diff options
Diffstat (limited to '4055.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 4055.txt | 1655 |
1 files changed, 1655 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/4055.txt b/4055.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2253ae7 --- /dev/null +++ b/4055.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1655 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Future of the Colored Race in +America by William Aikman + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. Do +not change or edit it without written permission. The words are +carefully chosen to provide users with the information they need +about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + +Title: The Future of the Colored Race in America + +Author: William Aikman + +Release Date: May, 2003 [Etext #4055] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 10/24/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Future of the Colored Race in +America by William Aikman +******This file should be named 4055.txt or 4055.zip****** + +Produced by William Fishburne (william.fishburne@verizon.net) + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless +a copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep +any of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: https://gutenberg.org +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement can +surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is also +a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the indexes +our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an announcement +goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + + +or ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, as +it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of July 12, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from +people in: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, +Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, +Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New +Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, +Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, +Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and +Wyoming. + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this +list will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional +states. Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed +and you would like to know if we have added it since the list you +have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we +are not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer +to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING +about how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there +are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation PMB 113 1739 University +Ave. Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, you can always email directly +to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, +if it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org login: anonymous password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 +through etext02, etc. dir [to see files] get or mget [to get +files. . .set bin for zip files] GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's +listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a +listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** Why +is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. They +tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with your copy +of this etext, even if you got it for free from someone other than +us, and even if what's wrong is not our fault. So, among other +things, this "Small Print!" statement disclaims most of our liability +to you. It also tells you how you may distribute copies of this +etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT By using or reading any part +of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, you indicate that you understand, +agree to and accept this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, +you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this +etext by sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the +person you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, is a "public domain" +work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart through the Project +Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). Among other things, this +means that no one owns a United States copyright on or for this work, +so the Project (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. +Special rules, set forth below, apply if you wish to copy and +distribute this etext under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market any +commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable efforts +to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain works. Despite +these efforts, the Project's etexts and any medium they may be on may +contain "Defects". Among other things, Defects may take the form +of incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a +copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective +or damaged disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES But for the "Right of +Replacement or Refund" described below, [1] Michael Hart and the +Foundation (and any other party you may receive this etext from as +a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all liability to you for +damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE +NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH +OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, +CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE +NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of receiving +it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it +by sending an explanatory note within that time to the person you +received it from. If you received it on a physical medium, you must +return it with your note, and such person may choose to alternatively +give you a replacement copy. If you received it electronically, +such person may choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity +to receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER WARRANTIES +OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS TO THE ETEXT +OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES +OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or the +exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the above +disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you may have +other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated with +the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm texts +harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including legal +fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following +that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, +modification, or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" You may distribute copies +of this etext electronically, or by disk, book or any other medium +if you either delete this "Small Print!" and all other references +to Project Gutenberg, or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this +requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the etext or +this "small print!" statement. You may however, if you wish, +distribute this etext in machine readable binary, compressed, +mark-up, or proprietary form, including any form resulting +from conversion by word processing or hypertext software, but +only so long as *EITHER*: + +[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and does +*not* contain characters other than those intended by the +author of the work, although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and +underline (_) characters may be used to convey punctuation +intended by the author, and additional characters may be +used to indicate hypertext links; OR + +[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no +expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by +the program that displays the etext (as is the case, for +instance, with most word processors); OR + +[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no +additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext +in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC or other +equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this +"Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of +the gross profits you derive calculated using the method you +already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you don't +derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are payable to +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" the 60 days +following each date you prepare (or were legally required +to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. +Please contact us beforehand to let us know your plans and to +work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of public +domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine +readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, public +domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. Money should +be paid to the: "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or software +or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + + +Produced by William Fishburne (william.fishburne@verizon.net) + + + + + +THE FUTURE OF THE COLORED RACE IN AMERICA. + +BY WILLIAM AIKMAN, Pastor of the Hanover Street Presbyterian Church, +Wilmington, Delaware. + + + +In whatever way the present civil war in America shall result, it +is certain that the future condition of the colored race in this +country will be the question over-mastering all others for many +years to come. It has already pushed itself into the foremost place. +However it may be true, that slavery and the negro were not the +proximate causes of this war, no one who gives any candid thought +to the matter can fail to recognize the fact, that back of all, +this stands as the grand first occasion of it. Had there been no +slavery, there would have been no war. General Jackson was only +partly right when he said, that while in his day the tariff was +made the pretext of secession, and that by and by slavery would take +its place, but that neither would be the true motive of disunion; +that a desire for a separate confederacy was the final cause. This +was evidently correct, yet had slavery not stood in this country +there would not have come into being that peculiar state of society +which now lives in the Southern States, and which demands for its +very existence that it should rule alone. Slavery has created an +aristocracy, not of numbers, but of wealth and power, which bears +with all the social forces. While the slave-holder are but a very +small minority of the whole people, yet by the force of their +wealth and the fact of their being slave owners, they hold all the +political power, and indeed, sweep out of existence any