"INCIDENTS OF HOPE FOR THE NEGRO
RACE IN AMERICA."
A
I
November 26th, 1895.
BY
ALEX. CRUMMBLL,
RECTOR EMERITUS OF ST. LUKES CHURCH,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
JOHN H. WILLS,
bookseller,
506 Eleventh St- N W.,
washington, d. c.
Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Gift of
Trebor Foundation
special collections
emory university
"INCIDENTS OF HOPE FOR THE NEGRO
RACE IN AMERICA."
1T1ISGI1G SERMON,
November 26th, 1895.
BY
ALEX. CRUMMELL,
RECTOR EMERITUS OF ST. LUKES CHURCH,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Printer
u 10th & F Sts o*
a N. W. A*
Ps. cvii; Vs. 18-16.
13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved
them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and brake their bands in sunder.
15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for
his wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For he hath, broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of
iron in sunder.1
The Psalms of David are, for the most part, songs of
praise and thanksgiving for the gifts and mercies of the
Almighty. The special peculiarity of this 107th Psalm
is, that it is a continuous utterance of adoration for the
deliverance of the children of Israel from the land of
bondage; for their protection from their enemies in the
wilderness; for their rescue from divers dangers and mis¬
fortunes, by flood and field; from drougtht and famine.
The sense of gratitude was so vivid and so glowing that
the Psalmist bursts forth, not once or twice, but over and
over again, into the exclamation,—"O that men would
praise the. Lord for His goodness, and declare the wonders
that He doeth for the children of men."
So similar, in several ways, has been the providence of
the Almighty in the. history of our race in this country,
that I have chosen the text just announced, as the base of
remarks pertaining to the future prospects stretching.out
before us. My subject to-day is—"Incidents of Hope
eor the Negro Race in America."
The trials and sufferings of this race have been great
for centuries. They have not yet ceased. They are not
likely to cease for a long time to come. It may take two
or three generations for the race to get a firm and assured
status in the land.
Nevertheless there are, I maintain, underlying all the
past, present and future attritions and tribulations of our
condition, certain large and important incidents, which are
pregnant with hope, and which are fitted to serve as stim¬
ulants to high ambition and indomitable energy.
(1) This sermon was preached, by special request, before the three
congregations,—15th St. Presbyterian Church, and the two Congre¬
gational Churches in Washington; and is published by the request of
the "Ministers' Union," in whose presence it was afterwards read.
There is need, just now, for such encouragements.
For, in some quarters, there seems to be despondency; as
though the car of progress was tardy in its movements;
many forgetting that it is impossible to extemporize a full
civilization for any people; impossible to leap, at a spring,
into a lofty elevation. Hence the dark cloud of despair
which overhangs a moody*group, leading almost to repu¬
diation of their race. And then, from another section,
come the insensate screeching and screaming tones which
call upon us to flee to Africa.
For my own part I regret these views as idle and un¬
reasoning. Not blind, indded, to numerous difficulties, I
see, nevertheless, gracious providences in our case; and I
am anxious to set before you what I deem some sound
and solid grounds of Hope.
i. Consider, first of all, the fact of Negro vitality as
an important factor in his destiny. There must be a
physical basis, a material substratum for the mental and
moral life of man. "A sound mind in a sound body" is
an old adage, applied to a promising individual. The
adage recognizes the relation of mind to body; the corre¬
lation of flesh and spirit; the connection of the soul of
man with animal conditions; which shows itself in all the
masterful peoples in human history. Grand intellectual¬
ity in the races of men, has been generally connected,
more or less, with robustness, life-tenacity, and strong vi¬
tal forces. Weak people, for the most part, are weak in
both body and mind; run a short race; have but a slight
hold.upon life, and soon vanish away.
It is a characteristic of the Negro race that it seems,
everywhere, to have a smack of the immortal. Amid the
rude conditions of the fatherland, shut out for ages from
the world's civilization, fecundity and vital powers were
immemorial qualities. Never, until the ravages of the
slave-trade, was there known a disturbance of this vital
feature.
