit, ecclesiastical conjurations, &.C., so that the
souls and bodies of men were thereby sold to the
devil, in leading them, from the paths of truth and
righteousness, in relation to love and obedience to
God and his commandments.
This is the way, as we believe, this " great Baby-
lon'''' dealt in the bodies and souls of men. It is not
uncommon for the Scriptures to speak of great offend-
ers as having sold themselves to work wickedness, as
in the case of Ahab and many others. After the
same manner of reasoning, therefore, as it respects
34C ORIGIN, CHARACTEiR, AND
this '•'•great Bahylon^'' who dealt in slaves and the
souls of men, it is to be understood, wholly and en-
tirely of the souls and bodies of her membership , who
she had bought with her religious merchandize, as
specified in that chapter, namely, the 18th of Reve-
lation.
On that account, the wrath of God was to be pour-
ed out on this ^'^ great Babylon^'' namely, for enslav-
ing the SQuJs^ and, of necessity, the bodies of men,
holdiiig them under command, to do the bidding of
this ^^ great Babylon" contrary to the word of God,
thereby affecting the real and more valuable liberties
of both soul and body, in time and eternity.
We are compelled to take this course of explaining
that text of St. John, lest we should be found arraign-
ing two writers of the New Testament against each
other on the same subject, namely, of negro slavery ;
for St. John knew full well all that St. Paul had said
on that subject.
Thus, we think, we have rescued that passage of
the Revelator, as well as the text of Isaiah, out of the
hands of abolitionists, who, by subverting them from
their true and original meaning, endeavor to make it
appear that the Scriptures have long ago abolished
negro slavery, which is false, either in so many words^
or in spirit.
But abolitionists advance other doctrines and opin-
ions, besides wresting the Scriptures on the subject
of negro servitude, which they publish to the world
m their harangues, books, papers and pamphlets, cal-
culated to mislead the minds of men on the subject at
issue. They say that the principle of enslavmg
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 341
black men, whether done in ihis or any other age, in
this or any other country, " is a system of unhmited
spiritual despotism, and places masters in the seat
of God, or rather above God, in respect to the slaves
under their control. It is (they say) contrary to the
sovereignty of God, over each and every individual,
who is held as a slave. It does not recognize the
right of the slave to obey God — to follow the dictates
of his own conscience — to fultill the station of a mor-
al being — to act as a free agent, accountable to the
Judge and Father of all — to the Supreme God, who
says, all souls are mine— the slave system in eifect,
says, tJiis soul is wine, not thine ; it belongs to an
earthly master, and thou, its creator, hast no right to
command its obedience." For all this, see ^'■lyiend
of Man,'' a paper dated Jan. L5, 1839, Utica, N. Y.
On the whole face of the above charge, not only
against American slavery, but slavery in any coun-
try or age, it is seen at a glance, that the blow falls
as heavily on the institutions of Moses, the practice
of the patriarchs, prophets, elders, kings and people,
not only of the Jews, but the Christian church also,
even in the times of the apostles, as it is intended to
lall on American slavery— the principle being the
chief thing aimed at.
For if the law of that great legislator, Moses, allow-
ed of the enslaving of the Canaanites for /i/e, and
also during all their generations — which we have
shown was a fact-^then all the Hebrews, the patri-
archs, Jews and prophets, who acted on that law, are,
by abolitionists, made to have been as bad as they
Bay American slaveholders are, placing them all in
342 ORIGIN. CHARACTER, AND
one company, and denouncing them as a set of vil«
lains, fit only for the lowest abodes of damnation it-
self. For, abolitionists condemn slavery of every
grade and description, to all intents and purposes, in
all times, ages and nations, let it have been practiced
or sanctioned by whomsoever it may have been — and
this they do in the very face of God, who, through
Noah, Moses, the prophets and the law, did not only
allow of restrictive slavery, in relation to the He-
brews, but also oi irrestrictive slavery, in relation to
the whole race of Ham, throughout all ages, or to the
end of the present constitution of the earth.
But, abolitionists, in order to get rid of the fact of
Bible slavery, as recognized in the law of Moses, and
applied to the negro race, have argued much, and
labored hard to show that the Canaanites, who were
bought by the Hebrews for bondmen and bondmaids,
always bought them of themselves, and never of an-
other, as if they were the property of somebody be-
sides themselves, and with this they find no fault,
being perfectly contented with the idea that a negro
Canaanite, should, if he liked, ^eZZAim^eZ/— that was
all right.
But this idea, we consider a most singular position
for an abolitionist to take, as they pronounce all kinds
of slavery and slave selling or buying most cursed,
and without authority, either from God or man ; and
yet a man may sell himself, even for life. How is
this ? Is there no paradox here ? If a man sells him-
self, is he not sold? Is he not as much a slave as if
somebody else sold him ? This position of abolition-
ists, which, by a strange refinement, struggles to get
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. ^ 343
rid of the plain letter of the law of Moses, about He-
brews being allowed to buy slaves of the heathen
round about them, establishes the very thing they
are trying to annihilate, which is negro slavery ; for,
if the Canaanites could, without sin, sell themselves
for bondmen, then, the Canaanites sold slaves and
the Hebrews bought them, the persons who did it
making no difference as to the principle of the act;
it was the thing done, which made out the fact, not
the modus operandi; so that even this very curious
refinement of abolitionists, on the meaning of that
trait in the law of Moses, has not rescued the point
at issue from the hand of those who believe the Bible
sanctions the unqualified servitude of the negro race,
but establishes it.
But this position of abolitionists is but a fiction,
a mere ruse, which, at once, can be shown to be
nothing else, by a reference to the law itself, on this
very subject, and points out the children, or the in-
fants of the Canaanites, as the objects of Hebrew
slave purchasers. See Levit. xxv, 45, which reads
as follows : " Moreover, of the children of the stran-
gers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you
buy [bondmen], and of their families that are with
you, and they shall be your possession." If, then, it
were the children the Hebrews were to buy of the
Canaanites, is it to be supposed that children had
either the right or the ability to sell themselves ? Is
it not far more reasonable to believe that the parents
of such children were resorted to in such cases ? As
to the policy of such a regulation of Moses, relative
to the purchase of slaves, it is evident at a glance
344 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
SiS childreii could be more easily managed, and brought
up to the liking of the master than could the adults.
A desire in the mind of the slave to run away would
be much lessened by the process of domestication,
and a natural love of those who supplied their wants.
But, says one, if the Canaanites were given to be
destroyed by the Hebrews, even to entire extermina-
ation, how is it that Moses should say, iti the law,
any thing about buying their children for slaves, see-
ing they could go and take as many as they wanted
by force, just when they would? We answer this,
by saying that the Hebrews did not fully obey the
commands of Moses on this subject as they should
have done; on which account, there were, always,
during the whole reign of the Jews in that country,
many of the Canaanite tribes living among them,
with whom the Jews were not always at war. Now,
in a case like this, if the Hebrews wanted slaves of
the perpetual bondman character, they would rather,
no doubt, go and buy them of such as had them to
sell in a peaceable way.
With a view to such circumstances, Moses directed
them to buy the children of the Canaanites, as
among the Hebrews there were always found parents
in abundance of the negro race, who would sell theii
children for slaves, as readily as they do now in Af-
rica. There can be no doubt, therefore, but the He-
brews, many of them under the sanction of that
clause of the law of Moses, got their lining by thus
buying children, and selling them again in Judea
and elsewhere; for, let it be observed, that this law
IS not qualified, as to its extent, in carrying on th«
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 345
traffic. Tlien, again, there were, no doubt, thousands
of opportunities for the Hebrews, who wanted slaves
of the negro character, to buy them of Hebrews who
had more than they wanted, of such as were born
in their own famiUes, of parents who had been ta-
ken prisoners in the wars of the country, between
the C.maanites and Hebrews.
From these views, we see no great difficulty in the
way of the Hebrews procuring as many slaves as
they wanted, without raising a hostile troop, carrying
ropes, and rushing upon the Canaanite families, in
times of peace, to get bondmen of this description,
as there was, doubtless, an abundance of them born
continually, throughout ail their tribes, of such as
were already slaves, and had been, from the begin-
ning of the Hebrews' conquest of the country, who
had been held as perpetual bondmen in virtue of the
law of Moses, which said that ihey should be for a
possession for them and their children forever. But
in relation to the charge of abolitionists, that Ameri-
can slavery is a system of spiritual despotism, it is
not true, on account of the thing being impossible
and contrary to the nature of the human soul, as a
master can have no power over the volitions of the
spirit. Power or dominion over the soul of a slave,
beyond the mere commands of a master, in matters
of labor, was never desired by any slaveholder, as
thought, mind or spirit, cannot perform manual labor,
which is all that is required of a slave, and this the
body must perform, if it is performed at all. It is
true, however, that the mind can be persecuted, abused,
grieved and distressed, and that mind retain its free-
23
uc
OllIGtN, CHARACTER, AND
doin of range and action, loving, hating and believing
as it ivill, after all.
The charge, therefore, that the principle of slav-
ery, is a principle which aims at a usurpation of the
rights of God over the human soul, is as false as it
is monstrous and impossible. God, who created the
African race, and, in their formation, both of body
and mind, appointed them to slavery and servitude,
would not have implanted in the desire of the other
races who are allowed to enslave them, such an ene-
my to his sovereignty, as a desire to enslave the soul,
and to take it out of the hands of the Creator, as abo-
litionists say slavery does; this, God has never done;
neither was it ever desired by any man who has
owned a slave; as an acqui'-ement of stick a de
Bcription, could be of no earthly service to any one.
Was the spirit or desire which prompted Abraham,
Lot, Job, Moses and Washington, with milhons of
other good men, in those ages as well as in America,
to have slaves or bondmen, as a possession, which
they bought with their money, a spirit which aimed
at the usurpation of God's government over i\ e souls
of such bondmen — we are compelled to say no, or
such a permit would never have been found in the
law of Moses, nor the practice passed by without re-
proof in the New Testament.
There is no such law in the codes of the slave
holding states, that has a word to say about the soulSj
minds or spirits of the slaves, as relates to the coer-
sion of that free principle. The charge, therefore,
as advanced by abolitionists against the slavery sys-
tem, is but a flare up — a flourish extra, a mere scin*
* n
FORTUNKS; OF 'lllK NKGRO RACE. 347
tiliation of a fiery pen, as wielded by some extraor-
dinary spasm of eloquence. If any of the laws of
the slave-holding states are so framed as to incapac-
itate the slaves, in relation to proper marriages, and
thus prevent a state of things highly beneficial to
all orders of society, they ought to be abolished and
others enacted in their place, compelling such mar-
riages as love or fancy among the slaves might dictate,
however much their lewd propensities might contra-
dict; surely, a course like this, were better, far, for
the interests of masters, as well as slaves, than pro-
miscuous intercourse.
If God has placed the negro race under servitude,
that is of itself degrading enough, without any ad-
ditional circumstances of shame ; and, therefore, all
slaveholders ought to practice the thing in an order-
ly and decent manner, exalting the slave as a slave,
to aid hiin all that is needful in an honorable dis-
charge of his duties toward masters, his family, '^^
friends, kindred and his God. Slavery, conducted ^
thus toward the negro race, would not be sinful ; be-
cause God, in his providence, has appointed the
white man to be a guardian over the blacks, in the
characters of masters, for their good and not their
injury.
As to the charge of abolitionists, who accuse slav-
ery of incapacitating slaves to marry among them-
selves, is shown not to be true, from the genius, design
and chastity of the law of Moses, which abhoredall
whoredom and libertinism. Of necessity, therefore,
slaves among the Hebrews, if they would delight
in each others company, as males and females, they
348 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
must have been married, or the curse of God would
have been upon the whole twelve tribes. See Deut.
xxii, 20, 21, and xxiii, 17, 18, where it is seen how
very severe the law was against all offenders of a
lewd description among the Hebrews ; and are we to
suppose that they were indifferent to the conduct of
their bondmen and bond maids in this particular?
Consequently, marriages must have taken place as
much among their slaves as among the Jews, their
masters.
Thus, it is evident, notwithstanding the fine spun
goods and chattel arguments of abolitionists, that a
state of slavery does not essentially affect the mar-
riages of slaves among themselves, as if slaves in con-
sequence of slavery, are, in all respects, really and
bona fide metamorphosed from human beings into
some kind of implement, as an axe, a rake, or a wag-
on, which have neither passions nor souls. As to
the famous passage found in the Constitution of the
United States, v/hich reads, that it was held by the
powers of that Constitution, that all men are born
"/ree and equal" we have not a thought that any al-
lusion was had, by that phraseology, to negro slav-
ery, more than to men in the moon. The whole
and only allusion, was to the titled dignitaries and
! nobility of monarchical governments, which enforced
upon subjects and mankind, the hateful idea of mas-
ter and vassal, lord and serf, plebeian and patrician,
which distinction, to the minds of the framers of the
constitution, was abhorrent to all their views of po-
litical liberty. If this was not so, and that clause
had the negro's case in its eye, as well as the above,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO KACE. 349
It is extremely singular, that, in the whole instrument,
the race is not mentioned, nor their condition of slav-
ery.
Having shown, in this section, that Isaiah did not
abolish Canaanitish or negro slavery, and that the
passage against man-stealing did not relate to any
people except the Hebrews, as well as that slavery
does not incapacitate slaves as to lawful marriages,
with many other matters, we next proceed to an ex-
amination of various notions and opinions of aboli-
tionists, which, as we apprehend, are miserably out
of the way.
Thus, from Isaiah's pen, in word or deed,
The negroes of that time were never freed :
The curse of Noah, stood e'en then in force
As did the law, together with that curse.
No man had dar'd to dash the sacred page.
With change of purpose in that ancient age,
As fearless men do now, who wish to see
Mutation, where the truth should ever b©.
350 ORIGIN CHARACTER AND
THIRTEENTH SECTION.
A' further exhibition of the opinions and doings of abolitionists in
America — Consequences, if they carry their plans into efFect—
Sympathy is the lever by which tliey operate — Men should be-
ware how they array themselves against the decrees of God—
Mysterious providences of God toward man — Proposal to aboli-
tionists, by the author, to assail other mysterious providences of
God, as well as the one whieh respects negro servitude — Reckless
©pinions of abolitionists respecting the soutliern states — EfFecti
of freeing the negroes in the British West India Islanrls — Effects,
were the slaves of the southern states freed all at once — Proofs
respecting the insincerity of English philanthropy toward enslaved
negroes, and of their non-reliance upon the labor of fieed slaves —
Proofs of a suspicion that English vessels are now engaged in
getting slaves from the interior of Africa, as formerly — Conse-
quences, should the Union become divided on the slave question —
Great possessions and power of the English all round America —
Their designs — Intended possession of the Oregon territory — Cru-
elties of the English in India, where they have conquered — Co-
alescing of American abolitionists v/ith the English, on the sub-
jeet of American negro slavery, as shown in their speeches in
London, with many other matters.
On the subject of negro slarery, abolitionists have
said and done much in America, to raise a tumult
among the people; and they have succeeded, by re-
sorting, like hackneyed politicians, to all kinds of ex-
travagant arguments, positions and stories, with the
view of winning their way to political power in the
country. When this shall be accomplislied, if ever
it can be, we will venture to foretell that the Union
will be two distinct governments. The southern
/
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 351
States are determined to hold the rights granted to
them in the great compact of the Constitution, with
respect to negro slavery, as in this right they feel, to
a man, that their happiness and security, as to wealth
and its resources, depend; for it is impossible, with- |
out this, to cultivate the country: any and all ad-
vances, therefore, of the North, to meddle with that
subject, will be repelled with anger and violence — the
natural result of encroachments upon the resources
of any people. If, therefore, abolitionism is persisted
in, there will arise a division of the states, as sure as
effect will follow its cause, with all the honors of such ■
an event.
The great lever by which abolitionists operate, is
that of a pretended sympathy for the negro race, in
their condition of slavery, causing the people who
hear them to take for granted, as truth, all the horri-
ble stories of atrocities and crimes, perpetrated by
southern planters, committed on the bodies and souls
of their slaves. No matter whether the revolting
stories are true or false ; so long as they can get them
to be believed, they will answer the purpose just as
well. Men should beware how they enter the list
against the decrees of Heaven, on any subject, and
contend about its judgments, marshaling their elo- |
quence and intrigues in battle array against them, if j
such judgments or decrees happen not to suit the
views of discontented and designing men, who would
lead a well meaning public as they list, with no oth-
er views than the exaltation of thepselves to public
place and power. When this shall be accomplished,
if such a thing can ever happen, the great sympa-
362 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
thetic impetus by which the machine now is moving,
will cease to exist, passing away hke the fogs of the
night, leaving the negro race to look out for them-
selves as heretofore. Thus will end the mooted sub-
ject of negro excellencies ; the men who now admire
the race, and see in them the germs of prodigious
mental powers, will not be found, as other business
than the exaltation of a people, upon whom God has
passed his decree of servitude and inferiority, secured
in the imbecilities of their very natures.
Suppose the negroes in the southern states were all
set free ; would the southern and tropical countries
get their plantations of corn, tobacco, cotton, indigo,
oranges, rice and sugar cultivated? The whites can
not labor effectually in those countries, as they can
in the North, but the negro man is created in such a
manner as to resist, or rather to agree with, the heat,
fogs and dews of that atmosphere, so that he is not
injuriously affected by it, as are the whites.
There is no system but that of compulsory servi-
tude, by which this labor, on which so much depends,
can be done ; for if it is left to the free will or the ne-
cessities of the blacks, there could never be any cer-
tainty, as instances of freed blacks in the English
West India Islands refusing to work, has often oc-
curred, and this even among the better sort, such as
were members of religious societies. If, therefore,
these occurrences take place among the better sort of
blacks, what may not be expected from those of a
more improvident turn of mind, such as is the great
mass. On the island of St. Domingo, says Barclay
on Slavery in the West Indies, pages 8, 137, 350, 357^
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 353
once justly termed the Queen of the Antilles, cultiva- 1
tion has nearly ceased, the exportable commodities I
having dwindled down from one hundred and fifty- |
one thousand tons, to little more than seventeen j
thousand. President Boyer, of St. Domingo, offered I
to the free negroes of America, six thousand in num- |
ber, to give them land in the island, if they would I
come and live there and work the land. But when
they had seen the country, and the people of their
own race, they were glad to return to America, as , \
bad as their condition is represented to be in the
United States, which they preferred to all the mighty
privileges of Hayti, under a black president or king.
Barclay further states, that the case of the Ma-
roons in Jamaica is no better, showing how little the
possession of mere freedom betters the negro's condi-
tion. They have been free ever since the English
took possession of the island. Have they, inquires
Barclay, become more civilized, or more industrious ?
Every one knows they have not. The men continue
to roam half naked in the woods, hunting and fish-
ing, compelling their women to do the work, entire-
ly disregarding all the conveniences of industrious
life, choosing rather to be thus wretched than to la-
bor. This is exactly the character of their brethren,
■ i V the Hottentots, and the other tribes of Africa, who are
so lazy and improvident, says Bamberger, the trav-
eler. Vol. I, page 57, that they will nearly starve be-
fore they will even fish or hunt, preferring to wander
in the woods, living on berries and roots.
With this view, it would be national madness to
emancipate the southern blacks; besides, the irrepara-
354 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
ble injury to the very negroes themselves, in casting
their myriads — poor, ignorant, helpless and naked-
upon imbecile resources, placing them in a condition
favorable to immediate destruction. The slaves of
the southern states, it is said, amount to more than
three millions. Were this almost countless host set
free to-day^ who can calculate the horrible mischief
and ruin that would follow, not only to the white
population, but to the blacks also? On the first night
of the day of their emancipation, there would be heard
over the entire land, the bleat and bellowing of flocks
and herds — fires would be seen in all directions, by
which their cooking in the open air would be carried
on. All this would be foreseen by the calculating
whites, who would be prepared with guns and de-
fensive arms, when murders and strife would rage in
all directions. What next ? The military would be
put in requisition, when the work of death and
slaughter would go on like a fire in the wilderness,
over the entire southern states. The negroes would
now become the objects of terror and midnight dread
to houses in remote and unprotected places. Prison-
ers would be taken in multitudes, who would be
shot down or hanged without judge or jury. In such
a state of things, the negroes would take to the woods
and caves of the mountains, and the morasses of the
lower lands, from whence sallying forth in different
portions of the country, as they should be impelled
by hunger, revenge, or love of violence and robberies,
perpetrating deeds of horror and crime every where.
To head and lead them on, there would not be want-
ing base white men, who, to profit by the times, would
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 355
furnish arms and provisions, exciting the wratli of
the blacks, on account of their former slavery and
present trouble.
But, says one — an abolitionist — all this, as above,
is but conjecture — a mere fiction — which supposes
that the negroes would not be willing to labor on the
southern plantations, were they emancipated. But
experience, in all cases where the thing has been tried,
proves that the conjecture is true, in a great measure,
and, besides that, they manifest no such emotion as
gratitude on such occasions. An exhibition of their
feelings, when set free, is seen in the fate of the white
owners on the island of St. Domingo, who, when the
French National Assembly, 1791, decreed that all
the negroes of that island were free and equal with
the whites, they immediately butchered the whole
population. — Butler'^s History of ths United States,
Vol. HI, page 392.
This was one of the wild, deluded and mad de-
crees of the horrible French revolution, which had
for one of its immediate effects, the total extermina-
tion of the white population of St. Domingo, in which
neither age nor sex were spared from the dagger.
The women were violated of all ages, and then killed,
so great was the hatred and violence of the freed;
blacks. Were the same course pursued by the great
South, in setting the slaves all free at once, there
would, beyond all doubt, follow a tragedy of the same
description, as there is no natural love between the
races, especially when the negro is made free and
eqjual. In this particular, the abolitionists of Ameri-
ca, in their doctrine of an immediate and simultane
356 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
ous emancipation of the negroes of all the southern
states, are as far out of the way, as were the furious
mobs of the French revolution, who could not see the
difference there is between black and white. Were
the three and a half million of slaves of the South
set free, and were they, to a man, to manifest no
hostile feelings, yet, how could they be saved from
becoming paupers over the whole of those countries,
seeing they have no land or means of support ? Their
natural improvidence of mind is well known to all ;
on which account they would, as to the great mass,
have to be supported by the whites as legal paupers,
unless they were compelled to labor, to prevent such
a result, which compulsion would be but a renewal
of slavery, were it resorted to. Perfect and unquali-
fied liberty, extended to the slaves of the whole South,
would be the certain ruin, not only to the great ne-
gro population, but of the whites also, as the requir-
ed labor would not be performed ; and yet the blacks
would have to be supported by the whites, who would
soon have nothing to do it with, as the wealth of the
whole slave states depends on agriculture alone.
The interference of the northern states with the
slave question, as to the principle of the thing, is a
most unwarrantable violation of state rights, inas-
much as the slave system, as practiced in the South,
is no injury to the North, but rather of immense good,
as shown in the production of tropical commodities ;
in which fact it is clearly seen, that the interests of
the two regions of the Union are blended in one. He,
therefore, who favors the interruption of state rights
©ranted in the great compact, as set forth in the Con-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. iJ57
stitution, is a disorganizer, and is blind to the inter-
ests of the great family of the Union, therein agree-
ing with the bitterest enemy (the English govern-
ment) America has among all the nations of the earth,
who are ever aiming to cripple the commerce and
productions of this country, in order to favor that of
their own. In agreement with this disorganizing
spirit, there is, at this moment, existing a powerful
combiLation of abohtionists, who have formed a mul-
titude of lines or routes, by which runaway slaves
are enabled to m^^ke their escape from the respective
states bordering on the North. These men furnish
money, horses, and all necessary aids for the escape
of runaways, giving them countenance and support
in their houses, until they can reach the Canadas ;
thus coalescing with the British in robbing the citi-
zens of the South of their property, as recognized in
the Constitution of the States.
What is to be thought of such men, who not only
violate the ceded and acknowledged right of the
slaveholding states, but are also united with an
ancient etiemi/ of the Union, in disturbing and en-
dangering the peace and safety of the whole coun
try?
In pursuance of this kind of violence and outrage
upon the feelings and lawful interests of the public,
the Massachusetts Legislature of 1843, have passed
a law, that no diiierence shall be made by the agents
of steam cars on the railroads of that State, between
black and white passengers; in this way compelling
citizens of their own state, and those of the others,
as well as foreigners, to mingle and associate with
358 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, ANT.
blacks, whether it is agreeable or not. — See ''^Daily
American Citizen,'" Feb. 2, 1 843.
Do the people of Massachusetts, or abolitionists in
general, imagine they have a right to make laws to
compel an association between two races of men, so
different from each other as are negroes and white
men — a difference which God himself is the author
of, and was, therefore, never to be infringed? Such
conduct is nothing short of rebellion against God,
manifested in this attempt, confounding the order of
creation.
Is it not far more wise to let the negro race remain
as they are in the South, than to set them free, and
thereby put them in a position of becoming immedi-
ately, in all the states, wherever they may choose to
wander, an expense as paupers, and, at the same
time, destroy the agricultural interestsof one-half the
United States, as it is impossible to supply the place
of the slaves with white laborers, in the hot climates?
It is said by abolitionists, that on account of the
slavery of the South, that the costs of carrying the m,ail
in those regions, amount to more than the income, be-
cause slavery, they say, discourages labor; but this
position of theirs must be false, as, without the ne-
gro's services, there would be no agricultural labor at
all; in which case the costs of carrying the mail
would be immensely increased, and the income de-
preciated in the same ratio.
There is, therefore, no M'-ay under the light and
auspices of Heaven, by which the southern portions
of the United States, and other tropical countries, can
be inhabited by civilized men, but by that of negro
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 359 j
j
labor. And as negroes will not labor, unless com-
pelled, there is, therefore, no way left in the Divine
Providence to accomplish this, but that of their en-
slavement.
That the English put no dependence in the dispo-
sitions of the freed blacks to do the work of theii
plantations in the West India Islands, and elsewhere
in their various and great possessions in different
parts of the world, is shown in their new expedient |
of inveigling away from their homes and country, a i
certain class of the natives of India, called Hill Cool-
ies, who they employ instead of the slaves they have
freed, whose labor will cost them even less than their
former slave labor. For an account of the Hill Coolie
business, see Little's Museum of Literature, Science
and Art, Vol. 34, No. 189, p. 140, year 1838.
These Hill Coolies are not negroes, but a yellow,
swarthy race, of the lowest of the laboring casts in
India. According to the work above quoted, it is
said that there are circumstances attending the in-
veigling these men from their country, to traverse
half the globe in quest of labor, which shows that
some principle, far enough from justice or mercy, ac •
tuates the English in this business, notwithstanding
their seemingly noble generosity in manumitting their
slaves, which is trumpeted over the whole earth, as a
deed of immense benevolence and sacrifice. The
Parliament of England do not often make sacrifices
in their bargains, nor relinquish their grasp of power,
in any particular, gratuitously ; if they did, they |
would not oppress their own subjects as they do, on
wriuch account the great mass of their people lack their
360 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
daily bread. This is well known to all the world,
and is occasioned by perpetual and exhorbitant taxa-
tions, causing the people of both England and Ire-
land to run away to America, and other countries, to
avoid being starved to death.
Even the abolitionists of America denounce the
English government in the most direct and accusito-
ry terms, in relation to insincerity, respecting their
profession of philanthropy toward enslaved human
beings under their control, in the conquered countries
of India. The abolitionists charge the English with
aiding in the emancipation of the negro race, just as
much as their political interests invite them, and no
more; this is no doubt a true charge.
To show the truth of this charge, as well as the
fact of English insensibility to the negro's liberties,
we see, in the N. Y. Express, June 21, 1842, that
they are now actually in the business of getting ne-
gro's from the wilds of Africa, along the coasts of the
river Gambia. This, however, they do not affect
in the same way as heretofore, or prior to the compact
of the nations on this subject, but they do it under a
form of law, in the shape of an indenture, the same
as taking apprentices. In affecting this, the negro is
compelled to take a pen between his fingers, while
the hand is guided by the grip of the master, so that
the name of the negro is set to the seal of the instru-
ment, who is as ignorant of the power of the article
as would be a monkey, were one compelled to write
The blacks, thus apprenticed are brought from the
interior by negro capturers, as formerly employed by
the English, and paid for so domg. The term of
FORTUNKS, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 361
time they are thus apprenticed, is fourteen years.
But when the time is up, who is there to tell them
they are free? will their masters?
As late as February, 1842, a vesel of five hundred
tons le t the river above named, laden with five hun-
dred such apprentices. Thus, it is seen, that the
English have invented a way by which they avoid
the virtue of the treaty of the nations, who have de-
creed it iriracy^ to procure slaves from Africa, and
yet desire to be lauded, because of her great love
for the liberties of the negro race, especially such as
are slaves in America.
There is another view, in which this great and
seemingly generous act of the English, in setting
her negroes free, is to be examined ; and this relates
directly to the destruction of the produce of the
southern states. Could England but cripple Amer-
ica in this particular, and lessen in any degree, or
wholly destroy the production of rice, cotton, tobac-
co, &c., it would increase their own trade in these
articles, as these very products will soon be poured forth
from their possessions in Africa, in amount sufficient
to supply all their own wants, and even to sell to
American manufacturers. Now let the negroes go
free in the southern states, and this great job is done.
It is evident, therefore, that true benevolence and
philanthropy, had no influence on the mind of the
English parliament in emancipating her slaves, but
rather, in that transaction, there was designed to be
sown the seeds of future profit and speculation in
the division and ruin of the United States. If the
negro question can but be pushed hard enough and
24
362 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
long enough to provoke the soutliern states, to sepa-
rate themselves from the North, and to form a new
government, then a civil war will arise in the coun-
try, when the English will fall on, as opportunity
and advantage may offer. All her powers in the
Canadas, the Indians of the far north-west, with the
runaway negroes, the latter of whom amount, even
now, in Canada, to many thousands of drilled troops,
who are ready for a day or an hour to rush to the
battle, as directed by their masters.
To this mighty plan of ruin, the abolitionists are
blinded by the deceitful flatteries of an enemy, who
invite them to England to talk about the awful suf-
ferings of the poor slaves in the free states of Amer-
ica, to make speeches and to weep, while they
encourage the fanatics to go on in their political ad-
venture, of sooner or later getting an abolition presi-
dent, senate and congress ; then would be achieved
the liberties of the negroes, an event which the En-
glish care just as much about, so far as it relates to
the happiness of the race, as they do about the liber-
ties of the kangaroos of New Holland, except as such
an event would make for their own interests, in the
ruin of this country.
The possessions of the English nearly surround
the United States at this moment, commencing at the
West India Islands, from thence to New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Lower and Upper Can-
ada, New Britain, reaching quite to the Rocky Moun-
tains, and a part of the almost boundless Oregon,
comprehending all that region of unexplored country
beyond or west of the Rocky Mountains, quite to the
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 363
ocean. This vastly important country they had the
impudence to claim, because, as they say. Captain
Cook discovered the co^st in one of his voyages round
the world, and have actually made a settlement on
an island in Q,ueen Charlotte Sound, at the conflu-
ence of the Columbia with the Pacific. Here they
have a park of artillery, consisting of a hundred large
cannon, with all the other munitions of war, besides
several ships of the line, always afloat in those wa-
ters. At this place they furnish their hunters with
articles for the Indian trade, consisting of guns, hatch-
ets, knives, clothing, trinkets, ammunition, &c., paying
no duties to the American government for the intro-
duction of these wares, as they ought to do. In re-
turn, they receive of the Indians and traders, the
furs and peltry of that vast region, inhabited by many
Indian nations. In this very region of country, there
are more than eighty thousand inhabitants under
British law. They have also recently taken foi
debt, from the government of Central America, a
large tract of land, so situated as to eventually com-
mand the isthmus of Darien — that narrow strip of
land which unites North and South America, a po-
sition which, ere long, will give them untold advan-
tages, in case of the construction of a ship canal
through, from the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans,
instead of going round Cape Horn, as they do
now.
The name of this place, at the mouth of the Col-
umbia, is Vancouver. It is evident, that the English
do, in reality, covet the control of the whole earth ;
for at this moment, she gives law to more than sixty
cJ64 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
millions of the human race, in the Indies alone, and
will, eventually, to all China, Hindoostan, &,c., be-
yond the Russian possessions, and the other coun-
tries of Europe. The English parliament, at this
moment, govern more than one-eighth of the human
race, which consists of about eight hundred millions,
one-eighth of whom are under the control of the
lords of England. Is not this a power to be dread-
ed, and to be watched against? The possession of
the Oregon region is of very great importance to the
future glory and benefit of this country, as, by it, not
only many new states may be added to the Union,
over which the benign principles of a republican and
popular government may be extended, but the trade
with China, and the whole vast countries of the west-
ern ocean, along the coasts of Asia, would be secur-
ed to the cities, towns and countries yet to rise, all
along the coast of the Pacific, which belongs to
America.
It was in these very regions, along the coast of the
Pacific, that the first inhabitants of America, after
the tlood, settled, who came from China, across the
ocean, peopling the islands in their course. These
first inhabitants were the authors and builders of the
great cities now in ruins, found in both South and
North America, the discovery of which so much as-
tonishes mankind at present. And the reason why
they had a knowledge of architecture so perfect, as
is manifest by the ruins now every where being dis-
covered in the western and southern regions, is, be-
cause they derived it from the family of Noah, at a
time so near to the fiood, that the art was not then
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 365
lost when they came to this country. The ruins,
therefore, above alluded to, are specmieiis, not only
of the architecture of the first age after the flood, but
also of the antediluvian world, as it cannot be sup-
posed that any other mode of building would have
obtained so soon after that event, and when the na-
tions were but young. Were we even to conjecture
that jShe??i, the great Melchisedek of the Scriptures,
may have visited America ; we do not feel that it
could be considered as a thing impossible, when it
is recollected that he lived five hundred years aftei
the flood. Long before five hundred years had pass-
ed by, the children of Noah had begun to people the
shores of the eastern ocean opposite to America, as
well as the islands adjacent. They had a knowl-
edge of ship building, as shown in the construction
of the ark; on which account mankind, and, among
the rest, the Phoenician negroes, availed themselves
of navigation. What, therefore, was to hinder his
visiting the new settlements, not only on the islands,
but those on the continent itself. Among the Mexi-
cans there is still a tradition of the great Manco Copac,
who once was among them, from whom they receiv-
ed all knowledge respecting agriculture and the arts. j
Were this not so, or, at least, had not the people j
of Peru, and of Mexico, have had, at the outset in
this country, some extraordinary impetus of the kind, }
they would not, in all probability, have arrived afso |
great a perfection, as they did in many respects, as
was seen when the Spaniards overran those countries,
and as is seen in the amazing ruins now being dis-
covered which denote a state of architectural knowl
'd&tf ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
edge far beyond any thing done by the native nations
since those Jirsi ages. It was along that coast and
the countries adjacent, that tlie heft of the first
population existed, when the regions of America,
along the shores of the Atlantic^ were in a wild and
unknown state, except where the Chinese had cross-
ed the continent, as at Yucatan, and other places
further south. Europe, at that time, was unknown,
as men had not found their way so soon through
the unknown wilds from the Euphrates, a dis-
tance of more than four thousand miles to the At-
lantic.
This very region, the coast of the Pacific, along
the whole length of the Oregon^ which is a country
of nealy seven hundred miles in length, by four hun-
dred wide, is destined to become again as populous
as at first, and that, almost immediately, when the
ocean of the Pacific shall again be whitened with
the sails of commerce, carried on betv/een America,
China, and the Indies. Were it not much better that
the Americans should avail themselves of all this
greatness, than that the English should doit? which
is the plan they are in pursuit of, as well as the
subjugation of all ihe eastern world west of this
country.
The English, in their secret councils, had deter-
mined that the United States should be bounded on
the west by the Rocky xMountains, on the north from
sea to sea, by the Canadas and Britisli America, and
the south by her own and the Mexican empire: thus,
the design was to hem the United States in on every
Bide. Now, with a view tu aid in the acomplishment
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 367
of all this, press the glorious negro question hard,
and still harder, till the southern people shall be pro-
voked to declare themselves independent of the North ;
then one grand step toward the final ruin of America
will be taken, never to be recalled.
From the circumstance of the transportation of the
wretched Indian men by the English to work their
plantations in the hot countries, it is evidence beyond
all argument to the contrary, that they do not, and
dare not depend on the emancipated blacks to do this
work. On this account the great argument of abo-
litionists, namely, that the negroes will certainly work
faithfully for their former masters, out of pure grat-
itude for the gift of their liberty, is refuted, and
should open the eyes of all honest abolitionists to a
sight of the phantom the English have put them in
chase of.
To exalt the negro race to an equality in Christen-
dom, politically, with white men, will not subserve
the purposes of humanity toward that race, as they
are not capable of sustaining a standing on ground
so high. Had not the Creator have estimated the
African race as exceedingly inferior, the decree of
servitude would not have been announced against
them. To exalt this people, therefore, to political
equality, will be to admit of a deteriorating element
in the midst of superiors, which will amount to noth-
ing more or less than a blemish in the heart of the
institutions of the country, on account of their natu-
ral incongeniality of natures, passions, character and
constitutional make.
In all the states where they are free, the negro pop*
368 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
ulation decreases in numbers with a rapid stride, on
account of their natural improvidence, which occa-
sions the premature death of their infants ; the doc-
trine of emancipation, therefore, is but a doctrine oi |
death to tlie negro, though bearing the sweet name
of liberty written on its front. \
That the great men of England, her rich mei J
chants, (fcc, are not honest in the prejudice they have \
occasioned in the world against America, on account \
of negro slavery, is seen in the remarks of Sir Rob- !
ert Peel, Premier of the Empire, w^ho accused the ;.
merchants of his country of being still deeply inter- >■
ested in the slave trade^ and stated that the evidence '
of the fact could be produced. t
As a further and still more striking evidence of j
their hatred of human liberty^ we notice their late |
operations in India, see the following account, given \
by the Rev. J. Piermont : "The sanguinary war by |
which Great Britain has subjugated millions of India, '
and the stern despotism with which she rules and j
starves them, that her merchant-princes may roll in
splendor and bask in voluptuousness, have a voice
which the whole thickness of the globe cannot keep
from our eais. A more beautiful country than that
from Cuddalone to Tanjore, in Madras, cannot be im-
agined. The dense population and rich soil give
their energies to each other, and produce a scene of
surpassing loveliness. But the taxes and other causes,
keep down the laborers to a state below that of the
southern slaves. Go with me into the north-west
provinces of the Bengal presidency, and I will show
you the bleaching bones of five hundred thousand \
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 369
human beings, who perished of hunger in the short
space of a few months. The air, for miles, was
poisoned with the effluvia of the dead — the river
choked with floating corpses ; jackalls, vultures and
crocodiles, fattened upon the bodies of men, women
and infants, in many cases, even before life was ex-
tinct. This occurred in British India, in the reign of
Victoria I."
Under the administration of Lord Clive, a fam-
ine in the Bengal province swept off three mil-
lions; and, at the same time, the British specula-
tors had their granaries f,Ued to repletion with
corn, which the inhabitants were too poor to buy,
while the grain was exported elsewhere, and sold
at a higher price than it could be sold for in that
country.
This is the people and government with whom the
abolitionists are now coalescing on the subject of hu-
man liberty and human rights, to the very great in-
jury of America, and to their own expungeless
shame.
That abolitionists have been, and are now, in se-
cret and open compact with the leading characters
of England, on the subject of slavery in America, is
shown from the speeches made in the great meeting
of the abolitionists of both countries, held recently in
London.