opposition. +There are, with very rare exceptions throughout the whole South, +but two classes--free and slave, or we may say, slave-holders and +slaves, for the non slave-holders are completely lost and absorbed +in the all-controlling element which is above them; they work +in with it, and are indeed a part of it. As slavery called this +aristocracy into being, and created its power, so it holds it in +being; anything which strikes at slavery strikes at the root of +this power; to destroy slavery would be to blot it out of existence. + +Around this point the whole contest is waged, and from it alone +every movement is to be interpreted. In the days of South Carolina +nulification the tariff was indeed the pretext of rebellion, and +the true motive was a separate government and the perpetuation of +the power of the dominant class, but this power depended wholly +upon the status of slavery, and so, back of all slavery was even +then the thought, and to strengthen slavery the great end. In +this we find the accurate explanation of the studied and persistent +efforts to extend and perpetuate it, not because it is admired +in itself, or because it is seen to be politically or socially +beneficial, but because it is the cornerstone of a valued social +state. A friend, some years ago sailing down the Potomac, was +engaged in conversation with the captain of the boat, a blunt, bluff +Southerner, and looking over the beautiful scenery on either side +of the river, said, "Why do you Virginians hold on to slavery? it is +a thousand pities that such a country as this should be so poorly +used." "I know it," replied the captain, "slavery does ruin the +state; but the fact is, we like it; a man feels good when he owns +twenty or fifty negroes, and can say to one go, and he goes, and +to another come and he comes." Here the whole philosophy of the +social state of the South is in a nut-shell. To abandon slavery is +to abandon a position which has been held as a tenure of nobility +for two hundred years. Nothing but the direst necessity will bring +it about. It will never be given voluntarily up; the whole force +of human nature is against it relinquishment. As well might the +nobility of England be expected to throw up their titles and their +coronets on persuasion. Here is a case where argument has no power. +You may exhaust it, you may prove slavery to be wrong morally, wrong +socially, wrong politically, you may prove it to a demonstration +that it is an economic blunder of the most gigantic proportions, you +may make it clear as sunlight that it is demoralizing and ruinous, +but you have done absolutely nothing toward its abolishment. Here +and there a truly conscientious man or woman, under the great +pressure of duty, will consent to the liberation of their slaves; +but the public conscience is so ethereal a thing that it can be +touched by no appeals of duty or obligation, and will never force +a community up to any great work, least of all to such a work as +this. + +The effect of emancipating one's slaves upon the social position +of the master, has been seen over and over again; the hour when +the bonds are broken and freedom is given is the hour when all the +former associations are given up; expatriation and banishment are +the inevitable results. The generous, or the conscientious emancipator +at once becomes an exile; he has sunk at once out of an aristocracy +whose titular power he gave up the moment he ceased to be a slave-holder, +and he cannot comfortably abide in even his old home. Here is the +explanation of the vast and unexpected power put forth by this +rebellion, of the unconquered will, of the enormous sacrifices +endured; here is the explanation of the seeming insanity of the +struggle, of the unwarrantableness of its acts, of the demoniac +fierceness of its rage, and the diabolical malignity and cruelty +of its method of war; it is the death struggle of a great social +element, for which to be conquered is to be ruined and swept out +of existence. + +No man understood this so well or so soon as the great Nullifier. +He was a thinker and a philosopher, and so with great logical +consistency he became the early author of the doctrine of slavery as +now almost universally held at the South. He startled and shocked +the men of his time by his bold positions in respect to that +institution, and was far in advance of his time in his assertions +of its inherent rightfulness, and the determination not only +to terminate, but to extend, strengthen and perpetuate it. He was +a nullifier because a slave-holder in principle. The one grew out +of, and was a part of the other. The maintenance of an oligarchy +was the ultimate end, that rested on slavery, and so "state rights" +so called, and the divine right of slavery went hand in hand. + +This is strikingly evident in the history of the present war. The +rapid rise, and the culmination of rebellion in act, was preceded +by the new annunciation of these doctrines of Calhoun on slavery. +We remember well how strange it sounded, and how startling in +the General Assembly of only 1856, when slavery was declared an +institution not needing to be defended or apologized for, but to +be praised and justified as truly an ordinance of God as marriage, +or the filial relation. The church had known no such doctrine +before, and then spued it out of her mouth, but it was gravely held +and fiercely and impudently avowed. It was followed by secession +as a logical consequence. It is very remarkable how rapid was the +change in public sentiment. This new doctrine of the rightfulness +of slavery swept over the whole Southern States in a few months, +politicans philanthropists, ministers, suddenly starting up to find +that they had been all along in error in thinking that slavery was +an evil, and hoping that some day it would be removed, that they +had been wrong in speaking of being "opposed to slavery in the +abstract," it was abstractly not wrong, but right; they had been +mistaken when regretting the circumstances which made emancipation +ought not to be desire. This change of sentiment an doctrine was +not gradual, but sudden; it went with telegraphic speed. The reason +was that events were pressing upon the aristocracy of the South and +threatening its destruction. Slavery had ceased to be a dominant +power in the Federal legislation, and the social state which rested +upon it was trembling to its foundation. There was but one thing +to be done, and that was the setting up of a new government, the +corner stone of which should be slavery. And this was not accidental +or capricious, but simply a necessity The state of society which +was sought to be maintained had its origin in slavery, and slavery +could not but be put in the foremost place. Alexander Stephens +understood both himself and the matter which he had in hand when +he told the people, and the world that they had hitherto understand +this thing. Before, they had sought to maintain their social state +and only tolerate slavery, they had not seen that all depended +on it; here was the true corner-stone which former builders had +rejected, but which they were now making the head of the corner. The +secession was a foregone conclusion long enough before it actually +occurred: it was so understood throughout the South by thinking +men, and the sudden spread of the new doctrine on slavery was the +necessary preparation for it. + +He, then who does not take slavery into the account in his thinking +on this war, has not begun to get a glimpse of what it means; he +who leaves it out in the settlement of it, will not advance a step. +Its origin was in slavery, its issue is to be found only as it is +connected with slavery. There may be, as there has been, through +the tremendous power of a vast prejudice, a thousand endeavours to +avoid the issue, but events will sooner or later compel every man, +whether he will or not, to look it in the face. We say prejudice +for in this thing, as in all history has been the case, a name has +become a well nigh boundless power. The interest of slavery has +for a long course of years, and by a persistent endeavor, created +a term of terrible significance, and has wielded it with prodigious +force,--we mean the word "Abolitionist." History has known before +a term made a watch word and changing a dynasty, but never was a +word brandished with such effect upon a nations well being as this. +Time was when South as well as North, to be an" abolitionist," a +member of the Abolition Society," was not only no strange thing, +but a position held by the the foremost men, and without a thought +that they were amendable to even the slightest censure of their +associates. Jefferson and Pickney, as well as Jay and Adams, were +abolitionists in name, as well as in fact. Delaware, and Maryland, +and Virginia had their Abolition Societies, and the best and greatest +men were members of them. But in the course of years Slavery changed +all that. The oligarchy awakened to the danger which threatened +it, and at first gradually, and them by more and more open effort, +these societies were assailed or suppressed, till they with the +death of the great men who founded them, passed out of existence, +no one perhaps knowing precisely how. Then began the storm of +abuse and anathematizing directed against all who dared to hold, +or at least utter sentiments opposed to slavery. "Abolition" and +"abolitionist" was echoed and howled till men became pale at the +bare sound, and considered it the last and most dreaded terror to +be called by the hated name. + +But a change vastly more rapid in its movement is now taking place +in an opposite direction, the significance of which we have but just +begun to measure. The mind of the whole nation has been directed +now for one year, with great steadiness to the contemplation of +slavery from an entirely new stand-point, and divested of the cloud +of prejudice which has for nearly a century, been thrown over it. +The word abolitionist has lost its secret potency. + +In this line of thought the present attitude of our government is +of immeasurable importance. We are as likely to undervalue as to +over estimate events which occur just beneath our eye. A few weeks +since President Lincoln sent quietly into the houses of Congress +a message of strangely straightforward character, clothed in very +plain and homely garb, but of meaning not to be misunderstood, +and admitting of no misconstruction. It asked that Congress should +simply resolve that the government was willing to lend its aid to +any State of the Union which should desire to bring slavery to an +end. That was all. But that simple message marked an era in the +history of the world, and will be looked upon in all future time +as one of the grand events of this century. It was unlooked for, +sudden, so that the country stood confounded for the moment, but +the next was ready to adopt it. It quickly became the policy of the +government and of the people, without, so far as we know, a single +voice of moment raised against it. The people have not yet begun +to understand all its great meaning. What is it? It is that the +government of these United States deems slavery an evil, wishes it +to cease , and will do what it can to help it to an end. It is the +first time in all our history that this was true. The government has +never so spoken before. Henceforth its policy is to help emancipation +. It is a risen sun, it has brought a day whose glorious light we +have not yet appreciated. Hereafter all its patronage, and power, +and prestige will be thrown on the side of freedom, and no man can +accurately measure the result. + +The President has, by this great act of his, lifted the moral sense +of the nation to a position to which years could not otherwise +have brought it. It was one of those strokes of God-inspired genius +which once in a century or so, changes the face of the world. Like +many other acts of this truly great man, it was wonderfully timely, +put forth at the moment, the fulness of time, it was not too soon, +it was not too late. The sense and the thought of the people needed +to be advanced up to its reception and had not wildly gone beyond +the point of wisdom, the moment with a deep intuition was recognized, +seized upon, and by a few words talismanic, the forming elements +were crystallized. So they will remain. For all the coming time +this people will look forward to the abolition of slavery. Freedom +is the American watch-word, freedom for all men. + +But a few weeks have gone, yet the change is wonderful already. +The atmosphere is clearer and purer. The writer of this is living +in a slave state, and is able to mark the changes better than those +in places more remote from the influences of slavery. While a few +months since no prominent men or class of men would venture to plant +themselves openly on the platform of emancipation, now there is a +great party forming in this state, (Delaware,) and at the coming +elections in the autumn of this year, it will go into the canvass +with Emancipation for its watch-word. The stigma which slavery has +succeeded in attaching to the word "abolition" is already passing +away, and it is no longer dangerous to one's reputation to be +considered an emancipationist. + +What is true in a slave state will be as true everywhere in the +land. The presidential word has brushed away a world of sophisms, +and settled a thousand pleas against dealing with slavery; it has +declared not only expedient, but possible, immediate emancipation. +The abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia following +so quickly upon the message of the President, and the adoption +by Congress of its recommendation, have made its words facts and +demonstrations. Slavery has been abolished with a word, and in a +moment, over a whole district of country --here is a fact to make +the ages sing over in this land. We do not even think of the fifteen +hundred or so captives set free; they are as nothing, except +as occasions for the bringing into existence the momentous and +glorious fact that this government is on the side of freedom, and +its strength will be given to it henceforth. It is difficult to +measure the import of all this, even as it is difficult to foresee +the sweep of a mighty current which has just begun to rush in a new +channel; that it is destined to sweep slavery from this country, +no one now can have a doubt. + +Hereafter the thinking on the subject of American Slavery will be +only in one line--how shall it be done away? If we would have an +understanding where a few weeks may advance us, we have only to +remember what was the point of thought in relation to this matter. +It was, how shall slavery be kept from extending itself. We were +content to let it live if it did not subjugate other lands, but +the events have crowded us far beyond that, we have gotten past a +thought of it, no living man fears now, or even dreams of it, it +has simply gone forever out of a sane man's mind. What an advance +a year has made! We have been hurried past the place of argument +against slavery. We are done with all that; the books and the +pamphlets, the documents and the statistics are growing quickly +obsolete, for they have done their work; we need not be careful of +them for our future use. We shall not need them except as relics +of a well fought field. + +Those of us who have for a life time been doing what we could to +hasten forward this day, who have spoken and written and suffered +for it, in the new atmosphere which we breathe are like men that +dream. We know that it would come, we hoped to live long enough +to see the day. We see it and are glad, we did not think to see +it soon, it has come so suddenly, it shines so broadly and with +so rich a promise that we recognize it as God's day; we see his +wonder-working power moving marvellously, making--was it ever shown +so before?--the wrath of man to praise him; we behold how God has +taken the work into his own hand; how he has made slavery destroy +itself. More than human wisdom, and beyond human guidance is here, +the thick night would not have gone so wondrously had not He rolled +it away, we hail the light. This is the day the Lord hath made, we +will rejoice and be glad in it. + +But like all of God's gifts, it demands work and gives responsibility, +responsibility and work proportionate to the boon. + +He has given us a day, but it brings with it work of which perhaps +we have gotten only a mere glimpse. It is well that we should +endeavour to understand and appreciate what that work is, for it +is no holiday that He has given us. We have asked in many a prayer +that it might come, and having come we must see what is to be done, +and manfully deal with it. + +It is easy to talk of emancipation, but he has thought loosely and +ill who sees no great difficulties in bringing it to a happy issue; +who has not questions arise in his mind to give him pause when he +contemplates a social change so vast in state of a race of twelve +millions of men. Let not the reader suppose a mistake in the +figures, we mean twelve millions, and not four; there are, indeed, +four millions of slaves to be made free, but a change is to be +wrought in the social state of the eight millions of the whites, +which is only less than that of the blacks. To alter radically, to +remodel the whole social fabric of a great and numerous people, to +shift the foundation stones, remove them, and place others in their +palaces, without racking the edifice or tumbling it in a hideous +ruin, is the work of no inexperienced or careless architect. + +The gigantic war which has been desolating one half of this +land, has been, as we have said, simply the mighty frantic effort +of a social state to establish itself; of a peculiar civilization +to consolidate its power. The result of the war will be the total +defeat of this attempt; the very endeavor, the waging of the +war has shaken its foundation, its end will remove it entirely. +This civilization, whose basis is slavery, has chosen to risk its +existence on the issue of the war: it must accept the alternative +which it has raised, and be content to pass away. + +The war will decide the question of slavery, and with it alter the +whole form of society at the South which rests upon it. But one +civilization cannot pass away and leave a vacuum; one state of +society cannot cease and have no other in its palace. It is only +changes, not new creations which take place in the social world; +one civilization gives place to another; society passes from one +state into another . We are, then, on the eve of a mighty change, +perhaps the greatest ever seen in the world before. That it can +or could take place without an awful struggle, pangs which are the +birth-thores of a nation, let no one imagine; that it will be done +in a few brief months is impossible. While we write, victories have +just been gained, the great city of the South has passed into the +hands of our army, and men begin to predict the speedy downfall of +the rebellion; but, alas, we cannot felicitate ourselves with any +such prospect. The great class which has made the war to maintain +its existence, will not consent to die thus; every element of human +nature in its fallen form is against it. It will yield to nothing +but simply irresistible force, it will die only as it is killed. +We confess, as we look over the whole ground and weigh well as we +can the origin and caused of this gigantic war, to a feeling, not +of despondency or uncertainty, for we believe that God will one day +bring it to a happy end, but of heart-sorrow and care, even as a +woman has sorrow and foreboding at the inevitable agony ere a man +is born into the world. To lift twelve millions of men to a new +better place, to open before them a good and happy future, instead +of certain prospective woe and final dissolution, is a work worth +the tears and groans of a nation, and they can well afford to be +patient till the time has come. At present let not one's heart fail +him if the horizon grows dark and hope seems at times blotted out; +let him remember well what the meaning of the strife is, that it is +no accident, but the death-struggle of a civilization two hundred +years old, and based on all the worst and strongest elements of +human nature. It can have no easy death. + +Taking it for granted, then, that a great change is about to take +place in the social state of the South, and taking it for granted +that slavery on which it is based must, under the pressure of the +forces which are bearing upon it, pass sooner or later away, a point +which we are not disposed just now to consider even debatable, a +great question comes up, What shall be the future condition of the +colored race in this land? How shall the problem be solved? What +shall be done with the slave? Hasty and inconsiderate persons +may find ready answers, but it seems to us that just now there is +no question of so great intricacy, and certainly no one of equal +moment to which an American can address himself. We propose in the +remainder of this article to discuss it. It is not a subject on +which it is well to dogmatize; we have learned that there is room +for a very wide diversity of opinion; the most that any one can +hope to do is by discussion to endeavor to elicit light. After all +the Providence of God will do the work; it is for us to be abreast +of that Providence, ready to accept the trust and do the work which +it assigns us. + +We have dwelt thus long on the causes, and what we consider to be +the true meaning of the war, because only by a right apprehension +of them can we be prepared to deal with this great question. Those +who are at the head of the government appreciate