During the last two hundred or more years, a large sec¬
tion of the race has been in a captive state, on the conti¬
nent and the islands of America. But not even the se¬
verest conditions of bondage have been able to bar out this
quality. The Negro, everywhere, is a productive factor
on American soil. The slave-trade was, for the most
part, put an end to, in 1809. The slave populations of the
West Indies, of the American States, of Brazil and the
other South American States, at the time of the great
4
Emancipations which have taken place in this century,
were less than half of their present numbers under free-
dona; and hence our increase, under the British, Ameri¬
can, and Brazilian flags, cannot be attributed to the sup¬
plies and reinforcements of the slave-trade.
And yet here is the fact, that this race, under the un¬
settled and abnormal conditions of a new freedom, has
gone on increasing, at, at least, as rapid a rate as any peo¬
ple on the continent.
In the West Indies, the white race, in many quarters,
decreases. By the census of 1880 the rate of our in¬
crease, i. e. in the United States, was said to be fully 6
per cent greater than that of the whites. That census re¬
port has since been repudiated as incorrect. Neverthe¬
less the last returns of the Census Bureau, though placing
us considerably below that of the white population of the
land, sets forth the fact of an actual increase of our num¬
bers; though, relatively, less than that of white Ameri¬
cans. The disparity, however, can easily be accounted
for by the unsettled conditions of a newly emancipated
and antagonized people.(:i)
Here then is the fact of persistent vitality, under the
difficulties of poverty, bitter repulsion, and political suffer¬
ing. It is not a fact which stands separate and apart from
ideas. Vital force has always some potent underlying prin¬
ciples. There must be thrift, or economy, or a measure
of family virtue; or conscious, or unconscious Hope; some,
or most of these; or otherwise, a people, — any people,—
will die out. Spiritual ideas do, more or less, attend the
persistent life of the humblest classes. The Negro lives
and grows; because vitality, in his case, springs from inter¬
nal sources.
The averment may be made—"Your increase is only an
evidence of the sheerest animality. It has no relation to
the inner life, which is the true criterion of manhood, the
only promise of futurity."
(2) Two facts mav be noticed under this head—(«) That the Ne-
oto has supplanted the aboriginal populations, in several quarters,
Sn the American Continent and its Isles; (b) That there is not a spot
on which he has been placed but what there he lives and thrives.
(«) I must leave it to each reader to judge for himself the census
reports of 1880 and 1890
Percentage of Increase
While.
1870 to 1880—29.22.
1880 to 1890-20.68.
Negro.
34.85.
1:5.51.
5
2. But this taunt is easily refuted. It is refuted first,
by a view of its intellectual aspect; and I will take up its
spiritual phase later on.
Now I maintain thai the mental progress of the
Negro has run paralel with its persistent and vital
continuity.
The special point to be considered, just here, is the fact
that in all the places of our servitude every effort has been
put forth, by legislation, to shut out the light of letters
from the intellectual eye of the black man. The Statute
books, in every State and Nation, on this Western Conti¬
nent, bristle with the laws which interdict the teaching of
the Negro; which forbid, with severe penalties, his instruc¬
tion in letters. And yet intellectual aspiration has char¬
acterized the race in all the lands of their servitude. The
laws themselves testify the fact. And, thus, for two hun¬
dred years there has been a struggle for the Alphabet:
the Primer; the Newspaper, and the Bible.''1
"Put out the light: and then put out the light" has
been the common cry of slavery; in Virginia, in the Caro-
linas; in Mexico, in Peru, and in Brazil; in Jamaica and
in Bermuda.
But the answering cry has gone up from multitudinous
plantations, during the entire reign of slavery— 'Light!
Light !" And so, through murky darkness, despite law
and penalties, in cane brake, in slave hut, in the seclu¬
sion of the forest, in the deep of night by the embers of
dying fire-light; thousands of slaves have clandestinely
groped, and stumbled, and plodded on; struggling to
emerge from the darkness of ignorance, to attain, if pos¬
sible, the ability to read, and the illumination of letters.