A Mi: Wendell Phillips, in a set speech in that
mighty convenfion, stated as follows : " That though
the connection had been dissolved between this coun-
try (England) and America, as far as holding its own
parliaments, and directing its own aflairs, yet they
370 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
were in its vassalage, as far as talents and geniv^
were concerned. The anti-slavery abolitionists had
eloquent and devoted men in their cause, but the
American public would not listen to them. England^
and England alone, was the fulcrum by which
American slavery was to be uprooted forever. It was
not with America (to do this), for it was beyond her
power."
If it is beyond the power of America, in her legis-
lative halls, to help herself in any respect, whether
in relation to slavery or any other matter, how is a
foreign power to assist but in a way of aggression and
insult, as invited by abolitionists, in their adulatory
and fulsome speeches, as is seen in the above? In
this speech of Mr. Phillips, it appears that he readily
and eagerly gives the meed of praise, in relation to
genius and talent, to America's worst enemy, the
English, which is an infinite untruth; for, as yet,
that government have not genius nor talent enough
to be just, liberal and wise, toward her own sub-
jects, but crushes them down in every corner of
their empire, with taxations unbounded and without
end.
In this speech of Phillips, the English are fairly
invited to take a part in revolutionizing America on
the subject of slavery, when he said in that oration,
that '■^England, and England alone, was the ful-
crum [or lever power] by which American slavery
was to be uprooted forever."
In that meeting, a Mr. Galusha, an American,
who thought to say something which would greatly
tickle the ear of the nobility, and, withal, if possible,
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 371
to go beyond his brethren in extravagant remarks,
said, "The*only apology he could offer for his coun-
try (on the subject of slavery) was, that it was pos-
sessed by the devil. The delegates from America
asked for the aid of the people of England, to cast
this devil out." This man must be a believer in
witchcraft.
In some of the West India Islands, where the slaves
have been set free, it is known that a state of almost
universal vagrancy among the negroes has taken
place, who do not labor more than one day in six,
and barely enough to keep soul and body together,
the residue of the time being spent in thieving, drink-
ing and debauchery, which has been the character
of the race in all ages.
It is well known that the negro nations are un-
conquerably fond of ardent drinks, which, in a fiee
condition, is one reason of their misery, the use of
which, in a state of slavery, they cannot indulge, as
their masters will not allow it. Their liberation,
therefore, would only fill the entire country with
straggling paupers, especially the northern states, as
is seen in all the towns and cities of the free North,
as very few of the blacks elevate themselves above
a condition of vagrancy, when in a state of freedom.
In the diiferent states of the Union, where the negroes
are free, there are found many little settlements ot
this people, but always in some out of the way place,
from whence they sally forth by night to steal, in a
small way, from the farmers of their neighborhood.
But in the slave states, this they cannot do, as slaves
are fed and clothed by their masters, far better than
372
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
those who are tree, and are also withheld from
rambling and wandering about the Country If
such settlements and such neighbors are desirable
appendages to white communities, then set the ne-
groes free in all the states, when the object will be
abundantly realized, as a reciprocation of the immu
nities of white men in their social capacities, can nev
er be extended to the blacks, howe\ er visionaries ma>
fume and bustle to the contrary ; 51s the very ele-
ments of the physical existences of the two races —
the whites and the blacks — render such an event im-
possible, except by amalgamation^ which would be
the end of both races, in the production of a mulatto
species, which were produced, not by the Creative
hand as being original, but by a sin against the laws
of human nature.
Were the three millions and a half of slaves in the
South set free, the whole states would become infest-
ed with gangs and bandit parties, in all the wild and
more unsettled regions of the country, instead of
cleaving heart and soul to hard labor, as does the
white man, for the sake of bettering, physically and
morally, the condition of his race, and to keep it thus
bettered.
In the New England states, where the negroes
have been free these fifty years, have they in the
least elevated their characters or condition as men,
who set a proper estimate on human liberty? They
have not, for every where among them, the negro is
seen to be a negro still. In all the free states of the
North, it is the same with this people ; there is no
real elevation of character beyond the power by which
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 373
they are surrounded, and this is the infliience of the
customs and manners of the white population.
'Twas on Euphrate's shore, confusion blent,
To build the tower, just as the flood was spent;
Whose architects were negroes, black and brown,
And brought upon their work the Eternal's frowB.
So in the western world, old Kimrod^t friends
Are building up a tower for certain ends,
On which 'tis written — Abolitionism :
M'janing wild disorder, or any kind of schism.
But God. ^Hi'o sees their work, may laugh to i
And blast the parent ere tba child is born.
374 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
FOURTEENTH SECTION.
Replies to various abolition questions proposed to the author — Cir-
cumstances in which men find themselves possessed of slaves be-
yond their control, which is held to be God's providence in secur-
ing negro slavery, in agreement with his decree by Noan — Dif-
ference of negro sensibilities from that of the whites, on being
separated from wives and children, proven by facts — Argument
of abolitionists in favor of negro equality, founded on God's hav-
ing given the rule of all animals, as much to the blacks as to the
whites, replied to — Ham and Nimrod's opposition to the religicn
of Noah, founded on their hatred to him, on account of the curse,
who originated idolatry in the world — None but negroes engage<i
in the project of the tower — Happiness and well-being of the ne-
gro race seem to lie in the direction of the white man's control —
Fates of all the ancient negro kingdoms — Different estimate of the
negro, respecting human liberty and its uses, from the white
man — The races set out, after the flood, with equal opportunities,
but who has won the prize ? — Practical undervaluing of the negro
character by abolitionists — A curious position of abolitionists,
which supposes the hiring out of the race of Ham to the other
races would fulfill Noah's curse, replied to — A certain great ob-
jection of abolitionists to slavery, which charges owners of slaves
of giving them no wages, replied to — The patriarch, nor did the
Jew, pay slaves any wages as hired men, with many other matters.
During the time we have been occupied in pro-
ducing this work, the question has been frequently-
asked the writer, if he does not consider it a Christian
duty to enslave and hold in bondage, individuals of
the African race, seeing that we build our whole be-
lief in this matter upon the Divine Oracles ? There-
fore, say they, ought not Christian men, and all oth-
FORTUNES, OF TllK NKGRO RACE. 375
ers, to make tlie thing binding on their very con
sciences, and perseveringly assist in the accomphsh-
ment of so great a duty, as we should any and all
injunctions of the Scriptures not abrogated. Our re-
ply to this question is, that the Scriptures do not com-
tnand the enslavement of the negro race, but they
give a history of that people, in which is related the
account of their being cursed by the mouth of Noah,
and of the indorsement of that same curse in the law
of Moses, giving the right and privilege to the races
of Shem and Japheth to enslave them, if tliey will,
in which practice not even the New Testament op-
poses any objection.
But, says one, if it was not a command that the
two races of Shem and Japheth should enslave the
race of Ham, how then could there be any certainty
that the judicial decree of God, as announced by
Noah, that they should be servants, be secured to take
place 1 Our answer to this is, that the commands of
God make nothing sure, as all men are free to diso-
bey as they are free to obey ; but the decrees of God
are sure, without man's obedience or disobedience —
the Deity taking care so to shape things and circum-
stances, that his veracity shall not be impeached. It
is on this ground, and no other ground, that the ju
dicial decree of God, respecting Ham and his posteri-
ty, was made sure to take place, which, as all the
world knows, has been fulfilled, and will, doubtless,
still continue to be thus fulfilled, in some shape or
other, till the end of the world.
There can be no doubt but the chief means by
which the Divine wisdom has secured the accom-
37b ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AN1>
plishment of the personal enslavement of Ham's race,
is the position they hold in relation to the other two
races. The white and red men of the first ages, as
well as the same races now^ being actually of a more
noble and intellectual description of persow and comw-
tenance, overawe the more imbecile and cringing ne-
gro, who, on this account, naturally looks up for pro-
tection and support to the more conservative and
powerful races of Shem and Japheth. This being so,
which all men must acknowledge, they have natiir
rally and fortuitously become slaves, in myriads of
instances, and thus have secured the same fate to
their offspring in perpetuity. In this position there
is nothing that savors of sin, as it is but the weaker
seeking protection of the stronger — it is the natural
operation of circumstances, not to be avoided without
much trouble and resistance. How many freed blacks
there are in this country, who have gone again to
their former masters, having found it impossible to
take as good care of themselves free, as when slaves.
But there are other ways in the mutations of society,
occasioned by the revolution of nations, in which, as
it relates to individuals, there is no sin to be charged
upon them, though the negro race fall into their hands
as personal slaves, which is under the direction of
that Eye who will secure the accomplishment of his
decrees.
As it respects the cases of millions of families in
this and all countries, they find, as children and heirs,
that they are in possession of black slaves, without
their knowledge and consent, the same as the rest of
inherited estates and property. So it may be that, in
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 377
most cases, where the negro man is fonnd a slave,
that some uncontrollable circumstance at first neces-
sitated the purchase of the black man as a slave —
thus securing, without sin, the servitude of millions.
Africa herself, in all ages, has stood ready with her
billions of slaves, to tempt the cupidity of men in
their purchase, selling their own race for the merest
trifle a head — this has always been done by their
chiefs. In this, who is to blame ? The negro is too
Ignorant and imbecile to be charged with sin, in the
proper sense of the word, on this account; and thp
purchasers, what else could they do but take them
when offered, as their condition in life could not be
made worse by the transfer, but far better ? Thus the
Divine Providence, in an arbitrary manner, has ta-
ken care to accomplish its own judicial appointment
of the negro race to slavery.
Abolitionists, in their opposition to the principle of
negro slavery, contend that, as the Supreme Being
dealt severely in the way of judgment, with the
Egyptians, for refusing to let the Hebrews go free
from their condition of bondage in that country ; it is
made clear, therefore, as they believe, that he is not
pleased with the practice which enslaves the black
race. But, between the two cases there appears to
be no parallel — no likeness of condition — on which
account, though God punished and rebuked the Egyp-
tians for their behavior toward the Hebrews in that
affair, yet this furnishes no reason why we are tc
believe that, therefore, negj^o slavery is against his
will.
The Hebrews were sent from the land of Canaan
25
378 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
down to Egypt by God himself^ where they were re-
ceived as citizens^ and placed in the richest part of
the country, namely, in Goshen^ as in the hollow of
his hand, who preserved them there during four hun-
dred years, till such time as he should be ready to
return them again to the land of Canaan, as he had
promised to Abraham ; Gen. xv, 16. We do not
learn from the Scriptures that the Hebrews, during
their stay in Egypt, were slaves in the abject ox 'prop-
erty sense of the word, and that they were bought
and sold as such among the Egyptians^ but that
they were vassals only, and were compelled to pay
a heavy tax, in labor, to the government, which, to-
ward the close of their stay in that country, became
exorbitant in the extreme.
Respecting this labor, which they were compelled
to render, it does not appear that it was exacted du-
ring the whale time they were in Egypt, but only to-
ward the e7id of that sojourn. We come to the
conclusion that they were not held as personal slaves,
the same as negroes are in the southern states, because,
it is seen from Exod. xii, 32, that they had vast herds
of Jiocks and of cattle. If flocks and herds, then
they had the possession and occupancy of land, which
would also suppose houses, in which they dwelt, en-
joying all the domiciliary appendages of society, gov-
erning themselves, yet in a tributary condition. That
this was the fact, is shown from Exod. ix, 7, where
it is written, that "Pharaoh sent, and behold, there
was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead." But
to what place did Pharaoh send to find this out ? To
Goshen, the country which was given to the Israel-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 379
ites, when they came Jirst into Egypt, as is seen from
Gen. xlvii, 4, 11; which Goshen was in the land of
Ramases, the very best in the country of Egypt. If
the Hebrews were actual slaves, as persons are who
are bought and sold, then it was impossible for them
to possess property, as land, houses, cattle, and herds,
or to have maintained a system of nohility or elder-
ship, which they certainly did, as appears from Exod.
xii, 21, who at the very tiTiie of their oppression and
of the plagues, lived in Goshen, as is evident from
Exod. viii, 22. Had they been slaves, this could not
have been, as people of that cast have no titles, or
dignitaries, no nobility of any description, property,
or social compacts, as the Hebrews had at the very
time when Moses demanded their release from Pha-
*-aoh, and when he delivered them out of the coun-
try.
The bondage, therefore, to which they were
subjected, was that of vassalage, and the payment
of exorbitant taxes, required to be paid in labor, be-
yond their power to perform. It is very likely, that
the persons who performed this labor, in making
brick, were drawn out by draughts, so many from
every hundred, and then sent to the king's works for
a given time, and then returned again, when others
were draughted in their turn. Had this not been so,
the Hebrews could not have had possessions in the
country, or maintained any form of society whatever,
as they certainly did.
The Egyptians, from their earliest history, prac-
ticed buying and selling slaves of the property char-
acter, as is seen from the history of Joseph, who waa
380 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND t
sold as a slave to an Egyptian, by the Ishmaelites, |
and from other sources. But the Hebrews came into {
Egypt, not as slaves, but as citizens, in full fellow- I
ship and equality with the lords of Egypt, in virtue \
of their relation to Joseph, the savior of Egypt in
the days of the famine. We do not find that the
Scriptures have blamed the Egyptians because they i
held the Hebrews in a condition of vassalage, but
because they abused them, and would not let them |
go, when God called for them by the ministration of |
Moses. We see no parallel, therefore, between the 1
condition of the Hebrews in Egypt, and the slavery |
of the negro race, as ordained from the lips of Noah, j
and from Mount Sinai. \
Egypt was the house in which God saw fit to place
the seed of Abraham, till such time as the nations
of the land of Canaan should become ripe for destruc-
tion, when he intended to take the Hebrews away • '
from the Egyptians, as he had promised Abraham; i
Gen. XV, 13, 14. The sojourn of the people of Israel
in the country of Egypt, was not, therefore, a state
of bond slavery, in which the Egyptians claimed and j
held them as their property, but only as a nation of \
vassals, providentially placed among them, who, on
account of their rapid increase in the country oppress-
ed them grievously, in order to keep them from be-
coming numerous, as appears from Exod. i, 9-11.
Had they not been a body politic in Egypt, they
could not have acquired wealth, so as to have left the
country possessed of great substance, besides that
which the Egyptians, in their fear, bestowed upon
them, when they went out of the country, toward
I
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 381
the Red Sea. Egypt, it is true, is often alluded to in
the Scriptures as having been the house of bondage
to the Hebrews, and their condition while there,
that of bondmen^ yet of the vassal character, not
-property slaves ; states of human being widely dif-
fererit from each other.
The United States, while under the yoke of Great
Britain, was a condition of national bondage, but no
man was a bond slave on that account, and yet, in
PRINCIPLE, their condition was just the same with
the Hebrews in Egypt, except the latter were more
severely treated. There were many reasons why
the Supreme Being saw fit to place the hneage of the
Messiah in the condition the Hebrews endured in
the country of Egypt ; one of which was, that, there-
by, occasion might arise for him to exhibit his power
as the God of the universe, by which means the in-
significance and nothingness of all other gods might
be seen. The judgments, therefore, which were let
loose in ten signal displays upon Egypt, as well as
the death of many ten thousands in the Red Sea,
were in pursuance of that design, as well, also, as to
punish the haughty and cruel negro king of the Nile
for not letting the Hebrews go, when they were called
for by the God of the universe.
The rebuke, therefore, of the Egyptians, on that
occasion, affords no argument in support of that opin-
ion, that God was ever displeased with negro slavery,
as, between the two cases, the Hebrews in Egypt,
and the negroes under the curse, present no parallels
to each other, as to the reasons or principle of the
occurrences. If the argument which abolitionists
382 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
draw from that history and circumstance, is correct
namely, that God is opposed to negro slavery, how
came it to pass, in a few months after those awful
displays of his power upon the Egyptians, that he
gave a permit to the Hebrews to enslave the negro
heathen people of old Canaan, in the very law of Mo-
ses, given from Heaven on Mount Sinai ? I'', as ab-
olitionists say, God punished the Egyptians for hold-
ing the Hebrews in a state of slavery, and from that
alone, how could he justify the enslaving of the Ca-
naanite heathen immediately after? 'the idea is
preposterous, irreconcilable and absurd. Thus falls
to the ground, every argument and position which
abolitionists conjure up from the Scriptures, which
goes to contradict the decree of God on the negro
question.
There is one trait among the incidents of negio
slavery, upon which abolitionists fix their eye with
an awful and fierce intensity, calling on all mankind
to come and see the horrid sight; and this is the
circumstance of separating the families of slaves, by
their being sometimes sold to other masters. On this
subject, abolitionists argue the same as they would
were the case their own, imagining that negro parents
feel such a circumstance as acutely, and as sentimen-
tally as witite families would under similar circum-
stances. But this is a mistake, as we believe, and
does not apply to the negroes case, as it would to that
of the whites, on account of a want of the higher intel-
lectual faculties of the mind of the blacks. On occa-
sions of severe bereavement, tlie feelings of negro pa-
rents seem to be «of shorter duration ; as it is well
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 383
known that the bond of marriage and family obliga-
tion with that race, is of but secondary considerations,
or of slight influence, as a knowledge o/, and a par-
ticipation in, high intellectual love and elevated affec-
tions, is not reached by the black man's soul.
On this very account, the desire of promiscuous
intercourse prevails in negro society far more than
among the whites, and is carried out in their practice.
The power of this trait of their constitutional make,
no doubt operates in lessening their attachments to re-
fined family endearments, so that when separated
from each other by being sold, it is not so grievous a
thing as it would be to the mind and feelings of a
white man or woman.
This trait of the negro character was always thus,
a striking proof of which is related by Herodotus,
Vol. vi, p. 77, as follows : " At a certain time, when
the Persians had the mastery of Egypt, there was a
tribe who had revolted, and after an unsuccessful
struggle against their conquerors, the male part of
the population of their citadel or town, came to a
resolution of secretly making their escape, leaving
their families and kindred behind to look out for
themselves, while they should reach, if possible,
the Ethiopian country, that lay at the head of the
Nile.
"But as soon as it was known to the Persians, they
pursued the fugitives and soon came up with them,
when a parley took place. The Persians endeavored
to persuade the negroes to return, by alluding to their
gods, their wives and children, from whom they were
to be forever separated, if they persisted in their project.
384 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
But when this appeal was made, to the dearesi sen-
sibilities of the human mind, one of their number
leaped out from the midst of his fellows, and in a
loud stentorian voice, said, as he exposed himself im-
properly, wherever v/e go [perveho talis) more wives
and more children can be obtained, when they took to
their heels and were soon out of sight in the wilder-
ness,"
In agreement with this disposition, it is said by all
travelers, and those acquainted with the true African
negro character, that parents will sell their little chil-
dren for almost any trifle, as a piece of cloth, a girdle
of beads, a bottle of wi?ie or brandy, or any trinket
which strikes their fancy ; and this they will do with
the knowledge of the certain enslavement of their
offspring. — " Universal Traveler," j^age, 404.
We know, it can be said, that the Jew would sell
his child, but it was with the knowledge of its re-
lease in six years to freedom again. It may also be
said, that the Circassians, who are white, will sell
their daughters to the Turks, but this is done, not to
enslave them, but to exalt them to the honor of be-
ing a member of some great man's harem — this is
owing to their false education, not insensibility of na-
ture.
But the negro man sells his babe as an abject slave,
brutally, for almost no reward, never to see it again,
the transaction taking place on the part of the negro
parent with all the apathy and indifference they would
sell a dog.
In all this, does it not appear that there is a differ-
ence between the affections of the two races toward
FORTUNES, OF THE ISiKGRO RACE, 385
their offspring, and that the separating of negro pa-
rents from their children is not as grievous as aboU-
tionists seem to beUeve ?
This being true, in comphment to the amehorating
genius of the age, it were as well, perhaps, to discour-
age occurrences of the kind — it would be more pa-
triarchal and fatherly.
It is not very likely that Ham and his family were
very well pleased with the curse and denunciation
of Noah, which put them, with all who should pro-
ceed from their house, under the ban of everlasting
servitude to the races of their brethren. This cir
cumstance, beyond all doubt, raised up in the minds
of that people, an unconquerable hatred, not only to-
ward Noah, but also toward Shem and Japheth, with
their entire posterities, in those ages.
On this account, it was that Ham left the paternal
tents and altar of sacrifice, near Ararat, much soon-
er than did the other sons, wandering still further
down the Euphrates toward the sea, till they came
to the great flats of jShitiar, where Nimrod, the grand-
son of Ham, commenced the foundation of his em-
pire, and where he, with Ham and all the race, set
about building the tower, as a defense against another
flood, and as a temple of idolatry and a rallying
point for their tribes in coming ages. It was, no
doubt, on the account of Noah's curse that Nimrod,
the great leading spirit, like Satan among the fallen
angels, opposed himself so cruelly with all his pow-
er, to the religion of Noah, as propagated by ^hem,
who was Melchisedek His grand object was lo pro-
duce and consolidate a power by which to protect
386 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
his race against the threatened servitude of Noah, his
grand-sire, announced in the curse, as well as to es-
tablish a contrary system of religion, which would
subserve the same end.
At the time of the confusion of the language, there
was none of the races of Shem and Japheth there ;
that operation — the building of the tower — was whol-
ly of negro invention, who had the requisite geomet-
rical knowledge at the time, derived from the house
of Noah, who brought this knowledge, with all other,
from beyond the flood. On this account, for some
hundred years, the first people of those countries had
more scientific knowledge than the nations, many of
them, had a thousand years afterward.
But, how is it known that the races of Shem and
Japheth did not participate in the wicked project of
the tower ? It is shown from the natural antipathy
of the children of Shem toward the blacks, and also
from its being an idolatrous temple, or tower, from
which the descendants of Shem and Japheth would
turn with horror, especially while Noah, Shem, Ar-
phaxad, and others of the patriarchs of the holy line,
were yet alive, and the dictators of the religion and
morals of the people.
Josephus says, in his Jewish Antiquities, p. 19, that
Nimrod was a bold man and of great muscular
strength. The Jewish Rabbi say, also, in their tra-
dition, that he was a mighty giant, and of a morose,
cruel and savage temper, a tyrant among his people,
who forced men from the fear ot God, threatening to
be revenged on God for destroying the world by wa-
ter. Moses says he was a mighty hunter before the
FORTUNES, OP THE NEGRO RACE. 387
Lord; to which the Rabbi add, that he not only
hunted and destroyed the wild animals which abound-
ed beyond measure in that early age, but that he also
killed men, unless they would unite with him against
Grod and the religion of Noah.
That the blacks of that age and of the house of
Nimrod were violent persecutors of the race and re-
ligion of Shem and Noah, as related by Josephus, is
supported by a Persian tradition, which says that
they having, at a certain time, got into their hands a
child of the family of Terah, which was Abraham,
they cast it into a strong fire. But when they looked
to see it writhe and agonize in the flarnes, behold, the
place of the fire had become a hedge of roses, in full
bloom, where the infant lay embedded, as on a couch
of down formed of those flowers.
NiMROD, Ham, and coadjutors, therefore, were the
great fathers of idolatry in the world after the flood,
who inducted the people into their system of religion
by combining the indulgence of one of the strongest
passions of animal nature with the worship of the
gods, making such indulgence one of the chief vir-
tues, because, from this indulgence proceeded the
human race, as they believed, by which means the
world was peopled — a religion in exact agreement
with the naturally obscene propensities of the negro
race.
In the bosom of a negro man, the idea of liberty,
freedom and independence, does not give rise to the
same sensations, hopes, and expectations, that it does
in the bosom of the whites. To the mind of a slave,
or even of a free black man, with but small excep-
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND.?.
tion, the idea of liberty is but the idea of a holyday,
in which they are to be let loose from all restraint
or control ; they are to play, work, or sleep, as
may suit their incUnation, following out, to the ut-
most, the perfect indulgence of indolence, stupidity,
and the animal passions.
But to the mind of the white man, liberty is the
means of the moral and physical improvement of
himself and race ; it is the field of labor, out of which
will arise, as wheat from the seed, a harvest oi knowl-
edge, intellectual refinement, well ordered society, the
advancement of the arts and sciences, government of
the passions, with every good thing that can charm
the elevated mind and conduce to the bliss of human
existence. The races set out with equal opportuni-
ties, at the subsiding of the flood, but who has won
and taken the prize of power — of social and mental
improvement.
It cannot be denied, that, to the perceptions of a
white man, the negro's case is a hard one, and was
fully foreknown to the Creator, who is merciful and
kind ; yet he did not see fit not to create them, and to
create them in the loins of Ham, a degraded race, as
well as to appoint them to servitude, while the father
of the race was yet alive. If the hard lot of this peo-
ple ajQTords at present a reason why they should be
set free, such as are in slavery, it can be said in re-
ply, that the same reason existed at first, in the eye
of the Divine foresight, with all the force that it does
now.
Such a course, however, namely, not to create them,
did not please the Maker, as it was agreeable to him
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 389
that they should exist, and exist as we find them, a
race totally different from the whites, in every respect
that can be thought of, except that they are human,
but of the lowest order, and eminently adapted to a
state of servitude.
But, says an abolitionist, we do not disagree to the
African race being servants, if they desire it — that is,
hired servants — as in this way the Scriptures, or word
of prophesy by Noah, can as well be fulfilled as that
the race should be slaves. To this position we re-
ply, that it is extremely short-sighted ; as he who
hires himself out to labor is not a slave servant, in
any sense of the word, but is a free man, having, at
his own will, disposed of his labor, not of his body,
as he saw fit. The Scriptures, in the law of Moses,
make a great distinction between a slave and a hired
man. See Levit. xxv, 39, 40, where it is written as
follows : " Thou shalt not compel him [a Hebrew] to
serve as a bond servant, but as a hired servant." But,
notwithstanding the discriminating remark of Moses,
abolitionists can discover no difference in the two
cases, confounding them together, because they will,
and not because they do not know better. Were this
the way in which the spirit of God directed Noah to
curse the race of Ham with servitude, and the way
in which he intended its fulfillment, namely, that
they were generally to hire themselves out to work
for other people, then it would follow that this curse
applied as much to both the other races as it did to
Ham's race ; for there are found as many laborers
among the other races, and especially the whites, who
work on hire, as among the blacks, and a tboi -and
390 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
times as many, as they are a more industrious peo-
ple. Surely, the Supreme Being could never have
intended to call a man cursed because he should hire
himself out to labor : there must be, therefore, some
worse meaning attached to the idea of a bo7id servant,
than the hiring of one's self out. On this view of the
subject, hontC service cannot be made out, as personal
bondage supposes the holding of our bodies as prop-
erty; consequently, when Moses said to the Hebrews,
that if they wanted bondmen and bondmaids, who
were to serve them forever, they were to buy them —
not hire them — of the heathen, and to hold them by
compulsion, as a possession for themselves and their
children after them, which they could not do with a
hired man.
From thisYiew of the subject, it is easy to perceive
that the arguments of abolitionists entirely neutralize
the force of the denunciation of Noah, respecting
Ham's race, causing it to refer as much to one people
as to another, who may chance to hire themselves out
to labor, making it a curse to do so, and they who
do it a cursed race. Is not this a fair result of their
position ?
But, says an abolitionist, we do not believe that the
curse of Noah signified or related, in any sense, to
such a thing as the personal bondage of any of the
race of Ham, with a view to their bodily enslavement ;
that curse, we hold, was wholly of a national char-
acter, and was fulfilled, as it related to Shem's rule,
when the Jews subdued old Canaan ; and, as to Ja-
phetKs rule, when the white nations, under Alexander,
destroyed oM Tyre and Zidon, with other negro
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 391
countries, putting them under tribute and national
servitude.
To this, as to the other problem, we must reply,
that it will not do, as, by this mode of interpretation,
all the other nations of the earth, who have alternate-
ly subdued each other by war, policy, or stratagem,
and laid one another under vassalage and tribute,
are, therefore, equally cursed with the Race of Ham,
as to the quintescence of the thing, as it was no worse
for the negro Canaanites to be put under vassalage
and tribute, than any other people, so that they were
no more under a Divine curse than any of the rest
of mankind when conquered. Wherefore, in this
way of explaining the text, abolitionists make it void
and indefinite, as to its particular application, which
the whole history, as written by Moses in the ninth
chapter of Genesis, disallows.
There is but one way remaining to give that scrip-
ture. Gen. ix, as well as the clause in the law, Levit.
XXV, a consistent meaning ; and that is to allow that
both recognized the individual and bodily slavery of
the race of Ham by the two other races — the circum-
stance of their paying tribute, at any time, as a peo-
ple, to other nations who might conquer them, hav-
ing nothing to do toward the fulfillment of that de-
nunciation of Noah, as that decree related not to na-
tional, but to individual slavery. If this is not the
true sense of those passages, and especially that of
Gen. ix, 25-27, it would remain, as yet, uncertain
whether that curse or decree has been in any degree
fulfilled.
The fond idea, or we may say the fanaticism and
392 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
foolish notion of abolitionists, which supposes the
hiring out of the race of Ham, at their own discre-
tion, to the other races, falls, therefore, to the ground, so
far as it relates to the fulfilling of the curse of Noah up-
on the posterity of Ham, his youngest, but wretched-
ly profligate, son. Thus, having disposed of the fore-
going objections and positions of aboUtionists, we now
address ourself to combat another error of their cre-
ating. This is, the circumstance of the slaves labor-
ing, as they say, for no reward or wages ; and, there-
fore, slavery is not according to the principle of eternal
rectitude, but is a sin of the blackest dye.
• Now, do not frown, dear reader, when we tell you
that this is not true of sla.very, as slaves do not labor
without a hope of reward ; and that reward they gen-
erally receive. It is true, however, that their wa^g*-s
is not as much as many other laborers obtain, ana
then again, it is much more than many receive who
are not slaves. The laboring classes of men over the
wtiole earth, and among all people, operate under
very diiferent circumstances, which has been the case
in all ages, and will continue to be thus to the end
of time. In all countries, minors, apprentices and
children, labor till of age, for no other reward than
their food, shelter and clothing. In millions of cases,
men labor all their lives, and never receive anything
more than their food and raiment, and yet, they were
notbondmen, but free. Do not black slaves receive
as much as this, and is not this a reward to which
they look with all the eagerness of any other kind of
laborers ? Do they not hail the hours of meal times
as the bright spot of their destin)^, with as mwch joy
FORTUNES, OF THE XKGRO RACE.
393
as do other laborers ? The clothes they receive, are
they not better far than tiieir original nakedness in
the wilds of Africa ? Who rewarded them then ?
Millions of free men over the whole earth, do not
receive as much wages as do the negroes of the slave
states in America; but, with their freedom, actually
starve to death, even in England and her dependen-
cies, not from idleness, but from oppression. Among
freemen, how many beggars do we meet with, who
have received no wages ? But among negro slaves
there are no beggars. Food and raiment is all thai
a man can receive on the earth, which is as sure to a
negro slave as to the rest, and is the whole reward
of animal labor and of animal existence. The rich,
though they control more than they can individually
consume, have, in reality, nothing, after all, more
than a slave, except injurious and ruinous luxuries.
Wherefore, as it respects mere physical existence,
slaves are on a perfect level with the rest of man-
kind, which is not only philosophically, but scriptnr-
ally, true ; for Solomon says, Eccl. vi, 7, that "a/i
the labor of man is for his mouth^'' which is his por-
tion and reward under the sim.
Negro slavery, therefore, on that account, is not
contrary to the principle of Eternal rectitude. It is
true, however, that their hope of speculation is not as
great as it is among the whites ; yet the amount, up-
on the whole, which they receive, is just the same,
as their food, raiment and shelter are made much
surer to them, especially in Christian countries, than
among the free blacks. The servitude of the race of
Ham, to the latest era of mankind, is necessary to the
26
594 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
veracity of God himself, as by it is fulfilled one oi
the eldest of the decrees of the Scriptures, namely,
that of Noah, which placed the race as servants un-
der the other races. This is noticed by Newt&n in
the same light^ which has been, and now is, being
every where fulfilled, with alj the punctuality that
all the other decrees are, and have been, fulfilled ;
and should convince all abolitionists of their unavail-
ing error, in opposing this great and nearly most an-
cient decree of the Divine Oracles.
God IS just and good, in the adaptation of circum-
stances to the well-being of every creature of the
earth, which is as manifest in the negro's case as in
the case of every other grade of animal being. If
the white man is more intellectual than a negro, so
much the more are his cares and respofisibiUties.
On this principle^ we notice, that in the negro char-
acter is fixed, as a kind of antidote or recompense for
slavery, a certain disposition to levity, peculiar t©
themselves, which takes off much of the weight of
their seeming sorrows. This enables them more
cheerfully to endure, without thought, their condition
of servitude. One trait of this peculiar character of
the negroes is, their fondness of singing and whistling,
in which they universally indulge, even under cir-
cumstances which would make a white man weep.
They generally have voices of the most melodious
character, and can whistle with their thick lips, bet-
ter than all mankind beside, in the sounds of which
' they forget all things else, rejoicing in the lightness and
levity of their peculiar natures. Who has not wit
riGsaedihis, that has seen and noticed this people at al)/
rORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 396
Thus mercifully is thrown into the negro's being,
circumstances which go to make his condition toler-
able, though created black and doomed to servitude,
rendering him, upon the whole, not less happy than
are the other races of men.
Thus, with balanced eye, the great All-seeing
Has made each race with an equal being —
Has with the ills of life some blessing mix'd,
Though in our grades a genial state is fix'd,
The white man soars, as with m eagle's flight,
While the black man dips in the wave of night;
And both, rejoicing in their sev'ral spherest
Should offer thanks in the Eternal's ears.
396 ORIGIN CHARACTER. AND
FIFTEENTH SECTION.
That the Gospel doctrines and their tendencies is against negro slaT-
ery, as asserted by abolitionists, shown to be a mistake — Exami-
nation of the golden rule of our Savior, in relation to this mat-
ter—That the condition of slaves among the Jews was a condition
of comparative comfort, as is asserted by abolitionists, refuted —
Care of slaves, as far back in time as the days of Job and Abra-
ham— The subject of judicial law and the law of lore examined,
in relation to negro slavery, and are found to harmonize — The
great and stronghold of abolitionism in support of negro equality,
and the propriety of amalgamation by marriages,founded on God's
striking Minam, the sister of Moses, with leprosy, because she
found fault with her brother for having married an Ethiopian wo-
man, overturned and shown to be blasphemous — Curious fact of
the blood of the negro race being guarded against, as affecting the
blood of the line through which the Messiah was to come — Firtt
preaching of the Gospel directed to the coun/nc* inhabited by white
men, not negroes — This was done afterward — All the present arts
of the world nearly of white men's invention, not negro's, with
many other deeply interesting subjects.
In the following pages, we are to meet a few more
objections of abolitionism, as well as present the read-
er with some other matters, when we shall finish the
labor of this work. It is said, by this class of men,
that the benevolence of the Gospel contemplates the
personal happiness of every human being ; and as
individual freedom is an item in the sum of mortal
enjoyments, therefore, the Gospel, in its spirit and
tendencies, is against slavery of every description,
and demands its abolishment.
FORTUNKS, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 397
But, we answer this position, by saying, that, al-
though the spirit and tendencies of the Christian rehg-
ion most assuredly does contemplate the entire and
perfect moral happiness of the whole human race,
upon certain conditions, as obedience to its commands,
&c., yet it does not, and cannot interfere, as we have
before said, with the judgrnents, decrees, or judicial
acts of Godj until the purposes of such acts are ac-
complished in the earth. Although the Gospel, as
announced in the New Testament, is a message of
benevolence from Heaven toward the sufferers of
the earth, yet death is not, and cannot be counteracted,
as yet, by its influence, because death came by the
appointment or judicial act of God, on the account
of siyi, placing the direful circumstance heyond the
redeeming nature of that great system of atonement.
Neither can it affect matters of less importance, such
as the circumstance of man's being compelled by a
Divine judgment to get his bread in the sweat of
his face, with pain, toil, and uncertainty. The case
of the woman, who was placed by the same power,
judicially, in a certain circumstance, which is that
of great pain and danger, is also placed beyond the
reach of the benevolence of the spirit of the Gospel,
because she hearkened to the voice of the serpent, in
the matter of the forbidden tree. Does the Gospel,
and its benevolent principles, remove one item of the
vast amount of what is called natural evil, which
the human race now is heir to, such as sickness, pov-
erty, accidents, mistakes, difference of men's opinions,
which are all the effects of the judicial proceedings
of the Creator toward man, on the account of sith
6\iO ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
Now, if the spirit and tendencies of religion^ can
not, as yet, remove these disabihties or obstacles to
man's happiness in this world, how, therefore, can it
be expected that it can alter the doom of the negro
race, which, as the Bible establishes, is founded
on the same foundation, that of the decree of God,
and raises a barrier which is impassable and insur-
mountable to all earthly power : even the famous
words of our Lord called the Golden Rule, cannot ap-
ply here. Neither does this rule aj'pear with power
to break down any cifiV establishment of society; it
was not so intended or understood, by the first disci-
ples and writers of the New Testament. It was not
intended by that great and good doctrine, that serv-
ants and masters, debtors and creditors, rich and
■poor, should change condition, or even to be put on
a par with each other by that precept of the Lord.
It signified nothing more than that all men, under all
circumstances of trouble, should do by each other in
all kindness, just what they would reasonably desire
done to themselves in like circumstances. This pre-
cept, therefore, was not meani to reach the case of
slavery, as to its abolishmeni, any more than it was
the other cases, as above named. It enjoined on
masters to extend to servants, minors, and slaves
all needed tenderness and consideration, as they
themselves could reasonabh/ desire were they in a
like condition.
The patriarch Job did thus toward his slaves, and
no more, see chapter xxxi, 13, where he says, that he
did not "despise the cause of his man or maid serv-
ant," and yet he did not manumit them, after all. It
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 399
will not answer to extend that rule to extremes, as
by persevering in such a course, we should unhinge
all the regulations of society, at the voice of every
complaint, effecting nothing but a continued change
of circumstances, from one extreme to another, with-
out adding a whit to the comfort of any body per-
manently.
Abolitionists contend, in their publications and lec-
tures, that the condition of bondmen among the Jews,
was a condition of comparative comfort and equality
with their masters, and that the law of Moses made
it so. But we have never been able to discover this,
while we have found the entire contrary. On this
subject, the statement of Adam Clarke may have
some weight, as no man on the earth was better inform-
ed respecting Oriental manners in those ages. See
his comment on the passage above quoted, from Job
xxxi, 13, as follows: "In ancient times, slaves had
no action at law against their masters; they might
dispose of them as they did their cattle or any other
property. The slave might complain, and the mas-
ter might hear him if he pleased, but he was not com-
pelled to do so. Job states that Jte admitted them,
however, to civil rights; and far from preventing their
case from being heard, he was ready to jiertnit them
to complain, even against himself, and to give them
all the benefit of the law." Job was a righteous man,
and in that thing did right; and yet we do not learn
that he set his slaves free. Let every slaveholder
do the same. Josephus states, Antiquities of the Jews,
book 4, p. 130, that slaves were not allowed to be
witnesses in any court.
400 * ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
From all this, it appears that the case of the negro
slaves of those times, and among the Jews in par-
ticular, was in no wise superior, if it was as good, as
in America, except in such cases as when they fell
into the hands of men as good as were Job and Abra-
ham. Consequently, the notion that the slaves of the
Jews, under the law of Moses, was a comfortable
condition of life, as held by abolitionists, falls to the
ground, as does most of their doctrines and positions.
It is affirmed by abolitionists, that because God, at
first and prior to the fall, and as soon as he had cre-
atei man. said, that every thing which was made,
was very good, that, therefore, negro man was made
equal with white men. But this comment of theirs
fails, when it is recollected that there was, at that
time, no negroes in existence, nor never would have
been, had not God have seen fit to produce them, about
one thousand five hundred and fifty-six years after
t';ie original creation of man, in the way and manner
already described on the first pages of this work, and
soon after to appoint him to slavery.