it most fully, and +the President in his message frankly intimates that the only true +hope of a lasting settlement of our national difficulties must be +found in the ultimate emancipation of the blacks. But aware of the +objections which must arise to the setting free of four millions +of slaves and their remaining in the country, he proposes that a +system of colonization shall be inaugurated by which they may be +removed. Emancipation with colonization in lands provided for the +freed slaves, is the scheme. + +Without dealing with this proposition of the President in detail, +let us look at the state of the case, and ask, Is colonization +possible; and if possible; it is necessary, or even desirable? By +colonization we mean, of course, the removal or deportation of the +blocks to another country. We do not mean emigration; that is an +entirely different thing. + +We may ask at the outset, Have we a right to send out of the +country the emancipated slaves? However it may have failed to be +his country, this is his home, and by what law of morality shall +you compel him to abandon not only his, but his father's and his +ancestor's home? It is his by a line of descent stretching, in most +cases, far back of theirs who talk so glibly of his colonization: +and after, by a great act of justice, you have raised him from +chattelhood into citizenship, and have given him a country, by what +rule of right do you propose at the same time to banish him from +it? A right-minded man will hesitate before he leaves the feelings +of four millions of hearts out of his calculations. It is, we think, +an element somewhat to be considered, and yet one utterly ignored +by the most of those who talk on this subject. If it be answered, +the colonization is to be voluntary, they only going who choose to +go, we have only to say that that is not the true meaning of the +terms, nor what is by common consent understood by it. If merely +emigration is intended, and it is made no part of the scheme of +emancipation, the case is altered radically. But of this more by +and by. + +Of the possibility of the deportation of the freedmen, a thoughtful +man will have many doubts. The shipment of the natural increase for +one year of our present slave population, sixty thousand, (60,000,) +would tax the energies and resources of the nation to an extent +which they who talk of it have not very fully measured. And then +the original 4,000,000 remain. To those who have been accustomed +to advocate the removal of the colored race from this country, we +recommend a matter-of-fact calculation in ships and money and time. +It will be both interesting and profitable; possibly it will impart +some new ideas on the matter. For ourselves, we may say that we +deem the proposition for the deportation of a race of four millions, +with a yearly increase of sixty thousand, a wild dream, one of the +emptiest that a sane man cares to entertain. The history of the +race has never known such a thing; it has seen the emigration of +millions, but the sending of them never. + +But passing this, is the colonization of the colored race in +this country desirable or necessary? For the entering upon a work +so gigantic, even were it possible, there ought to be reasons the +most imperative, absolute, and pressing. Mere opinions, theories, +or prejudices, will not be sufficient; the demand for it must be +made to appear with sunlight clearness. + +What are these reasons? To us it does not seem easy to exhibit +them. It is easy to declaim about the inferiority of the race, the +impossibility of their ever living on an equality with the white +race, their lack of ability to support themselves, and the like, +but in the end it is very difficult to perceive the logicals +consecutiveness of the argument. The inferiority of a race can +hardly be shown to be a valid reason for its banishment from the +presence of the superior, and by its power; the inability of a people +to care for or to elevate themselves, does not seem a precisely good +argument for sending them to a new land, and to a naked dependence +on their own resources; the invincible prejudice of the white does +not at once give a very potent, at least a very just reason why +the black should be expatriated. + +We will not assert it, but there is good cause to suspect that +while in the minds of perhaps the majority of those who for a few +years past have been active supporters of the colonization scheme, +the good of the black and of Africa have been prominent motives, +yet it had its birth and its chief support in the way in which it +bore upon the interests of slavery. The presence of free blacks +among slaves is an element of weakness in the system, and though +it may not have been openly avowed, yet there is too much reason to +suspect that colonization was intended vastly more for them than +for freed slaves. It was a scheme to strengthen slavery, and it +ceased to elicit sympathy or generous support so soon as it appeared +to give no promise of that result. + +Asking the reasons for colonization, we apprehend that when the +argument is pressed, it will be found to terminate, if on any thing +substantial, upon the benefit which it will confer on the black +race. Without volunteering the details of that argument, which, +indeed, we do not profess to see clearly, we may say that there +is at least a preliminary question, whether or not that end cannot +be better attained without colonization than with it? Is it not +possible better to elevate and to do good to the colored race in +this than in any other land to which they may be sent? + +But we are writing coolly, as if this were an open question whether +the four millions of blacks are to remain for many years to come +in this country or not. It is no open question. They are here, and +here they must remain for a period which no man is competent to +limit, even in his argument. They cannot, or to speak mildly, they +will not be transported across the sea or to any foreign land. +They may eventually, as we shall endeavor to suggest, go, but they +cannot be sent away. In this assertion, we leave the inclinations +and the will of the black man out of the question. There are reasons +which must operate on the side of the white to make it impossible. +The colored race is necessary, and will be so for a period indefinitely +long, to the southern country. It constitutes its labor; it is the +productive force of that land; it has been for the past two hundred +years. It is the foundation element of the whole social state. Now +by what power shall there be a speedy removal of the whole labor +of a country? How shall the entire producing element be suddenly +abstracted? Were that possible to be done, the whole state would +plunge at once into poverty and ruin. Once or twice the experiment +has been tried, in historic times, of banishing or destroying a +producing element of a state, and though done on a comparatively +small scale, the result are sufficiently marked to teach all after +time. Spain did it when she drove the Moors from her Castilian +lands. France did it when she murdered and banished the Huguenots, +and they both have scarcely, after two and three centuries, recovered +from the shock and the ruin. + +But we need not spend our space in discussing the point. However any +one may deem the colonization of the whole colored race desirable, +still it will remain an impossibility; there are natural and +economic forces which would be omnipotent to prevent it. They are +needed here, and where a race is needed, there, in this age of the +world, it will abide. There is work to be done; they can do it, +they have done it; there is no one else at present to take their +place, and so a power above wishes, prejudice, or argument, holds +them here--the power of an economic necessity. + +The colored race is here, here for a long time it will remain; it +will not--the events bewildering us by their rapid march all point +one way--it will not remain in slavery; it will and must by-and-by +be free. We, as an American people, must accept this double truth +with all its difficulties and perplexities; we must like men, +in God's fear and with many a cry for his help, bravely deal with +it. We need not now go back and stand sighing over the past, and +mourning that we did not a century ago meet it and escape the mighty +work and sorrow of to-day; we cannot put it away any longer; the +great questions rise up before us with a menace upon their brow; +they demand and they will have an answer now to-day. No scheme of +deportation or colonization shall open any easy door of escape; let +no man console himself that the question of emancipation is to be +solved by any such short and simple process; here on this continent, +within the borders of these States, slavery has done its work, and +just here freedom is to have her greatest and most glorious triumph. +This American State has given some examples to history, it has +given some demonstrations of the power of free institutions for the +white, it is giving to-day its most memorable, and is it too much +to hope that it will yet give to the world a more glorious, because +more difficult, demonstration of the same power in the black race? +What if it should remain, for it, after having completed its work +for the one, it should crown it in the other, by lifting it from +deepest slavery, and by self-sacrifice and toil make it a blessing +to the world! So we believe it will yet be. The way is not clear now; +the people do not see their work; but by-and-by it will of itself +be before them, and they will address themselves to it, bringing +every quickened power which marks them among the nations, and, +under God, they will complete it. + +How it shall be done we do not feel competent to intimate, and it +was not the purpose of this paper to attempt to indicate. No man, +perhaps, is sufficient for that. The Providence of God we believe +will mark the path, and events will hurry us if we be ready to +follow them in right line of the work. + +There are some things, however, which may be said that may possibly +cast some light upon the supposed difficulties of the matter of +emancipation without colonization. These difficulties, we think, +arise in many cases from a mistaken estimate of the negro character +and capabilities. + +It is not our design to enter upon the question of the inferiority +of the race or the impossibility of its ever living on an equality +with the white; while we are not ready to grant the first, +certainly not to the extent to which it is pushed, we are disposed +to believe the latter. It is doubtful, we are inclined to believe +it impossible, that the two races can ever on this continent abide +on terms of social equality. We are, too, inclined to believe that +this country is not to be the ultimate home of the colored race. It +will go out from it. We