Thus it came to pass that even in the darkest days of
slavery, not seldom, whole groups of men reached, dimly,
to light of letters. Right from the gloomiest precincts of
servitude sprung such geniuses as Phillis Wheatley, Ban-
neker, Ward, and Garnett and others. Some, without
doubt, were encouraged in their intellectual desires by
generous, liberal-minded masters and mistresses. But
even thus, the proffer of a gift is a nullity if there be no
glad receptivity in the taker. The receptive, yearning fac¬
ulty was in the Negro; and hence the anxiousness which
constantly disclosed itself, in the domain of slavery, for
light; and which everywhere met with the effort to reach
it!
(4) See "StvouiVs Slave Laws."
6
fi"ll iiiiVr^rrir a moment, to the year 1620.
Stand up beside me, and look at that unfortunate captive!
He is the first victim of the slave-trade; just landed on
American soil. He is a naked pagan ! For thousands of
years, his ancestors, on the soil of Africa, have lived in a
land of ignorance and benightedness; their intellectual
life, never, during the ages, stirred by a breeze or a
breath of mental inspiration from the world of j letters.
Through him, the race he represents, is now for the first
time, brought into the neighborhood of cultivation, placed
in juxtaposition with enlightened civilization.
It is two hundred years and more since this civilizing
influence began; and you must remember that it has been
only incidental; it has been unintentional; always tardy
and reluctant; that it has been carried on'under the sever¬
est and narrowest limitations.
Join to this another fact. It is indeed a fact of contrast,
but it has its special significance.
At the time when the black man came in contact with
the civilization of the Western World, there was a large
group of nations, tribes, and peoples, on the Continent and
in the Pacific and Atlantic seas, mostly, in precisely the
same semi-barbarous condition as the Negro; with not a
few, however, on a higher plane of elevation. There
were the American Indians. There were the aboriginal
Mexicans and Peruvians, south of the States. There
were the Caribs of Hayti, Cuba, and Jamaica. There
were the Maoris of New Zealand. There were the Gauches
of the Canaries. There were the divers trib'es of Austral¬
ia. All these peoples were, nevertheless, crude and un¬
civilized peoples at the time of the discovery of America.
All were then, touched, for the first time, with the ris¬
ing rays of civilization. And so it happens that we, with
them, have run the same difficult course of enlightenment,
which has been so grudgingly given the ruder peoples of
the world.
How do we stand today, relatively, in the problem of
attainment and of progress ? I challenge any man to the
comparison. , .
Go back again with me to that untrained, nnnd-shroud-
ed, and naked African, a captive and a stranded slave on
these shores. .
Turn back again, 011 the instant, to his descendants, in
the West Indies, and on this American soil. What is the
sight which meets your eyes ?
Here, remote from the land of their forefathers, is a race,
7
numbering nigh thirty millions of people/"1 a people to a
large extent lettered and enlightened; thousands of them
cultured persons; in some of the lauds of their captivity,
merchants, planters, scholars, authors, magistrates, rulers.
And, in two of the provinces of their former servitude,
masters of the situation; having driven out their former
owners; and, wresting from them the staff of authority,
have become, in their own race and blood, Rulers of the
land.(K)
Within the period of these two hundred years this same
Negro race, despised, trodden upon, sold as beasts and
cattle, oft-times murdered by overwork and cruelty, has,
nevertheless, by almost superhuman energy, risen
above their crushing servitude; and in the very lands of
their oppression, produced historic names and characters.
Out from the very limitations and agonies of slavery have
come cultured civilians, accomplished gentlemen, Physi¬
cians, Lawyers, Linguists, Mathematicians, Generals.
Philosophers; and from the' Coast of Africa men eminent
in attainments, in great Universities; not seldom holding
professorships in the great schools of Europe. Among
these—Henry Diaz, an experienced and commanding of¬
ficer in Brazil; Hannibal, Lieutenant-General, in Russia;
Don Juan Lateno, Lattin Professor, at Saville; Anthony
William A^po, Doctor of Philosophy of University of Wit-
tenburg.
How stands'the case with the divers races and peoples,
living in Pagan isolation at the time of the discovery of
America? Whj^, the breath of European civilization
seemed too strong for nearly all of them ! Down they
went, tribe after tribe, race after race, to utter oblivion !