It has been urged upon the attention of the writer
o( this work, by abolitionists, that we ought serious-
ly to examine the difference there is between Judi-
ricd law and Divine law, in relation to the enslaving
negro men in ancient times. The judicial law, said
iliat the Jews might buy and possess slaves, but the
Divine law says, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy-
self. Is slavery consistent with this Divine law?
In answer to this question^ we dare not array these
two laws against each other, seeing they are both of
tlie same origin. We think it were a much safei
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 401
course to say, that these laws, so different in their ef-
fects, have a high regard for each other and do not
encroach upon their respective powers and appHca-
tions.
Judicial law requires execution, and the law of
love delights in mercy ; but till an equivalent is paid
down, mercy can do nothing. Now who has redeem-
ed the negro race from the curse of Noah and the
force of that judicial law? It has never been done.
The law of love says, love thy neighbor as thyself.
But who is our neighbor? We answer, that our
neighbors are of various descriptions, and the Divine
t,aw says, love them all, in their respective characters,
whether slaves or free, rich or poor, wise or simple,
learned or unlearned, black, white or red, good or bad,
and all this without pohtically meddling with their
domestic affairs.
The Supreme Being having seen fit to adjudge the
negro race to a condition of servitude among men,
are we not, therefore, bound to believe that this ad-
judication is not contrary or inconsistent with the
law of love as it relates to man ; as we see that we
may love a slave in the religions sense of the word,
and yet have nothing to do with his state of bondage,
unless we have an inclination to manumit them if
they are our own property; but there is no law which
requires this, whether judicial or Divine, or it would
have been noticed by St. Paul, when he had the
subject of negro slavery under his pen, upon which
we have already treated in a former section of this
work.
There is another argument to answer, which is
402 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
brought forward by abolitionists in favor of the equal-
ity of negroes with white men, and in favor of the
amalgamation of these two races. This argument
of theirs is founded on the twelfth chapter of Num-
bers, one of the books of the Decalogue, or the laws
of Moses. But before we enter upon an investiga-
tion of that chapter, in relation to the doctrine alleg
ed by abolitionists, we will merely observe, that they
are a strange set of logicians^ inasmuch as when
the law of Moses is appealed to as an evidence of the
legal enslaving of the negro Canaahites, then that
law is found to be antiquated, out of date, and of no
force; but when, in the same law, there happens to
be found a passage that seems to make in favor of
any of the dogmas of abolitionism, lo, it is seized upon
with avidity, and held to be of the greatest force and
authority, and by no means antiquated, or inefficient,
being first rate Scripture.
The chapter alluded to, reads as follows : "And
Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, because of
the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he
had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said,
hath the -Lord indeed spoken 07ili/ by Moses? hath
he not spoken also by us ? And the Lord heard it.
* * * And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and
unto Aaron, and unto Miriam : come out ye three
unto the tabernacle of the congregation ; and they
came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar
of a cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle,
and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came
forth. And he said, hear now my words: If there
be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make my-
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 403
self known unto him in a vision, and will speak to
him in a dream, my servant Moses is not so, who is
faithful in all my house. With Iwn will 1 speak
mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark
speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he be-
hold ; wherefore, then, were ye not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses. And the anger of the
Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.
And the cloud departed from oif the tabernacle, and
behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow ; Aaron
looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
And Aaron said unto Moses, alas ! my Lord, I beseech
thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have done
foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. * * * * And
Moses cried unto the Lord, saying: heal her now, O
God, I beseech thee. And the Lord said unto Moses,
if her father had but spit in her face, should she not
be ashamed seven days, and after that let her be re-
ceived again ? And Miriam was shut out from the camp
seven days, and all the people journeyed not till
Miriam was brought in again."
On examining this chapter, does it appear on what
account Miriam was made a loathsome leper, and
driven out of the camp — was it for finding fault with
her brother Moses, for marrying the black woman,
or because she had joined with Aaroji and others, in
doubting whether God had indeed spoken 07il]/ by
Moses ? It appears that her crime consisted wholly
of the latter, which was for invading by contentious
words, the divine dictatorship of Moses, to the exclu-
sion of all others, over the twelve tribes.
In her punishment, God said not a word about the
404 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
woman Moses had married, nor respecting Miriam's
having found fault with the marriage, but confined
his remark wholly to the subject of the mission of
Moses, as God's mouth to the people, as is seen by re-
ferring to the sixth, seventh and eighth verses of that
chapter. There is no doubt, however, but the cir-
cumstance of her brother's having married one of the
cursed race, was one of her reasons why he ought
not to possess alone the dignity of being sole dictator.
The circumstance, as she seems to have thought, was
degrading, on which account she found fault with
him, as reads the first verse of the chapter.
That the Hebrews were not to marry with the ne-
groes of Canaan, is evident from Deut. vii, 3, and
reads as follows: "Neither shalt thou make mar-
riages with them (the Canaanites) : thy daughter shalt
thou not give unto his sen, nor his daughter shalt
thou not take unto thy son." Here, it is plain that
the law of Moses forbids amalgamation of the Jew
blood with that of the negro's; and yet abolitionists
contend, that God, who was the author of that law,
struck Miriam with a loathsome disease in token of
his anger at her, because she found fault with the
very thing the law found fault with and forbid.
This view of the matter is sufficient to convince
any man that the crime of Miriam was not about the
marriage but the sacred office of Moses only.
But says one, an abolitionist perhaps, the writer in
this opinion of his, has got himself into a tangle at
last, as we cannot see but he is compelled to show up
Moses as a flagrant sinner against his own law, for
having married that Ethiopian woman. Not so is
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 405
our reply, for Moses did that thing some forty years
before the time the l.aw was given to him from Mount
Sinai, at a time when he knew no more of the will
and law of God than any other man, who had been
born and brought up among the Egyptians. But
when he received the law, then he became informed
of the will and designs of God, in that, as well as in
all other matters.
As to the fate of the woman he had married in the
land of Midian, at the time he fled from Egypt for
killing an Egyptian, see Exo. ii, 12, we learn noth-
i ing from the Scriptures further than that she came
to the Jewish camp, with Jethro her father, in the
wilderness.
Thus it is certainly clear, that the abolition opinion,
of the equality of negroes with other men, and the
propriety and righteousness of amalgamation by mar-
riage with them derives no support from that portion
of Holy Writ, but receives a rebuke of the most de-
cided description from the very law itself.
Respecting this race, we find that God took partic-
ular care that their blood should not become mingled
with the line through which the Messiah was to come.
i This is a remarkable fact. To prove this, see Gen.
xxxviii, the whole chapter, where is related the his-
tory of JudaKs having had three sons by a Canaan-
itish woman, who, of course, was a negress. Two
of those sons were "slain by the Lord for a certain
wickedness they did, while the third son, Shelah by
name, escaped (Gen. xxxviii, 7, 10), but is not reck-
oned in the line of the holy seed, which was con-
tinued through another branch of Judah's blood,
406 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
namely, by the son of Tamar^ a Jewess, Is not this
fact a proof that the negro blood was not estimated
to be as good as the blood of Shem, even by the
Creator himself, as manifested in that transaction.
He even preferred the line of the illegitimate son of
Tamar, by Judah, for the line of the Messiah, rather
than the line of the Canaanitish race. In agreement
with this rejection of the negro blood, as it related to
things holy in the Jewish religious economy, it is
seen, that although the two sons of Moses by his
Ethiopian wife, whose names were Gershom and
JEliezar, were reckoned with the tribe of Levi, yet,
in the service of the temple, they were never allowed
to officiate in any office above that of porters, scribes,
or some kind of laborious service. Even the temple,
and the priesthood of the Jews, had negro slaves, who
were the whole tribe of the Gibeonites, one of the
nations of Canaan, appointed to that doom by Joshua,
chap, ix, 23, as follows: "Now, therefore, ye are
cursed; and there shall none of you be freed from
being bondmen, and hewers of wood, and drawers of
water, for the house of my God."
This cla^ss of slaves, says Adam Clarke, were called
*' Nethinims, or slaves of the temple," and had been
thus from the days of Joshua till the time of Solomon,
and from thence to the time of the great Babylonian
captivity, when it is likely, says Clarke, they remained
among the Chaldeans, as, by going back to Judea,
they could gain nothing but their old condition of
bondmen.
Now from the time of Joshua till that captivity,
was over eight hundred years, during which time it
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 407
is not hard to conjecture, that many millions came
of the race, all of whom were born slaves, for Joshua
had said that none of them should ever be freed from
a state of slavery, as is seen in the above quoted
Scripture. From this fact we discover, also, that the
jubilees did the negro Canaanite slave no good, as
is contended by abolitionists, as they were never to
be made free. U, then, the negro slaves of the teTn-
ple could not be freed by the jubilees, how much
less, therefore, the more common slaves among the
people.
But says one, how is this? you assert, that the
blood of the progenitors of Jesus Christ, was ne^er,
through that long vista of time, from Noah till his
advent, contaminated, or mixed with negro blood —
and yet Rahab, a Canaanitish woman, was one of
his ancestors, according to St. Matthew, chapter i,
verse 5. In that chapter you will find that Solomon
the father of Booz, who was the father of Obed, who
was the father of Jesse, and the father of King- David,
married this said Rahab of the town of Jericho, a
Canaanitish city. Now sir, continues the objsctor,
as that woman was a Canaanite, she was, according
to your theory a negress, of the very race of Ham,
and, consequently, her blood was mixed in the lineal
descent of our Lord.
To this severe criticism, we reply as follows, and
assert, that although Rahab was a citizen of the town
or city of Jericho in the land of Canaan, yet was
she not a negress, nor at all descended of the race of
ilam, nor was she a Canaanitess by blood or race.
But how is this made out? we will show you: see
408 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
book of Deuteronomy, chapter vii, verse 3, and on
ward, as well as the book of Joshua, chapter xxiii,
12, 13, where it was strictly forbidden, under the dis-
pleasure of Jehovah himself, to every individual of
the twelve tribes of the Jews to marry with any
of the Canaanitish race^ which consisted of seven
mighty nations, all of whom are set forth by name
in this same seventh chapter of Deuteronomy.
Now, if Rahab had been of that race^ and belonged
by blood to. any of those sev^n nations, Solomon,
would not, as a prince of the tribe oi Judah, have been
allowed to have had this woman for a wife. Rahab,
therefore, was of the blood of jShem., and but a citizen
of the country, as aw inhabitant only — while by race,
she possessed no consanguinity to the blood of Ham.
Solomon, as a prince of the regal line of Judah, of
which tribe came our Lord, could not have violated
the law of Moses, in so flagrant and horrid a manner,
as to have married a black woman, a Canaanitess;
and thus to have provoked the vengeance of the God
of Abraham, which is everywhere threatened, as often
as the subject is alluded to in all the books of the
law. Thus, we defend, as we believe, our opinion,
which asserts that the blood of the negro race did
not at all mix with the lineal blood of the Savior of
Mankind.
Now, as we find this grand interdiction, respecting
Jewish intermarriages with any and all the seven
negro nations of Canaan — we may with the utmost
propriety, believe in addition, that the interdiction
extended to the whole race, settled in other countries,
beside old Canaan, as it would have been equally
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 409
deleterious and corrupting to the sacred descent of
Jesus Christ, to have been connected with the blood
of negroes out of Canaan, as within that country. '
But in the whole book of God, there is no command
either direct or implied, against Jewish marriages,
whether before or after the giving of the law of
Moses, with the race of Japheth, the progenitor of
the ichite race of mankind. And although Jesus
Christ is the proffered Savior of all the human race,
blacks and all, yet was it abhorrent to God, as we
believe, that the immaculate blood of his Son, which
was to be offered as an atonement, should he con-
taminated by that of negro extraction.
It is a remarkable fact, which, in connection with
the above, cannot fail to make due impression on the
reader's mind, that persons who had Jlat noses could
not be a priest of the sanctuary of the Mosaic wor-
ship; see Leviticus xxi, 18. This regulation was,
doubtless, to guard the blood of the priesthood from
any contamination of the race of Ham, as a prominent
feature of that people, is a flat nose. There was
never a king nor prophet of the Jews who had negro
blood in his veins; and yet there were multitudes of
the Jews, as well as the Israelites, who were thus
tinctured by unlawful connections with the Cana-
anites, which was against the law of Moses, as well
as the law of nature.
It is a singular fact, that all the first labors of the
apostles, after the resurrection of Christ, were directed
northward from Jerusalem, among the whites, and
not southward in Africa. To the north, in Italy, was
the place of the throne of the Roman empire; to the
27
to ORIGIN, CHARICTER, AND
north lay all the Grecian tribes, among whom Paul
and his associates went preaching the Gospel. Is
n©t this a proof of the superiority of the white blood
above that of the African ? or these first missionaries
would not have thus chosen that race as the conserv-
ators of the new system of divinity, given to the
world by Jesus Christ.
In accordance with this view. Ave notice that the
Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments,
were given to the protection of the white race, and by
them have been preserved and handed down to the
present time. The New Testament, in particular,
has been preserved by the white race afier the age
of the apostles, as the Jeivs deride that part of the
Scriptures as false, and the African had nothing to
do with its original preservation or compilation.
Abolitionists say that negro slavery is a curse upon
earth, and that the curse of God is on the country and
families wherever the thing is prac;ticed ; and yet we
find in the Scriptures, Gon. ix, that when God, by
the mouth of Pvoali, b!ef;ped Shera and Japheth, he
gave them as one item in their hlessitigs, a 7'ight to
make servants of t'le race of Hain. It was the same
with the Htih!ew"s majiy hundred years after under
the reign of Moses, as a law giver, when God prom-
iBed his blessings upon them as a people, upon con-
dition of their obedience, making one item of those
Jblessings to be the privilege of enslaving the Cana-
anites.
If to hold slaves is a mrse to auy man or country,
as abolitionists says it is, then principles must have
strangely changed in the administration of God's
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 41
I^-ovidence since the days of Abraham; for to him
the possession of bond men and bond maids was one
item in the great amount of the mercies and blessings
of God to that patriarch, in whose seed all the fami-
lies of the earth were to be blessed. See Gen. xxiv,
35, as follows : "And the Loi:d hath blessed my mas-
ter (Abraham) greatly, and he is become great, and
hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold,
and man servants and maid servants^ and camels
and asses."
But Abraham did right by his slaves, of whom he
owned vast numbers ; on which account the blessing
of having bondmen was not changed to a curse, as
aje all the mercies of God when abused by the wick-
ed. How, therefore, is it true, as abolitionist say, that
the enslaving of the race originated in the foulest
wickedness? It is not true, never was and never
will be, except in the abuse of the institution.
With the origin of slavery, the present existing
slaveholding population of the United States, had
nothing to do — therefore, for that they are not to be
held accountable. They did not bring the blacks
from their native land, either by purchase or as pris-
oners of war. They came into existence with them
in their possession, the same as their landed estates
and every other species of property which they inher-
ited from their fathers, and are, therefore, under the
Divine supervision, morally and politically bound to
protect and shield them from all physical suflfering,
the same as they are bound to protect and shield their
children, apprentices, or other dependants. In this,
the kind Providence of that all-wise Being, who rulqf
412 ORIGIN, CriAKACTER, AND
among the inhabitants of the earth, is benevolently
displayed toward the descendants of Ham in North
America. The experience of the blacks themselves,
and the observation of all others, prove this to be their
most happy condition ; for, with but few exceptions,
all those who have gone out from this protection, are
found among the most miserable of the human fam-
ily. All experience proves that were the principles
of abolitionism carried out practically, the slaves
would be placed in an infinitely worse condition, both
morally and physically, than that in which we now
find them.
But, says the objector, this is the white man's fault,
for if the negro man and woman were but received
into society upon an equal footing, with the whites,
they would become their equals. This is granted,
they Avould indeed become the equal of the white
man. But how? not by the elevation, morally, men-
tally and physically, of the black man, but of the com-
plete degradation of the white man, as the God who
created both races has decreed, and as is manifest
from the difference, the radical difference, there is be-
tween them, proving that their amalgamation cannot
be effected, but by a loathsome deterioration of the
superior race. This the experience of all time abun-
dantly demonstrates, as well as that amalgavnation
is the inevitable result of political equality of the
races.
Look, for example, at the population of the Mex-
ican states. Not only is it characterized by physical
weakness, but by moral and mental inferiority of a
most frightful description. And how is this to be
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 413
accounted for ? From the fact that there has been a
mixture of Mexican and negro blood for ages. God
forbid, therefore, that we as a people, should seek to
elevate this race by so great a sacrifice, by so horrible
a violation and prosti-ation of the sacred laws of the
Creator of the Universe. In all this we do not dis-
parage the black man, but only set forth the actual
difference there is between the races, neither of which
are to be praised or censured respecting the attri-
butes of their respective natures. These were wisely
ordained by that Being v/ho created all things, by
the counsel of his own will, and the wisdom of
whose appointments man has not the right to ques-
tion.
There is another evidence, that the habitations of
this race (the blacks) are of Divine appointment, and
that is, that they are suited in their formation and
physical constitution, to a torrid region. As the
torrid region of North America is, therefore, best
suited to their comfort and happiness, we conclude it
is their natural home. And, as this country, through
the providence of God, has been put into the power
and ownership of the white race, and as the two races
cannot exist together in a state of political equality,
it follows that if the negro race exist in the South at
all, as a people, it must be in a condition oi surveil-
lance or subordination of some sort or other.
The negro man has as good a right to exist as has
the white man : but he has not as good a right to rule
or give laws to society. This is evident from the
black man's mental inferiority, and consequent ina-
hility to discharge those high functions, as the history
4l4 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
of the past and the observation of the present, abund
anlly prove.
l"'his being true, we find that his place on the earth
ii ihki of serveillance of some description or other;
and as the hand that fornied thefti is good and nitinifl
cent in his provisions and appointments for the coto-
fort and snppoff of all his creattifes, We are irresistiWy
led to the conclusion, tfmt a condition of this char-
acter is the most conducive to the well being and
happiness of the negro race.
But, says one, that one hun]an being should become,
tinder any cirfcumstances whatever, the property of
another human being, is abhorrent to all the concep-
tions <\{ the human mind relative to what is right or
wrong.' On this sitl/jeet, vtq teiay argHe thus,- and
ftot become obijoxious (oi the charge of st^phistry, as
t^e fondly hope. It is the Itthor which a serving rii^tft
or woman can perform, that makes therii at all valu-
able in the affairs of men. When a slave is trans-
ferred flora one possessor to another, the labor Which
said slave may reasonably be considered capable of
performing, is the consideration o{ valite that is taken
into the account, and not the mere body of the serv-
ant. How differs theft a transaction of this kind
from those which are of daily occurrence in every
civilized community, viz: the hiring of one individual
to another to labor a specified time for a stipidated
amount ? The differetice consists alone in the terms,
not in the nature., of the transaction ; for, in either* eaSG,
it is the labor of the individual that constitutes the
thing of value. In the one case, the hireling J-ec8iV^S
for his services a stipulated sum of money; itt the'
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 415
Other, the slave has secured to him, by the laws of
the land, the necessaries and comforts of life, con-
sisting of food, raiment, protection, &c. (Give them
their liberty, emancipate them and place them upon
their own resources, and all experience proves that
not 07ie in ten is capable of providing themselves and
their families with the necessaries of life.) In either
case the laboring faculty cannot be separated from
the body of the laborer; therefore, it becomes neces-
sary that the person of the servant should be present
where the labor is required to be performed.
But, continues the objector, suppose it does not suit
the serving man to go where the labor is required to
be performed, is he to be forced to go against his
will? To this we answer, that his is a 7iecessitous
condition, and that in yielding to the laws of impe-
rious necessity, he is doing nothing more, is making
no greater sacrifices, than is a large majority of the
whole human family compelled, by the same laws of
necessity, to make, whether they will to do it or not.
All are more or less governed by overruling circum-
stances, and although there may be and there is a
great variety of necessities accompanying the various
conditions of human life, yet are they equally as
imperious and often more severe and uncompromising,
than are the commands of the master of a slave.
Indeed, it is a fact that cannot be denied, that the
average condition of the slave population of the Uni-
ted States, is superior to that, not alone of the manu-
facturing population of Great Britain and the great
masses of European nations generally, and of Mexico,
but of a very numerous class of the free white popu-
416
ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
lation of the free States of North America. If then,
the philanthropic (?) votaries of abolitionism desire a
field in which to exercise their feelings of charity
and benevolence, they have it in their own midst,
without hazarding any changes of climate or opposi-
tion of conflicting interests. Charity is a Christian
virtue, a heavenly principle, and one which we wish
to see practiced to the utmost ability of every member
of the human family ; but, under the guidance of
modern abolitionists, it reminds us of him who could
discern a mote in his brother's eye, without ever hav-
ing discovered the beam in his own. We hope our
neighbors of this class, will cast a glance around
them, before they attempt to scan the sunny regions
of the South.
Mexico, we are told, is a free country ; " the hateful
stigma of slavery attaches not to that delectable re-
gion of the earth." But this is a mistake: a system
of slavery and beggarly oppression, of the most re-
volting character, has existed in that country from
time immemorial. All that class of citizens who are
not landholders, are compelled to labor for their daily
subsistence. The wages which they receive for their
services, are so small that they are forced from neces-
sity to go in debt for the comforts of life. Not being
able to liquidate those debts according to agreement,
they are, in accordance with the laws of the country,
sold to work until their debts are paid. But, as their
wants always exceed their wages, their servitude be-
comes perpetual, and they are transferred from one
to another, without regard to their feelings or happi-
ness. Thus, is the great mass of the Mexican people
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 417
m a state of miserable servitude infinitely more deplor-
able than that which exists in the United States.
No one cares for the wants of the poor Mexican slavb.
Food, clothing, medicines, are not provided by thn
master; for, should this be done, it would still enhance
the amount of indebtedness, and thus rivet still more
securely the manacles of his bondage — placing the
goal of liberty still further in the distance. Hence
is it that this class of the citizens of Mexico are sunk
down into a state of hopeless misery, though of the
same blood and race of their masters.
But we rejoice to know that such is not the con-
dition of the negro slaves of the United States. Here
the well being of the slave is a matter of deep interest
to the master. Like the venerable Patriarchs of olden
time, they delight to administer to the wants and
happiness of those whom God has committed to their
hands. If the slave is sick, a physician administer!?
to his wants ; if hungry or naked, he has but to look
to his master who provides what is necessary with-
out any care on the part of the slave. No constable
or sheriif dogs his steps, for he is out of debt and free
from all responsibility, save that of good and honest
behavior. The affairs of government disturb not his
mind, and if war invaae the i.ind, he is not called to
the field of carnage.
But the case is far different with the Mexican slave.
Contrary to his will he is pressed into the service and
forced to fight the battles of his country, though he
own not a foot of soil, nor never can. Surely then,
the condition of the slaves of our Southern States, is
far superior to that of the people of Mexico.
419 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
But terrible as is the condition of that people, in
their state of worse than Russian serfism, the tender
hearted and sympathetic abolitionists are, by their
short sighted policy, urging forward the entire black-
population of the South to an equally miserable con
dition. By their policy, the present protective system
of slavery would be dissolved, and the whole slave
population in the United States emancipated in out
midst and thrown upon their own resources for sub-
sistence. What would be the consequence? A state
of degradation and misery, similar to that which now
exists in Mexico, must inevitably follow. For land-
holders, to any extent, they can never become, and,
without this, how are they to be saved from certain
misery? Says our objector, this is easily shown —
they can hire out and by their wages sustain them-
selves and their families, as do other poor men of the
land. But this is a conclusion which practical expe-
rience does not sustain. The immense number of
the slave population (amounting to nearly four mil-
lion and rapidly increasing) would of necessity pre-
vent it. Were this vast host to be made dependent
upon their daily wages for a support, it would fail
them. They could not compete with the white
laborers that would immediately flood the States
which they now inhabit. The consequence would
be, that they would be again cast upon the mercy of
the whites, who do now, and always will, compose the
landholders of the country. In this condition of
things, in order to prevent an unbounded increase of
pauperism throughout the entire United States, which
in time would certainly ensue, "vagrant laws" would
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 4l5
have to be enacted, by which they would be curtail-
ed in their hberty of wandering from place to place,
and thus become in all propability as wretched as the
miserable serfs of Mex:ico. A condition, as we have
shown, far more distressing than the present system
of slavery can ever bring upon them.
There exists but one hope of escape from a fate so
dreadful, and death is that hope ; for it is well known
that in all the free states, the blacks have decreased
rapidly in numbers. In the state of New York, where
they have been free onlv^ince 1828. they have de-
Creased in population more than one-half. This is,
j doubtless, occasioned by their extreme poverty, and
imprudence toward their infants, which, for want of
I care, as respects a covering from the elements, suita
I ble food and clothing, and medical attendance, die ill
! great numbers. This last is not a matter of surprise
tio us at all, as it is but a natural characteristic of the
race.
The principles of abolitionism are alike subversive
I of the well-being and happiness of both races. Irt*
I deed, not a movement has this political faction evei?
! made, that did not tend to increase the degradation
and misery of the negro race. In the state of Ken-
tucky, the removal of slavery has, doubtless, been re*
tarded, by their influence, not less than ten or twenty
I years. Besides, the actual condition of the slaves has
I been made worse by the unhallowed excitement and
indignation which it has engendered on the part of
j the masters, who, becoming naturally enraged at be^
j ing thus unceremoniously molested in their social and
i domestic aflfairs, have been forced to deprive theli* Seft*-
420 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
ants of those liberties which they were wont to ex-
tend unto them, lest they should be decoyed away
by those unprincipled wretches, who have shown
themselves alike the enemies of both master and slave.
It has also prevented, in a multitude of instances, mas-
ters from learning their slaves to read — a blessing
which many a Christian master would gladly have
extended to his slaves, had he not been thus pre-
vented.
To the slaves we would say, regard not the aboli-
tionist as your friend, for such he is far from being.
The best friend you have on earth is a kind master
or mistress, whom you can all Secure by faithfully
doing your duty. Serve them faithfully, be content
with your lot, and give no heed to those who would
take you from your homes, and God will reward you
for it.
We once supposed that the principle upon which
the aboUtionists acted in the matter of negro emanci-
pation, was a good and virtuous principle ; but long
have we had reason to think otherwise. The lead-
ers of this unhallowed faction are bold to assert, that
to better the condition of the black man is not their
object. To free the soil of what they term the odium
of slavery, is the end and aim of all their operations;
and whether this improve or injure the condition of
the black man, is a matter about which they care not.
Clear the soil of the stain of slavery, is the cry, no
matter how great the cost, or how vast the sacrifice.
If a division of the union of the states, or civil war,
be the result, let it come, we heed it not. Thus are
we forced to believe, that, of all the factions and evil
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 421
influences which conspire to undermine and subvert
the grand superstructure of American Liberty, that
termed Modern Abolitionism is the most dangerous
and fearful
That there are many honest-hearted men in the
party, who are actuated by pure sympathy for the
slave, in what they have been erroneously taught to
believe is the unhappy and oppressed condition in
which he is placed, we freely admit. But these peo- j
pie are deceived; they have allowed themselves to |
be duped and imposed upon by corrupt and unprin- I
cipled demagogues, who are prompted by no other I
than a desire to build up their own fame and for- j
tunes upon the ruins of those of the honorable and |
unsuspecting of our land. That they are deceived, I
is proven from the fact that nine-tenths of those who
travel through the southern states, and see the slave
contented and happy in the enjoyment of that liberty
and those blessings which a humane and Christian
master delights to provide for those intrusted to his
care, return, fully convinced that the servant is the
happier of the two, and that to change their relations
might be a benefit to the master, but not to the slave.
Had the masses of the abolition party the opportuni-
ty of making these observations personally, we hon-
estly believe that the universal conclusion of all the
good and virtuous would be the same. The average
condition of the free blacks of the North, will not
bear a comparison with that of the slaves of the
South. Were we to advocate the removal of slavery
at all, we should be actuated rather out of sympathy
for the master than the slave.
422 )0»IaI^'5 character, and
That there are evils growing out of the institution
of slavery, we do not deny ; and that it is liable to
abuses, as is every other institution of Divine appoint-
ment, we are free to admit. We go further, we ad-
mit that it is a moral and political evil of vast mag-
nitude, as is proven by the low state of public mor-
als in the South, and by a comparison of the slave
states with the free, in general improvement and
prosperity. But, as the history of its every move-
ment, from the period it was first ushered into hfe in
the British House of Lords, to the present time, abun-
dantly testifies, abolitionism is inadequate to the task
of its removal ; nay, as we have shown, all its ope-
rations only tend to rivet more securely the manacles
of the slave, and perpetuate the institution of slavery.
How unreasonable, how contrary to the dictates of
common sense and strict propriety, that its advocates
should continue to urge its claims upon the people o{
the United States.
In view of all this, and of the fact that it is a thing
of British origin, of lordly birth, nursed in the cradle
of despotism, and fed by the hand of royal aristocm-
cy — as has been every opposing principle and plot
against American republicanism — we cannot but re-
gard the leaders, at least, of this unhallowed faction —
this dissevering principle of strife and contention — as
the worst enemies of our country ; nay, as traitors
to the government, whose very existence is hazard-
ous to the well-being and prosperity of the nation.
The time is not far distant, we trust, when they will
be led to see the error of their ways, and to turn from
their folly. When this is done, and liiis unhallowed
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 423
and unuatuial war upon southern interests and in-
stitutions shall cease, we behcve that tlie natural
goodness of heart, the wisdom, philanthropy and
Christianity of the people of the slave states, will
lead them either to devise a plan for the complete re-
moval of slavery, in harmony with the interests and
feelings of both master and slave, or so ameliorate
the physical, moral and intellectual condition of the
slaves, that their separation from their masters would,
like that of Hagar from Abraham, partake more of
cruelty and persecution, than of kindness and Chris- j
tian charity. ;
Many are bold to affirm, that they would rather
dissever the Union than fail in their warfare against
slavery. But were this to be accomplished (an event
which we pray the Lord may never happen), slavery,
if affected at all by it, would but be perpetuated. The I
condition of the slave, if changed at all thereby,
would be for the worse. The North would open her j
arms with still greater boldness to those who could '
make their escape from their masters, and the result j
would be, a curtailing of the usual liberties of the
slave and the adoption of a system of servitude far
more rigid and severe. This the operations of that
party have already effected to a very considerable ex-
tent, and as they increase in numbers and in the
boldness of their attacks, will continue to effect, to an
extent that will cause the slave to curse the day that
gave birth to abolitionism.
Having now, as we believe, given a true history
0f the origin of the negro race — of his character, mor-
ally and physically — the nature of Noah's curse — its
I 424 ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND
I indorsement by Moses in the law — the fortunes of the i
race in past ages, as well as in the present times — !
we desist from further remarks, having done what '
we can toward allaying the conflict now raging be- |
tween the slavery and anti-slavery classes of the '
great public ; believing that good men, whose con- j
sciences have been formed by reading the Scriptures
on this subject, will honor the source of their educa- '[
tion, by soothing, all in their power, the unhappy fer-
ment, and thus, if possible, prevent the separation of
the states, and a horrible civil war in America, which,
were it to happen, would be the joy of all the mon-
archies of Europe, and their friends in the United
States.
But, in closing this work, we ought not, perhaps,
10 hide it, that the feelings, the sympathies, the edu-
cation and preconceived principles of the writer, have
once been all at war with the facts brought from the
Bible on the subject of negro slavery. But now we
feel the amazing importance of bowing these preju-
dices to the word of God, submitting, with all lowli
ness of mind, this mysterious matter to a higher ad-
judication than is to be found among men, in which
frame of spirit we must remain, till a stronger light
than hitherto has shone on the mind of the author,
shall irradiate his understanding in relation to the
principles advanced in this book, respecting the for-
tunes of the race of Ham.
We desire it to be understood, that in all we have
said in this work, we have had an eye to truth, so
far as we could ascertain it, and that we have not
written a word from prejudice against the people of
I
i
I
FORTUNES, OF THE NEGRO RACE. 426
the blacks ; having exhibited them as we have found
! them, for which we feel no manner of accountabihty,
/ as the difference, in all respects, between the negro
ii ! and the white race, as to the physical and mental
b«ing, is of God, the Creator.
Here ends our labor, whether good or bad,
j Of which our pen assures that she is glad;
I And if light is shed on the misty space
Of ancient times, and the dark negro race,
I Then we rejoice; but if not, then we mourn.
And know not where for truth our face should turn.
But, as a vessel sent the winds to brave,
We launch this book upon the public wave,
i Where rocks and shoals may cross its dubious way,
I And dash its sides and sails amid the spray.
K And yet this may not be its final fate,
J Though many who may read, may also hate —
Yet tome, perhaps, may love, of thinking men.
And justify the author and his pen.
Should this be so, which hope our thoughts inspirit
A bette! goal than thi» we can't desire.
28
STRICTURES ON ABOLITIONISM.
NATIONAL COLONIZATION OF THE FREE BLACK
POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
ADVOCATED.
BY THE PUBLISHER,
The present has very significantly been styled,
"The Golden Age" of the world. Compared with
all the ages which compose the measure of the past,
there is none to equal it. It is a towering eminence,
from whose summit the eye may survey the broad
expanse of the world's history ; age preceding age,
as wave follows "wave, with here and there a bright
spot, like the green oasis in the wide extended
desert.
No frowning despot now sits upon the throne of
universal empire, to mark out the channels of human
thought, or set bounds to the development of civilization,
of science, and of art. Free as the proud bird of
liberty, when released from the bloody fangs of the
British lion, and permitted to soar aloft, and bathe
his golden plumage in the bummg radiance of the
0 ^iA<-itA-^-^ (UviAjyt'p ^I'i V^
438 STKICTUKES
mid-day sun, the empire of mind, the spirit of inves-
tigation and research, and the genius of invention
and improvement, are enabled to grapple successfully
with the powers of ignorance, vice, and superstition,
which have ever bound man to earth, and ground him
in the dust, and to develop countless ways and means
for his elevation and improvement.
Our country, too ; what a prodigy among the nations
of the earth ! What a monument to the giant powers
of the human mind and Christian enterprise, when
uncontrolled by regal authority or papal influence.
Like first creation, a new world has been ushered
from the dark chaos of heathenism, into the bright
sunshine of Christian civilization, as it were, in the
short period of a day. The magic wand of science
and Christianity is waived over the great wilderness,
and it is suddenly transformed into a fruitful field or
a populous city. The dark and boundless forest, which
but yesterday re-echoed the deafening roar of the wild
beast, or the piercing yell of the warrior savage, has
disappeared, and cultivated fields, thriving villages, and
populous cities, resounding with the busy hum of
industry, the classic melody of hterature, and the
richer notes of Christian worship, supply its place.
Those vast inland seas and deep rolling rivers, which
were wont to sport upon their heaving bosoms the
frail canoe of the wild Indian, now teem with the
commerce of a mighty nation. Where ran the narrow
trail of the wild buffalo, and the wilder savage, now
extends the great iron-bound thoroughfares, where
m
^"^ /V/Af
ON ABOLITIONISM. 439
speeds the noisy locomotive, the triumphal car of
modern improvement, the iron horse with his bowels
of fire, carrying in his wake, with the velocity of
the winged messengers, a multitude sufficient to con-
stitute the world's convention, or a congress of nations.
By its side, too, may be seen the soUtary line of the
magnetic telegraph, upon which the lightnings of
heaven yield allegiance to the mighty prowess of
cultivated reason, and become the willing servants
of man — the common carriers of human thought.
But not alone in this wonderful triumph of civilized
over savage life, of Christianity over barbarism, of
the arts over the undisturbed repose of uncultivated
nature, are the superiority, the true greatness, the
matchless prowess of our nation exhibited. It is in
a moral point of view that our national superiority
stands forth prominent — in the great work of civilizing
and Christianizing mankind — of giving to the world
a form of civil government nearer perfect than any
that had preceded it— of exhibiting a practical solution
of the great question : Is man capable of self-govern-
ment ? In all these great works of moral reformation
and scientific research — these majestic schemes and
systems for enlightening and ennobling the human
mind, and elevating the standard of human happiness,
which characterize the golden age in which we live —
it is a cheering thought, a proud reflection, that
they are generally the offspring of American genius
and enterprise, and sustained by American benevolence
and philanthropy.
440 STRICTURES
The watch-word of this generation is — Onward I
Every political revolution, and every domestic etttep*
prise, has an upward and redeeming tendency. This
is true, not only in a civil and secular, but in a moral
point of view. The darkness of heathenism and savage
life, is rapidly receding before the glorious sunlight
of civilization and Christianity. The glorious sun of
republican liberty, which, upon the natal day of
American Independence, first dawned upon the world,
is beginnuag to extend its life-giving, regenerating
influences over the moral political wastes of despotic
Europe. Kings are beginning to tremble for the
safety of thei*r respective thrones, and their subjects
to look forward to the no very distant period, when
despotism, with its haggard train of moral, social, and
political evils, shall give place to r^jublican liberty ;
and constitutions, modelled after the '•'■Magna Charta''^
of American Independence, shall become the organic
law of the several states, kingdoms, and empires of
the old world. The numerous plans which have been
devised, and are being carried into operation, for the
purpose of extending and sustaining the various systems
of civilizing and Christianizing the nations of the
earth, speak much for the wisdom and philanthropy
of their authors, and are truly worthy the countenance
and support of every friend of humanity.
But in the pi-esent, as in all past ages, we find the
human mind more or less pi-one to run to extremes.
Like the resistless torrent of the mountain stream,
which being accelerated by ita own momentum, bursts
ON ABOLITIONISM. 441
over its natural barriers, and counteracts many of its
naturally good effects by its destruction of surrounding
objects. Thus is it with the philanthropy of many of
the present age. They have a zeal without knowMge.
Prompted by the impulse of feeling, without the
exercise of reason, they often resort to means which
are altogether incompatible with the ends which they
desire to accomplish. We find, therefore, among the
many systems of reformation which have been devised
in this our day and generation, many to admire and
sanction ; others, again, which we cannot consistently
give assent to, because we conceive them not to be
in harmony with reason, truth, and justice.
And first among these, is that species of philanthropy
or fanaticism which would take from a man that which,
of right, belongs to him, and appropriate it to other
purposes, without remunerating him therefor, gaining
his consent, or even consulting his wishes. It is to
be presumed, that there are but few of the enlightened
citizens of our common country, who, if they fully
comprehended its ultimate tendency, would subscribe
to a species of fanaticism of this nature. Yet do we
find a considerable party in the United States, one
that is not wanting either in respect of numbers or of
talent, that is organized upon this very principle. In
all probability, the ground upon which it is based,
and the principles involved in its organization, are
not fully comprehended by many, perhaps the larger
number of those who have identified themselves with
this party ; but we have reason to beUeve that this is
442 STRICTURES
not the case with the leaders, the prime movers, the
pampered stipendiaries who direct its movements, and
give tone and currency to the practical operations of
its hidden machinery. Many there may be, who have
never reflected upon the matter, who have never taken
the second sober thought concerning it, but have been
prompted by an impulse engendered by excitement.
But that this is the case with all, we are slow to
believe. For the ignorant and deluded, there may be
some shadow of excuse or palliation; but upon the
wilful perpetrators of error and delusion — the origina-
tors of this suicidal pohcy — the leaders of this hetero-
geneous horde of ranting factionists and unprincipled
enthusiasts, we forbear to pass judgment. Disturbers
of the public peace, and engenderers of private feuds,
the baseness of their designs is equalled only by the
unreasonableness and inconsistency of their tenets, or
principles of action.