think that there is that in the character +of the African race which makes this probable, perhaps certain. In +the strange workings of Divine Providence this race has in a marvellous +manner been brought to this land, and put under a tutelage for a +great future, and that Africa, its home, may become the recipient +of blessing, the foundation and preparation for which were made in +this country. + +The bondage of the Israelites in Egypt was not an accident, but a +divinely ordered procedure, which had a striking bearing upon the +character of the Jew and shaped his whole after history. It was +a work of preparation, and it was not done in a short time, but +took two or three centuries to be brought to perfection. American +slavery, like this Egyptian bondage, will have its results on the +future or Africa. + +In saying this, of course no reader will suppose that there is in +the thought a justification of slavery, any more than when speaking +of the great benefits which flowed from the bondage in Egypt to the +Jew, we justify the selling of Joseph, or the tyranny of Pharaoh. +It is God's wonderful work to bring the greatest good out of the +deepest evils; the Fall to issue in Redemption. + +It is impossible to discuss the future of the black people in this +country without immediately being brought into contact with the +future of Africa. The one is closely connected with the other. The +movements of Providence are synchronous. How wonderfully events +are prepared in distant places, that they may be brought together +at the appointed moment! The fact that at just the time when the +great and absorbing questions which relate to this people in our +own land are forcing themselves upon our attention, the continent +of Africa is attracting more of interest in the way of discovery +and travel than any other portion of the earth, has, we think, a +meaning. + +Geographical research has almost exhausted other lands, while here +almost a continent, at least till within a few years, has remained +unexplored. This has not been because no efforts have been made +to break through the thick veil that has always hung over it. +Travellers have been unceasing in their attempts to penetrate into +the interior, and have failed, not from want of energy, but because +of the insuperable difficulties in the way. If they have succeeded +in reaching the shores, they died under the fatal coast fever. If +they have escaped this death, and pressed towards the interior, it +has been only to fall victims to savage beasts or more savage men. +So that African exploration has been, until perhaps within the last +fifteen years, a history of melancholy disaster and sacrifice of +valuable life. + +Of late, new and marked success has crowned the efforts made to +lay open this continent to the knowledge of the world. + +What has been accomplished will strike with surprise any one whose +attention has not before been called to the facts of the case. Let +the reader take a well prepared map of to-day and compare it with +that from which he studied his lessons a score of years ago. He will +remember how simple and easy to be remembered was the information +to be conveyed by that wide and lightly-colored track which bore +the words, "Unexplored Regions ." It embraced the largest portion +of the whole continent. But this has been encroached upon year +after year, on the South by Livingstone and Cumming, on the North +by Barth, on the East by Barton, and on the West by Wilson and Du +Chaillu, until the discoveries have almost touched each other. Wide +stretches of thousands of miles, given up hitherto in the thoughts +of men to perpetual desolation and drought, have been shown to hold +vast inland seas, deep navigable rivers, and to be teeming with +animal life, populous with men and faithful of all the products +of tropical luxuriance. So Africa begins to be known; by-and-by it +will be opened up, made ready, we think, to link its history with +a people on the other side of the ocean. + +Leaving the point as proved, that the blacks are to remain, at least +for an indefinite period in this country, (we do not say that it +will be forever, but of this we shall speak in another place,) we +naturally ask whether there is anything in the African character +that is possible of future progress and elevation. We answer +unhesitatingly, there are natural characteristics which will in a +very marked and peculiar way be a means of their speedier rise. + +It has been the misfortune, if so we may call it, of the African +continent and the African people, to present their worst and most +repulsive aspects first. This is the case with the country. The +coast to which the voyager comes, for the most part lies low, and +everywhere in its teeming bottoms disease and death are lurking. If +he escapes the one he never avoids the other. The "African Fever" +on the West coast is the certain welcome of the new comer, the only +question is whether he will survive it. The incidental mention which +the missionary traveller, Livingstone, makes of his thirty-seventh +attack of fever, and Du Chaillu of his fiftieth, and the exhaustion +of the last of fourteen ounces of quinine which he had taken on +his journey, are ominous of the inhospitable reception which the +country gives. But as soon as the traveller passes inland he comes +into an entirely different region. Towering mountains, snow-capped +and forest-crowned rise before him, and down through their passes +healthful and bracing winds are winds are blowing, wide champaigns +already full of uncultivated fruitfulness, or grass and bush-covered +tracts, which nature seems to exult in filling with animal life, +in its most beautiful, as well as gigantic and ferocious forms, +everywhere appear. While at first it would seem as if here were +a continent capable of doing little or nothing for the world, fit +only to give, as in the past, a little indigo, ivory and palm oil, +borne on the backs of degraded natives to the coast, we find that +it is in reality a continent already producing unassisted harvests +of cotton and sugar, and some of the products most necessary to +man, and only needing that development which Christian civilization +can give, but has never given, to bring it into the closest sympathy, +and for good, with the rest of the world. + +What is true of the Africa continent has been emphatically true +of the people. The world has always seen the African race in its +lowest form. This seems true as far back as Egyptian monumental +times. One is struck, when looking at copies of ancient hicroglyhics, +with the degraded type of negro feature which always appears when +these captive people are delineated. The African race seems to +have been fated to be always represented by a slave, and, as was +inevitable, it has been judged by the example seen. But the researches +of travellers have, of late, compelled us to reverse many, if not +all these conceptions. Africa, gives us indeed, perhaps the lowest +types of humanity in the Bushman * or Hottentot, yet the explorations +of travellers have also shown these are not true and normal examples +of the African stock. + +*Even these Bushmen seem to have suffered in reputation from their +observers. "Those who inhabit," says Livingstone, "the hot sandy +plains of the desert possess generally thin, wiry forms, capable +of great exertion, and severe privation. Many are of low stature, +but not dwarfish; the specimens brought to Europe have been selected, +like coster-mongers' dogs, on account of their extreme ugliness; +consequently English ideas of the whole tribe are formed in the same +way, as if the ugliest specimens of the English were exhibited in +Africa as characteristic of the entire British nation." + +It can readily be seen that whatever the African character is +measured by the standard of an African slave, the judgement must +necessarily be an erroneous one. The best tribes are not, in the +nature of things, those out of which slaves are made. The bolder, +more energetic and intelligent are those who make slaves. War and +conquest are the fruitful sources of slavery; they have been in all +age, in every country, and are so today in Africa. But the abler +tribes are the warriors and the conquerors, while the weaker and +the lower are the captives. Thus at the outset the slave declares +by the fact of his servitude his inferiority of lineage. + +To this we are also to add the pretty well-known fact that the +poorest of these captives are those who came into the hands of +the slave-dealer on the coast, while the better made and the more +intelligent are reserved for the service of their captors. Thus, +with this further reduction, you have in the African as he comes +to the slave-ship, the lowest specimen of an inferior type of +his people. But just these have been the exponents of the African +race, and it is not only not surprising, but entirely natural that +a false estimate should have been made of the whole negro family. + +What we would infer, the exploration of recent travellers show to +be actually the case. Within the limits of a single article such +as this, it is of course impossible to traverse the whole ground. +We might, however, refer to the Caffrees in the south, close upon +the regions where the Hottentot is found, a race of stalwart and +noble men, who have had skill and bravery enough to resist the +power of the Dutch, and even to wage a determined war with the +English power itself. To the east of these, Dr. Lindley, one of the +missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign +Missions, found tribes among whom he lived for a quarter of +century, and whom he describes as being physically inferior to no +race, the men in some districts averaging nearly six feet in height. +"They might be called stupid," says Livingstone, (p.21,) speaking +of Bakwains, a people with whom he was much associated in South +Africa, in "matters which had not come within the sphere of their +own observation, but in other things they showed more intelligence +than is to be met with in our own uneducated peasantry." Two of +the missionaries of the American Board, Messrs. Preston and Adams, +speaking ( Missionary Herald , 1856,) of a visit to the Pangwees, +a very extensive tribe of people living just under the Equator +and back from the coast, and who are described by other writers as +an every way superior race, tell us of natives whom they saw from +places still farther inland "which we had heard of, but as yet +had been unable to reach." "The variety," say they, "of complexion +presented to us was quite an object of curiosity. Some were of a +jet black, others with their braids of soft black hair, one and a +half, or two feet in length , might be easily mistaken for quadroons." +The New American Encyclopedia treating of the Mandingoes, a West +African race, says: "They are remarkable for their industry and +energy. They are mostly Mohammedans. The principal trade of that +part of West Africa which lies between the equator and the great +desert is in their hands. They are not only active and shrewd +merchants, but industrious agriculturists, and breeders of good +stock of cattle, sheep and goats. They are black in color, tall, +well-shaped, with regular features and wooly hair. In character +they are amiable, hospitable, imaginative, credulous, truthful, +fond of music, dancing and poetry. They are adventurous travellers, +extending their commercial journeys over a greater part of Africa. +The Mandingoes are the most numerous race of West Africa, and have +spread themselves to a great distance from their original seat, being +found all over the valleys of the Gambia, Senegal and Niger." Such +quotations and testimonies might be multiplied, were it necessary, +but enough have been exhibited to demonstrate the fact that there +are superior races of men in Africa, that these are even the +characteristic races of the continent. Every new discovery exhibits +this more clearly. The negro as he has been seen in the slave +transported to other countries is no true type of the African man, +but the continent is peopled by races capable of high attainments +and indefinite civilization. + +Though the negro of this country may not be of the best races of +Africa, yet he is not of the worst, and as we shall have occasion +to remark, he has had influences exerted, both as to race and character +which much more than compensate for any possible inferiority of +descent. We may fairly take the estimate of the native African as +we find him at his best estate at home, and build a promise of the +future of the African here upon it. + +The African character has its own marked and distinctive +peculiarities. It is tropical. It has passion deep and pervasive, +slumbering within a rounded form and in deep dreamy eyes. It is +ductile and plastic, ready to receive impressions and to be shapen +by them. It does not posses the hard, aggressive features of +the character of the tribes of Northern Europe; it does not seek +by conquest to extend its power, or to mould other people to its +form. It is adapted to receive rather than to give. It is therefore +essentially imitative. From this comes the rapidity with which +under favorable influences, the African advances in civilization. +Wherever these influences are numerous and powerful enough to be the +most prominent, the negro yields to them with marvellous rapidity. + +There is, perhaps, no race that gives up so readily and fully old +habits and associations. We find no granite formations of character +underlying the race, such as are met with in the tribes and peoples +of Asia. Compare, for instance, the plastic mobility of the Pangwee +and Bakwain with the rigidity of the Hindu or Chinese. Or where the +case may be seen in even a more striking way, compare the African +negro with the American Indian; take the one from his tropical +wilds, the other from his forest home, and place them both under +the same civilizing influences, and where at the end of a fixed +period will you find them? In a single generation the one is nearly +at your side, the other is simply a savage still. + +The rapid rise of the negro race in the West India Islands, Jamaica, +for example, when made free by the British Government, is a very +striking illustration, though the time has been too short to bring +it out to the full. Taking all the facts as they are given us, +we find the people rising almost at once, (for thirty years are +usually as nothing in the life of a people,) out of the barbarism +of slavery, into a nation self-supporting, self-governing to +a considerable extent, moral and religious, not, indeed, in the +highest degree, but still wonderfully advanced. * We believe that +it is without a parallel. + +*See Sewell's "West Indies, or the Ordeal of Free Labor in the British +West India Islands," an evidently dispassionate and disinterested +view of the condition of these islands. An attentive consideration +of his stateements would go far to relieve the matter of emancipation +of some of the difficulties with which to many it seems environed. +"These people," he remarks, "who live comfortably and independently, +own houses and stock, pay taxes and poll votes, and pay their +money to build churches, are the same people whom we have heard +represented as idle, worthless, fellows, obstinately opposed to +work, and ready to live on an orange or banana, rather than earn +their daily bread." + +Together with this plastic docility, the African has another which +at first sight seems in flagrant contradiction;--the race has +a peculiar power of resistance permanence. It is said, probably +truthfully, that no race has ever been able to abide a close contact +with the Anglo-Saxon. One of two results has always followed;--either +it has been swallowed up and lost as a river in an ocean, or +it has gone down and been swept away. But this race has neither +been absorbed nor destroyed. It has grown under the most adverse +influences, and asserts itself in all its peculiar characteristics +under foreign skies, and after the lapse of two centuries. The +negro of America is a true African still. + +This race has not greatly mingled with other races. It is, we are +inclined to believe, rather a characteristic of it not to seek an +amalgamation with another people, its tendency is to remain apart. +We are well aware, indeed, that this is exactly contrary to the +views of many who have built their opinions on popular assertions +and prejudice rather than on observed facts. The assumption is +that the negro desires to mingle his blood with that of the white +races. The reverse is the fact. There is, though it may seem to +some unaccountable, a certain pride of race, which leads the negro +to exult in the purity of his blood, and to regard a foreign element +in it as not only not desirable, but even objectionable. This +feeling does not belong simply to the negro on his own continent; +it perpetuates, perhaps magnifies itself when surrounded by another +people. Among them in this country a pure-blooded negro will, with +biting sarcasm, taunt the mulatto with the fact that the blood of +another race is in his veins. + +This feeling, which must have been noticed by any one whose +observation has been extensive or intelligent enough to collect +the facts, leads the race to remain by itself; and when left to its +natural course, such is the result. The statistics of this country +show that the free black does not and cannot mingle with the white +race. No elevation or freedom can produce such an intermixture. Here +and there, but so seldom as to present but perhaps a single case +only in widely separated communities, there is an inter-marriage. +This seeming want of inclination, coupled with a natural and +insuperable repugnance on the part of the white, must ever keep +the two races apart when they stand on an equal footing of freedom. + +The often repeated argument against emancipation, founded on the +notion that it would be necessarily followed by amalgamation, is +the product of the grossest ignorance and thoughtlessness, while +at the same time it betrays a shameful want of confidence in the +white race itself. It surely argues no great power or stability +in a people when they are not able to keep themselves from being +mixed up with a confessedly inferior race. But facts point in +a wholly different direction: so far from freedom promoting this +intermixture, the only condition in which these two races are found +mingling is where the negro is in a state of servitude. Here the +process goes on freely and under the working of natural causes. The +influences which on either side under other circumstances make it +impossible, here become inoperative, and are overborne by other and +more powerful ones. The close intimacies, beginning with infancy +and extending over the whole life, destroying what under other +circumstances might seem to be a natural separation; a servile desire +to please on the part of the slave, lust and cupidity on the part +of the master, all combine to make the blood of the two races flow +in the same veins. Slavery is the source of amalgamation. The +mulatto and the quadroon tell you unerringly of a present or a +former servitude. + +With this pliant ductility and this permanence of race, there is +another striking characteristic;--the negro's attachment to place. +It is probably a natural trait, but from easily perceived causes it +is perhaps intensified in the case of the American negro. He loves +his home and seldom goes willingly away from it, whether slave or +free. The number of fugitives from bondage would be prodigiously +multiplied were this feeling more easily overcome. Many a poor +bondman has turned back to slavery when the hard alternative has +been forced upon him to remain in it or go forever away from the +familiar and dear scenes of his childhood's home. It is necessity +scarcely less powerful than death that compels him to leave them +behind. + +The efforts which philanthropy has made to promote their colonization +have met with an insuperable obstacle here, and will be compelled +to contend, more or less unsuccessfully with it, till there shall +be strength and education enough given the black to rise above it. + +Among the many objections which have been urged against emancipation, +this has been a very common one, and has had great force in the +popular mind;--it will flood the Northern States with free blacks. +The objection is vulgar and thoughtless. If the simple economic +law of supply and demand, as powerful over men as materials, were +not sufficient to keep this people where they are needed, and to +prevent them from going where they are not, the love of home would +be strong enough to bar such result. The slave needs all the mighty +stimulus of a prospective deliverance from slavery to induce him to +leave the place of his birth, and that even is often enough; why, +then, when he has that boon in his hand, and walks the old haunts +a freeman, with work requited and enough, why should he now go away +to strangers and strange land? No, the States which have meanly +and and disgracefully passed their laws excluding the freed black +from a home within their borders, might have spared themselves +the dishonor. The dreaded calamity would never have occurred. The +enactments were the assumption of a gratuitous infamy. + +The effect of emancipation will be the reverse of this fear. Instead +of the freed slaves flocking northward, the free blacks of the +North will gradually go South; in place of Northern States being +overrun with the one, they will, in process of time, be stripped +of the other. With slavery out of the way, the black will naturally +bend his steps to the region where climate, congenial