Some of them are utterly extinct ! Once I was shown a
Bible in the Library of And over Seminary, translated, by
Elliott, into the tongue of a New England tribe of Indians.
(5) The following' may be regarded as a fair estimate of the Am¬
erican Continent, and Islands:
United States
Brazil
Cuba
South and Central American
8,060.000.
0,500,000.
1,500,000.
Republics
Hayti
British possessions
Dutcl), Danish and Mexican
French
2,500,000.
3,000,000.
1,500,000.
400,000.
350,000.
(6) Ilaj'ti and St. Domingo.
8
There is not a man living on earth who can read it ! The
tribe has utterly perished !
Not so with the Negro. Not one of the then humbler
races has stood the ordeal as he has. Terrible as has
been that ordeal, through the murderous invasion of slave-
traders, on the coast of Africa; by the horrors of the Mid-
passage; and through the sufferings of slavery iti the lands
of our exile; still the Negro lives !
Neither have these other peoples surpassed this race in
progress ! Not one of them has pressed through direful
agonies, up to the hopeful attainments and the promising
destiny which seems clearly opening before us.
3. Allied to this intellectual outgrowth, is another in¬
cident of hope for the race,—its moral and spiritual
perception. *
I do not pretend angelic qualities for our race. Such a
claim would be ludicrous. The common human deprav¬
ity is our heritage with all the rest of humanity. More¬
over slavery has brought forth its fruitful progeny of
special enormities for the depravation of the Negro.
But it is a difficult thing to obliterate aboriginal quali¬
ties. The history of man shows how innate tendencies
abide in a people, notwithstanding the most adverse, and
even deteriorating circumstances. It is thus, through this
peculiarity, that the Negro has held on to those special
moral qualities, to those high spiritual instincts which
were recognized by ancient Pagan writers as qualities of
the Hamitic family; and which have been noticed by dis¬
cerning Christian philosophers and philanthropists in all
subsequent times.
Back of all the moral infirmities of nature and of the
special vices bred of ignorance and servitude, there are
certain constitutional tendencies in the race which are,
without doubt, unique and special. A high moral altitude
is a primitive quality, antecedent to the coming of Chris¬
tianity; and which has developed into more positive
forms, in Christian lands, under the inspiration of Chris¬
tian teaching.(7)
(7) The religious growth of the race is closely shown by the fol¬
lowing statistics: —
Dr. H. K. Carroll, in "The Independent," says that the aggregate
of colored church members in the United States is, in round num¬
bers, 2,674,000, distributed as follows: Baptists, 1,40-3,55!); Metho¬
dists, 1,190,688; Presbyterians. 30,000; Disciples of Christ, 18,578,
and Protestant Episcopal and Reformed Episcopal together, some¬
what less than 5,<)0!>. According to the census there has been an
increase of 1,150,000 colored church members during the last thirty
vears. which Dr. Carroll thinks is unparalleled in the history of the
9
The race is essentially religfyns. Even l'n his L^ga^a
state the .spiritual instinct nlwnysJin.r hnn tin-* .lErL^aencv.
Homer perceived this quality; for lie speaks of the Gods
visiting and feasting with
"Ethiopia's blameless nice."'
The great African travellers of modern times speak of
the same moral characteristic. The testimony of Adam-
son who visited Senegal in 1754 chimes in with that of
Homer. "The Negroes,'' he says, "are sociable, hu¬
mane, obliging and hospitable; and they have generally
preserved an estimable simplicity of domestic manners.
They are distinguished by their tenderness for their pa¬
rents, and great respect for the aged." In similar terms
speaks the other grpat travellers into Africa; Mungo Park,
Livingston; the great Stanley of our own day; that extra¬
ordinary personage, Mrs Sheldon Fr»nch, and others.
Kinmont, in his "Lectures on Man," says "that the
sweet graces of the Christian religion appear almost too
tropical and tender plants, tp grow in the soil of the Cau-
eassian mind; they require a character of human nature of
which you can see the rude lineaments in the Ethiopian."