Such is modern abolitionism and its advocates, a
withering blighting curse, a pestiferous excresence upon
the body politic, a hideous deformity, begotten by the
father of lies, born of the mother of harlots, and nursed
by the bloody hand of vile misanthropy ; its breath is
pestilence and death, its practical operations the
destruction of all domestic tranqmUity and social
order, of all peace, friendship, and good will amongst
men.
The inquiry, whence originated such a species of
pseudo philanthropy or wild fanaticism, may not be
devoid of interest, as something of its nature may be
ON ABOLITIONISM.
443
inferred from its parentage. Bj investigation, we find
it to be of foreign origin, an imported article. It
was conceived and brought forth in the British House
of Lords. But why transplanted ? Simply for the
reason, that it was the interest of the manufacturers
to find a market abroad for it.
America, and her republican institutions ; her ever
onward and upward march to greatness and glory ;
have ever been objects of jealousy and hatred to
tyrants and their fawning votaries. Various and
powerful were their schemes which they, in their
matchless subtlety and sacrilegious impiety, devised
and set on foot for the subversion of the grand super-
structure of American Liberty. But when foiled and
defeated on every hand, when despair was about to
possess every soul, the great enemy of human happiness
presents a new device, for the consideration of British
lords, his willing subjects. A system of nominal
slavery is discovered to exist in the United States.
Horrible inconsistency ! Disgraceful outrage ! What !
Slavery exist under a republican government ! It
must not be. The sympathies of the most corrupt
and oppressive legislative body that ever disgraced
the foot-stool of Deity, are aroused for the first time
in their history. Tears of mock sympathy are seen
coursing the bloated features of pampered tyrants,
and proud aristocrats. The excitement increases,
descends to the masses. Venerable matrons catch the
theme, look abroad over millions of their oppressed
fellow subjects, who never enjoyed the luxury of a
^ti.A^
444 STRICTURES
comfortable meal in all their lives, and discover that
to longer pollute their morning beverage with a product
of slave labor, is criminal.
And thus argues Parliament: — ^It is true, slavery
exists in our own West Indies. But as these slaves
are mostly the property of this honorable (?) body,
we will appropriate an amount (X21,000,000 or
$105,000,000) from the national treasury, sufficient
to indemnify us against loss, adopt a seven years'
apprenticeship system of emancipation, and then shall
we be prepared to wage endless war against American
slavery and American institutions. The unhallowed
proposition receives the unqualified approbation of these
time-serving votaries of tyranny and corruption. West
India slavery is abolished upon the plan proposed.*
• For the success of this experiment, see the following extracts, to
which volumes of a similar character might be added : —
"A recent letter from Jamaica states that the poverty and industrial
prostration of that island are almost incredible. It says that since 1832»
out of six hundred and fifty sugar estates then in cultivation, more
than one hundred and fifty have been abandoned and the works broken
up. This has thrown out of cultivation over 200,000 acres of rich land,
which, in 1832, gave employment to about 30,000 laborers, and yielded
over 15,000 hogshead of sugar, and 6,000 puncheons of rum.
" During the same period, over five hundred cofiTee plantations have
been abandoned and their works broken np. This threw out of cultiva-
tion over 200,000 acres more of land, which, in 1832, required the labor
of over 30,000 men."
" Hayti — Marriagb Relations.— The Moniteur Haytien gives an
ofiBcial statement of the births and deaths, marriages and divorces, during .
the first quarter of the present year, in the West, North, and South
Provinces — seventy tovsTis in all. In these towns the whole number of
chDdren bom in three months was 1863, of whom, 1700 were bom out of
wedlock, and only 163 were legitimate ! Such a monstrous disproportion
ON ABOLITIONISM.
445
And now commences the crusade against the institution
as it exists in the United States of America. A motley
corps of harping demagogues, tourists, intriguers,
seducers, pamphleteers, and electioneerers, are com-
missioned to canvass the free States of the North,
for the purpose of arraying the North against the
South in hostile mood, by arousmg the prejudices and
firing the passions of their peaceful inhabitants, by
agitating the question of the unqualified abohtion of
slavery.
But why all this upon the part of the erudite, and
accomplished statesmen of the parent land ? Are
there no objects of charity upon which to pour
out their overflowing benevolence and philanthropy at
home ? Let the countless millions of woe-begotten
groaning, British subjects throughout England, Ireland,*
between these two classes of children exists in no other country, we
venture to say, on the face of the eavlb, where the marriage institution is
recognized. In the same towns the deaths in that period were 406; 65
marriages, and 1 divorce. In Port au Prince alone, the capital of the
Empire, there were 413 children born, and only 29 of them in marriage,
77 deaths and 20 marriages."
* " Coleman, in his work entitled 'Life and Manners in England and
Prance,' gives the following most lamentable description of the poor in
Ireland : — ' I never saw a more beautiful country,' says he, " though art
has done little for it. The wretchedness of the great mass of the
people is utterly beyond all description. I have been into cabins dug
out of the bog, with no warmth but the heat of the mud in wliich they
have been excavated, with the roof covered with turf and straw, and
the water standing in puddles on the outside, without chimney, window,
door, floor, bed, chair, table, knife, or fork ; the whole furniture consisting
of some straw to lie down upon, a pot to boil the notatoes. a tin cup to
drink out of, and a wicker basket to take up the potatoes in after they
446 STRICTURES
and, indeed, the whole wide-extended dominion of
the Sea-born Empire, upon whose Hmitless bounds
the sun never sets, give the answer. Was it a
pure spirit of charity and benevolence, that prompted
the enterprise ? Nay, verily. A far diflferent motive
lay concealed beneath the gilded folds of royal
duplicity. Standing upon an eminence "of a seat in
the British ParUament, the poHtical seer could easily
penetrate the dark vista of the future, and predict
the result of the unhallowed agitation of this vexed
question.
But why commence the work in States where the
institution does not exist? Why not go into the
slave States, and meet the question fairly, by dis-
are bofled, which is set down in the middle of the floor, and parents and
children sqnat down like Hottentots on the ground and eat their food
with their fingers, sometimes with salt and often without ; this is literally
the whole of their living, day after day, and year after year, excepting
that on Christmas day they contrive to get a little piece of meat and a
bit of bread.' The writer has seen thousands, yea, a million, living so.
I could hardly credit my own senses,' continues he, 'until I went into
the cabins, and felt my way in the smoke and darkness, and actually put
my hand on the turf sides.' Here they all lie down, parents and children,
brothers and sisters, on the straw at night, huddled together, literally
naked, with the pigs, oftentimes the ass or horse, and sometimes the
cow in the same room. ' Such is the manner of living of large masses
of the people of Ireland. 'And this in a country belonging to the richest
and most refined people on the globe, not forty-eight hours journey from
London; not one-fourth part of which is cultivated, and containing
millions of ontilled acres of as rich land as the sun ever shone upon.'
The heart sickens at such details of human misery. The condition
of these people is worse, by far, than that of the negro slaves of the
slave-holding States of this country, whose condition excites so mach
sympathy among the self-styled philanthropists of Great Britain."
ON ABOLITIONISM. 447
j cussing it with those who alone were empowered to
I legislate with respect to the institution of slavery?
I The reason is obvious. This warfare did not originate
j in any inate opposition to the principle of servitude
I or bondage, or from any inherent love of universal
liberty, which existed or was cherished in the hearts
of its originators. Had this been the case, an ample
field for the exercise of their benevolent desires and
philanthropic emotions existed in their own immediate
midst. A far different motive influenced the action
of these cunning deceivers and unprincipled dema-
gogues. They foresaw that direful consequences to
republicanism, and to the whole American people,
hung suspended upon the proposed agitation of this
question, the prosecution of this warfare upon the
part of the Northern free States. It was evident
that every aggressive movement made by these fac-
tionists in the north, would produce a correspondent,
or counteracting movement on the part of the friends
of the south. Thus do we discover the true origin
of this unhallowed faction, this unrighteous combina-
tion of foreign and domestic talent and influence,
against the welfare of our common country. It
originated with the enemies of universal freedom and ^'>I,
republican liberty, the fawning sycophants of tyranny,
the willing tools of oppression. The principles of
modern abolitionism were first promulged in the
northern free States by British denaagogues and
emissaries, supported by British gold, as have been
their successors to the present day.
448 ' STRICTURES
district school pedagogue of the Garrisonian school,
to the Honorable Senator advocating with burning
eloquence in the Halls of Crongress, the beauties (?)
of the Wilmot Proviso, have received and acknow-
ledged the irresistible influence of the same corrupting
golden agency. Says the able correspondent of the
National Intelligencer : —
"On your side of the Atlantic, you cannot be ignorant
how w^ell they understand the pow^er and application of
money, as well as slander, in their two-fold crusade. We,
who learn their secret, and scan their public operations,
in Great Britain and France, positively know that they
gather and use extraordinary sums, and they have always
at command ample subsidees for every kind of service.
We are not surprised, that while they deal chiefly with
stipendiaries, they should arraign, as corrupt, all indepen-
dent judgment and action against their own designs and
machinations. American character in general has seriously
suffered, by the unremitted, wide-spread, unscrupulous
war in Europe, which, for many years past, has been
carried on against American slavery "and slaveholders.
In every quarter, the enemies of our Union, and Repub-
licanism, calculate most on the slavery question as a
disturber, and dissolvent, and as an expedient of de-
formation and discredit. If the European nations, or
people — British, French, or other — should at any time
be disposed to second, or urge their governments in
belligerent endeavors to cripple American power and
institutions, it will be from the diffusive prejudices and
antipathies, from the aversion or odium, created by the
machinery of the anti-slavery societies and their abettors
!)(Al'^^ lo^of^''^
ON ABOLITIONISM. M9
Last winter, pamphlets written and printed in New
England, were placed in Galignani's Reading Rooms,
to attract English readers, which filled me with horror,
by the enormity of the charges and invectives, and the
intensity of the venom lavished on the American slave-
holders universally, and indeed on the whole American
people, except abolition zealots. I have closely followed
and studied, m America and Europe, the proceedings,
dispositions, and purposes of this sect, which has invented
and spread more noxious falsehood and atrocious calumny
than any other of modern times, and whose schemes
involve more malignity and evil than could be imputed
to Jesuits, Illuminati, Carbonari, or the other orders and
associations denounced as conspirators against human
welfare."
A dissolution of the Union was, undoubtedly, the
ultimate and real design of those foreign founders
aod abettors of abolitionism. This gained, and the
pride of the British lion would be avenged for the
disgraceful defeats and losses sustained during the
revolutionary and late wars. Not unwisely, then,
did they count upon " the slavery question as a
disturber and dissolvent," as an effectual expedient
CO cripple American power and institutions. They
acted the part of sagacious and accomplished states-
men, in selecting this as the Archimedian lever, with
which to subvert the grand superstructure of American
Independence. They have effectually sowed the seeds
of discord and disaffection in our midst, of which
" disunion " is the legitimate and inevitable offspring,
450 STRICTUEES
unless checked by the conservative principles of
truth, reason, and justice. Our Union dissolved,
and all that the most inveterate enemies of repubhcan
liberty, of civil and religious freedom, could desire,
is accomplished. How near we have approximated
to this result, the present convulsed and perturbated
state of the country, and the late disgraceful scenes
enacted in the halls of our national legislature, too
clearly mdicate. That we stand upon the verge of
a fearful revolution, is evident, unless saved by the
timely interference of the genial spirit of concession
and compromise.
Modern abohtionism, then, we discover, is not a
thing which exists in name only, a shadow without
a substance, a mere child of fancy ; but a stem
reahty, and deep-layed conspiracy, a well-organized
system, upheld by a powerful combination of the most
powerful and dangerous enemies of our common
country, who are actuated by a desire, not to amehorate
the condition of the benighted African, but to strike
a death-blow at the genius of republican liberty, to
sap the very foundations of our civil polity, to poison
the gushing fountains of our domestic tranquillity,
social intercourse, and national security. That our
country, the cause of human freedom and national
civilization, the cause of all mankind, have more to
fear from this organization, than from all other opposing
elements combined, we entertain not a doubt. To
prove that we speak not unadvisedly, and that our
fears and deductions are not unfounded, we beg
ON ABOLITIONISM. 451
leave to introduce the following, from authorities, the
intelUgence of whom, we presume, will not for a
moment be questioned : —
[Fro7}i tlie Nashville Union
•' The Union, Past and Future. — We have received
a pamphlet entitled, ' The Union, Past and Future —
How it Works, and how to Save it. By a Citizen of
Virginia.' It is, as the Richmond Enquirer remarks,
in noticing it, a most luminous exposition of the ex-
traordinary advantages which the North has derived
over the South from the Union ; the wonderful resources
which capacitate the South for entire independence of
the North ; the reliance of the latter upon the former
for its prosperity — its inevitable poverty in peace, and
weakness in war, in the event of a dissolution — and
the overwhelming considerations of interest and policy,
which should thus induce the North to cease the prosecu-
tion of those suicidal measures which endanger her
longer enjoyment of the incalculable blessings of wealth
and power, protection and honor, flowing to her, under
the Union, from the very institutions which she would
destroy. No threats are made — no menaces indulged.
A candid statement is given of the facts in the case,
and of the relations which the two great geographical
divisions of the country sustain to each other in a politico-
economical point of view. The munificent generosity
of the South — the heavy and unequal burdens she has
borne, and still bears, in the support of the Federal
Government — the splendid abundance of her varied
resources, still multiplying, still enlarging — the safety and
452 STRICTURES
facility with which she could maintain her own Union,
with a less expenditure of revenue, than she now
annually contributes quite gratuitously for the benefits
of the North — her manly determination to require
" Equality of Independence " — these facts are calmly,
but plainly and distinctly stated ; not, indeed, to en-
courage the idea of dissolution, but to remind us that
we are under no grinding necessity, no compulsion of
poverty, for ever to endure Northern vassalage, usurpa-
tion, and insults, and to open the eyes of the North, too
long blinded by power, to her true interests and imminent
danger.
"It would be well for the Union, if this pamphlet were
circulated throughout its whole extent, and read by all its
millions. It would bring home to the South a knowledge
of her real strength. It would bring home to the North a
knowledge of her real weakness. It would show the
one that she could sustain herself alone, in peace and
war, with safety and honor. It would show the other
that alone, in peace or war, she must ignobly fall with
" all -her greatness." It would inspire the South with a
manly independence, which would disdain further com-
promises of her interests and dignity, where concession
has but led to aggression, and magnanimity to imposition.
It would inspire the North with a just sense of her
dependence, and an enlightened apprehension of losing,
by the further provocation of a generous, but outraged
and indignant people, the grand sources of her prosperity,
happiness, and honor. Each section would better under-
stand the attitude of the other, and such understanding
might lead to the permanent establishment of a more
equal and harmonious Union.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 453
" Below we present a series of extracts from this
excellent pamphlet, interspersed with an occasional
remark of our own
" After a brief introduction, the author sets out with a
proposition which he fully estabUshes by facts and figures :
♦ The history of the causes of the present crisis, is the
history of ever-growing demands on the part of the North,
and of concession on the part of the South.' We cannot
follow him step by step, but must content ourselves with
marking only a few of the principal metm on the courses.
He begins with the cession, by Virginia, to the Union,
jf the magnificent domain north-west of the Ohio — the
most splendid dower that ever bride gave away to please
her grasping lord : —
'* ' It was a country well suited for slavery, for even so
late as 1806, we find a convention of the inhabitants of
Indiana petitioning for its temporary introduction, and a
committee of the House of Representatives reporting
through their chairman, Mr. Garnett, of Virginia, in favor
of their prayer. But while Virginia was guilty of this
suicidal generosity, she annexed one condition for her
own advantage, that no more than five States should be
formed out of this territory, so as to preserve a due
balance of political power in the Union. Yet even this
condition the North has violated, and 22,336 square miles
of its area, more than the average size of all the free
States east of the Ohio, have gone to constitute the future
State of Minnesota.
"'This was the first step, and the next was at the
formation of the present Constitution, when a contest
arose as to the ratio of representation. Should the South
have as many representatives, in proportion to her
population, as the North ? It was just and right that
she should. The Federal Government had no cc\ncej7i
with the relations between blacks and whites, the classes
454 STRICTURES
of her population. It had no right to inquire whether
the negro was a slave or free. The slaves were a
better population than the free negroes, and if the latter
were to be counted at their full number in the appoint-
ment of representation, so ought the former. The right
could not be refused, because the slaves were naturally
or legally equal to the whites, for so are the free negroes.
It could not be refused, because they have no political
rights, for neither have the free negroes, paupers, women, or
children. They are an essential part of the population;
if absent, their places must be filled by other laborers,
and if they are property as well as population, it is
an additional reason for giving their owners the security
of full representation for them. But the South, as usual,
yielded to Northern exorbitance, and agreed that five
slaves should count only as three free negroes. There-
fore, instead of 103 representatives in Congress, we have
only 91.
" ' But the free States are not content with this, and
now propose to take away twenty-one more of our
representatives. They say that the right of representa-
tion for three-fifths of our slave population, is a sufficient
reason for refusing admission into the Union to any new
slave States and Massachusetts has proposed, by a solemn
legislative resolution, to amend the Constitution so as to
deprive us of this guaranteed representation. Public
meetings and eminent men have approved of her
proposal.
' In return for this surrender of her rights, the South 1
inserted in the Constitution two stipulations in her own
favor. The first provided, that direct taxes should be
apportioned amongst the States in the ratio of their
representation. According to this provision, we ought
now to pay a little more than one-third of the taxes ; we
actually pay, under the present system, over three-fourths.
The amount levied from customs, since the formation of
the Government, has been about one thousand and forty-
seven millions of dollars ; and had these duties been paid
in the ratio which the Constitution indicates as just and
ON ABOLITIONISM. 456
proper, the South would have paid four hundred and
forty-two, and the North six hundred and five millions
of dollars. But, as we shall see hereafter, the slave
States have really paid seven hundred and ninety-eight
millions of dollars, and the free States only two hundred
and forty-nine millions of dollars. Therefore, the South
has gained nothing by this stipulation in return for her
loss of reputation.
" ' The other stipulation in favor of the South, was, that
' no person held to service or labor in one State, under
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse-
quence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on
claim of party to whom such service or labor may be
due.' This provision rests for its due fulfilment, not
merely upon the Federal Government, but, like a treaty
stipulation between distant nations, must be carried into
effect by the municipal regulations of the parties, and
their comity and good feeling. Yet what has it been
worth to the South '? So far from executing this clause,
and ' delivering up ' the runaway slaves, the free States
refuse to pass any efficient law to that end in Congress ;
and such is their state of feeling, and such their domestic
laws, that any federal law, even if enacted, could not be
executed. In their own governments, they make it a
criminal oifence, punishable by fine and imprisonment,
for any officer, and in some States for any citizens, to
assist in seizing or ' delivering up ' a fugitive slave.
Their whites and their free negroes assemble in mobs to
rescue the slave from the master who is bold enough to
capture him, and then accusing himself of the riot they
made themselves, throw him in a felon's jail, and load
him with fetters, as Pennsylvania has recently done by a
respectable citizen of Maryland, When Troutman, of
Kentucky, pursued his slaves into the town of Marshal],
in Michigan, he was surrounded by a mob, led by the
most influential citizens, who declared that ' though the
law was in his favor, yet the public sentiment must and
should supercede it,' and a resolution was tumultuously
456 STJElICTUilES
adopted, that ' these Kentuckians shall not remove from
this place these slaves by moral, physical, or legal force.'
A Magistrate fined Troutman, one hundred dollars for the
tresspass in attempting to arrest his slave ; and he was
recognized to appear at the next Circuit Court, for
draw^ing a pistol on a negro vi^ho was forcing the door of
his room ! But this was a mild treatment compared with
the fate of the lamented Kennedy, of Hagerstown,
When he followed his slave into Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
and was peaceably, with his own consent, bringing him
away, an infuriated mob of whites and free blacks, incited
by the Professor of a College, assaulted and brutally
murdered him! It is estimated by Mr. Clingman, that
the whole loss to the South, in fugitive slaves, is not less
than fifteen millions of dollars. Mr. Butler, of the Senate,
estimated the annual loss to the South at two hundred
thousand dollars, and more recent statements make it
probable that he was under the true amount. The
philanthropy of the North does not extend to voluntary
free negro emigrants from ihe South, but is confined to
the runaway slaves, whom it can force by fear to work
for immoderately low wages.'
" Briefly tracing the growth of the anti-slavery faction
in the North, the author next proceeds to speak of the
admission of Missouri. He says: —
" * A clause prohibiting slavery was inserted into the
bill for the admission of Missouri, when it became
apparent that her people would reject such a bill, if
passed, and with a government regularly organized,
according to all the constitutional precedents, would
remain without the Union as a separate, independent
State, unless the federal authority undertook to subdue
her, and convulsed the* country by a civil war. In
this state of the question, the South had only to remain
firm, and the North would be forced to yield; but, as
usual, the South was weak enough to retreat from her
ground, and, in her love for tlie Union, she submitted
ON ABOLITIONISM. 457
to a provision for ever prohibiting slavery in all that
part of the Territory of Louisiana (except Missouri
itself) which lies north of 36^ 30', the southern boundary
of Virginia and Kentucky. The South thus lost, without
any equivalent, nine-tenths of what was already a
slave territory, purchased by the common treasure.
She retained only one hundred and ten thousand square
miles for the emigration of her own citizens, and sur-
rendered nine hundred and sixty-five thousand to the
North.
" ' Yet even this so-called compromise, forced upon
us by Northern voters, is now spurned by the free
States. They have derived all the possible benefit from
it on this side of the Rocky Mountains, and they refuse
us the poor advantage which it would secure, of two
hundred and four thousand, three hundred and eighty-
three square miles, out of eight hundred and sixty-seven
thousand, five hundred and forty-one on the other side !'
"Here follows the climax. The extract is long, but
vre are sure it will repay perusal : —
" ' It is now proposed to exclude the South from the
Territory of California and New Mexico, four hundred
and forty-six thousand, nine hundred and thirty-eight
square miles, large enough to make more than eleven
States equal to Ohio. The South paid her share, and, as
we shall see, far more than her full share, of the expenses
of the Mexican war. Of the gallant volunteers who
fought its battles, she furnished forty-five thousand six
hundred and forty, and the North twenty-three thousand
and eighty-four — but little more than half as many. She
sent one man out of every twenty-six of military age —
the North only sent one out of every one hundred and
twenty-four. How those battles were fought and won,
of which section the Generals were natives, whose
regiments faltered, and whose left two of their men
stretched upon the bloody field, while the third planted
the stars and stripes upon the Mexican battlements,
458
STRICTURES
the South will leave to history to say. And now it is
proposed to exclude the survivors and their fellow-citizens
from the equal enjoyments of the conquest of the war !
And why ? — because, as the Vermont resolutions declare,
' Slavery is a crime against humanity /'
" ' The North next propose to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia, and so make a harbor for run-
aways, and a centre of abolition agitation in the very
heart of Virginia and Maryland, This is ■ to be done in
defiance, alike of good faith and of constitutional
obligation ; and why ? because, as the Gott resolution,
passed by the House of Representatives, declares,
' Slavery is infamous /'
" ' The Northern vote in Congress on these questions
is almost unanimous, without distinction of parties,
against the South. The exceptions are daily fewer,
swept away by the overpowering side of fanatical public
sentimeht at the North. The State legislatures are
equally agreed. They have all, and the majority more
than once, adopted resolutions of the most offensive
character. The next treat is to abolish slavery in the
dockyards, forts, and arsenals, for there Congress has the
same jurisdiction and responsibility as in the District.
It is asserted that slavery cannot exist, without a special
law to establish it, in the new Territories, because property
in negroes is, as they pretend, a creation of municipal
regulation alone, and, therefore, ceases beyond the limits
of the State which authorizes it. Not only does this
argument fail in its major proposition, for there is no law '<
establishing slavery in any state where it exists ; but it [
fails also in its application, for the limits and authority [
of each slave State now extend to the new Territory held j
by the common Federal agent. But, if true, by parity j
«jf reasoning, slavery cannot exist on the high seas, and f
so say our abolitionists. Therefore, the slaves who leave \
Richmond on a voyage to New Orleans, are free as soon r
as the vessel leaves the shore. The prohibition of what t
they call the slave trade on the high seas, and then on .
the Mississippi, whose waters they pretend are common \
1
[
ON ABOLITIONISM. 459
property, and then between the states, will quickly follow
each other. What would be left the South in such a
condition ? With asylums for runaways and stations for
abolition agents in every state ; the mail converted into a
colporteur of incendiary tracts ; forbid to carry our slaves
from state to state ; unable to migrate to new or more
fertile lands, and thus renovate our fortunes and give our
sons a new theatre for their energies, without sacrificing
all our habits, associations, and property, and yet, with all
this, bound to pay taxes and fight battles for conquests, w^e
are to have no share in and for a government known to
us only by its tyranny, how miserable would be our
thraldom ! Can any Southern man bear the idea of such
degradation 1 He might endure the loss of his rich
conquests in California, but can he bear to be excluded
because his institutions are infamous ? because he is
branded with inferiority, and under the ban of the
civilized world ? If he can, then is he worthy of all, and
more than all, that is threatened him.
" ' But abolition will not stop, even when slavery is
thus hemmed in, ' localized and discouraged,' as senator
Chase proposes. Anti-slavery sentiment is to be made
the indispensable condition of appointment to Federal
Office ; and thus, by bringing Southern men to treachery,
the war is to be carried on to the last fell deed of all —
the abolition of slavery within the States — for, to quote
Randolph once more, 'Fanaticism, political or religious,
has no stopping place, short of Heaven, or — of Hell !'
" ' The slave states have but thirty votes in the Senate,
and two of these (Delaware) can hardly be counted upon
in their defence. Nor is it possible to increase her
strength by new slave states. Rufus King long since
avowed that the object of the North was political power,
and she will never permit Florida or Texas to be divided.
A serious claim is already set up to all Texas west of
che Nueces, as new territory, acquired by treaty from
Mexico, to which the Wilmot proviso may and should
be applied. The only territory south of the Missouii
compromise line, and east of the Rocky Mountains, is
460 STRICTURES
the district of fifty-eight thousand, three hundred and
forty-six square miles, ceded for ever to the Indians ;
on the other hand the North has west of the Mississippi
and east of the Rocky Mountains, exclusive of the
Indian territory,
723,248 square miles.
Add the part of the old Northwest
Territory, added to Minnesota in
violation of the Virginia deed of
cession 22,336 " '*
All of Oregon .... 341,463 « "
In all of undisputed territory 1,087,047 " "
or enough to make twenty-eight such States as Ohio, or
twenty-one larger than Iowa. This addition alone to the
strength of the North would give her nearly the three-
fourths required to amend the Constitution and abolish
slavery at her pleasure, if we can suppose that she
would take the trouble to enact an amendment to do
that which Mr. Adams declared could be done, in certain
cases, under half a dozen clauses in the Constitution as
it now stands. But when we consider that, in case of
our submission to the Wilmot proviso, the North will
liave all California,
448,691 square miles.
New Mexico east of the Rio Grande 124,933 " *'
Texas, between the Nueces and the
Rio Grande .... 52,018 " "
In all 625,642
more than all the present free States, equal to twenty-one
States of their average size, or sixteen such states as
Ohio, or twelve larger than Iowa, in addition to all we
before computed, her preponderance becomes truly
enormous. Fifteen slaves States to seventy-four free
States — not to mention the chances for several more in
Canada ! Can any one suppose that such a union could
subsist as a union of equals 1
ON ABOLITIONISM. 461
" ' In this alarming situation, the South has no hope
but in her own firmness. She wished to preserve the
Union as it was, and she must, therefore, insist upon
sufficient guaranties for the observance of her rights
and her future poHtical equaUty, or she must dissolve a
Union which no longer possesses its original character.
When this alternative is placed before the North, she will
determine, according to the value she places upon the
federal league, and we may anticipate her choice if we
can count what it has been worth to her, and how
large a moral and material treasure she must surrender,
if she persists in pushing her aggressions to its over-
throw.' "
[Speech of T. L. Clingman, of North Carolina.^
" Sir, the force and extent of the present anti-slavery
movement of the North is not understood by the South.
Until within the last few months, I had supposed that
even if California and New Mexico should come in as
free States, that agitation would subside so as to produce
no further action. A few months' travel in the interior
of the North has changed my opinion. Such is now
the condition of public sentiment there, that the making
of the Mexican territory all free, in any mode, would be
regarded as an anti-slavery triumph, and would accelerate
the general movement against us. Tt is not difficult to
perceive how that state of public sentiment has been
produced there. The old abolition societies have done
a good deal to poison the popular mind. By circulating
an immense number of inflammatory pamphlets, filled
with all manner of falsehood and calumny against the
South, its institutions, and its men, because there was no
contradiction in that quarter, they had created a high
degi'ee of prejudice against us. As soon as it became
462 STRICTURES
probable that there would be an acquisition of territory,
the question at once became a great practical one, and
the politicians immediately took the matter in hand.
With a view at once of strengthening the position, they
seized upon this matter which the abolition societies
(whose aid both parties courted in the struggle) had
furnished from time to time, and diffused and strengthened
it as much as possible, and thereby created an immense
amount of hostility to Southern institutions. Everything
there contributes to this movement ; candidates are
brought out by the caucus system, and if they fail to
take that sectional ground which is deemed strongest
there, they are at once discarded. The mode of nomina-
ting candidates, as well as of conducting the canvass, is
destructive of anything like independence in the represen-
tative. They do not, as gentlemen often do in the South
and West, take ground against the popular clamor, and
sustain themselves by direct appeals to the intelligence
and reason of their constituents. Almost the whole of
the Northern press co-operated in the movement, with
the exception of the New York Herald, (which, with its
large circulation, published matter on both sides,) and a
few other liberal papers, everything favorable to the
South has been carefully excluded from the Northern
papers. By these combined efforts, a degree of feeling
and prejudice has been gotten up against the South,
which is most intense in all the interior.
" I was surprised last winter to hear a Northern
Senator say, that in the town in which he lived it would
excite great astonishment if it were known that a
Northern lady would, at the time of the meeting of
the two Houses, walk up to the Capitol with a Southern
ON ABOLITIONISM. 4Go
Senator; that they had always been taught to consider
Southerners generally as being so coarse and ruffianly in
manner that a lady would not trust herself in such a
presence. This anecdote, sir, does not present too strong
a picture of the condition of sentiment in portions of
the interior of the Northern country. How far
gentlemen on this floor are to be influenced in their
action by such a state of opinion, I leave them to
decide."
Let no one, therefore, be consoled with the idea,
that thia self-styled " American Anti-Slavery Society,"
is wanting either in numbers or influence. It is a
powerful combination of American and foreign talent
and capital, composed of all sects and parties, of
all castes, grades, and conditions of society, from
the British lord to the factory operative, from the
self-important Free-soiler, to the ranting factionist
of the Garrisonian school ; all alike infatuated with
a principle of fanaticism which knows no bound ;
capable of wielding an influence, which has already
shaken our government from its centre to its cir-
cumference, and which will be felt for ages to
come.
The principles involved in the organization of this
faction are erroneous, and inconsistent with the well-
being of both master and slave. They were conceived
in sin, and brought forth in iniquity. They are in
direct violation of the laws of God and man, of
reason and revelation, being an unqualified warfare
upon an institution wisely ordained by Divine benefi-
464 STRICTURES
cence, and sanctioned by the whole volume of human
experience. It is alleged, that the slaveholder is, of
necessity, an unprincipled tyrant ; nay, worse, an
irreligious libertine, who regards neither the laws of
God, nor man, nor respects the established usages
and customs of civilized society. Although he is
but exercising a right which is guarantied by the
constitution of our common country, and acting in
^conformity with a principle which was recognized as
of old by our forefathers, the framers of the organic
law of the land, those pure patriots of the revolution,
who acknowledged no other standard of justice than
that contained in the sacred writings ; yet is he
denounced by these miserable factionists, as the most
corrupt, licentious, and profligate of all the sons of
men. Regardless of the teachings of the inspired
volume and human experience, corroborated by the
evidence of their own senses, they have assumed
that all men of every race, nation, tribe, and kindred
under heaven, are morally, intellectually, and physi-
cally, equal; and upon this wild and fallacious
hypothesis, they have based their false theory, and
maintained it with a zeal worthy of a good cause.
The basis upon which their policy rests, is the
assumption that slavery is sinful and unprofit-
able.
Having failed in their endeavors to convince the
slaveholder that the former is true, and that he is
bound by obligations the most sacred and uncom-
promising, te adopt immediate and unconditional
ON ABOLITIONISM. 465
emancipation, they have assumed the latter horn of
the dilemma, and now contend that slavery is
uni^rofitahle, that it tends to impoverish the State,
and weaken the resources of the Government. The
means upon which they now rely to arrest the
progress of slavery, and curtail the powers and
influence of the slave States, is not the persuasion
of the people of those States, but the numerical
power of the free States acting through the Federal
Government.
" The great principle upon which the Northern move-
ment rests, V4'hich is already adopted by most northern
politicians, and to vv^hich they all seem likely to be driven
by the force of the popular current there, if the question
is unsettled till the next Congressional election, is this :
That the Government of the United States must do
nothing to sanction slavery ; that it must therefore exclude
it from the Territories ; that it must abolish it in the
District of Columbia, forts, and arsenals, and w^herever
it has jurisdiction. Some, too, carrying the principle
to its extent, insist that the coasting slave trade, and that
between the States, should be abolished, and also in
custom-houses, post-offices, and the like. As these things
all obviously rest on the same general dogma, it is clear
that the yielding of one or more points would not check,
but would merely accelerate, the general movement to
the end of the series. Before this end was reached,
they would probably append, as a corollary, the principle
that the President should not appoint a slaveholder to
office. It is, sir, my deliberate judgment, that, in the
present temper of the public mind at the North, if the
466 STRICTURES
teriitorial question remains open till the next election,
few, if any, gentlemen will get there from the free States,
that are not pledged to the full extent of the abolition
platform." — Extract from a Speech in Congress, by T.
L. Clingman, of North Carolina.
The following report of what Mr. Clay said is
from the National Intelligencer. The remarks are
brief, but to the point. Mr. Clay says : —
" I cannot allow this occasion to pass without calling
to the attention of the Senate a fact connected with most
of these petitions. Sir, the moment a prospect opens in
this unhappy country of settling our differences, these
disturbers of the peace, these abolitionists put themselves
in motion — the Jays, the Phillipses, and others in other
quarters — and they establish a concerted and ramified
plan of operations; and I want to expose it to the
Senate. Here, sir, is a little bit of printed paper
[holding up the petitions which had been delivered to
him] scattered throughout the whole country. Some
of them found their way into ray own State. I presented
them the other day from Lewis county, printed, 1
have no doubt, at a common centre, and dispersed
throughout the country, in order to produce a common
effect, and to make an impression on this body as if they
were speaking the public sentiment in this country.
1 [After having been called to order by Mr. Hale, on
I the ground that the petition had already been passed
i upon, and after some conversation, in which Mr. Clay
1 stated the rules to be, that the Senator might state the
grounds of a motion before making it, and that he could
0:i^ ABOLITIONISM. 467
put himself in order by concluding with a motion to refer
the petitions — he proceeded as follows : — 1
" Well, sir, [ do not know that I shall present any
such motion, but I have a right to put myself in order
by making such a motion, and I trust the honorable
Senator, who is listened to by myself with as much
complacency as any body, will not manifest any very
great impatience at my calling the attention of the
Senate to this ramified and concerted plan of the
abolitionists to circulate their little bits of printed petitions
adapted to all the variety of cases ; one for abolishing
the slave trade ; one for abolishing slavery in the District
of Columbia; one for removing the seat of government
from this District ; in every shape and mode in which
they can bring up the question of slavery. I trust that
neither the Senator nor his friends, in the house or out
of the house, will manifest any great degree of im-
patience while I call the attention of the Senate and of
the country to the fact, and show that the object is to
manufacture a sort of public opinion in order to make an
impression upan us at a moment when we are endeavor-
ing to heal the wounds of the country and to reconcile its
distracted and unhappy parts.
" Sir, of all the bitterest enemies toward the unfortu-
nato negro race, there are none to compare with these
abolitionist pretended friends of theirs ; but who, like
tlie Siamese twins, connect themselves with the negro,
or, like the centaur of old, mount not the back of a horse,
but the back of the negro to ride themselves into power,
and in order to display a friendship they feel only for
themselves, and not for the negro race. No, sir, there
are no worse enemies in the country of the negro race
30
468 STKICTURES
than these ultra abolitionists. To what sorts of extremity
have they not driven the slave-holding States in defence
of their own rights, and guarding against those excesses
to which they have a constant tendency,"
With them argument, and sophistry, and deception,
have become exhausted, and they now resort to
force. The principle for which they at this time
contend, is the same as that upon which the society
was originally organized, viz., the unqualified abolition
of slavery, or the separation of the free from the
slave States.* At a Free-Soil Convention, held at
Fanieul Hall, Boston, March 6th, 1850, one of the
* "The BanxVer of Disunion Unfurled. — We notice that the
abolitionists, under the lead ot Mr. Lloyd Garrison, the President of the
American Anti-slavery Society, in their call for the Sixteenth annual
meeting of their organization, which takes place in New York, on the
7th of May, makes the following announcement. These traitors are
emboldened by the free-soil movement to persist in their audacious
" A contest of near twenty years has proved that the only hopeful
issue with slavery is the demand for the IMMEDIATE AND UN-
CONDITIONAL EMANCIPATION OF EVERY SLAVE, and that
such a consummation can never be attained so long as we maintain a
political Union with Slaveholders.
" The northern boundary of the slave States is the same to-day that it
was when the American Society came into existence; its Southern is
extended Westward and Southward, embracing vast and fertile
territories sufficient to insure its existence for centuries to come. It is
something to be thankful and hopeful for, that the extension has not
been without a struggle, and that struggle becomes daily more and
more earnest and determined It will be entirely successful when
the North is awakened to the conviction that the Abolition of
Slavery will alone determine its extension — that the Southern and
Western boundary will no longer be contended for when its Northern
is destroyed."
ON ABOLITIONISM. 469
orators, a genius named Willson, said : " We ought
to come up with frankness to the point — Union or no
union, peace or war, victory or no victory ! Let us
come up to-day and pledge ourselves that we will
remain true to the principles we have adopted."
We subjoin one other tribute to tjie same sentiment
of disunion. The following comment on the " Death
of Mr. Calhoun,^^ is from the Neio York ^nti- Slavery
Standard, the leading organ of the faction :• —
" The Telegraph from Washington brings the intelli-
gence of the death of John Caldwell Calhoun, the great
champion of human bondage, and the leader of that
party in the Republic which counted men as brutes, and
which demands the sacrifice of the rights of the many to
the power of the few. To his friends and equals, Mr.
Calhoun has the reputation of having discharged, well
and nobly, all the duties demanded by that relation ; but
to his inferiors, the servants of his household, though he
may have fed and clothed them well,* he has been,
* Would that as much could he said of these beautiful models of
consistency and philanthrophy (?) Are the servants oi their households —
their equals in birth, caste, and blood, and their superiors in natural
goodness of heart, well fed and clothed ? Will the pitiful remuneration
which they receive for their labors, from these votaries of freedom and
equal rights, enable them to supply themselves and families with the
bare necessaries of life during the hours of sickness, and the cold,
dreary months of winter? Will " a long, loud wail of bitter lamentation
and deep sorrow," go up from the wretched hovels, the cold, crowded
garrets and damp cellars, subterranean abodes of the poor and distressed,
in their own immediate neighborhoods, when their death knells are
sounded? Let the starving, perishing widows and orphans who inhabit
these hovels give the answer.