employments, +habits, associations, all welcome him; he will go away from a people +who do not understand him, and whose prejudices keep him down, to +be near a people who have grown up with him, who know him, and are +better able to do him good. This consolidation of the race in one +part of the land will have an important bearing on its future. +Emancipation only will fully accomplish it. + +Passing these characteristics, common to the race both in Africa and +in this country, let us consider others, which have been superadded +by the residence of the negro in America. These are marked and +important. The residence of the Jewish people for some two hundred +years in Egypt, had a controlling influence over the whole national +character and destiny. The Hebrew would never have been the man he +was, nor would he have had the after history had he not known the +bondage in the land of the Pharaohs. So, we think, the negro will, +in all the coming time, be a man essentially different because of +these two hundred years of slavery in America. * Nor will it be a +temporary or limited effect; it will probably mould all the history +of the race on its native continent. Africa will in future times +look back upon slavery in America much in the same way that the +Jew did upon his Egyptian bondage, and will be able to trace the +wonder-working power of Divine Providence in the results which have +flowed from it. + +*There are some curious analogies between the bondage in Egypt and +slavery in America. It seems as if slavery were about to come to +an end in this country after almost identically the same period of +existence. As far as the best calculations can fix the time, the +bondage in Egypt lasted something more than two hundred years, and +it is about that time since the first cargo of African slaves were +landed by the Dutch at Jamestown, in 1620. The Hebrews went out +suddenly and unexpectedly, under the pressure of tremendous judgments +Will it be so in America? + +Strangely enough, one of the marked effects of the residence of the +black in this country has been to give a new and foreign element +to the mental and physical structure of the negro. It has created +an admixture of blood with a superior race. The natural effect of +slavery has been to infuse the best blood of the master in the veins +of the slave. This fact has not, perhaps, received the attention +which it deserves as having an influence upon the future of the +negro race. We do not speak of it in the way of sarcasm or reproach, +but as something which, while it cannot be concealed or denied, +ought not to be overlooked. It cannot be when the coming history +of this people is under consideration. + +The intermingling of race has been extensive; so much so, that in +many places the pure-blooded negro is in the minority of the whole +colored population. Here is not the place to make any extended +observations on the intellectual and physiological effects of the +union of different races in the same people, to elevate and give +them tone and character. The facts are very familiar. We can see +that in the case before us these effects will be of the same general +character. + +In the new social order which will come into being on the abolition +of slavery, this intermixture of race will be less and less frequent, +but what has already taken place will tend greatly to hasten the +elevation and advancement of the black. The energy, the fire, and +activity, the ingenuity and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon, joined +to the plastic docility of the African, is a strange combination, +yet one which may be seen every day, and which when made free and +permitted to exert its unrestrained power, will be of unmeasured +value. The mulatto makes a very bad slave, Anglo-Saxon blood being +never intended to run in the veins of a voluntary bondman, but will +be a noble freedman. + +It need not be a perpetuated intermingling of race. It will not +be when slavery has gone, and it is well. Physically the mulattoes +are a feeble people, and destined usually to an early death; nor +are they prolific. By the force of merely natural causes, in process +of time, they will almost wholly disappear. The immobility of the +race will assert itself. But in the meanwhile they will have done +their work in assisting the rise of their brethren. It is a force +imparted for a special occasion. strangely given, but not in vain. +It is a spoil taken from the enemy, one of the marvellous instances +in which human passions and crime go to help human progress; it is +the blood of the master given to make by-and-by a speedier elevation +and a more perfect manhood for the slave. + +Together with this transfusion of lineage in a part of the colored +population, the actual contact of the whole with the white race +is another fact which must be attentively regarded. This otherwise +isolated people, isolated not only by continental separation, but +by color from the rest of the human family, have been brought into +the closest possible relationship with one of t he foremost people +of the world. They have been introduced into families, making part +of the household; have, to a certain extent, been brought under +the influences of the civilization and enlightenment of this white +race. Upon such a susceptible people, receiving impressions so +easily, and being moulded so completely by them, this association +cannot but have an unmeasured influence, hastening their elevation +whenever the time of freedom comes. + +In a state of slavery, while these influences are exerted and +their power is given, yet it must be more or less a latent power. +Slavery gives no opportunity for its exhibition. It is like throwing +electric sparks into the Leyden jar; it might seem that as they +flash and disappear, that all the power is lost, but when the proper +conditions are fulfilled the unseen force, slowly gathered, puts +itself forth with prodigious energy. When the impulse and opportunity +is given by freedom to the American negro for advancement, the +probabilities are that an example of rapid elevation will be given +by them such as the world has never seen. The elements which have +been working in and around them are such as have never been combined +in any people before. The facts are, when thoughtfully considered, +not only peculiar but wonderful. Here is an imitative and plastic +people dwelling in the most intimate associations with an enlightened, +energetic race, surrounded by the light of civilization, learning, +art, science; it is simply impossible that they shall not partake +in some degree of these great benefits. They may be seemingly excluded +from them all, but a subtile power is the while going forth and is +silently laying itself up in store, by-and-by to appear in their +sudden development. + +But beyond and above all, the negro race in America is a Christian +race. Here are four millions of Christians. We mean, of course, +Christian in contradistinction from any other form of religious belief. +Before this one fact we may stand in silent wonder and admiration +at the processes of God's great providence. If any where on earth +the night of heathenism is dark, and the darkness is palpable, it +is in the negro's native home. Yet here are millions of the same race +maintaining their peculiar characteristics with great distinctness, +yet in all essential points a Christian people, infinitely above +their brethren in their original seat. The contrast in this regard +between the race here and there is simply immeasurable. They have +been taken out of the blackness of idolatry, and nurtured for two +centuries in the light of an advance Christianity, so that heathenism +has passed almost out of their traditions. + +All this great result has been occasioned by slavery, sprung from +cupidity and the origin of unnumbered crimes! Perhaps human history +presents nowhere a more striking example of God's power to make +the wickedness of man bring honor to his name. + +Here, then, are a Christian people, with very much of superstition, +with very much of ignorance, with, you may say, a low type of piety, +but yet, after all, a Christian people. They are more, a Protestant +people. Romanism has never obtained any extensive hold on them here. +* May we not say that in this, that these four millions of blacks +are a Protestant Christian people, there is an element of unbounded +promise? + +*It is very striking in this connection that Romanism has never +made any progress or met with any permanent success in Africa. In +the North where Mohammedanism prevails, (see Barth,) it is repudiated +on account of its supposed proclivity to polytheism, and in other +parts of the continent different causes have prevented its taking +root. Indeed, West Africa presents the most striking instance on +record of the utter failure of the Romish religion to benefit a +heathen people. For more than two centuries the Portuguese had a +kingdom in Congo, and for a time it was powerful and extensive in +its influence. With it the Papacy sought an establishment. "It was +a work," says Wilson, ( Bibliotheca Sacra, Jan . 1852), "at which +successive missionaries labored with untiring assiduity for two +centuries. Among these were some of the most learned and able men +that Rome ever sent forth to the Pagan world. It was a cause that +ever lay near the heart of the kings of Portugal, when that nation +was at its climax of power and wealth. Yet before the close of the +eighteenth century, indeed, for any thing we know to the contrary, +before the middle of it, not only all their former civilization, but +almost every trace of Christianity had disappeared from the land, +and the whole country had fallen back into the deepest ignorance +and heathenism, and into greater weakness and poverty than had +ever been experienced even before its discovery." With a continent +wonderfully kept from Romanism there, and a people preserved from +it here, may we not see a divine adaptation for the future, a +finger-pointing to some signal good for the church and the world? + +If we throw together these characteristics and facts in regard to +the negro race which we have now pointed out, we have this:--Here +is a nation with good mental endowments, peculiarly distinct and +seemingly destined to remain so, yet docile and ready to receive +the impression of all influences surrounding them, brought not +only in closest contact with one of the first races of the world, +but actually receiving a transfusion of its best blood, made at +least in part partakers of a very high civilization, and already +Christianized in a form where there is the least play of superstition +or error. Is it difficult to predict the future of such a people? +Is it certainly absurd to say that there is a history before it, +if not of the highest style, yet one good and even excellent; if +not the noblest, as aggressive in