Dr. Wm. Ellery Channing, many years ago, declared—
"We are holding in bondage one the best races of the hu¬
man family. * * * His nature is affectionate, easity
touched; and hence he is more open to religious impres¬
sions than the white man. * * * When I cast my eyes
over our Southern region, the land of bowie knives, lynch
law7 and duels—of chivalry, honor and revenge,—and
when I consider that Christianity is declared to be 'char¬
ity, which seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil and endureth all things'—can I hesitate
in deciding to which of the races in that land, Christianity
is most adapted, and in which its noblest disciples are
most likely to be reared ?"
It will be a great mistake to regard these native quali¬
ties of the race as merely • negative qualities, divorced
from strength and robustness. It was first here, if I mis¬
take not, our friend, Dr. Blyden, erred in his learned and
interesting Lecture, the other evening. He seemed to
think that passivity is the liormal, aboriginal quality of
the race. The Negro, however, is brave as well as gen¬
tle; courageous as well as amiable; a gallant soldier as
well as a patient sufferer and an enduring martyr. The
quiet and submissive qualities of the race have been, not
Christian C.'mrcli. The value of of Xe^'ro church property is !£2ft,6'26-
000, iinil the number of edifices is 22,770.
10
seldom, the butt ot ridicule and tlie sneer of the jester.
How constant, down to the present day, is the purpose, in
the common American mind, to make the term Negro the
equivalent oi a ludicrous Si minu! One instance is quite
conspicuous. If you visit the east corridor of the Capi¬
tol, on the Senate side, you will see there a noted picture
of the naval battle on Lake Erie. That picture is one of
the most disgraceful prostitutions of Art 111 modern times!
It is an attempt to stamp a libel and a lie on the dark
brow of an innocent, a' suffering, but a brave race.*'1
There, the Negro is represented as a frightened gritnac^
and coward; whereas we have the record of his prowess,,
and the eulogy of^his bravery, in this very battle, in the
archives of this Government. This picture is not only
■disgraceful to the vulgar creature who painted it; but it is
■disreputable to a nation which fastens, emblazons and
perpetuates a gross mendacity upon the very walls of its
National Capitol !
Moreover the fact is historic that, in the Revolutionary
war. and in every conflict of this Nation with a foreign or
domestic foe, the black man, whether as soldier or sailor,
has been a hero; eulogized by Generals Snd Commodores
for his prowess/"1 General Lord Wolsely, next to
Yon Moltke, the greatest Captain of the age, declares
that "the Negro makes one of the bravest soldiers in the
world."
(8) Cornrat'lore Perry was the great Hero in the great naval hat-
lies on Lake Erie sind Lake Charnplain. A goodly number of Ne¬
groes were sent to the Commodore, to reinforce his marines. lie
took umbrage, and complained at ihe sending of so many Negroes
'to his ships! But such was their bravery and efficiency in Ihe en¬
gagements. that, in his reports, lie afterward speaks of th^se black
naval heroes in the warmest and most enthusiastic manner.
(9) The Honorable G. C. Pinckney of South Carolina., in liis day,
•celebrated as an Orator and Statesman, in the memorable debate on
the Missouri question, made tlie following- statement:—'*ln the
Northern States, numerous bodies of them [the Negroes] were en¬
rolled, and fought, side by side with the whites, the battles of the
Revolution.'' "JYaiwrni/s bodies !" The statement is literally true.
Jn many cases they fought, in the ranks with whites: but. aside
from tliis, regiments were enlisted, in Massiachusselts, New Hamp¬
shire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, who fought and died
for the independence of the Colonies. History assures us of the
conspicuous valor of these men, at Bunker Hill, Fort Griswold,
Red Bank, Valley Forge, Saratogo, &c., &c.
So much for the Revolutionary War.
In the war of 1812, they showed the greatest, gallantry. At the
conclusion of the war General Jackson issued a proclamation in
which he spoke in glowing terms of their bravery, declaring-—"I
fxpectetl mur/i vf yon. * * " You have done more than I expected.'"