^70 STRICTURES
from position and principle, a cruel and heartless tyrant.
So far as be may have believed himself to be acting
right, he is deserving of respect in having acted up to his
belief; beyond that, he is only to be regarded as one
who w^as a systematic robber of the poorest of God's
children. Better woidd it have been for the world, had he
never been horn ; hut having lived, we regret, in his
death, that he had not lived long enough to accomplish the
object of his life — the Dissolution of the Union op
THESE States."
Gihua we discover, that the only diflference per-
ceptible, is in the name, and in the " modus operandi^''
— the society having become better organized and
more numerous, and, therefore, more dangerous.
The advocate of Free Soilism is no other than an
improved (?) disciple of the Garrisonian school. He
who would exclude, by his vote, the slaveholder from
a residence in the territories acquired by the common
blood and treasure of the country, would harbor and
encourage the flying fugitive, or contribute to a
crusade against the legalized, inalienable rights and
constitutional privileges of the Southern division of
the Union. If not, he is not consistent with himself,
as each is of a kindred nature, and alike violations
of the organic law of the land. The friends of the
South, of Southern rights and interests, can no longer
stand and survey, with silent contempt and indigna-
tion, the secret workings and machiaations of these
detestable factionists and disorganizers. A well-
organized system of opposition — not to the established
ON ABOLITIONISM. 471
Constitution and Government under which we live —
to the great Federal Union, which all should cherish
and promote, as invaluable and sacred ; but to then;
aggressions, or rather a system of protection to
Southern interests and institutions, ought to receive the
unqualified sanction and support of every American
citizen, of every friend of humanity.
Let, then, every citizen of the slaveholding States,
feel that he has a work to accomplish — that he is
called upon by every feeling of interest, patriotism,
and philanthropy, to organize, in self-defence, not
against the Government or the Union, but for the
protection of his family and fireside, his property and
his most sacred rights, religious and pohtical ; against
the midnight attacks and aggressions of an organized
army of diabolical outlaws. Let him examine the
ground upon which he stands, and the circumstances
which surround him. Let him survey the length
and the breadth, the huge and uncomely proportions
of this hydra-headed monster of corruption, which
1 threatens to swallow up the peace and prosperity,
; the property and privileges of the peaceful inhabitants
j of the Southern division of this great confederacy.
I The Northern political reformers have assumed to
I legislate, with respect to the domestic institutions
1 and poHcy of the South — to interfere with the rights
of property, as guarantied by the Constitution of our
} common country. They propose to take from the
I slaveholder his slaves, which he has inherited from
\ his ancestors, the honored dead, or purchased with
472
his money, without remuneration or satisfaction, and
substitute, in their stead, the rufuse population of
the 'prisons and alms-houses of the old world; than
which a greater curse could not be inflicted upon
any people. Are the order-loving, chivalrous citizens
of the South prepared for this exchange ? Will they
sit supinely inactive, whilst a system of wholesale
robbery of this character is being committed in their
midst, upon their own property, and in their own
households ? Let the future action of the South,
upon the subject, give the answer. Let the people
of the slave States be no longer divided amongst
themselves ; let them forget all petty political differ-
ences, and, upon this subject, " know no party ;" let
them, as a band of brothers, become united in the
common defence. Let them say, with one voice, to
all abolitionists, of whatever name, sect, or party,
" Tamper with us no longer." " Forbearance has
ceased to be a virtue, and if civil commotions distract
and divide us further, and our Confederacy is dissolved,
and our Government subverted, the sin be upon your
heads.''''
A dissolution of the Uriion, has been the favorite
theme of these factionists from their earliest organiza-
tion. Victory or Disunion, peaceably if we can,
but forcibly if we must, is enstamped upon their
banners.. They were the fathers and propagators of
this treasonable doctrine of a division of the States.
They have advocated it in their periodical conventions,
upon the forum, in the social circle. The sacred
ON ABOLITIONISM. 473
desk, too, has been profaned by sentiments of this
character, from time immemorial, whilst their in-
flammatory pubUcations have ceased not to herald them
to the world upon every breeze. A base attempt
has been made to shift the odium of this traitorous
folly and madness to the South, and charge it upon
the citizens of the slave States. Treason against the
Government, they now declare, is combined with the
unpardonable sin of slavery. Fellow-citizens, are you
prepared for this ? Do you plead guilty to the
infamous charge ? Is mconstancy to the Union,
treason against the Government, a sin of Southern
origin ? Were Arnold and Burr men of Southern
birth and education ? Let the history of the past
give the answer. Let the action of the future seal
it with the same blood which has ever flowed in match-
less profusion in the cause of liberty, in the cause of
humanity, in the cause of our common country.
A call for a Southern convention is proclaimed, a
convention in which citizens of the slaveholding States
may meet, and deliberate as to the best manner of
protecting their own domestic policy and institutions,
of securing to themselves and posterity, the inaliena-
ble rights and privileges guarantied by the Constitution
under which we live. Is there any thing criminal,
treasonable, or anti-republican in this?* Abolitionists
* "As a Southern man, I cannot remain indifferent to the events that
are daily transpiring in this conntry; events which are calculated, in
my judgment, if not arrested, to distract, inflame, and perhaps destroy
the Union of the States. When I hear a Southern man say, that he can
~n
474 STRICTURES
have assumed the right, from time immemorial, to hold
conventions, and dehberate, not in respect to their own
domestic policy and institutions alone, but (consistency,
precious jewel !) in reference to the peculiar domestic
policy and institutions of the South. The right to
njeet and deliberate respecting their ovm affairs, has
see nothing in the ' signs of the times ' to aathorize and jostify the
South, in adopting strong measures to repel the aggressions and outrages
which are being made upon their rights, 1 am at once impressed with the
conviction that he is obstinately blind, or an enemy to his own interests.
Any man who is at all acquainted with public opinion at the North, with
reference to the institution of slavery, mast know that if the South does
not make some demonstrations of willingness to maintain their rights
under the Constitution, that ere long this great country will be plunged
into a civil war. The question, then, springs up, How are the com-
promises of the Constitution to be preserved inviolate, and the Union
preserved from destruction? The answer is at hand. Let the whole
South, without distinction of party, meet together in convention, through
properly authorized delegates, for the purpose of setting forth, in some
authoritat ve manner, the line of conduct that necessity will compel them
to adopt, if the r{orth still persist in their aggressions and outrages. My
opinion is, that the Northern fanatics will never cease their agitations,
until the South shall convince them, by some overt act, that they will
Bubmit no longer to their unjust interference with their c^omestic
affairs.
"The object of the Southern Convention, as I understand it, is not to
dissolve the Union, or organize a Soathem Confederacy, as some
miscreants represent it, but simply to devise and agree upon some plan
by which the distractions that now prevail in the country, may be healed,
and render more permanent and secure the rights of the Southern portion
of the Confederacy. Is there anything treasonable or wrong in this?
If it be treason to defend my rights from aggression, my property from
destruction, and my home from desolation, then I am a traitor But this
hue and cry about treason, is said for the avowed purpose of blinding the
eyes of the masses. As the whole South is vitally and deeply interested
in the matter, let them take the management of their affairs in their own
hands. A SOUTHERNEa."
ON ABOLITIONISM. 475
never been questioned. But what do we now hear ?
Disunion ! disunion ! a Convention for the purpose
of dissolving the Union ! is the hue and cry of every
aboHtion factionist and disorganizer throughout the
length and breadth of the land. Fellow-citizens of
the slaveholding States, are you prepared to be thus
outwitted ? to be thus cheated out of your maUenable
rights and privileges ?
A dissolution of the Union is undoubtedly the
greatest calamity that could befall our hitherto happy
and prosperous country. It is an event which no
Christian patriot could ever contemplate for a moment,
but with feehngs of consternation and horror. It
would be the signal for strife and contention, for
anarchy and civil commotion, for blood and carnage
amongst friends and brethren, amongst neighbors and
fellow-citizens. " Thenceforth the American eagle
would drop the olive branch of peace, and grasp only
the arrows of war. The mountains that divide us,
would be the dark mountaina of death ; and the stream
that flows between, like the waters of Egypt, would be
turned into blood. The hand that writes the declaration
of disunion, may it feel the blood curdle in its veins ;
and the tongue which reads it to the world, may it
stiffen in the act."
All the great National, State, and individual interests
of the country, are opposed to disunion. The poUtical
and commercial relations of the States, combine to
show that their natural and only true pohcy is union ;
the geographical, that the God of nature never designed
476 STRICTURES
the territory of the North American Continent to be,
like the grand divisions of the old world, inhabited by
different kingdoms, nations, and empires. The great
natural characteristics of the new world, are on a grand
and magnificent scale. Upon our northern boundary
are the great lakes, in magnitude and depth unequalled,
united in an indissoluble chain, pouring their exhaustless
fountains over the same stupendous cataract, through
the same channel, in the bosom of the same great
ocean ; at the extreme south the two great oceans flow
well nigh together, as if to blend their waves in one.
Our mountains, which rank among the most towering
of the globe, roll on in one unbroken chain from the
polar to the torrid regions ; whilst our majestic rivers
extend from centre to circumference, interlocking their
innumerable branches together, as if in token of union.
To advocate disunion, would be to mar the whole order *
and beauty of nature, to subvert the laws of the
material universe, and insult the wisdom of Deity.
He who would harbor * the inhuman, sacrilegious
thought, let him be anathematized by heaven; let
him receive the mark of Cain, and be driven from the
pale of civilized society, to wander a fugitive and a
vagabond on the earth. Let the Constitution be
preserved inviolate, so long as it can be done, in
harmony with the spirit which brought it into being.
Influence of Slavery on the Probperity of
THE States. — ^Much has been said and written respect-
__J
ON ABOLITIONISM. 477
ing the influence of slavery on the general prosperity
and advancement of the States where it exists.
Unwarrantable comparisons have been made, and
unjustifiable conclusions formed, by those who under-
stood not the relative condition of the free and the
slave States, nor the causes which operated to produce
the difference which actually exists. The contrast
between Kentucky and Ohio, for example, has been
often drawn, and the real difference magnified to an
extent, which would well nigh justify the conclusion
that they existed in different ages, in different climes,
and under different forms of government.
That there is a difference between these two States,
taking into consideration their ages as States, we are
free to admit ; but, that that difference is wholly owing
to the fact of one being a slave, and the other a free
State, is false, both in principle and in fact. If this
were true, the same principle would hold good when
applied to different counties and sections of Kentucky
itself. But that it is not true, facts clearly demonstrate ;
for, by examination into this matter, we find that in the
wealthiest, most inteUigent, and refined sections of that
State, as well as of any of the slave States, the greatest
proportion of slaves are to be found. We can cite to
counties, and to parts of counties, and, indeed, to
individual cases, and in every instance show that there is
a marked difference in favor of the slaveholder, when
confined to the native bom citizens of the State.
Ohio, it is true, has more flourishing towns and cities,
and has increased more rapidly in population than
478 STRICTUKES
Kentucky. It is also true, that there is more poverty
and pauperism, in proportion to the population; and
more taxation, in proportion to her aggregate wealth
and improvements, than there is in Kentucky. This
fact will hold good in comparing any town, city, and
manufacturing population, with that of the peaceful
inhabitants of the country engaged m the healthful,
ennobling, and life-giving pursuits of agriculture, horti-
culture, &c. Towns, cities, and manufactiiring districts,
are the hot-beds of vice, misery, pauperism, and de-
gradation. It is there the extremes of wealth and
poverty meet ; it is there that corruption and human
wretchedness are presented in their most loathsome
forms.* Says Coleman, in his most estimable work on
Agriculture : —
" The great cause of the evils which afflict humanity,
and the multiplication of crime, and the disorders of
society, he attributes to the fact, that ' the cultivation of
the earth is deserted, and innumerable multitudes pour
* " They now find it staring them in the face, from the reports of their
own oflBcers, that there is an amount of degradation (shameless and
incurable, because beginning with the beginning of life,) existing within
one city's (New York) limits, greater than can be gathered in the whole
population of the slaveholding States." "In the slave States of this
country, there is less of it than any where else in the world. In fact,
there is no such things as poverty, want, and starvation, among the slaves.
Such degradation and misery as are pictured in the report of the Chief
of our Police, cannot exist in a Southern city." " It is to be hoped, now
that those philanthropists know how miserable and degraded New York
is — and all large free cities are equally bad — they will turn their attention
to the work of making it better, before they make Charleston, Savannah,
Mobile, and New Orleans worse." — New York Day Book.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 479
into cities and towns, and filling every mechanical art and
trade, destroy each other by a competition in articles of
which the demand is necessarily limited."
But to what is the difference between these Sta,te3
attributable, if not to the fact of the one being a slave,
and the other a free State ? It is said, that the one,
though much younger, has a population more than
double that of the other. There must be some cause
or causes for this marked difference. There is,
unquestionably. That it is not altogether attributable^
however, to the one alluded to, is evident from the
fact, that other newly-settled portions of our vast
domain, have as far surpassed Ohio, in point of rapid
increase of population, as Ohio has Kentucky. It
must bo true, then, that the difference manifest in the
relative prosperity of different States and sections of
the Union, is attributable to other causes than that
of the existence of slavery.
What, then, are these causes in the case of these
two States ? One very important circumstance, which
has doubtless operated more effectually to retard the
progress of general improvement in the State of
Kentucky than any or all others, was the fact of her
territory having been originally a part of Virginia.
This circumstance, or rather circumstances growing out
of this, gave rise to an almost unending warfare
respecting the title of most lands within her boundary.
Large and conflicting individual surveys having been
made previous to her separation from Virginia, gave
rise to a state of things of a most unfortunate and
480 STRICTURES
discouraging character, and which were measurably
unknown in the settlement of any other State. Indeed,
it is matter of doubt, whether any other than the valiant
Boone and his gallant compatriots and their posterity,
ever would have surmounted these difficulties. The
wealthy proprietors of those immense surveys were
mostly citizens of other States, and being uninfluenced
by any of the motives which proximity of residence, and
a common feeling of interest in the general welfare and
prosperity of the State as citizens, would have naturally
engendered ; they waged a combined warfare against
the hardy emigrant, which few but a Kentucky pioneer
ever would have withstood. In a multitude of
instances, after having penetrated the dark recesses
of the forest, and driven the wild beast, and the wilder
savage, from their strong holds and native haunts —
after having surmounted all the many difficulties of a
pioneer settler, and erected for himself and dependents
a comfortable home, and reduced to cultivation a large
farm ; he was compelled to pay for his lands a second,
third, and perhaps fourth time, or forsake all, without
" the hope of fee or reward," and, in his old age, again
penetrate the wilderness and commence anew, with the
same uncertainty of being able to hold what he might
purchase, and obtain by a similar outlay of money and
labor.
Thus have we a brief and imperfect description of
the difficulties against which the early settlers of
Kentucky, and, indeed, many of the slave States, had
to contend — difficulties which existed not in the early
[
ON ABOLITIOXISM. 481
settlement of Ohio, and most of the other north-western
States, where the settler derived the title of his lands
direct from the general government. Indeed, in some
portions of Kentucky, land litigation is not yet ended,
and many an honest farmer knows neither the day nor
the hour that he may he called upon to give up his
home, or compromise with some foreign, " land-jobber"
at a heavy sacrifice.
The early settler of Ohio experienced nothing of all
this. Invited to his home by the superior fertility of the
soil, the mere nominal government price of $1 25 per
acre, and the additional inducement of every sixteenth
section being set apart for the education of his children,
combined with the fact of the title to the land being
indisputable ; the wonder would have been, had not the
State increased rapidly in population. Whereas, the
entirely different state of things in the early settlement
of Kentucky, doubtless retarded her general improve-
ment twice, if not thrice the length of time that
mtervened between the adoption of the two States into
the Union. This cause alone, other circumstances
being equal, is well nigh sufiicient to justify the actual
difference which is obvious in the general prosperity of
the two States.
But there is another cause of almost equal magnitude.
Kentucky, like most of the slave States, is decidedly,
or has been, thus far in her history, an agricultural
State. Her leading interests are indentified with the
cultivation of the soil. Her wealth, consequently, does
not tend to concentrate in cities and towns, and is not,
482 STKICTURES
therefore, as fascinatingly displayed as in her more
youthful rival, Ohio. Her population is much more
sparse, her citizens having inherited, from their natural
ancestors, the patriotic, hospitable planters of the " Old
Dominion," an inherent desire to hold large bodies of
land. This peculiar feature of their organization con-
tributes materially to affect her general prosperity.
The more wealthy, as their means wiU permit, seek to
enlarge their farms by purchasing the lands of their
less fortunate neighbors ; thus driving them to other
States, or to less eUgible and valuable situations within
their own limits. This circumstance has contributed
largely to draua off the population. Thus, for many
years past, the tide of emigration has been from
mstead of to the State.
Another evil, growing out of this custom, is this : It
is m a large number, perhaps a majority of instances,
an injudicious investment of capital. Many have
continued this course untU their lands have increased
far beyond their ability to cultivate them. The result is,
that the lands are made to yield a very small per cent.
on their nominal value, and the state is impoverished,
not only by a decrease of her population, but ' by
the resources of her rich and fertile lands being very
imperfectly developed by an injudicious and often almost
ruinous system in cultivation. Thus, much the greater
portion of the surplus capital of the State is lying
comparatively dormant ; whereas, if those large farms
were reduced to a size proportionate to the force em-
ployed to cultivate them, the landholders would become
ox ABOLITIONISM. 483
much more numerous, the farming population would be
much increased, this would lead to a proportionate
increase in the population of the towns and cities, — as
these increased an enlarged home demand for the
farmer's products would be created, and thus would all
work together, harmoniously, for the common good of
every class of citizens.
As these land monopoHes become broken up, and the
farms reduced to a size which would enable each farmer
to cultivate, judiciously, whatever land he might chance
to own, the resources of the soil would be much better
developed, and the aggregate wealth and population of
the State would be greatly increased. The surplus
resources of capitalists would then seek investments in
manufactures and commerce, in the development of
the mineral resources of the State, and in the construc-
tion of public works of internal improvement; all of
which, if properly managed, would prove a far more
profitable investment of capital, and would contribute
greatly to the general improvement and prosperity of
the State at large. Experience has clearly demon-
strated the fact, that capital, judiciously invested in
manufactures, in the slave State, is as productive as in
the free, whether the labor made use of be free or slave
labor. Investments in bank stock, have proved
eminently profitable: and the salutary influence of
judiciously managed public works, upon the general
improvement and prosperity of the slave States, is also
fully estabhshed. These have been generally con-
structed at a much heavier outlay of capital, than in
31
484 STRICTURES
some of tlie northern free States ; not because the one
were free, and the other slave States, but because of a
want of experience in the construction of such works,
the sparseness of the population, the greater natural
difficulties to be surmounted, and the much greater
length to which those improvements must necessarily
be extended, to form connecting links between impor-
tant commercial points. Yet, notwithstanding all these
opposing circumstances, the fact is clearly established,
that the construction of rail-roads, and other works of
internal improvement in the slave States, may be made
both practicable and profitable ; and we beheve the
time is not far distant, when these iron bands of com-
mercial intercourse will traverse the sunny regions of
the South, as well as the sterile plains of the North —
when the world's thoroughfare, connecting the Atlantic
with the great Pacific, upon which will concentrate the
combined commerce of the earth, all tending to that
modern Ophir, whose exhaustless treasures have already
aroused the cupidity of the most powerful nations of
the globe — we say, the time is not far distant, when
this mighty triumph of American enterprise, together
with the world's great speaking trumpet, the magnetic
telegraph, will be extended from the Mississippi to the
Californians, from the Atlantic to the Pacific shore,
mostly, if not wholly, upon slave territory. This we
speak of, not boastingly, but as a natural result of the
present existing state of things, which the combined
efforts of abolitionists and free-soilers, and all the hete-
rogeneous mass of conflicting elements and powers.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 485
which may be brought to co-operate with them, cannot
avert. This unnatural conflict of folly and madness
may be continued, until the heart strings of the nation
are rent assunder, and our grand confederacy dissolved.
But whether, in this event, the South would be the loser,
is a question which, at least, admits of discussion. She
has within herself the elements of a great nation — a
mighty empire, which such a result would, doubtless,
tend rapidly to develope. And we doubt not, that, in a
few years, she would exhibit to the world a model
government, combining as many of the elements of true
greatness as any that ever existed ; whUe her chivalrous
citizens would possess the patriotism, the independence,
and the invincible courage to defend her against the
combined powers of the earth. Many other considera-
tions might be enumerated, but these, we trust, are
sufficiently conclusive, to prove, to the satisfaction of
every candid, honest, unprejudiced mind, that the
differences which apparently exist between the general
increase, prosperity, and improvement of the slave
States and the free, are attributable not alone to the
existence of slavery.*
But we are told that slavery is an evil.f So is war
an evil. And, viewing it in the eame hght, government
may also be considered an evil, since it is an abridge-
* For an abler and more extended examination of this subject, see
Lecture on North and South, by Elwood Fisher.
t "Negro Slavery no Evil. — The fearless, prompt, and always
Senator from Louisiana, General Downs, in his recent speech oa
486 STRICTURES
ment of liberty. Yet have they both received the
sanction, and continue to exist, by the appointment of
an all-wise and beneficent Providence. There is,
probably, not a succession of seasons, of day and night,
of sunshine and storm, which we cannot find some
portion of the human family ready to denounce as evil :
yet were they all ordained in wisdom, and are continued
unto us in mercy. The world in which we live has
much of evil in it, and, as rational beings, we often
have the power of making a choice of evils. Between
the evils of slavery, and any of the evil systems of
abolition and emancipation which have ever yet been
submitted to the American people, we fancy we discover
a marked difierence — that of slavery being an evil
of much less magnitude — attended with fewer unhappy
the slarery question, makes the following remarks, replete with the good
aen&e he always exhibits : —
" If slavery was an evil, which he did not admit, it was not to be
increased by diffusing it. The evil would be increased by confining it
within narrow bounds.
" But so far from considering slavery an evil, as even some southern
men did, he deemed it a very useful institution. It was not to be
believed that we were wiser than those who had gone before us. Had
slavery in the United States rendered any African less happy than he j
would be if free ? Slavery was the only step in progress ever made by |
Africa. There had been advancements everywhere on the globe except
in Africa. Slavery in America was the only thing that had ever bene- t
fitted unfortunate Africa. t
" But these slaves, so much sympathized with, were happy and com-, r
fortable in their condition. They were the gayest, most happy, best fed,
and best clothed laboring population in the whole world. They were, in
fact, a much happier people than their masters. They had no care for
the future, and their labors were light and cheerfully performed."
ON ABOLITIONISM. 487
consequences to both races.* We wouid, therefore,
act the part of wisdom, and of many evils choose the
least — it being the abuse and not the legitimate use
of the institutions wisely ordained by God, and sanc-
tioned by human experience, that constitute the evil
growing out of them.
• " Sir, if any evils bave grown out of the existence of slavery, they
have not at least afiected the North. During the days of slave trade,
which (as I formerly had occasion to remark) was continued down to 1808,
by New England votes in the convention, the northern ship-owners real-
ized large profits by purchasing negroes on the coast of Africa at thirty
or forty dollars per head, and selling them to southern planters for several
hundred dollars. The bringing in of these slaves caused large tracts of the
southern country, too unhealthy to have been cleared out by white men,
to be brought under profitable cultivation. The price of cotton has
thereby been brought down from fifty, to ten, and even five cents vex
pound. An immense amount of capital and labor is employed profitably
in its manufacture at the North. In England, also, not less than six
hundred millions of dollars is thus invested, and a vast population exists
by being employed in the manufacture. It is ascertained that at least
five millions of white persons, in Europe and this country, get their em-
ployment, are fed, and exist, on the manufacture of cotton alone. The
cheap southern production of the raw material not only is the means of
thus giving subsistence to agreat portion of the population of this country
and Europe, but is clothing the world at a cheap rate. In addition to
cotton, rice, sugar, coffee, tobacco, and various tropical productions ar«
supplied at a cheap rate for northern consumption. On the other hand,
our slaves seldom come in competition with northern labor, and are good
customers of its productions. While the North has derived these great
advantages, the negroes themselves have not been sufferers. Their con-
dition not only compares most advantageously with that of the laboring
population of the world, but is in advance of the position they have been
able, at any time, to occupy at home. The researches of Gliddon and
other antiquarians, show that four thousand years ago in Afi'ica they
were slaves, and black as they now are. Since then, in that country,
where they were placed by Providence, and where, from peculiar con-
etitntion, they enjoy the best health, they have existed only as savages.
They are there continually made /slaves by the men of more intelligent
488 STRICTURES
Slavery, when considered with reference to the white
race alone, maj be considered an evil. There is,
probably, no species of property which is so troublesome,
hazardous, and expensive, and subject to so many
contingencies, as negro slave property. The slave
requires constant care and attention upon the part
of the master. He must be fed, and clothed, and
nursed, during the years of infancy and childhood,
and the hours of sickness. There is no passive state.
If not actively employed, he is a bill of expense, an
object of earnest sohcitude, for whose every overt act
the master is held accountable. A more responsible,
perplexing situation, can hardly be imagined, than that
of an individual surrounded by a large number of slaves
of all ages, who are dependent upon him, both in
sickness and in •health — in helpless infancy and
decrepit old age, for food, clothing, and, indeed, all
the necessaries of life. Let flood or fire, famine or
pestilence, or whatever of the manifold evils and
and enterprising races. Nor have they ever gotten out of the tropical
parts of Africa, except when they were carried as merchandise. It
remains to be proved, however, yet to the world, that the negro, any
more than the horse, can permanently exist, in a state of freedom, out of
a tropical region. Theii- decay at the North, as well as other circum-
stances which I have not time to detail, are adverse to the proposition.
And yet, sir, the journals of the North, while they deny that the French
and the Germans, the most enlightened of the continental nations of
Europe, are capable of freedom, stoutly maintain that the negro is ; the
negro, who has never anywhere, when left to himself, gotten up to the
respectable state of barbarism which all the other races have attained,
not even excepting our Indians in Mexico and I'eru."'
ON ABOLITIONISM. 48$
misfortunes to which human life is incident, come upon
him or them, he alone is the principal sufferer.
The wholesome and salutary laws and customs of the
slave States, instead of leaving the slave, who constitute
the laboring class, when a child of misfortune, depen-
dent upon the cold charities of the world, or the meagre
provisions of the poor-house, or the charity hospital,
require that the master should minister to his necessities,
and succor him in affliction. Often is it the case, that
men of wealth, thus situated, become, by these mis-
fortunes alone, seriously involved in debt, and, in some
instances, reduced to a state of bankruptcy. Indeed,
we have been sometimes led to regard it as a matter
of surprise, that slaveholders did not, for their own
sakes, turn their slaves loose upon the world at all
hazards, and thus rid themselves of a species of property
which was only evil and that continually. But this,
their own inherent sense of propriety, their regard for
the peace and safety of their families and fellow-citizens,
and, above all, the common feelings of humanity,
prompted by their native sympathy for the benighted
negro, whom they know by a correct estimate of his
mental inferiority and consequent incapabiUty to buffet
with the conflicting elements of hfe, and protect and
secure for himself and family the necessaries of a
comfortable subsistence, would not permit him to do.
Remove these difficulties, and provide for the slave an
asylum — a land adapted, in climate and soil, to the
peculiarities of his nature, where he may enjoy the
rights of citizenship and the protection of our govern-
490 STRICTURES
ment ; and thousands of Christian slaveholders,
prompted bj Christian benevolence, pure as that
crystal fountain which emanates from the throne of
redeeming love, will, despite the sacrifice of property,
emancipate their slaves, and thus free themselves from
the evils of slavery.
But there is another evil of much greater magnitude,
one in the estimate of which dollars and cents cannot
be taken into the account. This is an evil growing not
so much out of the institution of slavery, as out of the
existence of the black race among the whites, whether
in a state of bondage or freedom. The grovelling and
corrupting tendency of the negro's mind, his proneness
to sensual indulgence, and the unrestricted gratification
of the baser propensities of his nature, render his
existence, in every community, without regard to his
relative position, an evil of the most serious char-
acter.
It has been alleged, by abolitionists, that the marriage
relation is n-ot recognized by the laws of slavery, and that
the sacred rights appertaining thereto are violated with
impunity. But this is not true ; custom and public senti-
ment, the parents of law, having estabUshed those in such
a manner, that they are seldom disregarded by the slave-
holders, except in extreme cases ; whilst, by the blacks
themselves, they are as seldom ever regarded or
observed. This want of virtue and constancy, on the
part of these people, has a most demoralizing and
corrupting influence upon the youth, of whatever com-
munity they exist to any extent, whether as freemen or
ON ABOLITIONISM. 491
bondmen. The existence of any inferior class of people
in any community, a people who are incapable of any
voice in the government under which they live, between
whom and the legitimate citizens of the country there is
an impassable bafrier, has ever been considered an evil
of no minor consideration.
But especially is this the case, where imbecility of
intellect, and an unrestricted Indulgence of the baser
passions and propensities of their nature constitute the
highest ambition of that people. Many evils, of a less
baneful character, have attracted the attention of
existing functionaries of the government, and been the
subject of legislative action ; and the question remains
to be solved, Why should not this ?
But there is an evil abroad in our land, which, next
to abolitionism itself, is the greatest positive evil, of a
social character, known to an American citizen. Like
the memorable outpourings of Divine wrath upon the
ancient Egyptians, which passed every threshold, and
left its bUghting impress upon every family circle ; so
the curse of which we speak is one which has a delete-
rious influence upon almost every member of every
community in which it exists. We, allude to the
existence of the free black population in the United
States, than which a more indolent, degraded, corrupt-
ing, miserable class of beings does not exist within the
pale of civilized society. Destitute of moral principle,
and devoid of native energy, their mode of life is in
unison with the base propensities of their nature, which
they seek alone to gratify.
492 STRICTUEES
To elevate such a race of beings to a political
equality Yrith the white population, would be suicidal in
the extreme ; it would be but applying the torch to
that poUtical magazine, whose inevitable explosion would
destroy our whole grand superstructure of boasted
liberty, and rend to atoms the noblest form of civil
government the world ever saw. Such an attempt, we
trust, wiU never receive the sanction of an America
citizen. It is fraught with the most disastrous conse-
quences, as all past experience clearly demonstrates.
These people are drones upon society ; nay, worse ;
they are a curse to every community in which they
exist. Their existence in the slave States is an evil of
the first magnitude. They tend to render worse than
worthless, more than an equal number of slaves, without
contributing one iota to the amelioration of the con-
dition of the slave, however wretched that condition may
chance to be. It is, therefore, the bounden duty of
every friend of humanity, to labor for their entire
removal from our midst.
We repeat: Their presence is a universal evil,
destructive alike to the peace, morality, safety, aod
prosperity of every community in which they are to be
found, whether existing in a free or a slave State. In
this respect, they are upon the same footing as the red
man of the forest; but, being of a race naturally
inferior, their existence in our midst is more to be
deprecated than would be that of the Indian. Extend
to him the same degree of civilization, and inure him,
from childhood, to the same habits of industry, and he
ON ABOLITIONISM. 493
will make a citizen neighbor much less objectionable, in
every point of view, than the negro.
The condition of the free ifegro, in the free States, is
generally much worse than that of the same class of
persons, whether free or slave, in the slave States.*
The severity of the climate being much less adapted to
natural pecuUarities of his constitution, and the price
which he can receive for his services when disposed o;-
compelled by necessity to labor — these, combined with
the fact, that there is much less sympathy for him, and
much less charity extended towards him by the citizens
of the free, than of the slave States, combine to render
his condition, in almost every respect, infinitely woi'se
in the North than in the South.f
* This whole action on the part of the North is not only in violation of
the Constitution, but seems to be purely wanton, or originating in malice
towards the South. It is obvious that they do not want our slaves among
them; because they not only make no adequate provasions for their
comfort, but, in fact, in many of the States, have fqrbidden free negroes
to come among them on pain of imprisonment, &c. It cannot be a desire
to liberate slaves, because they have never, to my knowledge, attempted
to steal negroes from Cuba or Brazil. It is true, however, that having
the right now to come amongst us both by land and water, they have
greater advantages and immunities. For if they went into a foreign
country, they would incur the risk of being shot or hanged, as robbers
and pifates usually are.
t "Free Negroes in the South. — Mr. Butler, of South Carolina,
observed, in the United States Senate, on the 8th, that the free colored
persons in South Carolina were in possession of civil rights, could hold
property, claim the protection of the laws, &c. Many of the colored
persons in South Carolina, he added, held slaves.
" A.11 this exists, to a much greater extent, in Louisiana, where an
immense amount of property is hejd by colored persons. There are many
colored men in New Orleans who are worth from fifty to one hundred and
494 STRICTURES
We aver, without the fear of successful refutation,
that the negro, whether bondman or freeman, has more
true, devoted friends in the South than in the North —
among the slaveholders than among the harping
abolitionists; and that his condition, regardless of the
relation of slavery and freedom, is more tolerable in
hands of the former than of the latter. We are aware
that there are exceptions to all general rules ; but we
confidently beheve, that where an exception exists in the
one case, a corresponding state of wretchedness and
degradation may be found in the other.*
Instances of the kind have occurred, and, if not
prevented by physical force, would occur in hundreds
and thousands' of cases again, where, after the slave has
been decoyed away from a comfortable home with a
kind master, by some unprincipled fanatic, and carried
to the land " flowing with milk and honey," as
represented to him ; finding himself deceived in every
essential particular, respecting the nature of the
change, he has torn himself away from the snare into
which he has been enticed, fought his way back with a
fortitude and bravery amounting almost to desperation,
fifty thousand dollars, and they are treated with infinitely more respect
and consideration than they would receive in the Northern cities — they
enjoy all the protection and rights of the law, so far as their persons and
property are concerned, but cannot hold office or serve as jurors. In no
free city of the Union, do free colored persons maintain a higher standing
than in New Orleans." — New Orleans BuUettn.
* " This conclusion is based upon observations made during sevend
years' residence in various parts of the two different sections of the
Union.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 495
and returned to the home of his youth, the seat of his
early affections and associations, satisfied that the best
friend he has on earth is a kind master. The reason
why there is more sympathy, charity, and fellow feeling
existing in the heart of the slaveholder towards the
negro, is obvious. Raised together from infancy,
passed the period of childhood in the enjoyment of the
same sports, their associations the same, their feelmgs
become united, to a certain extent — there springs up
between them a kind of natural sympathy and regard
for each other, which is as enduring as Ufe itself.
From childhood's early dawn, they both imbibe a correct
idea of the relation of master and slave, which con-
tinues with them through life. Let their relations
become changed, it matters not how materially, this
idea is never eradicated. If the slave ever forgets his
obligations, so far as to become refractory, the punish-
ment is summary and conclusive ; and a return to his
duty and allegiance, restores him to favor.
How different the condition of the fugitive slave, or
free black man of the North. Without the pale of
civiHzed society, unprotected, and unquahfied to protect
himself, the most he can accomplish by hard labor, a
rigid system of economy, and a frugal disposition of his
time, is to obtain a bare and meagre subsistence. The
chilling blasts of long, dreary winter come, or the
burning fever of disease, and no kind hand is extended
to shelter or afford relief. If cared for at all, when
reduced to a state of utter helplessness, he is carried
off to the poor-house, receiving the imprecations of
496 STRICTURES
those who have been taxed to excess, to maintain the
pauperism of their own wretched victhns of poverty
and distress.
Thus is it with the free Hack man, wheresoever
dispersed. He is an outcast upon society, and his
name a reproach to humanity. His removal, then,
becomes a matter of deep and abiding interest and
importance to every friend of humanity, to every
patriot and Christian throughout the broad expanse
of Christendom. Much is being done by the Christian
world for the cause of suffering humanity in all parts
of the earth. The benighted inhabitants of the most
distant ice-bound shore, and the remotest sea-girt isle,
are beginning to stretch forth their hands in answer to
the call of the Christian missionary, and the hght of
civilization is penetrating the deepest recesses of
heathenish darkness ; whilst a copy of the Holy
Scriptures is being laid upon the table of almost every
householder in Christendom. But here is a field opened
for the exercise of pure benevolence, and true Chris-
tian charity, in our own immediate midst. Here is
common ground,, upon which all sects and parties, the
votaries of every variety of rehgious faith and pohtical
policy, may meet and join hands in a great and good
cause. As it is an evil which pervades the whole body
politic, its removal is a work in which every American
citizen is deeply interested. It is the first step towards
the removal of that which many are pleased to regard
as the blackest stain upon the bright escutcheon of
American glory; the great national sin, the pimish-
ON ABOLITIONISM. 497
ment of which will render our country obnoxious to
the severest outpourings of Divine wrath — ^namely:
Slavery.
Many ways and means have already been devised for
the removal of the free black population. But there is
only one correct way of removing them, and that is by
colonization. The great scheme of the American
Colonization Society, is the only means by which this
evil ever can be eradicated from our land. That is a
plan which was dictated by pure benevolence and true
Christian charity, and founded in wisdom ; and which
is characteristic, like the magna eJiarta of American
liberty, of the great minds that originated it. Experi-
ence may suggest some modifications in some of its
practical features, and doubtless will ; but yet it is the
true and only successful policy. It may become
necessary to select some other destination than the
colony of Liberia, or to require the government thereof
to be administered by a functionary chosen by a
congress of nations. But let what changes may come
in that respect, colonization, a complete and, perfect
separation of the two races* is the only true^policy.
We lay it down as a settled principle, a fixed fact, and
challenge the world to refute it, that the Anglo-Saxon,
and the African races, never can Uve harmoniously, in a
* " It is objected, that there would be injustice and inhumanity in the
forcible removal of the free blacks. But not greater, we conceive, than
were displayed in the removal of the Indians. These possessed a right
to the soil which was prior to all others; yet did our government
conceive it to be policy and justice to remove them.
498 STRICTURES
state of political equality. If they dwell together at
all, it must be in the relation of master and slave.
Heaven ordained it thus, and man, in all his wisdom
and strength of iatellect, never can change it. Nor is
there greater injustice displayed in this arrangement or
dispensation of divine Providence, than there is in the
organization of human government, wherein one part
of the human race is ordained to rule over and give
laws to another.
Heaven in wisdom ordained it thus,
And man, submissive, must pronounce it just.
We have asserted, that the removal of the free black
population can only be effected by colonization, and that
the plan of the American Colonization Society was
based upon the correct principle. It may then be
asked. Why does it not succeed ? It has been in
operation for many years, and yet has accomplished but
little, compared with the great work before it. True ;
yet it has accomplished much. It has opened the way,
" removed the rubbish," and laid the corner stone, and
now onl^ wants the means necessary to the completion
of the temple. For all this tune was requisite ; and it
is a pleasing reflection to know, that the success fuUy
justifies the labor and expense of the enterprise. All
that is now wanting to complete the great work, is unity
of action, and means to carry out what has been thus
successfully commenced, or, in other words, govem-
mental 'protection ^vA patronage. But the work is of a
magnitude too vast and comprehensive, to be accom-
ON ABOLITIONISM. 499
plished by individual enterprise. The evil to he
removed is of a general character — it is a national evil,
extending throughout the whole length and breadth of
the land. The resources of the nation, the funds of the
general government, the coffers of the common treasury,
ought, therefore, to be appropriated to its removal.
Let no one be alarmed at this — we speak not without
precedent. Similar appropriations, for similar purposes,
have been made bj our national Congress, when com-
posed of as wise, patriotic, and noble spirits, as ever
glittered in the galaxy of human greatness.