its good upon the world, yet one +sufficiently glorious for itself? + +Whatever may be the ultimate destiny of this people, we think that +we are justified when we say, looking over the facts in the case, +that when they have removed from them the incubus of slavery, +and start forth on a career of freedom, that their rise will be +extremely rapid. Indeed, taking all the elements of progress which +they possess into consideration, it is simply impossible that it +should be otherwise. + +While we give expression to these thoughts, let us not be understood +as affirming that the benefits of which we speak are the legitimate +results of slavery. Nothing could be farther from our intention. To +substitute a cause for an occasion is a very common error: indeed +some minds seem incapable of fully apprehending the world-wide +difference. The legitimate effect of slavery is to thrust the victim +as far down in the scale of being as is possible. The nearer the +brute, the better the slave , is the true law of slavery. Slavery +is the cause of ignorance, degradation, and crime. It, by a dreadful +necessity, strips the slave of every attribute of manhood; neither +soul nor body is his own; the one is kept in darkness as the +other is sold in the shambles. What can a system that locks up all +human knowledge, stalks through the soul trampling down all that +constitutes the man, not accidentally, but by the necessity of its +existence, what can such a system do for its victim? + +There may be benefits such as we are now speaking of, coming to +the slave in his slavery, but slavery does not give them. The laws +which create slavery would shut out every thing, but they cannot. +In spite of them all, the good will come. So it has been with the +colored race in this country. This good can only be made to appear +in a state of freedom. + +Just here there is forced upon us another thoughht of tremendous +significance. This gradual unseen, but mighty gathering of power +in the slave in this land cannot be forever without one day coming +into form. You cannot be evermore throwing electricity into the +jar; by-and-by its overcharged contents will burst out in sudden +explosion. While you may let the conductor take them safely and +usefully away! No one cares to follow in imagination where the +thought leads him. Emancipation must be given sooner or later, or +all goes down in a hideous ruin; and no experience can calculate +nicely when the last moment of safety is reached. It may come, and +the crashing thunderbolt tell that it has gone. + +Of the way in which this freedom is to be brought about, it is not +the intention of this article to speak. To this writer, there seem +perhaps no problem which approaches it in difficulty. Emancipation--it +is easy to talk and declaim about, it is easy to prove right and +to show desirable, but how to bring about, that is the labor. He +is a rash man, who speaks very confidently on this matter. That +it should be brought about, that the well-being of the two races, +the interest of two continents, and humanity itself, the very +existence of this American people demand it, no thinking man ought +to doubt. It becomes this nation to address itself to this work, +and see that it is done and done well. + +While, however, we stand aghast at the difficulties of the work, +it is comforting to know that the solution is not committed to +us, but that the providence of God is pushing it forward. Events +crowding upon each other with a rapidity which bewilders us, seem +steadily and swiftly bringing the freedom of the negro to its +accomplishments. No man is competent to say what the issue will +be, or to what new form the events will shape themselves. A little +while ago the most common consent of men looked toward a gradual +emancipation, to-day it seems more and more as if the fetters were +to be stricken off at a blow. How, or when, who shall say? + +In whatever way it is done, one thing we may expect--it will not +be by the premeditated devices of men. The great works of God are +not done in that way. Smaller and comparatively unimportant ones may +be, but those which affect grand interests, and shape the history +of the world, the Great Jehovah takes into His own hand and brings +them to pass so marvellously that all men shall recognize His power +and "Know His name," (Isa. 52, 6.) "Therefore they shall know in that +day that I am He that doth speak; behold it is I!" In the meanwhile +it becomes all men reverently and obediently to be watching the +movements of His Providence, to keep abreast of them, and boldly +to take each new step as it is indicated, and as soon as it is. The +end may come sooner, as it probably be vastly easier in its coming +than we have dared to hope. + +Taking the fact of emancipation as fixed, and to be realized, and +that there will here be a race of freedom rapidly rising civilization +and enlightenment, we are confronted with the question-- Is this +country to be the ultimate home of this people ? We answer, No. We +do not believe that this people were brought here that they might +have a permanent residence. They were brought to this land for +tutelage and trial. The Hebrew bondage is the example illustrating +it. Whatever may be said in respect to the right of the negro +to a perpetual home here, and we would be the last to dispute it; +whatever may be urged against the prejudice which thrusts them out +of association and into painful separation, and we would not for +an instant justify it; yet still we are of the opinion that here +the negro will not abide as a people. Social equality and the +enjoyment of every right are well nigh hopeless for him. Were there +nothing else in the way, the stigma of slavery is almost perpetual +and ineradicable. + +He is here, not for America, but for Africa. He is here for a +training that could not have been gotten there. When it is complete, +he will go back and make the continent what it could never do without +him. When, under the influences which have shaped his character +and built him up, he has become a self-reliant, advanced Christian +man, and he is ready and able to do something for his race, he will +go back to do it. + +Then will be Africa's time. Exploration, advancing commerce, and with +it Christianity, will have prepared the way, as we see it now being +made ready, and the negro race of this land will go back gradually +but with increasing rapidity, and by a natural and healthy emigration. +Such emigration only could be permanently and extensively beneficial +to a new land. The colonist must be more or less be impelled by +the native force of his own character to seek the new home. Africa +must look for her Christianity and her civilization especially +to her own sons. Like all other lands which are to be elevated, +the power raising her must come from without. It seems to be the +course of Divine Providence that new and heathen countries are +to be civilized and Christianized by Christian colonization; not +commercial, but Christian colonies must go out to them. The colonists +must not supplant and destroy the aboriginal inhabitants, nor must +they come simply as teachers, but they must abide as those whose +home is to be there, who as residents bring them the arts and +practices of civilized and Christian life, and whose extended and +continued example illustrates the power and benefits of the life +they bring. + +This has been for the most part of the course of events. No people +rises alone and unaided from a state of barbarism. The early history +of nations which have a history, usually begins with the coming of +a colony, whether it be Phoenician, Cadmean, or Trojan. "Religion, +law and letters are not indigenous, but exotic; in all the past +career of man upon the globe one race hands the torch of science to +another." Of no people must this be more true than of the African. +If Africa is to be elevated, it must be by the infusion of life +and power from without, and by means of colonies which bring with +them the elements of life and power. + +The colonist who brings this boon to Africa must be an African. +Every year and every experiment renders this more clearly evident. +The white missionary has done, and is doing, a noble, perhaps +indispensable work, but the permanent results which are to be found +over extensive regions must come from men whose race is similar +to the people among whom they dwell, and with whom it can mingle +freely and advantageously. Such a race has been preparing, and will +be prepared by the overruling power of God in this country. + +At present the work of preparation is not complete. A few have been +made partially ready, some fit for the work have gone and, by their +success on the west coast of Africa, have shown what the people +are capable of doing. A beginning has been made, but in the coming +time it must have a new starting-point. The Liberian colony, or +any other which shall be formed, must rise from the position of a +far distant place to which one is banished, to be the attractive +spot which calls, and to which a manly energy and independence +urges. + +To send only the degraded and the low in intellect is not the method +to elevate and ennoble a new land. The stream will not rise higher +than the fountain, and a slave, though free, cannot at once be a +truly self-reliant man, least of all can he be a good teacher of +self-reliance and progress. He must first teach himself, well as +he may, before he can do much for others. The colonist must, if he +carry good with him, be first elevated himself. Nor, on the other +hand, can the isolated and exceptional cases of advancement and +cultivation be spared from their brethren here. + +For the most part, as can easily be seen would naturally be the case, +the colonists who have hitherto gone have been the most energetic +and intelligent. But in the time to come such cannot all be spared: +their example and aid are needed here to help the general rise. +But if the time comes, and when it comes, that under the stimulus +of freedom the colored race as a whole advances to the point which +we think there is for it in the future, individuals will not be +of account; emigration passing along the track of commerce, and +commerce by its own great laws will set toward Africa, and in this +way the problem of Africarn colonization, and of African history +in America will be fulfilled. All this may be very distant, many +years may go by, though, fewer than perhaps we may imagine, but +the Great God who guides the hours and their burden can bring it +all about, and through one of the deepest crimes of history, the +Rebellion of to-day, hasten it in its coming. It will be like Him +to make crime its own avenger, and both crime and vengeance illustrate +his goodness and love. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Future of the Colored +Race in America by William Aikman |