The Black Man Is A Curious Anomaly, The Good And Bad Points Of Human
Nature Bursting Forth Without Any Arrangement, Like The Flowers And
Thorns Of His Own Wilderness.
A creature of impulse, seldom actuated by
reflection, the black man astounds by his complete obtuseness, and as
suddenly confounds you by an unexpected exhibition of sympathy.
From a
long experience with African savages, I think it is as absurd to condemn
the negro in toto, as it is preposterous to compare his intellectual
capacity with that of the white man. It is unfortunately the fashion for
one party to uphold the negro as a superior being, while the other
denies him the common powers of reason. So great a difference of opinion
has ever existed upon the intrinsic value of the negro, that the very
perplexity of the question is a proof that he is altogether a distinct
variety. So long as it is generally considered that the negro and the
white man are to be governed by the same laws and guided by the same
management, so long will the former remain a thorn in the side of every
community to which he may unhappily belong. When the horse and the ass
shall be found to match in double harness, the white man and the African
black will pull together under the same regime. It is the grand error of
equalizing that which is unequal, that has lowered the negro character,
and made the black man a reproach.
In his savage home, what is the African?
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 258 of 662
Words from 69963 to 70219
of 178435