The time was, when the red man of the forest, the
noble Indian, the proud aboriginee, who derived his
right to the soil which we now inhabit, by tenure of a
grant from the God of nature, was dispersed abroad
throughout the land. As the soil which he occupied,
and the air which he breathed, began to be wanted by
his superior in intellect, in science, and in art, the
general government furnished the means, and assumed
the responsibility of removing him to territories more
congenial to his pursuits of life, and less valuable to
her legal citizens.
There now exists amongst us the remnant of a race,
whose residence in our midst is not less inimical to the
feelings and interests of the white population, than
were the Indians. What, then, is the duty of the
general government in regard to them ? Does it not
come as much within the purview of its legitimate
functions to remove in the one case as the other ? Are
there any reasons which operated in the removal of the
32
500 STRICTURES
Indian, that may not be brought to bear, with equal
force, in the removal of the negro ? If so, we maintain,
that the stronger reasons are favorable to the removal
of the free blacks. The common feelings of humanity
towards them, as an unfortunate people ; whose destiny
is fixed, whose name is a reproach and a by-word, who
can never be allowed a voice in the administration of
the government under which they hve, together with
the demoralizing, degenerating influence which their
existence in our midst has upon society; all point to
them as an object worthy the attention of the general
government. Their numbers are large ; their coloniza-
tion, therefore, is beyond the reach of individual
enterprise. The government, the world, have no right
to effect its accomphshment by such means, whilst our
citizens have the right to expect and demand it at the
hands of the government. The latter possesses the
power, and her resources are abundantly ample. The
objection, that the general government has not the
means for so great a work, is entirely futile. A small
tithe of what is annually expended in injurious legislation
or misguided appropriations, would carry on the work.
Indemnification to the South for the actual losses
sustained by her citizens,* by the aggression of Northern
* " Compared with this great question, the aholition of slavery in the
District of Columbia is of little relative moment. One eflPect, however,
of the anti-slavery agitation here is worthy of a passing notice. "Within
the last two years, since the matter has become serious, it has seemed
not improbable that the seat of Government might be removed from the
District. As this would be extremely prejudicial to the interests of the
citizens here, many of them have so far changed in their feelings aa
ON ABOLITIONISM. 501
fanatics, would contribute materially towards affecting
the same great object. Add to this a tenth of the
value of the magnificent cessions made by Virginia to
to be willing to allow slavery to be abolished, yielding to the force of the
pressure from the North ; besides, so many of their slaves are from time
to time taken away by the abolitionists, as to satisfy them that soch
property here is almost worthless. A great impression was made on
them by the coming in last year of a northern ship, and its carrying away
seventy slaves at once. Seeing that there was no chance of getting
Congress to pass any adequate law for their protection, as most of the
States have done, they seemed to be forced to assent, to some extent, to
the northern movement. Sir, it is most surprising, that the people of the
southern States should have borne, with so little complaint, the loss of
their slaves incurred by the action of the free States. The Constitution
of the United States provided for the delivery of all such fagitives, and
Congress passed an act to carry it into effect; but recently, most, if not
all of the northern States, have completely defeated their provisions, by
forbidding any one of their citizens to aid in the execution of the law,
under the penalty of fine and imprisonment, for as long a term usually aa
five years. There is, probably, no one legal mind in any one of the free
States, which can regard these laws as constitutional. For, though the
States are not bound to legislate affirmatively, in support of the ConstitUr
tion of the United States, yet it is clear that they have no right to pass
laws to obstruct the execution of constitutional provisions. Private
citizens are not usually bound to be active in execution of the law : but,
if two or more combine to prevent the execution of any law, they are
subject to indictment for conspiracy, in all countries where the common
law doctrine prevail. If the several States could rightfully legislate to
defeat the action of Congress, they might, thereby, completely nullify
most of its laws. In this particular instance such has been the result ;
for, though the piaster is allowed to go and get his negro if he can ; yet,
in point of fact, it is well known that the free negroes, abolitionists, and
other disorderly persons, acting under the countenance and authority of
the State laws, are able, usually, to overpower the master and prevent his
capture.
" The extent of the loss to the South may be understood from the fact,
that the number of runaway slaves, now in the North, is stated as being
thirty thousand ; worth, at present prices, little short of fifteen millions of
dollara Suppose that amount of property was taken away from the
502 STRICTURES
the general government, and the work is complete(i'.
It is estimated, that there exist in the United States,
about four hundred thousand free blacks ; (by the
census of 1840, there were three hundred and eightj-six
thousand, two hundred and ninety-three.) At fifty
dollars per head, the ratio fixed by the American
Colonization Society, their entire removal would cost
twenty millions of doUars ; but as their colonization is
not the work of a day or a year, but of a series of
years, only a small portion of this amount would be
required at any one time. Say it could be accomplished
in ten years, which is probably the shortest practicable
period, two millions of doUars annually would be
required ; a mere nominal sum, surely, when compared
with the actual resources of the government. This
amount may be raised by direct appropriations from the
North by the Southern States acting against the Constitution : what com-
plaint would there not be ; what memorials, remonstrances and legislative
resolutions would come down upon us 1 How would this Hall be filled
with lobby members, coming here to press their claims upon Congress ?
Why, sir, many of the border counties in the slaveholding States have
been obliged to give up their slaves almost entirely. It was stated in the
newspapers the other day, that a few counties named, in Maryland, had,
by the eflForts of the abolitionists, within six months, upon computation,
lost one hundred thousand dollars worth of slaves. A gentleman of the
highest standing, from Delaware, assured me the other day, that that little
State lost, each year, at least that value of such property in the same way.
A heavy tax to be levied on a single congressional district by abolitionists !
" Suppose a proportional burden was inflicted on the northern States
How would Massachusetts bear the loss annually of one million one
hundred thousand dollars, not only inflicted without law, but against an
express provision of the Constitution ? Wo may infer, from the complaint
she has made of a slight inconvenience imposed on her, by that regulation
of South Carolina, which prevented ship-captains from carrying free negro
servants to Charleston." — Speech of T. L. Clingman, of North Carolina,
ON ABOLITIONISM. 503
common treasury, or by setting apart a portion of the
proceeds of the sales of the pubUc domain, or in any
other manner which the wisdom of our national Legisla-
ture, or a majority of the State Legislatures may deem
most expedient. Can it be that a government, having
milUons of acres of fine arable lands to donate to
colonies composed of the refuse population of the old
world ; and millions of treasure to expend in fruitless
expeditions in search of one who, in all human prob-
ability, is long since dead ; is destitute of the means
requisite to the accomplishment of an object involving
every principle of' humanity, and security, and protection
to all classes of her citizens ? Might not a tithe of the
millions of gold which are annually bemg purloined from
the rich mines of California, by the mongrel races of
other nations, for want of the natural protection of the
government, be saved and appropriated to this very
laudable and philanthropic object ?
The work may be carried on through the instru-
mentahty of the American Colonization Society, or
through any other agency which may be found most !
safe, economical, and expeditious. (The pre-possessions
of the writer are in favor of the former, from the con-
sideration, that the Society has made the experiment, i
and fully tested the feasibility of the enterprise.) The i
transportation may be continued to the noiv flourishing
(?) colony of Liberia, or it may be changed to some |
other destination, if, in the wisdom of our Government,
a change should be deemed expedient. Future
developments, in the progress of that colony, or con-
siderations of economy or protection to the colonists,
504 BTRICTUEES
may indicate a less remote destination. It may be
considered wise and politic, on the part of our govern-
ment, to purchase and set apart for that purpose, the
Island of Cuba, some portion of Mexico, Central or
South America, or some portion of territory comprised
within the present boundary of our vast* domain. Let
what may be done in this respect, the emergencies of
the case require immediate and decisive action, in relation
to this matter. Justice to the free negro and to the slave,
to the slaveholder* of the South, and the non-slaveholder
of the North, to suffering humanity as presented in its
most revolting character, imperiously demand it at the
hands of the existing functionaries of the government.
In our limited sphere, as a private citizen, we are
unable to do more than suggest the idea, to mark out
the frame work, the skeleton of a great system of
national, moral, and social reform, which, in the hands
of those who have the skill and ability, the influence
and the power, to reduce it to form and practice, would
be productive of incalculable advantages to the present
and all future generations. Colonization, the trans-
portation of the civilized and educated free black
population of the United States, to the shores of Africa,
will, undoubtedly, prove the key to the civilization and
Christianization of that benighted, down-trodden portion
* "There are, probably, not less than two hundred thoasandfree blacks
in the slave States. It is estimated, that these, by association render
worse than useless an equal number of slaves. The aggregate value of
these slaves, at an average estimate of four hundred dollars each, amounts
to eighty millions of dollars. Thus are the people of the slave States in-
jured by the existence of this refuse population in their mddsi, to an amount
more than suiBcient to coiouize ail the free blacks in the United States."
ON ABOLITIONISM. 505
of the earth. The civilization of that people has baffled
the energies of all modern missionary enterprises.
Should the system of colonization, of which we speak,
be the means of effecting this great work, this grand
feature of the economy of Heaven, as it unquestionably
will, all Christendom will be made to rejoice ; the
children who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death)
will be forced to clap their hands for joy, that Africa
ever contributed of her sons and her daughters to a
system of even nominal servitude, the final result of
which was the spread of Christianity, and the arts of
civilized life throughout the whole length and breadth
of her wide-spread but uncivilized domain. Its influence
would tell largely upon the destinies of both races, and
upon the prosperity, well-being, and perpetuity of our
much-cherished republican institutions. It would settle
this vexed question, and would allay the unhallowed
excitement growing out of it, in a manner harmonizing
with the glory of God, and the well-being of mankind.
The extinction of slavery has been the hobby of an
unprincipled set of demagogues and fanatics, from time
immemorial. Their narrow minds, and baser hearts,
incapable of comprehending but the one idea, they have
advocated that with a zeal and energy worthy of a good
cause. To such an extreme have they carried their
phrenzy and madness, as to materially affect the peace,
harmony, and prosperity of our common country, and
weU nigh destroy our grand confederacy, by effecting a
dissolution of the union of the States. Various names
and forms, shapes and phases, has this germ of corrup-
tion, weakness, and folly assumed, without accomplishing
506 STRICTC&ES
more than that of curtailing the -wonted liberties of the
slave, and riveting more securely the shackles of
servitude.* Every movement which they have made
has tended to perpetuate the institution, and to estabhsh,
beyond dispute, the fact, that the removal of the so
called evil, can never be accomplished by any of the
means to which they have ever resorted. Those,
therefore, of our honest citizens, who really desire the
removal of slavery, had better pause, reflect for a time,
let reason usurp her dominion, and see whether there be
not some other plan by which their much-desired object
can be accomplished. Immediate aboHtion and elevation
to citizenship and political equality, never can obtain.
It is contrary to the order of nature, and inconsistent
with the imperishable principles of justice and humanity.
Nor has there ever been a system of gradual emancipa-
tion proposed, which would meet the exigencies of the
case. That connecting colonization therewith, at a
specified age, would lead to a perpetual separation of
families, of husbands and wives, of parents and children,
of which the annals of American slavery furnishes not
a parallel, and which, in all its practical out-bearings,
would lead to a state of things revolting to the feelings
of every friend of humanity.
Every American citizen who owns property in slaves,
holds that property by tenure of a right granted by the
* " Mr. Jno. L. Gary, in hia pamphlet, entitled, Slavery in America, i
Briefly Considered, tells ns, do doubt truly — ' that the fanatical movement j
of the abolitionists checked the progress of things in Maryland ; that the j
disposition manifested in Virginia, in 1832, to hasten the extinction of j
slavery, was suddenly checked by the same cause ; so also in Kentucky.' " j
I ON ABOLITIONISM. 507
founders of our government, the framers of the organic
law of the nation. Our constitution, the magna charta
of American liberty, the model political creed of the
world, recognizes property in slaves, and was framed as
much for the protection of him who holds that species
of property, as for him whose wealth consists in lands,
merchandise, or manufactures. The great fundamental
principle which should constitute the basis of any and
all governments, " That all men are created equal," was
recognized by that memorable body, and incorporated
into that constitution ; and we, their posterity, recognize
it as true to the letter, both in theory and practice.
But we, like them, should not lose sight of the principle,
that they were legislating for the Anglo-Saxon race
alone, and not for a combination of races ; for the
American citizen, strictly speaking, and not for a motley
variety of population, composed of an indiscriminate
commixture of the civilized white man, the savage
Indian, and the woolly-headed African negro. No such
combination was ever contemplated by that honorable
body, and any attempt on the part of the citizens of any
State or territory, to form any such combination, or to
elevate any other race to a political equality with the
whites, we believe to come but little short of treason
against the government. They may be permitted to dwell
amongst us, and receive the protection of our government,
but never to exercise the rights of citizenship.
The slaveholder, therefore, knowing that he holds his
property in slaves by this right, and not ignorant of the
fact, that the Bible recognizes the relation of master
and slave ; and that he, therefore, is violating no
608 STRICTUKES
principle of our holy religion, so long as he legitimately
uses, and does not abase the institution, will never
suffer his neighbor, especially if he be a citizen of a
free State,* to say to him, " Sir, your practices are in
violation of the laws of both God and man ; you must
relinquish them, you must emancipate your slaves
without ' the hope of fee or reward,' colonize them to
Liberia, and then give them the necessary outfit for
commencing life in their new sphere, or submit to their
elevation to a political equality with yourself in our midst."
Such a result never can obtain throughout the slave
States ; it is unreasonable to expect it, and the more it
is agitated the longer will the institution of slavery be
perpetuated. No motive of this kind can ever be
brought to bear upon the slaveholder. The deep seated
nature of his principles, the protection of his domestic
rights, social privileges, and individual interests, will
cause him to resist it as long as life lasts, or reason sits
enthroned in his breast. But when the free negro—
that curse of the slave and the slave owner, shall have
been removed — ^when the natural increase of the white
* " Men are fond of berating their fellows for slaveholding, and waste
their time, but very little of their money, (this they take better care of,) in
making a loud outcry against a distant evil, while their gaze is so elevated
as not to take in the yoke of slavery, which grinds men in the dust at
their very feet ; a heavier yoke than Roman, Turkish, or American slave-
holding ever imposed. Every energy is bound down, ever^ hope crushed,
every affection forbidden, or made but an additional weight of pain and
anguish; everything that life has of good or of beauty, is taken from them,
and they are left, hopeless and despairing, to die miserably. If men
would but expend a tithe of the sympathy on these slaves which they
profess to have for the others, a jabilee would be kept in many a hovel."
— N. Y. Journal of ComrMrce,
ON ABOLITIONISM. 509
population shall have become so great as to render that
species of labor cheaper and more desirable — in short,
when he shall conceive it to be his iyiterest to emancipate
his slaves, and the general government stand ready to
receive them at his hands, and remove them to a distant
territory, where they may be comfortably provided for,
and protected, then will he do it, and not before.
Let, then, the free black population of the United
States, wheresoever dispersed, be removed by the
direction and resources of the general government ; and
let it for ever after be a standing proposition^ that all
that may, at any future time, become free, shall be
removed in the same manner. An insurmountable
obstacle in the way of many who would emancipate their
slaves from choice, were that all that would be required
of them, were they not, by the laws of their several
States, responsible ever afterwards for their support,
would then be removed. Each circumstance of the kind
would have its influence in its own immediate neighbor-
hood. Others, seeing that a way was provided for theb
removal and colonization, in harmony with the interests
of both master and slave, would follow the example ; and
thus would the work be commenced under more favor-
able auspices, based upon a firmer foundation, and with
better assurances of success, than it ever has been
commenced, or, we believe, ever can be upon any other
plan. No other plan ever has succeeded, nor is there
any prospect that it ever will.
Thus have we, as we humbly conceive, developed a
plan which will, in harmony with the best interests of
loth races, when practically carried out, efiectually
510 STRICTURES
remove the entire free black population of the United
States, and all that may hereafter become free, should
it include the whole slave population and their natural
increase. We trust our views are not altogether unde-
serving of a candid consideration ; and that the fact of
their not being of princely origin and stately birth, will
not detract from their intrinsic value. We have
proposed common ground, and a combination of effort in
the removal of a common evil — a broad platform, where
all sects and parties, without regard to local feeling or
sectional interest, can meet and unite their efforts in the
exercise of pure benevolence and true Christian charity.
Could this state of things be carried out, we would hope,
ere long, to witness a cessation of that unhallowed system
of warfare which has so long ingloriously prevailed be-
tween the North and South, on the subject of slavery.
The Wilmot Proviso — that " vexed question," that
high-born, dissevering principle of strife and contention,
which was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity
— ^that " double refined " element of Northern fanaticism,
designed only for the pampered and vitiated palates of
the dignified statesman and the fastidious aristocrat —
that gilded hobby upon which broken down pohtical
hacks would fain regain " their lost estate," and ride into
high stations — we hope ere long to see buried in the
meshes of eternal oblivion. Incalculable are the evils
which have already grown out of the unhallowed excite-
ment, engendered by the untimely agitation of this
question. It has acted as a firebrand, hurled into our
national magazine of combustible political elements.
Plucked from the " rectified " principles of the Garriso
ON ABOLITIONISM. 611
nian school, the hot-bed of Northern fanaticism, it is but
the transfer of the seeds of sedition and corruption from
the humbler walks of the noisy rabble to the heart of our
national legislature. It is no new principle, but an old
tenet of a corrupt faction — a recognized element of a
false political creed, under a new name and garb, and in
a new sphere of action. Take any other tenet of that
faction, or element of that political creed, and transplant
it into a soil and climate as well adapted to its develop-
ment, and watered by golden showers as congenial to its
growth, the expansive elements of its nature wUl be
exhibited in the same proportion. It requires no extra-
ordinary powers of discernment to discover, that every
principle involved in this issue is founded in error, anu
unwarranted by truth and justice. It is certainly a
political paradox, without a parallel or precedent, that a
government should, in the frame-work of her organic law,
ordain a species of property, forbid any interference with
the rights of private individuals, and subsequently,
through her legal representatives in Congress assembled,
enact laws especially interfering with those rights, by
restricting the holders of said property to certain
specified States and sections of our common country.
Such a proposition is absurd, and inconsistent with the
fundamental principles of our government. And we are
confident, that no intelligent legislator, who did not wish
to make political capital with the multitude, regardless
of the imperishable principles of truth and justice, would
for a moment contend for such a principle. This ques-
tion, we repeat, has been productive of incalculable evil ;
and we hope soon to see it, with aJl the various elements
512 STRICTURES ON ABOLITIONISM.
of false philanthropy — those empty fabrications of a
dream — ^which have grown out of this unhallowed excite-
ment on the subject of slavery, buried in oblivion.
When this is done, and reason shall have assumed her
dominion ; when the system we have proposed, or some
other of a kindred character, shall have been established,
and each State be left to the free exercise of her legiti-
mate rights, and the regulation of her own domestic
pohcy and institutions ; then will peace and prosperity
again smile upon our common country. And as the tide
of emigration and civilization shall continue to roll
onward, Uke the mighty current of the majestic father
of waters. State after State will rise up, tier upon tier,
and knock for admission into the Union, until our whole
vast territory, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
and from the great lakes to the golden city of the Mon-
tezumas, shall become densely populated, and present a
mighty phalanx — one undivided confederacy of free and
independent sovereignties — the most powerful, chival-
rous, patriotic, and enhghtened Christian nation on the
earth. A result which every Christian patriot and
philanthropist must desire from his inmost soul.
Not wishing, to be considered as reckoning without our
"host," upon the great and all-absorbing question of
slavery, which is generally admitted to have become the
most important question of the age, we subjoin the
following extracts, from the pens of Rev. A. Campbell,
of Bethany College, Va. ; and Rev. Geo. Junkin, of
Miami University, Ohio : two of the ablest divines of
the age in which they live.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 613
I SLAVERY AND THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
I
i ' [From Rev. A. Campbell.]
This subject is engrossing much attention, and calling
forth much inquiry in every direction. It is, with many
humane persons, of no religious profession, and with
professors of all parties, a very exciting subject. It is
being pressed on my attention by many correspondents,
and I am frequently called upon to open my pages to
a full discussion of the subject, or to give my opinion
on the whole premises. I, therefore, conceive it to be a
duty which I owe to myself, my Christian brethren, and
my fellow-citizens at large, to deliver myself fully upon
the subject, so far as the Bible arguments, pro and com,,
are alledged by both parties, and, once for all, place the
subject upon our pages.
With us, the Bible is the only infallible standard, both
af religion and humanity. The God of the Bible is the
Lawgiver of the Universe, and he has, by his inspired
and commissioned teachers, fully revealed his will touching
all the duties arising from all the relations in which man
stands to man, in the church and in the world.
God is the author of all human relations. He has
created the relation of husband and wife, parent and
child, master and servant, magistrate and subject. He
has also prescribed the duties of husbands and wives, of
parents and children, of masters and servants, of governors
and governed, towards each other. Our moral righteous-
ness, as well as our piety, is to be approved or condemned
by his statutes and precepts.
514 strictuhes
There is false religion, as well as true religion, in the
world. There is also false, as well as true humanity.
There is a healthful, as well as a morbid sensitiveness, on
almost every question which may be mooted, on human
relations and obligations. Moderation, candor, and charity,
are, therefore, always in good keeping with our position,
when any one of these grand subjects is agitated with
unusual earnestness and zeal. T, therefore, with all
deference to the opinions of others, will attempt to
express my own, on the subjects now pressed and pressing
upon our attention.
The idea of master and servant, is as old as the Bible,
and has existed since the days of Cain and Abel. It was
said to Cain, being the first-born of mankind, that if he
did well, "he should rule over his brother" Abel, and
unto him his brother would look up. The younger shall
serve the elder, is one of the most natural and ancient
oracles in the world. It was said by the inspired Noah,
that Canaan should be a servant to his brethren. From
this, I only argue, that the idea of servitude is coeval
with society, antediluvian and postdiluvian.
Two thousand years before the Christian era, the
patriarchs were generally masters, and some of them
great masters, over their fellow-men. Was it voluntary
or involuntary, is not now the question. There was a
necessity, in the very essence of society, for this relation.
Orphans, and unfortunate persons, must be served, and
they must serve in return. Such was, and is, and always
will be, the irremediable condition of mankind.
It is of the essence of benevolence, that widows,
orphans, and the destitute, be provided for; and it is
of the essence of justice, that, when practicable, they
should voluntarily, or involuntarily, serve in return.
But these are only suggestions or reflections, growing
ON ABOLITIONISM. 516
out of the nature of society. The divine law is pro-
mulged in harmony with this condition of society, and
based upon the recognition of it. And to this, we
especially invite attention.
There is but one divine and absolutely perfect code of
social duties; one absolutely perfect constitution of society
m the world. The civilized world, without an exception,
without a dissenting voice, assents to this law as the
stcindard of moral perfection in the social system. It was
written, and it is the only law ever literally written, by
the hand of God. I need not say, that it was the magna
cliarta of the only nation ever God placed under a
theocratic form of government. It is, sometimes, emphati-
cally called, the Law, or "the law often commandments.'"
Its preamble is, "I am the Lord thy God, that brought
thee out of the land of Egypt — out of the house of
bondage." " Therefore, hear, O Israel!"
To one secticti of it, we emphatically invite attention^
It is the consu mnating statute of the divine constitution :
" Thou shalt not co ret thy neighbor's wife ; thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's house, nor his man servant, nor his
maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that
is thy neighbor's " propes y. This is our first argument in
demonstration of the divii.6 recognition and acknowledg-
ment of the relation of maSv6.* and servant, or of one man
having a rightful property iix another. It is, therefore,
all-important, that we underL^a,id the meaning of the
word servant, as used by the Supreme Lawgiver and
Judge of the world, in this case. That a man is here as
fully recognized as property as a house, an ox, an ass, is
indisputable. The term selected is as fully defined as any
other term in the precept — as the term yife, and the term
house. This, to some minds, may demand a word of
■jxplanation. „„
616 STRICTUEES
Suffice it, then, to state, that there is, in the Hebrevj
language, as there was in Hebrew society, two classes
of servants, represented by two distinct words, indicative
of different positions, or relations. These are, hired
servants and bondmen. The former is represented by one
word, and the latter by another. These are of different
origin and meaning.
A Mred servant, in the law of Moses, is called sacheer ;
a bondman, or bondservant, is uniformly denominated
geTived. The latter is never called sacheer, nor the former
gehved. Like doulos, in the Septuagint, and in the New
Testament, gehved includes divers sorts of servants not
receiving wages ; but sacheer indicates simply a hired
servant.
They are sometimes found in the same verse, in con-
trast. Leviticus xxv. 39 : " If thy brother that dwelleth
by thee, becomes poor, and be sold to thee, thou shalt not
compel him to serve as (a gehved) a bonds,ervdiX\t, but as
(a sacheer) a hired servant." Again, verse 42: "He shall
not be sold as (a gehved) a bondman;" verse 44: "Of
the heathen thou shalt " (or mayest) " buy bondmen,"
{^gehved.)
Again : Leviticus xxv. 53: "As a yearly hired servant,
(a sacheer) he shall be with thee." So, again, in Deuter-
onomy XV. 18: "He hath been worth double a hired
servant;" xxiv. 14: "Thou shalt not oppress a hired
servant." In both these cases, it is sacheer. But when
Moses says, (Deut. xv. 15,) "Remember thou wast a
bondman in Egypt," he does not say thou wast a sacheer,
but a gehved ; not a Mred servant, but a slave.
This, I give in evidence; and much more, to the same
effect, could be given in evidence, to show that the tenth
precept of the law of ten commandments — the standard
of moral perfection, universally so acknowledged —
ON ABOLITIONISM 517
recognized and sanctioned the idea of servitude, abso-
lute and unlimited in duration, by not using the word
sacheer, but the word gehved — the same word used in the
malediction against Canaan: "A servant of servants,"
or a gehved gehvedim, "shall he be to his brethren."
This, then, I assume, to be a settled point. Its value is
hereafter to be considered.
In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the
contrast between the bond and the hired servant, is kept
up by the terms oiketees and misthootos. The former, as
well as doulos, being originally applied to bondservants,
and the latter to hired servants. The oiketees was one
that belonged to the house, or family; the misthootos was
one that served for wages, whether the period was long
or skon* che other served as a bondman, and had the
privileges of the family protection and support.
It is worthy of remark, in this place, that the term
servant, in our language, when applied to apostles,
prophets, or workers for Christ, is never misthotofi,
because they are not hirelings, or free servants: they
were the Lord's bondmen, and are, therefore, called
douloi, or oixetai. They held no property in themselves ;
they were, while free in one sense, the Lord's bondmen
in another. But we return to the moral law and Jewi.sh
dispensation, for Biblical and rudimental ideas of the
subject of servitude.
The last precept of the decalogue, and the first precept
of the judicial or political code, must be compared, in
order to decide the proper interpretation of both. We
shall, therefore, place them in juxtaposition, side by side,
that they may reciprocally define and illustrate one
another. They read as follows: "Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's house ; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his
518 STRICTURES
ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.**
Ex. xxi. 2. "If thou buy a Hebrew servant (gekved),
six years shall he serve, and in the seventh he shall go
out free, for nothing. If he come in by himself, he shall
go out by himself; if he were married, then his wife shall
go out with him. If his master have given him a wife,
and she have borne him sons and daughters, the wife and
children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by
himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my
master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free,
then his master shall bring him to the magistrates; he
shall also bring him to the door, or to the door post, and
his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he
shall serve him for ever."
Here, then, commences the institution of servitude
among the Jews, under a theocracy. I need not say
that the sun gives light. As little need to say, that the
law of servitude was "holy, just, and good." This is
Hebrew servitude, and neither Greek nor Roman, neither
Anglican nor American slavery. The Hebrew servant,
here rendered by the seventy, into Greek, by paida
(from pais, a boy) was', likely, a young man. Being, it is
presumed, a minor, he is sold for six years. Meantime,
he falls in love with one of his master's female servants,
and is constitutionally married, while yet a gehved — a
bond servant. The day of his freedom arrives ! What a
dilemma! He has a wife, and children; his by nature,
and his master's by right — by a jure divino. Which
shall he choose — freedom or slavery?
A modern abolitionist would say, "Run away, my
good sir, and take your dear wife and children with you.
God has made all men free and equal. Your master took
the advantage of you, and now, heartless tyrant that he
is, he will keep your wife, and your dear babes, in
ON ABOLITIONISM. 519
perpetual slavery, which, I am sure, you love as much
as he loves his. There is no moral wrong in this. You
were not of mature age and reason when you got
married, as very few such slaves as you are. Take up
your couch, sir, and walk. You are getting no wages
here: you will be a slave all your days. Can you have
your ears bored to the door post, and carry to your giave
the brand of your cowardice and infamy? Will you make
yourself a slave for ever 1 If bored, your doom is fixed."
His master having treated him with all humanity, being
i one that feared God, and wrought righteousness, he
thanked his new friend for his benevolence, and said,
" I cannot leave my wife ; she was given me by her
master, and he has done well for her, for me, and for
our children. I cannot leave him — [ cannot leave them."
His ear was bored with as little pain as a lady suffers for
the admission of a golden ring, and he and his offspring
became servants "forever,"
Such was the first statute of the political code of the
commonwealth of Israel, enacted Anno Mundi 2513 ;
I before Christ, 1492. And such is the first commentary
{ on the tenth commandment — the first law of the new
I constitution, under which God placed the elect nation
] of IsraeL
j Such will be called the bright side of the picture.
j There is, however, no picture of one color : that is
I physically and morally impossible. Nor is there any
j picture without shade. And such is the present picture
j of all society — the best that exists on earth.
j It will be said, and said with truth, that this is a case
j of voluntary servitude. But only as I have presented it.
I It is, indeed, a choice of evils.
! Suppose this said slave had been married the first year
after his master bought him, to a young female servant^
520 STRICTURES
the property of his master, and that he was a forward,
energetic, independent, and noble-minded slave. What
then? He asks his wife and children at the commence-
ment of the Sabbatical year. His master refuses to give
him his wife and children. Too hard, indeed — tyrannical,
cruel ! Is it not? Yes, say A., B. and C. But, responds
his master, his wife was mine, and I cannot part with
her. Her mistress loves her, and cannot do without her.
I cannot afford it. His labor has not countervailed my
expenditures upon him and her, and their children. I do
no wrong, either on the score of humanity or of justice.
God enacted the law. He made me master, and him my
bondservant. I can do better for him and them, than
they can do for themselves, and serve myself, too, better
than without them. We are all happier together than
we could be apart. I am the slave, he the freeman. I
have to care for him; he has no care for himself, his
wife, or children. If he were able to compensate me, I
might give him his wife and his children; and if he
chooses to do so, he will sooner obtain the means under
my direction, and by my capital, than he could otherwise
do. It is a benevolent and a just law, and I will abide
by it. Such was the first law of the kingdom of Israel,
under the theocracy, and such would be a rational and
moral view of it. Other statutes on this subject, found in
that law, will prepare our minds for the consideration and
comprehension of the Christian law, the higher law, and
the Fugitive Slave Law of the present crisis.
But it is neither my duty nor my inclination to defend
it. It is enough to say, that it was God's own enactment,
as much as the law of ten commands, but it is not of the
same compass nor perpetuity. It was a local and tempo-
rary arrangement. Its value to us consists, chiefly, in
the recognition of what may, in the judgment of G(jd, be
ON ABOLITIONISM. 621
consistent with moral rectitude and the purity of the
divine law. The God of the New Testament is the
God of the Old. It is a maxim, universally conceded,
that, "what is just in little, is just in much." That
which may be done rightfully for a day, a month, or a
year, may be done for a longer period. It is theft to
steal one cent, as essentially theft, as to steal ten thousand
dollars. A person who can rightfully hold property in a
man for one year, or five, may rightfully extend the
term indefinitely. Christianity is not more just than
Judaism. But it is yet premature, to apply the principle
developed in this statute, as it would be to defend it,
being a divine enactment. We have the whole Bible
open, law and gospel, too.
We greatly respect an intelligent, conscientious, and
generous philanthropy. We will ever do homage to a
pure philanthropist. But there may be a morbid, sickly
philanthropy, as well as a rational, and sound philan-
thropy. The religious sometimes become superstitious:
the generous are not always just. And professed
philanthropists have, not unfrequently, been more fanatical
than benevolent, and more in love with their own opinions
than with the rights of man.
But, with the patient and generous charities of my
readers, I will endeavor to develop the Christian duties
and obligations on the whole premises, now being laid
before the public, on the higher law, the Fugitive Slave
Law, and every other law allied to the present question —
the great question of the age, so far as our national
interests and honor are concerned. A. C.
522 STRICTURES
PROPOSITION.
[From Rev, George Jankin,]
The Hebrews were permitted, hy their law, to huy servants
from the heathen ; to hold them in perpetual servitude ;
and to transmit them as hereditary property to their
children.
This is a compound proposition, and may be broken
down into three distinct parts.
1. They were permitted to buy servants, male and
female, from the heathen. Exod. xii. 44, — "Every
man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast
circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof." This is
decisive as to men servants.
Second proof Lev. xxv. 44-46, "Both thy bond-
men and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be
of [from, in Hebrew} the heathen that are round about
you, of [from] them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
Moreover, of [from] the children of the strangers that do
sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their
families, that are with you, which they begat in your
land : and they shall be your possession. And ye shall
take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to
inherit them for a possession ; they shall be your bondmen
for ever: but over your brethren, the children of Israel,
ye shall not rule one over another with rigor." This
passage is most conclusive as to the first subdivision.
It also meets the second, viz : that the servitude is
perpetual, " they shall be your bondmen for ever — ILe
Olaumr And it is equally pertinent to the third. They
ON ABOLITIONISM. 523
could transmit these slaves, as hereditary property, to
their children. But, here, note particular: 1. They are
property, "possession," It is the same Hebrew word,
as that used in v. 41, to describe the landed estates to
which the Israelites returned at the Jubilee, " and unto
the possession of his fathers shall he return." It is the
same used to describe the Redeemer's right in his
redeemed people. Psalm ii. 8, " I shall give * * * the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." It
is the same used to describe Abraham's interest in
the field of Ephon and the cave of Machpelah, after
he paid for them, when " the field and the cave that is
therein were made sure unto Abraham, for a possession
of a burying place, by the sons of Heth." In short,
this word is invariably used, to signify ownership in
landed estate — ^not transitory but permanent possession.
Let men, therefore, criticise as their fancy directs, as
to men and women being viewed and treated as
property ; God's word says, unequivocally, " they shall
be your possession^
But, it will be said, this is horrible ! Human beings
bought as property, and held as a possession permanent !
Well, abhor it, then, if it is horrible. But, there it is
on the sacred page. I have not asserted it, it is God's
assertion. I have not said it is right. Neither, as I
suppose, has God affirmed it to be right. All I affirm
is, that God's law permitted it to Israel. If you cannot
endure it, with God be your controversy: and at his
word be yet more horrified. For, 2. This possession
is perpetual — Le Olaum, for ever shall they be your
bondmen. It is a bondage durable as the life of the
parties. Yea, more horrible still ! 3. At the death
of the master who bought the slaves, they do not go
out free — they pass down as an inheritance to his
624 STRICTURES
children : they stand in all the legal relations of real
estate. As such, the terms of the law speak of them.
It is the same word as is used, Num. xxxiii. 64, " Ye
shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance" etc.
And xxxiv. 13, " This is the land which ye shall inherit
by lot." And Abraham inquires, "How shall I know
that I shall inherit it ?"
Such is the condition of heathen slaves under the
Mosaic Law. Most unhappy men! Awful state of
degradation ! Hopeless bondage to them and to their
children after them !
But, now, is it not obvious, that the dreadfulness of
their state depends very much upon incidental circum-
stances? Suppose they fall into the hands of "believing
masters," such as Paul speaks of, who will be kind to
them, and teach them the way of salvation through the
Messiah, what is there so fearful in their condition t
Look what Isaiah says, ch. xiv. 2, concerning heathen
people : " And the people, [of God] shall take them and
bring them to their place ; and the house of Israel shall
possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and
maidens," Assuredly, when the grace of God touches
the hearts of these slaves, and they become God's freed-
men, their condition is infinitely better than that of their
brethren according to the flesh, who are afar off from
God, and free in a physical sense. " I had rather be a
door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in
teuts of wickedness."
ON ABOLITIONISM. (gQ5
PROPOSITION.
[From Bev. Qeorge Junkin.]
t^at God has nowhere, in the Old Testament, prohibited
slavery. There is no command to this amount, " Masters,
let your servants go free." The relation of master and
slave is nowhere condemned as a sin and forbidden to
The position here taken, is expressed in three forms,
to prevent, if possible, all misapprehension. If any man
affirm the opposite, let him adduce the proof. If the
relation of master and servant, in perpetuity or for life,
be, in itself, and apart from all cruelties and abuses
of power, a horrible sin in the sight of God, let us
have the text from the Old Testament to condemn it.
Permit me, here, to throw out a caveate against
misconstruction and misrepresentation. Although it is
not our business, more than our opponents, to justify
the ways of God to men, yet, I remark, God has no-
where sanctioned slavery. To sanction, is to approve
of and command as a thing that is right, and that ought
to be. Except in cases of forfeiture of liberty, God has
not commanded — has not made it obligatory upon man,
to reduce his fellow to involuntary bondage. On the
contrary, I take the distinction before alluded to, that
the Bible tolerates slavery. Now, toleration is bearing
with — enduring a thing; and it implies, that the tiling
is viewed as an evil. Job tolerated his boils, and the
foolish behaviour of his wife. We tolerate evils that
cannot be instantly removed. All wearisome labor, of
626 STKICTURES
body or of mind, is an evil. All petulant, peevish, and
vexatious conduct, is an evil. The perpetual harrassraent
to which this Synod has been exposed, from year to
year, by the Anti-Slavery party, is an evil, hard to be
endured; yet the majority of Synod have tolerated it —
you have fought against it, as Napoleon said of the
Russians at the battle of Smolensk, " with passive
bravery."
But I hear our tolerated brethren say, how long must
this evil of slavery be tolerated "i Are we never to
see the end of it] Must all the light of the New
Dispensation be spent in vain ? Cannot this dark spot
be illuminated by it ? Will you plead for its everlasting
toleration.
Be patient, Brethren ! God has tolerated this dreadful
evil more than thirty centuries of years. And he has
tolerated yet worse evils. He has tolerated you and
us, with all our sins and corruptions upon us; with
all our unkind speeches, and hard sayings, and heart
burnings, and jealousies, and anger, and wrath, and
murmurings against God. He has borne with us in
our censures upon his Word and his providence, for
this very spirit of tolerance, to which we are indebted
for an existence out of hell. Why does he not instantly
cut off all evil from the earth ; either by cutting us off,
or by making us instantly and perfectly holy? "Nay!
but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God ?"
Be patient, Brethren, with me, and with God. Let
us proceed to the New Testament. What are its
teachings on the subject of slavery ? If slavery be the
master sin of our world ; if all other evils sink into
insignificance, in comparison of this giant crime ; if this
fearful and desolating sin — this soul-damning sin, as
brethren in this Synod deem it, abounded under the
ON ABOLITIONISM. 627
Old Testament, surely the remedying of it will form
a prominent feature of the New Economy. Surelyi
when the Redeemer comes to cleanse the sanctuary,
and to purify the altar, which have, since the days of
Gibeon's enslavement, been polluted by slave labor, he
will, at least, drive away all slave labor from the temple
and the altar. He will speak a plain and unequivocal
language. He will make it to be clearly known, that
slavery is no longer to be tolerated in the Church of
God. If Jesus be an abolitionist, in the modern sense,
surely his new revelation will for ever wash out the foul
stain of slavery. Mr. Moderator, what think you ? If
our opposing brethren had written the New Testament,
or any one book of it, would you not expect to find a
Istrong, and plain, and unequivocal testimony against
slavery, in it?