11
No one who lias read the history of St. Domingo and
the grand struggle of the brave Haytiens, under Touissant,
can do otherwise than concur with Lord Wolseley's opin¬
ion. Where, elsewhere, in the annals of War, a grander
martial spirit can be discerned, than under the mighty
chief of Hayti, I know not. Nobody will deny the burn¬
ing, blazing prowess of the black troops in our late civil
war in the South. That prowess led to the enrolment
of Negroes in the standing army of the Nation: and, year
by year, we are receiving the reports of American Gener¬
als, of the grand qualities of the Negro Cavalry, whether
in action, in conflict with the Indians; or in the camp, in
order, discipline, and high soldierly bearing.
These moral and manly qualities are indications of a
noble future. Moral qualities are prophecies. Their
predictive elements are strengthened by the facts of pro¬
gress and of mental advancement which I have brought
to your notice; and by the persistent vitality which itself
reaches over to the future.
I say therefore that we have every reason to thank God
and to take courage. That we have not gone up like
sky-rockets, at> once, to the highest Empyrean, in the
brief period of a generation, is no cause for surprise in our
own ranks, nor for the carpings of unthinking critics who
delight in disparagement of the Negro. Every thoughtful
reader of history knows, thoroughly well, the almost uni¬
versal fact that the first, the almost immediate result of
any great revolution, or, any large Emancipation is the
decadence of a people. Freedom does not generate a
spontaneous elevation, a prompt and extemporaneous de¬
velopment. It always takes an emancipated people time
to draw themselves together; to get to know themselves,
to learn to know their powers and their responsibilities.
The children of Israel, after their deliverance from Egypt,
went down, down, down for four hundred years; and nev¬
er became anything until the times of David and Solo¬
mon. The modern Greeks, after their bloody severance
from Turkish oppression, have had, down to the present,
stagnant and unprogressive existence; and today are al¬
most nobodies ! See these petty South American Repub¬
lics ! What wonderful things have they done since their
Emancipation ?
And now I ask—Why should the Negro-haters of Am¬
erica demand a miraculous, a superhuman development
in us? Contrary to the general trend of history we do
I 2
show progress; and that should suffice, for just and rea¬
sonable men.(1°)
At the same time we must remember that we have
reached no place where we can say—"Rest and be thank¬
ful !" Nor should we forget that our heritage, for an age
or more, is repulse and opposition. 'Great trials are, with¬
out doubt, yet before us as a people; long vistas of
thorny roadways, we have yet to travel; many wounds,
sore lacerations; and the suffering of many martyrdoms !
For a long time you will have to meet the assaults of
that large brutal class which would fain sweep us out, as
remorsely as they would trample out a nest of ants! And
then you will have to resist the insidious influences of
that weak _piotts class, which is ever prophesying the fail¬
ure of the Negro; and then, Jesuitically, strive, by sneers,
limitations, and cruel neglects to fulfil their own atheistic
prophecy !
But you must never listen to the tones of discourage¬
ment, come from whatever quarter they may. Least of
all may we give heed to the despairing tones of hopeless
men in our own ranks, nor to the scepticism of those who
confidently assert the narrowest limitations of Negro ca¬
pacity.
They may tell you—"You have indeed made progress.
We admit that you stand on a higher plane than your an¬
cestors;—bu£you have gone as far as you can go! You
are incapable of reaching the higher platforms of human
achievement. The place of the Negro is, forever, a sec¬
ondary and inferior one."
But don't you listen, for a moment, to the delusive dic¬
tum of finality. It is all a folly and a snare. You have
risen from a most prostrate condition, to freedom. That
was one step. You have pushed forward(from freedom to
manhood. That was another and a higher step. You
have advanced somewhat from manhood to culture and
monetary assurance. And now I ask—"Where, in what
section of your constitution has been planted the law of
belittling limitation? Into what cell of the Negro's brain
has Almighty God dropt the stagnant atom of finality ?
My friends, there are no ascertained bounds to the
growth of any active, energetic, hopeful and ambitious
race. -In the world of Art, Science, Philosophy and L,et-
(10) The simple contrast of a homeless, houselesss unlettered
race, thirty years ago; with the growth of this people into some
80,00 Teachers, nigh 2,000,000 pupils: many Academies and Col¬
leges, and Seminaries, since, tlie day of Emancipation; should satis¬
fy any one of the onward march of the race.
ters, there is no pent up monopoly, which excludes any
section of the great human family. And no spell has fall¬
en upon the intellect of the Negro which confines his ca¬
pacity to narrow and contracted grooves.