But now, sir, on the contrary, I fearlessly affirm, that
there is not a sentence in the New Testament, which,
either expressly, in so many words, or by fair and just
construction, forbids slavery. To avoid misconception,
let me divide this compound proposition. I then
declare :
/. That there is not a sentence in the New Testament,
which expressly forbids the having and the holding of a
slave.
11. That there is not a sentence in the New Testament,
which, hy fair and just interpretation, according to the
rules of grammar, gives ground for the logical inference,
that the simple holding of a slave, or slaves, is inconsistent
vnth Christian profession and Christian cJiaracter.
The proof of the affirmative lies on the affirmant;
let the man, who elects himself to controvert either of
528 STRICTmiES
"these, present his proof. But, lest none should be
forthcoming, let us see how near an approximation may
be made toward establishing these propositions in this
negative form. Should any person affirm, that between
the hours of six A. M. and six P. M. on the 19th of
September, 1843, the present speaker had kidnapped
a slave off a steamer lying at the quay in Cincinnati,
I could prove a negative by proving an alibi — ^by
proving my continual presence, during that period of
time, in this or the adjoining village. Let us look into
the New Testament for abolitionism, and see how far an
aHihi can be supported.
1, My first subordinate proposition here, is, that the
Qreek word, doulos, usually translated servant, properly
and commonly means a person held to service for life — a
slave.
This word occurs, according to Schmidius, about one
hundred and twenty-five times in the New Testament.
Of these, omitting the parallel places in the last
three Gospels, the following is a general classification,
viz : —
1. It is applied to servants of God and of
Christ, - 34
2. To servants of men, such as the house-
holder and the owner of tho vineyard, 34
3. To the king who made the supper, and
to him who took account of his
servants, 10
4. To servants of sin and Satan, - - 6
6. To the servant of the centurion, Matt.
viii. 5, 1
6. To Christians, as servants to each other,
Matt. XX. 27, 1
ox ABOLITIONISM. 629
7. To Christ, as God's servant, Phil. ii. 7 1 times.
8, To Judaizing Christians, Gal. iv. 7, 1 "
In all, ... - - 88 "
leaving about 37 as parallels.
Let as now see, whether, in all these,, the idea of
continuous, perpetual servitude be not included.
The first class — the servants of God and of his Christ
— are life servants; bound under the most absolute
authority to honor and obey and submit to his com-
mands. They profess so to be. They have come near
to the door-post, and their ears have been pierced through
vrith the arrows of his conviction, and they are his^r ever.
Moreover, they were unwilling, when he bcjught them with
a price, and they were unwilling until he changed them
by his law, and made them " both to will and to do of
his own good pleasure." They are servants for ever,
" under the yoke," — " take my yoke upon you."
Passing the second class, as the one in controversy^
we notice the third, Matt, xviii. 23, &c., and xxii. 3, &c.
The master, in the former, like many in our day, had
entrusted much of his property to his servants, to be
employed for his advantage ; and thus, one of them
was found to have acted very unfaithfully — he had
squandered his lord's money. His master, just as
masters now do, commanded him to be sold, and his
wife and children. Now, if doulos does not express the
relation of slavery — if it mean here a hired servant^ how
can we understand the transaction? Where is the law
to sell a hired servant ? And, if it be said, he was sold
under the law, which makes indebtedness a crime,
rendering the debtor obnoxious to sale, then we have
slavery recognized. Take it either way, then, you have
the relation of perpetual servitude.
530 STRICTUIIES
The evidence is equally plain, that the servants of the
j king, in waiting upon the marriage supper, were not
j hirelings, but perpetual servants. And here we may
observe, as was remarked of the Hebrew terms, the Greek
I word misthotos, means a hired person, one employed to j
j work for wages, for a period long or short, as the contract j
may be: such was the kind of service performed on I
j Zebedee's fishing boat. James and John "left their j
j father, Zebedee, in the ship, with the hired servants." ^ \
j And the Saviour speaks of this kind of labor as not so i
I reputable and trustworthy as the doulos ; John x. 12, 13: !
I '* But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose i
j own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth I
j the sheep and fleeth. The hireling, misthotos, fleeth
j because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."
It would seem that the doulos, the permanent servant,
was the more trustworthy. Accordingly, it is universally
agreed, that the servants in the parable of the supper,
j represent the gospel ministers — permanent officers in
Christ's house, who would, therefore, be very unsuitably
represented by the relation of a hireling, a temporary
servant, working for wages. Besides, the kind of service
at this feast, is just such as slaves, or permanent servants
are usually employed at. Farther, the invited guests
killed some o the servants, which it is not conceivable
they would have done, had they been hired persons.
These things, in connection with the fact, that the histo-
rian does not use misthotos — a word uniformly applied to
the temporary relation of a hired person, as faithfulness
to historical verity required, if the relation had been
temporary — these, I say, must convince the candid, that
doulos means the permanent relation of a life servant.
The fourth class relates to slaves of sin and of Satan,
John viii. 34 : " Verily, verily, 1 say unto you, whosoever
ON ABOLITIONISM. 531
committelh sin is the servant, doulos, of sin. And the
servant abideth nc»t in the house [the family apartment]
for ever: but the son abideth ever. If, then, the Son
make you free, ye are free indeed." Here the doulos is
conti-adistinguished from the son, and also from the free
person. So, Rom. vi. 17, "God be thanked, that ye were
the servants, doulos, of sin." And, 2 Pet. ii. 19, "While
they promise them liberty, they, themselves, are the
servants, douloi, of corruption: for of w^hom a man is
overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage;" — he is
made a doulos. Here, again, servant is contrasted with
free. Besides, there is express reference to the ancient
and universal custom of holding and accounting prisoners
of war as slaves. Men are taken captive by the devil,
and are the servants of their captor. We need not here
dwell, to show that it is a base bondage under which men
are held, to sin and Satan, and that it is without limit in
itself— it is designed by the master, and assented to by
the slave, that he shall serve for ever; and so it will
prove in every case where our Redeemer does not inter-
fore, and deliver, by his almighty power, the poor slave
from his cruel and yet voluntary bondage.
Case fifth, is that of the doulos of the Roman centurion
or captain. That slavery prevailed all over the Roman
Empire at this time, and that it was a most absolute and
degraded slavery, wherein the master had the power
of life and death at his own option, will not be contro-
verted by any, whose reputation for scholarship entitles
them to any notice at all. We cannot, surely, be expected
to prove that the captain's servant was a slave. For a
man to assert the contrary, places him hors du combat.
Case sixth, relates to the services required from one
Christian to another, and they are undoubtedly permanent,
and of perpetual obligation.
582 g'FllICTURES
So the seventh, an insulated instance, describes the
relation of Christ to God the Father. That it is
permanent, and for life, is obvious, and involves absolute
submission in all things.
The other insulated case is, that of the judaizing
Christian, Gal. iv. 7, who makes the ceremonial law a
yoke of bondage, and himself a slave to it.
Thus, if there is any exception to the absoluteness and
permanency of the obligation, and the servitude, expressed
by this term, doulos, it must be found in the second class ;
all the others imply entire subjection, and that without
limit, as long as the related parties exist.
The servants of the householder, who had sowed good
seed in his field, and of the man who delivered his
talents for improvement, are so similar to the case of the
marriage supper, that the same reflections are mainly
applicable to these. So, also, of the owner of the vine-
yard, Matt. xxi. 35, &c. The only other case in the
Gospels, that of the priest's servant, whose ear was cut
off, may easily be understood, by reference to the laws
already cited, permitting the priests to buy servants:
the others, it is not my intention to go over, in the
detail.
It would be tedious, and would lead to the conviction,
that, without one exception, in all the contexts, the idea
of absolute and permanent bondage to service, would be
found to harmonize best, with the drift and meaning of
the passages respectively. Persuaded I am, the case
never will be made out, where doulos, necessarily means
a temporary servitude, at the option of the servant
Many of the remaining passages, will, however, come up
in other connections. Meanwhile, I rest in the belief,
that the great mas3 of unprejudiced minds, must admit;
that doulos properly means a slave^.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 533
Let us, however, make this clear to a demonstration,
by the argument from contrast. If we find two words,
used in opposition to each other, the meaning of one
being ascertained, will forcibly illustrate that of the other.
Now, freeman and slave are such terms — they express
opposite ideas. He who is free, cannot, at the same
time, and in the same respect, manner, and sense, be a
slave. In different senses, such opposite terms may
agree. A man may be a slave to tobacco and whisky,
and yet a fi-eeman, in a civil sense. Still, freedom and
slavery are opposites; and if I shew that to be free
means a state wherein a man is under no obligation to
work or labor for another — the other has no power or
claim over him, so as to compel him to work; and if I
shew that this state is contrasted to another, as its
opposite, then that other is a state of slavery and
bondage.
Here let me refer to the cases already cited, for
another purpose: John viii. 34," "He that committeth
sin, is the doulos or servant of sin; but if the Son make
him free, then he is free indeed," Here, doulos and
eleutheros — a slave and a free man — are contrasted.
Again, in Rom. vi. 17, "Ye were the douloi, servants
of sin; but being made free;" here is the same contrast.
So also, 2 Pet, ii. 19, "While they promise them liberty,
eleutheria, they themselves are the douloi, slaves of cor-
ruption." 1 Cor, vii, 21, 22, "Art thou called, being a
servant, dotilos, care not for it: but if thou may est be
made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the
Lord, being a servant, doulos, is the Lord's freeman —
rather freed man — apeleutheros ; likewise, also, he that is
called, being free, eleutheros, is Christ's servant, i/mlosy
Here, the contrast is plain and direct, and three times
repeated, 1 Cor. xii. 13, "Whether we be Jews or
534 STRICTURES
i
Gentiles; whethei' we be bond or free, douloi or eleti' I
therm;" Gal. iii. 28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, i
neither bond nor free, douhs nor eleutheros;" Col. iii. 11,
" There is neither bond nor free, doulos nor eleutheros;"
Rev. vi. 15, "And every bondman and every freeman:
every doulos and every eleutheros;" Rev. xiii. 16, "And
l>e causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free
and bond, eleutherous and doulous." Rev. xix. 18, "And
the flesh of all men, both free and bond, eleutheroi and
douloi, both small and great." i
Thus, by an accumulation of evidence, even to weari- j
ness, it is demonstrated, that doulos means a slave, as '<■
certainly as eleutheros means a freeman. Here are twelve
distinct and unequivocal instances of contrast. I take it,
then, as most conclusively proved, that doulos properly I
means a slave — a person under absolute authority for life, I
to a master. ;
2. The second subordinate proposition mth an infa
is., that Paul advises servants to abide quietly in their
condition. This he could not do if the relation of master
and slave was, in itself, a sin.
1 Cor. vii. 20-24, "Let every man abide in the same
calling, wherein he was called. Art thou," &c., as above.
" Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of
men. • Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called,
therein abide with God."
Here, note, 1. This is a spiritual call — that inward
vocation of the Holy Ghost, whereby a man is made to
hear and to obey the Gospel, in a spiritual sense. He
who is thus called, is a converted man. But there is a
modified sense, in which the word is used to signify a
man's employment — his state and condition in this world'^s
affaire. And the Apostle indulges a play upon this sense.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 536
In verse 17, he settles the principle: "But as God hath
distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every
one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the churches."
The gospel does not come to break up the social relations.
If a hired girl is converted, it does not hence follow, that
she must sit at the table, and her employer take turns
with her in the house-work, and table-waiting. Paul was
not a leveler in this respect. But, let every one pursue
his business honestly. " Is any man called, being circum-
cised ? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called,
being uncircumcised? let him not be circumcised." These
outward circumstances are trifles. What a man's business
is — what his condition in life, is a small matter, if only
he has the spiritual vocation. 2, Among the called, at
Corinth, were found some servants — doulous — slaves.
Then sprang up the question: If T am called into the
service of Jesus Christ, can I any longer be obedient to
an earthly master % Can a man serve two masters % If I
have taken Christ's yoke upon me, how can I be, and
continue, a doulos to my old master who bought me ?
Now, it is easy to see, that if Paul had preached
abolitionism, there would have been directly a slave
insurrection at Corinth. If he had decided, that conver-
sion to Christianity nullified the master's right to control
his slave, and made him free, it would have brought
Christianity into direct collision with the civil and domestic
relations of the whole Roman world. But Paul was no
abolitionist: he would not interfere, in the least, with the
master's authority. He had, a little above, decided in
favor of another social relation. Marriage, though
consummated in a pagan state, he says, is binding,
even after one of the parties has been converted to
Christianity. The question had been raised. Can I be
die spouse of Christ, and also of a pagan husband at the
636 STRICTUKES
same time? Certainly, says Paul, the one is spiritual,
the other a natural — moral relation: "Let not the wife
depart from her husband:" so, here, let not the servant
depart from his master. This is the third remark : The
relation is rot to be renounced — " Let every man wherein
he is called, therein abide." if he is a doulos, let him
remain contented: he can be a slave in regard to temporal
things; and, yet, a freeman in regard to spiritual things.
There is no necessary collision between the claims of the
two masters. If your earthly master acts uprightly, he
will never require you to do an act forbidden by your
heavenly master. But should such case occur, why, then
obey God, and suffer whatever punishment man chooses
to inflict. 4. Manumission was often practised in the
Roman and Grecian world. Paul advises the servant,
if his master offer to manumit him, to accept his freedom
with gratitude — "use it rather." When grace touched
the master's heart, and especially if his conversion, as
doubtless was often the case, was brought about by the
patient and quiet obedience, and manifest improvement
of his converted slaves, it cannot be doubted, he often
freed his servants: and this is God's plan of abolition. A
person who, in the phrase, "use it rather," can find a
warrant for a slave insurrection — for robbery, theft, and
murder, gives melancholy evidence, that he himself is the
slave of his own pride and wicked passions. 5. Paul
points out the method of the spiritual freedom — it was by
purchase: "Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the
sei-vants of men." Most violently and blindly has this
passage been abused, to the encouragement of slave
insurrections ; " be not ye the servants of men " — this,
we, Mr. Moderator, have heard the subject of song here;
contrary to the obvious, plain meaning of the whole
context. It has been time after time harped upon, as
ON ABOLITIONISM. 637
evidence, that slaves are forbidden to serve men ; whereas,
the whole drift of the context enjoins submission. " Ye
are bought with a price." Now, in what sense 1 Is it not
undeniable, that the price here is Christ's blood? And
must it not follow that the servitude into which this
spiritual purchase brings them, is a spiritual servitude?
Do they not take Christ's yoke on them? And yet, these
brethren insist on it, that "be not ye the servants of men,"
is a natural servitude ! " Don't obey your masters
according to the flesh; resist them, they have no right
to command you, and you do wrong in obeying; 'be not
ye the servants of men.' " Did you ever hear of such
horrible perversion ? Can this be the true meaning,
when other passages, so numerous, command the very
contrary ? " Servants obey your masters." We must say,
such a construction is not only violent, but it is disin-
genuous ; and no man could, for a moment, allow himself
in it, but that the heat of excitement, and the warmth
of controversy, blinds the mind, and hurries the zealot
over all rules of reason and of right. No commentator
ever entertained such an idea : until modern abolitionism
invented it, the world, I presume, was ignorant of such a
construction. But it is a fair sample of the logic of
excited feeling. Paul urges the doulos to abide content
in his condition ; because, though a servant of man, he is
Christ's freed man — a spiritual freeman, but a slave
civilly. But he must not abide the doulos of man,
say these brethren — must not be civilly a slave; because
he has been spiritually bought with a price. The apostle
may contradict himself, but he must not teach the dutj'
of servants to obey their own masters ! When he says,
*' Be not ye the douloi of men," he must not mean
spiritually t but naturally ! !
638 S^'RICTURES
3. The third suhordinate proposition, tcith an inference.
— The New Testament recognizes some masters as good
men — true and faithful believers : therefore, the relation
of master and slave may exist, consistently loith Christian
character and profession.
Proof 1. — Matt. viii. 9, 10; "The centurion answered
and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come
under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant,
doulos, shall be healed. When Jesus heard it, he
marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily, I
say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not
in Israel." Here is a slaveholder whose faith stands
above suspicion. But we have been told that every
man who is guilty of slaveholding, if he die without
repenting of this sin, will go to hell ! How differently
the Saviour and some of his disciples judge !
Proof II. — By Eph. i. 1, we learn, that the epistle is
addressed "to the saints which are at Ephesus, and
to the faithful in Christ Jesus." And by vi. 9, we learn,
that among these faithful brethren are masters : " And
ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing i
threatening: knowing that your Master, [Christ] also, is |
in heaven ; neither is there respect of persons with him. {
Finally, my bretliren," &c. Thus slayeholders are ;
recognized as faithful believers ; a,nd no order is giveft !
to cease to be slaveholders. i
Proof III. — 1 Tim. vi. 2; "And they that have
believing masters, let them not despise them, because i
they are brethren ; bat rather do them service, because i
they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit." !
Here the slaves, douloi, are commanded to submit, \
because their masters are believers — faithful and beloved f
brethren, partakers of the grace of our Lord. {
ON ABOLITIONISM. 539
Proof IV. — Philemon 5; Paul, addressing this slave-
holder, says he had heard " of thy love and faith, which
thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints."
So we might cite all the cases where masters are
commanded to do their duties ; for they are, in every
instance, addressed as Christian masters ; and the same
is true of the slaves. Clearly, then, the inference
follows, that this relation is not inconsistent with Chris-
tian character and profession.
4. The fourth subordinate proposition. — The New Tes-
tament recognizes the existence of slavery.
5. TJie fifth subordinate proposition. — The New Testa-
ment prescribes the duties of servants to their masters,
(md of masters to their servants ; enjoining obedience to
the one, and kind treatment from the other.
Meanwhile, no injunctioia is laid upon masters to
liberate their slaves ; nor is there any hint given to
slaves to run away from their masters. All this I
shall prove by plain and direct Scriptures, and then
shall deduce some legitimate conclusions.
Proof I. — Titus ii. 9, 10 ; " Exhort servants, douloiis,
to be obedient unto their own masters, despotais, and
to please them well in all things ; not answering
again, not purloining, [stealing] but shewing all good
fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour in all things."
It is important to remark, that this, and most of the
subsequent proofs, are found in the midst of contexts
where the leading social relations of life are dwelt upon^
and their duties pointed out. Here " the aged men," and
" the aged women ; " the young women," and " young
men," are exhorted. In some of the following cases,
540 STRICTURES
husbands and wives, parents and children, magistrates and
subjects, are mentioned ; and, just among them, servants
and masters, recognizing it as an existing relation.
On this passage, note, 1. The servants, douUms, are
exhorted to be obedient to their own masters, despotais,
despots, absolute masters. It is the strongest term the
Greek language knows to express absolute and arbitrary
power.
2. That this obedience should be cheerful and hearty,
not with an ill grace, a surly, and dissatisfied, and
hesitating manner.
3. They are commanded not to steal their master's
property; but to feel an interest in his welfare, and to
be faithful in looking after it.
How different, in all three respects, this, from the
teachings of modern anti-slavery doctors ! They teach
that slaves may, and ought to disobey their masters—
to run off, to steal their meister's, or any person's horse,
saddle, bridle, food, clothing, anything that may be
necessary to facilitate their escape. Such morality may
be found in the abolition journals of the day.
4. The glory of God is promoted by the cheerful obedi-
ence and faithful conduct of Christian slaves. Such
conduct adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour. Now,
we put it to our brethren, whether this course of conduct,
in Christian slaves, is not much more likely to win their
masters, and all others, to embrace the doctrine from
which it springs, than the stealing and running off, which
they recommend. Are those who engage in running
negroes to Canada, " adorning the doctrine of God our
Saviour, in all things ?" We put it to your consciences,
Brethren !
Proof II. — Col. iii. 22 ; iv. 1 ; " Servants, obey in all
things, your masters according to the flesh; not with
ON ABOLITIONISM. 541
eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but in singleness of heart,
fearing God ; and, whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as
to the Lord, and not unto men ; knowing that of the
Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance ;
for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong,
shall receive for the wrong which he hath done ; and
there is no respect of persons. Masters, give unto your
servants that which is just and equal ; knowing that ye,
also, have a master in heaven."
1. Here, strict obedience is enjoined to masters,
"according to the flesh" — that is, masters in regard
to worldly things. 2. This obedience is not merely
outward, but inward ; sincerely, and truly rendered.
In which he shows how obedience in carnal things is
consistent with spiritual obedience to the Lord. In
obeying your earthly masters, in all things, [lawful, that
is] you obey your heavenly Master too — " ye serve the
Lord Christ." 3. The servant, doulos — the slave that
does wrong — that withholds due service from his master,
that purloins, or is, in any way, unfaithful, shall be
punished for his wrong doing. If he obey the counsels
of modern abolitionists, God the Redeemer will judge
him. 4. As injustice is forbidden to the servants, so
injustice is forbidden to the masters. Wrong is pro-
hibited on both sides. For wrong, the master will be
punished as well as the slave.
But the question arises, what is just and equal ? Our
Brethren will say, that it means, among other things,
liberty. But this text does not say so, nor does any other.
On the contrary, it is implied, that the relation continues.
The masters are masters still ; and the slaves are slaves
still ; and it is to the existing relation the whole context
applies. If the relation is annihilated, the duties of
obedience, here enjoined, can no longer exist. This,
642 STRICTURES
then, is mere subterfuge. What is just and equal 1
Undoubtedly, kind treatment; comfortable food, and
raiment, and instruction in all the blessed doctrines of
the Bible. These things, good, believing masters do;
and, in so doing, obey God, and give more than is
commonly given to hired servants. We are often told that
they ought to set them free and pay them vvrages. Well,
perhaps they ought to free them. But this will depend
upon circumstances. As to paying wages, it is notorious,
and the abolitionists have shown it a hundred times,
that the slaves are often paid higher wages than the
free blacks or whites : using the term wages in the strict
sense of political economy. " We must be careful," says
Prof. Vethake, (p. 33,) " not to confound the real wages
of the laborer, with his money wages. The latter, as
has been before stated, are only instrumental in procuring
the former. The laborer, who receives money for his
services, exchanges it again for the necessaries and
comforts of life, both of a material and immaterial
nature, which he is enabled by means of it to obtain;
and the money is only transitorily in his possession."
The real wages of labor are food, clothing, houseroom,
education — all the necessaries and comforts of life. But
now it is proverbial, that many slaves devour their
masters — they consume more than they produce — they
receive more wages than they earn — they get more
than is just and equal. And this constitutes an
argument, not on moral or religious grounds, but simply
on the ground of political economy, against the whole
system ; which I think entirely unanswerable. It has
been demonstrated ten thousand times, that slave labor
is, upon the whole, the dearest, and cannot compete
with free labor. Would you, Mr. Moderator, or any
of these brethren, take a common laborer, with a family.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 643
and obligate yourself to feed, clothe, house, and educate
them as laborers and Christians, at your own cost, making
yourself, and your heirs, liable for them, for the space
of forty years 1 I mean, all moral considerations aside,
and receiving the question as a mere dollar and cent
matter — would you? Where is the man that would
do it? Still, the deficient production results from the
system ; and, combined with a law before mentioned,
constitutes the physical necessity, whereby the Creator
provides for removing the evils of oppressive bondage.
But we may not run out in this direction.
Proof III. — 1 Pet. ii. 18: "Servants, be subject to
your masters, with all fear; not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward." This is part of a
context, where the relative duties of social life are
enjoined — magistrates and subjects, servants and masters,
husbands and wives, are addressed.
1. The term servant, is different; it is, oiketes, a house
servant. But that it implies here, a slave, is evident, from
the treatment to which they were exposed — " they suffered
wrongfully" — "were buffeted" — "endured grief," and are
commanded to submit and bear it patiently, out of con-
science towards God. Now this is inconceivable, in
regard to hired servants, or any temporary engagement.
2. The subjection enjoined, is to despotais, absolute
masters.
3. The term by which he expresses the subjection, is
also strong: it means the absolute, rigid subordination of
military government; where not the least hesitancy, or
delay, or demurring, is tolerated.
4. The fear with which they are to submit, also shews
the relation of master and slave.
The whole drift of the passage is plain and easy. It
the duty of submission, in all things not siniul
644 STRICTURES
before God, upon the slaves ; even in extreme cases of
harsh and cruel treatment ; and that from the considera-
tion that the God whom they serve, w^ill be glorified by
it, and the religion they profess will be commended to
the hearts of all men. Could Peter, moved by the Holy
Ghost, have done all this, if the very relation of master
and slave, was, in itself, and, independently of all contingent
abuses, a sinful relation ?
Proof IV. — Philemon was a slaveholder, at least, if
owning one slave makes a man a slaveholder. Onesimus,
his slave, had fallen under the influence of bad counsel ;
whether the dictate of his own heart, or of some ancient
anti-slavery partizan. He ran off from his master, who
resided at Colosse, a city in the interior of Asia Minor,
See Col. iv. 8, 9: " Tychicus have I sent unto you
* * * with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother,
who is one of you." This may show a s})ecial reason,
why Paul, in this epistle to the Colossians, which was
undoubtedly carried by Tychicus and Onesimus, presses,
as we have seen, the duties of servants to their masters,
according to the flesh. The letter was carried by a
runaway slave, now returned to his sound mind, and
hereby commanded to obey his master.
This runaway found himself at Rome, and came to
hear Paul preach in his chains, in his own hired house ;
and was, through grace, converted unto God ; after which,
Paul sent him back to his master. Let us note particulars.
i. The apostle recognizes Philemon's right to Onesimus'
service — verses 13, 14: "Whom I would have retained
with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto
me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind
would I do nothing ; that thy benefit should not be as it
were of necessity, but willingly." Paul lived in his own
hired house, yet he was in chains, and needed some
ON ABOLITIONISM. 545
person to do his errands, lay in and cook his food, wash
his clothes, &c,, &c. These kind of services, Philemon
had done, or caused to be done, for the apostle, when at
Colosse, as is most likely, from this verse and the 22nd,
where he requests him to "prepare me also a lodging."
But, however much Paul needed Onesimus, and however
assured he felt, that did Philemon, the master, know the
situation of his beloved friend, the apostle, he would have
most cheerfully consented to let Onesimus stay and attend
upon him, yet could he not consent to keep him, without
his master's expressed will.
2. Onesimus was a slave. Paul urges Philemon to
receive him, " not now as a doulos, but above a doulos, a
brother beloved, especially to me; but how much more
unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord."
"Not now" — oukete — not any longer, as a doulos.
Here is the distinct implication that, heretofore, he had
been treated as a slave — a doulos — but now, no longer
is he to be so treated. This alludes to the Levitical
law, already explained. Lev. xxv. 39-42. The Hebrew
is to treat his brother Hebrew, now his Ebed — his doulos
— his slave — not like slaves are commonly treated, with
rigor, but as soukeers — hired men are usually treated,
with kindness and lenity. iVow, says Paul, this doulos is
a brother, and our law requires such to be kindly treated,
and "I know that you will do even more than I say,"
I verse 21.
1 3. In this last expression, there is a hint at emancipa-
tion. It is highly probable, that Philemon not only treated
him kindly, but set him free, and assisted hira to some
I farther education, and thus enabled him to enter the
ministry. Such things have been done, and are continually
doing in our own day, in regard to indented apprentices,
and even to slaves. Several talented and efficient preachers,
n
546 STRICTURES
now in Liberia, were thus manumitted. But now, this j
very thing, which I understand to be admitted by some of [
our anti-slavery brethren, contains the whole for which i
I am here contending, viz : that slavery existed, and j
obedience was commanded, in the New Testament. j
4. Paul does not command Philemon to liberate \
Onesimus. He does not even command him to receive |
him and treat him kindly. But he does say he might |
do this latter — he has authority to enjoin — to command — j
verse 8 : yet he prefers to put himself in the position of j
an equal with Philemon, and entreat him. From this it j
has been argued — rather assumed, that he had power to ~ |
order Philemon to emancipate him, but forbore to exercise {
it. This is wholly gratuitous, groundless, and false. The i
power which, in verse 8, he asserts he has, he turns into !
an entreaty, and it is, that the master would receive his
slave and treat him no longer as a slave, but according
to the law, with lenity, as a brother,
5. Another point illusti-ated here, is the pilfering
character of runaway slaves. Onesimus had taken the
precaution, in our day given as advice by some aboli
tionists, to supply his pockets, from his master's stores,
before he left him. Verse 18: "If he have wronged
thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account,"
&c. So punctiliously regardful is he of the master's
rights, that he renders himself liable, as a surety, for all
the property the slave may have stolen from his master.
Again, Mr. Moderator, let me call yotir attention to the
strong contrast, between the morality of the New Testa-
ment, and that of modern abolitionism. This encourages
the slave to disobey, to steal, to run off; that commands
him to return, to be honest, to be obedient.
But a recent discovery has been made in the laboratory
of Greek criticism. It is now ascertained, that Onesimus
ON ABOLITIONISM. 547
was merely the younger brother of Philemon — that he
did not like the vigilant and close treatment of his older
brother, who was his legal guardian — that he went off,
and Paul sent him back. Now, Mr. Moderator, you must
not smile at this. It is, indeed, ludicrous; but then,
laughable as the thing is, in itself, we must not always
treat things with that contempt which their merits
demand. This criticism is advanced, in serious earnest,
and we must bite in our lips, and seem to be grave in
our reply.
Well, on what is this new theory founded ? Why,
simply on the phrase, in the flesh, verse 16. It is asserted
that Onesimus was a brother of Philemon, both " in the
flesh and in the Lord." Ah ! but does the text say this %
Or does it say that Onesimus was beloved — "both in the
flesh " — that is, in regard to civil and temporal affairs,
" and in the Lord" — that is, in regard to spiritual things'?
It needs not Greek spectacles to see, that there is a
comparison drawn between Paul and Philemon, in
reference to the measure, or degree of attached feeling
towards Onesimus. Paul says, that Onesimus is now a
brother — to whom ? To Philemon, and to Paul, too—
though he calls him his son : but he is a beloved brother
— beloved to whom? — "to me;" yes, and "unto thee."
But, in what degree, is he beloved to them respectively ?
Why, "especially." But, especially whs.tl Is it especially
beloved, or is it especially a brother? Which word does
the adverb especially, qualify ? — beloved or brother ? Most
assuredly it cannot qualify brother; but it can, and doea
qualify beloved: he is beloved in a high degree — " especially
to me;" but in a higher degree — "how much more to
thee" — beloved, "both in the flesh, and in the Lord."
Clearly, if the thing were possible, that the adverb,
specially, and the adverbial phrase, how nmch more, could
35
648 STRICTURES
qualify broiJier, then we would have the ludicrous idea
presented, of Onesimus being a brother germain to Paul,
and to Philemon, both; but that he was more a brother to
Philemon, than to Paul \ ! "
There are two other otgections to this novel criticism.
It requires proof, that the older brother was a master, and
the younger his slave, doillos. We doubt much whether
any sane man will undertake to prove this historically.
The other is, that the phrase, in the flesh, is the same in
its meaning, with according to the flesh, which we have
seen used in the epistle to* the Colossians, written at the
same time with that to Philemon, and. sent by the same
messengers. The sense is not equivocal — in the flesh, or
according to the flesh, is simply, as to worldly affairs; and
in the spirit, or in the Lord, or according to the spirit, as
to spiritual affairs^
Proof V. — Eph. vi. 5-9: "Servants, be obedient unto
them who are your masters, according to the flesh, with
fear and trembliiig, in singleness of your heart, as unto
Christ, * * * And ye masters, do the same things
unto them; forbearing threatening," &c.
Here, again, all the points are sustained. The relation
exists. The duties of servants — slaves — are prescribed,
in peremptory language. The distinction is noted between
the master, as to the flesh — as to worldly affairs, and
Christ, the spintual master, and the general consistency
of their service to both; and the reward of faithfulness is
held out as a motive. The masters are commanded "to
do the same things," that is, to carry out the same spirit
of good-will towards them, in gentle and kind treatment,
which the servants are commanded to practice, and with
an eye to their own accountability to God. Not one
word can here be found encouraging servants to steal a
horse, and run away; not onft hint to masters about the
ON ABOLITIONISM. 549
sin of slavery, and the duty of repenting of it; and no
command to manumit their slaves.
Proof VL — 1 Tim. vi. 1-5 : " Let as many servants as
are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all
honor, that the name of God, and his doctrine be not
blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let
them not despise them, because they are brethren, but
rather do them service, because they are faithful and
beloved — partakers of the benefit. These things teach
and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent
not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing; but doting about
questions, and strifes of words; whereof cometh envy,
strife, railing, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men
of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing
that gain is godliness: from such, withdraw thyself"
We are to bear in mind, that these are among the
instructions given by an aged and experienced minister,
under the spirit of inspiration, to a youth in the service.
When we connect with this the very brief space covered
by the whole epistle, we must conclude that Paul thought
the subject of slavery a delicate and important one, that
he could afford it so much space. Let us carefully
analyze the context.
1. The persons spoken to, are slaves, douloi, and the
correlate term, is despotoi — masters — absolute in authority
over them.
2. But the spirit of inspiration, foreseeing the mischief
which misguided zeal would occasion in the premises, and
the twisting and wrenching of scripture, which would
attend its efforts, has appended a phrase, which cuts off
the possibility of plausible cavil. These douloi are under
the yoke, a phrase which undoubtedly signifies bondage,
550 STRICTUKES
deep and degraded slavery. This phrase does not again
occur in the New Testament. The term yoke, however,
does occur five times : rather the Greek word zugos.
Matt. xi. 29, 30, it is used to signify that perpetual,
perfect, absolute, unmurmuring, and everlasting subjec-
tion, under which God's redeemed are laid to serve him.
" Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me * * for
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In Acts xv.
10, it signifies the slavery into which some labored to
bring the Gentile converts, to the ceremonial law. * ♦
" Why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to
bear." In Gal. v. 1, the same is called "a yoke of
bondage." In Rev. vi. 5, the word is correctly translated
"a pair of balances."
Let us inquire how the same Greek word is used, in
the Septuagint- — the old Greek translation of the Old
Testaments Its meaning there may assist us here. If it
is there a symbol of bondage — a type of slavery — ^it
creates a strong presumption that it is so here, also.
It is used some fifteen times as the translation of a
word that signifies a pair of balances, mozanayim, as in
Lev. xix. 36 : Job vi. 2, and xxxi. 6 ; Ps. Ixii. 9 ; Prov.
xi. 1, &c.
Again, it is used for Ol, a word that means the instru-
ment by which oxen, or beasts of burden, draw. This is
the natural and proper sense, as in Num. xix. 2 : " Bring
thee a red heifer * * upon which never came yoke."
So, Deut. xxi. 3 ; 1 Sam. vi. 7-10.
Again, it is used in the figurative sense as the symbol
of oppressive bondage. Isa. ix. 4, and x. 27 : " Thou
hast broken the yoke of his burden;" "Hia burden shaK
be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke fi'om
off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed, because of
ON ABOLITIONISM. 551
the anointing." And, xiv. 25, the same ; and, xlvii. 6,
" Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke."
So, Jar. ii. 20; and v. 5; and xxvii. 8, 11, 12; and
xxviii. 2, 4, 11, 14; and xxx, 8; Lam. iii. 27; Ezek.
xxxiv. 27.
Again, Isa, Iviii. 6, the Greek word is used, for one
which means the bows of the yoke, the bands, or whatever
fastens the yoke on the neck ; and thus is very suitable to
express the idea of bondage. Thus, it is clear, that, to be
under the yoke, is to be in a state of slavery. To have the
yoke broken off, is to be made free. This will be admitted
by all abolitionists: for they use Isa. Iviii. 6, very constantly
in their prayers, and, I suppose, in their arguments : " Is
not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens ; and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke."
Mr. Moderator, it has been argued on this floor, from
this very passage, that we are bound to manumit all the
slaves. We have here an admission, which might have
saved me the preceding labor. However, it is performed,
and you have it. You have also the concession of the
opposite side, that to be under the yoke, means to be
slaves. Let us keep this. The douloi of whom Paul here
speaks, our abolition brethren admit, were slaves. But
then, what will we do with Isaiah? We will take his
language for just what it means. And it is obvious, at
a glance, that the prophet is correcting abuses, in the
context referred to. As in the days of Nehemiah, the
Hebrews had gradually disregarded the laws relative to
the treatment of their slaves '. they did not release at the
end of the sixth year, nor even at the jubilee; they
treated their Hebrew servants with rigor, contrary to
law. These illegal exactions he would correct. The
law forbid the Hebrew to make his brother serve with
652 STRICTURES
rigor; this, Isaiah would restore — "to loose the banda
of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens." The law
ordered the sei-vant to be set free, of whom the master
had broken a tooth, or destroyed an eye : this, the prophet
enforces, " and to let the oppressed — the hroken, as it
signifies, go free : that is, for his eye's or his tooth's sake.
The law made all Hebrew slaves free at the end of six
years ; and here the prophet, like Nehemiah, enforces the
law : " Let every man, who is entitled by the law, to his
freedom, go free — break ye off every yoke.*^' To infer,
from the general term, " every yoke," that those who
were not, by law, entitled to freedom, must obtain it, is
not to interpret, but to pervert the prophet's language.
" Servants, obey your masters in all things," is Paul's
injunction. No, to infer that they are to do things in
obedience to man, which God has forbidden, is to pervert,
and not to interpret Paul. So here, exactly. To infer,
from the general term, every yoke, that the prophet means
to oblige the Israelite to manumit those servants, whom
the law expressly says he may keep as servants for ever, is
not to explain Isaiah, but to pervert bis obvious intent and
meaning.
Again : the servants, in this context, are " exhorted to
account their own masters worthy of all honor ;" hence,
according to the mode of interpretation we refute, the
inference must be, that they should account these masters
worthy of divine worship, for this is included in all honor;
if every yoke necessarily means all slaves absolutely, and
all absolutely are commanded, by Isaiah, to be set free ;
then, all honor must include divine reverence and adora-
tion; and so, these slaves must worship their masters as
gods. Such absurdities follow from neglect ftf that canon
of interpretation, which sound criticism and common sense
have, for ages, established and deemed incontrovertible.
ON ABOLITIONISM. "553
namely, that general terms must be subjected to such
restrictions, as the nature of the subject, and the scope
or drift of the writer require. In the present instance,
by this rule, all hcmor, means all honor properly belonging
to the relation of master and servant, as regulated by the
laws and reputable usages of the community. So in
Isaiah, all yokes, or every yoke, means every one, which,
according to law, and reputable use, required to be
broken off.
3. My third remark, on this passage of Timothy, is,
that these douloi under the yoke, are exhorted to account
their own masters worthy of all honor. The word
for masters, is despotos — absolute lords. It was before
stated, that this is a strong term. It is used in Simeon's
prayer, Luke ii. 29 : " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace." In Acts iv. 24 : * * * " Lord,
thou art God." Rev. vi. 10 : " How long, O Lord."
Jude iv.: " Denying the only Lord God," &c. The
term properly signifies absolute lord or master, and this
has its proper correlate in doulos, a slave. Now, these
despots are to be accounted worthy of all honor; and
Christian slaves are commanded not to despise their
believing masters, but to serve them — to perform the
part of slaves to them — douleuetosan. Here is the
very contradictory — the exact opposite of abolitionism.
Instead of contemning, and despising, and purloining,
and running away from their masters, as some teach
they ought, these slaves are exhorted, and commanded, to
respect and love, to abide with, and faithfully to serve,
their despots.