I am drawn to these suggestions by certain oblique ten¬
dencies of the day. Just now we are in danger of being
hoodwinked by specious, but unreal teachings, pertaining
to the education of the race. Certain pseudo-philanthro¬
pists who pity the Negro, but cannot learn to love and to
uplift him, are endeavoring to fasten upon his brain the
"cordon of narrowness." Their counsel is, in substance,
this:—"Keep the Negro in a narrow groove ! His brain
i.s narrow. Give him but a little learning ! Then bind
him down to the merest manual exercises ! Keep him,
perpetually, a clcwn in the fields !"
No such limitations, however, are suggested for the
miserable, ofttimes brutalized immigrants, who, by tens
of thousands, are landed upon our shores !
"No pent-up Utica may contract their powers." They,
debased, not seldom half-paganized as they are, are to
enter every avenue of culture in the land; to reach forth
for the grandest acquisitions of both erudition and ambi¬
tion! But the Negro must be kept in the humblest places;
must be restrained to the narrowest systems of training !
For my own part I utterly repudiate all this specious
policy. It is nothing but Caste, and that of the most in¬
jurious character \JI ask indeed that there sheftl b£ "com¬
mon seriSe, Tn~conimon schooling;''' that there shall he no
waste of money, or, of means, upon Incapacity; that a
whole host of noodles shall not be sent to Universities or
Colleges; that manual labour shall be the duty and the
destiny of the ordinary and unaspiring.
But, when you fall upon a Scholar, an Artist, or a Gen¬
ius, in any line, i-f even he be black as mid-night, open
wide the gates; clear the pathways, for his noblest gait
and his swiftest career ! He has the right, by virtue of
his endowments, to mount to the highest rounds of the
ladder ! Cheer him on his way ! Give him every possi¬
ble encouragement to reach the levels; and to rival, if
possible, the most ambitious intellects of his'age, be they
as white as snow !
In the world of mind we are to tolerate neither exclu-
siveness nor caste. In all humility and with self-res'traint
we are, as a people, to find our own place in the scale of
nature, in the ranks of society, and in the order of the
State.
But ive must find it ourselves; not be forced into it by
14 •
others! Hence we should resist the arrogance of that
whole class of Americans, both in Church and State, who
think they have a divine commission to thrust the Negro
into a special place, as an underling, in American society.
Meanwhile we must study the situation in all quietness,
soberness, with non-disturbance of soul, yea, even with a
goodly quantum of stoicism. Withal, however, we must
cultivate 'the spirit of Hope, perseverance, high self-reli¬
ance, and unfailing trust in God.
"Zealous, yet modest, innocent, tlio1 free.
Serene amidst alarms, inflexible in faith!"
The great need of our race in this generation is sobri¬
ety, a deep sense of imperfection, diligence in all pursuits,
simplicity in manners, and a deep and pervasive influence
of the religious sentiment.
If this people get crazed by the possession of a little
libertjr; if they become intoxicated by inebriating and de¬
structive politics; if they get carried away by the attain¬
ment of dazzling learning; if they are soon puffed up and
made pompous by the grasp of a little wealth or property;
and then begin to exaggerate their importance, to disgust
their friends, to forget God, and so become blind to the
high virtues—all hope for the future departs !
The race, in this country, is still at school. If they can
learn to pu^ away lightness, the love of pleasure, and the
mere gratification of sense;
"If they can scorn delights, ;vnd live
Laborious daj's;"
if they can bring themselves to see that the life of a race,
is the same as the life of a family, or the life of a man;—
that is, that it is a trust from God, for the noblest pur¬
poses of humanity, and for the glory of God; then they
are sure to run a glad and a glorious career, if even it be
a trying one; to attain the highest excellence of man; to
achieve the grandest results in the majestic work which
God has committed to the care of his creatures on earth.
IS