4. We may observe, again, the reason, enforcing this
obedience and respectful demeanor. It is, that the religion
of these Christian slaves may be commended to their
masters, and to all men. Christianity is not a religion
554 STRICTURES
of violent civil and political revolutions : it never organizes
a political party. Its interference — rude and violent
interference with civil arrangements, would cause its
author's name to be blasphemed, and his doctrines to
be abhorred and rejected.
5. Timothy is not left at liberty to teach, or not to
teach, this doctrine of the subordination of slaves to their
own masters. Paul lays it on him peremptorily. " These
things teach and exhort." It is quite possible, that the
colonizationists, the only true and efficient friends of the
colored race, have fallen behind the hne of duty in this
thing. For love of peace — from an earnest desire to
avoid violent excitement, we have neglected Paul's
injunction. We have so held back, as to produce the
impression upon the minds of the opponents of Paul's
doctrine, that we felt ourselves at a loss for anything to
say in his defence. You have seen them in this Synod,
daring, and braving, and bantering us.
" I am for peace, but wben I speai,
For battle they are keen."
6. The apostle points out the origin of the opposite ;
teaching. And here, Mr. Moderator, I am sorry I shall 1
be obliged to say some things extremely unpleasant — ;
unpleasant to our brethren; hard for them to endure,
because they will come with blistering severity — unpleas- ;
ant ffor me to utter, only because of the pain they may |
occasion ; the alienation of affection, the heart-burnings I
and jealousies that will probably follow r not because !
they are uncalled for and avoidable ; they are become
imperiously necessary. These very brethren have made f
the issue and forced us upon it. Faithfulness to God*8 j
word will no longer tolerate mincing and mouthing !
with great caution. We must expound it according [
_.J
ON ABOLITIONISM. 5^
to its plain and obvious truth and meaning. If the
two-edged sword meet with matter to cut, let it cut.
If a festering ulcer fret and fatten on the body ecclesi-
astical, let the scalpel reach its core, and let the probe
search its depth.
I say, then, that Paul finds the origin of abolitionism
in the vanity, self-conceit, and puffed up pride of the
human heart. " If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words," &c. Now, to teach
otherwise, is to teach other and opposite doctrine to
that which he teaches, viz : that slaves should respect,
love, and serve their own masters. If any man teach
opposite to these doctrines — if he teach modern anti-
slavery doctrines, such as abound in their publications
and speeches, he is tetuipJiotai — -proud we have it
translated. But I appeal to every Greek scholar, if it
do not mean vain, puffed up, self-conceited. But I will
not trust to Greek scholars only. I will refer you to
better authority — 1 Tim. iii. 6. Speaking of the qualifi-
cationa of a bishop, Paul says, he must be, '^Not a
novice, lest being lifted up with pride — tuiphotJieis — he
fall into the condemnation of the devil." The word
in our text, then, translated " he is proud," means such
a lifting up with pride, as greatly endangers the person's
falling into the condemnation of the devil.
Again, 2 Tim. iii. 4 ; speaking of the last days— the
days in which we live. Sir, and of the perilous times
that shall come, he says, " Men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud * * traitors, heady,
high-minded, ietup7iomenoi." Does not this mean, puffed
up with vain pride and contemptible self-:eonceit ?
This form of the word does not again occur in the
New Testament ; but nearly the same we have once.
Matt. xii. 20, " The smoTcing flax he will not quenoK"
~^]
666 STRICTUKES
tvjphomeTum linon. The primary idea is taken from the
thick vapory smoke, which ascends from damp straw
or weeds, when they are kindled with fire, but before
the flame acquires strength to consume the foggy smoke.
How forcibly does this describe the state of a self-
conceited mind, which supposes itself the origin of light,
and truth, and wisdom; and wrapping itself round and
round in the fog and smoke of its own vanity, and
ascending amid the cloud of its own incense, looks down
with pity or with scorn, upon the ignorant world
below !
The history of modern abolitionism, as to its origin,
Virill be found to tally with this picture. A vigorous
young man was refused promotion in the service of
the American Colonization Society ; he became offended,
removed to a neighboring city, set up an opposition
paper, and thus became the father of the modern anti-
slavery movement. Who the mother may have been,
is now difficult to tell. That honor may, perhaps, by
a little slip of chronology, be conferred on Abby Kelly —
at least, she is laboriously discharging the duties of a
dry nurse.
7. Let us mark, in the last place, the consequences
of a system of movements, which has such an origin.
Could they be expected to be characterized by meekness,
wisdom, humility, brotherly kindness, charity] As well
might the lamb and kid claim paternity from the hyena
and the wolf. But see what Paul says; — "Whereof
Cometh envy, strife, railing, evil surmisings, perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the
truth." To this charge, Mr. Moderator, our brethren
of this Synod, on behalf of the original abolitionists,
now the Garrison and Abby Kelly party, have pleaded
guilty. They have distinctly admitted the correctness
J_
ON ABOLITIONISM. 567
of Paul's prophetic representations. But ibr themselves —
and thus far we gladly admit the plea — and for the
great body of abolitionists, they plead not guilty ; and
attempt to wash their hands of all the infidel party's
doings. But we must not — whilst we let off our brethren
individually, and as ministers of God, from the weight
of this charge-*-we must not, and we cannot, in faithful-
ness to Paul and to truth, let the abolition movement
escape. We contend, that the infidel abolitionists — tJie
no government men and women — the anarchical party,
are the real, true, and only consistent anti-slavery men
and women. They are the sound logicians, who have
fearlessly followed out the fundamental principle of the
movement. It were easy to show, that, if you once admit
the simple relation of master and servant, irrespective
of cruelty and abuses, to be, in itself, sinful, then you
must deny the morality of a temporary existence of
the relation ; for if it is a sin, in itself, it must be so
whether it be of long or short duration. Surely, if to
hold a man in bondage for life — say thirty years — is
a sin ; to hold him ten, five, one year, is a sin too. But
the relation of parent and child involves obligations of the
latter to obey the former; hence, this, too, must be
abandoned. Next goes that oi husband and wife.
Next, that of civil ruler and ruled. The original
abolitionists have clearly seen, that all these relations
are spoken of in the same Scriptures that speak of
master and servant; and they have logically inferred,
that the arguments which go to make the simple relation
a sin, in the one, will equally nullify the whole. The
infidel abolitionists are the sound reasoners in this case.
We, therefore, hold the movement, as a whole, responsible
for the horrible results which our brethren, here, deplora
equally with us.
558 STRICTUEES
Thus, by six plain passages of Scripture, have I proved
the fourth and fifth propositions, that the 'New Testament
recognizes the existence of slavery ; and that it prescribes
the duties of servants to their masters, and masters to
their servants; and yet, in no instance, does it forbid
slaves to obey, or masters to retain their slaves: no
text commands masters to liberate their slaves.
Let us now hear the conclusion of the whole Scriptural
argument. I have demonstrated five distinct propositions
in regard to the Old Testament, which see.
As to the New Testament, T have laid down two
distinct general propositions, and supported them by
five distinct subordinate ones : —
L There is not a sentence in the New Testarnent which
expressly forbids the having and the holding of a slave.
II. There is not a sentence in the New Testament which,
hy fair and just interpretation, according to the rules of
grammar, gives ground for the logical iffercTice that the
simple holding of a slave or slaves is inconsistent tcith
Christian profession and Christian character.
The five which go to prove the truth of these are : —
I. That the Greek word, doulos, usvully trandated
servant, properly and commonly means a person hdd to
service for life — a slave.
This was proved by a reference to all the cases of its
occurrence in the New Testament, by classes; and by
its contrast with the opposite term, eleutheros — this means
free; doulos ia the opposite, and must mean a slave.
II. With an inference. Paul advises servants to abide
quietly in their condition. This he could not do, if the
relation of master and servant were, in itself, a sin.
This was proved, and the inference was sustained.
III. With an inference. The New Testament recogni-
zes some masters as good men — true and faithful believers.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 559
Therefore, the relation of master and slave may exist
consistently with Christian character and profession.
IV. The New Testament recognizes the existence oj
slavery.
V. The ?V&«ij Testament prescribes the duties of servants
to their masters, and of masters to their servants ; enjoining
obedience to the one, and kind treatment from the other.
As to these propositions, both relative to the Old and
New Testaments, I am aware the practiced logician may
take exception on the ground of form and arrangement :
he may say, they are not always distinct — they overlap
in some places. This is admitted, and was, perhaps,
not wholly avoidable, in an argument designed not
exclusively for the practiced reasoner, but mainly for
the popular mind. Their truth, however, is the main
matter; and to this I invite the attention of any who
may choose to reply. I hope the brethren will not
flinch. If any man chooses to controvert any one of
them, let him do it ; not by declaiming against the horrors
of slavery, or the impiety of asserting that the Bible
tolerates it. Let us not have popular appeals, but
logical, scriptural argument. Let no man content him-
self with a tirade against my inferences; let him come
up fearlessly to my propositions. If he can refute them,
or any of them, then, he may shake public confidence
in the inferences. Until then, they will stand unmoved
in the solid judgment of thinking men, whatever excite-
ment may be raised by pathetic appeals to human
sympathy, and the weaknesses of men and women.*
* It is worthy of remark, that although every effort was made, in the
delivery of this speech in Synod, to invite attention to the above propo-
sitions, and every thing done which the speaker conld think of to
provoke the opposition to deny them, or any of them, and to bring plain
Scriptore command to masters, to liberate their slaves, not one of the
660 STRICTURES
The inferences which I deduce from tlie preceding
propositions are two, viz : —
I. According to the Bible, a man may stand in the
relation of a master and hold slaves, and yet be a fair, and
reputable, and consistent professor of the religion of the
Bible.
II. There is no power on earth — no authority in the
Church, to make the holding, or the not holding of a slave,
a term of communion, or condition of admission to the
privileges of the Church.
For cruelty to their slaves, in any form — for unkind
and harsh treatment — for violent and abusive language,
even masters may be censured, and if such offences
against the Word of God be persevered in, may be
suspended and ultimately excommunicated. But if a
master treats his servants as the Bible commands him
to do, there is no power in Church officers, to censure
or excommunicate him, simply because he is a master —
because he holds slaves. Hence, the Corollary : Who-
ever assume and exercise such power, do therein usurp
the prerogative of the King and Head of the Church, and
expose themselves to the penalties of such as lord it over
God's heritage. Such violate a plain precept of God's
word: — "Be not many masters;" "neither as being
lords over God's heritage." They thrust themselves into
the throne, and exercise a power which Christ has not
granted to the officers of the Church ; but which he has
propositions was denied by any speaker, and no man ever asserted that
the Bible commands masters to free their slaves. A speech of about six
and a half hours was delivered, chiefly in direct reply to this, yet no
attempt was made to disprove one of the points taken, nor w as one of
them directly denied; nor was it pretended, by any of the speakers, that
the Bible commands masters to manumit their slaves, nor was their
inability to do any of those things manfully acknowledged by any of the
brethren.
ON ABOLITIONISM. 561
I forbidden to be exercised. Tliey become, themselves, the
usurping despots, and make the freemen of God their slaves.
You see, Mr. Moderator, I proceed upon the principle,
that the King of Zion, only, can settle the terms or
conditions of admission to membership in his visible
kingdom. If any man deny this, I cannot, here, enter
into controversy veith him. But, assuming this as
: indubitably true, the corollary follow^s, by an inevitable
logical necessity.
What, then, have we gained by this whole argument ]
Simply this — that slavery — the relation of master and
I slate — not, you will observe, any violence ; not any
j cruel treatment; but simply the relation, is tolerated in
I the Holy Scriptures. I have not said the Bible sanctions
I it — the Bible commands it, except in the case of forfeiture
i of liberty by crime. But the Bible, permits it: no where
I does it command masters to manumit their slaves.
I This, Mr. Moderator, some of our brethren have found
themselves too honest-hearted to deny. Some have fully
admitted it. One excellent brother, seeing no room for
denial, proceeded to argue thus against me, admitting the
position I have elaborated, as true. What if the Bible
of old did tolerate slavery % Does it hence follow that it
must be tolerated now? The Bible tolerated polygamy.
Here is a parallel case, and you will be obliged, by this
argument, to tolerate this evil. The Hebrews held slaves,
and were, notwithstanding, members of God's Church;
hence, it is inferred. Christians may hold slaves, and yet
be, and continue, members of God's Church. But, said
our good brother, the temper of whose steel I understand,
and can, therefore, make free to try its edge, if this
argument is good for the toleration of slavery, it is also
good for the toleration of polygamy. For, the Hebrews
often had a plurality of wives and concubines, and were*
562 STRICTURES i
-notwithstanding, accounted reputable members of the I
Church: consequently, Christians may indulge in poly- i
gamy, and yet occupy a reputable standing in the Church. |
Such was the brother's argument, as I think every one '
in the house must have understood it ; and, I admit, it is
very plausible, and would be conclusive, if he would
prove one thing, viz: that polygamy is tolerated in the
New Testament. Then, the cases would be exactly
analogous. But exact similarity is indispensable to truth
and safety, in an analogical argument : and, therefore,
until it shall be shown, that polygamy existed, and was
not forbidden, in the New Testament, as I have shown
that slavery existed, and was not forbidden, the argument
is not a tripod — it is only a biped ; aad a stool cannot
stand on two legs. But this postulatum necessarium —
this indispensable point, cannot be sustained; for it is the
reverse of truth. The New Testament prohibits polygamy.
Mark x. 6 — 8: "But from the beginning of the creation,
God made them male and female. For this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
and they twain shall be one flesh : so, then, they are no
more tvi^ain, but one flesh." Here is a prohibition, not
only of causeless divorce, but of polygamy. A man can
have but one wife, says the Redeemer; and this is the
original law of man's creation. Moses tolerated your
departures from this law, "for the hardness of your
hearts;" but now, the original law is placed before you.
Accordingly, wherever the duties of husbands are spoken
of, there can be found no recognition of two or more
wives to one husband, " for the husband is the head of the
wife. Let every one so love his wife, even as himself, and
the wife see that she reverence her husband." Eph. v. 23.
Always, one only, is implied. But again, 1 Tim. iii. 2,
aescribing the qualifications of a bishop, Paul says, he
ON ABOLITIONISM. 568
must be "the husband of one wife;" and so, verse 12:
"Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife." So, Tit
i. 6 : * * * " The husband of one wife." Now these
show, that polygamy had been tolerated, but now is no
longer to be tolerated. It is censured as a disqualification
for any office in the Church. No matter what qualifications,
otherwise, a man may have for office, if he have more
than one wife, he is excluded from office. Now, let our
anti-slavery brethren produce us a declaration of Our
Redeemer, to this amount, that slavery, which Moses
tolerated, is not any longer to be tolerated, that no slave
holder shall be a deacon, a presbyter, or a bishop. Let
them do this, and their analogical argument is good, and
we will abandon the defence. Thus, we shut them in.
But some brethren in the oppositicm seem, to me, Mr.
Moderator, to have gone somewhat farther towards giving
up the ship. Did not your ear catch an argument to this
amount 1 " It is not slavery, in the abstract, we oppose ;
we disregard abstractions. We oppose slavery as it exists
in these United States. This, we say, is a sin, and against
this, we lift up our voice, and would have this Synod to
condemn it. Let abstract relations go to the wall; but
let us attack the actual, living reality." Surely, sir, you
heard this. Well, what is its concession ? Does it not
concede their inability to occupy a foothold on the ground
of the civil, social relation of master and slave ? Does it
not concede that they are able only to assault the abuses,
"the cruelty, and tyranny, and oppression, so often con-
nected with itl" I think one prominent debater admitted,
in so many words, that he would not, or could not, contend
against the abstract relation; but, against the practical
system, he felt able and determined to contend. Well,
if they abandon the principle in dispute, let us, for a
moment, look at the practical argument.
36
664 STRICTURES
Allow me to state it in full logical form, namely : All [
things, which involve many great and crying moral evils, (
ought immediately to be abandoned and abolished.
But slavery, as it exists, and is practiced in the United
States, involves many great and crying moral evils.
' Therefore, slavery, as it exists, and is practiced in the
United States, ought immediately to be abandoned and
abolished.
Is not this the pith and substance of all their arguments 1
And who will point out one logical defect about it?
Notwithstanding its plausibility, let us apply the argument
to other social relations, and see how it will work.
Marriage, or the relatioiA of husband and wife, as it
exists, and is practiced in the United States, involves
many great and crying moral evils ; therefore, it ought to
be immediately abandoned and abolished. Is not this
identically the same argument ? Does it not rest on the
same major, namely, all things which involve great and
crying moral evils, ought to be immediately abandoned
and abolished. Do you not admit the expressed minor ?
Can any man deny, that husbands and wives, in the
United States, do often quarrel and wrangle in the very
matters of duty belonging to the relation 1 Is there no
hellish jealousy, no open abuse of power, no violent
treatment, no abandonment, no horrid murder committed ]
Clearly, the minor is true, and the conclusion inevitable.
Again : the parental relation, as it exists and is practiced
in the United States, involves many great and crying moral
evils; therefore, it ought to be immediately abandoned and
abolished. Most assuredly, harsh, unkind treatment, violent
beating, resulting in death sometimes — lessons of impurity,
even to compulsory prostitution ; and all the natural results
— lying, swearing, stealing, quarrelling, drunkenness — all
these are involved in, and brought about by the parental
ON ABOLITIONISM. 565
relation : the conclusion is logical^ it ought to be immedi-
ately abolished.
Yet again, civil government, as it exists and is practiced
in the United States, involves many great and crying moral
evils; therefore, it ought to be immediately abandoned and
abolished. Does any man deny the minor? Will any
man say, there are no moral abominations practiced in our
government and our politics 1 Are fraud and villainy no
moral evils ? Are perjury and falsehood no moral evils ?
Are slander and defamation no moral evils ? Are stab-
bing, and dirking, and shooting men — vi'ith all the
blasphemous language which usually accompanies such
things — are these no moral evils ? You see, sir, the
conclusion closes in upon us : our civil government ought
to be immediately abandoned and abolished.
Examine every one of these, and see w^hether there be
any difference in their construction. Persuaded I am, no
man, who understands what an argument is, will deny
their exact similarity — their logical identity. But will
our brethren take the conclusions ? If not, will they be so
good as to point out the fallacy, in their own argument ?
oi so candid, as to admit its existence 1
The fallacy here, is in one term, and springs from the
accident. " All things which involve moral evils." Slavery
involves moral evils. Things may be involved necessarily
or accidentally. Blue paper involves arsenic; not necessa-
rily, but only contingently. Arsenic involves a poisonous
quality ; not contingently, but necessarily. Anger involves
moral evil; not necessarily, but only contingently. "Be ye
angry and sin not." Murder involves moral evil; not
contingently, but necessarily. Thus, you see, that before
you can draw the conclusion, that our civil government
ought to be immediately abolished, you must prove that it
necessarily involves villainy, perjury, falsehood, &c. But
666 STRICTURES
that i.hese evils are separable, at least in a high degree, ;
from it, must be admitted; and, therefore, the conclusion is j
not correct. . j
Before you can infer, that the parental relation ought i
to be immediately abolished, you must prove, that it ;•
necessarily involves the evils of cruelty, &c. f
Before you can infer, that marriage ought to be i
immediately abolished, you must prove that it necessarily \
involves jealousy, angry contention, and murder. |
Before you can infer, that slavery ought to be |
immediately abolished, you must prove that it necessarily j
involves many great and crying evils. If these are \
contingent and avoidable, the inference is illogical; it
springs from the fallacy of the accident. [
But there is another question to be met, before yoU can '
infer that our government ought to be abolished. Be it
even conceded, that all the evils enumerated are not
avoidable, that some cannot, in the present state of
human nature, be entirely remedied ; will it, even then,
follow, that civil government ought to be abolished]
Certainly not. The previous question is, would the
abolition of our government, because some evils involved
in it are unavoidable, be a removal of these evils and
involve fewer ? Unless this Can be answered affirma-
tively, clearly, the inference against it is illogical. So,
were it proved, that all the evils involved in American
Slavery, are not avoidable, but some are necessarily
involved; still it will not follow, that it ought at once
to be abolished, unless it can be shown that this abolition
would remove the remaining evils, and not introduce
greater.
We have been told, the golden rule, " Love thy neighbor
as thyself — all things whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them," makes
ON ABOLITIONISM. 667
directly against the very existence of slavery, and leads
to immediate abolition. But the direct reverse of the
latter is true. The Golden rule will not suffer immediate
abolition, except in the special cases, where the slaves are,
at the time, in a capacity and circumstances in which
freedom would be a real benefit to them. To turn out
slaves into the kind of freedom which they enjoy — rather
which they endure and suffer in our Free States, of Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New York — with the habits, the education,
the ignorance of men and business which they mostly
labor under, would be to act a cruel part, directly in
opposition to the Saviour's golden rule. No man but
a fool would wish to be thus set free. No, Mr. Mode-
rator, the man in whose hands Divine Providence has
thrown any of his fellow men in this form, is bound by
every tie that can bind the soul^f man, not to set them
free, untU he can do it to their advantage. He may feel
them a heavy burden — a charge weighty and difficult to
manage ; but he is bound, by God's authority, to sustain
the charge, to endure the labor of caring for them,
making them work, feeding, clothing, and instructing
them, and thus fitting them for the use of freedom, and
so leading on to that result, whenever it can be done
consistently with the highest interests of the community.
The opposite doctrine is radicalism, and leads to the
subversion of all order and law. We have a sample
of it often in the treatment of children. Some parents
take no control over their children. They are too
indolent, and have too little conscience to feel the
obligation to rule their household. Their children enjoy
a vast amount of liberty — that is, of reckless criminality —
freedom from all restraints ; and, of course, they become
the pests of society, and, ultimately the inmates of
penitentiaries and candidates for the gibbet. But God's
568 STRICTURES
law requires and commands parents to rule their children.
They have no right to set tiiem free, until they are
first educated and fitted to provide for them-selves. So
masters are bound to keep their servants in bondage,
until they are fitted to be free. Immediate abolition
would be, in almost all cases, a gro»s violation of the
universal law of love.
But let us return to the conclusion farnished by the
Scriptural argument. Slavery is tolerated in the Bible —
it is not made a term of C(jmmuniou by the King of Zion,
consequently,, the officers of his Church have no power
to make it a term of communion. Here is the doctrine
for which we contend ; and, by this we hope to save this
fair land from being deluged in the blood of its inhabi-
tants, and this free nation from the chains of servitude to
European despots. ^^
Should the opposite doctrine prevail — should the
holding of slaves be made a crime, by the officers of
the Churches, the non-slaveholding States, should they
break communion with their Southern brethi'en, and
denounce them as guilty of damning sin, as kid-
nappers and menstealers, as worthy of the penitentiary,
as has been done here in this Synod — should this doctrine
and this practice prevail throughout the Northei'n States,
can any man be so blind as not to see, that a dissolution
of the Union — a civil, and, perhap"*, servile war, must
be the consequence 1 Such a war as the world has
never witnessed — a war of uncompromising extermi-
nation, that will lay waste this vast territory, and leave
the despotic powers of Europe exulting over the futt
of the Republic] All the elements are here — the
physical, the intellectual, the moral — elements for a
strife, different, in the horribleness of its character, from
anything the world h;« ever witnessed. Let the spirits
ON ABOLITEONISM. 569
of these men be only once aroused ; let their feelings be
only once chafed up to the fighting point ; let the irritation
only be kept up until the North and the South come to
blows on the question of slavery, their " contentions will
be as the bars of a castle," broken only with the last
pulsations of a nation's heart.
'<*/
CERTIFICATES
[FROM THE RICHMOND EXAMINER.]
Thb Negro Race. — In the able and learned lectares of Mr. Qliddon,
our attention was particularly excited by his accounts of the antiquities
in the Egyptian province of Monroe, because those antiquities constitute
the most striking illustration of negro civilization which history or
archaaology can produce. Monroe was a country on the Nile, above
Egypt When the last named and most famous seat of ancient
civilization was overrun by Cambyses and other cruel conquerors, a
portion of the inhabitants retreated up the river and established
themselves in Monroe. Hither they transported their old forms of
government, of worship, their old arts, and their antique customs. They
built temples and excavated tombs ; they erected obelisks, they covered
them with inscriptions in their hieroglyphic alphabet, and the inscriptions
and sculptures — which date with the first generations of this colony — are
fomid to be as perfect as those of the Lower Nile. But the colony was
cut off from the body of the nation by intervening deserts and fierce
nomads. The number of emigrants was never increased from the old
races. Necessai-ily, the men were in a great disproportion to the
women, and they Were forced to take their wives and concubines from
the captives which they made in their wars with the surrounding and
barbarous tribes. Now the Egyptians were of a different race, but these
tribes were negrobs. Hence, the second generation of the Monroeites
were mulattoes. The process of amalgamation continued. They formed
harems from their sable purchases: so that the third generation were
Samboes. The next were still nearer the negro type, and the work
proceeded until all traces of Caucasian blood disappeared, and Monroe
was inhabited by a pure black race, like that of the vast regions on its
boundaries.
The most interesting circomatai^ connected with these facts, is, the
continued deterioration in the sculptural remains of the coantry, and
th£ir final cessation with the disappearance of the white blood. The
inscriptions and portraits of the original emigrants, as before said, are
equal to those of the old Empire. But, in those of their mulatto children,
their is a great diflRerence. The sculpture is clumsy— the inscriptionB in
bad grammar and in worse orthography. The next are inferior even to
those ; and, in the succeeding generation, it becomes evident that they
wholly lost the language, and, no longer understood what they wrote
The inscriptions are nothing more than miserable copies from the earlier
works : so that on a tomb that is evidently of a late date, will be found
a badly executed copy of the inscription on the tomb of its owner's great
grandfather — even the date and name being unaltered. After that they
lost even the power of intelligible imitations, and a few scrawls on
uncarved rocks are the latest remains that are found. The Monroeites
then cease to be Egyptians even in name and tradition. They have
forgotten language, government, religion, and arts. They have no
buildings, and no enduring tombs. The province is no longer distin-
guishable from the country around. The race has relapsed into absolute
negro barbarism.
This illustration of their incapacity, not merely to attain civilization,
but even to retain it when given them, is a type of the universal history
of the negro race. The world has their history in its hands for the space
of nearly five thousand years. Negroes appear on the scuplture of old
Egypt. But in that multitudinous country they were utterly valueless.
The Egyptians considered them too stupid to be worth teaching even
agricultural drudgery ; and we only see their figures when led as captives
a the triumph of some belligerent Pharaoh. From that time until this, the
negro has never appeared, save in three forms of existence : captivity
barbarism, or slavery. The last is the highest form of social life of
which experience, at least, permits us to suppose him capable.
Circumstance, could never have kept down any race for five thousand
years, which were capable of rising into civilization. All the white races
have been, in time, barbarians ; but all its branches have, in time, left it,
and attained their natural grades of civilization. But the negro has never
left the lowest type of barbarism, save for captivity or slavery. In the
vast continent of Afirica they have always existed in millions, with no
extraordinary circumstances to depress them. Bat, then, we never
hear of them, save as cannibal savages. No such thing as a negro
government has ever existed in Afiica. Petty kingdoms have existed,
and do exist : some with so called cities like Timbuctoo. But the haif-
elad rulers, in all these kingdoms, are Moors or Fellaks, a branch of the
Arab family, and the people of Timbuctoo are Arabs and Fellaks. The
3
Republic of Liberia can scarcely be called an exception, since t is
watched and guided by the Colonization Society, supported on all sides
by England and by other governments, is re-enforced every year from the
United States, and is governed by Mulattoes. Even, with all this
assistance, it exhibits evidences of decay, and of relapsing into the
characteristic barbarism of the neighboring native tribes.* Dr. Mechlin,
who lived in Liberia five years, and, for part of that time, was
governor of that colony, has declared the experiment to be a failure ; and
died in Mobile, with the declaration, that he saw no hope of ever
rendering the negro race fit for self-government. On this continent, they
have received the most signal trial. They were protected by civilized
States. They possessed the richest islands on the globe, with the
richest commerce at their doors. The result is very notorious. Famine
ravages, often, that fertile land. Petty but desolating wars occupy
its sections. The only government which subsists, is that of a
bloody and stupid beast, who is emperor over one corner of the island.
OfiT from the seaports, the people have lost arts, religion, industry,
decency — have relapsed into absolute cannibalism. Dr. Nott states, on
the authority of an eye witness, that, on two occasions, while travelling in
Hayti, he saw the negroes roasting and eating their Dominican prisoners
by the road-side.
In the free States of this country, the negro race can reach every
advantage which the white man possesses. Many of them are educated.
But where have they evinced capacity to make use of our civilization?
Where have their best classes achieved a higher destiny than that of
tavern waiters 1 Where have their masses risen above the very lowest
level of the worst population ? Where has any individual even, attained
not to say distinction, but respectability in any profession? In England,
many negroes who were supposed to exhibit talent when children, have
been subjected to the hot bed process of culture, and two or three of
these have been brought up to the mark of writing verses. These have
been collated into a volume, and Bishop Gregoire, of Blois, has written
a stupid book to prove, therefrom, the intellectual equality of the race.
But any one who will take the trouble to read these verses will find
them, for the most part, a doggerel too poor to be called verses at all ;
and, whenever a copy occurs, of sufficient merit for the poet's corner
• Although this may be true to a limited extent, as is clearly established by
evidence of an unquestionable character, yet our desires for the success of this
colony, leads us to hope for better results. The Colony of Liberia, affording, aa it
does, an assylum for the refuse free black population of the United States, is
deserving of the support and prayers of every Christian philanthropist in
ChriBtendom. — EDrroB.
of the smallest kind of country newspaper, its author is sure to tarn out a
mulatto or quadroon, when the accompanying biographies are referred to.
By the history of the negro race, it is, therefore, incontrovertibly
proven, that they are utterly incapable of civilization or development
beyond the point of slavery. When the starved barbarian is taken from
the wilds of A.frica, clothed well, fed well, and associated with the whites'
he quickly aftquires a certain degree of health, strength, and intelligence.
He will quickly ape the white. But there his development ceases.
Beyond that, in no instance, has he ever gone. Without amalgamation
with the white race, he remains where he begun, and sinks so soon a0
the superior influence is withdrawn.
These phenomena are peculiar to the black race. None of the diversi-
fied families of the white race exhibit them. To which one of the white
races cotild the advantages be given which lie before the negroes of the
United States, without an immediate operation and proof of its talent and
its intellectual superiority, in hundreds and thousands of instances? A^
the white races have been civilized and developed in time, and where
circumstances have thrown them back into barbarism, they all exhibit
capacity for civULzation. But the exact contrary is the characteristic of
the negro race.
What deduction is to be drawn from these facts? The plain and
inevitable deduction is this : that the negro is a totally distinct race from
the Caucasian; that the negro is the connecting link between man and
the brute creation; that the negro race is designed by nature to be
subordinate to and dependent upon the white or superior races : th«
the negro race is the result of a different act of the Creator from that
which originated the Caucasian, and is, consequently, beyond the scope
of those abstract axioms which declare that all races are of one blood
and have equal rights natural, social, and political.
[FROM A CORRESPONDENT OF THE NASHVILLE AND
LOUISVILLE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.]
"Bible Defence op Slavery, or Origin and History of the
Negro Race." — This is one among the multitudinous publications of the
day that is richly worthy a careful perusal by every lover of truth and
justice, reason and religion, virtue and humanity. It is what its title
imports, a veritable, impregnable defense and vindication of the South,
her rights and peculiar policy and institations. It is no " catch penny,"
harbingered by an ignis futuus of a murky imagination and a baser
cupidity, for purposes of speculation, but a work of masterly ability and
most profound research. This peculiarity, of itself, apart from its
relevant connection vrith a mooted and vexed question, would render it
K valuable work to the scholar and divine. Bat, when we take into
consideration its direct bearing upon the absorbing topic of the day, and
that it is the production of the ablest divines and profoondest scholars of
which the great North, in all her pride and glory, can boast, its intrinsic
worth, then, becomes magnified a thousand fold. Its aathors, in their
patient researches after truth, have explored the mighty ocean of
biblical, scientific, and historical lore, in all their heights* and depths,
lengths and breadths, and planted themselves upon a rock not less firm
and immovable than the adamant of ages. Their own adverse education
and preconceived opinions vanished before the splendor of their
investigations, whilst the sordid vampires of fanaticism and political
incendiarism are made to coil their serpent heads, and seek refuge in
their native dens and caves of pauperism and degradation whence they
come, and where they, unregenerated, belong as a legitimate right.
Charleston, June 16, 1851.
Mr. W. S. Brown, — I have your acceptable favor of the 27th ult. before
me. Since I wrote last, the volume you sent me has come to hand, and
I have read it with much attention and great gratification. It is an able
and comprehensive defence of our Institutions, and I think it will be
received every where with congratulation. I have thoroughly examined
the book, and regard it as one of the best productions which has ever
appeared in defence of the South.
Your book is a favorite in our family, and is, at present, going the
rounds, for perusal, by every member.
Very truly and fraternally yours,
EDWIN HEEIOT.
Ed. of the Southern Home Journal.
[FROM "THE MONROE DEMOCRAT."]
Bible Detence of Slavery. — This is the title of a work just issued
from the press, by W. S. Brown, M.D., Glasgow, Ky. The author
maintains that the negroes are the decendants of Ham, and, in fulfillment
of the decree of Heaven, have been, in every age, servants of servants ;
that they are, mentally, morally, and physically constituted to be such,
and will be servants in all time to come. These positions are maintained
by an appeal to history, to Revelation, and to the character of the
negroes. Time will not permit us to enter into any thing like a review of
this work, but we recommend it to the attention of every man who may
feel aa interest (as all necessarily must) in ttie all-enf^Toasing snbjects
of slavery and abolitionism.
Let every Soathern man read this book, and make up his mind
whether slavery is an evil which he should endeavor to extirpate or not.
If he decides that it is, then, let him aquiesce in Northern poUcy, and
more, let him openly advocate it, as honest men at the North do, on the
ground that it will end in the abolition of slavery. If, on the contrary, le
come to the conclusion that slavery is not an evil, but has the sanction of
high Heaven, (as this work most clearly shows) and, that it has been a
blessing and not a curse, then, let him fearlessly defend his rights, and
wage open and manly war upon the policy adopted, expressly and
avowedly, for the purpose of overthrowing Southern Institutions.
This book does not touch upon -pariy questions as tbey exist at the
south. It is simply what it purports to be, a defence of slavery, and a
very able one too. We hope it will be universally read at the South,
and serve, at least, to create hai-mony of views among southern people.
We have little idea that it will Be read at the Nortli. A fanaticism that
discards the Bible, because it recognizes slavery, is blind and deaf to all
that can be said on the subject. Buy Ike book and read it. Patronize
those who defend your Institutions.
[THE FOLLOWING IS FROM SENATOR JAS. E. HARRISON,
OF MISSISSIPPI.]
The undersigned takes pleasure in recommending " Bible Defence of
Slavery," as being the best production on the subject with which he ig
acquainted. The whole subject is treated in a most masterly manner;
exhibiting great research and learning, as well as superior biblical
knowledge. The entire work is replete with interest. Every honest
inquirer after truth should read it.
JAS. E. HARRISON.
Aberdeen, Miss. Nov. 28<A. 1851.
Another scientific gentleman of distinction, in noticing the book, saya
of it : " It is a rare work, and every man, in the South especially, ought
to peruse its pages. Many authors have written upon this subject, in
times past, but we are convinced that it never has been handled bo
effectually and learnedly, as in this work. The Authors are clear, lucid,
and forcible. Their arguments are unique, grand, and weighty. In a
word, they prove themselves superior Scholars, and men of great ability.
Ri every step they take in the defence of this great subject."
I A CHANCE TO DO GOOD
The Vexed Q.uestion Settled— Bible Defence of SLivERt.-
! The work bearing the above title we have carefully examined, and can,
unhesitatingly, say, that it is the ablest work of the kind we e\er saw
j and, so far as we have seen or heard, it is without an equal in the
j English language. Being clearly and fairly based upon the Scriptures,
I and confirmed by undoubted facts connected with our race, since the
i flood, it is, therefore, a work of Inunense value to all persons who wish
!• to know the truth upon the subject of slavery. And particularly so with
I the people of the South and West, whose liberty, interests, and rights'
i are now being insulted by European and Northern interference.
j W. D. JOURDAN,
I THO. H. M. WINN.
j . W. K. WINN,
j A. K. BAGBY,
I , , B. F. DANIS.
H. D. JETT. M.D.
Glasgow, Ky., March 8, 1851.
The above work contains nearly six hundred pages octavo, neatly
printed and substantially bound, and it is the determination of the
'ublisher to place a copy in the hands of every genuine fi-iend of truth
and reason, of the South and her rights. There can be no question of the
fact, that the well-being of our race, the peace and prosperity of our
common country ; the protection of our dearest interests of life and
property, and the security of our firesides and family altars, are more
intimately connected with the general circulation of this work among the
masses, than with that of any other in existence. Its tendency is, not to
engender strife or foster error and fanaticism, but to inculcate truth, and
give security and permanency to those institutions and relations of life
which have been wisely ordained by God, sanctioned by all human
experience, and guarantied by the constitution of oar conmion country —
the Magna Charta of freedom and human rights. Let, then, every
friend of his country and of his God, of the South and her rights, of truth
and reason 3f protection to life and property, contribute his mite to its
support.
W. S. BROWN, Publisher.
Jan 4, 1852 Glasgow, Ky.
[FROM THE "SOUTHERN KENTUCKY ARGUS."]
Bible Defence of Slavery. — This is the title of the work of whiob
we made bare mention in our last, and promised a more extended notice
this week. It is not possible that positions justified by biblical argn-
ment, or reasoning deduced from profane history, can be rendered as
clear and conclusive as demonstrations in mathematics ; but the authors
let in upon their subject, floods of light, which must have very decided
and salutary influence upon public sentiment in reference to the
"peculiar institution'' of the South. On examination of this book —
such an one as the multiplicity and arduousness of business engagements
would allow — we have found it to be, indeed, what its title imports, a
Defence of Slavery. It is not, exclusively, drawn from the Holy
Scriptures, however. The writers, in the light of many pertinent
circumstances, apart from it. as well as in that of the bible, carefully
examine the subject of slavery, as it relates to the negro race, and
gives a more satisfactory account of the origin of black men — of their
color — of the causes of their state of servitude, and traces of their
character, as well in ancient as in modem times, dealing en passant,
many pungent and severe strictures upon that pseudo system of
philanthropy, or fanaticism, yclept modem abolitionism, which threatens
dissolution to the cherished Union of the American States. Finally,
the authors propose a plan of national colonization, that is deemed
adequate to the removal of the entire free black population of the United
States, and all that may hereafter become free, in a manner harmonizing
with the well-being of both races. Such is a succinct statement of the
main features of the book.
That the authors are men of the North, had been reared and educated
there, in the very heart of a community of abolitionists, and, under the
strong influence of its deep-rooted and bitter prejudices against slavery,
are considerations that must go a great way in recommending any views
they may set up in tolerating or justifying the institution. Their
opinions can but be regarded weighty— infinitely more entitled to
respectful consideration than would be opinions formed in harmony with
the prevailing prejudices under which the authors were educated. The
conflict of sentiment with the precepts of early training, is the strongest
kind of evidence of its soundness, and of the sincerity of the writers pro-
mulgating it. These circumstances attending the publication of "Bible
Defence of Slavery,' ' must, therefore, have the double effect to insure for
it a wide and increasing demand, and, per consequence, as the disqui-
sition ia very able and convincing, produce a very decided and marked
effect upon the popular mind in relation to its subject matter. And we
commend it into the hands of all reading and reflecting men everywhere.
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